Features in Chaucer: how ME is he?
- Thou, ye, thee, thy
- Rise of articles
- SVO order
- French vocab and influence
- Verb markings -eth, -th
- Prepositions
- Rise of auxiliaries
- Adjectives no longer marked for case and gender
- Only pl/sg demonstratives; this, that, those, these
Changes that occurred in ME
- /f/ became /v/ in between vowels.
- H-dropping.
- Loss of endings due to root initial stress.
- /y/ vowel rounded to /I/.
- /g/ disappeared after vowels or into /w/ (boga to bow).
- Loss of /č/ in unstressed syllables (-lic into -ly).
How come that “meat” and “sweat” used to rhyme?
Rhyme in poetry shows us how sounds used to be pronounced due to rhyme. In that time, the vowel sound in “meat” must have been closer to /ɛ/ rather than modern /i/.
More GVS
- Long vowels generally shifted into diphthongs (/i/ to /ɑɪ/ and /u/ to /ɑʊ/). Short vowels unaffected.
- Unstressed syllables or derived fors (wisdom from wise) retained original forms mostly.
Developing features LME vs. PDE
- Non-rhotic variety; disappearance of /r/; lengthening.
- Rounding of vowels after /w/.
- Final unstressed -ing to -in.
- Passive progressive.
18th century spellings
- Capitalising of nouns
- Inconsistent spellings (house, house)
- Word order (“that ever was seen”)
- Spellings (thear, ar, noe)
- Approv’d
Why do we say “It’s me” or “She’s taller than me” rather than the correct “She’s taller than I”?
Traditional rules in English were often modelled on Latin grammar. In Latin, the pronoun following a linking verb “is” must be in the nominative case (“I” instead of “me”).
However, “me” feels more natural.
Prescriptive vs. descriptive!
Why do we say “between you and I” but not the correct form “between you and me”?
Hypercorrection: it is believed that “you and I” is more proper/formal, so this stems from overemphasis and sociolinguistic desire to sound educated.
The rule is actually that prepositions such as “between” require the object case.
Analogy from Latin!!!
Features of pidgins
- Lack of prepositions/articles.
- Word formation (you+me = jump = we).
- Lack of case distinction (“me” instead of “I”).
- Fixed word order.
- Fewer sounds.
- Semantic generality (one word may mean multiple thong; place = house, area, location).
- Reduplication (smol-smol).
Lexifier language and substitute language of Tok Pisin
English, Australanasian and Papuan languages.
Why English has global dominance and not Spanish or Chinese?
- History: sun never sets on the British Empire.
- Active language policies.
- Prestige.
- WW2: US influence and word power.
Semantic change
- Acronym
- Blend: blimey
- Clipping/elision: ornery
- Conversion
- Back-formation
Extended meanings
To drone (sound, military action including drones).
Features of CMC
- Full stops missing
- Many exclamation marks
- Ellipsis in words: nvr, shld
- Prosodic features: emojis, haha, omg
- Stylistic speech: soooo
Why is English most present online?
Lingua Franca before internet, established in colonies so was already spread across the world. Internet first came in UK and US.
GVS
- [iː] (machine) → [aɪ] (bite)
- [e:] (beet) → [i:] (beet)
- [ɛ:] (make) → [eɪ] (mate)
- [a:] (father) → [æ:] (cat)
- [ɑː] (father) → [ɔː] (law)
- [oː] (goose) → [uː] (goose)
- [uː] (goose) → [aʊ] (out)
- [ɔː] (law) → [oʊ] (law)
What were the uses of thou and you in Chaucer’s English versus Shakespeare’s English?
How did social context affect the choice of thou vs. you in Early Modern English?
Chaucer’s English
1. Thou/thee (sg): informal, intimate (God); also for servants or children.
2. Ye: formal/respectful.
3. You: pl. form of “ye”: multiple people; polite singular.
Shakespeare’s English
1. Thou: slowly came to be used as a form of insult. E.g. in Shakespeare’s plays, when a character uses thou, it could imply disrespect, especially if that person is of higher standard.
- For subordinates and children. God.
2. You: formal, respectful; became widespread.
