Language Change - Miss Anderton

The printing press helped to standardise English:

1476 - William Caxton established the first printing press in Westminster - centre of political administration and law

This was an important step towards standardising English. Identical copies being made meant everyone read the same thing.

This was not easy, as words were spelled differently according to dialect and personal choice, so he had to decide what spelling and punctuation to use.

East Midland Dialect created the Standard:

Caxton chose the English which would be used by courts, universities and people of London. It was similar to East Midland dialect of Middle english.

It was already associated with political authority, learning, + commerce. Gave a feeling of prestige.

It still was not consistent, sometimes there were different forms of the same word.Eg. book and boke.

16th century - first guides to…