Middle English

Orthography and
Morphology

Differences between Old and Middle

English
1. OE had a very limited foreign element some Latin, Scandinavian, French, and
Celtic loans - important but not
numerous
ME vocabulary owes a huge debt to
other languages, especially French,
Latin, and Old Norse (present in OE,
but many ON words werent written
down much until after the Conquest)

Differences between Old and Middle

English (contd)
2. in OE, West Saxon dialect was the
standard literary dialect (largely
thanks to King Alfred and his
encouragement of learning) - other
dialects were largely colloquial
in ME, all dialects were used for
literary purposes only late in the
period does the London dialect
emerge

Differences between Old and Middle

English (contd)
3. A major sound change: vowels in
unaccented syllables changed to []
OE stanas stones [stns]
ME stones stones [stons]
by late ME, [stonz] as in MnE

Middle English Orthography

2 main things to remember:
(i) age of manuscripts, not printed books
- spelling system was much more
variable
(ii) cultural domination of Normans Norman scribes dominated the
making of English MSS - encountered
an established alphabet and a system
of spelling conventions

Orthography (contd)
Big problems with OE alphabet:
not adequate to express all the sounds required
of it many symbols represented 2 or more
sounds (c)
Normans were outsiders to the language,
brought a fresh perspective easily fixed them
by replacing certain symbols by others that they
were more familiar with
sometimes, even if the OE symbol was clear
and unambiguous, Normans replaced it with a
more familiar symbol

Consonants

OE consonants , representing [] and []

soon died out
OE t > ME at, that (throughout period)
began to resemble y
ye = you
ye = the
ye olde coffee shoppe
ye/yt for the/that

Consonants (contd)
OE (wynn) replaced with w by
1300 at the latest

The c problem
OE c = [k], []; sc = []; cg = []
In French, c = [s] place = place introduced by Normans, spread to
native words (mys/lys mice/lice)

The c problem: solutions

c for [s] as in French (in some words: place, nice)
c for [k] before back vowel remained (OE cuman > ME
come)
c for [k] before front vowels replaced by k (OE cepan >
ME kepe > MnE keep)
cn confusing because of minims (short strokes used to
make both c and n) replaced by kn, still pronounced (OE
cniht > ME knight)
for [], Normans introduced ch (OE ceap > ME cheap; OE
cinn > ME chin)
for [], Normans introduced sh (OE scamu > ME shame)
ssh, sch, ss also used (ME shal, sshal, schal, ssal)

Other Norman Spelling

Innovations
For [], Normans introduced gg,
then dg(e)
OE bricg > early ME brigge > late
ME bridge
cw replaced by qu
OE cwen > ME queen > MnE
queen

Old English (yogh)

replaced by g in some cases:
for [g]: OE rene > ME grene > MnE green
in dg combination
retained for [x]: ME thot, MnE thought
retained for [j]: OE ieldan > early ME
elden > late ME yelden
sometimes confused with z and used for [z]
ME dai days

Norman Innovations (contd)

z for [z] used irregularly ME stonez stones

gh for [x] OE oht > ME thoght > MnE thought
OE riht > ME right
wh for aspirated [w]
OE used hw OE hwt > ME what
OE hwil > ME while
(by analogy with th, ch, sh?)
also Northern and Scots spellings of qu or quh:
quat, quhat

Norman Innovations (contd)

gu for [g] originally only in French loanwords
(guard, guile, guide) then spread to native
words (OE gylt > ME guilt)
v for [v] OE seofon > ME seven (no v in OE)
also in French loans: very, vain
u/v both used for vowel and consonant: later
ME, v at beginning of words, u in middle (vnder,
giue) survives into EMnE
i/j both used for vowel and consonant:
ME tiim, tijm > MnE time
ME iuge, juge > MnE judge

Middle English Vowels

disappeared - replaced by a
OE hwt > ME what
OE strt > ME stret(e) street
[y] sound (rounded high front vowel) - imn OE,
spelled y
(i) late OE - unrounded in some dialects, became
[I] or [I]
(ii) i/y used interchangeably
(iii) today, y is a vowel only:
(a) at the end of a word (by, joy, party)
(b) in Greek loans (system, lyre, dysentery)
in a few monosyllables (dye, rye, lye)