The Anglo-Norman Language and Its Contexts

The Anglo-Norman Language and Its Contexts
Author: Richard Ingham
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2010
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1903153301

Collection examining the Anglo-Norman language in a variety of texts and contexts, in military, legal, literary and other forms.

The Transmission of Anglo-Norman

The Transmission of Anglo-Norman
Author: Richard P. Ingham
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2012-10-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027273340

This investigation contributes to issues in the study of second language transmission by considering the well-documented historical case of Anglo-Norman. Within a few generations of the establishment of this variety, its phonology diverged sharply from that of continental French, yet core syntactic distinctions continued to be reliably transmitted. The dissociation of phonology from syntax transmission is related to the age of exposure to the language in the experience of ordinary users of the language. The input provided to children acquiring language in a naturalistic communicative setting, even though one of a school institution, enabled them to acquire target-like syntactic properties of the inherited variety. In addition, it allowed change to take place along the lines of transmission by incrementation. A linguistic environment combining the ‘here-and-now’ aspects of ordinary first language acquisition with the growing cognitive complexity of an educational meta-language appears to have been adequate for this variety to be transmitted as a viable entity that encoded the public life of England for centuries.

Language and Culture in Medieval Britain

Language and Culture in Medieval Britain
Author: Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2013
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1903153476

The essays in this volume form a new cultural history focused round, but not confined to, the presence and interactions of francophone speakers, writers, readers, texts and documents in England from the 11th to the later 15th century.

Imagining Medieval English

Imagining Medieval English
Author: Tim William Machan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2016-01-25
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1107058597

Imagining Medieval English is concerned with how we think about language, and simply through the process of thinking about it, give substance to an array of phenomena, including grammar, usage, variation, change, regional dialects, sociolects, registers, periodization, and even language itself. Leading scholars in the field explore conventional conceptualisations of medieval English, and consider possible alternatives and their implications for cultural as well as linguistic history. They explore not only the language's structural traits, but also the sociolinguistic and theoretical expectations that frame them and make them real. Spanning the period from 500 to 1500 and drawing on a wide range of examples, the chapters discuss topics such as medieval multilingualism, colloquial medieval English, standard and regional varieties, and the post-medieval reception of Old and Middle English. Together, they argue that what medieval English is, depends, in part, on who's looking at it, how, when and why.

English as a Contact Language

English as a Contact Language
Author: Daniel Schreier
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2013-01-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139619268

Recent developments in contact linguistics suggest considerable overlap of branches such as historical linguistics, variationist sociolinguistics, pidgin/creole linguistics, language acquisition, etc. This book highlights the complexity of contact-induced language change throughout the history of English by bringing together cutting-edge research from these fields. Special focus is on recent debates surrounding substratal influence in earlier forms of English (particularly Celtic influence in Old English), on language shift processes (the formation of Irish and overseas varieties) but also on dialects in contact, the contact origins of Standard English, the notion of new epicentres in World English, the role of children and adults in language change as well as transfer and language learning. With contributions from leading experts, the book offers fresh and exciting perspectives for research and is at the same time an up-to-date overview of the state of the art in the respective fields.

Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles

Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles
Author: John Spence
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 190315345X

The medieval Anglo-Norman prose chronicles are fascinating hybrids of history, legends and romance. Their prime subject is the history of England, but they also shed much light on other networks of influence, such as those between families and religious houses. This book studies the essential characteristics of the genre for the first time, situating Anglo-Norman prose chronicles within the multilingual cultures of late medieval England. It considers the chronicles' treatment of the ""legendary history of Britain"", legends about English heroes, accounts of the Norman Conquest, and histories o.

An Anglo-Norman Reader

An Anglo-Norman Reader
Author: Jane Bliss
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 1044
Release: 2018-02-08
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1783743166

This book is an anthology with a difference. It presents a distinctive variety of Anglo-Norman works, beginning in the twelfth century and ending in the nineteenth, covering a broad range of genres and writers, introduced in a lively and thought-provoking way. Facing-page translations, into accessible and engaging modern English, are provided throughout, bringing these texts to life for a contemporary audience. The collection offers a selection of fascinating passages, and whole texts, many of which are not anthologised or translated anywhere else. It explores little-known byways of Arthurian legend and stories of real-life crime and punishment; women’s voices tell history, write letters, berate pagans; advice is offered on how to win friends and influence people, how to cure people’s ailments and how to keep clear of the law; and stories from the Bible are retold with commentary, together with guidance on prayer and confession. Each text is introduced and elucidated with notes and full references, and the material is divided into three main sections: Story (a variety of narrative forms), Miscellany (including letters, law and medicine, and other non-fiction), and Religious (saints' lives, sermons, Bible commentary, and prayers). Passages in one genre have been chosen so as to reflect themes or stories that appear in another, so that the book can be enjoyed as a collection or used as a resource to dip into for selected texts. This anthology is essential reading for students and scholars of Anglo-Norman and medieval literature and culture. Wide-ranging and fully referenced, it can be used as a springboard for further study or relished in its own right by readers interested to discover Anglo-Norman literature that was written to amuse, instruct, entertain, or admonish medieval audiences.

Petitions and Strategies of Persuasion in the Middle Ages

Petitions and Strategies of Persuasion in the Middle Ages
Author: Thomas W. Smith
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 1903153832

Introduction : Medieval petitions and strategies of persuasion / Thomas W. Smith, Helen Killick -- Blood, brains and bay-windows : the use of English in fifteenth-century parliamentary petitions / Gwilyn Dodd -- Petitoners for royal pardon in fourteenth-century England / Helen Lacey -- The scribes of petitions in late-medieval England / Helen Killick -- Patterns of supplication and litigation strategies : petitioning the crown in the fourteenth century / Petitions of conflict : the bishop of Durham and forfeitures of war, 1317-1333 / Matthew Phillips -- A tale of two abbots : petitions for the recovery of churches in England by the abbots of Jedburgh and Arbroath in 1328 / Shelagh Sneddon -- 'By force and arms' : lay invasion, the writ "de vi laica amovenda" and the tensions of state and church in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries / Philippa M. Hoskin -- The papacy, petitioners and benefices in thirteenth-century England / Thomas W. Smith -- Playing the system : marriage litigation in the fourteenth century / Frederik Pedersen -- Killer clergy : how did clerics justify homicide in petitions to the Apostolic penitentary in the Late Middle Ages? / Kirsi Salonen.

The Legend of Charlemagne in Medieval England

The Legend of Charlemagne in Medieval England
Author: Phillipa Hardman
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 1843844729

The first full-length examination of the medieval Charlemagne tradition in the literature and culture of medieval England, from the Chanson de Roland to Caxton. The Matter of France, the legendary history of Charlemagne, had a central but now largely unrecognised place in the multilingual culture of medieval England. From the early claim in the Chanson de Roland that Charlemagne held England as his personal domain, to the later proliferation of Middle English romances of Charlemagne, the materials are woven into the insular political and cultural imagination. However, unlike the wide range of continental French romances, the insular tradition concentrates on stories of a few heroic characters: Roland, Fierabras, Otinel. Why did writers and audiences in England turn again and again to these narratives, rewriting and reinterpreting them for more than two hundred years? This book offers the first full-length, in-depth study of the tradition as manifested in literature and culture. It investigates the currency and impact of the Matter of France with equal attention to English and French-language texts, setting each individual manuscript or early printed text in its contemporary cultural and political context. The narratives are revealed to be extraordinarily adaptable, using the iconic opposition between Carolingian and Saracen heroes to reflect concerns with national politics, religious identity, the future of Christendom, chivalry and ethics, and monarchy and treason. PHILLIPA HARDMAN is Readerin Medieval English Literature (retired) at the University of Reading; MARIANNE AILES is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Bristol.

Studies in Language Variation and Change 2

Studies in Language Variation and Change 2
Author: Catherine Delesse
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2018-06-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1527512231

This collection of eleven essays traces the complex paths of change taken by the English language in its long history, from its Indo-European origins to the present day. Just like any other language, English is a complex system made up of several interconnected sub-systems – lexical, syntactical, phonological, morphological – and all of those sub-systems are subject to change, resulting in constant shifts and readjustments. Additionally, more than some other languages, English has a history marked by strong upheavals, particularly with the influence of Scandinavian and Romance languages in the Middle Ages. The contributions here consider all aspects of that complex history, with four of them taking a particular interest in the issues brought about by language contact with French and Latin.