English in Modern Times

by Beal,Joan C

• ISBN13: 9780340761175
• ISBN10: 0340761172
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-08-27
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

English in Modern Times describes the development of the English language from 1700 until 1945, and argues that it is in the course of this later modern English period that the characteristics of "modern" English evolved. This is the first undergraduate text to cover the whole of thisimportant period, which has been called the "Cinderella" of English historical linguistics because of its lack of representation of scholarly literature. This book is sociohistorical in orientation, arguing that social changes in the Anglophone world need to be taken into account if we are to understand the linguistic changes that occurred during this period. Further chapters deal with changes in vocabulary, syntax and morphology and phonology andwith the attempts of lexicographers, grammarians and elocutionists to arrest and control these changes by codifying the language. Unlike many earlier histories of English, English in Modern Times does not define "English" as confined to Standard (English) English, but also considers the developmentof extraterritorial Englishes and non-standard varieties of British English in the Later Modern period.

Table of Contents

List of figures	ix
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xv
Modern English and modern times	1	(13)
Introduction: Defining `modern times'	1	(1)
Politics	2	(1)
Science	3	(1)
Society	4	(2)
Urbanization	6	(1)
Transport and communications	7	(2)
Communications	9	(1)
Britain and the British Empire	10	(1)
Modern times and Modern English	11	(3)
The vocabulary of Later Modern English	14	(21)
Introduction	14	(2)
Innovation and resistance, 1660--1800	16	(5)
Invention and innovation, 1800--1900	21	(8)
Wars and rumours of wars, 1900--1945	29	(6)
Recording and regulating the lexicon: dictionaries from Dr Johnson to the Oxford English Dictionary	35	(31)
Dictionaries before Johnson	35	(5)
Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755): the first `modern' dictionary?	40	(5)
After Johnson: English dictionaries in the nineteenth century	45	(12)
The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles/Oxford English Dictionary	57	(9)
Syntactic change in Later Modern English	66	(23)
Introduction	66	(2)
Regulation of variants resulting from changes in Early Modern English	68	(9)
Regulation of second-person pronouns	69	(3)
Regulation of the uses of do	72	(3)
Regulation of relativizers	75	(2)
Innovations of the later modern period	77	(12)
The be + -ing construction	78	(5)
Group-verbs	83	(2)
Decline of the subjunctive	85	(1)
Other changes	86	(3)
Grammars and grammarians	89	(35)
The `doctrine of correctness'	89	(16)
Introduction	89	(1)
Standardization and codification	90	(3)
Social mobility and linguistic insecurity	93	(1)
`No enemy so formidable as the pen': language and politics	94	(7)
Grammars and the teaching of English	101	(4)
Models and theories of grammar	105	(10)
Prescriptive or descriptive grammars	105	(2)
The influence of Latin	107	(5)
The application of logic to grammar	112	(3)
`Prejudice' and ipse dixit statements	115	(1)
English grammars of the nineteenth century	115	(4)
Grammars in the early twentieth century	119	(3)
Conclusion	122	(2)
Phonological change in Later Modern English	124	(44)
Introduction	124	(2)
Evidence for Later Modern English pronunciation	126	(7)
Overview: types of evidence	126	(1)
The reliability of direct evidence for Later Modern English pronunciation	127	(6)
Phonological change	133	(33)
Overview	133	(3)
The Face and Goat sets	136	(2)
The Bath and Cloth sets	138	(4)
The Foot and Strut sets	142	(3)
Yod-dropping	145	(4)
Unstressed vowels	149	(4)
Weakening and loss of /r/	153	(4)
H-dropping	157	(3)
The velar nasal	160	(1)
Changes in the pronunciation of individual words	161	(4)
Changes in twentieth-century English	165	(1)
Conclusion	166	(2)
Defining the standard of pronunciation: pronouncing dictionaries and the rise of RP	168	(22)
Introduction	168	(1)
Defining `a proper pronunciation'	169	(14)
Early definitions	169	(1)
Proper and polite speech: eighteenth-century standards	170	(8)
Standards and shibboleths	178	(5)
Received pronunciation	183	(7)
Beyond standard English: varieties of English in the later modern period	190	(31)
Introduction	190	(2)
Regional dialects of British English	192	(17)
`Marks of disgrace': evidence from normative works	192	(7)
Dialect literature and literary dialect	199	(6)
Dialect studies	205	(4)
Beyond the British Isles	209	(12)
An apology	209	(1)
`Divided by a common language': American English and British English	210	(5)
English transported: the development of Australian English	215	(3)
Other varieties of English	218	(3)
References	221	(18)
Index	239