#  Middle English 

 



 ![Middle English](/sites/g/files/omnuum3471/files/cb45/files/middle_english.jpg)

 

Sort[KEYTERMS](/pages/key-terms-middle-english "Key Terms for Middle English")

1. A set of key terms for the study of Middle English.

[LISTEN TO CHAUCER!](http://www.sd-editions.com/CantApp/GP/)

2. Explore [CantApp: The General Prologue. An edition in an App](http://www.sd-editions.com/CantApp/GP/) and listen to the first lines of Chaucer's *Canterbury Tales*. Edited by Richard North, Barbara Bordalejo, Terry Jones, and Peter Robinson. Scholarly Digital Editions, Saskatoon, 2020.

[PRONUNCIATION AND ORTHOGRAPHY](https://cb45.hsites.harvard.edu/resource/middle-english-orthography-and-pronunciation-0)

3\. Three activities showing the correspondence between the spelling and pronunciation of Middle English. Please read the corresponding pages in our textbook before beginning.

A. An exercise that asks you to identify vowels by their description

B. try reading an excerpt of the Middle English translation of the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis

C. Learn the basic pronunciations of the consonants and vowels, including the final -*e*.



[MORE PRONUNCIATION](/pages/middle-english-pronunciation "Middle English Pronunciation")

4. An audio player that allows you to read the fourteenth-century prose *Brut* while listening to it being read in period pronunciation.

NERDING OUT  
[LENGTHENING AND SHORTENING](/sites/g/files/omnuum3471/files/cb45/files/lengthening-shortening2.pdf "lengthening-shortening2.pdf")

5. An important set of sound changes in Middle English affected certain vowels. Some short vowels became long, and some long vowels became short. Learn why the *i* of *wild* is different from the same vowel in *wilderness*. Why *sleep* but *slept*?

[SYNTAX](/pages/middle-english-syntax "Middle English Syntax")

5. An exercise in pdf format on Middle English syntax using the Middle English Tower of Babel passage.

[VERB ENDINGS](https://cb45.hsites.harvard.edu/resource/middle-english-verb-endings)

6. This exercise asks you to conjugate two verbs from the [Wycliffite Tower of Babel passage](https://cb45.hsites.harvard.edu/resource/middle-english-orthography-and-pronunciation-0), and to answer some questions about those verbs. Print out the PDF exercise on Middle English verbs, complete it, and bring it to section.  You can ignore the subjunctive*.*

[FRENCH BORROWINGS INTO ENGLISH](/french-borrowing-instructions-oed "French Borrowing instructions for the OED")

7. What was the rate of borrowing from French into English? First view the video, which gives some explanation and background information and instructions on using the OED Advanced Search options. Then answer some questions and do some more exploring.

NERDING OUT  
[DIALECT MAP](/pages/dialect-map "Dialect Map")

8. An exercise that explores the geography of Middle English dialects. Complete the included dialect identification activity using the Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English.





Note: for any exercise that asks you to write out something, bring your written work to section.