Josel Caraballe & Marielle Ann Oruga Midterm Exam Essay

History of the English Language (TTH 5:30-7:00PM)

Levels of Assessment
Criteria Inadequate=D Adequate=C Above Average=B Exemplary=A
(Below Standard) (Meets Standard) (Exceeds Standard) (Far Exceeds Standard)

Organization (10 pts.) Writing lacks logical Writing is coherent and Writing is coherent and Writing shows high degree of attention
organization. It shows logically organized. Some logically organized with to logic and reasoning of points. Unity
some coherence but ideas points remain misplaced and transitions used between clearly leads the reader to the
lack unity. Serious errors. stray from the topic. ideas and paragraphs to create conclusion and stirs thought regarding
Transitions evident but not coherence. Overall unity of the topic.
used throughout essay. ideas is present.

Level of Content (10 pts.) Shows some thinking and Content indicates thinking and Content indicates original Content indicates synthesis of ideas,
reasoning but most ideas are reasoning applied with thinking and develops ideas indepth analysis and evidences original
underdeveloped and original thought on a few with sufficient and firm thought and support for the topic.
unoriginal. ideas. evidence.

Development (10 pts.) Main points lack detailed Main points are present Main points well developed Main points well developed with high
development. Ideas are with limited detail and with quality supporting details quality and quantity support. Reveals
vague with little evidence of development. Some critical and quantity. Critical high degree of critical thinking.
critical thinking. thinking is present. thinking is weaved into points

Grammar & Mechanics (10 Spelling, punctuation, and Most spelling, punctuation, Essay has few spelling, Essay is free of distracting spelling,
pts.) grammatical errors create and grammar correct allowing punctuation, and grammatical punctuation, and grammatical errors;
distraction, making reading reader to progress though errors allowing reader to absent of fragments, comma splices, and
difficult; fragments, comma essay. Some errors remain. follow ideas clearly. Very few run-ons.
splices, run-ons evident. fragments or run-ons.
Errors are frequent.

Style (10 pts.) Mostly in elementary form Approaches college level Attains college level style; Shows outstanding style going beyond
with little or no variety in usage of some variety in tone is appropriate and usual college level; rhetorical devices
sentence structure, diction, sentence patterns, diction, and rhetorical devices used to and tone used effectively; creative use
rhetorical devices or rhetorical devices. enhance content; sentence of sentence structure and coordination
emphasis. variety used effectively.
Josel Caraballe & Marielle Ann Oruga Midterm Exam Essay
History of the English Language (TTH 5:30-7:00PM)

Linguistic Influence of Norman-French on the English Language

An award-winning author by the name Russell Hoban once said, “language is an

archaeological vehicle… the language we speak is a whole palimpsest of human effort and
history,” The languages we use in our writings and conversations are gradually being molded by
time. The English language is not any different.
So, how did the English language become what it is today? The history of the British
Isles reveals that English is a product of the changes in the society mixed with foreign
influences. Citing Tabari (n.d.), “Foreign influences on English are so great that they have
changed English from an almost pure language to a completely mixed one. The language which
has had the most penetrating influence on English is French.” Thus, this paper will focus on the
linguistic influence of Norman-French on the English Language.
The history of the Norman Conquest should be briefly discussed to help explain the
linguistic influence of Norman-French. The Norman Conquest started when William, the Duke
of Normandy invaded the British Isles and was crowned as king of England (Tabari, n.d.). Citing
Alkazwini (2016) who quoted Freeman (1987;322):
…the murdering of Anglo-Saxon nobility was the result of the first change, The second
change was in the social life. The feudal system introduced new classes and social
groups. The distinction between the people who spoke French and others who spoke
English in this period was not only ethnical but was also social. English remained the
language of the common people. (p.143)
For instance, as cited on KryssTal: Borrowed Words by Language (n.d.), animal names
such as cow, sheep, and pig stayed in Old English while names of meats were changed to French
like beef, mutton, and pork. The meats, which according to Fiddes (1990) is a symbol of
affluence in Western culture unlike the lowlife animals, mirrors the affluence and higher
distinction of the Norman-French in contrast to Old English.
The Norman-French successfully influenced the English language because of many
reasons. The Normans lasted longer than that of the Danes, “the Normans became the masters of
England and they remained masters for a sufficiently long time to leave impress on the
language” (Shamari, n.d., p.123). Second reason is that according to Tabari (n.d.), “after the
conquest, the ruling classes, their servants and the bishops were Normans.” This leads for words
related to the government such as crown, state, government, reign, sovereign, and more are fruits
of this influence. Words such as prince, duke, marquis, baron, viscount, and peer which are
words representing a noble rank are loaned from Norman-French. Words related to war and law
like battle, armor, admiral, siege, danger, enemy, plea, justice, judge, crime, and more are also
borrowed. Words related to art such as art, beauty, color, image, figure, design, and ornament
also springs from Norman-French (Shamari, n.d., pp.123-124). It is very noticeable that Norman-
French influence on English exudes nobility or higher class, “the long list of words which is
Josel Caraballe & Marielle Ann Oruga Midterm Exam Essay
History of the English Language (TTH 5:30-7:00PM)

mentioned above indicates the fact that French was the rich, powerful, and refined class in the
English society” (Shamari, n.d., p.124). According to Tabari (n.d.), at that time, the English
lower classes borrowed interjections and exclamations from French words like alas, sure, a dieu,
verrai (very).
Not only is the English vocabulary influenced by the Norman Conquest, but also it
influences its word formation:
With increased French influence on common speech, formation of new words with
French roots or affixes became common. For example, the word hindrance resulted from
a combination of the Old English verb hinder and the French suffix -ance, used in the
construction of nouns. Thus, the merging of an English verb and a French suffix formed
a new word entirely. In addition, English words are occasionally formed entirely from
French, as in the word coverage, a combination of the French word cover and the French
suffix -age. (Baker, 2016, pp.46-47)
Norman-French affixes also made their way in English. Tabari (n.d.) lists French prefixes
such con-, de-, dis-, ex-, pre-, en-, pro-, and trans- and French suffixes like -ee, -ance, -ant,
-ation, -ment, -ism, -ity, -able, -al, -ous, -fy, and -ize. Tabari (n.d.) noted though that even the
French language borrowed some of its affixes from other foreign languages.
Norman-French also brought some changes in the spelling of words. As stated by Tabari
(n.d.), /v/ and /z/ became separate phonemes and French diphthongs /!i/ and /ui/ were adopted.
Alkazwini (2016) wrote in his journal article, “The diphthongs th, uu (or vv) and sh were also
developed in the ME period by the Normans. They also caused the ‘distinctive’ letters such as
thorn, eth and wynn to vanish.” The same source stated that the Normans introduced the
symbol /g/ to represent Old English [ʒ]. Furthermore, “the letter f that changed to v for voiced
sounds, as in driven as opposed to drifen”. KryssTal: Borrowed Words by Language (n.d.)
mentioned that it was the Normans who introduced the qu spelling for words pronounced as /kw/
like question and queen.
In conclusion, according to Tabari (n.d.), “The breadth of the French influence on the
English language was so great that it has altered the English vocabulary to the extent that half of
its vocabulary is French.” After the invasion of William, the Duke of Normandy, the English
began to gradually transform and integrate Norman-French which resulted to loan words, new
affixes, new word formations, and changes on the spelling of Old English words. It is such a
wonder that the English words that we commonly used today are actually influenced by the
Norman Conquest.
Josel Caraballe & Marielle Ann Oruga Midterm Exam Essay
History of the English Language (TTH 5:30-7:00PM)

References
Alkazwini, A. A. (2016, June 23). The Linguistic Influence of the Norman Conquest (11th Century) on the
English Language. Retrieved from Macrothink Institute: International Journal of Linguistics:
https://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ijl/article/view/9526/7843

Baker, C. (2016). The Effects of the Norman Conquest on the English Language. Retrieved from Tenor of
Our Times: https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=tenor

Fiddes, N. (1990). Meat: A Natural Symbol. Retrieved from Edinburgh Research Archive:
https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/19741

Shamari, A. A. (n.d.). The Influence of the Norman Conquest on English. Retrieved from Iraqi Academic
Scientific Journals: https://www.iasj.net/iasj/download/8e0cef278a09d6d2

Tabari, T. A. (n.d.). The French Influence on The English Language. Retrieved from
http://ensani.ir/file/download/article/20110215105551-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%AB%D9%8A
%D8%B1%20%D8%B2%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86%20%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B
3%D9%87.pdf

The English Language: Borrowed Words From Norman French. (n.d.). Retrieved from Krysstal:
http://www.krysstal.com/display_borrowlang.php?lang=Norman%20French