Middle English: the non-standard period

1. What were the specific roles of English and French in the Early ME society?

Context: 1066 Battle of Hastings → William the Conqueror

→ English Nobles replaced by Normans- the leaders= most influential sector of society

- Most of the Church leaders French as well

- but mass of the inhabitants of England= English-speaking peasants

French- language of upper class for more than 200 years

- Marked class more than national identity

- French used in writing

- Bilingualism (French landowners in isolated areas, Engl. /Fr. intermarriages among lesser nobility)

→ French used on the top and English on the bottom of the social scale

2. What were the major factors for re-emergence of English in the Early ME period?

• 1234 - bishop protest at Winchester = dismissal of foreigners
  • dind't last long, soon returned but there were tensions
  • 1258 - Henry III - Provisions of Oxford
    • first proclamation since the Norman Conquest issued in French, Latin as well as English
    • meant to promote power-sharing between the barons and the king (recognition of parliament)
    • not accepted by the king = Barons' War (1258-1265)

• Edward I
  • most office-holders English
  • changes in attitude towards English
    • knowledge of English = mark of an Englishman
    • English common language in all parts of the population (due to the merge of Norman French with the native population)
    • Of Arthur and of Merlin (before 1325) (translated): But every Englishman knows English./ Many a noble I have seen/ Who could not speak French.

• consequences
  • decline of French - there were attempts to hold this decline
    • University of Oxford forced students to learn both English and French
    • Canterbury and Westminster novices forbidden to use English
    • French a foreign language

• English as a written language, the use of English in courts and Parliament established in the middle of the 14th century
• 15th century - English in private and public use; French still present in the Court and upper class

6.Sum up the main changes to English orthography in the Early ME period and explain their origins. • the first orthographic system connected with West Saxon was still used but grew outdated • new conventions began to shift → French influence • even though there were general effects of the changes no standard emerged in the early ME Changes: • Non Latin letters in disuse o <ʒ> → <g> and <i> o <p> and <ð> replaced by <th> o <ae> interchanged with <a> or <e> • <u; uu; w> are now used instead of Wynn <p> • <y> used as a consonant for <j> • <ʒ> fully retirád • <k> began to be used especially where <c> + <e; i> would lead to misinterpreation as <s> instead of <k> • OE grapheme combinantion <hw> →<wh> → thanks to the influence which used <h> as a diacritic in combinations such as -th, -ch etc. • in North and East Anglia <qu; u> and east Midlands <w> were also used for <hw> • <c> and <sc> were replaced by French <ch> and <sch> Changes in vowels: • more challenging because of the great variety of pronunciations • OE /y/ → <e> in Southeast BUT! in Soutwest rounding was reatained → the French<u; ui; uy> occured • high back rounded /uː/ was spelled as <ou> in French fashion • OE raising of /a/ led to the use of <o> or <oo> Ormulum o 12th century East Midlands work; poetry; it wasn't praised because of its quality (used 15 beats iambic pentameter and it didn't rhyme) o provides evidence of Old Norse in ME; includes English-Danish couplets o the use of spelling indicates the author's pronunciation :  short and long vowels are differentiated here  short vowels - followed by double consonant-letters:follc  long vowels - followed by only one consonants letters:god  such differentiation also indicates that this OE concept was lost