High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The phonological history of English describes changing phonology of the English language over time, starting from its roots in proto-Germanic to diverse changes in different dialects of modern English.The time periods for many of the following stages are extremely short due to the extensive population movements occurring during the early AD period, which resulted in rapid dialect fragmentation:The migration of the Goths from southeast Sweden to the Baltic Sea area around AD 1, followed by the migration to southeast Romania around AD 200. The migration of the High German ancestors southward, starting around AD 260, and renewed in the 5th century AD. The migration of the Anglo-Saxons westward into Britain, starting around AD 450.