LL-L "Morphology" 2009.07.21 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 21 July 2009 - Volume 01
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2009.07.20 (04) [EN]

The vast majority of English speakers couldn't read or write at all, and
knew little or no Latin (or French); conversely, many of those who could
write didn't use much English, if any.  I doubt therefore that the loss of
inflections in the Middle English period had much to do with written Latin.

A more likely explanation I've read was that Old Norse/Danish and Old Enlish
were pretty similar in terms of the root words, but had markedly different
inflected endings.  So if they spoke to each other in simplified root-word
form, understanding was a lot easier without the endings to muddy the
waters.

It is very likely that by the time of the Norman Conquest, inflections were
already well on their way out in the spoken language; their retention in
the written Wessex standard form was very likely already an anachronism.

Paul
Derby
England

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Morphology

Thanks, Paul.

It's an interesting hunch worth further investigation.

As you may remember, I'm a believer in the theory that spoken language
tended to change well before the corresponding written language when very
few people were literate. In such cases, scribes' errors might be
indications, and I wonder if anyone has ever noticed those in the Old
English of the Scandinavian period.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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