Middle English Orthography and Morphology

Differences between Old and Middle English 1.OE had a very limited foreign element - some Latin, Scandinavian, French, and Celtic loans - important but not numerous ME vocabulary owes a huge debt to other languages, especially French, Latin, and Old Norse (present in OE, but many ON words weren’t written down much until after the Conquest)

Differences between Old and Middle English (cont’d) 2.in OE, West Saxon dialect was the standard literary dialect (largely thanks to King Alfred and his encouragement of learning) - other dialects were largely colloquial in ME, all dialects were used for literary purposes – only late in the period does the London dialect emerge

Differences between Old and Middle English (cont’d) 3.A major sound change: vowels in unaccented syllables changed to [ə] OE stanas ‘stones’ [st ɑ n ɑ s] ME stones ‘stones’ [stonəs] by late ME, [stonz] as in MnE

Middle English Orthography 2 main things to remember: (i)age of manuscripts, not printed books - spelling system was much more variable (ii)cultural domination of Normans - Norman scribes dominated the making of English MSS - encountered an established alphabet and a system of spelling conventions

Orthography (cont’d) Big problems with OE alphabet: not adequate to express all the sounds required of it – many symbols represented 2 or more sounds (‘c’) Normans were outsiders to the language, brought a fresh perspective – easily fixed them by replacing certain symbols by others that they were more familiar with sometimes, even if the OE symbol was clear and unambiguous, Normans replaced it with a more familiar symbol

Consonants OE consonants þ,ð representing [ ɵ ] and [ð] ð soon died out OE þæt > ME þat, that (throughout period) þ began to resemble y ye = you ye = the ye olde coffee shoppe ye/yt for the/that

Consonants (cont’d) OE ƿ (‘wynn’) replaced with w by 1300 at the latest

The ‘c’ problem OE c = [k], [č]; sc = [š]; cg = [ ǰ ] In French, c = [s] place = place - introduced by Normans, spread to native words (mys/lys ☞ mice/lice)

The ‘c’ problem: solutions c for [s] as in French (in some words: place, nice) c for [k] before back vowel remained (OE cuman > ME come) c for [k] before front vowels replaced by k (OE cepan > ME kepe > MnE keep) cn confusing because of minims (short strokes used to make both c and n) – replaced by kn, still pronounced (OE cniht > ME knight) for [č], Normans introduced ch (OE ceap > ME cheap; OE cinn > ME chin) for [š], Normans introduced sh (OE scamu > ME shame) ssh, sch, ss also used (ME shal, sshal, schal, ssal)

Other Norman Spelling Innovations For [ ǰ ], Normans introduced gg, then dg(e) OE bricg > early ME brigge > late ME bridge cw replaced by qu OE cwen > ME queen > MnE queen

Old English ʒ (‘yogh’) replaced by g in some cases: Ʒ for [g]: OE ʒ rene > ME grene > MnE green in dg combination retained for [x]: ME tho ʒ t, MnE thought retained for [j]: OE ʒ ieldan > early ME ʒ elden > late ME yelden sometimes confused with z and used for [z] – ME dai ʒ ‘days’

Norman Innovations (cont’d) z for [z] used irregularly ME stonez ‘stones’ gh for [x] OE πoht > ME thoght > MnE thought OE riht > ME right wh for aspirated [w] OE used hwOE hwæt > ME what OE hwil > ME while (by analogy with th, ch, sh?) also Northern and Scots spellings of qu or quh: quat, quhat

Norman Innovations (cont’d) gu for [g] – originally only in French loanwords (guard, guile, guide) – then spread to native words (OE gylt > ME guilt) v for [v] OE seofon > ME seven (no v in OE) also in French loans: very, vain u/v both used for vowel and consonant: later ME, v at beginning of words, u in middle (vnder, giue) – survives into EMnE i/j both used for vowel and consonant: ME tiim, tijm > MnE time ME iuge, juge > MnE judge

Middle English Vowels æ disappeared - replaced by a OE hwæt > ME what OE stræt > ME stret(e) ‘street’ [y] sound (rounded high front vowel) - imn OE, spelled y (i) late OE - unrounded in some dialects, became [I] or [I] (ii) i/y used interchangeably (iii) today, y is a vowel only: (a) at the end of a word (by, joy, party) (b) in Greek loans (system, lyre, dysentery) © in a few monosyllables (dye, rye, lye)