development of the Northern dialect.
8.3The Great Vowel Shift
The transition from Middle English to Modern English was marked by a major
change in the pronunciation of vowels during the 15th and 16th centuries.
This change, termed the Great Vowel Shift by the Danish linguist Otto
Jespersen, consisted of a shift in the articulation of vowels with respect
to the positions assumed by the tongue and the lips. The Great Vowel Shift
changed the pronunciation of 18 of the 20 distinctive vowels and diphthongs
of Middle English. Spelling, however, remained unchanged and was preserved
from then on as a result of the advent of printing in England in about
1475, during the shift. (In general, Middle English orthography was much
more phonetic than Modern English; all consonants, for example, were
pronounced, whereas now letters such as the l preserved in walking are
silent).
All long vowels, with the exception of /i:/ (pronounced in Middle English
somewhat like ee in need) and /u:/ (pronounced in Middle English like oo in
food), came to be pronounced with the jaw position one degree higher.
Pronounced previously in the highest possible position, the/i:/ became
diphthongized to “ah-ee”, and the/u:/ to “ee-oo”. The Great Vowel Shift,
which is still in progress, caused the pronunciation in English of the
letters a, e, i, o, and u to differ from that used in most other languages
of Western Europe. The approximate date when words were borrowed from other
languages can be ascertained by means of these and other sound changes.
Thus it is known that the old French word dame was borrowed before the
shift, since its vowel shifted with the Middle English /e:/ from a
pronunciation like that of the vowel in calm to that of the vowel in name.
8.4.Modern English Period
In the early part of the Modern English period the vocabulary was enlarged
by the widespread use of one part of speech for another and by increased
borrowings from other languages. The revival of interest in Latin and Greek
during the Renaissance brought new words into English from those languages.
Other words were introduced by English travellers and merchants after their
return from journeys on the Continent. From Italian came cameo, stanza, and
violin; from Spanish and Portuguese, alligator, peccadillo, and sombrero.
During its development, Modern English borrowed words from more than 50
different languages.
In the late 17th century and during the 18th century, certain important
grammatical changes occurred. The formal rules of English grammar were
established during that period. The pronoun its came into use, replacing
the genitive form his, which was the only form used by the translators of
the King James Bible (1611). The progressive tenses developed from the use
of the participle as a noun preceded by the preposition on; the preposition
gradually weakened to a and finally disappeared. Thereafter only the simple
ing form of the verb remained in use. After the 18th century this process
of development culminated in the creation of the progressive passive form,
for example, “The job is being done”.
The most important development begun during this period and continued
without interruption throughout the 19th and 20th centuries concerned
vocabulary. As a result of colonial expansion, notably in North America but
also in other areas of the world, many new words entered the English
language. From the indigenous peoples of North America, the words raccoon
and wigwam were borrowed; from Peru, llama and quinine; from the West
Indies, barbecue and cannibal; from Africa, chimpanzee and zebra; from
India, bandanna, curry, and punch; and from Australia, kangaroo and
boomerang. In addition, thousands of scientific terms were developed to
denote new concepts, discoveries, and inventions. Many of these terms, such
as neutron, penicillin, and supersonic, were formed from Greek and Latin
roots; others were borrowed from modern languages, as with blitzkrieg from
German and sputnik from Russian.
8.5.20th-Century English
In Great Britain at present the speech of educated persons is known as
Received Pronunciation. A class dialect rather than a regional dialect, it
is based on the type of speech cultivated at public schools and at such of
the older universities as Oxford and Cambridge. Many English people who
speak regional dialects in their childhood acquire Received Pronunciation
while attending school and university. Its influence has become even
stronger in recent years because of its use by such public media as the
British Broadcasting Corporation.
RP is not intrinsically superior to other varieties of English, and is,
itself, only one particular dialect. It has just achieved more extensive
use than others.
Widely differing regional and local dialects are still employed in the
various counties of Great Britain. Other important regional dialects have
also developed; for example, the English language in Ireland has retained
certain individual peculiarities of pronunciation, such as the
pronunciation of lave for leave and fluther for flutter; certain
syntactical peculiarities, such as the use of after following forms of the
verb be; and certain differences in vocabulary, including the use of
archaic words such as adown (for down) and Celtic borrowings such as
banshee. The Lowland Scottish dialect, sometimes called Lallans, first made
known throughout the English-speaking world by the songs of the 18th-
century Scottish poet Robert Burns, contains differences in pronunciation
also, such as neebour (“neighbour”) and guid (“good”), and words of
Scandinavian origin peculiar to the dialect, such as braw and bairn. The
English spoken in Australia, with its marked diphthongization of vowels,
also makes use of special words, retained from English regional dialect
usages, or taken over from indigenous Australian terms.
8.6.American English
An important development of English outside Great Britain occurred with the
colonization of North America. American English may be considered to
include the English spoken in Canada, although the Canadian variety retains
some features of British pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary. The most
distinguishing differences between American English and British English are
in pronunciation and vocabulary. There are slighter differences in
spelling, pitch, and stress as well. Written American English also has a
tendency to be more rigid in matters of grammar and syntax, but at the same
time appears to be more tolerant of the use of neologisms. Despite these
differences, it is often difficult to determine—apart from context—whether
serious literary works have been written in Great Britain or the United
States/Canada—or, for that matter, in Australia, New Zealand, or South
Africa.
8.7.Basic English
A simplified form of the English language based on 850 key words was
developed in the late 1920s by the English psychologist Charles Kay Ogden
and publicized by the English educator I. A. Richards. Known as Basic
English, it was used mainly to teach English to non-English-speaking
persons and promoted as an international language. The complexities of
English spelling and grammar, however, were major hindrances to the
adoption of Basic English as a second language.
The fundamental principle of Basic English was that any idea, however
complex, may be reduced to simple units of thought and expressed clearly by
a limited number of everyday words. The 850-word primary vocabulary was
composed of 600 nouns (representing things or events), 150 adjectives (for
qualities and properties), and 100 general “operational” words, mainly
verbs and prepositions. Almost all the words were in common use in English-
speaking countries; more than 60 per cent were one-syllable words. The
abbreviated vocabulary was created in part by eliminating numerous synonyms
and by extending the use of 18 “basic” verbs, such as make, get, do, have,
and be. These verbs were generally combined with prepositions, such as up,
among, under, in, and forward. For example, a Basic English student would
use the expression “go up” instead of “ascend”.
8.8.Pidgin English
English also enters into a number of simplified languages that arose among
non-English-speaking peoples. Pidgin English, spoken in the Melanesian
islands, New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii and on the
Asian shores of the Pacific Ocean, developed as a means of communication
between Chinese and English traders. The Chinese adopted many English words
and a few indispensable non-English words and created a means of discourse,
using a simple grammatical apparatus. Bкche-de-Mer, a pidgin spoken in the
southern and western Pacific islands, is predominantly English in
structure, although it includes many Polynesian words. Chinook Jargon, used
as a lingua franca by the Native Americans, French, and English on the
North American Pacific coast, contains English, French, and Native American
words; its grammatical structure is based on that of the Chinook language.
The use of pidgin is growing in Africa, notably in Cameroon, Sierra Leone,
and East Africa.
9.Future of the English Language
The influence of the mass media appears likely to result in a more
standardized pronunciation, more uniform spelling, and eventually a
spelling closer to actual pronunciation. Despite the likelihood of such
standardization, a unique feature of the English language remains its
tendency to grow and change. Despite the warnings of linguistic purists,
new words are constantly being coined and usages modified to express new
concepts. Its vocabulary is constantly enriched by linguistic borrowings,
particularly by cross-fertilizations from American English. Because it is
capable of infinite possibilities of communication, the English language
has become the chief international language.[i]
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