Language Change Notes; Intro to the History of English

Old English - (a synthetic language; generated from inflections - adding suffix):

• 55BC: First Roman invasions
• 43CE: Roman occupation
• 410: Roman withdrawal from Britain
• 449: Arrival of the Anglo-Saxons
• 787-850: Viking raids
• 878: Danelaw established

Middle English - 

• 1066: Norman Conquest
• 1204: Loss of Normandy to France
• 1349-50: The Black Death
• 1387-1400: Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales
• 1450: The Great Vowel Shift begins

Early Modern English - 

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