

Later, Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language was a key factor in accelerating the process of orthographical standardization. The playwright William Shakespeare, writing just over 100 years later around the turn of the 17th century, wrote in this early variety of Modern English, and the Church of England’s Authorised King James Bible of 1611 was also published in this style. The impact of Modern English was enhanced by the advent of the printing press Johannes Gutenberg’s original mid-15th century German model was replicated in England by Thomas Caxton in (probably) 1476. This was subsequently influenced by the Scandinavian invasions of the 8th-9th centuries, and then following the Norman invasions of the 11th century it was also heavily influenced by Norman French, developing into what has become known as Middle English (the language used by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century).įrom the 15th and 16th centuries a grammatically simpler language began to emerge this was the origin of today’s Modern English.

The Anglo-Saxon colonisations from the 5th century established the language that has come to be known as Old English.
#Define subsume vocabulary plus#
These languages are Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Scots, and Irish – plus a number of more recently arrived languages such as South Asian languages.

In certain parts of the United Kingdom, other languages are locally relevant alongside English. The English language is the only language relevant to the United Kingdom as a whole. Prepared by the United Kingdom Permanent Committee on Geographical Names.įirst edition February 2009, updated May 2017, supplemented with further revisions as required.
