Have grammar rules changed through the history of the English language?

Question

When I want to know what form a word has say in 12th century (end Old English, begin Middle English), 14th century (end Middle English), or any other time in England history, I only need to track the word's etymology, and I've got the evolution of said word. But what about the grammar? Should I assume similar rules as the current ones? Is there also any consideration depending of the caste of the person speaking, such as a peasant in comparison to a clergyman or a noble? Is there any interesting reading or online resources on the subject I should know about? (If the scope of the question is too broad, area of interest are 12th century and 14th century.)

Answer 1

Grammar is on a constant course of evolution as linguists debate on the functioning of English and the proper usages. Grammar is beyond the eight parts of speech--nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions--it goes into how our language functions as a whole: noun-verb agreement, punctuation, tenses of the verbs, and a lot more. Many of today's rules are rules that progressed over time. Take for example the word "ain't." Persons use it every day. Ain't originated as the contraction of have not while an't was for am not (Curzan, 40), (Curzan, Anne; Adams, Michael. How English Works. Pearson Education Inc., 2012) later in time, when the United States was born, the evolution of ain't was born as the two pronunciations crossed ties and an't dissipated. Linguists argue over how ain't is appropriately used. Some say it is the ultimate contraction that has multiple purposes while some disagree. Personally, I shy away from it. This is just an example of English's history of evolution. I hope I have given you a clarification of how English is constantly changing, not just by words of the past but by the acceptance of new words. Kyle