Accents and Dialects: A history of the English language

You say tomato, I say tomato 🍅 The English language has come a long way since the fall of the Roman Empire, which saw the end of its Latin influence on the Celtic languages spoken in England at the time. When the Germanic tribes settled in the British Isles in the mid-5th century, they brought their Anglo-Frisian dialects along with them, coining the term “Anglo-Saxon“ which is now known as “Olde English“. There were to be more changes before English became the language it is today, however. Scandinavian Vikings travelled over to England during the 8th and 9th centuries, leaving their North German influence on the English language, providing it with words such as ‘ugly’, ‘knife’, ‘die’, and ‘cake’. After the Vikings had left their mark, the Normans set sail for the isles, ready to conquer England in 1066 and in the process graced the language with a few more words as well as making spelling a little harder again. Anglo-Norman stuck, as the upper-class in England at the time were happy speaking it, and so