How English Became English
by Simon Horobin
(Oxford, 2016)
The language used by its many speakers varies, in pronunciation spelling, grammar, and vocabulary, to such an extent that it seems necessary to ask whether these people can all be considered to be speaking English.
Page 1.
Modern Italian is descended form the Latin spoken by the Romans, but these are considered to be different languages. Might that not also be true of Old English and Modern English?
Page 2.
The Modern English distribution of i/j and u/v was not established until the eighteenth century.
Page 5.
The extent to which the English language should rely on words borrowed form foreign sources, rather than preferring ones of Old English origin, has been hotly debated for centuries, and continues to be contested today by proponents of pure English.
Page 9.
Today’s plain English movements continue to campaign for the use of straightforward words in place of pompous jargon - frequently a case of preferring a native word over a foreign borrowing.
Page 10.
The earliest recorded form of English is known as Old English - a language used by the Anglo-Saxons, as well as other Germanic tribes, who came to Britain from continental Europe in the fifth century, following the withdrawal of the Roman legions.
Page 15.
While English is distantly related to both Latin and French, it is principally a Germanic language; its closest modern linguistic relations are Dutch, German, and Frisian.
Page 17.
Although contact with other languages has radically altered the nature of its vocabulary, English today remains a Germanic language at its core.
Page 18.
Latin enjoyed a long lifespan in England, thanks particularly to its use as the language of scholarship and the Church, though it was never a first language, and was employed more in writing than in speech.
Page 23.
While Latin was a spoken language, it remained an acquired second language rather than a native tongue, whose use was mostly confined to the cloister.
Page 24.
Runic writing had only a limited use in Britain; the conversion to Christianity brought with it the Roman alphabet, which was established as the principal medium for Old English written records.
Page 26.
English spelling began life as a comparatively transparent way of encoding the spoken language using written symbols, but as it became more fixed it ceased to keep step with changes in pronunciation.
Page 27.
The shift from Old English to Middle English is usually dated to 1100, since the Norman Conquest of 1066, and the subsequent impact of the French language, were major factors in triggering the changes that characterize this linguistic transition.
Page 27.
The French used in England immediately after the conquest, known to scholars as Anglo-|Norman, was originally restricted to the aristocrats and noblemen who supported William of |Normandy.
Page 28.
Anglo-Norman and Middle English were not mutually comprehensible.
Page 28.
During the first two centuries following the conquest, English was largely restricted to speech, and most writing of this period was in one of the more authoritative languages - French or Latin. By the fourteenth century, the status of English had begun to change, as a result of major social upheavals following the Black Death, and the emergence of accomplished English language writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 1400).
Pages 28-29.
The higher status of French in this period continues to influence the associations of pairs of synonyms in Modern English, such as begin-commence, look-regard, stench-odour. In each of these pairs, the French borrowing is of a higher register than the word inherited from Old English.
Page 29.
Because French is itself derived from Latin, it is not always possible to determine whether a word entered English directly from Latin or via French.
Pages 29-30.
The Early Modern period witnessed the biggest impact of Latin upon English - a direct consequence of the rediscovery of classical learning associated with the European renaissance.
Page 30.
The expansion of English was further encouraged by the \protestant Reformation, which promoted the translation of the Scriptures into English as a means of enabling direct access to the word of God. This vernacularization of specialist areas of science and religion created a need for technical terminology in English
Page 31.
The high status accorded to the classical tongues in the Early Modern period meant that Latin and Greek words were adopted with their spellings intact.
Page 31.
The Early Modern period witnessed the most decisive and far-ng changes in the history of English pronunciation: a systematic reorganization of the long vowel system, known today as the Great Vowel Shift. This process began in the fifteenth century and was completed by 1700; it is the main reason why Chaucer’s pronunciation would sound very different to us today, whereas it is possible to watch a Shakespeare play in a reconstructed Original Pronunciation with few barriers of comprehension.
Page 32.
A further implication of the Great Vowel Shift was the increased disruption of the relationship between spelling and pronunciation.
Page 33.
The consequence of extensive borrowing from French, Latin, and Greek throughout the history of English is the creation of groups of synonyms occupying different registers (contests within which they may be used).
Page 35.
Modern readers of eighteenth-century texts are often struck by the apparently random use made of capitalization. Far from being random, the custom developed of using capital letters as a means of making a word more prominent, or to emphasize its generality of reference, as in words like Truth, Beauty, and Ambition.
Page 36.
English has been affected at all linguistic levels - pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary - b y the rich variety of tongues with which its users have come into contact.
Pages 36-37.
The fortunes of the English language have been closely bound up with those of its speakers.
Page 38.
If a language is in the hands, or mouths, of its speakers, then who is to say that a particular usage is acceptable while another is not?
Page 38.
Modern dictionaries are continually revised to reflect new developments in spelling, pronunciation, and usage.
Page 42.
Attempts to purify and control English are often driven by social, moral, and racial agendas.
Pages 48-49.
Instead of simply documenting contemporary usage, the OED set out to chart the history of English vocabulary from Old English to the present day.
Page 57.
The view that double negatives are illogical is an artificial rule introduced it the eighteenth century.
Page 63.
While lexicographers continue to insist that the dictionaries they produce should not be seen as a guide to correct usage, that is precisely how many people use them.
Page 67.
Placing authority in the readers’ hands is a feature of online dictionaries.
Page 68.
To adopt without question the grammatical rules that were codified in the past is tacitly to accept these concomitant prejudices and assumptions.
Page 70.
By the nineteenth century, the term Standard English referred specifically to a prestige variety, spoken only by the upper classes, yet viewed as a benchmark against which the majority of native English speakers were measured and accused of using their language incorrectly.
Page 73.
Standard English is a relatively recent phenomenon, which grew out of an eighteenth-century anxiety about the status of English … Before the eighteenth century, dialect variation was the norm, both in speech and in writing.
Page 74.
The distinction between standard and non-standard English does not correlate with the difference between formal and colloquial usage.
Page 74.
Although there is widespread agreement that there is such a thing as Standard English today, there is considerable confusion as to exactly what this label represents.
Page 75.
Success in the education system and access to the prestigious professions require a competence in the handling of Standard English.
Page 75.
Those who do not use Standard English are frequently considered illiterate, and the variety they employ is viewed as inferior to the standard. But this dominance of Standard English is a consequence of its social elevation, not the result of any linguistic superiority.
Page 76.
Objections to regional dialect or accent have little to do with linguistic issues. More often, such judgements reflect social prejudice, which seeks to denigrate another person’s speech simply because it is different to one’s own.
Page 76.
Children use dialect to signal belonging within their peer groups, families, and local communities; to insist on the unacceptability of such forms in speech in the classroom runs the further risk of causing children to avoid asking and answering questions for fear of speaking ‘incorrectly’.
Page 78.
Schools have a duty to teach Standard English to children, irrespective of their background and linguistic heritage. Not to do so would be a dereliction of duty, since Standard English is an essential tool for enabling children to pass exams, and equipping them for the world of work.
Page 79.
The process whereby this extensive variation was reduced to just one single correct spelling for most words can be traced back to the fifteenth century, when English began to replace Latin and French as a national language, creating a requirement for greater consistency in spelling.
Page 80.
The technology of printing enabled the production of large numbers of copies of books with identical spelling. The advent of printing was also a factor in lowering the cost of books, which had the effect of raising literacy levels.
Page 81.
It is not until the eighteenth century that we see a move towards complete fixity in the spelling of printed books.
Page 81.
Many people make judgements about a person’s social background, education, personality, and even morality, based upon their accent.
Page 82.
The concept of better and worse accents is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Page 82.
Talking properly was a way of demonstrating membership of the most elite social circles. A provincial accent, in contrast, was seen as a barrier to entry to the most prestigious professions, such as the law and the church, where a refined and consistent delivery was considered essential.
Page 84.
To insist that there is one and only one correct version in all contexts is to reduce the language’s flexibility and communicative and pragmatic functions needlessly.
Page 98.
A regional dialect refers to the language spoken in a particular part of a country, while a social dialect, or sociolect, is the language used by a social group.
Page 99.
Modern English dialects are frequently viewed today as socially inferior to Standard English.
Page 104.
It is in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that we witness the beginnings of dialect prejudice.
Page 105.
Although the two are often used loosely as synonyms, there is a technical distinction between a dialect and an accent. Where accent refers exclusively to pronunciation, dialect includes accent, grammar, and vocabulary.
Page106.
Dialect grammars are frequently the result of changes that have been artificially halted by the fixed forms of Standard English.
Page 109.
Where dialect grammars generally have negative social connotations, regional vocabulary is often viewed with affection and closely bound up with local identity.
Page 112.
As well as varying according to the user, language also varies according to use - what is known as register variation.
Page 119.
Although we may not be able to explain the various linguistic modifications and accommodations involved, we consciously adapt our language to the situation.
Page 119.
As a Germanic language, English has traditionally drawn upon affixes - grammatical units, known as ‘morphemes’, added to the beginnings (prefixes) and ends (suffixes) of words.
Page 122.
In a face-to-fade spoken interaction, the speaker receives continual feedback from the audience and so can gauge the impact of an utterance and make adjustments accordingly. During a spoken conversation it is possible to employ extra-linguistic cues like facial expression, tone of voice, intonation, volume, and hand gestures to help convey the correct tone of a message.
Written language relies upon punctuation to carry such information; but, because the repertoire of marks is restricted and predefined, the degree of attitudinal information that can be conveyed this way is limited.
Page 126.
What appears to be a random and ignorant misapplication of the standard repertoire of punctuation marks in discourse is, on closer examination, more often a sophisticated attempt to convey the attitudinal and emotional information typically associated with speech in a written medium.
Page 127.
The widespread use of exclamation marks in electronic discourse is not simply evidence of a modern delight in one’s own humour, or a tendency to over-sensationalize. Research has shown that they carry a range of exclamatory functions, including apologizing, challenging, thanking, agreeing, and showing solidarity.
Page 128.
In electronic discourse … the use of capitals has become an established means of shouting, or expressing hostility towards your addressee. To write an email entirely in upper-case is seen as an act of deliberate aggression.
Page 129.
Far from being an impoverished medium, electronic communication is characterized by creativity and playfulness, spawning new words, and repurposing traditional conventions of spelling and punctuation.
Page 129.
Attempts to police electronic usage and to insist its users follow conventional rules seem doomed to failure.
Page 130.
This tendency for colonial varieties to preserve archaic features of the parent language is well attested; it is known to linguists as ‘colonial lag’ - a problematic term which should not be taken to imply that the language is trying to play catch-up.
Page 133.
The spread of English in North America came at the expense of the native languages and their speakers
Page 134.
The spread of English to Canada was the consequence of colonies established by New Englanders in the eighteenth century, principally constituted of those who remained loyal to Britain following the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Page 135.
There are many similarities between the English heard in Canada and America, although Canadian English shares several features with the English spoken in the UK.
Page 135.
British convicts who were deported to Australia in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were frequently of Cockney and Irish extraction, so that these dialects have a particular importance for the formation of the distinctive Australian accent.
Page 136.
Today English is the primary language in some sixty countries and continues to spread, especially as a second language.
Page 138.
There are now far more speakers of English in the USA than in Britain.
Page 140.
The mixing of Englishes and the formation of distinctive new varieties is accelerated by its use among non-native speakers as a lingua franca.
Page 141.
In former colonies, the appropriation and remodelling represented by mixed forms of English have political and ideological ramifications. Where the Standard English of Britain is linked with a nation’s colonial past, mixed forms of English come to stand for greater political and national independence.
Page 144.
An English pidgin acts as a kind of lingua franca, used for specific and restricted purposes, such as carrying but international trade and business. Because of this, pidgins tend to emerge along trade routes, as happened along the western coast of Africa, or in the Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
Page 145.
Where a pidgin language begins to be learned by children at their first language, it acquires full language status and is termed a creole, from a French word meaning ‘indigenous’. The technical distinction between a pidgin and a creole, therefore, is that the latter has native speakers.
Page 146.
Because scholars dismissed pidgins and creoles as unfit for serious study, little was recorded about how and why such languages came into being. An older view that attributed their simplified structure to the inferior intellectual abilities of primitive societies has now been dismissed, since it has been shown that the languages of such communities are just as developed as those of more advanced civilizations, albeit often with a more limited lexicon.
Page 148.
The dominance of English today has parallels in the role of Latin in pre-modern Europe.
Page 149.
As long as English retains its significance in important domains such as the United Nations, the European Community, science and technology, and the entertainment industry, it will preserve its dominant status as a world language.
Page 150.
Rather than witness the break up of Standard English, the following centuries will see Standard English function as a unifying force, just as Classical Latin did into the seventeenth century.
Page 150.
Linguists have detected the emergence of a variety known as World Standard English in use throughout the globe.
Page 151.
Predictions about the break-up of the English language into distinct languages are not new.
Page 151.
As users of English, it is impossible for us to take an external stance form which to observe current usage.
Page 153.
Where good grammar is seen to enshrine and maintain traditional social hierarchies, non-standard grammar consciously undermines and challenges them.
Page 159.
For many, good grammar is a cipher for other social values, such as politeness, respect, and the preservation of traditional social mores. For them, the dropping of formal grammar teaching n schools is directly responsible for the breakdown in social hierarchies, youth unemployment, crime, and many other social ills.
Page 159.
A key factor in the rejection of grammatical study in English schools in the twentieth century was the rise of English literature as a discipline.
Page 160.
The dropping of grammar from the English curriculum in the 1960s coincided with a decline in the teaching of Classics in English schools.
Page 161.
Throughout its history, the codification of the rules of correct grammar has been closely linked with the teaching of classical languages.
Page 161.
Many of our ideas of linguistic correctness were established in the eighteenth century. During this period, concerns for linguistic corruption and correctness were triggered by the establishment of new social hierarchies and anxieties.
Page 162.
Since the eighteenth century, efforts to outlaw variation and to introduce greater fixity in English have bene driven by a desire to emulate the model of this prestigious classical forebear.
Page 163.
Concern for the language can be made to stand proxy for a concern for the country.
Page 164.