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- The decline of Celtic languages in England was the historical process by which the Celtic languages died out in what is modern-day England. It happened in most of southern Great Britain between about 400 and 1000 AD, but in Cornwall, it was finished only in the 18th century. Prior to about the 5th century AD, most people in Britain spoke Insular Celtic languages (for the most part, specifically Brittonic languages), but Vulgar Latin may have taken over in larger settlements (e.g. Londinium), especially in the southeast, which were administered by the Roman Provincia Britannia. The fundamental reason for the demise of those languages in early medieval England was the migration of Germanic settlers, known as Anglo-Saxons, who spoke West Germanic dialects that are now known collectively as Old English, particularly around the 5th century, during the collapse of Roman power in Britain. Gradually, those Celtic-speakers who did not flee to Brittany or to highland zones within Britain switched to speaking Old English until Celtic languages were no longer extensively spoken in what became England. However, the precise processes by which that shift happened have been much debated, not least because the situation was strikingly different from, for example, post-Roman Gaul, Iberia or North Africa, where Germanic-speaking invaders gradually switched to local languages. Explaining the rise of Old English is therefore crucial in any account of cultural change in post-Roman Britain and in particular to understanding the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. The rise of Old English is an important aspect of the history of English as well as the history of the Celtic languages. Debate continues over whether a mass migration event, resulting in large-scale population shift, is the best explanation for the change seen during that period, or whether a political takeover by a small number of Anglo-Saxons could have driven a settled Brittonic-speaking majority to adopt Old English. Recently, scholars have proposed that both of those processes could have occurred in different regions and at different times. (en)
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