6. French as the most important foreign influence on the e. Language (at 2 historical periods)

The Normans made up the new aristocracy & the Anglo-Saxon people became their servants. The new masters were strangers in the country. They spoke a foreign tongue & the Anglo-Saxon peasants could not underst& their speech. The Norman aristocracy spoke a Norman dialect of French, a tongue of Latin origin, the Anglo-Saxons spoke E., a tongue of Germanic origin. The Normans looked upon E. as a kind of peasant dialect, & continued to speak their own language. They despised anyone unable to speak their language. (1066)

Thus there were 2 different languages spoken in the country at the same time – Engl& became a bilingual country.For almost 300 yearsFrench was the official language of administration: it was the language of the king’s court, the law-courts, the church, the army & the castle. The intellectual life, literature & education were in the h&s of French-speaking people. French, alongside Latin, was the language of writing.

In spite of all this, Engl& never stopped being an E.-speaking country. Most of the population held fast to their own tongue: the lower classes in the towns & especially in the countryside, they continued to speak E. & looked upon French as foreign & hostile. As most of the people were illiterate, the E. language was almost exclusively used for spoken communication.

At first the 2 languages existed side by side without mingling. Then, slowly & quietly, they began to permeate each other. This mixed language was called Anglo-French or Anglo-Norman.

Anyway, the Normans remained masters of Engl& for quite a long time to leave a deep ‘impress on the language. The total number of French borrowings by far exceeds the number of borrowings from any other foreign language. By 1400the number of loan-words had risen to10,000.

The French borrowings of the ME period are usually described according to semantic spheres:

a) administrative words - state, government, parliament, counsil, power

b) legal terms – court, judge, crime, prison, justice

c) military terms – army, war, soldier. Officer, battle, enemy

d) educational terms – pupil, lesson, library, pen, pencil, science

e) everyday life – table, plate, source, dinner, supper, river, autumn, uncle

2. The Parisian period of French borrowings was significant by development in science, art & culture in all European countries. Besides this was a period of extensive cultural contacts between the major European states. The most significant were French borrowings. This time they came from the Parisian dialect of French & are known as Parisian borrowings.

e.g. regime, routine, police, machine, ballet, matinee, scene, technique.

The influx of French words continued in the late 15^th & in the late 17^th c. These French borrowings mainly pertain todiplomatic relations, social life, art & fashion. French remained the international language of diplomacy for several hundred years; Paris led the fashion in dress, food & in social life & to a certain extent in art & literature; finally, the political events in France in the 18-19^thc. were of world-wide significance.

Examples of diplomatic termsare:attaché, communiqué, dossier;social life:ball, café, coquette, hotel, picnic, restaurant;

art:ballet, ensemble, essay, genre;

military termsare: brigade, maneuver, marine, police;

fashions in dress & food: blouse, corsage, cravat, champagne, menu, soup.

Words of miscellaneous character are: comrade, detail, entrance, fatigue, garage, machine, moustache, progress, ticket.

Most of these words haven’t been assimilated in E., retaining their spelling, the sounds & the position of the stress.