History of The English Language Notes

Middle English 1066-1500 The Norman Conquest 1066-1200

A. The single most important event on the history of the English language is the Norman Conquest in 1066.

B. In 1066 King Edward (the Confessor) died childless. Edward's chief advisor (earl of West Saxon), Godwin, had a son names Harold. Harold succeeded his father Godwin and virtually ruled England the last 12 years of Edward's reign. Upon Edward's death, Harold was elected King.

C. William, the duke of Normandy, was 2nd cousin to Edward, and Edward had promised him the throne upon Edward's death. Once William learns of Harold's succession to the throne, William begins a very detailed and careful plan to win the crown.

        1. First, William secured cooperation from his vassals by promising good rewards.
   2. He made peace with his enemies on the continent.
   3. He appealed to the Pope to sanction his plan and recieved the blessing of the Church.
   4. The end result was a massive number of people with questionable (greedy & ambitious) motives coming to the aid of William. By the time William invades England, he has a formidable army.
   5. When William landed (Sept. 1066 at Pevensy in the south of England), he was unopposed.
   6. Harold was busy in northern England trying to ward off an invaion by the king of Norway, who also wanted the throne.
   7. When Harold finally marshals his army, he didn't have the numbers that William did. However, the day of the big battle, Harold managed a valiant fight and actually held William off. According to history, military might had nothing to do with William's victory. Instead, Harold was killed, and in the confusion without a leader, the English troops fell apart. Thus, William was able to triumph at Hastings.
   8. However, William had to burn and pillage southeast England before the people gave in, and on Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned king.

D. William's reign virtually wipes out all of the old English nobility. In its place, a new nobility---of Norman descent

E. With Norman nobility in place, nearly all great estates and important positions were held by Normans or other foriegners.

F. The governing class in both church and state, then, was foreign, and their influence great.

Language Use During ME

1. French

   a. The ruling class continued to use their own language-French.
   b. For 200 years after the Conquest, the language of policy was French. And this was not a demarcation of ethnicity. Numerous English people (those of the upper classes) learned the language through marriage and by association.
   c. However, the language of the masses remained English.
   d. Until the beginning of the 13th century, French continued to dominate as the language of nobility. A very close connection existed between the continent and England . . . the nobility usually held land in both places: therefore, travel between the two was fairly common.
   e. Further, William was no exception tothis. In fact when William died, he left Normandy to his eldest son and England to his youngest son, William the Second. Later Normandy and England were under one ruler, but not until Henry the First. Under Henry the Second, English "possessions" in France were even further broadened and enhanced.
   f. When Henry the 2nd marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, he increased his holdings so that by the time he became King of England, he controlled about 2/3 of France.
   g. From William the Conqueror through Henry the 2nd, most kings spent at least 2/3 of their time in France. And besides Henry I, no other English king married an Englishwoman until Edward the 4th in the 1460s. The perpetuation of French was on. Too much time and too much money were invested in France for the nobility not to have, as a natural course of events, used French as the language.
      *note: no evidence exists to suggest that English was a "hated" language. Most probably very little attention was paid to it because classes simply did not mix.

2. Fusion of the French and English--over time, the two "cultures" assimilated and adjusted to one another.

3. Diffusion of English

   a. Some nobility spoke English. This would be a natural occurrence.
   b. Some clergy preserved English.
   c. Some of the educated, the nobility, and clergy, then, representing the upper social strata, were bilingual.

4. Diffusion of French

   a. Knights learned French.
   b. Merchants spoke both French and English.
   c. Managers (sheriffs, bailiffs, etc.) on large estates were bilingual.
   d. For the most part, bilingualism extended only down to the middle class.

      ***Qualification: Bilingual as used above does not indicate fluency.

The Re-establishment of English 1200-1500

1. The Loss of Normandy

   a. King John "lost" Normandy in 1204
   b. King John fell in love with a French noblewoman--Isabel of Angouleme.
   c. He married her hastily without regard for her other suitor (to whom she was already engaged), Hugh of Lusignan.
   d. Hugh was the head of a very powerful and ambitious family, but John chose to ignore these connections and, in anticipation of retaliation for stealing Isabel, attacked Hugh's family.
   e. Hugh appeals to the King of all France, Philip, and Philip took advantage of the situation to "embarrass" the duke of Normandy (and King of England), John. Since John was extremely irritating to Philip, it was with great delight that Philip summoned John to appear before him, answer charges, and submit to the judgement of the court.
   f. John maintained that, as King of England, he was exempt from subjugation and did not appear at his trial. Hence, Philip stripped John of his "dukedom" and invaded Normandy.
   g. Philip succeeded, and Normandy returned solely to the French.
   h. John lost support: he was viewed as a scoundrel. There was even thought (with some basis) that he had his own cousin, prince Arthur, murdered.

2. Separation of English and French nobility

   a. With the loss of Normandy (some holdings were left in the south of France), many nobles had to decide where their allegiance lay . . . France or England.
   b. Philip, and later Louis, helped solve this problem: he confiscated the land of many nobles. Those who still had holdings in both places were forced to give up one or the other. There were some that were divided up by Philip, and in some instances, the nobles kept their larger landholdings in England and gave up the lesser in Normandy.
   c. By 1250 the holdings had been divided or the choice made to hold land either in England or Normandy, and by 1250, there was no real reason for using French.
   d. During the breakup of holdings, an influx of French from the south was also occurring. There were three periods of infiltration by foreigners, all occurring during the reign of Henry the 3rd:

      1. --in 1233 under Peter des Roches (a Frenchman made bishop of Winchester and later chancellor)
      2. --in 1236 when Henry married Eleanor of Provence, and he gave her many, many relatives land and positions
      3. --the last in 1246

   e. Not all infiltrators were French; some were Spanish

3. Henry the 3ed's reign was full of excesses and liberties. He freely gave to foreigners--land,etc.--and encouraged their influx. The hostilities that ensued were, in large part, due to Henry's catering tothe French. Resentment of the foreigners and of Henry was the attitude of the day.

4. Promotion of National Feeling

   a. Opposition to foreigners helped promote national feeling
   b. Drove the barons and middle class together in a common cause
   c. Ironically, one leader of the cause was Simon de Montfort--a Norman by birth.
   d. In line with these feelings, then, some knowledge of English would be regarded as desirable.

5. French as "supreme"

   a. Though England was beginning to unite, this did not mean French was given up overnight.
   b. In fact, French was considered "the" language of the continent. Even Germans and Italians spoke French.

6. The 13th Century

   a. French continued to be spoken by the upper class in England, but not for different reasons. No longer the "mother" tongue, French was spoken as a matter of social custom and administrative convention.
   b. However, with the separation of nobility from interests in France and Normandy, the upper classes were generally using it.
   c. Because French use was fading and English use becoming prevalent, the impact of "borrowing" French vocabulary is major. When an English term was unknown and needed to be expressed, a French word or phrase was used.
   d. On the whole English use was steady.
   e. By the middle of the 13th century, French is considered a foreign language.
   f. Some attempt to preserve French existed in the clergy and from scholars, but not much.
   g. The French that had been spoken among "Englishmen" was considered by Francophiles to be a "backard" and butchered dialect.

7. Other factors contributing to the rise of English

   a. The 100 years' War-promoted national unity against the French to a very intense degree. Because the English came to "hate" the French, the French language was used less and less.
   b. The rise of the middle class-with the outbreak of "The Black Death" in 1348, approximately 30% of the population died. This brought a shortage of labor; consequently, the economic importance of the working class grew. Since English was the language of the common laborer, its use become even more widespread.

8. By the beginning of the 14th century, English was once again the dominant language. Futher, in 1362 Parliament enacted a law requiring all lawsuits to be conducted in English. English is, then, officially recognized. From here, the use of English filtered down to other branches of government and law.

9. Henry V's reign from 1413-1422 marked a turning point in English as a written language. Henry used English in writing letters, and the practice diffused among the English people.

10. French literature was not so easily replaced, though, by English literature. Most of the literature in Middle English comes in the form of religious.

11. The diffusion of hte language does extend eventually to literature. --Chaucer (1340-1400), Langland (Piers Plowman), and the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight emerge, leading to the labeling of writing at the time as The Period of Great individual Writing (1350-1400).

12. The 15th century literature of England becomes known as the Imitative Period or Transition Period, the period of imitators of Chaucer and before Shakespeare.

Middle English Dialects and The Rise of Standard English

A. ME was comprised of 5 distinct dialects (see p. 186 in book). These reflect :
   1. original settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Jutes
   2. the influence on ON on OE. The division between East & West Midland reflects the boundary of the Old    Danelaw

B. As London developed into a major commercial city and seat of government, London English (which was a variety of East Midland English) became the language of literature & of widest use by the end of the 14th century C. However, the present day written standard English derives from the variety used in the Chancery (the national bureacracy). The written conventions & spelling adopted by the clerks of the Chancery provided a written standard that existed in spite of significant differences in the spoken language.

Middle English Phonology
1. Vowel changes-simple vowels change in quality, and the 4 OE diphthongs become monophthongs.
     [a:]   [ ]  b n  b n  (backing)
     [ć]   [a]  Ţćt  that  (backing)
     [ć:]   [ :]   sć:  s :  (raising)
     [y]   [I ]   synn   s nne   (unrounding)
     [y:]   [ i:]   hy:dan   hi:dan   (unrounding)

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

2.New diphthongs-6 new ones appear, but only one persists in Modern English:
     [ ]    borrowed from French (joie)

3.Lengthening and Shortening
   a. Vowels became long after 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
     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)

4. Consonant Changes
   a.hl, hn, and hr become l, n, and r respectively      OE     ME
     hlu:d     lu:d
     hnecca     necke
     hring     ring
   b.w is lost between a consonant and a back vowel ([ ], [ ], [o], and [u])
     OE     ME     Modern E
     twa:     [t :]     two
     sword     [s rd]     sword

   c.[ ], is lost after unstressed vowels      OE     ME
     rihtli     rightly
     a:nli     onli

   d.Voiced fricatives emerge as separate phonemes ([v], [đ], [z] and [ ]) as a result of:
     1.leveling      OE     ME
     nosu [n zu]     nose [n :z]
     risan [ri:zan]     rise [ri:z]

   2.French influence
     vat, vixen, verse

Middle English Grammar
A. Leveling eliminates most of the inflectional system
B. As a consequence, word order and prepositions become increasing important
C. The loss of inflections leads to the replacement of grammatical gender with natural gender
D. Dual number pronouns disappear
E. Many strong verbs become regularized; in ME, many verbs are in a state of flux.
F. The strong/weak adjective disappears as a result of the loss of inflectional endings
G. They begins to appear as a 3rd person plural nominative

French Influence on ME Vocabulary

--If two languages are spoken "side by side," frequently transference of words from one language to another is inevitable. Again this process is called borrowing.
--The borrowing that occurred was not an immediate process; rather, it occurred gradually.
--We can trace the borrowings from French by two time periods: before 1250 and after 1250.
A. Prior to 1250
   1.Approximately 900 French words borrowed
   2.Most of the 900 came in through language contact between the nobility and the working class
   3.baron, noble, dame, servant, feast, etc., all signifying the relationship between the classes
   4.story, rime, etc., came in by way of literature
   5.The largest number of words to enter during this period were, however, from the church. The need to convey doctrine and belief quickly accounts for this, the largest group.
B. After 1250
   1.Of the two periods, more words entered after 1250 when the language was in transition from French back to English
   2.The transference occurring during this period included all categories of words and is quite extensive.
C.French loan or borrowed words
   1.Government and administrative-government, govern, administer,crown, state, empire, real, reign, royal, prerogative, authority, parliament, assembly, statute (see p. 165)
   2.Ecclesiastical
        a. general-sermon, religion, theology, prayer, confession, lesson, communion
        b. terms of rank/class within the church-clergy, cardinal, chaplain, parson, pastor, vicar, novice
        c. terms associated with the church service or with the way of life for the clergy-crucifix, incense, lectern, image, chapter, abbey, convent, sanctuary
        d. terms that expressed fundamental theological or religious concepts-creator, savior, trinity, saint, miracle, faith, heresy, reverence, devotion, sacrilege, temptation, redemption, absolution, immortality, salvation
     3. terms that expressed virtues-piety, sanctity, charity, mercy, pity, obedience, virtue
     4. form class words
        a. adjectives-divine, devout, reverend, solemn
        b. verbs-preach, pray, repent,confess, adore, convert,anoint, ordain
3.Law
     a. nouns-justice, equity, crime, bar,attorney, petition, complaint, inquest, indictment, jury, juror, panel, felon, evidence, proof, bail, verdict, sentence, punishment, decree
     b. verbs-plead, arraign, depose,arrest, warrant, condemn, convict,judge, acquit, pardon
     c. other-arson, fraud, felony, trespass, slander, libel, perjury, adultery, property, estate, tenement, chattels, legacy, patrimony, heir, executor
     d. adjectives-just, innocent, culpable
4. Military-peace, enemy, defend, battle, combat, siege, soldier, spy, vanquish
5. Social-fashion, dress, apparel, robe, lace, embroidery, buckle, button, luxury, satin, taffeta, blue, brown, vermilion, scarlet, jewel, brooch, ivory, turquoise, amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire, pearl, diamond, crystal, appetite, taste, sustenance, beef, veal, pork, bacon, sausage, tripe, gravy, biscuit, cream, sugar, olives, salad, lettuce, fruits, grape, orange, lemon, cherry, peach, pastry, tart, jelly, treacle, spice, clove, thyme, herb, roast, stew, fry, blanch, grate, mince, goblet, saucer, curtain, couch, chair, lamp, blanket, quilt, melody, checkers, conversation, rein, stallion, trot, harness, mastiff, terrier, quail, pheasant, squirrel
6.Culture and intellect-art, painting, music, beauty, color, image, tone, ceiling, palace, cathedral, mansion, tower, turret, porch, choir, column, baptistry, prose, romance, chronicle, tragedy, prologue, preface, title, volume, chapter, paper, pen, study, logic, geometry, grammar, treatise, gender, noun, clause, copy, compile, physician, surgeon, distemper, gout, plague, pestilence, stomach, poison
7. Pervasive French influence on vocabulary
     by 1300-action, adventure, affection, age, air, bucket, calendar, cheer, city,
      coast, comfort, cost, country, courage, debt, force, flower, malice, manner,
      marriage, noise, odor, opinion, order, pair, people, person, poverty, sign,
sound, waste
     by 1350-able, abundant, active, blank, calm, certain, courageous, poor,
      faint, easy, eager, firm, foreign, jolly, large, perfect, original, nice, hardy,
      safe, rude, real, solid, special, sudden, sure, tender, universal, usual, allow,
      apply, arrange, betray, carry, change, chase, close, complain, consider,
      continue, count, cry, deceive, declare, defy, defer, desire, destroy,
      embrace, enjoy, enter, flatter, force, grant, increase, inquire, join, marry,
     muse, murmur,obey observe, pass, please, prefer prove, receive, refuse,
      remember, reply, to take leave, to do justice, by heart, in vain, without fail,
      according to, at large
8. Note: words from the French may have entered at two different times. Example: chattel and cattle
9. Remember every language is in a state of flux and subject to variation and change in phonology, morphology, and syntax
10. The vocabulary was assimilated.
11. Processes such as compounded occurred. Example: french gentle combined with English woman to make gentlewoman
12. With the advent of new vocabulary, some loss of the old will occur. Two things may occur: 1) the old word becomes obsolete and disappears altogether or 2) the old word becomes archaic and is used by older speakers, but may drop out completely later on. These are not mutually exclusive processes.
13. Differentiation-process by which a word enters a vocabulary and then an "offshoot" or adaptation occurs.
     Example: French calf and later French beef
     2.Most of the 900 came in through language contact between the nobility and the working class
     3.baron, noble, dame, servant, feast, etc., all signifying the relationship between the classes
     4.story, rime, etc., came in by way of literature
     5.The largest number of words to enter during this period were, however, from the church. The need to convey doctrine and belief quickly accounts for this, the largest group.
   B.After 1250
     1.Of the two periods, more words entered after 1250 when the language was in transition from French back to English
     2.The transference occurring during this period included all categories of words and is quite extensive.
   C.French loan or borrowed words
     1.Government and administrative-government, govern, administer,crown, state, empire, real, reign, royal, prerogative, authority, parliament, assembly, statute (see p. 165)
     2.Ecclesiastical
        a. general-sermon, religion, theology, prayer, confession, lesson, communion
        b. terms of rank/class within the church-clergy, cardinal, chaplain, parson, pastor, vicar, novice
        c. terms associated with the church service or with the way of life for the clergy-crucifix, incense, lectern, image, chapter, abbey, convent, sanctuary
        d. terms that expressed fundamental theological or religious concepts-creator, savior, trinity, saint, miracle, faith, heresy, reverence, devotion, sacrilege, temptation, redemption, absolution, immortality, salvation
     3. terms that expressed virtues-piety, sanctity, charity, mercy, pity, obedience, virtue
     4. form class words
        a. adjectives-divine, devout, reverend, solemn
        b. verbs-preach, pray, repent,confess, adore, convert,anoint, ordain
3.Law
     a. nouns-justice, equity, crime, bar,attorney, petition, complaint, inquest, indictment, jury, juror, panel, felon, evidence, proof, bail, verdict, sentence, punishment, decree
     b. verbs-plead, arraign, depose,arrest, warrant, condemn, convict,judge, acquit, pardon
     c. other-arson, fraud, felony, trespass, slander, libel, perjury, adultery, property, estate, tenement, chattels, legacy, patrimony, heir, executor
     d. adjectives-just, innocent, culpable
4.Military-peace, enemy, defend, battle, combat, siege, soldier, spy, vanquish
5.Social-fashion, dress, apparel, robe, lace, embroidery, buckle, button, luxury, satin, taffeta, blue, brown, vermilion, scarlet, jewel, brooch, ivory, turquoise, amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire, pearl, diamond, crystal, appetite, taste, sustenance, beef, veal, pork, bacon, sausage, tripe, gravy, biscuit, cream, sugar, olives, salad, lettuce, fruits, grape, orange, lemon, cherry, peach, pastry, tart, jelly, treacle, spice, clove, thyme, herb, roast, stew, fry, blanch, grate, mince, goblet, saucer, curtain, couch, chair, lamp, blanket, quilt, melody, checkers, conversation, rein, stallion, trot, harness, mastiff, terrier, quail, pheasant, squirrel
6.Culture and intellect-art, painting, music, beauty, color, image, tone, ceiling, palace, cathedral, mansion, tower, turret, porch, choir, column, baptistry, prose, romance, chronicle, tragedy, prologue, preface, title, volume, chapter, paper, pen, study, logic, geometry, grammar, treatise, gender, noun, clause, copy, compile, physician, surgeon, distemper, gout, plague, pestilence, stomach, poison
7.Pervasive French influence on vocabulary
   by 1300-action, adventure, affection, age, air, bucket, calendar, cheer, city,
   coast, comfort, cost, country, courage, debt, force, flower, malice, manner,
   marriage, noise, odor, opinion, order, pair, people, person, poverty, sign,
   sound, waste
   by 1350-able, abundant, active, blank, calm, certain, courageous, poor,
   faint, easy, eager, firm, foreign, jolly, large, perfect, original, nice, hardy,
   safe, rude, real, solid, special, sudden, sure, tender, universal, usual, allow,
   apply, arrange, betray, carry, change, chase, close, complain, consider,
   continue, count, cry, deceive, declare, defy, defer, desire, destroy,
   embrace, enjoy, enter, flatter, force, grant, increase, inquire, join, marry,
   muse, murmur,obey observe, pass, please, prefer prove, receive, refuse,
   remember, reply, to take leave, to do justice, by heart, in vain, without fail,
   according to, at large
8. Note: words from the French may have entered at two different times. Example: chattel and cattle
9. Remember every language is in a state of flux and subject to variation and change in phonology, morphology, and syntax
10. The vocabulary was assimilated.
11. Processes such as compounded occurred. Example: french gentle combined with English woman to make gentlewoman
12. With the advent of new vocabulary, some loss of the old will occur. Two things may occur:
      1) the old word becomes obsolete and disappears altogether or
     2) the old word becomes archaic and is used by older speakers, but may drop out completely later on.
      These are not mutually exclusive processes.
13. Differentiation-process by which a word enters a vocabulary and then an "offshoot" or adaptation occurs. Example: French calf and later French beef

The Renaissance
(Early Modern English)
1500-1650
A. Conditions/circumstances that further the development of English

   1.the invention of the printing press

     a. now the masses, not just nobility, have access to the printed word

     b. with books in the hands of most everyone, Standard English is not only promoted, it is spread       throughout the populace

     c. Standard English is spread primarily because with mass production (of a sort), the same "grammar"       is read time and time again by all types of people

   2.education
     a. probably not less than a third and at least one half of the people could read during Shakespeare's       time

     b. with the rise of a prosperous middle class, there are demands and means for more people to be      educated

     1.great increase in # of schools

     2.access to newspapers

     3.rapid rise of the novel

   3. increase in communication/means of communication

     a. with the advent of tremendous & successful commerce comes exposure to other
     countries/cultures/peoples--English spreads

     b. the urbanization of England gives rise to unification and the diffusion of English through the      populace

   4. growth of specialized knowledge

     a. Latin is less and less the vehicle for learned discourse

     b. new vocabulary

   5. awareness of the language
     a. anytime a new social strata is established, language acquisition flourishes

     b. the new class needs ways of conforming and belonging, hence furthering the study of English &     English grammar

     c. a & b above give rise to "language policies"

B. Effects on vocabulary and grammar

   1. prior to the 16th and 17th centuries, the grammar was in a constant state of flux

   2. prior to the 16th and 17th centuries, (with the possible exception of the Norman Conquest), vocabulary changes were stable (words were borrowed, not "invented")

   3. In EME (16th & 17th centuries), a & b above reverse themselves. Grammar is stable; vocabulary is    changed extensively

C. Problems of EME

   1. recognition as a "status" language on an equivalency with Latin

   2. establishing a uniform orthographic system of the language

   3. vocabulary demands greater than vocabulary in place

D. The battle for English as a status language

   1. learned men (academicians) fought to preserve the classical tradition--Greek and Latin (why would they do this?)

   2. the common man pushed for English (wanted to share in all the Renaissance [Revival of Learning] had to offer and wanted it in English)

   3. not surprisingly, a conflict will arise between these two factions--even before the later 17th and early
   18th centuries, some academics were pushing for the recognition of English

   4. outmaneuvering the scholars, the translators give the public what it wants

   5. by demand, the classics are translated and distributed in English so that "everyone" has access to    Plutarch, Aristotle, Cicero, and the more modern Martin Luther, Calvin, etc.

E. Orthography

   1. in EME, writing was neither phonetic nor fixed...a big problem

   2. even though English had been subjected to the Norman scribes, it still had a modicum of success in    its orthography

   3. but comparing English to Latin, many felt English spelling/writing chaotic---the b in debt and doubt    (from Latin words)---the gh in tight (by analogy) and the gh in night where gh represented an actual    sound (sound like a familiar argument?)

   4. the push to standardize spelling

     a. 1568-Thomas Smith's Dialogue concerning the Correct and Emended Writing of the English      Language-in Latin

      b. 1569-John Hart's An Orthographie

      c. 1570-John Hart's elaboration of b above-A Method Comfortable Beginning for All Unlearned,       Whereby They May Bee Taught to Read English--used specialized characters for ch, sh, th, but, as      Smith's, was viewed unfavorably

      d. 1580-William Bullokar's Booke at Large, for the Amendment of Orthographie for English       Speech--an real effort at phonetic reform, but again, not accepted

      e. etc., etc.

      f. 1582-Richard Mulcaster's Elementarie

        1. compromised between phonetic and practical

        2. at least approached with common sense--didn't think spelling could ever perfectly represent sound         & recognized that pronunciation constantly varies and changes

        3. his reform was based on custom or usage, though he didn't totally ignore sound

        4. responsible for dropping one of final word ending doubles--putt, ledd, grubb

        5. responsible for keeping final double l--tall, generall

        6. responsible for keeping doubles when they separate syllables--witting

        7. kept final silent e to denote preceding long vowel--made, stripe

      g. the push for uniformity increasedsteadily well into the 18th century

      f. 1755-Samuel Johnson's dictionary

      g. however, spelling was "fixed" in about 1658 with Milton's nephew's, Edward Phillips, The New       World of English Words
F. Vocabulary
     a. English deficient to keep up with increased experiments and inventions
     b. back to borrowing (from Latin, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish) called Inkhorn terms
F. Vocabulary

        1. English deficient to keep up with increased experiments and inventions

        2. back to borrowing (from Latin, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish) called Inkhorn terms

        3. great opposition to inkhorn terms and opposition at its height during the mid 16th century.

        4. generally, borrowing continued, but with care and prudence

        5. borrowings include: atmosphere, autograph, disability, disrespect, expectation, expensive,               appropriate, external, impersonal,emancipate, erupt,exist, crisis, critic,scheme,system,                            tactics,etc.,from Latin & Greek

        6. adaptation of borrowed words
             a. by cutting off the Latin ending--consultare becomes consult
             b. the Latin ending us in Latin adjectives changed to ous or replaced by al--conspicuous, external
             c. the Latin noun ending tas changed to ty --brevity
             d. the Latin noun endings antia, entia changed to ance, ency, ancy, ency concurrence, frequency
             e. the Latin adjective ending bilis changed to ble--considerable

        7. reintroduction of already-borrowed words and new meanings
             a. OE words like bishop and dish from Latin episcopus and discus
             b. re-entered as episcopal and disc
         8. rejects--sometimes words simply do not remain and sometimes for no discernible reason--
               assate(to roast)

        9. hard to tell on some whether they come from Latin or French

        10. Italian borrowings: algebra, balcony, cameo, design, violin

        11. Italian to French to English- bankrupt, carat, rebuff, gala

        12. Spanish & Portuguese borrowed words-alligator, anchovy, apricot, armadillo,cocoa, potato

        13. words entered from writing--Thomas More and Thomas Elyot, usually borrowed from Latin or               French

        14. native sources of words a. Cheke,a purist who refused to borrow from Latin and Greek,               translated the Gospel of St. Matthew using the following: hundreder for centurion, foresayer for               prophet, byword for parable b. Spenser-squall (to cry), blatant, sunshiny

        15. nature & extent of borrowings & new words--between 10-12,000

G. Vocabulary of Shakespeare--according to various sources, Shakespeare added approximately 1200 words to the language by using them in his writings EME Phonology

A. The most important large scale sound change in the history of English took place between the early 15th and early 18th centuries. This change is known as the Great Vowel Shift and affected all long vowels of English including those which became long through ME lengthening. GVS took place in the following stages:

   1./i:/ became dipthongized to / /
     /u:/ became dipthongized to / U/
     ex. time [ti:m ] > [t m]
      town [tu:n] > [t Un]
   2./e:/ was raised to /i:/
     /o:/ was raised to /u:/
     ex. me [me:] > [mi:]
      fode [fo:d ] > [fu:d]
   3./ :/ was fronted to /ć:/
      ex. name [n :m] > [nć:m]
   4./ :/ was raised to /e:/
      / :/ was raised to /o:/
      ex. clene [kl :n ] > [kle:n]
      bon [b :n] > [bo:n]
   5. /ć:/ was raised to / :/
      ex. name [nć:m] > [n :m]
   6. Step #2 repeated for front vowels
      ex. clene [kle:n] > [kli:n]
   7. Step #4 repeated for front vowels
      name [n :m] > [ne:m]
   8./ / was lowered to /ai/
      / U/ was lowered to /au/
      ex. time [t m] > [taim]
      town [t Un] > [taum]
B. For back vowels there were two important exceptions to GVS.

   1. some ME /o:/ words that were raised to /u:/ were then shortened to /U/
      ex. gode [go:d ] > [gu:d] > [gUd]
   2. certain of these words, as well as some words that were originally "short u" words,
      went through a further process known as unrounding
      ex. blod [blo:d] > [blu:d] > [blUd] > [bl d]
      shortening and unrounding account for the differences in food, good, blood
      and for pairs such as put and putt
EME Grammar

A. Verbs
    1. 4 principle parts in OE become 3 principle parts in EME
OE present     past sing.     past plural     past participle
      take            took            taken           taken

took/taken
collapse into one

EME present     EME past      EME past participle

   2. present participle:

      was OE ende, but final e or schwa lost in levelling; then d lost in consonant
      cluster reduction--runnin

      OE ung from the verbal noun (gerund) becomes ing; running

   3. strong and weak verbs still in state of flux; not fixed until early 1900s and not altogether then

   4. verbal s replaces the th in 3rd person singular

B. Pronouns

   1. wh relative pronoun developed--who, which, whom; from that wh relative clauses

   2. 2nd singular pronoun lost (thee, thou, thine); equal to Spanish/French "tu" forms; very familiar usage
     EME equivalent of today's politically correct
     see Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet