1. The Middle English

2. The outline Introduction The period Historical events
Some linguistic aspects
pronunciation
Orthography
Lexicon
Chancery standard
conclusion

3. The period:
Middle English :a name given by historical linguists to the English language used between the eleventh century and the sixteen century.

4. Historical Events
1066:The Normans led by William the Conqueror attacked and defeated the Britains at the battle of Hastings.
A third language is introduced: French.
Linguistic class division:
Latin: church ,school.
French: court,castle.
English: commoners.
1200 forward: French began to lose its prestige.
Henry the 5th :A great impact on national
language policy .
14th century: English became dominant again.

5. Some Linguistic Aspects: The Canterbury Tales Prologue in Middle English
Whan that Aprille wt his shoures soote, The droghte of Marcħ, hath perced to the roote; And bathed euery veyne in swich lycour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan zephirus eek wt his sweete breeth, Inspired hath in euery holt and heeth; The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne, Hath in the Ram, his half cours yronne; And smale foweles, maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open iye; So priketh hem nature, in hir corages,

6. Pronunciation: French pronunciation of most vowels.
Silent (e)was frequently a spoken syllable.
Vowel pronunciation is as follows:
/a:/ as in modern<father> (name).
/3:/ as in French <bête> (mete).
/e:/ as in French <the> (sweet).
/i:/ as in modern <see> (fine).
/כ:/ as in modern <board> (holy).
/o:/ as in French <eau> (mone).
/u:/ as in modern <do> (hous).
Unpronounced consonants in modern english were pronounced.
The initial consonnants:knight,
The medial consonnants:would,night.
The final consonnants:comb,damn.
Gh/z: were pronounced /x/:knight;/knixt/.
light:/lyzt/.

7. Orthography
U and v :represent both the vowel [u] and the consonant [v]:(vpon) and (ouer).
Long vowel /ou/ used for /u:/:grounde.
(3) the yogh was used where modern english has (gh)medially or (y) initially:ly3tly;lightly.
The Eth [ð] and the Thorn [θ] were replaced by [th]and sometimes with [y]as in ye meaning the.

8. Lexicon: Two main sources of loan words into english during ME
period: French and Latin.
Borrowing from Latin:
learned words carried over in the translation of Latin texts.e.g:testament.
Some administrative words: commit ,deputate
Borrowing from French language:
Although, the popularity of French was decreasing ,several words were borrowed into english.
terms related to government (sovereign, empire), law (judge, jury, justice) and learning (poet, physician).
many other words related to social life were borrowed :e.g.: the names of the animals and their meat.
ex: sheep mutton cow beef
swine pork

9. Chancery Standard
There were different dialects of english spoken and written at that time.
The government needed a clear form for use in its official documents .
A written form of english was developed to meet this need: the chancery standard .
Based on London and east midland dialects .

10. Conclusion:
Middle english is one of the different stages through which english language has undergone.
the change is recognized in the various linguistic aspects.
Many dialects were recognized at that time.

11. Thank you for your attention