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Salient Characteristics Of English Literature Of Midde Ages

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Salient Characteristics Of English Literature Of Midde Ages
Some characteristics of middle englishDocument Transcript
1. Some Characteristics of Middle English Page 1 of 3 Some Characteristics of Middle English Vocabulary: Consider these pairs of Modern English words. The first of each pair is derived from Old English and the second is of Anglo-Norman origin: pig/pork, chicken/poultry, calf/veal, cow/beef, wood/forest, sheep/mutton, house/mansion, worthy/honourable, bold/courageous, freedom/liberty. The role of Anglo-Norman as the language of government and law can be seen in the abundance of Modern English words for the mechanisms of government which derive from Anglo-Norman: court, judge jury, appeal, parliament. Why is middle English called Anglo-Norman? (Because it is a mixture of Old English and French) This period of trilingual activity developed much of the flexible triplicate synonymy of modern English. For instance, English has three words meaning roughly "of or relating to a king":kingly from Old English, royal from French and regal from Latin. Likewise, Norman and — later — French influences led to some interesting word pairs in English, such as the following, which both mean "someone who defends": Warden from Norman, and Guardian from French. How do you account with example for the triplicate synonymy of English?Grammar: With its simplified case-ending system, the grammar of Middle English is much closer to that of modern English than that of Old English. The changes in English grammar may be described as a general reduction of inflections. Endings of the noun and adjective marking distinctions of number and case and often of gender were so altered in pronunciation as to lose their distinctive form and hence their usefulness. To some extent the same thing is true of the verb. Middle English grammar was simpler than Old English grammar, Comment.Nouns: How do you account for this feature of Middle English: "name" and "namen"? Middle English retains only two distinct noun-ending patterns from the more complex

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