Language Change: Old & Middle English
Linguistic Item Old English
Pronunciation 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
All symbols represented
pure vowels not diphthongs.
For diphthongs, they used
digraphs such as: ea, eo, io
and ie.
Old English used 16
consonants: b, c, f, g, h, l,
m, n, p, s, t, thorn Ϸ, wyn
and eth=x
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
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Middle English
A major sound change happened in
the form of vowels: the lengthening
of short vowels such as: old, cold
and blind.
ME used separate phonemes for
[f,v ], [s,z], [ θ , ð]
All written vowels were
pronounced
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.
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.
Inflections were replaced by
The NP (Noun Phrase)
complex system of tenses that used
structure is similar to that of primary auxiliaries
(be, have,
Modern English system of
do) and model verb
( shall,
demonstrative adjectives:
will)
se=( the &that)
Ϸes= (this).
Future tense with shall and will was
There were two tense
established during ME.
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systems present & past with
different forms for
indicative & subjective.
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
Administration: Council,
government
Law:
Judge, punish
Religion:
Virgin, clergy
Art & 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.
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.
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)
The first person singular of the verb
in the present tense ends in (e): (ich
here)= I hear
But in plural form it made
no person distinction such
as: wĕ, gĕ, hie helpaÞ = (
we, you, they help),
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
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formed by adding( ede) or (te)
Strong verbs formed their past
tense by changing their stem
vowel: (biden=bound)
Nouns
Dialects
OE assigned gender to all
nouns e.g: sĕo sunne = ( the
sun) was feminine
Sĕ mōna = ( the moon) was
masculine.
Had four main dialects:
West-Saxon, Kentish,
Mercian and Northumbian.
Each of these dialects was
associated with an
independent kingdom on
the Island.
ME
remains
only two
distinct
noun
ending
patterns
from the
more
complex
system of
inflection
in OE.
History of English - The OE Period
5
Weak
Singu
Nomi
Accus
engel
name
engles
Genative:
engles
Genat
name
engle(ne)
Dative:
engle
Dativ
name
engle(s)
There were six dialects of ME:
Northumbian which was divided into
Scottish & Northern, West Midland,
East Midland, South Eastern and
Southern.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqRukG4inPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2fd22bXooI
Strong
Singular
Plural
Nominative&
Accusative:
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 Period
http://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
6