An Introduction to Early Modern English

by Nevalainen, Terttu

• ISBN13: 9780195308464
• ISBN10: 0195308468
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

An introduction to Early Modern English, this book helps students of English and linguistics to place the language of the period 1500-1700 in its historical context as a language with a common core but also one which varies across time, regionally and socially, and according to register. The volume focuses on the structure of what contemporaries called the General Dialect--its spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation--and on its dialectal origins. The book also discusses the language situation and linguistic anxieties in England at a time when Latin exerted a strong influence on the rising standard language.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	viii
To readers	ix
The Early Modern English period	1	(11)
Periods of English	1	(3)
Shakespeare -- our contemporary?	4	(3)
Evolution and standardisation	7	(2)
Summary	9	(3)
Note	9	(1)
Exercises	10	(1)
Further reading	10	(2)
Sources for the study of Early Modern English	12	(17)
Range of evidence	12	(1)
Comments on varieties of English	13	(3)
Early grammars	16	(4)
Texts and genres	20	(3)
Corpus resources	23	(3)
Summary	26	(3)
Exercises	26	(1)
Further reading and study resources	27	(2)
Towards a standard language	29	(16)
Middle English legacy	29	(2)
Fixing the form: spelling standardisation	31	(6)
Elaborating the functions: borrowing and codification	37	(5)
Summary	42	(3)
Exercises	42	(1)
Further reading	43	(2)
Old words and loan words	45	(14)
Continuity and change	45	(5)
Borrowing	50	(6)
Summary	56	(3)
Exercises	57	(1)
Further reading	58	(1)
Word-formation and semantic change	59	(14)
Word-formation	59	(6)
Semantic change	65	(5)
Summary	70	(3)
Exercises	71	(1)
Further reading	71	(2)
Nouns and pronouns	73	(16)
Word classes	73	(1)
Nouns	74	(3)
Pronouns	77	(9)
Summary	86	(3)
Note	87	(1)
Exercises	87	(1)
Further reading	88	(1)
Verbs, adjectives and adverbs	89	(14)
Verbs	89	(9)
Adjectives and adverbs	98	(2)
Summary	100	(3)
Note	101	(1)
Exercises	101	(1)
Further reading	102	(1)
Syntactic structures	103	(15)
Larger structures	103	(1)
Noun phrases	104	(3)
Verb phrases	107	(4)
Changing syntactic patterns	111	(4)
Summary	115	(3)
Notes	116	(1)
Exercises	116	(1)
Further reading	117	(1)
Changing pronunciation	118	(16)
Surprising and confusing?	118	(1)
Some general features	119	(1)
Developments in the vowel system	120	(6)
Developments in the consonant system	126	(3)
Stress and prosody	129	(2)
Summary	131	(3)
Note	131	(1)
Exercises	131	(1)
Further reading	132	(2)
Language in the community	134	(15)
Widening perspectives	134	(1)
Printing and literacy	134	(3)
Social variation	137	(3)
Urbanisation and dialect levelling	140	(3)
Expansion of English	143	(4)
Summary	147	(2)
Exercises	148	(1)
Further reading	148	(1)
Appendices 1--2: Early Modern English texts	149	(12)
References	161	(10)
Index	171