Historical Linguistics From Middle English to Early Modern English

Middle English  Early Modern English 1300s: All religious texts in England were in Latin Bible Mass Most people didn’t understand Latin. Priest rang a bell during the important parts of Mass so people would pay attention. Street performers did “Mystery Plays”—soap opera versions of Bible stories in English

Middle English  Early Modern English 1380s: People wanted a Bible to belong to them Thomas Wycliff Believed the church was corrupt Translated the Bible from Latin to English Hand-copied and distributed translations Popularized regionalisms: zeal, puberty, childbirth, envy, barbarian, birthday, communication, crime, dishonor, humanity, injury, madness, novelty, pollute, tramp, visitor Kept some Latin words with no English equivalents emperor, justice, city, cradle, angel, glory Wycliff excommunicated, Bibles burned, but continued to be read in secret

Middle English  Early Modern English Spellings not uniform throughout England—people sounded it out the way they talked. Example: CHURCH Kirk, kyrk, kyrke, kirke, kerk, kerc, kerke, churche, cherche, chirche, cherch, chyrch, cherge, chyrche, schyrche

Middle English  Early Modern English 1500 AD: Chancery: Public records office Kept records in English Had to be consistent with spellings Spellings become uniform, don’t change English becomes recognizable XalSchallShall RitheRight HathHas DothDoes IcheI

Middle English  Early Modern English Why doesn’t English make any sense? “Mongrel” nature of English (many influences) Workers at Chancery standardized “how it’s always been spelled” vs. how it sounds Words with Latin roots given a “Latin look” (like “debt”) “Rhyme” has a /y/ because “rhythm” does Words were spelled how they sounded at the time, but the pronunciation changed (/l/ in “should” wasn’t silent)

Middle English  Early Modern English Great vowel shift Happened in 1400s, same time as Chancery was standardizing spelling /oo//oh/ (stoon  stone) /ee/  /i/ (weef  wife) /eh/  ee (mete  meet)

Middle English  Early Modern English 1435 AD: The Gutenberg Press Widespread distribution of books Printers had to choose spellings from many regional pronunciations Further standardized spellings

Middle English  Early Modern English 1530s: Henry VIII wants a divorce, splits from the Catholic church, creates the Church of England Needed an English Bible to create separate identity Used one that had been illegal previously Popularized many words and sayings: scapegoat, let there be light, the powers that be, my brother’s keeper, milk and honey, a man after my own heart, fight the good fight, the apple of my eye, sign of the times, beautiful, landlady, brokenhearted, fisherman, zealous, Jehovah, Passover

Early Modern English By 1550, English is now the language of literature, the court, the legal system, and religion English considered authorized by God

Early Modern English 1588: Queen Elizabeth I Defeated the Spanish Armada Opened up new trade routes Brought in 10,000-12,000 new words from other languages

Early Modern English Loanwords: Words brought from one language to another From French: creue (crew), detail, passeport, progresse, moustache, explorer From Spanish and Portuguese: embargo, tronada (tornado), canoa (canoe), port From Dutch: kielhalen (keyhole), smokkelen (smuggle), jaghte (yacht), kruisen (cruise), reef, knapzak (knapsack), landschap (landscape); also swear words from sailors: fokkinge, krappe, bugger From Italian: balcony, piazza, villa, miniature, design, opera, violin, solo More than 50 other languages loaned new words

Early Modern English Around 1600: The Renaissance Huge growth in scholarship and learning Scholars needed to communicate with scholars in other countries, so revived Latin as common language Needed new words for scientific discoveries and philosophical terms Old Latin words became part of English lexicon excavate, horrid, cautionary, pungent, submerge, specimen, manuscript, atmosphere, chaos, critic, paradox, eternal, chronology, technique, skeleton, tendon, larynx, temperature, parasites, pneumonia, thermometer

Early Modern English Some words came from Latin that we don’t use: nidulate—to build a nest electrobus—delicat deruncinate—to weed absygify—to cleanse latirate—to bark like a dog expede—opposite of impede

Early Modern English The theatre’s influence on language Shakespeare, Marlowe, Johnson, Webster, etc. Theatres held 3000-3500 people Half the people in London saw any given play Everyone in London went to the theatre Had to include language for common people and rich people Common people heard aristocratic words; rich people heard slang Here’s what Shakespeare’s English would have sounded like

Early Modern English Shakespeare’s language exported to other countries and around England Shakespeare invented 2000 words (or recorded them for the first time) Shakespeare’s vocabulary was 21,000 words Gave words to new thoughts: “To thine own self be true” What is the nature of personal identity?