Changes in the English Biblical Language
Language is forever changing, especially as time progresses. Through generations, pronunciations to certain words undergo evolution, the connotation to old words shift, new words and borrowed or coined, and morphology either decays or develops. In the course of a thousand years, it is hard for the new and original language to be mutually intelligible. This is exactly the case that happened in the biblical text. With the text present for many years and living through generations of linguistics, changes are made. An example of these changes can be witnessed from four versions of an extract of the biblical text on the “Parable of the Sower”.
The first aspect of change in language in the biblical text is in terms of phonology. A distinct unconditioned sound modification made between the Middle and Early Modern English is the Great Vowel Shift. The Middle English indicates a length distinction in the English vowels. However, with the Great Vowel Shift, the position of all long vowels were changed in a giant rotation. Using the “Parable of the Sower” text extract as an example, from the first line in the Old English, “Sum man his saed seow…” is very different from the Early Modern English version, “A sower went out to sow his seed…” Paying close attention to two words with long vowels; ‘seed’ and ‘sow’, there is a great change in the way that the vowels are pronounced in the words from the two texts. In the Old English text, the vowels are dragged out making the vowel sound longer. On the other hand, the Early Modern English text has its vowel sounds shortened which changes how the words sound. Another example of sound change can be gathered from the repeated word ‘feoll’ from the Old English text In the Early Modern English text, this word is translated to just fell. Clearly, there is a length distinction in the vowel ‘e’ found in the word fell. In the past, the vowel was lengthened in sound with a different phonology that incorporated the sound ‘o’ in it. With change, the vowel got shortened to just ‘e’.
The second aspect of change in language in the biblical text is in terms of syntax. In terms of syntax, the English language is going through three principal word modifications. The first change is at the clause level. Change is made from INFL-final to INFL-medial word order. The second change is from verb-second to subject-verb order. The third change is at the verb phrases level changing from OV to VO order. With changes in the clause level, it means that there is a change from syntactic displacement witnessed in Old English that made the biblical text hard to process. Case in point, take the sentence, “…ben these that, in a good herte, and best heren the word, and holdun and brengen forth fruyt in pacience.” Now compare the same sentence in the Early Modern English extract, “…are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, kept it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” The syntax displacement in the first extract is evident making it hard to fully process and understand what the text is trying to say. An example can be gathered from the difference in saying “ben these that…” and saying “But on the ground are they…” It is easier to process the second statement based on the absence of syntax displacement.
In the case that the Old English was still in use in the biblical texts at the moment, then it is definite that it would be hard to understand everything. The different phonology and syntax in the Old English, Middle English and the Early Modern English as we use it today is significant. The translations made to the biblical text make that there is alignment with the changes in language to assure readers of eligibility and comprehension.