p2 A language change over time Flashcards
what years were middle english?
1100-1500
what years were EME?
1500-1800
what years were LME?
1800-present
what were features of EME?
-sentences loose with repeated connectives
-long multiclausal sentences
-use of ‘do’ as an auxiliary verb
-pronouns thou, thee, thine
-irregular verbs in older forms digged, gat, spake
-subverted syntactical structures
-third person singular eneded in eth walketh
what were Robert Lowths rules?
–pronoun thou no longer used
-differentiation between will and shall
-infinite verbs shouldnt be split
-prepositions before noun
what were the origins of English?
settlers from West Germany (Saxons, jutes and Anglos)
what were influences on the English language?
Viking invaders
Scandinavian language
words describing family and animals
what were features on Middle English?
legal
religious
administrative terms
French lexis (justice, jury, govern)
inflections disappeared
no standard spelling
-‘great vowel shift’ shorter ‘leef’=’life’
85%old English removed
what were influences on middle English?
Norman invasion 1066
French dominant in church, court, nobility
-English used by educated upper class
used in speech and writing
what are influences of EME language?
-Caxton printing press 1476
-texts mass produced
-standardisation
-East Midland dialect
Shakespeare 1700 new words
what are features of EME?
-words form Africa and Asia
-Renaissance- Latin, French, Greek words from psychology
-prefixes and suffixes (anti, post, pre)
-more than half of words Latin
what are influences on LME?
-1755 Johnson- first ‘dictionary of English’
-1762 Lowth first English grammar book
-prescriptivism developed (Latin favoured)
-Industrial revolution
-American English
-electronic media
-colonial expansion
what are features of present day English?
-women’s rights, comprehensive education
-descriptivism
what are old English writing systems?
Roman alphabet
Runic alphabet
Simple spelling letters matched the sound
How did Caxton’s printing press lead to difficulties with spelling?
based on Chancery standard but added own variants
-printers made spelling errors sometimes used Dutch spelling
(H after G ghost)
-Printers lengthened words for money
(frend=friend)
-bibles in the reformation were printed abroad due to heresy
(non-English spelling)
What helped to alter sound during middle English
Great vowel shift auto Jefferson 15th to early 17th century
-Spelling change didn’t follow sound which increased difference in spoken and written
-bee,bay,by
what was Johnson concerned about relating to spelling?
he made dictionary
Interested in homographs
Created alternative spellings to differ
stile/style
What else happened to the spelling of English since Johnson?
no K on the end of words
Musick, frantick
-Webster: American standard
Labour /labor
what are phonological difficulties in English?
-Silent E rule evolved from old inflectional endings
-Terminal E was a key feature in middle English linked to pronunciation
roote
what are technological issues with spelling in English?
Printing practices in the 1800s included long ‘ s’
use non-standard forms in text or with friends
what are the reasons for irregularities in English or orthography?
43 1/2 speech sounds in one letter
English has numerous spellings and pronunciations
(soup/sound)
-French and Italy have two way phonemicity
-English children takes three years longer to master spelling
What punctuation was used in the late modern period?
-commas- link long extended clauses
-colons plus semicolons
-apostrophes- signify possessive and missing letters
-speech marks
-contractions
How is punctuation used in text?
-Marks prosodic feature
-used in multiple forms …
-Limited capitalisation
What punctuation did Caxton use?
period
:
Oblique clause
what is it called when a verb ending changes from th to s
third person verb inflection
EME- your selfe
reflexive pronoun not yet compounded
what should you reference when mentioning archaic word forms?
-SJ 1755 dictionary
what are obsolete pronouns?
thy
thou
thee
-define singular or plural
-modern form
what are obsolete verbs?
hath
sayeth
-define tense
-singular or plural
features of negative phrases in EME?
-negator follows verb (not)
-dummy auxiliary ‘do’ absent
