IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 1528: From Old English to Middle English, I: New Studies of the Major Changes
Thursday 9 July 2020, 09.00-10.30
| Organisers: | Mark J. Faulkner, School of English Literature, Language & Linguistics, University of Sheffield Rachel Fletcher, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Roderick McDonald, Independent Scholar, Sheffield |
| Paper 1528-a | Morphological Simplification in the Late Northumbrian Dialect: The Case of Weak Verbs Class II (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Middle English |
| Paper 1528-b | The Emergence of a Syntactic Obligatory Article System in Middle English: Everything Took Place in the Middle English Period (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Middle English |
| Paper 1528-c | The Semantics of the Middle English Perfect (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Middle English |
| Abstract | The transition from Old to Middle English in the course of the long 12th century (c. 1050-1225) has been described as 'the most dramatic change in the English language', yet also as 'the textual 'black hole'’ in its history. This is the first of three sessions examining language on the border between Old and Middle English. These papers re-examine some major developments that have been felt to divide Middle English from Old English: a new tense system making more extensive use of the periphrastic perfect, innovations in the article system, and the simplification of the system of weak verbs. |