Lexical change in medieval Englisha Sociolinguistic approach to Diachrony

Abstract

Though this may not be a very fortunate reivindication these days, it is clear that the study of the History of English enables us to understand present-day phenomena. History in general and the history of languages in particular are intimately related to change and cannot exist without it. This paper is concerned with lexical change in English during the Middle Ages and the role that language contact may have played in it so that some present-day aspects of the language may be better understood in the light of past events. I will first present some basic notions related to language change and offer a revision of how today’s research techniques may be applied to history. I will later on focus on the particular case of the Scandinavians in England in the Middle Ages and section four will picture the linguistic situation of England at that time. By examining the different processes by which borrowing may occur, I will try to depict how this could have affected Middle English.