EXERCISE 7 1. How would the English language probably have different if the Norman Conquest had never occurred?

English language will not encounter so many changes due to the conquest. Loss of inflections, sound system, morphological system and other aspects are examples of changes happened during the conquest. More than that, if the Norman Conquest never occurred, maybe English will not have loan words borrowed from the French language. It would probably can retain some of its aspects from the Germanic language, for example the inflection and also the vocabulary.

2. From what settlers does Normandy derive its name? When did they come to France? Normandy derives its name from the Viking invaders. They come to France on the ninth century.

3. Why did William consider that he had a claim on the English throne?

It is because he was the second cousin to the late king of England, Edward the Confessor who was childless. He also claimed that king Edward had promised him the throne on his death. He then considered that he was the right successor to claim the throne.

4. What was the decisive battle between the Normans and the English? How did the Normans win it?

The decisive battle was called the Battle of Hastings and they won the battle after Harold, the current successor was killed in it.

5. When was William crowned king of England? How long did it take him to complete his conquest of England and gain complete recognition? In what parts of the country did he face rebellions?

William was crowned on 25 December 1066. It took him 5 years from 1066 till 1072 to complete his conquest of England and gain complete recognition. He faced rebellions especially in the North, among of them were Northumbria, Welsh Marches and Stafford.

6. What happened to Englishmen in positions of church and state under Williams rule?

They are all being replaced by the Frenchmen excluded one English bishop; Bishop Wulfstan who was the only one remained in the office.

7. For how long after the Norman Conquest did French remain the principal language of the upper classes in England?

For two hundred years after the Norman Conquest, French remained the principal language of the upper classes in England.

8. How did William divide his lands at his death?

William divided his lands among his three sons at his death.

9. What was generally the attitude of the French kings and upper classes to the English language?

At the time, French became the vernacular language of the Royal Court and Latin became the language of administration and religion. So, the French kings and the upper classes downgraded the status of English so it lost a lot of prestige it had gained under the Saxon monarchy.

EXERCISE 9 1. In what year did England lose Normandy? What events brought about the loss?

England loses Normandy in the year 1204. It happened when King John, who was the king at that time, eloped with the daughter of one of the king Philips vassals; he eventually had to forfeit his fiefdoms to King Philip, who was the king of French at that time. At the end, King Philip set out with an army to have a war with him. John could not oppose King Philip's advance. By July 1204

Normandy, which with short intervals had been united to England since 1066, was in the hands of the king of France.

2. What effect did the loss of Normandy have upon the nobility of France and England and consequently upon the English language?

The most important consequence that can be seen from this was the separation happened between nobility of France and England. Losing Normandy to French meant that the English lost an important territorial connection with French. This event also generated a stronger sense of English identity among the nobility of England.

3. Despite the loss of Normandy, what circumstances encouraged the French to continue coming to England during the long reign of Henry III (1216-1272)?

There were close ties between the English and French Royal families. Henry III, his half-brother Richard of Cornwall, Louis IX of France and Louiss brother Charles of Anjou were linked in marriage to the Count of Provence. All the wives families and retinue came to England with them during the long reign of Henry III.

4. The arrival of foreigners during Henry IIIs reign undoubtedly delayed the spread of English among the upper classes. In what ways did these events actually benefit the English language?

Even it delayed the spread of English among the upper classes; it also led to the awareness of the necessity of the adoption of English as the language of English affairs.

5. What was the status of French throughout Europe in the thirteenth century?

French was known as the language of parliament and the language of the law courts and administration. The nobility also chose to maintain French as the language of society, and commerce.

6. What explains the fact that the borrowing of French words begins to assume large proportions during the second half of the thirteenth century, as the importance of the French language in England is declining?

When the separation of the English nobles from their interests in French had been about completed, English was becoming a matter of general use among the upper classes. It is at this time, the adoption of French words into the English language assumed large proportions. The transferee of words occurs when those who know French and have been accustomed to use it try to express themselves in English.

7. What general conclusions can one draw about the positions of English at the end of the thirteenth century?

The usage of English, at this time, had begun to spread among the people even amongst the nobility. For example, King Henry IIIs son, Edward I spoke English well, and soon it was used by influential clergy, the legal profession and parliament. At the end of the thirteenth century, the attitude had developed to one of the advocating English as the languages of Englishmen. After that, English was common at all levels of society.

8. In what way did the Hundred Years War probably contribute to the decline of French in England?

In Hundred Years War, King Henry V (who ruled from 1413 till 1422) began to use English to write despatches home from his campaigns. In this situation, English being used as the purposes of propaganda. It was if he was using French, it would have been to write in the language of the enemy. During this time, it was all impossible to forget that French was the language of an enemy country. This war was contributing to the disuse of French. By that, using English could emphasize the division between the English and the French and worked to create a greater sense of national identity.

9. The Black Death reduced the numbers of the lower classes disproportionately and yet indirectly increased the importance of the language that they spoke. Why was this so?

In this case, the shortage of the lower classes pushed up workers wages as demand exceeding the supply source. This meant that the working classes were able to climb the ladder of social hierarchy and attain a level of prosperity that would have been impossible before the Black Death. And, by this, the greater the influence a particular group has within society, the more it likely it is that language spoken by that group will be seen as prestigious. English was on the rise once again.

EXERCISE 10

1. What new forces began to affect the English language in the Modern English period? Why may it be said that these forces were both radical and conservative? The new forces that began to affect the English language were the printing press, the rapid spread of popular education, the increased communication and means of communication, the growth of specialized knowledge, and the emergence of various forms of self-consciousness about language. These forces were said as both radical and conservative due to radical in terms of vocabulary whereas conservative deals with grammar. Here, radical means that anything that encourage change in language whereas conservative tends to maintain the existing status.

2. What problems did the modern European languages face in the sixteenth century? In the sixteenth century, the modern languages faced three great problems. First was the recognition in the fields where Latin had for centuries been supreme. Second was the establishment of a more uniform orthography and the third was the enrichment of the vocabulary so that it would be adequate to meet the demands that would be made upon it in its wider use. Each of this problems received extensive consideration in the England of the Renaissance.

3. Why did English have to be defended as a language of scholarship? How did the scholarly recognition of English come about? English has to be defended as a language of scholarship in order to gain the recognition because although English had attained an established position as a language of popular literature, a strong tradition still approved the use of Latin in all the fields of knowledge. Scholarly recognition of English came about by several factors. One of them was via translation. Translator used English

instead of Latin in translating literary works such as Plutarchs Lives of the Nobel Grecians and Romans in the version of Sir Thomas North was published in 1579. Another event was The Protestant Reformation as since John Wycliffe declined to negotiate with the church about language of school and took his cause directly to their people in their own tongue, one of the strongholds of Latin was lost. At that time the amount of Theological (religious) writing in English is almost unbelievable.

4. When was the first English dictionary published? What was the main purpose of English dictionaries throughout the seventeenth century? The first English dictionary was published in 1604 and was written by Richard Cawdrey. The main purpose of English dictionaries was to promote consistency of usage in English and to establish a standard form for written English.