Late Modern English (1650 - present day)

As you may already know the exact time of the transition from Early Modern English and Late Modern English is still debated. Some say that the latter began in about 1650, while others continue claiming it was at the beginning of the XIX century.

The thing that we know for certain is that the difference between the two periods is mostly only in vocabulary. Pronunciation, grammar, and spelling didn't change significantly. The cause of this is the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the British Empire that occupied a really large territory, many scientific advancements, etc.

Around 1750 and 1830 Britain experienced great technological developments. People needed many new words to describe the thing they hadn't seen before!

Until the early XVIII century, most people worked in agriculture. That's why the Industrial Revolution had a strong impact on England.

Industrial Revolution

"Spinning Jenny"

A lot of (and even most) inventions of the Industrial Revolution have British origin. For example, the so-called "Spinning Jenny" (an engine for spinning wool or cotton, invented in 1764 or 1765); the first steam engine; the locomotive; the first electrical telegraph; the first-ever factories that began appearing in Britain and then in all over the world, and many others!

Therefore, all those changes and innovations needed to be described. Latin and Greek words started to come to English again: nuclear, bacteria, claustrophobia, protein, electron, oxygen, chromosome, vaccine, etc. + many "-ologies" and "-onomies" appeared: biology, taxonomy, morphology, etc.

With time, more and more new words filled the English language thanks to the creation of new machines, products, and scientific achievements: train, camera, telegraph, engine, telephone, electricity, and so on.

The influence of Latin and Greek can be seen even today in the new vocabulary of the world of computers and science: byte, cyber, micro.

In the XVI century, the British colonialism began, although its height and a real start of the English language spread started after the year 1700. The language began spreading all around the world due to the British new colonies.

At the height of the British Empire (in the late XIX and early XX centuries), Britain ruled one-quarter of the whole earth's surface!

Its presence was in Canada, Australia, the Caribbean, South Africa, Egypt, Singapore, India, the United States.

Already at that time, English was thought to become the language of the world after some centuries (and that was not a mistake).

Appeared such a thing as "New Englishes", varieties of English in the countries where this language isn't native, but it became official or one of them (Australian English, Caribbean English, South African English, et.)

British Empire in 1886

At that time a lot of foreign words emerged in the English language. For example, the words from India - pyjamas, bungalow, jungle, shampoo, and from Australia - kangaroo, boomerang.

British colonization of America is a long story that started in around 1600. The first settlers spoke a similar to Shakespeare's dialect, so that proves that American English is even closer to the English of the Age of Shakespeare than modern British English.

American English kept some words that British English had stopped using. For example, Americans borrowed the word "fall" and continued using it when in Britain a new word came - "autumn". The same happened with the words trash and rubbish, sick and ill, loan to lend, etc.

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language" once said, George Bernard Shaw. But interestingly, later there were thoughts that American English would turn into a completely distinct language. At the end of the XIX century, English linguist Henry Sweet even predicted that England, Australia, and America would have different languages with distinct pronunciation.

The man who is remembered for changing the American accent is Noah Webster.

He was an American lexicographer, English language spelling reformer. He is often also called the Father of American Scholarship and Education.

Webster's surname has become a synonym for "dictionary" in the U.S. (e.g. the modern Merriam-Webster Dictionary published in 1828 is an American Dictionary of the English language)

His famous works also include The American Spelling Book (1788) which was really popular, and The Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806). Noah Webster put a lot of changes in his dictionaries. He preferred spelling that matched pronunciation better:

Noah Webster (1758 – 1843)

theater - theatre center - centre

honor - honour color - colour

traveler - traveller jeweler - jeweller

That's how a New Nation began developing its own language, now known as an American Standard English.

Late Modern English has a huge number of great works in literature. One of the main and most famous writers of that era is Jane Austen who was writing in the early XIX century. Her language of writing appears already quite modern in grammar and vocabulary.

Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1898)

Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley introduced many new words to English, too. For example, Lewis Carroll coined a lot of words by himself. Here are some of them:

chortle = to exclaim with a noisy chuckle (according to the Oxford English Dictionary, Carroll coined this word as a blend of chuckle and snort);
jabberwocky = nonsensical speech or writing;
mimsy = a blend of miserable and flimsy which means careful, feeble, weak, lightweight.

Also, Lewis Carroll is the creator of a portmanteau word that is formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words. Carroll coined a portmanteau word in 1882 and explained it as a phenomenon when 2 meanings pick up in one word.

The most influential works were written in the XX century - by Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, etc.

Films that show the life in Britain during the Industrial Revolution!

Wanna see how was the life in Britain during the Industrial Revolution? Here are some films that show it in a perfect way!

Hard Times

Cranford

1. Hard Times (1994)

TV mini-series showing the life of a family in the Victorian era living in a place in the north of England. A great adaptation of Dickens' eponymous novel.

2. North & South (2004)

A British historical drama serial which tells about a young woman who has to leave her place in the southern England for the northern part of the country. The series show her efforts and struggling to get used to the life in an industrial town.

3. Cranford

British TV series set in the 1840s in the English county of Cheshire in the fictional village of Cranford. The story tells about a group of single middle class women and shows their way of life.

4. Oliver Twist (2005)

Another adaption of Charles Dickens's novel of 1838 of the same name which tells a story of a boy living in a workhouse and then his life in London of the 19th century.

North & South

Oliver Twist

Have you ever watched any of these films or series? Or you know some more which show the life if Britain during the Industrial Revolution?