Middle English Creole Hypothesis - French Influence On Middle English

French Influence On Middle English

Although English has numerous French and Norman loanwords, most of the borrowing happened during the 14th century; the nobility ceased to be French-speaking in 1362. Nevertheless, the Norman Invasion had still resulted in the loss of many native Anglo-Saxon words. In fact, by the end of the period in which Middle English was spoken, as much as eighty percent of Old English vocabulary was no longer in use. However, the most striking Norse borrowing (their pronouns) cannot be attributed to creolisation. It was more likely a result of ambiguity between hiem and him etc.

The most common plural form in English is cognate with the masculine nominative-accusative plural (Old English -as) and is also cognate with the Old Saxon plural -os and the Old Norse plural -ar. However, the widespread use of the -s plural may suggest French influence; compare English pluralization to that of German and Dutch (English, Dutch, and German are all categorized by many as West Germanic languages). Although German and Dutch do use the -s plural, it is used much less often than in English; while the use of an -n or -en plural may be viewed as an irregular method of pluralization in English, the opposite is true in Dutch, and, to a lesser extent, in German.

French influence has affected English pronunciation as well. Whereas Old English had the unvoiced fricative sounds, (as in thin), and (shin), French influence helped to distinguish their voiced counterparts, (the), and (mirage), and also contributed the diphthong (boy). The combination of a largely French-speaking aristocracy and a largely English-speaking peasantry gave rise to many pairs of words with a Latinate word in the higher register and a Germanic word in the lower register.