Middle English Roughly spoken from 1066-1485

*Language change is slow, but definable

I. Pronunciation changes A. schwa –e sound (like in 2nd syllable of

cola or 1st syllable in alone) 1. Germ. Emphasis on the 1st syllable (like we

still do for a good part today) 2. 2nd syllables lost distinct vowel sound

ex: census, legal, ribbon, valid 3. no one knew how to spell those words, ended

up using an e to represent this unstressed vowel (and Middle English began)

II. Endings and Order Old English had depended on the vowels in

the last syllables of words to help tell many things: they indicated whether an adjective’s or noun’s gender was masculine, feminine, or neutral; whether a verb was indicative (stating a fact) or subjunctive (stating a wish or reality); whether a noun was singular or plural; what function a noun filled in a sentence (subject or object); etc. The loss of the vowel distinctions meant we had to find other ways of indicating those things or do without that information totally.

II. Endings and Order (cont.)

A. Grammatical Gender Ended (thank goodness)

1. old way – “the door . . . she” “the roof . . . he” “the wife . . . it” 2. new way – males = “he” ; females

= “she” ; objects = “it”

II. Endings and Order (cont.)

B. Plural Forms Changed 1. old way – everything was

irregular ex: ox/oxen ;

tooth/teeth 2. new way – just add an –s ex: tree/trees ;

peasant/peasants

II. Endings and Order (cont.)

C. Word Order Replaces Word Endings Old English showed grammatical

meanings and relations by word endings; Middle English showed meanings and relations by word order and by function words such as prepositions, helping verbs (will, shall, etc.), articles, etc.

II. Endings and Order (cont.)

C. Word Order Replaces Word Endings (cont.) 1. old way – SVO or OVS or OSV

ex: the book read the man ; the book the man read

2. new way – SVO ex: the man read the

book

III. Normans Invade the Anglo-Saxons A. French vs. English (England is bilingual) 1. Fr. – ruling class, law courts,

government 2. Eng – peasant class, servants, craftsmen, farmers 3. English wins! (eventually) a) more people spoke it b) 100 Years War = nationalism 4. English borrows TONS of French words