This is my recitation of the General Prologue to Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer in Middle English. I know my pronunciation differs from some or all of the videos on YouTube of the General Prologue. My pronunciation differs because I disagree with the pronunciation of all the other readers. Although no one knows for sure how the language was spoken, in graduate school, I studied under one of the most world renowned professors of Anglo Saxon in the United States at a highly prestigious university, and have spent the last 15 years studying, reading, and pronouncing not only Middle English, but the history of languages. I have 4 years worth of doctoral credit. I approach the pronunciation and care for fluency and the words on the page seriously, which is why I have disabled comments, so that nothing distracts from the words on the screen and the voice.
I read ancient manuscripts in attempt to translate them, have studied linguistics and etymology as well as other languages.
Ancient languages cannot be studied by applying any modern accent, dialect, or language to them, nor can they be learned by listening to the voice of a paid professional actor performing for an audio book, a movie, or a documentary on television. Ancient languages can only be learned by tracing backward to the oldest form of the beginning of the language and coming forward to see the changes in word choice, to see how the word has evolved over centuries, etc., which is why I am currently studying the Gothic Language c. 360 AD and tracing how it evolved into Anglo Saxon and Wessex, etc. My husband and I will be posting videos soon in these languages.
Middle English is a vague term that represents over 400 years in different landlocked regions of people who were not mixing with London contemporaries like Chaucer. A real test for fluency of an extinct language is studying and reading fluently the Alliterative Verse of the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or the Illiterate Verse of a poor woman like Margery Kempe. Fluency is not practicing the same 18 lines over and over without ever attempting to read any other manuscripts, so please, don't stop your research and interest in Middle English with Chaucer! I hope that if you have to memorize these lines to recite to class, that it is only the beginning of opening a new world to you, not the means to an end.
Preference is always going to be the test of whether someone prefers one pronunciation of the General Prologue over another, obviously, but I hope in some way, you will find that my videos will in some way help you along your journey of opening a door that has been closed too long--reviving extinct languages. Please continue your journey...don't stop with Chaucer...the mysteries of the stories and people who wrote documents in Middle and Old English have been forgotten too long, and many of their stories are extraordinary!
If you really have a question or comment, please subscribe to my channel. Comments of appropriate content and inquiry can be posted and viewed there. Thank you for listening!
