assigment 2 / middle English/ Mariel Pizarro/Vinska Sandoval

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight

ANSWERS:

1. Middle English was spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and about 1470.

2. There were two factors which led the development of the Middle English:

a. When the Chancery Standard, a form of London- based English, began to become widespread.

b. A process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England. The language of England as spoken after this time, up to 1650, is known as Early Modern English.

3. Modern English words. The first of each pair is derived from Old English and the second is of Anglo-Norman origin:

Pig / pork cow/ beef, wood/forest, sheep/mutton, house/mansion, worthy/ honorable, bold/courageus

4. Nouns: Losing the rather more complex system of inflected endings in Old English, Middle English retains only two separate noun-ending patterns. :Example: the early Modern English words engel (angel) and nome (name): singular: engel / plural: engles, The strong -s plural form has survived into Modern English, while the weak -n form is rare (oxen, children, brethren ; and in some dialects eyen [instead of eyes], shoon [instead of shoes], hosen [instead of hose(s)] and kine [instead of cows]).

Verbs: The first person singular of verbs in the present tense ends in -e ("ich here" - "I hear"), the second person in -(e)st ("þou spekest" - "thou speakest"), and the third person in -eþ ("he comeþ" - "he cometh/he comes"). ( b is pronounced like the unvoiced th in "think").
In the past tense, weak verbs are formed by adding an -ed(e), -d(e) or -t(e) ending. These, without their personal endings, also form past participles, together with past-participle prefixes derived from Old English: i-, y- and sometimes bi-.
Strong verbs, by contrast, form their past tense by changing their stem vowel: binden/bound , as in Modern English.

Pronouns
Post-Conquest English inherits its pronouns from Old English, with the exception of the third person plural, a borrowing from Old Norse.

Middle English pronouns:

(subject: I, Object: me, possessive: min )

(subject: thou, Object: thee, Possessive: thy)

(it/subject: hit, Object: it/him, Possessive: his)

(he/subject:he, Object: him, Posessive:his)

(she/subject: sche, Object: hire, Possessive: hir)

(we/subject: we, Object: us, Possessive: ure)

(you/subject: ye, Object: you, Possessive: your)

(they/ subject: they, Object: them, Possessive:their)

(he/ subject: he, Object: hem, Possesive: hir)

Here are the Old English pronouns. Middle English pronouns derived from these

First person:

Singular :mom/ic, ihic, ih
Plural : wē, ūsic, ūs,ūser, ūre,ūs

Second person:

Singular:þū,þec, þē,þīn,þē

plural:gē,ēowic, ēow, ēower, ēow

Third Person
masc/fem/net/pl
mom hē heo hit hie
acc. hine/ hie / hit/ hie

The first and second person pronouns in Old English survived into Middle English largely unchanged, with only minor spelling variations.

The overall trend was the gradual abolition of the now useless distinctions between the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases. It was word order which now defined the meaning in a sentence, instead of the case ending of the pronoun.

5. Pronounciation:

Generally, all letters in Middle English words were pronounced. Which means that pronunciation is no longer closely reflected by the written form because of fixed spelling constraints imposed by the invention of dictionaries and printing.)

In earlier Middle English all written vowels were pronounced. By Chaucer's time, however, the final e had become silent in normal speech, but could optionally be pronounced in verse as the meter required (but was normally silent when the next word began with a vowel). Chaucer followed these conventions.: -e is silent in 'kowthe' and 'Thanne', but is pronounced in 'straunge', 'ferne', 'ende', etc.

6. Chancery Standard was:

- A written form of English used by government bureaucracy for official purposes, from the late 14th century, largely based on the London and East Midland dialect.

-It contributed in a significant way to the development of the English language as spoken and written today.

7. It was written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century

8. Characters from all classes, upper and lower, religious such as aprioress, monk and a Pardoner, a shipman, miller, carpenter, reeve, squire, yeoman and a knight, among others.

9. They set out on a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury to pay their respects to the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Catherdaral.

10. The Decameron (subtitle: Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccacio.

11. We think, it is important for the following points:

First: It was written in the 14th century, in Middle English, between the Norman invasion of 1066 and about 1470, when the CHANCERY STANDARD, began to become widespread.

Second: It is considered a Magnum opus, mainly for their literary contribution.

third: It was written by the father of English Language, a person who shape the Native Language.

Finally: It is an old collection of tales that shows us: Which were the society's values, how people lived, how they spoke and wrote.

12. A detailed explanation of the behaviour for all knights in Medieval Europe.

13. He is a King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development.

14. The green knight asked for someone in the court to strike him once with his axe, on condition that he will return the blow one year and one day later.

15. They were written in middle english and each one tell about folks and Mythological tales, aventures, heroes, nobles, kings, games, challenges, simbols which represents abtract ideas and values such as weakness and strength.

16. The pentangle, represent Gawain's virtues. The pentagle on Gawain's shield is seen by many critics as signifying Gawain's perfection and power over evil. Many poets use the symbol of the circle to show infinity or endlessness.

17. For example, three kisses are exchanged between Gawain and Bertilak's wife; Gawain is tempted by her on three separate days; Bertilak goes hunting three times, and the Green Knight swings at Gawain three times with his axe. The number two also appears repeatedly, two confession scenes, and two castles.

16. The five points of the pentangle, represent Gawain's virtues, "faithful five ways and five times each".

18. To separate reasoning from courage. By accepting the girdle from the lady, he employs reason to do something less than courageous (he evaded death in a dishonest way). Gawain's wound is thus an outward sign of an internal wound.

19. A television and movie actor, Miles O'Keeffe.

20. We could compare it with: "La Quintrala", "Los grandes Heroes de la Historia de Chile" and "Los Pincheira" soap operas.