The English Language in the Middle English Period

An Introduction

Middle English (1066-1500)

• Many more texts than OE period• No standard variety of English• Dates:1066 Norman Conquest1100 Round number!1476 First printing in England (Caxton)1485 Accession of Henry VII (Tudor)• Germanic, highly inflected hybrid (many ☞

loans), lightly inflected

Chaucer, Reeve’s 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”

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 inLhude sing cuccu- Loudly sing, cuckoo!Groweþ sed and bloweþ med Seed grows and meadow bloomsAnd 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!

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

Why didn’t English die?• Political dominance usually accompanied by

linguistic dominance• By Chaucer’s 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 couldn’t learn English

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

• 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

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

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

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

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