Middle English

Study Questions and Exercises

  1. Referring to at least three developments during the Middle English period, explain some of the idiosyncracies of Modern English spelling.
  2. Compare the variety of spelling at the beginning of the Middle English period and at the end. What forces combined to effect the change?
  3. Describe the basic features of Middle English, providing examples to illustrate its pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and written form.
  4. In what important ways is Middle English different from Old English? What factors led to the changes that took place in the language?
  5. We have no tape recordings of native speakers of Middle English. How, then, do we know how it was pronounced?
  6. Describe the impact of French on English during this period.
  7. Although the Normans conquered the English in 1066, the English language eventually won out over Norman French. Why?

Bibliography

  • Crystal, David. "Old English." The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

People

  • Normans
  • William the Conqueror
  • John Wycliff

Places

  • Normandy

Works

  • The Canterbury Tales
  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
  • The Ormulum

Terms

  • Middle English
  • Chancery
  • borrowing
  • scribe
  • parchment
  • vellum
  • ash
  • thorn
  • eth
  • nominative
  • genitive
  • accusative
  • dative
  • inflection
  • Standard English
  • Great Vowel Shift

Chronology

1066: Normans conquer England
1204: English King John loses Normandy
1362: English used in Parliament

Written by Mark Canada, Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

© Mark Canada, 1999

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Updated September 10, 1999 | University of North Carolina at Pembroke
© Mark Canada, 1999 | canada@sassette.uncp.edu