Historical Sociolinguistics

by Nevalainen; Terttu

• ISBN13: 9780582319943
• ISBN10: 0582319943
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-03-05
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This volume presents a sociolinguistic perspective on the history of the English language. Based on original empirical research, it discusses the social factors that promoted linguistic changes in earlier English, and the people who were the leading force behind them. The authors focus on the major grammatical developments that shaped the language in Tudor and Stuart times, the period that laid the foundations for modern Standard English. Nevalainen and Raumolin-Brunberg adopt an interdisciplinary approach, exploring the extent to which sociolinguistic models and methods can be applied to the history of English.

Author Biography

Terttu Nevalainen

was appointed Associate Professor at the Department of English, University of Helsinki, in 1993 and full Professor of English Philology at the same department in 1997. Her research interests include phonetics and English historical lexicology, but the new discipline she has actively developed and worked on, together with Helena Raumolin-Brunberg, over the last ten years is historical sociolinguistics.

Helena Raumolin-Brunberg, after a period as acting Associate Professor of English at the Department of Translation Studies, University of Helsinki, (1989-1992), has devoted her time to research on historical sociolinguistics.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
List of Tables	xi
List of Figures	xiii
Publisher's Acknowledgements	xvi
Introduction: Issues in Historical Sociolinguistics	1	(15)
Sociolinguistic Backprojection?	2	(4)
Contemporary Perceptions of Usage	6	(2)
Sociohistorical Reconstruction	8	(3)
Research Topics	11	(5)
Sociolinguistic Paradigms and Language Change	16	(10)
Sociolinguistic Paradigms	17	(1)
Descriptions and Explanations	18	(3)
Theoretical Pluralism	21	(1)
Theory in Historical Sociolinguistics	22	(4)
Primary Data: Background and Informants	26	(27)
Data in Historical Sociolinguistics	26	(2)
Generic and Temporal Concerns	28	(2)
Tudor and Stuart England	30	(13)
The Corpus of Early English Correspondence (CEEC)	43	(10)
Real Time	53	(30)
The S-Shaped Curve	53	(3)
Timing Linguistic Changes	56	(1)
Previous Studies	57	(1)
The Time Courses of Fourteen Changes	58	(20)
Conclusion	78	(5)
Apparent Time	83	(27)
Ongoing Change in Relation to Age	83	(2)
Apparent Time in Historical Research	85	(1)
Previous Studies	86	(1)
Age Cohorts and Individual Participation in Ongoing Changes	86	(12)
Conclusion	98	(12)
Appendix 5.1. The informants for Figure 5.1. Subject You vs. Ye	101	(3)
Appendix 5.2. Informants for Figure 5.2. 3rd sg -s vs. -TH	104	(3)
Appendix 5.3. Informants for Figure 5.3. Which vs. The Which	107	(3)
Gender	110	(23)
The Gender Paradox	110	(3)
Historical Reconstruction	113	(3)
Previous Studies	116	(2)
Gender and Real-Time Linguistic Change	118	(12)
Conclusion	130	(3)
Social Stratification	133	(24)
Social Order in Sociolinguistics	133	(3)
Reconstructing Social Order	136	(2)
Previous Studies	138	(1)
Social Order in Language Change	139	(14)
Conclusion	153	(4)
Regional Variation	157	(28)
Regional Dialects in England Today	157	(2)
Reconstructing Regional Differences in Tudor and Stuart England	159	(8)
Previous Empirical Studies	167	(3)
Regional Variation in Late Middle and Early Modern English	170	(11)
Conclusion	181	(4)
Historical Patterning of Sociolinguistic Variation	185	(17)
Modelling Variability	185	(4)
Modelling Sociolinguistic Variation Historically	189	(3)
Previous Empirical Studies	192	(1)
Varbrul Analyses of Five Historical Changes	193	(5)
Summary and Conclusions	198	(4)
Conclusion	202	(12)
The Changes in Retrospect	203	(5)
The Principle of Contingency	208	(2)
Uninterrupted Continuity of Change?	210	(4)
Appendix I: Methodology: How to Count Occurrences	214	(4)
Appendix II: Numerical Information	218	(5)
Appendix III: The Letter Collections	223	(12)
References	235	(19)
Author Index	254	(4)
Subject Index	258