LUCL Colloquium 24 June 2011

Information

On Friday 24 June Laura Wright (University of Cambridge) will give a talk on "Language contact, variation and change in Medieval London business writing".

Abstract

This talk will be about codeswitching in medieval mixed-language business writing; that is, the systematic and rule-governed method of mixing either [Medieval Latin + Middle English] or [Anglo-Norman + Middle English] for business purposes as practiced in Britain from the time of the Norman Conquest until around the mid-fifteenth century. This system was in operation country-wide at a time when the Middle English dialects were not all mutually intelligible. We will look at the internal make-up of this text-type and track changes over time. In the early years of usage the languages were kept fairly distinct, so it makes sense to talk of codeswitching, but by the early fifteenth century the languages had become integrated to such a degree that it makes better sense to talk not of codeswitching but of a new system altogether. Crucially, we shall look at slides of manuscripts, because edited texts tend to expand the medieval abbreviations and suspensions, thereby altering the data in a way that hides the visual integration of the three languages. I shall suggest that the demise of the system is linked to the demise of the use of Anglo-Norman as a language acquired in youth.

Date, time and venue

Contact

The LUCL colloquium organising committee consists of:

• Ronny Boogaart

• Marion Elenbaas

• Jessie Nixon

Please email the organisers if you are interested in giving a brief presentation of your ongoing research for one of the future work-in-progress meetings.