Dictation (23.10.09)
1. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
English has changed so greatly that a speaker of 1300 would not have understood the English of 1500 nor that of today. Changes of every sort have taken place in sounds, distribution and grammar. Although the pronunciation has changed greatly since the 15th century, the spelling has altered very little over the same period. As a result, English spelling is not a reliable guide to the pronunciation of the language. Many common modern words are derived from the lexicon of the earliest English, from words acquired with Latin Christianity and those from Nordic settlers. French words were introduced shortly before the Norman Conquest and the
influence of classical languages that began with the Renaissance has continued ever since.
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