The Origins of English

Question 1

What year did grammar become standardised in books such as Robert Lowth’s A short Introduction to English Grammar?

Answer 1

1762

Question 2

What year did King James’ Bible come out?

Answer 2

1611

Question 3

When did William Caxton establish the first printing press?

Answer 3

1476

Question 4

Why was the first printing press beneficial and who established it?

Answer 4

William Caxton established the first printing press. This was beneficial as it was available to everyone and became standardised.

Question 5

When was Shakespeare’s First Folio published?

Answer 5

1623

Question 6

Wen was Johnson’s dictionary released?

Answer 6

1755

Question 7

When was Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers serialised?

Answer 7

1836

Question 8

Why was Caxton’s Printing press important?

Answer 8

Prior to this, words were spelled very differently because of where people lived.
Caxton chose his words based on higher/more educated places such as Cambridge.
However there was still a lot of variation even after this.
It was important to standardise language so everyone could understand it.

Question 9

What was Johnson’s dictionary like?

Answer 9

It had spellings and meanings of about 40,000 words.
It took 9 years to create and was very impractical.
This was not first dictionary however it was the official one before the Oxford dictionary.
His spelling became standardised even though they were inconsistent.
It took pages to describe one word.

Question 10

What were some of Robert Lowth’s grammar rules?

Answer 10

• I before e except after c
• Don’t start a sentence with a connective
• Capital letters at start of sentence and for names
• Sentences shouldn’t end with a preposition
• Subject and verb in every sentence
• Miss a line after speech
• Introduce list with a colon
• Can’t as a word in the example ‘to go’ such as ‘to boldly go’

Question 11

What is etymology?

Answer 11

Origin of words

Question 12

What is standardisation?

Answer 12

The process of language being fixed.

Question 13

What is the difference between a prescriptivist and a descriptivist?

Answer 13

P- language shouldn’t change, follow a set of rules, shouldn’t add new words.
D- the opposite, no negative attitude imposed on language change.

Question 14

What were the Latin Roman Settlements?

Answer 14

43AD. Religious, intellectual and cultural contexts. Celtic Language.

Question 15

What was Old English like in the 5th Century?

• Germanic Tribes
• Viking Raids
• General comments

Answer 15

Germanic Tribes: 400. Anglo-Saxon: Germanic language only had about 300,000 words. Anglos, Jutes, Saxons.

Viking Raids: Began in 793. Old Norse: monosyllabic, anger, practical. Added Scandinavian words. Went on until the 11th Century.

This time was very phonetic, had very little consistency in written language. The different areas of settlements resulted in different dialects.

Question 16

What was Middle English like in the 11th Century?

• Norman Invasion
• Chaucer and other writers

Answer 16

Norman Invasion: 1066. French was the verbal language of the court whereas Latin was used in Church (written). French inkhorn terms were used in administration and by ‘ruling class’

Chaucer and other writers (14th Century): Helped language come into prominence, wrote in English rather than French and there was a growing sense of pride for national language.

Question 17

What was Early Modern English like in the 15th Century?

• Caxton’s printing press
• Shakespeare
• Expansion
• Borrowing
• Inkhorn Controversy
• King James Bible

Answer 17

Caxton’s Printing Press: 1476. English words, south east dialect, attempt to standardise but irregular.

Shakespeare: 1623. Written in English. New inkhorn terms, 1700 new words.

Expansion: literature, law, science, religion

Borrowing: increased travelling, Spanish and Portuguese, language expanding rapidly led to an emerge of prescriptivists

Inkhorn Controversy: 16th-17th century. National pride led to a dislike of inkhorn terms. Thomas Wilson ‘The Arte of Rhetorique’ ‘straune ynkeorne’ 1533,.

King James Bible: 1611

Question 18

What was Modern English like in the 18th Century?

• British Empire
• Industrial Revolution
• Grammarians
• Johnson’s Dictionary

Answer 18

British Empire: drew on languages such as Indian and African.

Industrial Revolution: migration to cites to work in factories led to a divide in social class which led to language as a marker of prestige ‘Standard English’

Grammarians: began to examine structure of grammar, proposed correct ways of speaking and writing which led to a development of prescriptivism.

Johnson’s Dictionary: 1755. shows how prescriptivists aren’t effective.