ABSTRACT
The overall effect of the Norman Conquest on English is controversial. At Peterborough the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was continued in English until 1154 (see Text 4.1). Yet without doubt, the Conquest had a massive effect on vocabulary, changed patterns of word formation, and altered the phonological structure of the language. However, there is less agreement about its effects on word order and inflection (see 4.2). Literary norms changed as well (4.4). All of this seems to be the result of the presence of well-educated and powerful Normans in influential positions. But in contrast to the Vikings, there was no massive immigration. Consequently, the Norman French influence – generally confined to the higher classes – on everyday vocabulary (see 4.2.4) was rather less than that of ON had been (3.2).
