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SUMMARY:The transmission of French in pre-modern England: bilingualism\, c
 ontact and death - Dr Richard P. Ingham\,   Birmingham City University
DTSTART:20091022T170000Z
DTEND:20091022T181500Z
UID:TALK19621@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Professor Mari Jones
DESCRIPTION:The important role played by Anglo-Norman in the linguistic hi
 story of England has always been recognized\, though researchers’ interp
 retations of how extensively it was spoken have varied sharply (Suggett 19
 43\, Berndt 1972\, Rothwell 1976\, Legge 1980).  A broad consensus sees it
 s demise in the late mediaeval period as linked to a loss of native speake
 rs and attempts to support this analysis by referring to qualitative chang
 es showing the influence of English (see Kibbee 1991 and references therei
 n).  In this study we consider whether the very extensive textual record o
 f insular French after 1250 supports conventional expectations of the effe
 cts of language contact (Winford 2003\, Clyne 2003)\, attrition and death 
 (Dorian 1981\, Maher 1991\, Rottet 2001).  Focusing mainly on grammatical 
 category distinctions\, it is shown that tense\, conjugation class\, prono
 un type and noun gender syncretism remain marginal until the late 14th cen
 tury\, once phonological interference is accounted for.  Up to that point\
 , this appears more compatible with a contact situation via bilingualism t
 han with language death.  Wholesale loss of grammatical distinctions is no
 t found until Law French subsequent to 1450.  The onset of formal instruct
 ion in French around the beginning of the 15th century had little effect o
 n the outcome.  The issue is discussed of how far documentary records of p
 ast languages can be used as evidence of language maintenance or loss.\n
LOCATION:Henry Cavendish Room\, Peterhouse
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