The

principal means of enriching vocabulary in Middle English are not internal, but external —
borrowings. Two languages in succession enriched the vocabulary of the English language of
the time — the Scandinavian language and the French language, the nature of the borrowings
and their amount reflecting the conditions of the contacts between the English and these
languages.
The Scandinavian invasion and the subsequent settlement of the Scandinavians on the
territory of England, the constant contacts and intermixture of the English and the
Scandinavians brought about many changes in different spheres of the English language:
wordstock, grammar and phonetics. The relative ease of the mutual penetration of the
languages was conditioned by the circumstances of the Anglo-Scandinavian contacts.
 1. Rise of the London dialect in the 15th century, the introduction of printing, and the
formation of the national literary English language.

Spread of the London dialect in the 15th century. Formation of the literary language.

In the 15th century the London dialect gradually spread all over the country, superseding local
dialects. Spoken English in various parts of the Britain gradually approached the literary norm,
and differences between the norm and popular speech disappeared.

The formation of a national language was greatly influenced by two events which took place in
the 15th century:

1.The Wars of Roses (1455-1485) marked the decay of feudalism and the rise of an absolute
monarchy. This meant a high degree of political centralization and thus it contributed to a
predominance of the national language over local dialects.

2.The Introduction of Printing. Printing was invented in Germany by Johann Gutenberg in 1438

and gradually spread to the other places. The Englishman William Caxton (1422-1491) became
acquainted with this art. He published the first English printed book, but it was not in England, it
was in Bruges.

Later (in 1476) he founded the first English printing office in London and still later (in 1477) the
first book, printed in England, appeared. It was called “The Dicties and Sayings of the
Philosopher” (dicta- от латинского dictum (ед. ч.)- изречение).

The spread of printed books influenced the normalization of spelling and grammatical forms.

Existence of a language norm becomes evident in the 16th century. The literary language is
understood as a model which must be followed. On the entire territory of the country only
literary English is used. All other dialects were reduced to oral languages.

After introduction of printing each vowel letter acquired different sound values depending on its
environment.

The period from 1350 to 1400 has been called the Period of Great Individual Writers. The chief
name is that of Geoffrey Chaucer.

All written documents of the 15th century can be classified into three types:

· those written in the London literary language

· those written basically in the London literary language but bearing some traces of local dialects

· those written in a more or less pure local dialect.

The formation of the national English language, or Standard English, is considered to date from
the period between the 15th and 17th centuries. After that time the language continued to change,
yet, henceforth one can speak of the evolution of Standard English instead of trading the similar
or different trends in the history of its dialects.
We must mention at least two of the external factors that led to this development: the unification
of the country and the progress of culture. Other historical events, such as the increased foreign
contacts, produced a more specific kind of influence on the language: they affected the word
stock.
The 15th and 16th centuries saw striking changes in the life of the country. Trade had extended
beyond the local, boundaries and apart from farming and cattle-breeding an important wool trade
and industry was carried on in the country-side. As the demand for wool and cloth rose, Britain
began to export woolen cloth produced by the first big enterprises, the «manufactures».
    The changes in the economic and social conditions were accompanied by the intermixture of
people coming from different regions, the growth of towns with a mixed population, and the
strengthening of social ties between the various regions. All these processes played an important
role in the unification of the English language.
   Towards the end of the 16th century the period of feudal disunity in Britain came to an end,
and Britain became a centralized state.
   In 1485 the strongest royal power under Henry VII was established. Henry VII was the founder
of the Tudor dynasty and of a new kind of monarchy. He reduced the power of the old nobility
and created new nobles out of the bourgeoisie and the middle class who ardently supported him.
The royal power grew still stronger and the power of the church weaker when his successor,
Henry VIII, broke with the Pope and declared himself he .d of the English Church (1534).
    The Tudors encouraged the development of trade inside and outside the country. The great
geographical discoveries gave a new impetus to the progress of foreign trade. English traders set
forth on daring journeys in search of gold and treasures. Sea pirates and slave-traders were
patronised by Queen Elizabeth as readily as traders in wool, for they made large contributions to
her treasury. Under the later Tudors England became one of the biggest trade and sea powers. In
1588 England defeated the Spanish fleet, the Invisible Armada, thus dealing a final blow to
Spain, her main rival in overseas trade and in colonial expansion. In the late 16th century
England founded its first colonies abroad.
    Thus the contacts of England with other nations — although not necessarily friendly —
became closer, and new contacts were made in distant lands. These new ties could not but
influence the development of the language.
      The rise of a new vigorous social class — the bourgeoisie — proved an enormous stimulus to
the progress of learning, science, literature and art. Of all the outstanding achievements of this
great age the invention of printing had the most immediate effect on the development of the
language, its written form in particular. The first book in the English language was printed in the
year 1476 by the first English printer William Caxton (his own translation of the Story of Troy),
Recuyell of the Histories of Troy.
   Among the earliest publications were the poems of Geoffrey Chaucer, still the most popular
poet in England, the poems of John Gower, Chaucer's contemporary, the works of John Lydgate,
the most prominent poet of the 15th century, Trevisa's Polychronicon, and others. The language
the first printers used was the London literary English established since the age of Chaucer and
modified in accordance with the linguistic changes that had taken place during the past hundred
years. In the ensuing century the form of the language used hy the printers became the standard
form of literary English recognized throughout the country.
   In conclusion it should be recalled that so great was the effect of printing on the development
of the language that the year 1476 — the date of the publication of the first English book — is
regarded by пишу as a turning point in English linguistic history and the start of § new period —
New English.
   The written form of the English language became standardized earlier than its spoken form.
The literary form of English Came into existence in the age of Chaucer, was fixed and spread
with the introduction of printing and was further developed as the national (lie 16th and 17th
centuries.
   The most prominent writers of the 15th century were the disciple and imitators of Geoffrey
Chaucer: Thomas Hoccleve and John Lydgate. The language of Chaucer's successors is believed
to have drawn farther away from everyday speech. The style used and advocated by the writers is
known as the «aureate language», which was highly affected in character, abounding in abstract
words and strongly influenced by Latin rhetoric.
In the 16th century the most important prose writers were) certainly Thomas More (1478—
1535), who wrote both in Latin and in English (his first work Utopia was writtening Latin in
1616 and was first translated into English by Ralph Robynson in 1661) and William Tyndale, the
famous translator of the Bible. His translation of the New Testament was first published in
Worms in 1525.
   The progress of literature and especially the flourishing of the drama in the late 16th and early
17th centuries are linked up with an unparalleled enrichment of the language. William
Shakespeare (1564—1616) and his contemporaries (Edmund Spencer, Christopher Marlowe,
John Fletcher and others) wrote in what is known now as the Early New English literary
language. It was represented by a wide variety of literary styles and was characterized by a rapid
growth of the vocabulary, freedom in creating new words and meanings, and veracity of
grammatical construction. In all these qualities the language of Shakespeare certainly excelled
that of his contemporaries.