Semantic change: Practice

1. What are the principal meanings of the verb “consider” in Early Modern English?

2. To what extend is the Early Modern English use of the verb different from its modern usage?

3. Discuss why the word has mutated taking into account the previous meanings, and select from the following list the type of semantic change produced. (Question four of your practice in Early Modern English topic, page 18)

4. Here is an Early Modern English version of the Lord's Prayer (Tyndale, 1526):

O oure father

which arte in heven,

halowed be thy name;

Let thy kyngdom come;

thy wyll be fulfilled as well in erth as hit ys in heven;

Geve vs this daye oure dayly breade;

And forgeve vs oure treaspases, even as we forgeve them which trespas vs;

Leede vs not into temptacioun,

but delyvre vs ffrom yvell. Amen.

How does this differ in vocabulary, spelling, and word order from the Modern English?

Early Modern English: Practice

1. How and why did the English language and its literature flourish in the Early Modern period?

2. In what ways did the English language become a topic of study and debate beginning in the Early Modern period? What major issues about English have been debated since then?

Semantic change

When new concepts need to be named, borrowing and word-formation are not the only solutions – an existing word can also undergo a change of meaning. Processes of semantic change are very common but often gradual, and therefore harder to pin down than word-formation processes. The meaning of a word can be generalized or can specialize, becoming more restricted in its sphere of reference. These processes typically lead to polysemy, when a word gains a new sense but retains the old one as well. But if there is a risk of confusion, one of the senses may be lost. This was, for instance, the case of “meat”, which in Early Modern English meant both ‘food’ in general and ‘the flesh of animals used as food’.

Loanwords in Early Modern English

In this period, English incorporated loanwords from other foreign languages, especially from Latin and Greek –inkhorn terms-. Many people criticized adopting these terms. Some felt that the English language did not need to borrow terms for improvement and looked upon these borrowings as pretentious.

The foreign languages from which English incorporates loanwords were:

	Loanwords
Latin/Greek	French	Italian, Spanish and Arabic
New translations of the classics	French words were introduced though trade	Through trade and economic/political expansion, the English language began to incorporate words from these languages
Latin and Greek contributed greatly to the fields of Science and Medicine, Education and Religion	Words related to government, law, fashion, social life, etc.	Most of the words derived from these sources are names for products.

The status of English

When 13^th century English speakers decided to speak English, the victory of English as the spoken language was produced. It was quite difficult for English to get importance as vernacular; and much more difficult if we think that English coexisted with French and Latin in England.

And at the beginning of this period, the situation of English language was not a good one. French was still the most prestigious of the European vernaculars, and Latin was universally used for serious works.

There were people who thought that Latin would continue to be used, but history was against them, as the emergence of the middle class –which previously had spoken English- contributed to its declination, as they did not leisure time nor interest in learning Latin. So, vernacular won the struggle against Latin, proving to be as good as the latter. 

The new learning: Humanism and Renaissance

Some of the extra linguistic factors and forces operating in the country were associated with new developments in the language:

	Extralinguistic factors
Protestant Reformation	The Renaissance	Economy
Result of it: -          Latin lost importance -          Patriotism grown -          Bible translation	Results of it: -          Growing interest in the past achievements of humanity -          New Form in literature and arts -          Revival of interest in scientific research	-          Growing wealth of a new middle class. -          The standard of living in the country à deteriorated. Result of it: -          People were deprived of their homes.

Lack of uniformity of English usage

What most worried Caxton was the fact that English, unlike Latin, had no recognized common usage. It varied considerably from one part to another, causing practical difficulties of everyday communication. It is called the problem of linguistic variation in English language.

This lack of uniformity in English usage posed more than one problem for Caxton´s printing activity:

1. Conflicting dialects.

2. Once chosen dialect, the spelling of the dialect.

3. These problems were not solved consulting dictionaries or grammars of English language. 

It was adopted –as previous mentioned- the dialect of London and the South East for the printing activity, and the dialectal problem, the orthographical problem and the problem of linguistic change were gradually resolved. So, a new national consciousness of English people –as they saw that their vernacular triumphed-. For the first time, it became essential to have a national language in order to secure proper recognition as a nation. For the first time dictionaries and grammars of the vernacular languages –in this case, of English- began to appear alongside dictionaries if Greek and Latin. And the task of grammarians and lexicographers was to FIX THE LANGUAGE; that is, to eliminate differences and inconsistences between dialects and impose linguistic uniformity.

Caxton: The emergence of a standard English

William Caxton introduced the technology of printing into England in 1476. Apart from its role in helping to develop a standard form of English spelling and punctuation, the new invention provided more opportunities for people to write, and gave their works much wider circulation. As a result, most of the text of this period survived. And the history of English thus became more definite in the 16^th century, with more evidence available about the way the language was developing, both in texts and in a growing number of observations dealing with grammar, vocabulary and written system.

Caxton made his decisions about the writing English, as did other publishers of the time, and gradually a consensus arose, based on speech of the London area. The distinction between what was standard and non-standard became well-defined. Within 100 years, there was a remarkable uniformity in the appearance of printed texts, though some matters of spelling and punctuation were not finally established until the 17^th century.

FROM: GRADDOL, D., LEITH, D. & SWANN, J. (1996). English, History. Diversity and Change, London: Routledge. 

printing press. 

Early Modern English Timeline (1500-1800)

	Early Modern English Timeline
1500	It is the beginning of English Renaissance. In 1450 The Great Vowel Shift began, and William Caxton established the first English printing press in 1476.
1539	The Great Bible was published so, English Translation of the Bible was in every church
1590	William Shakespeare wrote his first plays.
1607	Jamestown, the 1st permanent English settlement in the New World, was established.
1611	The Authorized Version of The Bible was published.
1616	Death of William Shakespeare
1702	Publication of the 1st daily English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, in London.
1755	Samuel Jonson published his “Dictionary of English Language”.
1788	British penal colony established in Australia. Noah Webster published “The American Spelling Book”

For Further information, follow this link which contains other aspects of this period: Early Modern

Topic 4: Early Modern English

Early Modern English

We are now in Early Modern English period, a period which begins with a very important social and cultural movement: the Renaissance. It was a great revolution of thoughts, and it contributed to improve all aspects in that time.

One of the most important developments we can find in this period is the printing press, tool which helped English to be a standard and fixed language. You have to get in mind it, as it is one of the most important factors contributing to the importance of English since this period.

You will find in this topic summaries of the main aspects treated in your classes, as well as some exercises that will help you to pass in an easy way your final exam.

Borrowings: Practice

1. First recorded usages. Many new words came into English during the Middle English period. Just before the definition of a word, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, gives the date or century when the word was first recorded in use. Find that date or century for each of these words. What language did each come from?

army	gentleman	Justice
royal	castle	Guide
master	servant	Chief
herb	roast	soldier

2. Word origins. In each group below, one word was used in Old English, one is a Middle English loan from French, and one is a Modern English loan from French. What origin do you think each word has?

a. chair, chaise lounge, stool 

b. table, tableau, tablet
c. (wheel) barrow, car, automobile 



3. Exercises on doublets and triplets:

a. You can take a “bit” (English word) of cheese but if you want to use a more elegant word you take a “__________” of cheese. (Find the French equivalent. Look for 3 more examples of doublets and write them.

b. Look up in a monolingual dictionary the meaning of the following doublets. Can you find semantic differences between both synonyms?
- Doom/Judgment

- House/mansion

- Wish/desire

c. Find the missing word. Triplets.

	Triplets
Old English	Latin	French
Fast	secure	_______________
_____________	Ascendant	Mount
Time	_____________	age

4. The term meat comes from Indo-European and distinguishes all solid food from all liquid food. The term was used throughout the Old English period; the OE term flœsc (flesh) was also used, though specifically implying the “muscular tissue, or the tissues generally, of animals, regarded as an article of food”. These two terms described the eaten part of animals, whose names are still used in Present Day English: cíecen (chicken), *picga (pig), scéap (sheep), cu (cow).  

But during the Middle English period, the French influence introduced words that describe the cooked form of meat: pulterie (poultry), motoun (mutton), boef (beef) amd veel (veal).

The result is that the words for the whole animals or parts of the animals that would eventually be used to produce the final, edible product were native words –Old English words-, and the end result, as well as the title of the recipe, was French loans.  This signifies the importance of the finished, edible product, with less importance placed on what specifically went into making the stew –as French had much more prestige than English. 

So, provide the English equivalents from the following French borrowings:

- Veal:  

- Mutton: 

- Poultry: 

- Venison: 

Borrowings: French influence on Middle English vocabulary

When two languages are spoken “side by side”, frequently transference of words from one language to another is inevitable. French influence on Middle English occurred gradually. And from the enormous number of French words which came into the language, about ¾ of them are still used today.

Here you have a table containing some examples of French borrowings in Middle English. 

Some         French	borrowings        in        Middle       English.
Government and administrative government	Govern, administer, crown, state, empire, real, reign, royal, prerogative, authority, parliament, assembly, statute.
Ecclesiastical	Religion, theology, prayer, confession, communion, cardinal, pastor, novice, crucifix, incense, abbey, convent, sanctuary, creator, savior, trinity, saint, faith, devotion, sacrilege, temptation, redemption, absolution, immorality, charity, repent, confess, etc.
Law	Crime, petition, complaint, jury, proof, verdict, punishment, condemn, convict, judge, pardon, adultery, legacy, heir, innocent, culpable,
Military	Peace, enemy, defend, battle, combat, soldier, spy.
Fashion and Food and Drink.	Dress, robe, button, luxury, blue, brown, ivory, taste, appetite, beef, veal, pork, bacon ,sausage, biscuit, sugar, salad, fruits, orange, lemon, chair, lamp, melody
Culture and intellect art	Painting, music, beauty, color, image, tone, palace, cathedral, mansion, tower, chronicle, tragedy, prologue, preface, chapter, paper, pen, study, logic, geometry, grammar, noun, clause, copy, plague, pestilence, poison.

As new vocabulary arrived, there were many cases where this new vocabulary duplicated a word that existed already in English from Anglo-Saxon times. (Doublets)

In 14^th and 15^th centuries several thousand words came into the language directly from Latin. There were mainly professional and technical terms, and also words of the field of religion, medicine, and literature. 

The results of the simultaneous borrowing of French and Latin words enriched in a high way English vocabulary, and led to the apparition of doublets and triplets in English:

	Triplets
Old English	French	Latin
Kingly	Royal	Regal
Ask	Question	interrogate
Holly	Sacred	Consecrated
Time	Age	epoch

For further information about borrowings, follow these interesting links:

Lexical Borrowing and the shape of Middle English

Here you have a very interesting link speaking about some different influence on Middle English:

Scandinavian loanwords in Middle English

Normans arriving at Britain, Battle of Hastings, 1066. 

They brought their language. Borrowings.

Dominance of English (1348-1509)

- French remained as an official language of England until the mid-14^th century. But since then, English became to get importance: it became the official language of the legal proceedings, and everyone in England spoke English by the end of the 14^th century, displacing French.

- Moreover, as a result of Black Death (1348-1351) –which resulted in death of 1/3 of English population; leading to social chaos, labor shortages, emancipation of peasants, wage increases- there was a decline of importance of the upper classes, who had been essential in retaining French. There was also the emergence of the new middle class of merchants and craftsmen, who became increasingly important in the towns. All this leaded to an increase in the importance of the language spoken by the peasants and the new middle class; this language was English.

- There was also at this time a persistence of dialectal differences, as well as an increase in written English. So, English began to be more common in legal documents than French or Latin (by the 15^th century). London/East Midland dialect became the standard spoken and written language –London was a commercial center, seaport, etc.

- Finally, the apparition of printing press was fundamental to establish English as standard language, both written and spoken. Moreover, printing press contributed to establish the rules to make up the Standard English –remember that there were many dialects at this time in England, and for writing it, there was a strong need of unifying all of them. 

The rise of English (1204-1348)

- As the result of the loss of Normandy in 1204, the English nobility lost their estates in France, and many Norman landholders chose to stay in England, spoke Anglo-French dialect.

- During this period, a growing spirit of nationalism within England appeared. There was a gradual decline of French cultural dominance in England, and there was a rise in use of English, smoothing out of dialectal differences. 

- Moreover, the Standard English based on London dialect began.

- Another important factor was the crusades and pilgrimages, which contributed to increase in the formation of a common language.

Decline of English (1066-1204)

There were some factors which contributed to the decline of English in this period:

a. The most important one was the Norman invasion, headed by William the Conqueror in 1066. With the victory in the Battle of Hastings French conquered and unified England.
b. There were also deaths of many Anglo Saxon nobles, so Frenchmen were put an all high offices: from government administration to senior church positions. Moreover, kings of England spoke French, took French wives and lived mostly in France; the English court was French-speaking. 
c. So, English began to lack prestige. Latin was the written language of the church and secular documents, and very little written English survived from this period.
d. In that way, there was a development of bilingualism among Norman officials; there were some marriages between French and English people, etc.

Timeline of the Middle English Period (1100-1500)

The Middle English period saw the breakdown of the inflectional system of Old English and the expansion of vocabulary with many borrowings from French and Latin.

	M.E.  TIMELINE
1066	The Norman Conquest.
1150	Approximate date of the earliest surviving texts in Middle English
1171	Henry II declared himself overlord of Ireland, introducing Norman French and English to the country. About this time the University of Oxford was founded.
1204	King Jones lost control of the Duchy of Normandy and other French lands; England was then the only home of the Norman French/English.
1209	The University of Cambridge was formed by scholars from Oxford.
1215	King John signed the Magna Carta, a critical document in the long historical processes leading to the rule of constitutional law un the English-speaking world.
Late 13th century	Under Edward I, royal authority was consolidated in England and Wales. English became the dominant language of all classes.
Mid to late 14th century	The Hundred Years War between England and France leaded to the loss of almost all of England´s French possessions. The Black Death killed roughly 1/3 of England´s population. English became the official language of the law courts and replaces Latin as the medium of instruction at most schools. The Great Vowel Shift began, marking the loss of the so-called “pure” vowel sounds and the loss of the phonetic pairings of the most long and short vowel sounds.
1362	The Statute of Pleading made English the official language in England. Parliament was opened with its first speech delivered in English.
1399	At his coronation, King Henry IV became the 1st English monarch to deliver a speech in English.
Late 15th century	William Caxton brought to Westminster the 1st printing press and published Chaucer´s The Canterbury Tales. Literacy rates increased significantly and printers began to standardize English spelling.

It is important to get in mind that during the Middle English period, there were like three stages, regarding English Language:

1. Decline of English (1066-1204)
2. Rise of English (1204-1348)
3. Dominance of English (1348-1509)

Let´s see what happened in those periods.