The Middle English Period (1066-1500)

The Middle English period is characterized by a great impact of the French language, which after the Norman Conquest, became the ruling language in the educational, administrative and religious aspects of life. Due to that, the early materials are quite infrequent, because they were written in Latin or French. Much of the earlier Middle English literature was of the unknown authorship, but to the end of the period the situation had changed. Among the prominent names of that time was Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of the famous ‘Canterbury Stories,’ and later on the poets who are collectively known as the ‘Scottish Chaucerians’. They all contributed greatly to the development of the language.

The language of this period is characterized by a great diversity in spelling, according to H. Jackson “ it was even greater than that found even in Old English. Even in an edited text, we still find variant spelling, e.g. naure, noeure, ner, neure, all standing for never (Jackson 2008, 30)”.

What is this period particularly characterized by is the massive borrowing from French, caused by French-English bilingualism, which was introduced by the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Today, when English is one of the major languages in the world, it requires an effort of imagination to realize that 400 years ago English was a despised language. Only a few million of rural people living on the British Isles used English as their mother tongue, and the rest of the population were speaking the French language, as they found it nobler, more attractive and more privileged. The effect of the borrowings on the balance of the vocabulary was enormous. According to D. Crystal, by the end of the thirteenth century, some 10,000 French words had come into English. These were mostly the words dealing with law and administration, but there were also borrowings from such fields as art, medicine and everyday life. D. Crystal concludes that three quarters of them are still in use today. Due to this fact English retains probably the richest vocabulary, and most diverse shading of meaning, of any language. As B. Bryson writes,” For almost every word we have a multiplicity of synonyms. Something is not just big; it is large, immense, vast, capacious, bulky, massive, whooping. No other language has so many words all saying the same thing. English is unique in possessing a synonym for each level of our culture: popular, literary, and scholarly – so that we can, according to our background and cerebral attainments, rise, mount, or ascend a stairway, shrink in fear, terror, or trepidation, and think, ponder, or cognate upon a problem” [B. Bryson. Mother Tongue, p.62]. However, borrowings were not the only way of increasing the vocabulary; the other processes of word formation, such as compounding and affixation, which were already established in Old English, continued to be used.

3.1.4. Early Modern English (1500 – 1660)

The Modern English period begins at about 1500 and lasts well into our own times. Within the Modern English period it is customary to distinguish between Early Modern English (1500 – 1660) and Late Modern English (1660 till our own times). It should be noted, that such dates as 1500 or 1660 cannot be taken literary: they are merely a convenient means of expressing the statement that by the end of the 11^th and again by the end of the 15^th century changes in the language have accumulated to an extent which makes it possible to state the beginning of a new period in its history.

The might be no consensus about the beginning of this period, but many consider the invention of printing as a determining factor. Printing played a great role not only in fostering the norms of spelling and pronunciation; it also provided more opportunities for people to write and to give books much wider circulation. This period includes also important scientific discoveries and the exploration of Africa, Asia and America. But the most significant factor, which shaped the development of the language, was the “Renaissance” – the period, characterized by a renewed interest in the classical languages and literature, and by major developments in the sciences and arts. All these factors had a major impact on the vocabulary of the language; a considerable number of Greek and Latin borrowings were introduced into the language to express new concepts, techniques and innovations. In fact, it is generally acknowledged that the increase in foreign borrowing is the most distinctive feature of the Renaissance for English (see Crystal 1995: 60).

It is generally accepted, that the most prominent figure of this period was William Shakespeare (1564-1616), whose role in the language could hardly be overestimated. The Shakespearian impact on the lexicon is immense: because his poems and plays introduced or popularized thousands of new words in the language.

Another distinguished work of Early Modern English was the King James Bible (1611). It was appointed to be read in churches throughout the kingdom and had enormous influence on the people and the language. “There are many phrases in the King James Bible that have entered the language as idioms, though sometimes with minor changes in grammar and vocabulary, e.g. a wolf in sheep’s clothing, in the twinkling of an eye, the salt of the Earth, can leopard change his clothes, money is the root of all evil, if the blind lead the blind, etc. The frequency of occurrence of such phrases in both literary and everyday language is a clear indication of the impact that the King James Bible continues to have on contemporary English” [H. Jackson., p.33].

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 3416