Class notes
language change
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Notes and a timeline of english langauge change for history and english at all exam boards, in depth a star level.
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Language change overtime
Analysis of
historical;
varieties of
language
AO1, AO3, AO4
36 marks
P2q3
Old vs new text
no older than
1600
Need to know
about different
periods of time
Slang words examples:
Bea, sick, chill, dead, fairs, gutted, fam, bruv, innit, chippy, slay, bunda, fit, peak, bare
Early modern English c1450-1750
English renaissance
Standardisation – process of forming a uniform language codified in dictionaries, education
and government texts that demands conformity by all variant language forms
London English – most prestigious
Latin continues to be the literary language as is as more eloquent and cultured than English
William Shakespeare – created romantic comedies and coined about 2000 words such as
‘bedroom’ ‘critic’ ‘downstairs’
1611 – king James bible ‘a stumbling block’
Printing press – Caxton 1476 brought to England
Great vowels shift 1400-1700 – changed vowel and some consonants sounds, often letters do
not reflect pronunciation after this, long vowel sounds changed to shorter and more silent
letters were produced
Brought words from Africa, Asia, and new world Languages
A large number of Greek, Latin and French words entered the English language
Modern English c1750-1950
Worlds first industrial revolution in Britain
British empire gains global power and introduces English education
Codification of English through dictionaries and English grammars – Dr Johnson’s a dictionary
of the English language 1755 – started as prescriptive and ended as descriptivist accepting
language change
Loanwords from native language of colonisation
, 1762 – Robert Lowth published the first English grammar book – rules such as don’t use a
double negative and explains this using science, or never end a sentence on a preposition, or
never split an infinitive – early prescriptivist
Many writers made attempts to define the lexicon and grammar – Johnson and Lowth –
leading to the view that non-standard dialects were inferior
Late modern English c1950-present
British empire is dismantled
New form of standard English emerges in previous colonies
English becomes the global language of technological revolution
New words due to technology
Compulsory education helps standardisation
Orthography
- 18th century: long s from old English used initially and medially but not at the end of
words and spelling is often idiosyncratic. Long s replaced by the short s as printing
practices deemed it to be unnecessary
- 19th century: more consistent and standardised spelling due to a more literate society as
schooling was offered to all children
- 20th/21st century: standardised spelling rules as well as non-standard forms with the
inclusion of compute, technology, and text messaging
- The older the text the more likely there is to differ in spellings
- Some may only be apparent in a facsimile of the original text; others will be retained
even when the text is typed modern
- u/v convention (swaps)
- final excessive e = remnant of the old inflectional system which no longer serves any
grammatical function
- significant landmarks of the standardisation of spelling were the publication of the king
James bible 1611v and Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in 1755
- idiosyncratic – no direct explanation
- long s interchangeable with short s
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