Great Vowel Shift: 1700 and Beyond - Essay Sample

Introduction

The significant changes that brought about the Great Vowel Shift were almost complete by the year 1700, especially in South England. Significant changes arose, for instance, the use of verbs like lovest, pronouns like thee had disappeared. It must be noted that such verbs and pronouns were commonly used, but they had vanished from standard usage. Pronouns thee and thou could only be used in religious excerpts and not in the standard usage. Besides, the auxiliary do was used as it is used today. Therefore, the English language back then differed slightly with the modern English language. Several changes occurred during the Late Middle English. For instance, the distinction between the past plural and past singular had also disappeared. Here, some verbs were used in both singular and plural form, and vice versa. For example, I rode, which is the singular form of "we rode." Despite the distinction between the past plural and past singular had disappeared, "it, was, were" remained, although there were plenty of variations in how they were used (Barber, Beal, & Shaw, 2009). Also, vast numbers of new past tenses were formed, especially from past participle such as got and bore. Standardization of single past tense form, especially for the strong verbs, occurred in the early eighteenth century.

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Differences in spelling existed hence the need for standardization. Addison's spellings and punctuations slightly differ with the modern-day English. Since Addison was an excellent example of style in the eighteenth century, his spellings and use of apostrophes were much used. His spellings slightly differ with ours since he used words like Publick and carry'd, which are not used today. During the periods of early modern English and Middle English, standardized spelling did not exist. Hence, spellings differed from one writer to the next. The introduction of printing was a powerful force that pushed for spelling standardization. Therefore, although a standard spelling system did not exist, several conventions were widely accepted. The standard spelling system introduced in the seventeenth century was archaic hence the need for more standardization. Inconsistencies in spelling result in spelling pronunciation prevalence that results when the spelling influences a word's pronunciation (Barber et al., 2009). It might occur when printed books and newspapers are disseminated to people, and they find words that they have never heard or pronounced in their home environment.

During the second half of the eighteenth century, an attempt to standardize the spelling to regulate the language was made. People believed that English required regulations and rules from the seventeenth century onwards. It was influenced by the belief that classical Latin and Greek had been regulated. A great movement in favor of the establishment of an academy to correct and refine English arose between 1650 and 1760 (Barber et al., 2009). Although the proposals of an academy bore no fruits, first dictionaries and grammars were published in the seventeenth century. They helped to standardize and codify spellings. Dictionaries explained the meaning of unknown words and expounded on information such as acceptability, etymology, and differences in style. Eventually, dictionaries were treated as authorities of spellings and word meanings. English grammars also date from the seventeenth century. Grammar in English appeared in large numbers during the late modern period since schools had begun teaching English hence the need for textbooks (Barber et al., 2009). Grammarians and correctors did not agree with each other due to hot disputes with regards to points of usage. Despite the disagreements, they passed the disputes to a substantial body to the nineteenth century, which added to it and later passed it to the twentieth century.

Disagreements on the verb system arose in the eighteenth century since correctors were against constructions such as "The house is building," and some purists agreed with the same. There exist four central markings of the verb (late ME times) that is the progressive, the past, the perfect, and the passive. Combinations of these markings in construction, especially during the early modern period, were possible, although there were critics against it. Failure to use the modal auxiliary and the four markings in a construction leaves what is traditionally called the present tense of the verb such as "I go." The late modern period did not see significant changes in pronunciation, which would rival the Great Vowel Shift. However, there were crucial changes that began in London's speech and were later incorporated in RP. The difference in pronunciation marks different English accents today (Barber et al., 2009). Significant changes in the modern English period include "lengthening of vowels before voiceless fricatives and rounding of vowels after /w /."

Scientific writing greatly influenced the English language and the way it had been used for the past three hundred years. Therefore, the rise of scientific writing in English helped establish a kind of prose like the one in modern English. It further led to an increase in scientific vocabulary. The number of scientific words formed from classical elements is humongous. Some were formed using Greek and Latin materials. Besides, general vocabulary also expanded greatly in the late modern period. It was, therefore, not confined to scientific words.

Due to growth in world trade, many people from different nations such as Britain interacted. Words were borrowed from those nations, and they became vocabularies that were further spread to home countries. For instance, ketchup was borrowed from the Chinese. Vocabularies in the late modern period were also formed through conversion, affixation, and compounding. Public schools also influenced English since they dominated the English gentry's education. Therefore, due to public schools, English later became a class dialect spoken by people from different places, unlike before when each social class had its accent, which was nonstandard.

Reference

Barber, C., Beal, J. C., & Shaw, P. A. (2009). The English language: A historical introduction. Cambridge University Press. file:///C:/Users/HP/Downloads/Barber.pdf