standardisation

2. • Process by which conventional forms of language are
established and maintained
• May occur through natural development of a language in a
speech community
• May occur as an effort by members of a community to impose
one dialect or variety as a standard
• Re-standardisation refers to the way a language may be re-
shaped by its speakers and writers

3. • The standardisation of the English language happened as
a natural means, over centuries, out of a consensus, due
to a number of social factors
• The following slides take us through the process and
factors of English standardisation

4. • Old English originated in 500AD when West Germanic
invaders settled in the British Isles
• Celtic speakers were pushed out to surrounding areas,
leaving behind only a few Celtic words
• Also influencing English at this time were Vikings, which
introduced new north Germanic words
• Old English survived until 1100AD when the most important
event in the development and history of the English
language occurred; The Norman Conquest

5. • Modern English now is generally derived from foreign
words
• Only one sixth of Old English words have descendants in
today’s language
• However, one half of the most commonly used words in
our language today have old English roots
• For example
• Water
• Be
• Strong

6. • Middle English originated in 1066AD when the Duke of
Normandy invaded and conquered England
• This had a huge impact as the new overlords spoke a dialect
of Old French with considerable Germanic roots in addition to
basic Latin roots
• In 1204 AD, King John lost the province of Normandy to the
king of France, estranging Norman nobles of England even
further from their French cousins
• England became the chief concern of the nobility, as
opposed to their estates in France
• Consequently, the nobility adopted a modified English as their
native tongue

7. • In 1349, the Black Death swept through England, killing about one
third of its population
• As a result, the labouring and merchant classes became more
important to the economy and society and thus English grew in
importance too
• By 1362, the linguistic division between the nobility and commoners
was largely over
• The statue of pleading was adopted, making English the language
of the courts and began to be used in Parliament
• The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer’s
Canterbury tales
• While still difficult to read, it can be read by modern English
speakers

8. • Originated in 1500 through the revival of classical scholarship
• Brought many classical Latin and Greek words into the
vocabulary
• Early modern English came to prominence due to two main
factors
• The Great Vowel Shift
• Introduction of the printing press

9. • Change in pronunciation
• Began 1400
• Vowel sounds began to be made further to the front of the mouth
• The letter ‘e’ at the end of words became silent
• Linguistically, the shift was relatively sudden, the major changes
occurring within a century
• Cannot say the shift is over yet, vowel sounds are still shortening –
the change has slowed to a more gradual pace
• For example;
• Life was pronounced “leef”
• Name was pronounced “nam-a”
• Five was pronounced “feef”
• Down was pronounced “doon”

10. • William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476
• As a result books became more affordable and thus literacy
became more common
• Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and
works in English, as opposed to Latin, became more popular
• The printing press brought standardisation to the English
language
• The dialect of London, where most publishing houses were
located
• Spelling and grammar became fixed
• The first dictionary was published in 1604

11. • Shakespeare wrote during early modern English times
• Many familiar words and phrases were first recorded by him
• Clichés that were ‘invented’ by Shakespeare include;
• Vanish into thin air
• Flesh and blood
• Words he bequeathed include
• Critical
• Majestic
• Dwindle

12. • Originated in 1800 and the principal distinction between early
and late modern English is vocabulary
• Pronunciation, spelling and grammar are relatively the same,
but late modern English has a significantly larger vocabulary
• This phenomenon has occurred due to two reasons
• Industrial revolution and rise of technological society
• The British empire

13. • The industrial revolution (1760) and the rise of technological
society necessitated a number of new words to suit ‘things’
and ideas that not previously existed
• Neologisms were needed for new creations and discoveries
• English relied heavily on Latin and Greek for words such as
‘oxygen’, ‘protein’, ‘nuclear’ and ‘vaccine’ for their base
meanings
• This still continues today – ‘cyber’, ‘microchip’, ‘hard-drive’,
etc.

14. • At its height, Britain occupied a quarter of the world and as a
result, English adopted many foreign words and made them its
own
• The British Empire adopted the following words
• Shampoo, pyjamas, juggernaut (Hindi)
• Sauna (Finnish)
• Tycoon (Japanese)
• Bon voyage, vis-à-vis (French)