Social elements in the Norman French influence on English

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show the influence of Norman French on English after the Norman Conquest. The research is limited to vocabulary analysis as well as social changes that were introduced by William the Conqueror and made it possible for the influence to happen. The loss of the English nobility and William’s replacement of it with the French, resulted with a discrepancy in the language of the lower and higher class. While the lower class continued to speak English, the higher class spoke French and speaking it soon became a matter of prestige, but also a matter of necessity for the lower class as they had no other means to communicate with the nobility. This soon led to the appearance of bilingualism which enabled the transfer and borrowing of French vocabulary into English.

Keywords

• norman french
• middle english
• borrowings
• language influence
• history of the english language