The English Language in the Middle English Period

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, Reeves 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 didnt English die?

• Political dominance usually accompanied by
  linguistic dominance
• By Chaucers 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 couldnt 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