Historical Background of British and American EnglishThe history of the English language is divided into three periods: The period from 450 to 1150 is known as the Old English. It is described as the period of full inflections(词尾变化), since during most of this period the case ending of the noun, the adjective and the conjugation(结合) of the verb were not weakened. Old English was a highly inflected language. It had a complete system of declensions(变格) with four case and conjugations. So Old English grammar differs from Modern English grammar in these aspects(方面).The period from 1150 is known as the Middle English period. It is know as the period inflections. This period was marked by important changes in the English language. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these changes. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. In the Middle English period grammatical gender( 性 ) disappeared, grammatical gender was completely replaced by the natural gender.Modern English period extends from 1500 to the present day. The Early modern English period extends from 1500 to 1700. The chief influence of this time was great humanistic(人文主义的) movement of the Renaissance. The influence of Latin and Greek on English was great. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion( 扩 张 ) for the English vocabulary in the history of the English language.The development of the English language in America can be separated into three periods: The first period extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the...
