English Language Change notes
How to analyse/checklist
Lexis e.g. archaic, out dated, old fashioned, formal, quotations used? Field specific or specialist lexis
Semantics-meaning can change e.g. gay
Grammar; e.g. syntax (word order), complex sentences, coordinating conjunctions (e.g. `and,' `but'), embedded clauses (can lift out of sentence-unnecessary), quotes, direct commands, conditional clauses (e.g. `if')
Spellings e.g. realise or realize
Genre of the text e.g. newspaper
Phonology e.g. onomatopoeia, alliteration, list of 3
Graphology-adapted for intended audience?
Context e.g. time period-stereotypes at the time and social hierarchy-affect the content?
Audience-e.g. Upper class-how affects content and language style
Purpose e.g. entertain, Newspaper, inform, persuade
Text used-e.g. Verbosity of author (too many words used than necessary), complex sentences
Pragmatics-what need to know to understand text
Dialect- e.g. `I were' and slang, colloquial
Formality of text-colloquial, pompous? Patronising tone RP and Standard English
Suggestions
…the e on the end of the word was subsequently dropped
There is a modern tendency…
Words now omitted
Before English began-up to 450 AD
British (Celtic) tribes-language related to modern Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish- only real connection with Modern English is in lexis-mostly place names.
Romans invade in 55BC-Latin-word Englaland shortened in AD 1000. Roman Empire left a mark on the language
Origins of English- 450 AD to 1066
Anglos and Saxons arrive from North Germany.
Language (Old English) is at first spoken
Only writing is runes · Written form comes from Latin-speaking monks, who use Roman alphabet, with new letters (æ, ð and þ - spoken as "ash", "eth" and "thorn")
About half of common vocabulary of modern English comes from Old English
Middle English Period- 1066-1485
Lexis - terms for law and politics from Norman French · General expansion of lexis
After the Norman Conquest the language of government is mediaeval French. French scribes started to introduce their spelling patterns: qu replaced cw (cween to queen). Reversed word order of letters eg hw to wh =hwere to where.GU added to words like guide, guise and guard
In 1362 (under Edward III) English becomes the official language and acknowledged as the language for law and state business, rather than French or Latin
The Black Death in 1347-1350 killed between a quarter and a third of the population of Britain of 4 million-many priests died (communal disease)-spreads- loss of Latin
Writers concerned about change-want to stabilize language ·
1458 - Gutenberg invents printing (1475 - Caxton introduces it to England) -the press enables some standardizing But note that there is no widespread standard form of spelling nor of punctuation. Some publishers may attempt in-house consistency. Also, for some time after the invention of printing, more books than previously are produced by hand - printing is at first reserved to books likely to justify the time taken to set up type. The press provides the technical means to guarantee standardizing of spelling, but this will wait for some 300 years.
Practice of doubling letters to indicate length especially ee and oo
Some unphonetic spellings eg son, monk, come-instead of letter `u' which sounds like it
The `Great Vowel Shift' (1300-1500)
Change in the pronunciation of all long vowels-vowels in this period had acquired their present pronunciation
Tudor Period 1485-1603 (15th-16th century-The Renaissance)
Rise of nationalism (patriotism) linked to desire for more expressive language but Latin perceived by many to be a superior language
Flowering of literature and experiments in style · idea of elevated diction · Vocabulary enlarged by new learning (Renaissance) · imports from Greek and Latin-and ideas in maths and science
Lexis expanded by travel to New World, · English settlers begin to found colonies in North America. Trade and discovery bring about rapid change, especially in the lexicon, and while some settling down of spelling may appear, it is far from being standardized.
On the other hand, modern editions of Elizabethan poetry may retain archaic spelling variants - as (in John Donne's poetry, say) of personal pronouns ending in -ee - mee, hee or shee (like thee).
Also the disuse of the pronouns `thou' `thy' and `thee' by 16th C these forms had disappeared leaving only the plural forms (ye, your, you) the thou/thy/thee used when addressing children, social inferiors and familiars plural forms as a mark of respect when addressing a social superior.
Not all words in Elizabethan period have been permanently retained-replaced by other words
Biggest influx of words from classical texts e.g. Latin and Greek-language of the scholars-educated people-renaissance, inventions and concepts-continental Europe-classical words-medicine field developed e.g. skeleton
English borrowing by no means confined to Latin/Greek-English vocabulary used words adopted from more than 50 languages esp. French, Italian and Spanish
INK HORN debate-people object to long and obscure Latin terms-controversy- 1st formal dispute on English language-culminate in an academic row-shouldn't be `polluted' by other languages-`clean and pure'
Spelling (orthography) no generally accepted system in 16th century-use the pronunciation of words
Words from this period are now indispensable e.g. atmosphere, benefit, disability
Use interrogative form (i.e. question) without an auxiliary e.g. `think you I am handsome?' (Do you think…)
Scarcity of progressive aspect `I come' instead of `I am coming.'
Double negative perfectly accepted-used for emphasis, stronger negative and intensive
Many scholars who revered (liked) Latin and ancient Greek became spelling reformers and tried to re-model English spelling on classical patterns. H inserted in words like `throne' and `author' because it was recognised that they came from Greek via Latin. `receipt' `indict' `reign' `parliament' also had letters added to give them a Latin look.
By end of 16th century Latin still used but 10s of Latin words lost-other languages from Europe used
17th Century
Influences of Puritanism and Catholicism (Roundhead and Cavalier) and of science · Puritan ideas of clarity and simplicity influence writing of prose· reasonableness and less verbose language
English preferred to Dutch as official tongue of American colonies and New World
English had 1st dictionary (1604) before many European states e.g. Spain-not an exhaustive collection but 1st one-book for ordinary people-growth in literacy-social context-1/2 population of 3 million literate and growth in education.
Authorized King James Bible 1611- 94% of words English and 6% Latin
Theatres e.g. The Globe in London-hugely popular-the playwrites use slang-mix of society-English had a new audience e.g. Shakespeare “All the Worlds a Stage” Shakespeare `the biggest export' (Melvyn Bragg) English develop around world-biggest contribution to vocabulary- estimated 2,000 words added and first used by him and phrases and compounds e.g. `fair-play.' His 38 plays translated into 50 languages-described by Bragg as a `ambassador of the English language.'
Great deal of tolerance of spelling variation-even Shakespeare spelt his name differently
Spellings by 1660s mainly standardised and now the same as the modern usage
18th Century
Age of reason · Ideas of order and priority
During the 18th C language acquired a great deal of prestige and there was a great desire to fix the language and regularise and standardise spelling. From this time on dictionaries came to be regarded as the arbiters of correct spelling. Johnson' s Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 fix language and grammar fixed by Robert Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar in 1762 and Lindley Murray's English Grammar in 1794. Dr. Samuel Johnson, in the preface to his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language, notes that "tongues…have a natural tendency to degeneration" It has some 40,000 words and has extensive quotations to support descriptions or definitions of words. Johnson had earlier sought to regulate and control the language - now, having considered its history more thoroughly, he recognizes this as folly. Nevertheless, his dictionary does establish models for spelling most of which are still accepted today.
Classical languages are seen as paradigms (ideal models) for English · Romantic Movement begins
19th Century
Interest in past · use of archaic words
Noah Webster publishes American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. Differences from Johnson's are relatively few but mostly notorious. Most familiar are variants on the affixes -our and -re (Webster has -or and -er: e.g., color, labor; theater, center). See USA section
British Empire causes huge lexical growth · English travels to other countries and imports many loanwords
James Murray begins to compile the New English Dictionary (which later becomes the Oxford English Dictionary) in 1879- he takes five years to reach ant.
20th Century and beyond
Modern recording technology allows study of spoken English
Influence of overseas forms grows · US and International English dominant · English becomes global language (e.g. in computing, communications, entertainment).
Finally, computer technology provides a powerful means for encouragement of standard written forms with spell-checking and grammar-checking.
Spellings are now generally fixed and highly resistant to change because in dictionaries, but even today there is still a degree of uncertainty or minor disagreement about how to spell some words.
Most susceptible and less resistent to change is pronunciation is more flexible by individual's speech. Change from situation to the next-context, purpose, who talking to and circumstances-Accents. Greater tolerance of a regional accent in areas where it would earlier have been a social stigma
Language is constantly changing but this is deplored (criticised) and try to prevent these changes. Why is it changing? Schools, TV
Is l\language deteriorating or decaying? Difficult to attribute reasons to account for language change. Declining standards?
J Aitchison `It is natural and inevitable that a living language will change' `is our language sick?' argues it isn't decaying and that change isn't necessary a bad thing
D Crystal `there is a widely held belief that change must mean deterioration and decay and standards have fallen.' `Language change is inevitable'
Americanisation of English language e.g. 24/7, collateral damage and war links
Still use Latin root e.g. video, internet-technology
3% of population speak RP-Received Pronunciation
USA
British spelling has proved very resistant to change. In the USA though, Noah Webster published dictionaries in 1806, 1828 and 1840 that contained many revised spellings. But many of the spelling changes which Webster proposed were not accepted; and those that were usually already existed as alternative spellings. The modern Merriam-Webster Dictionary is as famous in the USA as the Oxford Dictionary is here.
Suggestions which didn't catch on were dropping the final `e' in words like `fugitiv' `medicin' `deficit' . Some of the proposals that did catch on though- but only in the USA:
Replacing `or' with `our' in words like `armor' `favor' `color'
Replacement of `-re' with `-er' as in theater, meter, caliber
`-ize' became the normal American suffix where English is `-ise'
Vocabulary
Accent-way in which you pronounce words
Amelioration-is a process by which words become more socially acceptable or prestigious
Archaic-word used to be used commonly but has fallen out of usage-old fashioned
Conditional clauses- (e.g. `if')
Coordinating conjunctions- e.g. `and,' `but'
Deregation-meaning changes for the worse
Derogative- says something bad about someone-insult
Diachronic or historical study-study of the development of language over time
Dialect-way to describe the different kinds of vocabulary and grammar a particular place uses
Embedded clauses- can lift out of sentence-unnecessary (?) part of a sentance
Euphemism-less strong a word e.g. passed away for dead
Neologisms-creation of brand new words e.g. `high tech'
Orthography-spelling
Pejoration-is a process by which words increasingly acquire negative meanings
Phonic-i.e. spelled as it sounds
Prefix-
`Romance Languages'- languages of Latin origins e.g. French, Spanish, Italian and Latin itself
Semantics-meaning of words can change e.g. `gay' used to mean happy but now homosexual
Suffix-
Verbosity of author-i.e. Used lots of words and only needed a few
S Russell-Grammar, Structure and Style-book 1996
Modern English is made up of 3 layers of vocabulary;
Anglo-Saxon (with additions from the Viking language, Old Norse)
French
Latin (with additions from Greek)
Anglo-Saxon `Native English
Extremely important-structure words e.g. `a' `the' `in' and `that.' Join sentences together and are indispensable words
Personal pronouns e.g. `I' `you' `he' `she' `we' `us'
Demonstrative pronouns `this' `that' `these'
Auxiliary verbs `can' `shall'
Conjunctions `as' `and' `but' `so' `then'
Prepositions `on' `in' `under' `over' `down' `up'
Adverbs `when' `where' `while'
Most parts of the body and numbers
Also many Strong Verbs (form their past tense by changing the vowel) e.g. speak-spoke
French
From 1066-brought by the Normans-used or Church, government, army, it was the language of the court and the upper and middle classes. Low classes and peasants spoke English
Lasted for 200 years after conquest
Although many humble words e.g. bucket came originally from French, most French borrowings are elegant words, with connotations of chivalry, courtliness and romance
Anglo-Saxons had put stress on first syllable of most words e.g. `board.' French put equal stress on all syllables of a word e.g. cliché, elite
Latin and Greek
20th century scientists mainly used Greek rather than Latin words for inventions and discoveries e.g. medicine use. Greek suffixes -itis and -osis e.g. arthritis
But Latin made a far deeper and wider impact on the English language. Half of the English vocabulary today is derived from Latin
Use lots of Latin prefixes e.g. `ant' `re' `pro' `trans' `pre' `post' and suffixes e.g. `-ate' `-al' and `-ic' e.g. educate, normal and elastic
English is a mix of the 3 elements-
Anglo-Saxon; familiar, immediate and warm in tone e.g. ask/ help
French; more formal and polite e.g. question/ aid
Latin; weightier, solemn and more remote e.g. interrogate/ assistance
Latin words flood into the English vocabulary at beginning of the Renaissance-from the 1430s onwards but Authorized King James Bible 1611- 94% of words English and 6% Latin
Reasons for new words coming into a language include;
Wars Trade Work and leisure Global media New technology
Religion Immigration
Early Modern English 1500-1800's Context and how affects language
Printing Press-introduced in England by Caxton in 1476-mor books copied-printed more quickly and exert a strong force for promoting a standard and uniform English-spread quickly through the land
Education-literacy-read and write-Elizabethan times between 1/3 to population could read
Communication-parts of country and world joined through commerce, transportation and rapid means of communication-diversification and spread of language over vast areas
All had a `radical' (i.e. promote change) effect on language and exerted a `conservative force' (i.e. resist change) lead to a promotion and maintenance of a standard-especially in grammar and useage
Latin still in use-prestige and tradition in all fields of knowledge-strengthened by `revival of learning' poetry philosophy educated talk in a common language. Classical languages compared to common languages. But a number of scholars and citizens came to challenge the supremacy of Latin and Greek and to advocate the use of English in all spheres of life.
Key dates
AD 1000-Englaland shortened by Romans
1362- The Statute of Pleadings makes English the official language of Parliament
1475- Caxton introduces the printing press to England
Plays of Shakespeare 1564-1616
1592- Shakespeare's first play (Henry VI, part i) performed
1604-first English dictionary-before other European states e.g. Spain
1611-King James version of Bible-94% of words English and 6% Latin
15th-16th century-InkHorn debate-debate on "borrowing" words to enrich language vs. English purity
1755 Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language-spelling becomes standardised
1762- Robert Lowth publishes his Short Introduction to English Grammar
1928-Noah Webster publishes American Dictionary of the English Language
1879- James Murray starts work on the Oxford English Dictionary
1928- First edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is completed
Bibliography
Melvyn Bragg the `Adventures of English' 2003 TV Series and Book
J Aitchison `The Language Web' 1996 Reith Lectures-broadcast on Radio 4
Jean Aitchison (1991)-she identified recent changes in the pronunciation of English e.g. `mistake' pronounced `merstake' replacing the `t' in a word eg football with a glottal stop so that no `t' is heard-`foo'ball'
David Crystal
Baugh and Cable 1951 `The History of the English Language'
Martha's Vineyard-carried out by linguist William Labov in 1966. Island on the north-east coast of USA, which has a small resident population and is a popular tourist spot. Local fisherman's pronunciation of certain vowel sounds changing subtly over a period of time. Have own identity and show `true islanders'. Not a conscious (deliberate) decision
How change the Lexis
Borrowing- taken from foreign languages, usually because we do not have an equivalent of our own e.g. curry (India), café (France), vodka (Russia), fries and burger (USA)
Coinings- invent new words to describe new experiences or name new objects and technology e.g. telephone, megabyte
Clippings- alters longing, existing words by shortening or clipping them. If this process is successful in time the original term is forgotten and clipped version seem the `natural' one e.g. `mob' `pram' `fridge' `phone'
Acronyms- new word the initial letters e.g. `AIDS' `NATO' `BBC'
Compounding- two already existing words are joined together to form a new one e.g. spaceship
Morphology- like compound but one of the words is not a word e.g. `dis + appoint'
Blending- PARTS of words are joined together e.g. smog-smoke and fog
Depletion- words fall out of use but can still be in dictionary
How change semantics (meaning)
Broadening or generalisation- meaning of a word broadens e.g. dog used to mean a particular canine breed but now means any dog
Narrowing or specialisation- word becomes more specific in its meaning-opposite to broadening e.g. girl in Middle Ages used to mean any young person-now female
Amelioration- word takes on a more pleasant or positive meaning than it used to have e.g. wicked used to mean evil, but can now mean slang for brilliant
Pejoration- meaning of word becomes less favourable over time e.g. cowboy used now means incompetence or dishonest
Metaphors- words taking on new meanings when used metaphorically
Idioms- formed from existing words e.g. `in the doghouse' `under the weather'
Euphemisms- polite way of describing something unpleasant e.g. `passed away'
Change in sounds (phonology)
The Great Vowel Shift-occurred over a period of approx 200 years, the sound of thousands of vowels in English changed from a long sound to a shorter sound e.g. Middle English pronunciation-`toe', Modern English-`to'
Martha's Vineyard-carried out by linguist William Labov in 1966. Island on the north-east coast of USA, which has a small resident population and is a popular tourist spot. Local fisherman's pronunciation of certain vowel sounds changing subtly over a period of time. Have own identity and show `true islanders'. Not a conscious (deliberate) decision
Jean Aitchison (1991)-she identified recent changes in the pronunciation of English e.g. `mistake' pronounced `merstake' replacing the `t' in a word eg football with a glottal stop so that no `t' is heard-`foo'ball'
About 750,000 words in the English Language-nearly half of these are of Germanic origin and nearly half from the Romance Languages (languages of Latin origin e.g. French, Spanish and Italian and Latin itself) most adult English speakers use between 10,000-40,000 words
Most borrowings from other languages occur in a given historical period e.g. close relationship between Britain and India within British Empire adds to the lexicon in the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century. Musical terms from Italy enter in late 17th and early 18th century.
Borrowings from Greek are heavy in science and technology e.g. biology, logic, philosophy