![]() While dialect variation has been a feature of spoken English throughout its history, the Middle English period was characterised by considerable variety in writing too. ![]() An important feature of the division between the Middle and the Early Modern periods was the emergence of a standard written variety of English. As the term “Middle” English implies, the period in which Chaucer wrote was one of considerable flux and change, in which the Old English spoken by the Anglo-Saxons (a language that resembles Modern German more closely than it does Modern English) was transformed into Early Modern English-a term that emphasizes its position as the foundation of the language spoken throughout the world today.Ĭhaucer wrote during the final decades of the fourteenth century hence, his language belongs to the later Middle English period. But, where Chaucer’s language may at first appear disordered, much of its apparent irregularity can be explained by reference to the language’s historical development. This is especially true for modern readers accustomed to the world of Standard English and the fixity of the printed book. To a modern reader turning to Chaucer’s work for the first time, the immediate impression is of considerable linguistic chaos and confusion. The history of the English language is traditionally divided into the following periods: Old English (650-1100), Middle English (1100-1500), Early Modern English (1500-1800), Late Modern English (1800-present day) (for a general overview see Horobin 2016). Chaucer’s Middle English Simon Horobin A reference chapter from The Open Access Companion to the Canterbury Tales (September 2017)
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