Late Modern English

Question 1

Rise of Constructions: into-causative

Answer 1

→ person A forces person B to do something

Question 1

Rise of Constructions: into-causative

Answer 1

• massively increased in the last 200/300 years → internal change when construction comes
  into more frequent use:
• passive progressive “This house is being built.” (could only emerge once the normal progressive formed)

Question 2

Shift in Constructions

Answer 2

change in inflections (regular vs. irregular):
- lighted vs. lit → irregular form increases
- knitted vs. knit → regular form increases

future markers:
- going to increases
- will declines

modal verbs are declining e.g. must

new class rises:
- have to
- need to
- be supposed to

Question 3

Demise of Constructions

Answer 3

• some constructions that rose are not used anymore
• e.g. the many a noun construction → it will put an end to many a controversy

Question 4

Prescriptivism - Rise of new communication mediums

Answer 4

• rise of newspapers (1700s): spread of knowledge
• telegraph (1844); telephone
  (1876): oral communication over large distances
• radio, cinema (late 19th century); television (early 20th century): spread of standard language, contact with oral variety (dialects)
• internet (today): contact with people from all over the world

Question 5

Spelling - Attempts on a Phonetic Spelling Reform

Answer 5

• perceived need for standardisation of the chaotic orthography (GVS)
• attempts on adjusting spelling to phonetics: unsuccessful because orthographic and phonological changes caused the same sounds to be spelled in different ways & still variation in pronunciation → was unsure which pronunciation to base the changes on

Question 6

Dictionaries

Answer 6

• Robert Cawdrey Table Alphabetical (1604): first dictionary that was alphabetical
• 1755 Samuel Johnson Dictionary of the English Language referred to as first dictionary: first to base definitions on actual usage examples → giving word class and etymology, defining
  and exemplifying the word → idea that meaning arises through usage

Question 7

Grammar writing

Answer 7

reasons for grammar prescriptivism:
- wish for stability
- conservatism and the wish to conserve language
- feeling of inferiority towards Latin and Roman languages

• grammar manuals emerged
• etymology as base for correctness
• debate intensified in 19th century: telling people that they were making mistakes if they did not use thel anguage that was considered “correct” & trying to stop the changes that occurred

Question 8

Success or Failure of Prescriptivism

Answer 8

• largely unsuccessful, because despite all attempts, spoken English developed the way it did
• some varieties are more prestigious than others and some features of spoken grammar are taught as right in school, while some are not