History of the English Language: main features in the 19th century

These are some of the points from a powerpoint presentation I prepared for History of the English Language. (I have presented this in an annotated form. The referencing method in ELC modules is different to that of History modules)

The levels and varieties in the English language were examined by Kenyon, (Kenyon,1948:31)

Level in the context of language:

A metaphor denoting higher/lower position

Implying better/worse or more/less desirable

Indicates degrees of excellence/inferiority in language

Variety:

Different degrees of famliarity/formality

Informal/formal writing or speaking

Standard speech: began after the introduction of the printing press by William Caxton in 1476.

During the Early Modern English period/late 14th century onwards - still a variety of dialects and styles of speech/writing.

Latin, French and Scandinavian influences evident all over Britain.

The Tudor dynasty, Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I - all encouraged educational expansion.

There were changes in cultural, social and religious attitudes-contributed to language change.

3 broad types, easily recognised, overlap to a certain extent (Baugh and Cable, 2002: 313).

Spoken standard; Written standard and Popular/colloquial speech

Spoken standard:  A " process of language determination, codification and stabilisation " (Trudgill, 2011:1-15)

A social class dialect, no presciptive rules, has idiosyncracies

Not the only English language, but is one variety of it

Not an accent, nothing to do with pronunciation

9%-12% of this standard do not have a RP (Received Pronunciation) accent

Stylistic differences: indicated by lexical choice, formal/informal grammatical construction

Written standard: Began in the 15th century in the city of Westminster, the centre of government admiinistration. (Freeborn, 2006:255-7)

Chancery hand-originated from the Chancery, the court of the Lord Chancellor.

Became a standard in writing, vocabulary and grammar.

French had been used for over 300 years in upper class society and in the royal court, but in the Early Modern Period English became widely used.

English apparent in administrative documents after 1430, as opposed to the French language

Other writing hands/styles were Secretary hand, Court hand and Bastard Secretary hand

Popular/colloquial speech: Study of ideal English:originated from an investigation into the use of "correct" English used in the 18th century exemplars, used in linguistics and rhetorics. (Leonard and Moffett, 1927: 345-8)

Judged by a group of eminent linguistics scholars

Studies of grammatical correctness date back to Jonathan Swifts' "Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue"

Seemed to be associated with i nformal speech, slang and "unculitvated" language in the 18th and 19th centuries