2 October

by Kelly Wilson

Oct 7-8 Ch. 4

Oct 14-16 Ch. 5

Oct 21 Midterm

Simplification/Reduction
• linguistic point of view
• ex. I [want to] go out --> I wanna go out. Becomes this due to consonant clusters.

Language change is organic and unconscious.

hlaf = bread --> loaf (example of simplification)

An example of simplification of pronunciation in Middle English is the cluster 'mb' as in comb and dumb. Also:

hr, hn --> hnutu = nut (modern eng)

sw, tw --> answer, two (the pronunciation was simplified, spelling remained the same)

f] and [v] became phonemic in Middle English. Words began to begin with [v]. Old English did not use [v] to begin words. There are more words with the letter [f] because it is native, [v] is not.

In Middle English, it is important to note differences in the following:
• Simplification
• Final consonant loss - com(b)
• Reduction of final and unstressed vowels
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Verbs

  Inflections - notice changes in terms of nouns and adjectives. Simplification guides these changes. This system became difficult to use because of the reduction of final and unstressed vowels. The differences became too close in pronunciation to differ entiate.

  Word order also becomes more fixed, as does sentence structure due to word order, also due to inflection, final consonant loss and reduction of final vowels. ME Vowels

  There were a variety of words ending in "e". Plural markers were -s and -en.

  Uses of -e
  • -e became used to mark feminine gender (before it was lost all together)
  • For long vowels ex. bit/bite
  • as a space filler sometimes added by scribe
  • some adjectives also ended in -e
  Strong Verbs vs. Weak Verbs
  • weak verbs (add ending to show tense) ex. walk/walked
  • strong verbs (change vowel) ex. ring, rang, rung
    -category weakened during ME period but categories also were confused. ex. A picture was hung vs. A person was hanged. OR I weaved vs. I wove.
  Examine Middle English text analysis handout. Note the following:
  • spelling differences
  • lexical differences ex. umsett - set about and
  • gastely --> ghostly --> spiritually
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