ANGLO-FRANCO CONTATO DE LÍNGUAS: A INFLUÊNCIA LINGUÍSTICA DA CONQUISTA NORMANDA NA LÍNGUA INGLESA

ANGLO-FRANCO LANGUAGE CONTACT: THE LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61389/sociodialeto.v14i41.8137

Keywords:

Contato de Línguas, Empréstimos do Francês-Normando, Língua Inglesa, Conquista Normanda

Abstract

The royal coat of arms motto of The United Kingdom, Dieu et mon droit (God and my right), is in French. This is because the Norman Conquest (1066) has changed English considerably through an influx of Norman-French borrowings. Therefore, the focus of this article is to describe the Norman Conquest, the Anglo-Franco language contact and its linguistic outcome during the Middle Ages, being the period of the main influx of Norman-French loanwords. Unfortunately, the Norman influence is underestimated, which will be analysed as well. To do so, English, French, Norman and its Norse connection and the rebirth of English will be examined. The research for this etymological article was conducted through a descriptive approach, which provides categorised examples, such as wordlists, for the reader’s comprehension. Concluded is, that the changed spelling and pronunciation of English has been responsible for underestimating the Norman-French impact on the English language. In addition, the Anglo-Norman language contact has made English a Germanic language with traces of a Romance language, which explains its accessibility to both Germanic and Romance language speakers. This way, English has become a língua franca, which has led in France to a law to avoid borrowings from English. Ironically, many borrowings were of Norman-French re-origin. Overall, this article may contribute to the acknowledgement of the Norman-French influence on English and that rivalry amongst languages is irrelevant as each language has its significance.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Antonius Gerardus Maria Poppelaars, PPGL-UFPB

Mestre em Letras pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação Strictu Senso em Letras (PPGL) da Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Graduado em Licenciatura em Letras Inglês pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba.

References

AGER, D. Identity, Insecurity and Image: France and language. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1999. 264 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800418103

AITCHISON, A. Language Change: Progress or Decay? Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 308 p.

BARBER, C. The English Language: a Historical Introduction. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press, 2009. 306 p.

BAUGH, C., CABLE, T. A History of the English Language. Fifth Edition. London: Routledge, 2002. 447 p.

CLARK J. Early English: an Introduction to Old and Middle English. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc, 1957. 176 p.

COVINGTON, M. Latin Pronunciation Demystified. In: Program in Linguistics University of Georgia. 2010, p 1-5. Retrieved from: https://pdf4pro.com/view/latin-pronunciation-demysti-ed-covington-1307c5.html. Accessed on: 6 jul. 2021.

CRYSTAL, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 505 p.

DURKIN, P. Borrowed Words: a History of Loanwords in English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 512 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574995.001.0001

EMERSON, R. H. English Spelling and Its Relation to Sound. American Speech, 72 (3), 1997, p. 260–288. Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/455654?seq=1. Accessed on: 8 jul. 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/455654

GRAHAM-CAMPBELL, J. The Viking World. London: Frances Lincoln, 2001. 208 p.

HARBERT, W. The Germanic Languages, Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 522 p.

HASPELMATH, M, TADMOR, U. (Eds.). World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 2009. Retrieved from: https://wold.clld.org/. Accessed on 29 jun 2021.

HERMAN, J. Vulgar Latin. Trans. Wright, R. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. 144 p.

JENKINS, J. World Englishes: a Research Book for Students. Second edition. London: Routledge, 2010. 272 p.

KEY, J. Research Design in Occupational Education. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University, 2007. 88 p.

LAWLESS, L. Terms of Enrichment: How French Has Influenced English: Their Intertwined History, and Shared Words and Expressions. Updated version: November 4, 2019. Thoughtco.com. Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-french-has-influenced-english-1371255. Accessed on: 19 aug 2021.

LODGE, R. French, from Dialect to Standard. Abingdon: Psychology Press, 1993. 296 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203319994

McARTHUR, T. Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 712 p.

McCOLL-MILLAR, R. Contact: the Interaction of Closely Related Linguistic Varieties and the History of English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016. 224 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474409087.001.0001

MORRIS, M. The Norman Conquest: the Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England. New York: Pegasus Books LLC, 2012. 464 p.

POTTER, S. Our Language. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd, 1950. 202 p.

PYLES, T, ALGEO, J. Origins and Development of the English Language. Fourth edition. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1993. 381 p.

ROTHWELL, W. The Missing link in English etymology: Anglo-French. Medium Aevum, nº. 60, 1991, p. 173–96. Retrieved from: https://aevum.space/60/2. Accessed on: 17 aug 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/43632563

SAWYER, P. Scandinavians and the English in the Viking Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 24 p.

SHORT, I. Language and Literature. In: HARPER-BILL. C., HOUTS, Van E. (Eds.). A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World. Woodbridge, Suffolf: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2007. p. 191-215.

SMITH, N, BERGIN, T. An Old Provençal Primer. New York: Garland, 1984. 373 p.

THOMASON, S. Language Contact: an Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 2001). 310 p.

TROTTER, D. Language Contact, Multilingualism, and the Evidence Problem. In: SCHAEFER, U. The Beginnings of Standardization: Language and Culture in Fourteenth-century England. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2006. p. 73–90.

WILEY, H. The English Language: How the French Normans Changed its Trajectory through the Onset of the Battle of Hastings. History Capstone Research Papers, nr. 7. Spring 4-26-2018, p. 1-32. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/history_capstones/7. Accessed on: 19 sep. 2021.

Published

2025-07-10

How to Cite

Poppelaars, A. G. M. (2025). ANGLO-FRANCO CONTATO DE LÍNGUAS: A INFLUÊNCIA LINGUÍSTICA DA CONQUISTA NORMANDA NA LÍNGUA INGLESA: ANGLO-FRANCO LANGUAGE CONTACT: THE LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. WEB REVISTA SOCIODIALETO, 14(41), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.61389/sociodialeto.v14i41.8137