Language Change: Old & Middle English

Linguistic Item Old English Middle EnglishPronunciation Old English script used six vowel

symbols: a, e, i, o ,u and γ in addition to æ(ash).These symbols represented both short and long vowels

A major sound change happened in the form of vowels: the lengthening of short vowels such as: old, cold and blind.

All symbols represented pure vowels not diphthongs. For diphthongs, they used digraphs such as: ea, eo, io and ie.

ME used separate phonemes for [f,v ], [s,z], [ θ , ð]

Old English used 16 consonants: b, c, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, s, t, thorn Ϸ, wyn and eth=x

All written vowels were pronounced

OE had no symbol for(v), f was used instead: (fif)=five

It had no symbol for (z), s & z were members of the same phoneme: (sǣ =(sea), nosu =(nose)=

The voiceless θ and voiced ð were represented by two symbols: the runic symbol thorn Ϸ: (thane)= Ϸegn and the symbol ð called eth: (fathan)= fæϷn. They had been treated as one phoneme with two allophones.

OE (c) corresponded either {k} or {tf} : (cool)= cĕlan , (skin)=cynn and (shoose)= cĕosan

OEneve used {c} for {s} sound.

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Morphology Was fully inflected with five grammatical cases: Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative and Instrumental (very rare).

There was a reduction in inflectional system. The grammatical relations that were expressed in OE by the dative and locative cases are replaced in Early Modern English with contractions with prepositions. This replacement is incomplete. Most of the other cases endings disappear in Middle English.

Syntax OE sentence structure and word order had similarities to Modern English.

Word order became more important, because of the loss of inflections.

OE used 3types of word order SVO, VSO and SOV

SOV structure became more dominant.

The NP (Noun Phrase) structure is similar to that of Modern English system of demonstrative adjectives: se=( the &that)Ϸes= (this).

Inflections were replaced by complex system of tenses that used primary auxiliaries (be, have, do) and model verb ( shall, will)

There were two tense systems present & past with different forms for indicative & subjective.

Future tense with shall and will was established during ME.

Perfect tense and passive were used more frequently during this period.

Continuous tense and present participle also appeared in ME.

Vocabulary OE depended mainly on its own resources ( PIE & Germanic) languages, not on borrowing from other languages.

Norman French come into use as a language of polite discourse and literature.

The influence of Celtic language on English had been small, and appeared in the name of some cities: London & Leeds.

French influence was not strong during 11th & 12thc , there was a flood of loan words such as: Title of Ranks: baron, prince

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Administration: Council, governmentLaw:Judge, punishReligion:Virgin, clergyArt & Fashion:Romance, color, paint

Loan words of OE were Scandinavian (Vikings, Old Norse) such as: leg, skin & sky.

The language of the peasants remained English: sheep, cow and swan while. The French was spoken by the upper class: mutton, beef and pork.

Few words were borrowed from Latin and Greek Christianity such as: martyr, priest, and church…etc. Moreover, it was the language of education & diplomacy.

Verbs Strong verb remained the person distinction in the indicative singular: ic helpe = ( I help)Þū hilpst ( you help)Hĕ/ hĕo, hit hilpÞ = ( he, she, it helps)

But in plural form it made no person distinction such as: wĕ, gĕ, hie helpaÞ = ( we, you, they help),

The first person singular of the verb in the present tense ends in (e): (ich here)= I hear

The second person ends in(est): (Ϸou spekest )= (thou skeakest)

Third person ends in (eϷ) (he comeϷ)= (he cometh/ he comes)

Past tense: weak forms were formed by adding( ede) or (te)

Strong verbs formed their past tense by changing their stem vowel: (biden=bound)

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Nouns OE assigned gender to all nouns e.g: sĕo sunne = ( the sun) was feminineSĕ mōna = ( the moon) was masculine.

ME remains only two distinct noun ending patterns from the more complex system of inflection in OE.

Strong SingularNominative& Accusative:

engel

Genative:engles

Dative:engle

Plural

engles

engle(ne)

engle(s)

Dialects Had four main dialects: West-Saxon, Kentish, Mercian and Northumbian. Each of these dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the Island.

There were six dialects of ME: Northumbian which was divided into Scottish & Northern, West Midland, East Midland, South Eastern and Southern.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqRukG4inPY

History of English - The OE Period

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2fd22bXooI

History of English - The Sound System of OE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_yEa7tIbGA

History of English - OE Morphology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLFihdWwmfw

History of English - The ME Periodhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFmtn3OZsQ

History of English - The Sound System of ME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oq3x3oqjqY

History of English - ME Syntax

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