Early Modern English

This article is about the stage of the language. For the historical period, see Early Modern Britain.

Early Modern English
Shakespeare's English, King James English
English
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 132 in the 1609 Quarto
Native toEngland, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and English overseas possessions
EraEarly modern period; developed into Modern English in the late 17th century
Early forms
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
ISO 639-6emen
GlottologNone
IETFen-emodeng
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Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModE[1] or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle English, in the late 15th century, to the transition to Modern English, in the mid-to-late 17th century.[2]

Before and after the accession of James I to the English throne in 1603, the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written Middle Scots of Scotland.

The grammatical and orthographical conventions of literary English in the late 16th century and the 17th century are still very influential on modern Standard English. Most modern readers of English can understand texts written in the late phase of Early Modern English, such as the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare, and they have greatly influenced Modern English.

Texts from the earlier phase of Early Modern English, such as the late-15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) and the mid-16th-century Gorboduc (1561), may present more difficulties but are still closer to Modern English grammar, lexicon and phonology than are 14th-century Middle English texts, such as the works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

  1. ^ For example, Río-Rey, Carmen (9 October 2002). "Subject control and coreference in Early Modern English free adjuncts and absolutes". English Language and Linguistics. 6 (2). Cambridge University Press: 309–323. doi:10.1017/s1360674302000254. S2CID 122740133. Archived from the original on 21 February 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  2. ^ Nevalainen, Terttu (2006). An Introduction to Early Modern English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press