History of English concepts/occurences Flashcards
When was Old English spoken?
400-1100 AD
Who spoke Old English?
Germanic settlers
What was the main influence on Old English?
Viking invasion
When was Middle English used?
1100-1450AD
What language was most prominent in Middle English period and why?
- French (amongst the rich)
- Norman Invasion 1066 (William the Conqueror)
When did English become widely used by the upper classes?
1425
When was Early Modern English spoken?
1470-1700
What was introduced in 1476 and by who?
- The printing press
- William Caxton
What did the printing press lead to?
- Mass production of text, so more standardisation
What kind of texts were translated into English?
- Latin and Greek texts
Which dialect was the most popular and prestigious?
- East Midlands dialect (London, Oxford, Cambridge, etc)
When did people speak Late Modern English?
- 1700-now
What 4 things helped the English language in the 19th century?
- Rail travel
- Colonial expansion
- The spread of literacy
- Mass printed press
What are the 4 features of Middle English? Provide an example
- Grammar; simple, reflects the way English and French co-existed
- French lexis; used in legal, religious and administrative terms (i.e justice, jury, govern)
- Latin words; 85% of Old English words fell out of use, Latin replaces them
- Pronunciation; the Great Vowel Shift - vowels became shorter (teem = time, leef = life)
What are the 3 features of Early Modern English? Provide an example
- European Renaissance; new words were needed for new concepts, so lots of Latin, Greek and French words entered (i.e psychology)
- Shakespeare; coined 1700 new words (i.e excitement, courtship)
- World Exploration; words from Africa and Asia entered the language
What happened surrounding the orthographical reform?
- Early Modern English; written English was in chaos
- Printers were blames for many inconsistencies in writing
What helped written English to not be in chaos? Give the 4 reasons
- Spelling books (late 17th century)
- Printing conventionss were more regularised
- Double vowels/separation of u/v
- First dictionaries (18th century)
What were the 2 main Latin influences on the English language?
- More than half of our vocab is latinate (i.e emotion, history, colossal)
- Most affixes come from Latin (i.e anti-, post-, pre-, -al, -ate, -ic)
Who is Jonson and what did he invent?
- One of the earliest grammarians (1640)
- Invented Jonson’s Grammar
What two things does Jonson’s Grammar book consider?
- Syntax and spelling
- The pronunciation of English
What did Wallis not want?
- He did not want Latin to structure English
What are 7 features of early/late modern English grammar?
- Short/long “s”
- u/v
- w
- i/j
- silent “e”
- o/u
- -c vs -ick
What is the short/long “s”?
- Short used at the end of words or elsewhere
- Long not used at the end
What is the difference between u/v?
- 2 forms of the same letter
- “v” at the start of words, a consonant
- “u” elsewhere, a vowel
How did “w” used to be shown as?
- vv/VV (double V)
What were i/j?
- 2 forms of the same letter
What is the silent “e”?
- Added to the end of words, sometimes with a double consonant
- i.e “manne” - “man”
What is the difference between o/u?
- The /u/ sound was written like “o” (like in sun)
- i.e Sommer/plombe = summer/plumb
What is the difference between -c and -ick?
- Words like “public” were variously spelt
- Came to be -ick (i.e publick)
What did Mulcaster create and when?
- The Elementaire, 1582
What are the 3 main features of the Elementaire?
- A guide to good practise in teaching English for it to become more widely used and accepted
- Ends with a list of 8000 “hard words” (not defined but attempted to lay down standard spelling)
- The first steps to the standardisation of English
What did Lowth and Murray do and when?
- Late 1700s
- Shaped English through use of grammatical structures in schools, implemented rules
What were Lowth and Murray’s rules based upon?
- Latin grammar
What are 3 main rules within Lowth and Murray’s work?
- Double Negative = positive/affirmative
- Prepositions are never to be at the end of a sentence
- Infinitives should not be split as in most languages it is impossible to split them (i.e in French; devoir, faire, avoir)
What did Dr Johnson do and when?
- Created the first developed dictionary
- 1755
What did Dr Johnson aim to do?
- Aimed to teach “correctness” but recognised the importance of “registering the language”
What did Dr Johnson say controlling language was like?
- “Lashing the wind”
What are 5 positives of Johnson’s dictionary?
- Consistent definitions
- Many examples
- Identifies parts of speech
- Identifies most strongly stressed syllables
- Has ordinary words
What are 5 negatives of Johnson’s dictionary?
- Archaic Latin words
- Definitions used hard words
- Definitions were subjective
- Ran out of space at the end
- Examples were morally chosen
