Unit 1:Middle English language

Middle English language, the vernacular spoken and written

in England from about 1100 to about 1500, the descendant of the Old
English language and the ancestor of Modern English.

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English language: Middle English

One result of the Norman Conquest of 1066 was to place all four Old English

dialects more or less on a level. West Saxon lost its supremacy.

The history of Middle English is often divided into three periods:

(1) Early Middle English, from about 1100 to about 1250, during which
the Old English system of writing was still in use; (2) the Central
Middle English period from about 1250 to about 1400, which was
marked by the gradual formation of literary dialects, the use of an
orthography greatly influenced by the Anglo-Norman writing system,
the loss of pronunciation of final unaccented -e, and the borrowing of
large numbers of Anglo-Norman words; the period was especially
marked by the rise of the London dialect, in the hands of such writers
as John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer; and (3) Late Middle English,
from about 1400 to about 1500, which was marked by the spread of
the London literary dialect and the gradual cleavage between the
Scottish dialect and the other northern dialects. During this period the
basic lines of inflection as they appear in Modern English were first
established. Among the chief characteristic differences between Old
and Middle English were the substitution of natural gender in Middle
English for grammatical gender and the loss of the old system of
declensions in the noun and adjective and, largely, in the pronoun.

The dialects of Middle English are usually divided into three large
groups: (1) Southern (subdivided into Southeastern, or Kentish, and
Southwestern), chiefly in the counties south of the River Thames; (2)
Midland (corresponding roughly to the Mercian dialect area of Old
English times) in the area from the Thames to southern South
Yorkshire and northern Lancashire; and (3) Northern, in the Scottish
Lowlands, Northumberland, Cumbria, Durham, northern Lancashire,
and most of Yorkshire.

LEARN MORE in these related Britannica articles:

English language: Middle English

 One result of the Norman Conquest of 1066 was to place all four Old English dialects more
or less on a level. West Saxon lost its supremacy, and the centre of culture and learning
gradually shifted from Winchester to London. The old Northumbrian.

Scotland: The unification of the kingdom

…two separate languages, now called Middle English and Middle Scots, with the latter
focused on the court of the Stewart (Stuart) kings of Scots. After 1603 the increasing political
and cultural assimilation of Scotland by England checked the further development of Scots as
a separate language.

prosody: Prosodic style

In the Middle English period (from c. 1100 to c. 1500), stanzaic forms developed for both
lyric and narrative verse. The influence of French syllable counting pushed the older stress
lines into newer rhythms; Chaucer developed for The Canterbury Tales a line of 10 syllables
with alternating.

Characteristics of the Time Period

Political Influence
In conjunction with the Norman
Conquest of England in 1066, the
language use in the Middle English
period also went through a vast
change. While the ruling elite
Introduction of the new Feudal
System
When William the Conqueror took
over England after the Norman
Conquest, he began by exercising
his reign and dispelling the English
The Arts: Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux tapestry—not actuall
considered a tapestry but rather a
cloth—is approximately 70 meter
and depicts the events leading up
Norman Conquest and the Battle
spoke strictly French because of
their Norman heritage, English
remained the language of the
commoners. “Why didn’t the use
of English fade throughout time?”
you might ask. There are two
distinct reasons for this: 1. English
was already too established among
the Englishmen despite William’s
attempts to move in with French;
and 2: The Normans began
immediately intermarrying with the
Englishmen, creating a HUGE
impact on English vocabulary and
grammar.
 Characteristics of the Language
feudal system already in place. As Hastings. The current king of Eng
the new king, William confiscated Edward the Confessor, was left ch
the lands from the currant Saxon and named Harold, Earl of Wesse
lords and apportioned them to the successor. Shortly after, Harold w
lords who had assisted his invaded by William the Conquero
conquest. These lords, or tenants- the battle of Hastings. This tapest
in-chief, were to live on and work approximately 50 scenes of the
the lands while essentially ‘renting’ culmination of this battle and was
from William in exchange for eventually hung in the Bayeux Ca
various services. The tenants-in- This great work of art is often cal
chief could then rent parts of the in pop cultural reference and has
land to lords beneath him and so depicted in a number of movies a
on, leaving the commoners at the events. The following website sho
bottom to work the lands and raise tapestry scene by scene and provi
the animals. Because the lands generous narration of the
were still owned by William the events: http://www.bayeuxtapestr
Conqueror, he reserved the ability
to remove any tenant-in-chief who
did not lend his services to the
king. This allowed William to keep
absolute control over his kingdom
and the people who lived there. In
addition, a detailed record of
ownership of land and people was
kept in order to sort out the
confusion of the new feudal
system. This survey, also referred
to as the Doomsday Book, was to
act as a permanent reference of
belongings and tenants when
William became king; he later
required a reference to expand to
the period before the Norman
Conquest while Edward the
Confessor ruled England in 1065.
This record was to be collected by
the squires and kept at the
Winchester Treasury.
 Dialect
Because of the vast difference of influential languages, various dialects arose throughout the country.
As you can see in the picture, what we know as Middle English includes a variety of North Umbria,
West Saxon, Kentish, West Anglican, and East Anglican dialects. These dialects, formed in respective
regions due to various influences makes it difficult to pin-point exact usage origins and dialects
completely. What we do know is that this language system was completely different from anything
England had ever used. Compared to the homogeneous language of Old English, Middle English gave
us much of the English language we know and use today.

Grammar
As far as grammar usage is concerned, the majority of the changes brought about through the
conquest have much to do with inflection and spelling. Because those who chose to continue
speaking English were forced to improvise depending on their region, they were forced to call upon
Latin, French, and even Scandinavian traditions. Therefore, and incredible degree of variation is
found in spelling, inflection, and vocabulary usage depending on regional variation. Because of these
influences on the English language, much of the Old English morphology changed to become staple
characteristics of the Middle English period. For example, the use of strong inflections was reduced
and most nouns lost their gender identification (pronouns being the exception).

Vocabulary
•   Gained suffixes for abstract terms •   Gained a number of new doublets
•   -ance •   French/Norman--------------------- Old English
•   -ant •   Beef----------------------------------- Cow
•   -ence •   Mutton ------------------------------- Sheep
•   -ent •   Pork ---------------------------------- Pig
•   -ity •   Veal ---------------------------------- Calf
•   -ment •   Plente -------------------------------- Genoh
•   -tion •   Mount -------------------------------- Rise
•   Question ---------------------------- Ask
•   Prefixes flooded into English •   Age ----------------------------------- Time
•   Royal --------------------------------- King
A YouTube video translating a Middle English poem to Modern English!