Why Language Is A System of

Systems
August 8, 2015 by Abdullah Sam
Language is a system and  a complex as organs of the human body. The system of the body
functions through different organs such as heart, lungs, brain, ears and eyes. These various
organs are interconnected and work in coordination. Similarly, the systems of a language
function through sound, words and structure. These are integrated with one another and
constitute the complex organic whole which is language. While someone says, “My friends is
reading a book” he uses language, he uses sounds (m, ai, f, r, e, n, d, z, r, I’d, I, t], a, b, u, k),
words (my, friend, is, reading, a, book) and an accepted sentence pattern (SvVo). He could not
communicate if he were to use only of the elements of language. It should be taught and learnt as
a system.
Language is a system of systems
Language is a system of phonetics, grammar and vocabulary, which in themselves are systems

Phonology: Every language has a set of sounds peculiar to it. The sound stands for words; the
words stand for object ideas, process etc. For example, Pen, advise, relative, selling and singing
etc. Each word has a meaning. The system of a language is called ‘phonology’.
Morphology : Words, their formation and the various Change in their forms, is called
‘morphology’.
Semantics : The study of meaning of words and sentences is .called ‘Semantics’,
Syntax: Constructions, arrangement of words into definite chunks, and set of syntactic rules that
makes sentence is called ‘Syntax’.
Since language is system of systems, the whole system of language cannot be taught all at once.

 Do you know Language Is A System of

Symbols?
Language is a system of symbols. The railway guard uses certain symbols with body language
for example the green flag, The train is not supposed to start till the driver sees the guard
showing the green flag or the green lamp, for they are symbols of “All clear, Go”. The train,
however, stops or does not start if the guard shows the red flag or the red lamp, for they denote
the signal “Danger, means stop’’. This system works successfully because the symbols used are
known to both the guard and the driver. The system of language, similarly works through
symbols, the symbols being words. Language functions effectively when the symbols used are
known to the speakers and the listener, the writer and the reader. The symbols of language are
varied and complex.

Language symbols represent things and are not the things themselves. The word ‘table’ is not a
table. It stands for a table. The word ‘boy’ is not a boy. It stands for a boy. There is no logical
connection between the symbols and the referent Symbols get their meaning by convention. A
sign, on the other hand, has a direct relation to the object it signifies. A road-sign showing the
figure of a boy with a school-bag cautions a vehicle driver that he is a approaching a school.
Language uses words essentially as a symbol and not as sings for the concepts represents by
them.

Language Is For Communication

Language is a powerful source of communication. All languages are used for the- purpose of
communication. A language is a means by which a person expresses his thoughts and feelings to
others. Communicative aspect of a language is very important. Without it a language cannot be
called a proper language. The function of language is communicating thought from one person to
another. It came into use for the communication. In the pre-historic days, communicate was
carried on by means of signal made with the part of body. Later on, sound signals were evolved.
For example, if a man was attacked by a beast, he would make a particular sound signal and
others would come to his help. Gradually, speech sounds were developed and language came
into the use for the purpose of communication.

Language has also been defined in almost the same manner as a learned arbitrary system of vocal
symbols through which human beings interact and communicate in terms of their common
culture experience .
“Language is the system of expression of ideas and thoughts by means of words and codes”.

In all these definitions, the communicative aspect of language has been rightly stressed. We
clothe our thoughts and feelings in a language to express ourselves and communicate with
others.

Communication by means of language may be done through speech or through writing.

Communication through writing involves the ability to arrange words systematically so that the
idea is communicated clearly.

Language is ever changing

Language is a living phenomenon. Like every living thing, it changes. A very important feature
of language is that it changes. All language is in a state of constant change.

As language is the outcome of the culture, it must develop with the development of the culture.
Thus changes in language depend upon cultural changes. This is especially true in the case of
English. The change in the language is more visible in living language than the dead ones.
Changes go on in all aspects of language pronunciation, grammatical feature and vocabulary.
Every living language on this earth is always changing.

As language is ever changing, the language of today is likely to be different from that of
yesterday. What we say about a language today may not be true about it tomorrow. The
structures and vocabulary of old English are different from those of Middle and Modern English.
English language is roughly 1500 years old and has changed almost beyond recognition.
Since language is changing, we should teach descriptive grammar that describe the current use of
the language and not prescriptive grammar that lays down rigid rules about its behavior and use.

 The Origins of Language

Dr. C. George Boeree

It is an intriguing question, to which we may never have a complete answer: 

How did we get from animal vocalization (barks, howls, calls...) to human
language?

Animals often make use of signs, which point to what they represent, but they
don't use symbols, which are arbitrary and conventional.  Examples of signs
include sniffles as a sign of an on-coming cold, clouds as a sign of rain, or a
scent as a sign of territory.  Symbols include things like the words we
use.  Dog, Hund, chien, cane, perro -- these are symbols that refer to the
creature so named, yet each one contains nothing in it that in anyway
indicates that creature.

In addition, language is a system of symbols, with several levels of

organization, at least phonetics (the sounds), syntax (the grammar), and
semantics (the meanings).

So when did language begin?  At the very beginnings of the genus Homo,
perhaps 4 or 5 million years ago?  Before that? Or with the advent of modern
man, Cro-magnon, some 125,000 years ago?  Did the neanderthal speak? 
We don't know.

There are many theories about the origins of language.  Many of these have
traditional amusing names (invented by Max Müller and George Romanes a
century ago), and I will create a couple more where needed.

1. The mama theory.  Language began with the easiest syllables attached to
the most significant objects.

2.  The ta-ta theory.  Sir Richard Paget, influenced by Darwin, believed that
body movement preceded language.  Language began as an unconscious
vocal imitation of these movements -- like the way a child's mouth will move
when they use scissors, or my tongue sticks out when I try to play the guitar. 
This evolved into the popular idea that language may have derived from
gestures.

3.  The bow-wow theory.  Language began as imitations of natural sounds --

moo, choo-choo, crash, clang, buzz, bang, meow...  This is more technically
refered to as onomatopoeia or echoism.

4.  The pooh-pooh theory.  Language began with interjections, instinctive

emotive cries such as oh! for surprise and ouch! for pain.

5.  The ding-dong theory.  Some people, including the famous linguist Max
Muller, have pointed out that there is a rather mysterious correspondence
between sounds and meanings.  Small, sharp, high things tend to have words
with high front vowels in many languages, while big, round, low things tend to
have round back vowels!  Compare itsy bitsy teeny weeny with moon, for
example.  This is often referred to as sound symbolism.

6.  The yo-he-ho theory.  Language began as rhythmic chants, perhaps

ultimately from the grunts of heavy work (heave-ho!).  The linguist A. S.
Diamond suggests that these were perhaps calls for assistance or
cooperation accompanied by appropriate gestures.  This may relate yo-he-ho
to the ding-dong theory, as in such words as cut, break, crush, strike...

7.  The sing-song theory.  Danish linguist Jesperson suggested that

language comes out of play, laughter, cooing, courtship, emotional mutterings
and the like.  He even suggests that, contrary to other theories, perhaps some
of our first words were actually long and musical, rather than the short grunts
many assume we started with.

8.  The hey you! theory.  A linguist by the name of Revesz suggested that
we have always needed interpersonal contact, and that language began as
sounds to signal both identity (here I am!) and belonging (I'm with you!).  We
may also cry out in fear, anger, or hurt (help me!).  This is more commonly
called the contact theory.

9.  The hocus pocus theory.  My own contribution to these is the idea that
language may have had some roots in a sort of magical or religious aspect of
our ancestors' lives.  Perhaps we began by calling out to game animals with
magical sounds, which became their names.
10.  The eureka! theory.  And finally, perhaps language was consciously
invented.  Perhaps some ancestor had the idea of assigning arbitrary sounds
to mean certain things.  Clearly, once the idea was had, it would catch on like
wild-fire!

Another issue is how often language came into being (or was invented). 
Perhaps it was invented once, by our earliest ancestors -- perhaps the first
who had whatever genetic and physiological properties needed to make
complex sounds and organize them into strings.  This is
called monogenesis.  Or perhaps it was invented many times
-- polygenesis -- by many people.

We can try to reconstruct earlier forms of language, but we can only go so far
before cycles of change obliterate any possibility of reconstruction.  Many say
we can only go back perhaps 10,000 years before the trail goes cold.  So
perhaps we will simply never know.

Water Babies

It may help us understand the origins of languages if we take a look at what is

sometimes called the Hardy-Morgan hypothesis, for the orijinator of the
hypothesis - Alister Hardy, an English marine biologist, and Elaine Morgan, a
Welsh writer and journalist. It is more commonly known as the aquatic ape
theory.

Humans have quite a few characteristics we don't share with our primate
relatives. We don't have much body hair; we have a layer of fat under our
skin; we have a descended larynx; we produce tears; we sweat a lot; we tend
to have sex face-to-fact; we can hold our breath quite easily; we are able to
swim even before we walk; and most importantly, we walk on our two legs just
about all the time.

Hardy, in the 1960s suggested that perhaps (he was cautious, and waited 30
years to tell anyone about his idea) we, or at least our genus, Homo, must
have spent some portion of our existence on this planet in the water, wading,
swimming, even diving. This may have been why we learned to stand up
straight (while wading, supported by water), then evolving the strength and
coordination to do so without the support, and only then proceeding into the
savannah.

There are other animales that have some of our odd characteristics: sea
mammals like whales and dolphins have little hair, hold their breath, and have
extra fat under their skin; others, like otters, have a lot of hair, but share the
other abilities with us. The only other land animal that shares our lack of hair
is the elephant, whose closest relatives include dugongs and manatees.
Perhaps elephants, too, spent a portion of their evolution in the water. They
do still breath through their trunks when under water. (Gaeth et al 1999)

Perhaps our commonalities with these animals also extend to language.

Musical Babies

Darwin himself once said "Humans don't speak unless they are taught to do
so", ie language is learned, and not innate in the way that the famous linguist
Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, the author of "The Language Instinct"
say.

Mario Vaneechoutte and his students suggest that language comes from
music, with some assitance from gestures and dance. Music is what is innate,
not language. Like in many species of birds and mammals, singing (which
uptight scientists prefer to call "calls", in order to keep language as our
"special ability" distinct) in order to call for help, keep track of each other, and
- most especially - in order to attract mates. That use of sound is most
definitely something that can evolve, from simple to the complex.

Babies like music. They love listening to their mothers speak to them. The
mothers like to use a sort of sing-song speech ("motherese"), which babies
like even more. Babies begin to vocalize in very "musical" ways, and often
hum or sing in short or long "phrases", with modulations. Babies prefer major
rather than minor intervals. And before they even learn individual words, they
imitate the "melody of speech" (prosody). Even fetuses can remember sounds
in the last trimester.

Because our larynx is lower in the throat, our tongues are free to move around
inside the mouth more and our ability to hold our breath means we can control
our exhaling and inhaling. We are born ready to make music and so speech.
In fact, music and speech use the same areas of the brain, including Broca's
area.

In regards to dancing, we see babies moving rhythmically while listening to

music and even when not. We see the ease with which they can imitate the
movements of others (perhaps by way of the famous "mirror neurons"?). And
regarding gestures, maybe you have noticed the connection between
movements of the body, especially the hands, and movements of the mouth,
especially the tongue. I still stick out my tongue when I try to play guitar, and I
have seen children make grinding movements of their mouths when using the
old school pencil sharpeners.

A lot of the grammar that seems so essential when we look at written

language, in speech is much more obvious: We use pauses, tone changes,
melodies, rhythms, eye movements, facial expressions, and gestures that add
information to our speech. Perhaps you (like myself) use the pauses we hear
or imagine to guide our use of commas and periods. And perhaps you have
noticed how much more difficult it is to understand someone when talking on
the phone than when you are across the table from them.

In addition to the hypothesis that we were once "aquatic apes", Vaneechoutte

adds that we were and still are very much "musical apes".

References

Chomsky. N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. Mouton, The Hague.

Darwin, C. (1871). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to

Sex. Concise Editon and Commentary by Carl Zimmer (2007), Plume,
Penguin Books.

Gaeth, A.P., Short, R.V., & Renfree, M.B. (1999). The Developing Renal,
Reproductive, and Respiratory Systems of the African Elephant Suggest an
Aquatic Ancestry. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96, 5555–5558.

Hardy, Alister Clavering (1977). "Was there a Homo aquaticus?". Zenith. 15

(1): 4–6.

Morgan, E. (1997). The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis - The Most Credible

Theory of Human Evolution. London, UK: Souvenir Press.

Pinker, S. (1994). The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates

Language. New York: Morrow.

Vaneechoutte, M., & Skoyles, J.R. (1998). The Memetic Origin of Language:
Humans as Musical Primates. J. Memetics, 2. Accessible at:
http://users.ugent.be/~mvaneech/ORILA.FIN.html
Vaneechoutte, M. (2014). The Origin of Articulate Language Revisited: The
Potential of a Semi-Aquatic Past of Human Ancetors to Explain the Orijin of
Human Musicality and Articulate Language. Human Evolution, 29, 1-33.

© Copyright 2003, C. George Boeree

 6 Early Theories About the

Origin of Language
BY ARIKA OKRENT

OCTOBER 17, 2020

How did language begin? Words don’t leave artifacts behind—

writing began long after language did—so theories of language
origins have generally been based on hunches. For centuries there
had been so much fruitless speculation over the question of how
language began that when the Paris Linguistic Society was founded
in 1866, its bylaws included a ban on any discussions of it. The
early theories are now referred to by the nicknames given to them by
language scholars fed up with unsupportable just-so stories.

1. The bow-wow theory

The idea that speech arose from people imitating the sounds that
things make: Bow-wow, moo, baa, etc. Not likely, since very few
things we talk about have characteristic sounds associated with
them, and very few of our words sound anything at all like what
they mean.

2. The pooh-pooh theory

The idea that speech comes from the automatic vocal responses to
pain, fear, surprise, or other emotions: a laugh, a shriek, a gasp. But
plenty of animals make these kinds of sounds too, and they didn't
end up with language.

3. The ding-dong theory

The idea that speech reflects some mystical resonance or harmony

connected with things in the world. Unclear how one would
investigate this.

4. The yo-he-ho theory

The idea that speech started with the rhythmic chants and grunts
people used to coordinate their physical actions when they worked
together. There's a pretty big difference between this kind of thing
and what we do most of the time with language.

5. The ta-ta theory

The idea that speech came from the use of tongue and mouth
gestures to mimic manual gestures. For example, saying ta-ta is like
waving goodbye with your tongue. But most of the things we talk
about do not have characteristic gestures associated with them,
much less gestures you can imitate with the tongue and mouth.

6. The la-la theory

The idea that speech emerged from the sounds of inspired

playfulness, love, poetic sensibility, and song. This one is lovely,
and no more or less likely than any of the others.
These Days

About a century after banishment of the language origin question,

scientists started to consider it again, but this time using evidence
from paleontology about the likely brain and vocal tract features of
early humans and hominids. Rather than speculate about which
kinds of vocalizations gave rise to speech sounds, they consider
which physical, cognitive, and social factors must first be in place in
order for there to be language.

History of English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects

brought to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what
is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Saxons
settled in the British Isles from the mid-5th century and came to dominate the bulk of
southern Great Britain. Their language, now called Old English, originated as a group
of Anglo-Frisian dialects which were spoken, at least by the settlers, in England and
southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages, displacing the Celtic
languages (and, possibly, British Latin) that had previously been dominant. Old English
reflected the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established in different parts of
Britain. The Late West Saxon dialect eventually became dominant. A significant
subsequent influence on the shaping of Old English came from contact with the North
Germanic languages spoken by the Scandinavian Vikings who conquered and
colonized parts of Britain during the 8th and 9th centuries, which led to much lexical
borrowing and grammatical simplification. The Anglian dialects had a greater influence
on Middle English.
After the Norman conquest in 1066, Old English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-
Norman as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of
the Old English or Anglo-Saxon era, as during this period the English language was
heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle
English. The conquering Normans spoke a Romance langue d'oïl called Old Norman,
which in Britain developed into Anglo-Norman. Many Norman and French loanwords
entered the local language in this period, especially in vocabulary related to the church,
the court system and the government. As Normans are descendants of Vikings who
invaded France, Norman French was influenced by Old Norse, and many Norse
loanwords in English came directly from French. Middle English was spoken to the late
15th century. The system of orthography that was established during the Middle English
period is largely still in use today. Later changes in pronunciation, however, combined
with the adoption of various foreign spellings, mean that the spelling of modern English
words appears highly irregular.
Early Modern English – the language used by William Shakespeare – is dated from
around 1500. It incorporated many Renaissance-era loans from Latin and Ancient
Greek, as well as borrowings from other European languages,
including French, German and Dutch. Significant pronunciation changes in this period
included the ongoing Great Vowel Shift, which affected the qualities of most long
vowels. Modern English proper, similar in most respects to that spoken today, was in
place by the late 17th century. The English language came to be exported to other parts
of the world through British colonisation, and is now the dominant language in Britain
and Ireland, the United States and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many smaller
former colonies, as well as being widely spoken in India, parts of Africa, and elsewhere.
Partially due to United States influence, English gradually took on the status of a
global lingua franca in the second half of the 20th century. This is especially true in
Europe, where English has largely taken over the former roles of French and (much
earlier) Latin as a common language used to conduct business and diplomacy, share
scientific and technological information, and otherwise communicate across national
boundaries. The efforts of English-speaking Christian missionaries has resulted in
English becoming a second language for many other groups. [1][2]
Global variation among different English dialects and accents remains significant
today. Scots, a form of English traditionally spoken in parts of Scotland and the north of
Ireland, is sometimes treated as a separate language.

Proto-English[edit]
Main articles: Celtic language decline in England and Saxon Shore

English has its roots in the languages of the Germanic peoples of northern Europe.
During the Roman Empire, most of the Germanic-inhabited area (Germania) remained
independent from Rome, although some southwestern parts were within the empire.
Some Germanics served in the Roman military, and troops from Germanic tribes such
as the Tungri, Batavi, Menapii and Frisii served in Britain (Britannia) under Roman
command. Germanic settlement and power expanded during the Migration Period,
which saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire. A Germanic settlement of Britain took
place from the 5th to the 7th century, following the end of Roman rule on the island.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that around the year 449 Vortigern, king of
the Britons, invited the "Angle kin" (Angles allegedly led by the Germanic
brothers Hengist and Horsa) to help repel invading Picts, in return for lands in the
southeast of Britain. This led to waves of settlers who eventually established seven
kingdoms, known as the heptarchy. (The Chronicle was not a contemporaneous work,
however, and cannot be regarded as an accurate record of such early events.) [3] Bede,
who wrote his Ecclesiastical History in AD 731, writes of invasion
by Angles, Saxons and Jutes, although the precise nature of the invasion and
settlement and the contributions made by these particular groups are the subject of
much dispute among historians.[4]
The languages spoken by the Germanic peoples who initially settled in Britain were part
of the West Germanic branch of the Germanic language family. They consisted of
dialects from the Ingvaeonic grouping, spoken mainly around the North Sea coast, in
regions that lie within modern Denmark, north-west Germany and the Netherlands. Due
to specific similarities between early English and Old Frisian, an Anglo-Frisian grouping
is also identified.
These dialects had most of the typical West Germanic features, including a significant
amount of grammatical inflection. Vocabulary came largely from the core Germanic
stock, although due to the Germanic peoples' extensive contacts with the Roman world,
the settlers' languages already included a number of loanwords from Latin.[5] For
instance, the predecessor of Modern English wine had been borrowed into early
Germanic from the Latin vinum.

Old English[edit]

The first page of the Beowulf manuscript

Main article: Old English

The Germanic settlers in the British Isles initially spoke a number of different dialects,
which would develop into a language that came to be called Anglo-Saxon, or now more
commonly Old English.[6] It displaced the indigenous Brittonic Celtic (and the Latin of
the former Roman rulers) in parts of the areas of Britain that later formed the Kingdom
of England, while Celtic languages remained in most of Scotland, Wales and Cornwall,
and many compound Celtic-Germanic place names survive, hinting at early language
mixing.[7] Old English continued to exhibit local variation, the remnants of which continue
to be found in dialects of Modern English.[6] The four main dialects
were Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish and West Saxon; the last of these formed the
basis for the literary standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant
forms of Middle and Modern English would develop mainly from Mercian.
Old English was first written using a runic script called the futhorc, but this was replaced
by a version of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish missionaries in the 8th century.
Most literary output was in either the Early West Saxon of Alfred the Great's time, or the
Late West Saxon (regarded as the "classical" form of Old English) of the Winchester
school inspired by Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester and followed by such writers as the
prolific Ælfric of Eynsham ("the Grammarian"). The most famous surviving work from
the Old English period is the epic poem Beowulf, composed by an unknown poet.
The introduction of Christianity from around the year 600 encouraged the addition of
over 400 Latin loan words into Old English, such as the predecessors of the
modern priest, paper, and school, and a smaller number of Greek loan words.[8] The
speech of eastern and northern parts of England was also subject to strong Old
Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule and settlement beginning in the 9th century
(see below).
Most native English speakers today find Old English unintelligible, even though about
half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots.
[9]
 The grammar of Old English was much more inflected than modern English, combined
with freer word order, and was grammatically quite similar in some respects to
modern German. The language had demonstrative pronouns (equivalent
to this and that) but did not have the definite article the. The Old English period is
considered to have evolved into the Middle English period some time after the Norman
conquest of 1066, when the language came to be influenced significantly by the new
ruling class's language, Old Norman.[10][11]
Vikings from modern-day Norway and Denmark began to raid parts of Britain from the
late 8th century onward. In 865, however, a major invasion was launched by what the
Anglo-Saxons called the Great Heathen Army, which eventually brought large parts of
northern and eastern England (the Danelaw) under Scandinavian control. Most of these
areas were retaken by the English under Edward the Elder in the early 10th century,
although York and Northumbria were not permanently regained until the death of Eric
Bloodaxe in 954. Scandinavian raids resumed in the late 10th century during the reign
of Æthelred the Unready, and Sweyn Forkbeard eventually succeeded in briefly being
declared king of England in 1013, followed by the longer reign of his son Cnut from
1016 to 1035, and Cnut's sons Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut until 1042.
The Scandinavians, or Norsemen, spoke dialects of a North Germanic language known
as Old Norse. The Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians thus spoke related languages
from different branches (West and North) of the Germanic family; many of their lexical
roots were the same or similar, although their grammatical systems were more
divergent. Probably significant numbers of Norse speakers settled in the Danelaw
during the period of Scandinavian control. Many place-names in those areas are of
Scandinavian provenance (those ending in -by, for example); it is believed that the
settlers often established new communities in places that had not previously been
developed by the Anglo-Saxons. The extensive contact between Old English and Old
Norse speakers, including the possibility of intermarriage that resulted from
the acceptance of Christianity by the Danes in 878,[12] undoubtedly influenced the
varieties of those languages spoken in the areas of contact. Some scholars even
believe that Old English and Old Norse underwent a kind of fusion and that the resulting
English language might be described as a mixed language or creole. During the rule of
Cnut and other Danish kings in the first half of the 11th century, a kind of diglossia may
have come about, with the West Saxon literary language existing alongside the Norse-
influenced Midland dialect of English, which could have served as a koine or spoken
lingua franca. When Danish rule ended, and particularly after the Norman Conquest, the
status of the minority Norse language presumably declined relative to that of English,
and its remaining speakers assimilated to English in a process involving language
shift and language death. The widespread bilingualism that must have existed during
the process possibly contributed to the rate of borrowings from Norse into English. [13]
Only about 100 or 150 Norse words, mainly connected with government and
administration, are found in Old English writing. The borrowing of words of this type was
stimulated by Scandinavian rule in the Danelaw and during the later reign of Cnut.
However, most surviving Old English texts are based on the West Saxon standard that
developed outside the Danelaw; it is not clear to what extent Norse influenced the forms
of the language spoken in eastern and northern England at that time. Later texts from
the Middle English era, now based on an eastern Midland rather than a Wessex
standard, reflect the significant impact that Norse had on the language. In all, English
borrowed about 2000 words from Old Norse, several hundred surviving in Modern
English.[13]
Norse borrowings include many very common words, such
as anger, bag, both, hit, law, leg, same, skill, sky, take, window, and even the
pronoun they. Norse influence is also believed to have reinforced the adoption of the
plural copular verb form are rather than alternative Old English forms like sind. It is also
considered to have stimulated and accelerated the morphological simplification found in
Middle English, such as the loss of grammatical gender and explicitly
marked case (except in pronouns).[14] That is possibly confirmed by observations that
simplification of the case endings occurred earliest in the north and latest in the
southwest. The spread of phrasal verbs in English is another grammatical development
to which Norse may have contributed (although here a possible Celtic influence is also
noted).[13]

Middle English[edit]
Main articles: Middle English and Influence of French on English

Middle English is the form of English spoken roughly from the time of the Norman
Conquest in 1066 until the end of the 15th century.
For centuries after the Conquest, the Norman kings and high-ranking nobles in England
and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles spoke Anglo-Norman, a variety of Old
Norman, originating from a northern langue d'oïl dialect. Merchants and lower-ranked
nobles were often bilingual in Anglo-Norman and English, whilst English continued to be
the language of the common people. Middle English was influenced by both Anglo-
Norman, and later Anglo-French (see characteristics of the Anglo-Norman language).

Opening prologue of "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from the Canterbury Tales

Until the 14th century, Anglo-Norman and then French were the language of the courts
and government. Even after the decline of Norman, standard French retained the status
of a formal or prestige language, and about 10,000 French (and Norman) loan words
entered Middle English, particularly terms associated with government, church, law, the
military, fashion, and food[15] (see English language word origins and List of English
words of French origin). The strong influence of Old Norse on English (described in the
previous section) also becomes apparent during this period. The impact of the
native British Celtic languages that English continued to displace is generally held to be
very small, although a few scholars have attributed some grammatical forms, such as
periphrastic "do", to Celtic influence.[16][17] These theories have been criticized by a
number of other linguists.[18][19][20] Some scholars have also put forward hypotheses that
Middle English was a kind of creole language resulting from contact between Old
English and either Old Norse or Anglo-Norman.
English literature began to reappear after 1200, when a changing political climate and
the decline in Anglo-Norman made it more respectable. The Provisions of Oxford,
released in 1258, was the first English government document to be published in the
English language after the Norman Conquest. In 1362, Edward III became the first king
to address Parliament in English. The Pleading in English Act 1362 made English the
only language in which court proceedings could be held, though the official record
remained in Latin.[21] By the end of the century, even the royal court had switched to
English. Anglo-Norman remained in use in limited circles somewhat longer, but it had
ceased to be a living language. Official documents began to be produced regularly in
English during the 15th century. Geoffrey Chaucer, who lived in the late 14th century, is
the most famous writer from the Middle English period, and The Canterbury Tales is his
best-known work.
The English language changed enormously during the Middle English period, both in
vocabulary and pronunciation, and in grammar. While Old English is a heavily inflected
language (synthetic), the use of grammatical endings diminished in Middle English
(analytic). Grammar distinctions were lost as many noun and adjective endings
were levelled to -e. The older plural noun marker -en (retained in a few cases such
as children and oxen) largely gave way to -s, and grammatical gender was discarded.
Definite article þe appears around 1200, later spelled as the, first appearing in East and
North England as a substitute for Old English se and seo, nominative forms of "that."[22]
English spelling was also influenced by Norman in this period, with
the /θ/ and /ð/ sounds being spelled th rather than with the Old English letters þ
(thorn) and ð (eth), which did not exist in Norman. These letters remain in the
modern Icelandic and Faroese alphabets, having been borrowed from Old English
via Old West Norse.

Early Modern English[edit]

Main article: Early Modern English

English underwent extensive sound changes during the 15th century, while its spelling
conventions remained largely constant. Modern English is often dated from the Great
Vowel Shift, which took place mainly during the 15th century. The language was further
transformed by the spread of a standardized London-based dialect in government and
administration and by the standardizing effect of printing, which also tended to
regularize capitalization. As a result, the language acquired self-conscious terms such
as "accent" and "dialect".[23] As most early presses come from continental Europe, a few
native English letters such as þ and ð die out; for some time þe is written as ye. By the
time of William Shakespeare (mid 16th - early 17th century),[24] the language had
become clearly recognizable as Modern English. In 1604, the first English dictionary
was published, the Table Alphabeticall.
Increased literacy and travel facilitated the adoption of many foreign words, especially
borrowings from Latin and Greek from the time of the Renaissance. In the 17th century,
Latin words were often used with their original inflections, but these eventually
disappeared. As there are many words from different languages and English spelling is
variable, the risk of mispronunciation is high, but remnants of the older forms remain in
a few regional dialects, most notably in the West Country. During the period, loan words
were borrowed from Italian, German, and Yiddish. British acceptance of and resistance
to Americanisms began during this period.[25]

Modern English[edit]

Title page from the second edition of the Dictionary

Main article: Modern English

The first authoritative and full-featured English dictionary, the Dictionary of the English
Language, was published by Samuel Johnson in 1755. To a high degree, the dictionary
standardized both English spelling and word usage. Meanwhile, grammar texts
by Lowth, Murray, Priestly, and others attempted to prescribe standard usage even
further.
Early Modern English and Late Modern English, also called Present-Day English (PDE),
differ essentially in vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from
the Industrial Revolution and technologies that created a need for new words, as well as
international development of the language. The British Empire at its height covered one
quarter of the Earth's land surface, and the English language adopted foreign words
from many countries. British English and North American English, the two major
varieties of the language, are together spoken by 400 million people. The total number
of English speakers worldwide may exceed one billion. [26] The English language will
almost certainly continue to evolve over time. With the development of computer and
online environments (such as chat rooms, social media expressions, and apps), and the
adoption of English as a worldwide lingua franca across cultures, customs, and
traditions, it should not be surprising to see further shortening of words, phrases, and/or
sentences.

Phonological changes[edit]
Main article: Phonological history of English
 This section contains IPA phonetic
symbols. Without proper rendering
support, you may see question
marks, boxes, or other
symbols instead
of Unicode characters. For an
introductory guide on IPA symbols,
see Help:IPA.

Introduction[edit]
Over the last 1,200 years or so, English has undergone extensive changes in its vowel
system but many fewer changes to its consonants.
In the Old English period, a number of umlaut processes affected vowels in complex
ways, and unstressed vowels were gradually eroded, eventually leading to a loss
of grammatical case and grammatical gender in the Early Middle English period. The
most important umlaut process was *i-mutation (c. 500 CE), which led to pervasive
alternations of all sorts, many of which survive in the modern language: e.g. in noun
paradigms (foot vs. feet, mouse vs. mice, brother vs. brethren); in verb paradigms
(sold vs. sell); nominal derivatives from adjectives ("strong" vs.
"strength", broad vs. breadth, foul vs. filth) and from other nouns (fox vs. "vixen"); verbal
derivatives ("food" vs. "to feed"); and comparative adjectives ("old" vs. "elder").
Consonants were more stable, although velar consonants were significantly modified
by palatalization, which produced alternations such
as speak vs. speech, drink vs. drench, wake vs. watch, bake vs. batch.
The Middle English period saw further vowel changes. Most significant was the Great
Vowel Shift (c. 1500 CE), which transformed the pronunciation of all long vowels. This
occurred after the spelling system was fixed, and accounts for the drastic differences in
pronunciation between "short" mat, met, bit, cot vs. "long" mate, mete/meet, bite, coat.
Other changes that left echoes in the modern language were homorganic
lengthening before ld, mb, nd, which accounts for the long vowels in child, mind, climb,
etc.; pre-cluster shortening, which resulted in the vowel alternations
in child vs. children, keep vs. kept, meet vs. met; and trisyllabic laxing, which is
responsible for alternations such
as grateful vs. gratitude, divine vs. divinity, sole vs. solitary.
Among the more significant recent changes to the language have been the
development of rhotic and non-rhotic accents (i.e. "r-dropping"); the trap-bath split in
many dialects of British English; and flapping of t and d between vowels in American
English and Australian English.
Vowel changes[edit]
The following table shows the principal developments in the stressed vowels, from Old
English through Modern English (C indicates any consonant):
 Old
Middle Early Modern
English Modern Modern
English English Examples
(c. 900 English spelling
(c. 1400 AD) (c. 1600 AD)
AD)

oʊ oak, boat, whole,

ɑː ɔː oː oa, oCe
əʊ (UK) stone

æː, æːɑ ɛː eː ea heal, beat, cheap

iː

eː, eːo eː iː ee, -e feed, deep, me, be

iː, yː iː əi or ɛi aɪ iCe ride, time, mice

oː oː uː uː oo, -o moon, food, do

uː uː əu or ɔu aʊ ou mouse, out, loud

a æ æ a man, sat, wax

ɑ, æ, æɑ

aː ɛː eɪ aCe name, bake, raven

e ɛ ɛ e help, tell, seven

e, eo

ɛː eː iː ea, eCe speak, meat, mete

i, y ɪ ɪ ɪ i written, sit, kiss

o o ɔ ɒ o god, top, beyond

ɑ (US)
 oʊ
ɔː oː oa, oCe foal, nose, over
əʊ (UK)

buck, up, love,

ɤ ʌ
wonder
u ʊ u, o

ʊ ʊ full, bull

The following chart shows the primary developments of English vowels in the last 600
years, in more detail, since Late Middle English of Chaucer's time. The Great Vowel
Shift can be seen in the dramatic developments from c. 1400 to 1600.

Neither of the above tables covers the history of Middle English diphthongs, the
changes before /r/, or various special cases and exceptions. For details,
see phonological history of English as well as the articles on Old English
phonology and Middle English phonology/.
Examples[edit]
The vowel changes over time can be seen in the following example words, showing the
changes in their form over the last 2,000 years:

one two three four five six seven mother heart hear

Proto-
seh hauzijan
Germani ainaz twai θriːz feðwoːr fimf seβun moːðeːr hertoːː
s ã
c, c. AD 1

West
Germani seh
ain twai θriju fewwur fimf seβun moːdar herta haurijan
c, c. AD s
400

Late Old
heːran,
English, aːn twaː θreo feowor fiːf siks sĕŏvon moːdor hĕŏrte
hyːran
c. AD 900

(Late Old
(þrēo (fēowo (six (seofo (mōdor (hēran,
English (ān) (twā) (fīf) (heorte)
) r) ) n) ) hȳran)
spelling)

Late
Middle
ɔːn twoː θreː fowər fiːvə siks sevən moːðər hertə hɛːrə(n)
English,
c. 1350

(Late
Middle (thre (five (six (mothe (heere(n
(oon) (two) (fower) (seven) (herte)
English e) ) ) r) ))
spelling)

Early oːn >! wʊ twuː > t θriː foːr fəiv siks sevən mʊðər hert heːr
Modern
English,
n uː
c. 1600

Modern
hɑrt/hɑː
English, wʌn tuː θriː fɔː(r) faiv sɪks sevən mʌðə(r) hiːr/hiə
t
c. 2000

one two three four five six seven mother heart hear

Grammatical changes[edit]
The English language once had an extensive declension system similar to Latin,
modern German and Icelandic. Old English distinguished among
the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive cases, and for strongly declined
adjectives and some pronouns also a separate instrumental case (which otherwise and
later completely coincided with the dative). In addition, the dual number was
distinguished from the singular and plural.[27] Declension was greatly simplified during
the Middle English period, when the accusative and dative cases of the pronouns
merged into a single oblique case that also replaced the genitive case after
prepositions. Nouns in Modern English no longer decline for case, except for
the genitive.
Evolution of English pronouns[edit]
Pronouns such as whom and him (contrasted with who and he), are a conflation of the
old accusative and dative cases, as well as of the genitive case after prepositions
(while her also includes the genitive case). This conflated form is called the oblique
case or the object (objective) case, because it is used for objects of verbs (direct,
indirect, or oblique) as well as for objects of prepositions. (See object pronoun.) The
information formerly conveyed by distinct case forms is now mostly provided
by prepositions and word order. In Old English as well as
modern German and Icelandic as further examples, these cases had distinct forms.
Although some grammarians continue to use the traditional terms "accusative" and
"dative", these are functions rather than morphological cases in Modern English. That
is, the form whom may play accusative or dative roles (as well as instrumental or
prepositional roles), but it is a single morphological form, contrasting with
nominative who and genitive whose. Many grammarians use the labels "subjective",
"objective", and "possessive" for nominative, oblique, and genitive pronouns.
Modern English nouns exhibit only one inflection of the reference form: the possessive
case, which some linguists argue is not a case at all, but a clitic (see the entry
for genitive case for more information).
Interrogative pronouns[edit]

Middle
Case Old English Modern English
English

Nominative hwā who who

Accusative hwone, hwæne

whom whom, who1

Masculine,
feminine Dative hwām, hwǣm
(person)

Instrumental

Genitive hwæs whos whose

Nominative hwæt what

Accusative hwæt what

what, whom
Neuter
Dative hwām, hwǣm
(thing)

Instrumental hwȳ, hwon why why

Genitive hwæs whos whose2

1
 - In some dialects "who" is used where formal English only allows "whom", though variation among dialects must be
taken into account.
2
 - Usually replaced by of what (postpositioned).

First person personal pronouns[edit]

Middle
Case Old English Modern English
English

Singula Nominative iċ I, ich, ik I

 Accusative mē, meċ
r me me

Dative mē

Genitive mīn min, mi my, mine

Nominative wē we we

Accusative ūs, ūsiċ

Plural us us

Dative ūs

Genitive ūser, ūre ure, our our, ours

(Old English also had a separate dual, wit ("we two") etcetera; however, no later forms
derive from it.)
Second person personal pronouns[edit]

Old and Middle English singular to the Modern English archaic informal

Case Old English Middle English Modern English

Nominative þū þu, thou thou (you)

Accusative þē, þeċ

Singula
þé, thee thee (you)
r
Dative þē

Genitive þīn þi, þīn, þīne, thy; thin, thine thy, thine (your, yours)
 Nominative ġē ye, ȝe, you

Accusative ēow, ēowiċ you

Plural you, ya

Dative ēow

Genitive ēower your your, yours

Note that the ye/you distinction still existed, at least optionally, in Early Modern English: "Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free" from the King James Bible.

Here the letter þ (interchangeable with ð in manuscripts) corresponds to th. For ȝ,

see Yogh.

Formal and informal forms of the second person singular and plural

Old English Middle English Modern English

Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

Form Infor Form Infor Form Infor Form Infor Form Infor Form Infor
Case
al mal al mal al mal al mal al mal al mal

Nomina
þū ġē thou ye
tive

Accusati you you you

þē, þeċ ēow, ēowiċ
ve
thee you

Dative þē ēow

your,
thy,
Genitive þīn ēower your your, yours your, yours
thine
s
(Old English also had a separate dual, ȝit ("ye two") etcetera; however, no later forms derive from it.)

Third person personal pronouns[edit]

Case Old English Middle English Modern English

Nominative hē he he

Accusative hine
Masculine
him him
singular
Dative him

Genitive his his his

Nominative hēo heo, sche, ho, he, ȝho she

Accusative hīe

Feminine singular hire, hure, her, heore her

Dative

hire

Genitive hir, hire, heore, her, here her, hers

Nominative hit, it

hit

Accusative it

Neuter singular hit, it, him

Dative him

Genitive his his, its its

Plural Nominative hīe he, hi, ho, hie, þai, þei they
 Accusative
hem, ham, heom, þaim, þem,
them
þam
Dative him

Genitive hira here, heore, hore, þair, þar their, theirs

(The origin of the modern forms is generally thought to have been a borrowing from Old
Norse forms þæir, þæim, þæira. The two different roots co-existed for some time,
although currently the only common remnant is the shortened form 'em. Cf. also the
demonstrative pronouns.)

Examples[edit]

The dialects of Old English c. 800 CE

Beowulf[edit]
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in alliterative verse. It is dated from the 8th to the
early 11th centuries. These are the first 11 lines:
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geārdagum,

þēodcyninga þrym gefrūnon,

hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon.

Oft Scyld Scēfing sceaþena þrēatum,

monegum mǣgþum, meodosetla oftēah,
egsode eorlas. Syððan ǣrest wearð

fēasceaft funden, hē þæs frōfre gebād,

wēox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þāh,

oðþæt him ǣghwylc þāra ymbsittendra

ofer hronrāde hȳran scolde,

gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs gōd cyning!

Which, as translated by Francis Barton Gummere, reads:

Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan[edit]
This is the beginning of The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, a prose text in Old
English dated to the late 9th century. The full text can be found at Wikisource.
Ōhthere sǣde his hlāforde, Ælfrēde cyninge, ðæt hē ealra Norðmonna norþmest būde.
Hē cwæð þæt hē būde on þǣm lande norþweardum wiþ þā Westsǣ. Hē sǣde þēah
þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lang norþ þonan; ac hit is eal wēste, būton on fēawum stōwum
styccemǣlum wīciað Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra, ond on sumera on fiscaþe be þǣre
sǣ. Hē sǣde þæt hē æt sumum cirre wolde fandian hū longe þæt land norþryhte lǣge,
oþþe hwæðer ǣnig mon be norðan þǣm wēstenne būde. Þā fōr hē norþryhte be þǣm
lande: lēt him ealne weg þæt wēste land on ðæt stēorbord, ond þā wīdsǣ on ðæt
bæcbord þrīe dagas. Þā wæs hē swā feor norþ swā þā hwælhuntan firrest faraþ. Þā fōr
hē þā giet norþryhte swā feor swā hē meahte on þǣm ōþrum þrīm dagum gesiglau. Þā
bēag þæt land, þǣr ēastryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt lond, hē nysse hwæðer, būton
hē wisse ðæt hē ðǣr bād westanwindes ond hwōn norþan, ond siglde ðā ēast be lande
swā swā hē meahte on fēower dagum gesiglan. Þā sceolde hē ðǣr bīdan
ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðǣm þæt land bēag þǣr sūþryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt land,
hē nysse hwæþer. Þā siglde hē þonan sūðryhte be lande swā swā hē meahte on fīf
dagum gesiglan. Ðā læg þǣr ān micel ēa ūp on þæt land. Ðā cirdon hīe ūp in on ðā ēa
for þǣm hīe ne dorston forþ bī þǣre ēa siglan for unfriþe; for þǣm ðæt land wæs eall
gebūn on ōþre healfe þǣre ēas. Ne mētte hē ǣr nān gebūn land, siþþan hē from his
āgnum hām fōr; ac him wæs ealne weg wēste land on þæt stēorbord, būtan fiscerum
ond fugelerum ond huntum, ond þæt wǣron eall Finnas; ond him wæs āwīdsǣ on þæt
bæcbord. Þā Boermas heafdon sīþe wel gebūd hira land: ac hīe ne dorston þǣr on
cuman. Ac þāra Terfinna land wæs eal wēste, būton ðǣr huntan gewīcodon, oþþe
fisceras, oþþe fugeleras.
A translation:
Ohthere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he of all Norsemen lived north-most. He quoth
that he lived in the land northward along the North Sea. He said though that the land
was very long from there, but it is all wasteland, except that in a few places here and
there Finns [i.e. Sami] encamp, hunting in winter and in summer fishing by the sea. He
said that at some time he wanted to find out how long the land lay northward or whether
any man lived north of the wasteland. Then he traveled north by the land. All the way he
kept the waste land on his starboard and the wide sea on his port three days. Then he
was as far north as whale hunters furthest travel. Then he traveled still north as far as
he might sail in another three days. Then the land bowed east (or the sea into the land
— he did not know which). But he knew that he waited there for west winds (and
somewhat north), and sailed east by the land so as he might sail in four days. Then he
had to wait for due-north winds, because the land bowed south (or the sea into the land
— he did not know which). Then he sailed from there south by the land so as he might
sail in five days. Then a large river lay there up into the land. Then they turned up into
the river, because they dared not sail forth past the river for hostility, because the land
was all settled on the other side of the river. He had not encountered earlier any settled
land since he travelled from his own home, but all the way waste land was on his
starboard (except fishers, fowlers and hunters, who were all Finns). And the wide sea
was always on his port. The Bjarmians have cultivated their land very well, but they did
not dare go in there. But the Terfinn’s land was all waste except where hunters
encamped, or fishers or fowlers.[28]

The dialects of Middle English c. 1300

Ayenbite of Inwyt[edit]
From Ayenbite of Inwyt ("the prick of conscience"), a translation of a French
confessional prose work into the Kentish dialect of Middle English, completed in 1340: [29]
Nou ich wille þet ye ywite hou hit is ywent
þet þis boc is ywrite mid Engliss of Kent.
Þis boc is ymad vor lewede men
Vor vader and vor moder and vor oþer ken
ham vor to berȝe vram alle manyere zen
þet ine hare inwytte ne bleve no voul wen.
'Huo ase god' in his name yzed,
Þet þis boc made god him yeve þet bread,
Of angles of hevene, and þerto his red,
And ondervonge his zaule huanne þet he is dyad. Amen.
Canterbury Tales[edit]
The beginning of The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories in poetry and prose
written in the London dialect of Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the
14th century:[30]
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open yë
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages),
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
Paradise Lost[edit]
The beginning of Paradise Lost, an epic poem in unrhymed iambic pentameter written in
Early Modern English by John Milton and first published in 1667:
Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
Oliver Twist[edit]
A selection from the novel Oliver Twist, written by Charles Dickens in Modern English
and published in 1838:
The evening arrived: the boys took their places; the master in his cook's uniform
stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him;
the gruel was served out, and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel
disappeared, the boys whispered each other and winked at Oliver, while his next
neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless
with misery. He rose from the table, and advancing, basin and spoon in hand, to the
master, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity—
"Please, sir, I want some more."
The master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied
astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the
copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder, and the boys with fear.
"What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice.
"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more."
The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle, pinioned him in his arms, and
shrieked aloud for the beadle.