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

4. Comment on the loss of /w/ and /h/ in the early ME period.

• postconsonantal /w/ disappeared before backround vowels, e.g. it disappeared in combinations such as /sw-/, which lead to so (as opposed to swā) or sword /sɔːd/ ( as opposed to sweord).

• the loss of /h/, also known as h dropping, appeared in consonant clusters such as /hr-/, /hn-/ and /hl/ and before consonants as in (right), but it has been mostly retained before vowels. Dropping pre-vocalic /h/ is seen as violating the norms of good English (typical in Cockney ´ous instead of house). ! Initial prevocalic /h/ was not pronounced (and thus was ommited from writing) in loan woards (houre x oure - PDE hour).

5. Explain the principal mechanisms of short vowel lengthening and long vowel shortening in Middle English.

Changes in the vowel system in the ME period:

• /l, r, n, m/ + voiced consonant → vowel lengthening / diphthongization
  • cild “child” – original /i/ → /iː/ (later → /aı/

- but did not occur if a third consonant followed cildru “children” - /i/

• ē before double consonants → shortened
  • mētan – mētte → “meet” – “met”

• Open syllable lengthening - general lengthening of vowels in open syllables (especially in the South)
  • /a/ as in faren “fare” → /ɑː/ in open syllables
  • /ɛ/ as in spere “spear” → /ɛː/ in open syllables
  • /ɔ/ as in boren “borne” → /ɔː/ in open syllables

consequence – today phonologically short vowels - /ɪ, e, æ, ɒ, ʊ, ʌ/ do not occur in open syllables

• More unstressed vowels – realized as schwa or lost in final position

late OE (Wessex) early 14th century (East)

front rounded back diphthongs front back diphthongs

high i/iː y/yː u/uː i/iː u/uː iu (ui)

high-mid e/eː o/oː eo/eːo e/eː o/oː ɛu ɔi

low-mid ɛː ɔː ɔu

low æ/æː ɑ/ɑː æɑ/æːɑ æ/æː ai au

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>
    • <p> and <ð> replaced by <th>
    • <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 retired
  • <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) provides evidence of Old Norse in ME; includes English-Danish couplets
  • 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