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also gradually resulted in a dissociation between the strong verbs and the related ablaut nouns and adjectives, which were, with the exception of a few relics such as batch, drove, song, writ and some additional dialectal forms, almost completely lost during Middle English. A contributing factor was probably also the generalisation of word-based derivation, which had as its input the unmarked base form. The other morphophonemic alternations, though originally transparent, in the course of the (pre-)Old English period lost their conditioning factors and shifted from phonological to (unpredictable) morphological conditioning. The most important of the alternations was unquestionably i-umlaut, which not only lost its conditioning factor, but, due to progressive unrounding, also its phonetic transparency. At the end of the Old English period, probably accelerated by the various lengthening and shortening processes affecting the vowel system, this morphophonemic/allomorphic system must have broken down completely. The subsequent restructuring in Middle English, little investigated so far, established homological, i.e. alternation-free, derivation as the dominant principle of word formation, which it still is in Modern English in the native and nativised patterns. It is only in non-native Romance and Neo-Latin patterns that we have alternations today, e.g. sane sanity, divine divinity, Japan´ Japanese´, etc. Thus, whereas in Old English we have only one derivational level, viz. derivation on a native basis, Modern English operates at both a native and a non-native level, whose boundaries are not neatly delimited. This duality is the result of the massive borrowing from French and Neo-Latin in the Middle English and early Modern English periods, as we will see below.

4.3Middle English

As explained in Chapter 1, the linguistic situation at the end of the twelfth century was rather complex, both socially and geographically. In fact, we find four different linguistic strata.

First of all, there are monolingual native speakers of English (usually members of the lower social ranks), speaking local dialects with no supra-regional standard; the emergent West Saxon written standard was petering out during the twelfth century. A second geographically but also socially distinct group lived in the former Danelaw area, where we still have to reckon with partial Scandinavian– English bilingualism in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. This bilingualism, however, must have rapidly decreased in favour of English monolingualism due to the changed political situation. The result was the loss of Scandinavian as a means of communication (language death) with massive borrowing of basic vocabulary. A third group consisted of those who mainly or exclusively used French (Anglo-Norman) in oral communication, usually members of the nobility, including the royal family. But towards the end of the twelfth century, more and

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more members of this class began to also learn English, probably resulting in considerable bilingualism. At the same time we witness an increase of French among members of the middle class, especially with traders and craftsmen in towns. Fourthly, it should not be forgotten that Latin had remained in use as the language of the church and of scholarship (where it was also used as a spoken medium), and of public records.

Thus at the beginning of the thirteenth century we are confronted with a rather complex sociolinguistic situation. There were people who spoke only French and many more who spoke only English. There were likewise a considerable number who were genuinely bilingual as well as those who had some understanding of two languages while speaking only one. Thus Henry II (1154–89) understood English but did not speak it, whereas his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, did not understand English at all and always needed an interpreter. Had this situation continued, England might well have developed into a bilingual country, but important political changes at the end of the twelfth century brought about the re-establishment of English as the dominant – and eventually only – language in England. The crucial change was the loss of Normandy to the French crown by King John as a result of his politically unwise marriage to Isabel of Angoulˆeme. The nobility had to make a choice with regard to their allegiance either to the king of England or the king of France, with the concomitant loss of their property in France or England, respectively.

There was one phenomenon which delayed the demise of French for some time, namely the cultural dominance of France and French. At this time France was commonly regarded as representing chivalrous society in its most polished form, and French literature was regarded highly at most courts in Europe and was often translated or imitated in the vernacular. This was also enhanced by the fame of the University of Paris as the centre of medieval scholarship. Thus the position of French gradually changed in the thirteenth century. The upper classes continued to speak French, but primarily due to social custom, administrative convention and for prestige reasons, rather than necessity. At the same time, English more and more gained ground, and by the middle of the thirteenth century had become the language of everyday business even among the upper classes. This is the period when we observe the largest number of French loans entering the English vocabulary, especially those belonging to everyday language such as action, age, city, country, hour, mountain, noise, flower, people, piece, power, reason, river, tailor, use, waste; able, active, brief, calm, certain, common, cruel, double, eager, easy, faint, firm, frail, honest, jolly, large, mean, moist, natural, nice, plain, poor, pure, real, safe, secret, solid, sure, tender, usual; advance, advise, aim, allow, arrive, catch, change, chase, conceal, count, cover, defeat, desire, destroy, enjoy, enter, err, flatter, form, grant, join, marry, mount, obey, pass, please, push, quit, receive, refuse, remember, reply, rob, save, serve, strangle, strive, suppose, tempt, tremble, wait, etc. The reason for the demise of French is the same as in the case of Scandinavian: language death. The French language lost ground, speakers switched to English, but brought a lot of their vocabulary with them. By the end