During the ME period the whole system of OE vowel suffered considerable changes either quantitative or qualitative. Quite often these changes had dialectal peculiarities. In ME old-English dialects

Middle English dialect.

During the ME period the whole system of OE vowel suffered considerable changes either quantitative or qualitative. Quite often these changes had dialectal peculiarities. In ME old-English dialects regrouped in accordance with their geographical position. There were the fallowing essential groups: the northern dialects: it had developed from OE Northumbrian dialect. In ME it also comprised the dialects from Yorkshire and Lancashire. The midland dialect: they had developed from Mercian dialect. It was represented in ME by 2 main areas – east and west midland. The southern dialect: it comprised OE Kentish, west-Saxon, east-sakson dialects. East-Saxon dialect was not important in OE, but it became very important in ME, since it was the part of London dialect and it established its priority over other dialects.

London dialect.

In the 14^th century there developed the process of the rise of the national language. This language was based on the London dialect. Its cause was the great shift in social structure which characterized the English that period. It was the time when new elements made themselves felt inside the feudal society. These elements were the town merchants, who were the bearers of a new social structure, which was to replace feudalism. Growth of commerce, industry, development of many circulations. These were the manifestations of social changes. They marked the end of feudal and the formation of new society. In the 14^th century there ere 3 main groups of dialects in English: northern, midland, southern. The dialects differed from each other by essential phonetic and morphological features. These differences corresponded to the territorial position among the dialect belonged to the London dialect. After the Norman conquest London became the capital of England. London is situated on the Thames. It lays on the boundary between the midland and the southern dialect. In 13^th century it already showed a mixture of midland and southern elements. The later it prevailed. To the end of the 14^th century London dialect became influential in other parts o the country. That was to the growth of its importance as economical and political center. London’s geographical position was extremely favorable for the quick growth of its political importance and its role as the birthplace of a national language. Many roads along which England in trade was conducted crossed in London. Thanks to the great depth of the Thames sea ships could be easily reach London and it became the center of national trade. London’s role as a trade center attracted people from every part of the country and that’s why elements of other dialects penetrated into London English dialect. Thus, the London dialect, which became the base of the national language, was a complex formation, which reflected different influences connected with the social and political life of that period. It contain alongside east midland, south-eastern elements and partially south-western elements. The London dialects of those centuries is represented by several important documents: the proclamation of Henry III, poems by Adam Devy, Geoffrey Chauser.

1. Changes in the alphabet and spelling in Middle English. Middle English written records

(see table)

The most conspicuous feature of Late ME texts in comparison with OE texts is the difference in spelling. The written forms of the words in Late ME texts resemble their modern forms, though the pronunciation of the words was different. In the course of ME many new devices were introduced into the system of spelling; some of them reflected the sound changes which had been completed or were still in progress in ME; others were graphic replacements of OE letters by new letters and digraphs.

In ME the runic letters passed out of use. Thorn – þ – and the crossed d – đ, ð – were replaced by the digraph th, which retained the same sound value: [Ө] and [ð]; the rune “wynn” was displaced by “double u ” – w –; the ligatures æ and œ fell into disuse. After the period of Anglo-Norman dominance (11^th–13^th c.) English regained its prestige as the language of writing. Though for a long time writing was in the hands of those who had a good knowledge of French. Therefore many innovations in ME spelling reveal an influence of the French scribal tradition. The digraphs ou, ie, and ch which occurred in many French borrowings and were regularly used in Anglo-Norman texts were adopted as new ways of indicating the sounds [u:], [e:], and [t∫]. other alterations in spelling cannot be traced directly to French influence though they testify to a similar tendency: a wider use of digraphs. In addition to ch, ou, ie, and th Late ME notaries introduced sh (also ssh and sch) to indicate the new sibilant [∫], e.g. ME ship (from OE scip), dg to indicate [d з ] alongside j and g; the digraph wh replaced the OE sequence of letters hw as in OE hwæt, ME what [hwat]. Long sounds were shown by double letters, e.g. ME book [bo:k], though long [e:] could be indicated by ie and ee, and also by e. Some replacements were probably made to avoid confusion of resembling letters: thus o was employed not only for [o] but also to indicate short [u] alongside the letter u; it happened when u stood close to n, m, or v, e.g. OE lufu became ME love [luvə]. The letter y came to be used as an equivalent of i and was evidently preferred when i could be confused with the surrounding letters m, n and others. Sometimes, y, as well w, were put at the end of a word, so as to finish the word with a curve, e.g. ME very [veri], my [mi:]; w was interchangeable with u in the digraphs ou, au, e.g. ME doun, down [du:n], and was often preferred finally, e.g. ME how [hu:], now [nu:]. For letters indicating two sounds the rules of reading are as follows. G and с stand for [d з ] and [s] before front vowels and for [g] and [k] before back vowels respectively. Y stands for [j] at the beginning of words, otherwise, it is an equivalent of the letter i, e.g. ME yet [jet], knyght [knix’t]. The letters th and s indicate voiced sounds between vowels, and voiceless sounds – initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants, e.g. ME worthy [wurði]. To determine the sound value of o one can look up the origin of the sound in OE or the pronunciation of the word in NE: the sound [u] did not change in the transition from OE to ME (the OE for some was sum); in NE it changed to [Λ]. It follows that the letter o stood for [u] in those ME words which contain [Λ] today, otherwise it indicates [o].

Middle English written records (see table).

The dialect division which evolved in Early ME was on the whole preserved in later periods. In the 14^th and 15^th c. we find the same grouping of local dialects: the Southern group, including Kentish and the South-Western dialects (the South-Western group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects), the Midland or Central (corresponding to the OE Mercian dialect – is divided into West Midland and East Midland as two main areas) and the Northern group (had developed from OE Northumbrian). And yet the relations between them were changing. The most important event in the changing linguistic situation was the rise of the London dialect as the prevalent written form of language. The history of the London dialect reveals the sources of the literary language in Late ME and also the main source and basis of the Literary Standard, both in its written and spoken forms. The Early ME written records made in London – beginning with the PROCLAMATION of 1258 – show that the dialect of London was fundamentally East Saxon. Later records indicate that the speech of London was becoming more fixed, with East Midland features gradually prevailing over the Southern features.

1. Economic and social conditions in the 11-12^th centuries.

The OE period in the history of the language corresponds to the transitional stage from the slave-owning and tribal system to the feudal system in the history of Britain. In the 11^th c. feudalism was already well established. According to a survey made in the late 11^th c. slaves and freemen were declining classes. The majority of the agricultural population ware bound to their lord and land. Under natural economy, characteristic of feudalism, most of the things needed for the life of the lord and the villain were produced on the estate. Feudal manors were separated from their neighbors by tolls, local feuds, and various restrictions concerning settlement, traveling and employment. These historical conditions produced a certain influence on the development of the language. In Early ME the differences between the regional dialects grew. Never in history, before or after, was the historical background more favorable for dialectal differentiation. The main dialectal division in England, which survived in later ages with some slight modification of boundaries and considerable dialect mixture, goes back to the feudal stage of British history.

1. The Scandinavian invasions, the Norman Conquest & the way they influenced English.

Scandinavian invasions

Since the 8^th c. the British Isles were ravaged by sea rovers from Scandinavia, first by Danes, later – by Norwegians. By the end of the 9^th c. the Danes had succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in England; more than half of England was yielded to the invaders and recognized as Danish territory – “Danelaw”. The new settlers and the English intermarried and intermixed; they lived close together and did not differ either in social rank or in the level of culture and customs. In the areas of the heaviest settlement the Scandinavians outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population, which is attested by geographical names. Altogether more than 1,400 English villages and towns bear names of Scandinavian origin (with the element thorp meaning ‘village’, e.g. Woodthorp). Eventually the Scandinavians were absorbed into the local population both ethnically and linguistically. They merged with the society around them, but the impact on the linguistic situation and on the further development of the English language was quite profound. The increased regional differences of English in the 11^th and 12^th c. must partly be attributed to the Scandinavian influence. Due to the contacts and mixture with O Scand, the Northern dialects had acquired lasting and sometimes indelible Scandinavian features. In later ages the Scandinavian element passed into other regions. The incorporation of the Scandinavian element in the London dialect and Standard English was brought about by the changing linguistic situation in England: the mixture of the dialects and the growing linguistic unification.

The Norman Conquest

The new English king, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) brought over many Norman advisors and favorites; he distributed among them English lands and wealth to the considerable resentment of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and appointed them to important positions in the government and church hierarchy. He not only spoke French himself but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William, Duke of Normandy, visited his court and it was rumored that Edward appointed him his successor. However, the government of the country was still in the hands of Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, headed by the powerful Earl Godwin of Wessex. In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England proclaimed Harold Godwin king of England. As soon as the news reached William of Normandy, he mustered (gathered) a big army by promise of land and, with the support of the Pope, landed in Britain. In the battle of Hastings, fought in October 1066, Harold was killed and the English were defeated. This date is commonly known as the date of the Norman Conquest. After the victory at Hastings, William by-passed London cutting it off from the North and made the Witan of London (the Elders of England) and the bishops at Westminster Abbey crown him king. William and his barons laid waste many lands in England, burning down villages and estates. Most of the lands of the Anglo-Saxon lords passed into the hands of the Norman barons, William’s own possessions comprising about one third of the country. Normans occupied all the important posts in the church, in the government and in the army. Following the conquest hundreds of people from France crossed the Channel to make their home in Britain. French monks, tradesmen and craftsmen flooded the south-western towns, so that not only the higher nobility but also much if the middle class was French.

Effect of the Norman Conquest on the linguistic situation

The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British political history but also the greatest single event in the history of the English language. The Norman Conquerors of England had originally come from Scandinavia. First they had seized the valley of the Seine and settled in what is known as Normandy. They were swiftly assimilated by the French and in the 11^th c. came to Britain as French speakers. Their tongue in Britain is often referred to as “Anglo-French” or “Anglo-Norman”, but may just as well be called French. The most important consequence of Norman domination in Britain is to be seen in the wide use of the French language in many spheres of life. For almost three hundred years French was the official language of administration: it was the language of the king’s court, the church, the army and others. The intellectual life, literature and education were in the hands of French-speaking people. For all that, England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The bulk of the population spoke their own tongue and looked upon French as foreign and hostile. At first two languages existed side by side without mingling. Then, slowly and quietly, they began to penetrate each other. The three hundred years of the domination of French affected English more than any other foreign influence before or after. The early French borrowings reflect accurately the spheres of Norman influence upon English life; later borrowings can be attributed to the continued cultural, economic and political contacts between the countries.

Lecture 3

Middle English. Phonetics.

1. The Scandinavian Conquest.

2. Changes in the System of Spelling

3. Changes in the system of consonants

4. Changes in the system of vowels

Epigraph

The struggle for supremacy between French and English ended in favour of English but it emerged from this struggle in a considerably changed condition.

Illustrations – Canterbury Tales

Main notions shwa, monophthongization, diphthongization

Main dates 1066, 1086, 1258, 1362,

Main names John the Lackland, Henry the 3^rd, Chaucer

The Scandinavian Conquest.

The first inroads began in the 8^th c. In the 9^th they occupied the territory to the North of the Thames (Danish Law). In 1013 the whole country fell to the invaders (king Canute). The English nobility resumed its power under king Edward the Confessor in 1042 (died in 1066). The result was a blending of Scandinavian and English dialects though the languages were similar. 1066 – the Norman conquest (Scandinavian by origin who adopted French language and culture). William, Duke of Normandy defeated the king Harold near Hastings, October, 14. 1086 – the doomsday book, the great census – 2 mln people. All power was given to persons of French culture. During several centuries the ruling language was French. English language and literature were on the decline. The struggle of languages lasted till the 14^th c and ended in favour of English which vocabulary was enriched and grammar changed. The country was divided into 2 layers: upper – Anglo-Norman, and the peasantry and the townspeople who stick to English. A 3^rd language Latin also existed. The first English kings did not know English. 1203 – John the Lackland lost his possessions in Normandy which could give rise to the national pride. 1258 – Henry III addressed the population in English. About 150 years later, the Black Death (1349-50) killed about one third of the English population. The laboring and merchant classes grew in economic and social importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to Anglo-Norman. This mixture of the two languages came to be known as Middle English. The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Middle English period came to a close around 1500 AD with the rise of Modern English. 1362 – English appeared in courts and schools. The victory of English was due to the rise of the social layers – the gentry and the town bourgeoisie against the feudal top layer. In 14^th cd. London dialect became the main. 3 reasons why English survived. 1. too well established and too numerous speakers. 2. the Normans had to pick it up to keep peace. 3. the war and the black death.

Changes in the System of Spelling

French graphic habits were introduced, and marking the sounds became European in form, no alien letters hampered reading because all they were exclusively Latin. Specifically English sounds, earlier marked by specific only for the English language were replaced by digraphs. G,Y, and wynn were replaced by Latin letters.

od – god jdn - goonз-у jrej – grey jear - ear

The sound dj marked by сз was also rendered by g or dg - singe, n French borrowings the same sound was marked according to the radition by j - judge, June. Letter q, v were introduced.

Long u was replaced by digraph ou, in the French tradition: hus - hous, in final and occasionally in medial it was ow: hu- how; cu- cow, dun - down. some cases the sound и came to be represented by o, especially neighbouring the letters with many vertical lines lufu - loue; cumen - comen etc.

Long sound о is now rendered by oo\fot, tod —> foot, tooth) e was marked either by a digraph ее metan - mete, о meet) or turned into ie; feld - field; deof - thef - thief (like :hief, relief)

б gave way to digraph th —> dcet, ди, дгёо —> that ее; ч ch cild – child, sh fron sc – sh, sch – ship. k+ consonant – cnawan – knowen.

3. Changes in the system of consonants

affricates TSh, Dg aroused. The number of consonants increase. F and V S and Z became separate phonemes. Cild – child, hwilc – which. taecan – teach. Sc – sh. Varians with, sh< tch depended on the dialects. cg – became DG brycg – bridge. J'- J jear - yeer, year – day. H at the beginning of the word was lost in clusters hr, hi, hn, hw hrinj - ring hrycg - ridge. The sound Y (marked by j) in the intervocal position vocalised and turned into w, which led to the following diphthongs: aз - aw(au) drajan – drawen. The combinations j+ vowel lead to long vowels: tigele – tile; In combination with liquids (/ and r) new diphthongs appeared: 'j> rj- lw,rw [ou] and [аи]

sor^ian - sorwen, sorrow

fol^ian - folwen, follo^v

За1зе - galwe, gallows

4. Changes in the system of vowels

1. There were quantitative changes in vowels. In Old English a short or a long vowel might be found in any position; they were absolutely independent phonemic units. The Middle English vowel system was basically different. The quantity of vowels becomes dependent on the environment, on what follows the vowel. With a few exceptions the situation in Middle English is briefly this: in some phonetic environment only short vowels are possible; in the other the vowels are invariably long.

First, a long vowel before two consonants is shortened; fe:dan – fe:den – fe;dde – fedde. the exception here are the clusters mb, Id, nd (i.e. two voiced sonorants) or when the two consonants belonged to the second syllable of the word, (maeste, laest -> most; least).

But short vowels were lengthened in open syllables (A, E, O). ca:ru – care; talu – t:ale, macian – make. I, U didn't lengthen.

2. Monophthongization of all Old English diphthongs EA, EO type.. The sounds that appeared as a result of this process were not new to the English language - they simply coincided with the sounds that already existed in the language, in many cases returning the vowel to its previous quality, which was changed in the course of breaking, diphthongization after palatal consonants, and mutations

a heard - hard earm - arm healf-half eall – all< heorte – herte.

3. Individual changes.

Changed – long A – long O – ha:m – ho:m;

Short Ae – short - aeppel – appel; waes – was.

Long AE – long open E – slaepan – sle:pen (with dialectical variant).

Short and long Y – I, e, y.

OE first – North, East first; Kent – ferst; West – Fyrst.

Fyr – fir, fer, fyr.

Other vowels remained unchanged.

4. Levelling of unstressed vowels.

All unstressed vowels were weakened and reduced to shwa, denoted by E. bindan – binden; sunu – sune.

5. Rise of new diphthongs EI, AI type.

They originated from groups consisting of a vowel or either a palatal or a velar fricative. DAEG – dai, day; WAEG – way; greg – grey; sagu – legend – sawe;

When a vowel was followed by H, a diphthong arouse: naht – naught; brohte – broughte; troh – trough; plo:h – plough.

French letters were replaced by correspondent English.

Вопрос 10 The reform of OE orthography in ME

The most conspicuous feature of Late ME texts in comparison with OE texts is the difference in spelling. The written forms of the words in Late ME texts resemble their modern forms, though the pronunciation of the words was different. In the course of ME many new devices were introduced into the system of spelling; some of them reflected the sound changes which had been completed or were still in progress in ME; others were graphic replacements of OE letters by new letters and digraphs.

In ME the runic letters passed out of use. Thorn – þ – and the crossed d – đ, ð – were replaced by the digraph th, which retained the same sound value: [Ө] and [ð]; the rune “wynn” was displaced by “double u ” – w –; the ligatures æ and œ fell into disuse. After the period of Anglo-Norman dominance (11^th–13^th c.) English regained its prestige as the language of writing. Though for a long time writing was in the hands of those who had a good knowledge of French. Therefore many innovations in ME spelling reveal an influence of the French scribal tradition. The digraphs ou, ie, and ch which occurred in many French borrowings and were regularly used in Anglo-Norman texts were adopted as new ways of indicating the sounds [u:], [e:], and [t∫]. other alterations in spelling cannot be traced directly to French influence though they testify to a similar tendency: a wider use of digraphs. In addition to ch, ou, ie, and th Late ME notaries introduced sh (also ssh and sch) to indicate the new sibilant [∫], e.g. ME ship (from OE scip), dg to indicate [d з ] alongside j and g; the digraph wh replaced the OE sequence of letters hw as in OE hwæt, ME what [hwat]. Long sounds were shown by double letters, e.g. ME book [bo:k], though long [e:] could be indicated by ie and ee, and also by e. Some replacements were probably made to avoid confusion of resembling letters: thus o was employed not only for [o] but also to indicate short [u] alongside the letter u; it happened when u stood close to n, m, or v, e.g. OE lufu became ME love [luvə]. The letter y came to be used as an equivalent of i and was evidently preferred when i could be confused with the surrounding letters m, n and others. Sometimes, y, as well w, were put at the end of a word, so as to finish the word with a curve, e.g. ME very [veri], my [mi:]; w was interchangeable with u in the digraphs ou, au, e.g. ME doun, down [du:n], and was often preferred finally, e.g. ME how [hu:], now [nu:]. For letters indicating two sounds the rules of reading are as follows. G and с stand for [d з ] and [s] before front vowels and for [g] and [k] before back vowels respectively. Y stands for [j] at the beginning of words, otherwise, it is an equivalent of the letter i, e.g. ME yet [jet], knyght [knix’t]. The letters th and s indicate voiced sounds between vowels, and voiceless sounds – initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants, e.g. ME worthy [wurði]. To determine the sound value of o one can look up the origin of the sound in OE or the pronunciation of the word in NE: the sound [u] did not change in the transition from OE to ME (the OE for some was sum); in NE it changed to [Λ]. It follows that the letter o stood for [u] in those ME words which contain [Λ] today, otherwise it indicates [o].

Вопрос 7 ME dialects. Earliest records.

The basic OE dialects continued to function in the ME period, and their territorial borders, in general, were kept. The ME dialects are called on the basis of their geographical position. Northumbrian now refers to northern (Northern), Mercian- central (Midland) is divided into West Midland and East Midland; уэссекский - (Southern, South-Western); only Kentish dialect has kept the name, because Kent continued to exist, but the dialect sometimes called (South-Eastern.) The Sou thzrh group included the Kentish and the South-Western dialects. The Southwestern group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects, - not only West Saxon, but also East Saxon. Among the dialects of this group we may mention the Gloucester dialect and the London dialect. In the course of Early ME the area of the English language

in the British Isles grew. In the late 12th c. the English made their first attempts to conquer Ireland. Theinvaders settled among the Irish and were soon assimilated, a large proportion of the invaders being Welshmen. The English language was used there alongside Celtic languages —Irish and Welsh — and was influenced by Celtic.For a long time after the Norman Conquest there were two foreign written languages in England: Latin and French.

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