Dominance of English (1348-1509)

- French remained as an official language of England until the mid-14^th century. But since then, English became to get importance: it became the official language of the legal proceedings, and everyone in England spoke English by the end of the 14^th century, displacing French.

- Moreover, as a result of Black Death (1348-1351) –which resulted in death of 1/3 of English population; leading to social chaos, labor shortages, emancipation of peasants, wage increases- there was a decline of importance of the upper classes, who had been essential in retaining French. There was also the emergence of the new middle class of merchants and craftsmen, who became increasingly important in the towns. All this leaded to an increase in the importance of the language spoken by the peasants and the new middle class; this language was English.

- There was also at this time a persistence of dialectal differences, as well as an increase in written English. So, English began to be more common in legal documents than French or Latin (by the 15^th century). London/East Midland dialect became the standard spoken and written language –London was a commercial center, seaport, etc.

- Finally, the apparition of printing press was fundamental to establish English as standard language, both written and spoken. Moreover, printing press contributed to establish the rules to make up the Standard English –remember that there were many dialects at this time in England, and for writing it, there was a strong need of unifying all of them.