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 III

1216-1272

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 poverty

error face reason

noise fault season

flower force sound

Honor hour use

manner task honor

damage debt people

ME French loan words: verbs

advise aim allow

approach arrange arrive

betray change chase

serve comfort complain

conceal consider continue

count deceive destroy

declare defeat delay

desire enjoy enter

ME French loan words: verbs

force form increase

inform join suppose

marry obey observe

pay wait please

praise prefer propose

prove push receive

refuse relieve remember

waste satisfy save

ME French loan words: adjectives

able active actual

brief calm certain

clear common contrary

courageous cruel curious

eager easy faint

fierce final firm

foreign gentle hasty

ME French loan words: adjectives

honest horrible innocent

large natural nice

original perfect poor

precious pure real

rude safe scarce

second simple single

special stable usual

Government and administration – ME French loan words:

government crown state

empire realm authority

court parliament assembly

traitor treason exile

liberty office mayor

prince baron duke

sir madam mistress

Church and religion – ME French loan words:

religion sermon confess

prayer lesson passion

chant sacrifice chapter

abbey cloister virgin

saint miracle mystery

faith 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 pace

enemy battle combat

siege defense ambush

retreat soldier guard

spy captain besiege

Fashion – ME French loan words:

dress habit fashion

robe coat collar

veil mitten adorn

embellish blue brown

fur 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 screen

lamp blanket wardrobe

recreation leisure dance

fool music chess

stable retrieve falcon

forest 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 word

poor earmpeople leodguilty scyldigarmy herewarrior cempaair lyftconfess andettanpraise hearian

Semantic differentiation

French loan English word

judgment 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 contempt

custody distract frustrate

genius gesture history

homicide include incredible

individual infancy suppress

infinite innate intellect

Loan words from Latin

interrupt legal magnify

minor moderate private

necessary nervous picture

polite popular prevent

project submit prosody

reject summary substitute

Loan words from Flemish, Dutch, Low German

deck dock freight

rover booze gin

easel 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 PL

SubjObjPoss

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