Page "Middle English" Paragraph 25

Deeper changes occurred in the grammar.

Gradually, the wealthy and the government anglicised again, although Norman ( and subsequently French ) remained the dominant language of literature and law for a few centuries, even after the loss of the majority of the continental possessions of the English monarchy.

The new English language did not sound the same as the old ; for, as well as undergoing changes in vocabulary, the complex system of inflected endings which Old English had, was gradually lost or simplified in the dialects of spoken Middle English.

This change was gradually reflected in its increasingly diverse written forms as well.

The loss of case endings was part of a general trend from inflections to fixed word order that also occurred in other Germanic languages, and therefore cannot be attributed simply to the influence of French-speaking sections of the population: English did, after all, remain the language of the vast majority.

It is also argued that Norse immigrants to England had a great impact on the loss of inflectional endings owing to their semi-mutually comprehensible ( to the native English speakers ) vocabulary, but lack of capability to reproduce their endings.