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."
Aliases (12)
- Middle English literature ×8
- Middle English period ×3
- Northern Middle English ×2
- Chancery English ×1
- Early Middle English ×1
- East Midlands Middle English ×1
- Kentish Middle English ×1
- Late Middle English ×1
- Middle English poetry ×1
- Middle English studies ×1
- Southern Middle English ×1
- West Midlands Middle English ×1
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
→
surface form: "East Midlands Middle English"
Middle English →
surface form: "Kentish Middle English"
Middle English →
surface form: "Northern Middle English"
Middle English →
surface form: "Southern Middle English"
Middle English →
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
→
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 (91)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form: "Early Middle English"
this entity surface form: "Northern Middle English"
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"
subject surface form: "Joan of the Tower"
this entity surface form: "Late 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: "Middle English period"
this entity surface form: "Middle English literature"
subject surface form: "Pearl (poem)"
this entity surface form: "Middle English literature"
this entity surface form: "Middle English literature"
this entity surface form: "Middle English period"
this entity surface form: "Middle English literature"
this entity surface form: "Middle English poetry"
this entity surface form: "Middle English period"
this entity surface form: "Chancery English"
this entity surface form: "Middle English studies"