The English Language in the 16th Century
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Questions and Answers

What significant event occurred in 1476 that impacted the English language?

  • Arrival of the printing press in England (correct)
  • Introduction of Latin into English speech
  • Independence of the American colonies
  • First dictionary published

    • In the 16th century, English was widely recognized as the primary language of academia, medicine, and law.

    False

    What issues did English face in the 16th century?

    Recognition, Orthography, Lexical enrichment

    The mismatch between sound and spelling in English increased due to the _____, which was finalized during this period.

    <p>Great Vowel Shift</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following concepts with their descriptions:

    <p>Recognition = English's struggle to be accepted in academic fields Orthography = Issues related to inconsistent spelling Lexical enrichment = Expansion of vocabulary by incorporating new words</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the chief intent of the movement described in the content?

    <p>To preserve the purity of the English language</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The EME period reflects a time when people wished to return to the linguistic standards of the past.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does 'EME' stand for in the context of the content?

    <p>Early Modern English</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The concept of linguistic purity in English ignores the fact that English is a result of ________.

    <p>borrowings</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following terms with their descriptions:

    <p>Celtic = Closest language to pure English Polite writers = Authors whose works are commonly selected for language standards Standardization = The process of making language uniform Borrowings = Words adopted from other languages</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What factor contributed to a change in social mobility during the early industrialization period?

    <p>Higher literacy and education levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The Renaissance emphasized individualism over rationalism.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the primary purpose of the 1755 Dictionary of the English Language by Johnson?

    <p>To establish a standard for the English language with fixed spelling and a comprehensive lexicon.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The King James Bible was published in _____.

    <p>1611</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following authors with their notable contributions:

    <p>William Shakespeare = Playwright and poet Edmund Spenser = Epic poet Philip Sidney = Lyric poet Mulcaster = Author of The Elementarie</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following concepts became less important during the Age of Rationalism?

    <p>Individualism</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Standardization of the English language was seen as unnecessary during the rationalist period.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was one of the main reasons for creating dictionaries during this period?

    <p>To keep track of the many new words entering the English language.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which vowel sound in Modern English comes from the Middle English word 'mous'?

    <p>/məus/</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The Great Vowel Shift affected the pronunciation of 'goos' to 'geese'.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the Modern English pronunciation of 'broke' as it evolved from its Middle English form?

    <p>brəʊk</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The vowel sound /eɪ/ in the word 'maid' evolved from the Middle English pronunciation /ɛ:/.

    <p>true</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following Middle English words with their Modern English equivalents:

    <p>mys = mouse gees = geese mous = moose broke = broke</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following words underwent a vowel shift that did not lead its form to end with /i:/?

    <p>great</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The vowel sound /ʊ/ is represented by the word ______ in Middle English.

    <p>but</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Explain why the words 'read' (present) and 'read' (past) have different pronunciations despite coming from the same Old English root.

    <p>The present tense 'read' maintains /ɛ:/ due to vowel length, while the past tense 'read' evolved to /rēd/. The Great Vowel Shift should have merged them, but it didn't.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the primary reason for the lexical growth in English during the period of colonialism?

    <p>Expansion in discoveries and technology</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The OED recorded around 4,500 new words in English each decade from 1500 to 1700.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two sources of the new words created in the English language during the period of 1500 to 1700?

    <p>Creations based on existing roots and affixes, and borrowings from other languages.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The past tense of the Old English verb 'rǣdan' is _____ in its first OE past form.

    <p>rēdde</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was one of the main challenges faced by those with little education during the lexical growth?

    <p>Difficulty in understanding hard words</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The book 'A Table Alphabeticall' aimed to assist ladies and other unskilled individuals with understanding complex English words.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How many borrowings were adopted for permanent use in English during the period mentioned compared to the Middle English period?

    <p>20,000 borrowings in the Modern English period, compared to 7,500 in the Middle English period.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the following Old English verbs with their past tense forms:

    <p>rǣdan = rēdde lǣdan = lēdde</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a notable change regarding the present continuous in Modern English compared to Middle English?

    <p>It indicates futurity more reliably.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The present continuous was less common in Modern English than in Middle English.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is an example of a sentence that uses the present continuous to indicate annoyance over a habit?

    <p>He is always yelling.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In Shakespeare's usage, the phrase 'I kill’d the man that was a-____ thee' demonstrates a rare structure involving present continuous.

    <p>hanging</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Match the examples of English grammar with their corresponding features:

    <p>Present Continuous = Indicates continuity or limited duration Gerund = Functions as a noun in a sentence Affricates = Develop from certain sounds before unstressed vowels Phonological Reduction = A tendency to simplify sounds in speech</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following statements about gerunds is true?

    <p>Gerunds became more frequent in the Modern English period.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The vowel /i/ in 'wisdom' was shortened during the Middle English period.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What phonetic change is observed for the sounds in 'nature' and 'procedure'?

    <p>They are pronounced with affricate sounds.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Early Modern English (1500-1800)

    • Modern English period encompassing 1500 to 1800
    • 1476: Printing press arrives in England
    • 1776: American colonies declare independence

    Problems of 16th Century English

    • Recognition: Latin (and less so Greek) held prominence in academia, medicine, and law. English needed recognition in these fields. Vulgar languages, like English, were considered less sophisticated.
    • Orthography: No single, universally accepted spelling system. Pronunciation and spelling often did not match due to evolving usage. The Great Vowel Shift, while happening, is finalized in this period.
    • Lexical enrichment: With Latin's decline, many Latin words entered English. Some words became established quickly, others fell out of use equally swiftly.

    Factors influencing Language Change

    • Printing press: Increased access to education and literacy. Books, especially in English, became more widely available.
    • Religious reform: The Act of Supremacy saw Henry VIII and successors as the head of the Church of England. English replacing Latin as the language of the Church. The religious mission spread by the translation of the Bible into English.
    • Colonial expansion: Contact with other cultures led to borrowings from other languages. A further growth in English vocabulary and regional dialects.
    • Social mobility: Social classes became more fluid. People adopted the linguistic conventions of those they wished to be associated with.
    • Cultural activity: Increased cultural output (e.g., theater, literature, the King James Bible). This provided further opportunities for language variation and spread, including through literacy, further promoting communication.

    Changes in Thought

    • Renaissance (14-16th c.): Strong sense of individualism and independence.
    • Rationalism (17-18th c.): Strong sense of order; importance given to logic and regularity.

    Dictionaries

    • New words entered the language, and there was a need to document and categorize them better.
    • The Elementarie (1582) (Mulcaster) had 8,000 words, but no definitions
    • A Dictionary of the English Language (Johnson; 1755) surveyed 40,000 entries and fixed spelling.
    • Dictionaries became important tools for standardization and establishing a standard language.

    The Academy

    • The English language is often debated and discussed for its decline in standard.
    • The ideal of a standard English language is often based on the past, though this is not always realistic.
    • There was a lack of a formal English Academy despite the wish and desire of some.

    Grammars

    • 1760 onwards, scholars tried to standardize grammar, with the aim to define appropriate linguistic behavior.
    • Attempts made to set prescriptive rules (e.g., 17th and 18th-criteria were based on logic, etymology and classical languages) codifying the language further.
    • This grammar had weaknesses such as focusing on the written word and ignoring or overlooking the spoken word.
    • The rules were often prescriptive rather than descriptive.

    Results of Grammarians' Work

    • Provided a codified grammar (many rules still valid today)
    • Settled disputes, eliminated some uncertainty
    • No longer needed a formal Academy

    Weak Points of Grammarians' Work

    • Contributed to solidifying differences between written and spoken language
    • Often disregarded real usage, failing to account for language’s fluid nature
    • Rules sometimes redundant or illogical
    • Too many rules: some contradictory or unnecessary

    Language: A Bird's-eye View

    • English remained similar to Present-day English (PDE) in the beginning
    • Some variability in the 1500s to 1700s
    • Significant developments occurred in the morphology, consonants, spelling,syntax and phonology of English during the EModE period. Significant changes happened during the Early/Late EModE (1650's onwards) towards more prescriptive grammar, for example
    • Lexical changes.

    Spelling and Phonology

    • Spelling gradually standardized. This happened alongside the printing press.
    • The Great Vowel Shift finalized during the EModE period.
    • New sounds and phonemes are created and integrated into English language e.g. <J> and
    • In the EModE period spellings were fairly fixed.

    Consonants: New Phonemes

    • New consonant phonemes emerged.
    • Some consonant sounds, already existing in Middle English, were either pronounced differently or became silent in particular positions.

    Vowels: Great Vowel Shift

    • The Great Vowel Shift (GVS) completed.
    • Vowels changed in terms of quality – they shifted up or diphthongized.
    • Some vowels from Old English shifted their pronunciation and sometimes new vowels appear.

    Verbs

    • Significant grammatical changes happened during the ME period
    • The loss of thou
    • 3rd person singular present tense gained prominence
    • Standardized forms, such as bare infinitive and present, emerged during the ModE period

    Adjectives

    • Adjectives lost most of their inflectional endings.
    • The use of compound words, such as more, less, and most gained more standardization.

    Articles

    • No significant changes in syntax, although spelling changed from ⟨thorn⟩ to ⟨th⟩ in the definite article.

    Syntax

    • SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) became the unmarked word order.
    • Alternative word orders (SOV, VSO) were still present, but declined.
    • Grammatical rules became more explicit, though still somewhat varied.
    • The use of auxiliary verbs, do/have/be, for questions and negation. This was a major shift between ME and ModE.

    Verbal Periphrases

    • Formalization of the present perfect tense and other verb tenses, further differentiating usage from ME.
    • Use of both HAVE and BE as auxiliary verbs.

    Negation

    • Negation patterns became more fixed, with the prescriptive rule-adoption of using auxiliary verbs to form negatives.

    Questions

    • Subject-verb inversion or subject-auxiliary inversion to form questions.
    • The use of "do"-support in questions became more standardized.

    Course Recap

    • EModE, important changes in inflectional endings were completed.

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    Description

    This quiz explores significant events that shaped the English language during the 16th century, including the impact of the Renaissance and the standardization of spelling. Delve into concepts like Early Modern English (EME) and linguistic purity while examining the social changes of the period. Test your understanding of the challenges faced by English during this transformative time.

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