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After the conquest, the ruling classes, their servants and the bishops were

Normans. Moreover, a large number of Norman French lower orders came to


England. Therefore, since the actual number of the Normans who settled in
England was sufficiently great, they continued to use their own language,
Norman French. However, they continued this habit for about 200 years after
the conquest.

[Thus, for some years the two languages Anglo- Saxon and Norman-
French were used side by side without mingling. However, since the two
sections of the society couldn’t live separately, and had some relations with
each other, they gradually came to learn or understand the other language.
The Englishman who associated with the governing class soon acquired a
command of French. Knowing French and speaking it was a mark of social
distinction .On the other hand, since English was the language of the greater
part of the population, it was likely that many of the Frenchmen would
acquire some familiarity with it. At the end of the twelfth century, a
knowledge of English was not uncommon among those who habitually used
French.

The Normans’ invasion put the native inhabitants of the country in


direct contact with the language of the invaders, Norman French.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Although Normans’ invasion of the country was
intentional and
predetermined, their influence on the English language was indirect and the
result of the circumstances.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Moreover, the
English adopted the French diphthongs /!i/and /ui/ which were used in the
French loan words.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: were introduced to be used as relative pronouns.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Affixes
With the borrowing of a large number of French words, French affixes
found their ways into English. Moreover, the English suffixes were also
added to French loan words. Hybrid words of this kind are found in
comparatively great numbers in most languages. However, the hybrid of the
other kind which is composed of a native stem and a foreign ending such as
bearable, breakage, hindrance, murderous and bakery are in most languages
rarer than in English. Some of the French affixes which entered English are
as follows. (French has borrowed some of its affixes from other languages.)
Prefixes: con-, de-, dis-, ex-, pre-, en-, pro-, trans-.
Suffixes: -ee , -ance, -ant, -ation , -ment, -ism, -ity, -able, -al , -ous, -fy, -ize.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The French influence on the English language
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Later Borrowings
French influence on the English language is not restricted to the two or
three centuries after the Norman Conquest. English has always borrowed
from French but the number of the loan words has not been so great as in the
Middle English period.
About the year 1500, the intellectual awakening of Europe (Renaissance),
reached England. At this time, the French influence, although still strong was
not predominant. The words, portmanteau, genteel, fricasseé, cache,
moustache, machine are examples of the words borrowed at this time.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, during the commonwealth
period there was a civil war in England, and the court resided in France.
Therefore, with the Restoration, a large number of French words and phrases
came into English. Examples are parole, rendezvous, envelope, critique,
memoir, tableau, routine, and many others.
The French Revolution which occurred in the closing years of the
eighteenth century also resulted in the importation of many French words
relating to revolution into England. Examples are regime, guillotine,
aristocrat, democrat, revolutionize, royalism, terrorism, liberal,
conservative, despotism, etc.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: After the Middle English period, the greatest influx of
the French loan
was during the nineteenth century. At this time, it was the period of English
liberalism; therefore, it was quite natural that a new interest in a country
The French Influence On… 11
which was the home of the idea of liberty, equality and fraternity arouse in
English people. There was also increased travel facilities which led to more
and more people going to France both for business and pleasure. In this way
numerous words related to art, food and drink, fashion, adornment of home,
social graces and social pastimes entered the English language. Examples are
ballet, souvenir, cuisine, moquette, liqueur, route, canteen, bureau, baroque,
rococo, cliché, resumé, blouse, acrobat, restaurant, chef, fiancée, prestige,
and the phrases like coup d'état, savoir fair, hors d'œuvre, etc.
More than a century ago, French was still widely considered a prestigious
language; it was the diplomatic language of the world and it had considerable
popularity in literary and scientific circles. During the late nineteenth century
its prestige, though still great, gradually declined. Therefore, the number of
the loans in the twentieth century had been fewer. Examples are as follows:
revue, garage, limousine, camouflage, enfant terrible, etc.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Grammar
OE was an inflected language. During Middle English period, it lost most
of its inflections and simplified. Simplification is the process of development
in all languages, but this process was accelerated in the English language after
the Norman Conquest. It is a common knowledge that grammatical purity and
accuracy is preserved chiefly in written language. As we have mentioned
before, until about 1200, English had remained practically a spoken language.
During this period, English also lost its gender system. The most important
factor which helped the loss of gender was the fact that French had a different
gender system. The same object which was masculine in English might
have been feminine in French or vice versa. So, the easiest way was to use the
natural gender.
Moreover, French syntactic patterns such as phrases consisting of nouns
followed by adjectives were introduced into English. Examples are attorney
general, court martial, fee simple, heir male, letters patent, proof positive.
In Old English thou was used for the second person singular, and ye and
you for the second person plural. The distinction between thou and you was
the distinction of number. Gradually under the French influence the plural
forms were extended to singular use, while still remaining the plural forms.
The tendency was to use thou forms as marked forms indicating either
intimacy or contempt, whereas you forms were neutral and polite.
During early Middle English Þe (the) and Þæ t (that) were used to
introduce relative clauses until Þæt gradually supplanted Þe. At the same
time interrogative pronouns, the old forms of Modern English who, which, etc,
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: <þ > denoting either sounds, was used much longer.
Towards the end of the
Middle English period, around 1400 <th> was gradually introduced.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Spelling
In the middle of the thirteenth century, once more English emerged as a
written language. And the churchly writers started to copy texts in English.
These writers, who had studied in France and were familiar with French,
gradually changed the Anglo Saxon forms of Latin letters and replaced them
with French ones. The change was not great, as most of the French letters
were nearly the same as those previously in use in Old English.
The useful Old English letter <æ > was first dropped from the English
alphabet. æfter, æsc, græs are examples of the Old English words. In Old
English, the letters <þ> and <δ> were used to denote the sounds [θ] and [δ]
indiscriminatingly. The letter <δ> had almost disappeared before 1300; and
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: At the end of the thirteenth century and especially in
the course of the
fourteenth century, French language gradually lost its influence on English.
Different factors besides the loss of Normandy helped in the decline of French
and re-establishment of English.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Vocabulary
The most important influence the French language had on the English
language was the introduction of too many French words into English. It
should be mentioned that one of the characteristics of Old English was to
enlarge its vocabulary chiefly by using prefixes and suffixes and combining
native elements into self-interpreting compounds. But this habit was
somewhat weakened in Middle English.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Pronunciation
The introduction of too many French words into English brought about
some changes in the sound system of the language. In Old English, there
were the phonemes /f/ and /s/ which had respectively the allophones [f] and
[s] which were used initially and finally, and [v] and [z] which were used
medially between voiced sounds.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: That is why after the Norman
Conquest we find a huge influx of the French vocabulary into English mainly
connected with religion, army, art, government and administration. These
lexical items reflected the interests of the French-speaking ruling group, and
had prestigious connotations.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Phonemic aspect of the French infl uence
In Old English, the voiceless spirants [f], [s], [T] and the voiced spirants [v], [z],
[ð] were
variants (allophones) of the phonemes f/v, s/z, T/ð. In Middle English,
borrowings from
French introduced words like vēle ‘veal’ and zēle ‘zeal’, with voiced
pronunciations in
initial positions, contrasting with Anglo-Saxon words fēlen ‘feel’ and sēl ‘seal’.
As a result,
the allophones f/v and s/z split into separate phonemes: f and v; and s, and z.
During the Middle English period, two new diphthongs of French origin were
added
to those already existing in English: oi, and ui. Th ese diphthongs are refl ected
in the ModE
words like choice, cloister, employ, noise, or rejoice (originally [oi]); and boil,
point, joint
(originally [ui]).
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Soon after the Norman Conquest a large number of
French words
were introduced into the English language. Terms like 'prison', 'tower',
'market',
'rent, 'justice etc were borrowed from the language of the Norman rulers.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Taking French into account, it is notable the great
influence on English, due to the crown of Britain was ruled by Norman
French for two centuries, so it is conceivable how important was that
change in the English language.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The
Norman Conquest in England started in 1066, when, in the battle of
Hastings, William, duke of Normandy, defeated the English army.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: dioms
The English language has also borrowed some French idioms. Some of
these idioms are used in their French forms such as au contraire, force
majeure, à la mode, vis à vis, repondez s'il vous plait. However, the other
borrowed idioms are translated into English. How do you do is used for
comment fait vous; It's me for c'est moi; that goes without saying for cela va
sans dire, etc.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Th e top leaders could aff ord to ignore English because
they were surrounded by French
speakers. When needed, they could hire translators. Th e local lords and
tradesmen, howev-
er, had to communicate with English-speaking labourers and they became
bilingual.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Th e king’s
court, religious communities and aristocratic estates were sources of French
infl uence. Th e
kings and the feudal lords were all speakers of French; they spent time on their
continental
estates and they married other French speakers. Legal documents were
prepared in French.
Monastic life was dominated by French speakers, although the language of the
liturgy
and of written documents was Latin. Chronicles were mostly written in Latin.
Learned
works in history and theology were also written in Latin. Only about two per
cent of the
population spoke French but they occupied the powerful positions at the
court, in the
church, and in urban centres. Th e great mass of population spoke English and
English was
the language of ordinary trade and agriculture.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Doublets
It should be mentioned that there are some French words which have been
borrowed twice in different periods in the history of English such as salon,
saloon; chief and chef. One reason for the difference in the pronunciation and
the position of the accent of these words lies in the fact that the French
language has undergone changes from the medieval times. For example, in
Old French <ch> was pronounced as [t∫] as in chief, but in Modern French the
sound of <ch> shifted to [ ∫ ] as in chef. The other reason for this
phenomenon, which is not less important, is the fact that the French loan
words up to 1650 were thoroughly naturalized and conformed to the rules of
the English pronunciation and accent, while in the later borrowings (unless
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Th e Old English vocabulary was almost purely
Germanic and the number of borrowings
was very low. Th e oldest layer of the Old English vocabulary is formed by
words which are
common to all or nearly all Indo-European languages:
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Conclusion
As we have seen French had a great influence on the English language.
Thousands of French words entered English. The spelling system of Old
English changed. Some new French phonemes came into English sound
system. A large number of French affixes replaced most of the Old English
ones. Moreover, French accelerated the grammatical simplification of English.
One wonders whether all of these changes were inevitable and the result of
the
circumstances which the English people were involved in, or the English
people's tendency to use this prestigious language has brought about most of
these changes. However, it is not the unique characteristic of the English
people to borrow foreign words and expressions. We can find instances of it
all through the history of languages. What makes a nation borrow words from
another language has been clearly stated by Dr. J.A. Sheared (1962), "The
acquisition of loan words from another language shows that the borrower
feels
that there is something superior in the foreign language, or in the people who
use it, for we may suppose that no reasonable being would deliberately make
use of foreign words if he felt that his own language possessed words which
did the job better." (p. 26-27)
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Still nowadays, we find many
Norman French words in present-day English.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: During the Middle English period, the English language
was strongly infl uenced by
Norman French (in the initial stage) and Central French (from ca. 1250). Aft er
the arrival
of the Normans (a Germanic tribe speaking a variety of French) in 1066, the
roles of
English, Norman French, and Latin were given by the offi cial policy of the
court.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Normans were just Vikings settled in Normandy, in the North
of France, during the early 10th century. As a consequence of living in
French lands, Vikings adopted the French language and culture.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Consequently, French
became the first language of the English monarchs and aristocracy
until the end of the 14th century and was used as a learned language
in law, education, and as a class dialect of the aristocracy considered
in this way the language of the privilege.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The French loans are usually
more refined, formal and abstract and less emotional while the original English
words are more primitive, popular and fundamental.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Likewise other word
groups such as ‘ask-question-interrogate’ or ‘time-age-epoch’ emerged. Thus
French
loans enriched the English language61 and they did so not because they were
imposed
on it but, as Bryson put it, because “they were welcomed”62
.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: THE NORMAN FRENCH IN ENGLAND
One of the most relevant influences on Middle English was
French, strictly, Norman French, the language introduced in Britain by
the invader.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: In an analysis cited by Berndt (1984) (Horn list of
1926)52 the results
show that 45% of the 10,000 most frequently used Modern English words are
of
French origin. This proportion is by far larger than that of Old English words
(31.8%).
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: III. French Influence on the English language
III.1 Loans
The influence of French on the English language can be seen most clearly in
its vocabulary.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: In the 13th century ‘the flood’ of French
loanwords set in when former French-speakers tried to express themselves in
English. When they lacked a word they borrowed the French synonym.56
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: After having read this section,
one can realise that England was found in a trilingual linguistic
situation: Latin was mainly the language of the Church (although
English would replace it later), French was that of government and
aristocracy, and, finally, English as the language of the common
people and illiterate people.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: CONCLUSION
French played a very important role on English in the extent
that those French borrowings adopted in the Middle English period
still remain in the language. This fact was due to the direct contact
with the French country, since the British Island was first reigned by
kings of Norman origin, and later conquered by William, Duke of
Normandy in 1066. After having read the analysis of this work, we
realize the great range of examples that we can find in a written text.
This was the result of that relevance of French as a first language in
Britain and its presence in the most important matters such as
literature, administration, or law. Finally, it is worthy to mention that
English has become a rich language thanks to the contact with other
ones and especially transmitted by people of different origins living in
English speaking countries.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: According to calculations based on the Oxford English
Dictionary about
10,000 French loans entered the English language of which about 75% are still
in use
today.53
As
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The Conquest changed the linguistic situation in
England and turned the
English society into a trilingual society (English, Norman-French and Latin as
scholarly language). The Norman intruders brought with them their language
and due
to their dominance in the areas of administration, religion, military, law and
culture
Norman-French became the main means of communication in these spheres.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: • Another borrowing was that related to ecclesiastical
matters:
pashes ‘Easter’ , miracle, canonie ‘canon’, messe ‘mass’, capitele
‘chapter’, clerc ‘scholar’.
• An important change in English by the French influence was that
of the orthographic system: u was substituted by ou (hus > hous
> house, mus > mous > mouse); use of y in place of i (hyt, ys,
tyme, Inglysh); use of qu in place of cw ( queen vs. cwen, quick
vs. cwicu); gh replaces h (nignt, enough); ch (palatal sound)
used in place of c (church); u replaced by o because of the
difficulty of reading a sequence containing v, u, n, m which
were written in a very similar way (love, come, one, son); one
pair of letters came to be used in complementary ways (v at the
beginning of a word- vnder- and u in the middle –whether
consonant or vowel, as in ‘haue’); use of u after g to represent
the velar sound [g] in contact with vowel [e] (tongue- OE tunge);
it is also evident the increasing use of k, z, and j.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: THE INFLUENCE OF NORMAN FRENCH ON ENGLISH
In this section, we will deal with the influence of the Norman
language upon the English one presenting the most notable changes
which, most of them, will last till nowadays. It is important to bear in
mind that French influenced on English more in vocabulary rather
than in grammar or phonology. These changes are the following:
• Loss of endings and, as a consequence, the massive use of
prepositions. This led to the strict order of words in the
sentence.
• New terms appear for the new literary works known as
“romance”. This vocabulary is related to those themes of courtly
love and adventurers of knights, for example.
• That vocabulary referred to the activities of the middle-class and
aristocratic society: government (reign, power, parliament);
activities of nobility ( related to war: soldier, guard, officer, arms;
related to hunting: falcon, chase, forest; related to legal matters:
judge, court, crime, justice; related to fashion: collar, chemise,
chair, adorn); art and culture (art, music, cathedral, palace, poet,
romance, melody); education (lessons, chapter, paper,
grammar); business (profytable, partner, travayl).
• In the 14th and 15th centuries, abstract terms were borrowed
with suffixes in –ance, -ence, -ant, -ent, -etion, -ity, -ment, and
prefixes in con-, de-, dis-, en-, ex-, pre-, pro-, and trans- .
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Furthermore, the vast numbers of French loans led to a
new quality of
English: it is wrong to suppose that English borrowed words it lacked. Instead
most
of the loans were synonyms of already existing words59.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Old English had, for
example, only one word for the concept ‘kingly’. With the Normans three
synonyms
entered the language, namely ‘royal’, ‘regal’ and ‘sovereign’.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: During the period when Norman French was the
dominant language, English was rarely used in writing, and started to change in
many ways. Before the conquest English had a much more complex grammar,
however 70 or 80 years later, the grammar had become much simpler. This
change is known as the transformation from Old English to Middle English. At
the same time Norman French became Anglo-Norman as it was itself affected
by English.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The history of English language is defined by historical
periods throughout the
centuries.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: cild, child infant
• wundor, wonder marvel (in German ‘Wunder’)
• milde, mild gentle
• lust desire (in German ‘Lust’)
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: More than 10,000 French words found their way into
English – words associated with government, law, art, literature, food, and
many other aspects of life. About three quarters of these words are still used,
and words derived directly or indirectly from French now account for more
than a third of English vocabulary. In fact English speakers know around 15,000
French words, even before they start learning the language.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: In the realm of ruling and governmental power
words such as ‘parliament’, ‘governor’ and ‘empire’ entered the English
language to
give just a few examples. In the realm of law ‘justice’, ‘prison’ or ‘defendant’
were
borrowed. Likewise, vast numbers of loans in the area of military (‘artillery’,
‘battle’
or ‘defend’ ) or church and Christian doctrine (‘abbey’, ‘prayer’, ‘baptise’ or
‘innocence’) were borrowed. Also words concerning emotional or mental
states were
introduced (‘delight’, ‘envy’ or ‘passion’). Other realms of borrowing were
medieval
science, philosophy and arts (‘anatomy’, ‘philosophy’ or ‘poet’), trade
(‘carpenter’,
‘value’ or ‘measure’), clothing and ornaments (‘coat’, ‘robe’, ‘jewel’ or
‘brooch’),
food and cooking (‘fry’, ‘appetite’ or ‘gravy’) and others. There are also
hundreds of
words which belong to other groups or are difficult to classify but are part of
the
common lexicon of English, such as ‘cattle’, ‘damage’, ‘departure’, ‘labour’,
‘pencil’, ‘clear’, ‘cruel’, ‘blame’, ‘cease’ etc.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The Norman invasion of England in 1066 had a major
impact not only on the country, but also on the English language. William the
Conqueror and his merry band of Normans brought with them Norman French,
which became the language of the court, government and the upper class for
the next three centuries. English continued to be used by ordinary people, and
Latin was the language of the church.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: In spite of the vast numbers of French loans in various
spheres of life which
(together with Latin) comprise about half of the Modern English vocabulary66
it is
interesting to note the French influence did not modify the common core of
the
English lexicon.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: • ferd, lay host, army
• gewitan to depart
• frip peace (in German ‘Friede’)
• earm poor (in German ‘arm’)
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The following Old English words are synonyms of
French words.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: bliss joy
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: weald forest (in German ‘Wald’)
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Here are some examples of Old English words displaced
by the lexicon of French
origin during the first period of French influence
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: The pronunciation of English changed to some extent
under the influence of French, as did the spelling. For example, the Old English
spellings cw, sc and c became qu, sh and ch, so we now write queen rather
than cwen, ship rather than scip, and should rather than scolde.

English grammar did take on a few French structures, such as putting in


adjectives after nouns in some expressions – attorney general, secretary
general, surgeon general.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: These Old English words are of common use,
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Consequences of the Norman Conquest

Since the Norman Conquest in 1066 the French language became more and
more important. English nobility and other important positions in the church,
military and other institutions were newly occupied by the French invaders.
Now the upper class in England was replaced by Normans and French became
their dominant language. However, the new ruling class formed only a minority
of the population and the language of the majortiy remained English. From
now on the French and English language existed side by side.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Introduction

The English language has undergone immense changes over the years of its
development from Old English to Modern English as it is known today. It has
been shaped by a number of other languages over the centuries. During the
Old English period the English language, which was based on the dialects of
three Germanic tribes (Angles, Jutes and Saxons)[1], was already influenced by
different invading armies like the Celts (Celtic), the Roman missionaries (Latin)
and the Viking raiders (Old-Norse). But especially during the Middle English
period (1150 – 1500) another language, namely French, exerted a significant
influence on the English language and were therefore responsible for great
changes brought to English over the years.
[20/10, 2:04 am] Azim: Latin was used as a second language by diplomats,
monks and scholars. It was the language of official documents, chronicals and
the church.

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