History of the English Language

There are two groups of consonants affected by the change.
1. Consonants that change their pronunciation.
The sound [x] existing in Middle English was represented by writing h or gh in initial or final position.
Ex.| riht (OE) > right (ME)
In final position there is a strange development and the [x] sound becomes an [f]. Ex.| rough, enough, laugh, tough

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We have several matters of concern in the Early Modern English Period (EMEP). Educated people were concerned mainly about the prestige of their language compared to other European languages. English was not considered to have an adequate vocabulary, and there was a concern about the necessity of a spelling reform, and a necessity of fixing and regulating the language. There was a strong discussion about these topics. At the beginning of the period the arguments about the suitability of English are typical, while the spelling reform belongs to the second part of this period.
The first book to be printed in English is the translation of a French book. Caxton affirms that French language was a fair language compared to English. Also in England Italian and Spanish were considered to be much better languages because of their literature.

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It is a time of tremendous importance due to the political, economical, and social changes. In the last period of the Middle English Period (MEP), the language and the emergence of many different spelling systems emerged. One of these is the Chancery English. This is the language used in the Chancery Offices (Chancery Lane, London). Little by little, because of the importance of the documents written there, it began to be considered as the standard. This form of English began to be spread in 1415. The scribes belonging to these offices used it. The basis of Chancery English is not Southern, but taken from the Central and East Midlands. A lot of literary men go to London to live there and bring some documents

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Although it is difficult to set a borderline between them, the four principal dialects of Middle English are: Northern (North of the river Humber), East Midland, West Midland, and Southern. However one could say there is one more dialect, the Kentish dialect, that would later be of great importance.
The most common feature used to tell different dialects apart is the ending of the plural, present indicative of the verbs:

- Northern -> -es (They loves)
- East Midland -> -en (They loven)
- West Midland -> -en (They loven)
- Southern -> -eth (They loveth)

In the Southern dialects of Middle English -ing was the suffux marking the present participle. The equivalent suffix in the Northern dialects was -ande or -ende.

Another important feature is that of pronunciation. Thus f and s were often voiced in the south to v and z. This way we find words like fox in the North and vixen in the South.

See this link [ling.upenn.edu] for information on the evolution of each dialect.

When a Norman-French word was adapted into English, the loanword usually appears different than the modern French word in spelling and/or pronunciation. There are mainly two reasons for this. First of all is the developments that both languages have suffered. The second and most important reason is that the language the Normans spoke was very differet to that spoken in Paris. Words like carry and cauldron corresponded to the Central French words charrier and chaudron. Sounds like w were not much seen in Central French, but they were in Anglo-Norman, maybe due to the proximity to Flemish and Dutch. Thus, words like wicket, correspond to the Central French guichet.

Regarding pronunciation, vowels also behaved differently in the two languages. In Old French the dipthong ui was accented on the first element. In Anglo-Norman the i dissappeared, leaving just the u [y]. In ME it became either u or iu. That is the explanation of how the word fruit for example (same graphical representation in both MdE and MdF) is pronounced differently in English and French.

Most authors like Baugh (1993) have set the start of the Middle Age period in 1150, but many others like wheeler (2006) agree that the starting point must have been marked by the breaking point of the Battle of Hastings, that is, 1066. Although none of the two dates is accurate enough, that would be a good start to understand the circumstances that lead us to assure a change in the language.

Analogic ways of phonetic changing resulted on reduction of inflections. Number, case, and gender inflections were lost because of an alteration in their pronunciation. This is also true of the verb. A number of endings like -a, -u, -e, -an,and -um were replaced by what is called the 'indeterminate vowel', that is, they were all reduced to te ending -e.

Middle English to the detail:

The Noun
In early Middle English there were two ways of making the plural: -s or -es for the strog declension and -en for the weak. Up until the 13th century, the -en ending was the most used in the south, but not in the north. By the year 1200, the -s ending had taken over. The reason for this change may have been the similarities between the -s ending , and the plural ending of Anglo-Norman, which was also -s.

The Adjective
The nominative singular form was extended to all cases of the singular, and the form of the nominative plural to all the cases of the plural. That also made the ending -e for both the singular and the plural, so there was not a difference between them anymore.

The Pronoun
The loss of inflections meant that one could not depend on the formal indications of gender case and number, so it made it necessary to rely on word order. this made a drastical change on syntax (word order).

Another simplification to take into account is that of the loss of the dual number.

The Verb
The main changes in theverb during this period were the losses suffered by the strong conjugation. Many of the verbs that survived the assimilation of Anglo-Norman changed over to the weak inflection. Nearly a third of the strong verbs in OE were lost in the ME period. They either dissappeared or became weak.

When William the Conqueror was crowned as king of England, Anglo-Norman became the language of the court, the administration, and culture. English was demoted to more common and unprestigious usages. This made English evolve, becoming a simpler language, and changing a short time after 1066 in what we know now as Middle English.

In vocabulary, about 10000 words entered the English language at this stage, and more than a third of today’s PdE (Present-day English) words are related to those Anglo-Norman ME (Middle English) words.

English pronunciation also changed. The fricative sounds [f], [s], [Ɵ] (as in thin), and [ʃ] (shin), French influence helped to distinguish their voiced counterparts [v], [z], [] (the), and [ƺ] (mirage), and also contributed the diphthong [oi] (boy).

Grammar was also influenced by this phenomenon especially in the word order. While Old English (and PdE in most of the occasions) had an Adj + N order, some expressions like secretary general, changed into the French word order, that is, N + Adj.

English has also added some words and idioms that are purely French, and that are used nowadays. To see the list of these words, follow this link [about.com].

The English language we now know would not have been the same if it was not for the events that happenned in 1066, especially in the battle of Hastings.

By the end of the 10th century England was under continuous attacks by the Vikings, so in 991 the king of England Aethelred II agreed to marry Emma, the daughter of the kind of Normandy, as a kind of alliance for protection. that alliance did not have the awaited results, and even the next kings of England were obliged to spend years abroad.

When Edward the Confessor died heirless in 1066, three separate aspirants arised: Harald III of Norway, William the Bastard (Duke of Normandy), and Harold Godwinson, who had been elected by the Witenagemot. King Harold was defeated in the battle of Stamford Bridge, when the Vikings attacked from the North, and the stage was set now for a dispute between the two remaining candidates to the throne. William arived with a loyal army (loyal because he had promised properties to everyone who grabbed a sword and fought) in Sussex, Harald's territory, and after a close victory in what would be later known as the Battle of Hastings on December 25th 1066, William was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

One of the most ovbious changes that occurred after William was crowned was that of the language: the Anglo-Norman. Anglo Norman was instated as the language of the ruling classes, and it would be so until about three centuries later. But not only the upper classes used French,merchants who travelled to and from the channel, and those who wanted to belong to these groups, or have a relationship with them, had to learn the language.

These events marked the beginning of Middle English, and had an incredible effect in the way we speak English nowadays. Before the Norman conquest, Latin had been a minor influence on English, but at this stage, some 30000 words entered the English language, that is, about one third of the total vocabulary. But vocabulary was not the only thing that changed in the English language. While Old English had been an extremely inflected language, it now had lost most of its inflections.

The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, beef and cow. Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow. Many legal terms, such as indict, jury, and verdict have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.