An Introduction to Middle English

Transcription

1 An Introduction to Middl English At any givn tim, thr is no singl varity of English. Amricans using th splling color, whras most of th rst of th world uss colour. Amricans say tomayto; most popl in othr countris say tomahto. In th Southrn Unitd Stats, you might har y all, whras in th Northast you might har yous. This sort of variation also xistd in Middl English, but much mor so than in Modrn English today. Middl English had many dialcts, and scribs by and larg wrot in thir own dialct, somtims mixing thm if thy wr copying a documnt writtn in a diffrnt dialct. Thr wr fw of th standardising influncs that ncourag a crtain amount of uniformity today. Many variations occurrd at all lvls of grammar, particularly pronunciation and grammatical inflction. Multipl spllings frquntly rprsnt ths diffrncs; howvr, somtims thy mrly rflct local writing convntions. Th rsult of all this variation is that rading Middl English was a vry diffrnt procss for its original spakrs than rading is today. As Modrn English spakrs, w don t just nd to larn a t of vocabulary and idioms that hasn t survivd today; w nd to acquir a nw st of skills for how to look at th words on th pag. This handout is dsignd to gt you startd in th procss. Although you ll hav to do much of your larning on th fly by rcognising words and xprssions as you ncountr thm rpatdly. Thr ar a fw ways in which you can hlp yourslf by som rot mmorisation up front. This is particularly th cas with pronunciation and grammatical inflction. Th pronunciation of English has changd a grat dal ovr th past six or svn hundrd yars. Many consonants originally pronouncd (and surviving in our splling today) hav sinc bcom silnt. But by far th biggst chang is to th vowls. Starting roughly in th fiftnth cntury, English undrwnt a procss known as th Grat Vowl Shift, in which crtain vowls shiftd thir pronunciation from sounds vry lik thos of Spanish to what w oftn (somwhat inaccuratly) call long vowls today. For instanc, nam was originally pronouncd with a vowl lik th a in Spanish mar. It taks som tim and ffort to larn to rad th original pronunciation aloud, but it is wll worth it. You ll find that it actually improvs your comprhnsion and hlps you rcognis words you wouldn t rcognis if you rad thm silntly. Grammatical inflction rfrs to th ndings of words which indicat thir functions in a givn sntnc. For instanc, th s on th nd of girls tlls you that th word is plural. Th d on th nd of talkd tlls you that it is past tns. In Middl English, thr wr a fw mor inflctions than thr ar today. In a fw cass, thy vary according to dialct (as do crtain words, such as th pronoun sh). It is usful to hav ths mmorisd arly on whn you bgin to rad Middl English.

2 Splling and Pronunciation Bcaus Middl English splling is so variabl, and bcaus pronunciation varid in diffrnt dialcts, th ruls blow must b takn as rough guidlins. You will hav to study ach individual txt to rcognis its pculiaritis. Vowls a only as in fathr, nvr as in at or in nam: all, tal, makn. followd by on consonant and anothr syllaabl, pronouncd lik in hy, but mor clippd: hr, yd, swr. with two consonants following, pronouncd as in bt: hrknth. in unstrssd syllabls, particularly at th nds of words, pronouncd as in horss: god, hr, yd. i, y pronouncd lik in machin: wivs, rym, knict, ivl, yvl. o pronouncd as in not, nvr as in hot (Amrican pronunciation): god, do(n), holdn, holy, mor. o whr th modrn pronunciation of th word is lik young is pronouncd in Middl English lik th sound in boot: lovd, comn. ou, ow pronouncd lik th sound in boot: young, brouth, mouth, browt, nouth. u pronouncd lik th sound in boot: but, yung, cupp, ful. au, aw pronouncd lik th sound in hous: caus, law. ay, ai, y, i pronouncd lik th sound in kit: sayl, day, wy, hir. oi, oy pronouncd lik th sound in boy: coy. Nots: (1) Unstrssd is oftn not pronouncd at th nd of vrs lins or if th following word bgins with a vowl or h. So in of a tal that ich you wil tll th final of tal, wil, ar pronouncd, but not that of tll. (2) Final, whthr pronouncd or not in Middl English, can indicat a long vowl in Modrn English: god, yhr, bord, mict. In such instancs, th long vowl may b splt with two vowls in Modrn English: good, har, board.

3 Consonants h k w wh, w, hw, qu l gn ch s i u pronouncd as in havn, but oftn silnt, as in hvr, hold. pronouncd in words lik knight, know. pronouncd in words lik writn. may b pronouncd as hwor w: wo, whil, hwan, quann. pronouncd in words lik half, folk. pronouncd as ny: sign (as in Frnch signr). pronouncd lik th sound in Scots loch, Grman Bach: knicht (cht oftn appars as ct, cth, or th). nvr pronouncd lik z at th nd of a word: wivs. occasionally usd for th j sound. occasionally usd for th w and v sounds. Nots: (1) Middl English possssd two lttr forms not in Modrn English: þ (thorn) and ȝ (yogh). Th thorn is pronouncd lik th (ithr in th or in thick). As tim wnt on th th splling also cam into us, and you might s th two alongsid ach othr. Som ditors of modrn ditions of Middl English txts (spcially Chaucr s works) hav changd all th thorns to th. Th pronunciation yogh varid according to its position in th word. In th vicinity of th vowls i and (xcpt bfor t), it was pronouncd lik th consonant y (.g. ȝ = y). Elswhr it was pronouncd lik th ch in Scots loch, Grman Bach, xcpt with mor vibration of th vocal cords. Words which had yogh in this position gnrally hav gh in thir splling today (.g. niȝt = night).

4 Grammatical Inflctions Not: This is not a comprhnsiv account of Middl English grammar. Th points hr ar mrly to call to your attntion crtain faturs of Middl English which should hlp you gain a rading knowldg of th languag. Nouns 1. Th plural of most nouns is s or -s. Som nouns hav plurals with ()n: brthrn, childrn, ()yn ys, oxn. Som words may appar with ithr nding. 2. Th possssiv forms nd in s or s (with no apostroph). Vrbs 1. Th basic, or infinitiv, form of th vrb originally ndd in n or n: ridn rid, drinkn drink 2. Th prsnt tns is indicatd by ndings as dmonstratd in th following xampls: I wil(); thu knowst; h yvth; w woldn; y known; h known. 3. In th past tns thr ar two typs of vrbs: strong and wak. Strong vrbs corrspond to Modrn English vrbs lik sing, sang, which form thir past tns with a chang in th vowl. Wak vrbs in Modrn English form thir past tns lik talk, talkd. a. In Middl English, strong vrbs wr mor numrous today. For instanc, hlp was a strong vrb; its past tns was holp. Th past forms of strong vrbs ar as follows: I sang, thou song, h/sh/it sang, w/y/thy songn. b. Past participls (Modrn English takn, atn, tc.) of strong vrbs tak a varity of forms. Originally thy ndd in n, bur somtims th n is droppd: dronk, dronkn. Th past participl also oftn had a prfix: i-/y-: y-dronk, y-dronk. c. Th past tns of wak vrbs was formd with d()/-d or t(). Th ndings wr as follows: I hrd, thou hrdst, h/sh/it hrd, w/y/thy hrdn. Th past participl ndd in d and could hav th prfix i-/y-: makd, imakd. d. Imprativs, or commands, hav th ndings in th singular and th in th plural: hrknth.

5 Pronouns 1. Th pronoun I oftn appars in its oldr form ich. 2. Middl English has singular and plural words for you, rathr lik th distinction btwn you and y all (in th southastrn Unitd Stats) or yous (in Irland, wstrn Scotland, Nw York, and Boston). Th singular form is thu, thou. Th plural form is y for th subjct of a sntnc; othrwis it is you. Y was also usd in th singular to imply formality, or somtims intimacy. 3. Th word th (usd for dirct objcts, objcts of prpositions, tc.) is frquntly splt with on and can thus asily b confusd with th word for th. 4. Thou is oftn contractd with vrbs: artow = art thou ar you, wiltou = wilt thou will you. 5. Th word for sh had many diffrnt forms in Middl English (dpnding on th dialct), many similar to h, ho, and hi. Hnc thy can b asily confusd with th words for h (h) and thy (hi). Somtims th only way you can tll who is bing rfrrd to is to go by contxt. 6. Th sam gos for th possssiv and objct forms of ths words: him ( him ), hir ( hr ), hm ( thm ); his ( his ), hir ( hr ), hir ( thir ). 7. Th word for it was hit. Th possssiv form was his.