He produced works in Latin, and works he translated himself, of legendary stories like Aesop’s Fables, Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (twice). After surviving the Old English period of constant raids and Scandinavian rule, then the more sophisticated imperial Norman French, several identities made up the English people. They had outlasted 300 years of French rule, and now wanted English and English customs to thrive.īut what was English exactly? It wasn’t clear. The printing press and all things Englishīy the time of the printing press, the people of England wanted to distinguish themselves in the Western world. And, it just kept getting less subjective from there. The loss of inflection meant word order became more fixed and more important for conveying meaning. Later in Middle English, the endings fell off from intense, ongoing contact with French and its parent language Latin, as well as a whole host of other reasons. Morphemes told us what was doing what, and to who(m). They made word order matter less in English, so in “OE,” words could be reordered without jumbling the meaning. These endings are called morphemes-or morphological inflection, or, simply, inflection. Also, the sentence structure was freer in “OE.” You know how we can’t say, “Ball I hit,” or, “The cow the moon jumped over,” without confusion? In “OE,” there were endings on everything, letting you know it was the cow doing the jumping, the moon being jumped over. Three genders-masculine, feminine, neuter-for both nouns and adjectives, plus singular and plural forms. Previously, Old English, (or “OE”) before the Normans, had been like German. Modern English was also simplifying-fast. But, after prolonged contact with French, and heavier stress on the first vowel from “The Great Vowel Shift,” both the “ a” and the final “ e” eventually went silent. The final “ e”s were pronounced in Middle English. Sample of words affected: coat, float, boat, note Long o (like core), changed to the diphthong (like the oa sound in coat).Sample of words affected: boot, soon, mood Long ō (between core and could), changed to (like moo). Sample of words affected: out, about, mouth, cow, mouse Long ū (like moo), changed to the diphthong (like cow).Sample of words affected: mate, lake, same, name Long ā (like ah), changed to the diphthong (like way).Sample of words affected: beet, beat, meet, meat, meek Long ē, long (similar to way and when) changed to (like knee).Sample of words affected: bite, light, night, knight, mice Long ī (like knee) changed to the diphthong, like eye.What does this mean, though? Let’s make it more concrete with examples: The vowels that were already high became diphthongs, and if they were already high and front, they diphthongizedup from a lower initial position. They started saying long vowels higher and more fronted. People were told about new pronunciations. And so, we thought we were done, we had the final pronunciations of the English language.īut wait! Throughout the 1700s, the shift now wanted to affect Modern English as well. The “Great Vowel Shift” started in 1350 to transform Middle English, and it wasn’t finished until it produced Early Modern English in the 1600s. It brought new sounds, novel words, and exotic pronunciations that English absorbed as it struggled to find footing in French society on domestic land. People adored it: speaking it, writing in it, and generally being associated with it ( enchanté, dahling). And as a language, French had been superior to English. When the French ruled, they had influence over everyone, from peasants to royalty, from workforce to art. For the English, it was time to reclaim their identity, which had everything to do with revitalizing the English language. The Norman French aristocracy in England was over. Norman French presence was in decline as the Bubonic Plague gripped England-yes, that’s right, we said the Bubonic Plague-as well as all of Europe. Let’s begin at the beginning, though: England, 1476. Well, we can start by blaming William Caxton and the printing press. The way words are spelled in English just don’t match how they are pronounced. Why, English language, why? Let’s be honest: It’s practically impossible to be a “good” speller in English.
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