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Middle English

Movement
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Poetry written in England between c. 1100–1500, characterized by alliterative verse, courtly romance, and works like The Canterbury Tales.

Detailed Definition
Middle English poetry (c.1100–1500) spans dialects and genres from Chaucer’s iambic pentameter tales to alliterative romances like "Sir Gawain"; it reflects linguistic transition, courtly and religious themes, and formal experimentation, laying groundwork for modern English prosody.
Example
Example in poetry:
Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” uses Middle English: “Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote”; William Langland’s “Piers Plowman” employs alliterative Middle English verse; The “Pearl” poet’s “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” uses Middle English alliterative meter; Julian of Norwich’s “Revelations of Divine Love” blends prose and verse in Middle English; John Gower’s “Confessio Amantis” uses Middle English for moral tales; Modern translations by Seamus Heaney (“Sir Gawain”) preserve Middle English rhythms.
Additional Notes
English language stage between Old English and Modern English (c.1150-1500). Related: Chaucer, alliterative verse. Tip: Pronunciation different from Modern English—final "e" often sounded. Study Chaucer to understand accentual-syllabic meter origins.
Also Known As
Chaucerian English Medieval vernacular Middle period English Pre-modern English
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