The History of English Podcast

Episode 53: The End of Endings

13 snips
Nov 24, 2014
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INSIGHT

Viking Impact on English Grammar

  • Viking influence triggered a major shift in English grammar during the 10th century.
  • Old English inflectional endings were lost, leading to fixed word order that shapes Modern English.
INSIGHT

From Inflections To Fixed Word Order

  • Old English inflections marked word roles, enabling flexible word order.
  • Losing inflections forced English to develop a fixed subject-verb-object order for clarity.
INSIGHT

Simplification Through Language Contact

  • Vikings and Anglo-Saxons retained common stems and dropped differing inflections.
  • This created a simplified English and shifted reliance to word order for communication.
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