html5-img
1 / 12

The English Language in the Middle English Period

The English Language in the Middle English Period. An Introduction. Middle English (1066-1500). Many more texts than OE period No standard variety of English Dates: 1066 Norman Conquest 1100 Round number! 1476 First printing in England (Caxton) 1485 Accession of Henry VII (Tudor)

amayeta
Download Presentation

The English Language in the Middle English Period

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The English Language in the Middle English Period An Introduction

  2. Middle English (1066-1500) • Many more texts than OE period • No standard variety of English • Dates: 1066 Norman Conquest 1100 Round number! 1476 First printing in England (Caxton) 1485 Accession of Henry VII (Tudor) • Germanic, highly inflected ☞ hybrid (many loans), lightly inflected

  3. Chaucer, Reeve’s Tale (late 14th c.): How fare thy fair daughter and thy wife? And John also, how now, what do ye here? Ælfric, Preface to Genesis (late 10th c., modernized characters): Tha wande he ongean to tham cynge. God gesceop us twa eagan and twa earan. • also, literary familiarity (Chaucer, Christmas carols, folk songs, lullabies, nursery rhymes) “30 days hath September”

  4. But! Continuity • OE texts copied in ME period: laws, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, homilies, psalters, medicinal texts, etc. • early ME carol: Sumer is icumen in Spring has come in Lhude sing cuccu- Loudly sing, cuckoo! Groweþ sed and bloweþ med Seed grows and meadow blooms And springþ þe wude nu- And the forest springs up now. Sing cuccu Sing, cuckoo! Awe bleteþ after lomb- Ewe bleats after lamb, Lhouþ after calue cu- Cow lows after calf, Bulluc sterteþ bucke uerteþ Bullock leaps, buck farts, Murie sing cuccu- Merrily sing, cuckoo! Cuccu cuccu- Cuckoo, cuckoo, Wel singes þu cuccu You sing well, cuckoo. Ne swik þu nauer nu- Nor cease you never now! Sing cuccu nu sing cuccu- Sing cuckoo now, sing cuckoo! Sing cuccu sing cuccu nu- Sing cuckoo, sing cuckoo now!

  5. Why were OE texts updated? • Antiquarian interest • Religious texts of practical use for sermons, devotional reading • Ongoing oral tradition between OE and ME - formula, aphorism

  6. Why didn’t English die? • Political dominance usually accompanied by linguistic dominance • By Chaucer’s die, French was foreign again • By 1076, English rebellion crushed - French the language of power (barons, bishops, abbots) • Anglo-Norman French • Kings spent a lot of time in France • Richard I: 6 months in England • William I couldn’t learn English

  7. The Reasons: • Extensive written literature, strong oral tradition • Vibrant vernacular religious tradition • Anglo-Saxon texts in 11th c. manuscripts (Beowulf) • Political uncertainty, continuing French/English strife - brutal occupation in 11th c. ☞☞☞100 Years’ War (1337-1453) - French the • language of the enemy • Not enough Normans in England (10-15,000 of 1.5 million) 3 million by 1300 • Most had no contact with French • Bilingual class (aristocracy, senior clergy, merchants): small • Pressure to learn English: baronial staff, clergy • Few French women came to England - lots of intermarriage - bilingual kids

  8. Lots written in Latin, restricted sphere of French • French used in formal domains (law, literature, arts) but never the sole official language • Role of English sharply defined: second-class in speech, rare in writing • Triglossia: 1 low status, 2 competing high-status languages (cf. Tunisia: French, Classical Arabic, colloquial Arabic) ☞ diglossia (Latin/Eng) ☞ monoglossia • By 1200, noble children speak English, learn French • But by ca. 1350, still very little English writing

  9. The Impact of French • English had to adapt to new functions - no suitable English for many domains • Old English now archaic • Law, architecture, estate management, music, literature - specialized vocabulary • Loans: not individual, but clustered • New words change pronunciation • New spellings • Foreign compounds, idioms, formulas

  10. Expansion of Written English: From Memory to Written Record • Many new churches: more scriptoria, more scribes, more MSS • New monastic rules/guidelines • More preaching, pastoral work (English needed) • Writs/charters: 2,000 in OE period, hundreds of thousands in ME period • Records of apprenticeship, guild membership, military conscription, court records, parish registers, manorial records, tax records, accounts of royal income - mostly Latin, but soon in English

  11. 12th Century Renaissance • New language in theology, philosophy, logic, law, cosmology, medicine, mathematics • Renewal of interest in Classics (Latin, Arabic, Greek) • Translations into English • English secular music/lit: poet-musicians influenced by Continental traditions

  12. From Anglo-Norman to French • 13th c.: French an international language of culture/fashion, but Parisian French - learned as a foreign language • French replaced Latin in administrative settings (court, parliament, business) - persisted into 15th century

More Related