Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
TOPIC 42: THE NORMAN CONQUEST. FRENCH INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH. LOANWORD AND…
TOPIC 42:
THE NORMAN CONQUEST. FRENCH INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH. LOANWORD AND CALQUES.
1. INTRODUCTION
Deals with the Norman Conquest and focuses on the French influence on Englih.
The consequences of the Norman Conquest have shaped the history of the English language.
Students will be aware of the influence that social changes have on the language and they will be conscious that languages are not fixed structures but live ones that can be transformed.
The topic is divided into 6 parts.
2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
2.2. The Dark Ages
Normans = introduction of a new nobility; important positions to the Normans; strong military force; important positions in the church to Norman clergymen.
Also = French language -> prestigious language, spoken by the elite.
Old English = continued to be spoken by the masses.
Decline of English -> dark age in the history of the English language.
2.3. The Resurgence of English
It changed in 1204 -> King John of England came into conflict with the king of France -> connections with France were broken SO no need for French in the territory.
The status of the French language -> diminished + the spirit of English nationalism grew = re-establishment of the English language.
By the middle of the century = English started to be used by the upper classes and literature began to be made in English -> Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century).
As a result, in the 15th century French was ignored although it was still cultivated as the language of culture and fashion.
The general adoption of English -> when it displaced both French and Latin in writing, law, politics and literature.
2.1. The Norman Conquest
1066 = big date.
King Edward the Confessor died without heir.
He had named William, Duke of Normandy, as his successor BUT when he died Harold Godwinson (Earl of Essex) had crowned himself.
William -> invasion.
Battle of Hastings - Godwinson fell.
Harold = the last English-speaking king of England for three centuries.
Willim (the Conqueror) was crowned.
A new king and a new language was in authority.
3. FRENCH INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH
The linguistics effects of the Norman Conquest appeared in every day use and the language shifted to Middle English.
The changes affected: grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary.
Pronunciation
: restructuring of the Old English vowel system = Great Vowel Shift. New diphtongs = oi (joinen - join). New contrasts =
f
vs.
v
(feel vs. veal) or
s
vs.
z
(seal vs. zeal). The
-ng
sound to distinguish meaning (thing vs. thin).
Spelling
: The Norman scribes listened to the English they heard around them and began to spell it acordingly to the convention they had previously used for French (qu- for cw-; gh- instead of h-; ch- instead of c-; sc- replaced by sh- or sch-); long vowels with an extra vowel letter (se -> see, boc -> booc).
Grammar
: loss of inflection, except for the Saxon Genitive.
Vocabulary
: creation of new words by using prefixes or suffixes (a great amount coming from Frech and Latin).
3.1. French loanwords and calques in Middle English
Three centuries after the conquest, about 10,000 French words colonised the English language.
Loanwords
= two main periods.
a) Before 1250 = not numerous. Referring to new objects and the new reality.
b) After 1250 = increase of borrowings (10,000). Ex: Nobility: dame, servant, noble; Christianity: devotion, salvation; Culinary terms: appetite; Feudalism: castle, war; Fashion: dress, satin; Domestic life: curtain, chair; Government: duke, court; Army and navy: soldiers, army; Law: judge, prison....
Some of the words English borrowed from French were originally borrowed by French from Latin -> richness of English in synonyms due to Latin, French and native elements.
Some lexical tripets = Fear (Old English), Terror (French), Trepidation (Latin); Rise (Old English), Mount (French), Ascend (Latin); Ask (Old English), Question (French), Interrogate (Latin); Time (Old English), Age (French), Epoch (Latin).
Calques
= meanings or idioms that are borrowed rather than the lexical term itself.
Difficult to spot out due to their anglicised form.
Ex: en general (in general); par coeur (by heart); tiers monde (the third world); ça va sans dire (it goes without saying)...