Middle English Linguistic Evolution and Morphosyntax

Introduction to Middle English Linguistics

This text belongs to the period of ______ Middle English, more specifically the ______th century. This can be observed because of numerous morphosyntactic, lexical, orthographic, and phonological features that I will discuss in what follows.

Key Linguistic Definitions

Leveling: When the form or suffix of a word is leveled to other words in the same paradigm.

Extension: When the form or suffix of a word in one paradigm or category is extended to other paradigms or categories.

Weakening process: Unstressed vowels become /ə/ and later ∅.

• Nasals /n/ /η/ in final position become ∅.

Diacritic marking: Use of a grapheme to express the value of another.

Sandhi rules: Specialization phenomenon in which two forms have the exact same meaning but their use is determined by the next word (e.g., a pear / an apple; my pear / mine apple).

Processes of Insertion or Deletion

Metathesis: A grapheme changes its position in a word.

Evolution of Determiners

11th century: þe → Replacement of “se” and “seo” (Nominative).

13th century: þe → Leveling of þe to most of the “se”, “seo”, and “þæt” paradigm. This is a consequence of the development of þe as a category.

Simplification of the Demonstrative Paradigm (12th Century)

• That: Leveling of “þæt” (nominative/accusative neuter of the “se”, “seo”, “þæt” paradigm) to other singular forms.
• This: Nominative/accusative neuter form of þes, þis <þis>.
• These: Nominative/accusative neuter form of þes, þis <þis> + ‘e’ for plural, which is the analogical extension of the nominal/accusative masculine plural suffix <-s> of the adjectives.
• Those: þos, þas nominative/accusative plural of þes, þæt, þæs + ‘s’ plural marker; an analogical extension of the nominative/accusative masculine plural suffix <-s> of the a-stem declension of nouns.

Grammaticalization of numeral ‘one’ < an: ‘An’ becomes an indefinite article through a process of Sandhi in the late Early Middle English period.

Development of the Pronoun System

• 12th century: Borrowing of “she” (heo / ho / heo → scho / sche / she).
• 14th century: Starting in the North, the paradigm of the third person plural changed due to several Scandinavian borrowings.
• Beginning of 14th century: Borrowing of ‘they’ for the nominative case (þei / þey / þai / they). þai is common in the North.
• Middle of 14th century: Borrowing of ‘their’ for the genitive case (þair(e) / thair / ther / their).
• Beginning of the 15th century: Borrowing of ‘them’ for the objective case (dative and accusative): þeym / thaym / them.
• Self: Evolution of ‘seolf’.
• Sandhi Rules: þi / þin; mi / min — their use depends on the following word.
• Spelling Changes: þou < þū; change in spelling due to French contact where <ou> = /uː/.

Noun Morphology and Case Changes

• Plural markers: <-es, -is, -iz> are retained from the Old English (OE) plural.
• Regional variations: In the South, it is also possible to find <-an> for plurals, which comes from the OE plural suffix of the Nominative/Accusative of the an-stem declension (12th century).
• Prepositional case: Occurred from the 11th to the 12th century; last instances were during the 13th century in the South.

The prepositional case required the <-e> suffix in all singular nouns after a preposition. If a singular noun in this position lacks the suffix, any final <-e> is diacritic, indicating no prepositional case exists in the text (13th century onwards).

Adjective Patterns and Weakening

Adjectives start changing from the 13th century onwards.

• Creation of more and most during the 12th century.
• The consonant cluster <st> is resistant to the weakening process.
• The old form of comparatives was -ra/-re.
• Polysyllabic adjectives expect a ∅ suffix.

Monosyllabic Adjectives

The plural marker of adjectives <-e> is the result of the analogical leveling of the OE Nominative/Accusative masculine plural suffix <-e> (13th century).

Syntax and Other Linguistic Features

Add in this paragraph anything left to mention:

• Borrowings: Significant influence from French and German words.
• Word order: The standard form is SVO. Note any deviations:
  • XP + V → V2
  • SOV → V3
  • V + S → V1

  *XP = Any phrase different from the subject or verb.

• There are instances of the conservative V2 structure.
• Grammaticalization: The adverb “there” became an expletive around the 13th century.
• Genitives: The Middle English suffix for the genitive is <-s> or <-es>, resulting from the analogical extension of the OE suffix for genitive singular masculine and neuter of the a-stem declension <-es>, weakened into /əs/ or /s/.
• Of-Constructions: During the OE period, the ‘Of’ construction was restricted to partitive use. It began expressing other semantic information (like possession) at the start of the Middle English period (mid-11th century).