The name given to the English language in its stage of development between Old English and Early Modern English. It is debatable when the Middle English phase actually began and ended. Crystal (1995) brackets the period between the dates 1066 and the mid-fifteenth century though other accounts suggest significantly later dates; for example, the 1154 continuation of The Peterborough Chronicle may be regarded as a marker of the start of the period which is sometimes seen to extend into the sixteenth century. Burnley distinguishes 'early' (1100 - 1300) from 'later' (1300 - 1500) Middle English and the texts contained in Auchinleck, which originate from the decades either side of 1300, are important to understanding this transition. At the beginnings of Middle English, changes from Old English are detectable at all linguistic levels and include simplification of the inflexional system. At its end, Middle English may be seen to give way to greater standardisation during the period when printing became established. See: ME.
English from about 1100 to 1450
The form of English spoken approximately from 1150 - 1450. Before 1150 English was highly inflected (with special endings for noun and adjective cases and for verb endings). The English spoken from about 500 - 1150 is called Old English; Modern English began to be spoken and written between 1450 and 1500.
English as it was spoken and written in the later middle ages, particularly as established around the 14th century
The term for the indigenous language of England between 1066 and c 1475-1500, descended from Old English and coexisting alongside Medieval Latin and Anglo-Norman. Spoken throughout the period, Middle English occurred in texts sporadically at first, and then increasingly replaced first Anglo-Norman and then Medieval Latin. The Middle English of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales represents London English c 1400, but by the 1430s a national written standard was emerging (Wakelin 1988 p 85).
Historical stage of English spoken, written, and sung in England from 1100-1500. Major changes from OE are reduction of inflections and large borrowings in the lexicon from French and Latin.
The written and spoken language of England from the beginning of the 12th Century to approx. 1500. The most important writer of the period being Chaucer.
Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William Caxton in the 1470s, and slightly later by Richard Pynson. By this time the Northumbrian dialect spoken in south east Scotland was developing into the Scots language. The language of England as spoken after this time, up to 1650, is known as Early Modern English.
