History Middle English

1 history

1.1 transition old english
1.2 middle english
1.3 14th century
1.4 late middle english

history
transition old english

the latter part of 11th century period of transition late old english middle english.

the influence of old norse helped move english synthetic language towards more analytic or isolating word order, deep change @ grammatical level. eagerness of vikings in danelaw communicate southern anglo-saxon neighbors produced friction led erosion of complicated inflectional word-endings; old norse had greater impact on deep change middle , modern english other language. simeon potter notes: no less far-reaching influence of scandinavian upon inflexional endings of english in hastening wearing away , leveling of grammatical forms gradually spread north south. was, after all, salutary influence. gain greater loss. there gain in directness, in clarity, , in strength .

the strength of viking influence on old english appears fact indispensable elements of language - pronouns, modals, comparatives, pronominal adverbs (like hence , ), conjunctions , prepositions - show marked danish influence; best evidence of scandinavian influence appears in extensive word borrowings for, jespersen indicates, no texts exist in either scandinavia or in northern england time give evidence of influence on syntax. change old english old norse substantive, pervasive, , of democratic character. close cousins, old norse , old english resembled each other, , words in common, understood each other; in time inflections melted away , analytic pattern emerged. important recognise in many words english , scandinavian language differed chiefly in inflectional elements. body of word same in 2 languages endings put obstacles in way of mutual understanding. in mixed population existed in danelaw these endings must have led confusion, tending gradually become obscured , lost. blending of peoples , languages happily resulted in simplifying english grammar.

while influence of scandinavian language strongest in dialects in danelaw region , scotland, spoken words crept language in tenth , eleventh centuries near transition old middle english period, such borrowed words appeared in middle english writing @ beginning of thirteenth century, because of scarcity of literary texts earlier date.

the norman conquest of england in 1066 saw replacement of top levels of english-speaking political , ecclesiastical hierarchies norman rulers spoke old french dialect called old norman, in england developed variety called anglo-norman. norman came use language of polite discourse , literature, , fundamentally altered role of old english in education , administration, though many normans of period illiterate , depended on clergy written communication , record-keeping. large numbers of words of french origin started borrowed english language, existing alongside native english words of similar meaning, giving rise such modern english pairs pig/pork, chicken/poultry, calf/veal, cow/beef, sheep/mutton, wood/forest, house/mansion, worthy/valuable, bold/courageous, freedom/liberty.

the role of anglo-norman language of government , law can seen in abundance of modern english words mechanisms of government derive anglo-norman: court, judge, jury, appeal, parliament. there many norman-derived terms relating chivalric cultures arose in 12th century, era of feudalism , crusading.

sometimes, , particularly later, words taken latin, giving such sets kingly (from old english), royal (from latin through french), regal (direct latin). later french borrowings came standard rather norman french; leads such cognate pairs warden (from norman), guardian (from later french; both of these words in fact derive same germanic word).

the end of anglo-saxon rule did not, of course, change language immediately. general population have spoken same dialects before conquest; these changed until written records of them became available study, varies in different regions. once writing of old english came end, middle english had no standard language, dialects derived dialects of same regions in anglo-saxon period.

early middle english

early middle english (1100–1300) has largely anglo-saxon vocabulary (with many norse borrowings in northern parts of country), simplified inflectional system. grammatical relations expressed in old english dative , instrumental cases replaced in middle english prepositional constructions. old english genitive -es survives in - s of modern english possessive, of other case endings disappeared in middle english period, including of 1 dozen forms of definite article ( ). dual personal pronouns (denoting two) disappeared english during period.

gradually, wealthy , government anglicised again, although norman (and subsequently french) remained dominant language of literature , law until 14th century, after loss of majority of continental possessions of english monarchy. loss of case endings part of general trend inflections fixed word order occurred in other germanic languages, , therefore cannot attributed influence of french-speaking sections of population: english did, after all, remain vernacular. argued norse immigrants england had great impact on loss of inflectional endings in middle english. 1 argument that, although norse- , english-speakers comprehensible each other due similar morphology, norse-speakers inability reproduce ending sounds of english words influenced middle english s loss of inflectional endings.

important texts reconstruction of evolution of middle english out of old english peterborough chronicle, continued compiled 1154; ormulum, biblical commentary composed in lincolnshire in second half of 12th century, incorporating unique phonetic spelling system; , ancrene wisse , katherine group, religious texts written anchoresses, apparently in west midlands in 13th century. language found in last 2 works called ab language.

more literary sources of twelfth , thirteenth centuries include lawman s brut , owl , nightingale

some scholars have defined middle english encompassing english texts 1350. longer time frame extend corpus include many middle english romances (especially of auchinleck manuscript ca. 1330).

14th century

from around 14th century there significant migration london, particularly counties of east midlands, , new prestige london dialect began develop, based chiefly on speech of east midlands, influenced of other regions. writing of period, however, continues reflect variety of regional forms of english. ayenbite of inwyt, translation of french confessional prose work, completed in 1340, written in kentish dialect. best known writer of middle english, geoffrey chaucer, wrote in second half of 14th century in emerging london dialect, although portrays of characters speaking in northern dialects, in reeve s tale .

in english-speaking areas of lowland scotland, independent standard developing, based on northumbrian dialect. develop came known scots language.

late middle english

the chancery standard of written english emerged c. 1430 in official documents that, since norman conquest, had been written in french. chaucer s work, new standard based on east-midlands-influenced speech of london. clerks using standard familiar french , latin, influencing forms chose. chancery standard, adopted slowly, used in england bureaucrats official purposes, excluding of church , legalities, used latin , law french (and latin), respectively.

the chancery standard s influence on later forms of written english disputed, did undoubtedly provide core around modern english formed. modern english emerged of william caxton s printing press, developed during 1470s. press stabilized english through push towards standardization, led chancery standard enthusiast , writer richard pynson. modern english officially began in 1540s after printing , wide distribution of english bible , prayer book, made new standard of english publicly recognizable, , lasted until 1650.