An Introduction to Middle EnglishAn Introduction to Middle Englishis designed to provide undergraduate students of English historical linguistics with a concise description of the language during the period 1100-1500. Middle English, the language of Chaucer, is discussed in relation to both earlier and later stages in the history of English, and in relation to other languages with which it came into contact. Key Features
Most other introductory books on Middle English focus on literary rather than linguistic matters; this book is designed to redress the balance, by providing students of English language with an up-to-date, authoritative survey which takes account of recent trends in historical linguistics. |
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Common terms and phrases
adjectives adverbs Ancrene Wisse Anglo-Saxon Annd appears Burnley Canterbury Canterbury Tales chapter Chaucer's Chaucerian English Chaucerian usage clauses consonant dative derived from OE developed diatopic diphthongs discussion distinction edition Ellesmere manuscript EModE evidence example feminine fifteenth century fourteenth century French fricative function gender genitive Geoffrey Chaucer grammar graphemes Hengwrt Hengwrt manuscript housbonde inflected inflexional kyng LALME language late OE Latin lexical lexicon linguistic loanwords London long vowels masculine mede medieval Middle English Midlands modern neuter nominative Norse Northern noun phrase OE period Ormulum paradigm participle passage pattern person plural Peterborough Chronicle phonemic poem prepositions present-day pronoun pronunciation Proto-Germanic prototypically reference reflex of OE scholars Scots scribe seems shal speech spelling spelling-systems standardisation stressed syllables Tale texts third person transition from OE unstressed varieties verb phrase verse vocabulary whan words writing þæt