DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL LITERARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE (16TH – 19TH C.)

literary norm

3. Growth of the spoken standard.

literary English language covers the Early NE period
(c. 1475—1660).

Henceforth it is possible to speak of the evolution of a single literary language instead of the similar or different development of the dialects.
two major external factors favoured the rise of the national language and the literary standards:
- the unification of the country
- the progress of culture.

used by the nation including dialects.
The ''national literary language" applies

only to recognized standard forms of the language, both written and spoken.
For earlier periods of history the term "literary language" may indicate the language of writing in a wider sense, including chronicles, legal documents, religious texts, etc.
A mature national literary language is characterised by:
- codified norms or rules of usage and
- functional stylistic differentiation.

due to the political, geographical, economic and "linguistic" position of

London
London became the capital of England in the 11th c. (before the Norman conquest). In the 15th century it was a thriving economic centre and port of England due to its geographical position near the estuary of the largest river in England.
People of the North mingled with people of the South in London, It enabled the Londoners to acquire features of both southern and northern dialects
The people coming to London helped to spread the London dialect all over the country.

at the end of the 17th century.
the first scientific English

dictionaries
the first scientific English grammar.
In the 17th and 18th century a great number of grammarians and orthoepists appeared, who set as their task the establishing of correct language forms.

conservative views in the sphere of pronunciation
- the author

gives us some valuable information about the pronunciation of his time by quoting a peculiar system of transcription of the variants of pronunciation which he disapproves of
2) English Grammar, Charles Butler, 1634.
Butler proposed a modernised and rationalised spelling system.
3) Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae, John Wallis, 1653.
- objective observations of pronunciation not limited by conservative views of the language.

fully aware of the difference between sounds and letters

and gave a list of homonyms resulting from phonetic change:
heart - hart; a notion - an ocean; are – air –are - heir
5) Practical Phonographer, Jones, 1701.
- Jones’s task was to describe "English speech ... as it is commonly used in England, particularly in London, the Universities or at Court".
6) Rules for True Spelling and Writing English, William Baker, 1724.
- contained lists of words showing divergencies between pronunciation and spelling

theologician and professor of poetry at Oxford).
- "our language

is extremely imperfect",
- it "offends against every part of grammar"
- the best authors commit "many gross improprieties, which ... ought to be corrected". - in spite of great achievements in literature and style, the English language had made "no advance in Grammatical Accuracy".

by the descriptions of classical languages and by the principles

of logic. They wished to present language as a strictly logical system.
The main purpose was to formulate rules based on logical considerations and to present them as fixed and obligatory.
Grammars were designed to restrict and direct linguistic change.
This type of grammars is known as "prescriptive" or "normative" grammars.

primarily with the explanation of “hard words” continued to be

brought out in great numbers.
1) DICTIONARY OF HARD WORDS, E. Coles, 1676.
2) DICTIONARIUM BRITANNICUM, A MORE COMPLEAT UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY THAN ANY EXTANT, Nathaniel Bailey, 1730.
- it was a distinct improvement on its predecessors.
- about 48,000 items.
- Samuel Johnson used Bailey’s DICTIONARIUM as the basis of his own
- through Johnson N. Bailey influenced all subsequent lexicographical practice.

(1709— 1784).
- objective: to purify and correct the language.

- to compile a new dictionary based upon the usage of recognized authorities.
- 2 volumes
- he included quotations from several hundred authors of the 17th and 18th c.
- the entries of his dictionary contain definitions of meaning, illustrations of usage, etymologies, and stylistic comments.
- he regulated current usage by giving precise definitions, which were noticeable improvement upon those given by his predecessors.

a man married to a woman.
2. The male of animals.
3.

An economist, a man that knows and practises the method of frugality and profit. Its signification is always modified by some epithet implying bad or good.
4. A tiller of the ground, a farmer.

in formulating the rules of usage, partly from observation but

largely from the "doctrine of correctness",
2. The grammars and dictionaries laid the rules of usage down as norms to be taught as patterns of correct English.
3. Codification of norms of usage helped in standardising the language and in fixing its Written and Spoken Standards.

fixed and recognised by the beginning of the 17th c.
The

next stage in the growth of the national literary language was the development of the Spoken Standard.
The geographical and social origins of the Spoken Standard were the same as those of the Written Standard:
- the tongue of London and the Universities, which had assimilated many new features from a variety of sources;
- intermixture of people belonging to different social groups was reflected in speech, though the rate of changes was slowed down when the norms of usage had been fixed;
- the flourishing of literature enriched the language and had a stabilizing effect on linguistic change.

which had been formed by the 19th c., were its

standard or literary forms and its sub­standard forms.
2. The literary language comprised a great number of varieties.
3. It had a Written and a Spoken Standard.
4. Within the Written Standard there developed different literary and functional styles:
- the belles-lettres style (with further differentiation between poetry, prose and drama),
- official style,
- newspaper and publicistic style,
- scientific prose style.
5. Within the Spoken Standard there are more formal and less formal, colloquial varieties which bordered on the sub-standard forms of the language.