Early Modern English

Question 1

What major events happened in the Early Modern Period?

Answer 1

• centralised administration (need for superregional communication)
• Caxton’s printing press (1476, easier distribution of texts)
• English Renaissance (influence of Latin & Greek)
• Colonialism of the Americans (pidgins and creoles)

Question 2

What are the four pillars of standardisation?

Answer 2

• Selection (e.g. prestige variety, printed variety)
• Acceptance (socio-linguistically motivated)
• Elaboration (e.g. enrichtment of vocab, syntax, style)
• codification (dictionaries, grammars, style guides)