The influence of French on the English Language

The influence of French on English pertains mainly to its lexicon and also to its syntax, grammar, orthography,
and pronunciation. Most of the French vocabulary in English entered the language after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when Old
French, specifically the Old Norman dialect, became the language of the new Anglo-Norman court, the government, and the elites. That
period lasted for several centuries until the aftermath of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). However, English has continued to be
influenced by French. According to the linguist Henriette Walter, words of French origin represent more than two-thirds of the English
vocabulary.
French Influence on the English Lexicon:

The most notable influence of French on English has been its massive contribution to the English lexicon. Albert C.
Baugh and Thomas Cable note that "although this influx of French words was brought about by the victory of the Conqueror and by the
political and social consequences of that victory, it was neither sudden nor immediately apparent. Rather it began slowly and continued with
varying tempo for a long time.
Baugh and Cable define several categories of early French borrowings:
• Government and social class
(revenue, authority, realm, etc.);
• Church (religion, sermon, prayer, abbey, saint, faith, pray, convent, cloister)
• Law (justice, crime, jury, pardon, indict, arrest, felon, pardon, evidence)
• War (army, navy, battle, garrison, captain, sergeant, combat, defense)
• Fashion (gown, robe, frock, collar, satin, crystal, diamond, coat, embroidery)
• Food (feast, taste, mackerel, salmon, bacon, fry, mince, plate, goblet)
• Learning and medicine (paper, preface, study, logic, surgeon, anatomy, stomach, remedy, poison)
In many cases a French word might have existed alongside a Germanic word that meant the same thing, with the two
words eventually taking on different senses: cow and beef, swine and pork, sheep and mutton).
French Influence on the English Morphology and Syntax:
The gradual decline of the English singular pronouns thou and thee and their replacement with ye and later you have been
linked to the parallel French use of vous in formal settings. The ubiquity of -s to mark plurals in English has also been attributed to French
influence . Attempts have also been made to connect the increased use of gerunds towards the end of the Middle English period to the
French gérondif form.
Again, constructions that place the adjective after the noun (attorney general) are derived from French.
English has adopted several prefix and suffix morphemes from French, including pre-, -ous, -ity, -tion, -ture, -ment, -
ive and -able. They now stand alongside native English forms such as over-, -ish, -ly, -ness, -ship, -some, -less and -ful.
French Influence on the English Phonology:
The influence of French on English pronunciation is fairly minor, but a few examples are found in the use of non-word-
initial stress patterns in (a) some loan words of French origin(b)The phonemisation of the voiced fricatives /z/ and /v/ and (C)The use of the
diphthongs /ui/ and /oi/
French Influence on the English Orthography:
In the centuries following the Norman Conquest, English was written mainly by Norman scribes. Thus, French spelling
conventions had a great effect on the developing English orthography. Innovations that then arose include the following:
• "qu-" instead of "cw-" (queen)
• "gh" instead of "h" (night)
• "ch" or "cch" instead of "c" (church)
• "ou" instead of "u" (house)
• "sh" or "sch" instead of "sc" (ship)
• "dg" instead of "cg" or "gg" (bridge)
• "o" instead of "u" (love, son; the "u" that was originally in such words was considered difficult to distinguish from the
surrounding letters)
• doubling of vowels to represent long vowel sounds (see)
• doubling of consonants after short vowels (sitting)
• more use of "k", "z" and "j"

Examples of the English words of the French origin:

Words relating to
(A) Law and society: Crown: from couronne,Custom: from custume, Squire: from escuier;
(B)Commerce: Caterer: from Old Norman acatour, Pay: from paier, Ticket: from estiquet,
(c)Sport:Champion: from champion, Sport: from desport, Challenge: from chalenge,
(D) Domestic life:Aunt: from ante, Blanket: from blanquette, Towel: from toailler;
(D)Art of living and fashion:Gown: from gone, ,Attire: from atir, Petticoat:
The Normans had a strong influence on English personal names. Old English names such as Alfred, Wulfstan , Aelfric,
Harold, Godwin and Athelstan largely fell out of fashion and were replaced by the likes of John, Peter and Simon as well as Normanized
Germanic names like William, Richard, Henry, Robert, Roger and Hugh.

The effects of the Norman Conquest had indirect influences on the development of the standardized English that began to
emerge towards the end of the 15th century.