Middle English Morphology. Middle English Noun
The changes in morphology are closely related to changes in the sound system. As the inflections in all parts of speech were placed at the end of the word, they invariably were pronounced in a reduced form and disappeared altogether. So the paradigms of all parts of speech were to great extent simplified, and many forms were lost altogether.
The changes in the nominal system were the most significant. Old English complex classification of nouns was based on differences in declension, in endings that were added to them in various forms; as the endings were levelled, the grounds for distinguishing the very classes become insignificant.
The category of gender was lost; and the loss was total, with no; remnants in any of the nominal parts of speech (personal pronouns are not counted, because he and she replace living beings, and to some extent have the very meaning of gender).
The category of number was preserved; it had grounds. What were the possible endings of all the classes of nouns? If we have a look at the Old English nominal paradigms, we'll see the that the plural endings originally were:
-as ( of the a-stems masculine, r-stems masculine)
-o (a-stems neuter, some r-stems)
-u (neuter а-stems, i-stems, -s stems, some r-stems )
-a (o-stems, u-stems)
-e (masculine i-stems, some root stems)
-an (n-stems).
Due to the reduction of the unstressed vowels all these came to:
-es
-o
-e or -o
-en
So finally we have -es (for the majority of nouns, which becomes the rule), -en, which becomes a competing ending, and a group of conservative nouns retain the vowel interchange. Ending -es was invariably added to form the plural form of numerous borrowings, both from French and from Scandinavian origin) {two felawes; the chambres and the stables; fresshe floures).
Several nouns (former belonging to root stems) however retain their Old English plural with the mutated vowel (such as man - menu, foot -feet, goose - geese etc.;) - these were more frequently used than those that changed their ending to -es (book - bookes, ook (oak) - ookes). Some former -n-stems still retain their suffix as a marker of the plural form. So in Chaucer's works we find the following plurals (here and later on the examples are given from his Canterbury Tales):
Thou seist, that oxen, asses, hors. and houndes…
A you see that oxen, asses, horses and hounds...;
from hise even ran the water doun
from his eyes the water ran down;
to looken up with even lighte
to look up with light eyes).
The nouns naming some domestic animals (former -a- stems neuter gender with long root vowel) such as sheep, swyn, hors retained their old uninfected plurals. The plural of child developed in a unique way - it retained its suffix of the former -s- stems (it was -r- through rhotacism) and additionally got the -en suffix - children.
As smale children doon in hir childhede - As small children do in their childhood).
The number of cases was reduced from Old English four to two, the Nominative and the Genitive. In Old English the nouns in the Genitive case had the following endings in the singular:
-es (a-stems and masculine and neuter nouns from other groups)
-e (o-stems, /-stems, root-stems)
-o - (/--stems)
-a (//-stems)
-an (//-stems)
The ending -es of the a-stems nouns, which were the most numerous group, becomes predominant; it irradiates not only to the singular but also to the plural. So all the other groups of nouns now take this ending in the Genitive. The very nature of the Genitive case is almost unchanged, it has the same functions as that of the Old English noun, and practically all nouns can be used in this form. The plural of nouns was formed by adding the same ending, so in the long run it began to be perceived as the ending rendering both meanings. Several nouns that had other plural endings took this ending after their own ending of the plural. So in the Middle E only some nouns have a distinct paradigm of four forms: man – menu, mannes – mennes, noma – namen, names - (namene) names.
5. The Article
A new part of speech, the article, appears in Middle English. Even in Old English, when the case endings were sca'fce, and in some groups of nouns there were no longer distinctive markers of this or that case (for instance suna was the form of the Genitive and the Dative in Singular, and Nominative, Genitive and Accusative in the Plural), the demonstrative pronoun ȡet, helped to show case distinctions. So the Genitive Singular was dzes suna, Dative Singular ȡэm suna, Nominative Plural da suna, Genitive Plural dara suna, and Accusative Plural done suna. In fact, the pronoun was the real marker of the case of the noun. This, probably led to overuse of the demonstrative pronouns in Old English, and to weakening of their deictic function.
In Middle English this weakened form of the demonstrative pronoun which signalled only the definiteness of the noun, that is such as was already known or was mentioned before, was supplemented by the weakened form of the numeral an (one) and now was used to render the meaning of indefiniteness, a person or thing unknown or unmentioned. This part of speech contains only two words - the from reduced data and an, a from the numeral an.
6. Middle English Adjective
The paradigm of the adjective in Middle English is simplified drastically. The endings become scarce. The category of gender is lost, for the nouns no longer have it. The adjective no longer agrees with the noun in case, the only remaining endings being - the plural form having the ending -e and the remains of the weak declension, the weak form (the one preceded by an article) -e: young kniht /the younge kniht, younge knihtes/the younge knihtes.
But some of the adjectives had the very ending -e as a result of levelling of the vowels at the and, end so such adjectives as grene were already unchangeable; in the plural the strong and the weak forms also coincided.
The forms of the suffixes of the degrees of comparison were reduced to -er, -est.Some preserve former suppletivity, and their degrees of comparison look like this:
good - bettre - best evil (bad) - werse - werst muchel - more — most, mest;
litel - lasse – lest.
Some adjectives, especially of foreign origin, are found in a form that came into wider usage only later, that is, they may be associated with the adverb moore/most.
Middle English Verb
All types of verbs existing in Old English - strong, weak, preterite-present and irregular were preserved in Middle English. In each type we find changes due to phonetic developments of this period, but the proportional value of the weak ones is greater and continues to grow, and a tendency is already traced - that is, some of the former strong verbs are drifting in the direction of the weak ones. The drift was not a comprehensive one; there was even a reverse process, some of the former weak ones became strong.
The Old English prefix je- reduced to y-. Now it is mostly found in the second participle (in the Southern dialects). In most dialects it disappeared by the 14c, yet in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales we may find a considerable number of such uses.
Non-finite forms which in Old English comprised the infinitive and the two participles have changed in the direction from the nominal to verbal parts of speech. They are no longer declined, nor are they agreed with the nouns; gradually new verbal categories penetrate into their system, and nowadays we speak about the analytical forms of the non-finite forms (passive infinitive, perfect infinitive etc.)
A new non-finite form of the verb arises - the gerund. The infinitive loses the category of case and acquires a pre-infinitival particle to. It may still be used with what remained of the infinitival suffix (-an, -ian -> -en. -n) - to goon, to writen, to spenden, to maken - but the tendency to lose the final consonant is strong, and we find in Chaucer's works to seke alongside with to seken, to do with to doon, to make with to maken. This particle is not used when the infinitive stands after other (preterite-present in particular) verbs:
Participle I, having an active meaning and expressing a process of doing something, in Middle English changes its shape. Its suffix -ende turns into -inde and finally -ynge/-inge due to the processes of weakening of the final sounds and through intermixture with other dialectal forms. In the Old English there existed the form of the verbal noun with the suffix -ung (liornunge - learning) which also was shifting toward less distinct form –ynge/-inge.
Originally, the verbal noun was derived from transitive verbs, took an object in the genitive case (which in our times is replaced by of-phrase). But when phonetically it coincided with the participle, it began to behave more 11 eely, now and again taking the direct object. So from the verbal noun without an article but with a direct object we have a grammatical innovation - the < rerund. A typical case of such contamination in Russian is the notorious phrase оплачивайте за проезд in which two correct grammatical structures а чините за проезд and оплатите проезд are mixed.
Changes in all groups of verbs took place in Middle English. The changes in strong verbs were as follows. The number of the basic forms of the verb remained the same (four), but due to the reduction of endings and the fact that the length of the vowel became positional the form of the present participle of some verbs coincided with the form of the past plural, that is that here too we may find homonymy of forms:
class I writ en - wrot - writen - writen;
class II chesen - ches - chosen - chosen;
class III drinken - drank - dronken - dronken;
helpen - halp - holpen - holpen;
fighten - faught - foughten - foughten;
class IV beren - bar - beren/bar - boren;
class V geten - gat -geten/gat - geten;
class VI shaken - shok -shaken - shaken;
class VII knowen - knew - knewen -knowen
Some of the strong verbs may take the dental suffix for formation of their past form, thus becoming weak (gripen, crepen, eleven, wepen, spelen, walken, dreden, reden).
The number of weak verbs grows significantly in Middle English, because practically all borrowed verbs and new verbs derived from other parts of speech become weak. The changes in the weak verbs were mainly phonetical. Some of them lost the sound -i- in the suffix in the infinitive: lufian – louen.
Class II lost its specific -ode ending due to the levelling of endings and turned into -ed. Class III retained only the verbs seƺƺen, libben, habben - seien, liven haven
In the 14c. in some weak verbs with a stem ending in l, n,ʃ and v the past suffix -d changed into -t; (leornian- leornode - lernte (to learn); felan - felde - feelen - felte (to feel)); hlsenan - hlsende - lenen - lente (to lean); wendan - wende - wenden - wente (to wend)).
Most Scandinavian borrowings are conjugated according to the weak type: callen, wanten, guessen (except take, thriven and flingen which have vowel interchange in the past tense and in the participle-probably due in their own origin and similarity in formation of the forms joined correspondingly class VI. I and III of the storing verbs. All the verbs of the French origin (with the exception of striven that joined class I of the strong verbs), became weak (we call them now regular).
Shall/sholdealongside with its modal meaning is widely used as an auxiliary of the future tense, future-in-the-past and as auxiliaries of the new analytical forms of the Subjunctive Mood.
Motan gradually loses the meaning of ability and possibility which is occasionally expressed by its present tense form moot,and is more and more used to express obligation. In the paradigm of the preterite-present verbs second person ending -est, the plural ending -en may be retained, but the tendency is not to use personal endings.
During this period there appear analytical forms of the verb. In Old English the only ways to make the forms of the verb were suffixes/vowel interchange/using another stem + inflections; in Middle English there arise the forms now very common in Present-day English but absent in Old English.
An analytical form must have a stable structural pattern different from the patterns of verb phrases; it must consist of an auxiliary (which itself might stand in an analytical form) and a non-finite form of the verb, which remains unchanged. Its meaning is not reduced to the sum total of the components (that is, if we take he will do it, it does not mean that he is willing to do it; he might resist the task all he can; the more so we can say about such sentences as close the window, or the child will catch cold).
In present day English the temporal paradigm of the verb contains two synthetic and one analytical form. This means that this form was absent in Old English, and this form is the Future tense.
Future time relevance was rendered by various supporting elements in the text; so in the adverbial clauses of time and condition it was self-evident, that with the insertion of a marker in the principal clause the action of the subordinate would invariably refer to the future as well (When he comes I want him to help me).
In sentences containing explicit indication of time by means of adverbs, etc. it was not a compulsory element; hence we have the following uses of the present instead of the future tomorrow we are writing a test. The use of such verbs as shall/ will referred the action to the future as such which was desirable but not yet realized, or obligatory. In Middle English these become the true auxiliaries for the future tense. Chaucer uses them freely:
The Present and the Past Perfect equally came into the Middle English, both using as auxiliary the verb to haven in the Present or the past tense + Participle II (with or without a prefix):
Aprille hath perced to the rote...
April has pierced to the root....
hem hath holpen...
has helped them.
With the verbs of motion, however, and intransitive verbs in general the perfect might still be used with the ben-auxiliary:
At night was come into that hostelrie wel nyne and twenty in a companie (at night into that hostel a company of twenty-nine has come).
Non-finite form of the verb, the infinitive, acquired this grammatical category too. Perfect infinitives are common in Chaucer's times, mainly as part of new analytical forms of the Subjunctive Mood.
The passive voice expressed by the combination ben +Participle II expressing a state as well as an action is widely used in Middle English. Unlike Old English where the form of the participle agreed in number with the subject of the sentence, in Middle English, where still the ending of the plural adjectives and participles was preserved in the Participle II, the lexical part of the analytical form is utterly unchangeable.
The category of voice was expressed also in the non-finite forms of the verb - passive infinitives are rather common in this period.
The future, the perfect and the passive form reflected different aspects of the action, and as soon as they came into the language they all could be used simultaneously, that is perfect forms might be used in active or passive voice, present as well as the future tense.
The category of mood retains the former subdivision into the indicative, the imperative and the subjunctive. While there is nothing new or nothing special about the indicative and the imperative mood - the first represented the action as real, the second expressed commands, requests etc., the forms of the subjunctive mood had some specificity which might be commented on.
The present tense of the subjunctive (we call it now Subjunctive I) renders the meanings of wishes (including curses). But very frequently this form of the Subjunctive was used to render the meaning of uncertainty.
The category of mood was also enriched by analytical formations wolde + inf and sholde + inf; the newly arisen form of the past perfect readily supplements the range of meanings of the old synthetic subjunctive:
The perfect and passive forms of the verb in the subjunctive mood were not a rare occasion.
Middle English Vocabulary
The changes in the vocabulary in the Middle English period were mainly quantitative. This is the period when new words and new morphemes were actively borrowed and promptly assimilated grammatically. This made the vocabulary of the late Middle English quite different from that of the other Germanic languages.
French borrowings were especially numerous. They came quite naturally into the language in Middle English. Some spheres of life were for years if not centuries controlled by the French speaking elite. Some words came into English by way of oral communication of the conquerors with the native population. It was the language of school education, so all educated people knew and used the French words in order to make their ideas more precise, the more so because there was actually no English counterpart for many of them at the time. In some cases the borrowings ousted native English words, but frequently they coexisted with the native words, having only stylistic colouring. In the north, the lower number of French borrowings were observed.
The words of French origin penetrated in the spheres of life controlled at those times by the Normans. As can be seen, they were adopted very early, only some of them are dated by 14th or 15th century:
They were numerous in the sphere of government, court, jurisdiction, military and religious terminology. Words belonging to the sphere of building or construction occupy a special place among the borrowings from French. The Normans built a lot after the conquest. So, some of the words that had no lofty or bookish shade in French came into the English language as elements characteristic of higher life, for example:
barre (bar) 1175-1225
chambre (chamber) 1175-1225
chapele (chapel) 1175-1225
columne (column) 1400-50
Town crafts were usually named by words of French origin:
apothecary (apothecary) 1325-75
harbour (barber) 1275-1325
bocher (butcher) 1250-1300
Vocabulary pertaning to arts (which were a privilege of the higher classes) was rich in words borrowed from French:
art (art) 1175-1225
cisel (chisel) 1325-75
colour (colour) 1250-1300
School at that period was frenchified, and together with Latin words we may observe a lot of words the origin of which is French:
lessoun (lesson) 1175-1225
penne (pen) 1250-1300
Leisures and pleasures - that is another semantic sphere where the borrowed element is frequent:
carole (carol) 1250-1300
charme (charm) 1250-1300
comfort (comfort) 1175-1225
The names of domestic animals remain of native origin, for they lived in the country and English shepherd took care of them (ox, cow, calf sheep, swine (pig) are all native English) - but such words as
bee/l250-1300,
veel (veal) 1350-1400,
moton (mutton) 1250-1300,
pore (pork) 1250-1300,
bacoun (bacon) 1300-50 - that is the meat of those very animals were already processed and sold by a town
backer (butcher) 1250-1300.
Actually, words of French origin were found practically everywhere . Nouns and adjectives, verbs and particles - all parts of speech are found among the borrowings of the period:
feble (feeble) 1125-75 is an adjective,
pouere (power) 1250-1300 a noun,
large 1125-75 and
esy (easy) 1150-1200 adjectives;
cacchen (to catch) 1175-1225, chaungen (to change) 1175-1225,
deceiven (to deceive) 1250-1300,
a(p)prochen (to approach) 1275-1325 are verbs,
second 1250-1300 a numeral,
alas 1225-75 an interjection, and
just 1325-75 is a particle.
French borrowings have the status of literary words whereas native English words were common everyday vernacular. This can be seen when we compare such pairs of synonyms:
beginnen - commencen (to commence) 1250-1300;
comen - arriven (to arrive) 1175-1225;
do-act 1350-1400;
harm - injurie (injury) 1350-1400;
help - ayde ( aid) 1375-1425.
Middle English Syntax
The structure of the sentence retains the features characteristic of the Old English sentence. Word order is still rather liberal, and in some cases influenced by the French language. Post position of the adjective which is characteristic for the French penetrates into the English syntax, especially when the adjective is borrowed from French:
The ties between the words in the sentence remain basically the same -agreement, though it lost some positions as compared with the Old English. Now the predicate of the sentence agrees with the subject, repeating the person and the number of the noun or pronoun. As the forms of the verb by this time have acquired several homonymic endings this agreement is especially prominent with the third and the second person singular. Notably, the ending of the second person is often blended with the pronoun thow/thou. As the category of number is still preserved (though the ending of the plural -e is fairly indistinct) adjectives and pronouns - partly - agree in number with the nouns they modify.Middle English impersonal sentences still are used without formal subject.
Negation in the Middle English sentence in expressed in the same way it was in Old English. Negative particle ne is used, like in Old English. The same particle merged with some words and such formations as nought / nat appeared - first they were equivalent to pronoun nothing but finally acquired the function of a new negative particle not. Other negative words were noone (none), nevere (never), nolde (did not want), nadde (had not), nas (was not). One predicate group could contain several negative words (multiple negation was quite common).
10. General Characteristics of the Early New English Period
Early New English is traditionally distinguished in the history of the language because it was in this period that the rest of the grammatical categories came into use, the last systematic and cardinal change in the sound system occurred, shifting the real sound form of the words from the spelling to almost the present-day state (since that period only slight, minor spelling changes were introduced in Britain, probably in the American variant the changes were a little bit more sizeable). Early New English was the period when borrowing of foreign words came not due to invasion, but because the English language was already free from its xenophobic qualities, and even the most strict scholars did not reject them; on the contrary, scholarly language abounded in borrowings too.
The 15 th century changes in the political life of the country led to establishment of a strong centralized state in England; and a strong state power means not only economic but also cultural and linguistic dictatorship. The crown of Henry II, the founder of the Tudor dynasty was based on the middle class supporting him, and the middle class began to develop quickly, shifting the old aristocracy to second place, to background, so to say. Henry VIII broke the church away from Rome and dissolved monasteries. He also assembled at his court groups of brilliant scholars and artists. The school no longer was the privilege of the clergy. Industries required more literate workers and laymen from now on went to school.
It is astonishing how quickly learning and printing were spreading in the times that followed. Before 1500 the total number of books printed throughout Europe was about 35 000, most of them in Latin. Between 1500 and 1640 in England alone, some 20 000 items in English were printed, ranging from pamphlets and broadsheets to folios and Bibles. The result was to accelerate the education of the rising middle class. Some estimates suggest that by 1600 nearly half the population had some kind of minimal literacy, at least in cities and towns. Outside the universities people preferred to read books in English rather than in Latin and Greek, and printers naturally tried to satisfy their customers' demands.
The new aristocracy was more energetic and eager to learn. Renaissance, though a bit retarded as compared with Italy and France came to the British Isles, and with the introduction of the printing press new literature and science spread all over the isles, normalizing and unifying the language in England.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was marked by extensive trade contacts and the struggle with England's European rivals - France, Spain and Portugal (in 1588 the Spanish Fleet, the invincible Armada was routed). Colonial expansion began.
The age of Renaissance added from about 10 000 to 12 000 words to the English vocabulary, and the words came from different sources: agile1570-80; habitual1520-30, tangible1580-90, capsule1645-55, series1605-15-Latin; catastrophe1570-80, lexicon1595-1605, atmosphere1630-40, pneumonia1595-1605, skeleton1570-80, paradox1530-40- Greek; detail1595-1605, sentinel1570-80 - French; portico1595-1605, balcony1610-20, stucco1590-1600- Italian; embargo1595-1605 - Spanish; smuggle1680-90, reef1350-1400 - Dutch etc.
At first the outskirts of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were brought under the English crown; the struggle was not an easy one, especially wiih Scotland; yet in the present-day England Scotland demands more autonomy than the other regions of England. Wales was the last stage of the Norman conquest. But the annexation was completed only in the 16 th c. Aboriginal populations did not give up their mother tongue easily, and Wales nowadays retains a great number of native place names.
Ireland was not subjugated in 13th nor in the 14 th century. Only an area around. Dublin was under direct rule from London, the rest of the country was divided between innumerable chiefs and turned into one of the poorest and backward countries. Scotland too, was not an easy task for the English kings and only later Tudors managed to overcome the resistance. Final unification of nation was under the Stuarts (1603).
The heightened activity of the age, uneven though it was, produced a most extraordinary outpouring of great art. The idealism of the age is represented in the living examples of such men as Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir PhilipSidney, who, like Hamlet, embodied the "courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, tongue, sword." Admired by all who knew him, Sidney wrote his spirited Defence ofPoesie(1579-81; publ. 1595) as well as a long, complex prose pastoral, the Arcadia(1590). His contemporary Edmund Spenser, after imposing TheShepherdsCalendar(1579), a book of pastoral eclogues dedicated to Sidney, embarked on an epic romance, The Faerie Queene (1590-96). This great allegorical poem was intended to demonstrate the virtues of a Christian prince, Arthur, serving England and its sovereign, Elizabeth.
The language itself experienced an immense expansion and increased flexibility. New words and new uses of existing ones together with borrowings from other languages combined to make English rich and versatile. Only the most pedantic of writers suffered constraints. In drama, multiple plots and frank violations of the unities of time and place were the rule, although such "classical" playwrights as Ben Jonson composed excellent comedies like Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Volpone (1606) within the unities.
Translations became popular and influential. Sir Thomas Hoby's translation (1561) of Castiglione's The Courtier and Sir Thomas North's translation (1579) of Plutarch's Lives in their different ways promoted the ideals of courtly or heroic behavior. Marlowe, George Chapman, and others rendered classical poets into English. Although the novel remained in still rudimentary form, Thomas Nashe and Thomas Lodge (also University Wits) were but two of many who wrote prose fiction. John Lyly's novels and plays show an elegant if artificial style that directly influenced other writers and, it is said, even Elizabeth. The first true English-language essayist, Francis Bacon, published his Essays, Civil and Moral in 1597; the descriptive geographical works of Richard Hakluyt, based on actual voyages, were the most comprehensive of the time; and the Chronicles (1577) of Raphael Holinshed reflected the Elizabethans' interest in history.
The decade of the 1590s evinced a remarkable outburst of lyrical poetry. The Sonnets of Shakespeare were only one of many sonnet sequences, written by such poets as Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel, Sidney, and Spenser-all influenced by Petrarch's sonnets. Other lyric forms were popular, too, as well as ballads and broadsides. The Songs and Sonnets of John Donne belong to this decade, although they were not published (1633) until after his death. Thus conventional lyric poetry and the new metaphysical verse coexisted, each in its own way showing wit, imagination, and metrical virtuosity.
A similar, perhaps greater, richness and diversity characterize Elizabethan drama. Plays were performed in any suitable location: inn yards, the halls of great manor houses, university towns, the Inns of Court, as well as in public and private theaters. Many companies performed plays - including Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men - and children's companies were also widely admired, competing with other professional troupes. The romantic comedies of Lyly, Greene, and Peele, surpassed only by the joyous comedies of Shakespeare, flourished simultaneously with satirical "humors" comedies by Jonson and Chapman. It was in tragedy, however, I hat the age realized its most powerful literary achievement. From the earlier, almost primitive plays - such as Gorboduc (1561), the first English drama in blank verse - to the greater accomplishments of Kyd (The Spanish Tragedy, 1586), Marlowe (Doctor Faustus, 1588; Tamburlaine the Great, 1590; The Jew of Malta, 1590; Edward II, 1594), and Shakespeare, Elizabethan dramatists continued to develop their art, mixing comic elements with tragic, Introducing subplots, and adapting freely from classical or other original sources,
By the death of Elizabeth in 1603 and the accession to the throne of Hci cousin, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England, the exuberance had begun to fade, and a more somber note colored Jacobean life and art. The triumphs of the Virgin Queen were at an end, and the new century brought to the surface problems that eventually led to civil war in 1642 and the temporary overthrow of the monarchy.
With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, men again looked to France. John Dryden admired the Academie Francaise and greatly deplored.
That the English had "not so much as a tolerable dictionary, or a grammar; So that our language is in a manner barbarous" as compared with elegant French. After the passionate controversies of the Civil War, this was an age of cool scientific nationalism. In 1662 the Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge received its charter. Its first members, much concerned with language, appointed a committee of 22 "to improve the English tongue particularly for philosophic purposes." It included Dryden, the diarist John Evelyn, Bishop Thomas Sprat, and the poet Edmund Waller. Sprat pleaded for "a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions; clear senses, a native easiness; bringing all things as near the mathematical plainness" as possible. The committee, however, achieved no tangible result, and failed in its attempt to found an authoritative arbiter over the English tongue. A second attempt was made in 1712, when Jonathan Swift addressed an open letter to Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, making "A Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining [fixing] the English Tongue." This letter received some popular support, but its aims were frustrated by a turn in political fortunes.
Queen Anne died in 1714. The Earl of Oxford and his fellow Tories, including Swift, lost power. No organized attempt to found a language academy on French lines has ever been made since. With Dryden and Swift the English language reached its full maturity. Their failure to found an academy was partly counterbalanced by Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary(published in 1755) and by Robert Lowth in his Grammar(published in 1761). In the making of his Dictionary,Johnson took the best conversation of contemporary London and the normal usage of reputable writers after Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) as his criteria. He exemplified the meanings of words by illustrative quotations. Johnson admitted that "he had flattered himself for a while" with "the prospect of fixing our language" but that thereby "he had indulged expectation which neither reason nor experience could justify." The two-folio work of 1755 was followed in 1756 by a shortened, one-volume version that was widely used far into the 20th century.
Revised and enlarged editions of the unabbreviated version were made by Archdeacon Henry John Todd in 1818 and by Robert Gordon Latham in 1866. It was unfortunate that Joseph Priestley, Robert Lowth, James Buchanan, and other 18th-century grammarians (Priestley was perhaps better known as a scientist and theologian) took a narrower view than Johnson on linguistic growth and development. They spent too much time condemning such current "improprieties" as "I had rather not," "you better go," "between you and I," "it is me," "who is this for?", "between four walls," "a third alternative," "the largest of the two," "more perfect," and "quite unique." Without explanatory comment they banned "you was" outright, although it was in widespread use among educated people (on that ground it was later defended by Noah Webster). "You was" had, in fact, taken the place of both "thou wast" and "thou wert" as a useful singular equivalent of the accepted plural "you were".
As the century wore on, grammarians became more numerous and aggressive. They set themselves up as arbiters of correct usage. They compiled manuals that were not only descriptive (stating what people do say) and prescriptive (stating what they should say) but also prescriptive (stating what they should not say). They regarded Latin as a language superior to English and claimed that Latin embodied universally valid canons of logic. This view was well maintained by Lindley Murray, a native of Pennsylvania who settled in England in the very year (1784) of Johnson's death. Murray's English Grammarappeared in1795, became immensely popular, and went into numerous editions. It wasfollowed by an English Reader(1799) and an English Spelling Book (1S04),long favorite textbooks in both Old and New England.
Among other scholars to be mentioned here are John Cheke and Thomas Smith from Cambridge who were greatly concerned with the inconsistenciesof the English spelling. Their discussion on spelling normalizationis reflected in thebook published in 1568 - "A Dialogue concerning the correct and emended Writing of the English language” (34 letters were suggested to make the spelling more logical). John Hart, one of the greatest phoneticians of the 16th century wrote much on the subject, his best- known work"An Orthographic"(1569) suggests the ways to reform the spelling. The efforts of the scholars were also directed to making people pronounce words as they were written. As can be seen, in practice these works not so much influence the spelling but give us the clue how it all was pronounced at those times.
The names of the scholars in the field of grammar are: William Lily "Eton Latin Grammar"(supplied with English translations) and Alexander Gill whose most known work "Logonomia Anglica"(The English Word-law) appeared in 1619. Though written in Latin it is illustrated by examples from the English authors and supplied with his proposals as to the pronunciation of words denoncing the incorrect practice.
The 18th century gives other names and other manuals, that determined the standards of the language. The best-known prescriptive grammars of the period are: Robert Lowth's "A Short Introduction to English Grammar"first published in 1761 had 22 editions later. He condemned double negation and double comparisons, was strict as to the use of who/whom, whose/which;and lay the rules to be observed for centuries. It was followed by J. Priestley's "Rudiments of English Grammar"of 1761. This grammarian strived to deviate from this strict dominance of Latin rules but could not but agree with the former Lowth's approach; he himself laid down rules for correcting what seemed less regular and systematic.
An American scholar of the late 18th century Lindley Murrey published his "English Grammar Adapted to the different classes of learners"in l795; this manual had fifty editions and served as the basis for many other manuals that stuck to the dogmas laid by him. There were also numerous books on correct spelling and correct pronunciation (Jones' "Practical Phonographer"1701, William Baker "Rules for True Spelling and Writing English" 1724 etc.).
The attention of the scholarly authorities is directed also to the correct use of words. By that time the language had incorporated numerous borrowings, used in writing but not altogether understandable by the general public. So the country witnesses a lexicographic boom of the 18th century.
Actually, it started in the 17th century with Robert Cawdrey's “Table Uphabetical conveying and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard usual English words, borrowed from Hebrew, Greek, Latin or French” that appeared in 1604. But systematic lexicography is associated with the name of Samuel Jonson,and his “Dictionary of the English Language"that appeared in 1755. He gave precise definitions of words, supplied the dictionary withpronunciation guide to the words given in it, considering that "the best general rule is, to consider those of the most elegant speakers who deviate least from the written words". The dictionary also contains some instructions as to grammatical forms of the given words. This dictionary had numerous editions, and later used by his successor as the basis.
The development of the language is inseparable from the literary process of the period, and the flourishing of science. Though scientific works in the 16th and 17th century were mainly written in Latin, they were readily translated into English and added to the development of the English language. The names of Thomas More (1478-1535) famous for, among his other writings, "Utopia"(written in 1516 in Latin, and first translated into English in 1551) and Francis Bacon with his most famous work "NovumOrganum"(1620) presenting an inductive method for scientific and philosophical inquiry (written in Latin) are inseparable from the English culture. By the way, both wrote much in English - the pamphlets and other works of Th. More and essays of F. Bacon prove that they were masters of the English.
But the most prominent name in the literary life of the period is that of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). He outclassed his contemporaries in all genres of drama and poetry (comedies, historical plays, tragedies, sonnets). His vocabulary alone amounts to 20 000 words; his freedom in creating new words and versatility in using grammatical constructions is remarkable. His grammar is yet untouched by the prescriptivists, his vocabulary is extensive; his artistic genius isincomparable in the use of the possibilities the English language offers. Citations from his plays have acquired the status of set phrases, sometimesused by people without knowing that they have an author.
The establishment of literary national standard of English is considered to be one of the main event of the beginning of the New English period. Main historical and cultural events that contributed to this fact are presented in the table
Table 4
Establishing of Literary National Standard
Some Historical and Cultural Events