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| Historical Background of the Middle English PeriodHistorical Background of the Middle English Period“Historical Background of the Middle English Period” Plan. 1. The problem of periodization. The role of the Middle English Period in the history of English language. 2. The influence of the Scandinavian invasions. 3. The Norman Conquest. 4. Early Middle English dialects. Neighborhood of three languages in England. 5. Written records of the M. E. P. 6. Late M. E. P. 7. Development of English dialects and the rise of London dialect. The historical development of a language is a continuous,
uninterrupted process without sudden breaks or rapid transformations. One of the prominent and well-known English scientists Henry Sweet
worked out several periodisations of the history of English language. He
suggested to single out the period of transition and to subdivide the
transitional stage between the Old and the Middle English Periods cover Another periodization is extralinguistical. It’s based on the
historical events, which influenced on the English language. I must notice
that this one is the most traditional. The commonly accepted traditional
periodization divides English language history into three periods: Old Early Middle English covers the main events of the 14th century. It is the stage of greatest dialectal divergence caused by the feudal system and by foreign influences-Scandinavian and French. The dialectal division of present-day English owes its origin to this period of history. Great changes of the language took place at all the levels, especially in lexis and grammar. Later 14th till the end of the 15th century is a time known as Late
or Classical Middle English. This period umbra’s the age of Chaucer, the
greatest English medieval writer and forerunner of the English Renaissanu,
and is characterized by restoration of English to the position of the state
and literary language and by literary flourishing, which has a stabilizing
effect on language, so that the rate of linguistic changes was slowed down. The Old English period in the history of the language corresponds to
the position of the state and literary language corresponds to the
transitional stage from the slave-owning and tribal system to the feudal
system in the history of Britain. In the 11th century feudalism was already
well established. According to a survey made in the late 11th c. slaves and
freemen were declining classes. The majority of the agricultural population In Early M.E. the differences between the regional dialects grew. In the age poor communication dialect boundaries often coincided with geographical barriers such as rivers, mashes, forests, and mountains, as these barriers would hinder the diffusion of linguistic features. In addition to economic, geographical and social conditions, dialectal differences in Early M.E. were accentuated by some historical events, namely the Scandinavian invasions and the Norman Conquest. Though the Scandinavian invasions of England are dated in the Old The increased regional differences of English in the Scandinavian
influence in the areas of the heaviest settlement the Scandinavians
outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population, which is attested by geographical
names. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Cumberland-up to 75 per
cent of the place-names is Danish or Norwegian. Altogether more than 1.400 In later ages the Scandinavian element passed into other regions. The
incorporation of the Scandinavian element in the London dialect and Soon after Canute’s death (1042) and the collapse of his empire the
old Anglo-Saxon line was restored but their reign was short-lived. The new In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England proclaimed Harold 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, though the military occupation of the country was not
completed until a few years later. After the victory of Hastings, William
by passed London cutting it off from the North and made the William of Following the conquest hundreds of people from France crossed the 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. Its earliest effect was a drastre change in the linguistic situation. The Norman Conquerors of England had originally come from In the early 13th c., as a result of lengthy and inefficient wars with France John Lackland lost the French provinces, including the dukedom of Normandy. Among other consequences the loss of the lands in France cut off the Normans in Britain from France, which speeded up the Anglo-France, which speeded up the decline of the Anglo-French language. The most immediate consequence of the Norman domination in Britain
is to be seen in the wide use of the French language in many spheres of
life. For almost free hundred years French was the official language of
administration: it was the language of the king’s court, the law courts,
the church, the army and the castle. It was also every day language of many
nobles, of the higher clergy and of many townspeople in the South. The
intellectual life, literature and education were in the hands of French-
speaking people; French, alongside Latin, was the language of writing. For all that, England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The bulk of the population held fast to their own tongue: the lower classes in the towns, and especially in the country-side, those who lived in the Midlands and up north, continued to speak English and looked upon French as foreign and hostile. Since most of the people were illiterate, the English language was almost exclusively used for spoken communication. At first the two languages existed side by side without mingling. These peculiar linguistic conditions could not remain static. The struggle between French and English was bound to end ion the complete victory of English, for English was the living language of the entire people, while French was restricted to certain social spheres and to writing. Yet the final victory as still a long way off. In the 13th c. only a few steps were made in that direction. The earliest sign of the official recognition of English by the Norman hinges was the famous Proclamation issued by Henry 3 in 1258 to the councilors in Parliament. It was written in three languages: French, Latin and English. The three hundreds 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 by attributed to the continued cultural,
economic and political contacts between the countries. The French influence
added new features to the regional and social differentiation of the
language. New words, coming from French, could not be adopted
simultaneously by all the speakers if English; they were first used in some
varieties of the language, namely in the regional dialects of Southern The use of a foreign tongue as the state language, the diversity of the dialects and the decline of the written form of English created a situation extremely favorable for increased variation and for more intensive linguistic change. The regional M.E. dialects had developed from respective OE dialects. With these reservation the following dialect groups can be distinguished in Early M.E. The Southern group included the Kentish and the South-Western dialects. Kentish was a direct descendant of the O.E. Saxon dialects, - not only West Saxon, but also East Saxon. The East Saxon dialect was not prominent in OE but became more important in Early M.E., since it made the basis of the dialect of London in the 12th and 13th c. Among the dialects of this group the Gloucestes dialect and the London dialect may be mentioned. The group of Midland (‘Central’) dialect – corresponding to the OE The Northern dialect had developed from OE Northumbrian. In Early In the course Early M.E. the area if the English language in the The E.M.E. dialectal division was preserved in the succeeding
centuries, though even in Late M.E. the linguistic situation changed. In For a long time after the Norman Conquest there were two written languages in England, both of them foreign: Latin and French. English was held in disdain as a tongue used only by common illiterate people and not fit for writing. In some dialects the gap in the written tradition spanned almost two hundred years. The earliest samples of Early M.E. prose are the new entries made in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles from the year 1122 to the year 1154, known as the Peterborough Chronicle. The works in the vernacular, which began to appear towards the
end of the 12th c., were mostly of a religions nature. The great mass of
these works are homilies, sermons in prose and verse, paraphrases from the Of particular interest for the history of the language is Among other works of religious nature we can mention ‘Ancrene Riwle’ Alongside these religious works there sprang up a new kind of secular literature inspired by the French romances of chivalry. Romances were long composition in verse or prose, describing the life and adventures of knights. The great majority of romances fell into groups or cycles concerned with a limited number of matters. Those relating to the ‘matter of Britain’ were probably the most popular and original works of English poets, though many of them were paraphrased from French. One of the earliest poems of this type was ‘Brut’ composed by Layamon
in the early 13th c. It is a free rendering of the 12th c., which tells
the story of the legendary foundation of Britain by Brutus, the alleged
great grandson of Aeneas of Troy; the last third of the poem is devoted to Some romances deal with more resemnt events and distinctly English
themes: episodes of the Crusades of Scandinavian invasions. ‘Havelock the Among the Early M. E. texts in the South-Western dialects we should
mention ‘ The London Proclamation’ of the year 1258 and the political poems
of the early 14th c. which voiced the complaint of the poor against their
oppressors. In the poem ‘Evil Times of Edward2’ the unknown author
described the vices of the clergy and the nobility as the causes of the
wretched condition of the people. Those were the earliest M.E. texts in the Early M.E. written records represent different local dialects, which were relatively equal as forms of the written language, beneath the twofold oppression of Anglo-Norman and Latin writing. They retained a certain literary authority until it was overshadowed in the 14th c. by the prestige of the London written language. The domination of the French language in England came to an end in the
source of the 14th c. The victory of English was predetermined and prepared
for by previous events and historical conditions. Little by little the Towards the end of the 14th c. the English language had taken the place of French as the language of literature and administration. English was once more the dominant speech of all social classes in all regions. It had ousted French since it had always remained the mother tongue and the only spoken language of the bulk of the population. It may be interesting to mention some facts showing how the transition
came about. In 1362 Edward 3 gave his consent to an act of Parliament
ordaining that English be used in the law courts, sine ‘French has become
much unknown in the realm’. This reform, however, was not carried out for
years to come: French, as well as Latin, continued to be used by lawyers
alongside English until the 16th c. Yet many legal documents which have
survived from the late 14th and 15th c. are written in English: wills,
municipal acts, petitions. In 1363, for the first tome in history, Howly and inevitably English regained supremey in the field of
education. As early as 1349 it was ruled that English should be used at
school in teaching Latin, but it was not until 1385 that the practice
became general, and even the universities began to conduct their curricula
in English. By the 15th c. the ability to speak French had come to be
regarded as a special accomplishment, and French like Latin, was learnt as
a foreign language. At the end of the 15th c. William Caxton, the first One might have expected that the triumph of English would lead to
weakening of the French influence upon English. In reality, however, the
impact of French became more apparent. As seen from the surviving written
texts, French loan-words multiplied at the very time when English became a
medium of general communication. The large-scale influx of French loads can
be attributed to several causes. It is probably that many French words had
been in current use for quite a long time before they were first recorded. As with other foreign influences, the impact of French is to be found, first and foremost, in the vocabulary. The layers and the semantic spheres of the French borrowings reflect the relations between the Norman rulers and the English population, the dominance of the French language in literature and the contacts with French culture. The prevalence of French as the language of writing led to numerous changes in English spelling. The dialect division which evolved in Early M.E. was on the whole
preserved in later periods. In the 14th and 15th c. the same grouping of
dialects was present: the Southern group. Including Kentish and the South- The history of the London dialect reveals the sources of the literary
language in Late M.E. and also the main source and basis of the Literary The Early M.E. records made in London-beginning with the Proclamation
of 1258 – show that the dialect of London was fundamentally East Saxon; in
terms of the M.E. division, it belonged to the South-Western dialect group. In the 12th and 13th c. the inhabitants of London came from the south-
western district. In the middle of the 14th c. London was practically
depopulated during the ‘Black Death’ (1348) and later outbreaks of bubonic
plague. It has bun estimated that about one third of the population of Most of the new arrivals came from the East Midlands: Norfolk, This mixed dialect of London, which had extended to the two universities (in Oxford and Cambridge) ousted French from official spheres and from the sphere of writing. The flourishing of literature, which marks the seconds half of the The literary text of the late 14th c. preserved in numerous
manuscripts, belong to a variety of genres. Translation continued, but
original composition were produced in abundance; party was more prolific
than prose. This period of literary florescence is known as the ‘age of One of the prominent authors of the time was John de Trevisa of Of Greatest linguistic consequence was the activity of John Wyclif The chief poets of the time, besides Chaucer, were John Gower, William The remarkable poem of William Langland ‘The Vision Coneerning Piers the Plowman’ was written in a dialect combining West Midland and London features; it has survived in three versions, from 1362 to 1390; it is an allegory and a satire attacking the vises and weaknesses of various social classes and sympathizing with the wretchedness of the poor. It is presented as a series of visions appearing to the poet in his dreams. He susdiverse people and personifications of vices and virtues and explains the way to salvation, which is to serve Truth by work and love. The poem is written in the old alliterative verse and shows no touch of Anglo-Norman influence. John Gover, Chaucer’s friend and an outstanding poet of the time, was
born in Kent, but there are not many Kentisins in his London dialect. His
first poems were written in Anglo-Norman and in Latin. His longest poem There was one more poet whose name is unknown. Four poems found in a
single manuscript of the 14th c. – ‘Peasl’, ‘Patience’, ‘Cleanness’, and Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) was by far the most outstanding figure of the time. A hundred years later William Caxon, the first English printer, called him ‘the worshipful father and fist founder and embellisher of ornate eloquence in our language. ‘In many books on the history of English literature and the history of English Chaucer is described as the founder of the literary language. His carried works more of less imitative if other authors – Latin, Chaucer wrote in a dialect which in the main coincided with that used in documents produced in London shortly before his time and for a long time after. Although he did not really create the literary language, as a poet of outstanding talent he made better use if it than contemporaries and set up 2 pattern to be followed in the 15th c. His poems were copied so many times that over sixty manuscripts of ‘The Cantervary Tales’ have survived to this day. No books were among the first to be printed, a hundred years after their Compositon. Chauser’s literary language, based in the mixed (lavgely East Midland) The 15th c. could produce nothing worthy to rank with Chaucer. The two prominent poets, Thomas Hoccleve and John Lydgate, were chicfly translators and imitators. The style of Caucer’s successors is believed to have drawn farther away from everyday speech; it was highly effected in character, abounding in abstact words and strongly influenced by Latin rhetoric (it is termed ‘aureate language’). Whereas in English literature the decline after Chaucer is apparent,
the literature of Scotland forms a Northern dialect of English flourished
from the 13th until the 16th c. ‘The Bruce’ , written by John Barbour
between 1373 and 1378 is a national epic, which describes the real history
of Rolert Bruce a hero and military chief who defeated the army of Edward 2
at Bannockburn in 1314 and secured the independence of Scotland. This poem
was followed by others, composed by prominent 15th c. poets: e.g. ‘Wallace’
attributed to Henry the Minstel; ‘ Kind’s Quhair’ (King’s Book’) by King Bibliography 1. Iliyish B. ‘History of the English Language’, Leningrad, 1983, 351p. 2. Rastorgueva T.A. ‘A History of English’, Moscow, 1983, 347p. 3. ßðöåâà Â. Í. ‘Ðàçâèòèå íàöèîíàëüíîãî ëèòåðàòóðíîãî àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà’, Ì., 1969. 4. Êîñòþ÷åíêî Þ. Ï. ‘Èñòîðèÿ àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà’, Ê. 1953á 360ñ. 5. ßðöåâà Â. Í. ‘Èñòîðèÿ àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà 9-15 â. â.’, Ì 6. Èâàíîâà, ×àõîÿí, Áåëÿåâà. «Èñòîðèÿ àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà», Ê.: 1996 |
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