Middle English: Linguistic Situation

After the Norman Conquest: French became the official language of administration (it was used in the king’s court, in the law courts, in the church (as well as Latin), in the army, by the nobles in the south of England). It was also used as a language of writing and teaching as well as Latin. English was the language of common people in the Midlands and in the north of England. It still remained the language of the majority who were the representatives of the lower classes of society and never learned French, so the Norman barons had to learn English to be able to communicate with locals. Celtic Dialects were still used by the Celtic population in the remote areas of the country. Actually, during the presence of the Normans the country experienced the period of bilingualism (French and English were both used in the country and started to intermix, i.e. a lot of the French words crept into the Middle English Dialects and it came to resemble present-day English a lot). The Norman and the English drew together in the course of time and intermixed. French lost its popularity due to the fact that it was not the language of the majority and could not be used to communicate with local people. English regained its leading position with time and became accepted as the official language. The proofs are:

The Parliamentary Proclamation of 1258 – Henry the 3^rd addressed the councilors in Parliament in French, Latin and English. 1)In the 14^th – 15^th c. legal documents (wills, municipal acts, petitions, etc.) started to be issued in English. 2)1364 – Parliament was opened with an address in English.

1399 – Henry the 4^th accepted the throne and made a speech in English. 3)Translations of the documents written in French into English.

Thus in the 14^th c. English becomes the language of literature and administration.

Dialects: Kentish →Kentish Dialect, West Saxon →South-Western Dialect (East Saxon Dialect, London Dialect, Gloucester Dialect), Mercian →Midland Dialects (West Midland Dialect, East Midland Dialect), Northumbrian → Northern Dialects ( Yorkshire Dialect, Lancashire Dialect)

The most important dialect in the Middle English period was the LONDON DIALECT.

London Dialect In the 12^th -13^th c. the London Dialect became the literary language and the standard, both in written and spoken form. The reasons why this happened: 1)The capital of the country was transferred from Winchester, Wesses, to London a few years before the Norman Conquests. 2) The East Saxon Dialect, that was the basis of the London Dialect got, became the most prominent in the Middle English period. 3)Most writers and authors of the Middle English period used the London Dialect in their works.

Features of the London Dialect: 1) The basis of the London Dialect was the East Saxon Dialect 2) The East Saxon Dialect mixed with the East Midland Dialect and formed the London Dialect. 3) Thus the London Dialect became more Anglican than Saxon in character à The London Dialect is an Anglican dialect.

 

7. Principal OE & ME written records

Alphabets The first Old English written records are considered to be the runic inscriptions. To make these inscriptions people used the Runes/the Runic Alphabet – the first original Germanic Alphabet. Runes/Runic Alphabet: 1) appeared in the 3^rd – 4^th c. A.D.; 2) it was also called Futhark (after the first 6 letters of this alphabet); 3) the word “rune” meant “secret, mystery” and was used to denote magic inscriptions on objects made of wood, stone, metal; 4) each symbol indicated a separate sound (one symbol = one sound); 5) the symbols were angular due to the fact that they had to be carved on hard materials; 6) the number of symbols: GB – 28-33; on the continent – 16-24).

Best known Runic Inscriptions: Franks Casket – a box with 4 sides made of whale bone, each side contained a picture in the centre and runic inscriptions around the picture that told the story of the whale bone in alliterative verse. Ruthwell Cross – was found near thevillage of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, it is a 15 feet tall stone cross ornamented in all sides with runic inscriptions that are actually a passage from a religious poem “The Dream of the Rood”. Old English Alphabet The Old English Alphabet was borrowed from Latin, but there were also some letters that were borrowed from the Runic Alphabet:? (“thorn”) = [q] and [ð],? (“wynn”) = [w],? (“mann”) = stood for OE word “man”? (“dæζ”) = stood for OE word “day”,

Some new letters were introduced:

ζ = [g] and [j]; ð/þ/Đ/đ = [q] and [ð]; æ = a ligature of [a] and [e]; œ = a ligature of [o] and [e].

Rules of Reading: They resemble the modern rules, with several exceptions though:

f = [v] -1. between vowels; s = [z] 2. between a vowel and a voiced consonant ([r, m, n, l, d,]).

ð/þ = [ð]

ζ – [j] – between and after front vowels ([e, i, æ]);

– [g] – initially and between back vowels ([a, o, u]).

1)cζ = [gg]. 2)c = [k].3)n = [ŋ] when fallowed by [k] or [g].

Old English Manuscripts Most of the Old English manuscripts were written in Latin characters. The Latin Alphabet was modified by the scribes to suit the English language. The Old English manuscripts that give us the examples of the language of that period are:1)personal documents containing names and place names; 2)legal documents (charters); 3)glosses to the Gospels and other religious texts (Latin-English vocabularies for those who did not know Latin good enough to understand the texts); 4)textual insertions (pieces of poetry). Old English Poetry 1. Among the earliest textual insertions in Old English are the peaces of Old English poetry. They are to be found in “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” written in Latin in the 8^th c. by Bede the Venerable, an English monk. These two pieces are: 1)5 lines know as “Bede’s Death Song”; 2)9 lines of a religious poem “Cædmon’s Hymn”. 2. All in all we have about 30 000 lines of OE verse from many poets, but most of them are unknown or anonimuos. The two best known Old English poets are Cædmon and Cynewulf (Northumbrian authors). 3. The topics of Old English poetry: 1) heroic epic (“Beowulf”, the oldest in the Germanic literature, 7^th c., was written in Mercian or Northumbrian but has come down to us only in a 10^th c. West Saxon copy. It is based on old legends about the tribal life of the ancient Teutons and features the adventures and fights of the legendary heroes); 2) lyrical poems (“The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, etc. Most of the poems are ascribed to Cynewulf); 3) religious poems (“Fate of the Apostles” (probably Cædmon), “Dream of the Rood”, etc.). 4. The peculiarities of Old English poetry: 1)written in Old Germanic alliterative verse: a) the lines are not rhymed; b)the number of the syllables in a line is free; c)the number of stressed syllables in a line is fixes; d)the line is usually divided into 2 halves, each half starts with one and the same sound; this sound may be repeated also in the middle of each half; e)a great number of synonyms and metaphorical phrases or compounds describing the qualities or functions of a thing.

 

Spelling changes in ME

The most conspicuous features of Late ME texts in comparison with OE texts is the difference in spelling. The written forms of the words in Late ME texts resemble their modern forms, tough the pronunciation of the words was different.

Major spelling changes in ME.

1. Runic letters – thorn Þ, d, đ → digraph ‘TH’.

2. the rune ‘wynne’ → ‘double u’ – w;

3. the ligatures œ, æ fell into disuse.

4. the use of g, c as [dg], [s] – before

front vowel; [g], [k] – before back vowel.

5. sh, ssh, sch → [∫];

6. hw → wh: Eg: hwæt – what - replacement.

7. long sound – double letters. Eg: book.

8. gh [x], [x’] to distinguished between the fricatives; [xx’] and the aspirate [h] Eg: knyhte [knix’t], he [he].

9. o → [o],

[u] + n, m, v. Eg: OE munuc – ME monk.

10. y → [i] – eg: nyne, very, my.

[j] – at the beginning: eg: yet.

11. w-interchangeable with ‘u’ in ‘ou’, ‘au’. Eg: ME down – down [dun];

how [hu].

12. th, s are voiced between vowels: eg:

worthy [wurđi];

are voiceless – initially, finally: less.

Rules of Reading: They resemble the modern rules, with several exceptions though:

1. g = [dζ] c = [s] before front vowels ([i,e]

g = [g]c = [k] before back vowels ([a, o, u]). 2. y = [j] – at the beginning of the word;

= [i] – in the cases when i stood close together with r, n, m and could be confused with one of these letters or could be lost among them, it was replaced with y, sometimes also for decorative purpose.(e.g. nyne [‘ni:nə], very [‘veri]). 3. th = [ð], s = [z] between vowels.

4. o = [o] – in most cases;

= [u] – in the words that have [Λ] sound in Modern English (e.g. some, love) 5. j = [dζ]

 

 

9. OE sound system. Vowel & consonant changes in OE.

The OE vowel system. Major changes during the OE period.

1)Short: [ĭ, ĕ, æﬞ, ŭ, ŏ, ă] - ĭ, ŭ – high, ĕ, ŏ – mid,

æﬞ, ă – low.

2)Long: [ī, ē, æ‾, ū, ō, ā]

This system existed before breaking took place in the 5^th cent. BREAKING is a process which led to the split of the short front vowels into diphthongs.

Early OE OE eg.

Before ll æﬞ → ea all → eall

h + other cons. æﬞ: → ea: nah → neah

r + other cons ĕ → eo herza - heorte

æ - ea arm - earm

Diphthongization: after the palatal consonant (k’), (sk’) and (j) short and long [e] and [æ] turned into diphthongs ie or ea (scal – sceal, jār - jēar);

I-MUTATION (i-umlaut) it took place in all Germanic languages in VI – VIII cent, except Gothic. It is a case of regressive assimilation with –i- or semivowel ‘j’. Eg: kuning – c y ning (король), fulljan – fūllan (fill – full). fōti – fōel (foot). We find traces of i-mutation in: foot – feet, goose – geese, blood – bleed. 4 new phonems appear y‾˘, œ‾˘ Palatal mutation led to the grouth of new vowel interchanges and to increase variability of the root morphemes. Back mutation (o, u, a –umlaud) took place in the 8^th cent. It influenced front short vowels → appearance of short diphthongs. Phonetically it’s regressive assimilation. I → io Eg: hefon → heofon (heaven). e → eo æ → æα

OE consonants underwent the following changes:

1)Hardening (the process when the soft cons becomes harder) – usual initially and after nasals [m,n] (ð-d, v-b, j-g) 2)Voicing (the proc. When a voiceless cons becomes voiced in certain position):- intervocally, - between a vowel and a voiced cons. and sonorant. [f,θ,h,s – v,ð,g,z]

3) Rhotacism (a pr. When [z] turns into [r] maize Goth – mara OE (more))

4) Gemination (a pr. Of doubling a consonant after a short vowel (as a result of palatal mutation)) settan OE – set, fullan – fill

5) Palatalization of consonants (a pr. when hard vowels become soft) – before a front vowel and sometimes after a front vowels [d,j,k,h – g’,j’,k’,h’]

6) Loss of consonants: The loss of nasals before fricatives:

Eg: fimf (OE)> fif (five); loss of [j] as a result of palatal mutation; fricatives between vowels and some plosives;