King Alfred the Great of Wessex played a very significant role in the linguistic evolution of the English language. He organized a defence of Wessex : ⇨ Strategy of war (diplomacy) ⇨ Treaty of Wedmore (agreement with the Danes) Danelaw: Division of England ⇨ Recognised the Danish settlement in certain parts of England ⇨ In the Danelaw regions, the Danes coexisted with the Anglo-Saxons and there were very little problems & confrontations. ( The main effect of Alfred the Great was to ensure the long-term dominance of English. It was the beginning of the English nation.
It took a long time for Scandinavians to penetrate England.

We have no idea how many texts were destroyed during that period. Only a few texts are known. During the 11th century, there was the major process of influence between the Scandinavian languages and English. Ex. : (Sc.) “they” replaced “hi” (A-S) (Sc.) “are” replaced “synth” (A-S) ( In the North, Scandinavian influence was the strongest. At the time of settlement, English, Danish, and Norse were quite similar.

From analysing place names, we know there are significant parallels between Scandinavian languages and English Ex. : Church >< Kurk (still exist in Scotland)
Place names reflect the distribution of the Scandinavian communities in England Ex. : (A-S) Manchester >< Lancaster (Sc.)

The extent of Scandinavian influence on England is shown by the English King Canute (11th century), coming from Scandinavia. In the period that followed, Canute married the widow of the previous English King (Ethelred the Unready, because he was badly advised) ( symbol of peaceful settlement. Hostility declined. There was more and more peace and harmony between the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians. When the Scandinavians arrived, it was a very ferocious time; there was a lot of violence of the Danes.

One of the most important event: the Norman Conquest (beginning 1066). Norman French’s influence on English goes