The English Language

The development of the English

Language:

English is an Indo-European language.The Indo-European languages, spoken today on very continent and by fully half the world's population. All descend from one common ancestor known as Proto-Indo-European. 

The oldest written remnants of any Indo-European language are in Hittite and date from the 17 (th) century B.C.. Indo-European languages are Italian, Greek, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Albanian, Armenian. German, and many others. English belongs to the Germanic branch of Indo-European, together with German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages. English is the result of the linguistic contributions made during a number of invasions and mass migrations over the centuries.

English was preceded by Celtic and then, to some extent, by Latin and finally by the dialects and languages of Germanic tribes from across the North Sea.

Within the development of the language it is possible to distinguish three main periods:

• Old English ( 449-1100)
• Middle English ( 1100-1500)
• Modern English - Early Modern English ( 1500-1700) and Modern English ( since 1700)

1. Old English or Anglo-Saxon ( 449-1100)

Old English derived from the gradual fusion of the languages spoken by the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes, three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain in the 5( th) century.

Old English had:

• Inflection
• cases for nouns and adjectives
• the -an- ending for infinitives
• a spelling and pronunciation so different
• a particular type of alphabet which consisted of a series of mysterious characters called "runes". ( Christianity condemned as a pagan symbols and replaced by the Latin alphabet).

1. Middle English:

At first there was great linguistic confusion, however, gradual changes took place.

When Middle English finally emerged as a literary language, it was quite different from the Anglo-Saxon of the previous period.

Middle English had:

• Mercian replaced West Saxon.
• words were accented in a different way, the stress tending to shift to the first syllabe, while the final vowels were all changed into the vowel /e /
• inflections were strongly reduced
• adjectives were no longer inflected, except for final -e, which remained to mark the plural.
• the plural of nouns and the genitive singular were marked by the -es ending
• the definite article - the
• infinitives - an- began -to
• introduction of French words in food ,religion,law contexts

The new form of English were spoken by all classes

1. Modern English:

• Early Modern English:

Marked by changes in the pronunciation of a vowel sounds. The final -e became silent as we can see in Shakespeare. The spelling became more uniform and the were the introduction of new words from Greek and Latin, as well as from Italian and French.

• Modern English ( since 1700)

The language became subject to greater control and organization. Dictionaries began to appear, as well as grammar books based on Latin syntax. Following the growth of the British Empire and trading exchanges with distant colonies, the vocabulary of English became a cosmopolitan language.The progress in science and technology also contributed.

Modern English  had:

• The relative simplicity of grammatical structure, without extensive inflections
• the wealth of synonyms
• The flexibility of verbs which, combined with a variety of prepositions and particles, can convey different meanings

Canterbury Tales: Character List

Character List:

(Canterbury Tales)

The Pilgrims:

• The Host (Harry Bailey).
• The Knight.
• The Miller.
• The Reeve.
• The man of Law or Sergeant of Law.
• The Cook (Roger).
• The Wife of Bath (Alisoun).
• The Friar ( Hubert).
• The Summoner.
• The Clerk.
• The Merchant.
• The Squire.
• The Franklin.
• The Shipman.
• The Prioress (Madame Eglantine).
• The Physician.
• The Pardoner.
• The Monk.
• The Nun's Priest.
• The Second  Nun.
• The Cannon and the Cannon's Yeoman.
• The Manciple.
• The Parson.

Canterbury Tales: The Knight's Tale

The Knight's Tale:

The Knight rides at the front of the procession described in the General Prologue,and his story is the first in the sequence. 

The Host admires the Knight,as the narrator. Chaucer seems to remember:

Four main qualities of the Knight:

• The first is the Knight's love of ideals: Like prowees,fidelity,reputation or generosity.
• The second is the Knight's impressive military career: He has fought in the Crusades, wars in which Europeans traveled by sea to non-Christian lands and attempted to convert whole cultures by the force of their swords. The Knight has battled the Muslims in Egypt and the Russian Orthodox in Russia. He also fought in formal duels.
• The third quality is his meek,gentle, manner.
• The fourth is his "array" or dress: The Knight wears a tunic made of coarse cloth, and his coat of mail is rust-stained, because he has recently returned from an expedition.

In the Prologue he calls out to hear something more lighthearted,saying that it deeply upsets him to hear stories about tragic falls. He wold rather hear about " joye", about men who start off in poverty climbing in fortune and attaining wealth.

The Host agrees with him, which is not surprising, since the Host has mentioned that whoever tells the tale of " best sentence and moost solaas" will win the storytelling contest. And, at the end of the Pardoner's Tale, the Knight breaks in to stop the squabbling between the Host and the Pardoner,ordering them to kiss and make up. Ironically, though a soldier, the romantic,idealistic Knight clearly has an aversion to conflict or unhappiness of any sort.

"The Nun's Tales"

The Nun's Tales:

There is a detailed description about the nun Prioress in the General Prologue. Chaucer makes the reader see 2 types of people. On one hand, the nun who gives much importance to minor things. On the other hand, the Knight who gives much importance to things that really matter.

In the desciprion of the nun Prioress, everything that Chaucer says about her means the opposite.

She is called Madame Egantine. Chaucer describes the nun with all the characteristics that a nun should not have. She was: 

• Modest, well educated and with good manners.
• Tender feelings and a strong love for God and his creations.
• She spoke French.
• Superb

All of these characteristics show how the nun was focused on things that should not be important for a nun.

The nun's actions in the tale are cautious and splendid. Her manners are unique and praticed with perfection.

The description of her beauty reflects how she was from her inside. ( Her nose well-shaped, her eyes bright as glass, she had a fine forehead".

The author talks about her fne forehead with sarcasm because he is telling us how this small characteristic, were reflected so well in the nun. Perfection meaning the opposite.

She had tender feelings for example for a mouse or dogs. " She had a few small dogs that she fed with roast meat, milk or fine bread". This illustrates how soft she was, and also that she gave great importance to little things rather than great importance to big ones.

The Knight gaves importance to great things, which fought for bif reasons.

The Knight would never give better food to some dogs rather that to the people who needed it. On the other hand the nun gave great importance and attention to her dog, or a mouse that was bleeding, rather than to people.

"Chaucer- Boccaccio"

Chaucer and Boccaccio:

Geoffrey Chaucer, who, by 1387, had already composed his works undergoing the French and Italian influence. His intention was to give the English people a collection of tales which would offer them a " true mirror" of real England.

The Chaucer's scheme was probably inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron, and that he had really met Boccaccio, but there is no clear evidence of this fact.

The pilgrims of Chaucer's stories deeply different from Boccaccio's young people ( 7 women and 3 men), all belonging to the refined bourgeoisie, who decide to leave Florence, stricken by terrible plague of 1348, to retire to a rich countryside villa. They stay here 14 days; every day a " King" or a "Queen" is chosen, and the member elected will decide how they will spend the day in leisurey walks, conversations. The title Decameron ( deca= 10 and emerai = days) refers to the ten days devoted to storytelling, one story a day for each member of the gay company, for a total of 100 stories.

In the Canterbury Tales the pilgrims represent almost all the social classes of the time: ( Nobles, clergy, peasants) and a rising merchant class as the Wife of Bath or the Doctor.

Each pilgrim was to tell 2 stories for a total of 120. But only 24 tales were completed. Chaucer did not live long enough to complete his project. In the Canterbury Tales the storytellers are the target of the poet's comic satire.

In the Boccaccio's Decameron there is no individual detailed. Boccaccio exalts the virtue of man, his possibility to guide his existence and to accept the consequences of his actions. Boccaccio was a humanist and he gives an example of the vernacular literatures of the 15 (th) century nd this was also the spirit that informed Chaucer.

CHAUCER/BOCCACCIO:

(Difference)

• Pilgimage - The Black Death ( plague)
• Strongly individualized pilgrims - refined bourgeoisie
•  3o people including Chaucer- 10 people ( 7 women and  boys)
• 3 different orders- same social class ( bougeoisie)
• 120 tales - 100 tales
• 24 complete- 100 complete
• Chaucer descries the pilgrims with extreme vividness, giving him/her an individual personality- no individual description.
• Incomplete- Complete.

"The three orders of medieval society"

The 3 orders of medieval society:

The society was divided into three divinely ordained orders:

1. The Nobles, those who fought.
2. The Clergy, those who prayed.
3. The Peasants, those who worked.

None of them should attempt to fill the offices of the other.

At the top of this social were the bobles, and this included those who held hereditary titles: From kings, to dukes and earls, and down to knights. A vassal was a man who had sworn homage and loyalty to a lord. In exchange for the lord's protection the vassal swore to fight on the lord's behalf and grant him a certain number of days of service a year.

Below the nobles were the clergy, or those who prayed. 

The clergy very often came from the noble classes.

Some historians estimate that the nobility and clergy made up between 5 -10 % of the population, while the peasants comprised 95 % of the people living in the medieval world.

If you were a peasants, you were most likely born on the manor of a lord and were bound to him as a serf. In exchange for a place to live and the means to grow your own food, as well as protection in times of difficulty, you would provide the lord with a percentage of your harvest.

Getting married would be subject to your lord's approval.

Starting in the 14 (th) century, when the plague killed up to a half of the population, we start to see some real upward mobility in the 3 order. Urban and merchant life became vital. 

A great example of this new upward mobility can be found in the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry.