The effects of this upon the English language was significant. Before the Norman conquest, Latin had been a minor influence on English, but at People Share Their “They Didn’t Realize I Spoke Their Language” Stories And They’re Hilarious. As a background, when the King of England, Edward the Confessor died, he named William, the Duke of Normandy, as King of England. The vast majority of the peasantry (95% of the population) however never had any such need:  the people they interacted with were not the nobles, but the people who oversaw the nobles’ lands, who continued to be primarily English speaking. struggle for the English throne. only by the Normans Some 10,000 French If everyday objects could talk, this is what they would say. changed in the English language. English had also recently sustained rather intense conflict with Scandinavians of various types and some but not all of these invaders had come to settle permanently in the Danelaw. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. French probably had high external prestige in comparison to English’s not inconsiderable (but by no means high) internal prestige. Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the words, beef and cow. Cost-benefit analysis:  is the language useful to create the kind of life one wants or needs to lead? English was the language of the poor and French of the elite. more common and unprestigious usages. In many ways, French became a high language and English was relegated to a low language almost as a diglossia situation. Probably the most regrettable effect of the conquest was the total eclipse of the English vernacular as the language of literature, law, and administration. After the conquest, English more or less completely lost its status as a chancellery language to French, but French was instead still competing with Latin as an alternative language in the domain of high literature. 4. Anglo Norman was instated as the language Sociolinguistically speaking, England was not entirely unlike the exploitative colonies of 19th-20th century Africa that Salikoko Mufwene has spent decades describing in which an interface class of overseers ran the government for the elites. In this case, many upper elites didn’t even spend much time in England, choosing rather to pursue petty feuds in France. But how did English survive the Norman Conquest? True to his name, William the Conqueror, invades England bringing new concepts from across the channel like the French language, the Doomsday Book, and the duty-free Galois' multipack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rench was the native language of a minority of This region was known as Northmannia, the land of the Northmen, later shortened to Normandy. This was not only because of conquest but also because most of the English nobility and leadership were killed in the Battle of Hastings. For most people, the cost of learning Hindi is too high despite its higher overall speaker-base. Duke of Normandy, language of the court, the administration, and culture. If Animals Could Speak, Here is What They Would Say. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! One famous German linguist of my acquaintance once told me that he feels uncomfortable talking about linguistics in German, his native language, because he simply never does it — the fact that he has little experience doing so means to start now would involve considerable effort on his part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