Middle English
E2049
Middle English is the historical stage of the English language spoken and written roughly between the late 11th and late 15th centuries, exemplified by works like Chaucer’s "Canterbury Tales."
All labels observed (17)
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
West Germanic language variety
ⓘ
historical language stage ⓘ stage of the English language ⓘ |
| developedFrom | Old English ⓘ |
| endTime | late 15th century ⓘ |
| follows | Old English ⓘ |
| hasDialect |
Middle English
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
East Midlands Middle English
Middle English self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Kentish Middle English
Middle English self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Northern Middle English
Middle English self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Southern Middle English
Middle English self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
West Midlands Middle English
|
| hasFeature |
development of periphrastic verb forms
ⓘ
emergence of do-support in some constructions ⓘ extensive borrowing of French vocabulary ⓘ gradual reduction of grammatical gender ⓘ great dialectal variation ⓘ increased use of fixed word order ⓘ loss of most Old English inflectional endings ⓘ use of thorn and yogh in early orthography ⓘ |
| hasNotableAuthor |
Geoffrey Chaucer
ⓘ
John Gower ⓘ The Gawain Poet ⓘ Thomas Malory ⓘ William Langland ⓘ |
| hasNotableWork |
Ancrene Wisse
ⓘ
Piers Plowman ⓘ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ⓘ Geoffrey Chaucer ⓘ
surface form:
The Canterbury Tales
The Owl and the Nightingale ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Anglo-Norman
ⓘ
Latin ⓘ Normans ⓘ
surface form:
Norman French
Norse ⓘ
surface form:
Old Norse
|
| languageFamily |
Germanic languages
ⓘ
Indo-European languages ⓘ West Germanic languages ⓘ |
| precedes |
Early Modern period
ⓘ
surface form:
Early Modern English
|
| spokenIn |
England
ⓘ
Ireland ⓘ parts of Scotland ⓘ parts of Wales ⓘ |
| standardizationCenter |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| standardizationInfluence |
Middle English
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Chancery English
|
| startTime | late 11th century ⓘ |
| underwent | Great Vowel Shift (late phase) ⓘ |
| usedFor |
administration
ⓘ
legal documents ⓘ literature ⓘ religious texts ⓘ |
| writingSystem | Latin alphabet ⓘ |
Referenced by (247)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Northern Middle English
this entity surface form:
East Midlands Middle English
this entity surface form:
West Midlands Middle English
this entity surface form:
Southern Middle English
this entity surface form:
Kentish Middle English
this entity surface form:
Chancery English
this entity surface form:
Early Middle English
this entity surface form:
Middle English literature
this entity surface form:
Middle English literature
this entity surface form:
Middle English literature
this entity surface form:
Northern Middle English
this entity surface form:
Middle English period
this entity surface form:
Middle English literature
this entity surface form:
Middle English period
subject surface form:
Joan of the Tower