EModE to PDE

Question 1

EModE time frame

Answer 1

1500s
to
1700s

Question 2

General Important dates

Answer 2

1476 - William Caxon imports printing press
1611 - King James Bible
1707 - Act of Union

Question 3

Synopsis of the development of English

Answer 3

Vocab - influx of words from wide range of languages
Spelling - standardisation
Sounds - great vowel shift
Grammar - development of PDE systems - rise of prescriptive rules
Status - English becomes international language!

Question 4

Spelling forms of EModE

Answer 4

-Interchangeable letters
 (U and V) (Y and I) (C and S)
- No J, I used instead 
- Long S, looked like an F
- Doubling of consonants

Question 5

Great Vowel Shift

Answer 5

• end of 14th - 16th cent
• -> varied between dialects
• -> more extensive in the South
• -> northern dialects only raised front vowels

What it does

• only affects long vowels
• long vowels are raised (pronounced higher in the mouth)
• [ i ] and [ u ] can’t be raised - become dipthongs

Question 6

Grammatical rules wot came about:

Answer 6

Possessives

• apostrophe optional from 1500
• more frequent by 1600
• fully establised by 1700

Before 16/1700s “his used as possessive for neutral objects”

Pronouns

• ye/you –> after 1600 ‘you’ used for both subject and object forms
• thee - object
• thou - subject
• my - before vowels
• mine - before consonants

Question 7

Early Modern Prescriptivism

Answer 7

Spelling reformers

• John Hart 1574
• Richard Mulcaster - 1530 - 1611

18th Century - Age of Reason/Enlightenment

Dictionaries
- Sam Johnson- 1709-1784 ‘Dictionary of the English Language’

Grammars - eg, Lowths Grammar

Question 8

How the English vocab expanded

Answer 8

• adapting pre-existing words
• borrowings –> latin, greek, french, spanish
• reviving old English
• Inkorn terms –> tend to be Latin borrowings

Inkhorn caused a debte

Question 9

How English became standardised: Selection

Answer 9

• fixed normative standard chosen
  1476 –> printing was based in London - so this variety was chosen as the norm
• attempts to minimise variation in form
• variation becomes seen as something to resolve

Question 10

How English became standardised: Acceptance

Answer 10

• ‘norm’ is promoted and spread through institutions and authorities
• standard language seen as best

by 16th Century - deviation is stigmatised
–> Inkhorn

Question 11

How English became standardised: Elaboration

Answer 11

• maximum varitation in function –> King James Bible 1611

Question 12

How English became standardised: Codification

Answer 12

Minimum variation in form

• -> prescriptivism
• -> grammars
• -> dictionaries