Begin | End | Event | Description | Keywords | Related Events |
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1066 | 1154 |
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As a result of the Norman Conquest, French became the official language of government. Though English survived, it was heavily influenced and adopted a large amount of French vocabulary. The influence happened on a higher register, in the language of government, medicine, fashion, aristocracy, art and education. There is a division between Norman French and Central French because the Normans spoke a dialect of French that has same regular phonetic differences to Central French. These can be observed in these doublets:
Norman French also had a slightly different vocabulary, as the language had previously been influenced by Old Norse. Words that came into English via Norman French from Old Norse are for example jolly or target. |
Linguistics, Language Contact, Middle English Period, Norman Conquest |