|
|
|
-
In the early centuries the French borrowings were generally
introduced by native-speakers of (Anglo-Norman) French
-
In the later, the borrowings were introduced almost entirely
by speakers of (Parisian) French as a foreign language
-
The Parisian variety ultimately became the prestigious norm
-
Some words were borrowed twice – once relatively early on
from Anglo-Norman, and again some time later from Parisian
French
-
Overall, the impact of French on Middle English was much
greater than in the Old English period, both in quantity and
stylistic range
-
The words were entering English through both the written and
the spoken mediums, and at various stylistic levels within
each medium
-
Many loans were general in character, but some were
informal, and others were technical
-
Large numbers of terms related to restricted domains, such
as horse-riding, law, religion, politics, society, and
culture
-
In
every domain, the new vernacular displays the influence of its
linguistic predecessors
-
The
Germanic element in the English vocabulary was put in the shade
by a Romance lexical invasion of unprecedented proportions
-
By the end of the Middle English period around 30 percent of
English vocabulary is French in origin
|
|
 |
Copyrighted material |
 |
|
|
|
|
