Essay Then and Now. The Language of Chaucers General...

Then and Now: Chaucer’s English in The Canterbury Tales:, General Prologue Veronica Perry ENGLISH 550 Professor: David Makhanlall October 6, 2013 The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer is over 600 years old, yet it is still being read and discussed today. What makes it still relevant? History, it gives us a record of Middle English and how it was used at the time. The primary challenge that most reader’s of Chaucer’s General Prologue experience is understanding the language. Although, Chaucer’s English is centuries old it is still recognizable. After studying the language, I noticed the main difference between Middle and Modern English is the†¦show more content†¦For example, Whan and When look similar except for the short vowel /a/ and /e/. The months April and March are spelled the same as modern spellings, so the reader may infer the sounds are the same. Therefore, the modern short vowel rule applies to Middle English as well. Droghte and drought are spelled similarly except for the vowels. The Etymology Dictionary defines droghte as dryness. So droghte and drought are synonyms. (Harper). P erced is also easy for the modern reader to decode. It is spelled nearly the same as pierce except the vowel /i/ is excluded from the Middle English spelling. However, there are passages that aren’t as easily understood. To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; (Chaucer) Modern English translation: Of far off saints, hallowed in sundry lands Here the Middle and Modern words don’t look the same and the word meanings differ as well. Modern English pronunciation reflects the Great Vowel Shift. The shift involved a regular movement of the places of articulation. Front vowels each moved up a notch, except for /i/: which formed a dipthong. Likewise the back vowels moved up, except for /u/, which formed another dipthong (Benson). Another important development that greatly affected Modern English is printing. 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