The Impact Of The Norman Conquest English Language Essay

The Impact Of The Norman advantage incline Language EssayBy the end of the out of date side of meat period an event withalk place which had a major impact on the side speech communication. This event was the Norman advantage, in 1066, which marks the beginning of the fondness position Period. The invasion is a milestone in the history of England, and played a observe power in the development of Modern side. But an an new(prenominal)(prenominal) view sees the events of the occupation as having a contradict effect on position, and as a field of study catastrophe that destroyed a sophisticated inhering Anglo-Saxon polish (Graddol et al, 1996120) and disrupted the progression of the side linguistic process. Short states that Higden Ranulf, an position chronicler and Benedictine monk, saw french as one of the principal reasons why the side diction had degenerated in Medieval England (2007 29). Nevertheless, others claim that the Norman Conquest contri howevered to an e normous enrichment of the position diction (Hughes, 2000 111). side would probably have pursued some other developing had William the Conqueror not succeeded in appropriating the English throne. It would most alikely lack the immense amount of french vocabulary that characterizes the English language today, and that make English look, on the side of lexicon, like a love affair language. No other previous event had had such(prenominal)(prenominal) an impact on the language. The Scandinavian invasion in the eighth century had affected English, still not as profoundly as the Norman Conquest. This is because the speakers of Anglo-Saxon and sr. Norse could understand each other, since they were communicating through similar Germanic-root spoken language. Whereas, Norman french was a foreign Romance language which was completely alien to a population speaking a Germanic language. The conquerors continued to speak their own language in Britain. Watson argues that Normans were r uthless people who had no interest in the culture, literature and learning the language of the conquered people. English, which had been the official and literary language, was demoted to be the language of the serfs (Watson, 2002 17). Since the 2 languages, Norman french and English, were not mutually understandable and cut was the language of the rulers, English speakers had to adapt to the new sufficers and learn some key expressions. Thus, the Norman invasion brought bilingualism in the British Isles with french and English living a bulkyside each other for a long time. It is estimated that around 10 000 cut wrangling (Mcrum et al, 1986 82) poured into English during the Norman rule. These rowing be found in every sphere art, literature, law and goernment. Modern English has retained a enormous pattern of these countersigns which have been completely assimi young(a)d into English in their anatomical structure, pronunciation and spelling. The Normans represented a depleted isotropy of the population, however, their language had a massive impact upon society, since they were in position of power. According to Short, the number of cut speaking incomers at the start of the 12 century was around 15 000, which would represent less than 1% of the total population of some 1.75 million (2007 26). This is the reason why Norman cut is not the verbalize language of England today, despite its dominance in Britain for almost three centuries. Baugh Cable claim that the Norman Conquest potpourrid the whole course of the English language (2002 208). Thus, such a consequential event deserves to be explored in detail.First ChapterHistorical BackgroundNormans were descendent of Vikings from Scandinavia who sett lead down in the northern region of France in the ninth and tenth centuries. This region was known as Northmannia, the land of the Northmen, by and by shortened to Normandy. The Normans became Frenchmen culturally and lingually (Pyles, 1964153) so on assimilating the French customs, marrying local women, converting to Christianity, and giving up their own language and acquiring French. England had had adjacent ties with Normandy long before the conquest in 1066. In 1002 thelred the Unready, king of England between 78-1016, had married a Norman woman and his son known as Edward the Confessor, who was raised in France, was more French than English. During the 24 days of his reign, Edward brought umteen of his Norman friends over to England giving them of import positions in the government. When Edward the Confessor died childless, William the Conqueror, who was a sulphur cousin of the late king, believed he was entitled to be Edwards successor even though he had no right to get the English throne. (Loyn, 1991 65-67). So when the accession to the throne was denied to him, he attacked England, and with his exceptional abilities he won the battle of battle of Hastings and on Christmas Day 1066, William was crowned king of E ngland (Baugh Cable, 2002 112). The rule of William the Conqueror brought with it vast changes to the social, political, religious and linguistic (Fennell, 2001 95) structure of England.Dominance of the French language in EnglandWilliams possession of the English throne had far-reaching consequences. One of the repercussions was the introduction of a new nobility. The old English nobility was virtually annihilated and replaced with Norman followers. Mcrum et al. (1986 73) argue that William to a fault purged the English church drowsyly Norman bishops and abbots occupied the cathedrals and monasteries, and for many generations after the conquest, the great estates and important positions were held by French-speaking Normans. The most significant consequence, however, was the dominion that the French language acquired in England. The Norman Conquest brought not solitary(prenominal) a new management of life scarce likewise a new way of speaking. The Norman incomers mother tongue was French and it re of imported so until the second half of the 12th century. French became the language of the impression rank and their servants. It was adopted across the entire range of write registers literature, legal proceedings, commerce, government businesses and private counterweight (Ingham, 2010 1). The members of the new commanding class continued to use their own language once they settled in England. First, only those of Norman origin would speak French, but soon through intermarriage and relation with the coercive class, many English people found it to their bene hold up to master the new language. Therefore French became the language of power and prestige (Hughes, 2000 13). The status of French in England from 1066 onwards is comparable to the greatness of English in the British Empire in the 19th and 20th century (Freeborn, 1998 81). For almost three hundred years after the conquest English ceased to be the official language of the land (Hughes, 2000 110), e xisting only as language of the masses. Short claims that the survival of French for three centuries, even after the loss of Normandy in 1204, is the conduct of a desire on the part of the Norman descendants to retain and strengthen their sense of fail identity (2007 13). He believes that Anglo-Norman was a means of social and political self-definition and self-preservation. All the kings of England spoke French as their first language. Command of French would also be found amongst the middle class. Knights also had a aim to using it, even if they were English ingraineds. Merchants and tradesmen spoke French, and also clerks and bailiffs would use the language collect to the fact that contrasting services were conducted in that language. Nonetheless Latin re of imported the language of church and scholarship. It was the language of records apply for any documents that were felt to be important to be left to posterity. Though French had cultural and social prestige in this pe riod, some(prenominal) English and French were regarded as inferior to Latin (Knowles, 1997 47). So from 1066 on that point were three languages that pervaded medieval England Latin, French and English, and literature, religion, law, science were all conducted in languages other than English (Mcrum et al, 1986 73). Short estimates that 80% of the population in Britain was monolingual English speakers, 16.5% bilingual French speakers, and 3.5% trilingual Latin, French and English (2007 28). Latin was the unifying European language par excellence (Totter, 2000 23). It was learned and studied in the schools and universities in England. Latin was the language of religion, culture and power and it was established all over Europe. Nonetheless Latin was mainly used for written purposes. The language was spoken by a tiny minority of the English and it was employed only in the highest ecclesiastical circles (Trotter, 2000 24). Latin, however, was certainly not the spoken language used in c ourt. French was the language used in the kings court (Ingham, 2010 95). Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that English was ousted by the two prestigious languages, it was never wiped out. It had a low status and it was reduced to an informal- colloquial informal, but it was still used to a great fulfilment by the lower classes. Fennell states that there was diglossia in England for a long time with French as the high up language and English as the Low language (Fenell, 2001 117). However, Baugh Cable maintain that if the Normans did not appreciate English as a vernacular this should not be interpreted as an oppressive language office towards English. A few generations before they had themselves renounced their own Germanic language in favour of Latin and French. The percept that Normans were hostile to the English language is without foundation (Baugh Cable, 2002 117). It is true that English was considered to be an unsophisticated tongue, however there is sufficient evidenc e of mutual respect and peaceful cooperation between the English and the Normans (Baugh Cable, 2002 117). William the Conqueror himself made an drift at the age of forty-three to learn English without succeeding. In general, the upper classes were indifferent towards the English language because their activities in England did not require the use of it, and French was for them more useful.Survival of EnglishHow did English extinguish to survive and not get absorbed in the dominant Norman tongue? Mcrum et al (1986 75) apprize that there ar three important motives that explain the survival of English. First of all, senile English was too established, too vigorous, and, thanks to its fusion with Scandinavian languages, too hardy to be wiped out (Mcrum et al, 1986 75). Despite the written records becoming Latin and French, English continued be the speech of commoners and it would have needed many centuries of French rule to obliterate it as the vernacular of ordinary people. They were not going to stop speaking English just because they had been conquered by a foreigner. Second, the fusion between Normans and English was rapid, as Normans intermarried with English people. The French-born mixed with the English-born. Thus, in store(predicate) generations living in Britain would feel more English. The Norman ancestors were forgotten with time and young people place with the natural language of most inhabitants in Britain. One hundred years after the invasion, an anonymous chronicler wrote that The two nations had become so mixed that it is scarcely possible today, speaking of free men, to tell who is English and who is of Norman race (Baugh Cable, 2009 120). The Francophone incomers seemed to have become fully integrated with English people. Third, and most important reason, the Anglo-Normans lost tick off of their French territory across the Channel. When King John lost Normandy in 1204, conflict began to develop between France and England, which conclud ed with the Hundred Years War. The ex Norman nobility became English, as many nobles had to decl be themselves both French or English. The loss of Normandy established an independent English nation and a feeling of national consciousness and identity began to arise in the British Isles (Short, 2007 31). English people began to be more elicit in their native language, thus the trilingual setting of medieval England existing following the Norman Conquest started to disappear. The initial trilingual situation developed into oral bilingualism, although it was not omnipresent in England, and progressively culminated into vernacular monolinguism (Trotter, 2000 25).Chapter 2Re-establishment of EnglishThe rivalry created between England and France meant that interests between English and French were no longer the same. This resulted in the decline of French and re-establishment of English. Fennell believes that if England had remained in the control of France, French might have continued to be used in England forever (Fennell 2001 117). This did not happen though. While French had been necessary to the English upper class during the two centuries following the Norman Conquest, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries its use was artificial. French lost its importance gradually and became a second acquired language after English till it disappe bed. Evidence of the passage of Anglo-Norman from a mother tongue to an acquired language has its roots in 1160s but also the first murmurings of discontent go up form those of Anglo-Saxon stock who see themselves as excluded an denied professional advancement by their ignorance of French (Short, 2007 26). At the start of the fourteenth century Anglo-Norman seemed to have lost its prestige completely. Slowly English won its way fundament to being ubiquitous in England.French passed into oblivion in the fifteenth and English was re-established, but it was a new language in vocabulary and in spirit, wholly different in char acter, meter and feeling from the Anglo-Saxon (Watson, 2002 18). Under the solve of Chaucer poets began to write in English, but also literature was exceedingly find outd by French. When English re-emerged as the written language of England, it was extremely altered in structure however, cos lettuce claims that debate still continues about the extent to which change was internally or externally motivated (1998 7). These differences in the English language remained immutable. Freeborn (1998 51) argues that when reading English texts from the 12th century onwards, there are changes in grammar, vocabulary, spelling and word form. Of course, the English language did not change overnight in response to the Norman Conquest. Fennell, on the other hand, maintains changes in English did not happen as a result of the conquest. He states that the influence of French on English is neither extreme nor special (Fennell, 2001 130). Many give address have been borrowed from French, but there is no pronounced structural change that can be revealed. It is also hard to demonstrate French influence on word format. There is no influence on concord as well. According to Fennell, changes in the English language are simply due to gradual change (2001 131).The Lexicon Loan Words from FrenchWhile the loss of inflection was only indirectly due to the use of French in England, French impact is much more noticeable on the vocabulary. A huge body of French words became part of the English language. The influx of French words began lento and continued with varying pace for a long time. Most of the Norman French loanwords entered English during the gist English period, and they actually came fastest when French was dying out (Barber et al., 2010 155). Some scholars argue that actually the main acquires by English tool place from 1250 onwards (Hughes, 2000110). In the eleventh and twelfth century the number of words borrowed from French was minimal, and in the thirteenth and fourte enth century the amount of loanwords increased significantly. When bilingual speakers changed over to English for such purposes as literature and government, they needed specialized terms that they were habituated to in these domains (Barber et al., 2010 156). The influence, however, was reciprocal. Numerous English words were introduced into the French spoken in England as well. From the very start of the century it is possible to prevail Anglo-Norman poets incorporating words of Old English origin into their works (Short, 2007 22). Where two languages live alongside each other for a long time a substantial transference of words from one language to another is unavoidable. Despite that, English had more to gain form French than vice versa, therefore the number of French words that entered English was incredibly vast.Many of the words borrowed by English are words to do with war, ecclesiastical matters, heraldry, hunting, the law, arts and fashion. The earliest adoptions from Norma n French are encountered in 1137 tresor treasury, Canceler Chancellor prisun justice and tenserie security department money (Hughes, 2000 111). These words indicate a whole new Norman vocabulary of power. Other words that infiltrated English in the 12th century are duc duke, cuntess countess, curt court, messe mass, clerc scholar (Graddol et al, 1996 123). Also these loanwords demonstrate the subordination of the Normans in influential institutions such as the church and the royal court. The Norman Conquest made French the language of the official class in England. Therefore it is not the least bit astonishing that many word having to do with administration and government are of French origin. Some of the earliest loans from French are service, prison and castle (Pyles, 1980 324). Other words include crown, state, empire, authority, sovereign, parliament, assembly, treaty, alliance, country, attorney, chancellor, judge, jury, noble, royal. The word office and the titles of many of fices are also French coroner, treasurer, marshal, governor, councillor, minister, warden, and castellan (Baugh Cable, 2009 169). In the religious domain amongst many words there terms such as abbot, clergy, preach, sacrament, vestment. As English was the language of the masses, it is not surprising that the original terms for livestock were retained ox, sheep swine, deer, calf. Whereas words such as beef, mutton, pork, bacon, venison, veal were used for the flesh of the animals, eaten mostly by the higher classes (Fennell, 2001 107). Family relationships such as mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter kept their Germanic names. Nevertheless, family relationships expressing more compound social relations such as uncle, aunt, cousin, nephew, niece were designated by French terms. The terms father-in-law and mother-in-law show native English words, but they are in fact calques, loan translations from Old French. Numbers did not lose their original, native names, and parts of the body kept their English terms. This is because such terms are core words and resistant to borrowing except in situations of exceptionally long and fervent contact. One remarkable example is the word face this term was borrowed from French in the late thirteenth century as an informal term (Fennell, 2001107). Titles of rank were taken from French such as baron, count, duke, marquees, peer, prince and sovereign (Barber et al., 2010156). However, English words were retained such as earl, king, knight, lady, lord, and queen. Literary borrowings of French only entered English in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. English writers started borrowing French words, as they were certain about an booster with French on the part of their readers. While a sizeable amount of French words came into English through this method, many are no longer in use since they filled no actually communicative need.Norman French vs. primordial FrenchAn interesting fact in Modern English is that des pite many words being borrowed from French, the pronunciation of the English words differs considerably from their French counterparts. An important thing to be pointed out is that Modern French is not like eleventh-century French. There were two main vocabulary groups in Old French the language of the north langue dol, and the language of the south and rally France langue doc also known as the phrasal idiom of Paris (Knowles, 1997 47). The Norman Conquest brought with it the Northern dialect which developed characteristics of its own and then is called Anglo-Norman. There were significant differences in the pronunciation between the two vernaculars. In Anglo-Norman ca- was pronounced as cha- chie- in rally French. So for instance, the Anglo-Norman word caitif caitiff changed its pronunciation into chaitif in Central French. The same can be said for other words that are pronounced with ca in English and cha in French such as catch which has derived form Anglo-Norman catel, bec ame chacier in Central French and subsequently chaser in Modern French. Other differences in the manner of speaking of the two dialects are the pronunciation of some consonants. Where the langue dol had w, k, ts would be pronounced as g, ts, s in the langue doc. The English word wicket (AN wiket) was transformed into guichet in the Parisian dialect. In the same way waste representing the Anglo-Norman waster was in Central French guaster. Consequently, there were two French sources a great deal leading to the same word being borrowed twice. Many adoptions from Norman French coexisted with the Central French equivalent words which were assimilated at a later date. So we have Norman French catch, warranty, launch, wage, warden, convey, gaol, beside Central French chase, guarantee, lance, gauge, guardian, convoy, jail (Graddol et al, 1996 123).In the thirteenth century, the Anglo-Norman dialect lost some of its importance in England, and the Anglo-Norman realised that the French they s poke was no longer fit for purpose. The Central French dialect of Paris had begun to exercise a strong influence in France, therefore the Anglo-Norman patois was regarded as uncouth and obsolescent (Barber et al. 2009 151). Giraldus Cambrensis, a writer of the early Middle Ages, contrasts the elegant French of France to its unsophisticated Insular counterpart which he disregards as gutter French (Short, 2007 14). Due to its prestige, the dialect of Central France became the standard language in court and fashionable society in England. As Central French became fashionable it was from this dialect that many words were borrowed at this period.After the Norman Conquest duplications in English were very common. Many of the French words that came into use conveyed meanings that were already expressed by a native English word. In this case one of two things occurred either one of the words was lost, or they both survived but they had different meanings. In some cases the French word died out, but in most cases it was the Old English word that ceased to exist. For example the OE word anda competed for its status with the word envy and managed to survive until the time of Chaucer, but at some point the word became obsolete and died out. The replacement was not always sudden often both words carried on to being used for some time, and the English word often persists in the dialect today. The Old English word eam which has been substituted by the French word uncle is still used in Scotland (eme). Where both the French and the English words existed they acquired different significations. English was not deficient in vocabulary, and in many cases when a new word poured into English it existed side by side with newer borrowed word. Hence, there are many pairs of words in English whose meaning is similar. So there are the native words which survive alongside the French words such as begin/commence freedom/ conversance child/infant happiness/felicity friendly/amicable hearty /cordial house/ firm (Watson, 2002 19). Watson argues that the native words are vivid and homely whereas the French words are colder, more aloof, formal, honor (Watson, 2002 19).French had also an impact on the increase of the number of prepositions, which was already considerable in Old English. Strang (1970 274) maintains that during the period 1170-1370 the number of prepositions was larger than any before. She attributes this process to two processes. The first of these is compounding and analogical formation. The second process includes loans from French. A number of prepositions such as countre, sans and save were borrowed directly from French. Others, such as during, excepting and saving were anglicised versions of French words. Some prepositions are calques on originally French equivalents, e.g. notwithstanding derives from Old French non obstant.The borrowing of French words had also an impact on English grammar. Many grammatical points were reconstructed on the French mo del. For instance, the use of who was remodelled on French qui. Old English used who just to ask questions such as who are you?, and this the equivalent of the use of qui. But qui was used in French also in a relative clause, such as the boy who lives next to me, for which English used the. Middle English started to use who as a relative pronoun under French influence (Mustanoja, 1960 187-206). English was influenced by French also in the formation of passive forms. Old English used the verb weorpan (to become) to form passive idioms, but this became unusual after the Norman Conquest. Modern English uses the verb to be to construct passive sentences just like Modern French (Mustanoja, 1960 438-9).Another point of Middle English grammar such as the counterfactual modal auxiliary perfect is attributed to the influence of French. Old English lacked the modal and auxiliary have combination. Its appearance starts in gray Middle English and then it seems to have spread in the north, giv en that the use of Anglo-Norman was more overabundant in the south of England. Fischer, on the other hand, claims that French did not play any role in the development of the modal perfect construction in English. Kida (2007 285) argues that there was also some French influence on word order in Middle English which changed from VO (verb + object) to OV (object + verb). When analysing the word order pattern in Foedera, she notices that Norman French was more in favour of the OV word order positioning than of the VO ones, and this fact led to the development of OV word order configuration in the English language after the Norman Conquest. Kida believes that this change in word order disposition in English must have probably come via an increasing quantity of bilingual speakers, speaking both English and Norman French, who created more OV word order structures in English than monolingual native speakers. Nonetheless, this influence was not permanent as English went back to its VO word o rder few years subsequent to the Norman Conquest. Another grammatical characteristic of Norman French comparable to the English grammar is the placement of modifiers in front of the noun. This explains why English did not jail of premodification in the Middle Ages and still preserves this trait in Modern English. Premodification is generally a feature of OV languages and English had a VO structure. Hence, it can be deduced that Anglo-Norman played also a role in the conservation of premodification in English up to the present day (Kida, 2007 285-290).French influence is most obviously marked in the spelling. New conventions were used for the S sound creating spellings such as and eventually . The word house had an u sound, so the Old English spelling was . However the u sound was represented by ou in French, therefore, the spelling was changed to . The pronunciation of the word changed later in time (Knowles, 1997 40-50). Other French conventions were adopted in English such as the use of for and for (Freeborn, 2001 82).Mustoja (1960 45) affirms that the influence of foreign languages such as Latin and French plays a considerable role in the development of gender in Middle English. This is due to a large proportion of ME literature being translated directly from French. Additionally, the authors of original works were usually acquainted with French. Therefore, it frequently occurs that a noun is designate the gender of the corresponding French noun even though it is not a direct loan. For example, death (OE manly) becomes powder-puff in ME under the influence of French la mort. Also moon (OE mone), which is masculine in Old English, has become womanish in ME, again influenced by French la lune. Ship (OE scip, neuter) becomes feminine in ME on the analogy of OF la nef. But the nouns moon and ship have often been encountered as masculine nouns as well. This dual application of genders to the same noun is explained as the general confusion between the masculine and feminine forms of the definite article in Picard and Anglo-Norman (Mustanoja, 1960 47) two OF dialects which played a key role in the influence of French upon Middle English.ConclusionThe Norman Conquest has had a significant impact on the English language. As the examples above demonstrate, the invasion has influenced English considerably not only in terms of vocabulary but also spelling, pronunciation and grammar. If English is today the richest It is astonishing that engli