Standardisation Flashcards
What did William Caxton do?
Established the first printing press in Westminster
When did Caxton establish the printing press?
1476
What did the printing press do to our language?
Helped standardise English as we were finally able to mass produce texts, everyone was able to read the same thing, written in the same way
What was a problem that was faced with the printing press?
Every region in England spoke and spelled differently depending on their dialect or personal preference, this meant one dialect had to be chose to be the “standard”
Which dialect was chosen to become Standard English and why?
East Midland area
London - Oxford - Cambridge Triangle
Because this was the hub of education, power and trade
What wasn’t consistent within the first 100 years?
Spellings as sometimes a word could have been written a number of different ways across different texts or even within the same one
How did spellings become consistent and when?
End of 16th century books were released which advised on spelling (but no definitions)
18th century more books were published attempting to standardise English further
What happened to punctuation?
It used to be much simpler and only consisted of full stops, colons and forward slashes.
The uses of these were different to how we would use them today
What was the Great Vowel Shift?
The major phonological difference that happened between 1400 and 1600 and marks a strong difference between Middle and Early Modern English
How did the Great Vowel Shift change vowels?
i -> ai e -> i a -> ei o -> u u -> au (became pronounced as)
Examples of how the Great Vowel Shift changed vowels:
teem -> time sae -> see naam -> name rote -> root hoos -> house
What is a theory behind the Great Vowel Shift?
The change of vowels was a way to reject the French pronunciation patterns and adopting more prestigious forms of English
When where the first dictionaries made to help standardisation further?
18th century
What was one of the first dictionaries to be produced and why was it important?
Johnson’s Dictionary (1755) “A Dictionary of the English Language”
laid down a standard way of spelling and meaning
Aim to tame the English language as it was out of control
It provided a reference point that was accessible to everyone
What was another method to teach and allow people to speak in the “proper” way?
Elocution lessons
- how to pronounce “properly”
