English Language Evolution: Borrowings, Diglossia, and Standardization

Posted on Feb 5, 2025 in History

English Language Evolution

French Borrowings

Borrowing: The process in which a language takes linguistic elements from another language and makes them part of its own.

Key impacts of French borrowings on English:

  1. General increase in English word stock.
  2. Disappearance of Old English (OE) vocabulary, e.g., OE aebele (=prince) became French (OF) noble; OE miltsian.
  3. Semantic differences: Specialisation, formality, dialects. For example, OE-derived house vs. French-derived mansion; OE-derived help vs. OF-derived aid.

Diglossia in the Middle Ages

What is Diglossia? A linguistic situation in which two languages coexist, one of which is a lower, socially stigmatized dialect, and the other of which is a higher or prestige dialect, as in the case of English and French, respectively, during the English Middle Ages.

Two periods of diglossia:

  • 11th to mid-12th Century:
    1. English kings without a good command of English up to Edward I (1272-1307) [+nobility, church officials, etc.].
    2. Henry II (1154-1189) married Eleanor of Aquitaine, leading to the expansion of the dukedom of Normandy.
    3. Norman troops in England – 90% of the population spoke English.
    4. Vertical bilingualism (trilingualism) with diglossia.
  • 12th to early 13th Century:
    1. New sociolinguistic patterning: intermarriage (>bilinguals), use of Norman French (NF) among Anglo-Saxon (AS) elites.
    2. Social, subordinate, bilingualism (trilingualism) of a diglossic nature.

The Re-establishment of English

Historical events leading to the re-establishment of English:

  1. 1204: Loss of Normandy: Anglo-Norman nobility chose allegiance, weakening ties between Normandy and England.
  2. 1258-1265: Baron’s War and the Oxford Proclamation (1258): First official document in English, demanding participation and power.
  3. 1337-1453: The Hundred Years’ War: English victories at Crécy, Poitiers, Agincourt > sense of nationalism.
  4. 1348-1350: The Black Death: Lower class more in demand > gain political power.
  5. 1381: The Peasant’s Revolt: Peasants demand better working conditions, increasing the status of the language.

The Inkhorn Controversy

The disputes on the use of Latin or English in learned domains extended to the subject of vocabulary and borrowings, involving:

  • Those in favour of borrowing from Latin or Greek to enrich the English language.
  • Those who felt that the native English resources were sufficient.

Opposers to this tendency accused them of using ‘chaucerisms’, while those rejecting Latin borrowings told them off for using ‘inkhorn’ or ‘inkepot’ terms.

Samuel’s Model (1972)

M. Samuels (1963) suggested that 4 competing dialects contributed to the development of standard English:

  • TYPE I: The Early London Dialect. It was used in the city.
  • TYPE II: A Latter London Dialect. Incorporating dialectal features from different immigrant groups.
  • TYPE III: John Wycliff’s Dialect: Used in his Bible translation. Central Midlands variety from the Oxford region.
  • TYPE IV: The Chancery Standard: It was used in state documents produced at the Exchequer in Westminster and in Chancery Lane for official purposes after 1430.

John Wycliff and William Caxton

John Wycliff: Religious reformer who translated the Bible into a readily accessible English dialect and spread this Bible throughout England.

William Caxton: First English printer to use movable type, allowing for multiple copies of printed material to be distributed over larger areas and be readable by everyone.