Why Is Old English A Universal Language

English; the Universal Language Today, the English language is one of the most widespread languages on the planet, but to that it originated from a small, gloomy, rainy island that Julius Caesar thought would not amount to anything, is pretty difficult to believe. As time went on, and influential people came and went, and important events took place, the language changes tremendously from it’s Old English origin. The biggest visible change in the language occured between Old and Middle English as a whole other language was combined with English. The Modern era gave light to more concrete spelling and literacy as learning became more widespread and readily accessible. Although the English language has gone through immense transformation over time, its can be distinctly divided into three periods; Old English, Middle

In 1456, Johann Gutenberg printed the first book using the printing press but it was not until 1476 that the first book was printed in England by William Caxton. “William Caxton brought printing to England in 1474. From that time on, English spelling became more fixed and gre less and less phonetic” (379). Although many dialects existed, Caxton spoke and printed in East Midlands, making it the dominant form. It was him who standardized spelling and syntax of words. The printing press causes widespread literacy due to the fact that books were now more affordable and learning was no longer limited to only the elite of society. One of the more inexplicable moments of this period was the vowel shift. Nobody is 100% sure why it happened, but it is thought to be caused by the human tongue moving forward in the mouth causing the pronunciation of vowels to change. Just like in Middle English, Modern English also had an extremely influential writer in the form of William