Loss of case prepositions

Dutch EnglishIk ben dat gedoe beu I am sick of this fuss

Het is hem niet welgevallig It is not displeasing to

himIk ben hem niet waard

I am not worthy of him

Old English

Þeah hit þam cyninge ungewill wære

Though it the king(D) displeasing was Though it was displeasing to the king

Him wæs weste land on þæt steorbord

Him was waste land on the starboard

There was wasteland on starboard of him

God girnð þære godnysse þines modes

God asks the goodness (G) your spirit (G)

God asks for the goodness of your spirit

His agnum willan he com to rode gealgan

His own will (D) he came to cross

Of his own will, he came to the cross

What is a word?

• “a string of letters preceded by a space and followed by a space”

• “a minimum free form” (Bloomfield), i.e. the smallest linguistic unit that can be used on its own, eg. frog.

• frogs? children? non-toxic? sees? simple-to-serve?

• MORPHOLOGY

Free roots and bound roots

root root+affix affix+root

bell bell-s

walk walk-s, -ed

fair fair-er, -est un-fair

forget forgett-able un-forgettable

tox- tox-ic non-toxic

sanct- sanct-ify, -um, -uary,- ity

Free morphemes and bound morphemes

Free morphemes bound morphemeschild child-RENbring bring-Sblack black-NESSwhentheheon

Free morphemes: closed versus open classes

child N(oun) child-RENbring V(erb) bring-Sblack A(djective) black-NESS

when Conjunctionthe Articlehe Pronounon Prepositioncan Auxiliary

Bound morphemes: derivation versus inflection

Property: Deriv. Infl.• new dictionary items: yes no• attaches to entire wordclass:no yes• changes class membership: yes noExamples: -able -s(3sg)

-ity -edpost- -s

(pl)

-er -er

LexicalGrammatical/

Functional

free

Open classes (N, V, A): lexical content not very frequent stressed

Closed classes functional (“glue”) very frequent unstressed

bound

Derivational affixes:

new dictionary itemattach to entire wordclasschange class membership

Inflectional affixes:

no new dictionary item attach to a subset of a

wordclass Do not change class

membership

The Normans

The battle of Hastings

Linguistic consequences of the Norman Conquest

• French becomes the dominant language and remains dominant until at least 1350.

• English is spoken in that period by the “common people” only, not by the nobility or the clergy.

• There is no (written) English standard; • Few documents are written in English.

Norman loans•Administrationauthority, bailiff, baron, chamberlain, chancellor, constabie, coroner, council, court, crown, duke, empire, exchequer, government, liberty, majesty, manor, mayor, messenger, minister, noble, palace, parliament, peasant, prince, realm, reign, revenue, royal, servant, sir, sovereign, squire, statute, tax, traitor, treason, treasurer, treaty, tyrant, vassal, warden

•Lawaccuse, adultery, advocate, arrest, arson, assault, assize, attorney, bail, bar, blame, chattels, convict, crime, decree, depose, estate, evidence, executor, felon, fine, fraud, heir, indictment, inquest, jail, judge, jury, justice, larceny, legacy, libel, pardon, perjury, plaintiff, plea, prison, punishment, sue, summons, trespass, verdict, warrant

•Religionabbey, anoint, baptism, cardinal, cathedral, chant, chaplain, charity, clergy, communion, confess, convent, creator, crucifix, divine, faith, friar, heresy, homily, immortality, incense, mercy, mirade, novice, ordain, parson, penance, prayer, prelate, priory, religion, repent sacrament, sacrilege, saint, salvation, saviour, schism, sermon, solemn, temptation, theology, trinity, vicar, virgin, virtue

•Militaryambush, archer, army, barbican, battie, besiege, captain, combat, defend, enemy, garrison, guard, hauberk, lance, lieutenant, moat, navy, peace, portcullis, retreat, sergeant, siege, soldier, spy, vanquish

•Food and drinkappetite, bacon, beef, biscuit, dove, confection, cream, cruet, date, dinner, feast, fig, fruit, fry, grape, gravy, gruel, herb, jelly, lemon, lettuce, mackerel, mince, mustard, mutton, olive, orange, oyster, pigeon, plate, pork, poultry, raisin, repast, roast, salad, salmon, sardine, saucer, sausage, sole, spice, stew, turgeon, sugar, supper, tart, taste, toast, treacle, tripe, veal, venison, vinegar

More Norman loans...• Leisure and the arts

art, beauty, carol, chess, colour, conversation, courser, dalliance, dance, falcon, fool, harness, image, jollity, joust, juggler, kennel, lay, leisure, literature, lute, melody, minstrel, music, noun, painting, palfrey, paper, parchment, park, partridge, pavilion, pen, pheasant, poet, preface, prose, recreation, rein, retrieve, revel, rhyme, romance, sculpture, spaniel, stable, stallion, story, tabor, terrier, title, tournament, tragedy, trot, vellum, volume

• Science and learningalkali, anatomy, arsenic, calendar, dause, copy, gender, geometry, gout, grammar, jaundice, leper, logic, medicine, metal, noun, ointment, pain, physician, plague, pleurisy, poison, pulse, sphere, square, stomach, study, sulphur, surgeon, treatise

• Fashionapparel, attire, boots, brooch, buckle, button, cape, chemise, cloak, collar, diamond, dress, embroidery, emerald, ermine, fashion, frock, fur, garment, garter, gown, jewel, lace, mitten, ornament, pearl, petticoat, pleat, robe, satin, taffeta, tassel, train, veil, wardrobe

And more Norman loans.• The home

basin, blanket, bucket, ceiling, cellar, chair, chamber, chandelier, chimney, closet, couch, counterpane, curtain, cushion, garret, joist, kennel, lamp, lantern, latch, lattice, pantry, parlour, pillar, porch, quilt, scullery, towel, tower, turret

• General nouns action, adventure, affection, age, air, city, coast, comfort, country, courage, courtesy,cruelty, debt, deceit, dozen, envy, error, face, fault, flower, forest, grief, honour, hour, joy,labour, manner, marriage, mischief, mountain, noise, number, ocean, opinion, order, pair,people, person, piece, point, poverty, power, quality, rage, reason, river, scandal, season,sign, sound, spirit, substance, task, tavern, unity, vision

• General adjectives active, amorous, blue, brown, calm, certain, clear, common, cruel, curious, eager, easy,final, foreign, gay, gentie, honest, horrible, large, mean, natural, nice, original, perfect, poor, precious, probable, real, rude, safe, scarce, scarlet, second, simple, single, solid, special, strange, sudden, sure, usual

• General verbsadvise, allow, arrange, carry, change, close, continue, cry, deceive, delay, enjoy, enter, form, grant, inform, join, marry, move, obey, pass, pay, please, prefer, prove, push, quit,receive, refuse, remember, reply, satisfy, save, serve, suppose, travel, trip, wait, waste

• Turns of phraseby heart, come to a head, do homage, do justice to, have mercy on, hold one's peace, make complaint, on the point of, take leave, take pity on

Norman French and Central French doublets

Central French palatalized g/k, Norman French did not:

castle (chateau)

cattle chattel

Norman French had [w] instead of [g]:

war (guerre)

(re)ward guerdon (ME)

warden guardian

Loss of native derivational affixes

• prefixationge-niman ‘understand, grasp’be-niman ‘obtain, contain’for-niman ‘take away’to-niman ‘take apart, separate’

• suffixationlust-bære (N → A), dem-end (V → N), bærn-ett (V → N) etc. OE: lengþu and widnes: PE length and width

Hybrids

• Foreign word + native suffix

faithful, clearness, gentleness, succesful, fruitful, merciful, paternally, royally, modestly

• Native word + foreign suffix

understandable, believable, unspeakable, unknowable

Prefixes and stress• Noun VerbConduct conductcontract contractconvert convertdigest digestexport exportincrease increasepermit permitproject projectsubject subjectCf. Du. ant/ont: antwoord (N), onthoofden (V); verkoop (N),

verkopen (V)

Old Norse vs. FrenchSubstrate influence vs

Borrowing

• Borrowing typically affects vocabulary only, not the phonology or the syntax of a language.

• Substrate influence typically affects phonology and morphology/syntax.