1.

INTRODUCTION

This paper is going to examine the Middle English period in the history of English
language.

Firstly, it will focus on the origin of Normans and Normandy and the passage of the
Scandinavians and Vikings to England. Also, the effect of the Norman Conquest and its
influence on the history, language, culture, and many other aspects of life in England will be
examined, through a short review, and through the vocabulary of the time.

Also, it will provide a quick overview of the changes internal to the language, changes in
spelling, in vocabulary, the behaviour and development of nouns, pronouns and verbs in the
period of passage from Old English to Middle English.
Middle English dialects will be examined.

Throughout the paper numerous examples and web-links will be provided in order to
provide additional information, and to facilitate the understanding of the changes of the
middle period.

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2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

2. 1. THE FIRST PERIOD (1042- 1087)

2. 1. 1. The origin of Normandy and Normans

During the ninth and tenth centuries, the later part of the Old English period, two different
groups of non- English speakers invaded the country. Both groups were Scandinavian in
origin, but whereas the first had retained the Scandinavian speech, the second had settled in
northern France and become French- speaking. Both of their languages, Old Norse and Old
French, had a considerable influence on English. While the Danes were settling in the
northern and eastern portions of England, other Norse tribes invaded northern France via the
Seine River and fanned out over a coastal district to the depth of seventy-five miles. The
Seine offered a convenient channel for penetration into the country, and the settlement of
Danes in this region furnishes a close parallel to those around the Humber. The district came
to be known as Normandy and its Scandinavian inhabitants as the Normans. They descended
from Viking conquerors, who were great traders, but it is for their more predatory activities
that they are more remembered. Their attacks varied from piratical expeditions by single ships
to the invasion of a country by enormus fleets and armies ( the anciant craft of boat- building
in Scandinavia reached the stage at which it could produce the magnificent ocean-going
sailing-ships which served the Vikings for trade, piracy, and colonization). The word viking
( Old Norse vikingr) perhaps means 'creek dweller', and hence 'pirate'. The harrying of Europe
by the Scandinavian Vikings, which took place between about 750 and 1050, was the last
phase of the expansion of the early Germanic peoples.' ( Barber:1993: 126)

2. 1. 2. The Norman Conquest (1066)

'King Edward died in January 1066, leaving no male heir. On the day of his death, Godwine's
son, Harold, who had been principal adviser to Edward since his father's death in 1053, was
elected king by the 'witan', the king's council. He became King Harold II of England.
Harold's ascension to the throne was challenged from two sides. First King Harold Hardrada
of Norway, who considered himself heir to Cnut's throne.
The second threat came from Duke William of Normandy, variously called 'the Conqueror',
'the Great', or 'the Bastard').' (Brinton & Arnowick:2006: 230- 231)

4
'The conquest of England by the Duke of Normandy in 1066 is perhaps the single moist
important event affecting the linguistic development of English. It was not such a violent
break in
English history as people sometimes imagine. There was already a strong French influence in
England before the Conquest: Edward the Confessor was half Norman, and his court had
close relations with France. It is certainly true, however, that the Conquest had a profound
influence on the English language. For some centuries, English ceased to be the language of
the governing classes, and there was no such thing as literary English; and when English did
once again become the language of the whole country it had changed a good deal under the
influence of the conquerors. (Barber:1993: 134)

The events of the Norman Conquest are depicted in pictures accompanied by Latin
descriptions on the Bayeux Tapestry, actually linen embroidery. The tapestry was probably
commissioned by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and half- brother of William. It is now on display in
Bayeux, France.

See also: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bayeux.htm

On October 14, 1066, on an isolated hill six miles north-west of Hastings was fought one of
the most important battles in the history of the world. The battle began about nine oclock in
the morning. So advantageous was Harolds position and so well did the English defend
themselves that in the afternoon they still had their ground. For William the situation was

5
becoming desperate and he resorted to a desperate stratagem. His only hope lay in getting the
English out of their advantageous position on the hill. Because he could not drive them off, he
determined to try to lure them off and ordered a feigned retreat. The English fell into the trap.
Although William had won the battle at Hastings and eliminated his rival, he had not yet
attained the English crown. Shortly after their military disaster, the old Wessex capital
Winchester submitted the yoke of the Norman conqueror. It was only after he had burnt and
pillaged the south-west of England that the citizens of London decided that further resistance
would be useless. Accordingly they capitulated and on Christmas Day 1066, William was
crowned king of England in Westminster. His coronation marked the beginning of a Norman
dynasty that run for nearly a century until 1154, the date of the close of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle and the start of the Plantagenet line.

2.1.2.1 What was William the Conqueror like?

What did he look like- this man who made such a strong impression on his contemporaries?
The representations of William in the Bayeux Tapestry, on his seal in England, and on the
coins which were struck for him as king, are too stylized to give any clear idea of his personal
appearance. But the literary evidence is more illuminating. A Norman monk, who may well
have seen him, described him as a burly warrior, with a harsh guttural voice, great in stature.
Writers in England say that he was majestic, both when seated and standing, though the
excessive corpulence which later disfigured him doubtless began in his middle years. He
enjoyed remarkably good health, as was told, until the very end of his life and his exceptional
physical strength is often noted.
William seems to have been considered a very wise man, and very powerful and more
worshipful and stronger than any predecessor of his had been. But he is shown as a harsh and
violent oppressor and as one who was himself brutal, avaricious, and cruel, exceptional in his
disregard of human suffering.
The death- bed of William, according to the Chronicles was a death- bed of repentance. He
had always made a profession of religion, and he was now surrounded by bishops and
confessors. He spoke, it is related, of the rivers of blood he had shed.

6
2. 1. 3. The rule of the conqueror (1066-1087)

The eighty-eight years of conquest witnessed the confiscation of Saxons estates, the
construction of impregnable citadels to house armoured cavalry, the reduction of powerful
English earldoms to a system of petty feudal shires, the destruction of northern separatism and
the political opposition of the Dane law, the peaceful penetration of Scottish society and
religion, the suppression of Scandinavian liberties and the ultimate achievement of
hammering out a united Anglo-Norman nation.
Normans were brutally forceful. William left scarcely a house standing between York and
Durham. Scores of villages remained uninhabited for almost a generation. But from massacre
and mutilation, slaughter and devastation, emerged a new manner of life that was important
for the history of the English language.
One of the most important consequences was the introduction of new nobility, for the Old
English practically ceased to exist. King Williams first task was to reward the Norman and
French barons who fought for him. He gave them lands taken from the English thanes who
had died in battle or fled overseas. After 1069 he took most of the lands still held by
Englishmen and gave them to Normans. Gradually, within ten years the twelve earls of
England were all Norman, the important positions and estates were almost always held by his
men. Norman clergy, under the secular authority of William and his successors, took over the
highest offices in the Church: archbishop, bishop and abbot. Wulfstan of Worchester was the
only Old English bishop who retained his office until the end of the Conquerors reign.
Since the prestige of a language is determined by the authority and influence of those who
speak it, the French of the Norman masters became the tongue of status in England for more
than two hundred years. At first those who spoke French were those of Norman origin, but
soon through intermarriage and association with the ruling class numerous people of English
extraction must have found it to their an advantage to learn the new language. Soon the
distinction between those who spoke French and those who spoke English was not ethnic but
largely social. The language of the masses remained English.
One of the strongest forces of change in Middle English, then, was the interfrequency of
keeping records in English during eleventh and twelfth centuries. Moreover, English of the
time was spoken in a variety of regional dialects resulting from the geographic and social
isolation of the speakers; no standard dialect existed. English also existed as a lower or
socially stigmatized dialect spoken mostly by peasants, artisans, and laborers, while French,

7
written and spoken by the ruling class, and was the higher or prestige dialect, the one to be
imitated. This two-level situation is known as a diglossic context.
Interestingly, the French dialect spoken by the Norman rulers of England, known as Norman
French or Anglo- Norman French, itself became stigmatized in France, where it was
considered inferior to the French of Paris, or Central French. By the fourteenth century,
Chaucer could say ironically of the Prioress in The Canterbury Tales that she speaks French
ful faire and fetisly/ After the scole of Stratford ate Bowe/ For Frenssh of Parys was to hire
unknowe (translation: excellently and neatly/ after the school of Stratford at Bowe [i.e.
Anglo- Norman], / for French of Paris is unknown to her). We are to recognize that her
pretension to social status is compromised by her use of an inferior French dialect.

2. 1. 3. 1. Domesday Book
At Christmas 1085 William called his usual Great Council of barons and bishops. He ordered
a detailed survey over all England about his subjects, their land and wealth. Instead of
guessing he wanted to know exactly how much land each tenant held and what taxes he could
expect. Royal officials were sent round the kingdom to find out about every village. They
wanted to know who was the lord and who had owned the land before the Conquest, what the
land was worth and how much of it was plough land, meadow, pasture and woodland. They
also wrote down numbers of freeholders, villains and borders. Even water-mills, fishponds
and livestock were counted.
The survey was finished before the end of 1086 and was taken to the king. Two great
volumes were made up and came to be called Domesday Book. Domesday means the Day of
Judgement. The book got this name because the facts in it could not be ignored or avoided by
anyone, like the Judgement Day.
Accounts of a few towns, including London, have not been found. Nevertheless, for the first
time we can work out Englands total population fairly accurately. It was about 1.5 million in
1086 roughly equal to the combined populations of Birmingham and Liverpool today. The
Domesday Book was the crowning glory of Williams reign, but he never saw it in its finished
form.
The original Domesday Book has survived over 900 years of English history and is currently
housed in a specially made chest at The National Archives in Kew, London.
You can see also: http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/faqs.html#1
William the Conqueror died in the summer of 1087, less than two years after ordering the
survey to be made, while fighting against Phillip I, the King of France. He was injured while

8
leading his army through the burning town of Nantes and died six weeks later at the abbey of
Saint-Gervais, near Rouen.

2. 2. THE SECOND PERIOD (1087 1154)

William I (1066-87) was succeeded by two of his sons in turn, William II (1087-1100) and
Henry I (1100-35). His grandson Stephen held the crown from 1135-54, after a disputed
succession and a period of civil war which at times and in some regions degenerated into near
anarchy.

2. 2. 1 Stephen (1135-1154) and the end of Norman kings

Young Stephen was dispatched to the court of his uncle Henry I and given extensive lands in
Normandy and England which made him one of the wealthiest of the Anglo-Norman
landholders. In 1126 he also took an oath to accept the succession of Matilda, Henry I's only
legitimate surviving child. However, on hearing about Henrys death, he set in motion what
seems to have been a premeditated and well-organized plan. He crossed to England, gained
possession of the treasury at Winchester and was crowned as king in London.
Matilda stood up for her rights and gathered an army to fight Stephen. She was not very
popular- not only because she was a woman, but also because her husband, Geoffrey, Count
of Anjou, was an enemy of the Normans. The outcome was a civil war, with the powerful men
in the kingdom taking sides. She ruled England for a short period in 1141-42. During that
brief episode of victory she insisted on levying an unreasonable heavy tax from the citizens of
London. This turned their loyalty and co-operation into hatred and resistance. She was forced
to flee from the city. Some barons saw the chance to increase their wealth by robbery and
murder. They built castles without kings permission and rode about the countryside with their
own private armies.
This period, characterised by civil war and unsettled government was known as The Anarchy
or The Nineteen-Year Winter. The Anglo- Saxon Chronicle describes this as the time during
which Christ and his saints slept.
After years of misery and bloodshed the two sides made a bargain. It was agreed that
Stephen should reign as long as he lived, but Matildas son Henry, would be the next king.
Within a year Stephen was dead. Henry sailed from France and was crowned at Westminster
in December 1154. Henry II was the first of a long line of Plantagenet kings, so called

9
because the yellow broom flower (planta genesta) was the badge of his father, Geoffrey of
Anjou. Members of this dynasty ruled England from 1154 to 1399. However, in conventional
historical usage, Henry II and his sons Richard I and John are normally termed the Angevin
kings, and their successors, up to Richard II, the Plantagenets.

2. 3. CONCLUSION

The most important historical events, which have materially influenced the English nation
and its language in Old English Period, are the settlement by German tribes, the Scandinavian
invasion and the Norman Conquest. Beside these three important invaders who brought
some new temperament and new political and economical character to the island, there is also
the Church, as the carrier of Roman civilization, which influenced the course of English life in
many directions. Through out nearly all of the period the church had a vital role to play in all
aspects of life (including the fostering of learning), and, indeed, most of our information about
historical events and ideas has been transmitted through ecclesiastical sources.
The Anglo-Saxon period can be described as the time of the dynastic turbulence and the
dramatic growth of urban life. The line of Wessex kings, some Danish rulers and finally the
branch of Norman kings contributed an enormous share to developing of England.
It is a pity that we know so very little about the people. There are no written eyewitness
accounts dating from the start of the English invasions, so we have to rely upon stories passed
on and written down many years later by monks. The most of our information comes from the
Venerable Bede, a monk who wrote a detailed history of England 300 years after the Romans
left Britain.
For more information, you can go to:
http://books.google.hr/books?id=RS4OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP11&dq=seal+of+
+william+the+conqueror+illustration#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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3. MIDDLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

3. 1. MIDDLE ENGLISH VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS AND CONSONANTS

Middle English is the usual name for the English language spoken in England from the
Norman Conquest of the British Isles to the Renaissance (c. 1100 - c. 1500). After the victory
at Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror crushed the English nobility, purged the English
Church and for several generations all important positions in the country were held by French
- speaking Normans. French was the language of higher classes, Latin was the language of
science, religion and literature. English was reduced to the tongue of the low men.
It was only after the Anglo - Normans had lost control of their continental territories and
engaged in the war against France that the newly found English patriotism of Norman
descendants made them accept English as their own language.
By 1100 certain changes which had begun long before, were sufficiently well established to
justify the use of the adjective middle to designate the language in what was actually a period
of transition from the English of Old English to that of the earliest printed books. (Pyles,
1992; p. 139).
The changes which occurred during this transitional, or middle, period may be noted in
every aspect of the language: in its sounds, in its grammatical structure, in the meaning of its
words, and in the nature of its word stock, where many Old English words were replaced by
French ones. At the beginning of the period English is a language that must be learned like a
foreign tongue; at the end it is Modern English.

3. 1. 1. MIDDLE ENGLISH VOWELS

In Caxtons time ( the end of the 15th century), the Middle English inventory of vowels was
rather different from the one found in Old English texts:
Old English Middle English
Short vowels a, , e, i, o, u, y a, e, i, o, u
Long vowels a, , e, , o, u, y a, , e, o, o, u
Short diphthongs ea, eo, ie, io ai, ei, au, eu, iu, ou, oi, ui
Long diphthongs ea, eo, ie, io

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2. 1. 1. 1. Middle English short vowels:
-a
- a low back unrounded short vowel. (Hogg, 1992; p. 14) It stayed the same as in OE; it had
the same sound as the a in New High German (-ab, -gast):
fals false; basken - to bathe, awake(n), cat

- Before nasals a became rounded in early OE to a sound intermediate between the o (in NE
on) and a (in NHG mann), but in late OE it became pure a except in some parts of Mercia
(west Midland), where before a single or double nasal, and a nasal + a voiceless consonant, a
became o, and has remained such in many of the dialects of this area to the present day:
man, mon man; bank, bonk bank; can, con can.
-e
- a mid front unrounded short vowel.
It stayed the same as in OE; it had the same sound as the e in New English (-west, -end):
bed bed; helle hell; bersten - to burst, bledde- blead, ever, arrwes- arrows , well, dette-
debt, obligation

-i
- a high front unrounded short vowel.
It stayed the same as in OE; it had the same sound as the i in New English (-sit). It was often
written as y before and after nasals, u (=v), w, and finally.
bird bird; his his; winter winter; witen - to know, Christendom, king, bright

-o
- normally a mid back rounded short vowel.
It stayed the same as in OE, and it had the same sound as the o in New High German (-Gott)
and was nearly like the o in New English:
borwen - to borrow; holpen - to help; morwe, morwen - morning, morrow; sorwe - sorrow
-
bord- dinner table, brond- torch, colt- a young uncastrated male horse usually less than four
years old
u
- a high back rounded short vowel.
It stayed the same as in Old English; it had the same sound as the u in New English (-put).

12
From about the middle of the 13th century o became written for u before and after nasals, u
(=v), and w. The writing of o for u in these positions became pretty general towards the end
of the century. In late ME o was also generally written for u when followed by a single
consonant + vowel.
luve, love love; butter, botter butter; tunge, tonge tongue; wulle, wolle wool, such,
dusty, full, duszeyne- dozen, twelve

3. 1. 1. 2. Middle English long vowels:

In dealing with the history of OE in ME it is necessary to distinguish between =

Germanic and the = the i-umlaut of a.
1. Germanic had become long close e in the non - West Saxon dialects in early OE, but by
the end of the OE period the had spread again to Middlessex, Essex, parts of the south
Midland counties, and parts of East Anglia. From these latter areas words containing this
sound gradually crept into most of the other areas during the ME period as is evidenced by
the modern dialects.
slepen - to sleep; mel meal; wete - wet, sweete, strete
2. = the i-umlaut of a became close long e in Kent during the OE period, and remained as
such throughout the ME period. In all the other dialects the sound (= e) generally
remained in ME until near the end of the 15th century when it became e.
delen - to divide
clene - clean
leren - to teach

e
- a mid front unrounded long vowel. (Hogg, 1992; p. 13) It stayed the same as in OE; it had
the same sound as the e in New High German (-reh):
here here; fet feet; crede creed., bede-bed

From the 14th century onwards it was very often written ee in closed syllables and when final,
and in later ME it was often written ie through the influence of French orthography.

13
- a high front unrounded long vowel.
It stayed the same as in OE, and it had the same sound as the i in New High German (-ihn)
and nearly the same sound as the ee in New English (-feed). In ME, it was often written y
before and after nasals, u (=v), w, and in Chaucer y is also very common in other
combinations ( fif, five, side).
wis, wys wise; is, ys ice; time, tyme time., bite(n)

o
- normally a mid back rounded long vowel.
It stayed the same as in Old English, and it had the same sound as the o in New High German
(-Bote).
- a high back rounded long vowel.
It stayed the same as in Old English, and it had the same sound as the u in New High German
(-gut) and nearly the same sound as the oo in New English (-food).

Through the influence of Anglo - Norman orthography it was often written ou (ow) from the
second half of the 13th century and became general in the 14th century. By the time of Chaucer
it was generally written ow when final and frequently also in open syllables, especially before
l, n, and v, but in other positions it was mostly written ou:
bru, brow brow; dun, doun, down down; hus, hous house; abouten about;
douke duck; mous mouse.

3. Lengthening and Shortening

a. Vowels became long before ld, mb, and nd (but not if a third consonant followed)
OE ME
cild ch ld (c.f. children)
hund hound
b. The vowels [a], [e], and [o] became long in open syllables of disyllabic words
OE ME
nama na:me
nosu no:se (c.f. nostril)
c. Vowels became short before double consonants and consonant clusters other than ld, mb,
and nd

14
OE ME
ce:pte kept
ble:dde bledde (c.f. bleed)

d. Vowels become short in the first syllable of trisyllabic words (trisyllabic shortening)
OE ME
ha:ligdag halidai (c.f. holy)

3. 1. 2. Middle English diphtongs

It is characteristic of diphthongs that they change a lot. The production of diphthongs is
complex: the articulatory features such as the tongue position, the lip-rounding and the pitch
change during the articulation process. Old English diphthongs were lost in Middle English,
and a variety of new diphtongs developed
1. Vowel changes-simple vowels change in quality, and the 4 OE diphthongs become
monophthongs.
[a:] [ ] b n b n (backing)
[] [a] t that (backing)
[:] [ :] s: s : (raising)
[y] [I ] synn s nne (unrounding)
[y:] [ i:] hy:dan hi:dan (unrounding)

Diphthongs (smoothing):
[ ] [ ] hearm harm
[: ] [ :] stream streme
[ o] [ ] heofon heven
[e:o] [e:] b on bn

2. New diphthongs in Middle English:

[i] ai, ay, ei, ey
[au] au, aw
[u] eu, ew
[u] ow, ou
[i] oi, oy

15
3. 1. 3. Consonants of Middle English language
The ME Consonant-system was represented by the following letters: b, c, d, f, g, ?, h, j, k, l,
m, n, p, q, r, s, t, , v (u), w, x, y, z.
Of the above letters b, d, f, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v (u), w, x, y had the same sound-values
as in Modern English. The remaining letters had different pronunciation and spelling:
c: -k (cat, cold, cuppe, clene, craft)
-s (citee, deceiven)
-ts (blecen, milce)
-ch () (child, kichene)
g: -g (gate, glad, gnat, god, grene)
-d (chargen, jugen)
?: -y (?ard, ?ernen, ?ong)
h: -h (hand, hous)
sch:- sh (ship, schaft, waschen, fisch, ssrive, vless); written as ssh, sh, ss
(th):- th (thin, cloth, father, then)
- (ba, ing, et)
z: -ts (milze
-s (zelver)
Several consonant sounds came to be spelled differently, especially because of French
influence. OE sc is replaced by sh or sch (scip becomes ship). OE c is replaced by ch or cch
(church) and cg or gg becomes dg (bridge).
A change happened to h. It appeared before a consonant at the beginning of many OE words
(hring vs ring and hnecca vs neck). It was lost early on in the Middle English period. The loss
of h before a vowel began some time later, producing variations in usage which continued into
the 16th century. Middle English manuscripts show many examples of h absent where it should
be present (adde for had) or present where it should be absent (ham for am, his for is). The
influence of spelling led to the h-forms being later restored in many words in Received
Pronunciation and to the present-day situation where the use of h is socially diagnostic.

3. 1. 3. 1. Changes of consonants in Middle English:

The consonant inventory of Middle English remains the same as that of Old English, except
for one change: there is an increase in the number of distinctive sounds. This came about by a
process of phonemicization, in which sounds that are originally allophones of same phoneme
become separate phonemes. In Old English, the pairs [s] and [z], [f] and [v], and [] and []

16
are allophones of the same phoneme, occurring predictably in complementary phonological
environments, with the voiceless variant occurring word- initially and finally and next to a
voiceless sound, and the voiced variant occurring word- medially.
In Middle English, we can no longer rely on environment to determine the sound; the
allophones become unpredictable for a variety of reasons, external and internal:
- Words were borrowed from French with initial [z] and [v], a position in which those
sounds had never been found in Old English: e.g. zest, zeal, and zone; virtue, vileinye,
venim, and veyn.
- Loss of final e (discussed below) caused [z], [v] and [] to occur in final position,
where Old English would have had [s], [f], [], as in maze, groove, and bathe.
- Simplification of the pronunciation of the double consonants [ff, ss, >f, s, ] led to
the voiceless variants occurring in medial position, as in offren and missen.
- [] in initial position in unstressed words such as adverbs, pronouns, demonstratives,
and conjunctions became voiced to [], as in then, there, they, them, this, that,
though.(Brinton& Arnovick:2006: 251)
Simplification of a consonant cluster:
// cirice, chambres, seek
// scip ship, uyscan wishen wish
/g/ y giefan yiven, yeven
/gg/ heog hegge hedge, brieg brigge bridge
/hr, hn, hl > r, n, l/ --- hrof, hnecca, hild> roof, necke, lid
/hw/> /w/ (in the South) --- hwaet> wat, what
/wl/> /l/---wlispan> lispe(n)
/d,t/> // in clusters with s---andswaru, godspell, betst > answere, gospel, best
Loss of a consonant:
/-w-, -v-/> --- lawerce> larke
// in unstressed syllables> ----lice> -ly
Addition of consonant:
/d/ inserted between /n/, and/r/, /n/ and /l/, /n/ and /s/, /l/ and /r/--- ganra, spinel> gander,
spindel
/b/ inserted between /m/ and /l/, /m/ and /r/--- slumere> slumbere
/p/ inserted between /m/ and /t/--- emtig > empty
Excrescent /t/--- OF ancien> ancient

17
You can get more information, and also hear some of these sounds pronaunced at these sites:
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/middle_english_phonology.htm

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/ME_Pronunciation.pdf

4. NOUN DECLENSIONS, PERSONAL PRONOUNS AND SPELLING

CHANGES IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

4. 1. NOUN DECLENION IN OLD ENGLISH AND MIDDLE ENGLISH

The declensions underwent such radical changes in passing from Old English to Middle
English that in Middle English it is no longer practicable to classify the strong declension of
nouns according to the vowels in which the stems originally ended.
The chief cause of the breaking up of the Old English system of the declension of nouns was
that in passing from Old English to Middle English all the Old English vowels of the case-
endings were weakened to e. The result of this weakening of all vowels to e was that many
different case-endings fell together, and that in some instances different declensions fell
entirely together. With this weakening of all the vowels to e is also closely connected the loss
of grammatical gender in nouns, which was partly due to the breaking up of the old
declensions themselves, and partly to the weakening a loss of the inflectional endings in the
definite article, the demonstrative pronouns and the adjectives.
Breaking up of the old system of declensions is one of the most characteristic differences
between Old English and Middle English. But there is another one, which is also important.
That is the substitution of natural for grammatical gender.
The nominative and accusative plural were always alike in Old English and so also in
Middle English.
Almost half of the nouns frequently encountered in Old English are masculine and most of
these are a-stems the -a- being the sound with which the stem ended in germanic. These
nouns correspond to the o-stems of Indo-European.

18
The noun hund- dog belongs into this group (a-stems, masculine):

SINGULAR
Nominative hund
Genitive hundes
Dative hunde
Accusative hund
Declension of the noun hund in Old English in singular.

PLURAL
Nominative hundas
Genitive hunda
Dative hundum
Accusative hundas
Declension of the noun hund in Old English in plural.

More than a third of all commonly used nouns were inflected according to this pattern,
which was in time to be extended to practically all nouns. The Modern English possesive
singular and general plural form in s comes directly from the Old English genitive singular
and nominative/ accusative plural forms.

SINGULAR
Nominative hund
Genitive hundes
Dative hund(e)
Accusative hund
Declension of the noun hund, dog in Middle English in singular.

PLURAL
Nominative hundes
Genitive hundes
Dative hundes
Accusative hundes
Declension of the noun hund, dog in Middle English in plural.
This noun belong to the masculine declension in Middle English.
The final-e of the dative singular disappeared very early in Middle English, leaving us with
more or less the inflections we use today.

19
The genitive singular (e)s became the analogical, or productive, genitive ending during the
Middle English period, being added to nouns of all classes, including French loan words, such
as villein/villeins. ( now we use the apostrophe for the genitive).
But, there are some remnant genitive forms from OE that appear in ME that include s less
genitives: 'soule nede'- 'soul's need', 'herte blood'-'heart's blood'.
We can also find an s- less genitive when the head noun begins with an s: 'forest syde'-
'forest's edge' or the possessive noun ends in an s 'hors feet'- 'horse's feet'.

Other macsuline nouns the so-called n-stems- have only four forms.

SINGULAR
Nominative oxa
Genitive oxan
Dative oxan
Accusative oxan
Declension of the noun oxa, oxen in Old English in singular.

PLURAL
Nominative oxan
Genitive oxena
Dative oxum
Accusative oxan
Declension of the noun oxa, oxen in Old English in plural.

The weak n- declension contained a large number of masculine and feminine nouns, but only
three neuter nouns, all of which denote parts of the body. The only distinction between the
masculines and the feminines in Old English was that the nominative singular of the former
ended in a, and that of the later in e. After the a had been weakened to e in the
nominative singular of the masculines the two classes of nouns had the same endings in all
cases of the singular and plural. The noun oxen belong to the masculine declension in Middle
English.
So that the Middle English endings were:

SINGULAR
Nominative oxe
Genitive oxen
Dative oxen

20
Accusative oxen
Declension of the noun oxa, oxen in Middle English in singular.
PLURAL
Nominative oxen
Genitive oxene
Dative oxene
Accusative oxen
Declension of the noun oxa, oxen in Middle English in plural.

The en ending (from Old English an) , surviving in oxen, likewise did not indicate
plurality alone in earlier period. In Old English, as a backward glance at the declension of oxa
will show, the common non- nominative singular form had an and was thus identical with
the nominative- accusative plural form, oxan.

The Modern English plural oxen (from oxan) is the only pure survival of this declension,
which is called weak declension.

The noun sheep belongs to Old English a-declension, neuter.

SINGULAR
Nominative sceap
Genitive sceapes
dative sceape
accusative sceap
Declension of the noun sceap, sheep in Old English in singular.

PLURAL
nominative sceap
genitive sceapa
dative sceapum
accusative sceap
Declension of the noun sceap, sheep in Old English in plural.

In Middle English the noun sheep belonged to the neuter nouns declension. In Old English
the nominative and accusative plural of neuter stems ended either in -u or had no ending,
whereas the masculine stems ended in -as (Middle English -es). Therefore in treating the
neuter nouns it is only necessary to take into consideration the former form of the plural.

Monosyllabic nouns with a long stem-syllable denoting collectivity, weight, measure, and
time generally remained uninflected in the plural just as in Old English (e.g. deer, sheep). This

21
rule practically agrees with that in the modern dialects. In all the modern dialects nouns
denoting collectivity, time, space, weight, measure, and number when immediately preceded
by a cardinal number generally remain unchanged in the plural.
When the singular ended in a vowel or a diphthong in Middle English, the plural took -s
after the analogy of the corresponding old masculine nouns.

The noun goose belongs to old consonant stems, feminine. This declension includes nouns
belonging to all genders.

It is the major root declension (the declension of mutation plurals). Only a limited number of
Old English nouns formed their plurals by mutation, i.e. by changing the root vowel. About
half of them are preserved in present-day English: foot/feet, tooth/teeth, man/men. The noun
goose/geese belongs to that same group.
The noun goose is with mutation in the dative singular and the nominative and accusative
plural. The nominative and accusative plural form of it is gs.

SINGULAR

Nominative gs
Genitive gs, gse
Dative gs
Accusative gs
Declension of the noun gs, goose in Old English in singular.

PLURAL
Nominative gs
Genitive gsa
Dative gsum
Accusative gs
Declension of the noun gs, geese in Old English in plural.

It has to be noted that in all declensions the genitive plural form ends in -a and the dative
plural in -m (usually -um).
The noun goose belongs to the monosyllabic consonant stems- feminine, and had the
following inflections in Middle English:

SINGULAR

22
Nominative gs
genitive gses
dative gse
accusative gs
Declension of the noun gs, goose in Middle English in singular.

PLURAL
nominative gs
genitive gs
dative gs
accusative gs
Declension of the noun gs, geese in Middle English in plural.

To summarize, the inflectional changes in the noun between OE and ME resulted in

the following:
-OE noun classes, and hence their genders, ceased to be distinct.
-Case came to be marked only in the singular. Two cases (genitive and common case)
rather than four cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative) were distinguished.
-Analogical, or productive, markers for the genitive and plural developed from the OE
a- stem endings. These replaced many of the OE endings, although a few remnant forms
continued in use.

4.2. THE ADJECTIVE IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

The form of the nominative singular was early extended to all cases of the singular, and that
of the plural to all cases of the plural, both in the strong and the weak declensions. The result
was that in the weak declension there was no longer any distinction between the singular and
the plural: both ended in e (blinda> blinde and blindan> blinde); prive(private), smale(small)
This was also true of those adjectives under the strong declension whose singular ended in e.
(Baugh& Cable:2002: 162)
Of all parts of speech, adjectives show perhaps the greatest change in their inflectional system
from OE to ME.
The ME adjective is still inflected for number, but not for case or gender. Even the number
distinction survives only in the strong declension, and the strong and weak declensions look
identical except in the singular. Furthermore, only monosyllabic adjectives ending in a
consonant, such as leef 'dear' or brood 'broad', are inflected; all other adjectives, such as bisy

23
'busy' or hethen 'heathen', are uninflected. The principle holds for adjectives borrowed from
French: seynt 'holy' is inflected, but gentil is uninflected.
Inflection of the adjective ceased altogether after the thirteenth century when the final e's were
lost.
Comparatives and superlatives seem not to have altered much in ME, apart from regular
phonetic changes: the comparative- ra appears as er, and the superlative est or ost appears
as est.
We often find doubling of the final consonant of the root in the comparative and superlative,
with the effect of shortening the root vowel: e.g. greet/ gretter/ grettest, late/ latter/ lattest.
From 1300, comparisons using more and most/ mest became more common, as in more
noble, most wise.
Double comparisons, with both the inflectional and more/most marker, are evident in ME
phrases such as most fairest. Although these continue to be heard in colloquial speech today,
they have been ruled out in writing since the eighteenth century. A common construction in
ME to express high degree is the so- called absolute superlative, consisting of an intensifying
adverb with the adjective in the positive degree, such as ful good, wonderly sore, ryght yong.
(Brinton & Arnovick:2006:269)

4. 3. PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

Old English personal pronouns were defined as belonging to one of the three persons (first,
second, third); to the singular, dual (first and second persons only) or to the plural; to
masculine, feminine or neuter gender (the third person only). The respective paradigm were as
follows:
FIRST PERSON SECOND PERSON
Sg. dual pl. sg. dual pl.
N. Ic wit w git g
G. mn uncer re n incer ower
D. m unc s inc ow
A. m unc s inc ow

THIRD PERSON
Masc. sg. femin. sg. neuter sg. Plural
N. H ho hit he

24
G. his hi(e)re his hi(e)ra
D. him hi(e)re him him
A. hine h (e) hit he
Personal pronouns in Old English.

The comparison of Old English, Middle English and Modern English paradigms reveals the
following changes in the system of personal pronouns:
The dual forms of the first and of the second persons are gone. They disappeared
completely in the latter half of the 13th century. The dual forms wit and git took the
ordinary plural verb forms.
In early Middle English the genitives lost their genitival meaning and started to function
as possessive pronouns.
With the exception of the neuter gender, the third person singular and the plural accusative
forms were replaced by respective dative forms in Middle English. It means that the old
accusative of the first and the second persons had been replaced by dative forms even in
Old English.
The old system of personal pronouns for the second person has been drastically changed.
The old h- forms of the third person plural have been replaced by th- forms.

As we will see, the pronouns retained a considerable degree of the complexity which
characterized them in Old English. These words alone preserved distinctive subject and object
case forms, except for the neuter pronoun hit, which even in Old English had not
differentiated the nominative and accusative.

With the disappearance of the dual number in Middle English, the objective forms of the
personal pronouns in Middle English from Old English are m, s, thee and yo.

The third person nominative- accusative plural forms in h- were varied. Nominative forms
they, thei prevailed in the North and Midlands. Hem was used for the objective form.

The respective paradigm in Middle English were as follows:

25
 FIRST PERSON SECOND PERSON
Singular plural singular Plural
SUBJECT , ich w thou y
FORM
OBJECT m s thee you
FORM

THIRD PERSON
masc, sg. femin. sg. neuter sg. plural

SUBJECT h sch it thei

FORM
OBJECT him, hine hir(e), her(e) it hem
FORM
Personal pronouns in Middle English.

From the 13th century on, probably under French influence, ye began to be used for thou as
the pronoun of respect in addressing superiors. Thou and thee are still used in the Bible, in
liturgical language and in poetry, but in the standard language the old singular forms became
obsolete in the 18th century.

Today they are used in most dialects, except in Scotland, to express familiarity. The old
singular is preserved in prethee, which means I pray thee.
From the 14th century on the accusative you began replacing the nominative ye. In the
Elizabethan period thee was often used for thou.

4.4. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

Middle English saw a severe reduction in demonstrative pronoun forms. In OE, the two
demonstratives are inflected for two numbers, three genders ( in the singular), and three to
five cases. Although inflected forms appear in early ME texts and sporadically in later texts,
especially in the South, only five distinct forms deriving from the OE demonstrative remained
by the end of the ME period.

26
Under the influence of the other th- demonstratives, se, the OE masculine singular nominative
of the that demonstrative developed into e/the. More importantly, the became invariable
(undeclinable) and assumed a new function. The demonstratives in OE serve a deitic function,
pointing to objects close to or far from the speaker. The ME form, on the other hand,
developed an anaphoric function, referring back to something already mentioned, or what we
might call something definite. The transition from se to e/ the and its use as a definite article
began early enough to appear in Peterboroughs Anglo-Saxson Chronicle. ( Brinton &
Arnovick)

4.5. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

Apart from a spelling change (hw> wh) and a few phonetic changes, the interrogative
pronouns appear little changed in Middle English:
OLD ENGLISH MIDDLE ENGLISH
Masc./fem. Nom. hwa who
Obj. hwam whom
Gen. hws whose
Neut. Nom./Obj. hwt what
Instr. hwy why

The most common relative pronoun in ME is that.

4.6. LOSS OF GRAMMATICAL GENDER

Accompanying the loss of inflections in Middle English adjectives, nouns, and demonstratives
was the disappearance, for internal and external reasons, of grammatical gender. Inherent
difficulties exist when grammatical and natural ( or biological) gender are at odds, even
though grammatical gender systems are not fundamentally illogical and many languages have
managed to preserve such systems. As early as the Old English period, these clashes were
being resolved in favor of natural gender. Phonetic weakening is a second internal factor
contributing to the loss of gender: it prompted the collapse of noun classes( which were based
on gender).( Brinton & Arnovick:2006)

27
4. 4. SPELLING CHANGES IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

Middle English is very phonetic, there are no silent letters.

Throughout the history of English the consonants have remained relatively stable, as
compared with vowel changes which have occurred.
The changes are the following:
1. Old English cw came to be written qu. Qu = kw remained in Middle English before a, e, i
queen, quick.
2. In the oldest period of the language sc was guttural or palatal according as it was
originally followed by a guttural or a palatal vowel, but some time during the Old English
period the guttural sc became palatal, except in loan-words. In Middle English it was
generally written sch or sometimes sh, ss, as in fish, fisch, fiss.
The initial voiceless spirants f, s, became the voiceless spirants v, z, in Middle English.
Final -s and - became voiced after vowels in unaccented syllables, although the -s, - (-th)
were retained in writing. In the 14th century th gradually came to be used beside , but the
continued to be written beside th, especially initially.
3. Old English initial h remained in Middle English before accented vowels, as hous. But
before unaccented vowels it often disappeared, especially in pronominal form, as em, im,
it beside accented hem (them). This indicates that the h- either had a very weak
articulation or had ceased to be pronounced.
4. Old English hw came to be written wh: OE hwt > ME what
5. The Old English sequences hl, hn, and hr were simplified to l, n and r. Initial h-
disappeared.
OE hlpan, 'to leap', OE hnutu 'nut' but ME lpen, nute.
After consonants, particularly s and t, and before back vowels, w was lost, as in s (OE
sw). Since OE times it had been lost in various negative contractions regardless of what
vowel followed, as in Middle English nas from ne was. A number of spelling with silent w
continue to occur, for example two, sword,

6. The velar fricative [] evolved to [w] after back vowels and after r and l before the end of
12th century. Usually written w, it combined with the preceding vowel to form a diphthong of
u-type:
OE draan > ME drawen > NE draw

28
7. The diagraph gh came to be used after 1400 to indicate hard g in some English words, the
practice surviving in ghost (OE gast, ME go(o)st), aghast and ghastly. This diagraph became
also the standard orthographic symbol for both the palatal and the velar voiceless fricatives []
and [x]. Palatal [], which occurred in Middle English before t and finally, disappeared in
pronunciation in Middle English, although gh has been developed in writing. The i-glide that
developed before [] in Middle English combined with the preceding vowel to form an i-
diphthong; it merged with it into .
ME [] >
ME light > lt > NE light

8. The Old English prefix ge- became i- (y-) as in iwis, certain, OE gewiss and ilimpen, to
happen, OE gelimpen.
9. Final inflectional n was gradually lost, as was also the final n of the indefinite article before
a consonant.
OE mn fder
ME my fader

http://www.catterall.net/CHEL/I/1908.html

5. VERBS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

a) Marking the infinitive

In Old English the infinitive was shown by an inflectional ending -(i)an. As this decayed, the
particle to began to take over. Originally a preposition to developed a function as a purpose
marker, but then lost all its semantic content, acting solely as a sign of the infinitive. A
construction using for to developed in Early Middle English, but also without its semantic
force only as a useful metrical alternative in poetry. Chaucer uses both forms in The
Canterbury Tales:

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgramages

And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes...

29
 As soon as to begins to be used as an infinitive marker, we find it separated from its verb. As
early as the 13th century, adverbs and pronouns were inserted, as in for to him reade to advise
him, and quite lengthy constructions were at times introduced, as in this example from a 15th
century bishop, Reginald Pecock:

for to freely and in no weye of his

owne dette or of eny oer mannys
dette to eve and pale eny reward...
(The Reule of Crysten Religioun)

Many such examples show that infinitive-splitting is by no means an unnatural process in

English and not a modern phenomenon.

b) Foundation of verbs
The Middle English period laid the foundation for the later emergence of several important
constructions. Chief among these was the progressive form (as in I am running), which was
used much frequently towards the end of the period, especially in northern texts. Its use then
increased in Modern English.

The modern progressive requires an auxiliary verb (a form of be), and this function also
emerged during the period. For a while have and be competed for the expression of perfect
aspect: in The Canterbury Tales we find instances of both ben entred (been entered) and han
entred (have entered), each in context expressing past time. The problem was resolved when
have came to be used for perfective aspect and be for the passive and progressive. Do also
developed its function as an empty form in questions (does he know?) and negation ( I didnt
go). The modal verbs (will, shall, may, might, can, etc.) took an fresh functions. Their
meaning had already begun to overlap with that of the subjunctive in late Old English, and
once verbs lost their endings, modals were the only way in which such meanings as
possibility and necessity could be expressed.

30
5. 1. STRONG VERBS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
Old English:
present past tense past participle
drifan draf drifan gedrifen (drive)
ceosan ceas curan gecoren (choose)
singan sang sungan gesungen (sing)*
ridan rad ridan geriden (ride)*

Middle English:
singen sang/song sungen (y)song(e) (sing)*
ryden road riden (y)riden (ride)*

Modern English:
sing sang / sung *
ride rode / ridden *

5. 2. WEAK VERBS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

Old English:
hieran hierde hierdan gehiered (hear)
settan sette setton gesett (set)
lufian lufode lufoden gelufed (love)*

Middle English:
luvien luvede luvofen (y)luved (love)*

Modern English:
love loved / loved *

5. 3. TENSES IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

During the Middle English period the tense structure of English became more complex. The
first addition to the verbal paradigm were expanded tenses. They developed from the Old
English construction: beon/wesam + present participle -ende, so the ME version was be(n) +

31
on + verbal noun -inge. Since their primary function is to set the background of some other
action and to convey the idea of duration or of progress, they are often referred to as
continuous or progressive tenses.

About the year 1200 the auxiliaries shall and will were beginning to lose some of their
modal meaning and assumed the function of expressing futurity.

In early Middle English haven was extended to intransitive uses and the past participle lost
its adjectival force. It was used instead of the simple preterites to indicate a result still
effective at the moment of speaking.

5. 3. 1. Present Tense
Old English:
-an example for the strong verb
singular: I drif-e
u drif-st
he drif- (th)
plural: drif-a (th)
(for all persons)

-an example for the weak verb

singular: I lufi-e
u luf[a]-st
he luf[a]- (th)
plural: luf[a]- (th)
(for all persons)

Middle English:
-e I luvie
-est (s) 3rd person singular he luviest/luvis
-eth (es) luvieth/luvies

32
5. 3. 2. Past Tense
Old English:
-an example for the strong verb
singular: I draf
u drife
he draf
plural: drifon
(for all persons)

-an example for the weak verb

singular: I lufode
u lufodest
he lufode
plural: lufodon
(for all persons)

Middle English:
-e ( hafde, havede)
-est/st (had(d)est, had(e)st
-hafde, havede, had(d)e
-plural: had(d)e(n)

6. SYNTAX OF MIDDLE ENGLISH

The syntax of Middle English is similar to Modern English syntax with differences in
declensions, pronouns, gender, negation and in grammar general.

Beside the switch from a synthetic to an analytic type ( the levelling and loss of inflections
and the development of periphrases and fixed word order) of grammar in Middle English
period independent changes took place simultaneously in other parts of the grammatical
system. There was already a tendency towards Subject - Verb - Object (SVO) order in Old
English and this was now consolidated in some constructions and extended to others. The

33
extract from the Peterborough Chronicle shows how the earlier verb-final pattern continued to
make itself felt, especially when the subject was short:
rueden hi robbed they
forbaren hi spared they
was corn dre was corn dear
ne nure hethen men werse ne diden nor never heathen men worse not did

Variations of this kind continue to be in evidence even at the end of the Middle English
period.

Prepositions became particularly critical when noun endings were lost. Where Old English
would have said pm scipum with a dative ending on both the words for the and ship,
Middle English came to say to the shippes, using a preposition and the common plural ending.
The only noun case to survive into Modern English was the genitive (s or s in writing).Some
of the personal pronouns also kept the old accusative form: he vs him, she vs her, etc.

The endings of the verb remained close to those of OE. Most verbs would have had the
following forms, illustrated here in Chaucers English for turnen turn, and ignoring certain
dialect differences, such as northern use of -es instead of -eth.
Present tense Past tense
(I) turn(e) turned(e)
(thou) turnest turnedest
(he/she/it) turneth turned(e)
(we/you/they) turne(n) turned(en)

The final simplification to the modern system, where we have only turn and turns in the
present tense, and turned throughout the past, took place after the Middle English period.

6. 1. PLOTTING CHANGES IN WORD ORDER

In Middle English period we can see the gradual way in which new patterns of word order
developed. One study examined over 1500 full lines from the late 12 th century Ormulum to
determine the order of Subject, Verb and Object (SVO) elements and 1697 clauses were
analysed:

34
 Most VS is in main clauses: 97% of subordinate clauses have VS order, but only 67% of
main clauses.
VS is likely in certain syntactic contexts. If a negative word or an indirect object appear at
the front of a clause, then the VS order seems to be obligatory. If the clause begins with an
adverb, an adverb precedes in 57% of all VS cases.
OV figures also need to be broken down. If the O is a pronoun, it is just as likely to appear
before the V as after it. If the O is a noun, it is unusual for it to appear before the V.

Although the OV pattern becomes VO quite early on, the VS pattern remains strong in some
contexts until Early Modern English, when SV statement order became normal almost
everywhere.

The Middle English period is particularly interesting because it shows where several
important features of Modern English grammar have come from. It also provides a useful
perspective for present-day arguments about English usage, as a number of the issues which
have been condemned as 20th century sloppiness are well in evidence from the earliest times.

6. 2. NEGATION IN MIDDLE ENGLISH SYNTAX

nought, nat, not, ne

nas - ne was
nolde - ne wolde
noot - ne woot
niste - ne wiste
I ne saugh / I not saw
He yaf nat / He gave not
he ne lefte nat / He ne left not / Without you not

A noticable feature in some Middle English works is the continuing use of the Old English
construction involving double or triple negatives. Extra negative words increase the
negative meaning and make it stronger (a mathematical rule, that two negatives make a
positive, does not include the field of grammar rules).

ne hadden na more to gyuen / (they) had no more to give

35
 for nan ne ws o e land / for there was none in the land

During the Middle English period the situation simplified. The Old English double negative
(ne...naht) was much used in the early part of the period, but by the end just one form (nat or
not) was marking negation, and ne was was being dropped before other negative words. This
is the situation later adopted in Standard English; but the emphatic principle remained in non-
standard varieties and is still with us.

7. VOCABULARY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH

While the loss of inflections and the consequent simplification of English grammar were thus
only indirectly due to the use of French in England, French influence is much more direct and
observable upon the vocabulary. Where two languages exist side by side for a long time and
the relations between the people speaking them are as intimate as they were in England, a
considerable transference of words from one language to another is inevitable. As is generally
the case, the interchange was to some extent mutual.

When we study the French words appearing in English before 1250, we find that many of
them were such as the lower classes would become familiar with through contact with a
French- speaking nobilty: baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast

We should expect that English would owe many of its words dealing with goverment and
administration to the language of those who for more than 200 years mad public affairs their
cheif concern: crown, state, empire, realm, reign, majesty, tyrant, tax, parliament

Ecclesiatical Words: The higher clergy, occupying positions of wealth and power were
practically all Normans- religion, theology, sermon, homly, baptism, communion,dean,
chaplain, parson, pastor, abbes, friar

Law: French was so long the language of the law courts in England justice, judgment,
crime, bill, petition, suit, complaint, jury, verdict, sentence, decree, award, fine

36
Fashion, Meals, and Social Life: That the upper classes should have set the standard in
fashion and dress is so obvious an assumption that the number of French words belonging to
this class occasions no surprise: fashion, dress, gown, robe, garment, attire, cape, cloak, coat,
frock, collar, veil, train, chemise, lace, embroidery, pleat, gusset, buckle, button, tassel,
turquoise, amethyst, emerald, crystal, coral, jewel, ornament, dinner, supper, appetite

Colors: blue, brown, vermilion, scarlet, saffron, russet, tawny.

Art, Learning, Medicine: The cultural and intellectual interests of the ruling class are
reflected in words pertaining to the arts, architecture, literature, learning- painting, music,
sculpture, cathedral, palace, choir, poet, rime, romance, title, volume, story, chronicle, tragedy,
study, logic, geometry, grammar, anatomy, pulse, poison. (Baugh& Cable 2002)

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8. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECTS

The language differed almost from county to county, and noticeable variations are sometimes
observable between different parts of the same country. The features characteristic of a given
dialect do not all cover the same territory, some extend into adjoining districts or may be
characteristic also of another dialect. Consequently it is rather difficult to decide how many
dialectal divisions should be recognized and to mark off with any exactness their respective
boundaries. In a rough way, however, it is customary to distinguish four principal dialects of
ME: Northern, East Midland, West Midland, and Southern. Generally speaking, the Northern
dialect extends as far south as the Humber and the Thames; and Southern occupies the district
south of the Thames, together with Gloucestershire and parts of the counties of Worchester
and Hereford, thus taking in the West Saxon and Kentish districts of OE( later Southern).

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The peculiarities that distinguish these dialects are partly matters of pronunciation, partly of
vocabulary, partly of inflection: e.g.
Ending eth in Southern dialect, is replaced by en in the Midland, -es in North (loveth,
loven, loves).
Dialectal differences are more noticeable between Northern and Southern; the Midland dialect
often occupies an intermediate position, tending toward the one or other in those districts
lying nearer to adjacent dialects.

8.1. The importance of Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer was born and died in London; spoke a dialect that was basically East Midland.
Compared with his contemporaries, he was remarkably modern in his use of language. He
was in his early 20s when the Statute of Pleading (1362) was passed, by the terms of which all
court proceedings were henceforth to be conducted in English, though enrolled in Latin.
Chaucer himself used four languages; he read Latin (Classical and Medieval) and spoke
French and Italian on his travels. For his own literary work he deliberately chose English.
It was once thought that Chaucers importance was paramount among the influences bringing
about the adoption of a written standard. It is unlikely that the English used in official records
and in letters and papers by men of affairs was greatly influenced by the language of his
poetry. Yet it is the language found in such documents rather than the language of Chaucer
that is at the basis of Standard English. Chaucers dialect is not in all respects the same as the
language of these documents, presumably identical with the ordinary speech of the city. It is
slightly more conservative and shows a greater number of Southern characteristics. Chaucer
was a court poet, and his usage may reflect the speech of the court and to certain extent
literary tradition. (Baugh& Cable 2002)

These sites may be useful (you can find the translation of Canterbury Tales, some additional
information and ME vocabulary):

http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm
http://www.catterall.net/CHEL/I/1908.html

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9. CONCLUSION

Middle English period deals with the linguistic situation in England between 1066 and 1500.
The Norman Conquest and the establishment of French as the language of England
contributed to various changes in the usage of English.

The political, social and cultural life of the country was profoundly changed, and so was the
language. Normans had their own way of pronouncing words, and influenced the vocabulary
in different aspects of its use: government words, law words, fashion words, ecclesiastical,
science art words and other. All in all, interchange between English and French was frequent
and the most striking change is in the word stock, showing a massive influx of French terms
and a substantial loss of Old English words, especially those not belonging to the core
vocabulary.

The systematic, essentially phonemic spelling system of Old English underwent a change in
Middle English. Norman scribes, sometimes working with an imperfect knowledge of English
, introduced a number of Romance spelling Conventions These changes initiated the
confusion of English spelling in which symbols no longer correspond exactly with sounds.

Of all parts of speech, adjectives show perhaps the greatest change in their inflectional system
from OE to ME.
In short, this is a very important period for the understanding of the development of English
from the old period to nowadays.

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10. SUMMARY

The Conquest, in fact, made the change from Old English to Middle English look more
sudden than it really was, by introducing new spelling- conventions. The Norman scribes
disregarded traditional English spelling, and simply spelt the language as they heard it, using
many of the conventions of Norman French. There was already a strong French influence in
England before the Conquest: Edward the Confessor was half Norman, and his court had
close relations with France. It is certainly true, however, that the Conquest had a profound
influence on the English language. For some centuries, English ceased to be the language of
the governing classes, and there was no such thing as literary English.
The end of Norman kings arrived in 1154, when Stephen, the last of them died.

The inventory of vowels in Middle English was rather different from that of Old English.
So did the inventory of diphtongs. Old English diphthongs were lost in Middle English, and a
variety of new diphtongs developed.

The consonant inventory of Middle English remains the same as that of Old English, except
for one change: there is an increase in the number of distinctive sounds.
Several consonant sounds came to be spelled differently, especially because of French
influence.

The declensions underwent such radical changes in passing from Old English to Middle
English that in Middle English it is no longer practicable to classify the strong declension of
nouns according to the vowels in which the stems originally ended.
Breaking up of the old system of declensions is one of the most characteristic differences
between Old English and Middle English. But there is another one, which is also important.
That is the substitution of natural for grammatical gender.

The pronouns retained a considerable degree of the complexity which characterized them in
Old English. These words alone preserved distinctive subject and object case forms,
except for the neuter pronoun hit, which even in Old English had not differentiated the

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 nominative and accusative. The interrogative pronouns appear little changed in Middle
English.
The syntax of Middle English is similar to Modern English syntax with differences in
declensions, pronouns, gender, negation and in grammar general. French influence is most
observable upon vocabulary.
The Middle period is interesting in particular because it shows where do the forms of Modern
English come from and it makes the present- day linguistic situation clearer.

SAETAK
Normansko osvajanje je prelazak iz staroengleskog u srednjeengleski jezik uinilo naoko
brim, nego to zaista jeste, uvoenjem novog naina pisanja rijei. Normani su zanemarili
tradicionalni engleski 'spelling' i jednostavno pisali rijei onako kako ih uju, koristei pravila
normanskog francuskog jezika. Postojao je i veliki francuski utjecaj i prije normanskih
osvajanja: Edward Ispovijedalac je bio napola- norman, i njegov dvor je bio u bliskim
odnosima s Francuskom.
Svakako je istina da je Normansko osvajanje imalo snaan utjecaj na engleski jezik.
Tijekom nekoliko godina, engleski je prestao biti jezik vladajue klase, te nije bilo engleskog
knjievnog jezika.
Vladavina normanskih kraljeva je prestala 1154, kad je umro posljednji normanski kralj
Stephen.

Samoglasnici u srednjeengleskom su bili prilino drukiji od staroengleskih, kao i dvoglasi.

Staroengleski dvoglasi su se u potpunosti izgubili u srednjeengleskom, te su se stvorili novi.
Suglasnici su ostali isti kao u staroengleskom, osim to se dogodila jedna promjena: poveao
se broj razlikovnih zvukova.
Neki su se suglasnici izgovarali drukije zbog francuskog utjecaja.

Deklinacije su podnijele radikalne promjene, te prijanja klasifikacija vie nije mogua u

srednjeengleskom. Ova promjena je meu najvanijim, kad govorimo o prelasku iz
staroengleskog u srednjeengleski jezik.

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Zamjenice su zadrale sloenost koju su posjedovale i u staroengleskom. Ove rijei su
zadrale razlikovanje po padeima, osim neutralne zamjenice hit, kod koje se ni u
staroengleskom nije razlikovao nominativ od akuzativa. Upitna zamjenica je doivjela manje
promjene.

Sintaksa srednjeengleskog je slina sintaksi modernog engleskog, s ponekim razlikama u

deklinaciji, zamjenicama, negaciji i openito gramatici.
Jak je francuski utjecaj na inventar rijei.

SrednjI period u razvoju engleskog jezika je zanimljiv posebice zbog toga to nam daje jasniji
uvid u dananje stanje- modernog engleskog jezika.

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11. WORKS CITED

Baugh, A. C. & Cable, T. A History of the English Language. London: Routledge, 2002: 158-
200

Brinton, J. Laurel & Arnovick, K. Leslie. The English Language: A Linguistic History.
Canada: Oxford University Press, 2006: 230-306

Barber, Charles. The English Language: A historical introduction. Cambridge University

Press 1993: 127-174

Cassell, John. Illustrated History of England.

http://books.google.hr/books?id=RS4OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP11&dq=seal+of+
+william+the+conqueror+illustration#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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