3.2.1 British. The language of England was written down and codified in a relatively straightforward way based on its pronunciation over a thousand years ago. In the 11th to 14th Centuries, during the Middle English period, the phonetic system changed radically. These changes and the wholesale borrowing from Old French and other languages of Europe account for the modern discrepancy between the spoken and written tongue. Staff linguists have developed rules that reflect this relationship for surnames to an amazing extent. There are presently a total of 423 rules at three levels.