ENGLISH 403 - ENGLISH HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhDEN)

MODERN ENGLISH IN THE MAKING

16th century is the golden age of the English language.

The English language continuously changed in terms of social and cultural
origins, rather than purely linguistic ones.
The Early Modern Period sees the forging of a modern standard English
language.
A standard language is the variety of a language that is mainly taught in
schools, used in published books and in public media.
Standard language is the correct form of language.
Standard English is the result of convergence of language habits towards a
variety associated with power and prestige of Englands capital.
Standard language is not the whole language.

The Three Rs Renaissance, Reformation, Restoration

The Renaissance (15th-16th centuries) rebirth

Three meanings of renaissance: (a) period of rediscovery and revitalization of
classic learning in Greek and Latin; (b) period of expansion of knowledge and
flowering of art and literature; and (c) period of growing confidence in the
modern vernacular languages of Europe such as French, Italian and English.
During the period, no fewer than 20,000 works were printed.
Publishers were puzzled on which varieties of English would be used in books.
Reformation (late 14th century and relaunched in 1530s by Henry VIII,
notorious for his six wives, broke from the Catholic Church, opening the way of
translation of the Bible to English.
Translation of the Bible becomes the cornerstone of Protestant thinking that
would eventually prevail in England.
They used English to match Latin.
The clergy used the language to teach them how to read and write.
The Book of Common Prayer was produced as an official prayer book of the
Anglican Churches. This was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, then Archbishop of
Canterbury.
Cranmer was brutally killed for promoting Protestantism.
After a century, the victorious Puritans (Protestants who sought to wipe out
corruption and rituals from the Church) beheaded King Charles I, and became
a republic headed by Oliver Cromwell from 1649 to 1658.
In 1660, the Established Church and the monarchy returned which is now
known as the Period of Restoration.
This period marks the emergence of a more standardized written English.

English and Latin

The English language had become accustomed to importing words from other
languages.
French, Latin and Greek words began to infiltrate English even before the
existence of a written standard, and before the end of the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance, more than 10,000 recorded new words poured into the
language.
Adapt, benefit and exist made their way into the everyday language.
Most of the Latin loanwords belong to the language of learning and science.
This was the time of Thomas More and Francis Bacon.
One scholar (was executed by Henry VIII) for being credited for the coinage of
absurdity, contradictory, exaggerate, indifference, monopoly and paradox.
Latin and Greek maintained strong positions in English schools and university
including Oxford and Cambridge.
16th century: area, exit, index, peninsula, circus, fungus, medium, species,
excursion, genius, orbit, vacuum
17th century: album, complex, formula, series, apparatus, encyclopedia, lens,
specimen, arena, focus, minimum, status
18th century: alibi, inertia, propaganda, deficit, insomnia, ultimatum, extra,
nucleus, via
19th century: aquarium, confer, opus, bacillus, medium, referendum, codex,
moratorium, thesaurus
20th century: alphavirus, minimalist, omega-3, magnum, moron, onomastics,
microform, multicultural, oracy
The influx of Latin in English than any other European languages, with the
possible exception of French.
English acquired false Latinisms, such as advance with the letter d inserted
(French avance), and debt (French dette)
Latin corpus, French corps, Latin corpus, corpse; Latin factum, French
feat, Latin fact; Latin historia, French story, Latin history; Latin senior,
French sir, Latin senior
Old English ask, French question, Latin interrogate; Old English fast,
French firm, Latin secure; Old English kingly, French royal, Latin regal;
Old English rise, French mount, Latin ascend

The Elizabethan Period

Less than 5 million English speakers all living in the British Isles when
Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558.
In 1953, when Elizabeth II was crowned, English was spoken by some 250
million people, and four out of five did not live in the British Isles.
The reign of Elizabeth I paved the way in making English an international
language.
Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the favorite subjects of Elizabeth, has gone down in
history as the epitome of Renaissance. He popularized American products such
as tobacco and potato.
William Shakespeare is the most favorite and famous of Elizabeths subjects. He
was born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564, six years after the Queen had come to
the throne. At the age of 18, he married Ann Hathaway, and seven months later,
a daughter, Susanna, was born and, in 1585, the twins Hamlet and Judith. He
became a well-celebrated actor and writer when he moved during his midtwenties to London.

He produced two long poems, 154 sonnets and 37 plays. His works were
published in his The First Folio and The Second Folio, seven years after his
death.
Elizabethan authorities did not take kindly to the theatrical companies.
Performances were accompanied by frays and quarrels evil practices of
incontinency (failure to restrain sexual appetite) in great inns, having chamber
and secret places to their open stages and galleries.
Globe a surprising large building becomes the fortress of theatrical
performances which include Shakespeares Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King
Lear.
The theater was burned in 1613, and the Globe was rebuilt until 1642 when
the puritan party closed all the theaters.

Shakespeares Language

Shakespeares words belong to the age of the Early Modern English. However,
reading them today is not easy.
Shakespeares vocabulary and grammar also differ from todays.
Today, the third person present singular ending of a verb is s, but Shakespeare
used both s and th (as in droppeth, blesseth)
The spelling and the punctuation of the original were also different from the
present-day usage.
Present-day English requires a do-construction in negative statements, such as
I dont think so, and interrogative sentences, such as Do you go there often? In
Elizabethan times this do-construction was still competing with an older
construction: I think not of them (instead of I do not think of them).
A common mistake by learners of English as a second language is the use of
which instead of who as a relative pronoun when referring to persons. However,
the case was different before: The mistress which I serve.
The singular pronoun thou and thee was still in general use in Shakespeares
English, alongside the plural ye, you. The use of thou and thee differs in terms
of tone and attitude.
Increase in vocabulary of loanwords and the creation of new words takes place
between 1530 and 1660.
Between 1590 and 1610, around 6000 new words were being added to the
lexicon every year.
In his works, Shakespeare used over 28,000 different words which most of them
have acquired new meanings.
Various current words made their first appearance in Shakespeares works:
accommodation, assassination, countless, dislocate, laughable, premeditated,
submerged.
But for some reasons, other words of his did not catch on, among them
abruption, appertainments, cadent, exsufflicate, persistive, protractive,
unplausive, vastidiy
Pronunciation was beginning to be standardized.
Shakespeares pronunciation was far removed from Chaucers and closer to
todays.

The consonants were pronounced more or less as in present-day English, but

the r sound was pronounced in all positions, both in final position and before
other consonants.
RP stands for Received Pronunciation, that is to say the present-day BBC
pronunciation in British English.
Shakespeares pronunciation was probably closer to present-day Irish and
American English. He must have pronounced medial and final rs as a retroflex
consonant, which is what we hear in todays General American English.

The King James Bible A Milestone in the History of English

As early as the Old English Period, Bible texts were available in English, but
due to the Norman invasions, no new translations appeared.
Middle English translations appeared in 1380s atttibuted to John Wyclif, a
religious leader.
Later, William Tyndale, a reformist, advocated the reading of the Bible in ones
own language.
Five major versions of the Bible appeared 30 years after Henry VIII declared the
separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome. The widespread
of these versions led to the pervasive influence on the English language.
King James I (the first king to unite the kingdoms of England and Scotland)
held a conference at Hampton Court with representatives of the Established
Church and the Puritans.
The Puritans were told they could either conform or be harried out of the land,
and many disappointed Puritans did choose to emigrate after the conference.
Another translation of the Bible went out in 1611, traditionally known in the
Anglican Church as The Authorized Version. Its alternative name is the King
James Version which became famous in the colonies.
It used the language with a simple yet powerful and poetic mode of expression.
The text was based on early versions of the Bible include Tyndales, and used
some other Anglo-Saxon words.
The Bible used barely 8,000 words (compared to Shakespeares 28,000 words).

Restoration and Reaction

In 1649, England became a republic after Charles I was executed for treason
and other high crimes against the realm of England.
After 11 years, monarchy came back to power.
1660-1688 was the period of Restoration. This period noted the need for a set of
standards for the proper use of the language.
A gap occurred between spoken and written word.
English orthography during the Elizabethan period is compared to an anarchist
springtime (e.g. Shakespeares name was spelled in 16 different ways during
his lifetime).
Spelling began to set its own standards departing from the pronunciation of the
spoken language.
The standardization continued over 300 years when it became possible to assert
that one word has just one spelling.
However, some words continued to exist with various spelling: judgement and
judgment, likable and likeable, pricy and pricey.

During the period, written English became the language of learning and
literature, and no longer subservient to Latin and French. John Milton was the
last poet to write in Latin and in his native tongue. Isaac Newton and John
Locke began to use English rather than Latin.
Writers became more grammar-conscious and more critical of incorrect usage.
A national language had to be codified by rules in grammar and dictionaries.
John Dryden asserted the use of the proper English, and also criticized the
language of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan authors.
The period give birth to the precepts of good usage and good grammar, which
are based on prescription rather than actual usage, unlike during the
Elizabethan Period where people may spell and use grammar freely according to
their own taste. There was a strong reaction on the unbridled freedom of usage.

English Gains a New Domain the Language of Science

Philosophers and scientists across Europe wrote in Latin

In 1704, Newton pioneered in writing in English through his Opticks.
Royal Society was founded. It initiated the different projects in science, and so
with improving the English tongue. It even created a committee assigned for
language composed of John Dryden and the diarist John Evelyn.

Dictionary Johnson

In 1635, the Academie Francaise was founded by Cardinal Richelieu for the
standardization of the French language.
Irish cleric Jonathan Swift advocated for the English Academy to match the
French one. However, it was not materialized. They felt that the creation was a
bit too French in nature.
Shortening of words shuddered Swift, e.g. mob (Latin: mobile vulgus), rep (for
reputation), incog (for incognito), and even the abridgment of verbs, as in
disturbd for disturbed. He considered these as disgrace of the language.
In 1775, the dictionary entitled A Dictionary of the English Language appeared.
This was the first scholarly dictionary. This was initiated by Samuel Johnson,
an Oxford student but never finished his degree. He was conferred with
honorary doctorate.
In his Plan of a Dictionary in 1747, Johnsons intends to write a dictionary by
which the pronunciation of the language may be fixed. However, it was not
pushed through as he realized that languages necessarily undergo change.
Johnsons dictionary had enormous impact and became a landmark for many
generations.
James Boswell, Johnsons biographer, that the some definitions in the
dictionary were erroneous. He was also known for his anti-Scottish prejudices
(e.g. oats grains in England given to horses; in Scotland, it supports the
people).

The End of History?

English speakers and writers had grown accustomed to borrowing and went on
further in the era of the European colonial expansion.

It welcomed borrowing of words and new contacts to other languages.

Exotic borrowings were simply an extension of the habit of accepting loanwords
that already existed.
English has moved from being a language mainly under the influence of others
which influences others.
Last 250 years had been less dramatic in terms of changes in the standard
English.
Two major influences included Johnsons Dictionary of 1775 and Websters
American Dictionary of 1828.
The language has not been fixed, but it has been codified.

Codification of the Standard Language

Codification means reducing it to rule, explaining how it works, where the

exceptions are.
This can be done prescriptively, by laying down the law about how people
should use the language.
This can be done descriptively, by pinning down how the language is used in
practice.
The chief tools of codification are books such as dictionaries (vocabulary of the
language) and grammar (morphological and syntactic structure of the
language).
In 18th century, the focus was prescription (to fix and ascertain the language),
while the focus now is description.
English is the most studied and codified language in the world.
Codification leads to a great deal of argument (e.g. when to use will and shall).
Codification focuses not only spelling, but also in pronunciation and grammar.
The word-hoard continues to grow, but its core vocabulary stays much to
same.
Another reason for the spread of the language is due to geographical expansion.

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