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Freeborn, David
From the old English to Standard English.
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(Chapter 8 and 9)
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09/06/2012
MARIA SARAI GONZALEZ MORALES
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH I – THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
It was in the fifteenth century when English as a language change from a Middle
English to a Modern English.
EARLY CENTURY EAST MIDLANDS DIALECTS.
Margery Kempe was a marriage woman from King´s Lynn. In 1420 she dictated a book
describing her visions, temptations and journeys. The dialect of the book is East
Midlands. Let´s check a short paragraph about her book:
On a nyght as Pis creature in hir bedde with hir husband sche herd a sownd of
melodye so swed & delectable hir Powt as sche had ben in paradise.
Now lets check the same paragraph in the actual English:
On a night as this creature in her bed with her husband she heard a sound of
melody so sweet & delectable to her (it) seemed as she had been in paradise
It is very obvious how in the Modern English, the written form of the words was very
specific in the sound of the words. Consonants like Y or W, used to sound like vowels.
LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY LONDON ENGLISH
Willian Caxton is known as the first English printer. He also translate into English and
edited many of the books that he printed, and he provided as considerable number of
prefaces and commentaries.
The invention of printing was one factor, in the complex interaction of political and
economic changes in England by the end of the 15th century, which led in time to the
acceptance of the educated London dialect as the basis of Standard English.
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH II – THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Variations in the English had been occurring because there were not
dictionaries or spelling books to refer to until sixteenth century.
ENGLISH DICTIONARIES
MEN
& OTHER BOOKES WRITTEN BY LEARNED
During this century dictionaries, spelling books and grammar of English were
published. The writers were responding to a growing sense that the language
needed and agreed form of spelling grammar and vocabulary.
People realized that letters of the alphabet were not enough to match the sound
of English, and the spelling of many books did not match their pronunciation.
CHANGES IN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION – THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
The shift was not completed in 1569 and there was a variation between regional
and social dialects speakers, but in the time all the long vowels were either
raised or became diphthongs. consequently the sound of short vowels
represented by the letters a, e, i, o, u has remained more or less the same,
while the sounds of the long vowels no longer match the letters.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STANDARD LANGUAGE
In England people now tend to regard the Standard English dialects as the
English languages and look on the other regional and social dialects
substandard or inferior.
A written standard was the first to develop. Educated men and women wrote in
the standard but continued speaking in the dialect of their regions.