LL-L "Language varieties" 2011.05.12 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 12 May 2011 - Volume 01
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 From: Paul Finlow-Bates wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2011.05.11 (01) [EN]

The end of Late OE is rarely assigned to 1066 now.  That is obviously a
milestone date but the language 35 years later would have differed little
for most people, even if French borrowings began to creep in. The OE period
is usally abitrarily assigned ot the 12thC.

It is far more likely that the written Englisc of the mid-late 11thC was
already archaic compared to the spoken forms, being a standard Wessex
dialect in most cases.

I believe a comparative case can be seen in South Africa, where Afrikaans
evolved but writing continued to be in Dutch for generations.  If we didn't
know better, the sudden emegence of written Afrikaans would give the
impression that the speech changed almost overnight.

Paul

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 From: Marcus Buck list at marcusbuck.org
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2011.05.11 (01) [EN]

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

                            Subject: Language varieties

Hi, Lowlanders!

So this is what the Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English>says:

The history of Old English can be subdivided in:

   - Prehistoric Old English (c. 450 to 650); for this period, Old English
   is mostly a reconstructed language as no literary witnesses survive (with
   the exception of limited epigraphic evidence).
   - Early Old English (ca. 650 to 900), the period of the oldest manuscript
   traditions, with authors such as Cædmon, Bede, Cynewulf and Aldhelm.
   - Late Old English (c. 900 to 1066), the final stage of the language
   leading up to the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent transition
   to Early Middle English.

 The Old English period is followed by Middle English (12th to 15th
century), Early Modern English (ca. 1480 to 1650) and finally Modern English
(after 1650).

This leaves a gap of minimally 35 years between the supposed end of the Old
English period and the beginning of the Middle English period. What is that
then? "Transitional"?

Aside from this, I find it interesting that Old English and Old Saxon both
ended in the 12th century.

I guess this "gap" is not meant to squeeze a new period into it. The cesure
that ended Old English was the Norman conquest 1066. A sizable Middle
English literature only developed in the 12th century. The few documents
created in the time inbetween are probably too scarce to substantiate their
classification into either period. Are there even any at all? I looked on
English Wikisource and found none. Does anybody know any documents from that
period?

Obviously people do not change their language suddenly. Any date like "1066"
is somewhat arbitrary. So any year numbers should be taken with a big grain
of salt.

Marcus Buck

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