The Norman Conquest and its effect on English
The last of the invaders to come to Britain were the Normans from France. In 14 October 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated the English at the battle of Hastings and established his rule in the country as King of England. He is known as William the Conqueror. They started a new period in England, which is known as Norman period. The Normans settled in the country and the French language became the official language of the ruling class. This explains the great number of French words in English (80%) – boots, pearl, beef, biscuit, home, sir, council, tax. Originally they were also Germanic tribes, but having won the territory of France, they practicaly assimilated with the people of France and took its high culture and language. 1. French is the lang. of upper classes.
2. Many synonyms appeared: Eg: language (Fr) – tongue (Engl); 3. lange, huge (Fr) – great (Engl)
4. French effected all aspects of life:
= Government and administration: nation, people.
= Legislation: eg.: judge, court.
= Military term: navy, war.
= Literature and arts: music/
= Education: ink, college.
= Fashion: dress.
= Trade, profession: tailor, grocer.
= Religion: pray.
= Cooking: roast, fry, boil.
Engl → ox – beef ← French
pig - pork
↓ ↓
anim. food
75% of words have survived in NE.
6. The dialectal situation of English from a historical perspective.
The ancient Germanic tribes occupied a comparatively small territories in the North-West of Europe, they spoke similar dialects. These dialects → common germanic, it lasted till the beginning of our era. In the V cent germanic tribes migrated to the British Isles. They were Saxons, Jutes, Angles. The language of this tribes serves as a basis for the formation of OE. They spoke 4 dialects: Kentish (Jutes); West-Saxon /Wessex (Saxon); Mercian (Angles); Northumbrian (Angles) – north to r. Humber.
In the IX cent – during the reign of King Alfred (871-899) the Great, when Wessex became the most powerful kingdom and led the successful war against the Scandinavians. Since him the dialect of Wessex became more popular and got the status of written standard. Most OE written records that came to us are in the Wessex dialect (“Beowulf”, Anglo-Saxon chronicles). The first historian who started to record the history of the Germanic tribes on the British Isles and is considered to be the first English historian is Bede the Venerable, an English monk, who wrote “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People”. The most important dialect in the Old English period was the WEST SAXON DIALECT.
Middle English: Linguistic Situation
After the Norman Conquest: Frenchbecame the official language of administration (it was used in the king’s court, in the law courts, in the church (as well as Latin), in the army, by the nobles in the south of England). It was also used as a language of writing and teaching as well as Latin. Englishwas the language of common people in the Midlands and in the north of England. It still remained the language of the majority who were the representatives of the lower classes of society and never learned French, so the Norman barons had to learn English to be able to communicate with locals. Celtic Dialects were still used by the Celtic population in the remote areas of the country. Actually, during the presence of the Normans the country experienced the period of bilingualism (French and English were both used in the country and started to intermix, i.e. a lot of the French words crept into the Middle English Dialects and it came to resemble present-day English a lot). The Norman and the English drew together in the course of time and intermixed. French lost its popularity due to the fact that it was not the language of the majority and could not be used to communicate with local people. English regained its leading position with time and became accepted as the official language. The proofs are:
The Parliamentary Proclamation of 1258 – Henry the 3rd addressed the councilors in Parliament in French, Latin and English. 1)In the 14th – 15th c. legal documents (wills, municipal acts, petitions, etc.) started to be issued in English. 2)1364 – Parliament was opened with an address in English.
1399 – Henry the 4th accepted the throne and made a speech in English. 3)Translations of the documents written in French into English.
Thus in the 14th c. English becomes the language of literature and administration.
Dialects: Kentish→Kentish Dialect,West Saxon→South-Western Dialect (East Saxon Dialect, London Dialect, Gloucester Dialect),Mercian →Midland Dialects(West Midland Dialect, East Midland Dialect), Northumbrian→ Northern Dialects (Yorkshire Dialect, Lancashire Dialect)
The most important dialect in the Middle English period was the LONDON DIALECT.
London DialectIn the 12th -13th c.the London Dialect became the literary language and the standard,both in written and spoken form. The reasons why this happened: 1)The capital of the country was transferred from Winchester, Wesses, to London a few years before the Norman Conquests. 2)The East Saxon Dialect, that was the basis of the London Dialect got, became the most prominent in the Middle English period. 3)Most writers and authors of the Middle English period used the London Dialect in their works.
Features of the London Dialect: 1)The basis of the London Dialect was the East Saxon Dialect 2) The East Saxon Dialect mixed with the East Midland Dialect and formed the London Dialect.3) Thus the London Dialect became more Anglican than Saxon in character à The London Dialect is an Anglican dialect.
7. Principal OE & ME written records
AlphabetsThe first Old English written records are considered to be the runic inscriptions.To make these inscriptions people used the Runes/the Runic Alphabet – the first original Germanic Alphabet. Runes/Runic Alphabet: 1)appeared in the 3rd – 4th c. A.D.; 2) it was also called Futhark (after the first 6 letters of this alphabet); 3) the word “rune” meant “secret, mystery” and was used to denote magic inscriptions on objects made of wood, stone, metal; 4) each symbol indicated a separate sound (one symbol = one sound); 5) the symbols were angular due to the fact that they had to be carved on hard materials; 6) the number of symbols: GB – 28-33; on the continent – 16-24).
Best known Runic Inscriptions: Franks Casket – a box with 4 sides made of whale bone, each side contained a picture in the centre and runic inscriptions around the picture that told the story of the whale bone in alliterative verse. Ruthwell Cross –was found near thevillage of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, it is a 15 feet tall stone cross ornamented in all sides with runic inscriptions that are actually a passage from a religious poem “The Dream of the Rood”. Old English AlphabetThe Old English Alphabet was borrowed from Latin, but there were also some letters that were borrowed from the Runic Alphabet: ? (“thorn”) = [q] and [ð], ? (“wynn”) = [w], ? (“mann”) = stood for OE word “man” ? (“dæζ”) = stood for OE word “day”,
Some new letters were introduced:
ζ = [g] and [j]; ð/þ/Đ/đ = [q] and [ð]; æ = a ligature of [a] and [e]; œ = a ligature of [o] and [e].
Rules of Reading:They resemble the modern rules, with several exceptions though:
f = [v] -1. between vowels; s = [z] 2. between a vowel and a voiced consonant ( [r, m, n, l, d,] ).
ð/þ = [ð]
ζ – [j] – between and after front vowels ( [e, i, æ] );
– [g] – initially and between back vowels ( [a, o, u] ).
1)cζ = [gg]. 2)c = [k].3)n = [ŋ] when fallowed by [k] or [g].
Old English ManuscriptsMost of the Old English manuscripts were written in Latin characters. The Latin Alphabet was modified by the scribes to suit the English language. The Old English manuscripts that give us the examples of the language of that period are:1)personal documents containing names and place names; 2)legal documents (charters); 3)glosses to the Gospels and other religious texts (Latin-English vocabularies for those who did not know Latin good enough to understand the texts); 4)textual insertions (pieces of poetry). Old English Poetry 1.Among the earliest textual insertions in Old English are the peaces of Old English poetry. They are to be found in “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” written in Latin in the 8th c. by Bede the Venerable, an English monk. These two pieces are: 1)5 lines know as “Bede’s Death Song”; 2)9 lines of a religious poem “Cædmon’s Hymn”. 2.All in all we have about 30 000 lines of OE verse from many poets, but most of them are unknown or anonimuos. The two best known Old English poets are Cædmon and Cynewulf (Northumbrian authors).3.The topics of Old English poetry: 1)heroic epic(“Beowulf”, the oldest in the Germanic literature, 7th c., was written in Mercian or Northumbrian but has come down to us only in a 10th c. West Saxon copy. It is based on old legends about the tribal life of the ancient Teutons and features the adventures and fights of the legendary heroes); 2)lyrical poems(“The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, etc. Most of the poems are ascribed to Cynewulf); 3)religious poems(“Fate of the Apostles” (probably Cædmon), “Dream of the Rood”, etc.). 4.The peculiarities of Old English poetry: 1)written in Old Germanic alliterative verse: a) the lines are not rhymed; b)the number of the syllables in a line is free; c)the number of stressed syllables in a line is fixes; d)the line is usually divided into 2 halves, each half starts with one and the same sound; this sound may be repeated also in the middle of each half; e)a great number of synonyms and metaphorical phrases or compounds describing the qualities or functions of a thing.