What caused English eventually to triumph and French to be eliminated from use in England?

Answer 1

For about 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and their high nobility spoke only a variety of French called Anglo-Norman. English continued to be the language of the common people. Various contemporary sources suggest that within fifty years of the invasion most of the Normans outside the royal court had switched to English, with French remaining the prestige language of government and law largely out of social inertia.

English literature started to reappear ca 1200, when a changing political climate and the decline in Anglo-Norman made it more respectable. By the end of that century, even the royal court had switched to English. Anglo-Norman remained in use in limited circles somewhat longer, but it had ceased to be a living language.

Answer 2

I'd be interested to know what the contemporary sources are that make us think that only 50 years after the conquest everyone knew English again. Ranulphus Higden said of English in the 14th century that it hardly survived except amongst a few country people, (Poychronicon, ii,160, "in paucis adhuc agrestibus vix remansit".) This no doubt is an exaggeration! In fact we don't really have any evidence as far as I know as to when almost everyone spoke English again. In fact languages of an elite rarely displace the language of the people. In India tho all the educated know and many use English the vernacular languages show absolutely no sign of disappearing. Latin and Arabic eventually displaced other languages but the circumstances with these were exceptional. The Scandinavian Normans who conquered Normandy soon adopted the French the peasants spoke. English probably always remained the majority language although until 1200 or so all the ruling classes both lay and clerical all seem to have used mainly French. But in the reign of John (early 1200s) we lost Normandy and this perhaps led to the process whereby eventually by say the middle of the 14th century everyone spoke English again.But this would have happened eventually anyway and the dates all this happened are just conjectural. A parallel phenomenon is that until the 17th century the oi sound in English was oi as it is now, but it then changed in upper class speach to ay, so one said, "Shall we jayn the ladies?" But then in the 19th century say the new pronunciation faded out and oi which had carried on with the ordinary people reasserted itself.

Answer 3

French has never been eliminated from use in England, nor in any English speaking country. English is an amalgamated language, theoretically most closely related to the Germanic language group. However, with the series of conquests and the rule by Rome for centuries, the language of the original Britons has been influenced by languages from all parts of Europe, Africa, and the Near, Mid, and Far East. Thousands of words common in everyday English are derived or are used just as they are, from all Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian, etc.). So, in all actuality, French is an integral part of today's English, though few of us realize we're actually using words from French or derived from either French or Latin (the basis of all Romance languages).

Answer 4

I was going to agree with that - then I saw the source and thought it must be wrong in some way!

Nice answer and I agree that was the case!

Answer 5

never heard of that but i did hear that america was almost a hebrew speaking country- or was it german? anyway, it was one of the two. i was shocked to learn that.

Answer 6

"The long bow" those English Plucker's could shoot far and accurate.