Final Examination Flashcards
Which type of French did English borrow vocabulary from?
Normand French (and not Paris French)
What are the difference in Normand French pronunciation (compared to Paris French) which were seen in Middle English? Name 3
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
- Preserved Latin (K) before (A) whereas in Paris French it is (T^S)
- Retained -s- which was lost in French in the 12th century
- Retained (T^S)/(D^S) sound, softened in Paris French (13th Century)
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
wicket - guichet
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
GW > W
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
wasp - guêpe
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
GW > W
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
waste - gâter
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
GW > W
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
question - question
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
K>KW
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
quit - quitter
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
K>KW
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
forest- forêt
-Retained -s- which was lost in French in the 12th century
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
quality - qualité
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
K>KW
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
feast- fête
-Retained -s- which was lost in French in the 12th century
When did the Battle of Hastings take place?
October, 1066
Who fought against whom under whose leadership in the battle of Hastings?
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, at the head of his army of Norman French knights and barons, defeated Harold Godwineson, King of England.
What areas of life were dominated by the French-speaking Normans for the three hundred years after the Norman Conquest?
William, as King of England William I, replaced Englishmen with Frenchmen in all the high offices of both state and church (partly to reward his French followers for their support, partly because he, justifiably, felt that he could not trust the English).
What languages were used in England during the Norman Conquest and to which areas of life did they apply?
French, the language of the court and of the ruling class, which automatically became the language of prestige in England; Latin, the language of the Church and of science and general scholarship; and English, the language of the common people.
Name 5 examples during the Norman Conquest of the use of French?
French: felony, perjury, attorney, bailiff (Law); nobility, servant, peasant, baron, page, squire, madam, sir, princess, duke, count, gentle(man) (Social Relationships and Ranks); government, state, country, city, village, reign, public, crown, court, tax, register, mayor, citizen (Government and Administration); enemy, battle, peace, force, advance, siege, attack, army, navy, soldier, captain, spy, march (The Military)
Name 5 examples during the Norman Conquest of the use of Latin?
Latin: apocalypse, purgatory, limbo, remit (The Church); testament, confederate (Law); admit, comprehend, lapidary, temporal (Science).
Name three Norman kings on the English throne.
William I (William the Conqueror), Henry III, King John, Richard II.
In what way did the borrowings from French enrich the English language? (Provide three examples)
The borrowings from French Made English more refined. They enabled English to express fine shades of meanings thanks to a wealth of near synonyms, such as: royal, regal, sovereign (vs. OE kingly). For fine shades of meaning cf. word-groups: rise-mount-ascend; ask-question- interrogate; time-age-epoch (p.75)
What, according to the authors, are the three reasons for the survival of English after the Norman Conquest?
1) OE was well established, very resourceful and vigorous (thanks to the fusion with the Scandinavian languages) before the Conquest, and after the Conquest it continued to be spoken by the demographically overwhelming part of England’s population;
b) the Normans who had settled in England almost immediately began to intermarry with those they had conquered;
c) when the Anglo-Normans who chose to declare their allegiance to the King of England rather than to the King of France lost their land in France in 1204, they stopped travelling to France and cut themselves off politically as well as emotionally, and consequently also linguistically, from their French roots.
How did churches and universities try to stop the decline of French in the fourteenth century?
Churches and universities tried to stop the decline of French in the 14th century. E.g. Oxford University students were formally required to speak either French or Latin, but the regulation was obviously not observed. (p.77)
What reputation did English French have at the time? Can you prove your answer?
English French was certainly NOT a prestige dialect in the 14th century, as witnessed e.g. by the ironic line in Chaucer’s description of the Prioress (The Canterbury Tales) who spoke French after the Stratford-at-Bowe school, for she did not know the French of Paris.
Give a general characteristic of Middle English (ME). What period does it refer to? What basic changes from Old English does it represent? Why was it irregular at first?
ME (1250-1500): the period of lost inflections and of increased vocabulary
When did Geoffrey Chaucer live and what are his major works?
Geoffrey Chaucer, born in 1340 and died in 1400, is the first great English writer, a poet and a translator into English, well known and appreciated also on the Continent. Major works: The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer’s masterpiece poem about a pilgrimage of various persons representing different social classes and types to Canterbury, a popular shrine after Thomas à Becket’s assassination there in 1170, The House of Fame, The Parlement of Fowles, Troilus and Criseyde + an English translation of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy.
What variety of English did Chaucer promote?
Chaucer wrote in London dialect, as his family came from London, and naturally, promoted this dialect of English.
Who was the first English king to use English in official documents since King Harold? Give the date of one important document of the time.
Henry V (beginning of the 15th century) was the first English king since the Norman Conquest to use English in official documents. E.g. When he crossed the Channel in 1415 to fight the French, he dictated his first letter “on the French soil” in English, consciously avoiding the language of his enemy. (p.84)
Who was William Caxton and what is his contribution to the propagation of English?
William Caxton, a merchant and diplomat, who learned the art of printing on the Continent and introduced the printing press into England around the year 1476. The importance of the press for the re-establishment of the English language cannot be overstated: printing made literature in English easily available, it provided a model and a standard for the diversified English speech of the time and it fossilized the eclectic English spelling of the time and of the printer himself.
What difficulty did William Caxton encounter trying to print English for the first time?
Caxton had great problems trying to print the version of English “that would find favour with all readers” because of great regional variation in ME and of the lack of reliable grammatical and lexical standards
What is the story of the 15th century miracle play “Mankind”? Who was the play designed for, where were such plays performed and what impact did they have on the development of English drama?
Mankind is a fifteenth century miracle play, written about 1470 and designed for a company of strolling professional players (The players were paid for their acting: taking of a collection during the performance) who performed in church-porches or inn-yards and constantly moved from place to place with their “theatre”. The story of Mankind is the story of a peasant who swears an oath of loyalty to the Devil under the spell of the Seven Deadly Sins and the devil Titivillus, but finally repents and is forgiven. Miracle plays like Mankind were designed for general popular audiences; they were immensely popular in the 16th century and they were the beginning of stable open-air theatres in England, such as the London theatre Shakespeare were to write for a few years later.
Why did the East Midlands dialect (a direct descendant of the OE Mercian dialect) replace West Saxon as the national standard?
The East Midlands dialect replaced West Saxon as the national standard for socio-political and economic reasons. The capital was moved from Winchester to London; London was an important trading centre for commerce with the rest of Europe and had been excluded from the Danelaw; London forms part of the important triangle of power known as Oxbridge (London, Cambridge and London)
From which language were these words borrowed and to what category do they belong?
ox, sheep, calf, house, hearty, strench, might, ask, wish, shun
Anglo-Saxon (common uses and concreate ideas)
From which language were these words borrowed and to what category do they belong?
beef, mutton, poultry, mansion, judgement, cordial, perfume, powder, desire, avoid
French (prestigious, aristocratic and abstract ideas)
What is the 100 year war?
(1337-1453): an intermittent conflict between England and France. The Hundred Years War produced anti-French sentiments among the English and helped assure the resurgence of English as England’s national language.
What is the Black Death?
an epidemic that swept Europe and England in the 14th century
What is “Wat Tyler’s Rebellion” or “The Peasants’ Revolt”?
took place in 1381 under the leadership of Wat Tyler. In the feudal system, introduced in England by William the Conqueror, peasants were the “property” of the landlords who owned the land on which the peasants lived and worked. They could not leave this land and settle or work somewhere else. In the 14th century many peasants refused to remain tied to their feudal lords since, because of the labour shortages caused by the Black Death, they could sell their labour at higher prices in towns or in monasteries.
Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?
exemplifies the triumph of London English. He made a conscious choice to use the English of London and is seen as symbolizing the rebirth of English. He was a writer of genius, and he is responsible for some of its important transformations. He was alive to the energy and potential of everyday speech, using wordplay and puns in his satire, mocking the pretensions of those around him (see the book, pp.81-83);
Who is William Caxton?
imported the printing press to England and printed the first ever ‘English’ book. He set the standard for English spelling before any general consensus or agreement had been reached. He wrote in the dialect of London (Midlands) favouring it over the varieties and dialects found elsewhere on the island.
What is “Mankind”?
a play of the 15th century, written around 1470 and most probably would have been performed on a church porch. Its language is original, funny, and high-spirited and recognizable. Emerging from the shadow of French and Latin, English with this play demonstrates the versatility acquired over the last thousand years. (p. 88)
Who is King Philip of France?
King Philip of France seizing the Norman estates of the knights who live in England forces these knights to choose between Normandy or England. It further cuts ties between the Norman French living in England and those living on the continent. This isolation will start to allow English to reappear as a language.
What is the Plague?
kills many of the educated monks and nobles who maintained the variety of Norman French spoken in England. With their demise in great numbers, new scribes were required in the monasteries to copy the manuscripts, many of whom came from peasant families who knew neither French nor Latin. It is during this time that English spellings and words start to creep back into the language.
Explain the origin of these doublets?
later/latter
Doubling the root consonant was a common practice for the comparative/superlative form of adjectives in OE. The practice was lost in ME. The word latter remained and was given a different meaning,
Explain the origin of these doublets?
brothers/brethren
The OE plural of brother was brethren (-en plural instead of -s) the -s was added to brethren but it kept in a special usage.
Explain the origin of these doublets?
older/elder
elder is the comparative form of older in OE. It later specialized in meaning
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: ealda
oolde : loss of gender distinction in the inflection, falling together as the -e form.
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: stanas
stones: levelling of the “a” to a “e” (schwa) , -s is retained as indication of the plural
