Middle English: What kind of a language is it?
Mar 22, 2016
Middle English:What kind of a language is it?
A Brief Review:HOW WE GOT THERE?i.e. HOW MIDDLE ENGLISH CAME INTO EXISTENCE?
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
KEY EVENT:
1204 - Loss of Normandy
English in the 13th century
King Henry III1216-1272
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 as a lingua franca of upper classes.
3.Speaking French was fashionable in the 13th century, but Norman French had much lower prestige than the French spoken in Paris.
The 100 Year’s War 1337-1453
Rise of new middle class
Craftsmen Merchants
Black Death 1349
LET’S GET BACK TO THE INITIAL QUESTION:
WHAT KIND OF A LANGUAGE WAS MIDDLE ENGLISH?
A PERIOD OF MASS BORROWINGS
VOCABULARY
Early French loan words (1066-1250)
baronnobleservantmessengerfeast
ME French loan words: nouns
action adventure numberage air pairbucket calendar personcarpenter city powdercoast comfort rivercost country signcourage coward opinion
ME French loan words: nouns
ease envy povertyerror face reasonnoise fault seasonflower force soundHonor hour usemanner task honor damage debt people
ME French loan words: verbs
advise aim allowapproach arrange arrivebetray change chaseserve comfort complainconceal consider continuecount deceive destroydeclare defeat delaydesire enjoy enter
ME French loan words: verbs
force form increaseinform join supposemarry obey observepay wait pleasepraise prefer proposeprove push receiverefuse relieve rememberwaste satisfy save
ME French loan words: adjectives
able active actualbrief calm certainclear common contrarycourageous cruel curiouseager easy faintfierce final firmforeign gentle hasty
ME French loan words: adjectives
honest horrible innocentlarge natural niceoriginal perfect poorprecious pure realrude safe scarcesecond simple singlespecial stable usual
Government and administration – ME French loan words: government crown stateempire realm authoritycourt parliament assemblytraitor treason exileliberty office mayorprince baron dukesir madam mistress
Church and religion – ME French loan words: religion sermon confessprayer lesson passionchant sacrifice chapterabbey cloister virginsaint miracle mysteryfaith mercy pity
virtue preach pray
Law – ME French loan words:
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 – ME French loan words:
army navy paceenemy battle combatsiege defense ambushretreat soldier guardspy captain besiege
Fashion – ME French loan words:
dress habit fashionrobe coat collarveil mitten adornembellish blue brownfur jewel ivory
Meals and food – ME French loan words:
dinner supper boiltaste appetite salmonbeef veal porksausage bacon gravycream sugar saladfruits orange roastlemon cherry peachspice mustard vinegar
Furniture, social life – ME French loan words:
couch chair screenlamp blanket wardroberecreation leisure dancefool music chessstable retrieve falconforest park tournament
Art, learning, medicine – ME French loan words: 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 wordpoor earmpeople leodguilty scyldigarmy herewarrior cempaair lyftconfess andettanpraise hearian
Semantic differentiation
French loan English wordjudgment doomjudge deemcordial heartypower mightdemand askdesire wishbeef oxpork swineveal calfmutton sheep
Old English verbal prefixes – STILL ACTIVE
for- (German ver-) forget, forbear, forbid
with- (German mit-) withdraw, withhold
to- (German zu-) ---
English derivational morphemes – PRODUCTIVE
-hoodchildhood, likelihood, manhood
-shipfriendship, kinship, hardship
-domfreedom, wisdom, kingdom
Latin and Romance verbal affixes – BORROWED TOGETHER WITH LOAN WORDS
Verbal prefixesinter–, counter–, re–, trans–, anti–, dis–,
Verbal suffixes–able, –ible, –ent, –al, –ous, –ive
Loan words from Latin
adjacent conspiracy contemptcustody distract frustrategenius gesture historyhomicide include incredibleindividual infancy suppressinfinite innate intellect
Loan words from Latin
interrupt legal magnifyminor moderate privatenecessary nervous picturepolite popular preventproject submit prosodyreject summary substitute
Loan words from Flemish, Dutch, Low German
deck dock freightrover booze gineasel etching landscape
GREAT LOSS OF INFLECTIONS AND THE RISE OF FIXED WORD ORDER
MIDDLE ENGLISH MORPHOSYNTAX
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.
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
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
OE Gender
NEUT Þæt scip ‘that.N ship’
MASC se sta:n ‘that.M stone’
FEM seo giefu ‘that.F gift’
Gender: from ‘grammatical’ in OE to ‘biological’ in ME
Gender: predicts what adjectives and pronouns will occur with the noun
anaphora:
PDE: the wife … her… OE: þæt wīf … his ‘its’…
concord: OE: þæt wīf ‘the woman’
Gender: from ‘grammatical’ in OE to ‘biological’ in MEGrammatical gender in OE: conflicts with biological gender, e.g.
þæt wīf ‘wife, woman’ is ‘neuter’ sēo duru ‘door’ is ‘feminine’
“in most cases nothing in the form of the noun itself to indicate it” “overtly realized only in … the concordial relation between a noun and its
modifiers and anaphors.” “the richest and most distinctive marking for nominal categories is on
determiners, the strong adjective declension, and pronouns” and we’re about to see what happened to them... was relaxing even in OE, “the further an anaphor was from its governing
noun”
Ða on þam ehteoðan dæge hi comon þæt cild ymbsniðan, Then on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child
and nemdon hyne his fæder naman Zachariam.and called him his father’s name Zacharias.)
‘Biological’ Gender in ME
“now a system in which sex (or the lack of it) became the primary or sole determinant”: ‘SEX’ (M or F) vs ‘NON-SEX’ (neut.)
as early as the 10th century the change begins in the north and moves south
by 1300, pretty much complete, except in Kent (SE)
OE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
ME DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
ME – gross simplification: that AND this these and those definite article THE (indefinite article
developed from OE number ONE)
OE First And Second Person Pronouns
1. person 2. person
SG PL SG PLSubjObjPoss
ich, Imemine, mi
weusure, our
þu, thouþe, theeþin(e), i
ye, yeyou, eu, youyur(e), your
OE 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
ME PERSONAL PRONOUNS
What happened? new pronouns: they/their/them, she eventual loss of number distinction for
second person once plural ye started to be used as a polite singular (cf. French vous)
accusative and dative distinction lost (usually leveled under dative) OE ðæt middan-eard sy gehæled þurh
hine ME that the world be sauyd by hym
ME PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Context for new pronouns in OE, remember that hī could be
singular: feminine accusative plural: nominative or accusative
in OE, remember that feminine sg. héo masculine sg. hé
by ME, feminine héo would have been converging with masculine hé
ME PERSONAL PRONOUNS
They, their, them from Scandinavian: þeir, þeirra, þeim appear first in the north in the other dialects, we find:
“a gradual southward movement of the þ- paradigm, the native h- type remaining longest in the conservative south”
nominative þ-forms appear first, then the genitive, then the objective case C14th Chaucer has þei, her(e), hem genitive next: C15th London texts vary between her(e) and
their objective last: C15th: Caxton has hem and sometimes
them Why do you think the nominative form hi ‘they’ was
replaced first?
OE Adjectives
OE SG
MASC NEUT FEM
NOMACCGENDATINSTR
tiltil-netil-estil-umtil-e
tiltiltil-estil-umtil-e
til-util-etil-retil-re
ME ADJECTIVES
Adjectives were weak if:• after a determiner (definite article, demonstrative,
possessive pronoun or noun)• in direct address
Adjectives were strong if• without a determiner• in predicate adjective position (“the man is old”)
OE Verbal inflectionOE Present Past Indicative1. Sg sing-e sang2. Sg sing-est sang-e3. Sg sing-eð sangPl. sing-að sung-on
SubjunctiveSg. sing-e sung-ePl. sing-en sung-en
Verbal inflection in Middle English
Person: -s (3rd person)
Number: lost
Tense: -ed / Ablaut
Mood: lost
The Advent of Modal verbs
(1) þat y mowe riche be‘that I may rich be’
ME 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?’
Introduction of 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.’
ME Morphosyntactic Innovations:
Loss of inflectional morphology.
Development of rigid word order.
Development of analytical verb forms.
A (SMALL) STEP TOWARDS MODERN ENGLISH
MIDDLE ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
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
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’
LOSS OF ALOPHONES
New phonemes: voiced fricatives /ð/, /v/, /z/
The situation in OE: voiced fricatives were just allophones of
voiceless fricatives fricatives were voiceless unless they were
between voiced sounds [ð]: oðer [v]: hlāford, hēafod, hæfde [z]: frēosan, ceōsan, hūsian
LOSS OF ALOPHONES
A number of factors promoted the phonemicization of voiced fricatives: loanwords from French: vine (fine), view (few), veal (feel)
but French lacks interdental fricatives or (with a few exceptions) word-initial /z/
dialect mixing: (fox), vixen: southern English dialects
loss of final (vowels in) unstressed syllables OE hūsian [z] -> -> ME house, hous /z/ (cf noun hous /s/)
“voiced consonants require less energy to pronounce”: previously unvoiced fricatives became voiced in words receiving little or no stress in a sentence, like function words: e.g. [f] of -> /v/ e.g. [s] in wæs, his -> /z/ e.g. [θ] in þæt -> /ð/
LOSS OF SHORT VOWELS IN UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES Reduction to /ə/ and eventual loss of
short vowels in unstressed syllables: lexical words: nama -> name, mete ->
meat, nosu > nose, sunu -> son grammar words:
folc(e), niht(e): dative falls in with nominative, accusative
riht(e), freondlic(e): adverb falls in with adjective
lufodon, lufoden: preterite indicative and subjunctive plural fall together
OPEN/CLOSE SYLLABLES AND VOWELS
Why is this interesting? Source of vowel difference in keep and kept, nose and
nostril
OPEN/CLOSE SYLLABLES AND VOWELS
By the end of the ME period, Closed syllables are associated with short
vowels tal-ly remains short cēp-te becomes short
Open syllables are associated with long vowels ta-lu becomes long cē-pan remains long
CHAOS!!!!
MIDDLE ENGLISH SPELLING
Spelling
<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
<þ> and <ð> were gradually replaced by <th>
Spelling
[u] <ou> or <ow>
OE MEhourround
hu howthu thouhus housebrun brown
[x] <gh>
OE MEþoht thoughtriht right
OE MEhwæt whathwil while
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
The most common vowel sound in American English is the "schwa," an "uh" sound produced in the middle of the mouth with the mouth half-open and the tongue hanging slack.
Speech in Chaucer's time required a more open throat, and a more active tongue.
Generally, Middle English "front vowel" sounds like "aee," "ee," "eh," and "ah" shift down one level (e.g., where you'd say "ee" say "eh," etc.).
Middle English "back vowel" sounds like "au," "oo," "oh," and "aw" also shift down one level (where you'd say "au" say "oo," etc.).
Consonants that now are silent often required active tongue, lip, and throat movement to sound them.
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
Assume that every letter counts: /ç/ is still around, /ŋg/ hasn’t become /η/, and you pronounce the <i> in words ending in <-ion> <Knyght> /knɪçt/ <yonge> /jUŋg*/ <specially> /spεsjali/ <condicioun> /kɔndisiun/
Except perhaps for word-initial /h/ in French words! <hostelrye> /ɔsətlriə/
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
Remember that long vowels are pronounced very differently haven’t gone through the Great Vowel
Shift like modern European languages / the
IPA symbols: basically, space /ɑ:/, seke /e/, ryse /i/,
soote /o/, flour /u/
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
So, long <a> /a:/ roughly as in ‘father, car’ <bathed> /ba:ðəd/ <made> /ma:də/ <take> /ta:kə/
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
And <ay> is lower too: roughly /æi/ <day> /dæi/ <lay> /læi/
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
There are 2 ‘long e’s: one from OE /e/ and /eo/, often PDE /e/, later spelled <ee> <slepen> /slepən/ <seke> /sekə/ <degree> /dəgre/
And one from the OE <æ:> that ends up as PDE <ea>. In ME, it’s pronounced like a long version of the ‘e’ in ‘pet’: /ɛ:/, to be spelled <ea> <breeth> /brɛ:θ/ <heeth> /hɛ:θ/ <seson> /sɛ:zun/
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
ME long <i,y> /i/: <shires> /širəz/ <ryse> /rizə/ <devyse> /dəvizə/
ME long <o> /o/: <soote> /sotə/ <roote> /rotə/
ME long <ou> /u/: <shoures> /šurəz/ <flour> /flur/ <resoun> /rɛzun/
READING MIDDLE ENGLISH
BASICALLY, YOU SHOULD READ THE TEXT EXACTLY AS IT WAS WRITTEN!
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340-1400)
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 change of stress pattern• The contact with Old Norse• The loss of an English standard