MODERN ENGLISH 1500-Present
Dec 26, 2015
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (1500-1800)
Great Vowel Shift 15th-18th century Sound change affecting long vowels
Boats becomes boots Fate becomes feet Weep becomes wipe
Different pronunciation in different part of mouth Generational changes
MODERN ENGLISH INFLUENCES
1) British colonialism 2) Renaissance 3) Economic and technical development (the industrial
revolution and the development of modern science)
BRITISH COLONIALISM
The spread of English beyond UK English settlements in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries
By the early 19th century, Britain had firm control of a number of islands in the Caribbean: Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, St Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago
British domination of the Indian subcontinent dates from the second half of the 18th century Economic interest in trading ports
In the late 18th century Britain began settlements in Australia In the 19th century, the British took control over South Africa from the
Dutch They also controlled Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong
A CLASS DIFFERENCE
The merchant class, who settled British territories didn’t belong to the aristocracy which spoke standard London dialect New England was settled largely by speakers of the
East Anglican dialect Social struggles between the two dialect groups
were an instrumental cause for the American revolution and may have contributed to the radical shift in the pronunciation of English in modern times
PRINTING AND STANDARDIZATION
A powerful force for standardization was the introduction of printing 1476 William Caxton established England’s first printing
press at Westminster Abbey Several publications Copies of Bible
By the middle of the sixteenth century, although there was still no standard system, there were quite a number of widely accepted conventions
THE RENAISSANCE (14TH-17TH CENTURY) Explosion in culture and
literature Greek and Latin influence During the peak, from
1580 to 1660, a flood of Latin loan words were borrowed into English
We owe the b in our modern spelling of debt and doubt to Renaissance etymologizing, for the earlier spellings were dette and doute
The b was inserted through the influence of Latin debitum and dubitare
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (18TH CENTURY)
By about 1700 Great Vowel Shift changes completed
Third person forms like loveth disappeared from ordinary speech
The pronouns thou and thee disappeared from standard usage
The language differed only slightly from present day English
Rapid technological changes
Addition of new vocabulary Train Engine Electricity Telegraph
EARLY MODERN ENGLISHSHAKESPEARE 1564-1616 Writers took language where
they wanted “You” was used by lower
class to talk to upper class “Thou” and “Thee” used by
lower class to one another and higher class to lower class and in addressing God and supernatural beings
Similar to Spanish tu vs. Ud.
WORDS SHAKESPEARE INVENTED
Invented about 1,700 words Accommodation Amazement Apostrophe Courtships Dwindle Generous Hurry Radiance “All that glitters isn’t gold” “The course of true love never did run smooth”
LATE MODERN ENGLISH (1800-PRESENT)
Proposal for Academy of English Language Standardization of grammar rules and
conventions Radio broadcasting – lessens differences in
social accents WWI and WWII
SPELLING
In Middle English and early Modern English, there had been no standard spelling
Spellings varied from writer to writer Even proper names were not fixed Shakespeare in the three signatures on his will
used two spellings of his own surname 1775 Samuel Johnson publicizes dictionary
AMERICAN ENGLISH
After the American Revolution, contact between two countries severed
Americans make a conscious effort to de-Anglicize English
We still understand each other, but there are noticeable differencesExamples?
MAIN DIALECTS IN THE U.S.
Western: Idaho, California, Oregon, Utah Northern: New England, New York, New Jersey Midland: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin Southern: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi