Middle English
In 1066, the Norman invasion replaced the top levels of English-speaking political and ecclesiastical hierarchies with rulers who spoke Old French. This dialect evolved into Anglo-Norman within England. The use of Norman as the preferred language for literature and polite discourse fundamentally altered the role of Old English in education and administration. Even though many Normans of this period were illiterate, they depended on the clergy for written communication and record-keeping. A significant number of Norman words were borrowed into English and used alongside native Germanic words with similar meanings. Examples include pig and pork, calf and veal, wood and forest, and freedom and liberty. Words were often taken from Latin, usually through French transmission. This gave rise to various synonyms like kingly (inherited from Old English), royal (from French, inherited from Vulgar Latin), and regal (from French, which borrowed it from Classical Latin). Later French appropriations were derived from standard rather than Norman French. Examples of resulting doublet pairs include warden (from Norman) and guardian (from later French; both share a common ancestor loaned from Germanic). The end of Anglo-Saxon rule did not result in immediate changes to the spoken language. The general population would have spoken the same dialects as they had before the Conquest.
Contact with Old Norse aided the development of English from a synthetic language with relatively free word order to a more analytic language with a stricter word order. Both Old English and Old Norse were synthetic languages with complicated inflections. Communication between Vikings in the Danelaw and their Anglo-Saxon neighbours resulted in the erosion of inflection in both languages. This effect was characterized as being of a substantive, pervasive, and democratic manner. Like close cousins, Old Norse and Old English resembled each other, and with a lot of vocabulary and grammatical structures in common, speakers of each language roughly understood each other. According to historian Simeon Potler, the main difference lay in their inflectional endings, which led to much confusion within the mixed population that existed in the Danelaw. Endings tended gradually to become obscured and finally lost, simplifying English grammar in the process. Viking influence on Old English is most apparent in pronouns, modals, comparatives, pronominal adverbs like hence and together, conjunctions, and prepositions showing marked Danish influence. The best evidence of Scandinavian influence appears in extensive word borrowings. While the Old Norse influence was strongest in dialects under Danish control covering Yorkshire, the central and eastern Midlands, and the East of England, words in the spoken language emerged in the 10th and 11th centuries near the transition from Old to Middle English.
Middle English had significant regional variety and churn in its vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and orthography. The main dialects were Northern, East Midland, West Midland, and Southern in England, as well as Early Scots and the Irish Fingallian and Yola. Important texts for the reconstruction of the evolution of Middle English out of Old English include the Peterborough Chronicle, which continued to be compiled up to 1154. The Ormulum, a biblical commentary probably composed in Lincolnshire in the second half of the 12th century, incorporated a unique phonetic spelling system. The Katherine Group, religious texts written for anchoresses, appeared apparently in the West Midlands in the early 13th century. The language found in these last two works is sometimes called the AB language, one of a range of regional dialects including East Midlands (London), South West (Kentish), Western (AB) and Northern. Additional literary sources of the 12th and 13th centuries include Layamon's Brut and The Owl and the Nightingale. In the English-speaking areas of lowland Scotland, an independent standard was developing based on the Northumbrian dialect. This would develop into what came to be known as the Scots language.
During the Middle English period, many Old English grammatical features either became simplified or disappeared altogether. Noun, adjective, and verb inflections were simplified by the reduction and eventual elimination of most grammatical case distinctions. Little survives of early Middle English literature due in part to Norman domination and the prestige that came with writing in French rather than English. During the 14th century, a new style of literature emerged with the works of writers including John Wycliffe and Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales remains the most studied and read work of the period. Chaucer wrote in the second half of the 14th century in the emerging London dialect, although he also portrays some of his characters as speaking in northern dialects, as in The Reeve's Tale. A large number of terms for abstract concepts were adopted directly from scholastic philosophical Latin rather than via French. Examples are absolute, act, demonstration, and probable. Gradually, the wealthy and the government Anglicised again, although Norman and subsequently French remained the dominant language of literature and law until the 14th century, even after the loss of the majority of continental possessions of the English monarchy.
Significant changes in pronunciation took place, particularly involving long vowels and diphthongs, which in the later Middle English period began to undergo the Great Vowel Shift. The main changes between the Old English sound system and that of Middle English include emergence of voiced fricatives as separate phonemes. Reduction of Old English diphthongs to monophthongs occurred alongside emergence of new diphthongs due to vowel breaking in certain positions. Merging of Old English into a single vowel happened while raising of the long vowel to another form took place. Rounding of in southern dialects and unrounding of front rounded vowels in most dialects followed. Lengthening of vowels in open syllables led to resultant long vowels undergoing changes of quality in the Great Vowel Shift. Loss of gemination meant double consonants came to be pronounced as single ones. Loss of weak final vowels like schwa became silent by Chaucer's time in normal speech, though it was normally pronounced in verse as the meter required. Nonfinal unstressed dropped when adjacent to only a single consonant on either side if there was another short in an adjoining syllable.
By the end of the period around 1470, aided by the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1439, a standard based on London dialects known as Chancery Standard had become established. This largely formed the basis for Modern English spelling, although pronunciation has changed considerably since that time. The Chancery Standard emerged in official documents that since the Norman Conquest had normally been written in French. Like Chaucer's work, this new standard was based on East Midlands-influenced speech of London. Clerks using this standard were usually familiar with French and Latin, influencing forms they chose. The Chancery Standard was adopted slowly and used in England by bureaucrats for most official purposes excluding those of Church and legalities which used Latin and Law French respectively. Early Modern English emerged with help of William Caxton's printing press developed during the 1470s. The press stabilized English through push towards standardization led by Chancery Standard enthusiast and writer Richard Pynson. In Scotland, Scots developed concurrently from variant of Northumbrian dialect prevalent in Northern England and spoken in southeast Scotland. Middle English was succeeded by Early Modern English which lasted until about 1650.
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Common questions
When did Middle English begin after the Norman invasion?
Middle English began following the Norman invasion in 1066 when Old French replaced English at the top levels of political and ecclesiastical hierarchies. The general population continued to speak the same dialects as before the Conquest, but written records shifted toward Anglo-Norman.
What were the main dialects of Middle English in England?
The main dialects of Middle English included Northern, East Midland, West Midland, and Southern varieties within England. Additional regional forms included Early Scots, Irish Fingallian, and Yola.
How did Old Norse influence the development of Middle English grammar?
Contact with Old Norse caused the erosion of inflections in both languages, transforming English from a synthetic language with free word order into an analytic language with stricter word order. This grammatical simplification occurred most strongly in dialects under Danish control covering Yorkshire, the central and eastern Midlands, and the East of England during the 10th and 11th centuries.
Who wrote major literary works in Middle English during the 14th century?
John Wycliffe and Geoffrey Chaucer produced significant literature during the 14th century, with Chaucer writing his Canterbury Tales in the second half of that century. Chaucer used the emerging London dialect while also portraying characters speaking northern dialects in works like The Reeve's Tale.
When was the Chancery Standard established as a written norm for Middle English?
A standard based on London dialects known as Chancery Standard had become established by the end of the period around 1470. This standard emerged in official documents and formed the basis for Modern English spelling after being stabilized by Richard Pynson and William Caxton's printing press developed during the 1470s.