Middle English

Cnut’s Danish-English Empire 1014-1035

Harold GodwinEarl of Wessex

William of Normandy

The Norman Invasion

1066

Battle of Hastings

• Harold Godwin dies

• Normans pillage southern England

• Christmas 1066: Enthronement of William of Normandy

After the Norman Conquest 1066-1204

William replaces the old English nobility by a new Norman nobility.

Soon, every important position in government, church and at universities was held by a Norman.

Norman property in England and France

1204 Loss of Normandy

English in the 13th century

King Henry III

1216-1272

After loss of Normandy:

French remains the dominant language of the upper classes.

At the end of the 13th century, English is used more commonly by the upper classes.

The growing importance of English

1.Upper classes need to communicate with their people.

2.After the loss of the Normandy, French was no longer needed.

3.Speaking French was fashionable in the 13th century, but Norman French had much lower prestige than the French spoken in Paris.

Early French loan words (1066-1250)

baronnobleservantmessengerfeast

French loan words: nouns

action adventure numberage air pairbucket calendar personcarpenter city powdercoast comfort rivercost country signcourage coward opinion

French loan words: nouns

ease envy poverty

error face reason

noise fault season

flower force sound

Honor hour use

manner task honor

damage debt people

French loan words: verbs

advise aim allow

approach arrange arrive

betray change chase

serve comfort complain

conceal consider continue

count deceive destroy

declare defeat delay

desire enjoy enter

French loan words: verbs

force form increase

inform join suppose

marry obey observe

pay wait please

praise prefer propose

prove push receive

refuse relieve remember

waste satisfy save

French loan words: adjectives

able active actual

brief calm certain

clear common contrary

courageous cruel curious

eager easy faint

fierce final firm

foreign gentle hasty

French loan words: adjectives

honest horrible innocent

large natural nice

original perfect poor

precious pure real

rude safe scarce

second simple single

special stable usual

Government and administration

government crown state

empire realm authority

court parliament assembly

traitor treason exile

liberty office mayor

prince baron duke

sir madam mistress

Church and religion

religion sermon confess

prayer lesson passion

chant sacrifice chapter

abbey cloister virgin

saint miracle mystery

faith mercy pity

virtue preach pray

Law

justice equity judgmentcrime judge attorneybill petition complaintevidence proof bailransom verdict sentenceaward fine punishmentprison accuse indictblame arrest seizepledge condemn convictacquit fraud perjuryproperty estate heirentail just innocent

Army and navy

army navy pace

enemy battle combat

siege defense ambush

retreat soldier guard

spy captain besiege

Fashion

dress habit fashion

robe coat collar

veil mitten adorn

embellish blue brown

fur jewel ivory

Meals and food

dinner supper boiltaste appetite salmonbeef veal porksausage bacon gravycream sugar saladfruits orange roastlemon cherry peachspice mustard vinegar

Furniture, social life

couch chair screen

lamp blanket wardrobe

recreation leisure dance

fool music chess

stable retrieve falcon

forest park tournament

Art, learning, medicine

art painting beautycolor figure imagetone cathedral ceilingtower porch baycolumn vase poetrime story paperpen study logicgeometry grammar nounclause copy medicinestomach ointment poison

Loss of Germanic words

French borrowing Lost English word

poor earmpeople leodguilty scyldigarmy herewarrior cempaair lyftconfess andettanpraise hearian

Semantic differentiation

French loan English word

judgment doomjudge deemcordial heartypower mightdemand askdesire wishbeef oxpork swineveal calfmutton cheep

Old English verbal prefixes

for- (German ver-) forget, forbear, forbid

with- (German mit-) withdraw, withhold

to- (German zu-) ---

English derivational morphemes

-hoodchildhood, likelihood, manhood

-shipfriendship, kinship, hardship

-domfreedom, wisdom, kingdom

Romans verbal affixes

Verbal prefixesinter–, counter–, re–, trans–, anti–, dis–,

Verbal suffixes–able, –ible, –ent, –al, –ous, –ive

The 100 Year’s War 1337-1453

Rise of new middle class

Craftsmen Merchants

Black Death 1349

Loan words from Latin

adjacent conspiracy contempt

custody distract frustrate

genius gesture history

homicide include incredible

individual infancy suppress

infinite innate intellect

Loan words from Latin

interrupt legal magnify

minor moderate private

necessary nervous picture

polite popular prevent

project submit prosody

reject summary substitute

Loan words from Flemish, Dutch, Low German

deck dock freight

rover booze gin

easel etching landscape

Middle English Grammar

Old English is a highly inflectional language. Middle English has very little morphology.

The structure of Middle English is radically different from the structure of Old English.

Spelling

<þ> and <ð> were gradually replaced by <th>

<k> for [k] <sh> for [S] <ch> for [tS]

Old Engl. Middle E. Old Engl. Middle E. Old Engl. Middle E.

cyssancneowcene

kisskneekeen

scamuscearp

shamesharp

cildceapcinn

childcheapchinn

Spelling

[u] <ou> or <ow>

OE MEhourround

hu howthu thouhus housebrun brown

[x] <gh>

OE MEþoht thoughtriht right

OE MEhwæt whathwil while

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-dental

Inter-dental

Alveolar

Alveola-palatal

Velar

Stop p b t d k gAffricate tS

dZFricative f v T D s z S Z hNasal m nLateral lRetroflex rGlide w y

Phonological changes

vine (Fr.) fine (Fr.)

view (Fr.) few (Engl.)

vile (Fr.) file (Engl.)

Phonological changes

[hu:zian] > [hu:zia] > [hu:z] ‘to house’ V

[hu:s] [hu:s] ‘a house’ N

life liveknife knives

bath bathebreath breathe

Vowels

Long vowels

i: u:

e: o:

a:

Short vowels

i u e @ o

a

Diphthongs

[iu] trewe ‘true’[Eu] fewe ‘few’[au] clawe ‘claw’[Ou] bowe ‘bow’[ai] dai ‘day’[Ui] point ‘point’[Oi] chois ‘choice’

Geoffrey Chaucer

(1340-1400)

Chaucer.aiff

Morphosyntactic changes

1.Simplification of inflection/morphology

2.Emergence of new grammatical devices:

a. analytical verb forms

b. rigid word order

Noun declension

Old English

SG SG

NOM stan stan-as

GEN stan-es stan-a

DAT stan-e stan-um

ACC stan stan-as

Noun declension

Old English Middle English

SG SG SG PL

NOM stan stan-as stan stan-es

GEN stan-es stan-a stan-es stan-es

DAT stan-e stan-um stan stan-es

ACC stan stan-as stan stan-es

Function of morphological case markers

(1) Peter’s car

(2) Der Mann gibt dem Jungen den Stift.

Noun declension

Old English Middle English

SG SG SG PL

NOM stan stan-as stan stan-es

GEN stan-es stan-a stan-es stan-es

DAT stan-e stan-um stan stan-es

ACC stan stan-as stan stan-es

Noun declension

South Old English Middle English

SG SG PL SG PL

NOM eag-a eag-an eye eye-n

GEN eag-an stan-ena eye-s eye-n

DAT eag-an stan-um eye eye-n

ACC eag-an stan-an eye eye-n

Relics of the -en plural in EME

EME PDEeyen ‘eyes’shoon ‘shoes’hosen ‘hose’housen ‘houses’peasen ‘peas’

Relics of the -en plural in ME

oxenchildrenbrethren

Gender

NEUT Þæt scip ‘that.N ship’

MASC se sta:n ‘that.M stone’

FEM seo giefu ‘that.F gift’

Demonstrativesthat/the Masc Neut

NOM se þæt

GEN þæs þæs

DAT þæm þæ:m

ACC þone þæt

INST þy: þy:

SG PL

proximal this these

distal that those

Third person pronouns

3SG M 3SG F 3 SG N 3 PL

SubjObjPoss

hehimhis

heo, schehire, herhir(e), her(e)

hit, ithit, it, himhis

he, hi, theihem, themhere, thair

First and second person pronouns

1. person 2. person

SG PL SG PL

SubjObjPoss

ich, Imemine, mi

weusure, our

þu, thouþe, theeþin(e), i

ye, yeyou, eu, youyur(e), your

Adjectives

OE SG

MASC NEUT FEM

NOMACCGENDATINSTR

tiltil-netil-estil-umtil-e

tiltiltil-estil-umtil-e

til-util-etil-retil-re

Verbal inflectionOE Present Past

Indicative

1. Sg sing-e sang

2. Sg sing-est sang-e

3. Sg sing-eð sang

Pl. sing-að sung-on

Subjunctive

Sg. sing-e sung-e

Pl. sing-en sung-en

Verbal inflection in Middle English

Person: -s (3rd person)

Number lost

Tense -ed / Ablaut

Mood lost

Grammatical innovations

Morphological cases were replaced by new word order patterns.

Tense and mood affixes were replaced by new analytical verb forms.

Word order in main clauses

Middle English(2) In the contre of Ethyop they slen here childeryn byforn here goddys.

‘In the country of Ethiopia they slay their children in front of their gods.’

Old English(1) Þa eode se biscop into þa oþaere cyrcanthen went the bishop into that other church

‘Then the bishop went into the other church.’

Word order in main clauses

Nowe haue ye herde þe vertues & þe significacouns.

‘Now have you heard the virtues and the meanings.’

(1) Never has Peter talked to him.(2) Under no circumstance would she talk to him.(3) Only on the weekend does he have time to cook

dinner.

Word order in subordinate clauses

(1) … þat ðu þis weork naht ne forlate.‘… that you this work not (not) neglect.’

(2) If a man will þe harme… ‘If a man wants (to) you harm… .’

Word order in questions

(1) Woot ye not where ther stanta litel toun …know you not where there stand a little town‘Don’t you know where the little town is?

(2) Why make ye youreself for to be lyk a fool?Why makeyou yourself for to be like a fool‘Why do you make a fool of yourself?’

Analytical verb forms

Future will catchPerfect have caughtPassive is caughtProgressive is catchingModal verbs can / may / must catch

Future

and swiche wolle have the kyngdom of helle, and not of hevene.

‘and such will have the kingdom of hell, and not of heaven’

Perfect

(1) Ic hæbbe [þo-ne fisc gefange-ne]I have the-ACC fish caught-ACC‘I have the fish caught’ (=I have the fish in a state of being caught)

Perfect

(1) thin geleafa hæfth the gehæled.your faith has you healed‘Your faith has healed you.’

(2) Ac hie hæfdon þa… hiora mete genotudne.but they had then… their food used-up‘But they had then used up their food.’

Perfect

(1) a. Peter has a fish caught. (Peter has a caught fish)

b. Peter has caught a fish.

Perfect

(1) þou hauest don oure kunne wo‘You have done our family woe.’

(2) I am com to myne ende.‘I have come to my end.’

Passive

Vorgangspassive: wesenZustandspassive weorthan

[men] that wol nat be governed by hir wyves.

‘[men] that will not be governed by their wives.’

Progressive

Participle

(1) For now is gode Gawayn goande ryght here.For now is good Gawain going right here.

Gerund

(2) I am yn beldyng of a pore hous.

‘I am in (the process of) building a poor house.’

(1) Below you see a summary of Grimm’s law. What does Grimm’s law describe?

*p t k > f D x/h*b d g > p t k*bh dh gh > b d g

(2) Explain how Latin influenced English in the OE period.(3) Characterize the basic word order of OE.(4) Characterize the vocabulary that English borrowed from

Old Norse.(5) What is the historical source of the present perfect in Modern English?(6) Characterize the major developmental changes in the English grammar during the ME period.

Perfect

(1) Ic hæbbe [þo-ne fisc gefange-ne]I have the-ACC fish caught-ACC‘I have the fish caught’ (=I have the fish in a state of being caught)

Grammatical innovations

Loss of inflectional morphology.

Development of rigid word order.

Development of analytical verb forms.

Word order in main clauses

Middle English(2) In the contre of Ethyop they slen here childeryn byforn here goddys.

‘In the country of Ethiopia they slay their children in front of their gods.’

Old English(1) Þa eode se biscop into þa oþaere cyrcanthen went the bishop into that other church

‘Then the bishop went into the other church.’

Word order in main clauses

Nowe haue ye herde þe vertues & þe significacouns.

‘Now have you heard the virtues and the meanings.’

(1) Never has Peter talked to him.(2) Under no circumstance would she talk to him.(3) Only on the weekend does he have time to cook

dinner.

Future

and swiche wolle have the kyngdom of helle, and not of hevene.

‘and such will have the kingdom of hell, and not of heaven’

Passive

Vorgangspassive: wesenZustandspassive weorthan

[men] that wol nat be governed by hir wyves.

‘[men] that will not be governed by their wives.’

Modal verbs

(1) þat y mowe riche be‘that I may rich be’

(1) *Do I may go home(2) *I do not may go home.(3) *I may to go.(4) *I am maying go home.

Was Middle English a creole?

(Baugh & Cable p.125)

Middle English was not a creole:

The development of Middle English was very different from the development of a creole language.

Although Middle English has very little morphology, it has complex syntactic structures and an intricate phonological system.

The discussion about the creolization of English demonstrates how radically English changed in Middle English:

1. different vocabulary

2. different grammar

What led to the grammatical changes?

The Norman Conquest had a significant effect on the English vocabulary, but did it also affect the English grammar?

Why did English grammar change so much?

• The stress pattern

• The contact with Old Norse

• The loss of an English standard

Middle English Dialects

And one of theym named Sheffelde, a mercer,

cam in-to an hows and axed for mete; and

specyaly he axyd after eggys. And the goode

wyf answered, that she coude speke no

frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he

also coude speke no frenshe, but wolde have

hadde egges, and she understode hym not.

And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he

wolde have eyren.

Middle English Dialects

South eyr-enNorth egg-es

South –eth lovethNorth –es loves

South –inde lovindeNorth –ande lovande

South hi, here, hemNorth they

What distinguishes a language

from a dialect?

Languages and Dialects

Scandinavian languages

Chinese

Dialects

Dialects vs. Languages

The distinction between the terms language

and dialect is based on a variety of criteria: 1.

linguistic (mutual intelligibility), 2. political, 3.

social, 4. cultural.

Regional transitions are fluid