TheEnglishLanguageintheMiddleEnglishPeriod.pptVIP

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 Conquest 1100 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? ?lfric, 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 in Lhude sing cuccu- Loudly sing, cuckoo! Growet sed and blowet med Seed grows and meadow blooms And springt te wude nu- And the forest springs up now. Sing cuccu Sing, cuckoo! Awe bletet after lomb- Ewe bleats after lamb, Lhout after calue cu- Cow lows after calf, Bulluc stertet bucke uertet Bullock leaps, buck farts, Murie sing cuccu- Merrily sing, cuckoo! Cuccu cuccu- Cuckoo, cuckoo, Wel singes tu cuccu You sing well, cuckoo. Ne swik tu 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