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Linguistics 103
Chaucers Poetry

Chaucer's verse is written in Middle English which differs from

Modern English in a number of respects. Two differences that
will be relevant are:

1. Pronunciation of Vowels

There are no silent letters

Where there is a silent e in Modern English, this was a

vowel in Middle English, pronounced as a schwa // (the
sound uh in, for example, the last syllable of America)

Long vowels vs. short vowels.

The difference between long and short vowels is important
for the rules of stress placement, discussed below under 2.

Sequences of two (different) vowels which combine to form
the vocalic part of a syllable.

Long vowels or diphthongs

A vowel letter followed by another vowel letter or by w or y
usually represents a long vowel or a diphthong:

aa, ee, ea, oo, oi, ou, eu, ai, ei

ow, oy, ew, ey, uw, aw, ay
u (when at the end of a word)

Any vowel when written single can be either long or

short, depending on what follows.

Much of the time if a vowel is followed by one consonant

and then a vowel it is long.

nme, grne, shres, bte, hl, rden

Otherwise a vowel written single is short:

n, tht, tndr, ft, bt, flk, yng


In most cases if the vowel is long or a diphthong in Modern

English, it was long or a diphthong in Middle English.

MidEng pronounced spelling ModEng

rden "reed-un" i, y ride

grne "gray-nuh" e, ee green
nme "nah-muh" a, aa name
hly "haw-lee" o, oo holy
vert "vair-t" u, eu, ew, uw virtue

fowles "fool-uhs" ou, ow, ogh fowls

cause "cow-zuh" au, aw cause
newe "nyoo-uh" eu, ew new
fewe "feh-oo-uh" ew few
coy "coy" oi, oy coy
day "die" ay, ai day
growen "graw-un" ou, ow grow

The // sound, as invertu virtue, usually appeared in words of

French origin. Otherwise ew was usually /ju/ or //.

Note that there has been a shift in the pronunciation of the long
vowels (and some diphthongs) since Middle English. This
change, known as the Great Vowel Shift, occurred during the
early 16th century.

> /a/ ride

> /i/ green
> /e/ name
> /o/ holy
> /a/ fowls
/a/ /e/ day
// /o/ grow

The spellings ou, ow were ambiguous. Sometimes they

represented /u/ as in fowles /fulz/, and sometimes // as in
growen /grn/.

2. Location of Stress
The location of stress in polysyllabic words may differ from that
in Modern English.

Three properties of syllables determine the location of stress.

1. The length of the vowel

2. The weight of the syllable:

Heavy syllables: syllables which contain
a long vowel or diphthong
any vowel followed by two or more consonants

Light syllables:
all others =
short vowels followed by a single consonant
short vowels at the end of a word

3. The position of the syllable:

final, second-to-last, third-to-last

Basic Middle English Stress Rule

1. If the last syllable is long or contains a diphthong, stress falls


licor, vert, natheles, aldy

(But adjectives ending in -y and -ous are not stressed on

the final syllable: sly, wrthy)


2. a. If the second-to-last syllable is heavy, stress falls there.

natre, sote, rote, shwres long V/ diphthong

pril, prced, engndred vowel plus CC

b. If there are only two syllables, stress falls on the second-

to-last (provided condition 1 is not met)

vr, sly


3. Stress falls on the third-to-last syllable.

vr, Zphrs, hrrible, prdoner

A number of words stressed by rules (1) and (2a) have stress in

a different place than in the Modern English word that developed
from them. These pronunciations eventually changed for many
words, placing stress earlier in the word. In Chaucer's time this
change appeared to be underway.

In a disyllabic word stressed on the last syllable, or in a word of

three or more syllables ending in schwa (stressless e), stress can
be retracted one syllable. This gives rise to stress doublets in
which two stresses were possible:

licor ~ lcour Romuns ~ Rmauns

fortne ~ frtne goodnsse ~ godnesse


3. Pronunciation of Consonants

For the most part the consonants were pronounced as in modern

English. Some exceptions:

gh unless part of the diphthong ogh, gh was

still pronounced as /x/ (the German ch

knight, night, boughte

s usually pronounced /z/ when between


Double consonants were pronounced long

cch is a long instance of ch

y is frequently a vowel, spelled i in modern



Peculiarities of Chaucer's verse.

There is considerably more syncope and elision in Chaucer than

in Shakespeare. One peculiarity is that elision can occur across
[h] (as well as across vowels):

x x) x x) x x) x x) x x).
And vere honored for his worthinsse
Sometimes, as above, the [h] is no longer pronounced in modern
English, but this is not always the case and moreover it is likely
that all such instances of [h] were pronounced in Chaucer's time.

C1. A schwa vowel (spelled -e) is optionally ignored for the

meter. Whether this means that it was not pronounced in this
context, or simply not counted for the meter, is unclear.
Ordinarily vowels which were pronounced schwa in Middle
English are spelled e and correspond to silent e in Modern
English spelling.

This ilke worth Knight hadde been also

He slepte namre than dooth a nightingle

C2. An unstressed monosyllabic word can be combined into a

single position with a preceding syllable.

Thow hast translted the Rmauns of the Rse LGW.225

In many plces were nyghtyngles RR.657
As wel of this as of ther thynges moore D.WB.584

Stress clashes allow a stressed syllable to occupy a weak


A ws wmman wol bisye hire evere in oon

Examples of the variability in stressing of words with final

heavy syllables.

goodnss(e) vs. godness(e) and fortne vs. frtune


$ x x) x x) x x) x x) x x) .
Prowesse of man, for god, of his goodnsse$
Wife of Bath's Tale&&

Man gruccheth of goodnsse that hymself
& Parson's Tale&&


With mercy, godnesse, and with swich pitee$
Second Nun's Prologue&&


The strook of frtune or of aventre.
& The Clerk's Tale&&


Wel hath fortne ytrned thee the ds,$
Knight's Tale&&

Example scansion of Chaucerian verse:

(beginning of the Pardoner's Prologue)

Oure Hste gan t swre as h wre wood crazy

"Harrow," quod h, b nailes and b blood help

This was a fals cherl and a fals justce

As shmeful deeth as herte may devse

Cm(e) t ths(e) jges and hir advocts

Al-gt(e) this sly maide is slain, alls! at any rate
Alls, too dre boughte she beautee!

Wherfore I saye alday that men may see

The yiftes of Fortne and of Natre

Been cause of deeth to mny a cr-a-tre.

As bthe yiftes that I spke of now,

Men han ful ofte more for harm than prow. benefit


But trewely, mn owene maister dre


This is a ptous tle for to heere.

But nthelees, passe ver, is no fors:

I pray(e) to God so sve th gentil cors body