Language during Geoffrey Chaucer’s Time Period By: Melissa, Vanessa, and Avianti

What Language did Chaucer speak and write in? During Geoffrey Chaucer’s time period, Middle English was spoken. Middle English is the name given to the language that was between Old English, spoken fifteen centuries ago, and Modern English, in use from the time of the Renaissance. Also during that time, French and Latin were the literary language. But in the thirteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer challenged that when he published his Canterbury Tales in English. The problem was evidently that English was not the language of law and high culture, and there were people that were not familiar with the Romance languages were not able to read English either.

Chaucer wrote in what today is called Middle English Chaucer wrote in what today is called Middle English. Middle English has many words and spellings that are still the same in English today, although it was pronounced very differently, a modern English reader can make some sense of it. Chaucer wrote in the vernacular, the English that was spoken in and around London during that time period.  Chaucer made a crucial contribution to English literature in using English at a time when much court poetry was still written in Anglo-Norman or Latin. Chaucer wrote in continental accentual syllabic meter, a style (a type of pronunciation) which had developed since around the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo Saxon. Although Chaucer wrote much more than just the Canterbury Tales, it is for these tales that he is most widely known. 

How is his language related to modern English? Even though the pronunciation of Middle English is different, some words can still be understood in Modern English by the way it is spelt. Middle English became a language that more closely resembles modern English in terms of sentence structure.  Middle English words that have survived in Modern English sometimes had different meanings in the earlier period.

By about the 15th century Middle English had evolved into early modern English, and continued to absorb numerous words from other languages, especially from Latin and Greek. Latin was also used during Chaucer’s time period. Even though middle English had began to evolve to modern English , its spelling conventions remained rather constant. Middle English had an influence on some words in modern English.

What is the history behind the language of Chaucer’s day? The history of Middle English is often divided into three periods: (1) Early Middle English, (2) the Central Middle English period , and (3) Late Middle English.\ The dialects of Middle English are usually divided into three large groups: (1) Southern,  (2) Midland, and (3) Northern, The phrase Middle English refers primarily to an historical period during which the language was developing in grammar, syntax and vocabulary, and adapting itself to the various demands of a changing society and culture.

The influence of the French language on the English during this period was very dominant.  The term "Middle English" implies both a beginning and a subsequent development, and no understanding of Middle English is possible without some understanding of the historical events which influenced language in the period before the Norman Conquest, which is generally recognized to be the dividing line between what we term Old and Middle English and Anglo-Saxon and Norman England.  The event that began the transition from Old English to Middle English was the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror invaded the island of Britain from his home base in northern France, and settled in his new acquisition along with his nobles and court.   French maintained the rank of a formal or prestige language. It had a noteworthy influence on the Middle English language, which can be seen in Modern English today.

Middle English Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z_oI7L9ODA