( 1 )

( D I A L E C T A L ) V A R I A T I O N I N M E

(be4) Middle English (& later)

( D I A L E C T A L ) V A R I A T I O N I N M E

( 2 )

T H E G R E A T V O W E L S H I F T

( 3 )

B O R R O W I N G S F R O M L A T I N , F R E N C H

& O T H E R L A N G U A G E S

MIDDLE ENGLISH (ca. 1150-1500)

OE dialects

: Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon, Kentish

Five major dialects

: Northern, West Midland,

East Midland, Southern,
South-Eastern

South-Eastern

General tendency: Southern dialects –more conservative

Northern dialects – more liberal
(influence of Scandinavian)

DIALECTAL DIVERSITY

Some phonological differences:

/a

/ in the Northern dialect

OE /a

/ <ā>

/

/ south of the Humber

/

/ south of the Humber

(later on developed into /

/)

ME /

rad/ (Northern dialect)

OE rād ‘ride, journey’

ME /

rd/ (south of the Humber)

DIALECTAL DIVERSITY

Some phonological differences:

/i/ North & East-Midlands

OE /ü/ <y>

/

e/ East and South-East

/ü/ West and South-West

/ü/ West and South-West

brid /brid/

OE brycg ‘bridge’

bred /bred/
bruid /brüd/

DIALECTAL DIVERSITY

OE word-initial /f/ and /s/:

ME

always /f/ and /s/ in most areas;
but often /v/ and /z/ in South-East,

but often /v/ and /z/ in South-East,
e.g. vor (for), vox (fox), vrom (from)

OE swā ‘so; as’ /sa/ (North)

/s

/(Midlands and South-West)

/z

/ (South-East)

DIALECTAL DIVERSITY

OE /ć/ ME/t/ in most areas, but /k/ in the North
e.g. church (in standard modern English)

but kirk in northern British dialects (Scots)

Morphological differences:

Morphological differences:

OE –(e)th as plural personal ending of present tense verbs

-eth in the South
-en in the Midlands

-es in the North

DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARD ENGLISH

MIDDLE ENGLISH EAST MIDLAND

STANDARD MODERN ENGLISH

Four reasons:

Four reasons:

(1) Midlands middle between North & South
(2) The largest number of speakers
(3) Two great universities: Oxford & Cambridge
(4) Influence of Chaucer

THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT

FROM MIDDLE ENGLISH TO MODERN ENGLISH

LONG VOWELS CHANGE

BETWEEN the 15th AND 18th CENTURIES

BETWEEN the 15th AND 18th CENTURIES

Towards the end of Chaucer’s times, all ME long

vowels gradually started to be pronounced

higher in the mouth

THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT

THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT

Chaucer

Shakespeare

Dickens

/nam/

/næm/

/nm/

/nem/ name

/kln/

/klen/

/klin/ clean

/ren/

/rin/

/rin/ reen

/ren/

/rin/

/fif/

/fav/

/fav/ five

/bt/

/bot/

/bt/ boat

/rot/

/rut/

/rut/ root

/hus/

/has/

/has/ house

Putting it all together

OE swā /swa

/

ME /s

/ (East Midlands)

ME /s

/ (East Midlands)

New English (after GVS)/s

o/

Modern English /

s/

Putting it all together

OE rād /ra

d/

ME /r

d/ (East Midlands) but /rad/ in the North

After GVS: /r

od/ (East Midlands) but /rd/ in the North

Modern English /r

d/

& Modern English /re

d/

road

raid

LET’S MAKE IT MORE BORING :p

(NOT ONLY) MIDDLE ENGLISH BORROWINGS