Early Modern English + bit of Phonology

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)

Question 3

When would you have used “ye/your/you?

Answer 3

• to social superiors
• among higher class
• in public
• to express distance
• to show respect

two dimensions: status and commonality

Question 4

When would you have used “thou/thy/thee?

Answer 4

• to social inferiors
• among lower class
• in private
• to express familiarity
• to show contempot

two dimensions: status and commonality

Question 5

How is the T-V distinction in History?

thou/thy/thee, ye/your/you

Answer 5

• OE: no T-V distinction in English (diff. pronouns for 2nd person singular (thu) and plural (ge)
• ME: T-V distinction develops due to French influence (2nd person plural pronoun (ye) is used to express distance, social standing)
• EME: use of thou declines
• PDE: no distinction in English (no diff. pronouns in 2nd person Sg. & Pl.)

Question 6

What are ongoing sound changes in British English?

Answer 6

• /t/-glottaling: [t] -> [?]: but, better, Scotland
• Spirantisation of [tj],[dj] -> [tʃ] [dʒ]: Tuesday, duel
• Monophthongisation of centering diphthongs [eǝ] -> [iǝ] -> [e:]: bear, swear, hear
• Lowering of short front vowels [e] -> [æ] -> [a]: bed and bad
• Fronting and unrounding of [u:] and [ʊ]: goose, good
• Vocalisation of ‘dark l’ [ɫ] -> [w], [ʊ]: milk, pill

Question 7

What can the sound change be descriped by?

Answer 7

kinda like the Coronavirus cases in Austria
-> it starts and then it spreads rapidly

Question 8

What does the sound change in apparent time do?

Answer 8

• observes synchronic variation in speech community
• collects pronunciation samples from various speakers
• variant used (more often) by younger speakers is likely the innovative variant e.g. [mɪɫk] -> [mɪʊk]

age-graded variation is interpreted as representing apparent time

Question 9

What is the difference between overt and covert prestige?

Answer 9

• overt: variants that are generally accepted as prestigious e.g. RP
• covert: may signal belonging to particular region/group e.g. local variants

Question 10

How is Labov’s typology of sound changes from below characterized?

Answer 10

• spread unconsciously
• speaker-friendly
• casual situations
• low social class
• covert prestige
• tight networks
• men

-> weakening sound changes

Question 11

How is Labov’s typology of sound changes from above characterized?

Answer 11

• spread consciously
• listener-friendly
• formal contexts
• high social class
• overt prestige
• loose networks
• women

-> strengthening sound changes

Question 12

What are some examples for weakening sound changes?

Answer 12

• Shortening: ke:pt -> kept
• Deletion: climb /klimb/ -> /klaim/
• Monophthongisation: taught /tauht/ -> /tɔːt/
• Assimilation: night /nijt/ -> /ni:t/

Question 13

What is the physiological dimension of weakening sound changes?

Answer 13

speaker-friendly: make articulation easier

Question 14

What is the communicative dimension of weakening sound changes?

Answer 14

presuppose a lot of shared knowledge, which makes content (to some degree) predictable

Question 15

What is the social dimension of weakening sound changes?

Answer 15

• signal relaxedness
• signal commonality (‘closeness, ‘brotherhood’)
• common in closely knit social networks
• carry little overt prestige (but ‘covert’ prestige)

Question 16

What are some examples for strengthening sound changes?

Answer 16

• Lengthening: climb /klimb/ -> kli:mb/
• Insertion (epenthesis): sound /su:n/ -> su:nd/
• Diphthongisation: time /ti:m/ -> /taim/
• Dissimilation: venom /venən/ -> /venəm/

Question 17

What is the physiological dimension of strengthening sound changes?

Answer 17

listener-friendly -> enhances contrasts, makes perception easier

Question 18

What is the communicative dimension of strengthening sound changes?

Answer 18

does not presuppose much shared knowledge, enhances explicitness

Question 19

What is the social dimension of strengthening sound changes?

Answer 19

• signal attention to speech
• signal high listener status (but also social distance)
• common in loosely knit social networks
• carry high overt prestige