LME Flashcards
WHEN?
1700s - 1900s
What was significant in the 1700s for lexis/ semantics?
- science
- medicine
- classical languages
What was significant in the 1800s for lexis/ semantics?
- industrialisation
- new inventions
- British Empire
- travel
What was significant in the 1900s for lexis/ semantics?
- American English tech (esp. recorded voice)
- world wars
- youth sociolects
Extra bits about grammar
~prescribed rules
~distinction between which (things) and who (humans) for relative clauses.
Where was thou/ thee used?
religious/ literary contexts
What was there a rise of in grammar in the 1700s?
passive progressive construction (are being, was still dragged)
1750s grammar feature
“get-“ passive (he got fired from his job)
What kind of style and sentences were used?
Grammar
formal style
multi-clausal sentences
1800s grammar feature
gradual representation of dialect in literature
What was there a decline of in grammar?
decline of -be as perfect auxiliary (“he is gone” goes to “he has gone”)
PHONOLOGY
1700s RP loses rhoticity
GRAPHOLOGY
- 1800 > lost the long-S because of printing
- technology of font style & size
- photography & graphics in print media
What happened to orthography in the 1800s?
irregular spelling becomes stigmatised
What happened to orthography in the 1900s?
educational practice & gov. interventions
PRAGMATICS
Growing class consciousness
When was Johnson’s dictionary?
1755
Lowth & Murray
- 1760s
- spelling guides
- standardisation
Other
- 1790s Charity Schools, 1840 Ragged Schools, 1891 free Compulsory Education up to age 11
- Informalisation begins
