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Early Modern English – an overview

Boundaries of time and place, variations in english, attitudes to english, vocabulary expansion, ‘inkhorn’ versus purism, archaism and rhetoric, regulation and spelling reform, fresh perspectives: old english and new science.

The early modern English period follows the Middle English period towards the end of the fifteenth century and coincides closely with the Tudor (1485–1603) and Stuart (1603-1714) dynasties. The battle of Bosworth (1485) marked the end of the long period of civil war known as the Wars of the Roses and the establishment of the Tudor dynasty under Henry VII (1485–1509), which brought a greater degree of stable centralized government to England. Not long before, the introduction of the craft of printing in 1476 by William Caxton marked a new departure in the dissemination of the written word.

The end of the period is marked by the religious and political settlement of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688), the transition to the Augustan age during the reign of Queen Anne (1702–14), and the achievement of political unity within the British Isles through the Act of Union between England and Scotland (1707).

The defining events of the sixteenth century were those of the  Reformation , initiated under Henry VIII in the 1530s, which severed both religious and political links with Catholic Europe. During the seventeenth century the new science gradually achieved prominence, beginning with the writings of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and issuing in the foundation of the Royal Society (chartered in 1662).

At the start of our period English was spoken throughout England except in western Cornwall, where it was rapidly replacing Cornish.

The English speach doth still encroche vpon it [Cornish], and hath driuen the same into the vttermost skirts of the shire. Most of the Inhabitants can no word of Cornish; but very few are ignorant of the English. Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall (1602)

Wales was integrated administratively and legally into England by parliamentary acts of 1536 and 1543; the former made English the only language of the law courts and excluded those who used Welsh from any public office in Wales. However, apart from the ruling gentry, the inhabitants remained Welsh-speaking throughout the period. In Scotland, Scots (see below) was spoken in most of the Lowlands, Gaelic (called  Erse  in this period) in the Highlands and Galloway, and the Scandinavian language Norn in Shetland and Orkney.

The Tudor monarchs asserted their claim to the lordship of Ireland. Hitherto the English speaking presence had been small, restricted to the  English pale . A series of military conflicts and plantations under Elizabeth, James I, and Oliver Cromwell led to the political domination of the country by English-speakers.

The era of overseas commercial venture and colonization was initiated in 1496–7 by the visit to Newfoundland (compare  new-found  adj. 2) of the Italian explorer John Cabot, commissioned by Henry VII. Newfoundland was subsequently claimed for England in 1583. Settlement on the mainland of North America began with Jamestown (1607); the mainly Puritan Pilgrims [ pilgrim  n. 4a] or ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ founded the Plymouth Colony (1620). During the last part of the seventeenth century economic hardship led to large-scale Scottish emigration to Ireland and North America.

Bermuda was colonized in 1612, followed by St Kitts (1623) and Barbados (1627) in the West Indies. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) English merchant voyages to the Indian Ocean began. The East India Company established its first trading factory in India in 1612 and took possession of Bombay in 1668.

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During the Middle English period numerous regional dialects existed in England and Scotland. Middle English manuscripts, even copies of the same work, differ linguistically from one another to a greater or lesser degree. In the later Middle Ages London gradually emerged as the seat of administration and the court. The speech of the capital acquired social prestige and written forms of it became usual in official documents and literature, though it could only loosely be called a ‘standard’. Since printing was based in London this form of English was adopted by the early printers. But Caxton himself was acutely aware of variation and change within English.

Certaynly our langage now vsed varyeth ferre from that which was vsed and spoken whan I was borne. William Caxton, Prologue to Eneydos (1490).

Nevertheless, compared with Middle English texts, early modern texts seem much more uniform. It was recommended that literary English should be based on the speech of the London area.

Ye shall therfore take the vsual speach of the Court, and that of London and the shires lying about London within lx. myles, and not much aboue. George Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie (1589).

A high degree of spoken regional variety still existed and was generally recognized. Although regional dialects were scarcely recorded, their extent can be deduced from dialect study undertaken from the eighteenth century onwards. Within England, northern and western dialects were generally known to be markedly different from written English. Evidently (as today) particular differences were specially prominent.

Pronouncing according as one would say at London I would eat more cheese if I had it, the Northern man saith Ay suld eat mare cheese gin ay hadet, and the Westerne man saith Chud eat more cheese an chad it. Richard Verstegan, A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605).

There was a stylized stage version of western speech, as, for example, used by Edgar when posing as a countryman in  King Lear .

Good Gentleman goe your gate, let poore volke passe: and chud haue been zwaggar’d out of my life, it would not haue bene zo long by a vortnight: nay come not neere the olde man, keepe out cheuore ye, or ile try whether your costard or my bat be the harder, chill be plaine with you. Shakespeare, King Lear, IV. vi (2nd Quarto, 1619).

Scots was a special case. In 1500 Scotland and England were separate countries and during the sixteenth century Scots can be regarded as a language distinct from the English spoken south of the border. In Scotland under James IV (1488–1512) there was a cultural flourishing, with the beginnings of Renaissance influence from the continent. After the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603 the status of Scots declined. The court moved to London with the king, so that Scots lost its social prestige. Moreover, writers like John Knox, who were in the forefront of the Scottish Reformation (1560) and greatly influenced Scottish literary culture, wrote mainly in southern English. Already, around 1590, the number of books printed in Edinburgh in English had overtaken those printed in Scots and after 1603 Scots ceased to be a book language.

Gif ȝe, throw curiositie of nouationis, hes forȝet our auld plane Scottis quhilk ȝour mother lerit ȝou, in tymes cuming I sall wryte to ȝou my mynd in Latin, for I am nocht acquyntit with ȝour Southeroun. Ninian Winȝet, Letter to John Knox (1563).

Social dialects (essentially those used by people regarded as inferiors) were also widely recognized by contemporaries, but we can make only very partial reconstructions from the surviving evidence, such as comments by grammarians and the dialogue in stage plays. A particular, though perhaps somewhat artificial, social dialect that received special attention was the canting slang of rogues and vagabonds.

Early in the period, English was frequently compared unfavourably as a literary language with Latin. It was also initially seen as not possessing advantages over other European languages, as this dialogue shows.

‘What thinke you of this English, tel me I pray you.’ ‘It is a language that wyl do you good in England but passe Dover, it is woorth nothing.’ ‘Is it not used then in other countreyes?’ ‘No sir, with whom wyl you that they speake?’ ‘With English marchants.’ ‘English marchantes, when they are out of England, it liketh hem not, and they doo not speake it.’ John Florio, Florio his firste fruites (1578), ch. 27.

The inferiority of English was often explained in terms of the mixed origin of its vocabulary.

It is a language confused, bepeesed with many tongues: it taketh many words of the latine, and mo from the French, and mo from the Italian, and many mo from the Duitch, some also from the Greeke, and from the Britaine, so that if every language had his owne wordes againe, there woulde but a fewe remaine for English men, and yet every day they adde. Florio, Florio his firste fruites, ch. 27.

English was also criticized for being inelegant and uneloquent. But there was a sudden change between 1570 and 1580. English began to be praised, in contrast with other languages, for its copious vocabulary, linguistic economy (in using words of mainly one or two syllables), and simple grammar. For example, a lengthy and spirited defence of English, as compared with Latin, is given by the educationist  Richard Mulcaster .

The English tung cannot proue fairer, then it is at this daie. Richard Mulcaster, The First Part of the Elementarie (1582).

During the seventeenth century the status of Latin rapidly declined and by the end of the century even works of science were being written in English.

The vocabulary of English expanded greatly during the early modern period. Writers were well aware of this and argued about it. Some were in favour of loanwords to express new concepts, especially from Latin. Others advocated the use of existing English words, or new compounds of them, for this purpose. Others advocated the revival of obsolete words and the adoption of regional dialect.

A notable supporter of the introduction of new words was the humanist and diplomat  Sir Thomas Elyot  (c.1490–1546). Among now common words, he introduced participate   v. in five of the senses given in  OED  and  persist  v. in three. Among less popular words, he introduced  obtestation  n. and  pristinate  adj. Elyot frequently explained his coinages: for example his use of the words  maturity   (maturity n. 3: he was unaware that the word had already been used in other senses in English) and  modesty   (modesty n. 1) in  The Boke Named the Gouernour  (1531).

Yet of these two [sc. celeritie and slownesse] springeth an excellent vertue, whervnto we lacke a name in englishe. Wherfore I am constrained to vsurpe a latine worde, callyng it Maturitie. Sir Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Gouernour (1531)

Many early modern writers criticized the use of Latinate expressions (usually loanwords from Latin, sometimes words modelled on Latin) in order to elevate the style of writing, especially in inappropriate contexts or for concepts which had ordinary English equivalents. These were known as inkhorn terms (an inkhorn being ‘a small portable vessel, originally made of horn, for holding writing-ink’). A notable critic was  Thomas Wilson , writing on the important art of rhetoric.

This should first be learned, that we neuer affect any straunge ynkehorne termes, but so speake as is commonly receiued. Sir Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique (1553).

Further on Wilson holds up to ridicule an example of a (probably fictitious) ‘ynkehorne letter’. A typical clause from this runs ‘I  obtestate  your  clemencie , to  inuigilate thus muche for me’: all three italicized words were quite new in 1553; two of them have survived. It is notable that many of the words that were objected to then as unnecessary were soon accepted into the language. Such controversy waned after about 1600, partly because so many Latinate words had been accepted and were now regarded as an enrichment.

By contrast the royal tutor  Sir John Cheke  translated part of the New Testament avoiding loanwords wherever possible. (This translation was not, however, published until 1843.) For example, he uses  moond  for ‘lunatic’,  onwriting  for ‘inscription’, and  tabler  for ‘banker’.

Our own tung shold be written cleane and pure, vnmixt and vnmangeled with borowing of other tunges. Sir John Cheke, in his letter to Thomas Hoby, printed at the end of Hoby’s translation of Castiglione’s Courtier (1561).

Ralph Lever , in his Arte of Reason, rightly termed, Witcraft  (1573), attempted to render Latin logic terms with English compounds such as  nay-say  ‘negation’, but none caught on. Nathaniel Fairfax , a Baconian scientist, managed to write a book devoid of obviously learned loanwords, called  A Treatise of the Bulk and Selvage of the World  (1674), ‘bulk and selvedge’ here meaning ‘volume and boundary’; other terms include  bodysome  ‘corporeal’,  nowness  ‘the quality of being always present’, and  onefoldness  ‘singleness’. However, Fairfax’s language is often misleading and sometimes incomprehensible.

The poet Edmund Spenser was the leading proponent of the use of archaic and dialectal words, especially in  The Shepheardes Calender  (1579) and  The Faerie Queene  (1590). The former has a preface defending the practice, written by Spenser’s friend ‘E.K.’

And firste of the wordes to speake, I graunt that they be something hard, and of most men vnused, yet both English, and also vsed of most excellent Authours and most famous Poetes. ‘E.K.’, preface to Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender (1579).

Examples of Spenser’s archaisms include  nempt  ‘named’ ( nemn  v.),  prow  adj. ‘worthy, valiant’, and  queme  ‘please’ ( queem  v.). A number of seventeenth-century poets imitated Spenser, although they did not always use his archaic and dialectal words correctly. Even errors, however, played a part in the formation of poetic vocabulary:  derring do n. was adopted from the phrase derrynge do ‘the daring to do’, ‘the courage to venture’ in sixteenth-century editions of Lydgate’s History of Troy (itself imitating a passage in Chaucer), which was misunderstood by Spenser, and explained in the Glossary to the Shepheardes Calender as ‘manhood and chevalrie’.

An eloquent language was one which made use of the devices of classical rhetoric. Rhetoric, originally referring to the art of public speaking, had come to be applied to literature in general. It was a normal part of the study of Latin and was carried over by educated writers into their use of English. From the mid-sixteenth century onwards books on rhetoric began to appear in English, such as Thomas Wilson’s  The Arte of Rhetorique  (1553) referred to above. The figures of rhetoric covered a wide range of literary devices and their presence in a work was noticed and praised. They would have been immediately spotted, for example, in Mark Antony’s speech in Shakespeare’s  Julius Caesar, III. ii .

‘I am no Orator, as Brutus is; But..a plaine blunt man [topos of modesty]…I..Shew you sweet Cæsars wounds, poor poor [epizeuxis] dum mouths [oxymoron and metaphor] And bid them speak [prosopopoeia] for me: But were I Brutus, and Brutus Antony [synoeciosis]…’

The classical languages, not being current spoken languages, do not change, and can therefore be described by a set of fixed grammatical rules. This was frequently regarded as the ideal condition of a language. From about 1660 there were proposals for an academy similar to the Académie Française which would regularize and purify the language: supporters included John Dryden and later Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift . Dryden’s  Defence of the Epilogue  (1672) marks the beginning of the tradition of criticizing supposed grammatical errors in English.

From Jonsons time to ours, it [English] has been in a continual declination. John Dryden Defence of the Epilogue (1672).

Dryden criticizes Ben Jonson himself for such mistakes as placing a preposition at the end of a sentence and using the plural  ones . This desire for regulation was to some extent met by the expansion of the number and coverage of dictionaries and by the development of English grammars, most of which, however, were modelled on grammars of Latin and had very little to say about sentence structure. (For more on this see the related article on  grammar in early modern English .)

The Restoration period also saw the beginnings of criticism of affected vocabulary, focusing initially on the adoption of French expressions.

We meet daily with those Fopps, who value themselves on their Travelling, and pretend they cannot express their meaning in English, because they would put off to us some French Phrase of the last Edition. Dryden, Defence (1672).

But this by no means implies the rejection of all foreign loanwords: John Evelyn in his  Letter to Sir Peter Wyche  (20 June 1665; published in 1908) suggested for adoption a number of French and Italian words which ‘we have hardly any words that do so fully expresse’: a number of these did indeed become current at around this time, including  bizarre ,  chicanery ,  concert , and  naiveté .

Between about 1540 and 1640 there was a movement for spelling reform in England. Early advocates were Sir John Cheke (see above) and Sir Thomas Smith , who as classical philologists were conscious of the disparity in spelling between English and Latin. John Hart produced three works on the subject between 1551 and 1570 and proposed a phonetic spelling system using a number of additional symbols. In opposition to this approach, Richard Mulcaster (see above) advocated only mild reform, and there are very few improvements in his word-lists when compared with modern spelling. (For more, see our article on  early modern English pronunciation and spelling .)

Old English  (or Anglo-Saxon) began to be studied during this period. Manuscripts were collected and Old English texts published. The first Old English dictionary (edited by William Somner ) appeared in 1659 and the first grammar of the language (edited by George Hickes ) in 1689. The original motivations for the undertaking were mixed: either to demonstrate the continuity of the Church of England, to show that the English legal system descended from Anglo-Saxon law, or to support the cause of biblical translation. Nevertheless, it had the effect of introducing a historical understanding of the English language and paved the way for later etymological and philological investigation.

At the same time the seventeenth-century scientific movement, heralded pre-eminently by Francis Bacon , had the effect of establishing English finally as an adequate medium of technical writing in place of Latin. It also led to the cultivation of a plain style of writing, without the use of the devices of rhetoric. Bacon, who wrote in both English and Latin, himself criticized the valuing of style above matter. His followers carried the attack much further. The Royal Society, according to its historian, Bishop Thomas Sprat, was to be praised for correcting stylistic excesses in writing.

They have therefore been most rigorous in putting in execution, the only Remedy, that can be found for this Extravagance, and that has been, a constant Resolution, to reject all the amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style; to return back to the primitive purity, and shortness, when men deliver’d so many things, almost in an equal number of words. Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal-Society of London (1667).

Suggested reading

• Charles Barber,  Early Modern English  (1976)
• Manfred Görlach,  Introduction to Early Modern English  (1991)

About the  OED

• More about the  OED
• More about the history of English
• What’s new? Recent updates

Author: Edmund Weiner, OED Deputy Chief Editor

Old English – an overview

Old English refers to the language as it was used in the long period of time from the coming of Germanic invaders and settlers to Britain up to the Norman Conquest of 1066, and beyond into the first century of Norman rule in England.

Old English in the OED

Old English is the term used to refer to the oldest recorded stage of the English language, i.e. from the earliest evidence in the seventh century to the period of transition with Middle English in the mid-twelfth century.

Middle English – an overview

Middle English is framed at its beginning by the after-effects of the Norman Conquest, and at its end by the arrival in Britain of printing, the important impacts of the English Reformation, and the ideas of the continental Renaissance.

Dating Middle English evidence in the OED

These notes explain some of the principles and procedures involved in the dating of Middle English sources in the OED.

Modern English language. Early Modern English

2. contents, 3. introduction , 7. 1 modern english language. early modern english 1.1 great vowel shift, 8. 1.2 printing press and standardization, 10. grammar changes: the grammatical structure of english has changed comparatively little since the 17th century.  there have been, 11. phonological changes: these seemed to be spontaneous and internal rather than caused by any external influence., 12. 1.3 dictionaries and grammars, 14. 2 characteristics of late modern english 2.1 the industrial and scientific revolution, 15. 2.2 the new world, 16. conclusion, 17. bibliography.

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An Introduction to Early Modern English - By Terttu Nevalainen

2007, Renaissance Studies

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• After the decline of French in the Middle English period, a new English standard began to develop.
• Two factors where highly influential in this process
• 1. economic and cultural centre within the East- Midlands triangle of Oxford-Cambridge- Londo n.
• 2. introduction of the printing press.
• The Early Modern English period saw the continuation of these processes and the increasing social status of English as an effect of printing and other far-reaching social, political, religious, and cultural changes in the Renaissance.
• In a nutshell, English established itself as a standard language in the Early Modern English period, but it was still in search of its identity.
• The period of Early Modern English is known as the Renaissance.
• The English Renaissance lasted from about 1500 to 1650.
• Name for this historical era simply means rebirth it was coined by the French historian Jules Michelet and was later used by Jacob Burckhardt, a Swiss historian.
• The notion of rebirth triggered a great number of cultural and political changes that mark the progression towards modern life.
• These changes concern the structure and organization of society, peoples world-views and national identity, the organization of religious life, and the development of literature and art.
• The Mid.Eng social system was based on the model of feudalism and was centred around the three estates of nobility, clergy, and peasants.
• In Early Modern English (EME), there was tremendous political, economic, technological and social change.
• These changes influenced the growth of
• English language by leaps and bounds.
• The Renaissance constituted the basis for the Spanish and Portuguese exploration and colonization of the Americas and Africa. Both of these sea powers brought enormous riches from these far-away continents to Europe.
• In the domain of religion, the Renaissance period saw the conversion of England into a Protestant country.
• By 1539. English translation of bible flourished in the churches.
• Queen Elizabeth 1 ascended the throne in 1558.
• Since she was a Protestant and the head of the Church of England, she made England a Protestant country.
• She faced a battle with Mary Tudor who tried to restore Catholicism in Britain.
• The reign of Elizabeth, however, was not only stained by bloody battles and death but also a period of a golden age of literature and poetry, music, and architecture the Elizabethan Age.
• Elizabeth herself was a very well-read queen
• and promoted many cultural and academic
• activities.
• It is this period where the studies of modern English literature started.
• The period was shaped by authors such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, or Jonson, who all established landmarks in English literature.
• Shakespeare, obviously the most celebrated of these authors had a considerable impact on the English language.
• The golden age of English literature and music indicates that English society was on its way of increasingly developing a strong sense of national identity.
• Renaissance people started to focus on their own national identity. The social, scientific, and religious changes supported this growing sense of national individuality.
• Thus, the Renaissance established the cultural and political basis for the development of modern nation states.
• England began expanding overseas possession.
• To the east, its colonies expanded to India.
• To the west, it reached North America in 1584. The first permanent settlement was in Jamestown,
• This took place during the reign of King James I
• James was the first king of the four countries of the British Isles.
• It was during this phase that England started to become an international power.
• However, in 1707 the United Kingdom was finally established.
• The Union Flag of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland
• During the Early Modern English period, the status of English was extended dramatically. After the decline of French in the mid-14th century, English became the language of administration and government. Latin, however, remained the high-prestige lingua franca of learning and wisdom.
• By the end of the Early Modern English period, English pushed Latin out of the sociolinguistic scene becoming itself the language of science.
• This increase in status, along with the political development of England establishing trade and colonies all over the globe, constitutes the historical basis for English becoming a world-wide language and a lingua franca of business and science.
• All of the above mentioned historical changes led to the predominant status of English as the only H-language in Great Britain.
• The introduction of the technique of printing must be regarded as a landmark in the spread of written English.
• In the 150 years following the introduction of the printing press, nearly 20000 books appeared. Thanks to the printing press, books could be produced more efficiently, and thus more people got access to written texts.
• Printing, however, would not have been influential, if no market had existed for the dissemination of printed books. Printing was, of course, subject to economic constraints the books had to be sold to make printing a flourishing business.
• Printers found a great number of customers in the new merchant middle class, people who were interested in learning and had the money to buy books.
• The potential readership for books thus included the upper and middle classes the classes that were literate or increasingly became so. Illiteracy was very high among the lower classes and women.
• The new middle class were not learned people and had no knowledge of Latin. They spoke vernacular English and thus also wanted to read English books.
• The increased availability of affordable English books further increased the readership of these books, which, consequently, increased the demand for further books. In other words, printing enhanced learning, which, in reverse enhanced printing and the spread of written English. Moreover, in the 16th century, pamphlets emerged as an early form of mass media and around 1620, the first newspapers appeared.
• Printing promoted the standardization process since books had to be written in a style that made them accessible to a large audience from different dialect backgrounds. Thus, a number of spelling rules had to be established by mutual convention. As a result, a rudimentary orthographic system emerged.
• The Early Modern period is also called the Age of Bibles since in this period an massive number of Bible translations appeared.
• Many discussions about gospel were made accessible to the public by the reformers and people themselves became interested in reading the word of God.
• Most people attracted by Protestantism were of humble origin and did not have classical education in Latin. They spoke English only.
• Consequently, Bible translations were needed. English Bibles raised the prestige of English in general, whereas Latin was despised by many as the language of the Pope.
• Among others, influential English Bibles such as the Tyndale Bible, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, or the Bishops Bible were written. In 1611, the King James Bible also known as the Authorized Bible - was issued. This official translation was worked out by 54 translators who followed strict translation guidelines. The translators aimed at a dignified and somewhat archaic style. Therefore, the language represented in this Bible is conservative. Nevertheless, the many Bible translations provide a very important corpus of written evidence on the state of English in the Early Modern period.
• In contrast to the many Bible translations, Shakespeares writing supplied English with a great number of innovations.
• Shakespeare was one of the central figures to promote the new genre of drama, which developed out of medieval mystery and miracle plays. These plays were originally performed during church festivities and dramatized Biblical stories.
• In the 14th and 15th centuries these plays came to be performed in front of churches on the marketplace.
• Theatres and cultural activities centers began to take place in 1574.
• This was the period of Shakespeare (1564-1616)
• On the basis of these older forms of performance, a new form of drama was established during the reign of Elizabeth I. The plays written by Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Jonson were performed by professional actors in public theatres
• Of course, Shakespeares Globe Theatre was the most important and celebrated venue.
• Shakespeare wrote his plays as a basis for the performance, but not to be published for readers.
• The plays belonged to the drama company, which did not want them written down because it wanted people come to the performance.
• Later his plays were published as a 'quarto' edition.
• However, this edition was not edited by Shakespeare himself but by company actors after the performance. Only seven years after Shakespeares death the plays appeared as more carefully prepared 'folio' edition.
• The editions show that the language used by Shakespeare was highly innovative. Through the celebrated status of his works, a great deal of this innovation flowed into the lexicon of present day English. These Shakespearean influences are known as Shakespearean Firsts.
• EME lexicon was significantly enriched in response to the expansion of Britain as a superpower, improvements in communication, and contribution from Shakespeare.
• Many new words were created and borrowed from other countries
• The lexicon of Early Modern English, was greatly enriched for more reasons than poetic innovation.
• Due to international trade and exploration, English speakers made contact with speakers of others languages who brought objects, substances, plants, animals, etc. and corresponding concepts to the continent from the Americas and Africa.
• These concepts were not known to European people before therefore, they needed labeling. The most simple thing to do in this case is to borrow the label used in the original donor language. In this way, a great many new words entered the English vocabulary via Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Italian, etc.
• There was a further realm of exploration and innovation that led to the creation of many new concepts science.
• Since the lingua franca of science was Latin (interspersed with Greek terminology), a great number of loan words entered English from there.
• Borrowing became particularly intensive when English started to replace Latin as the language of science by the end of the 17th century.
• It is significant, for instance, that Newton wrote his Principia Mathematica in Latin (1685)
• But later published his Optics in English.
• The influx of non-English, especially Latin, vocabulary was not generally appreciated by all speakers of English. Language purists such as Thomas Wilson opposed this development fiercely by disclaiming the use of these words as a matter of snobbish intellectuals, so-called inkhorn writers. Wilson stated
• Among all other lessons this should first be learned, that wee never affect any strange ynkehorne terms, but to speake as it is commonly received neither seeking to be over fine, nor yet living overcarelesse, using our speeche as most men doe, and ordering our wittes as the fewest have done. Some seeke so far for outlandish English, that they forget altogether their mothers language. And I deare sweare this, if some of their mothers are alive, thei were not able to tell what they say and yet these fine English clerkes will say, they speake in their mother tongue, if a man should charge them for counterfeiting the Kings English.
• Thomas Wilson (The Arte of Rhetorique, 1553)
• Others, however, regarded this process more positively by highlighting the importance of those words for the English language. One of the proponents in favour of loan words was George Pettie
• Wherefore I marueile how our english tongue hath crackt it credite, that it may not borrow of the Latine as well as other tongues and if it haue broken, it is but of late, for it is not vnknowen to all men how many woordes we haue fetcht from thence within these fewe yeeres, which if they should be all counted inkpot termes, I know not how we should speake any thing without blacking our mouthes with inke for what woord can be more plaine then this word plaine, and yet what can come more neere to the Latine?
• George Pettie (Preface to The ciuile
• conuersation of M. Steeuen Guazzo, 1581)
• What historical linguistic conclusion can one draw from this controversy?
• The Inkhorn Controversy, basically just being a dispute about what good English is and how good English should be spoken, nicely reflects the sociolinguistic status of English in the Early Modern English period.
• For most educated people, Latin still had the aura of the stylistic and rhetorical role model. If anything sensible should be written in English, it should follow the prestigious model of Latin.
• On the other hand, English was in the process of becoming much more self-confident and not dependent on the lexical support of Latin.
• In other words, the Inkhorn controversy reflects the search for a strong English linguistic identity, but it also shows that this linguistic identity had always been subject to influences from a great number of other languages.
• Moreover, the statements show that English was in search for linguistic authority because a generally acknowledged standard had not been established yet.
• By EME, the structure of the standard language was very close to Present Day English (PDE)
• There were still some changes taking place such as Great Vowel Shift (GVS), morphology, syntax, consonants and vowels
• But the variation from PDE is considered slight
• 1- The Great Vowel Shift
• The Standard British English arose from GVS.
• The changes that took place is the set of long vowels
• The table below summarizes these changes in chronological order.
• Although it is difficult to reconstruct the actuation of this sound change, it is probable that its origin lay in sociolinguistic variation and stratification in the London area of the early 16th century.
• For lower class speakers there seemed to be a tendency to use long mid-close vowels in words where long mid-open vowels would be expected in London Middle English
• Thus, this pronunciation change can be regarded as a push mechanism
• 2- "Do" - the origin of the dummy auxiliary
• The development of the dummy auxiliary do reflects the process of grammaticalisation, i.e. the process of a content word acquiring the status of a grammatical function word. In the grammar of PDE, do must be used as a content less grammatical operator in the following contexts
• a) Negation I do not know. b) Question Do you know? c) Question-tag You know, do you? d) Emphatic do I do know this.

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Early Modern English

Oct 13, 2014

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Early Modern English. The language of the REnaissance. So, what now?. Renaissance Shakespeare Queen Elizabeth I King James I Great Vowel Shift a /a/ > /e/ nam > name e /e/ > / i / fet > feet i / i / > / ai / riden > ride o /o/ > /u/ rote > root u /u/ > / ou / hus > house

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Early Modern English The language of the REnaissance

So, what now? • Renaissance • Shakespeare • Queen Elizabeth I • King James I • Great Vowel Shift • a /a/ > /e/ nam > name • e /e/ > /i/ fet > feet • i /i/ > /ai/ riden > ride • o /o/ > /u/ rote > root • u /u/ > /ou/ hus > house • Advent of the Printing Press

Important People William Shakespeare Queen Elizabeth I King James I

Sample of Early Modern English O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wann'd, Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing! For Hecuba! What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do, Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears And cleave the general ear with horrid speech, Make mad the guilty and appal the free, Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed The very faculties of eyes and ears. What a deceitful fellow - a rogue, a peasant slave - he was! It was monstrous that this actor had only to imagine grief for his face to go pale and his eyes to stream. In a fiction! A made-up script of passion! He was able to effect a broken voice, a desperation in his body language, and everything he felt necessary to the situation he was imagining. And it was all for nothing! For Hecuba, dead for a thousand years! What was Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, that he should weep for her? What would that actor do if he had the motive and the reason for grief that he had? He would flood the stage with tears and split the ears of the audience with the language he would find, terrifying the innocent and making the guilty mad. He would bewilder the ignorant and amaze the eyes and ears of all.

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