“Whatever the actual number of Norman’s settled in England, it is clear that the members of the new ruling class were sufficiently predominant to continue use of their own language”.
(Cited in Bough and Cable (2002) page114. sec 85)
As a result of English dying out as a written language, there were no restraints on language development. Consequently, Grammar was simplified greatly. People strove to make English as simple as possible so that people who did not speak English as their first language would understand them. Which made communication a problem especially within mixed relationships and when the French leaders had to communicate with their Anglo-Saxon workforce. The answer was quite simple; both would have to learn the other language. Integrating aspects of each language into the other. Thus West Saxon English had completely disappeared and a new English (Middle English) was flourishing.
So instead of replacing the English language, French had contributed to the development of it. Many French Loan words were adapted into the English language. For example, ‘Judge’, ‘Salary’, ‘Court’ and ‘Noble’, and interestingly most of the words were associated with aristocracy or those at the higher end of the social hierarchy. Also, French and English words were compounded. For instance the French word ‘Gentle’ was put with the English word ‘Man’.
“One definition of ‘borrowing’ is what happens when language A uses and ends up absorbing a linguistic item or feature which was part of language B, and which language A did not have.
(Cited in Graddol, Leith and Swann (2000) p33. Taken from Dubois et al (1973) p188)
But then in 1204 there was the loss of Normandy so English was able to compete with the French language. French was still the language of power but English was the popular language. Then in the Hundred Years War the English language prevailed as the dominant language of Britain. As a result the English language of today is very much a Germanic language that has descended from Old English rather than French. French was then seen as the second language and English was re-introduced into establishments of importance, like military and parliament. So by around 1425 English was used universally at all levels of society and we just have the essence of French left behind in English.
I am now going to consider how the English language has developed during the Renaissance. The Renaissance period in English is usually dated between 1500 and 1650.
This period of history has become to be known as ‘The Intellectual Movement’ or ‘Revival of Learning’. It was the period where literary scholars rediscovered the work of the Classics, from such writers and critics as Aristotle, Plato and Horace. Which in turn brought about the rediscovering of Latin and Greek languages. Which was then seen as the language of knowledge and held great prestige just as is once had and how French was after the events of 1066. Which meant that English was the vernacular language that was spoken by people with little social importance.
A very influential if not the key element in the development of the English language during the renaissance was the introduction of Printing. William Caxton brought the printing press to England around 1476. The printing press made communication and distribution texts and ideas possible. Which is an important ingredient for language change as it elevated the growth of vocabulary. Because English was a language that the majority of people understood this meant that the texts were mass-produced in English. Which therefore helped to establish the standard written form of English that developed into what we would speak today. Also because texts were more readily available to the masses this meant that literacy figures increased greatly. However this was a problem to those who still used the more prestigious Latin. Because they believed that English gave power to the lower classes, which would create anarchy throughout society.
But the reformation played a huge part in the increasing popularity of English. With Henry VIII desire to divorce his wife Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. His only option was to cut ties with Rome and the Catholic Church and create a Church of England, which was a huge controversy at the time. But those who were involved wanted as many people to read their work as possible and as English was the language that the majority of people could speak, most works were published in English. So English began to establish itself as a major language in the Renaissance. English literature also began to flourish re-enforcing the language. With help of Shakespeare hitting the literary scene.
However, Latin was still having a huge influence on English. Mainly, as a result of English becoming so popular, because it was beginning to be used in places of importance. People found constraints within the language that did not allow for them to communicate at a high level. The constraints were mainly just a simple lack of vocabulary. So they began to borrow words mainly from French, Latin and Greek on a mass scale. As these languages had all been seen as prestigious and fashionable languages they created prestige and status within the English language that we had never seen before. Words were borrowed as we may not of had a meaning for something or because some words may have the same meaning on the surface but sometimes you can’t use them in the same context. But sometimes people used Latin words when there was already an English word for it, simply to gain status. Which could explain why the English Language is so strong and universal now. Because we have borrowed so many words from so many languages and we still do.
It is important to point out that in modern times changes to grammar were minor. It was the changes in vocabulary that were ample. But one aspect of grammar that it was becoming more prominent was the use of the Subject – Verb – Object sentence structure.
“This is just the reverse of what is true in the Middle English period. Then the changes in grammar were revolutionary, but apart from the special effect of the Norman Conquest, those in vocabulary were not so great”.
(Cited in Bough and Cable (2002) p203)
Usually any foreign influences that had violated the English language had been put into the hands of the dominant social class. But in this case it was put into the hands of the working classes. So it was the working classes that were gaining a better knowledge of the English language which like society today is the majority of the population. So I believe that this is the main reason the influences from French, Greek but mainly Latin with the revival of Classics had such an impact on the English language. Because it was the language that was used by the majority of the population.
I am now going to look at ‘The Development of Modern Standard English’. Following on from the Renaissance and the introduction of the printing press. Language from the Eighteenth Century had developed and changed so much that today we could practically read it like language today. The main reason for this was the loss of infections in the language.
The English language was becoming a strong language. Which meant that people were becoming aware of the language. They began to question whether the English language was as good as their once respected and now non-changing Latin language. Could one write poetry in English or could one translate texts from the romantic languages into English? As the English language had been just a vernacular language up until this stage. This is when the language is spoken only and not written or documented in any way. It had not called for any form of grammar or spelling. But then in 1755 Samuel Johnson published the first English to English or monolingual dictionary. I was seen as one of the most important linguistic events. Because previous to this point the dictionaries made were Bilingual or Trilingual, mainly for the purpose of monks to transcribe. But then suddenly there was a need for English to English dictionaries to give definitions of the words. The main reason for this is because the language was becoming so complex.
Settlers from Britain moved across the world to the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Asia and Africa and in each place the language changed and developed and took words from other local languages. Words were being borrowed from all over the world. So there was a need to define these hard words that did not have Anglo Saxon origin. The dictionary took Johnson and six assistants nine years to write the dictionary. In it he exemplifies common usage by including around 11400 illustrative sentences. The introduction of the Dictionary or originally called ‘Alphabetic table’ was a huge landmark in the development of the Modern Standard English. Johnson believed that the Dictionaries purpose was to set a Standard English and slow down or stop the process of language change.
“Setting the orthography….regulating the structures, and ascertaining the significations of English words”.
(McCrum et al.1987:145, Citing Johnson 1755)
It documented the Language that was to be known as the ‘Standard English’. It is usually assumed that the Standard English first originated from London. However, Laura Wright, an academic at the University of Cambridge wrote:
“The reader would discover that Standard English is not a development from London English, but is a descendant from some form of London dialect, either east or central midlands”.
(Cited in Development of Standard English, Theories, descriptions, conflicts, by Laura Wright, Cambridge University press, 2000)
After there was a huge migration of people from the midlands it is quite plausible that it affected the southern accent.
With the introduction of the dictionary Language variation and change did slow down but it became quite clear to Johnson that stopping language change was an impossible task because our language is far too complex. Also because society which is always changing plays such an influential role in Modern Standard English. In the past the language had less restrictions and boundaries so there were many ways of using the language. But then in the eighteenth century Grammarians were very pre-occupied with the idea of the ‘right’ use of language. They were very concerned with the ‘state’ that the English language was in. Because in the past we had use a descriptive method to analyse the language. But now a prescriptive method was used to decide if the language conformed to the Standard English or not. Is the Language right or wrong?
But if you are to make rules in a language then you have to have some kind of recognisable pattern that one can stick to. So that they can distinguish between right and the wrong. So as language was seen as a gift from the gods. It was decided that the English grammar should be ‘Perfect’ and ‘divine’. So as Latin was seen as the purest language that we have. It was decided that the English language would conform to the same structure as Latin. The man that put this to the test was Robert Lowth in his ‘Short introduction to English grammar’.
“….attempting to regulate English usage within the rules of Latin Grammar”.
(Cited in )
But this was a completely social judgement. Latin was the overtly prestigious language though society. But it was discovered that often the rules for Latin don’t often fit the rules for English so this idea to make the language have ‘Standard Latin’ structures was abandoned. But the truth is grammar has not changed considerably. We still use many of Lowth’s examples of correct grammar. For example, don’t use double negatives such as “I don’t know nothing”. Or don't end sentences with a preposition such as “My Mum is not very good to go shopping with”. Also, we should not split infinitives in correct Standard English. For example, ‘to boldly go’. But these do have problems in out language because the rules are not based on native speakers and the around the Latin and French languages. So we often don’t use them in Modern Standard English. Because in Modern English we do have more variety because it is no longer a synthetic language we are able to experiment with it more.
But our language is forever changing. So no publications will ever be representative of the perfect ‘Standard English’. Today with the increase of communication, travel, radio and television all different types of English have mixed. Also one major intrusion into our language is the massive amount of American and Australian influence from TV.
“The eighteenth century, as we have seen, was a time of consolidation between two periods of change. As we move into the nineteenth century we find the English language spreading and expanding as never before: Its stage becomes rapidly as wide as the whole world, and it adapts itself in a variety of ways to the new industrial society which it must serve”.
(Cited in Robertson and Cassidy (1954) p 375).
The English language is one of the oldest languages in the world. It has suffered many influences from many other languages. It has developed from a non-prestigious language to an internationally spoken language. Also English is the first Language spoken in America and Australia both of whom play very influential roles in the world’s economy. For many jobs and situations English has essentially become the gateway. But is only the language it is today because of the influences that it has suffered. It has changed and developed sometimes slowly and sometimes very quickly. But it is still changing and probably won’t ever stop.
Bibliography
Bough. A. B and Cable. T (2002) A History of The English Language. Fifth Edition. Routledge. London
Wright. L (2000) Development of Modern Standard English 1300-1800. Theories, Descriptions and Conflicts. Cambridge University press. Taken from http://assets .cambridge.org
Robertson. S and Cassidy. F. G (1954) The Development of Modern English. Second Edition. Prentice-Hall INC. United States of America
Graddol. D, Leith. D, Swann. J (2000) English: History, diversity and change. World print LTD. China
– Name of article: All the same – All has changed
– Name of article: The free encyclopaedia on Robert Lowth
