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The Power of English
Melvyn Bragg
goes to Edinburgh and the house of John Knox, the great Scottish
apostle of the Reformation, who preached in English. Latin was
replaced by English as the language of the Church when Henry
VIII broke with Rome. The 1611 King James version of the Bible
in English was read in churches and schools throughout the land.
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the free to hear the clips.
Scots
The kind of
English that was spoken and written in the 200 years following
the introduction of the printing press in 1474 was very similar
to the present day's. In fact English was becoming the national
language, reflecting King James IV of Scotland's decision to
move to London in 1603 when he ascended the English throne,
taking his nobles with him. They began to learn English but,
back home, they still spoke Scots - an alternative form of English
derived from the northern variant of Anglo-Saxon. Scots bears
no relation to Gaelic, the other native language of Scotland
though, as Derrick McClure of Aberdeen University points out,
Scots has borrowed words from Gaelic. 
English
begins to take over
This was the
time when English really began to triumph. It had already become
the language of court and government, replacing the earlier
Norman French. Now it also took over from Latin as the language
of the Church. But, strange as it may seem today, English was
slower in displacing Latin in the field of science. There was
still a lingering feeling that it lacked the necessary authority,
as Dr Kathryn Lowe of Glasgow University explains.
How
did people speak then?
We can read
the poweful and poetic language of the King James Bible, which
has had a profound influence on so many of the greatest writers
in English, and we can marvel at the richness and creativity
of William Shakespeare's English. But what did it sound like?
How did people actually speak in those days? We can get some
clues, suggests Professor Peter Holland of Birmingham University,
from the vivid, naturalistic dialogue that Shakespeare wrote
for his characters.
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