THE CAMBRIDGE

PW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
DAVID CRYSTAL
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THE CAMBRIDGE
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
 Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trinnpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 1001 1-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia

© Cambridge University Press 1995

First published in 1995

Reprinted in 1996

Colour origination by Saxon Photolitho Ltd, Norwich

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Crystal, David. 1941-

The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language / David
Crystal.

p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 0-521-40179-8 (he)
1. English language — Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title
PE1072.C68 1995
420—dc20 94-23918
CIP
ISBN 521 40179 8 hardback

Design: Roger XWUker

Maps and diagrams: European Map Graphics Limited
Picture research: Paula Granados and Anne Priestley
Jacket: Unit 18 Photography and Ian Garstka Graphic Design
Typeset in Adobe Garamond and Frutiger
THE CAMBRIDGE
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
-^[ DAVID CRYSTAL

fi

CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
 CONTENTS
1 Modelling English 10 Etymology 136
• Lexical history 136 • Semantic change 138
ART I KHE HISTORY OF ENGLISH • Folk etymology 139 • Place names 140 • Surnames 148

2 The origins of English • First names 150 • Nicknames 152 • Object names 154
• F'ponyms 155
3 Old English 8
• Early borrowings 8 • Runes 9 • The Old English corpus 1
11 The structure of the lexicon 156
• Literary texts 12 • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 14
• Semantic structure 156 • Semantic fields 157

•Spelling 16 "Sounds 18 • Ciramni.ir 20 • Vocabulary 22 • Dictionary and thesaurus 158 • Collocations 160
• Late borrowings 24 • Dialects 28 • Lexical predictability 162 • Idioms 163 • Synonyms 164
• Antonyms 165 • Hyponyms 166 • Incompatibility 167
4 Middle English 30 • Other sense relations 168
• hrench and English 30 • I'he transition from Old English 32
• I'he Middle English corpus 34 • Literary texts 36 12 Lexical dimensions 170
• Chaucer 38 • Spelling 40 •Sounds42 • Grammar 44 • Loaded vocabulary 170 • I'aboo 172 • Swearing 173
• Vocabulary 46 • Latin borrowings 48 • Dialects 50
• Jargon 174 • Doublespeak 176 • Political correctness 177
• Middle Scots 52 • The origins of Standard English 54
• Catch phrases 178 • Vogue words 179 • Slogans 180
• Graffiti 181 • Slang 182 • Quotations 184 • Proverbs 184
5 Early Modern English 56 • Archaisms 185 • Cliches 186 • Last words 187
• C'axton 56 • Transitional texts 58 • Renaissance English 60
• The inkhorn controversy 61 • Shakespeare 62 PART III ENGLISH GRAMMAR 188
• The King James Bible 64 • Spelling and regularization 66
13 Grammatical mythology 190
• Punctuation 68 • Sounds 69 • Grammar 70 • Vocabulary 72
• The Academy debate 73 • Johnson 74
• The nature ot grammar 190
• Knowing vs knowing about 191 • Traditional grammar 192
6 Modern English 76 • Prescriptive grammar 194 • The 20th-century legacy 196
• Iransition 76 • Grammatical trends 77 • Prescriptivism 78 • The main branches of grammar 197
• American English 80 • Breaking the rules 84
• Variety awareness 86 • Scientific language 87
14 The Structure of words 198

88 Dickens 89
• Morphology 198 • Suffixation 198 • Adjectives 199
• Literary voices • • Recent trends 90
•Nouns 200 • The apostrophe 203 •Pronouns 203
7 World English 92 • Verbs 204
• The New World 92 • American dialects 93 • Canada 95
• Black English Vernacular 96 • Australia 98 • New Zealand 99 15 Word classes 206
• South Africa 100 • South Asia 101 • West Africa 102
• Parts ot speech 206 • Traditional definitions 206
• East Africa 103 • South-East Asia and the South Pacific 104
• New classes 207 • Nouns 208 • Pronouns 210

• A world language 106 • Numbers of speakers 108

• Adjectives 211 • Adverbs 211 • Verbs 212
• Standard English 110 • The future of English 112
• Prepositions 213 • Conjunctions 213 • Interjections 213
• English threatened and as threat 114 16 The structure of sentences 214
• Spoken and written S}'ntax 214 • Types ot sentence 216
'ART II ENGLISH VOCABULARY 116 • Sentence structure 217 • Sentence functions 218

8 The nature of the lexicon • Clause elements and types 220 • Phrases 222
• Lexemes 118 • The size of the English lexicon 119
• Noun phrases 222 • Verb phrases 224

• Abbreviations 120 • Proper names 122 • Multiple sentences 226 • Abbreviation 228
• The size of a person's lexicon 123 • Disjuncts and comment clauses 229 • Reporting speech 230
• Sentence intormation 231 • Beyond the sentence 232
9 Thesourcesof the lexicon 124
• Native vocabulary 124 • Foreign borrowings 126
• Word-formation 128 • Unusual structures 130
• Lexical creation 132 • Literary neologism 134
 1
LU IN 1 t IN 1

PART IV SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH 234

22 Personal variation 394

236 • Individual differences 394 • Deviance 395

17 The sound system
236 • Word games 396 • Rule-breaking varieties 400
• Phonetics and phonology 236 • Vocal organs
246 • The edges of language 403 • Jokes and puns 404
• Vowels 237 • Consonants 242 • Syllables

Prosody 248
• Comic alphabets 407 • Variety humour 410
• Connected speech 247 •

254 • Literary freedom 412 • Phonetics and phonology 414

• Sound symbolism 250 • Pronimciation in practice
• Graphetics and graphology 416 • Grammar and lexicon 418
18 The writing system 256
• Discourse and variety 420 • Stylometry 423
• Graphetics and graphology 257 • Typography 257
• The alphabet 258 • Properties of letters 265 PART VI LEARNING ABOUT ENGLISH 424
• Letter frequency 265 • Letter distribution 266
23 Learning English as a mother tongue 426
• Letter symbolism 268 • Analysing handwriting 269
• Child language acquisition 426 • Literacy 427
• Graphetic variety 270 • Spelling 272
• Grammatical development 428
• Sources of irregularity 274 • Spelling reform 276
• Early words and sounds 430 • Reading and writing 432
• Punctuation 278 • The development of the writing system 280
• Insufficient language 434 • Language disability 434

PART V USING ENGLISH 284

24 New ways of Studying English 436

286 • Technological revolution 436 • Corpus studies 438

19 Varieties of discourse
• National and international corpora 440 • Dictionaries 442
• Structure vs use 286 • Pragmatic issues 286
288 • Innovations 444 • Sources and resources 446
• The nature of discourse 287 • Microlinguistic studies

• Texts and varieties 290 • Speech vs writing 29

APPENDICES 447
• Mixed medium 292 • Monologue and dialogue 294

298 I Glossary
20 Regional variation
II Special symbols and abbreviations 461
• Accent and dialect 298 • International and intranational 299
III References 462
• A day in the life of the language 300
IV Further reading 467
• American and British English 306 • American dialects 312
V Indexof linguistic items 470
•British dialects 3 18 'Scotland 328 -Wales 334
VI Index of authors and personalities 472
• Ireland 336 • Canada 340 • Caribbean 344
VII Indexof topics 475
• Pidgins and Creoles 346 • Australia 350
Acknowledgements 486
• New Zealand 354 • South Africa 356 • New Englishes 358

21 Social variation 364

• Sociolinguistic perspective 364 • Received Pronunciation 365

• Prescriptive attitudes 366 • Gender 368 • Occupation 370

• Religion 371 'Science 372 • Law 374 • Plain English 377
• Politics 378 • News media 380 • Journalism 382
• Broadcasting 384 • Weather forecasting 385
• Sports commentary 386 • Advertising 388
• Restricted varieties 390 • New varieties 392
 PREFACE
A book about tlie English language - or about any indi\idual lan- The basic unit of organization in the book is the double-page spread.
guage - is a daring enterprise, for it has as many perceptive critics as Sentences never cross turn-over pages, and the vast majority of
there are fluent readers. The language as a whole belongs to no one, topics are treated within the constraints of a single spread. I have
yet everyone owns a part ot it, has an interest in it, and has an opin- tried to ensure that it will be possible for readers to dip into this book
ion about it. Moreover, whenever people begin to talk about their at any point, and find a coherent treatment of a topic in a single
own language, they all have something to offer - favourite words or opening. There is too much in any language for the information to
sayings, dialect anecdotes and observations, usage likes and dislikes. be assimilated in a continuous reading, and this is especially so in the
Individual linguistic memories, experiences, and abilities enable case of English, with its lengthy history and vast range of use; and
everyone to make a personal contribution to language chat. In a while some may wish to read this book 'from left to right', I suspect
sense, we are all truly equal when we participate - even though this most will prefer to make more leisurely excursions over a period of
democratic vision is disturbed by the widely-shared perception that time - more a casual stroll than a guided tour. The double-page
some (notably, those who have learned the terminolog\' of language spread approach is designed for that kind of traveller. Indeed, the
study) are more equal than others. metaphor of travelling is far more suitable for this book than the
metaphor of story-telling.

The stories of English

Treatment and coverage
That is why the metaphor of 'the story (as in 'the story ot English)

is somewhat misleading. There is no one 'story of English. There are I have kept several criteria in mind while writing CEEL (pronounced
innumerable individual stories. And even if we look for broad nar- 'seal', as we have come to call it). I have tried to find a balance
rative themes, there are several dimensions competing for our atten- between talking about the language and letting the language speak
tion. For example, there is the structural story - the way the sounds, for itself. Most spreads distinguish between an expository overview
grammar, and vocabulary of the language have evolved. There is the and detailed examples (largely through the typographic convention
social story — the way the language has come to serve a multiplicity of main text vs panels). Then within each spread, 1 have tried to
of functions in society. There is the literary story - the way writers provide examples of the wonder which can be found when we begin
have evoked the power, range, and beauty of the language to express to look carefully at the language. All languages are fascinating,
new orders of meaning. And there is the chronological story- appar- beautiful, full of surprises, moving, awesome, fun. I hope I have

ently the most straightforward, though even here it is not possible to succeeded in provoking at least one of these responses on every page.
give a simple account, in terms of a beginning, middle, and end. I would be disappointed if, after any opening, a reader did not feel
There is no single beginning to the story of English, but several, with to some extent entertained, as well as informed.
waves of Anglo-Saxon invaders arriving in various locations, and
laying the foundations of later dialect difference. There is no single Obviously it has all been a personal selection. The hardest part, in
middle, but several, with the language diverging early on in England fact, was the choosing. Once I had decided on a topic for a spread, I

and Scotland, then much later taking different paths in Britain, would collect material relating to it from as many sources as 1 could
North America, and elsewhere. And, as we observe the increasingly find. would write the opening perspective, and then look at all the
I

diverse directions in which English is currently moving around the material to find textual and pictorial illustrations. Invariably I had
world, there is certainlv no single end. enough material to fill several spreads, and choosing what to put in
and what to leave out was always painful. The moral is plain. There
are several other possible encyclopedic worlds.
A traveller's guide
The biggest problem in compiling this book, accordingly, was what
Wider horizons
order to impose upon the mass of material which presents itself for
inclusion. I have started with history, moved on to structure, and In particular, there has not been space to go into the many applica-
concluded with use. But it might have been otherwise, and I have tions of English language studies in proper detail. I touch upon some
written the six parts so that it is possible for readers to begin with any of these areas in Part VI, but the aim of that part is not to be com-
one ot them and move in any direction. The same principle was prehensive, but simply to illustrate the various directions that
applied to the structure of each part. While there is a certain logic of applied language studies can take. There are many other horizons
exposition in some topics (such as Part I, the history of English), which can only be approached by using systematic information
there is none in others (such as Part V, the account of major regional about the language, but this book does not try to reach them. How-
or social varieties). In all cases, therefore, chapters, and sections ever, in view of its special place in the history of language study, I do
within chapters, have been planned as self-contained entities, with try to reach out in the direction of literature as often as possible, and
relevant conceptual underpinning provided by the frequent use of it is perhaps worth drawing attention to the wav that literary exam-
cross-references. ples are dispersed throughout the book. I have always been strongly
opposed to the great divide which traditionally separates 'lang' and Upward, Maggie Vance, and Lyn Wendon. Anne Rowlands helped
'lit'. It seemed to me that it would only reinforce that divide if I were me compile the indexes. It is perhaps unusual to thank a journal, but

to include a separate chapter called something like "literary lan- Ihave to acknowledge an enormous debt to English Today, and thus
guage', soI have not done so - a position which is discussed towards to its editor, Tom McArthur, for bringing together such a valuable

the end of Chapter 22. Many pages, accordingly, display a literary collection of English-language material. For anyone who wishes to

maintain a healthy English language prescribe the reading

presence - sometimes by way of stylistic comment, often through lifestyle, I

extensive quotation. of irrthree times a day after meals.

The book has been a real collaboration with in-house staff at Cam-
Acknowledgements bridge University Press, and involved many planning meetings both

of this kind has succeeded, because author has in Cambridge and Holyhead, over a period of some three years. It is
If an enterprise it is its

managed on the shoulders of many others, without too

to balance therefore a real pleasure to acknowledge the roles of Geoff Staff and
Clare Orchard, who managed and at Cam-
coordinated the project
often falling off. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Professor
Whitney Bolton, of Rutgers University, who read the whole text of bridge, Paula Granados and Anne who carried out the pic-
Priesdey,

the book and offered innumerable valuable comments and sugges- ture research, and Carol-June Cassidy, who read the text from the

tions. I must thank Dr Andy Orchard and Professor David Burnley point of view of American English. I have much enjoyed collaborat-

for their advice on several points in the Old and Middle English ing once again with Roger Walker, whose design experience will be
chapters.And a number of other scholars or organizations have evident on every page. I am du Plessis,
especially grateful to Adrian

helped me find the best illustration of a particular topic: these points director of Cambridge Reference, for his personal interest and

of contact are acknowledged formally at the end of the book, but I encouragement from the earliest days of this project. And, in a dif-
would want to record personal thanks to Henry G. Burger, Lou ferent sense of in-house, I thank my wife, Hilary, whose editorial

Burnard, Kenneth Cameron, Jack Chambers, Vinod Dubey, Leslie comments have greatly improved the clarity of the text, and whose
Dunkling, Charles Jones, Kevin Kiernan, Edwin D. Lawson, Geof- role in relation to the book's planning and production has been so

frey Leech, Valerie Luckins, Angus Mcintosh, Chrissie Maher, Chris great that it defies any attempt at conventional expression.

David Crystal
Holyhead, October 1994
 1 MODELLING ENGLISH
An essential c.iiK- step in the stud}- of a language is to Two models provide this first perspective. The first,
model it. A 'model', in this context, is not a three- shown below, breaks the structure of English down
dimensional miniature replica: this book does not into a series of components; and these will be used to
devote its space to techniques of moulding the organize the exposition throughout Parts II to IV. On
Fnglish language in Play-Doh®, Meccano®, or Lego®. the lacing page, there is a model of the uses of English;
To model the English language is, rather, to provide and this will be used as a perspective for Parts I and V.
an abstract representation of its central characteristics, The omnicurious eye of the English linguist surveys
so that it becomes easier to see how it is structured the whole scene, in ways which are
and used. examined in Part VI.

A coherent, self-contained unit of discourse. Texts, which may be spol<en,

written, or signed, vary greatly in size, from such tiny units as posters,
captions, and bus tickets, to such large units as novels, sermons, and
conversations. They provide the frame of reference within which
grammatical, lexical, and other features of English can be
identified and interpreted.
(See Part V, §19

Sign
A visual language used chiefly by people who are deaf. This
book refers only to those signing systems which have been
devised to represent aspects of English structure, such as its
spelling, grammar, or vocabulary. (See §23.)

Graphology
The writing system of a language. Graphological (or
orthographic) study has two main aspects: the visual
segments of the written language, which take the form of
vowels, consonants, punctuation marks, and certain
typographical features; and the various patterns of graphic
design, such as spacing and layout, which add structure and
meaning to stretches of written text. (See Part IV, §18.)

Phonology
The pronunc- Grammar
iation system of a The system of rules
language. Phonological governing the construction
study has two main aspects: of sentences. Grammatical
the sound segments of the Lexicon
study is usually divided
spoken language, which The vocabulary of a lan-
into two main aspects:
take the form of vowels guage. Lexical study is a
syntax, dealing with the
and consonants; and the wide-ranging domain,
structure and connection of
involving such diverse areas
various patterns of intona- sentences; and morphology,
as the sense relationships
tion, rhythm, and tone of dealing with the structure
which add structure
voice,
between words, the use of
and formation of words.
abbreviations, puns, and
and meaning to stretches of (See Part III.)

speech. (See Part euphemisms, and the com-

IV, §17.)
pilation of dictionaries.
(See Part II.)

BUT IS IT ART? university courses, and then asymmetries well represent

present an abstract design the irregularities and
Just occasionally, someone which reflected their erratic research paths which
tries to visualize language perception of the topic. As are so much a part of ' -

in a way which goes may perhaps be English language study.

beyond the purely immediately obvious, this (Equally of course, they
diagrammatic. This print design is the result of their could represent the
was made by art students as attending a lecture on the structural disorganization
part of their degree. They structuie of the English of the lecturer.)
were asked to attend language, given by the
lectures from different present author. The design's
 on these pages -of we understand the uses
WHY JANUS? as forwards, he is also
structure and use - have of English, without investi-
often regarded as the god
of beginnings. The month traditionally been studied gating their structure^
The Roman god, Janus,
named independently of each Structure and use are two
here seen on a Roman coin of January is after
him. other (§14). A major theme sides of the same coin,
in his usual representation
with a double-faced head. His locationon this of the present book is Roman or otherwise, and
opening spread to assert their inter- this principle is reflected in
A spirit associated with has,
however, a further signifi- dependence. What are the organization of the
doorways and archways,
cance. The two facets of English structures for, ifnot present book (see Preface).
looking backwards as well
language study represented to be used? And how can

Temporal variation
Time affects a language, both in the long term and short

term, giving rise to several highly distinctive processes

Social variation
Society affects a
language, in the sense
that any important
aspect of social structure
and function is likely to
have a distinctive
linguistic counterpart.
People belong to different
social classes, perform
different social roles, and
carry on different occupations.
Their use of language
affected by their sex, age,
ethnic group, and educational
background. English
is
and varieties.
Long term: English has changed throughout the centuries,
•' as can be seen from such clearly distinguishable linguistic
periods as Old English, Middle English, and Elizabethan
English. Language change is an inevitable and continu-
ing process, whose study is chiefly carried on by
SH o;> philologists and historical linguists. (See Part 1)
Short term: English changes within the history of
.,
'/f
'^ \ a single person. This is most noticeable while
children are acquiring their mother tongue,
but it is also seen when people learn a for-
eign language, develop their style as adult
is
speakers or writers, and, sometimes, find
that their linguistic abilities are lost or
seriously impaired through injury or dis-
being
ease. Psycholinguists study language

increasingly affected by all these

learning and loss, as do several other pro-
factors, because its developing fessionals, notably speech therapists and
role as a world language is bring- language teachers. (See Part VI, §23.)
ing it more and more into contact
with new cultures and social Regional variation
systems. (See Part V, §21.)
Geography affects language, both within a
country and between countries, giving rise
Personal variation to regional accents and dialects, and to the
People affect a language, in the sense emerged around
pidgins and Creoles which
that an individual's conscious or uncon the world whenever English first came into con-
scious choices and preferences can result
Y tact with other languages. Intranational regional
in a distinctive or even unique style. Such
varieties have been observed within English from
''
\\^
variations in self-expression are most notice- 'Northern',
^"^^OA/^L VAR\^^''' its earliest days, as seen in such labels as
able those areas of language use where
'London', and 'Scottish'. /ntemat;ona/ varieties are more
in

great care is being taken, such as in literature and such labels as 'American',
recent in origin, as seen in
humour But the uniqueness of individuals, arising out 'Australian', and 'Indian'. Regional language variation is
of differences in their memory, personality, intelligence,
studied by sociolinguists, geographical linguists, dialectolo-
social background, and personal experience, makes distinc
gists, and others, the actual designation depending on the
tiveness of style inevitable in everyone. (See Part V, §22.)
focus and emphasis of the study. (See §7 and Part V, §20.)

Because it's useful

WHY STUDY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? Because it's fun
Getting the language right is a major issue in
One of the most popular leisure pursuits is to

Because it's fascinating
It is remarkable how often the language turns
up as a topic of interest in daily conversation -
whether it is a question about accents and
dialects, a comment about usage and standards,
or simply curiosity about a word's origins and
history.
Because it's important
The dominant role of English as a world
language forces it upon our attention in a way
that no language has ever done before. As
play with the English language- with its words,
sounds, spellings, and structures. Crosswords,
Scrabble®, media word shows, and many other
quizzes and guessing games keep millions
happily occupied every day, teasing their
linguistic brain centres and sending them
running to their dictionaries.
Because it's beautiful
Each language has its unique beauty and power,
as seen to best effect in the works of its great
orators and writers. We can see the 000-year-
1 ,
almost every corner of society. No one wants to
be accused of ambiguity and obscurity, or find
themselves talking or writing at cross-purposes.
The more we know about the language the more
chance we shall have of success, whether we are
advertisers, politicians, priests, journalists,
doctors, lawyers -or just ordinary people at
home,trying to understand and be understood.
Because it's there
English, more than any other language, has
attracted the interest of professional linguists. It

English becomes the chief means of old history of English writing only through the has been analysed in dozens of different ways,
communication between nations, it is crucial to glass of language, and anything we learn about as part of the linguist's aim of devising a theory

ensure that it is taught accurately and English as a language can serve to increase our about the nature of language in general. The
efficiently, and to study changes in its structure appreciation of its oratory and literature. study of the English language, in this way,
and use. becomes a branch of linguistics- English
linguistics.
 PART I

The history of English

The history of English is a fascinating field ot study in its own right, the King James Bible, and ends with the landmark publication of
but it also provides a valuable perspective tor the contemporary study Johnson's Dictionary. A recurring theme is the extent and variety of
of the language, and thus makes an appropriate opening section for language change during this period. The next section, on Modern
this book. The historical account promotes a sense of identity and English (§6), follows the course of further language change, exam-
continuity, and enables us to find coherence in many of the fluctua- ines the nature of early grammars, traces the development of new
tions and conflicts of present-day English language use. Above all, it varieties and attitudes in America, and finds in literature, especially
satisfies the deep-rooted sense of curiosity we have about our lin- in the novel, an invaluable linguistic mirror. Several present-day
guistic heritage. People like to be aware of their linguistic roots. usage controversies turn out to have their origins during this period.
We begin as close to the beginning as we can get, using the sum- By the end of §6, we are within living memory.
mary accounts of early chronicles to determine the language's conti- The final section (§7) looks at what has happened to the English

nental origins (§2). The Anglo-Saxon corpus of poetry and prose, language in the present century, and in particular at its increasing

dating from around the 7th century, provides the first opportunity to presence worldwide. The approach is again historical, tracing the
examine the linguistic evidence. §3 outlines the characteristics of Old way English has travelled to the United States, Canada, Africa, Aus-
English texts, and gives a brief account of the sounds, spellings, tralia, South and South-East Asia, and several other parts of the

grammar, and vocabulary which they display. A similar account is globe. The section reviews the concept of World English, examines
given of the Middle English period (§4), beginning with the effects the statistics of usage, and discusses the problems of intelligibility
on the language of the French invasion and concluding with a dis- and which arise when a language achieves such widespread
identity
cussion of the origins of Standard English. At all points, special atten- use. The notion of Standard English, seen from both national and
tion is paid to the historical and cultural setting to which texts relate, international perspectives, turns out to be of special importance.
and to the character of the leading literary works, such as Beoivnlfund Part I then concludes with some thoughts about the future of the
The Canterbury Tales. language, and about the relationships which have grown up (some-
The Early Modern English period (§5) begins with the English of times amicable, sometimes antagonistic) between English and other
Caxton and the Renaissance, continues with that of Shakespeare and languages.

A map of Anglo-Saxon England taken from Edmund Gibson's 1592 edition

of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Latin caption (top left) explains that
the map shows the places mentioned in the Chronicle and in Old English
literature.
 . .

2THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH

'To Actius, thrice consul, che groans of the Britons.' their King Vortigern to call over to their nid, from p.irts

Thus, according to the Anglo-Saxon historian, the hcyond the sea, the Saxon nation. .

Venerable Bede, began the letter written to the Roman In the year of our Lord 449... the nation of the Angles,
or Saxons, being invited by the aforesaid king, arrived in
consul by some of the Celtic people who had survived
Britain with three long ships, and had a place assigned them
the ferocious invasions of the Scots and Picts in the
to reside in by the same king, in the eastern part of the island,
early decades of the 5th century. 'The barbarians drive
that they might thus appear to be fighting for their country,
us to the sea. The sea drives us back towards the bar-
whilst their real intentions were to enslave it. Accordingly
barians. Between them we are exposed to two sorts of they engaged with the enemy, who were come from the
death: we are either slain or drowned.' north to give battle, and obtained the victory; which, being
The plea fell on deaf ears. Although the Romans known at home in their own country, as also the fertility of
had sent assistance in the past, they were now fully the country, and the cowardice of the Britons, a more con-
occupied by their own wars with Bledla and Attila, siderable fleet was quickly sent over, bringing a still greater

kings of the Huns. The attacks from the north con- number of men, which, being added to the former, made up
tinued, and the British were forced to look elsewhere an invincible armv. .

for help. Bede gives a succinct and sober account of

Bede describes the invaders as belonging to the three
what then took place. most powerful nations of Germany - the Saxons, the
They consulted what was to be done, and where they should Angles, and the Jutes. The first group to arrive came
seek assistance to prevent or repel the cruel and frequent from Jutland, in the northern part of modern Den-
incursions of the northern nations; and they all agreed with mark, and were led, according to the chroniclers, by

The homelands of the

Germanic invaders, according
to Bede, and the direction of
their invasions. Little is

known about the exact loca-

tions of the tribes. The Jutes
may have had settlements
further south, and links with
the Frisians to the west. The
Angles may have lived fur-
ther into Germany. The lin-

guistic differences between

these groups, likewise, are
matters for speculation. The
various dialects of Old
English (p. 28) plainly relate
to the areas in vv/hich the
invaders settled, but there
are too few texts to make
serious comparison possible.

English is a member of the

western branch of the w.-j^_.
Germanic family of lan-
guages. It is closest in struc-
ture to Frisian -though
hardly anything is known
about the ancient Frisians
and their role in the invasions
of Britain. Germanic is a
branch of the Indo-European
language family.
 THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH

Hengist and Horsa. They landed The remarkably preserved

rwo [utish brothers,
body of a man, found in a
at Ebbsfleet in the Isle of Thanet, and settled in the
peat bog in Denmark. Over
areas now known as Kent, the Isle of Wight, and parts 500 such remains have been
found throughout northern
ot Hampshire. The Angles came from the south of the
Europe, many in the area
Danish peninsula, and entered Britain much later, formerly occupied by the
along the eastern coast, settling in parts of Mercia, Germanic tribes. The person
has been murdered, possibly
Northumbria (the land to the north of the Humber,
as a sacrificial victim to the
where in 547 they established a kingdom), and what Earth goddess. The Roman
is now East Anglia. The Saxons came from an area fur- historian Tacitus wrote of the
tribes in hisGermania, and at
ther south and west, along the coast of the North Sea,
one point mentions a group
and from 477 settled in various parts of southern and of tribes including the
south-eastern Britain. The chroniclers talk about Eudoses and the Anglii:
- distinctions 'These tribes are protected by
groups of East, West, and South Saxons
forestsand rivers, nor is there
which are reflected in the later names of Essex, Wessex, anything noteworthy about
and Sussex. The name Middlesex suggests that there them individually, except
that they worship in common
were Middle Saxons too. Bedes account takes up the
Nerthus, or Mother Earth,
story: and conceive her as
intervening in human affairs,
In a short time, swarms of the aforesaid nations came over and riding in procession
the island, and they began to increase so much that they through the cities of men.'
became terrible to the natives themselves who had invited there slew four thousand men; and the Britons then forsook (Trans. M. Hutton, 1914.)

them. Then, having on a sudden entered into league with the Kent and fled to London in great terror.

Picts, whom they had by this time expelled by the force of

465 • Hengest and /Esc fought against the Welsh
In this year
their arms, they began to turn their weapons against theit
near Wippedesfleot and there slew rwelve Welsh nobles; and
confederates.
one of the thanes, whose name was Wipped, was slain there.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (see p. 1 5), compiled over 473 In this year Hengest and Aesc fought against the Welsh
•

a century later than Bede under Alfred the Great, gives and captured innumerable spoils, and the Welsh fled from
a grim catalogue of disasters for the Britons. the English as one flies from fire.

457- In this year Hengest and ytsc fought against the Britons The fighting went on for several decades, but the
at a place which is called Crecganford [Crayford, Kent] and
imposition of Anglo-Saxon power was never in doubt.

A page from one of the manuscripts of Bede's Ecclesiastical

Over a period of about a hundred years, further bands
History. The language is Latin. of immigrants continued to arrive, and Anglo-Saxon
settlements spread to all areas apart from the highlands
of the west and north. By the end of the 5th century,
the foundation was established for the emergence of
the English language.

The Northumbrian monk,

Bede, or Baeda, known as the
THE NAME OF THE LANGUAGE Venerable Bede. Born at
Monkton on Tyne in c. 673,
he was taken at the age of 7
With scant respect for priorities, the Germanic to the new monastery at
Wearmouth, moving in 582
invaders called the native Celts wealas ('foreigners'),
to the sister monastery at
from which the name Welsh is derived. The Celts Jarrow, where he worked as
called the invaders 'Saxons', regardless of their tribe, a writer and teacher. He died
in 735, and was buried at
and this practice was followed by the early Latin writ-
Jarrow. His masterpiece, the
ers. By the end of the 6th century, however, the term Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Angli ('Angles') was in use - 60 a king of
as early as 1 , Anglorum ('Ecclesiastical His-
tory of the English Nation'),
Kent, /Ethelbert, is called rex Anglorum ('King of the
was begun in his later years,
Angles') - and during the 7th century Angli or Anglia and finished in 73L Its focus
(for the country) became the usual Latin names. Old is the growth of Christianity

in England, but its scope is

English ir«^/c derives from this usage, and the name of
much wider, and it is recog-
the language found in Old English texts is from the nized as the most valuable
outset referred to as Englisc (the sc spelling represent- source we have for early
English history. Written in
ing the sound sh). References to the name of the coun-
Latin,an Old English transla-
try as Englaland ('land of the Angles'), from which tion was made in the reign

came England, do not appear until c. 1000. of Alfred the Great.

 ,

3 OLD ENGLISH
of its role from the earliest moments of contact. The ANGLO-SAXON OR
THE EARLY PERIOD Roman army and merchants gave new names to many OLD ENGLISH?
local objects and experiences, and introduced several The name Anglo-Saxon came
to refer in the 1 6th century to
Before the Anglo-Saxon invasions (§2), the language fresh concepts. About half of the new words were to do all aspects of the early period

(or languages) spoken by the native inhabitants of the with plants, animals, food and drink, and household - people, culture, and lang-

British Isles belonged to the Celtic family, introduced items: Old English />Mf 'pea, /i/iJW/^e 'plant', win'Wmc ,
uage. It is still the usual way
of talking about the people
by a people who had come to the islands around the f)/.(f 'cheese', catte 'cut, cetel \ett\e, disc 'dish', candel and the cultural history; but
middle of the first millennium BC. Many of these set- 'candle'. Other important clusters of words related to since the 19th century, when

clothing (belt'he\{, cemes'sYan, siitere'sh.oe.mzk.er), the history of languages

tlers were, in turn, eventually subjugated by the
came to be studied in detail,
Romans, who arrived in 43 BC. But by 4 1 the Roman buildings and settlements {tigle 'tile', weall 'wall',
Old English has been the pre-
armies had gone, withdrawn to help defend their ceaster' c\ty , strat' void') , military and legal institutions ferred name for the lang-

(ww'camp', diht 'saymg, commerce uage. This name emphasizes

Empire in Europe. After a millennium of settlement scrifan 'decree'),
the continuing development
by speakers of Celtic, and half a millennium by speak- ( mangian 'trade", ceapian'huy pund 'pound') and ,
, reli-
of English, from Anglo-Saxon
ers of Latin, what effect did this have on the language gion (;«(«.?? munuc'mon\i rnynster' mmstei).
'Mass', , times through 'Middle
English' to the present day,
spoken by the arriving Anglo-Saxons? Whether the Latin words were already used by the
and it isthe usage of the pre-
Anglo-Saxon tribes on the continent of Europe, or sent book (abbreviated Of).
Celtic borrowings were introduced from within Britain, is not always Some authors, nonetheless,

— or clear (though a detailed analysis of the sound changes use the term Anglo-
still
There is, surprisingly, very little Celtic influence
Saxon for the language, the
perhaps it is not so surprising, given the savage way in they display can help, p. 19), but the total number of choice of this name reflecting
which the Celtic communities were destroyed or Latin words present in English at the very beginning their view that the nature of

not large - the language in this early

pushed back into the areas we now know as Cornwall, of the Anglo-Saxon period is less than 200.
period is very different from
Wales, Cumbria, and the Scottish borders. Some Celts Although Vulgar Latin (the variety of spoken Latin what is later to be found
(or Romano-Celts) doubtless remained in the east and used throughout the Empire) must have continued in under the heading of English.
south, perhaps as slaves, perhaps intermarrying, but use - at least, as an official language - for some years
their identirj' would after a few generations have been after the Roman army left, for some reason it did not
lost within Anglo-Saxon society. Whatever we might take root in Britain as it had so readily done in Conti- A reconstruction of Anglo-
Saxon huts at West Stow,
expect from such a period of cultural contact, the nental Europe. Some commentators see in this the
Suffolk. Each hut is some
Celtic language ot Roman Britain influenced Old first sign of an Anglo-Saxon monolingual mentalirv'. 1 5-20 feet (5-6 m) in length.

English hardly at all.

Only a handful of Celtic words were borrowed at the

time, and a few have survived into modern English,

sometimes in regional dialect use: crag, cumb 'deep

valley', binn 'bin, carr 'rock', dunn 'grey, dun', brock

'badger', and /"cn-'peak'. Others include bannoc'pxcce'
rice 'rule', gafeluc 'small spear', bran 'cloak', luh 'lake',

dry 'sorcerer', and clucge 'bell'. A few Celtic words ot

this period ultimately come from Latin, brought in by
the Irish missionaries: these include assen 'ass', ancor
'hermit', star 'history', and possibly cross. But there
cannot be more than two dozen loan words in all. And
there are even very few Celtic-based place names
(p. 141) in what is now southern and eastern England.
They include such river names as Thames, Avon 'river',

Don, Exe, Usk, and Wye. Town names include Dover

'water', Eccles 'church', Bray 'hill', London (a tribal

name), A'f^f (meaning unknown), and the use oi caer

'fortified place' (as in Carlisie) and peti 'head, top, hill'

(as in Pendle).

Latin loans
Latin has been a major influence on English through-
out its history (pp. 24, 48, 60, §9), and there is evidence
 OLD ENGLISH

RUNES consistedof 31 symbols. word, but there is no evi- EARLY INSCRIPTIONS

Old English was first written
inthe runic alphabet. This
alphabet was used in north-
ern Europe -in Scandinavia,
present-day Germany, and
the British Isles -and it has
been preserved in
4,000 inscriptions and a few
manuscripts. It dates from
around the 3rd century ad.
No one knows exactly where
the alphabet came from, but
seems to be a develop-
it
ment of one of the alpha-
The inscriptions in Old
English are found on
weapons, jewellery, monu-
ments, and other artefacts,
and date largely from the
5th or 6th centuries ad, the
earliest (at Caistor-by-Nor-
about wich) possibly being late
4th century. They often say
simply who made or owned
the object. Most of the
large rune stones say
more than 'X raised this
stone in memory of Y', and
often the message is
dence that they were pre-
There are less than 30 clear
sent in Old English. Current
runic inscriptions in Old
research suggests that the
English, some containing
word run had been thor-
only a single name. The two
oughly assimilated into
most famous examples both
Anglo-Saxon Christianity,
date from the 8th century,
and meant simply 'sharing
and represent the Northum-
of knowledge or thoughts'.
brian dialect (p. 28).
Any extension to the world
Both inscriptions make some
of magic and superstition is
use of the Roman alphabet
not part of the native tradi-
as well.
little tion. Modern English rune is
not even a survival of the • The Ruthwell Cross, near
Old English word, but a Dumfries, Scotland, is 16 feet
later borrowing from Norse (5 m) high. Its faces contain

bets of southern Europe, unclear. via Latin. panels depicting events in

probably the Roman, which For the modern, magical the life of Christ and the
runes resemble closely. The meaning of rune sense of rune we are there- early Church, as well as carv-

The common runic alpha- What rune (OE run) means
bet found throughout the is debatable. There is
area consisted of 24 letters. long-standing tradition
It can be written horizon- which attributes toit such
tally in either direction. Each senses as 'whisper', 'mys-
letter had a name, and the tery', and 'secret', suggest-
fore indebted to the Scandi-
a navian and not the Anglo-
Saxon tradition. It is this
sense which surfaced in the
19th century in a variety of
esoteric publications, and
ings of birds and beasts, and
lines of runes around the
edges are similar to part of
the Old English poem 'The
Dream of the Rood' {rood =
'cross') in the Vercelli Book.

alphabet as a whole was ing that the symbols were which lives on
the popu-
in A glossed extract is shown
called by the name of its first originally used for magical lar and fantastic imagina- below (there are no spaces
six letters, the futhorc (in or mystical rituals. Such tion of the 20th, perhaps between the words in the
the same way as the word associations were certainly most famously in the writ- original inscription; also

a/p/iafaef comes from Greek present in the way the ing of Tolkien (p. 185). some scholars transcribe

alpha + beta). The version pagan Vikings (and possibly (After C.E. Fell, 1991.) 'blood' as b/odr).
found in Britain used extra the Continental Germans)
letters tocope with the used the corresponding IK ^ pM h I ^ ^rPMp nMinpiiH
range of sounds found in
(where known) ic waes m b o d ae bistemid
Old English; in Meaning i [d I

Name
its most devel-

oped form, in
Rune
Anglo-'
cattle,
wealth / was w i t h b I o o d bedewed
feoh
9th-century (aurochs)
bison
f Or • The Franks Casket is whalebone box,
a richly carved
Northumbria, it
thorn
\3orn illustrating mythological and religious scenes, not all of
god/mouth which can be interpreted. The picture shows the panel
OS
journey/riding with the Adoration of the Magi alongside the Germanic
THE OLD rad legend of Wayland (Weland) the Smith. The inscriptions
torch
ENGLISH RUNIC cen are partly in Old English, and partly in Latin.
gift
ALPHABET K giefu
X gW wyn
)oy
This list gives the
hail
names of the symbols (>
haegl
necessity/trouble
in Old English, and H nied
theirmeanings (where ice
4-
these are known). It year
does not give the \ gear
many variant shapes yew
eoh
which can be found in
peor
the different inscrip- ?sedge
tions. The symbols con-
eolh
sun
sist mainly of intersect-

ing straight lines,

ing their purpose for
show n
sigel

tiw/tir
Tiw
birch
(a got*^
ffliMi«iaMMiia
T beorc
engraving on stone, horse
wood, metal, or bone. eoh
man
Manuscript uses of runes n man The box first came to light in the 19th century,
water/sea
do exist in a few early
lagu owned by a farmer from Auzon, France. It is
^^'°''
poems (notably in four ing (a named after Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks,
r ing
passages where the name ng land/estate through whom it came to be deposited in the
of Cynewulf is repre- ei^el
day British Museum. One side was missing, but it later
sented), and in the solu- daeg came into the possession of the Bargello
tions to some of the riddles oak
ac Museum, Florence, and a cast was made of so it,

in the Exeter Book (p. 2), ash that the box in the British Museum now appears
1

r 35SC
and are in evidence until
bow complete.
the 1 1th century, especially F yr
7earth
inthe north, but there are ear
very few of them.
T gar
7sandai/chalice/chalk
calc

(name unknown)
 Ill 11 IS i ORV OF ENGLISH

THE AUGUSTINIAN during the 8th-century Viking invasions (p. 25). The
MISSION THE OLD ENGLISH CORPUS chief literary work of the period, the heroic poem
It V, Juki be a considerable Beowulf, fiurvives in a single copy, made around 1,000
overstatement to suggest {as
There is a 'dark age' between the arrival ofthe Anglo- - possibly some 250 years after it was composed
one sometimes reads) that St
Augustine brought Christian- Saxons and the first Old English manuscripts. A few (though the question of its composition date is highly
ity to Britain. This religion had scattered inscriptions in the language date from the 5th controversial). There are a number of short poems,
already arrived through the
and 6th which
centuries, written in the runic alphabet again almost entirely preserved in late manuscripts,
Roman invasion, and in the 4th
century had actually been the invaders brought with them (p. 9), but these give over half of them concerned with Christian subjects -
given official status in the very little information about what the language was legends ofthe saints, extracts from the Bible, and devo-
Roman Empire. It was a Briton,
St Patrick, who converted Ire-
The literary age began only after the arrival ofthe
like. tional pieces. Several others reflect the Germanic tra-

land in the early 5th century; Roman missionaries, led by Augustine, who came to dition, dealing with such topics as war, travelling,
and a goodly number of early Kent in AD 597. The rapid growth of monastic centres patriotism, and celebration. Most extant Old English
Welsh saints' names are
remembered in place names
led to largenumbers of Latin manuscripts being pro- texts were written in the period following the reign of

beginning with Llan ('church duced, especially ofthe Bible and other religious texts. King Alfred (849-99), who arranged for many Latin
[of]'). The story of St Alban Because of this increasingly literary climate. Old works to be translated - including Bede's Ecclesiastical
(said to have been martyred in
English manuscripts also began to be written - much History (p. 7). But the total corpus is extremely small.
305 near the city of Verulam,
modern St Albans) is earlier, indeed, than the earliest vernacular texts from The number of words in the corpus of Old English
recounted in detail by Bede, other north European countries. The first texts, dating compiled at the University of Toronto, which contains
Augustine's task was more
from around 700, are glossaries of Latin words trans- all the texts (but not all the alternative manuscripts of
convert the Anglo-
specific: to
Saxons. He had been prior of lated into Old English, and a few early inscriptions a text), is only 3.5 million - the equivalent of about 30
the monastery of St Andrew in and poems. But very little material remains from this medium-sized modern novels. Only c. 5 per cent of
Rome, before being chosen by
Pope Gregory for the mission.
period. Doubtless many manuscripts were burned this total {c. 30,000 lines) is poetry.

He and his companions arrived

in the Isle of Thanet, to be met
by /Ethelberht, king of Kent,
and they must have been
heartily relieved to find that
hiswife was already a (Celtic)
Christian. They were given
leave to live and preach in Can-
terbury, and within a year the
king himself was converted.
Three bishoprics were estab-
lished by the end of the
decade, with Augustine as
archbishop at Canterbury,
Justus as bishop at Rochester,
and Mellitus at London, as
bishop of the East
Saxons.
It took sometime
for this early success
to become consoli-
dated. Following
Augustine's death
(604/5) there was
much tension over
gious practices
between the Roman
Christians and their
Celtic counterparts,
who had lived in isola-
tion from Rome for so
long. Matters came to
head the conflict over
in
the date of Easter,
resolved (in favour of
Rome) at the Synod of
Whitby in 664.
Part ofthe difficulty in
developing the faith must
have been linguistic:
according to Bede, it was
Kent in 664 had to make a spe-
cial plea to ensure that an THE GREGORIAN PUN
Anglo-Saxon speaking bishop
In Bede there is an account of St Gregory's first meeting with the inhabitants of England.
was appointed, 'so that with a
Gregory, evidently a punster of some ability, himself asked to be sent to Britain as a mis-
prelate of his own nation and
sionary, but the pope of the time refused -presumably because of Gregory's social posi-
language, the king and his sub-
tion, the son of a senator and former prefect of the city. When Gregory became pope
jects might be more perfectly
himself (590), he sent Augustine to do the job for him. Bede tells the story at the end of his
instructed in the words and
mysteries of the faith'. This was account of Gregory's life (Book 2, Ch. 1 ).
the first expression of an issue
which would be raised again Nor istheaccountof St Gregory, which has been handed down to us by the tradition of our
ancestors, to be passed by in silence, in relation to his motives for taking such interest in the
several hundred years later in
salvation of our nation [Britain]. It is reported that, some merchants, having just arrived at
English language history
(p.61).
Rome on a certain day, exposed many things for sale in
the market-place, and an abundance of people resorted
thitherto buy: Gregory himself went with the rest, and,
among other things, some boys were set to sale, their
bodies white, their countenances beautiful, and their
hair very fine. Having viewed them, he asked, as is said,
from what country or nation they were brought? and
was told, from the island of Britain, whose inhabitants
were of such personal appearance. He again inquired
whetherthose islanders were Christians, or still
involved in the errors of paganism? and was informed
rel
that they were pagans. Then, fetching a deep sigh
from the bottom of his heart, 'Alas! what pity,' said
he, 'that the author of darkness is possessed of men
of such fair countenances; and that being remark-
able for such graceful aspects, their minds should be
void of inward grace,' He therefore again asked,
what was the name of that nation? and was
a
answered, that they were called Angles. 'Right,' said
he, 'for they have an Angelic face, and it becomes
such to be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven. What
is the name,' proceeded he, 'of the province from,
which they are brought?' It was replied, that the
natives of that province were called Deiri. 'Truly
they are Deira,' said he, 'withdrawn from wrath,
and called to the mercy of Christ. How is the king
of mat province called?' They told him his name
was /5 la; and he, alluding to the name, said,
1

nearly 50 years before

'Hallelujah, the praise of God the Creator must be
Anglo-Saxon was being
sung in those parts.' (Trans. J. Stevens, 1723.)
used as a missionary
tongue. King Egbert of
 OLD ENGLISH

HWytT WE GARDE-
What! We Spear-Danes'

na. in gear-dagum. [leod-cyninga

in yore-days, tribe-kings'

^7rym ge-frunon hu5a a^JDclingas ellen

glory heard, how the leaders courage

frcmedon. Oft scyld scefing sceajjena

accomplished. Often Scyld, Scef's son, from enemies'

|:ireatum monegum mxgjjum meodo-setla

bands, from many tribes mead-benches

of-teah egsode eorl sy33an wearS

|)p,en.cimj mone^^u m^^um metJ^o f&rl|t seized, terrorised earl[s], since
serest
first he was

fea-sceaft funden he \)zs frofre gebad

destitute found; he its relief knew,

weox under wolcnum weorS-myndum [jah.

grew under skies, in honours throve,

od \)xz him seghwylc Jsara ymb-sittendra

until to him each of the neighbours

oter hron-rade hyran scolde gomban

of^i Ir|u)tt, |uiie- Ijypu, feoh<^- 5o»)kw' over whale-road submit must, tribute

gyldan \)xt v/xs god cyning. dsm eafera w£es

yield; that was good king! To him heir was
^c^t cennei ^^.j^ jn^eu-p-iuaj
J^orie 5-0^1
.rfter cenned geong in geardum Jjone god
)
after born young in dwellings, him God
scnde folce to frofre fyren-3earfe on-
sent to folk for solace; intense misery

gear {5 hie xv drugon aldor-[le]ase. lange

saw when they before felt leaderless along

hvviie him \ixs lif-frea wuldres wealdend

while; to them for it Life-Lord, glory's Ruler

worold-are for-geaf beowulf w£s breme

world honour gave, Beow was famed,
blctd wide sprang scyldes eafera scede-
renown widely sprang of Scyld's heir Danish
(After
landum in. Swa sceal [geong g]uma gode
young man by good [deeds] J. Zupitza,
lands in. So shall
1882. Trans.
ge-wyrcean fromum feoh-giftum. on feeder
J.Porter, 199L)
ensure, by fine fee-gifts in father's ...

THE SCOP'S TALE
This opening page of the Seowu/ftext
from the text now lodged in the British Library,
London (manuscript reference, Cotton Vitellius A.
Sweden, and after a great fight kills the monster,
and in a second fight the monster's vengeful
is taken mother. Beowulf returns home, recounts his story,
and is later made king of the Geats, ruling for 50
years. There, as an old man, he kills a dragon in a
that counterpoints the triumphal events of the
narrative. The poem is full of dramatic contrasts of
thiskind.
Whether the poem is a product of oral improvi-
sation oris a more consciously contrived literary

xv).The manuscript is a copy made in c. 1000, but it fight that leadsto his own death. work has been a bone of scholarly contention.
was damaged by a fire at the Cottonian Library in summary does no justice to the depth
This plot Many of its striking features, in particular its allit-

1731, hence the odd shape to the page. The name of meaning and stylistic impact of the work. Apart erative rhythmical formulae (p. 23), are those we
of the poet, or scop, whose version is found here is from its lauding of courage, heroic defiance, loy- would associate with oral composition, forthey
not known, nor is it clear when the work was first alty to one's lord, and other Germanic values, would be a valuable aid to memorization; on the
composed: one scholarly tradition assigns it to the Beowu/f introduces elements of a thoroughly other hand, modern scholars have drawn atten-
8th century; another to a somewhat later date. Christian perspective, and there are many dra- tion to the patterned complexity of its narrative
This is the great narrative poem in English.
first matic undercurrents and ironies. The monster is a structure, its metrical control, and its lexical rich-

It is a heroic tale about a 6th-century Scandinavian
hero, Beowulf, who comes to the aid of the Danish
king Hrothgar. Hrothgar's retinue under daily
is
attack from a monstrous troll, Grendel, atthe hall
of Heorot ('Hart') in Denmark (located possibly on
the site of modern Leire, near Copenhagen).
Beowulf travels from Geatland, in southern
classical figure in Germanic tradition, but it is also
said to be adescendant of Cain, and a product of
hell and the devil. The contrast between earthly
success and mortality is a recurrent theme. While
Beowulf is being feted in Hrothgar's court, the
poet alludes to disastrous events which will one
day affect the Geats, providing a note of doom
ness, suggesting a literary process of composition
(p. 23).The critic W. P. Ker expressed one view, in
The Dark /Ages (1 904), that Beowulf\s a 'book to be
read'-but if so it is one which makes maximum
use of a style which must originally have evolved
for use in oral poetry. (For an account of some
modern investigative techniques, see p. 437.)
 — — '

PART 1 : 111 Hl.srt)RV c:i: ENGLISH

The Battle of Maldon was

THE EARLIEST ENGLISH LITERATURE fought in August 991. A Viking
fleet had sailed up the estuary
of the River Blacl<watertothe

As with foreign languages, there is never complete correct scribal errors; others draw attention to them in island of Northey, near Maldon
in Essex. Their passage across
agreement about the best way of translating Old parentheses. Missing letters at the edge of a torn or
the river (now called Southey
English texts; nor is there unanimit)' about the best burned manuscript may be restored, or their omission Creek) was opposed by
way of editing them. The extracts on these and adja- may be indicated by special symbols. Some editions Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex,
and his household. The poem,
cent pages are here to illustrate the range and charac- add an indication of vowel length. Some replace which lacks a beginning and
ter of the literature of the period, but they also show outmoded letters (p. 16) by modern equivalents. end in the extant manuscript,
the varied editorial practice which exists. Some edi- Poetic half-lines may or may not be recognized (both tells of how the English reject
the Viking demand for tribute,
tors have tried to make their text resemble the original practices are shown below). And editors vary in the
then allow them safe passage
manuscript as closely as possible; others have pro- attention they pay to the existence of alternative read- across the causeway from

duced a modernized version. ings in different copies of a manuscript. Northey, to enable a battle to
take place. This turned outto
About the need for editing, there is no doubt. To An important feature, which can add a great deal to
be an unfortunate decision;
print a facsimile of Old English would be to
texts the alien" appearance of a text, is whether the scribe's

make them unreadable to all but the specialist. There orthographic abbreviations are retained, or
is plenty of scope for editorial intervention. Scribal are expanded. In some
habits of capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing, texts, for example, / is used
word spacing, and word division were diverse and as the abbreviation for pat
inconsistent, and order needs to be imposed. There or for pp, 7 for the various
are no poetic line divisions in the manuscript of forms of and, and the tilde
Beowii/f, for example (p. 11), and these have to be (-) marks an expansion,
added. usually to a following nasal.
Nonetheless, editorial practices vary greatly in the (For later scribal conven
way texts are made consistent. Some editors silently tions, seep. 40.)

THE BATTLE OF MALDON

Byrhtpold majjelode, bord hafenode Byrhtwold spoke; he grasped his shield — j„;..^ „; ;i,u English flee the
se pa;s eald jeneat zsc acpehte; he was an old follower —he shook the ash spear; field, Byrhtnoth is killed, and

he ful baldlice beornas Iserde: very boldly he exhorted the warriors: the remaining loyal soldiers die
heroically. The extract above is
'Hije sceal ]pe heardra, heorte ]pe cenre, 'Courage shall be the fiercer, heart the holder,
from the last few lines of the
mod sceal \)e mare, jse ure mjejen lytlaS. spirit the greater, as our strength lessens. extant text, whenByrhtwold,
Her lib ure ealdor eall forheapen, Here lies our chief all hewn down, an old warrior, expresses the
heroism which it is the purpose
jod on jreote. A msg gnornian a noble man in the dust. He has cause ever to mourn
of the poem to commemorate.
se 5e nu fram |5is pijplegan pendan JDCnceS. who intends now to turn from this war-play. The ford which led to the
Ic eom frod feores. Fram ic ne pille, I am advanced in years. I will not hence, mainland, now built up intoa
causeway, is shown in the pic-
ac ic me be healfe minum hlaforde, but I by the side of my lord,
ture. It is only some 77 yards (70
be spa leofan men licjan Jjence.' by so dear a man, intend to lie. m) long, which would thus
Spa hi iT,J3el^ares beam ealle bylde Likewise, Godric, the son of /Ethelgar, exhorted them all enable the English and Viking
leaders to shout their demands
^odric to jujje. Oft he ^ar forlet, to the battle. Often he let the spear fly,
to each other - an exchange
pa;lspere pindan on [)a picin^as; the deadly spear speed away among the Vikings; which is dramatically recorded
spa he on ]pim folce fyrmest eode, as he went out in the forefront of the army, in the poem.

heop 7 hynde, od \)xt he on hilde ^ecranc. he hewed and struck, until he perished in the battle.

HOW DO TWELVE BECOME FIVE?

Wet sa;t his wifum twam

2t wine mid A man sat at wine with his two wives This is one of the 95 poetic riddles (some of which

ond his ond his rwa dohtor,

twegen suno and his two sons and his two daughters,
swase gesweostor, ond hyra suno twegen, beloved sisters, and their two sons,
freolico frumbearn; fzeder wxs j^ser inne noble first-born; the father was in
date from the 8th century) in the Exeter Book, a
late 10th-century compilation of secular and reli-
gious poetry. By 1072 it belonged to Bishop
there who bequeathed it to his cathe-
Leofric of Exeter,

Jsara sjjelinga EeghwsSres mid, of both of those princes, drai.The solution to the riddle comes from the
Book of Genesis, where it is said that Lot's two
eam ond nefa. Ealra wxron fife the uncle and the nephew. In all there were five
daughters lay with him, and each bore him a son.
eorla ond idesa insittendra. lords and ladies sitting in there.
 — —
OLD ENGLISH

Old English poetic manuscripts contained no titles. FROM ALFRED WITH

THE RUNE POEM LOVE
Titles such as Beowulfor The Seafarer hzve been added
by editors, usually in the 19th century. Most of the
Each stanza of this poem begins with the name of the
rune printed alongside (p. 9). The poem would have poetry is also anonymous, the chief exceptions being
been passed on orally, the rhythm and alliteration known to be by C^dmon (p. 20) and four
the few lines
making it easy to remember, in much the same way as
poems containing the name of Cynewulf woven in
children today learn 'Thirty days hath September'.
runes into the texts as an acrostic (p. 398), so that read-

Feoh byJD frofur fira gehwylcum ers could pray for him. We know more of the prose

Fsceal Seah manna gehwylc miclun hyt da^lan

authors,who included King Alfred, Archbishop Wulf-
gif he wile for Drihtne domes hleotan. stan, and Abbot ^Ifric, but even here most of the
surviving material, as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Ur by)p anmod 7 oferhyrned, (p. 14), is anonymous. /Alfred kyning hateS gretan

feohte|3 mid hornum, \A/aerfer(3 biscep his wordum

hfelafrecne deor,
luflice ond freondlice...
ma;re morstapa: \) is modig wuht! THE OPENING LINES OF THE SEAFARER
King Alfred sends his greet-
Ma;g ic be me sylfum sodgied wrecan, ings to Bishop Werferth in his
torn by]p 9earle scearp, Segna gehwylcum
own words, in love and
sijsas secgan, hu ic geswincdagum
"U anfeng ys yfyl, ungemetun rejje friendship...
earfoShwile oft [jrowade,
[ manna gehwylcun 3e him mid rested. In the preface to his transla-
bitre breostceare gebiden hxbbe, tion of Gregory's Cura Pas-

Os byjj ordfruma selcre spra;ce, gecunnad in ceole cearselda fela, toralis ('Pastoral Care'), made
c.893, Alfred contrasts the
J^ wisdomes wrajju and witena frotur atol y^a gewealc.
early days of English Chris-
^'^
and eorla gehwam eadnys and tohiht. Can about myself true-poem
I utter, tianity with his own time, for
ofjourneys tell, how in toilsome-days I which the destruction caused
on recyde rinca gehwylcimi hardship-times often suffered by the Vikings would have
Rad by[)
bitter heart-sorrow have endured, been largely to blame (p. 25).
Rsefte, and swij^hwat 5am be sittejj onufan come to know on ship many sorrow-halls This book was part of a great
meare msgenheardum ofer milpa[3as. cruel rolling of waves. programme of learning
which Alfred inaugurated in

Cen byJ3 cwicera gehwam cuj^ on fyre, FROM THE DREAM OF THE ROOD an effort to repair the
damage, organizing the
hblac and beorhtlic, byrnej? oftust
^^et wa:s geara iu — ic \>xt gyta geman translation of majortexts
bxT hi a;[5elingas inne restaJD. which previously had been
Jjset ic wEes aheawen holtesonende
available only in latin. Most
astyred of stefne minum. Genaman me dxr of the surviving manuscripts
Wealth is a joy to every man — strange leondas, of Old English are 10th-
but every man must share it well heton me century in origin, and must
geworhton him \>zr to wsefersyne,
if he wishes to gain glory in the sight of the Lord. owe their existence to the
heora wergas hebban; success of this programme.
Aurochs with gigantic horns,
is fierce,
ba;ron me \)xr beornas on eaxlum, o3 dxt hie me The preface continues:
a very savage animal,it fights with horns,

a well-known moor-stepper: it is a creature of on beorgasetton; I want to let you know that it

courage! gefaestnodon me jjxr feondas genoge. Geseah ic has often occurred to me to

think what wise men there
Thorn is very sharp, harmful to every man ]pa Frean mancynnes
once were throughout Eng-
who seizes it, unsuitably severe efstan elne micle, [ist he me wolde on gestigan. land... and how people once
to every man who rests on it.

That was very long ago — / remember it still- used to come here from
Mouth abroad in search of wisdom
is the creator of all speech, that I was cut down at the forest's edge
a supporter of wisdom and comfort of wise men, from my root. Strong enemies took me there, and learning -and how
stirred
and hope to every man. there for themselves, ordered nowadays we would have to
and a blessing made me into a spectacle
get it abroad (if we were to
me to lift up their criminals;
Journey is to every warrior in the hall me on have it at all). Learning had so
men carried me there on shoulders, until they set
pleasant, and bitingly tough to him who sits declined in England that
a hill;
on a mighty steed over the mile-paths. there were very few people
many enemies fastened me there. I saw then the Lord of
this side of the Number who
Torch is to every living thing known by its fire; mankind
that he intended to climb could understand theirser-
bright burns most often
and brilliant, it
hastening with great courage,
vice-books in English, let
where the princes take their rest within. on me.
alone translate a letter out of
Latin into English -and I

don't imagine there were

many north of the Humber,
either. There were so few of
them that cannot think of
I

even a single one south of the

Thames at the time when I

came to the throne. Thanks

be to almighty God that we
op now have any supply of
teachers. (Trans. A. G. Rigg.)
[a oTOi
mc
 I'AR I 1 • [[II Ills H1K\ Ol INC I ISll

-- 1.

''-
an , .

an vrt< Uvy:
an ftC* ^;yv*^-

4ti
 3 OLD ENGLISH

455 Her Hengest 7 Horsa tuhton wijs Wyrt georne Jjam cyninge, in ]pa.ere SOURCES OF THE CHRONICLE
scowe ^e is gecueden Agseles jsrep, 7 his brojsur Horsan man ofsiog. 7 xfter The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Is not a single text, but a compi-
lation from several sources which differ in ciate and place of
jjam Hengest feng [to] rice 7 /Esc his stinu.
origin. It takes the form of a year-by-year diary, with some

years warranting extensive comment, some a bare line or

455 In this year Hengest and Horsa fought against King Vortigern at a place which is
two, and many nothing at all. Most ancient European chroni-
called Agaelesfjrep [Aylesford], and his brother Horsa was slain. And after that Hengest cles were kept in Latin, but the present work is distinctive for

succeeded to the kingdom and /Esc, his son. its use of Old English - and also for the vast time-span it

covers, from year (the birth of Christ) to various dates in the

1

1 1th or 12th century.

457 Her Hengest 7 /Esc fuhton wij) Brettas in jsjere stowe Ipe is ge cueden
There are seven surviving chronicle manuscripts, six of
Crecgan tord, 7 J^xr ofslogon .IIII. wera, 7 \)3- Brettas Jja forleton Cent which are completely in Old English, the seventh partly in
Latin, Scholars have given each text a distinguishing letter
lond, 7 mid micle ege flugon to Lunden byrg.
name, but they are more commonly known by the name of
their source location or that of an early owner.
457 In this year Hengest and /Esc fought against the Britons at a place which is called

Crecganford [Crayfordj, and there slew four thousand men; and the Britons then for- • Text A' the Parker Chronicle. This
: is the oldest manuscript,
written in a single hand from the beginning to 891, then
sook Kent and fled to London in great terror
kept up to date in 13 orMother hands up to 1070. Its name
derives from a former owner, Matthew Parker, Archbishop of
465 Her Hengest 7 ^sc gefuhton wi(3 Walas neah Wippedes fleote, 7 b^r Canterbury (1504-75). It is sometimes called the Winchester
Chronicle, because its 9th-century subject-matter was com-
.XII. WiHsce aldor menn ofslogon, 7 hiera Jjegn an Jjsr wear]? ofslsgen,
piled at Winchester, being later transferred to Canterbury.
]pa.m W2S noma Wipped. This is the version from which the facing extract is taken.
• Text A^: Fragments of an 1 Ith-century copy of thePar*rer

465 In this year Hengest and /Esc fought against the Welsh near Wippedesfleot and Chronicle, almost completely destroyed in the same Cotto-

there slew twelve Welsh nobles; and one of their thanes, whose name was Wipped, nian Library fire that damaged Beowulf {p. 11).
• Texts B the Abingdon Chronicles. Two West Saxon
and C:
was slain there.
versions: the first (B), extending to year 977, was copied c.
1 000, and kept at Canterbury without additions; the second

473 Her Hengest 7 '^sc gefuhton wijj Walas, 7 genamon un arimedlico (C), extending to 1066, is a mid-1 Ithcenturycopy which was

kept up to date.
here real", 7 [?a Wiilas flugon ]pa. Englan swa fyr.
• Text D: the l/l/orcesterC/iron/c/e. Atext, with northern

materialadded, which was sent to the diocese of Worcester.

473 In this year Hengest and /Esc fought against the Welsh and captured innumerable It was written in the mid-1 1th century, and kept up to date

spoils, and the Welsh fled from the English like fire. until 1079,
• Text E: the Peterborough Chronicle; also called the Laud
Chronicle, after Archbishop William Laud (1 573 - 1 645). This
477 Her cuom TEUe on Breten lond, 7 his .III. suna. Cymen, 7 Wlencing,
version, copied at Peterborough in a single hand until 1 1 21,
7 Cissa. mid .III. scipum, on \)a stowe Jje is nemned Cymenes ora, 7 l^^r extends as far as 1 154.
ofslogon monige Wealas, 7 sume on fleame bedrifon on |ione wudu JDe is
• Text F; the bilingual Canterbury Epitome. This is a version

of E in Latin and English, written in Canterbury c, 100. 1

genemned Andredes leage.

The Easter Tables
477 In this year/Elle came to Britain and his three sons Cymen, Wlencing, and Cissa The text opposite shows the years 455 to 490 from Text E, and
deals with the events soon after the arrival of the Anglo-
with three ships at the place which iscalled Cymenesora [The Owers to the south of
Saxons (p. 7). In this part of the Chronicle, the scribe has writ-
Selsey Bill], and there they slew many Welsh and drove some to flight into the wood
ten a series of years on separate lines, assuming that a single
which is called Andredesleag [Sussex Weald]. line would suffice for each year. (He missed out year 468, and
had to insert itafterwards- an interesting example of how
485 Her /EWe gefeaht wijj Walas neah Meare rjedes burnan stsSe. scribal errors can be made.)
The Chronicles are not all like this. They change in style as
they develop, and lose their list-like appearance. Many of the
485 In this year /Elle fought against the Welsh near the bank of [the stream]
later entries, especially those written by contemporaries,
Mearcraedesburna. contain a great deal of narrative, and take on the character
of literary essays under their year headings.
488 Her/E,sc feng to rice, 7 was .XXIIII. wintra Cantwara cyning. The listing technique shown in the illustration is one which
originated with the faster Tab/es, drawn up to help the
clergy determine the date of the feast in any year. A page
488 In this year /Esc succeeded to the kingdom, and was king of the people of Kent
consisted of a sequence of long horizontal lines. Each line
twen ty-four years.
began with a year number, which was followed by several
columns of astronomical data (e.g. movements of the Sun
(After C. Plummer, 1892. Trans. G. N. Garmonsway, 1972.)
and Moon), and the results of the calculation. Of particular
relevance was the space left at the end of each line, which
was used to write short notes about events to help distin-
guish the years from each other (such as 'In this year Cnut
becameking').TheChroniclesgrewout of this tradition, but
as the intention changed, and they became more like histori-
cal records, these end-of-line notes took up more space than
was expected, and the scribe had to make room where he
could find it. This is why some of the entries in the illustration
appear opposite several year numbers.
 , -

PART I • IHH HISTORY OF ENGLISH

• Several modern letters will not be seen: j is usually

OLD ENGLISH LETTERS spelled with a 3, r with an ^ q, x, and z are very rarely

used.
Although there is much in common between Old and • M' was written using a runic symbol, 'wynn, p, which
Modern English, it is the differences which strike us most can still be seen printed in older editions of Old English
forcibly when we first encounter edited Anglo-Saxon texts (p. 1 2). Modern editions use w. Variant forms using
texts. The editors have done a great deal to make the texts ?/or rn<are sometimes found, especially in early texts.

more accessible to present-day readers, by introducing • a was called 'ash', a name borrowed from the runic
modern conventions of word spaces, punctuation, capi- alphabet (p. 9), though the symbol is an adaptation of
talization, and line division (p. 12), but there are certain Latin ae, which it gradually replaced during the 8th cen-
features of the original spelling which are usually tury. Its sound was somewhere between [a] and [e](p. 18).

retained, and it is these which make the language look

alien. Learning to interpret the distinctive symbols of ALPRICS COLLOQUY Old English prose. Certainly, his Colloquy is
remarkable forthe liveliness and realism,
Old English is therefore an essential first step.
The Colloquy is one of the earliest English tinged with humour, of the dialogue.
Old English texts were written on parchment or educational documents. Colloquies were a The Colloquy shows two writing styles.
vellum. The first manuscripts were in the Roman alpha- standard technique of instruction in the The Latin uses Carolingian minuscule
monastic schools of Europe, and were espe- (p. 258), whereas the Old English is in an
bet, using a half-uncial, minuscule script (p. 258)
cially used forteaching Latin. /Elfric's Collo- older style (as shown by such features as the
brought over by Irish missionaries: a good example is quy takes the form of a conversation rounded a, the insular s, the dotted y, and
Bede's Ecclesiastical History, illustrated on p. 7. The between a teacher and a young monk, and the use of yogh). Note the early punctua-
deals largely with the daily tasks of the tion system, especially the form for the
rounded letter shapes of this script later developed into
monk's companions in the school and of question mark in the Latin text. A period is
the more angular and cursive style (called the insular the monk's own life there. The work is of used to end sentences, and also in some

script), which was the usual form of writing until the considerable historical interest forthe pic- places where we would nowadays use a
1 1 th century.
ture it provides of the life of ordinary comma.
people in Anglo-Saxon society. It is also of The Old English shows typical features of
The Old English alphabet was very similar to the one great linguistic interest as, in one of the late West Saxon (p. 28), and probably dates
still in use, though any modern eye looking at the origi- four surviving manuscripts (Cotton Tiberius fromthefirsthalf of the 1th century. Basic
1

A.iii, shown below left), someone has punctuation has been added to the above
nal manuscripts would be immediately struck by the
added glosses in Old English above the transcript, as an aid for the modern reader
absence of capital letters. lines. This was almost certainly a later butasthetext isa gloss, rather than a
teacher, rather than a pupil or.4lfric him- coherent narrative, the sentences do not
• A few of the letters were different in shape. There was self -though the point has been much always run smoothly. The gloss is almost
an elongated shape for s, for example. Modern letter
g debated. complete in these opening lines, but there
Little is known about ,^lf ric. He was born are several omitted words later in the
appeared as ^, often called 'yogK (for its sound, see
c. 955, and died c. 1 020. He was a monk at Colloquy.
p. 18). A few other letter-shapes, such as e,f,a.nd r, also Winchester, and he became Abbot of Eyn- In this transcript, each turn in the dia-

look rather different. sham in c. 1005. His other writing includes logue is placed on a new line. Abbreviated
many homilies, a saints' lives, and a Latin forms marked by a tilde in the manuscript
London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A. xv, foL 60v. The Grammarfor which later scholars gave him have been expanded in square brackets,
first five lines of glossed text are transcribed in the panel to the thetitleof 'Grammaticus'. He is widely but 7 (for et) has been left. The transcript
right. 1
regarded as one of the greatest writers of does not show the dot over the y.

pe cildra biddajjfse, eala lareop, \)[zt] \>u tjece us sprecan forJ)am unjela;rede
.o..n.f «t.,^«c
^-^-^'^ ^^"^ pe syndon 7 ^epxmmodlice pe sprecajj.
;i:V- hpxt
m W*
tendictiH ' '^
t'. ^^ .„™r nof loam ImM \
pille

hpjet rece pe
je sprecan?
hpst pe sprecan, buton hit riht sprxc sy 7 behefe, nxs idel o\)]pe

iK fracod.
pille bespun^en on leornunje?
leofre ys us beon bespun^en for lare {)£enne hit ne cunnan.
Wos pueri rogamus te magister ut doceas nos loqui latialit[er] recte quia idiote sumus &
corrupts loquimur.
Quid uultis loqui?
Quid curamus. quid loquamur nisi recta locutio sit & utilis, non anilis aut turpis.
pklT^r 1,m .tn^;. Uultis flagellari in discendo?
Tea-men «e[U
J- <^ciT,'«
Carius est nobis flagellari plro] doctrina quarr) nescire.
'^'

ui,""i_
Itm-fe-moaiKinUniiaUiiyd r , ,.• -fjT-;
We boys ask you, master, that you teach us to speak Latin correctly, because we are
ignorant and we speak ungrammatically.
What do you want to speak?
What do we care what we speak, as long as the speech is correct and useful, not foolish
twm lurora- M" . ,
, ,.._- , q^ ^„f mmiu or base.
Are you ready to be beaten while you learn?
We would rather be beaten for our teaching than not to know it.

jpnmoTT Jn; rv;i V"."^"" , ,

^_^_^ ,aSiiru aoj"
'^^"^
 3 • OLD ENGLISH

• p was called 'thorn, both the name and symbol the time of^tlfric (in the late 10th century), but this
being borrowed from the runic alphabet. It repre- was a temporary state of affairs. Change was on the
sented either of the 'th' sounds [6] or [<3] (p. 18). This horizon, in the form of new Continental scribal prac-
symbol and d (see below) were in fact interchangeable: tices, an inevitable graphic consequence of 1066
a scribe might use first one, then the other, in the same (p. 40).
manuscript - though thorn became commoner in the

later Old English period. (A th spelling was also spo-

THELINDISFARNE Bishop of Lindisfarne (in of its mixture of Irish,

radically used at the very beginning of the Old English GOSPELS office, 724-40), bound it, Germanic, and Byzantine

period, presumably reflecting Irish influence, but it

and that Billfrith made an motifs; but it is also of great
A page from the Lindis- outer casing for it, which he graphological interest, as it
was quickly replaced by the new symbols.) f arne Gospels, written at the decorated with precious displays several styles of
• (J was called 'that' in Anglo-Saxon times, though the monastery on the island of stones. The text is now in the writing (§18).
Lindisfarne (also called Holy British Museum, but the The rubric above the
name given to it by 19th-century editors is 'eth' (pro-
Island), two miles off the gems no longer survive. monogram is in uncials. The
nounced as in the first syllable ot weather, see p. 18). Northumberland coast in NE The illustration shows the four linesof text below are
The origin of this symbol is obscure, though it may be England, and linkedtothe opening of Matthew 1.18. in ornamental capitals, with

mainland by a causeway at This versewas held to be the elaborate links between

an adaptation of an early Irish letter.
low tide. The text was writ- realbeginning of this some letters to save space.
• Numbers were written only in Roman symbols (as ten c. 700, if we can trust the Gospel, as the preceding The first line of the Gospel
can be seen in the dates ol the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, brief biographical note verses contained only text has been left unfin-
added in a space on one of genealogical material, ished. Between the lines is
p. 14). Arabic numerals came much later.
the later pages (fol. 259). hence the richnessof the an Old English gloss written
This says that Eadf rith, illumination at this point. in an insularscript bya
The standard Old English alphabet thus had the fol-
Bishop of Lindisfarne (in The page is of considerable Northumbrian scribe inthe
lowing 24 letters: office, 698-72 1 ), wrote the artistic interest because 10th century.
book, that /tthelwald,
a, X, b, c, d, e, f g, h, i, k, 1, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, \>, 5, u, w, y

Several of these letters were used in combinations

[digraphs) to represent single sound units, in
much the same way as do several modern forms,
such as fAand ea (as in meat).
One other point about spelling should be
noted. There was a great deal of variation, reflect-
ing the different preferences of individual scribes,
as well as regional attempts to capture local sounds
precisely. Practices also varied over time. But even
with a single scribe in a single place at a single time,
there could be variation, as can be seen from the exis-

tence of several variant forms in manuscripts such as

Beowulf The spelling became much more regular by

Incipit euangelium secundum mattheum

Christ! autem generatio sic

erat cvm esset desponsata

mater eius Maria losebh.

onginneS godspell seft- matheus

Cristes so31ice cynnreccenise i cneuresu-
su£e 5 dus
wjes miS Sy wjes biwoedded beboden \ i

befeastnad i betaht
moder his
(The glossator is using several Old English words to
express one in Latin; these are linked using the abbrevi-
ation for Latin uel ('or'): i. He also sometimes adds fur-
ther explanatory comments, in the margins. For the use
of ~, see p. 12.)

The beginning of the Gospel according to Matthew

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise. When
Mary his mother had been betrothed to Joseph...
(After P. H.Blair, 1977.)
London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero D. iv, fol. 29.
 Ill in oi i:Nt,Msii

GETTING RIGHT
OLD ENGLISH SOUNDS IT

Generations of Old
How do we know what Old English sounded like? English students have
pored over tables such as
The unhelpful answer is that we do not. In later peri-
this one, in an effort to
ods, we can rely on accounts by contemporary writers worl< out the 'sound' of
(p. 69) - but there is none of this in Old English. The the language. Many must
best we can do is make a series of informed guesses, have identified during
based on a set of separate criteria (see below), and hope their university days with
the students of /Elf ric
that the results are sufficiently similar to warrant some
(p. 16), caring not so much
general conclusions. A great deal of scholarship has
about what they said, as
been devoted to this issue, and we now have a fair long as they said it right.

degree of certainty about how most of the sounds were But the analogy is only a
partial one: 20th-century
pronounced. If an Anglo-Saxon were available, using
university tutors of Old
the information on these pages we could probably
English would not, on the
communicate intelligibly. whole, beat their charges.
We would have to get used to each other's accent, of
course, in much the same way as modern speakers
(unused, say, to Geordie or Cockney speech) need to
do. There is no reason to suppose that there was any
less phonetic variation in

A birch of the type used

in medieval monastic
Anglo-Saxon times than there is today, and the sym- schools.
bols opposite should not be interpreted too narrowly.
To say that Old English a; was pronounced as an open
front vowel (p. 238) is sufficient to distinguish it from
e and other vowels, but it does not tell us the exact Notes
vowel quality which would have been used. Some of the sounds are
restricted to certain
The evidence contexts.

There are four main types of evidence used in deduc- 1 before m, n, n(g)
ing the sound values of Old English letters. 2 before/after i, and often
ae, e, y
• Alphabetical logic We know a great deal about how 3 between voiced sounds

the letters of the Roman alphabet were pronounced, 4 between back vowels
5 initially
and it seems reasonable to assume that, when the mis-
6 after ae, e, i,
y
sionaries adapted this alphabet to Old English, they 7 after a, o, u

tried to do so in a consistent and logical way. The letter 8 between vowels

representing the sound of m in Latin would have been The following riddle (No.
used to represent the same sound in English. Likewise, 86 inthe Exeter Book
(p. 12)) illustrates the use
if they found it necessary to find a new letter, this must
of this transcription in a
have been because they no Latin letters were
felt suit-
continuous piece of
able (as in the case of the new symbol a). writing.

Similarly, a great deal of information comes from the

(After R. Quirk, V. Adams,
way variations of regional accent and changes over time & D.Davy, 1975.)
are shown in the spelling of Old English texts. The
 OLD ENGLISH

words down show the • Poetic evidence The way in which poets make words
ANCIENT mutation:
scribes generally tried to write to

way they were spoken. They were not in a culture where rhyme or alliterate can provide important clues about Some English word pairs

the way the sound system works. So can the rhythmi- showing the effects of a
there were arbitrary rules for standardized spelling
phonological change which
(though rigorous conventions were maintained in cer- cal patterns of lines of verse, which can show the way a
took place over L200 years
tain abbeys), so we are not faced with such problems as word was stressed, and thus indicate what value to give ago.

ivof writan, the ancestor of write, was to a vowel appearing in an unstressed syllable -a criti-
silent letters: the goose -geese
pronounced. Old English is, accordingly, much more cal matter in the late Old English period (p. 32). tooth - teeth
Modern English 272). nnan - men
'phonetic' than (p.
mouse -mice
• Comparative reconstruction We can work backwards Complications
hale -health
from of the language to make deductions
later states There are many pitfalls to trap the unwary philologist. doom -deem
about how Old English must have sounded. Several of Scribes could be very inconsistent. They were also full-fill
whole-heal
the sounds of Modern English (especially dialect forms) prone to error. But of course we do not know in
fall- fell (vb.)

have close similarities with those of Old advance whether an idiosyncratic form in a blood -bleed
are likely to

English. It is unlikely that there is any real difference in manuscript is in fact an error or a deliberate attempt to foul -filth
long -length
the way most of the consonants were pronounced then represent an ongoing sound change or a regionalism.
broad -breadth
and now. The chief problems are the vowels, whose A great deal of detailed comparative work may be old -elder

values are always more difficult to pinpoint (p. 237). required before we can be sure.
• Sound changes We know a great deal about the kinds The absence of universal spelling rules can also pose
problem, as there was no necessity for scribes to be
of sound change which take place as language pro- a

gresses. It is therefore possible to propose a particular consistent, and many were not (p. 10). Manuscripts
sound value for an Old English letter different from the can vary in their use of/ and d (p. 16), single or double

one in existence today, as long as we are able to give a consonants [s or ss, d or dd), and several groups of
plausible explanation for the change. For example, the vowels (notably, i, y, and ie). At one point we might

Old English equivalent to it was hit. If we claim that find hit, and at another, hyt, gyldan pay might be

the /;was pronounced, we have to assume that people par might be par. Such difficulties, it
spelled gieldan;

stopped pronouncing it at a later stage in the language. must be appreciated, contribute only to the fortitude
Is sound change? Given that the dropping
this a likely and motivation of the true Old English phonologist.
of Mn unstressed pronouns is something that happens Hige sceal pe heardra, heorte pe cenre (p. 12).
regularly today [I saw 'irn), it would seem so.

thought to have been *fdtiz, with the stress on fo. vowels and diphthongs were affected, too, being
THE FIRST VOWEL SHIFT articulated even further forward and higher (with
For some reason (see below), the quality of this
high front sound caused the preceding vowel to the exception of [i], of course, which is already as
We can say one thing with certainty about the far forward and as high in the mouth as any vowel
accent of the Anglo-Saxon invaders after they change (mutate). In the case of *fdt, the d became
e, which ultimately came to be pronounced [i;], as
can be).
arrived in Britain;it changed. We know this

because the words which emerged in Old English
out of the Germanic spoken on the Continent
(p. 6) looked (and therefore sounded) very
different from their later counterparts in the early
days of German. What happened to cause such a
difference?
A related observation arises out of the way some
Latin words were borrowed into Old English
without a change in their vowel, whereas others
did change. Latin caseus became cyse 'cheese' in
Old English, but casteZ/um became caste/ 'village'.
In the first case, the a vowel changed; in the second
case, it did not. There are many similar examples.
What happened to cause such a difference?
/-mutation
The explanation is now a well-established part of
Germanic philology. It asserts that the Old English
vowels changed in quality between the time the
in modern feet. The -;> ending dropped away, for
once the plural was being shown by the e vowel, it
was unnecessary to have an ending as well. Fet
therefore emerged as an irregular noun in English
- though the process which gave rise to it was
perfectly regular, affecting hundreds of cases.
This process has come to be called i-mutation,
i-umlaut German term meaning 'sound
(a
It is thought to have taken place
alteration').
during the 7th century. There is no sign of the
vowels continuing to change in this way in later
periods. The process also explains the Latin
example above; caseus must have been borrowed
very early into English, before the time that
/-mutation was operating, as its vowel has been
affected (in this case, the a has become y);
castellum, however, must have been borrowed
after the time when /-mutation stopped taking
place, as a vowel has remained in castel.
its
There are a few exceptions and complications,
which analysts still puzzle over, but the general
effecton the language was immense, as this sound
change applied to the most frequently occurring
word classes, all of which had /sounds in their
inflectional endings. This is why we have in
or Modern English such pairs as food/ feecy (from the
addition of an *-ian verb-forming suffix in
Germanic), as well as strong /strength and several
others (from the addition of an *-ip adjective-
forming suffix). Not all the forms affected by /-
mutation have survived into Modern English,
though. In Old English, the plural of book was bee,
but this has not come through into Modern
English as beek: the forces of analogy (p. 200) have
taken over, and caused a change to the regular
books.
We do not know why /-mutation operated
when it did. What was it that made 7th-century

/-mutation a kind of 'vowel harmony' -a very Anglo-Saxons start pronouncing their vowels
Anglo-Saxons left the Continent and the time Old is

natural process which affects many modern more towards the front of their mouths? And why
English was first written down. By examining
into the did the process not affect all cases of / in a
hundreds of cases, it is possible to establish a languages. People, it seems, readily fall

habit of making one vowel in a word sound more following suffix (words ending in -ing, for
pattern in way this change took place.
the
like another in the same word, and this is what example, were not affected)? This phonological
In Germanic there were many words where a
happened in 7th-century Old English. All back detective story is by no means over.
vowel in a stressed syllable was immediately
followed by a high front vowel ([i]) or vowel-like vowels in the context described above were
The asterisk marks a hypothetical form.
sound (01) in the next syllable. The plural of *ioX is changed into front vowels - and all short front
 I'AKl 1 • lill- HlSltlRY C)l- I'NGLISH

SOME FEATURES OF OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR

To modern eyes and ears. Old English grammar (for were signalled by other means. Like other Germanic
THE C/EDMON STORY grammatical terminology, see Part III) provides a fasci- languages. Old English was inflected: the job a word
nating mixttire of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The did in the sentence was signalled by the kind of ending
Old English prose provides
the clearest way In to word order is much more varied than it would be in it had. Today, most of these inflections have died away,
analysing the grammar of the Modern English, but there are several places where it is leaving the modern reader with the major task of get-
language (the poetry, as can
strikingly similar. Adjectives usually go before their ting used to the word endings, in order to understand
be seen from the extracts on
pp. 12-13, IS much more nouns, as do prepositions, articles, and other grammat- the Old English texts. It is necessary to learn the dif-
compressed and intricate). ical words, just as they do today. Sometimes, whole sen- ferent forms taken by the verbs, nouns, pronouns,
Is from an Old
This extract
tences are identical in the order of words, or nearly so, adjectives, and the definite article. The irregular verbs,
English translation of Bede's
Ecclesiastical History (Book 4,
as can be seen from the word-for-word translation in which change their form from present to past tense, are
Ch.24).lttellsthestoryof the Caedmon text below. The main syntactic differ- a particular problem (as they continue to be, for for-
Caedmon, the unlettered
ences affect the placing of the verb, which quite often eign learners), because there are so many more of
cowherd who became
England's first Christian poet, appears before the subject, and also at the very end of them. Nonetheless, it should be plain from reading
sometime in the late 7th - a noticeable feature of this particular story.
the clause the glosses to the Cjedmon extract that present-day
century. The translation dates
Modern English, word order is relatively fixed.
In English speakers already have a 'feel' for Old English
from the late 9th century.
(The actual text of Caedmon's The reason Old English order could vary so much is grammar. (Long vowel marks (p. 16) are added in the
hymn isgiven on p. 29.) that the relationships between the parts of the sentence notes below, as an aid to pronunciation.)

wses he se mon in weoruldhade geseted o3 jjatidefje he l^a stod him stmi mon a:t jjurh swefn, ond bine halette
Was hetheman In secular life settled until the timethat he then stood him a certain man beside in dream, and him hailed

w£s gelyfdre vide; ond he nsfre nxnig \eob geieornode, ond he ond grette, ond hine be his noman nemnde, 'Cedmon, sing me
was of-advanced age; and he never any poem learned, and he and greeted, and him by his name called. 'Caedmon, sing me
for Jion oft in gebeorscipe, [jonne \)xr wss blisse intinga hwxthwugu.' I^a ondswarede he, ond cwxS, 'Ne con ic noht
therefore often at banquet, when there was of-joy occasion something.' Then answered he, and said, 'Not can I nothing

gedemed, ]pxt heo ealle sceolden Jjurh endebyrdnesse be hearpan singan; ond ic for |3on of jjeossum gebeorscipe ut eode ond hider
decided, that they all should by arrangement with harp sing; and I for that from this banquet out went and hither

5 singan, ]ionne he geseah J^a hearpan him nealecan, jionne aras he 15 gewat, for [jon ic naht singan ne cuSe." Eft hecwxd,
to sing, when he saw the harp him approach, then arose he came, because I nothing to sing not knew how.' Again he spoke,

for scome from [larm symble, ond ham code to his huse. j^a he se (3e wiS hine sprecende wss, 'HwxSre \}u meaht me
for shame from the feast, and home went to his house. When he he that with him speaking was, 'However you can for-me

jjaet \>n sumre tide dyde, \}Xt he forlet \)?£Z hus |3a;s singan.' \)a. cw£e3 he, 'Hwset sceal ic singan?' Cw.t?d he, 'Sing
thata certain time did, thatheleft the houseofthe sing.' Then said he, 'What shall I sing?' Said he, 'Sing

gebeorscipes, ond ut w£es gongende to neata scipene, me frumsceaft.' I^a he 3a [jas andsware onfeng, jia ongon he
banquet, and outyvas going to of-cattle stall me creation.' When he this answer received, then began he

[)ara heord him waes {jsere neahte beboden; [5a heSa[5a;r sona singan in herenesse Godes Scyppendes, [.xt fers

of which keeping him was that night entrusted; when he there immediately to sing in praise of God Creator, those verses

10 in gelimplice tide his leomu on teste gesette ond onslepte, 2oond|3a wordjje he nifre gehyrde...
at suitable time his limbs at rest set and fell asleep. and those words that he never had heard...

WORD ORDER (I) the woman saw the man

(II) the man saw the woman
The varying forms of nouns, adjectives,
In Old English, the two sentences would be:
and articles tell us how the parts of the
*^
clause relate to each other. Modern
In (i) seocwen geseah fioneguman
English, the difference between (i) and (ii) se guma geseah /ja cwen.
(ii) is a matter of word order; The nominative feminine form seo in (i) has changed to an accusative form, /3a,
in (ii). Similarly, the accusative masculine form /bone in (i) has become a nomina-
tive se in (ii).

It is thus always clear who is doing what to whom, regardless of the order in

which the noun phrases appear: l^one guman geseah seocwen has the same
meaning as (1).
 OLD ENGLISH

W/€SHESEMON... The present tense forms, is 3rd sg. several differences in the way est, and bed, bist, bid to ero,
however, show several sind(on) 1st/2nd/3rd pl. the two sets of verbs were eris, erit. There is a clear

waes differences. To begin with. • beon used, though there is insuffi- example of this difference in
Old English had two sets of faeolstsg. cient evidence to draw up one of the Homilies, where
The past tense of the verb
words expressing the notion bist 2nd sg. hard-and-fast rules. The the speaker addresses the
'be' has changed little since
of 'be', one parallel to Latin bid 3rd sg. beon forms were preferred Holy Trinity:
Old English times, apart from
esse and the other to Latin bead lst/2nd/3rd pl. in habitual and repetitive
the loss of the plural ending.
fui. contexts, and especially 3u de aefre waere, and aefre
• uvaes 'was' 1st/3rdsg. There were also subjunctive, when there was a future bist, and nu eart, an aelmihtig
waere 'were' 2nd sg. • wesan imperative, and participial implication. /€lf ric's Latin God... you who always were,
waeron 'were' 1st/2nd/3rd eom 1st sg. forms of both verbs. Grammar actually equates and ever will be, and now
pl- eart 2nd sg. There seem to have been eom, earf, is to Latin sum, es, are, one almighty Cod...

he
 nil MINI oK^ c)i 1. Nc, 1 isn

OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY WORD-BUILDING gangewlfre spider

('go' + 'weaver')
togan go into
fiurhgan go through
The way Old English vocab- gangpytt privy undergan undergo
ulary builds up through the hindergenga crab upgan go up
Tlic xDCabulary of Old English presents a mixed pic-
processes of affixation and saegenga sea-goer upgang rising
turf, to those encountering for the first time. The
it
compounding can be seen Citgan go out
Prefixation
niajorit}' of the words CiTdmon extract (p. 20)
in the by tracing the way a basic utgang exit
beganga inhabitant
arc very close to Modern English - once we allow for form is used throughout the wifigan go against
begangan visit
lexicon. ymbgan go round
the unfamiliar spelling (p. 16) and the unexpected bigengere worker
(After D. Kastovsky, 1992.)
(Only a selection of forms is foregan go before
inflections (p. 21) - whereas those in the poetic texts
given, and only one possible forgan pass over Not all Old English pre-
(p. 12) are not. In the Cajdmon text we would have meaning of each form.) for/bgan go forth fixeshave come down into
little difficult}' recognizing siiigan as sing or stod as ingan go in Modern English. Among
gan/gangan 'go'
ingang entrance those which have been lost
stood; and ondswarede is quite close to answered,
gang journey n/jbergan descend are ge- (p. 21), o^- ('away'),
omlepte to asleep, and geleornode to learned. Omitting ofergan pass over n/)be- ('down'), and ymb-
the ge- prefix helps enormously, making -seted xwoxt Compounding ofergenga traveller ('around'). There is a memo-
aeftergengness succession ofgan demand rial to to- in today, towards,
like seated, -seah like saw, and -hyrde like heard. Most
ciricgang churchgoing ongan approach and together.
of the prepositions and pronouns are identical in form forliggang adultery o^gan go away
(though not always in meaning) :yon from, in, <ff ('at'),

/'(', him, his.

On the other hand, some of the words look very SELF-EXPLAINING COMPOUNDS
strange, because they have since disappeared from the
godspel < god 'good' + spel 'tidings': gospel
language. In the Cxdmon extract these include sunnandaeg < sunnan 'sun's' + daeg 'day': Sunday
gelimplice 'suitable', neata 'cattle', swefn 'dream', bebo- staefcraeft < staef 'letters' + craeft 'craft': grammar
mynstermann < mynster 'monastery' mann 'man': monk -i-

den 'entrusted", and frumsceaft 'creation', as well as

frumweorc < frum 'beginning' + weorc 'work': creation
some of the grammatical words, such as jr'the' (p. 21). eortscraeft < eor|3 'earth' + craeft 'craft': geometry

These examples also illustrate the chief characteristic rodfaestnian < rod 'cross' + faestnian 'fasten': crucify
daegred < daeg 'day' red 'red': dawn
-t-

of theOld English lexicon, the readiness to build up

leohtf^t < leoht 'light' + faet 'vessel': lamp
words from a number of parts - a feature which has tldymbwlatend < tid 'time' ymb 'about' wlatend 'gaze': astronomer
-i- -i-

stayed with English ever since (p. 128). Frequent use is

made of prefixes and suffixes, and compound words

are everywhere in evidence. The meaning of these THE WHOLE STORY
words often emerges quite quickly, once their parts are
The root form /la/is used in Old English as the basis of six words; and the process contin-
identified. Thus, endebyrdnesse is a combination of
ues into Modern English, where a further nine words are in evidence (plus many more
eiide'end' + /')';r/ 'birth, rank' + -««i, which conveys compounds, such as whole-food and health-farrr)).
the meaning of 'arrangement', or (in the present con- The diagram also shows a related set of etymologies. Old Norse heill and Old English
hal both come from the same Germanic root. Much later, the Scandinavian development
text) of people 'taking their turn'. Gebeorscipe seems to
also affected English.
have nothing to do with 'banquet' until we see that it (After W. F. Bolton, 1982.)
is basically 'beer' -I- 'ship'.

Particular care must be taken with words which

Old Norse heill Old English /la/.
look familiar, but whose meaning is different in
Modern English. An Anglo-Saxon wif was any
woman, married or not. A fugol 'fowl' was any bird,
Old Norse ver heill, 'be h' haelfj
not just a farmyard one. Sana (soon) meant 'immedi-
ately', not 'in a little while'; won (ivan) meant 'dark',
not 'pale'; and fast {fast) meant 'firm, fixed', not
'rapidly'. These are 'false friends', when translating out
of Old English.

hail whole holy hallow heal health

hail from wholesome holincis Halloween healer healthy
hail fellow wholesale holiday healthful
wholly
 .

3 • OLD ENGLISH

Kennings only a single instance of a word in a text, or even in Old

It is in the poetry (pp. 1 1-13) that we find the most English as a whole. There are 903 noun compounds in
remarkable coinages. The genre abounds in the use of Beowidf; according to one study (A. G. Brodeur,
vivid figurative descriptions known as kennings (a term 1959); but of these, 578 are used only once, and 518
fi-om Old Norse poetic treatises). Kennings describe of them are known only from this poem. In such cir-

things indirectly, allusively, and often in compounds. cumstances, establishing the precise meaning of an
Their meaning is not self-evident; there has been a leap expression becomes very difficult.

of imagination, and this needs to be interpreted. Kennings were often chosen to satisfy the need for

Sometimes the interpretation is easy to make; some- alliteration in a line, or to help the metrical structure

times it is obscure, and a source of critical debate. (p. 415): there is perhaps no particular reason for
Famous kennings include hronmd 'whale-road' for having sincgyfan 'giver of treasure' at one point in

the sea, bdnhiis 'bone-house' for a person's body, and Beowulf (1. 1 342) and goldgyfan 'giver of gold' at
beadoleoma 'batde light' for a sword. Often, phrases another (1. 2652), other than the need to alliterate with
are used as well as compound words: God, for exam- a following word beginning with s in the first case and
ple, is described as heofonnces weard 'guardian of beginning with g in the second. But kennings also
heaven's kingdom' and as moncynnes weard 'guardian allowed a considerable compression of meaning, and a
of mankind'. Some elements are particularly produc- great deal of study has been devoted to teasing out the

tive. There are over 100 compounds involving the various associations which come from
and ironies

word mod ('mood', used in Old English for a wide using a particular form. A
good example is anpaSas
range of attitudes, such as 'spirit, courage, pride, arro- 'one paths', a route along which only one person may
-I-

gance'): they include modcrafi 'intelligence', pass at a time. This meaning sounds innocuous

gladmodnes 'kindness', mddceam 'sorrow ot soul', and enough, but to the Anglo-Saxon mind such paths pro-
mddmod ' ioWy vided difficult fighting conditions, and there must
Kennings are sometimes a problem to interpret have been a connotation of danger. The word is used
because the frequency of synonyms in Old English in Beowtdf (1. 1410) at the point where the hero and
makes it difficult to distinguish nuances of meaning. his followers are approaching the monster's lair. Their
There are some 20 terms for 'man in Beowulf, for route leads them along enge anpabas 'narrow lone
example, such as rinc, guma, secg, and beorn, and it is paths', where there would have been an ever-present
not always easy to see why one is used and not another. risk of ambush.
When compounds, the com-
these words are used in Beoivulfst2,nds out as a poem which makes great use
THECRUELSEA
plications increase. Beado-rinc and dryht-guma are of compounds: there are over a thousand of them,
both translatable as 'warrior', but would there be a comprising a third of all words in the text. Many of sae, mere, brim, lagu, waeter,
these words,and of the elements they contain, are not fam ('foam'), waeg ('wave')...
noticeable difference in meaning if the second ele-
ments were exchanged? A careful analysis of all the known outside of poetry. Some, indeed, might have The Icelandic linguists, such as

contexts in which each element is used in Old English been archaisms. But most are there because of their Snorri Sturluson (13th cen-
tury), distinguished several
can often give clues (and is now increasingly practica- picturesque and vivid character, adding considerable
types of poetic expression.
ble, §24), but this option is of course unavailable when variety to the descriptions of battles, seafaring, the The literalness of waegflota
the item is rare. And items are often rare. There may be court, and fellowship in Anglo-Saxon times. 'wave-floater' for a ship
might be distinguished from
the more metaphorical
waeghengest 'wave-steed'.
Various levels of figurat ve- I

ness can be seen in the follow-

ing listof compounds for 'sea'
- a dozen out of the 50 or
more l<nown from Old English
literature. Several use one of
the 'sea' synonyms listed
above.

seo/baejb seal bath-i-

yfiageswing waves + surge

fisceseJDel fish -i- home
streamgewinn waters -t- strife

hwaelweg whale + way

sswylm sea + welling
swanrad swan road -i-

brimstream ocean + stream

merestream lake stream -i-

waeterflod water flood -i-

drencflod drowning -i- flood

heepweg bath + way
 /

I'ARI" 1 • IHi: UISrORY Ol' HNCiLlSH

EARLY LATIN LOANS

LEXICAL INVASIONS (BEFORE 1000)
Ecclesiastical

The abbadissa > abudesse

Enghsh vocabulary is one of
history of early tic, and general words, most of which have survived in
'abbess'
repcued invasions, with newcomers to the islands Modern English. At the same time, many Old English altar > alter 'altar'
brint;ing their own language with them, and leaving a words were given new, 'Christian meanings under apostolus > apostol 'apostle'
fair amount of its vocabulary behind when they left or missionary influence. Heaven, God, Gospel, Easter, culpa >cylpe 'fault'
hell,
m/ssa > maesse 'Mass'
were assimilated. In the Anglo-Saxon period, there Holy Ghost, sin, and several others were semantically nonnus > nonne 'monk'
were two major influences of this kind - one to do refashioned at the time. offerre>offrian 'sacrifice'
praedicare > predician
with this world, the other to do with the next. The loans came in over a long time scale, and differed
'preach'
in character. Up to c. 1000, many continued to arrive sco/a >sco/ 'school'
The efifect of Latin from spoken Latin, and these tended to relate more to versus > fers 'verse' (used

The tocus on the next world arrived in the form in the Caedmon extract,
first, everyday, practical matters. After c. 1 000, following the
p. 20, 1. 19)
of the Christian missionaries from Ireland and Rome rebirth of learning associated with King Alfred (p. 1 3)
Not only did they introduce literacy, they
(p. 10). and the 1 Oth-century Benedictine monastic revival, the General
calendae> calend 'month'
brought with them a huge Latin vocabulary. The vocabulary came from classical written sources, and is
cavellum > caul 'basket'
.\nglo-Saxons had of course already encountered Latin much more scholarly and technical. Sometimes, even, epistula > epistol 'letter'

Roman armies and the fenestra > fenester 'window'

as used by the Continental the Latin ending would be retained in the loan word,
Iilium > lilie 'lily'
Romano-British, but only a few Vulgar Latin words instead of being replaced by the relevant Old English organum > orgel 'organ'
had come into Old English as a result (p. 8). By con- ending: an example is acoluthtis 'acolyte', which first picus> pic 'pike'
trast, the missionary influence resulted in hundreds of appears in one of ytlfric's works as acolitus. Many of planta> plant 'plant'
rosa > rose 'rose'
new words coming into the language, and motivated these learned words (such as collectaneum and epactas)
studere>studdian 'take
many derived forms. The new vocabulary was mainly did not survive - though several (fenestra and biblio- care of
to do with the Church and its services, theolog)', and thecaztt instances) were to be reincarnated some time
LATE LATIN LOANS
learning, but there were also many biological, domes- later in a second stage of classical borrowing (p. 48).
(AFTER 1000)
Ecclesiastical
apostata > apostata
'apostate'
chrisma > crisma 'chrism'
clericus > cleric 'clerk'
credo >creda 'creed'
crucem > cruc 'cross'
daemon > demon 'demon'
discipulus > discipul 'disciple'
paradisus > paradis
'paradise'
prior > prior 'prior'
sabbatum > sabbat 'sabbath'
THE KIRKDALE INSCRIPTION Centre panel
+ WS IS D/EGES SOLMERCA + /itTILCVMTIDE/ General
The best surviving example of an inscribed Anglo-Saxon sun- bibliotheca > bibliopece
dial, now placed above the south porch of the church at + 7 HAWARD ME WROHTE 7 BRAND PRS 'library'
Kirkdale, North Yorkshire. The inscription reads as follows: chorus > chor 'choir, chorus'
Orm, son of Gamal, bought St Gregory's church when it was
declinare > declinian
Left panel all ruined and tumbled down and he caused it to be built
'decline'
afresh from the foundation (in honour of) Christ and St
+ ORM GAMAL SVNA BOHTE S(AN)C(TV)S
/ /
Gregory in the days of King Edward and in the days of Earl delphinus> delfin 'dolphin'
GREGORIVS MIN STERDONNE HI T WES ^L
/ Tosti.
grammatica > grammatic
/
'grammar'
TOBRO This is the day's sun-marking at every hour And Haward
made me, and Brand, priest (?)
hymnus>ymen 'hymn'
Right panel
mechanicus > mechanise
Tostig, brother of Harold Godwineson, became earl of 'mechanical'
CAN 7 TOFALAN 7 HE HIT LET MACAN NEWAN
/ Northumbria in 1055, and died in 1066, so the dial belongs persicum > persic 'peach'
to that decade. philosophus > philosoph
FROM GRUNDE XPE 7 S(AN)C(TV)S GREGORI
/ /
The text shows an interesting mix of influences, with the 'philosopher'
VS IN EADWARD DAGVM C(I)NG 7 (I)N TOSTl / Latin saint's name alongside Old Norse personal names, and scutula > scutel 'scuttle, dish'
DAGVM EORL + Latin m/nster alongside Germanic tobrocan.

AND A FEW MORE LATIN LOANS...

abbot, accent,alb, alms, anchor, angel, antichrist, ark, cancer, candle, canon, canticle, cap, cedar, celandine, cell, chalice, chest,
cucumber, cypress, deacon, dirge, elephant, fever, fig, font, giant, ginger, history, idol, laurel, lentil, litany, lobster,
cloister,
lovage, marshmallow, martyr, master, mat, nocturn, noon, oyster, paper, periwinkle, place, plaster, pope, priest, prime,
prophet, psalm, pumice, purple, radish, relic, rule, scorpion, scrofula, shrine, sock, synagogue, temple, tiger, title, tunic
 3 • OLD ENGLISH

The effect of Norse

The second big linguistic invasion came as a result of
SCANDINAVIAN PLACE NAMES in Althorp, Astonthorpe, and Linthorpe;

-thwalte ('clearing'), as in Braithwaite,

the Viking raids on Britain, which began in AD 787 Scandinavian parish names in England, Applethwaite, and Storthi/va/te; and -toft
and continued at intervals for some 200 years. Regular related to the boundary line of the ('homestead'), as in Lowestoft, Eastoft, and
Danelaw. Sandtoft. The -by ending is almost entirely
settlement began in the mid-9th century, and within a
There are over 1,500 such place names confined to the area of the Danelaw, sup-
few years the Danes controlled most of eastern Eng- (p. 141) in England, especially in Yorkshire porting a theory of Scandinavian origin,
land. They were prevented from further gains by their and Lincolnshire. Over 500 end the in -by, despite the existence of the word by
Scandinavian word for 'farm' or 'town' - 'dwelling' in Old English.
defeat in 878 at Ethandun (p. 26). By the Treaty of
Derby, Grimsby, Rugby, Naseby, etc. Many (After P. H. Sawyer, 1962.)
Wedmore (886) the Danes agreed to settle only in the of the remainder end In -thorp ('village'), as
north-east third of the country - east of a line running
roughly from Chester to London - an area that was
subject to Danish law, and which thus became known
as the Danelaw. In 991, a further invasion brought a
series of victories for the Danish army (including the
Batde of Maldon, p. 12), and resulted in the English
king, yt!thelred, being forced into exile, and the Danes
seizing the throne. England then stayed under Danish
rule for 25 years.

The linguistic result of this prolonged period of con-

tact was threefold. A large number of settlements with

Danish names appeared England. There was a

in

marked names of Scandinavian

increase in personal
origin (p. 26). And many general words entered the
language, nearly 1,000 eventually becoming part of
Standard English. Only c. 1 50 of these words appear in
Old English manuscripts, the earliest in the treaty
between Alfred and Guthrum, and in the northern
manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D and E,
p. 15). They include landing, score, beck, fellow, take,

busting, and steersman, as well as many words which

did not survive in later English (mostly terms to do
with Danish law and culture, which died away after the
Norman Conquest). The vast majority of loans do not
begin to appear until the early 12th century (p. 48).
These include many of our modern words which use
[sk-] sounds (an Old Norse feature), such as skirt, sky,

and skin, as well as most of the words listed below.

The closeness of the contact between the Anglo-

Saxons and the Danish settlers is clearly shown by the
extensive borrowings. Some of the commonest words Boundary of Alfred's treaty with the Danes

in Modern English came into the language at that Modern county boundaries

time, such as both, same, get, and give. Even the per-
sonal pronoun system was affected (p. 21), with they,
them, and their replacing A A signpost in North Yorkshire
the earlier forms. And - acts as a Danish memorial.

the most remarkable inva-

sion of all - Old Norse
influenced the verb to be. AND A FEW MORE NORSE LOANS...
The replacement oi sindon again, anger, awkward, bag, band, bank, birth,

21) by rtrf is almost cer- brink, bull, cake, call, clip, crawl, crook, die, dirt,
(p.
dregs, egg, flat, fog, freckle, gap, gasp, get,
tainly the result of Scandi-
guess, happy, husband, ill, keel, kid, knife, law,
navian influence, as is the leg, loan, low, muggy, neck, odd, outlaw, race,

spread of the 3rd person raise, ransack, reindeer, rid, root, rugged, scant,
scare, scowl, scrap, seat, seem, silver, sister, skill,
singular -s ending in the
skirt, sly, smile, snub, sprint, steak, take, thrift,
present tense in other verbs Thursday, tight, trust, want, weak, window
(p. 44).
 PART I I'HE HISTORY OF hNCSLISH

THE OTHER WHITE

 3 • OLn K NG L, I S H

Vocabulary then and now

FRENCH BEFORE 1066 prut 'haughty' (compare from Old Saxon and embed
It should be plain from pp. 22-3 that thetc are many earlier ofermod, p. 22). ded within the Old English
differences between the way vocabulary was used in French vocabulary Inf lu- poem Genesis (and known
encecJ Middle English so Old Saxon we find
Old English and the way it is used today. The Anglo- as Genesis B). In it

markedly after the Norman One other language pro- such forms as hearra 'lord',
Saxons' preference for expressions which are synony- Conquest (p. 30) that it is vided a small number of sima 'chain', landscipe
mous, or nearly so, far exceeds that found in Modern easy to ignore the fact that loan words - that spoken by 'region', heodaeg 'today',
French loan words can be the Saxons who had and a few others, all of
English, as does their ingenuity in the use of com-
found Old English too.
in remained on the continent which are thought to be Old
pounds. The absence of a wide-ranging vocabulary of Indeed, it would be surpris- of Europe. It is known that Saxon. These words had no
loan words also forced them to rely on a process of ing if there had been no copies of Old Saxon texts real effect on later English,
such influence, given the were being made south- but they do illustrate the
lexical construction using native elements, which in
close contacts which had ern England during the 10th readiness of the Anglo-
produced much larger 'families' of morphologically grown up in the 10th and A personage Saxons to take
century. lexical mate-
related words than are typical of English now. 1 1th centuries. The monas- known as John the Old rial from all available
tic revival (p. 24), in particu- Saxon helped Alfred in his sources - a feature which
A great deal of the more sophisticated lexicon, we
lar, had started in France,
educational reforms. There has characterized the lan-
must also conclude, was consciously created, as can be and many English monl<s also exists a passage trans- guage ever since.
seen from the many loan translations (or caiques) which must have studied there. lated in the 9th century
Above all, there was close
were introduced in the later period. Caiques are lexical
contact between the two
items which are translated part-by-part into another cultures following the exile
language. The process is unusual in Modern English - to Normandy of Edward the
Confessor, the son of
an example is superman, which is a translation ot
/Ethelred II (the unraed, or
German Ubermensch. In late Old English, by contrast, 'ill-advised') and Emma,

caiques are very common, as can be seen from the fol- daughter of the Duke of
Normandy. Edward lived
lowing examples.
there for 25 years, returning
to England in 1041 with
praepositio 'preposition' > foresetnys many French courtiers.
coniunctio 'joining' > gedeodnys
When he succeeded to the
throne, several of the
episcopatus 'episcopate' > biscophad French nobles were given
sigtiificatio 'signification' > getacniing high positions - a source of
considerable grievance
unicornis 'unicorn' > anhorn
among their Anglo-Saxon
aspergere 'sprinkle' > onstregdan counterparts.
inebriare 'make drunk > indrencan Whatever the political
consequences of these
trinitas 'trinity' > priness
events, the linguistic conse-
contradictio 'contradiction' >widcwedennis quences were a handful of
comparativns 'comparative' > widmetendlic French loan words, among
them capun 'capon', Servian
'serve', bacun 'bacon',
yE,lfric is one who used them widely in his writing, arblast 'weapon', prisun
when developing
especially the terminology of his 'prison', caste/ 'castle', and
Grammar (p. 16). cancelere 'chancellor'. Some
words gave rise to related
forms, notably prud 'proud',
WiQmetennis whose derivatives included
prutness 'pride' and ofer-
A final comparison. There are, it is thought, around
24,000 different lexical items (§8) in the Old English
corpus. This lexicon, however, is fundamentally dif-

ferent from the one we find in Modern English. About THE LORD'S PRAYER
85 per cent of Old English words are no longer in use. The predominantly Germanic character of Old English vocabulary is well illustrated by
Moreover, only 3 per cent of the words in Old English the standard version of the 'Our Father'. (Long vowels are shown, as an aid to pronuncia-
tion: see p. 18.)
are loan words,compared with over 70 per cent today.
Old English vocabulary was thus profoundly Ger- Fsder ure,

manic, in a way that is no longer the case. Nearly half Jju Jse eart on heofonum,
of Modern English general vocabulary comes from nama gehalgod.
SI [jIn

Latin or French, as a result of the huge influx of words To becume I^Tn rice.
in the Middle English period (p. 46). And the readi- Gewur|3e (5in willa on eorSan swa swa on heofonum.
ness to absorb foreign elements has given the modern Urne ged^ghwamilcan hlat syle us to dseg.

language a remarkable etymological variety which was And forgyf Qs lire gyltas, swa swa we forgytaS urum gyltendum.
totally lacking in Old English. It is this situation, And ne gela-d \ju us on costnunge,
indeed, which latter-day Anglo-Saxonist language ac alys us of yfele. Amen
reformers find intolerable (p. 125).
 PART I THE HISrORY OF K NGL I S H

OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS The chief dialect areas of

Old English. The map also
shows some of the more
Tlic ( )ld English texts which have survived come from important Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms known from the
se\ i ! .il parts ot the country, and from the way they are and their
early period,
wriuen they provide evidence ot dialects. As there was approximate locations.
no standardized system of spelling (p. 16), scribes

tended to spell words as they sounded; but because

everyone used the same Latin-based alphabetic
system, there was an underlying consistency, and it is

possible to use the spellings to work out dialect dif-

ferences. For example, in the south-east, the word for

evil' was written efel, whereas in other places it was
)feL suggesting that the latter vowel was unrounded
and more open (p. 238). Hundreds of such spelling
differences exist.
Most of the Old English corpus is written in the
West Saxon dialect (see map), reflecting the political

and cultural importance of this area in the 10th cen-

turv. Dialects from other areas are very sparsely repre-
sented, with only about a dozen texts of any substance
- inscriptions, charters, glosses, and verse fragments -
spread over a 300-year period. Nonetheless, Old
English scholars have found a few diagnostic features
which enable us to identify dialect areas.

Sutton i^J--'

The historical setting

The major areas are traditionally thought to relate to
EAST
SAXONS-^
^
the settlements of the invading tribes, with their dif-
WEST '^-^'^^rT^^^^:Q^^J)iS^"
ferent linguistic backgrounds; but what happened SAXONS
in
KENT/sr] r

5 A A O N
the 300 years after the invasions is obscure. There is

evidence of at least 12 kingdoms in England by the Winchester*

c,oUtHS
year 600. Seven are traditionally called the Anglo- r
Saxon Heptarchy (Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, ^r O X^Isle of Wight
Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex), but it is difficult to know
what realities underlie such a grouping. From a lin-
guistic point of view, only three kingdoms emerged
with enough power for there to be clear dialectal con-
sequences: Northumbria, in the 7th century, then
Mercia, and by the 9th century Wessex, the latter
emerging under King Egbert (ruled 802—39). These
three areas, along with Kent (whose early importance DIALECT SIGNPOSTS be pointing. Given the • If you see an o before a
realities of scribal error nasal consonant (m, n, ng),
is suggested by the Augustine story, p. 10) have led to
and dialect mixture, it is it IS probably a Northum-
the recognition of four major dialects in Old English. Old English dialectology is
not uncommon to find a brian or Mercian text.
a complex subject, full of
To talk about regional dialects at all is somewhat text pointing in several (Compare the Scots pronun-
meticulous description, cau-
directions at once. ciation of mon for man
daring, given that the areas are so approximate, and the tious generalization, tabu-
Some examples of sign- today.)
lated exception, and (given
texts are so few. Indeed, regional definition may not be posts: Example: 'land' would be
the limited evidence) con-
the best approach, given the political and religious sit- land in West Saxon and Ken-
trolled frustration. There • If you see a manuscript
tish, but /ondfurther north.
uation of the time. Social and literary factors may have are no single indicators form with the spelling /e,
which will definitively this is likely to be a West • If you see the personal
been paramount. Because the writing of manuscripts
locate a text. Rather, dialect Saxon text, with the symbol pronouns mec, us/c, /jec,
was in the hands of monastic copyists, and copies (as work involves comparing a representing a diphthong. and eowic instead of me, us,
well as the copyists) travelled between centres, dialect large number of possible In other dialects there /be, and eoiv (p. 20), the text

diagnostic signposts, and would be a pure vowel. is likely to be Northumbrian

features would appear outside a particular geographi-
drawing a conclusion on the Example: 'yet' would be giet or Mercian.
cal region. The use of a 'koine" of poetic conventions basis of the direction to in West Saxon, but get else- Example: see the Lord's
may have been widespread. Manuscripts with 'mixed' which most of them seem to where. Prayer on p. 27.

dialect features are thus common.

 3 • OLD E NGUSH

The chief dialect divisions

The area originally occupied by the Angles gave
C/EDMON'SHYMN
rise to two main dialects: The version of Caedmon's hymn (p. 20) usually printed is in literary late West Saxon, and the
• Northumbrian was spoken north of a line run- text here is from an 1 1th-century manuscript. However, a Northumbrian version has also sur-

vived an 8th-century manuscript, which is thus very close to the language Bede himself
in
ning approximately between the Humber and
must have used. The differences are very evident, though in only one case (I. 3) does an impor-
Mersey rivers. It extended into the eastern low- tant variant reading occur.
lands of present-day Scotland, where it confronted
West Saxon Northumbrian
the Celtic language of the Strathclyde Britons. A
period of Northumbrian political power in the late
Nu we sceolan herigean heofonrices weard, Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard,

metodes mihte 7 his modgejjanc, metudxs maecti end his modgidanc,

7th century made the north a cultural centre, with
wera wuldorfsder, swa he wuldres gehw£es, uerc uuldurfadur, sue he uundra gihuaes,
several monasteries (notably, Wearmouth and
ece drihten, ord onscealde. ecidryctin, orastelidz.
Jarrow) and the work of Bede pre-eminent. Most
He xres[t] gescop eordan bearnum, He aerist scop aelda barnum
of the earliest Old English texts (7th-8th century)
heofon to rofe, halig scyppend; heben til hrofe, haleg scepen;
are Northumbrian, as a result. They include
middangeard moncynnes weard, tha middungeard moncynnes uard,
Csdmon's Hymn (see opposite), Bede's Death J3a

ece drihten, sfter teode, eci dpi'ctin, xhev tiad^,

Song, the Ruthwell Cross and the Franks Casket
firum foldan, frea .tlmihtie. firum foldu, frea alimectig.
inscriptions (p. 9), a short poem known as the
Leiden Riddle, a few glosses, and the 6,000 or so Now we shall praise the keeper of the heavenly kingdom,
names of people and places in Bede's Ecclesiastical the power of the lord of destiny and his imagination,
History {p. 7). the glorious father of men,
when of every glorious thing
• Mercian was spoken in the Midlands, roughly the deeds of the glorious father,
between the River Thames and the River Humber, he, the eternal lord, ordained the beginning.
and as far west as the boundary with present-day He first shaped for the children of earth
Wales. Very few linguistic remains exist, presum- the heaven as a roof, the holy creator;
ably because of the destructive influence of the then the guardian of mankind, the eternal lord,

Vikings. The chief texts are various charters, a afterwards made middle-earth;
famous gloss to the Vespasian Psalter, and a few the almighty lord (made) land for living beings.
other Latin glossaries. The chief period of Mercian
power was the early 8th century, but many later
West Saxon texts show the influence of Mercian,
partly because several scholars from this area (e.g. A TO? This extract also
tions found in a
shows how not all the varia-
comparison of manuscripts
should be interpreted as dialectal.
Werferth) were enlisted by King Alfred to help the
literary renaissance he inspired. • The use of letter 'eth' rather than 'thorn' in

• Kentish, spoken in the area of Jutish settlement, the words for 'thou' is not a dialect matter, as
these symbols were often interchangeable
was used mainly in present-day Kent and the Isle of WSfxdeT ure ]pu ]pe eart on heofonum
(p.16).
Wight. There is very little — a few
extant material No. fader urer flu art in heofnu(m) • It is not possible to read much into the dif-
charters of the 8th-9th centuries, a psalm, a hymn, Ale. feder ure \>u eart in heofenum ferent spellings of the unstressed syllable of
'heaven', as the sound quality would have
and sporadic glosses. Scholars have also made some 'father our thou (which) art in heaven'
been indeterminate (just as it is in Modern
further deductions about this dialect from the way The opening from a West Saxon (WS, late
line English) and the spelling unsystematic.
developed in Middle English where there 1 1th century), Northumbrian (No., late 10th
• There is insufficient dialect evidence in the
it (p. 50),
century), and Mercian (Me., early 1 0th cen- Old English corpus to draw any firm conclu-
is more material.
tury) version of the Lord's Prayer illustrates sions from the grammatical variations.
• The rest of England, south of the Thames and two of the important dialect features of Old
west as far as Cornwall (where Celtic was also English. (After T.E. Toon, 1992.) Of course, when we first examine a
manuscript, we have to work such things out
spoken) was settled by (West) Saxons, and became • 'father' The original Germanic vowel has for ourselves. We are not given the informa-
known as Wessex. Most of the Old English corpus is come forward in WS, and even further for- tion in advance. Every variant form is a possi-
written in the Wessex dialect. West Saxon, because it
ward in No.
Me., but has stayed bacl< in ble signpost. Finding out which lead
• 'art' WS and Me. have developed a diph- somewhere and which do not is what makes
was this kingdom, under King Alfred, which thong before [r] and a following consonant. Old English dialectology so engrossing. And
became the leading political and cultural force at This has not happened in No., where the the story is by no means over, for there are
the end of the 9th century. However, it is one of the vowel has stayed low, and also moved further many dialect questions which remain to be
back. answered.
ironies of English linguistic history that modern
Standard English is descended not from West
Saxon, but from Mercian, which was the dialect
spoken in the area around London when that city

became powerful in the Middle Ages (pp. 41, 50).

 .

4MIDDLE ENGLISH
The \ car 1 066 marks the beginning ot a new social and
linguistic era in Britain, but it does not actually iden-
DOMESDAY
tify the boundary between Old and Middle English. It
A detail from the opening folio of Great Domesday, the larger of the two volumes which
make up the Domesday Book, the survey of English land compiled by William in 1086. It is I

was a long time before the effects of the Norman inva- written in Latin, but it is of value to the English language historian for the information it
sion worked their way and Old
into the language, provides about English personal names and (to a lesser extent) place names. The spelling,
English continued to be used meanwhile. Even a cen- however, is troublesome, for the scribes used Latin conventions which were an inadequate
means of representing English sounds.
tury later, texts were still being composed in the West
SiLxon variety that had developed in the years follow- ^ hint
ing the reign of King Alfred (p. 29).
if J jfmfiafaiuof Unrfi Jvf 5""ljra- tiif
The period we call Middle English runs from the tvv.c6Jruii.wlc*. iprU^.
tfe.iVii.ltjfcf.

beginning of the 12th centut)' until the middle of the -Lmuuirif-- ^I'-iujirLft. t^iqi^xiatC

I 5th. It is a difficult period to define and discuss, largely iTif.tcfcjr .VvMii.liLinf. Srtjuibuf uia rti^r A*c ailvrc Jtara ccaa uia inna pn?
because of the changes taking place between the much fn:iuciU- oi-tn4c ninu ud j'tuiii?' tw»-ciaei-rt"'
*' amif CuSuiii'-aiiTaJ. C-)m(a doc iTJ uru^uaij; Iwu fOTlticair' folui; r^.c.Ut'.
more distinctive and identifiable worlds of Old English - cjtijtita cL fw a^ar^no tncfbrnzEC^tupn tx fi .Jticnr iamvL nan jj^plitnifiif ud ituxii
(§3) and Modern English (§§5-6). The manuscripts J>jvT,i.'. -icdif ..w. luuif lii?a uia- m Ir.m ai.TiM.
I

Jmf. -axmm riumfirr rtmrtu'fmaef !'c-foU>'

iiii- f •:.ui..iqu4i^- naui e^a7nrlutf..w*un' !^dc
give an impression of considerable linguistic varierv'
vth-ijUbtr. Qt. onCn^, u {iqr si fWrr 4-caixi'
mar '2ur iujStar'luertr. v;iii.ij£ re^tTntit
and rapid transition. Also, the gradual decay of Anglo- -.^tur.'o V
Hfjaa iTs^uBnictan- it: iilunr vr> tjtr. --in auK cjmfc' litt c?^ rra?.
; . roii <rop^
ijtaoJ -unlauiaiV' .m.Jciiai-uirmliiant. ".m
S,Lxon traditions and literary practices, overlapping
Ato i'i;ji--nfef S jiiuOTnluiT ftnrm.iTiru uvu -tu .xnt-ny. fci jvcf.-i ahdMr. 'i*4fjr<(fic
with the sudden emergence of French and Latin liter-
^,irar lir ycx tu^ oi'iiraLjJUrMf -nm cnjaai!\
acy, gives much of this period an elusive and unfocused at io.-ct.tr' "^ fcfV-u^c^ if ixlicnjiirufo- M ^ chaTt'^fuy I'ort'i^rat- vc £m:mio jf'crr-
fete' • .\.nJrur : ri-aiui ngifuur in uiUa.Vn^,
character.It is not until 1 400 that a clear focus emerges, cam mtru^iffc: .
Hiic iyjltif n«).( Xxiyitbiz <^ xXL^i}a.-a:i ^-
-i<iMn.i-i^ ~6 <iimjfliiii.~iiin-ir
in thework of Chaucer, but by then the period is almost
over. Chaucer himself indeed, is more often seen as a

forerunner of Modern English poetry than as a climax OUI, THREE KINGS William (1066-87) spent
I And later?
about half his reign in
to Middle English. Most Anglo-Norman
of the
France, in at least five of
Stephen (1 135-54) was kept
kings were unable to com- in England through civil
those years not visiting
municate at all in English - strife (p. 33); his knowledge
The rise of French England at all; according to
though it is said some used it of English is not known.
the chronicler Ordericus
The main influence on English was, of course, French forswearing. However, by
Vitalis, he tried to learn Henry (11 54-89) spent a
II

- Norman the end of the 14th century,

strictly, French, the language introduced to English at the age of 43, but he
total of 20 years in France;
the situation had changed.
Britain by the invader. Following William of Nor- gave up. understood English, but did
Richard addressed the
II
not speak it.
mandy's accession, French was rapidly established in people in English during the William II (1087-1 100)
Peasants' Revolt (1381). spent about half his reign in Richard I (1189-99) spent
the corridors of power. French-speaking barons were
Henry IV's speeches at France; his knowledge of only a few months in
appointed, who brought over their own retinues. Soon Richard's deposition were English is not known. England; he probably spoke
after, French-speaking abbots and bishops were in made in English. And Henry's Henry (1100-35) spent
I
no English.

place. Lanfranc, Abbot of St Stephen's at Caen, was will was written in English nearly half his reign in John (1199-1216) lived
(1413) -the first royal will to France, often several years at mainly in England after 1204;
made Archbishop of Canterbur)' as early as 1070. be so. a time; the only king to have the extent of his English is
Within 20 years of the invasion, almost all the reli- an English wife until Edward not known.
gious houses were under French-speaking superiors, IV (1461-83), he may have
known some English.
and several new foundations were solely French. Large
William II Henry
numbers of French merchants and craftsmen crossed I

the Channel to take advantage of the commercial

opportunities provided by the new regime. And aris-

tocratic links remained strong with Normandy, where

the nobles kept their estates.
Doubtless bilingualism quickly flourished among
those who crossed the social divide - English people
learning French in order to gain advantages from the
aristocracy, and baronial staff learning English as part
of the daily contact with local communities. But there
is hardly any sign of English being used among the
new hierarchy — a situation which was to continue for
over a century.
 MIDDLE E N C; 1. 1 S H

The rise of English education, and worship. The position of English THE ONOMASTIC
During the 2th century, EngHsh became more widely
1 becomes clearer in the 13th century, when we find an CONQUEST
used among the upper classes, and there was an enor- increasing number of sermons, prayers, romances, A modern drawing of
Southampton, Hampshire,
mous amount of intermarriage with English people. songs, and other documents. Finally, in the I4th
c. 1 500. At that time, one of

The largely monolingual French-speaking court was century, we have the major achievements ol Middle the two most important
of the country. Richard Fitz English literature, culmi- streets of the town was called
not typical of the rest
French Street (it is the middle
Neal's Ditilogus de Scaccario ('A Dialogue on the Exche- nating in the writing ol W^^ '
of the three thoroughfares
quer'), written in 1 177, reports: Geoffrey Chaucer (p. 38). running north-south), evi-
dently a location for many
Now that the English and Normans have been dwelling French merchants and set-
together, marrying and giving in marriage, the two tlers. Several othertowns in

nations have become so mixed that it is scarcely possible the south showed early
influence of French settle-
today, speaking of free men, to tell who is English, who of
ment.
Norman race.
One way of trying to plot
French influence in the
By the end of the 12th century, contemporary
period is through the anal-
accounts suggest that some children of the nobility ysis of baptismal names

spoke English as a mother tongue, and had to be see the discussion of ono-
mastics, p. 140). Native
taught French in school. French continued to be used
pre-Conquest names were
in Parliament, the courts, and in public proceedings, chiefly West Germanic
but weknow that translations into English increased in (p. 5), but showed the
influence of Scandinavian
frequency throughout the period, as did the number of
in the Danelaw, and also
handbooks written tor the teaching ot French. of Celtic in the border
From 1204, a different political climate emerged. areas - Godwine, Egbert,
Alfred, Wulfric, Haraldr,
King John of England came into conflict with King Eadric, and the like.
Philip of France, and was obliged to give up control of Within a century of the
Normandy. The English nobility lost their estates in Conquest, most of these
had been replaced by
France, and antagonism grew between the two coun-
such names as 7o/in,
tries, leading ultimately to the Hundred Years War Peter, Simon, and

(1337-1453). The status of French diminished as a Stephen. A Canterbury

survey made in the
of English nationalism grew, culminating in the
spirit
1 1 50s shows that 75 per

Barons' War (1264-5). In 1362, English was used for cent of the men had
the first time opening of Parliament. By about
at the Continental names.
And the history of
1425 it appears that English was widely used in Eng-
English naming has
land, in writing as well as in speech. reflected this influ-
ence ever since.
Reasons for survival
fiow had the language managed to survive the French
ALL UNDERSTAND THE ENGLISH TONGUE
invasion? After all, Celtic had not survived the Anglo-
Contemporary writers In English tonge schal jow telle,
Saxon invasions 500 years before (p. 8). Evidently the I

sometimes provide gif je wyth me so longe wil dwelle.

English language in the 11th century was too well insights into the linguistic
No Latyn wil I speke no [nor] waste.
established for it to be supplanted by another language. stateof the nation. A
much-quoted example is
But English, \>3.t men vse mast [most],
Unlike Celtic, it had a considerable written literature
man vnderstande,
from William of Nassyng- ^at can eche [each]
and would have taken several
a strong oral tradition. It
ton's Speculum Vitae or Pat is born in Ingelande;
hundred years of French immigration, and large num- Minor of Life (cA'il'i). For [jat langage is most chewyd [shown]
bers of immigrants, to have changed things - but the Although some who have Os [as] wel among lered [learned] os lewyd [unlearned].
lived at court do know
good relations between England and France lasted for Latyn, as I trowe [believe] can nane [knoiv none]
French, he says, nobody
only 150 years, and some historians have estimated now knows only French. But^o [except those] \iM haueth it in scole tane [school

Everyone, whatever their taken].

that the number of Normans in the country may have
learning, knows English. And somme can [some know] Frensche and no Latyn,
been as low as 2 per cent of the total population. (For grammatical endings, [jat vsed han [have] cowrt [court] and dwellen Jierein,
This 1 50 years, nonetheless, is something of a 'dark see p. 44; spelling conven-
And somme can of Latyn a party [part]
age' in the history of the language. There is hardly any tions, see p. 40. The
extract uses two earlier Pat can of Frensche but febly [feebly];
written evidence of English, and we can thus only
English symbols (p. 14): And somme vnderstonde wel Englysch,
speculate about what was happening to the language thorn, |3, later replaced by Pat can no[ier [neither] Latyn nor Frankys [Prankish, i.e.

during that period. Judging by the documents which t/i, andyogh, 3, later French].
replaced byy. Modern u is
have survived, it seems that French was the language V>o\pe lered and lewed, olde and jonge,
written v, and vice versa.)
of government, law, administration, literature, and Alle vnderstonden english tonge.

the Church, with Latin also used in administration.

 -

ivAK I I • riii; Ills I oin' ov knci isii

INFLECTIONAL
THE TRANSITION FROM OLD ENGLISH CARRYING POWER
This is a list of the most impor-
A tundamental change in the structure of English took tant endings In Old English
to theemergence of a pidgin-like variety of speech
regular nouns and verbs
pl.icc during the 1 1th and 12th centuries -one without between the two cultures, and perhaps even eventually (p. 20), along with one lexical
pivccdent in the history of the language, and without to a kind of Creole which was used as a lingua franca example of each. All endings
Grammatical relationships which consisted of just a
parallel thereafter. in Old (p. 344). As with pidgins everywhere, there would
vowel, or a vowel plus nasal,
English had been expressed chiefly by the use of inflec- have been a loss of word endings, and greater reliance disappeared from the lan-
tional endings (p. 20). In Middle English, they came to on word order. Gradually, this pattern would have guage during the Middle
English period. The only end-
be expressed (as they are today) chiefly by word order. spread until whole of the East Midlands
it affected the
ings to survive were the ones
Why did this change take place? Few subjects in the his- area - from which Standard English was eventually to with greater carrying power
tory of English have attracted so much speculation. emerge (p. 50). At the very least, they conclude, this the high-pitched -s forms
{kings, king's, lovest), the -th
situation would have accelerated the process of inflec-
The decay of inflections forms (loveth, later replaced
tional decay - and may even have started it. by -5, p. 44), and the distinctive
About one fict there is no doubt. There are clear signs
Whether such arguments are valid depends on how -ends of the participle (later
during the Old English period of the decay of the
replaced by -ing, p. 45) and
far we believe that the speakers of Old English and Old
inflectional system. The surviving texts suggest that past tense.
Norse were unable to understand each other at the
the change started in the north of the country, and Nouns
time, and this is largely a matter of speculation. Per- (cyning 'king', scip
slowly spread south. Several of the old endings are still 'ship', glof
haps there existed a considerable degree of mutual 'glove', guma 'man')
present in the 12th-century text of the Peterborough
intelligibility, given that the two languages had -e, -n (ace. sg.) glofe, guman
Chronicle opposite, but they are not used with much -es, -e, -n (gen. sg.) cyninges,
consistency, and they no longer seem
diverged only a few hundred years before. The roots of
to play an impor- glofe, guman
many words were the same, and in the Icelandic sagas -n (dat. sg.) cyninge, guman
tant role in conveying meaning. -e,

it is said that the Vikings and the English could under- as, -u, -a (nom. pi.) cyningas,
But why did the Old English inflectional endings scipu, glofa
stand each other. Whatever the case, we can tell from
decay? The most obvious explanation is that it became -n, -as, -u, -a (ace. pi.) guman,
the surviving Middle English texts that the Danelaw cyningas, scipu, glofa
increasingly difficult to hear them, because of the way
words had come
was a much more progressive area, linguistically speak- -a, -ena, (gen. pi.) cyninga,
to be stressed during the evolution of
ing, than the rest of the country. Change which began
glofa, gumena
the Germanic languages (p. 6). The ancestor language -urn (dat. pi.) cyningum,
of Germanic, Indo-European, had a
here affected southern areas later. Some form of Viking glofum, gumum
'free' system of
influence cannot easily be dismissed.
accentuation, in which the stress within a word moved Verbs
As inflections decayed, so the reliance on word {fremman 'perform', lufian
according to intricate rules (p. 248). In Germanic, this
order became critical, resulting in a grammatical 'love', deman 'judge')
system changed, and most words came to carry the
-e(l sg. pres. ind.)
system which is very similar to that found today. There
main stress on their first syllable. This is the system fremme, lufie, deme
is no sign in the Peterborough Chronicle extract of the
found throughout Old English. As always, there were -est, -ast, -St {2 sg. pres. ind.)

Old English tendency to put the object before the fremest, lufast, demst
exceptions- the ^c- prefix, for example (p. 21), is never
-ed, -ad, -d (3 sg. pres. ind.)
stressed.
verb, for example (p. 44). The Subject- Verb-Object
fremed, lufad, demd
order, already a noticeable feature of Old English, has -ad (1-3
Having the main stress at the beginning of a word pi. pres. ind.)
become firmly established by the beginning of the fremmad, lufiad, demad
can readily give rise to an auditory problem at the end. -e(1-3sg. pres. subj.)
Middle English period.
This is especially so when there are several endings fremme, lufie, deme
which are phonetically very similar, such as -en, -on, -en (1-3 pi. pres. subj.)
fremmen, lufien, demen
and -an. In rapid conversational speech it would have -de(1 & 3sg. past ind.)
been difficult to distinguish them. The situation is not fremede, lufode, demde
too far removed from that which -dest (2 sg. past ind.)
still obtains in
fremedest, lufodest, demdest
Modern English, where people often make such forms -don (1-3 pi. past ind.)
as -/b/eund -ab/e {visible, ivashable) or Belgian 3,n6. Beh fremedon, lufodon, demdon
giitm sound the same. This neutralization' of vowel -de(l-3sg. past subj.)
fremede, lufode, demde
qualities undoubtedly affected the Old English system.
-den (1-3 pi. past subj.)
fremeden, lufoden, demden
The contact situation
-ende (pres. part.)
However, auditory confusion cannot be the sole fremmende, lufiende,
reason. Other Germanic languages had a strong initial demende
stress, too, yet they retained their inflectional system Abbreviations (see Part III)

ace. accusative; dat. dative;

(as is still seen in modern German). Why was the
gen. genitive; ind. indicative;
change so much greater in English? Some scholars cite nom. nominative; ,oarf. partici-
the Viking settlement as the decisive factor (p. 25). ple; p/. plural; pres. present
During the period of the Danelaw, they argue, the con- tense; sg. singular; subj. sub-
junctive; 7, 2, 3 1st, 2nd, 3rd
tact between English and Scandinavian would have led
person.
 .

MIDDLE ENGLISH

THE PETERBOROUGH CHRONICLE again in 1 1 the death of Stephen, adding

54, after indeed argued at length about whether it is best
several events from the intervening years. The lan- to call it 'late Old English' or 'early Middle English'.

We are fortunate to have the later years of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (p. 14), which continues to
the middle of the 12th century, to illustrate this
period of change. In 1116, most of the monastery
at Peterborough was destroyed by fire, along with
many manuscripts. The monks immediately began
toreplacethe writings which had been lost. They
borrowed thetext of the Chronicle from another
monastery, copied it out, and then carried on writ-
ing the history themselves. They continued until
1131, but then the writing stopped - doubtless
because of the chaotic conditions of civil war
which existed in the reign of King Stephen, some
of which are described in the extract below.
This extract is from the Chronicle when it begins
guage is now quite different. Despite points of
similarity with the previous work, the overall
impression is that the writer is starting again,
using vocabulary and grammatical patterns which
reflect the language of his time and
inventing fresh spelling conventions to cope with
new sounds. The extract has been set out in a
word-for-word translation, but (unlike the Old
English extract about Caedmon on p. 20), it is no
longer necessary to add a free translation as well.
Apart from a few phrases, the language now
seems much closer to Modern English.
The later material from the Peterborough
Chronicle looks back towards Old English and
ahead towards Middle English. Scholars have
Some stress the archaic features of the text, point-
ing to similarities with the West Saxon dialect of
Old English (p. 29); others stress the differences,
and consider it to be the earliest surviving Middle
locality, and English text. The Chronicle illustrates very clearly
the difficulty of drawing a sharp boundary
between different stages in the development of a
language. But it does not take much longer before
the uncertainty is resolved. Other texts from the
1 2th century confirm the new direction in which
the language was moving; and within a century of
the close of the Chronicle, there is no doubt that a
major change has taken place in the structure of
English. (The first twelve lines of the illustration
are transcribed and translated below.)

[Me dide cnotted strenges abuton here] hsued and

(One placed knotted cords about their] head and

uurythen it c")at it gsede to Jje hsrnes. Hi diden

Stitne1nAdmmcfticednif^ifinanaffe)MrfAff<«r^n4rm' twisted it that it entered to the brains. They put
^tindep. iitAcfc«j*pcflancfj>cnnnc. ;jf»txrti0dcfcnwti J«|* heom in quarterne {jar nadres and snakes and pades

wne.^'hib^won alkjxtimcf.fnnuint of \k cA^cffenxm fof them in cell where adders and snakes and toads
^

dT|\i (^^'emeti fwddcn cnol»TO vva:ron inne, and drapen heom swa. Sume hi diden in
l^n* ^f<*twt|^chcnte55cf were in, and killed them so. Some they put in
t>imni(mnC'|«<*rf«tfftuitiuccAi>iffi?fW^TOAnUwn'*jdi(lfnafi
5 crucethus, t)at is in an ceste|3at wasscort, and nareu,
torture-box, that is in a chest that was short, and narrow,

dfff«tl«f mftrwntielim TIC ilcpai- (V lw|tm Al i'tivn-djam and undep, and dide scaerpe stanes jserinne, and
and shallow, and put sharp stones therein, and

ytmdcj*4iraUc|vpmcfdT»ididm|7iKCtTnmon|ftf{An*-iyiaffe
[jrengdej^e man [jxr-inne, Sat him bra'con alle [je limes,

pressed the man therein, that they broke all the limbs.

Inmaniofjje castles wseron lof and grin, Sat

ttttC|j|e^bt,l«tdim fpnlM^dv ntn«f cnifpttf tl r :)clcj>cdCTi rr In many of the castles were headband and halter, that

tjn^r-lvilv uMffwemmnclwAiVn nam«irw<^ioi-J'4jif -

wa;ron rachenteges Sat twa ojjer thre men hadden onoh
j^ueimftt •;brvn\»n dtterftrmncf. if^rt V" tn^hrrf ^fcnai ad«f were fetters that two or three men had enough

^W^lM^'lwiKtirHindcntivminnitKftmin^nel^tiiTi 10 to bsron onne; [jat was sua maced, Sat is fajstned to an

to bear one; that was so made, that is fastened to a

beom, and diden an scxrp iren abuton {ia mannes throte

beam, and put a sharp iron about the man's throat

and his hals, Sat he ne myhte nowiderwardes, ne sitten

^4m UnA-tic t wiire hcrficn met! ^-/c nedi^m Jwh hi AtAm and his neck, that he not might in no direction, neither sit

ne lien ne slepen, oc bxronal Sat iren. Mani

nor lie nor sleep, but bear all that iron. Many
al^5o> if |ttnt>ne|>>tf''lbi wdeti fjrdficn |v c^rcf >1lnr gtcdeit-
jjLisen hi drapen mid himga'r.
1jclitm'fbi&»t^l>foti*ncAK>>KVtwflifaftwidmnnni^
thousand they killed by means of hunger.
•jcl«fekcjpi«itrtciivtn (nCKrlJCoiKpn^fTW' 6tf xfatncn ofv)Mtt<
15 I ne can ne I ne mai tellen alle |:ie wunder ne alle [>e
amMtiftMi>TO anTttn.<il}»eTutifa|rfliicpen'fTOlw.f«I^al^ I not know nor I not can tell all the atrocities nor all the
InyiWWwmctirfbclnfcaiKf ilqtid^ni t»a>c«ff«de<ai|t«of|«f and Sat
pines Sat hi diden wreccemen on jjis land,
Iw nahrtwroh fttt ht tmcnmal •fbi citi^ '^fmftttwti^to crueltiesthatthey did to wretched people in this land, and that
i«n. par fce»nmleAc'V»<rrfKnctrtrmn attn-f«|v!andfdf«J( was
lastede [ja xi.x wintre wile Stephne was king, and sure it

gfitt^ntmiifml<cAi»dcf*)lnf<«dcn<>pmIice^'v|)^eP'7htfha lasted the 19 winters while Stephen was king, and always it was

fecfKnStiik'timtr^neTmtnncn f<«infc|vlcti^uvpr.lp«n<|lf uiierse and uuerse.

^. 4fomtr fimtts • worse and worse.

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc 636, fo

 .

Ill I nisi OR'i' Oi- KNt.l ISH

style (p. 23) is still present in all these works, despite an POETRY OR PROSE?
TUll MIDDLE ENGLISH CORPUS apparent break in poetic continuity of at least a hun- The Worcester Fragments are
much the remains of a manuscript
dred years. The conimdrum has generated dis-
which was used to mal<e the
The Middle English period has a much richer docu- cussion. Perhaps the alliterative technique was retained cover of a book in the Chap-
mcmation than is found in Old English (p. 10). This through prose: several Middle English prose texts are ter Library at Worcester. The
result of piecing together the
is partly the result of the post-Conquest political situ- strongly alliterative, and it is sometimes difficult to tell
fragments was a piece of con-
ation.The newly centralized monarchy commissioned from a manuscript which genre (poetry or prose) a
tinuous text, probably copied
national and local surveys, beginning with the Domes- piece belongs to, because the line divisions are not c. 1200from a much earlier
shown. Perhaps the Old English style survived through text. The manuscript contains
dav Book (p. 30), and there is a marked increase in the
/Elfric's Grammar (p. 16), a
number ot public and private documents - mandates, the medium of oral transmission. Or perhaps it is
passage on the Debate of the
charters, contracts, tax-rolls, and other administrative simply that most poetic manuscripts have been lost. Soul and the Body, and an
item on the disuse of English.
or judicial papers. However, the early material is of Middle English poetry was inevitably much influ-
Part of this last item is
limited value to those interested in the linguistic his- enced by French literary traditions, both in content given here. Modern editions
tory of English because it is largely written in Latin or and style. One of the earliest examples is the 13th- usually print the text in lines,

known The Owl and as if it were a poem, but the

French, and the only relevant data which can be century verse-contest as the
rhythm and alliteration are
extracted relate to English place and personal names Nightingale (p. 36). Later works include romances in
extremely free and unpre-
(§10). Most religious publication tails into the same the French style, secular lyrics, bestiaries, ballads, bib- dictable, and it is difficult to

and identify lines of a conven-

category, with Latin maintaining its presence through- lical poetry. Christian legends, h\'mns, prayers,
tional kind. In other words, it

out the period as the official language of the Church. would be just as plausible to
A major difference from Old English is the absence of print the material as prose.
The editor has filled out the
a continuing tradition of historical writing in the
text in a few places where
native language, as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - a l>iiif'Cir'<iTft*iC(i6i.fti:<r>?jifa((if.uiHfK>«}'./)eiMrDoc'div.if'( there were holes in the
(i<r|'ottff.6"oi('ftf&.iociufA«n«nt)miuf-Ntin<mif.lfu»nfiif.[>i manuscript. An interesting
function which Latin supplanted, and which was not
|»for". irti ({^nvfeti re Itadm-cn m^t-Vi(xyt\rny^olhit(op>
linguistic feature is the
revived until the 15th century. l)Of!cf(ci' n^.^tnimw-ytlfnis (jf 'Mpum-lohcin if (iftjfCi-Lii Ctif't preservation of the irregular
Material in English appears as a trickle in the 13th «fi)(;iil) •(uic-Of)'^oft"f«'p<iinr-tgvinijflicouenmTiic.,vrf
form of the noun for 'books',
iifftMln«'f6iit'i.£{j;i(»fmn-i'f'cIpolDl-4ic/an-r,ititii'f|'nicd'ftix'.
century, but within 1 50 years it has become a flood. In bee. (After B. Dickins & R.M.
Wilson, 1951.)
the early period, we see a great deal ol religious prose
writing, in the form of homilies, tracts, lives of the
/Elfricabbod.jjewe Alquin hote|n, he was bocare, and |je fit bee wende. Genesis, Exodus,
saints,and other aids to devotion and meditation.
Vtronomius, Numerus, Leuiticus. J3urh Jieosweren ilsrde ure leoden on Englisc. Jiet weren
Sometimes a text was written with a specific readership
\>eos biscopes \ie bodeden Cristendom: Wilfrid of Ripum, lohan of Beoterlai, Cu|jbert of
in mind; the Aiicrene Riwle (Anchorites" Guide), lor
Dunholme, Oswald of Wireceastre, Egwin of Heoueshame, ytldelm of Malmesburi,
example, was compiled by a spiritual director for three
Swithun,j'EJ)elwold, AJdan, Biern ofWinca^stre, Paulin of Rofecsstre, S. Dunston, and S.
noblewomen who had abandoned the world to live as
jElfeih of Cantoreburi. [?eos Isrden ure leodan on Englisc. Na;s deorc heore liht, ac hit fa:ire
anchoresses. During the I4th century, there is a
glod. Nu is \>eo leore forleten, and ]pet folc is forloren. .

marked increase in the number of translated writings

trom French and Latin, and of texts for teaching these
languages (p. 31). Guild records, proclamations, elegies. The mystical dream-vision, popular in Italy Abbot /Elfric, whom we call
and France, well illustrated by the poem modern edi- Alquin, he was a writer, and
proverbs, dialogues, allegories, and letters illustrate the is
translated five books.
diverse range of new stv'les and genres. Towards the end tors have called Pearl in which the writer recalls the
Genesis, Exodus,
of the century, the translations of the Bible inspired by death of his two-year-old daughter, who then acts as Deuteronomy, Numbers,
Leviticus. Through these our
John Wyclifif appear amid considerable controversy, his spiritual comforter. Drama also begins to make its
people were taught in Eng-
and the associated movement produces many presence felt, in the form of dialogues, pageants, and lish. These were the bishops

manuscripts (p. 54). Finally, in the 1430s, there is a the famous cycles of mystery plays (p. 58). who preached Christianity:
Wilfrid of Ripum, lohan of
vast output in English from the office of the London Much ot Middle English literature is of unknown
Beoferlai, Cuthbertof
Chancery scribes, which strongly influenced the devel- authorship, but by the end of the period this situation Dunholme, Oswald of
opment of a standard written language (p. 41). has changed. Among the prominent names which Wireceastre, Egwin of

emerge in the latter part of the l4th century are John Heoueshame, /Eldelm of
Malmesburi, Swithun,
The poetic puzzle Cower, William Langland, John Wycliff, and Geolfrc)' /Ethelwold, Aidan, Biern of
Poetry presents a puzzle. The Anglo-Saxon poetic tra- Chaucer, and some time later John Lydgate, Thomas Wincaestre, Paulin of »: ,_.

dition apparently dies out in the 1 1 th century, to reap- Malory, William Caxton, and the poets who are col- Rofecaestre, S Dunston, and
S. of Cantoreburi.
/Elfeih
pear patchily in the 13th. A lengthy poetic history of lectively known as the Scottish Chaucerians (p. 53). These taught our people in
Britain known as La-Damon's Brut {p. 36) is one of the Rather than a somewhat random collection of inter- English. Their light was not
dark, and it shone brightly.
earliest works to survive from Middle English, and in esting texts, there is now a major body of 'literature', in
Now is this knowledge aban-
the I4th century come the important texts of Piers the modern sense. It is this which provides the final
doned, and the people
Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [p. 37). part of the bridge between Middle and Early Modern damned...
What is surprising is that the alliterative 0\A English Endish (§5).
 MIDDLE ENGLISH

JOHNOFTREVISA A PASTON LETTER

TheCornishman Johnof Trevisa (d. 1402), who became an Oxford scholar This an extract from one of the collection of
is

and clergyman, made in 1387 a translation of RanulfHigden's Latin Poly- letters written by members of the Norfolk
chronicon - so called because it was the chronicle of many ages, from the family of Paston during the 15th century.
Creation to 352. At one point, Higden reviews the language teaching sit-
1 There are over a thousand items in the collec
uation in England, and gives two reasons for the decline of the mother tion, dealing with everything from legal mat
tongue. ters to domestic gossip, and written
throughout in a natural and often vivid style.
On ys for chyldern in scole, One [reason] is that children in Most of the collection is now in the British Mus-
ajenes [je vsage and manere of al school, contrary to the usage and eum. The present example comes from a letter
written 'in hastle]' by Margaret Paston to her hu
o[3er nacions, buj) compelled for custom of all other nations, are
band John on 19 May 1448, Trinity Sunday evening.
to leue here oune longage, and for compelled to abandon their own
Ryght worshipf ull husbond, recomaund me to you, and prey yow to
I

to construe here lessons and here language, and to carry on their

wete that on Friday last passed before noon, the parson of Oxened beyng
l^inges a Freynsch, and habbejs lessonsand their affairs in French, at messe in oure parossh chirche, evyn atte levacion of thesakeryng,
su[ithe \)e Normans come furst and have done since the Normans Jamys Gloys hadde ben in the toune and come homward by Wymondams
into Engelond. Also gentil men first came to England. Also the gate. And Wymondam stod in his gate, and John Norwode his man stod

children bujj ytaujt tor to speke children of gentlemen are taught to by hym, and Thomas Hawys his othir man stod in thestrete by thecanell
side. And Jamys Gloys come wyth his hatte on his hede betwen bothe his
Freynsch fram tyme [jat a buj.! speak French from the time that
men, as he was wont of custome to do. And whanne Gloys was ayenst
yrokked in here cradel, and they are rocked in their cradle, and Wymondham, heseid thus: 'Covere thy heed!' And Gloys seid ageyn, 'So I

conneji speke and playe wiJD a learn to speak and play with a shall for the.' And whanne Gloys was forther passed by the space of iii or
child hys broach; and oplondysch and rustic men will
child's trinket; iiii strede, Wymondham drew owrt dagger and seid, 'Shalt thow so,
his
knave?' And therwith Gloys turned hym, and drewe owt his dagger and
men wol lykne hamsylf to gencil make themselves like gentlemen,
defendet hym, f leyng into my moderis place; and Wymondham and his
men, and fondej? wi|:i gret bysynes and seek with great industry to man Hawys kest stonys and dreve Gloys into my moderis place, and Hawys
for to speke Freynsch, for to be speak French, to be more highly folwyd into my moderis place and kest a ston as meche as a forthyng lof
moreytoldof thoughtof. into the halle after Gloys, and than ran o\nX of the place ageyn. And Gloys
folwyd owt and stod wythowt the gate, and thanne Wymondham called
Gloys thef and seid he shuld dye, and Gloys seid he lyed and called hym
At this point, John of Trevisa adds the following:
charl, and bad hym come hym self or ell the best man he hadde, and Gloys

^ys manere was moche y-vscd This practice was much used before wold answere hym on for on. And thanne Haweys ran into Wymondhams
place and feched a spere and a swerd, and toke his maister his swerd. And
tofore ^e furste moreyn, and ys the and has since been
first plague,
wyththenoiseof this asaut and affray my modirand come owt of the
I

sef)the somdel ychaunged. For somewhat changed. For John chirche from the sakeryng, and bad Gloys go into my moderis place
I

lohan Cornwal, a mayster of
gramere, chayngede
gramerscole and construccion of
Freynsch into Englysch; and
Richard Pencrych lurnede fsat
Cornwall, a teacher of grammar, ageyn, and so he dede. And thanne Wymondham called my moder and
\)e lore in changed the teaching in grammar me strong hores, and seid the Pastons and alle her kyn were [hole in
paper]... seid he lyed, knave and charl as he was. And he had meche large
school and the construing of French
langage, as ye shall knowe herafter by mowthe.
into English: and Richard Penkridge
learned that method of teaching My dear husband, commend myself to you, and want you to know that,
I

manere techyng of hym, and
men of Pencrych, so |3at now, ]pe
^er of oure Lord a [jousond
hondred foure score and
\>e secunde kyng Richard
Conquest nyne, in a! \}e
gramerscoles of Engelond
childern leuejs Frensch, and
construe|3 and lurne[5 an Englysch,
and habbej) Jierby avauntage in on
syde, and desavantauge yn anojjer.
Here avauntage ys jjat a lurne^
here granier yn lasse tyme {jan
childern wer ywoned to do.
Desavauntage ys jjat now childern
of gramerscole connej) no more
Frensch [jan can here lift
last Fridaybefore noon, the parson of Oxnead was saying Mass in our
oj^er from him, and other men from
parish church, and at the very moment of elevating the host, James Gloys,
Penkridge, so that now, AD 1385, who had been in town, was coming home past Wyndham's gate. And
[sre the ninth year of the reign of the Wyndham was standing in his gateway with his man John Norwood by his
fytie, of second King Richard after the side, and his other man, Thomas Hawes, was standing in the street by the
gutter And James Gloys came with his hat on his head between both his
after |3e Conquest, in all the grammar
men, as he usually did. And when Gloys was opposite Wyndham, Wynd-
schools of England children ham said 'Cover your head!' And Cloys retorted, 'So I shall for you!' And
abandon French, and compose and when Gloys had gone on three or four strides, Wyndham drew out his
learn in English, and have thereby dagger and said, 'Willyou, indeed, knave?' And with thatGloys turned
an advantage on the one hand, and on him, and drew out his dagger and defended himself, fleeing into my
mother's place; and Wyndham and his man Hawes threw stones and
a disadvantage on the other The
drove Gloys into my mother's house, and Hawes followed into my
advantage is that they learn their mother's and threw a stone as big as a farthing-loaf into the hall at Gloys,
grammar in less time than children and then ran out of the place again. And Cloys followed him out and
used to do. The disadvantage is that stood outside the gate, and then Wyndham called Cloys a thief and said
he had to die, and Gloys said he lied and called him a peasant, and told
nowadays children at grammar
him to come himself or else the best man he had, and Gloys would answer
school know no more French than him, one against one. And then Hawes ran into Wyndham's place and
their left heel, and that is a fetched a spear and a sword, and gave his master his sword. And at the
heele, misfortune for them if they should noise of this attack and uproar my mother and came out of the church
I

from the sacrament, and told Gloys to go into my mother's again, and he
and jsat ys harm for ham and a cross the sea and travel in foreign I

did so. And then Wyndham called my mother and me wicked whores, and
scholle passe jse se and trauayle in countries, and in other such said the Pastons and all her kin were (...) said he lied, knave and peasant
strange londes, and in meny caas circumstances. Also, gentlemen that he was. And he had a great deal of broad language, as you shall hear
also. Also gentil men habbe|5 now have now largely abandoned later by word of mouth.

moche yleft for to teche here teaching their children French, Such a story could have appeared in any modern tabloid. (The hole in the
childern Frensch. paper is fortuitous, and is unlikely to be an 'expletive deleted'.) The expe-
rience shocked Margaret, who 'wolde not for xl //. have suyche another
Plusqa change... trouble' ('wouldn't have another such disturbance happen for £40').
 . . .

PART I THl HIS TORY OF HNCl.ISH

THL OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE LAJAMON'S BRUT

Ti s IS example to appear in English of the debate verse form which was so pop-
the first This is a poem of c. 16,000 lines telling the history of
i ;n Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. In the poem, the two speakers argue Britain from the landing of Brutus (the Brut of the title,
views in the manner of a lawsuit. The work has become famous for its humour and the reputed founder of the Britons) to the last Saxon
ly, and for the lively way in which the characters of the two birds are portrayed. It dis-
victory over the Britons in 589. It uses an alliterative line,
;vs a French-inspired scheme of four-beat lines in rhyming couplets. Its authorship has
..-:
showing the influence of Old English (p. 1 1), and many of
n(>t been established, though the dialect represented is southern, and it was probably
its themes reflect those of earlier Germanic times; but
composed c. 1200. From a reference in the poem to a Master Nicholas of Guildford (who the approach was also much influenced by French chival-
the birds agree should judge the debate), that area of Surrey has been suggested as a ric romances. The text actually uses as a source a French
possible source. The following extracts are of the opening lines, and part of one of the verse chronicle, Roman de Brut, made by the 12th-cen-
nightingale's diatribes. tury Anglo-Norman author, Wace.
Little is known of Lajamon (modern spelling, Laya-
Icli was in one sumere dale, / was in a summer valley,
mon), other than what he tells us in the opening lines of
In one sujae digele hale, In a very hidden corner, the work -that he was a parish priest of Ernleje (modern
Iherde ich holde grete tale I heard holding a great argument Areley Kings, Worcestershire). There are two extant
An hule and one nijtingale. An owl and a manuscripts, both datingfrom the first half of the 13th
nightingale.
century, and separated in time by about a generation.
^at plait was stit an stare an strong. The dispute was fierce and violent and strong,
This has given scholars a rare chance to make a compari-
Sum-wile softe an lud among; Sometimes soft and loud at intervals; son, to see if the two versions throw some light on the
An eljier ajen o[>cr sval. And each swelled in anger against the other. way the language could have changed during that time.
An let [jat vuele mod ut al. And let out their bad temper The poem is written in long lines, divided into half-line
groups, and a great deal of use is made of alliteration,
An eijjer seide of ojjeres custe And each said of the other's qualities
rhyme, and other phonological features which give the
^at alre-worste ]pat hi wuste . . The worst things that they knew ...
units their structure (p. 41 A surprising
feature of the
5).

text is that, despite being written 50 years after the

An [ju tukest wro^ie an vuele, And you ill-treat cruelly and badly.
1

Conquest, it has very few French loan words. It is likely

Whar \>u migt, over-smale fujele . . Wherever you can, very small birds . .
that the poem's subject matter, much concerned with
I'll art lodlich to biholde, You are hateful to behold. battles within the epic tradition, motivated Lajamon to
An |3U art \o]p in monie volde; And you are hateful in many ways; use an older vocabulary, associated more with the Old

bodi swore English period. However, there are no kennings in the

^i is short, \>i is smal, Your body is short, your neck is small.
text(p. 23). The later version also contains rather more
Grettere is [jin heued [san \>u al; Your head is bigger than the rest of you;
French loans, suggesting that the scribe was to some
Mn e^ene bojs colblake an brode, Your eyes both charcoal-black and wide. extent trying to modernize the language. (Extracts and
Ri^t swo ho weren ipeint mid wode . Just like they were painted with woad.... translation from N. Blake, 1992.)

Earlier version

THE CUCKOO Svmer is icumen in, Summer has come in. Nu haueS Vortigernes cun Aurilien aquald.

SONG Lhudesingcuccu! Loudly sing, cuckoo! nu {lu srt al ane ofaflele Jsinecunne.
Growejj sed and bloweji med The seed grows and the Ah ne hope \iu to rsede of heom [sat liggeS dede.
This well-known
And springjj \>e wde nu. meadow bursts into flower ah ]penc o(\>e seolden seolden jse beo5 ^iuelse.
song is one of
several secular Singcuccu! And the wood springs up now. for selde he aswint fie to him-seolue l^encheS.
lyricsdating from
Sing, cuckoo! J3V scalt wurSen god king & gumenene lauerd.
It is one of
c. 1225.
& |3U to f)ere mid-nihte wepne [sine cnihtes.
a very few such Awe bleteJ3 after lomb, The ewe bleats after the lamb. [jat we i [san morjen-liht majjen come for3-riht.
lyrics which have Lhouj? after calue cu. The cow lows after the calf.
musical notation
Bullae sterteji, bucke uerte|3. The bullock leaps, the buck farts. Later version
in the manuscript
(as well as an Murie sing cuecu! Merry sing, cuckoo!
Nou hauefi Vortigerne his cun Aurelie acwelled.
alternative Cuecu, cuccu, Cuckoo, cuckoo,
nou hart ]pou al one of alle ]pme kunne.
religious text in Wei singes )pu cuccu. You sing well, cuckoo.
Latin). Ac ne hope Jsou to reade of ham \)at liggejj deade.
Ne swik l^u nauer nu! Never cease you now!
ac {jench ou {sou miht [>i-seolf l^ine kinedom werie.
for sealde he aswint [:>at to him-seolue trestejj.
jjou salt worfje god king and steorne |:5orh alle [sing.

And ]pou at [sare midniht wepne j^ine cnihtes.

I^at ]pou at J5an moreliht mage be a-redi to [le fiht.

Now that Vortigern's family has killed Aurilie,

you are the sole survivor of your family.
But do not expect any support from him who lies dead^
Put your trust in yourself that help is granted you.
for seldom is he disappointed who puts his trust in
himself.
You will become a worthy king and ruler of people.
And arm your followers at midnight
so that we may advance in the morning.
 MIDDLE ENGLISH

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

This story from Arthurian Si|3en Jse sege and \>e assaut wat^ sesed at Troye, Since the siege and the assault came to an end in Troy,

legend is an account of Pe borj5 brittened and brent to brondej and askej, The city destroyed and burnt to brands and ashes.
two adventures - the ^e tulk [lat \>e trammcs of" tresoun \>eY wro^t The man who there devised the devices of treason
green l<night at
arrival of a
Wat^ tried tor his tricherie, ]pe trewest on erthe: Was tried for his treachery, the truest on earth:
Arthur's courtand the
challenge he issues, and Hit watj Ennias ^e athel and his highe kynde, It was the noble Aeneas and his noble kindred
the temptation of Sir ^at sijien depreced prouinces, and patrounesbicome Who later subjugated provinces, and became lords
Gawain, who takes up the Welne^e of al \>e wele in ]pe West lies. Of almost all the wealth in the Western Isles.
challenge at the green
Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swyjse, When noble Romulus quickly makes his way to Rome,
knight's chapel. The story
With gret bobbaunce [jat burje he biges vpon fyrst, With great pomp that city he builds up first,
was probably written
towards the end of the And neuenes hit his aune nome, as hit now hat; And names it with his own name, as it is now called;
14th century, and shows Tirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes, Tirius founds buildings in Tuscany,
the influence of the French Langaberde in Lumbardie lyftes vp homes, Langaberde builds up dwellings in Lombardy,
courtly tradition.The
And fer ouer ]pe French flod Felix Brutus And far over the English Channel Felix Brutus
poem is written in a West
Midland dialect, and there On mony bonkkes tul brode Bretayn he sette^ Upon many broad hillsides founds Britain with joy.
is some evidence from the with Wynne,
language that it origi- Where werre and wrake and wonder Where fighting and distress and wondrous deeds
nated in south Lancashire.
Bi syjjej hatj wont [jerinne. At times have been found therein
The manuscript, which
contains three other And oft boJ3e blysse and blunder And often both happiness and sadness
poems written the same
in Ful skete hat^ skyfted synne. Have since then quickly alternated.
neat angular hand, is now
In the British Library. In the Ande quen [sis Bretayn wat^ bigged bi Jiis burn rych, And when this Britain was founded by this noble man.
present extract, the editors Bolde bredden jserinne, barer [lat lofden. Bold men multiplied there, who loved fighting.
have added modern capi- In mony turned ryme tene J)at wro^ten. In many a later time who brought about harm.
talization and punctua-
tion. (After J. R.R.Tolkien
Mo ferlyes on \)h folde ban fallen here oft More marvels in this land have often happened here

& E.V.Gordon, 1925.) ^en in any o[ier [jat I wot, syn jjat ilk tyme. Than in any other that I know of, since that same time.

Hot of alle Jsat here bult of Bretaygne kynges But of all of Britain's kings who dwelled here
Ay watg Arthur \>e hendest, as I hat herde telle. Always was Arthur the noblest, as have heard tell. I

1 / " r^^ apt • *

m.

iiVi-
' >'''rtir,„
f"' h'
'-n,ii
"'•irrifu-d
' '" rvi-
'^"•(Irr ml " '' a\-ii,' J

J
.yj
p" '"

I**"*

A t*,*i... .
^

Vjfi

m.

':^ '"*'">" 'It n-,„e r'

 .

Ill M IS roRY or i:nc;i i.sH

THE CHAUCERIAN
ACHIEVEMENT
The tiny voice of this book can add nothing to the t
critical acclaim which has been given to Chaucer's
poetic and narrative achievements, or to his insights
I^(Jhii V-*f'lnni^ «e •^^Ifiii ^«i!W«h; ^Kcrf^
into medieval attitudes and society; but it can affirm
with some conviction the importance of his work to
any history of the language. It is partly a matter of
quantity - one complete edition 43,000
prints over t^.iS*^iirtftMVcrctf i.iHfoi mofts'jK' jJ^%
lines of poetry, as well as two major prose works - '

but more crucial is the breadth and variety of his

t'lfftri^ '»"" iirttiiic 111 (fn/- m^A^
language, which ranges from the polished complex-
ity of high-flown rhetoric to the natural simplicity
of domestic chat. No previous author had shown
such a range, and Chaucer's writing - in addition to
its literary merits — is thus unique in the evidence it whan that Aprille with hiseshouressoote The tendre croppes and the yonge sonne
has provided about the state of medieval grammar, When April with its sweet showers the tender shoots, and the young sun
vocabulary, and pronunciation. hwan 6at aipril ,wi6 his 'Ju;ras 'so:t3 03 'tend3r 'kr3pp3s ,and 53 'juqgs 'sunns

Chaucer's best-known work, The Canterbury The droghtc of March hath perccd to the Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne
Tales, is not of course a guide to the spoken language roote has run his half-course in the Ram,
of the time: it is a variety of the written language has pierced the drought of March to the root 'ha6 in 59 ram his half' kurs I'ronns

which has been carefully crafted. It uses a regular 93 'droxt of mar^ ha6 perssd ,to; 53 'roits
And smale fowules maken melodye
metrical structure and rhyme scheme - itself a And bathed every veyne in swich licour and small birds make melody
departure from the free rhythms and alliteration of and bathed every vein in such liquid and smaib fu:l3s 'ma:k3n ,meLi'di:3

much earlier poetry (p. 36). It contains many varia- and 'ba:d3d 'e:vri vaein in 'swif li'kuir
iq That slepen al the nvght with open eye
tions in word order, dictated by the demands of the Of which vertu engendrcd is the Hour that sleep all night with open eye
prosody. There are also frequent literary allusions from which strength the flower is Hat 'sle:p9n 'a;l 53 ni^t wiG ':i:p3n 'i:3

and turns of phrase which make the text difficult to engendered; So priketh hem nature in hit corages
follow. What has impressed readers so much is that, :it 'hwitf veriiu En'd5endiTti,is Os'tliiir (so nature pricks them in their hearts);

despite the constraints, Chaucer has managed to 5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth so: prikse 'hem na:'tiur in hir ko'ra:ti53s

capture so vividly the intriguing characters of the When Zephirus also with his sweet breath Thanne longen folk to goon on
speakers, and to reflect so naturally the colloquial hwan .zeft'rus e:k ,wi9 Ins 'swe:t3 'bre:6 pilgrimages. .

features of their speech. In no other author, indeed, Inspired hath in eiiery holt and hccth then people long to go on pilgrimages...
is there better support for the view that there is an has breathed upon in every woodland and Han 'b:i]g3n 'folk to: 'g3:n on ,pilgri'ma:d53s

underlying correspondence between the natural heath (Phonetic transcription after A. C. Gimson,
rhythm of English poetry and that of English every- in spi:r3d haO in 'e:vri 'h,-ilt and 'hr:e 1962.)

day conversation (p. 4 12).

GEOFFREY CHAUCER (71345-1400)
Chaucer provides us with an unparalleled
into the speech and manners of medieval
London, from gutter to court. Very little is known
of his life, and what biographical information
there is gives us no hint of his role as a writer.
He was born in the early or mid-1 340s, the son
of John Chaucer, a London vintner, who had some
standing at court. In 1357 Geoffrey became a
page in the service of the wife of Lionel, Duke of
Clarence, and later joined the household of King
Edward III. He served in the French campaign,
was taken prisoner, and ransomed. In the mid-
1 360s he married the daughter of Sir Payne Roet,
Philippa, through whose sister he was later linked
by marriage to John of Gaunt.
By 1 368 he was one of the king's esquires. He
travelled widely on diplomatic missions abroad
during the 1 370s, notably to Italy and received
several official appointments. In 382 he was
insight made comptroller of the Petty Customs, and in
1 386 was elected a knight of the shire for Kent.
He then lost his offices, probably as part of the
political strife surrounding the authority of the
young King Richard II, and fell into debt.
when Richard came of age, Chaucer was
appointed Clerk of the King's Works, but in 1391
left this post, becoming deputy forester at
Petherton in Somerset. In 399 he took a lease of
1 written over a period of at least a decade, but-
a house in the garden of Westminster Abbey, and
died the following year He was buried in the
Abbey, and it is through this that part of the
building came to be known as Poets' Corner
His first poetry is the elegaic love-vision. The
Book of the Duchess, written c. 1 370 to commem
orate the death of the wife of John of Gaunt.
Other important works are the translation of part
of the French Roman de la Rose, the allegorical
1 Parliament of Fowls, the love-vision The House of
Fame, and the unfinished legendary, f/ie Legend
of Good Women ~ a tribute to classical heroines
who suffered out of devotion to their lovers. His
longest romance, Troilus and Criseyde, is the
In 1389, crowning work of his middle period. His visits to
Italy were a major influence on both the style and
content of his writing, as can be seen throughout
the 24 stories of The Canterbury Tales. These,
left unfinished, have been a continuing source of
scholarly debate over their order and dating. No
original manuscripts in Chaucer's hand have sur-
vived, but there are many copies of his works -
over 80 of the Tales - which have kept genera-
tions of editors busy in the task of identifying and
eradicating errors.
 - -
MIDDLE ENGLISH

POETRY FOR THE EAR ally described as 'enchant- can also be seen in several between happier and more has done a churl's deed.')
ing'. The fact that we not points of detail. The normal happy, or between all work, Here we see the way in whicf.
'Delightful', 'enchanting', only cope with Chaucer's order of clause elements is allthe work, and all of the Chaucer keeps a dialogue
and 'beguiling' are just some sentence but have the aural reversed in I. 1 1 and 1. 12 work. going, with quickfire ques-
of the terms critics have used impression that it flows (verb before subject), and in The way in which Chaucer tions and answers within the
to express their feelings along so smoothly and I, The
2 (object before verb). can capture the natural fea- verse structure. The words
about the opening lines of simply is a tribute to his normal order of phrase ele- tures of colloquial speech is are uncomplicated, mostly
the Prologue to The Canter- poetic genius. ments is reversed in 1 I. not well illustrated by the just one syllable long. The
bury Tales. The lines unques- The lines work partly (adjective after noun) and I. Prologue - at least, not until passage also shows one of his
tionably demonstrate because of the rhyme, which 6 (auxiliary verb after main towards the end, when the favourite stylistic tricks, the

Chaucer's great skill in poetic organizes the meaning into verb). As a further aid to the Host starts to speak. The fol- use of a rhyming tag with a
description, for, when we units that our auditory metre, we see an extra parti- lowing extract, from The natural conversational
look carefully at their gram- memory can easily assimi- cle brought into the opening Summoner's 2202-6)
Tale (II. rhythm to it: so Cod me
matical structure, they ought late, and partly because of line {Whan thatAprille...) provides a better example: speede - like his use else-
not to generate such the metre, which adds pace and a prefix added to a past where of as gesse ('as / I

'Ey, Goddes mooder', quod

responses at all. On the face
of it, it is improbable that a
term like 'enchanting' would
ever be used of a sentence
which begins with a four-line
subordinate clause with a
coordinate clause inside it,
and which is immediately
followed by a six-line subor-
dinate clause with two more
coordinate clauses inside it,
and which also includes a rel-
and a parenthet-
ative clause
ical clause, before
reaches
the main clause. Sentences
with multiple embeddings
(p. 227),such as the one you
have just read, are not usu-
and control to the reading.
The long sequence of
clauses, identifying first
aspect of the time of year,
then another, also promotes
a leisurely, story-telling
atmosphere which
pates the vast scale of the
work to follow. It is as if the
poet were asking
through the syntax and
prosody, whether we are
ting comfortably, before he
it begins. As some critics have
put it, it is poetry for the ear
rather than for the eye.
The artifice of the gram-
mar of these opening lines
participle in 8 (yronne). I.
These were some of the
one stylistic options available to
Chaucer at the time: it would
have been perfectly possible
for him to have written
antici- Whan Aprille and ronne. The
existence of variant forms in
a language is of considerable
us, poetic value, providing the
writer with options to suit
sit- different metrical contexts
if a/so or better will not
line,then als and bet might -
to ensure the verse 'does not
fail' (see below).
poet might similarly enjoy
the freedom of choice
guess') and many other such
she, 'Blisful mayde!
'comment clauses' (p. 229).
Is ther oght elles? telle me
Other important characteris-
feithfully.'
tics of conversation are seen
'Madame,' quod he, 'how
in the example, such as the 'I
thynke ye herby?'
said/he said' pattern still
'How that me thynketh?'
found in narrative today, as
quod she, 'so God me
well as an exclamation, an
speede,
oath, and the use of direct
I seye, a cherl hath doon a
address (Madame). Along
cherlesdeede.'
with a goodly store of vul-
CEe, God's mother', said she, garisms and name-calling
fit a 'Blissful maiden! Is there any- for Goddes bones, by Seinte
thing else? Tell me faithfully.' Loy, olde fool, by my felth -
'Madame', said he, 'What do these features demonstrate
A modern you think about that?' 'What why Chaucer's conversa-
do think about it?' said she,
I tional poetry is so distinctive
'so God help me, say a churl I and so real.

SOME LESSER-KNOWN EXTRACTS suppose. Another cause is this, that sothly THE-eOUESTION
[truly] inanytretis of the Astrelable that have I

These two extracts further illustrate the vari- seyn, there be somme conclusions that wol The chief difficulty in trying to read Chaucer's
ety of Chaucer's writing. The first is the open- [will] not in allethingesparformen her bih- verse aloud in its original pronunciation is knowing
ing of the scientific discourse he wrote in estes [fulfil their promise]; and somme of hem when to sound which appears at the end of
the -e
c. 1391 for 'little Lewis, my son', /A Treatise on ben to [them are too] hardetothytendir age so many words The opening lines of the
(p. 32).

the Astrolabe (an early instrument for observ- toconceyve. Tales provide several examples: do we add a 'weak'
ing the position and altitudes of celestial ending to soote, droghte, roote, sweete, melodye,
bodies). The second is the opening of his 'ABC, A Imighty and al merciable queene, and others? The transcription given suggests that
an early poem in which the first letter of each aHto whom that al this world f leeth for we do, in most cases, but is this transcription the
verse follows the order of the letters of the socour [Aie/pj, only one?
alphabet. It was possibly written in the mid- To have releesof sinne, of sorwe, and teene Final -e was certainly on its way out of the lan-
1 360s for devotional use by Blanche, the first
[hurt], guage at this time, and a generation or so later it
wife of John of Gaunt. Gloriousvirgine, of alle floures flour [flower of would be completely gone. But in Chaucer's time,
all flowers] there would have been considerable variation.
Lyte Low/ys mysone, aperceyve wel by I

To thee flee, confounded in errour.

I
Older speakers might keep it; younger ones drop it.
certeyne evydences thyn abilite to lerne sci- Help and releeve, thou mighti debonayre Or perhaps the -e would be kept in careful recita-
ences touching nombresand proporciouns; [gracious one], tion style. It would almost certainly be elided
and as wel considre thy besy praier [anxious
I
Have mercy on my perilous langour (p. 247) before a vowel, as in droghte (I. 2). And
prayer] in special to lerne the tretys of the
[affliction] !
when represented an earlier inflectional ending
it
Astrelable. Than [then] for as moche [much] as Venquisshed me hath my cruel adversaire. (and not a later spelling idiosyncrasy), it would
a philosof re saith, 'he wrappeth him in his
probably have been pronounced. But many cases
frend, that condescendith to the rightfulle Qountee so fix hath in thin [thy] herte his
cannot be resolved so easily.
praiers of his trend,' therf ore have yeven the
I Z5tente,
Scholars are divided on the issue, some recom-
[given thee] a suff isant Astrelable as for oure That wel wot [know] thou wolt
I [wilf] my
mending the pronunciation in doubtful instances,
orizonte [horizon], compowned [constructed] socour bee;
others rejecting it. That Chaucer himself was aware
Oxenforde [Oxforcf]; upon
after the latitude of Thou canst not warne [refuse] him that with
of the importance of metrical regularity is sug-
which, by mediacioun [mediation] of this litel good entente
gested by his request to Apollo (in The House of
purpose to teche the [thee] a certein
tretys, I Axeth [as/c5 for] thin heipe, thin herte is ay
Fame, I. 1098) to guide him in making his poetry
nombreof conclusions aperteyning to the [always] so free [generous].
pleasing, 'Though som vers fayle in a sillable'
same instrument. I seie a certein of conclu- Thou art largesse of pleyn felicitee [absolute
('Though some lines fail in a syllable'). But no one
sions, for thre [three] causes. The first cause is bliss].
has yet found a foolproof way of determining
this: trustewel that alle the conclusions that Haven of ref ut [refuge], of quiete, and of reste.
Chaucer's prosodic intentions, and different read-
han [have] be founde, or ellys possibly might Loo(/.o), how that theevessevene [the seven
ings continue to be heard.
be founde in so noble an instrument as is an deadly sins] chasen mee!
Astrelable ben [are] unknowe part itly [per- Help, lady bright, er that [before] my ship
fectly] to eny mortal man in this regioun, as I tobreste [is wrecked] I
 PART 1 • THE HISTORY OF E N ti 1 ISIl

MIDDLE ENGLISH SPELLING /W/GHT IS RIGHT mayht

The various spellings of
m/g/if clearly illustrate the
What is immediately noticeable from the range of way grammatical, dialectal,
tcsi^ illustrated in the preceding pages is the extra- and scribal variants compli-

ordinary diversity of Middle English spelling - far cate the study of Middle
English texts. All the follow-
greater than that found in Old English (p. 16). Stu-
ing are listed in one stan-
dents who are new to the period quickly learn the skill dard collection of early
of glossary delving- encountering a variant spelling in
extracts (B. Dickins & R. M.
Wilson, 1951).
an edited text (e.g. naure, naure, tier, neure), then
maht migtte
trawling through the back of the book to track down mahte mihhte
what it is a variant of (in this case, of ««<??• 'never'). A
good editor makes the job easy, by providing copious
cross-references. Some words have a dozen or more
variants.
This situation results from, a combination of histori-
cal, linguistic, and social factors. The sociolinguistic
impact of the French invasion, the continuation of the
processes of sound change which began in Anglo-
Saxon times, and the considerable growth and move-
ment in population during the medieval period,
especially in the south-east of the country, all helped to
influence the shape of the writing system. The change
is quite dramatic. There is a marked contrast between
the diverse and idiosyncratic forms used at the begin-

ning of the period and the highly regularized system of

spelling which begins to appear in the 1 5th century, in
the work of the Chancery scribes and William Caxton
(p. 56).

Some textual features

The text of the Peterborough Chronicle (p. 33), dating
from the very beginning of the period, shows some of
the important features of Middle English spelling. The
Old English runic symbols are still in use, but there is
some inconsistency. The -//'spelling makes a sporadic
appearance for p. The symbol p is used in the
manuscript, but this has been represented on p. 33 by
;(' (as is usual in modern editions of these texts), uu is

also a common spelling for this sound; the word for

'wretched people", for example, is spelled both ways in
the illustration (11. 11, 14). The letter ^ is used for a
sound which most other texts of the time spell with j.
There is some alternation between £ and a. In addi-
tion, II is we would now find v, in such
used where
words as and aure 'ever'.
gyuen 'give'

Because of the spelling, several words look stranger

than they really are. An example is wreccemen, which
would have been pronounced like wretch-man (but
with the ;i' sounded), and is thus very close to modern
ivretched. Cyrceiard likewise would have been close to
the modern pronunciation of churchyard, because the
two c spellings each represented a ch sound, and /

stood for the same sound as modern y. And altegitdere

is not far from altogether, nor laiden from laid.
 4 • MIDDLE ENGLISH

NORMAN INFLUENCE YE OLDE LETTERS

As the period progressed, so the spelling changed. The

Norman scribes listened to the English they heard
Iilm(^^dCvA,^<^iMtil
around them, and began to spell it according to the
conventions they had previously used for French, such
as qu for civ [queen for cwen). They brought in gh
(instead of/?) in such words as night znA enough, and
ch (instead off) in such words as church. They used on
for u (as in house). They began to use cbefore f (instead
of .f) in such words as cercle ('circle') and cell. And
because the letter «< was written in a very similar way to

V, n, and m (see opposite), words containing a

sequence of these letters were difficult to read; they

therefore often replaced the u with an o, in such cases
as come, love, one, and son. k and z came to be increas-
ingly used, as didy (a visually more distinct form of/).
And one pair of letters came to be used in comple-
mentary ways: v at the beginning of a word (vnder),
and u in the middle (whether consonant or vowel, as

in haue). By the beginning of the 15th century,

English spelling was a mixture ot two systems. Old
English and French. The consequences plague English
learners still (p. 274).
 PART I • IHE HISTOKY OF ENGLISH

when certain con.sonants at the end of asyllable came

MIDDLE ENGLISH SOUNDS to be pronounced in a vowel-like manner - an exam-
ple is wei 'way', from Old English weg. French loan
At K-same time as new letter shapes and preferences words also introduced new diphthongs, in the form of
w. I

. emerging (pp. 40-1), there was a continual pro- /oi/ and /ui/ - unusual sounds for English, and the
cess of change affecting the way the language was pro- ancestors ol modern /di/ in joy, point, etc.
nounced. The result is a degree of complex interaction Several of the pure vowels also changed their values.
between the writing and sound systems which has no For example, in most parts of the country (except the
parallel in the history of English. It is not possible for north). Old English /a:/ came to be articulated higher
these pages to provide a systematic description, but at the back of the mouth, shown by such spelling
as is

they can at least indicate the general character of the changes ban becoming bon 'bone' or swa becoming
as
pronunciation developments throughout the period. so. Northern speech followed its own course in several
For those interested in the history of spelling (p. 274), other areas too (p. 50); for example, several of the new
especially, it is a particularly important time, as this is diphthongs were far more evident in the south, being
when many rules and idiosyncrasies of the modern replaced by pure vowels in the north (lightvs licht).
system were introduced. An interesting change happened to [h]. This sound
appeared before a consonant at the beginning of many
New spelling conventions Old English words, such as bring 'ring' and hnecca
Several consonant sounds came to be spelled differ- 'neck'. It was lost early on in the Middle English period
ently, especially because of French influence. For - the first sign of the process of 'aitch-dropping' which
example. Old English sc l\l is gradually replaced by sh is still with us today. The loss of /(before a vowel began
or sch [scip becomes ship), though some dialects use .(, some time later, producing variations in usage which
ss or Old English c/tf/is replaced by ch or cch (as in
.V. continued into the I6th century. Middle English
church), and the voiced equivalent 1(^1, previously manuscripts show many examples of an h absent where
spelled as cgot gg, becomes dg(AS in bridge). it should be present {addeioi had, eldiot held) or pre-
New conventions
showing long and short
tor sent where it should be absent {ham for am, his for is).

vowels also developed. Increasingly, long vowel sounds The influence of spelling (and doubtless the prescrip-
came to be marked with an extra vowel letter, as in see tive tradition in schools) led to the //-forms being later
(earlier se) and booc (earlier boc). Short vowels were
identified by consonant doubling, in cases where there
SOUND SYSTEM 1350-
might otherwise be confusion, as in sitting vs siting.
This convention became available once it was no
longer needed to mark the lengthened consonants
which had been present in Old English, but lost in
early Middle English.
A similar redeployment of graphic resources fol-
lowed the loss ol the unstressed vowels that originally
distinguished inflectional endings, as in stane 'stone"
(p. 39). Although the final hi sound disappeared, the
-("spelling remained, and it gradually came to be used
to show that the preceding vowel was long. This is the
origin of the modern spelling 'rule' about 'silent e' in

such words as wrfweand nose (p. 272). The availability

of such a useful and frequent letter also motivated its

use in other parts of the system: for example, it marked

the consonantal use of u {haiie) and the affricate use of
giragevs rag), and it helped distinguish such modern
pairs as teasel teas and toltoe.

New pronunciations
Several sounds altered during the early Middle English
period. Some took on a different value; some disap-
peared altogether. In particular, there was a restructur-
ing of the Old English vowel system (p. 18). The
original diphthongs became pure vowels, and new
diphthongs emerged. Some of the new units arose
 4 • MIDDLE ENGLISH

restored in many words in Received Pronunciation \

THE SHE PUZZLE clear evidence for Step 3 two words apart; and the
(though not in such Romance loans as honour), and elsewhere in English at any suggestion is that seo filled
thus to the present-day situation where the use of /h-/ Plotting the way sounds and time -apart from in these this need.

words changed between Old few foreign place names. Is Why seo? There is a close
is socially diagnostic (p. 319).
and Middle English can be it plausible to propose a semantic link between per-
an intriguing business, and sound change which sonal and demonstrative
New contrasts one which cannot always be affected only one word? pronouns in many lan-
In a few new
cases, contrastive units (phonemes, resolved, as the story of she Also, we are still left with the guages, and it can be seen in

There problem of getting from [o:] Old English too, where seo
p. 236) emerged. The /v/ sound became much more illustrates. is a fairly
obvious relationship to [e:], which is required in meant 'that' as well as 'the'.
important, because of its use in French loan words, and between most of the Old order to produce the We can see the closeness in
began to distinguish pairs of words, as it does today English pronouns (p. 20) modern sound of she. For the text on p. 20 (I. 16),
and their Modern English this, we have to assume a where the masculine form se
(feelws veal). Although both [f] and [v] sounds are
equivalents. But what is the process such as analogy - 'the' is used as 'the one', and
found in Old English, the language did not use them link between heb and she? perhaps the vowel of she is glossed as 'he'. The same

to differentiate words. Similarly, French influence The question has attracted being influenced by that of could apply to seo in its rela-
several answers, and he. But there is no clear evi- tion to heo. It would be very
caused hi and /z/ to become contrastive (zealvs seal).
remains controversial. dence for this. natural to use the phonetic
And the w^ sound l\\l at the end of a word also began • Alternativetheoriesargue distinctiveness of the former

to distinguish meanings at this time {thingvs thin). In • Thesimplestsolution isto thatheocomes from seo, the to help sort out the ambigu-
argue that there was a series feminine form of the defi- ity of the latter All that
Old English, this sound had always been followed by a
of sound changes by which nite article. The simplest ver- would then be needed was a
/g/ - ryw/w^'king', for example, was /kynirjg/. How- /leogradually changed into sion postulatessimilarsound further consonant change
ever the /g/ died away at the end of the Old English she. changestotheabove, giving from [s] to [J as the vowel is1,

1 Sometime between Old [sjo:] as a result. This is a already on course for its
period, leaving /q/ as the sole distinguishing unit.
and Middle English, the short, plausible step away modern sound.
diphthong altered, the first from However, we are
[jo:]. The problem here is in this
The study of Middle English phonology is made
element becoming shorter still with the question of
left last step. How can [s]

increasingly difficult (and fascinating) by the intricate

and losing its stress, [he:?] why the [o:] vowel became become [| ] in front of an [e:]

dialect situation (p. 50). On the one hand, a letter thus became [hjo:]. [e:]. vowel? would be the
It

2 The element then • Athirdargumentalso equivalent of a change from

might be given different pronunciations depending on
[hj]

came to be articulated closer begins with seo, but takes a same to shame. To get from
the dialect area in which it appears; an example is the to the palate, as[g], in much different phonological [s] to II ],
there needs to be
letter y, which for a while represented an unrounded the same way as happens to route. Sometime after the some intervening sound
modern English huge. Conquest, we have a lot of which 'pulls' thesin the
sound quality in the south and a rounded sound qual-
3 [q] then became [J], to evidence to show that the direction of the more palatal
ity in the north. On the other hand, a sound might be give the modern consonant. sound of eo (e:ol changed to sound [J]. The obvious can-
given different spellings depending on the dialect area There are certain facts in become close to e [e:]. This didate is [jl, itself a palatal

favour of this theory (the would have had the effect of sound, but the whole point
in which it appears; an example here is Old English
preferred explanation). making the words heo and of this third argument is that
/x/, spelled in the middle of words as gh in the south,
Spellings such as scho are he sound the same; and as there is no [j] left in heo The
.

and as ch in the north {night vs nicht). Finally, we found in very early Middle this process began to oper- possibility of a [j] developing

English the north. Also, a

in ate, it must have been quite disappeared when we
should note the continuing need for analytical caution
similar development took disconcerting. People would argued that eo became [e:].
because spelling was not standardized. Problems of place in a few place names, have been unclear whether
authorial idiosyncrasy and copyist error abound, con- such as Old Norse Hjaltland someone was saying he or The origins of she thus
becoming modern Shetland. she. In these circumstances, remain one of the unsolved
tributing to both the complex character of the period
The main argument against there would be a need to puzzles in the history of
and the moral fibre of its students. the theory is that there is no find a way of keeping the English.

MEDIEVAL LINGUISTIC CURIOS

The name Stanley, along with its abbrevi- Interesting things happened in Middle English to the
ated form Stan, is quite unusual from a velar fricative /x/, spelledhand then gh, at the end of a
phonological point of view. It is an ancient word. It came to be pronounced /f/ in some words (e.g.
aristocratic name, found throughout the enough, tough), but it was lost in others (through,
Middle English period, and the family plough). Inoneword, both changes took place, giving the
name of the earls of Derby. It means 'stony modern doublet of dough, where
field' - presumably an earlier place name. the /x/ was lost, and duff,
What makes the name interesting is that it where it became /f The/.

did not follow the normal pattern of sound latter is found now only
change which affected the long a vowel in in such forms asp/um-
Old English: stan becameston in early duff, a type of pud-
Middle English, which became modern ding,and (possibly)
stone -just ike ban 'bone', ham 'home',
I du/fer('manof
and many others. ButtheOld English dough'?).
spelling was preserved in the proper name
(presumably because of the influence of
northern dialects, p. 50), so that we have
Stanley rather than Stonely Holloway.
 PART I THE HISTORY OP !. NOI.ISH

in later centuries (p. 203). Some of the personal pro-

MIDDLE ENGLISH GRAMMAR nouns also kept the old accusative form: hews him, she
vs her, etc.
Willi happened to English grammar, following the The endings of the verb remained close to those of
i.k\.i\ ot the Old English inflectional system (p. 32)? Old English during this period. Most verbs would
An important preliminary point is to appreciate that - have had the following forms, illustrated here in
as we would expect from the way language change Chaucer's English for tiirnen 'turn', and ignoring cer-
operates - the loss of inflections was not a sudden nor tain dialect differences, such as the northern use of -«
a luiiversal process. Their disappearance can be traced instead of -eth. (Alternative forms are shown in paren-
throughout the whole of the Middle English period, theses.)

affecting different parts of the country at different

times. Moreover, the switch from a synthetic to an ana-
lytic type of grammar is not the whole story of Middle
English: there were independent changes taking place
simultaneously in other parts of the grammatical
system, and these also need to be considered.

From word ending to word order

None of this gainsays the observation that the most
important grammatical development was the estab-
lishment of fixed patterns of word order to express the
relationship between clause elements. There was
already a tendency towards Subject-Verb-Object
(SVO) order in Old English (p. 20), and this was now
consolidated in some constructions and extended to
others. The Peterborough Chronicle illustration on
p. 33 shows how the earlier verb-final pattern contin-

ued to make itself felt, especially when the subject was

short (such as a pronoun or a single noun).

tA'ucden hi robbed they

forbaren hi spared they
was corn da;re was corn dear

and other departures from modern word order are

apparent in that text:

ne njeure hethen men werse ne diden

nor never heathoi men worse not did

Variations of this kind continue to be in evidence even

at the end of the Middle English period, especially
when prompted by the demands of poetic metre, as
shown by such Chaucerian examples as inspired hath
and so priketh hem nature (p. 39). Nonetheless, the
underlying trend towards SVO is inexorable. The
Chronicle uses SVO much more regularly than did the
West Saxon texts of a few years before (the contrast is
especially noticeable in subordinate clauses), and SWO
is by far the dominant order in Chaucer.

Prepositions became particularly critical when

noun endings were lost. For example, where Old
English would have said pam scipum, with a 'dative'
ending on both the words for 'the' and 'ship', Middle
English came to say to the shippes, using a preposition
and the common plural ending. The only noun case to
survive into Modern English was the genitive ( or in jr .r'

writing) - a relic which continued to present problems

 .

MIDDLE ENGLISH

New features of English grammar vides a useful perspective for present-day arguments
The Middle English period is particularly interesting about English usage, as a number of the issues which
because it shows where several important features oi have been condemned as 20th-century sloppiness are
Modern English grammar have come from. It also pro- well in evidence from the earliest times.

POSTMODIFYING GENITIVE NEGATION MARKING THE INFINITIVE FOUNDATIONS

This construction employs of instead
of the genitive case in the noun
phrase: we now say the back of the
house, not *the house's back
(p. 202). The of pattern was hardly
used in late Old English, but by late
Middle English over 80 per cent of all
genitive constructions were of
A noticeable feature of the Chroni-
cle extract (p. 33) is the continuing
use of the Old English construction
involving 'double' or 'triple' nega-
tives. These need to be correctly
interpreted: there should be
temptation to 'cancel out' their
this meaning, using the mathematical
In Old English, the infinitive
shown byan ending
inflectional
-(i)an (p. 20).As this decayed, the par-
ticle to began to take over. Originally
a preposition, to developed a func-
no tion as a purpose marker ('in order
to'), but then lost all its semantic
content, acting solely as a sign of the
was The Middle English period laid the
foundation for the later emergence
of several important constructions.
Chief among these was the progres-
sive form (as in / am running), which
was used much more frequently
towards the end of the period, espe-
cially in northern texts. Its use then

kind. The influence of the parallel rule that 'two negatives make a posi- infinitive. Aconstruction using forto, increased dramatically in Early

French construction in de may have
been a factor in moving this change
forward so quickly. The genitive
ending stayed much longer in
poetry, where it gave the poet a
useful metrical alternative. As in
Modern English, the inflectional
genitive remained with personal
nouns (the boy's book).
The 'group genitive' (as
Duke of York's hat) also emerged
this time, replacing a construction
where the two noun phrases were
separated (the Duke's hat, of York).
Again, the development was a grad-
ual one, affecting some types of
phrase before others: in Chaucer, for
example, God of Loves servantz
exists alongside Wyves Tale of Bath.
There are also instances of the
replacement of the genitive ending
by a possessive pronoun (The Man of
Lawe his Tale). This became more
common in Early Modern English,
before it died out, and fuelled an
argument, sometimes found
still
tive'. Despite the efforts of modern again with a purposive meaning, Modern English.
prescriptivists (p. 356), this has never developed in early Middle English, The modern progressive requires
been how the negation system has but this also lost its semantic force, an auxiliary verb (a form of be), and
worked in English. The principle ending up only as a useful metrical this function also emerged during
shown in the earliest English texts is alternative in poetry. Chaucer uses the period (p. 225). For a while have
simple: extra negative words both forms in The Canterbury Tales: and be competed for the expression
increase the emphasis, making the of perfect aspect: in The Canterbury
Thanne longen folk to goon on pil-
negative meaning stronger. It is not Tales, for example, we find instances
grimages
clear just how emphatic the ne ele-
And palmeres for to seken straunge
of both ben entred ('been entered')
in the ment is in the Chronicle examples, and han entred ('have entered'),
strondes...
at but the cumulative effect is not in each in contexts expressing past
doubt. As soon as to begins to be used as time. This situation was full of poten-
an infinitive marker, we find it sepa- tialambiguity, as be was also used in
ne hadden nan more to gyuen
rated from its verb. As early as the passive constructions (p. 204). The
(they) had no more to give
problem was resolved when have
1 3th century, adverbs and pronouns
for nan ne wees o \)e land came to be used
were inserted, as in for to him reade for perfective
for there was none in the land and be for the passive and
'to advise him' (Lajamon's Brut), and aspect,
During the Middle English period, quite lengthy constructions were at progressive. At the same time, do
the situation simplified. The Old times introduced, as in this example also developed its function as an
English double negative (ne ... naht) from a 1 5th-century bishop, Regi- 'empty' form in questions (does he
was much used in the early part of nald Pecock: know?) and negation (I didn't go).
the period, but by the end just one And the modal verbs (will, shall, may,
for to freely and in no weye of his
form (naf or not) was marking nega- might, can, etc.) took on fresh func-
owne dette or of eny o|.ier mannys
tion, and ne was being dropped tions. Their meaning had already
dette tojeve and pale eny reward...
before other negative words. This is begun to overlap with that of the
(The Reule ofCrysten Religioun)
the situation later adopted in Stan- subjunctivein late Old English, and

today, that the 's ending is a reduced dard English; but the emphatic prin- Many such examples show that once verbs lost their endings, modals
form of the pronoun his (p. 203). ciple remained in nonstandard infinitive-splitting is by no means an were the only way in which such
varieties, and is still with us (p. 326). unnatural process in English, as pre- meanings as possibility and necessity
argue, and certainly not a
scriptivists could be expressed.
modern phenomenon (p. 195). (After O.Fischer, 1992.)

NEW PRONOUN FORMS

In the Middle English period, the Noth- Nominative th- established
entire third-person plural pronoun Me dide cnotted strenges abuton here And pilgrimes were they alle...
system is gradually replaced by Scandi- haeued... So hadde spoken with hem everichon
I

navian forms. The Old English system Hi diden heom in quarterne [everyone]
used forms beginning with h-(p. 21). One placed knotted cords about their That wasof li/rfelaweshipeanon
I

The Scandinavian forms beginning head... (late 14th century. The Canterbury
with /3- appeared first in northern They put them in a cell. . Tales)
dialects, and moved slowly south. (12th century, Peterborough Chronicle)
All th-established
Some parts of the system moved faster
than others: the nominative was usu- Mixed th- And other that be understanding
alle

ally the first form to be affected, fol-

Eten and drounken and maden hem and fyndyng ony defaute, requyre I

lowed by the genitive. ^6/ arrived in glad... and pray them of theyre charyte to cor-
Hoere paradis hy nomen here recte and amende hit; and so doyng
London during the 14th century, and
And nou [.ley lien in helle if ere... they shal deserve thanke and meryteof
was used systematically by Chaucer,
[they] ate and drank and enjoyed God...
alongside her(e) or hir(e) for the geni-
themselves (late15th century, William Caxton, Pro-
tive, and hem for other cases. During
Their paradise they received here logue to Knight of the Tower)
the 1 5th century, their became the
norm, and by the beginning of the And now they lie in hell together...
(13th-century poem)
16th century them had followed it.
 PART 1 • THK HISTORY C) I-' HNCl.lSH

Mli ^DLE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

rill \ocabularyot the Peterborough Chronreleip. 32) is

nr. ;\ pical of the Middle English period as a whole.

Despite the fact that it was written almost a century
after the Conquest, there is little sign of the French
vocabulary which was to be the distinctive characteris-
tic of the era. The Chronicle vocabulary is still typical
olwhat would have appeared in literary West Saxon -
predominantly Germanic, with an admixture of Latin
and Scandinavian (p. 24). Several of its words have
since dropped from the language - we no
for example,
longer use />/«« 'cruelties', or namen 'took'. And of the
words which are still found today, several have altered
meanings: wonder could mean 'atrocities' as well as

'marvels', and flesh had the general sense of 'meat'.

Such 'false friends' are always a problem in reading a
Middle English text because of their misleading simi-
lariry to the modern words.

The French factor

French influence became increasingly evident in

English manuscripts of the 13th century (p. 31). It has

been estimated that some 10,000 French words came
into English at that time - many previously borrowed
Irom more distant sources (such as alkali hom Arabic).
These words were largely to do with the mechanisms
of law and administration, but they also included
words from such fields as medicine, art, and fashion.
Many of the new words were quite ordinary, everyday
terms. Over 70 per cent were nouns. A large number
A miniature of c 1400, showing Chaucer
reading his works aloud to a group of
were abstract terms, constructed using such new nobles and their ladies. The words from From a lexical point of view, it is impor-
French affixes as con-, trans-, pre-, -ance, -tion, and French which would have been entering the tant to note these dialect differences, as
language during Chaucer's lifetime were otherwise not possible to explain cer-
it is
-ment. About three-quarters of all these French loans
rather different in character from those tain spelling variants. There are several
are still in the language today. which arrived in the early Middle English pairs of loan words affected (though not all

As new words arrived, there were many cases where period. The French of the Norman con- have survived in Modern English):
querors was a northern dialect of the lan-
they duplicated words that had already existed in Norman French Parisian French
guage, and this dominated the English
English from Anglo-Saxon times. In such cases, there scene for 200 years (p. 30). By the 1 2th cen- calange(1225) challenge (1300)
were two outcomes. Either one word would supplant tury, however, Paris had come to be estab- canchelers(1066) chanceleres(1300)
lished as the centre of influence in France,
the other; or both would co-exist, but develop slightly wile (1154) guile (1225)
and new loan words began to arrive from
different meanings. The
outcome was very warrant (1225) guarantee (1624)
first the dialect of that area.
As the Parisian court grew in prestige, so warden (1225) guardian (1466)
common, in most cases the French word replacing an
Parisian French became the prestige dialect. reward (1315) regard (1430)
Old English equivalent; for example, leodgzwe way to It is this variety of French which in due
conveie(1375) convoy (1425)
people, u'lhig to beautiful, and stow x.o place. Hundreds course would have been taught in quality
lealte(1300) loialte(1400)
ol Old English words were lost in this way. But at the schools in England, with the earlier English-
prisun (1121) prison (1225)
influenced varieties of French considered
same time, Old English and French words often both gaol (1163)
uneducated and perhaps a bit of a joke (if jail (1209)
survived with different senses or connotations, such as this is the correct interpretation of
The central French spellings post-date the
doom (OE) and judgtnent{¥), hearty {OE) and cordial Chaucer's remark about the Prioress, who
Norman ones The situation is not always
.

learned her French at the Benedictine nun-

(F),and house (OE) and mansion (F) (p. 124). Some- clear, partly because of the uncertainties of
nery in Stratford, Middlesex):
English spelling practices at the time (p. 40);
times pairs of words were used, one glossing the other:
And Frenssh she spak f ul faire and fetisly but there is enough evidence to show that
for routhe and for pitie is a Chaucerian example, and [gracefuity], there were two distinct stages of borrowing
legal terminology often developed coordinations of After the scole [school] of Stratford attc from French in early Middle English.
Bowe, (After D. Burnley, 1992.)
this kind word lists were compiled
(p. 374). Bilingual
For Frenssh of Parys was to hire unknowe
mid- 13th century to aid intelligibility
as early as the
[her unknown].
between English and French.
 4 • MIDDLE ENGLISH

FRENCH INFLUENCE ON THE ENGLISH LEXICOh

ooooooooc
 I'ARl I THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

The role of Latin

Fren. li is the most dominant influence on the growth
SOME LATIN LOANS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
ot MitUile English vocabulary (p. 46), but it is by no Administration and law Religion
alias, arbitrator, client, conspiracy, immortal, incarnate,
mens the only one. During the I4th and 15th cen- collect, diocese,
conviction, custody, gratis, homicicJe, infinite, limbo, magnificat, mediator,
turies several thousand words came into the language implement, incumbent, legal, legitimate, memento, missal, pulpit, requiem, rosary,
directly from Latin (though it is often difficult to memorandum, pauper, prosecute, proviso, scripture, tract
summary, suppress, testify, testimony
exclude an arrival route via French). Most of these General
words were professional or technical terms, belonging Science and learning admit, adjacent, collision, combine,
abacus, allegory, etcetera, comet, conclude, conductor, contempt, depression,
to such fields as religion, medicine, law, and literature.
contradiction, desk, diaphragm, discuss, distract, exclude, expedition, gesture,
They also included many words which were borrowed dislocate, equator, essence, explicit, formal, imaginary, include, incredible, individual,
by a writer in a deliberate attempt to produce a 'high" genius, history, index, inferior, infancy, interest, interrupt, lucrative,
innumerable, intellect, item, library, lunatic, moderate, necessary, nervous,
svyle. Only a very small number of these 'aureate terms'
ligament, magnify, major, mechanical, ornate, picture, popular, private, quiet,
entered the language, however (e.g. meditation, orien- minor, neuter, notary, prosody, recipe, reject, solitary, spacious, subjugate,
tal prolixity). The vast majority died almost as soon as scribe, simile, solar, tincture substitute, temperate, tolerance, ulcer

they were born (e.g. ahusion, sempitern, tenebrous).

The simultaneous borrowing of French and Latin
words led to a highly distinctive feature of Modern
THE WYCLIFFITE BIBLE
English vocabulary - sets of three items all expressing
the same fundamental notion but differing slightly in The authorship of the Bible translation directly imported, or known through
attributed to John Wycliff (d- 1384) is French, and these items are in italics below/.
meaning or style, such as kingly I royal I regal znd rise I
uncertain. Because of the unorthodox
mount I ascend {^. 124). The Old English word is usu- nature of Wycliff's opinions, the early And it was don, in tho dales: a maunde-
ally the more popular one, with the French word more manuscripts of his writings were widely ment went out fro the emperrour august:
destroyed. Also, his followers included that al the world schulde be d/scryued/this
literary, and the Latin word more learned.
several scholars who helped him carry out firstdiscryvynge was made of siryn iustice
the task of translation. But there is no of sirie/and alle men wenten to make pro-
Other sources doubt that the inspiration for the work fessioun eche in to his owne citee I loseph
came from Wycliff himself, who was wente up fro galile, fro the citee nazareth,
The effects of the Scandinavian invasions also made
particularly concerned thatlay people in to iudee, in to a cite of davith that is

themselves felt during this period. Although the chief should be able to read the Bible in their clepid bethleem, for that he was of the
period of borrowing must have been much earlier, rel- own language. The first translation, using hous and of the meynee of davith, that he
the Latin version of St Jerome, was made schulde knowleche with marie, his wi if that
atively few Scandinavian loans appear in Old English,
between 1380 and 1384. was weddid to hym, and was greet with
and most do not come to be used in manuscripts until Wycliff's method was to rely greatly on child/ ... ye schuin fynde a yunge child
well into the 13th century, and then mainly in north- glossing the Latin text, seeking where possi- wlappid in clothis: and leide in a cracchel
ble to preserve the original style. As a con- and sudeynii there was made with the
ern areas where Danish settlement was heaviest. A list
sequence, there are over a thousand Latin aungel a multitude oi heuenii knyghthod:
is given in the section on Old English (p. 25). words whose use in English is first recorded heriynge god and seiynge /g/or/e be in the
Several other languages also supplied a sprinkling of in his translation. Almost any extract shows highistthingisto god: and in erthe pees be
the influence of Latin vocabulary, either to menof good wille. (From Luke 2.1-14.)
new words at this time, though not all survived. Con-
tact with the Low Countries brought poll ('head'), The burning of John Wycliff's bones, 41 years after his death.
doten ('be foolish'), bouse ('drink deeply'), and skipper
('ship's master'), resulting from commercial and mar-
itime links with the Dutch. Other loans included cork
(Spanish), marmalade (Portuguese), sable (Russian),
lough (Irish), and many words from Arabic, especially
to do with the sciences [saffron, admiral mattress, alge-
bra, alkali, zenith). In most cases, the words arrived
after they had travelled through other countries (and
languages), often entering English via French. A good
example is the vocabulary of chess (chess, rook, check,
mate), which came directly from French, but which is

ultimately Persian.
The effect of all this borrowing on the balance of
words was dramatic. In earlv
in the English lexicon
Middle English, over 90 per cent of words (lexical
types, p. 123) were of native English origin. By the end
of the Middle English period this proportion had
fallen to around 75 per cent.
 4 • MIDDLE ENGLISH

LEXICAL IMPRESSIONS The Canterbury Tales

One way of developing a
sense of the extensiveness of
foreign borrowing during
Middle English is to take a text
and identify the loan words -
using the Oxford English Dic-
tionary or a more specialized
etymological work (p.
this were done for the early
Middle English Peterborough
Chronicle extract (p. 33),
few such words would be
identified. The only items
which have no antecedents in
Old English are Scandinavian
haernes (I. 2), drapen (I. 4), and
rachenteges (I. 9), and Latin
crucethus{\. 5).
By contrast, the following
extracts, both taken from late
Middle English texts, and con-
taining similar subject matter,
(from the Prologue of The Prioress's Tale)
O mooder Mayde! o mayde Mooder free!
O bussh unfarentfarennynge in Moyses sighte.
That ravyshedest doun fro the Deitee
Thurgh thyn humblesse the Goost that in
th'alighte.
Of whos vertu, whan he thyn herte lighte
Conceyved was the Fadres sapience.
1 36). If
Help me to telle it in thy reverence'.
Lady, thy bountee, thy magnificence.
very Thy vertu, and thy grete humylitee,
Ther may no tonge expresse in no science;
for somtyme, Lady er men praye to thee.
Thou goost biforn of thy benyngnytee.
And getest us the lyght, of thy preyere.
To gyden us unto thy Sone so deere.
My konnyng is so wayk, o blisful Queene,
For to declare thy grete worthynesse
That neI may the weighte nat susteene;
month
Butasa child of twelf oold, or lesse,
That kan unnethes any word expresse.
Right so fare and therfore lyowpreye,
I,

show the major impact of bor- Gydefri my song that shal of yow seye.
I

rowing (all loans are itali-

cized). From a poem by William Dunbar (p 53)

• Scandinavian loans include Empryce of prys, imperatrice,

get, wayk, haile, sterne, ball, Bricht polist precious starve;
birth, and fro.
Victrice of vyce, hie genitrice
• Words directly from French Of Jhesu lord soverayne;
include empryce, riall, spyce,
Our wys pavys fro enemys
cristall, soverayne, and flour. Agane the Feyndis trayne;
• Words from Latin via French Oratrice, mediatrice, salvatrice.
include sapience, reverence, To God gret suffragane;
magnificence, science, and Ave Maria, gracia plena;
suffragane. Haile, Sterne, meridiane;
Spyce, flour delice of paradys
The second passage has a
large number of distinctively That baire the gloryus grayne.
Latin words - an example of /mper/a// wall, place palestrall
the 'aureate diction' con- Of peirles pulcritud;
sciously employed by several Tryumphale hall, hie trone regall
authors in the late Middle Of Godisce/s/tud;
English period and beyond Hospitall riall, the lord of all

(p. 61). These include impera- Thy closet did include;

trice, mediatrice, salvatrice, Bricht ball cristall, ros virginall
virginal!, pulcritud, and celsi- Fulfillit of ange//fude.
tud. Ave Maria, gracia plena:
(After D. Burnley, 1992.) Thy birth has with his blude
Fra fall mortall originall
Us raunsound on the rude.

1
 IHE H IS rt)RV 111- i: Nl,l ISll

an author is not particularly consistent - as would be

MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECTS likclv to happen in a period when sounds and spellings
were changing so rapidly (p. 32) and texts were being
Th. main ilialect divisions traditionally recognized in copied repeatedly. Sometimes, most of the forms
Miiidie English broadly correspond to those found in reflect one dialect, and there is a scattering of forms

Old English (p. 28), but scholars have given different from another - suggesting that the person who was
names to some of the dialects, and there has been one copying the manuscript came from a different part of
important development. AVwm/; remains the same, but the country from the original author. And analysts
West Saxon is now referred to as Southern, and need always to be watchful for the possibilirv' that a

Northumbrian as Northern. The Mercian dialect area form in a manuscript never had any linguistic existence
has split in two: there is now an eastern dialect [East at all - in other words, the copyist made a mistake.

Midland) and a western one ( West Midland). And the

East Anglian region is sometimes separately distin-
guishecl. The map shows the traditional picture; but the
result of a great deal of modern research (as illustrated
opposite) has demonstrated that there is an enormous
amount of oversimplification in such displays.
What evidence is there for dialect difference? The
evidence lies in the distinctive words, grammar, and
spellings found in the manuscripts. The way verb end-
ings change is one of the main diagnostic features;

• The -ing participle ending (as in Modern English

running) appears as -and(e) in Northern; as -end(e) in

parts ot the East Midlands; as -ind(e) in paits of the

West Midlands; and as -/«^ elsewhere.
• The -th ending (as in goeth) appears as -s in North-
ern and throughout most of the north Midland area -
a form which ultimately becomes standard.
• The verb ending used in the present tense with
plural forms such as ive-and theya^so varies: it is -es in
Northern and the northern parts of the East Midlands;
-eth in Southern, Kentish, and the southern parts of
the West Midlands; and -en elsewhere. (None of these
endings has survived in Modern English.)

There were several other reliable indicators, apart

from verbs:
FOXED
• They, their, and them are found in Northern and the
West Midlands, but they appear as his, here, and hem Sometimes, sounds from
different dialects have sur-
in the south - at least until towards the end of the vived in alternative forms
Middle English period (p. 45). of a word in Modern
• Shall, should, and a few other words appear without English. Fox hasan HI,
reflecting Northern/
its
an /; in Northern and Kentish (as sal, etc.), but keep it Midlands origins. Vixen
elsewhere. has a Nl, reflecting its ori-

• There are several distinctive uses of individual gins as a Southern word. In

origin a feminine form of

vowels and consonants. Stanem the north corresponds
fox (compare German
to stone m the south; ^r in the north Midlands to vor Fuchsin), forms in fixen(e)

in the south; kirk in the north to church in the south; are recorded from the
early 1 5th century, both
and so on. But in each case, we must remember, what for the animal and (later)
we mean by 'north' and 'south' differs: there is no for sense of a 'quarrel-
its

single, neat dividing line. some woman', and can be

found until the early 17th
There are of course many manuscripts where it is
century. The v- forms then
not easy to determine the dialect. Sometimes the become standard, but it is
spellings of a text seems to reflect a mixture of dialects, not known why this pref-
-lence prevailed.
perhaps because an author (or scribe) lived in a bound-
ary area, or had moved about the country. Quite often.
 MIDDLE ENGLISH

SYSTEM OR ERROR?
DIALECT REALITIES
Beti(dde a time in litel quil
The true complexity of the Mi(d(dle English (dialect situation was demonstrated
lacob went walcande bi )pe iie
inthe 1980s bythe ofthe Middle English Dialect Survey, based at
atlas material
the University of Edinburgh. The approach assumes that scribes were consis-
He sagh apon \>e wateres renie

tent in their methods of spelling, and that it is possible to examine ortho- Chaf fletande come wi|> ]pe

graphic variants to determine the dialect origins of a manuscript, quite streme

^ independently ofthe sounds which the letters are thought to convey. The Of |:iat sijt wex he fuUe blijje
'kyk Survey plotted the distribution of the variants on maps, such as this one
/ kyrk 1
And tilie his sones talde hit
"V^"''
^ .kyrk '(kyrkj,, which gives over 500 instances of church and kirk from the first half of the
\
1 5^^ century. It shows clearly that kirk is northern and church is
(ky*e,kyrk),-<'ky'k (kirk) ((kyrke))\ south- squyj:)e
)'--^kyfke. I-..,
em; but it also shows what is often ignored, that kirk was being used
''
kyrk ((chu^che))
^^^^
,j(irke» '"'^
'(kitke)
much further south than the traditional boundary suggests.
„,,.,,
It came to pass after a short
kyrk^^-Siicke. . kirke kyrke .kK(;e. while
• \ kirkc \.kirke
Mk^rlifi)^.
iitk^ —
Moreover, there are some forms (such as cherche) which cut
Jacob went walking by the Nile
across the dialect boundaries, and interesting 'pockets'
• kirk kirk /
.. |,„k\ upke^"
'
kirki""''^='
'<»''<= Mii'ie*' He saw upon the water's realm
kick (k.rkel.kirr. of usage where a particular spelling is popular.
I Ifyilce'
—kjrk_^ • kirke#kirke*
kirk [e| \
Chaff come floating with the
< (•
^|^j^,^g Because some manuscripts (such as wills and char-
/ kyrke Vkirkekirk.
((kyrke))
„„,^„ stream
ters) are definitely known to come from a certain
,_,ky:k -VK^
\
'""'"^i' k,M<-, .kfr. That sight made him very glad
\
place, it is possible to use the norms seen in such
;

kitk (-) kirk. ^•-¥(—)kyfk kyrk <i;i,c)*\

.kyrk j, ^ 'kyrke
1

And he quickly told his sons

ky-rklel* i^" /«^>"'^'' ^l^^k.rke k,r ki,r * . k.rk , [cl.
kirkJv. material as a yardstick against which texts of
about it
._Mrke Kche)). Vkyrk . J„l W^rC".] k,rk, ' """>'" " unknown provenance can be assessed. With ,

(,k,rk,e,^Ae^fk'';;'klj;^-ki;k'^'-^'^yrke enough often possible to fit

'anchor' points, it is This extract from the late 1 3th-
*
'

(•kyrkey • kirk, • .kyrk kyrk kyrk,

" te'^Ukirk .kirke (kirk) an unlocalized text into the pattern displayed century biblical poem. Cursor
by a localized one. It is important, in such an /Wund/(from the Fairfax text in
^I'ke . kyri • ((kyrkes))
•
kirke
^J^»
irk lei. k„k approach, to make the timespan of the the Bodleian Library, Oxford),
(kyrk^s)
enquiry as narrow as possible, otherwise illustrates one of the historical
variation due to historical change is likely dialectologist's problems. Fea-
•chirch •''''^
kyrke
|i to interfere. tures such as C7u//e (for 'while'),
<'*""'''«*
chi;che,k>l<J- Dialect complexity of this order is only walcande and
'

('walking'),
/-nm^he^ .^"
Mrirke
chyrcHe )
f '''" to be expected. Modern dialect surveys talde ('told') indicate that the
C^Wche ''''H
^ ((chyWkyrk^B.k.rke \ 'kyrk '
^^^,\ show it (§20), and there is no reason text is Northern; and this is con-
kyrtie>^JTlir*.*!yrc ' ,

'
kvrti '
1 .chirctJeJcyrk kyrk chyrche ,
for the dialects of Middle English to firmed by the same features
;:)ii^W.k,ri r*,,„,e tk>!el.' „ch,rche)) • .
1 be any different. appearing elsewhere in the
chirche ^Sri/t..ZZ:;^>^'<^*""^ 'TX I'-!^
• 1^*'"= ;,''>,"'_?• '^*''"
. k»rk • kV'^ •
.^»'''.
(chyrche)/ (After A. M. Mclntosh, M. L. Samuels, text. The a for o, for example, is
/ .church I.
cherch^ churche churche SM.Benskin,
chyrohe . cfiyrche^ found in haly, fra, ga, lange,
. ^ chirche / irke"/ ,
. ~..^_ 1986.) hame, name, and many other
ch)Kch. ^Chirche.
j^,',^„
(ctiyrche)((stbyrch)) chirch cNlche^
words; and a corresponding set
of o spellings appears in a Mid-
— - chyrcA
.thirche chirche
ch,r-che
. ^ll^SsV
~~^ '

^'^
kirk<~:
^'
land version of the text (such as
the one held at Trinity College,
Cambridge).
But in one line, we find this;

In goddes name and so we salle

So, with the same long vowel

as the other words, ought to
appear with an a, perhaps as
swa. Why doesn't it? There are
only two explanations. Either
so an exception to the rule,
is

or a scribal error. If the

it is
-
former, we must find a reason
something in the adjacent
sounds which might plausibly
have caused the change to o, in
just this case. There seems to be
no such reason. Rather more
likely is the second explana-
tion. The scribe could have
been copying out this text from
a southern one in which the o
vowel was used throughout,
and 'translating' the spellings
into the northern dialect of his
readers as he went along; but
atthis point he made a slip.
Support for this view would
come from other slips of a simi-
lar kind -and indeed, we find

the same scribe writing west-

ern con for eastern can a few
lines earlier.
(After C. Jones, 1972.)
 .

PARI' 1 • THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

• A number of loan words arrived which did not enter

MIDDLE SCOTS the language further south (for those that did, see
p. 47). Examples from French include ^owwy ('beauti-
SriiJcnts of the Middle English period have tradition- ful, handsome'), ^i.^/) ('to bother'), and ashet{a. serving
al! tocused on the dialect situation in England, and dish). Callan ('lad'), mutchkin ('quarter pint'), and
especially on those areas in which the standard lan- coivk ('retch') were among those which arrived from
guage was later to develop (p. 54). This has led to a Dutch, with whom Scottish merchants traded. Words
neglect of what was taking place in Scotland at the from Gaelic included clachan ('hamlet'), /«^/f ('hearth
time, where the language was being influenced by a fire'), and strath ('wide valley'). Several legal and
different set of factors, and developing its own distinc- administrative terms came in from Latin, such as
tive character. dominie ('schoolmaster') ^nd fiigie ('runaway').
From the outset, the region had its own linguistic
history. After the 5th-century invasions, what is now
THE LANGUAGE OF GOLF
the north-east of England and the south-east of Scot-
The Scottish originsof golf are there in the vocabulary. Go/f itself is recorded in Scots
land came to be occupied by the Angles, which led to
English from the late 15th century, and various spellings suggest a pronunciation without
the emergence of the Northumbrian dialect of Old an /I/, including gouff, goiff, goff, and gowff. The origins of the word are obscure. It is
English (p. 28). During the Anglo-Saxon period, most commonly thought to be a Dutch loanword, from coif, the name of a stick or club used in
various striking games of the time, but there is no definite evidence.
of Scotland was Celtic-speaking (chiefly the variety
Other golf-related terms which first appear in Scots English are caddie (from French
known as Gaelic), but the number of English speakers cadet, 'cadet') and links (a development of an Old English word meaning 'rising ground').
in the southern part of the country increased greatly in These words have joined scone, croon, croup, and several others to give Modern English its
Middle Scots lexical legacy (p. 329).
the 11th century, following the Norman Conquest.
Many English noblemen became refugees and fled
north, where they werewelcomed by the Scots King
Malcolm Canmore (reigned 1058-93). During the
12th century, the movement north continued, with
southern families being invited to settle in the area by
King David I (reigned 1 124-53) - notably in the new
chartered royal estates known as burhs (such as
Aberdeen and Edinburgh). These places were largely
English-speaking, and gradually English spread
through the whole lowlands area, with Gaelic remain-
ing beyond the Highland line. The English calendar
replaced the Celtic one, and the Anglo-Norman feudal
system replaced traditional patterns of land holding. The golf course at St Andrews, Scotland.
Eventually, French became the language of the Scot-
tish court. In 1295 there was a formal treaty between
Scotland and France, renewed several times in the fol- THE BRUCE Actes and Life of the most Victorious Con-
queror, Robert Bruce King of Scotland'. It
lowing 200 years. As in England, Latin was used for
was completed in 1376, taking up 20 books,
administration and in the Church (p. 30). and is preserved in manuscripts of a century
This Scots English became increasingly different later
This extract is from the siege of Berwick
from the English used in England, especially in pro-
(1319).
nunciation and vocabulary, and many of these differ-
ences are still found today (p. 328). Thar mycht men se a felloune sicht:
With staffing, stoking, and striking
• In pronunciation, there was the use of ch in the Thar maid thai sturdy defending,
middle of such words as «/f/jf ('night'). A distinction For with gret strynth of men the (jet

Thai defendit, and stude tharat,

was made between the first sound of witch And which.
Magrethairfais, quh ill the nycht
The vowel in such words as guid ('good') tended to be Gert thame on bath half is leif the ficht.
longer and produced further forward in the mouth
There might men see a grim sight:
than it was in southern English. A distinctive spelling ,»:-.
.

With hitting [with staffs], stabbing, and

difference is the use of quh- where southern English
striking
wrote wh- {quhan, quhile, etc.).
The earliest surviving work to be written
There they made an obstinate defence
entirely in Scots English after the Conquest
• There were some distinctive grammatical features, is a historical poem by John Barbour For with a great force of men the gate
such as the past tense ending -it {wantit for wanted), (1 325?-95), archdeacon of Aberdeen. It was They defended, and stood there.

forms for expressing negation a Scottish national epic, a mixture of In spite of their foes, until the night
(nae, nocht, -iia), and
romance and chronicle, dealing with 'The Caused them on both sides to stop fighting
aneas the indefinite article (for a I mi).
 MIDDLE ENGLISH

Rise and fall

By the end of the 1 3th century, the English of- Scotland THE MAKARS
and that of England had markedly diverged. A major The leading poets of Scotland from c. 1425 So glitterit as the gold werthair gloriusgilt
social factor had been the split between the nations to c. 550 are usually grouped together as
1 tressis,

the 'Scottish Chaucerians', because of the Quhill [While] all the gressis [grass] did
which followed Edward I of England's attempt at
way they were influenced by the themes glemeof the glaid hewis;
annexation, and the subsequent long period of con- and verse style of Chaucer (p. 38). In fact, Kemmit [corr)bed] wasthair cleir hair, and
flict. From 1424, the Scottish Parliament wrote its shows a mixture of influences,
their poetry curiouslie shed
ranging from a courtly 'aureate' style, full Attour thair shulderis doun shyre [clear],
statutes in English. By the late Middle Ages, Middle
of Latinate diction, to forceful abuse (f lyt- shyning full bricht...
Scots had evolved as far from Old English as had the ing) in Scots vernacular. The Tretis of the Ihave ane wallirag [sloven], ane worme,
Middle English of England, and in a different direc- Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo - a con- ane auld wobat [caterpillar] carle
often said that the two varieties were as far
versation between two married women A waistit wolroun [boar], na worth but
tion. It is
and a widow- illustrates something of this wordis to clatter;
apart as, say, Danish and Swedish are today — largely range. The poem is by William Dunbar Ane bumbart [driveller], ane dron bee, ane
mutually intelligible, but capable of supporting (c. 1460-c. 520), who was employed at the
1
bag full of flewme,
Scottish court. It parodies the high style of
national identities. As a result, some writers on the Aneskabbit skarth [scurvy cormorant], ane
the literary pastoral, and juxtaposes earthy scorpioun, ane scutarde behind;
period refer to the two varieties as distinct 'languages' comments in colloquial Scots, as the women To see him scart [scratch] his awin skyn grit
— and continue to do so when discussing modern talk about their husbands.
scunner [disgust] think. I

Scots. The term 'Scottis' (as opposed to the previously

I saw thre gay ladeis sit in ane grein arbeir The meaning of all the words in this pas-
used comes to be used in the late 1 5th century.
'Inglis') [arbour] sage is not entirely clear- but their sound
The period as a whole Older Scots) tends to be divided All grathit [decked] into garlandisof freshe leaves no doubt about their intent. The /sk-/
(
gudlieflouris; sequence is particularly notable (p. 251).
into Early Scots (1100-1450) and Middle Scots
(1450-1700).
From the end of the I4th century to the beginning
AN EFFORT TO REFORM AN ERROUR'
of the 17th, there was a flowering of literature in Scots
- The Scots were well aware of what was encountered), we met be chance, in the
a period which reached its peak in the poetry of the
happening to their language, as is clear citie of baeth [Bath], with a doctour of
15th-century makars ('makers'), such as Robert Hen- from this story, told by Alexander Hume in divinitie of both our acquentance. He
ryson, William Dunbar, and Gavin Douglas. Southern his Orthographie and Congruitie of the invited us to denner. At table my antago-
Britan Tongue, written c. 1617, and nist, to bring the question on foot amangs
English literature exercised considerable influence,
intended for use in Scottish schools. He is hisawn condisciples, began that was I

especially the poetry of Chaucer, to such an extent that defending the Scots spelling quh- for wh- becum an heretik, and the doctour spering
this group is often called the 'Scottish Chaucerians'. against some unsympathetic English col- [asking] how, ansuered that denyed quho I

leagues. Despite the quh- spellings put into to be spelled with a w, but with qu. Be
Scots also increasingly replaced Latin as an adminis-
the mouths of the English, the passage is quhat reason? quod the Doctour. Here, I

trative language, and came to be widely used in ser- full of southernisms, such as laughed beginning to lay my grundes of labial,
mons, diaries, letters, and other private and public (which has no ch, and uses the -ed inflec- dental, and guttural soundes and symboles,
tion) and a or an (instead of ane). It shows he snapped me on this hand and he on
literature. By the end of the century it had effectively
how much influence southern English had that, that the doctour had mikle a doe to
established itself as a regional standard. exercised on Scots by this time -even on a win me room for a syllogisme. Then (said I)
This course of development altered during the 16th staunch defender. a labial letter can not symboliz a guttural

century, as Scots fell progressively under the influence

syllab lsy//afa/e]. But w is a labial letter, quho
...toreform an errour bred in the south, a guttural sound. And therfoer w can not
of the strongly emerging Standard English of the south. and now usurped be our ignorant print- symboliz quho, nor noe syllab of that
Southern words and spellings became increasingly evi- eres, wil tel quhat befel my-self quhen
I I nature. Here the doctour staying them
was in the south with a special gud f rende again (for al barked at ones), the proposi-
dent in Scottish writing, and printers began to anglicize
of myne. Ther rease [rose], upon sum acci- tion, said he, understand; the assumption
I

material presented to them in Scots. The main factor dent, quhither [vi/hether] quho, quhen, is Scottish, and the conclusion false.

was the uniting of the crowns of Scotland and England quhat, etc., sould be symbolized with q or Quherat al laughed, as if had bene dryven I

w, a hoat [hot] disputation betuene him from al replye, and fretted to see a
in 1603, and the move to London of James VT and the
I

and me. After manie conf lictes (for we oft f rivolouse jest goe for a solid ansuer.
Scottish court - a move which led in due course to the
adoption among the upper classes of
southern English norms of speech. As
A NEW NATION unreasonable as to think that that am a I

James I of England, the new king Christian King underthe Gospel should be a
In 1604 James made a
polygamist and husband to two wives; that
ordered that the Authorized Version speech to his first Parlia-
I

being the Head should have a divided and

of the Bible (p. 64) be used in Scotland, ment, in which he
monstrous Body.
declared his intentions to
thus spreading further the influence of
ruleasinglenation:
In such circumstances, two written stan-
the southern standard as a prestige
Iam the Husband and dards could not possibly co-exist. What is
form. There is very little sign of a dis- the whole Isle is my law- remarkable is that Scots was able to survive
tinctive variety of Scots in published full Wife; am the Head
I
the court's move to London, the Union of
and it is my Body; am I
Parliaments a century later (1 707), and a
end of the 17th century
material at the
the Shepherd and it is great deal of later ridicule levelled at those
However, Scots English was not fated t(
my f locke; hope there-
I who continued to use 'Scotticisms', to sur-
become extinct: its later history i
fore no man will be so face again in the 20th century.

reviewed on pp. 328-33.

 )

PARr 1 THE HISTORY O \- ENGLISH

THE ORIGINS OF STANDARD ENGLISH

Thi variety which we now call Standard English centre of the country. In particular the influence of the
(p. 1 1 0) is the result oi a combination of influences, the administrative offices of the London Chancery (p. 4 1

most important of which do not emerge until the is now thought to have been critical, especially after c.

Middle English period. There is no direct connection 1430. Vast amounts of manuscript copying took place
bcTiveen West Saxon, the written standard of Old within theLondon area, and standards of practice
English 28), and the modern standard. The political
{p. emerged among the Chancery scribes. These practices
heart of the country moved from Winchester to then influenced the many individual scribes who
London after the Conquest, and the major linguistic worked privately, and eventually all kinds of material,
trends during Middle English increasingly relate to the including literary texts, were affected. It would not
development of the capital as a social, political, and have taken long for a widespread standardization to be
DIALECT ROUTES
commercial centre. A written standard English began current. When Caxton set up his press in Westminster
to emerge during the 1 5th century and, following the (p. 56), and chose local London speech as his norm,
A map of 14th-century
roads, based on an original
detailed study of the dialect characteristics of the the lasting influence of his Chancery Lane neighbours by Richard Gough, showing
period, it is now possible to isolate several factors which was assured. the most important routes in
and out of London - notably,
contributed to its identity (after M. L. Samuels, 1963). These observations add up to the claim that the the Great North Road and
• A regionally standardized literary language appeared main influence on the standard language was the Cen- Watling Street, leading to
in the last part of the I4th century, based on the tral Midlands area, several of whose linguistic features the Central Midlands. No
other part of the country had
dialects of the Central Midland counties, especially eventually influenced the shape of Chancery Standard.
better communications with
Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, and Bedford- That the central area could exercise such influence is the capital. If people were to
shire. This is chiefly found in the large number of suggested by a number of contemporary comments, bring their dialects to
London in ever-increasing
Wycliffite manuscripts which have survived (p. 48), as well as by deductions based on social history. John
numbers, most would travel
including sermons, tracts, prayers, poems, and the dif- of Trevisa, translating Higden's Polychronicon (p. 35) in along these roads.
ferent versions of the Wycliff Bible, as well as several
secular works. The Lollards spread this variety widely,
even into south-west England, thus increasing its

status as a standard. In the long term, it was unable to

compete with the quantity of material emanating from
the capital; but its Central Midland origins are
nonetheless noteworthy (see below).
• The growth of a standard from the London area can
be seen by the mid- 1 4th century. Although London
was very much a dialectal hybrid (with the City influ-
enced by the Essex dialect, and Westminster, some dis-
tance further west, showing the influence of
Middlesex), patterns of standardization gradually
appear. There is a small group of manuscripts, written
prior to 1370, which are noted for their uniformity of
spelling. A later and much larger group of diverse
manuscripts include the work of Chaucer and Lang-
land. These texts in their different ways represent
London English of around 1400, but the amount of
variation they display suggests that they cannot be
called a standard, in any strict sense. Not even
Chaucer's writing, traditionally thought to be a pre-
cursor of modern Standard English, exercised a specific
influence on the form this standard took - nor is it

likely that poetic usage would ever influence general

usage in any real way (p. 412). It can hardly be
doubted, though, that Chaucer's literary standing
would have greatly added to the prestige associated
with written language in the London dialect.
• The most significant factor must have been the
emergence of London as the political and commercial
 M I i:> D L E ENGLISH

f. 1387, identifies its function as a communication

'bridge" between north and south: THE GREAT VOWEL thefirst main stage in this happening at the front an
SHIFT development which is usu- the back of the mouth. A
for men of Jje est wij? men of Jie west, as it were vndir ^e same ally referred to as the 'shift'. great deal of evidence has

partie of heuene, acorde[i more in sownynge ot speche [pro-

Why does the sound system been used to support this
used in Chaucer's time (p. 38) Push-me, pull-you interpretation, in the form
nunciation] |3an men of \)e nor|3 wi]p men of jje sou]p\ [serfore seem so different from that The traditional view is that of the order in which new
it is [sat Mercii [Mercians], [jat bee|3 men ot myddei found in Shakespeare's the series of changes was spellings appeared (such as
Engelond, as it wete parteners of \)e endes, ynderstondeji (p. 25)? Why is Chaucer so connected, a move in one of the use of new
eifor/i:/),

^e side langages, norjserne and sou]3erne,

much more difficult to read the vowels causing a move rhymes, and the descrip-
bettre Jian
than Caxton, less than a cen- in another, and soon tions of contemporary writ-
nor[ierne and sou[5erne vnderstonde|3 ei^er ofjer.
tury later? The answer to throughout the system, ers.
both these questions lies in a with each vowel 'keeping the 1 980s, as more tex-
By way of social considerations, we have evidence of its In
major change in pronuncia- distance' from its neigh- tual evidence and dialect
a marked population shift in the I4th century. In the tion which took place at the bour However, there is a survey material became
earlier part of that century, immigration to the veryend of the Middle long-standing dispute over available, the simplicity of

London area was highest from the East Midlands English period. Chaucer which vowel moved first. this explanation was called
probably heard it begin- • Inone view, vowel
the/i:/
Some scholars
into question.
counties of Norfolk, Essex, and Hertfordshire, but it
ning, but it did not take
was the first to change now doubt the connected-
later increased dramatically from such Central Mid- proper effect until the early
(becoming a diphthong), ness of the changes, either

lands counties as Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, decades of the 5th century.1

which left a 'space' into
in wholeor in part. Some
Becauseof the way the think that there were two
and Bedfordshire. As a result, the London dialectcame which the next vowel came,
vowel system of the lan- separate chain-like move-
'pulling' other vowels
to display many of the linguistic features oi Midland guage was fundamentally
upwards in a chain reaction ments which belonged to
affected, the change has different parts of the coun-
writing. (Figure C).
been called the Great Vowel try,but which came
These observations bring a fresh perspective to the • Alternatively, the /u:/
Shift.
vowel was the first to move together in certain texts-
map of Middle English dialects (p. 50),
traditional The changes affected the
(further forwards), 'push-
two 'small' vowel shifts (rais-
where no recognition is given to a Central Midlands seven long vowels in the lan- ing and diphthongization)
ing'the next vowel
guage (p. 42), shown in
upwards, and starting off a rather than one 'big' one.
area, and where special attention is paid to an East Aon a cardinal vowel
Figure
different chain reaction
The sifting of the textual
Midlands 'triangle' bounded by London, Cambridge, diagram (p. 238). Each
(Figure D). The problem evidence, it seems, has
and (on the borders with Southern) Oxford - an area vowel changed its sound hardly begun, and suddenly
with this view is finding a
quality, but the distinction
reason for the back vowel
what was for so long an
of high population, containing the main social and between one vowel and the uncontroversial issue has
movement, once /u:/ is used
political centre, and the main seats of learning. This next was maintained. (The
to start the front vowel
become an open question. It
was a wealthy agricultural region, and the centre of the two front vowels /e:/ and /c:/ chain reaction.
is one of many reanalyses
did merge as/i:/, but not which are ongoing, as schol-
growing wool trade. Its role in promoting the impor- until the 18th century) In Whether we favour pushing ars get to grips with the
tance of the south-east in the Middle Ages is clear. two cases, just a single move or pulling, we seem to be data being provided by the
was involved {B3, B4); in dealing with a sound major Middle English sur-
However, the findings of present-day historical dialec-
others, the movement had change that is simple and veys. It is an exciting time for
tology suggest that its linguistic influence was far less
further consequences which symmetrical. The vowels linguistic medievalists.
important than that of the area further west. sometimes took 200 years to appearto be moving 'in

work themselves out. pairs', with the same things

The final factor in the emergence of a southern liter-
It is

ary standard was the development of printing (p. 56).

This resulted in the spread of a single norm over most of Key

the country, so much so that during the 1 5th century it

becomes increasingly difficult to determine on internal

linguistic grounds the dialect in which a literary work is
written - apart from the northern dialects, such as A
Scots, which retained their written identity longer

(p. 52). People now begin to make value judgments

about other dialects. In the Towneley Plays (p. 58),

Mak the sheep-stealer masquerades as a person of

importance, and adopts a southern accent. John of Tre-
visa comments that northern speech is 'scharp, slitting,
and frotynge and vnschape' {'shrill, cutting, and grating
and ill-formed), giving as one of the reasons that north-
erners live far away from the court. And in The Arte of
English Poesie, attributed to George Puttenham {c.

1 520-90), the aspiring poet is advised to use 'the usuall

speach of the Court, and that of London and the shires
lying about London within Ix. myles, and not much
above'. There was never to be total uniformity, but the
forerunner ofStandard English undoubtedly existed by
the end of the 1 5th centurv.
 -

5 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

11 c IS no doubt that an Earl\- Modern English period
ncls to be recognized in the history of English. The THE FIRST ENGLISH
PRINTER
jiHiip from Middle English to Modern English would be
too great without Between the time of Chaucer and
it. William Caxton was born in
the time of Johnson, roughly 1400 to 1800, the lan- Kent, and by 1438 is known
to have been apprenticed
guage continues to change in quite noticeable ways, and
to a London textile dealer,
there are many points of difference with modern usage. or mercer. This suggests a |M 1^7;^-^|.V
By the end of the 18th century, however, very few lin- birthdate any time between
1415and 1424. Hewentto
guistic differences remain. Reading a Jane Austen novel
Bruges during the early
does not require the same kind of effort or editorial elab- 1440s, where he prospered
oration as needed to understand Shakespeare as a mercer, and in 1462 was
is (p. 76).
appointed governor of the
There no consensus about when the Early Modern

^wyi
is
English trading company
English period begins. Some opt for an earlv date, there, the Merchant Adven-
1400-50, just after Chaucer and the beginning of the turers.
In 1 469 he began work on
ptonunciation shift which identifies a major intelligi- The known representation of a printing office: La
earliest
his first translation, a French
grante danse macabre (1499), with death coming to take
bility barrier between Middle and Modern English account of the Trojan Wars, wicked printers away.
(p. 55). Some opt for a late date, around 1 500, after the and two years later received
the patronage of Margaret, took to translate or print a After his death, his busi-
effects of the printing revolution had become well
Duchess of Burgundy, which work, despite the details he nesswas taken over by his
established. But it is the advent of printing itself which enabled him to complete it. provides in his prologues assistant, Wynkyn de
many consider to be the key factor, and this section In 1471 hetravelledto and epilogues, because we Worde, who in 1500 moved
Cologne, where he stayed do not know howcondi- the press to Fleet Street In
accordingly begins in 1476, when William Caxton set
for 18 months, and learned tions changed as he and his London - from the court to
up his press in Westminster. the technique of printing. staff grew in experience. the city - and a new era In
The new invention gave an unprecedented impetus Back in Bruges he collabo- We do not even know how printing began.
rated with the Flemish cal- many presses he had, or
to the formation of a standard language and the study ligrapher Colard Mansion to whether he worked on
of its properties. Apart from Caxton shows his handi-
its role in fostering norms set up a press, and in late more than one book at a
work to Edward IV at the
ot spelling and punctuation, the availability of printing 1473orearly 1474 put time. Evidently, some works
almonry, Westminster.
through his 700-page trans- were produced quite
provided more opportunities tor people to write, and
lation of The Recuyell slowly; others very
gave their works much wider circulation. As a result, [French recueil 'compila- rapidly. For

more texts of the period have survived. Within the fol- tion'] oftheHistoryesof example, it took

Tmye, the first book printed him about seven

lowing 150 years, it is estimated that nearly 20,000
in English. Returning to weeks to print
books appeared. The story of English thus becomes England, in 1476 he set up Cord/a/ (1479)
more definite in the 16th century, with more evidence his wooden press in a shop a book of 74 leaves
somewhere within the with 28/29 lines per
available about the way the language was developing,
precincts of Westminster page; but in 1483, a
both in the texts themselves, and in a growing number Abbey, to be near the court. book of 1 15 leaves
of observations dealing with such areas as grammar, He published nearly 80 with 38 lines per
items, several in more than page (Festial) was
vocabulary, writing system, and style. In that century,
one edition. We know very completed in just24
scholars seriously got down to talking about their little about how long he days.
language (p. 61).

THE ADVERTISEMENT If it plese ony man spirituel ony pyes of two and thre comemo-
or temporel to bye
forme of this present lettre, whiche
racions of Salisburi Use enpryntid after the
ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to Westmonester in to the Almonesrye
JC it pfeCp on^ mail (piritucl oi tctnpottl to dpc oiip at the Reed Pale and heshal have them good chepe. Supp//costedcedu/a.

pjics of tiiJO antJtljtt cotntntoranoe o£ aUfburi tjCc The 'pye' which was for
was the Ordinale, a book of Latin liturgical direc-
sale
tions also printed by Caxton in c. 1477, and evidently in the same typeface
cnpr|intiD ator tl^ foimc of tijie ptcCct Icttrc uji^ujjc
('forme'), A pye was showing how to act liturgically on a
a collection of rules
ben \)Jtl anij ttulp comtt/latc i^pm owe to vocftmo^ day when there was more than one office, or 'commemoration'. The 'Salisburi
ncftfc in to tf)? almontCrpt at t^ atD j»k anD \)t Cl^al Use' was the widely practised form of the liturgy originally developed at Salis-
bury Cathedral. The commemorations are to the Virgin Mary and the saints. The
{)ai«tl)emgooiirfjcjK .% last sentence tells the audience that a printed book will be cheap (that is, com-
pared with the price of a copied manuscript). The shop in the almonry at West-
minster was within the Abbey precincts. The significance of Caxton's sign, the
Red Pale, is unknown: it may have been on the shop already, before he rented
it. Someone has glossed the Latin, for the benefit of the less well educated.
 . .

5 • EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

The first printed works

We know of 103 separate items printed by Caxton, WITHOUT WHOM...
several of which are different editions of the same A page from the first

English printed book, The

work. They can be grouped into four categories (after
Recuyell of the Historyes of
N.Blake, 1969): Troy. In the prologue,
Caxton tells of his debt to
• His own translations, such as The Recuyell ofthe Hh-
the Duchess of Burgundy,
toryes of Troy and The Knight of the Tower. This is the and adds some Interesting
largest category, its prologues and epilogues providing remarks about his own
background.
a great deal of information about Caxton's aims as a
And afterward whan I

publisher.
rememberyd my self of my mcixfjf if.rn '^"^ofic of "
tf-m
• Works of the 1350-1450 - chiefl)',
courtly poets of symplenesand av rt;<5i/ra!pc,„f>„ "' f?
'"/fiiir
f;«f>:.r/-«u,:-^'fi^,
"f"-,iir,,v
Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate - and including two vnperfightnesthat had In I
f<^'i'<
•'"ft? .l,-.
'"

editions of The Canterbury Tales. Caxton's concentra-

bothe langages, that is to '^'^Zt^^^t^^t""'yrfcutrb;
»jttr„
fill,-/,
H,
wete [namely] in Frenshe ."^'p<'^f)it,,.„„,.
tion on these authors shows him aware of the fashion- and in Englisshe, for In
able demand for an elevated' style of writing. France was neuer, and was
I

born S lerned myn Engllssh ttvt^f 'f''rf;«n) ff)

• Prose works in English, also including many trans- Xua-Rt. rf/<rhi '"fl"trfi<f.
In Kente IntheWeeld, 1

lations, such as Chaucer's Boethius, Trevisa's Poly- where double not Is spoken
I
''T"Uofri;c
|

chronicon (p. 35), and Malory's Morte Darthur (p. 58). as brode and rude Engllssh
as Is in ony place of Englond; "^-
• A miscellaneous group of works, probably produced & haue contynued by the
,
Ct);V„„» .. .•.^'

—
'^
irfctf.C)
Wol^ct H.^.-i
" L.'.llTi(..,„v, ^. '
. <.,{e
"ijo
for particular clients. They include books of indul- space of XXX yere for the
gences, statutes, phrase books, devotional pieces, and a most parte In the contres
[countries] of Braband,
Latin grammar.
Flandres, Holand, and that the ryght redoughted Engllssh whiche sche
Zeland; and thus when alle lady, my
Lady Margarete . . comanded me to amende
ATIME OF CHANGE thyse thynges cam tofore me sente for me to speke wyth and moreouer comanded
aftyrthat Y had made and her good grace of dyuerce mestraytii tocontynueand
From the epilogue to Charles the Great, the 'first Cristen
wretyn a fyueorsixquayers maters. Among the whyche make an ende of the resydue
Kyng of Fraunce': [books], Yfyll In dispayrof Y lete her Hyenes haue than not translated . .

The whyche werke was fynysshed in the reducyng of hit thys werke and purposid no knowleche of the forsayd
Into Englysshe the xvlil day of Juyn the second yere of more to haue contynuyd begynnyng of thys werke, Thisbook was printed In

Kyng Rychard the Thyrd and the yere of Our Lord MCCC- therin, and tho [those] whiche anone comanded Bruges. The first book
Clxxxv, and emprynted the fyrst day of Decembre the quayers leyd apart; and In me to shewe the sayd v or vl Caxton printed In England
same yere of Our Lord and the fyrst yere of Kyng Harry two yere aftyr laboured no quayers to her sayd grace. was The Dictes orSayengis
the Seventh. more In thys werke. And was And whan she had seen of the Philosophres (1477),
fully In wyll to haue lefte hyt hem, anone she fonde translated from French by
In the meantime, there had been the Battle of Bosworth:
tyll on a tyme hit fortuned [founcf] a defaute In myn the second Earl Rivers.
22 August 1485.

CAXTON'S PROBLEM
THE 'EGG' STORY to lande for to refreshe them And one of
Caxton was a merchant, not a linguist or a literary scholar.
theym named sheffelde a mercer cam into
Faced with the task of translation, he had to deal with sev- And also my lorde abbot of westmynster an hows and axed [asked] for mete, and
eral major problems; ded [diet] do shewe to me late certayn euy-
specyally he axyd after eggys And the good
• Should he use foreign words In his translation or replace dences [docurr)ents] wryton in olde wyf answerde. that she coude speke no
them by native English words? englysshe for to reduce It in to our frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for
• Which variety of English should he follow, given the exis- englysshe now vsid [used] I And certaynly It he also coude speke no frenshe. but wold
tence of major regional differences? was wreton In suche wyse that it was more haue haddeegges/andshevnderstode
•Which literary style should be used as a model? Chaucer? lyke to dutche [German] than englysshe 1

hym not/Andthenneat lastea nother sayd

Or something less 'ornate'? coude not reduce ne brynge Itto bevnder- that he wolde haue eyren/ then the good
• How should the language be spelled and punctuated, stonden / And certaynly our langage now wyf sayd that she vnderstod hym wel / Loo
given the scribal variations of the previous centuries? vsed varyeth ferre from that, whiche was whatsholdea man In thyse dayes now
• In publishing native writers, should he change their lan- vsed and spoken whan was borne/For we I

wryte. egges or eyren /certaynly It is harde

guage to make It more widely understood? englysshe men / ben [are] borne vnder the to playse euery man / by cause of dyuersite
If the books were to sell, the language they contained had
domynacyon themone. [moon] whiche
of
& chaunge of langage.
Is neuer stedf aste / but euer wauerynge /
to be understood throughout the country; but, as he com-
plained, how could he satisfy everyone? A famous extract wexynge one season /and waneth & Sheffield's problem arose because egges
from one of dyscreaseth another season / And that was a northern form, adevelopment from
prologues gives a vivid account of the size
his
of the problem. If even a simple little word like eggs cannot comyn englysshe that Is spoken in one Old Norse, whereas eyren was a southern
shyre varyeth from a nother. In so moche form, a development from Old English. The
be universally understood, what hope was there for him?
Caxton made his decisions, as did other publishers of the that in my dayes happened that certayn passage also shows some of Caxton's spel-
marchauntes were in ashippe In tamyse ling Inconsistencies and his idiosyncratic
time, and In due course a consensus arose (p. 66). His own
[Thames] fortohauesayled ouerthesee use of punctuation and capital letters. (Pro-
work Is In fact extremely Inconsistent. It Is not until nearly a
Into zelande/ and for lackeof wynde thel logue to Virgil's Boofce of fneydos, c. 1490,
century later that there Is uniformity In the appearance of
taryed atte forlond. [headland] and wente with modern punctuation.)
printed texts - and Indeed some matters (such as the use of
the apostrophe) never settle down at all (p. 203),
 58 I'AR'r 1 • THE HISTORY O [: l'. N f, 1. 1 S I 1

Caxton in 1485, and the cycles of miracle and mystery

1 KAJNol 1 lUINAL 1 iiXl O plays, preserved in several 15th-century manuscripts.
'

There are still many points of grammar, spelling, and

Se^Lial authors and texts illustrate the linguistic tran- vocabulary which cause difficulty to the 20th-century
sill 111 from Middle to Early Modern English. They reader, but overall the language is familiar and intelli-

inciude the great prose romance translated by Sir gible, and is often used in modern presentations with
Thomas Malory, the Morte Darthiir, published bv little editorial intervention.

MYSTERY PLAYS
The miracle and mystery plays of medieval Europe were plays on bibli-
cal subjects,performed in cycles on special religious occasions such as
the feast of Corpus Christi. The extract below is from the 32-play
7bi/vne/eyCyc/e (so called because the manuscript once belonged to
the library of Towneley Hall in Lancashire), and thought to have been
the text for the plays performed at Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
Some of the plays have been acclaimed for the dramatically inter-
esting way in which they develop their plot and characters, adding an
extra dimension to the religious subject-matter A case in point is the
Second Shepherds' Play, which has been called the earliest surviving
English comedy. The extract is from the episode where the shepherds
visit Mak, the sheep-stealer, in his house, and find their sheep

wrapped up as a baby in a cradle. Of stylistic note is the lively conver-

sational rhythm of the dialogue and the humorous use of rhyme. Of
grammatical note is the northern dialect -s ending on the third person
singular present tense (p. 65).

shepherd: 6af ye the chyld any thyng?

FIRST
SECOND shepherd: trow not oone farthyng. I

THIRD shepherd: Fast agane will flyng, I

Abydeye me there.
Mak, take it to no grefe if com to thi barne [child]. I

mak: Nay, thou dos me greatt reprefe, and fowll has thou fame
[behaved].
THIRD shepherd: The child will it not grefe, that lytyll day starne [star].
Mak, with your leyfe, let me gyf youre barne
Bot sex pence.
mak: Nay, do way: he slepys.
THIRD shepherd: Me thynk he pepys.
mak: When he wakyns he wepys.
pray you go hence.
I

third shepherd: Gyf me lefe hym to kys, and lyft up the clowtt.
What the dewill is this? He has a long snowte.

The sheep-stealing scene from the Hijinx Theatre 1993 production of

In the Bleak Mid Winter by Charles Way, with Richard Berry as Zac,
Firenza Guidi as Miriam, Helen Gwyn as Gill, and David Murray as
Mak.

THEQUESTOFTHEHOLYGRAIL deal of editorial intervention is needed to provide sorowe / Thenne the Quene departed in to her
a readily intelligible text; but in most other chamber /and helde her /that no man shold
The author of the work traditionally called the respects the grammar and vocabulary are perceyue her grete sorowes / whanne syre
Morte Darf/iur calls himself Thomas Malory, a accessible, and the narrative appealing - as Caxton Launcelot myst the quene / he wente tyl her
knight, who was in prison when he did most of the puts it in his prologue: of 'noble actes, feates
full chamber / And when she sawe hym / she cryed
writing (1469-70). His identity is controversial, the of armesof chyvalrye, prowesse, hardynesse, aloude / O launcelot / launcelot ye haue bitrayed
leading candidate being Sir Thomas Malory of humanyte, love, curtosye and veray gentylnesse, me / and putte me to the deth for to leue thus my
Newbold Revell in Warwickshire (13937-1471), wyth many wonderful hystoryes and adventures'. lord A madame praye yow be not displeased /
I

who served in France underthe Earl of Warwick. for I come ageyne as soone as may with my
shall I

The extract is from Chapter 8 of Book XIII of Thenne after the seruyse was done / the
[serWce] worship / Alias sayd she that euer sawe yow / but I

Caxton's edition, and shows several of the features
characteristic of his work (p. 57). There is the use
of the slash mark as the main feature of
punctuation, but with little system in its use: it can
mark the end of a sentence (but not always), a
major grammatical boundary within a sentence
(but not all of them), or just a pause. The capital
letter, likewise, appears unexpectedly (Wold) and
inconsistently (in Quene and Launcelot). A great
kyng Wold wete [wished know] how many had
to he that suffred vpon the crosse for all mankynde
vndertake the queste of the holy graylle / and to he be vnto yow good conduyte and saufte
accompte them he prayed them all [he prayed [protection] I and alle the hole felauship / Ryght
them all to count themselves] I Thenne fond they soo departed Launcelot / & fond his felauship that
by the tale [count] an honderd and fyfty / and alle abode [awaitecl] his comyng / and so they
were knyghtes of the table round / And thenne mounted on their horses / and rode thorou the
they putte on their helmes and departed / and strete of Camelot / and there was wepynge of
recommaunded them all holy [entirely] vnto the ryche and poure / and the kyng tourned awey and
Quene / and there was wepynge and grete myghte not speke for wepynge /
 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

THE CHIEF
16TH-CENTURY
THE AGE OF BIBLES TYNDALE'S POPULAR VOICE
TRANSLATIONS
Ihad perceaved by experyence, how that it was impossi-
ble to stablysh the layepeople in any truth, excepte the William Tyndale
The Kin^ James Bible, also known as the Authorized
scripture were playnly layde before their eyes in their (c. 1494-1536)

Version of the Bible, published in 1 6 11 exercised enor-

, mother tonge, that they might se the processe, ordre Tyndale's New Testament of
mous influence on the development of the language and meaninge of the texte... 1 525, revised in 1 534, was the
first English vernacular text
(p. 64); but it was itself influenced by several existing Tyndale's aim to translate for the people can be seen in
to be printed (in Cologne),
produced during the 16th century. The the colloquial style of many passages:
versions, all and the basis for most subse-
motivation for these bibles lay in the religious contro- 1But the serpent was sotyller than all the beastes of the quent versions. He was a
felde which ye LORde God had made, and sayd unto the strong proponent of the view
versies of the day (Luther's protest at Wittenburg took
woman. Ah syr [sure], that God hath sayd, ye shall not that people should be able to
place in 1517). Accordingly, they display great varia- eate of all maner trees in the garden. 2 And the woman read the Bible in their own
tion, not only in theological slant and stylistic level, but sayd unto the serpent, of the f rute of the trees in the language.

and garden we may eate, 3 but of the f rute of the tree that is
also in typography, presentation, editorial matter, Miles Coverdale
in the myddes of the garden (sayd God) se that we eate (71488-1569)
mode of presentation. For the historical linguist, the not, and se that ye touch it not: lest ye dye. Coverdale'stext of 1535,
range and frequency of editions provides an unparal- 4 Then sayd the serpent unto the woman: tush ye shall published at Cologne, was
not dye: 5 But God doth knowe, that whensoever ye
leled opportunity to view the development of the lan- the first complete Bible to be
shulde eate of it, youre eyes shuld be opened and ye printed in English. It was a
guage at that time. Because they are all translations of
sholde be as God and knowe both good and evell. 6 And translation from German.
the same core set of texts, the different versions can the woman sawe that it was a good tree to eate of and
lustie [desirable] unto the eyes and a plesant tre for to
Matthew's Bible (1537)
throw special light on changes in orthography, gram-
make wyse. And toke of the frute of it and ate, and gaue This complete Bible was the
mar, and vocabulary throughout the period. unto hir husband also with her, and he ate. 7 And the firstto be piinted in England.

eyes of both of them were opened, that they understode The text is attributed to
how that they were naked. Than they sowed fygge leves Thomas Matthew, Chamber-
lain of Colchester, but it was
togedder and made them apurns \aprons]. (Genesis
3.1-7) compiled by John Rogers, a
friend of Tyndale's. It is based
largely on Tyndale's work,
with some use of Coverdale.
TYNDALE'S INFLUENCE The Great Bible (1539)

Ithas been estimated that about 80 per cent of the text This text, so-called because of

of the Authorized Version shows the influence of Tyn- its physical size, was the first

dale. The Beatitudes is a good example: the differences of many official versions for

are minor, and the number of words in the two passages use in Protestant England. A
(Matthew 5.1-10) almost identical. copy would be placed in

every parish church in the

Tyndale Authorized Version
country. It is a revision of
1 Whenhe sawe the 1 And seeing the multi- Matthew's Bible by
people, he went vp into a tudes, he went vp into a Coverdale. Because Arch-
mountayne, and when he mountaine: and when he bishop Thomas Cranmer
was set, his disciples came was set, his disciples came wrote a preface to it, the
to hym, 2 and he opened vnto him. 2 And he work became widely known
hys mouthe, and taught opened his mouth, and as 'Cranmer's Bible'.
them sayinge: 3 Blessed taught them, saying, 3
are the povre in sprete: Blessed are the poore in The Geneva Bible (1560)

for theirs the kyng-

is
dome of heven. 4 Blessed
are they that morne: for
they shalbe contorted. 5
spirit: for theirs is the king- This translation was pro-
dome of heauen. 4 Blessed duced by English Protestant
are they that mourne: for exiles during the reign of
they shall be comforted. 5 Queen Mary. It was the first

Blessed are the meeke: for English Bible in roman type.

Blessed are the meke: for
they shall inheret the
erth. 6 Blessed are they
which honger and
thurst for rightewesnes:
for they shalbe filled. 7
Blessed are the merci-
full: for they shall
obteyne mercy. 8
Blessed are the pure
herte: for they shall se
God. 9 Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they
they shall inherit the
earth. 6 Blessed are they
which doe hunger and
thirst after righteousnesse:
for they shall be filled. 7
Blessed are the mercifull:
for they shall obtaine
mercie. 8 Blessed are the
they
in pure in heart: for
shall see God. 9 Blessed
are the peacemakers: for
they shall bee called the
The Bishops' Bible (1568)
This revised version of the
Great Bible became the offi-
cial version of the Church in
1571, and was used by the
scholars working on the
Authorized Version (p. 64).
The Douai-Rhelms Bible
(1609-10)
This translation was issued by
Roman Catholic priests in

exile in Europe. The Rheims

shalbe called the chyl-
dren of God. 10 Blessed
are they which suffre per-
secucion for rightwesnes
sake: for theirs ys the kyn-
gdome of heuen.
children of God. 10 Blessed
are they which are perse-
New Testament first
appeared in 1582, and the
cuted for righteousnesse
remaining text was produced
sake: for theirs is the king-
from Douai in 1 609. Based on
dome of heauen.
the Latin Vulgate, it was used
by English Catholics for the
next century.
 PART I • THE HISTORY OF ENC;i.lSH

('confused') are examples (p. 125). Fhe scholar John

ENGLISH DURING THE Cheke used English equivalents for classical terms

RENAISSANCE whenever he could, such as crossed for 'crucified' and

gainrisi>ig for 'resurrection' (p. 124).

During the 1 6th century there was a flood oi new pub- The increase in foreign borrowings is the most dis-

prompted by a renewed interest in

lications in English, tinctive linguistic sign of the Renaissance in English.
the classical languages and literatures, and in the Purist opinion did not, in the event, stem the influx
rapidly developing fields of science, medicine, and the of new words - nor has it ever, in the history of this

arts. This period, fiom the time of Caxton until language.

around 1650, was later to be called the 'Renaissance',
and it included the Reformation, the discoveries oi
Copernicus, and the European exploration of Africa
SOME RENAISSANCE LOAN WORDS IN ENGLISH

and the Americas. The effects of these fresh perspec- From Latin and Greek
absurdity, adapt, agile, alienate, allusion, anachronism, anonymous, appropriate,
tives on the English language were immediate, far-
assassinate, atmosphere, autograph, benefit, capsule, catastrophe, chaos, climax,
reaching, and controversial. conspicuous, contradictory, crisis, criterion, critic, delirium, denunciation, disability,

The focus of interest was vocabulary. There were no disrespect, emancipate, emphasis, encyclopedia, enthusiasm, epilepsy, eradicate, exact,
exaggerate, excavate, excursion, exist, expectation, expensive, explain, external,
words in the language to talk accurately about the new extinguish, fact, glottis, habitual, halo, harass, idiosyncrasy, immaturity, impersonal,
concepts, techniques, and inventions which were inclemency, jocular, larynx, lexicon, lunar, malignant, monopoly, monosyllable,
coming from Europe, and so writers began to borrow necessitate, obstruction, pancreas, parasite, parenthesis, pathetic, pneumonia, relaxation,
relevant, scheme, skeleton, soda, species, system, tactics, temperature, tendon,
them. Most of the words which entered the language thermometer, tibia, tonic, transcribe, ulna, Utopian, vacuum, virus
at the time were taken from Latin, with a good number
From or via French
from Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. alloy,anatomy, battery, bayonet, bigot, bizarre, chocolate, colonel, comrade, detail,
Then, as the period of world-wide exploration got entrance, equip, explore, grotesque, invite, moustache, muscle, naturalize,
docility, duel,
passport, pioneer, probability, progress, shock, surpass, ticket, tomato, vase, vogue,
under way, words came into English from over 50
volunteer
other languages, including several indigenous lan-
From or via Italian
guages of North America, Africa, and Asia. Some argosy, balcony, ballot, cameo, carnival, concerto, cupola, design, fuse, giraffe, grotto,
words came into English came by way
directly; others lottery, macaroni, opera, piazza, portico, rocket, solo, sonata, sonnet, soprano, stanza,
stucco, trill, violin, volcano
of an intermediate language. Many came indirectly
from Latin or Italian via French. From or via Spanish and Portuguese
anchovy, apricot, armada, banana, barricade, bravado, cannibal, canoe,
alligator,
Some writers, such as Thomas Elyot, went out of cockroach, cocoa, corral, desperado, embargo, guitar, hammock, hurricane, maize,
their way to find new words, in order (as they saw it) mosquito, mulatto, negro, potato, port (wine), rusk, sombrero, tank, tobacco, yam
to "enrich' the language. They saw their role as From other languages
enabling the new learning to be brought within the bamboo (Malay), bazaar (Persian), caravan (Persian), coffee (Turkish), cruise (Dutch),
curry (Tamil), easel (Dutch), flannel (Welsh), guru (Hindi), harem (Arabic), horde (Turkish),
reach of the English public - whether this was access to
keelhaul (Dutch), ketchup (Malay), kiosk (Turkish), knapsack (Dutch), landscape (Dutch),
the old classical texts, or to the new fields of science, pariah (Tamil), raccoon (Algonquian), rouble (Russian), sago (Malay), sheikh (Arabic),
technology, and medicine. There were many transla- shekel (Hebrew), shogun (Japanese), troll (Norwegian), trousers (Irish Gaelic), turban

tions of classical works during the I6th century, and

(Persian), wampum (Algonquian), yacht (Dutch), yoghurt (Turkish)
thousands of Latin or Greek terms were introduced, as

translators searched for an English equivalent and

could not find one. Some, indeed, felt that English was EXPLAIN THYSELF
in any case not an appropriate vehicle for the expres- The inventors of neologisms were well
sion of the new learning. English, in this view, did not aware of the need to explain their
compare well with the coinages. One strategy was to pair a new
tried and tested standards ot
word with a familiar equivalent, such as
Latin or Greek, especially in such fields as theology or persist and continue, and animate orgyue
medicine. It was a language fit for the street, but not courage to. Another was to expound a
for the library. meaning at greater length, as does Sir
Thomas Elyot in introducing encyclopedia.
Then as now, the influx of foreign vocabulary
in is required to be a heape of
an oratour
and people leaped to the lan-
attracted bitter criticism,
all lernyng: whiche of some is
manner of
guage's defence. Purists opposed the new 'inkhorn' called the worlde of science: of other the
terms, condemning them for obscurity and for inter- circleof dortrine/whiche is in one worde

fering with the development of native English vocab- of greeke Encyclopedia.

ulary. Some writers (notably, the poet Edmund

Spenser) attempted to revive obsolete English words
instead - what were sometimes called 'Chaucerisms' -
and to make use of little-known words from English
dialects. Algate ('a\wa.ys), wV^fr ('certainly'), and yblent

THE INKHORN CONTROVERSY
Monetary
metaphors were
especially popular
inthe 16th-century
controversy over
the use of foreign
words in English.
Supporters use
such terms as
'enrich'and
opponents
'credit';
talk about
'bankruptcy' and
'counterfeiting'.
FOR
Thomas Elyot
(c. 1490- 1546)
I am constraind to vsurpe a
latine word Matu-
callyng
ritie: whiche worde though
it be strange and darke/ yet
by declaring the vertue
fewe mo wordes/the name
ones [once] brought in cus-
tome /shall be as facile to
vnderstande as other
wordes late commen out of
Italy and France /and made
denizinsamongevs. ...And
this do nowe remembre
I
forthe necessary augmen-
tation of our langage. {The
boke named the
Gouernour, 1531.)
George Pettie (1 548-89)
Wherefore marueile how
I understood, is why some
our english tongue hath
crackt it [its] credite, that
may not borrow of the
Latine as well as other
tongues: and if it haue
broken, it is but of late, for
it is not vnknowen to all
men how many woordes
we haue fetcht from thence am of this opinion that our
within these f ewe yeeres, tung shold be written
which if they should be all
counted inkpot termes,
know not how we should
speake any thing without
blacking our mouthes with heed bi tijm, euer borow-
inke: for what woord can
be more plaine then this
word p/a/ne, and yet what house as bankrupt. For
can come more neere to the then doth our tung natural-
Latine? (Preface to The
ciuile conuersation ofM.
Steeuen Guazzo, 1 581 .)
The impossibility of the
well illustrated by such passages,
words of non-Germanic origin (such asfaan/cruptand,
indeed, the word pure itself).
AGAINST
Thomas Wilson (?1 528-81)
Among all other lessons
should first be learned,
this
it that wee never affect any
straunge ynkehorne
termes, buttospeakeas
in a commonly received:
ther seeking to be over
fine, nor yet living over-
carelesse, using our
speeche as most men doe,
and ordering our wittes as
the fewest have done,
Someseekesofarforout-
landish English, thatthey
forget altogether their
mothers language. And
dare sweare this, if some of
their mothers were alive,
were not able to tell
thei
what they say; and yet
these fine English clerkes
will say, they speake in their
it
mothertongue,
if a sion, much encountered
should charge them for
counterfeiting the Kings
English, (r/ie -Arte of
Rhetorique, 1553.)
John Cheke (1514-57)
I
cleane and pure, vnmixt
I and vnmangeled with
borowing of other tunges,
wherein if we take not
ing and neuer payeng, she
shall be fain to keep her
lie and praisablie vtter her
meaning, when she
bouroweth no counterfeit-
ness of other tunges to
attire her self withall
(Letter to Thomas Hoby,
1557.)
purist ideal, as Pettie points out,
which all contain several
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
WORSHIPFULLSIR
The rhetorician Thomas Wilson was one of
the most ferocious critics of the new Lati-
nate vocabulary emerging in England. In
The Arte of Rhetorique he cites a letter
written (he claims) by a Lincolnshire gentle-
man asking for assistance in obtaining a
vacant benefice. It is likely that the letter is
a parody, Wilson's own concoction, but the
words he uses seem to be genuine, and in
most cases are attested elsewhere. The fol-
lowing extract illustrates its
Ponderyng expendyng [weighing], and
reuolutyng [revolving] with my self your
ingent [enormous] affabilitee, and inge-
nious capacitee, for mundane affaires:
cannot but celebrate and extolle your mag-
nificall dexteritee, aboue all
could you haue adepted [acquired] suche
illustrate prerogatiue [illustrious pre-
eminence], and dominicall [lordly] superior-
itee, if the fecunditee of your ingenie
powers] had not been so fer-
[intellectual
and wounderfull pregnaunt. Now
tile,
is therefore beeyng accersited [summoned].
nei-
DERUNCINATED
WORDS
coh/fa/t ('restrain'), derunci-
nate ('weed'), eximious
('excellent'), illecebrous
('delicate'), suppeditate
('supply')...
I
During the Renaissance,
many words were coined
which did not survive. What
is interesting, but little
words were retained while
man others were not. For exam-
ple, both impede and
expede were introduced
during this period, but only
the former has survived.
Demit ('send away') has
been replaced by dismiss,
though the parallel items
commit and transm/t have
remained; and disadorn and
disaccustom have been lost,
though d/sagree arid dis-
abuse have been kept. In
letter, from which
Wilson's
an extract is quoted above,
most of the new Latin words
survived, but obtestate and
fatigate did not. In certain
cases, the existence of per-
fectly satisfactory words in
the language for a particular
concept militated against
. .. the introduction of a further
item: what need of
aspectafa/e, when we already
have visible! mostly
is
It is
impossible to say why one
word lived and another died.
to suche splendent renoume, and dignitee
splendidious: doubt not but you will adiu-
I
uate [help] such poore adnichilate [desti-
tute] orphanes, as whilome ware
condisciples [sc/ioo//'e//oivs] with you, and
of antique familiarite in Lincolneshire.
What is noteworthy is that several of these
new Latinate words have since entered the
language (e.g. ingenious, capacity, mun-
dane, celebrate, extol, dexterity). By con-
trast, most of the native coinages invented
by contemporary writers as alternatives to
style:
Latin loans have failed to survive. An exam-
ple the set of terms proposed by Ralph
is
Lever in his Arte of Reason, rightly termed,
Witcraft 1 573) for the study of logic. They
(
I include such Latin equivalents as endsay
('conclusio'), ifsay ('propositio condition-
other. For how alls'), naysay ('negatio'), sayn//iat('def ini-
shewsay ('propositio'), and yeasay
tio'),
Though most of Lever's
('affirmatio').
coinages had no future, a few of his forms
emerged independently in regional use
(especially naysay(er) and yeasay(er)). All
of them intriguingly anticipate Newspeak
(p. 135).
NEW FORMATIONS ENGLISH RECOGNIZED
Theinfluxof foreign words The controversy over which
was the most noticeable kind of English lexicon to use
aspect of lexical growth; but should not be allowed to
throughout the period the obscure the fact that English
vocabulary was steadily was now widely accepted as
expanding in other ways. Far the language of learning. At
more new words in fact the beginning of the 16th
century, the situation had
came into English by adding
prefixes and suffixes, or by been very different, with
forming newcompounds Latin still established as the
normal language of scholar-
(p. 128). It is also important
Europe, vernac-
to note the use of the pro- ship. All over
cess of word-class conver- ulars were criticized as
and imma-
in crude, limited,
ture -fit for popular litera-
Shakespeare (p. 63).
ture, but little else.
Pre fixation
Richard Mulcaster (71530-
bedaub, counterstroke, dis-
headmaster of
1611),
abuse, disrobe, endear, fore-
Merchant Taylors' School,
name, interlink, nonsense,
was a leading supporter of
submarine, uncivilized,
the capabilities and value of
uncomfortable
the mothertongue in all sub-
Suffixation jects:
blandishment, changeful,
considerable, delightfulness, Ido notthink that anie lan-
drizzling, frequenter,
guage, be it whatsoever, is
better able to utter all argu-
gloomy, immaturity, laugh-
able, lunatical, murmurous ments, either with more
pith, or greater planesse,
Compounding than our English tung is, if
chap-fallen, commander-in-
the English utterer be as skil-
chief, Frenchwoman, full in the matter, which he is
heaven-sent, laughing-
to utter: as the foren utterer
stock, pincushion, pine-cone,
is... love Rome, but London
I
rosewood, spoonwort better, favor Italie, but Eng-
I
Conversion land more, honorthe Latin,
I
Noun from verb: invite, but worshipthe English.
I
laugh, scratch
By the end of the 16th cen-
Verb from noun: gossip,
tury, the matter was
launder, season ('Season
resolved. English became the
your admiration for a
language of learning.
while...')
 I'ARr 1 • IHK HIS 1X1 RY OF EN til, IS 11

THE INFLUENCE OF THE NEW GLOBE

SHAKESPEARE
All textbooks on the history of English agree that the
tA.vo most important influences on the development of
the language during the final decades ot the Renais-
sance are the works oi William Shakespeare ( 1 564-
1616) and the King James Bible of 1611 (p. 64). "Influ-
ence" does not here refer to the way these works use lan-
guage in a beautiful or memorable way. Extracts from
both sources predominate in any collection of English
quotations; but the present section is not primarily
concerned with issues of aesthetic excellence or quota-
biliry (p. 184). 'To be or not to be' is a quotation, but
it is unimportant in discussing the development ol the
language's grammar or vocabulary. On the other hand,
Shakespeare's use of obscene (in Richard II ) is not part
of any especially memorable quotation, but it is the
first recorded use of this word in English. And even
though he may not have been the very first to use it

(some Shakespearean 'firsts', such as puppi-dogges, will An architect's model of the International building techniques have been used to

undoubtedly have been present in the spoken language Shakespeare Globe Centre, due for create a replica of the oak-framed theatre,
completion in spring 1995. based on contemporary sketches and
already), his usage would have been influential in The first wooden structure opened in records. The aim of the project is to restore
developing popular awareness of it, and thus increas- 1599, but was burned down in 1613 - it is an appreciation of Shakespeare's works as
ing its circulation. said, by a spark from a cannon during a they were first performed. When complete,
performance of Henry VIII. Although the Globe will have a capacity of 1,500,
The Shakespearean impact on the language was immediately rebuilt, the theatre was closed including 300 standing in the theatre's
chiefly in the area of the lexicon, as the examples on by the Puritans in 1 642, and subsequently open yard, and will mount plays in the style
these pages suggest. His work, however, also provides demolished. of Elizabethan drama, and in the setting
The reconstruction was the brainchild of described simply and effectively in the
countless instances of the way English was developing American actor-director Sam Wanamaker Prologue to Henry V as a 'wooden O'.
at the time, and illustrations from his poems and plays who died in December 1993,

are unavoidable in any discussion of contemporary aged The Globe Playhouse

74.
Trust was formed in 1 970, but
pronunciation (p. 69), word formation, syntax (p. 70), building work on the site,
or language use (p. 71). In return, the studies ol some 500 yards from the
original location, did not
Renaissance language in general have contributed
begin until 1989. Elizabethan
many insights into Shakespeare's own use of language.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the son of John Shakespeare, a
glover, and Mary Arden, of farming stock. Much uncertainty surrounds his early life. He was
the eldest of three sons, and there were four daughters. Educated at the local grammar
school, in 582 he married Anne Hathaway, from a local farming family. Their children were
1

Susanna (1583) and twins Hamnet and Judith (1585).

In about 1 591 he moved to London and became an actor. The first evidence of his associa-

tion with the stage is in 1 594, when he was acting with the Lord Chamberlain's company of
players, later 'the King's Men'. When the company built the Globe theatre, he became a
partner, living modestly in a house in Silver Street until c. 1606, then moving near the Globe.
He returned to Stratford c. 1610, living as a country gentleman at his house. New Place. His
will was made in March 1616 (p. 149), a few months before he died, and he was buried at
Stratford.
The modern era of Shakespearean scholarship has long been noted for its meticulous
investigation of the text, chronology, and authorship of the plays, and of the theatrical, lit-
erary, and socio-historical contexts which gave rise to them. To all this has now been
added a comparatively small but rapidly growing contribution from linguistically-inspired
approaches such as stylistics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and computational linguistics
(pp. 63, 1 53). Of particular interest is the extent to which the remaining controversial
questions of authorship (such as Henry W Part /and Two Noble Kinsmen) can be illumi-
nated using modern stylostatistical and computational techniques (pp. 266, 423).
 '

5 • EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

THE TRAGEDIE OF
HAMLET, Princeof Denmarlce.

d/f^us Triimii. Sctena Trima.

, Mtretllm and my fcITe,

ikc ihcc of: Enteriht gtifi.

lo'.lkirtJ
f. In'.hcrimefiguie.liVeiheKing deu).
*•. Thomrt»iih»llenfpe»ke»a
ni. Lookol(noil.k<(heKoig?Mj
U& wonder

.h thaakts; Tcgeihei wiih thai Fiite and W irlike fvme

And I In which (he MaiePy ofburied Oetiinikt
you had quiet Guard i Did foioctimcs march By Hejuco 1 charje thee Toeskc
.

Fr«i. KoiaMoufeU Af4r. hil offended.

^iir». Well, goodnight, do meet Hernia anc
"if you B^. S«,i[ ftjikei awiy.
MitMltM, the Rnialt ofm/ Watth.bid theniraake haft. //*r. Stay: fpeakc; fpe.kc ; 1 Charge ih:c.fp«!(c.

f«.r Kit*/. W ««•«««<

them. Stand ; who'uhete ?
Fr^. I thinitt I hes.-e Mar. Tiigone.indwiltnotinrvicr.
H-. Ft.e«d-.ioih.tstouod. Evn. How ooM «».4f« You tf embic Jt look pik
-i

M-tr. AndLeige-inentothcDane. U not ihi) TLincihing tnote then Fanufte ?

-r».C.oejouBO Wl>att^mkeyoi.on'c;
Mir. Ofatwclho :llSold,:r,v.lio rt^r. Before my God, I miBht not ihii bclcf -)..
F>4. Samjrdtha' rjuouch

Mj7. Holla 3<r. xlikett

I^.S.,.»h.,i,
ffer. A peeee of i

B», IhiucftcrKnoihing. >cfleddedpolbxon(hclc<

Andv>j|lnoil((bdKrei
f.ghc.
Therefore 1 Iiuie lucrciied along
W.(hv(,wwiKKihe« of(hisNigUt.
ThiilfigiinelbiiApp:
He may .ppiouc out eyci. and lp«
//«r. Tufl>,(ufh,'nvillnoijppei
B4r.
An<Jle
SUdo^
e,c»mt.ff.
while. ighdytoylei
'--
Why thit fame (liifl and mott obfcruant Wat

Th«irefofo .ilTed.G.ln

«,«. Wcll,r.t«e<
\,-idletv.U>ic-3'>r>
7i*r,. Ljft night e

A page from the First Folio, the first complete edition of

Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623.

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
 H IS rORY Ol- ENGLISH

some where, haue beene as exact as they could that BIBLICALIDIOM

THE KING JAMES BIBLE way. .That we should expresse
. the same notion in the same There are many phrases in
particular word; as for example, if we translate the Hebrew the King James Bible which
or Greeke word once by Purpose, neuer to call it Intent; if one have entered the general
In the year that Shakespeare retired from writing for
where lourneying, neuer Travelling; if one where Thinke, idiom of the language
the stage, 1611, the 'Authorized Version' or King (sometimes with minor
never Suppose; if one where Paine, neuer Ache; if one where
James Bible was published. It was never in fact autho- changes in grammar or
lay, neuer Gladnesse, etc. Thus to minse the matter, wee emphasis). Here are some of
rized by any parhamentary process, but its title-page
thought to savour more of curiositie then wisedome, and them.
states that it was appointed to be read in churches that rather it would breed scorne in the Atheist, then bring
throughout the idngdom, and in this way influence
my brother's keeper (Gen. 4)
is the kingdome of God
its profite to the godly Reader. For
a good old age (Gen. 1 5)
on the population, and on the language at large, was to become words or syllables? why should wee be in bondage to eye for eye (Exod. 21)
be br-reaching. them if we may be free, vse one precisely when wee may vse to spy out the land
(Num. 13)
The origins of the work are well-documented. On another no lesse fit, as commodiously?
the apple of his eye
his journey from Edinburgh to London in 1603, King (Deut.32)
James was presented with the 'Millenary Petition', in There were other important emphases in the work the people arose as one man
(Judg.20)
which 750 reformers from within the Church of Eng- which contributed to its effectiveness. The translators
a man after his own heart
land requested a new translation of the Bible. In a con- were consciously conservative, and frequently intro- (1 Sam. 13)
King proposed a panel
ference the following year, the duced archaism and traditional readings, especially How are the mighty fa lien
from Tyndale and Coverdale (p. 59). The resonances (2Sam.
ol university scholars who would carry out a prelimi- 1)

a still small voiced Kgs. 19)

nary translation, and this would then be submitted to of the past were strong in their choices. And perhaps the root of the matter
the bishops for revision. The 54 translators were most important of all, they listened to final drafts of (Job 19)

the translation being read aloud, verse by verse, in the skin of my teeth (Job 9) 1
divided into six 'companies', each working on a sepa-
out of the mouth of babes
rate section of the Bible. The preliminary version took order to assess their rhythm and balance. It is, par (Ps.8)
four years, and the final revision a further nine excellence, a preachers' Bible. His enemies shall lick the
dust (Ps. 72)
months. The first edition, printed in an elegant black-
go from strength to
letter type, appeared two years later. strength (Ps. 84)
The panel followed a number of at their wit's end (Ps. 107)

guidelines. Translators were to use the

Heap coals of fire upon his
head(Prov25)
Bishops' Bible where possible (p. 59), but a lamb broughttothe
were permitted to consult Tyndale and slaughter (Jer. 11)
can the leopard change his
other earlier versions if necessary (and in
spots? (Jer 13)
fact they did so to a considerable extent). eat sour grapes (Ezek. 24)
They were to preserve recognized chapter thesaltof theearth
(Matt. 5)
divisions and proper names, and to avoid
cast your pearls before
lengthy marginal notes. Translations by swine (Matt. 7)
any one member of the group were to be the straight and narrow
(Matt. 7)
approved by the other members, and each
in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7)
company was to send its material to the new wine in old bottles
others for final agreement. Disagreements (Matt. 9)
if the blind lead the blind
were to be formally discussed, and external
(Matt. 15)
opinions sought if required. Never had there the signs of the times
been such a translation by committee. (Matt. 16)
whited sepulchre (Matt. 23)
Committee documents are often faceless
Physician, heal thyself
and uninspiring, with character and individ- (Luke 4)
uality swamped by the waves of revision to kick against the pricks
(Acts 9)
required to achieve consensus. That this pro-
all things to all men (1 Cor. 9)
ject proved to be so successful must have been in the twinkling of an eye
due and personal
to the intellectual quality (ICor. 15)

enthusiasm of the panel members, which suffer fools gladly (2 Cor 11)
thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 1 2)
comes across strongly in their Preface to the Touch not (Col. 2)
work. They show themselves well aware of the filthy lucre Tim. 3)
(1

dangers of consensus language: money is the root of all evil

(lTim.6)
An other thing we thinke good to admonish thee of Fightthe good fight
(lTim.6)
(gentle Reader) that wee haue not tyed our selues to
To the pure all things are
an vniformitie of phrasing, or to an identitie of
pure (Tit. 1)
words, as some peraduenture would wish that we had the patience of Job (lames 5)
done, because thev obserue. that some learned men The title-page of the King James Bible. rule with a rod of iron (Rev. 2)
 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

A conservative style • The third person singular of the present tense of verbs
The style of the King James Bible is much more con- is always -(e)th. In other texts of the period, it is being
servative than that found in Shakespeare. As the trans- replaced by -.f - a northern form which was moving
aim was not to make a
lators say in their Preface, their south in the 16th century (p. 65), and which is often
new translation, 'but to make
good one better, or out
a found in Shakespeare (along with the -f^/; ending).
of many good ones, one principall good one'. They • The second person plural pronouns were changing
aimed for a dignified, not a popular style, and often during this period (p. 71). Originally, j*? was the sub-
opted for older forms of the language, when modern ject form, and you was the form used as object or after
alternatives were available. Their text therefore does a preposition. This distinction is preserved in the
not contain large numbers of new words, as Shake- Bible, as can be seen in such examples as Ye cannot serve
speare's plays did (p. 63). One estimate finds in it only God and Mammon. Therefore I say unto you. . . But in
about 8,000 different words, which is less than half of most writing, by the end of the 1 6th century, you was
the Shakespearean total (p. 123). already being used for ye, which disappeared from stan-
King James Bible looks backwards in
Similarly, the dard English in the late 17th century (apart from in
its grammar, and preserves many of the forms and con- some poetic and religious use).
structions which were falling out of use elsewhere. • His is used for its, as in if the salt has lost his savour,

Some of these features are as follows: wLierewith shall it be salted. Although its is recorded as

early as the end of the 1 6th century, it does not become

• Many irregular verbs are found in their older forms: general until 100 years later. Similarly, the modern use
examples include digged ('dug'), gat {'got ) and gotten, of the genitive was still not established, as can be seen
bare ('bore'), spake ('spoke'), clave ('cleft'), holpen in such usages zs for Jesus Christ his sake.

('helped'), and wist ('knew'). Other archaic forms are • Several prepositions have different uses from today.
also found, such as brethren, kine, and twain. Of, in particular, is widespread: the zeal ofCiov) thine
• Older word orders are still in use, such as follow house, tempted of Chy) Satan, went forth of('(mm) the
thou me, speak ye unto, cakes unleavened and things Arke. Other examples include in ('at') a good old age,
eternal In particular, the modern use of do with neg- taken to (as a) loife, and like as ('like', 'as') the sand ofthe
atives and in questions we find they knew
is missing: sea.

him not instead of they did not know him. By contrast, • An is used before many nouns begining with h- in a
both old and new constructions are used in Shake- stressed syllable, such as an hundred, an helpe, an harlot.

speare, and the do construction became standard by This usage, begun by Wycliff is still to be found as late Thomas Cranmer
about 1700. as the 19th century (1489-1556)

TWO SAMPLE TEXTS THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

The first extract Luke 15.29-32 A related influential textwas the Prayer Book, which appeared in

represents the And he answering said to his father, Loe, these many yeeres 1549 with the full title of The Booke of the Common Prayer and
1611 printing, doe serue thee, neither transgressed at any time thy com-
I I
administracion of the Sacramentes, and other Rites and Cere-
apart from the mandement, and yet thou neuer gauest mee a kid, that I
monies after the Use of the Churche of England. It provided a
replacement of might make merry with my friends: But as soone as this thy single order of public worship to be followed throughout the
long 's' by s; the Sonne was come, which hath deuored thy liuing with harlots, country. The first edition group of bishops and
was compiled by a
second extract is thou hast killed for him the fatted calfe. And he said vnto him, scholars led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Thomas Cranmer),
from a 19th- Sonne, thou art euer with me, and all that haue is thine. It I
and radically revised, after its controversial reception, in 1 552. A
century printing, was meete that we should make merry, and be glad; for this later revision, generally known
662 Book (from the date of
as the 1

with modernized thy brother was dead, and is aliue againe: and was lost, and is enforcement of its use), substituted the text of the King James
spelling and Bible, and introduced a degree of linguistic modernization. This
found.
punctuation, version continued as the only official text in the Church of Eng-
which is closer to Genesis 27.10-22 land until the adoption of an alternative liturgy in contemporary
the versions that And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all language at the end of the 1 970s (p. 403).
most people see night, because the sun set: and he took of the stones of that The Prayer Book is responsible for a great deal of the vernacular
today. place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place idiom of English prayer, such as 'As it was in the beginning, is now,
to sleep. and ever shall be: world without end. Amen', 'Lord have mercy
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, upon US', 'be amongst you and remain with you always'. A few of
its phrases (such as holy wedlock) have achieved broader currency,
and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of
God ascending and descending on it. and a much larger number have achieved the status of quotations;
And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, am the Lord I
Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest (Co//ect, 2nd Sunday in
God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land Advent)
whereon thou liest, to thee will give it, and to thy seed:
I
Renounce the devil and all his works (Pub/ic Baptism)
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife? {Solemnization
shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the of Matrimony)
north, and to the south; and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust {The Burial of the
the families of the earth be blessed. Dead)
 PART I • THE HISTORY OH K NG I 1 S H

THE EMERGING ASUPERFLUITYOF

LETTERS
ular case in point
attempt to show etymology
was the indication of etymology
highly desirable; others that
was

ORTHOGRAPHIC SYSTEM John Hart, in The opening of

(p.
cially in
136) in the spelling, espe-
words which had
it was wholly
Some argued that homo-
irrelevant.

the unreasonable writing of come from Latin, either phone distinctions would
Even a generation after Caxton (p. 56), the English ourlnglish toung (1551), dis- directly or via French: this had help to avoid ambiguity in
cusses 'the divers vices and led to such practices as the writing; others that they
writing system remained in a highly inconsistent
corruptions which use (or use of a b in cyeibt and doubt, were unnecessary, as context
state. Although there were clear signs of standard- better abuse) maintaineth in an o in people, an s in bap- would solve the problem in

ization, as the conventions adopted by the our writing'. One of his vices tism, and a d in adventure. much the same way as it gen-
is -the use of
'superf luite' Another was the use of dif- erally does in speech. In the
Chancery scribes became increasingly influential
'more letters than the pro- ferent letters to show the event, all these positions
(p. 54), there was still a considerable lack of unifor- nunciation neadeth of difference between homo- exercised some influence on
mity in spelling and punctuation. This can be seen voices'. He accepts that an phones, such as sunne and orthographic practice, con-
extra letter is sometimes Sonne. tributing to the unpre-
not only between printed and handwritten texts, or
useful (such as to mark a long The arguments for and dictability of the modern
between the practices of different printers, but vowel), but in many cases the against such practices were spelling system.
within the work of an individual printer or author. reason for the letter is, in his much debated atthetime.
Caxton, for example, in a single passage 57) has
view, an irrelevance. A partic- Some scholars insisted that an
(p.

both booke and boke, and axyd and axed, and uses
double letters and final -em a fairly haphazard fash-
ion {hadde, wel, whiche). There is a comparable ran- THEFIRSTREFORMERS
domness in the work of his immediate successors; Then, as now (p. 276), several 4(J.ortIntrcdi<nmorgu,d..^'^P''''^'
and a century later, spelling variation is still much in
evidence: fe/low, for example, might appear as fe/ow,
commentators thought that the
best solution to the problem of
^! tcandreadelnsUiUpcccU:
unsystematic spelling was radical
felowe, fallow, fallowe, and several other forms. It is reform on phonetic lines. Hart's
this situation which motivated teacher and scholar Orthographie (1 569) presented
part of his Elenien-
one such system, as did William
Richard Mulcaster, in the first
Bullokar's6oo/reat/.arge, forthe
tarie (1582), 'to find out the right writing of ours'.
Amendment of Orthographie for
There were many unfavourable comments about English Speech (1 580). Bullokar
uses an alphabet of 37 letters, in
the chaotic nature of the writing system at the time,
which the traditional forms are
and printers in particular came in for a great deal of supplemented by several diacritics.
criticism. Alexander Gil, headmaster of St Paul's, This, he hopes, will receive more
favour than the earlier approaches,
writing in 1619, argues that 'corruption in writing
which in his view overused new
originated with the printing of our books, I lay all
symbols. However, there were many,
the blame for our chaotic spelling on the last'. The such as Richard Mulcaster, who were
printers were blamed for a variety of reasons. Many strongly opposed to any new
alphabets, preferring to stay with
of them were foreigners, who introduced their traditional orthography, but used in a Andaslpc"'""' '—
native conventions at will, and who were uncertain more principled way. It istheir
views which eventually iLondon,by
of orthographic traditions in English. Proof-
triumphed.
reading was not always carried out by educated
Bullokar's proposed alphabet,
people, so that errors were promulgated. Because
from ,4 Short Introduction or
there was only a limited amount of type, arbitrary guiding to print, write, and
spellings were often introduced. And arbitrariness reade Inglish speech (1 580).
There are eight vowels, four
also crept in when printers altered spelling (such as
'half vowels' (/, r, m, n)
adding or deleting a final -e) in order to make a line (compare semi-vowels,
of words end neatly at the right-hand margin. p. 242), and 25 consonants.
His consonant proposals
It is difficult to evaluate the justice of these
includea written
charges, in the absence of explicit statements from distinction between voiced
the printers, or detailed studies of the way ortho- and voiceless th, and a
separate symbol for c/i. His
graphic consistency developed in their books. It
use of diacritics can be
should be borne in mind that several of the critics seen in his 'rule to
had an axe form of their own system
to grind, in the understand this table
which assigns
following',
of reformed spelling or method of teaching. But
names to old and new
there is no doubt that, throughout the early decades letters.
of the 17th century, the English writing system was
widely perceived to be in a mess. Although many
authors wrote with fair consistency in systems of
their own devising, there was no generally recog-
nized standard.
 EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

Growing regularization
Mulcaster's own views did a great deal to hasten the
done systematically
CAPITALIZATION initial capital (as is in

growth of regularization at the end of the 1 6th century.
Hart recommended readers to use a
his
His E/t'me?itarie provided a table listing recommended
capital letter at the beginning of every
spellings for nearly 9,000 words, and influenced a gen-
sentence, proper name, and important
eration of orthoepists (pronunciation teachers) and common noun. By the early 1 7th century,
grammarians. Several other works of the period focused the practice had extended to titles (Sir,
Lady), forms of address (Father, Mistris),
on the range of problems presented by the writing and personified nouns (Nature). Empha-
system, and a climate emerged which fostered stan- sized words and phrases would also
modern German) - perhaps for aesthetic
reasons, or perhaps because printers
were uncertain about which nouns to
capitalize, and so capitalized them all.
The fashion was at its height in the later
17th century, and continued into the
1 8th. The manuscripts of Butler, Trah-
erne. Swift, and Pope are full of initial
capitals. However, the later 18th-century

dardization. attract a capital. By the beginning of the grammarians were not amused by this
18th century, the influence of Continen- apparent lack of order and discipline in
Vowels especially came to be spelled in a more pre- books had caused this practice to be their view, the
tal the written language. In
dictable way. There was increased use of a double-vowel extended still further (e.g. to the names proliferation of capitals was unnecessary,
convention (as in soon) orasilent -f (as in name) to mark of the branches of knowledge), and it and causing the loss of a useful potential
was not long before some writers began distinction. Their rules brought a dra-
length; and a doubled consonant within a word became using a capital for any noun that they felt matic reduction in the types of noun per-
a more predictable sign of a preceding short vowel (sit- to be important. Books appeared in mitted to take a capital letter (p. 122).
ting) - though there continued to be some uncertainty which all or most nouns were given an

over what should happen at the end of a word bed and (

glad, but well and glasse). Then, in the 1630s, one of the
An extract from Jonathan Swift's Baucis
most noticeable variations in medieval English came to and Philemon (1705), showing almost
be standardized: the use of ;/and r These symbols were every noun capitalized.
(After P. J. Croft, 1973.)
at first interchangeable (p. 41), and then positionally
InantientTime, as Story tells
distinguished (with p used initially and u medially in a
The Saints would often leave their Cells,
word); they later followed Continental practice and And strole about, but hide their Quality,
adopted fixed phonetic values, with v representing a To try the People's Hospitality.
consonant and u a vowel. A similar standardization It happen'd on a Winter's night.
As Authors of the Legend write
affectedy (earlier a variant form of /) and i.
Two Brother-Hermits, Saints by Trade
During the 17th century, an increasing number of Taking their Tour in Masquerade
spelling guidescame to be published, which inevitably Came to a Village hard by Rixham
Ragged, and not a Groat betwixt'em.
influenced printing practice. Children's schoolbooks It rain'd as hard as it could pour,

began to contain lists of homophones (such as made Yetthey wereforc'tto walkan Hour
and maid) and irregular spellings, which had to be From House to House, wett to the Skin
Before one Soul would let 'em in.
learned by heart. And a considerable pressure for stan-
They call'd at ev'ry Dore; Good People,
dardization followed the arrival ot the first dictionaries My Comrade's Blind, and I'm a Creeple
(from 1604, By the middle of the century, print- Here we ly starving in the Street
p. 72).
'Twould grieve a Body's Heart to see't;
ing conventions had become highly regularized, and No Christian would turn out a Beast
the gulf established between the forms of speech and In such a dreadfull Night at least;

their written representation. The modern system, in Give us but Straw, and let us Ly
In yonder Barn to keep us dry.
which irregular spellings can be explained but not pre- Thus in the Strolers usuall Cant
dicted, had arrived. The period of social tolerance of They beg'd Relief which none would
variant spellings came to an end; and as 18th-century grant;

notions of correctness emerged (p. 72), poor spelling

became increasingly stigmatized.

examining the English books that were printed above the disturbing even, regular
IN FAVOUR OF CAPITALS In line, its

between the restoration and the accession of appearance. The effect of this change is so con-
The American statesman George the Second [1660-1727], we may observe, siderable, that a learned man of France, who
and Benjamin
scientist, that all substantives were begun with a capital, in used to read our books, though not perfectly
Franklin (1706-90), had a which we imitated our mother tongue, the acquainted with our language, in conversation
keen interest in the German, This was more particularly useful to with me on the subject of our authors, attributed
English language, and those who were not well acquainted with the the greater obscurity he found in our modern
especially in its typogra- English, there being such a prodigious number of books, compared with those of the period above
phy (having been a our words that are both verbs and substantives, mentioned, to a change of style for the worse in
printer in his youth). In a and spelt in the same manner, though often our writers; of which mistake convinced him, by
I

letter to Noah Webster accented differently in pronunciation. This marking for him each substantive with a capital,
(p. 80), written in 1789, method has, by the fancy of printers, of late years in a paragraph, which he then easily understood,

he mourns the passing been entirely laid aside; from an idea, that sup- though before he could not comprehend it. This
of the age of noun capi- pressing the capitals shews the character to shews the inconvenience of that pretended
talization. greater advantage; those letters, prominent improvement.
 iiRv (IV enc;lish

RENAISSANCE PUNCTUATION QUOTE... UNQUOTE

Joshua Steele includes
t 93 ]
The basis of the modern punctuation system emerged this letter as an
Appendix to his treatise
during the Renaissance. Caxton was heir to a graphic
on The Melody and
tradition which was Umited, unclear, and inconsistent. Measure of Speech TO THE AUTHOR OF THE TREATISE cm the MELODY
In common with classical models, the symbols were (1775). Because he is
AND MEASURE OF SPEECH.
thinking of it as a quo-
used rhetorically (p. 278), showing readers where to
tation, he encloses the
breathe, how long to pause, and how to introduce wholething in double
" May 14, 1775.
emphasis and rhythmical balance into their speech. inverted commas, fol-

Even so, there was a great deal of idiosyncrasy and arbi-

lowing the conventions " ^l^OU have inclofed my remarks, which are too long; but
current atthattime.
trariness in their use, and attempts to find a neat cor- Each new line is opened
" X as you defired them foon, 1 had not time to make them
" Ihorter. I am giad that you are to give your fyftem to the
relation between punctuation and prosody in Early bythesecommas, with
" pubUc. s « » » * As to the queries and obfervations I fent
Modern English texts have never succeeded. just one pair of raised
commasto mark the " you formerly^ and have now fent you, you may make what
The chief symbols were the virgiile, or oblique close. An interesting " ufe of them you think proper; and if they contribute in the
stroke (/), found in both short and long forms; the feature is the inclusion " leaft fo make more compleat fo ingenious a performance, I
of the date within the
period {.), found at various heights; and the colon (:). " fliall thii\k they do me honour.
quotation.
There is no correspondence with modern uses. In
Ca.\ton, the virgule variously had the function of a
modern comma, period, or semi-colon; it fell out of
EDITING THE TEXT
and was largely replaced by the
use in the 16th centun,',
comma. The period was often used where today we A modern edition of GONERILL: Sir, loue you more than words can weild ye matter,
I

a Renaissance text Deerer then eye-sight, space, and iibertie.

would have a comma (as in the closing lines of the 'egg'
may introduce Beyond what can be valewed, rich or rare,
The colon had a broad range of rhetorical
text, p. 57). several differences in No lesse then life, with grace, health, beauty, honor:
functions,and was not restricted to introducing a list punctuation which As much as Childe ere lou'd, or Father found.
affectthe way the A loue that makes breath poore, and speech vnable.
or summary, as it is now.
passage is to be Beyond all manner of so much loue you. I

John Hart (p. 66) had a great deal to say about both interpreted (and, in

the case of drama, GONERILL: Sir, love you more than word can wield the matter.
I

the rhetorical and grammatical functions of 'pointing'.

how the actor should Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty.
He distinguished the period ('point'), colon ('joint'),
present it). Whether
Beyond what can be valued rich or rare.
comma, question mark ('asker'), exclamation mark the emendations No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour.
As much as child e'er loved or father found;
('wonderer'), parentheses ('clozer'), square brackets help or hinder isa
matter for discussion; A love that makes breath poor and speech unable;
('notes'), apostrophe ('tourner'), hyphen ('joiner'),
but the first thing is
Beyond all manner of 'so much' love you.
I

diaresis ('sondrer'), and capital ('great') letters. His to be aware that There are several differences which could lead to an interesting
detailed account greatly influenced the way grammar- they exist. The argument.
following extract
ians and printers dealt with this area, and punctuation • Does the removal of the comma after va/ewec/(l. 3) alter the
from King Lear
marks in books came to be more widelv used as a illustrates the issue meaning of the phrase rich or rare (to mean 'what can be valued as

(l.i.55-61). The first than 'no matter how rich or rare')?

rich or rare' rather
result.
version is from the • Does the replacement of the colon after honor (I. 4) by a comma
Other marks emerged in English Renaissance print- reduce the dramatic impact of the pause following the list of
First Folio (1623); the
ing. The semi-colon (also called a comma-colon, hemi- second is from the nouns?
• Does the removal of the comma after lou'd (I. 5) lessen the force
colon, or sub-colon) came into use during the 16th New Penguin edition
(1972). of the contrast between Childe and Father? Similarly, is its removal
century, and for a while was used interchangeablv with desirable after poore in the next line?
the colon. 'Turned double commas', later called quo- • Does the replacement of the period after found (I. 5) by a semi-

colon reduce the summarizing prominence of the final two lines?

tation marks or inverted commas, made their appear-
ance to open direct speech, and some time afterwards (After G. Ronberg, 1992.)

commas were brought in to close it. But

double raised
not only did new symbols emerge; older symbols
developed new uses. In the 18th century, for example, PAUSAL PRECISION
the apostrophe (p. 283) extended its range, first mark-
Many writers of the time draw attention speaking hereto appropriate is sometime
ing the genitive singular of nouns, then the genitive more, sometime lesse: for. when in thg
to the rhetorical role of punctuation . .

plural. There was also a much heavier use of the marks, often computing pausal values middle of a line it cuts off any integrall
with mathematical precision. An example part of a complete Tractate [treatise],
comma than is typical today, as the extract from Ben-
is Simon Daines, in Orthoepia Anglicana which goes not on with the same, but
jamin Franklin illustrates (p. 67). By the end of the (1640), who defines the period in this way: begins a new line, it requireth double the
Early Modern English period, the modern punctua- time of pause, that it doth when the trea-
The Period...altogether used at the end
is tise persists in the same line: being then
tion system was in most respects established.
of every speech or sentence, and signi-. . . foure times as long as a Colon, which in
fies conclusion. The pause or distance of the same line is but twice.
 .-

• EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

SOUND CHANGES NEW SOURCES OF
VARIATION
Some of the most impor-
The pronunciation changes which took place during tant pronunciation indicat-
Early Modern English have been studied in consider- ors of present-day regional
able detail. Not only is there a great deal oi literary evi- and social variation
emerged during this period.
dence, derived from the rhymes and rhythms of
• The distinction in
poetry, there are also detailed accounts of contempo-
British Received Pronuncia-
rary pronunciation from phoneticians and spelling tion (RR p. 245) between
ing vowel; sometimes the
vowel became a diphthong
(as in peer and bear); some-
times it lengthened (as in
barn, corn, and clerk). The
RP change proved to be
something of an exception:
most British and American
modern regional accents retained
the /r/, and the discrepancy
between sound and
STRESS SHIFTS
Many words could be heard
with a different stress pattern
from the one found today.
• First syllable stressed:
antique, convenient, dis-
tinct, entire, extreme, July.
Second
• syllable stressed:
advertise, character,
demonstrate, sinister.
• Final syllable stressed:

reformers. The changes were many and complex. The cut {son, run, etc.) and put spelling later became a aspect, expert, paramount,
{pull,wolf, etc.) developed focus of purist criticism parent, yesterday.
effects of the Great Vowel Shift (p. 55) were still
in the 1 7th century. Previ- 365).
(p.
Secondary stress (p. 248)
slowly working their way through the sound system, ously, both types of word • Two new consonants
also often differed: for exam-
and several other important developments were in had a high, back, rounded emerged during this period.
ple, at one time academy had
vowel /oZ-the quality heard The [ill sound in such words
progress. such a stress on its third sylla-
in modern put. This quality as sing was pronounced in
ble (so that it was rhythmically
remained in certain pho- Middle English, but always
like helicopter). Many poetic
netic contexts (e.g. pre- followed by [g] or [k], so
rhymes do not make sense
ceded by a labial consonant, that it never had any inde-
A GREAT FEAST OF LANGUAGES full, wolf, put), but
as in pendent status as a
until this extra stress (and its
effect on the vowel) taken
is

Dramatists can provide a source of insight into contem- elsewhere the vowel
porary pronunciation, partly because of their use of became more open and lost
rhymes and word-play, but also because of what they its rounding, resulting in
make their characters say. A famous Shakespearean due course, pairs of
/a/. In
example is in /.ove's/.afaour's/-Ost(V.i.15), where the words began to be con-
schoolmaster Holofernes complains about Don trasted using these qualities
Armado's pronunciation. (such as look vs luck), and a
new phonemic distinction
I abhor such fanatical phantasimes, such insociable and emerged (p. 236). However,
point-devise companions; such rackers of orthography, thechange was ignored in
as tospeak 'dout'fine, when he should say 'doubt'; 'det' many regions, with people
when he should pronounce 'debt' - d, e, b, t, not d, e, t. continuing to use /u/ in
He clepeth [calls] a calf 'cauf half 'hauf; neighbour
',
both types of word, and this
vocatur [is called] 'nebour'; 'neigh' abbreviated 'ne'. This is now one of the chief
isabhominable-which he would call 'abbominable'. means of telling whether
someone has been brought
There were evidently two styles of pronunciation cur-
up in the North of England.
rent in the late 16th century, and there is no doubt about
• Throughoutthis period,
which the schoolmaster prefers -the more conservative
/r/ was sounded before con-
one, which most closely reflects the spelling (p. 65).
sonants and at the end of a
word, as is suggested by the
way it has been preserved in
modern spelling {jar, corn,
SOUND DESCRIPTION
fire, etc). It stopped being
pronounced in RP during
The precision with which some writers could describe
the 18th century, with vari-
the sounds of English is well illustrated by this extract
ous effects on the preced-
from John Wallis's account of [n] in his Treatise on
phoneme. By the early 17th
Donne rhymes
into account:
century, this final [-g] was
mafceusoneand
no longer being pronoun-
propagation, and Shake-
ced in RP, leaving /\]/ as a
speare never die and memory.
separate contrastive unit.
It is in fact difficult to be
Soon after, 'g-dropping'
definite about word stress
became a social issue
during this period. There was
(p. 77).
an unusual amount of varia-
• The/5/phonemealso
tion, because native stress
emerged in the 7th cen- 1
patterning (which tended to
tury, a development of /zj/-
put the stress on the root syl-
in much the same way as in
lable of a word) was in com-
Modern English a rapid pro-
petition with the pattern
nunciation of was your
heard in Romance loan-words
readily results in a coales-
(which tended to put the
cence of the two sounds.
stress on a syllable at or near
The change chiefly affected
the end of a word). Stress
such words as occasion and
might also vary depending on
vision, measure and plea-
the position in which a word
sure, and later appeared in
appeared in a sentence or
final position in such loan
metrical line. Complete, for
words as beige and garage.
example, has a stress on its
The French overtones of the
first syllable in 'A thousand
sound are a source of con-
complete courses of the Sun'
troversy still, as when
{Troilus and Cressida), but on
people argue the case of
the second in 'never com-
/g^rai^/vs/gsnttj/.
plete' {Timon of Athens).

Speech (1st edition, 1653). (Translated from the Latin by

J.A.Kemp, 1972.) How do we know?
The clearest evidence comes
For there is a difference between the sound of the letter THE TONGUE THAT SHAKESPEARE SPOKE from the way words are used
n in the words thin, sin, in, and that in thing, think, sing, Now o'er the one half-world in poetry, where a predictable
hand, band, ran
single, sink, ink, lynx, etc. Similarly in
nsu o:sT ds WYn ha:f WYrld metre or rhyme forces a pro-
then not the same as it is in hang, bank, rank, etc.... In
is nunciation upon us. Also,
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
the former of each of these two groups the pronuncia- grammarians began to
neitar si:mz dcd, snd wikid dreimz ?bju:z
tion of n always involves the tip of the tongue striking describe accentuation in their
the front of the palate, near the
The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
accounts of the language
roots of the upper teeth; 53 kvrteind sli:p; witjkraft selibreits
though they did not always
whereas the latter the tip
in Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder, agree with each other.
of the tongue is normally peil hekats ofsriijz; and wiOsrd mvrdsr, Indeed, disputes about stress
moved down to the roots Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, seem to have been just as
of the lower teeth, and alarsmd bsi liiz sentmsl, da wulf, strong then astheyaretoday.
the back of the tongue Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, One writer (Robert Nares, in
is raised up to the back 1 784) criticizes Dr Johnson for
hu:z hstilz hiz watj. (")i,s wiG liiz stelBi pe:s.
of the palate, blocking recommending such forms as
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
the sound at this point. bombast and carmine instead
W16 tarkwinz raevijiq straidz. tu:3rdz hiz dizsin
of bombasf and carmine, and
Precision Indeed - and Moves like a ghost.
(Macbeth, II. 49-56, i. complains about 'barbarous
in 1653! minvz bik 3 go:st. transcription by A. C. Gimson; for and unpleasing sounds . .

phonetic symbols, see §17.) which no ear can hear with-

out being offended'.
 OR\ 111' UNCI ISH

until the early 17th century. Participial constructions SAY YOU SO? I DO
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH became extremely common, and added greatly to the One of the most important
GRAMMAR length of sentences which, in the more complex writ- syntactic
this
developments of
period concerned the use
ers, might run to 20 lines or more. In the early period,
of do as an auxiliary verb
1he major shifts in English grammatical structure such sentences often appear incomplete or ill-formed (p. 2 12). The differences from

were over by the time of the Renaissance (p. 44); but to modern eyes (failing in concord, for example, or dis- modern usage can be seen in
such interrogative and
even a casual glance at texts from the period shows that playing an unattached subordinate clause); but it is
negative sentences as Says
many important changes were continuing to take important to appreciate that at the time such variabil- she so? and Believe him not,
place, although of a more limited kind. For example, ity was normal. By the 17th century, however, highly where today we would
introduce a do-form (Does
several features ot verb use show differences from sophisticated and carefully crafted sentences, follow-
she say so?. Do not believe
today: 'My life is run his compass', says Cassius (Julius ing a variety of Latin models, were commonplace, as him). By Shakespeare's time.
Caesar, V.iii.25), where today we should say has run - can be seen in the writing of John Lyly, Philip Sidney, It was possible to use do in

these sentences, but it was

and this sentence also illustrates one of the pronoun and John Milton.
not obligatory. Also, do could
uses typical of the time. Constructions involving a be used in a declarative
double negative (I cannot go no further) or impersonal affirmative sentence without
THE SUSPENDED SENTENCE conveying any extra
verbs (me thinks he did) were commonplace, and emphasis, again unliketoday,
during the period a number of verb inflections (e.g. as in 'they do offend our

pleaseth, hiow'st, spake) fell out of standard use (for sight' (Henry I/, IV.vi. 56),
which means no more than
other examples, see pp. 63, 65).
'they offend our sight'.
There were also significant stylistic developments in During the period, it
sentence structure (p. 214). In Caxton and Malory, the became increasingly usual to

[so shall the world go on, insert do-forms into negative

sentences tend to be loose and linear, with repeated and and interrogative sentences,
A
or then coordination, and a limited amount of subordi- To good malignant, to bad men benign,] and to omit them from
nation, mostly introduced by which or that. Here is a B C declarative affirmative ones
[Under her own weight groaning] [till the day (except in cases of emphasis).
rv'pical sentence, taken from Caxton's prologue to the
C In onestudy of this topic, only
Golden Legend (for other extracts, see pp. 57-8). Appear of respiration to the just, c. 20 per cent of interrogative

C sentences used do-forms in

And I them vnto AJmyghty God that he of his
shal praye tor And vengeance to the wicked, at return 1 500, whereas over 90 per
benygne grace rewarde them etc., and that it prouffyte to alle C D cent did so by 1700. The
them that shal rede or here it redde, and may encreace in Of him] [so lately promised to thy aid graph shows the steady
D E
growth of do-forms in one of
them vertue and expelle vyce and synne that by the The woman's seed,] [obscurely then foretold,]
these contexts: affirmative
ensaumple of the holy sayntes amende theyr lyuyng here in F
questions (such as Do they
thys shorte lyf that by their merytes they and I may come to
[Now amplier known thy saviour and thy Lord,]
know?). (After A. Ellegard,
everlasryng lyf and blysse in heuen.
G
1953.)
[Last in the clouds from heaven to be revealed
G H
The influence of Latin syntactic style on English
In glory of the Father,] [to dissolve %
became marked in the 16th century. Cicero in partic- H I

was much Satan with his perverted world,] [then raise

ular imitated. There is a more complex use
I J K
of subordination, and a search for rhetorical contrast From the conflagrant mass, [purged] and [refined,]
and balance, as is shown by this extract from William I

New heavens, new earth, ages of endless date]

Camden's Remaines Concerning Britain (1605):
L
[Founded in righteousness and peace and love]
As tor the Monosyllables so rite in our tongue which were not
M
so originally, although they are vnfitting tor verses and mea- [To bring forth fruits joy and eternal bliss.]

sures, yet are they most fit for expressing briefly the first con-
The controlled complexity of sentence construction is
ceipts of the minde, or Intentionalia as they call them in well illustrated by this extract from Milton's Paradise Lost
schooles: so that we can set downe more matter in fewer (XII. 537-51), in which archangel Michael concludes his

lines, than any other language. account of the future of mankind. The diagram shows
the formal balance involved. Each clause is identified by
The awkwardness or uncertaint)' which a modern a capital letter (A-M). At each level of subordination
there is a cluster of clauses, but only the last clause in
reader often feels in reading early Renaissance prose is
each cluster (C, G, L) acts as a starting-point for further
I,

chiefly a consequence of the way writers were begin- structural development. The effect is rather like a series
ning to explore the potential of the language for com- of waves of meaning
- as one critic has put it, 'surge fol-
lows surge in the relentless tide of Michael's vision' -
plex sentence construction (p. 226). There was
until we reach the final clause (M), syntactically depen-
conscious experimentation with new grammatical pat- dent on the opening clause (A), six levels of structure
terns,supported by an increasingly standardized punc- away. Constructions which display such a marked delay
in grammatical and semantic resolution are often
tuation system (p. 68). New conjunctions emerged:
described as 'suspended sentences'. (After T. N. Corns,
because, for example, first appears in Chaucer, but for 1990.)
(that) remained the normal way of expressing cause
 -

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

The thou/you question The Renaissance system SIGNIFICANT SWITCHING

The second person pronoun system of Renaissance By the time of Shakespeare, you had developed the Switching between thou and
you common in some
English has been the subject of much investigation -
so
number ambiguity it retains today, being used for is

texts that it may appear to

not simply because the forms provide an obvious point either singular or plural; but in the singular it also had lack purpose. However, if we
of contrast with Modern English, but because they a role as an alternative to thou I thee. It was used by adopt a sociolingulstic per-
spective, readings of consid-
perform a central role in the expression of personal people of lower rank or status to those above them
erable interest can result, as
relationships, and are thus crucial to any study of con- (such as ordinary people to nobles, children to parents, can be seen in the following
temporary drama. Understanding the Early Modern servants to masters, nobles to the monarch), and was Shakespearian examples.

English functions of thou [thee, thine, thy, thyself) and also the standard way for the upper classes to talk to • In the opening scene of

you {ye, yours, your, yourself) can be critical in inter- each other. By contrast, thou i thee yNsvn used by people King Lear, Lear's daughters
address him asyou, and he
preting the emotions of the characters, as well as their of higher rank to those beneath them, and by the lower
addresses Goneril and Regan
varying attitudes towards each other during the course classes to each other; also, in elevated poetic style, in as thou (as would be
addressing God, and in talking to witches, ghosts, and expected); but his opening
of a play.
remark to his 'best' daughter,
The chief stages in the development of the system other supernatural beings. There were also some spe-
Cordelia conveys special
were as follows: cial cases: for example, a husband might address his respect: 'what can you say...'.

related forms) wife as thou, and she reply W\th. you. Then, when he isdispleased
• In Old English (p. 20), thou (and its
by her response, he switches
was used for addressing one person; ye (and its related Of particular interest are those cases where an extra
to an angry f^iy: 'But goes thy
forms) for more than one. Within these categories, emotional element entered the situation, and the use heart with this?'
• Hamlet uses thouto the
f/;o2/andj)/ewere used as clause subject, thee undyou as of thou or you broke the expected conventions. Thou
Ghost throughout Act as is I,

object. commonly expressed special intimacy or affection;

normal in addressing spirits,
• During Middle English, ye/you came to be used as a you, formality, politeness, and distance. Thou could but changes to you in the
also be used, even by an inferior to a superior, to closet scene (III. iv), presum-
polite singular form alongside thou I thee, a situation
ably because his doubts
which was probably influenced by French vousvs tu. express such feelings as anger and contempt (as in the
about the identity of the
• During Early Modern English, the distinction biblical text on p. 65). The use of thou to a person of Ghost have been removed.
between subject and object uses ofjcf and jyo// gradually equal rank could thus easily count as an insult, as Sir The you is now one of respect
of son to father.
disappeared, and you became the norm in all gram- Toby Belch well knows when he advises Sir Andrew • The murderers of Clarence
matical functions and social situations. Ye continued Aguecheek on how to write a challenge to 'the Count's address him
in /?/c/iarc////(l.iv)

was youth' (Viola): 'if thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall asyou, and he addresses
in use, but by the end of the I6th century it
them separately as thou. But
restricted to archaic, religious, or literary contexts. By not be amiss' ( Twelfth Night, III.ii.42), himself using a
his speech threatening God's
1700, the thou forms were also largely restricted in this demeaning thou in a speech situation where the norm vengeance provokes an angry
way. \syou. Likewise, the use ofj/ti«when ?/?(?;< was expected retort, and their pronoun
alters with their mood: 'And
(such as from master to servant) would also require
that same Vengeance doth he
special explanation. hurl on thee'.
• InHenryWPartJdll.ii),
WHY THOU, TO GOD? Edward IVistrying to per-
PURE PROPER UNTO ONE authority who still sensed the words' suade a reluctant Lady Gray
We might have expected the former association with 'lower' speech situ- to be his queen. At one point,
deity to be addressed as You in By the middle of the 17th century, thou ations, and found them objectionable. At after a sequence in which the
Early Modern English, given was disappearing from standard usage; but one point in his Journa/, George Fox recalls King uses only thou forms,
such descriptions as 'king', it was kept alive by members of the emerg- were 'in danger manytimesof
that Friends her evasion provokes him to
and 'most ing Society of Friends, or Quakers, who dis- our and often beaten, for using those
'father', high'. In lives, an irritated you response -
during this period he is
fact, approved of the way singular you had come words to some proud men, who would say, but he soon regains his com-
always addressed as Thou. This to be part of social etiquette, and who "Thou'st 'thou' me, thou ill-bred clown", as posure:
may be because the usage was accordingly used thou forms to everyone. though their breeding lay in saying "you"
consciously archaic - a recol- This usage, it was felt, was closer to the way to a singular'.
EDWARD: Sweet widow, by
lection of the early Middle Christ and his disciples spoke, avoided my state swear to thee 1

English situation when Thou
would have been the only pos-
sible form of address in the
singular. Alternatively, the
usage may show the influence
of the first Bible translators
unnecessary social distinction, and was I speak no more than what
grammatically more exact, being a 'particu- my soul intends.
lar, single, pure proper unto one'. The sin- And that is to enjoy thee for
gular use of you, by contrast, was my love.
considered a corruption, a form of worldly LADY GRAY: And that is more
honour, to be shunned along with all other than 1 will yield unto.

(p. 59), who were following empty socialcustoms. The point was I know am too mean to be
I

languages that distinguished forcibly made by one of the first Quakers, your queen,
second person singular and Richard Farnsworth, in The Pure Language And yet too good to be your
plural pronouns (as in Latin tu o/^t/ieSp/rif of Trut/i (1655), from which the concubine.
vs vos). As God would have above quotation also comes: 'That which EDWARD: You cavil, widow
cannot bearthee and thou to a single did mean my queen.
been referred to by the I

singular pronoun in these person, what sort soever, is exalted proud LADY GRAY: 'Twill grieve
languages, this practice may flesh, and is accursed'. your grace my sons should
have influenced the choice of The use of thou forms often brought call you father.

Thou in English, even in an age angry reactions, especially from those in EDWARD: No more than
when a singular you would when my daughters call
have been possible. thee mother.
 Ill 1 II IS ruR'i' OF enc;li.sh

THE FIRST SYNONYM

THE SEARCH FOR STABILITY DICTIONARY
An important step forward
in organizingthe English
The great age of Elizaberhan literature brought an
unprecedented breadth and inventiveness in the use ot
Table AlphabetfcalI,con> lexicon took place when
Robert Cawdrey published
English, especially in the area of vocabulary (p. 60). It teyning and teaching the true the first 'dictionary of hard
has been estimated that the period between words' in 1604. /4 Table
1 530 and
and vnderflanding of hard
vvririnsJ, Alphabetical! contained
the Restoration (1660) displayed the fastest lexical glosses for 3,000 'hard vsuall
vfuallEngliOi wordcs, borrowed from
growth in the history of the language. Nearly half ot English wordes', such as
the Hebrew, Grcekc, Latinc, abbettors, glossed as
the new words were borrowings from the many cul-
or French. &c. 'counsellors', and abbreuiat,
tures with which English was coming into contact; the glossed as 'to shorten, or
remainder were different types of word formation With the interpretation thereof by makeshort'. It wasa
using native resources. There was also a great deal ot commercial success, and was
^laine Snot:fh words,gatberedfor the benefit (^ followed by several other
semantic change, as old words acquired new senses — a he/pf of Lddtes^Gemlervomtti, er any other compilations on similar lines.
factor particularly noticed by those involved in the vnskilfMllferfoHS,
production of religious texts. The authors of the
revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer (1662)
Whereby they tnay the more ea^fic
comment that most of their alterations to the 1552 and better vnderf(and many hard Eagfirh
version were made 'for the more proper expressing of wordes, which they (hall hcarc or read in
some words or phrases of ancient usage, in terms more Scriptures, Sermons, or clfwhere , and alfo
suitable to the language of the present times". be made able to vfe the fame aptly
This unprecedented growth brought with it ihemfelues.
unprecedented uncertainty. By the end of the 17th
century there was a widespread feeling of unease about Le^ere, et non intelligere , neglegere efl.
the direction in which the language was moving. As good not read, as not to vndcrfland.
Many critics felt that English was changing too
quickly and randomly, and applied such terms to it as

unruly', 'corrupt', 'unrefined', and 'barbarous'. A par- Printed by I, R. for Edmund Wea-
ticular area of concern was the lack of consistency in Ocr, & are to be fold at his Qiop at the great
spelling or punctuation (pp. 66-9): at one extreme, North doore of Paulcs Church.
there were people who spelled as they spoke (such as 1604.
sartinly for certainly); at the other, there were those
who took pains to reflect classical etymology in their
spelling (such as by adding an s to island or a f to scis-
LEXICAL SUMMITS
sors). There was also a fear that foreign words and neol-
The peak of vocabulary growth in the Renais-
ogisms were entering the language in an uncontrolled sance period is clearly shown by this graph, which
way. The critics could see no order in the lexical inven- is based on a count of items appearing in an

abridged version of the Oxford English Dictionary

tiveness of the Elizabethan dramatists.
new words had become part of the language,
speare's
but many had not (p. 63), and it was unclear how such
anomalies should be dealt with.
Contemporary linguistic fashions and trends pro-
vided no solace. John Dryden, in Defence of the Epi-
Many of Shake-
(p. 443). Graphs of this kind must not be inter-
preted too precisely, however. Because of the bias
adopted by the OED (as stated in its original Pref-
ace) towards 'great English writers', the lexicon of
many 'ordinary' texts of the Early Modern English
period is not fully taken into account. Several
studies have shown that quite a large number of

logue (1672) complains about those 'who corrupt our

words and senses are not included in the OED, and

that its first citations can often be antedated by

English Idiom by mixing it too much with French'. many years. A German investigator of the period,
Joseph Addison, in a Spectator essay (4 August 1711), Jurgen Schafer, has estimated that, if all types of
correction are taken into account, the total
complains about the use of contracted forms, which
number of discrepancies in the OED database
has 'untuned our Language, and clogged it with Con- might be as many as half a million. Graphs such as
sonants': he cites such contractions as mayn'tznd won't, the above are thus likely to be serious underes-
timates of the true lexical resources of Early
as well as such abbreviations as rep (reputation) and ult
Modern English; the late 1 5th century, in particu-
{ultimate). Daniel Defoe, in An Essay upon Projects lar, is thought to be poorly represented. But the

(1697), complains about the 'inundation' of swear- general impression of lexical growth conveyed by
words the graph is reasonable enough, and certainly cor-
in the language of his time, and hopes that the
responds to any intuitive sense of what was hap-
introduction of an Academy might stem what he calls pening throughout this period.
a 'Frenzy of the Tongue, a Vomit of the Brain'. Fifteen (After T. Nevalainen, forthcoming 1996.)

years later, Jonathan Swift takes up the challenge.

 . .

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

The Academy issue Neither Britain nor the United States (p. 81) chose the THE SOUTH AFRICAN
were deeply worried about the Academy solution; and although the idea has been EXCEPTION
Authors such as Swift

speed at which the language was changing. Without raised at intervals ever since, it has never found

proper controls, would their work still be intelligible in widespread support within those nations.
a generation or so? In 'A Proposal for Correcting, The debate about language corruption in the 17th
Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue' century did, however, focus public attention on the
(1712), Swift presented his case: existence of a problem and the need for a solution. If
the language needed protection, or at least consistency
if it [English] were once refined to a certain Standard, per-
and stability, these could be provided by dictionaries,
haps there might be Ways found out to fix it for ever; or at
grammars, spelling guides, and pronunciation manu-
least till we are invaded and made a Conquest by some other
als. Standards of correctness would thereby emerge,
State; and even then our best Writings might probably be
preserved with Care, and grow in Esteem, and the Authors which all could follow. It was Johnson himself who put
the first part of this solution into place (p. 74). The only part of the English-
have a Chance for Immortalit)'.
speaking world which has
ever set up an Academy is
He submitted his proposal to the Earl ol Oxford:
South Africa. 'The English
THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH Academy of Southern Africa'
My Lord; I do here, in the Name of all the Learned and
was established in 1961, and
Polite Persons of the Nation, complain to Your LORD- The sense of chaos and confusion which surrounded the
promotes 'the effective use
language was attacked in several ways. Some scholars
SHIP, as First Minister, that our Language is extremely of English as a dynamic lan-
proposed radical systems of spelling reform (p. 66).
imperfect; that its daily Improvements are by no means in guage in Southern Africa'.
Some, such as the mathematician Bishop John Wilkins
Based in Johannesburg, it
proportion to its daily Corruptions; that the Pretenders to (1614-72) tried to develop a logical alternative to
arranges lectures and confer-
polish and refine it, have chiefly multiplied Abuses and English, which would do away with all irregularity - one
ences, administers prizes,
many oftends against of the first attempts at a universal language.
Absurdities; and, that in Instances, it participates in national
When the Royal Society for the Promotion of Natural bodies, and dispenses lan-
ever)' Part ot Grammar.
Knowledge was founded in 1 660, a scientific approach
guage information. It also
was proposed. A group of its members formed a commit operates an English advisory
Swift attacked in all directions: he was against Restora- tee to 'improve the English tongue, particularly for
service, popularly known as
tion licentiousness, the sloppiness of the young nobil- philosophic [i.e. scientific] purposes'. The aim was to
'Grammar-phone'.
develop a without rhetoric and
plain, objective style,
ity, the abbreviations used by poets, the spelling
classical vocabulary, which would be more suitable to sci
proposals which tried to reflect speech, the fashionable entitle expression. The committee achieved no consen-
slang of university people -'illiterate Court-Fops, half- sus, and did not exist for long, but a 'naked, natural way
of speaking; positive expressions; clear senses' was said
witted Poets, and University-Boys". His solution was
to have been a hallmark of the founder members' style.
to follow the example of the French (whose Academy This group was the nearest Britain ever came to having
was founded in 1635): an Academy.

a free judicious Choice should be made of such Persons, as An allegorical

are generally allowed to be best qualified for such a Work, engraving by Hollar
representing the
without any regard to Quality, Party, or Profession. These,
foundation of the
to a certain Number at least, should assemble at some
Royal Society (from
appointed Time and Place, and fix on Rules by which they Bishop Sprat's History
design to proceed. . . .what I have most at Heart is, that some of the Royal Society).
Method should be thought on for ascertainingindfixiiigour Fame crowns the busi
of Charles II, 'Royal
Language for ever, after such Alterations are made in it as
Author and Patron'.
shall be thought requisite. For I am of Opinion, that it is
On the right sits

better a Language should not be wholly perfect, than that it Francis Bacon,
should be perpetually changing. .
'Artium Instaurator'
(Renewer of the
Swift was not the first person to propose an Academy Arts); on the left is
Lord Brouncker, the
for English: Dryden and Defoe had also done so. But
first president.
even though the idea attracted a great deal of interest, Scientific

it never got off the ground. Many saw that language instruments and
books surround
cannot be kept and that standards always
static,
them.
change. Dr Johnson was one who derided the notion:

When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one
after another, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong
life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexi-

cographer be derided, who being able to produce no exam-

ple of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases
from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can
embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and
decay . .
 .

I HE HISTORY OF ENGIISH

The alphabetical section of Johnsons Dictionary is SAMUELJOHNSON

JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY preceded by a famous Preface, in which he outlines his
(1709-84)

aims and procedures: Johnson was born in Lich-

field, Staffordshire, the son

It were a thing verie praiseworthie... if som one well learned
When I cook the first survey of my undertaking, I found our of a provincial bookseller He
and as laborious a man, wold gather all the words which we studied for a while at Oxford,
speech copious without order, and cnergetick without rules:
vse in our English tung... into one dictionarie. but lack ofmoney caused him
wherever I turned my view, there was perplexity to be disen-
He
to leave after a year.
Thus wrote Richard Mulcaster (p. 66) in 1 582. Apart tangled, and confusion to be regulated... Having therefore became a teacher and writer,
from the occasional collection of a few thousand 'hard no assistance but from general grammar, applied myself to 1
moving to London in 1737,
was not attempted until 1721, the perusal of our writers; and noting whatever might be of where he wrote for The Gen-
words" (p. 72), the task
use to ascertain or illustrate any word or phrase, accumu- tleman's Magazine. He also
when Nathaniel Bailey published his Universal Etymo- helped catalogue the library
lated in time the materials of a dictionary, which, by degrees,
logical English Dictio)iary. Bailey's entries are fuller, of the Earl of Oxford.
I reduced to method. .
He produced an outline for
compared with the glosses in the hard-word books,
his D/ct/onary in 1746, aeon-
and there are more of them (as many as 60,000, in the The preliminaries also include a short history of the tract was signed, and the first
1736 edition), but his definitions lack illustrative sup- language, with long extracts from earlier authors, and of his amanuenses began
work on midsummer day of
port, and he gives little guidance about usage. a grammar, much influenced by the work of John
that year A more fully elabo-
It was not until Samuel Johnson completed A Dic- Wallis (p. 69), with sections on orthography and rated Plan of a Dictionary of
tionary of the English Language in 1755 that the lexi- prosody. But it is in the Preface, often anthologized as the English Language

Over appeared a year later. It took

con received its first authoritative treatment. a an independent text, that we find an unprecedented
him some three years to read
seven-year period, Johnson wrote the definitions of c. statement of the theoretical basis of a dictionary pro- his source works and mark
40,000 words, illustrating their use from the best ject. The statement is notable for its awareness of the the citations to be used.
and These were then copied by
authors since the time of the Elizabethans (but exclud- realities of the lexicographer's task, also for its
his amanuenses onto slips of
ing his own contemporaries). Although he has fewer descriptive intention (p. 442) - an interesting change paper, and filed alphabeti-
entries than Bailey, his selection is more wide-ranging, of opinion from the prescriptive attitudes Johnson cally. Once all slips were col-

lated, he began to draft his

and his lexicological treatment is far more discrimi- expressed in his 1 747 Dictionary plan. There he had
definitions. The first sheets
nating and sophisticated. The book, according to his written: 'The chief intent... is to preserve the purity were printed in 1750, begin-
biographer Boswell, 'conferred stability' on the lan- and meaning of our English idiom'. The
ascertain the ning with letter A, The work

guage - and at least with respect to spelling (where Preface, by aim is to 'not
contrast, stresses that his was complete by 1754, and
an edition of 2,000 copies
most of Johnson's choices are found in modern prac- form, but register the language'; and it is this principle appeared the following year,
tice), this seems to be so. which introduces a new era in lexicography. priced £4 10s. There was soon
a second edition, published
in 65 weekly sections at six-
1

SOME JOHNSONIAN DEFINITIONS pence each; and a fourth edi-

tion, much revised, appeared
There are not many truly idiosyncratic definitions in the in 1773. The book dominated
Dictionary, but some have become famous. the dictionary market for
decades, and appeared in
LEXICOGRAPHER A writer of dictionaries; a harmless several editions for much of
drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and the next century.
detailing the signification of words. After the Dictionary, John-
son continued as a literary
EXCISE A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and
journalist,and received
adjudged not by the common judges of property, but
financial securityfrom a pen-
wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
sion granted by George III. He
OATS A grain, which in England is generally given to met his biographer, James
horses, but in Scotland supports the people. Boswell, in 1763, and in 1764

PATRON One who countenances, supports or protects. founded the Literary Club,
Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and where many of his famous
conversations took place.
is paid with flattery.
Later works included an
PENSION An allowance made to anyone without an eight-volume edition of
equivalent. In England it is generally understood to Shakespeare's plays and a
mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his ten-volume Lives of the Most
country. Eminent English Poets. He
was granted an honorary
And which political party did Johnson support? doctorate by Trinity College
TORY One who adheres to the antient constitution of Dublin in 1765, and agairkby
the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church Oxford in 1 775, and thus
of England, opposed to a whig. received the title by which he
A stained-glass feature in Johnson's fiouse, 17 Gough
has come to be most widely
Square, off Fleet Street, London, where he lived from WHIG 2. The name of a faction. known: Dr Johnson.
1748 to 1759, and thus where most of the Dictionary wai
compiled. The house was rescued from demolition in His definitionssometimes got him into trouble. He was
191 1, refurbished during the 1980s, and is now a threatened with libel over excise, and much lampooned
Johnson museum. over pension (after accepting one himself in 1762).
 ; ;; .

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

THE JOHNSONIAN METHOD

'Thus have laboured by settling the oi-thogra-
E T E E T H I

phy, displaying the analogy, regulating the

will not obey, who, to get rid of bis rider» rifes mightily I would adc the etemalijii what mark is there that they couM structures, and ascertaining the signification of
before; and while his forehand is yet in the air, yerks furi- expoft or dcGre of the novelty of a world, that is not found
English words, to perform all the parts of a
ouily with his hind legs. Fa- net's DUt. in this \ Ur what marl: is there of eternity that is found in
EsTRt'ATE. n. f. [exiraSium, Latin.] The true copy of an this f Burml's Thiirj <f lie Eerlh. faithful lexicographer...'
original writing ; far example, of amerciaments or penaltiea, To Ete'rnaLISE. v. a. [from Otrrml.] To make etcr-
fet down in the rolli of a court, to be levied by the bailiff, or tlal. Dia. This page illustrates several features of the
other officer, of every man for hU offence. A law term. Cowel. Ete'rkally. adv. [Uom tltrual.l approach Johnson outlines in his Preface:
Estre'pement. [of the French word eJlre,Ur.]
n.J. Spoil 1. Without beginning or end.
made by the tenant for term of life upon any lands or woodsj 2. Unchangeably ; invar ably. • Most of the definitions are succinct, appropri-
to the prejudice of him in the reverfion. CovjeL That which is morally good, or evil, at any time, or in'
ate, and consistent between entries, as can be
E'sTRiCH. n,J, [commonly written ojirich.^ The largeft of any cafe, mud be alfo citrvoUy and unchangeably fo, with
birds. relation to that time and to that cafe, Setoh's Strmimi. seen from the eterna/series.
be furious. To 3. Peipetually without intermillloru
; • He pays special attention to the different
Is to be frighted out of fear ; and, in that mood. Bear me, fome gnd, to Baja's gentle feati.
The dove will peck the ejiridie. Shai Jnth. and CUcpotra. Or cover me in Umbria's green retreats. senses of a word - five, in the case of eternal.

The peacock, not at thy command, alTuraes Where wcilern galea etmo ly refide. (In the entry on take, no less than 1 24 uses are
His glorious train ; nor ejlrkh her rare plumes. Sandys. And all the feafons laviQi all their pride. AdJifm. distinguished.)
E'sTl/ARY. ff./ [ajluariumy Latin.] An arm of the feaj the Ete'i-ne. adj, [aurrtui, Latin.] Eternal; perpetual j end-
• There is a copious use of quotations to sup-
mouth of a lake or river in which the tide rcciprocatci \ a lefs.

frith. The Cyclops hammers faU port a definition -c. 1 16,000 in all. These are
To E'sTUATi. V. a. [apuo, Latin.] To fwell and fall reci- On Mars his armour f.rg'd for proof iltmi. SJtal. HamUt, generally taken from dead authors so as not to
procally ; to boil ; to be in a ftate of violent commotion. /J/fl. Ete'ri*itv. n.f. [alrrwia,, Larin]
Estua'tion. fi.f. [from <r/?«o, Latin.] The ftate of boiling ; 1. Duration without beginning or end.
be 'misled by partiality'.
reciprocation of rife and fall ; agitation; commotion. In this gr. uiid his precious root • He follows the usage of his sources in arriving
Rivers and lakes, that want fermenting parts ac the bot- which, when weak time fhall be pour'd out
Still lives,
even bethinks his sources
at his definitions, if
tom, ate not excited unto ejiuaikns ; theicfore fome feas flow Intc ttt nity^ and circular joys
higher than others. Bnwn's Fu'gar Err-Mn, b. vii. f. i 3. Dancing an endlefs round, again Oiall rife. Crajbaw. are incorrect, as shown by sense 3 of etch (verb).
The motion of the will is accompanied with a fenfible com- Thy immortal rhyme • He routinely identifies parts of speech.
motion of the fpirits, and an ejiuattm of the blood. Nonis. Makes this one fhort point of time. • He shows the most strongly stressed syllable
E'sTURE. n.f. [rt^'tt;, Ladn.] Violence; commotion. To fill up half the orb of round eternity. Cowley.
The feas retain By repeating the idea of any length of duration which we in a headword by an accent.
Not only their outrageous ejiure there. have in our minds, with all ^i. endlefs addition of number^ • There is an openness of approach, nicely illus-
But fupematural mifchief they expire. Chafmans OdyJJty. we come by the idea of eternity. Ltdt.
trated by his entry on etch (noun): 'A country
E'suRiENT. adj. [^/ur/V-r., Latin.] Hungry; voracious. Diil. 2. Duration without end.
E'sOBINE. adj. [fyj(ri3, Latin.] Corroding; eating. Beyond is all abyfs, word, of which know not the meaning'.
I

Over much piercing is the air of Hampftead, in which fort Elernilf, whofe end no rye can reach! M.'l. Parad. Lcjl. • Following the tradition established by
of air there is always fomething t'tirini and acid. Wtjeman. Eernityy thou pleafing, dreadful thought!
Ephraim Chambers and other encyclopedists of
Etc. a contraiftion of the two Latin words et cattra^ whicrb Through what variety ot untried being.
flgnifies and jo on ; ami the refi ; and others ef tbj like kind. Through wliat new fcenes and changes muil we pais. Jdd, his age, he includes topical explanations of
To Etch. -o. a. {.lizen, German.] To Ete'rnize. v. c. [^lemt, Latin ] some words, as seen in etch (verb), sense 1

I, A way u fed in making of prints, by drawing with a pro- 1. To make endlefs to perpetuate. i
• Awiderangeof ordinary words (estuary, etc.)
per needle upon a copper-plate, covered over with a ground I with two fair gifts

of wax, and well blacked with the fmokc of a Jink,

t^c. Created him endow'd ; with happinefs. are included alongside technical terms
in order to the figure of the drawing or print
take rff And immortality : that fondly loh. {estrepement, ether) -though he apologizes in
which having its backfide tinctured with white lead, will, This other ferv'd but to tttrfiizi woe. Millon's Parad. Ltji.
his Preface for his limited coverage of special-
by running over the ftrucken out lines with a fiift, imprefs 2. To make for ever famous ; to immortalize.
tbe iy.zQt figure on the black or red ground ; which Mankind by all means feeking to eternize himfelf, fo much ized fields.
figure is afterwards with needles drawn deeper quite through the more as he is near bis end, doth it by fpecches and Although very well received at the time, the
the ground, and all the (hadows and hatdiings put in ; and writings. Sidntj,
then a wax border being made all round the plate, there it And well befeems all knights of noble name, D/ct/onary was later to receive a great deal of
poured on a fufRcient quantity of well tempered oquaferiis^ That covet in ih' immorul book of fame criticism.
which, infmuating into the {trokes made by the needles, To be etrrnizidy that fame to haunt. Fairy ^eerij b. L • It includes, in the 'hard-words' tradition,
ufually eats, in abi.ut half an hour, into the figure of tbe print 1 might relate of thoufands, and theii names
or drawing on the copper plate. Hanit. Elernize here on earth j but thofe c\c£t many cumbersome Latinate forms, such as
1. Tofcetch; to draw; 10 deUoeatc [unlefs this word be mif- Angels, contented with their fame in heav'n. cubiculary, estuation, esurine, and incompossi-
tJcen by Locke for tie.] Seek not the praifc of men, Mitlatit Paredife Lejl, i. vi.
bility, whose status within English was doubt-
There are many empty terms to be found in fome learned The four great roonarchiea have been celebrated by the
writers, to which they had recourfe to etch out their 'Writings of many famous men, who have etendztd their fajne« ful.
fyfteras. Lcoie. and thereby their own. Temple. • His citationsarehighly selective, chosen more
3. [This word is evidently miflaken by Ray for tdge.J To move Both of them are fet on fire by the great anions of heroes,
for their literary or moral value than for their
forwards towards one fide. and both endeavour to eternixt them. Dryden's Dufrefmy.
When we lie long awake in the night, we are not able to Hence came its name, in that the grateful Jove linguistic clarity. Half of all his quotations come
one quarter of an hour without ftiifting of fides, or at
reft Hath eterniz'd the glory of his love. Creech's ManUim. from just seven sources - Shakespeare, Dryden,
thb way and that way, more or lefs.
leaft etching Roy. E'THER. n.f. [tlher, Latin; aiSiif.]
Milton, Addison, Bacon, Pope, and the Bible.
Etch. n./. A country word, of which I know not the An element more fine and
. fubtle than air; air reAncd or
fublimed. • Several of his definitions use difficult words (a
When they fow their etch cropj, they fprinkJe a pound or If any one our air, may con-
fliould fuppofe that ethir^ like problem he acknowledges in his Preface), such
two of clover on an acre. Mortimer's Hufiandry. tain particles which endeavour to recede from one another
Where you find dunging of land makes it rank, lay dung for I do not know what this ether is ; and that its particles are as rec/procates in estuary. A famous example is

flpon the etch^ and fow it with barley. Jidartiauri Hujbandry^ exceedingly fmalter than thofe of air, or even than thofe of cough (noun), 'A convulsion of the lungs, velli-
ETE'RNAL- odj. {attrnus^ Latin.] light, the exceeding fmallnefs of its particles may contribute
cated by some sharp serosity'.
1. Without beginning or end. to the greatnefs of the force, by which thofe particles may re-
Tlie eternal God is thy refuge. Deut. xxxili. 17. cede from one another. Sewton'iOpt.
• Several of his definitions have become
2. Without beginning The parts of other bodies are held together by the eternal famous for their subjectivity (see p. 74).
It is from our having an idea of
a queiiton quite different and can have no other conceivable caufe
prelTure of the ethet, • Inthe end, he ran out of space, and had to
eternity, to know whether there were any real being, wbofe of their coheflun and union. Loch.
duration has been eternal. Locke. 2. The matter ol thehighell regions above. leave out about half the quotations he had
3. Without end ; endlefs; immortal. Therefields of light and liquid ether flow, collected. This caused a certainunevenness of
Thou know'ft that Banquo and hisFIeance lives. Purg'd from the pond'rous dregs of earth below, Drydtn,
treatment; in particular, words at the beginning
— But in them nature's copy's not eternal. Shaief. Macbeth. Ethe'real. adj. [fromrtirr.J
4. Perpetual; conftant ; uniiitcrmitting. J. Formed of ether. of the alphabet were much more generously
Burnt off'rings mom and ev'ning fhali be thine. Man feels me, when I prels th' ethereal plains. Drydea. illustrated.
And fires ttemat in thy temple fhtne. Dryd. KnighCs Tale. 2. Celefiial ; heavenly.
5. Unchangeable. Go, heav'nly gueft, ethereal roelTenger, But despite these weaknesses, Johnson's
Hobbes believed the eternal truths which he oppofed. Dryd. Sent from whofe fov reign goodnefs I adore. Millom
Etb'rnal. D/cf/onary was the first attempt at a truly prin-
n.f. [eJemel, FicrLch.] One of the appellations of Thrones and imperial pow'rs, offspring of heav'n.
the Godhead. Ethereal virtues Milton'lParadife Lcfl, b. ii. /. 31 1.
!
cipled lexicography. It portrayed the complexity
That law whereby the eternal himfelf doth work. Htoher, Such as ihefe, being in good part freed from the entangle- of the lexicon and of English usage more accu-
The to prevent fuch horrid fray,
eternal.^ ments of fcnfe and body, are employed, like the fpirits above,
Hung rately than ever before; and his quotations initi-
out of bcav'n his golden fcales. Milton. in contemplating the Divine Wifdom in the works of nature
Ete'rnalist. r.f. frf(^r«us Latin.] One that holds the paft a kind of anticipation of the ethereal happinels and employ- ated a practice which has informed English
exiftcncc of the woilJ infinite. ment. Glanv. Apol. dictionaries ever since.
Vaft
 6. MODERN ENGLISH
Impcrccptiblw during che 18th century, English loses However, despite this apparent continuity, che lan-
the most noticeable remaining features ot structural guage end of the 1 8th century is by no means
at the

ditterence which distance the Early Modern English identical to what we find today. Many words, though
period from us. By the end of that century, with but spelled the same, had a different meaning. If we had
a few exceptions, the spelling, punctuation, and tape recordings of the time, we would also notice sev-
grammar are very close to what they are today. If we eral differences in pronunciation, especially in the way
take an essay of William Hazlitt (1778-1830) or a words were stressed (p. 69). And an uninformed
novel of Jane Austen (1775-1817), for example, we modern intuition would achieve only a superficial
can read tor pages before a point of linguistic differ- reading of the literary texts of the period. In reading a
ence might make us pause. We would find the vocab- novel of the 1990s, we can make an immediate lin-

ulary somewhat unfamiliar in places, the idiom guistic response to the social and stylistic nuances
occasionally unusual or old-fashioned, the style ele- introduced into the text, because we are part of its age:
gant or quaint, and we might feel that the language we recognize the differences between formality and
was in some indefinable way characteristic of a previ- informality, or educated and uneducated; and we can
ous age; but we do not need to consult a special edi- sense when someone is being jocular, ironic, risque,
tion or historical dictionary at every turn in order to archaic, or insincere. We can easily miss such nuances
understand the text. Jane Austen makes demands of in the writing of the early 19th century, especially in
our modern English linguistic intuitions which seem those works which take the manners of contemporary
little different from those required by Catherine society as their subject. This world is linguistically

Cookson or P. D. lames. more removed from us than at first it may appear.

SEEING BENEATH THE SURFACE

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition,
seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the
world with very little to distress or vex her.
She was the youngest of the two daughters of a most affectionate, indulgent father; and had, in
consequence of her sister's marriage, been mistress of his house from a very early period. Her mother
had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses; and her
place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother
in affection...

Thus begins Jane Austen's Emma, published in additional sense in Austen'stime, which it has
1816. To the modern reader, its language presents since lost: it mean simply 'polite or conven-
could
no unexpected difficulties. We might be struck by tional praise'. What Miss Bates means is 'It wasn't
the use of handsome (used more commonly today just flattery'.

with male reference), or by youngest referring We do not always note such difference in usage,
only to two; but neither of these points is likely to because the context often enables us to see the
disturb our smooth comprehension of these open- intended sense. Here are some other instances
ing lines. from the novels where usage has changed in a
Early 19th-century English can, however, deceive subtle way (after K. C. Phillips, 1970, who also
apparentfamiliarity. There are hundreds of
in its provides an index and page references):
instances where words have changed their mean-
• 'the supposed inmate of Mansfield Parsonage':
ing, often in highly subtle ways. For example, in
inmate had not yet developed its sense of some-
the middle of a long and somewhat erratic mono-
one occupying a prison or institution.
logue, Emma's garrulous acquaintance IVIiss Bates
• '[she] had neither beauty, genius, accomplish-
describes a reaction to some baked apples:
ment, nor manner': genius did not yet have its
'"Oh!", said he, directly, "there is nothing in the modern sense of 'outstanding intellectual
way of fruit half so good, and these are the finest- quality'. kind,where the substitution of one element
looking home-baked apples ever saw in my life."
I
• had all the warmth of first attach-
'her regard produces the modern equivalent:
That, you know, was so very - And am sure, by hisI
ment': regard had a much stronger sense of 'affec-
• whatever the evenfof ('outcome')
manner, it was no compliment ...' (Emma, Ch. 27) tion',
• 'She was now in an irritation as violent from
• caught in the fact ('act')
It is easy to the speaker carry us on past this
let
delight as...': irritation could be caused by a plea-
• made her first essay ('attempt')
point, so that we do not notice the existence of the • she saw her in idea ('in her mind's eye')
surable emotion.
problem: if the first comment means anything at • 'three or four Officers were lounging together':
• Emma well knew by character ('by repute')
all, it is surely a compliment, yet Miss Bates seems • the prospect. ..was highly gratefulto her {'grati
lounge meant 'stroll', not 'lie carelessly on a chair'
to be denying it. The apparent contradiction is fying')
resolved when we know that compliment had an A number of differences are of a more idiomatic • Suppose you spea/c for tea ('order')
 . . . . . .

MODERN ENGLISH

Grammatical trends
Jane Austen would have arrived at school (Abbey MY DEAR JAMES
School, in Reading) at a time when Lowth's Gram- In Letter VIII of his Grammar of the English Language in
a Series o/ tetters (1829), William Cobbett advises his son
mar was well established, and a second generation of
James (aged on the problems of irregular verbs. Most
14)
young ladies' (p. 78) was having its tenets instilled of his list of nearly 200 verbs recommends past tenses
into them. That she was much concerned about cor- which are identical with present-day usage, but there are
rectness in grammar is suggested by the way she often a few differences:

changed her own grammatical usage in later editions to bend I bended

to light light
of her novels. For example, at one point in Pride and I

to sink I sunk
Prejudice, she wrote 'the tables were broke up', but to stink I stunk
later emended the verb to broken.
A number of past participles also differ:
That she was also aware of the social role of gram-
chide
mar is evident from many pieces of her dialogue,
where nonstandard usage is seen as a mark of vulgar-
ity, and good grammar as a sign of good breeding.
Thus, Emma is surprised at the linguistic standard of
the letter from the yeoman farmer, Robert Martin
(who, in her opinion, is plain" and clownish), when
he proposes marriage to Harriet Smith:

The style of the letter was much above her expectation.

There were not merely no grammatical errors, but as a

composition it would not have disgraced a gentleman.

The following examples from Austen's novels illus-

tratesome of the distinctive grammatical features of
early 19th-century English, compared with today
(Part III). There are differences in (1) tense usage, (2)
auxiliary verbs (compare the Early Modern English
practice, p. 70), (3) irregular verbs, (4) articles, (5)
contracted forms, (6) prepositions, (7) adverbs, and
(8) the comparative (also shown in the quotation
from Emma on p. 76). All the examples come from
the usage of educated characters in the novels, or are
part of Austen's own narrative. (Uneducated charac
ters have an identifiable grammar and
lexicon of their own.)

(1)1 am so glad we rfrf^of acquainted.

So, you are come at last!

(2) What say you to the day?

she doubted not. .

(3) Fanny shrunk back. .

and much was ate. .

(4) It is a nothingoi iL part...

to be taken itito the account. .

(5) Will not it be a good plan?

It would quite shock you. . . would not it^

(6) he told me in our journey. .

She was small of her age.

(7) I stood for a minute, feeling dreadfully.
It is really very ivell for a novel.

(8) the properest manner. .

the richest o( xh.e two...

 I'ARi I 1 Hi: lUsroRY ^^r i.nci isii

which is the consent of the Learned; as C'ustome of lite,

THE RISE OF PRESCRIPTIVE which is the consent ot the good.

GRAN4MAR Wallis, on the othet hand, wtiting in his Preface about

suitable models of structure, is sttong in his criticism
The second half of the 18th century differs funda- ot Jonson and other grammarians hithetto:
mentall}' from our own age in its attitudes towards
They all forced English too rigidly into the mould of Latin
Hni;hsh. The middle of the century had seen the cul-
(a mistake which nearly everyone makes in descriptions of
mination of the first major effort to impose order on
other modern languages too), giving many useless rules
the language, in the form of Johnson's Dictionary about the cases, genders and declensions of nouns, the
(p. 74). With spelling and lexicon now being handled tenses, moods and conjugations of verbs,
the government of
in an increasingly systematic way, attention turned to nouns and and other things of that kind, which have
verbs,
grammar, and the first attempts to define this field in no bearing on our language, and which confuse and obscure
its own right began to appear. matters instead of elucidating them.
Treatises on aspects of grammar are known from the
These positions, and their opposites, were restated and
16th century. The dramatist Ben Jonson wrote An
adopted anew in the 1760s, which marks the begin-
English Grammar. .for the Benefit of all Strangers, out
.

ning of a new petiod of interest and involvement in

of his Observation of the English Language now Spoken, English grammar. Over 200 works on grammar and
and in Use, published posthumously in 1 640. John
rhetoric appeared between 1750 and 1800. The most
Wallis's Grarnmatica Linguae Anglicanae (Grammar of
influential was undoubtedly Bishop Robett Lowth's
the English Language, 1653) was written 'because
Short Introduction to English Grammar ( 1 762) — the
there is clearly a great demand for it from foreigners,
inspiration for an even mote widely-used book, Lind-
who want to be able to understand the various impor-
ley Murray's English Grammar 794). Both gtammats ( 1

tant works which are written in our tongue' (which is

went through many editions in the years following
why he, as others of his time, wrote in Latin). And
theif publication, and had enotmous influence on
Johnson, largely following Wallis, added a grammati-
school practices, especially in the USA. This is evident
cal sketch at the front of his dictionary.
even in the comments of those who disapproved of
them.Thomas de Quincey, wtiting in Blackwood's
Which authority?
Magazinem April 1839, condemns a number of 'infe-
From the outset, however, there were fundamental dil-
rior attempts to illustrate the language', and ends his
lerences of opinion about which way to proceed, and
list with Murray's:
which authority to follow. Jonson (in his essay,

'Timber: or. Discoveries', 1640) is in no doubt about This book, full ot atrocious blunders... reigns despotically
through the young ladies' schools, from the Orkneys to the
where to look for models of usage (Custome):
William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
Cotnish Scillys.

Ciistome, is the most certaine Mistresse of Language, as the

Itwould have taken only a genetation tor any intel-
publicke stampe makes the current money. But wee must
lectual despotism to become firmly enttenched - and
not be too frequent with the mint, every day coyning. .Yet .

when 1 name Custome, I understand not the vulgar Cus- it is thus not sutptising to see dogmatic attitudes
tome: For that were a precept no lesse dangerous to Lan- towatds grammar routinely appeating in eatly 19th-

guage, then life, if wee should speake or live after the centuty magazines, lettets, and novels (such as Jane
manners of the vulgar: But that I call Custome of speech. Austen's, p. 76).

A CASE OF RAGE AND VEXATION there are none, or only one, the genitive; because If a system were
if we except this, there is no inflection or variety made in bur-
By way of justifying his remark about 'blunders',
whatever in the terminations. Thus to instance in lesque and pur-
De Quincey refers to the views of William Hazlitt,
the present noun - A case. Of a case. To a case, A posely to call into
which had been forcibly expressed in an essay on
case, Ocase, From a case -they tell you that the question and expose
English grammar in The Atlas some years before
word case is here its own nominative, genitive, its own nakedness, it
(15 March 1829). Hazlitt'sattackon the way gram-
dative, accusative, vocative, and ablative, though could not go beyond this,
marians talk about cases in English (p. 202) well
the deuce of any case - that is, inflection of the which is gravely taught in all seminaries, and
illustrates his position:
noun - is there in the case. Nevertheless, many a patiently learnt by all school-boys as an exercise
it is roundly asserted that there are six cases (why
pedagogue would swear til he was black in the I and discipline of the intellectual faculties... All this
not seven?) in the English language; and a case is face that it is so; and would lie awake many a rest- might be excusable as a prejudice or oversight; but
defined to be a peculiar termination or inflection lessnight boiling with rage and vexation that any then why persist in it in the thirty-eighth edition of
added to a noun to show its position in the sen- one should be so lost to shame and reason as to a standard book published by the great firm in
tence.Now in the Latin language there are no suspect that there is here also a distinction without Paternoster-row?
doubt a number of cases, inasmuch as there are a a difference.
number of inflections; and for the same reason (if He is referring, of course, to Lindley Murray's
words have a meaning) in the English language And he comments: grammar, published by Longman.
 MODERN ENGLISH

Traditional grammar at all times these rules were as forcefully attacked as

The books by Lowth and Murray, and those which they were authoritatively formulated. Thus, we find
they influenced, contain the origins of most of the Bishop Lowth saying in 1762:
grammatical controversies which continue to attract
The principal design of a Grammar of any Language is to
attention today (p. 194). This is the period which teach us to express ourselves with propriety in that Lan-
gave rise to the concept of 'traditional grammar' (as guage; and to enable us to judge of every phrase and form
20th-century linguists would one day call it), and in of construction, whether it be right or not.
which the rules of correct' grammatical usage were
first drawn up. It was a time when the subject was And we have the scientist Joseph Priestley saying in

debated at length, with philosophical, logical, aes- The Rudiments of English Grammar (1761):
thetic, historical, and occasionally linguistic reasons Our grammarians appear to me to have acted precipi-
proposed tor adopting one position rather than tately... It must be allowed, that the custom of speaking is Robert Lowth (1710-87)
another. Most fiercely argued was the question of the original and only just standard of any language.
Lowth, born in Winchester,
whether grammars and dictionaries should reflect
This was the chief controversy in the 1760s, and it Hampshire, was both scholar
usage, describing and analysing current practice, or and clergyman. In 1742 he
remains with us today (p. 192).
should evaluate usage, by prescribing certain forms as became Professor of Poetry
at Oxford, and in 1766
correct and proscribing others as incorrect.
Bishop of St David's and of
During the last decades of the 18th century, Oxford. He was consecrated
the latter position was the influential one. But Bishop of London in 1777.
A S H O R T Apart from his Grammar, he
was known for his work on
Hebrew poetry, especially as
CORRUPTION EVERYWHERE
Lowth's 'short introduction' contained less than 200
INTRODUCTION it appears

ment.
in the Old Testa-

pages, but in it there are hundreds of examples of

T O
what he felt to be corrupt grammar. It is important
to note that these examples are not taken from the
speech or writing of the uneducated, or even of the
reasonably well-educated, but from 'the politest part
of the nation, and ...our most approved authors'.
BNGtn" GRAMMAR:
Lowth is talking about Shakespeare, Milton, Pope,
Swift, all of whom in his opinion 'offend'.
WITH
His procedure has been imitated for over 200 years:
'to lay down rules, and to illustrate
These examples, moreover, are of two kinds, so that
them by examples'.
CRITICAI. NOTES.
'beside shewing what is right, the matter may be fur-
ther explained by pointing out what is wrong'.
In illustrating Lowth, we simultaneously illustrate

Murray, who copies extensively from him. An example is

the condemnation of the double negative construction
(p. 194), where Murray uses exactly the same words as
Lowth:
Lindley Murray (1745-1826)
Two negatives in English destroy one another, or are
qaidem 'O mag°»
''"^*
•
ft mod Murray was born Swatara
equivalent to an affirmative.
Nam ipf-" i-*" '"^"'.f quam quod cd a in
t„a fpo^e.
^poocndum; fed "»» tam pra=darum
'^^JTnim
ell fere Creek, Pennsylvania. He
And here Lowth identifying what was to become one of oraton.
Vif<l« "S'^^""- ,toe neque tan. id mihi trained as a lawyer, and had
is

L..V, qu- .'r^:t Vropriu» videtur.

the most famous shibboleths of traditional grammar: C.c..o.
a highly successful practice
^
'Never put a preposition at the end of a sentence'. His tone tow, quMn "='™ ^° '
'
/. in New York. 1784 he
In
here is in fact much less condemnatory than that of his imi- retired to England, because
tators a generation later. of ill health, and lived near
York. Apart from his Gram-
The preposition is often separated from the Relative which
THE BOOKSELLERS.
° mar, he wrote other books
it governs, and joined to the Verb at the end of the Sen- tMNTED FOR
tence, or of some member of it: as, 'Horace is an author,
»»scuwvn. on English, as well as reli-

gious works.
whom am much I delighted uv/tli'...This is an idiom, which
our language is strongly inclined to: it prevails in common
conversation, and suits very well with the familiar style in
writing: but the placing of the Preposition before the Rela-
tive more graceful, as well as more perspicuous; and
Is
And he adds:
agrees much better with the solemn and elevated style. In all these places, it ought to be whom.
His list of bad examples includes the following:
There is course (if his usage is not deliberate), in
irony, of
'Who servest thou under!' that Lowth himself commits the error he is criticizing. But
Shakespear, Hen.V. whether deliberate or not, in this case Murray would have
'Who do you speak toT As you like it.... none of it. His version of Lowth's sentence silently corrects
'We are still much at a loss, who civil power belongs to.' its grammar: 'This is an idiom to which our language is

Locke. strongly inclined'!

 IHK HlSl'ORY OF ENC;LKSH

Preface to his first lexicographical venture, A Com- WEBSTER'S PROBLEM

NEW NATION, NEW THEMES pendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806), The following words are
he writes: among those spelled -our in
Johnson's Dictionary:
The linguistic issues and developments which had No great change should be made at once, nor should any
preoccupied British scholars in the half of the anteriour, ardour, armour,
first change be made which violates established principles, cre-
behaviour, clamour, colour,
1 8th century were to hold the attention of Ameri- ates great inconvenience, or obliterates the radicals of the dishonour, emperour, errour,
can scholars in the second. A gap of 33 years sep- language. But gradual changes to accommodate the written fervour, flavour, governour,

arates the grammars of Lowth and Murray (p. 79), to the spoken language, when they occasion none of those harbour, honour, horrour,

evils, and especially when they purify words from corrup- humour, inferiour, interiour,
and a similar period separates Johnson's Dictionary
labour, neighbour, odour,
from Noali Webster's Dissertations on tions, improve the regular analogies of a language and illus-
(p. 74) the oratour, parlour, rancour,
trate etymology, are not only proper, but indispensable. rumour, saviour, splendour,
English Language (1789). In this work, Webster pro-
supenour, terrour, tremour,
posed the institution of an American standard'. It This dictionary was no small achievement: it con-
valour, vapour, warriour
was partly a matter of honour as an independent tained c. 28,000 words, as well as encyclopedic infor-
The following are some of
nation. . . to have a system of our own, in language as mation (such as population figures). However, it
those spelled with -or.

well as government'; was partly a matter of

it received a mixed reception: despite its inclusion of actor, auditor, author, captor,
common sense, because in England 'the taste of her new American vocabulary, many were offended by the collector, conductor, creditor,
director doctor editor,
writers is already corrupted, and her language on the way Webster attacked Johnson's Dictionary (he
elector equator, exterior,
decline'; and it was partly a matter of practicality, objected in particular to its difficult words, its vul- factor inspector, junior
England being at 'too great a distance to be our garisms, and its excessive use of quotations) and by languor liquor manor,
mediator, mirror motor
model'. This national or 'federal' language was his evident ambition to surpass Johnson's achieve-
pastor posterior, professor
inevitable, because the exploration of the new con- ment. His recommended spellings were also treated protector, rector sculptor
tinent would bring many new words into the lan- with suspicion, as were some of his pronunciations. sector, senator senior stupor
tailor torpor, tutor
guage, which Britain would not share; bur it also Critics pointed to inconsistencies in the way he tried

needed fostering. Spelling reform, he concluded, to justify his proposals. If the win labour'is to be omit- Given the inconsistency in the
list (e.g. interiourvs exterior),
would be a major step in that direction: 'a difference ted because it is not used in laborious, why not omit
not surprising to find
it is

between the English orthography and the Ameri- the ti of curious because it is not used in curiosity''. And Webster and Worcester after
can... is an object of vast political consequence'. why not keep -re, given the links between centre and him (p. 82), optingto
dispense with the distinction
Although Webster went through a period in central theatre and theatrical, and manv others?
altogether
which he advocated radical reform, the position he
finally adopted was a fairly moderate one. In the

THE BLUE-BACKED SPELLER the introduction of any new letters

(apart from a few 'trifling alter-
The American Spelling Book was ations', such as diacritics and liga-
first published783 as Part 1 of A
in 1 tures).These proposals, first
Grammatical Institute of the English advocated in a 1 789 essay, were
Language (Part 2, a grammar based instead on 'the omission of all
appeared in 1784, and Part 3, a superfluous and silent letters' (e.g.
reader in 1785). Within the next 60 bred for bread) and on the 'substitu-
years this book, in its distinctive blue tion of a character that has a certain
cover, went through over 250 print- one that is more
definite sound, for
and had several revised edi-
ings, vague and indeterminate' (e.g.
tions. Undoubtedly the most popular greevefor gneve).
schoolbook ever published, it was The major revision of the speller in
selling a million copies a year in the 1804 contained his first proposals,
1850s -and in a total US population deleting u from words ending in -our
of onlyc. 23 million. (e.g. favor) and -k from those ending
Inthe introduction to the speller in -ick (e.g. music). His full range of
Webster follows British spelling proposals was published in his Com-
norms, and cites Johnson's Dictio- pendious Dictionary of 1806; they
nary as his guide. He even goes so far included -erfor -re (e.g. theater) -se
as to denounce those spelling for -ce (e.g. defense), -k for -que (e.g.
reformers who 'alter the spellings of check), and single / before a suffix,
words, by expunging the superflu- depending on the stress {traveling's
ous letters', such as favor. excelling). These changes are now
Within a few years, however he familiar because they were to
had changed his mind. At first he become standard features of US
planned a radically different pho- spelling. Several others, such as the
netic alphabet, but when this rec- dropping of final e (as in deffn/f and
eived little support he developed a examin) or of silent letters (as in
more moderate solution, avoiding fether and He) never caught on.
 MODERN ENGLISH

Webster's
In 1828 appeared An American Dictionary of the
NOAH WEBSTER where he became active in 25 years later, following a
(1758-1843) local politics, and later year's research in European
English Language, in rwo volumes, containing some helped to found academic libraries, he finished the
70,000 words. The work greatly improved the cov- Webster was born West in institutions, notably text of the American Dictio-
Hartford, Connecticut. He Amherst College in Mas- nary inCambridge, Eng-
erage of scientific and technical terms, as well as
graduated from Yale in sachusetts. He began his dic- land. It finally appeared in
terms to do with American culture and institutions 1 778, having served briefly tionary work in 1800, and 1828, when he was 70.
(such as congress and plantation), and added a great inthe US War of
Independence. He
deal of encyclopedic information.A new feature was then worked as a
the introduction of Webster's own etymologies - teacher, clerk, and
though the speculative nature of many of these was lawyer; and it was
during his time as
an early source of unwelcome criticism. The
a teacher that he
spellings were somewhat more conservative than became dissatis-

those used in the 1806 book. Its pronunciations fied with the texts
which were avail-
were generally provincial in character - those of
able, especially
Webster's own New England. with their lack of a
The label American' in the title is more a reflec- distinctively Amer-
ican perspective.
tion of the works ol American authors referred to
After publishing
than of its uniquely American lexicon. Indeed, at his speller, gram-
one point Webster observed (though not with any mar, and reader
(1783-5), he spent
great accuracy) that 'there were not fifty words in all
a great deal of
which were used in America and not in England'. time travelling and
On the other hand, nearly half of the words he did lobbying, partly to
support himself,
include are not to be found in Johnson's Dictionary,
and partly to
which added considerable force to his claim that he obtain support for
was giving lexicography a fresh direction. his ideas as well as
protection for his
Despite its weaknesses and its critics, the Ameri-
writing (there
can Dictionary made Webster a household name in being no copyright
the USA. It was fiercely attacked in Britain for its lawat that time).
In 1798 he moved
Americanism, especially in matters of spelling and
to New Haven,
usage; but the work was crucial in giving to US Connecticut,
English an identity and status comparable to that
given to the British English lexicon by Dr Johnson.
Indeed, it is difficult to appreciate today the impact
AN AMERICAN language', and a bill for the guage and Belles Lettres
which 'Webster's' made at the time, and just how ACADEMY incorporation of a national was finally launched, with
academy was actually intro- John Quincy Adams as pres-
authoritative the book was perceived to be. Two
The concept of an duced into Congress in ,
ident. Its aim was 'to pro-
contemporary quotations on the
are quite clear Academy as a means of reg- 1806, but unsuccessfully. mote the purity and unifor-
point. One is from a letter sent to Webster by the ulating the language was The short-lived Philological mity of the English lan-

principal of a New York high school in 1 827 - a year debated in the USA as well Society of New York, guage', and it had plans for
as in Britain (p. 73). A pro- formed in 1788, and with a dictionary - though of a
before the dictionary actually appeared: posal for an 'American Soci- Webster a prominent rather different kind from
ety of Language' was made member, also had the aim Webster's, for the members
Your Dictionary, Sir, is the best book of the kind that has
as early as 1774. In 1780, of 'ascertaining and strongly disapproved of
been published since the flood. As soon as it is published, Congress received a letter improving the American American neologisms. How-
I will lay it on my table, and tell my pupils, 'That is your hoping that it would form tongue'. ever, after only two years,

canon; follow that, and no other book'. 'the first public institution It was not until 1820, in having received little sup-
for refining, correcting, and New York City, that an port from government or
The other, some years later (1854), was sent to the ascertaining the English American Academy of Lan- public, the group broke up.

publishers by the Superintendent of Common

Schools in the state of Maine:
THE ORIGINAL AMERICANISM
Nationality of language is a stronger bond of union than
constitutional compromises or commercial affiliations.

Your Dictionaries afford every facility for a national

standard.

The later history of Webster's dictionary is reviewed

on p. 442.
 Mil II I
s rom Oh i-:ngi,ish

THE FIRST DICTIONARY WAR publishers; different lexicographical princi- C6n'TRE (s«n't?r), n. [Gr. kiVpoi'; L. centrum;
It. Sp. centra ; Pr. ce^itre.']
S|
ples were at stake. Webster's unequivocal
{^Geom.)
1. A
point equally distant from the
Webster's American Dictionary cost $20 - Americanism was in marked contrast with extremities of a Une, from every part of the cir-
an expensive item, and with a first edition Worcester's lexical conservatism, with his cumference of a circle, or the surface of a sphere.
of only 2,500 copies, it was not a commer- choice of a more refined pronunciation, and flEg= The centra of ajiy plane curve is a point in the
plane of the curve which bisects every straight line
cial success. Webster actually had to borrow with his preference for established (British) drawn through it anil terininated by the curve. The
centre, of a regular polygon is a point equally distant
money to help pay the printer's bill. A usage in spellings. "
from all its vertices. "The centre of any surf;
single-volume abridged version was there- The war of the dictionaries lasted until point which bisects all straight lines drawn
itand terminated by the surface. Eliot.
fore proposed, and Joseph Worcester the 1 860s, long after Webster's death
2. The middle point of anything; thi
(1784-1865), widely known as a textbook (1843), and is now remembered more for die as, " The centre of an array or of
;

writer,was employed to edit it. The new the antagonistic pamphleteering and gen- 3. {Arch.') A
framework, usually of ti;
edition appeared in 1829. eral unpleasantness of its rival marketing for sustaining an arch while it is building
tring. I
A year Worcester published a dictio-
later, campaigns than for its contribution to lexi- Ceittre of attraction, or centre of gravitation
nary of his own, A Comprehensive Pro- cographical thought. The last engagement point to which bodies tend by gravity. Ce; —
gravity, a point in a body about which all Ilu
nouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the of the war took place when Worcester's exactly balance «ne another, so that, if it be supp '

English tanguage-a work which was more major work, A Dictionary of the English Worcester's centre entry, 1860.
conservative in spelling than Webster's, Language (1860) appeared, with 104,000
cen'ter, cen'tre (sgn'ter), n. [F. centre, fr. L. centrum, fr.
contained no etymologies, and presented a entries, many illustrative quotations, syn- Gr. itivrpov any sharp point, the point round which a circle
ifl described, akin totefreifto prii;k, goad.] 1. The middle
more cultivated level of pronunciation. onym essays, and traditional spellings. The point or place a point at the average distance from the
;

Although Worcester had planned his dictio- work was very well received, but it was points of a body or figure strictly, the raid-point, about
;

which all points of a figure are disposed in pairs of equidis-

nary before working for Webster, its overtaken by the 1864 edition of Webster, tant diametrical opposites; as, tbe center oi a circle, ellipse,
sphere, line segment, regular polygon or polyhedron, etc.
appearance brought criticisms of plagia- which introduced some of Worcester's 2. The middle or central point or portion of anything ;

rism, and antagonism grew after the publi- innovatory features, and contained a total also, a person or thing placed at such point.
3. Math. The origin or fixed point of reference
cation of a larger edition in 1845 under the revision of the etymologies by a German coordinates. See coordinate.
4. That about which a body revolves or rotates
title of /A Universal and Critical Dictionary of scholar, C. A. F. Mahn. This revision, now principal or important point of concentration .then
1 ;

the English Language, whose English edi- calledA Dictionary of the English Language around which things are gathered or to which they
a point from which things, etc., emanate, proceed, ol
tion had on itstitle-page 'Compiled from (and known in lexicography as the Web- their source an object of attention, action, or force
;

center of attraction,
the Materials of Noah Webster, LL.D., by ster-Mahn), won
the day. The US Govern-
B. Astral. The pointed end of the metal strip,
Joseph E. Worcester'. As a new edition of ment adopted it the same
Printing Office the star's position in the " rete " of an astrolabe.
6. The earth as the center of the universe, or t
Webster's D/ct/onary had appeared in 1841, year, and Webster's spellings were used in point of the earth. Obs.
7. Mech. a One of the two conical steel pins, ii
this fuelled the opposition between the two its first Style Manual of 1887. The dictionary etc., upon which tlie worli is held, and about wl
lexicographers and their supporters. It was war was over. (But there was to be a second volves. b A conical recess, or indentation, in 1

not just a marketing battle between rival dictionary war, a century later: see p. 442.) Webster's center entry, as published in an
1890/1920 revision.

THE AGE OF
DICTIONARIES A DECADE OF

Thefirst half of the 19th

century was remarkable
for the number of dictio-
naries which appeared on
both sides of the Atlantic.
Joseph Worcester provides
a catalogue of English dic-
tionaries at the beginning
of his 1860 edition, and
identifies 64 items pub-
lished in England since
Johnson's Dictionary
(1755) and a further 30
items in America since the

first Webster compilation

(1806) - almost one a year.
These were all general dic-
tionaries; in addition there
were over 200 specialized
dictionaries and glossaries,
as well as over 30 encyclo-
pedias, showing how com-
pilers were under pressure
to keep up with the
increases in knowledge
and terminology that
stemmed from the Indus-
trial Revolution, progress
in science and medicine,

and fresh philological per-

spectives. The world was
not to see such an explo-
sion of dictionaries and
reference works again
until the 1980s (p. 444).
 MODERN ENGLISH

a million of Scott's novels had been printed there by AN INTERNATIONAL

AMERICAN IDENTITIES that time,and dozens of American towns were being STANDARD
given such names as Waverley and Ivanhoe (p. 144). The resonances of Abraham
Around the turn of" the 1 9th century in America there The lack of works by recognized literary figures is Lincoln's speech at the dedica-
tion of the Gettysburg Civil War
was fierce intellectual debate about the direction the one reason for the limited lexical growth suggested by
cemetery 9 November 863)
( 1 1

new country was taking. Of particular concern was Webster and others (p. 81). Thousands of new words have travelled far beyond its
the slow emergence of American literature compared were being coined all over America, of course, but time and country. Its senti-
ments are memorably national-
with what was seen to be happening in Europe (the they were not reaching a wide public through large
istic, but there is nothing in its

age of Wordsworth, Scott, and Goethe). Despite the book sales, and domestic sources of usage did not vocabulary, grammar, or
well-established genres of sermons, journals, letters, appeal to those lexicographers who wished to emulate rhetorical style to show that it

is American in origin. This is

histories, practical manuals, descriptions of vVmerica, Johnson by using prestigious literary quotations
standard English, transcending
and political pamphlets, from a literary point of view (p. 75). Times would change, as the works of Wash- national boundaries, and evi-
the post-revolutionary period was, as Ralph Waldo ington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan dently well established by mid-
century. It IS important not to
Emerson later described it, singularly 'barren'. Poe, and of Emerson himself would demonstrate. By
disregard the existence of this
According to one commentator, George Tucker, writ- the middle of the century, we have the first edition of genre, on both sides of the
ing in 1813, Britain's population of 18 million was Leaves of Grass (1855) by Walt Whitman, an author Atlantic, when paying atten-
tion to American and Victorian
producing up to a thousand new books a year, who from European influ-
calls for a literature free
(p. 86) linguistic distinctiveness.
whereas America's six million could manage only 20. ence, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin,
And in 1823, another public figure, Charles Inger- the best-selling novel of the 19th century. And in this Fourscore and seven years ago
J.
our fathers brought forth on
drew attention to the continuing intellectual
soll, later work would appear the results of the vast tide of this continent a new nation,
dependence of America on Britain, citing the way lexical innovation which was already, in those early conceived in liberty and dedi-
American presses were printing a flood of editions of decades, transforming the linguistic identity of the cated to the proposition that
all men are created equal. Now
British books and magazines. Perhaps as many as hall new nation.
we are engaged in a great civil

war, testing whether that

nation, or any nation so con-
AMERICATALKING ceived and so dedicated, can
The new American vocabulary of the long endure. We are met on a
19th century came from a mixture of great battle field of that war.
sources. Spanishand Native American We have come to dedicate a
words were especially influential, but portion of that field as a final
alsomanyolder English words came to resting-place for those who
be used with new senses or in new here gave their lives that that
phrases.The opening upof the West nation might live. It is alto-
was one major factor in lexical expan- gether fitting and proper that
sion; the arrival of waves of immi- we should do this. But, in a
grants, towards the end of the century, larger sense, we cannot dedi-

wasanother (p.94).
cate - we cannot consecrate -
we cannot hallow-this
bronco (1850), cattle town (1881),
ground. The brave men, living
chaps (1 870), corral (1 829), cowpol<e
and dead, who struggled here,
(1880), dogie (1888), dude (1883), lariat
have consecrated it far above
(1831), lasso(1819), maverick(1867),
our poor power to add or
ranch (1808), range (1835), roundup
detract. The world will little
(1876), rustler(1882), six shooter
note, nor long remember what
(1844), stampede(1843),
we say here, but it can never
tenderfoot (1 849), trail boss (1890)
forget what they did here. It is
The Melting Pot for us the living, rather, to be

This phrase, the title of Israel Zangwill's
1909 successful play, itself became
new lexicon, and well summa-
of the
rizesthe effect on American English of
thousandsof newwordsand phrases
from German, Italian, Yiddish, and
other European languages, as well as
the jargon of the immigration process.
Not everything was pleasant. In partic-
ular, there was a marked increase
number of offensive racial labels.
delicatessen(1893). Hunk (1896), kike
(1880s), kindergarten (1862), natural-
ization papers(1856),Polack(1879),
spaghetti {1880s), spiel (1894), tutti-
frutti (1876), wop (1890s).
(AfterS. B.FIexner, 1976.)
part
MYTH OR REALITY?
brave (1819), firewater (1817)
Great Spirit(1790), Indian Agency
(1822), medicinedance{1805),
peace pipe (1860), reservation
(1789), smokesignal (1873)
in the
These words represent a fairly late
stage of development in the lexicon
of Native American affairs. Many
native words entered the language
during the period of first encounter:
for example, moccasin, papoose,
powwow, wigwam, and tomahawk
are 17th-century borrowings.
all
Inthe later period, many of the
words put into the mouths of native
people were invented or popular-
ized by white authors who imagined
that this was how 'Indians' ought to
Examples include How! (as a
talk.
greeting), heap big, and Great
White Father. Happy Hunting
Ground is known from Washington
Irving (1837), pa/eface, warpath,
and warpa/nt are from James Feni-
more Cooper (1820s). Myth or real-
ity, they became part of the
American lexicon nonetheless.
dedicated here to the unfin-
ished work which they who
fought here have thus far so
nobly advanced. It is rather for
us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us
- that from these honored
dead we take increased devo-
tion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure
of devotion; that we here
highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain; that
this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom,
and that government of the
people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from
the earth.
 .

PARI' 1 • I'lll', lllsrOR\' ()!• F.NGLISH

rhey were capitalizing on an important genre of

BREAKING THE RULES dialect writing which had emerged in American liter-

ature during the 1840s, seen at its most successful in

By the 1860s, the American spelling system had Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-2), and on a trend in comic
become so established that writers dared to play writing where southern speakers, especially blacks,
about with it, and several made nation-wide reputa- were portrayed as uneducated or as figures of fun.
tions from doing so. Artemus Ward and Josh Billings Dialect vocabulary and grammar (hain't, saw for seen,
were leading proponents of a comic-spelling genre etc.) were used as well as mis-spelling, though it was
which was extremely popular in the later decades of the spelling which created the impact.
the century. Its homespun wit and down-to-earth The British writer, John Camden Hotten, in an
sentiments were expressed in a style which seemed to 1865 essay introducing the works of Artemus Ward,
reflect the sounds and rhythms of local speech. Both thought to explain the man's remarkable appeal as
writers used an intuitive semi-phonetic system. Nei- part of an American tradition of 'mixing of sacred
ther of them bothered much about consistency (e.g. with secular matters':
to is spelled tew, tu, or 2; fun appears as hoi\\ fun and incongruity of ideas is carried to a much greater extent in
phun), but the simple combination of informal non- American humour than it is in our own; and it is this

standard forms with a subject-matter normally asso- mental exaggeration, this odd mixture of widely different
ciated with formal Standard English was evidently thoughts, that distinguishes Yankee from English fun . .

enough to guarantee success. It was the linguistic incongruity, however, which was
It is perhaps not surprising that people who had the key to the success of both Ward and Billings.
only recently come to recognize their own literary Rewrite their material into Standard English, and -
standards should begin to laugh at those who had as Billings originally realized - much of its effect is

not. But these writers should not be seen in isolation. lost.

JOSH BILLINGS Billings' style did not Koliding

escape criticism. Mark
The word 'kolide,' used
Josh Billings was the Twain thought the bad
bi ralerode men, haz
pseudonym of Henry spelling got in the way of
Wheeler Shaw (1818-85). an indefinit meaning
the wisdom, which had
Born in Lanesboro, Mas- real value in its own right.
tew menny folks. Thru
the kindness of a nere
sachusetts, he settled in And Shaw himself seems
Poughkeepsie, New York, to have had some reserva-
and dear frend, am i

able tew translate the

as a land dealer, and tions about it. In 'Answers
wurd so that enny man
began to write in his 40s. to Personal Letters'
His famous 'Essay on the
ken understand it at
(1873), he remarked:
Mule', when first pub-
onst. The term 'kolide'
lished in The Poughkeep- I adopted it in a moment is used tew explain the

sian, attracted little inter-

ov karlassness ...There is sarkumstanseov2
justaz mutch joke in bad trains ov cars triing tew
est.He then saw a piece
spelling az thare iz in pass each uther on a
by Artemus Ward, and
'translated' his Essay into
looking kross-eyed, and single trak. It is ced

the same kind of no more. ..like other sin- that it never yet haz

grotesque spelling, as 'An ners who ask for forgive- bin did suckcessfully,

Essa on the Muel'. It was

ness and keep rite on sin- hence a 'kolide.'

an immediate success, ning, now ask the world

i

and he became a national tew forgiv me and will I The mule

figure in the years after promis not tew reform.
the Civil War, known
People did, and Shaw
especially for his rustic
didn't. In 1873 he was
philosophizing:
hardly half way through a
10-year series of bur-
It is better to know less lesque pieces. Josh
than to know so much Billings' Farmer's
that ain't so.
Allminax. Ar\ 1868 apho-
rism best sums up
Abraham Lincoln com-
approach (from
'Josh
mented: 'Next to William
Billings on Ice'):
Shakespeare Josh Billings
was the greatest judge hold that a man
I
of human nature the as mutch rite tew spel a
world has ever seen' - word as it is pronounced,
and read his aphorisms as he has tew pronounce
to the Cabinet. it the way it ain't spelt.
The mule is haf boss,
and haf Jackass, and
then kums to a full
stop, natur diskovering
her mistake. Tha weigh
more, akordin tu their
heft, than enny other
JOSH BILLINGS: thare ain't ennyboddy who kreetur, except a crow-
his HIS SAYINGS wants tew be poor jist for the bar.Tha kant hear
purpiss ov being good. enny quicker, not fur-
Chastityiz like an isikel. if it ther than the boss, yet
onse melts that's the last ov it.
Humin natur isthesameall their ears are big enuff
has just over the world, cept in Nu
for snow shoes. You
After awl ced and dun the England, and that its akordin
kan trust them with
gran sekret of winning is tew tu sarcumstances.
enny one whose life
aint worth enny more
Akordin tu skripter thar will
than the mules.
It iz tru that welth won't maik bejust about as many Kam-
a man vartuous, but notis
i mills in heavin as rich men.
 MODERN ENGLISH

ARTEMUSWARD
Artemus Ward was the
pseudonym of Charles Farrar
Browne (1834-67)- a printer's
apprentice who became a jour-
nalist, then a professional
humorist. The character he cre-
ated was presented as the man-
ager of an itinerant sideshow
who 'sounds off' in articles and
letters on all kindsof topics,
using a style which is full of
puns and bad spellings. His lec-
word-play and
tures, full of
throw-away remarks, always
delivered in a grave, melancholy
manner, brought him fame
throughout the USA as well as
abroad. He was in poor health for
many years, and his early death
was mourned throughout the
country.

ARTEMUSWARD
 " --

PARI' I rni', IIISIORY ()i: F NCLISH

comparative philology. This subject brought fresh per- LANGUAGE

VARIETY AWARENESS spectives to the study of language, especially in relation ATTITUDES
to questions of etymology (§10) and the role of classical • Mrs Durbeyfield habitually

One oi the most interesting features of the 1 9th cen- models. It stimulated arguments about the nature of spoke the dialect; her daugh-
tury is the way consciousness was raised about the language change, correctness in usage, and methods of
ter,who had passed the Sixth
Standard in the National
nature and use of language. The compilation of dictio- teaching. Innumerable societies and journals were School under a London-
grammars, spelling books, and pronunciation
naries, founded to study such subjects as local dialects, the his- trained mistress, spoke two
manuals in the second half of the 18th century had languages; the dialect at
tory of language, vocabulary reform (p. 125), spelling
home, more or less; ordinary
focused attention on standard forms in an unprece- reform (p. 276), and shorthand, or to debate the future English abroad and to persons
dented manner (pp.72, 78). With widespread stan- of English. The Romantic movement in particular pro- of quality.

dardization came an increased sensitivity on the part of (Thomas Hardy,

moted a special interest in the way ordinary people Tess of the Durbervilles,
ordinary' users of the language to the range of varieties spoke, and there was a growing sense of the distance 1891, Ch. 3.)
which existed, and to the social nuances attached to dif- between linguistic scholarship and language reality. •Lord Derby was very punc-
ferent usages. There was also an increased readiness on The American poet Walt Whitman, in an essay on tilious in his pronunciation of

the part of authors to experiment with the language American slang for The North American Review {1885} English, though his son
,
talked a Lancashire patois.
(p. 84), and in particular to find new techniques of summed it up like this:
Lord Derby would insolently
expression for the range of diverse 'voices' which the correct Lord Granville across
Language, be it remembered, is not an abstract construction the House of Lords. Lord
emerging genre of the novel permitted. As Charles
of the learned, or of dictionary-makers, but is something Granville always said
Dickens put it, in an essay on 'Saxon English' in House-
arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of
'wropped up' - 'wrapped'
hold Words (\85S): 'if a man wishes to write for all, he long generations of humanit)', and has
Lord Derby would say in a
its bases broad and
must know how to use the speech of all'. tone clear to the reporters.
low, close to the ground. Its final decisions are made by the (Benjamin Disraeli,
Also important were the discoveries at the end of the masses, people nearest the concrete, having most to do with Rem/n/scences.)
1 8th century about the historical relationship between actual land and sea. It impermeates all, the past as well as the • I didso likeyour long hand-
Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, which ushered in the age of present, and is the grandest triumph of the human intellect. some note four or five days
ago. do so thank you for
I

your kindness. There! there

are 2 sentences with 'so' in

Some of the best evidence forthe increased awareness

THE LATEST THING Flossie. Of course -of course. them not followed by 'as', as
IN CRIME But do go on, Ida. What Mr Gaskell says they ought to
of language issues in the 1 9th century comes from the
does Mr Poshley do? be. will make them one
way writers and cartoonists begin to satirize them. This I

(A Dialogue of the Present Ida. Well, it appears he sp//ts

grammatical sentence, &
dialogue was reprinted in a late Victorian anthology
Day) his infinitives.
have done. am so much
calledMr. Punch /nSoc/ety. (See further, p. 195.) I

Flossie (horrified). Oh, not

obliged to you as to be inca-
SCENE - Mrs. Featherston's really? But how cruel oi pable of expressing my obli-
Drawing-room. him! Why, met him at the
I

gation but by saying that am I

Mrs. Thistledown discovered Dragnetts' only last week, always - Yours most truly,
calling. and hedidn't lookata// EC, Gaskell
that kind of person!
{Letters, 1854.)
Mrs. Thistledown {taking up a Ida. I'm afraid there's no
novel on a side-table). doubt about it. It's
• Let another thing also be
"The Romance of a perfectly notorious. And of remembered. We must distin-
Plumber," by Paul Poshley. course any one who once guish between the English
My dear Flossie, you don't takes to that- which we speak, and that
mean to tell me you read Flossie. Yes, indeed. Quite which we write. Many expres-
that man'! hopeless. At least, I
sions are not only tolerated
Mrs. Featherston. I haven't suppose so. Isn't it? but required in conversation,
had time to do more than Ida. Mr Pinceney seemed to which are not usually put on
dip into it as yet. But why think so. paper Thus, for instance,
Ida? Oughtn't to read I
Flossie. How sad! But can't everyone says 'can't' for
him? anything be done, Ida? cannot, 'won't' ior will not,
Ida. Well,from something Isn't there any law to 'isn't for is not, in conversa-
Mr Pinceney told me the punish him? By the bye, tion; but we seldom see these
other day - but really it's how do you split -what is
contractions in books, except
too bad to repeat such it? -infinitudes? where a conversation is

things. One never knows, Ida. My dear, thought you

I
related.
there may be nothing in it. knew. I really didn't like to (Henry Alford,
Flossie. Still, you might just as ask any questions. The Queen's English, 1869,
well tellme, Ida! Of course I
Flossie. Well, whatever it is, I
Point 94.)
should never dream shalltell Mudiesnotto
Ida.After all, don't suppose
I
send me anything more of
there's any secret about it. his. don'tthink one ought
Visitor. " I've just make mv I

been to hi st call on Itseems, from what Mr to encourage such persons.

Mrs. Johnson. Pinceney says, that this Mr
Lady of the House. " So glad, dear. Poor thing, Poshley -you must prom/se (From Mr Punch in Society,
she's glad toknow anyone ! " not to say told youI c. 1870.)
 MODERN ENGLISH

The language of science publicity, and introduced new nomenclatures and

English scientific and technical vocabulary had been styles of expression to an ever-curious public. By the
growing steadily since the Renaissance (p. 60), but the end of the century, there was a recognizable variety of
19th century saw an unprecedented growth in this scientific English (p. 372), shaped by the observations
domain, while the lexicon incorporated the conse- of grammarians, the expectations of the burgeoning
quences of the Industrial Revolution and the accom- scientific societies, and the style guides of the new aca-
panying period of scientific exploration. Significant demic journals. Both and 'technical' are rec-
'scientific'

discoveries and on electric-

theories, such as Faraday's ognized as major lexical dimensions in the 1888
ity, or Darwin's on evolution, achieved widespread Preface to the New English Dictionary (p. 443).

NOMENCLATURE
Any examination of the Physics
growth of scientific
sonometer 1808
vocabulary in the 19th
centigrade 1812
' K^f I
century would find that
some sciences are
altimeter 1847
ohm 1861
conspicuously under-
ampere 1861
represented, for the
colorimeter 1863
simple reason that their
joule 1882
foundations had been laid
voltmeter 1882
much earlier. Most of the
watt 1882
basic terms of anatomy,
electron 1891
for example, had been
introduced by the end of
Biology
the 17th century, as had a
great deal of photosynthesis 1804
mathematical flagellum 1807
terminology. On the other chlorophyll 1810
hand, from the end of the spermatozoon 1830
18th century rapid bacterium 1847
progress in chemistry, diatom 1854
physics, and biology led to leucocyte 1870
such major lexical symbiosis 1877
developments as the mitosis 1882
nomenclature of chemical chromosome 1890
elements and compounds,
and the Linnaean system Geology
of classification in natural
SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE of the Geographical Soc- apatite 1803
history (p. 372). The dates
Michael Faraday(1791-
1867) giving a Friday
Evening Discourse at the
iety of

Advancement
(1831),
London (1830), the
British Association for the
of Science
and the Provincial
S£S:? given below are those of
the first recorded usage, as
given in the Oxford
cretaceous
pliocene
Jurassic
Cambrian
1832
1833
1833
1836
Royal Institution in Albe- Medical and Surgical y«'amsorryto English Dictionary.
mesozoic 1840
aTthaUh'
(AfterT.H. Savory, 1967.)
marle Street, London Association (1832, later triassic 1841
(founded in 1 799 by Ben- called the British Medical oligocene 1859
Science names
jamin Thompson, Count Association).In the USA, bauxite 1868
--dw,thtrr:.-^^'^ biology 1802
Rumford). The Prince Con- the following decade Ordovician 1887
petrology 1807
sort is in the audience. saw the American Sta-
taxonomy 1828
These discourses, along tistical Association Medicine
morphology 1830
with a series of Christmas lec- (1839), the American
palaeontology 1838 gastritis 1806
tures for children, were Medical Association
laryngitis 1822
"Importance that ethnology 1842
w
begun in

concern to
1825 as part of a
make science
(1847), and the Ameri-
can Association for the
°ther branches
;°-^°u9h^to°:°--v;
o"" it
gynaecology
histology
1847
1847
kleptomania
cirrhosis
1830
1839
accessible. Inthe 1990s the Advancement of Sci-
°ther species carcinology 1852 neuritis 1840
Institution continues to pro- ence (1848). Bythe of deliverv
embryology 1859 haemophilia 1854
vide a forum where, as its end of the century, in
diphtheria 1857
annual Proceedings state, America alone, over
aphasia 1867
'non-specialists may meet 50 national councils,
claustrophobia 1879
1800
the leading scientists of our societies, or associa-
1807 beri beri 1879
time and heartheir latest tionshad been
1808
discoveries explained in founded, dealing
1812
everyday language'. with scientific sub ^hmgs around
him, 1817
Keeping pace with the jects as diverse as and
1830
growth in scientific societies entomology,
1848
must have been difficult, in dentistry, and
1862
Faraday's time. The 1830s, engineering.
1874
for example, began in
^ '»'3. Seep.293) 1895
Britain with the formation
 PART I • THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

LITERARY VOICES

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH far as was possible, in a selection of and notions in simple

their feelings theirown creation. (Preface to the
(1770-1850) language really used by men, and, at and unelaborated expressions. second edition of the /.yr/ca/Sa/Zads,
the same time, to throw over them a Accordingly, such a language, arising 1800.)
The principal object, certain colouring of the imagination, out of repeated experience and regu-
then, proposed in whereby ordinary things should be lar feelings, IS a more permanent, and new with,
these Poems, presented to the mind in an unusual
Glad sight wherever
a far more philosophical language, Sonne dear
wasto choose is ,oined through
aspect. . .Humble and rustic life was than that which IS frequently substi-
homeborntie; ^
ncidentsand generally chosen... because such men tuted for it by Poets, who think that we behold
,
, .

situations hourly communicate with the best they are conferring honour upon
The life of all that
mystery.
jm Depends upon that
objects from which the best part of themselves and their art in proportion
the glory of the
Sky,
common language is originally derived; and as they separate themselves from the
Vam is
and
of field
life, andto because, from their rank in society sympathiesof men, and indulge in The beauty vam
relateor and the sameness and narrow circle of arbitrary and capricious habits of eye
Unless", while with admiring
describe them their intercourse, being lessunderthe expression, inorderto furnish food love.
also learn to
throughout, as influence of social vanity, they convey for fickle tastes and fickle appetites of
we gaze, we
(Poem, 1845)

WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832)

Scotch was a language which we have heard spoken by the learnd and ...ouldhavecosthim^euttlejas^^^^
gang
the wise & witty & the accomplished and which had not a trace of vulgar- herself; 'for
hae seen hi pen
1 .^ ^^^ .^

it 0^^ ow^
^e wa e
ity in it but on the contrary sounded rather graceful and genteel. You paper, as ever ^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ ,^
remember how well Mrs Murray Keith - the late Lady Dumfries - my the grey goose's
^'"9- ^^^^ ' ""^
hae said
rny at^r wad |,keiy
U^
badly - but then J
f
poor mother & other ladies of that day spoke their native language - it ^^^ ^^^^
Or may^
was different from the English as the Venetian is from the Tuscan dialect something about it
^^ ^.^ ^^^^^^ „^
of Italy but it never occurd to any one that the Scottish any more than
the Venetian was more vulgar than those who spoke the purer and
more classical - But that is all gone and the remembrance will be
drownd with us the elders of this existing generation. (Letters, VII. 83)

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (181 1-63)

always), he
think Mr Dickens has many things
,
,,„,hich he did almost
I in quite a divine genius so to speak, Whenever he ^P^^^^J^.'^^ry finest and
longest words
and certain notes in his song are so delightful and admirable that the very
P^°duce
I

took care to ^^^_ ^.^^^^^ ^^^g.

ould never think of trying to imitate him, only hold my tongue and vocabulary gave h
of which the ^^^^^^^,, ,arge,
admire him. quarrel with his Art in many respects: which don't was ^^ che^P \° ^^^^
that ^^^^ ^^^gy one.
I I
,t
ing,
think represents Nature duly; for instance Micawber appears to me observed on
and sonorous 7'^^^^^:^^^;° ^' ,„ school, '1

an exaggeration of a man, as his name is of a name. It is delightful Thus he would say ^"^^^^".dulgence of an
and makes me laugh: but it is no more a real man than my friend takmg he in y
my return home from ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
Punch is: and in so far protest against him. ..holding that the Art
I

rjening's scientific --^^

^'°
."'Tat the windows
of
of Novels is to represent Nature: to convey as strongly as possible - true archaeolog a ^^^^^^^ _^^^^,„,
or Bulders a H^^
the sentiment of reality - in a tragedy or a poem or a lofty drama Q^^nd ather al „<
your venerated ^^^ ^^^^^^^^
you aim at producing different emotions; the figures moving, and
their words sounding, heroically: but in a drawing-room drama a
coat is a coat and a poker a poker; and must be nothing else according
to my ethics, not an embroidered tunic, not a great red-hot instrument
ke the Pantomine weapon. (Letters, Vol. 2, p. 772.) ed.Tillotson, p.545.)

THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)

An author may be said to fairly convey the spirit of intelligent
peasant talk ifhe retains the idiom, compass, and characteristic
expressions, although he may not encumber the page with
obsolete pronunciations of the purely English words, and with
mispronunciationsof those derived from Latin and Greek. In
the printing of standard speech hardly any phonetic principle at
all isobserved; and if a writer attempts toexhibit on paperthe radishSs
nights. thev
.h.t they P raise
rais pa'sons there like
precise accents of a rustic speaker he disturbs the proper bal- tha - f ive
YOU know, suppose,I

take "- h°w m^^ ^

a^s, Bob?
ance of a true representation by unduly insisting upon the
In a bed7
And though '^ ^o hoy ^P I,, , solemn
preach-
grotesqueelement; thus directing attention to a point of in- hobb e^de
yearstoturn a Hrnping .^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^
ferior interest, and diverting it from the speaker's meaning, passions tny ^^

^^^^nunoutwi a
no corrupt
whichisbyfarthechief concern where the aim is to depict
the men and their natures rather than their dialect forms.
(The Athenaeum, 30 November 1878.)
Inq man with
Z
long
polish un off like !^^
face, and a long
-—
black coa* a
Jwaistcoat, and a
^^ ^^^ scriptures,
so that
religious

and hat,
collar "^^^^^^^wknow Jn s°"^"""' ^""rX""
his own mother wouldn Juae ^^^^^^^ ^^^^
^^ ^^
m
people of Christminster,
 MODERN ENGLISH

THE LANGUAGES OF DICKENS

Nowhere is the range of 1 9th-century social, regional, occu
pational, and personal variation in the use of languagt
more fully illustrated than in the novels and sketches ol
Charles Dickens (181 2-70). His characters not only speak
for themselves; Dickens often explicitly draws our atten
tion to their speech, identifying the stylistic basis of the
comic effect. (For further examples, see p. 254.)

The law the premises should be

'Did he say, for instance,' added considered mine, as some
Brass, in a kind of comfortable, slight recompense for the
cosy tone - 'I don't assert that he trouble and annoyance I

did say so, mind; I only ask you, to should sustain - and were
refresh your memory -did he say, you, in short,' added
for instance, that he was a Brass, still more comfort-
stranger in London - that it was ably and cosily than
not his humour
or within his abil- before, 'were you in-

ity to give any references - that duced to accept him on

he felt we had a right to require my behalf, as a tenant,
them - and that, in case anything upon those conditions?'
should happen to him, at any 'Certainly not,' replied
time, he particularly desired that Dick. {The Old Curiosity
whatever property he had upon Shop, 1840-1, Ch. 35.)

A detail of 'Dickens's Dream

Religion
'I say, my friends,'
Chadband,... 'why can we not fly?
Is it because we are calculated to
walk? Could we walk, my
It is.
friends,without strength? We
could not. What should we do
without strength, myfriends?
Our legs would refuse to bear us,
our knees would double up, our
ankles would turn over, and we
should come to the ground. Then
from whence, my friends, in a
human point of view, do we
derive the strength that
sary to our limbs?
band, glancing over the table,
'from bread in various forms,
from butter which is churned
from the mi Ik which
by Robert William Buss.
pursues Mr unto us by the cow, from the eggs
which are laid by the fowl, from
ham, from tongue, from sausage, IDIOSYNCRASIES
and from such like? It is. Then let
us partake of the good things Now, Mrs Piper -what have you gottosay about this?
which are set before us!' Why, Mrs Piper has a good deal to say chiefly in parentheses and without
The persecutors denied that punctuation, but not much to tell. Mrs Piper lives in the court (which her hus-
there was any particular gift in band is a cabinet-maker), and it has long been well beknown among the
Mr Chadband's piling verbose neighbours (counting from the day next but one before the half-baptizing of
flights of stairs, one upon Alexander James Piper aged eighteen months and four days old on accounts
another, after this fashion. But of not being expected to live such was the sufferings gentlemen of that child
in his gums) as the Plaintive -so Mrs Piper insists on calling the deceased - was
this can only be received as proof
reported to have sold himself. Thinks it was the Plaintive's air in which that
of their determination to perse-
cute, since it must be within
report originatin in. See the Plaintive often and considered as his air was feari-
is neces-
everybody's experience, that the ocious and not to be allowed to go about some children being timid (and if
Is it,' says Chad-
Chadband style of oratory is doubted hoping Mrs Perkins may be brought forard for she is here and
widely received and much will do credit to her husband and herself anc
admired. (B/eafc House, 1852-3, family). (Bleak House
Ch.19.) Ch. 11.)
is yielded

MRS GAMP, AUTHOR Amateur Theatrical Benefit, little willain bodily before
written by Mrs Gamp (who me, it give me such a turn
The idiosyncratic speech of was an eyewitness)'. The story that was all in a tremble. If
I

Mrs Gamp in Martin Chuz- was abandoned after a few hadn't lost my umbreller in
I

zlewit ( 1 843^)was evidently pages, but Forster includes the cab, must have done him I

one of Dickens's own fav- what Dickens wrote, com- a injury with it! Ohthebra-
ourite creations, if we may menting, 'There are so many gian little traitor!... Oh the
judge bythefrequency with friendsof Mrs Gamp who will aggrawation of that
which she appears in the rejoice at this unexpected Dougladge! MrsHarris, if I

novel-andalso outside it. In visit from her'. hadn't apologiged to Mr

his biography (Book VI, Ch. 1), The piece, a pastiche in its Wilson, and put a little bottle
Dickens's confidant John own right, makes much of to my lips which was in my
Forster tells the story of how, Mrs Gamp's erratic syntax and pocketforthejournay, and
to help raise money for a ben- distinctivearticulation, in which it is very rare indeed 1

efit fund for Leigh Hunt, Dick- which several sounds (esp- have about me, could not I

ensproposedtoturn his ecial ly/z/ and /s/) come out as have abated the sight of him
character into an author, in [dj], usuallyspelledg(some- -there, Mrs Harris! could I

'an Account of a late Expedi- timesdgory). not! -I musthavetorehim, or

tion into the North, for an Mrs Harris, wen see that 1
have give way and fainted.
Mrs Gamp proposes
a toast by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne)
 PART 1 • THE HISTORY () 1- K N CI 1, 1 S H

Ongoing change LEXICALYSED

IN LIVING MEMORY At the same time, we should not underestimate the lin- Any area of the lexicon will
guistic differences between grandchild and grandpar- demonstrate the routine and
— and ongoing nature of lexical
Thomas Hardy died in 1928. George Bernard Shaw, ent indeed, many a domestic argument between
change. 'Getting drunk' is a
who was 14 when Dickens died, lived until 1950 the generations must have been fuelled by changes notion which seems to have
{pp. 88-9). As we enter the 20th century, there is a which /m?'c taken place in the language during the past been particularly fruitful in
the 20th century - as indeed
sense in which the 'history of English' ceases to be a 75 years.
it was in the 9th. The dates
1

helpful notion, and the boundary blurs between the given are of the earliest
• Vocabulary, as always, has been the chief index ol
present section and later parts of this book. It hardly recorded instance in histori-
change. Apart from the rapid growth in standard cal dictionaries. Multi-word
seems to be "history when we can make direct contact
English vocabulary, associated with such areas as tech- idioms are not listed.
with the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and (AfterS. B. Flexner, 1976.)
nological development and the emergence of the 'per-
attitudes to language of the early decades of the present
missive society', there are many differences between pifflicated
century, simply by talking to people whose language lit
the slang of previous decades and that of today
was shaped then. Moreover, it is difficult to think of a ginned
(p. 182), and the dialect surveys have drawn our atten- ossified
period as constituting a part of the history of the lan-
tion to the speed at which the regional vocabulary pot-eyed
guage when its speech and writing seem to be almost saturated
known to older generations has disappeared (p. 318).
identical with what we find today. petrified
tanked
The overwhelming impression is certainly one of • Earlier pronunciation norms can be heard in the
blotto
continuity. Any difterences we may notice in pronun- 'broader' regional accents of many older people, or the shellacked
ciation, grammar, or vocabulary seem to be occasional more open vowel qualities of the early BBC presenters, rosey
spifflicated
and superficial, and tend to be described as 'old- several of whom are accessible through archive record-
slopped
fashioned' rather than (somewhat more distantly) as ings. An example of change in the educated standard jingled
'archaic' (p. 185). There is even an uncomfortable can be deduced from Daniel Jones's The Pronunciation bunned
orie-eyed
sense oi deja vit about the issues which were being dis- of English (1919), where he describes the British pro-
piped
cussed two generations ago. A glance at newspapers or nunciation of the vowel in such words as lord h: / as plastered
government reports after the turn of the century shows 'intermediate between open back rounded and half- polluted
organized
that the same concerns about language were being open back rounded' (p. 240). This is rather different
gassed
expressed then as now: standards of English had evi- from the present-day quality of this vowel, which is
hooted
dently reached an unprecedented low point in schools, articulated higher in the mouth. According to Jones's aped
jugged
and adult usage was deteriorating so rapidly that there description, lordmnst have sounded similar to the way
canned
was little hope for the future of the language. lard IS pronounced now. juiced
fried
buried
VOICES FROM THE PAST potted
illuminated
Thomas phonograph, patented in 877, has enabled us to hear tiny extracts of English from speakers born in the
Edison's 1
crocked
age of Napoleon. The voice of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) (inset) is one of those preserved in a recording housed at
lubricated
the Science Museum in London. The picture shows a public demonstration of the phonograph at the Paris International
stinko
Exposition of 1889.
wall-eyed
busted
flooey
rum-dum
bombed
shit-faced
looped
swacked
sloshed
boxed
zonked
crashed
clobbered
 -
MODERN ENGLISH

• There are major diflferences in language awareness during the present century. It continues to change, in TIMES CHANGE
and attitude. A century of prescriptive grammar, rig- numerous small ways, sometimes attracting attention, I can only just remember the
orously taught in schools (p. 78), inevitably left its sometimes not. Many of these points are identified at time, In the very early twen-

ties, when a typical boy-and-

mark on linguistic sensibilities then in a way that is not relevant places in Part III.
girl conversation might have
found now. Indeed, prescriptivism left its mark in • There have been significant changes in the pragmat- run: 'He: May call you byI

other ways too, as one senior citizen emphatically your christian name? She: If
ics of the language (p. 286) - in particular, in what
you like. He: Er - what is your
pointed out, reacting in 1983 to a BBC language pro- counts as acceptable public linguistic behaviour. The christian name?' Since that
gramme devoted to the split infinitive (p. 195) and norms of interaction have altered, as shown by differ- time the use of christian
other usage topics: names by U-speakers has
ences in such diverse areas as the use of first names,
been continually increasing.
The reason why the older generation teel so strongly about personal titles, taboo words, greeting formulae, and In the thirties. It was quite

English grammar is that we were severely punished if we the conventions of letter-writing. A vast gulf separates customary for a member of a
partie caree [a party consist-
didn't obey the rules! One split infinitive, one whack; two the generations in their expectations about conversa-
ing of two men and two
split infinitives, two whacks; and so on. tional etiquette. women] going to a dance
who was unknown to the
Another correspondent, his junior by 50 years or • The most important developments in the language
other three to be Introduced
more, contented himself with a four-word letter, and during the present century have been the emergence of by the christian name alone
new varieties, both national and international. Some, (or, often, just as John Smith
thereby identified a linguistic generation gap whose
or Jane Smith, without
consequences are still being sorted out (p. 190): such as computing and broadcasting, are completely
prefix). In the War the use of
novel; others, such as religious English and journalese, christian names Increased still
What's a split infinitive?
have been affected by social change (Part V). Above all, further: It was often the

custom for a man at the head

• Most of the grammatical controversies which come there are the new regional varieties of English which
of a large section of girls to
from the prescriptive tradition have to do with making have come into prominence throughout the world. call them all by their christian
a choice between alternative usages already in the lan- Their place in any future history of the language is names, while they called him

guage, and do not reflect any real issues of language assured, and only a separate section can do justice to
Mr. X— . (A. S. C. Ross, 1956.
For U and non-U, see p. 364.)
change. However, English grammar has not stood still. them now (§7).

PRONUNCIATION
SOMETHINGS
PREFERENCES
DONT CHANGE
Sentiments such as the fol-
Some of the results of the
lowing, notwithstanding Its
Longman Pronunciation
date of origin, are timeless.
Dictionary surMe'^, carried
This one Is dated 1921, but
out In 1988-9 at University
it could be 1991 -or 1891
College London. It took the
(p. 367).
form of a postal
questionnaire covering 90 Come London elemen-
words with controversial 12 3
nephew
4
into a
tary school and see what it is
pronunciation. People from / f / (not /v /) in that the children need most.
educated
a variety of You will notice, first of all,
backgrounds were asked to that. In the human sense, our
choose which of two boys and girls are almost
pronunciations they Inarticulate. They can make
preferred. The analysis noises, but they cannot
showed that In many cases speak. Linger In the play-
their choice was significantly ground and listen to the talk
affected by age. (For other and shouts of the boys: listen
examples of alternative to the girls screaming at their
pronunciations, see 255.) play - listen especially to
(After J. C.Wells, 1989.)
p.

2 3 4
/ ai /
12
as in my (not
3
/ /
4
as in see)
them as they 'play at schools';
I say (not /e / as i
i:
you can barely recognise
in migraine
your native language.... Ask
Key: a boy to tell you something
1 Age over 66 anything, about a book, or a
(born before 1923) game, or a place, and he will
2 Age 41-65 struggle convulsively among
(born 1923-47) words like a fly In a jam-dish.
3 Age 26-40 (G. Sampson, English for the
(born 1948-62) English, 1921.)
4 Age under 25
(born since 1962)

12
controversy (not controversy)
3 4
lei I zs in say (not / i: / as in see)
in ^eity
 7WORLD ENGLISH
The first significant step in the progress of English
towards its status as a world language (p. 106) took
NEW ENGLAND Boston ,
Cape Cod

place in the last decades of the 16th century. At that

time, the number of mother-tongue English speak-
ers in the world is thought to have been between five

and seven million, almost all of them living within

the British Isles. Between the end of the reign of Eliz-
abeth I (1588) and the beginning of the reign of
Elizabeth II (1952), this figure increased almost
fihylold, to around 250 million, the majority
(around four-fifths) living outside the British Isles.

Most of and continue to be,

these people were,
VIRGINIA
Americans, and it is in 16th-century North America
that we find a fresh dimension being added to the
history of the language.

NORTH
The New World CAROLINA 100 200 JOOmiles

The first expedition trom England to the New World 'Tidewater' accents (p 93}
I I

was commissioned by Walter Raleigh in 1584, and

proved to be a failure. A group of explorers landed Early English-speaking settlement areas in America.
near Roanoke Island, in what is today North Car-
olina, and established a small settlement. Conflict
THE LIVING MUSEUM
with the native people followed, and it proved neces-
Plimoth Plantation, a re-creation at Plymouth, Massachusetts, of the colonists' first settlement.
sary for a ship to return to England and sup-
for help The life of the settlers is portrayed as closely as possible - including a reconstruction of the way
plies. By the time these arrived, in 1590, none of the they probably spoke.

original group of settlers could be found. The mys-

tery of their disappearance has never been solved.
The first permanent English settlement dates from
1607, when an expedition arrived in Chesapeake
Bay. The colonists called their settlement Jamestown
(after James I) and the area Virginia (after the 'Virgin

Queen', Elizabeth). Further settlements quickly fol-

lowed along the and also on the nearby islands,

coast,
such as Bermuda. Then, in November 1620, the first
group of Puritans, 35 members of the English Sepa-
ratist Church, arrived. on the Mayflower in the com-

pany of 67 other settlers. Prevented by storms from

reaching Virginia, they landed at Cape Cod Bay, and
established a settlement at what is now Plymouth,
Massachusetts.
The group was extremely mixed, ranging in age
from young children to people in their 50s, and with
diverse regional, social, and occupational back-
grounds. What the 'Pilgrim Fathers' (as they were
later called) had in common was their search for a
land where they could found a new religious king-
dom from persecution and 'purified" from thi
free
church practices they had experienced in England. Ii
was a successful settlement, and by 1640 aboui
25,000 immigrants had come to the area.
 WORLD ENGLISH

In the 18th century, there was a vast wave of immi-

DIALECT DIFFERENCES gration from northern Ireland. The had been
Irish
migrating to America from around 1600, but the main
The two settlements - one in Virginia, to tiie south; the movements took place during the 1 720s, when around
other to the north, in present-day New England - had 50,000 Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants arrived
different linguistic consequences. The southern (p. 338). By the time independence was declared

colonistscame mainly from England's 'West Country" - ( 1 776), it is thought that no less than one in seven of the

such counties as Somerset and Gloucestershire - and colonial population was Scots-Irish. Many stayed along
brought with them its characteristic accent, with its the coast, especially in the area of Philadelphia, but
'Zummerzet' voicing of s sounds, and the r strongly most moved inland through the mountains in search of
pronounced aher vowels. Echoes of this accent can still land. They were seen as frontier people, with an accent
be heard in the speech of communities living in some of which at the time was described as 'broad'. The open-
the isolated valleys and islands in the area, such as Tang- ing up of the south and west was largely due to the pio-
ier Island in Chesapeake Bay. These 'Tidewater' accents, neering spirit of this group of settlers.
as they are called, have changed somewhat over the past By the time of the first census, in 1790, the popula-
300 years, but not as rapidly (because of the relative tion of the country was around 4 million, most of
isolation of the speakers) as elsewhere in the country. whom lived along the Atlantic coast. A century later,

They are sometimes said to be the closest we will ever after the opening up of the west, the population num-
get to the sound of Shakespearean English (p. 69). bered over 50 million, spread throughout the conti-
By contrast, many Plymouth colonists came
of the nent. The accent which emerged can now be heard all

from counties in the east of England -in particular, Lin- over the so-called Sunbelt (from Virginia to southern
colnshire, Nottinghamshire, Essex, Kent, and London, California), and is the accent most commonly associ-
with some from the Midlands, and a few from further ated with present-day American speech (p. 312).
afield. The eastern accents were rather different -

notably, lacking an r after vowels, as in present-day

MYLES STANDISH (1 584-1 656) came from Ormskirk, in Lancashire. William
Received Pronunciation (RP, p. 365) - and they proved Bradford, the first governor of the colony,
to be the dominant infltience in this area. The tendency From the point of view of dialect back- came from town on the Yorkshire/Lin-
a

'not to pronounce the ;•'

is still a feature of the speech of ground, Captain Myles Standish was excep- colnshire boundary; his wife, Alice, came
tional -the only Pilgrim to come from the from Somerset. Nicholas Snow came from
people from New England. Isle of Man. A soldier who had fought in the London; his wife, Constance, came from
Other features of the language of 17th-century Eng- Netherlands, he served as the military Gloucestershire. However, none of the

land have their correlates in modern American speech, leader of the colonists at Plymouth, and provincial features of accent or grammar
later acted as assistant governor and colony which we might associate with these
such as the short, 'flat' a vowel in such words as dance, treasurer. dialects prevailed in New England. It was
where RP developed the 'long' a (p. 307). British In reviewing the individual history of the speech of the eastern part of England
English also came to pronounce such words as not each of the colonists, a patchwork quilt of which istheancestor of the norm in this
dialects emerges. Standish's wife, Barbara, part of the USA. (After IVl.Wakelin, 1986.)
with lip-rounding, whereas in the USA the earlier
unrounded vowel (found as nat in Chaucer, for exam-
ple) remained. Several older words or meanings became
part of the US standard, such as mad 'angry' and fa/l
DAVY CROCKETT (1786-1836)
'autumn', as well as many dialect words; scalliou 'spring The legendary frontiersman, born
onion', for example, originally from northern England, in Tennessee, came from a family of
iscommonly used throughout the USA. A phrase such Scots-Irish immigrants.The son of
a backwoods farmer, he became
as Iguess, which is often condemned as an Americanism
known through fighting in the Creek
by British purists, can in fact be traced back to Micfdle War (181 3-1 5). He then entered pol-
English itics, and served in both the Ten-
(p. 39).
nessee legislature and the US House
During the 17th century, new shiploads of immi- of Representatives. He was killed at
grants brought an increasing variety of linguistic back- thebattleof the Alamo, after join-
ing the forces fighting the Mexicans
grounds. Pennsylvania, for example, came to be settled
inTexas. The heroic myths about
mainly by Quakers whose origins were mostly in the him grew during his political cam-
Midlands and the north of England. People speaking paigns, when he was known for his

very different kinds of English thus found themselves vigorous and humorous speeches,
and were fuelled by many folk
living alongside each other, as the 'middle' Atlantic areas
epic publications, to which he
(New York, in particular) became the focus of settle- may himself have contributed. He
ment. As a consequence, the sharp divisions between has signed this picture: 'lam
happy to acknowledge this to be
regional dialects gradually began to blur. The concept of the only correct likeness that has
the 'melting pot' must have applied very early on to been taken of me'.
immigrant accents.
 PART 1 • THE HISTORY OF ENGl ISH

Linguistic diversity
It was not only England which hiHuenced the direc- GIVE ME YOUR
TIRED...
tions that the English langtiage was to take in Amer-
ica. The Spanish had occupied large parts of the west
The 19th century saw a
massive increase in
and south-west. The French were present in the American immigration,
northern territories, around the St Lawrence River, as people fled the
results of revolution,
and throughout the middle regions (French
poverty, and famine in
Louisiana) as far as the Gulf of Mexico. The Dutch Europe. Large numbers
were in New York (originally New Amsterdam) and ofIrish came following

the potato famine in

the surrounding area. Large numbers of Germans
the 1840s. Germans
began to arrive at the end of the 17th century, set- and Italians came,
tling mainly in Pennsylvania and its hinterland. In escaping the conse-
addition, there were increasing numbers of Africans quences of the failed
1848 revolutions.
entering the south, as a result of the slave trade, and And, as the century
this dramatically increased in the 18th century: a pop- wore on, there were
ulation of little more than 2,500 black slaves in 1700 increasing numbers
of Central European
had become about 100,000 by 1775, far outnumber- Jews, especially
ing the southern whites. fleeing from the

From the outset, the cosmopolitan nature of Amer- pogroms of the

1880s. In the first
ican lif-e had its effect on the language (and especially two decades of the
on its vocabulary and practices of naming). Any US present century,
biographical contain immigrants were
dictionary will such typical
entering the USA
American' names as (German) Eisenhower, Rocke- at an average of
feller, Chrysler, and Sttidebaker, and (Italian) Capoiie, three quarters of ^"^-""gaA/e^^;;;;^
a million a year. Stani/and,
DiMaggio, Sinatra, and Valentino. Likewise, the ety- 1892,
The mood of the time
mological diversity of modern
names (p. 144) place was captured by the writer
plaque inside the pedestal
for the Statue, its famous
can be seen in (Dutch) Bronx, Yonkers, and Harlem, Emma Lazarus (1849-87), The wretched refuse of your
final lines read:
(French) Maine, Detroit, and Louisville, and (Span- whose sonnet to the Statue teeming shore.
of Liberty, 'The New Colos- Give me your tired, your Send these, the homeless,
ish) El Paso, San Francisco, and Toledo. For a further
sus', expressed her belief in poor. tempest-tost to me,
example of the nations multilingual history, see the America as a refuge for the Your huddled masses, Ilift my lamp beside the

account of names on oppressed. Inscribed on a yearning to breathe free. golden door!

states' p. 145.

DIALECT AREAS

The later population move-

ments across America largely
preserved the dialect distinc-
tionswhich arose out of the
early patterns of settlement.
The New England people
moved west into the region of
the Great Lakes; the southern-
ers moved along the Gulf
Coast and into Texas; and the
midlanders spread through-
out the whole of the vast,
mid-western area, across the
Mississippi and ultimately into
California. The dialect picture
was never a neat one, because
of widespread north-south
movements within the coun-
try, and the continuing inflow
of immigrants from different
parts of the world. There are
many mixed dialect areas, and
pockets of unexpected dialect
forms. But the main divisions
of north, midland, and south
are still demonstrable today
(p. 312).
 WORLD ENGLISH

Canada
The first English-language contact with Canada
was as early as 1497, when John Cabot reached
Newfoundland; but English migration along the
Atlantic coast did not develop until a century later,

when the farming, fishing, and fur-trading indus-

tries attracted English-speaking settlers. There was
ongoing conflict with the French, whose presence
dated from the explorations of Jacques Carrier in
the 1520s; but this came to an end when the
French claims were gradually surrendered during
the 18th century, following their defeat in Queen
Anne's War (1702-13) and the French and Indian
War (1754-63). During the 1750s thousands of
French settlers were deported from Acadia
(modern Nova Scotia), and were replaced by set-
tlers from New England. The numbers were then

further increased by many coming directly from

England, Ireland, and Scotland (whose earlier
interest in the country is reflected in the name
Nova Scotia 'New Scotland'). The map shows the general been the chief New England that these early Canadians
direction of English-speal<ing characteristic (p. 93), but were already sensing a need
The next major development followed the immigration into Canada. An began to sound the r (in such to sound different from their
Declaration of Independence in 1776. Loyalist interesting development words as bar and cart). The US neighbours. Ironically, the
took place in the Maritime change may well have been /feature would later lose its
supporters of Britain (the 'United Empire Loyal-
Provinces, which attracted influenced by the arrival of value as an identity marker,
found themselves unable to stay in the new
ists')
many people from New Eng- large numbers of r-users from once it became the norm for
United States, and most left for Canada, settling land. The area did not retain the British Isles, but its wide- US English.
first what is now Nova Scotia, then moving to
in the r-less accent which had spread adoption suggests

New Brunswick and further inland. They were

soon followed by many thousands (the so-called
'late Loyalists') who were attracted by the cheap-

ness of land, especially in the area known as Upper

Canada (above Montreal and north ot the Great
Lakes). Within 50 years, the population ot this
province had reached 100,000.
Modern Canadian English has a great deal in
common with the English spoken in the rest of
North America, and people who live outside the
region often find the two varieties difficult to dis-
tinguish. Why the similarity exists has been the
subject of some debate. On the one hand, it might
always have been there, with early Canadian
English deriving from the same kind of mixture ot
British English dialects as that which produced the
original New England speech (p. 93). On the other
hand, the similarity might have emerged through
force of numbers, with the dialects of the many
19th-century American immigrants swamping
what may have been a more distinctive variety.
The linguistic situation, under either hypothesis,
would have been extremely heterogeneous.
Despite the similarities between Canadian and
US English, there is no identity between them;
however, there is no simple statement which can
differentiate them. The chief differences are des-
cribed on pp. 340-3.
 PART 1 • THE HISTORY OF K N Cil, I S H

THE COLONIAL LEGACY

BLACK ENGLISH The other languages which
came to the Caribbean as a
During the early years of American settlement (p. 92), the new landowners, and among the blacks them- result of colonialism have
highly distinctive form of English was emerging in left their mark on the English
.1 selves. Then, when their children were born, the
of the region. French and
West Indies and the southern part of
the islands of the pidgin gradually began to be used as a mother tongue, Spanish are especially
the mainland, spoken by the incoming black popula- producing the first black Creole speech in the region. evident.

tion. This was a consequence of the importation of It is this Creole English which rapidly came to be
Spanish
African slaves to work on the sugar plantations, a prac- used throughout the southern plantations, and in Loans include armadillo,
tice started by the Spanish as early as 1517. From the many of the coastal towns and islands. At the same cascadura (a fish), sancoche
(a soup-like dish), and paca
early1 7th century, ships from Europe travelled to the time, standard British English was becoming a prestige
(a rodent). Loans from native
West African coast, where they exchanged cheap goods variety throughout the area, as a consequence of the American languages via
tor black slaves. The slaves were shipped in barbarous emerging political influence of Britain. Creolized Spanish include chicle
conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American (Aztec), iguana (Arawak),
forms of French, Spanish, and Portuguese were also
and manatee (Carib).
coast,where they were in turn exchanged for such emerging in and around the Caribbean, and some of
commodities as sugar, rum, and molasses. The ships these interacted with both the Creole and the standard French
then returned to England, completing an Atlantic Loans from French include
tri- varieties of English. The Caribbean islands thus came flamboyant (a tree), ramier
angle" of journeys, and the process began again. The to develop a remarkably diverse range of varieties of (a pigeon), fete (a house-
first 20 African slaves arrived in Virginia on a Dutch English, reflecting their individual political and cul- party or picnic), and
ship in 1619. By the time of the American Revolution macommere (a godmother, a
tural histories, with the various creolized forms dis-
close female friend, or an
(1776) their numbers had grown to half a million, and playing the influence of the standard language to effeminate man).
there were over 4 million by the time slavery was abol- different degrees. Moreover, West Indian speech did Several words are
associated with particular
ished, at the end of the US Civil War (1865). not stay within the Caribbean islands, but moved well islands. For example, a
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people outside, with large
communities eventually found in parang is a house-to-house

of different language backgrounds together in the Canada, the USA, and Britain. As we might expect, serenade at Chrstmas-time,
make groups to plot rebellion. found in Trinidad and
ships, to it difficult for these new locations fostered the emergence of new Tobago. A punta is a
The was the growth of several pidgin forms of
result varieties. There are now major differences between the vigorous group dance
communication (p. 346), and in particular a pidgin speech of those living in London, for example (most associated with Belize. A
douillete a traditional
between the slaves and the sailors, many of whom of whom have never been to the West Indies) and their
is

costume found in Dominica

spoke English. Once arrived in the Caribbean, this counterparts in the Caribbean. We shall examine the and St Lucia.
pidgin English continued to act as a major means of chief features of this unique range of varieties on In addition, the names of

communication between the black population and people, places, and events
pp. 342-5.
often display early Romance
influence:

CLOSE CONTACTS D//T73nc/ie Gras The climax

of the Carnival season in

Restaurant in Trinidad and Tobago.

Mayaquez, Puerto La Rose The flower
Rico. Tine West festival held in St Lucia

Indies is unusual in on 31 August.

that it brings Basseterre Capital of St
American and Kitts.

British varieties of Vieux Fort Town in St

English into close Lucia.

proximity. Puerto Trinidad Island name
Rico became part of (Spanish for 'trinity').

the USA following (AfterJ.AIIsopp, 1992.)

the Spanish-
American War in
1898. Donutsisoneof
the consequences.
American and
British English are also
juxtaposed on the
nearby Virgin Islands.
The British presence
in the islands dates
from the arrival of
English planters in
1666. The US islands
were bought from
Denmark in 1917.
 .

WORLD ENGLISH

The growth of Black English Vernacular

In the USA, vernacular varieties of Black English
OLD AND NEW following examples have poor white trash (1833) (slave
ATTITUDES early 19th-century sources: term for) whites willing to
have come to be a particular focus of attention do slave work.
The African-American pres- sla\je driver 0807) an overseer
in recent years (see the linguistic outline on free papers (1838) a docu-
ence in tlie USA has macJe a of slaves; later used for any
The ment given to freed slaves
pp. 344-7). history of these varieties is com- substantial impact on English harsh or demanding as proof of their status.
plex, controversial, and only partly understood. vocabulary. Until the mid- employer.
1 9th century, most of this lexi-
Records ot the early speech forms are sparse. It is
Uncle (1820s) white term of By contrast, much of the
con reflected the status and address for an elderly black vocabulary of the 1950s has a
unclear, for example, exactly how much influence conditions of slavery, a great male (p. 156). positive or confident ring:
black speech has had on the pronunciation of deal of it consisting of insult negro thief {^82^) someone black power, freedom march,
and invective. Increasingly who helped a slave escape. soul brother, as well as such
southern whites. According to some linguists,
thereafter, the language nigger lover (1 830s) (white catch phrases as Tell it like it
generations of close contact resulted in the fami- showed the efforts to move slang term for) an aboli- is! and Black is beautiful!
lies of the slave-owners picking up some of the towards a better order. The tionist. (AfterS. B.FIexner, 1976.)

speech habits of their servants, which gradually

developed into the distinctive southern 'drawl'.
Information is clearer from the mid- 1 9th century,
when the abolitionist movement focused national
attention on blacks' civil rights, and sympathetic
representations of Black English began to appear
in literary works, such as those by Harriet Beecher
Stowe and Mark Twain (p. 85).
Following the widespread movement to the
industrial cities of the northern states in the late

19th century, black culture became known

throughout the country, especially for its music.
The linguistic result was a large influx of new,
informal vocabulary into general use, as whites
picked up the lively speech patterns of those who
sang, played, and danced - from the early spiritu-
als, through the many forms of jazz and blues, to
later fashions in rapping, soul music, and break-
dancing. At the same time, there was a growth in
educational opportunities for black people, and
an increasing involvement in political and profes-
sional roles. The civil rights movement in the

1960s had its linguistic as well as its political suc-

cesses, with schools being obliged to take account
in (in segregated leisure
of the distinctive character of Black English Ver-
places reserved for whites areas), and by the end of the
nacular, following the successful outcome of a test in restaurants, bus stations, decade the -in suffix was
case at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1977. An anti-segregation sit-in theatres, and other public being used in all kinds of
outside an American public locations. Other terms were contexts, extending well
In the 1980s, the public use of many expres-
building. The term became soon formed on analogy, such beyond the protest
sions in the language for talking about this group popular in the early 1960s as pray-in, in support of the movement {love-in, teach-in,

of people was radically constrained by those when black students sat at movement, play-in, and swim- be-in).

maintaining a doctrine of political correctness

(p. 177). The current respectability oi African-
American (which dates from the 1860s) has
I HAVE A DREAM
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, making his famous speech atthe Lincoln
replaced such forms as Afro-American, Africo-
Memorial on 28 August 963, at the end of the 'March on Washington'
1

American, Afro (all in evidence from the 1830s), in support of black civil rights. Its words have since become a rhetorical

coloured (preferred in the period after the Civil symbol of the civil rights movement in the USA.

War), negro (preferred after the
some 50 years later), and blackl Black
capital TV
1 880s, and with a have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to
sit down together at the table of brotherhood. .

(which became the preferred form during the I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
1960s, and is still the commonest use). Black is where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin...
Dr King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assass-
now often proscribed, and language conflicts
inated on 4 April 1968. Hisbirthday (15 January), celebrated on the
have grown as people strive to find fresh forms of third Monday in January, has been a federal legal public holiday
expression lacking the pejorative connotations since 1986.

they sense in earlier usage.

 PART 1 • THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE SERIOUS DRAWBACKS miles carrying 56 lb weights.

The first fleet into Botany
Towards the end of the 18th century, the continuing Bay carried 717 prisoners
and nearly 300 officials,
process ot British world exploration estabhshed the
guards, and their families,
English language in the southern hemisphere. The starting a system of convict
One linguistic conse-
affected the comfort of a
colonial official's life, partic-
quence, often remarked ularly citing the way convict
upon byearly visitors to Aus- servants exposed children to
tralia, was the frequency of 'the vilest expressions'. The
swearing, which soon began reduced force of 5/oody in
to affect the free settlers. Australian English (p. 172) is

numbers of speakers have never been very large, by settlement which lasted Charles Darwin, visiting doubtless a long-term effect
The picture
until 1840. Sydney on The Beagle in of its high frequency of
comparison with those in the northern hemisphere,
shows a group of convicts in 1835, commented on the use within the original
but the varieties oi English which have emerged are Tasmania, madeto walk 30 'serious drawbacks' which population.
comparably distinctive. Also, the political and cul-
tural situations of each country present the linguist
with different issues from those encountered in the

history of the language in North America.

Australia
Australia was visited by James Cook in 1770, and
within 20 years Britain had established its first penal
colony at Sydney, thus relieving the pressure on the
overcrowded prisons in England. About 130,000 pris-

oners were transported during the 50 years after the

arrival of the 'first fleet' in 1788. 'Free' settlers, as they
were called, also began to enter the country from the
very beginning, but they did not achieve substantial
numbers until the mid-1 9th century. From then on,
immigration rapidly increased. By 1850, the popula-
tion of Australia was about 400,000, and by 1900
ABORIGINAL INFLUENCES THE OLD ORDER
nearly 4 million. Today, it is over 17 million.
Neither the Aborigines of Australia nor the Maori of CHANGETH
The main source ot set-
British Isles provided the New Zealand were very numerous when the Europeans
tlers, and thus the main influence on the language. arrived - perhaps 200,000 of each race at the beginning
of the 19th cen-
Many of the convicts came from London and Ireland jILnguna. a
tury. The Aborig-
(especially following the 1798 Irish rebellion), and ines were nom- van tin
SB Heads
features of Cockney and Irish English can be traced in adic, contact was
occasional, and
the speech patterns heard in Australia today. Several
there were many
words commonly thought of as Australian started out language differ-
in Britain, and may still be heard locally in British ences, with over

dialects, such as cobber, tucker (compare tuck shop),

200 languages in

use at the time.

and joker ('person'). On the other hand, the variety- Asa result, only
contains many expressions which have originated in a few Aboriginal

Australia (including a number from Aboriginal lan-

words came into
English, most of
guages), and in recent years the influence of American them being
English has been noticeable, so that the country now plant and animal

has a very mixed lexical character names, such as

(p. 352). In October 1992, Australia's
kangaroo and
A major issue in Australian social history has been koala (p. 352). prime minister Paul Keating
the question of identity. There has long been a ten- On the other and Queen Elizabeth II

hand, about a formalized an agreement

sion between the preservation of British cultural that Australian citizens
third of Aus-
values and the promotion of Australian indepen- tralian place
would no longer be
dence. Many inhabitants have favoured the mainte- names (p. 353)
nominated for the receipt of
are unmistak- UK honours. The change had
nance and development of cultural continuity with begun in 1975, when the
ably Aboriginal:
Britain; many others have come to reject this tradi- Mooloogool, government of Gough
tion, instead advocating nationalism, or some kind of Pannawonica, Whitlam established the
Gnaraloo, Kon- Order of Australia as an
internationalism (but without a British focus). The alternative award. The move
nongorring,
linguistic consequences of this issue can be clearly Koolyanobbing, ended an imperial tradition
seen in the patterns of present-day usage variation Widgiemooltha. of over 200 years, and
symbolized the emergence
(pp. 350-3). of a new kind of relationship
North SoiitarY i.
between the two countries.
 WORLD ENGLISH

Three strands of New Zealand's social history in the READ ALL ABOUT IT
NEW ZEALAND present century have had especial linguistic conse- The front page of the first
quences. First, in comparison with Australia, there has issue of The Lyttelton Times,
published on 1 1 January
In New Zealand (Maori name, Aotearoa), the story of been a stronger sense of the historical relationship 1851 in 'a colony a few days
English started later and moved more slowly. Captain with Britain, and a greater sympathy for British values old', and giving news of the
Cook charted the islands in 1769-70, and European and institutions. This has led to a more widespread first four ships to land at the
settlement. 'New Zealan-
whalers and traders began to settle there in the 1790s, conservatism, especially in relation to accents (p. 298). disms' (italicized below)
expanding developments already taking place in Aus- Secondly, there has been a growing sense of national were in evidence from the
tralia. Christian missionary work began among the identity, and in particular an emphasis on the differ-
very first issue.

Maori from c. 1814. However, the official colony was ences between New Zealand and Australia. This has Of the five cows landed from
the ships, three have died,
not established until 1840, following the Treaty of drawn attention to differences in the accents of the
Mr Brittan's by falling over
Waitangi between Maori chiefs and the British two countries, and motivated the use of distinctive the cliff, Mr Fitzgerald's and
Crown. There was then a rapid increase in European New Zealand vocabulary. Thirdly, there has been a Mr Phillips's by eating tutu.
immigration - from around 2,000 in 1840 to 25,000 fresh concern to take account of the.rights and needs The immediate choosing of
the town acre sections has
by 1850, and to three-quarters of a million by 1900. of the Maori people, who now form some 12 per cent
been a most important and
As early as the turn ol the century, visitors to the of the population. This has resulted in an increased useful measure.
country were making comments on the emergence of awareness (and, to some extent, use) of Maori words
tutu (usually pronounced
a New Zealand accent. The total population in 1990 in New Zealand English. The linguistic effects of all /tu:t/) a poisonous local

was nearly i.A million. these trends are described on pp. 354-5. shrub
section a city building plot

(After G. W. Turner, 1966.)

Bigilumd

"ad arc „mA, ... .k^"?"' ^» from

Dunedin Cathedral
COLONIAL ENTERPRISE " Old SMcb wS; m" ''"J-
During the 1830s schemes were proposed,
several British colonization
notably the New Zealand Company, founded in 1838 under the influence r'snt.
*"7 "p^OT Cham.

of British colonial statesman Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1 796-1862).

These 'Wakefield settlements', promoted during the 1840s, were at
Wellington, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Nelson, Otago, and
Canterbury. The Otago settlement
(1848), based at Dunedin,
was organized by the ttf.

Scottish Free Church, and

Scots influence is evident
from the many Scottish
names the area, such as
in I>tw,

Oban, Ban-
Invercargill,
nockburn, and Dunedin
itself (an anglicized spelling
of the Gaelicname for Edin-
burgh). The Scottish influ-
ence is also thought
responsible for the pronun-
ciation of r after vowels in
parts of the Southland and
Otago areas - the 'Southland
burr'.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield

iUbepuaciMi^,P^^j^
 PART I • THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

EARLY WORDS
SOUTH AFRICA Many of the words which
are distinctive to South
African English appear very
Although Dutch colonists arrived in the Cape as early tion. English is used by the remaining whites (of
early in the history of the
as 1652, British involvement in the region dates only mainly British background) and by increasing num- country, as is evident from
from 1795, during the Napoleonic Wars, when an bers of the majority black population (blacks out- the files of the Rhodes Uni-
versity research programme
expeditionary force invaded. was
British control number whites by over four to one). There is thus a
for a Dictionary of South
established in 1806, and a policy of settlement began linguistic side to the political divisions which have African English on Historical
in earnest in 1820, when some 5,000 British were marked South African society in recent decades: Principles. Among the earli-
est are:
given land in the eastern Cape. English was made the Afrikaans was perceived by the black majority as the
dagga (1670) 'cannabis'
official language of the region in 1822, and there was language of authority and repression; English was per-
Hottentot (1677)
an attempt to anglicize the large Afrikaans-speaking ceived by the white government as the language of brak (1731) 'brackish'
population. English became the language of law, edu- protest and self-determination. Many blacks see kaross (1731) 'skin blanket'
tronk(1732) 'prison'
cation, and most other aspects of public life. Further English as a means of achieving an international voice,
boer(1776)
British settlements followed in the 1840s and 1850s, and uniting themselves with other black communities. aardvark(1786)
especially in Natal, and there was a massive influx of On the other hand, the contemporary situation In a count of over 2,500 lexi-
Europeans after the development of the gold and dia- regarding the use of English is more complex than any cal items in the dictionary
mond files in 1988, nearly half
areas in the Witwatersrand in the 1870s. simple opposition suggests. For the white authorities,
(48 per cent) were of Dutch
Nearly half a million immigrants, many of them too, English was important as a means of interna- Afrikaans origin, followed by
English-speaking, arrived in the country during the tional communication, and upwardly mobile' English (29 per cent), Bantu

last quarter of the 19th century. Afrikaners became increasingly bilingual, with fluent languages (1 1 per cent), and
afew others (such as Khoisan
The English language history of the region thus command of an English that often resembles the and Malay). There are signs
has many strands. There was initially a certain British-based variety. The public statements by South in the 1990s that African lan-

amount of regional dialect variation among the dif- African politicians, seen on world television, illustrate guages are already begin-
ning to make an increasing
ferent groups of British settlers, with the speech of this ability. As a result, a continuum of accents exists, impact. An account of the
the London area prominent in the Cape, and Mid- ranging from those which are strongly influenced by types of vocabulary originat-
lands and northern British speech strongly repre- ing in South Africa is given on
Afrikaans to those which are very close to Received
p.357.(AfterJ.Branford&
sented in Natal; but in due course a more Pronunciation (p. 357); and there are corresponding W. Branford, 1991.)
homogeneous accent emerged — an accent that shares variations in grammar and vocabulary. Such com-
many similarities with the accents of Australia, which plexity is inevitable in a country where the overriding
was also being settled during this period (p. 98). At issue is social and political status, and people have
the same time, English was being used as a second striven to maintain their deeply held feelings of
language by the Afrikaans speakers, and many of the national and ethnic identity in the face of opposition.
Dutch colonists took this variety with them on the
Great Trek of 1836, as they moved north to escape
TAXI!
British rule. An African variety of English also devel-
oped, spoken by the black population, who had It is just after four in the morn- taxicabs, not runners, and is a at the1984 Los Angeles
ing and the streets of Soweto citation in the fourth edition games. She was involved in
learned the language mainly in mission schools, and
are already filled with roaring oiA Dictionary of South an incident which led to US
which was influenced in different ways by the Zola Buddsand zooming Mary African English ( 1 99 1 ). The athlete Mary Decker falling
various local African language backgrounds. In addi- Deckers flying up and down. reference is to South-African- during the 3000 m. Presum-
born athlete Zola Budd, con- ably it was the mixture of
tion, English came to be used, along with Afrikaans
This990 report in the local
1 troversially selected forthe speed and competitiveness
and often other languages, by those with an ethni- Weekly Mail is in fact about British Olympic squad that motivated the conversion
cally mixed background (Coloureds); and it was also of the names to vehicular
nouns.
adopted by the many immigrants from India, who
arrived in the country from around 1860.
South African English haj thus come to comprise
a range of varieties, but from a social point of view
they can be grouped together in contrast to the use
of Afrikaans, and they do display certain common
features (described on p. 356). English has always
been a minority language in South Africa. Afrikaans,
which was given official status in 1925, is the first lan-
guage of the majority of whites, including those for-
merly in power, and acts as an important symbol of
identity for those of Afrikaner background. It is also
the first language of most of the Coloured popula-
 WORLD ENGLISH

SOUTH ASIA INFLUENTIAL VIEW English is

knowing than
better worth
Sanscrit or
Arabic; that the natives are

speakers, the Indian desirous to be taught

In terms of numbers of English
English, and are not
subcontinent ranks third in the world, after the USA desirousto be taught San-
and UK. This is largely due to the special position scrit or Arabic;. ..that it is

possible to make natives

which the language has come to hold in India itself
of this country thoroughly
where it has been estimated that some 4 per cent of good English scholars; and
the people (over 30 million in 1994) now make reg- that to this end our efforts
oughtto be directed.
ular use of English. There are also considerable
numbers of English speakers elsewhere in the region, The climate of opinion
which comprises six countries (India, Bangladesh, Thomas Macaulay which led tothis Minute had
(1800-59) began a four- been much influenced by
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan) that together
year period of service on the views of the religious
hold about a fifth of the world's population. The and social reformer Ram
the Supreme Council of
variety which has emerged throughout the subcon- India in 1834. His famous Mohan Roy{1772-1833). In
Minute presented the case the 1820s he had proposed Though this view became
tinent is known as South Asian English. It is less
for a new English the introduction of a West- official policy, Macaulay's
than 200 years old, but it is already one of the most the region; ern educational curriculum, Minute was highly contro-
subculture in
distinctive varieties in the English-speaking world arguing that instruction versial at the time, and laid

think it is clear. ..that we in was essential if

English the foundation of the lin-
(see p. 360).
I

ought to employthem [our Indians were to have access guistic disputes which were
The origins of South Asian English lie in Britain.
funds] in teaching what is to European scientific to become increasingly
The first regular British contact with the subconti- best worth knowing; that knowledge. bitter after independence.

nent came in 1600 with the formation of the British

East India Company - a group of London mer-
THE STATUS OF education, the armed listed in the Indian
chants who were granted a trading monopoly in the Constitution.
ENGLISH forces,the media, business,
area by Queen Elizabeth I. It established its first and tourism. In the Dravid-
AndthecriticK.R. S.Iyen-
trading station at Surat in 1612, and by the end of In India, English is now rec- ian-speaking areas of the
south, it is widely preferred gar (1908-) has remarked:
the century others were in existence at Madras, ognized as an 'associate'
official language, with to Hindi as a lingua franca.
Bombay, and Calcutta. During the 18th century, it Indian writing in English is
Hindi the official language. Since the 1960s, much
but one of the voices in
overcame competition from other European It is also recognized as the attention has focused on
which India speaks. It is a
languageof four what has been called the
nations, especially France. As the power of the official
new voice, no doubt, but it
states (Manipur, Megha- ongoing 'Indianization'
Mughal emperors declined, the Company's influ- is as much Indian as others.
Nagaland, Tripura)
laya, of English. The novelist
The point is controversial,
ence grew, and in 1765 it took over the revenue and eight Union territories R. K. Narayan(1906-)is
and is reflected in contro-
of finan- In Pakistan, it is an associ- one who has addressed
management of Bengal. Following a period versies inother parts of the
ated official language. It the issue:
cial indiscipline among Company servants, the 1 784 world, where the growth of
has no official status in the
The English language, the English language is per-
India Act established a Board of Control responsi- other countries of South
through sheer resilience ceived as a threat as well as
ble to the British Parliament, and in 1858, alter the Asia, butthroughoutthe
and mobility, is now under- There is
a blessing (p. 114).
region it is universally used
Indian Mutiny, the Company was abolished and its going a process of Indian- no doubt, however, about
as the medium of interna-
ization in the same manner the emerging structural
powers handed over to the Crown. tional communication.
identity of Indian English,
as it adopted US citizenship
In India, the bitter con-
During the period of British sovereignty (the over a century ago, with the or about the growth of a
flict between the support- recognized body of Indian
Raj), from 1765 until independence in 1947, differencethat it isthe
ers of English, Hindi, and
major language there but English literature (p. 360).
English gradually became the medium of adminis- regional languages led in
(After B.B.Kachru, 1983.)
here one of the fifteen
tration and education throughout the subcontinent. the 1960s to the 'three
language formula',
The language question attracted special attention
in which English was
during the early 19th century, when colonial admin- introduced as the chief
alternative to the local
istrators debated the kind of educational policy
state language (typi-
which should be introduced. A recognized turning- callyHindi inthe north
point was Lord William Bentinck's acceptance of a and a regional lan-
Minute, written by Thomas Macaulay in 1835, guage inthe south).
English has, as a con-
which proposed the introduction of an English edu- sequence, retained its

cational system in India. When the universities of standing within

Indian society, con-
Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras were established in
tinuing to be used
1857, English became the primary medium of withinthe legal
instruction, thereby guaranteeing its status and system, government
steady growth during the next century. administration, sec-
ondary and higher
 PART 1 • IHH HISIORY O I- ! NG 1, 1 S H

African coast. With hundreds ol local languages to

COLONIAL AFRICA contend with, a particular feature of the region was the
rise of several English-based pidgins and Creoles, used

Despite several centuries of European trade with alongside the standard varieties of colonial officials,

African nations, by the end of the 18th century only missionaries, soldiers, and traders. Some of the ling-
the Dutch at the Cape had estabHshed a permanent uistic features of this highly complex language area are
settlement (p. 100). However, by 1914 colonial ambi- described on pp. 361-2.
tionson the part of Britain, France, Germany, Portu-
gal, and Belgium had resulted in the whole
Italy, East Africa
continent (apart from Liberia and Ethiopia) being Although English ships had visited the area from the
divided into colonial territories. After the two World end of the I6th century, systematic interest began only
Wars there was a repartitioning of the region, with the in the 1850s, with the expeditions to the interior of
confiscation of German and Italian territories. Most of such British explorers as Richard Burton (1821-90),
the countries created by this partition achieved inde- David Livingstone (1813—73), and John Speke
pendence in or after the 1960s, and the Organization (1827-64). The Imperial British East Africa Com-
of African Unity pledged itself to maintain existing pany was founded in 1888, and soon afterwards a
boundaries. system of colonial protectorates became established, as

other European nations (Germany, France, and Italy)

West Africa vied with Britain for territorial control. Five modern
The English began to visit West Africa at the end of the states, each with a history of British rule, gave English
1 5th century, and soon alter we find sporadic references official status when they gained independence in the
to the use of the language as a lingua franca in some 1960s, and Zimbabwe followed suit in 1980.
coastal setdements. By the beginning of the 19th cen- The kinds of English which developed in these
tury, the increase in commerce and anti-slave-trade countries were very different from those found in West
activities had brought English to the whole West Africa. Large numbers of British emigrants settled in

ENGLISH IN WEST Ashanti to protect trading

AFRICA interests, the southern Gold
Coast was declared a Crown
British varieties developed Colony in 1874. The modern
especially in five countries, state was created in 1 957 by
each of which now gives the union of this colony and
English official status. the adjacent British Togoland
which had
trust territory,
Sierra Leone In the 1780s, been mandated to Britain
philanthropists in Britain
after World War I.Ghana was
bought land to establish a set-
the first Commonwealth
tlement for freed slaves, the country to achieve indepen-
first groups arriving from
dence, in 1960. Its population
England, Nova Scotia, and
was over 15 million in 1991,
Jamaica. The settlement
about a million of whom use
became a Crown Colony in
English asa second language.
1 808, and was then used as a
base for anti-slave-trading Gambia English trading
squadrons, whose operations along the Gambia River dates
eventually brought some from the early 7th century. A
1

60,000 'recaptives' to the periodof conflict with France

Lagos in 1861. This amalga- English remaining as official a homeland for former slaves.
The chief form of
country. wasfollowed in 1816 by the mated with other southern languages. Within 50 years
It is a highly multi- it received
communication was an establishment of Bathurst
and northern territories to lingual region, with a 1991 some 3,000 black Americans,
1
English-based Creole, Krio (modern Banjul) as a British
form a single country in 1914, population of nearly 12 mil- as well as some 6,000 slaves
(p. 349), and this rapidly base for anti-slaver activities.
and it received independence lion. It is thus a country in recaptured at sea. The settle-
spread along the West The country became a Crown in 1960. Its population in 1991 which contact languages ment became a republic in
African coast. The hinterland Colony in 1843, an indepen-
was 88.5 million. have flourished, notably 1 847, and adopted a constitu-
was declared a British protec- dent member of the Com- Cameroon Pidgin, spoken by tion based on that of the USA.
torate in 1896; and the coun- monwealth in and a
1965, Cameroon Explored by the about half the population It managed to retain its inde-
try received independence
its republic in 1970. had a pop-
It Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch,
(see also p. 359). pendence despite pressuce
in 1961. Its population had ulat- ion approaching and British, this region
There was also an American from European countries
grown to over4 million by 900,000 in 1991. Krio is widely became a German protec-
during the 19th-century
1991, most of whom can use used as a lingua franca. torate and was influence in the region.
in 1884,
'scramble for Africa'. Its popu-
Krio. divided between France and Liberia Africa'soldest repub-
lation in 1991 was some 2.5
Nigeria After a period of
Britain in 1919. After some lic was founded in 1822 million. Links with US Black
Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) early 9th-century British
1
uncertainty, the two areas through the activities of the
Following a successful British exploration of the interior, a English (p. 96) are still very
merged as a single country in American Colonization Soci- evident.
expedition against the British colony was founded at
1972, with both French and ety, which wished to establish
 WORLD ENGLISH

the area, producing a class of expatriates and African-

ENGLISH IN EAST Uganda The Uganda king- (UDI) by the white-domi-
born whites (farmers, doctors, university lecturers, etc.)
AFRICA doms were united as a nated government in 1965.
which never emerged in the environmentally less hos- British protectorate Power was eventually
pitableWest African territories. A British model was British English has played a between 1893 and 1903, transferred to the African
major role in the develop- and the country received its majority, and the country
introduced early on into schools, reinforcing the expo-
ment of six East African independence in 1962. Its achieved its independence
sure to British English brought by the many missionary where it has come to
states, population was around 17 in 1980, Its population was
groups around the turn of the century. The result was a be widely used in govern- million in 1991. English is around 9.5 million in 1991.
ment, the courts, schools, the sole official language, English is the official
variety ot mother-tongue English which has more in
the media, and other public but Swahili is widely used language.
common with what is heard in South Africa or Aus- domains. It has also been as a lingua franca.
The different political histo-
tralia than in Nigeria or Ghana. The South African adopted elsewhere in the
ries of the East African
region as a medium of Malawi (formerly Nyasa-
connection is especially noticeable in the countries to countries makes it difficult
international communica- land) The area became a
the south, and is presumably due to the influence of"
to generalize about the use
tion, such as in Ethiopia and British colony in 1907, and
of Englishin the region. For
Afrikaans-speaking immigrants and the shared historv Somalia- received its independence
example, the fact that Tan-
in 1964. Its population was
of contact with Bantu languages. zania was German colonial
Kenya A British colony around 9 million in 1991.
The rapid emergence of a settled population who territory until World War 1
from 1920, this country English an official lan-
is
led to the promotion of
used British English as a first language had two impor- became independent in guage along with Chewa.
Swahili as a lingua franca,
1963, following a decade of
tant effects. First, it provided a strong model for and English is less widely
unrest (the Mau Mau rebel- Zambia (formerly Northern
Africans to learn as a second language. These would used the various public
in
lion). English was then Rhodesia) At first adminis-
domains there than in the
soon form the majority of English users in the region, made the official language, tered by the British South
other countries of the
but Swahili replaced it in Africa Company, the coun-
living mainly in the cities and larger towns. Secondly, region. Attitudes towards
1974. The country had some try became a British protec-
English also varied in the
with standard English becoming widespread as a lingua 25 million people in 1991. torate and received
in 1924,
years following indepen-
franca (and with Swahili also available in this role) there its independence in 1964.
dence, as the countries
Tanzania (formerly Zanzibar Its population was around
was little motivation for the development of the pidgin strove to establish their
and Tanganyika) Zanzibar 8.5 million in 1991. English
national identities, and
varieties of English, which are such a noticeable char- became a British protec- is the official language.
adopted different political
acteristic of West African countries. torate in 1890, and Britain
stances towards Britain.
received a mandate for Tan- Zimbabwe (formerly South-
Nonetheless, several
ganyika in 1919. The first ern Rhodesia) Also admin-
common structural features
^TeT East African country to gain
independence (1961), its
istered by the British South
Africa Company, it became
can be identified (p. 362),
and there are a number of
population was over 24 mil- a British colony in 1923.
sociolinguistic parallels, as
lion in 1991. English was a Colonists' opposition to in-
can be seen in the table.
joint official language with dependence under African
Swahili until 1967, then lost rule led to a Unilateral Dec- (After I. Hancock &
F.

its status (p. 114). laration of Independence R. Angogo, 1984.)

RWANHA^ >

SOME DOMAINS OF ENGLISH USE IN SIX EAST AFRICAN STATES

iujumburi* b'PRUNDI

(^''TANZANIA V„ Kenya Tanzania Uganda Zambia Malawi

Dar es Salaam^^
INDIAN
OCEAN

BOTSWANA
K a I a h .

Gaboron^/^ ^

^/Johannesburg ^VlbabarmlglVraputo

CSJ/^Z'LAND
'sOUTH-A?S=ICA
\#MaseruJ*^OTHO/
 PARI I • THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

SOUTH-EAST ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC

The territories in and to the west of the South Pacific protectorates, the administration of some being later

display an interesting mixture of British and Ameri- taken over by Australia and New Zealand.
can English. British influence began through the voy- The main American presence emerged after the
ages of English sailors at the end of the 18th century, Spanish-American War of 1898, from which the USA
notably the journeys of Captain Cook in the 1770s. received the island of Guam (and Puerto Rico in the
The London Missionary Society sent its workers to Caribbean, p. 96) and sovereignty over the Philip-
the islands of the South Pacific 50 years later. In pines. Hawaii was annexed at that time also, after a

south-east Asia, the development of a British colonial period of increasing US influence. In the 1940s, the
empire grew from the work of Stamford Raffles, an US invasion of Japanese-held Pacific islands was fol-
administrator in the British East India company, who lowed after World War 2 by several areas being made
established centres in Penang and Java, and in 1819 the responsibility of the USA as United Nations Trust
founded Singapore. Hong Kong island was ceded to Territories (p. 105). The Philippines became inde-
Britain in 1842 by the Treaty of Nanking, at the end pendent in 1946, but the influence of American
of the first Opium War, and Kowloon was added to English remains strong. And as this country has by
it in 1860; the New which form the
Territories, far the largest population of the English-speaking
largest part of the colony, were leased from China in states in the region, it makes a significant contribu-
1898 for 99 years. Towards the end of the 19th cen- tion to the world total for users of English as a second
tury, several territories in the region became British language (p. 109).

DIFFERENT PATHS SINGAPORE

English inevitably and rapidly became the language of In the 1950s a bilingual educational
power in the British territories of SE Asia. The East India system was introduced in Singapore, with
Company settlement at Penang (1786) was followed by English used asa unifying and utilitarian
one at Singapore (1819) and another at Malacca (1824). medium alongside Chinese, Malay, or
Within a few months, the population of Singapore had Tamil. However, English remained the lan-
grown to over 5,000, and by the time the Federated guage of government and the legal
Malay States were brought together as a Crown Colony system, and retained its importance in edu-
(1867), English had come to be established throughout cation and the media. Its use has also been
the region as the medium of law and administration, and steadily increasing among the general pop-
was being increasingly used in other contexts. A famous ulation. In a 1975 survey, only 27 percent of
example is the English-language daily newspaper. The people over age 40 claimed to understand
Straits Times,which began publication in 1845. English, whereas among 1 5-20-year-olds,
The introduction of a British educational system the proportion was over 87 per cent. There i

exposed learners to a standard British English model very also evidence of quite widespread use in
early on. English-medium schools began in Penang in family settings. In such an environment,
1816, with seniorteaching staff routinely brought in therefore, it is not surprising that a local var
from Britain. Although at the outset these schools were ety ('Singaporean English') should have
attended by only a tiny percentage of the population, begun to emerge (p. 363).
numbers increased during the 19th century as waves of
Chinese and Indian immigrants entered the area. English
rapidly became the language of professional advance-
ment and the chief literary language. Soon after the turn
MALAYSIA
of the century, higher education through the medium of
English was also introduced. The language thus became The situation is very different in
a prestige lingua franca among those who had received Malaysia where, following indepen
an English education and who had thereby entered pro- dence (1 957), Bahasa Malaysia was
fessional society. adopted as the national language,
In such a multilingual area, it is not surprising to find and the role of English accordingly
the British English model being influenced by local fac- became more restricted. Malay-
tors, leading to the emergence of regionally distinctive medium education was introduced,
varieties. The Chinese background of many students was with English an obligatory subject but
probably one such factor, influencing the way English increasingly being seen as of value foi
was routinely used in schools. Another was the presence international ratherthan intra-
of many teachers of English from India, using a spoken national purposes -more a foreign
variety that was already diverging from the British stan- language than a second language.
dard (p. 101). However, despite the common colonial his- The traditional prestige attached to
tory of the region, a singlevariety of 'South-east Asian English still exists, for many speakers,
English' has not emerged. The political histories of Singa- but the general sociolinguistic situa-
pore and Malaysia, especially since independence, have tion is not one which motivates the
been too divergent for this to happen; and thesocio- continuing emergence of a perma-
linguistic situation in Hong Kong is unique (p. 105). nent variety of 'Malaysian English'.
 WORLD ENGLISH

ENGLISH IN SE ASIA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC

 1 HK HlSrOKY OV KNCWISH

A WORLD LANGUAGE WHY ENGLISH? kets are thus

erable pressure to
under consid-
work
ture and
advertising.
its associated
It is also the
If Englishnot your
Is with English. The tourist main language of satellite

The movement of English around the world began mother-tongue, why and advertising industries broadcasting, home com-
should you want to learn it, are particularly English- puters, and video games, as
with the pioneering voyages to the Americas, Asia,
or give it special status in dependent, but any multi- well as of such interna-
and the Antipodes (pp. 92-101), continued with the your country? There are national business will wish tional illegal activities as

1 ^th-century colonial developments in Africa and the seven kinds of answer given to establish offices in the pornography and drugs.
to this question. major English-speaking
South Pacific (pp. 102-5), and took a significant fur-
Some wrong reasons
countries.
ther step when it was adopted in the 20th century as Historical reasons It is sometimes thought
Practical reasons that English has achieved
an official or semi-official language by many newly- Because of the legacy of
English is the language of
British or American imperi- its worldwide status
independent states (p. 1 10). English is now the dom- alism, the country's main
international air traffic con-
because of its intrinsic lin-
inant or official language in over 60 countries (see the institutions may carry out
and
trol, is currently devel-
People
guistic features.
their proceedings in
oping its role in interna-
have claimed that it is
table on p. 109), and is represented in every conti-
tional maritime, policing,
English. These include the inherently a more logical or
nent and in the three major oceans - Atlantic (e.g. St and emergency services
governing body (e.g. parlia- more beautiful language
Helena), Indian Seychelles), and Pacific (e.g. (p. 390). It is the chief lan-
(e.g. ment), government agen- than others, easier to pro-
cies, the civil service (at
guage of international
nounce, simpler in gram-
Hawaii). It is this spread of representation which
least at senior levels), the
business and academic con- matical structure, or larger
makes the application of the term 'world language' a and the leading
ferences,
law courts, national reli- in vocabulary. This kind of
reality. language of international reasoning the conse-
gious bodies, the schools, is
tourism. quence of unthinking chau-
The present-day world status of English is primar- and higher educational
institutions, along with vinism or naive linguistic
ily the result of two factors: the expansion of British intellectual reasons
their related publications thinking: there are no
Most of the scientific, tech-
colonial power, which peaked towards the end of the (textbooks, proceedings, objective standards of logic
nological, and academic
19th century, and the emergence of the United States records, etc.).
information in the world is
or beauty to compare dif-
ferent languages, and
as the leading economic power of the 20th century. expressed in English, and
Internal political reasons over 80 per cent of all the
questions of phonetic,
It is the latter factor which continues to explain the Whether a country has grammatical, or lexical
information stored in elec-
position of the English language today (much to the imperial antecedents or complexity are never capa-
tronic retrieval systems is in
not, English may have a ble of simple answers. For
discomfiture of some in Britain who find the loss ot
role in providing a neutral
English. Closely related to
example, English may not
this is the concern to have
historical linguistic preeminence unpalatable). The means of communication have many inflectional end-
access to the philosophical,
USA contains nearly four times as many English between its different cultural, religious, and liter-
ings (which is what most
ethnic groups. A distinctive
ary history of Western
people are thinking of
mother-tongue (EMT) speakers as the next most
local variety of English may when they talk about
Europe, either directly or
important EMT nation (the UK), and these two also become a symbol of through the medium of an English as grammatically
countries comprise 70 per cent of all EMT speakers national unity or emerging English translation. In most
'simple', p. 190), but it has a
nationhood. The use of highly complex syntax; and
in the world (excluding Creole varieties: see the table parts of the world, the only
English in newspapers, on the number of endings has
way most people have
on p. 109). Such dominance, with its political and radio, or on television, adds no bearing on whether a
access to such authors as
economic underpinnings, gives the Americans a con- a further dimension.
Goethe or Dante is through language becomes used
English. Latin performed a
worldwide (as can be seen
trolling interest in the way the language is likely to
External economic from the former success of
similar role inWestern
develop. reasons Latin). Languages rise and
Europe for over a thousand
With over 60 political and cultural histories to con- The USA's dominant eco- years.
fall in world esteem for
nomic position acts as a many kinds of reasons -
sider, it is difficult to find sate generalizations about
magnet for international Entertainment reasons political, economic, social,
the range of social functions with which English has business and trade, and English is the main lan- religious, literary -
but lin-
come to be identified. General statements about the organizations wishing to guage of popular music, guistic reasons do not rank
develop international mar- and permeates popular cul- highly among them.
structure of the language are somewhat easier to make
(§20). The problem is not so much in relation to
those countries where English is a first language, and
where by definition it is available for all communica- AN OLD STORY
tive situations, but for those where it has status as a
second or foreign language, and where its role is ohen
defined by a conscious process of language planning,
and not by the natural course of linguistic evolution.
Sociolinguistic generalization is especially a problem
in those countries where English is used simultane-
ously as a first and a second language (e.g. Canada),
or where a history of language contact has produced
a legacy of language conflict (e.g. India).
 WORLD ENGLISH

,0"^3<=.'

pXciFIC

A family tree representation (after

Peter Strevens) of the way English
has spread around the world,
showing the influence of the two
main branches of American and
British English.

HOW MANY MILLIONS?
The table on p. 109 shows 75 territo-
ries in which English has held or con-
tinues to hold a special place.
instances, it groups territories which
have a population of less than
10,000: 'UK islands' (Guernsey, Jersey,
Man) and 'Other dependencies', the
latter including the territories
administered by Australia (Norfolk
Christmas Cocos Is), New Zealand
I,
(Niue, Tokelau), andtheUK
(Anguilla, Falkland Is, Pitcairn
& Caicos Is). No account has been
taken in the table of those who have
learned English as a foreign lan-
guage in countries where it has no
special place (e.g. China, Germany).
To have a 'special place' can
variousthings. Sometimes English
an official or joint official language
of a state, its status being defined by
law, as in the case of India, Ireland, or
Canada. Sometimes it may be the
sole or dominant language for his-
torical reasons, as in the case of the
USA or the UK (in neither country is it
defined legally as an official national
language: see p. 107). In a few cases,
such as Kenya and Tanzania, English
has lost the formal status it once had,
though it still plays an important
in the community. In many cases,
standing is less certain, coexisting
with other languages in a rela-
local
tionship which shifts with time and
social function. But in all cases, the
A SHORT GLOSSARY OF
ELTERMS
The world of World English (WE),
and especially of English Language
Teaching (ELT) is full of acronyms
(p. 120).
EAP {English for Academic Pur-
poses) »
ESP
EFL (English as a Foreign
Language) English seen in the
context of countries where it is
not the mother tongue and has
no special status, such as Japan,
France, Egypt, and Brazil. Well
over half the countries of the
world fall into this category (the
'expanding circle', p. 107).
EGP [English for General Purposes)
» ESP
an International
EIL {English as
Language) The use of English for
purposes of international com-
munication. The notion is espe-
cially relevant among profes-
sional people who do
not have
the language as a mother
tongue (e.g. the business, scien-
tific, political, and academic
communities).
population is living in an environ-
ment in which the English language
is routinely in evidence, publicly
accessible in varying degrees,
In two part of the nation's recent or present
identity.
Tables of this kind contain
of hidden assumptions,
be carefully interpreted.
• Column2gives the 1990 popula-
I, tion estimate of each country-
other words, the total number of
people who are in theory routinely
I, Turks exposed to English. The grand total,
rounded down, is 1,828 million-
equivalent, in 1995 (assuming a
world population rate of increase of
1.7 percent per annum) to 1,989 mil-
lion, which is a third of the world's
mean population.
is •Column 3 gives a percentage esti-
mate of those who have learned
English as a first language
translated into totals Column 4, in
which shows a grand total of some
377 million. This result needs some
interpretation. It could be increased
if we were able to include LI
for every country; however, in
places (shown by a question
simply is not known how many LI
speakers there are. On the other
role hand, the grand total could be
its decreased if we weretoexcludeall
the cases where countries use a
Creole or creolized pidgin
these cases, marked with
to some 57 million. If we do exclude
ENL {English as a Native
» LI
EGP {English for Occupational Pur-
poses) A
course whose content
is determined by the specific
needs of learners practising a
particular occupation (e.g. work-
ing with instructional manuals).
ESL {English as a Second Lan-
guage) English in countries
where it holds special status as a
medium of communication (the
'outer circle', p. 107). The term
has also been applied to the
English of immigrants and other
foreigners who live within a
country where English is the first
language.
ESP {English for Special Purposes)
A course whose content is deter-
mined by the professional needs
of the learner. It contrasts with
English for General Purposes,
where the aim is to establish a
general level of proficiency.
Several areas have been recog-
nized, such as English for
Academic Purposes and English
for Science and Technology.
EST {English for Science and Tech-
nology) ESP » and specific range of commu-
rtiH HisroRV OF i:ni;i ish
them, we end up with an LI total of assume, in some of these figure-less
around 320 million (which iscom- countries, that a considerable pro-
monly cited). portion of the remaining population
and • Column 5 gives a percentage esti- could be counted as L2 speakers: in
mate of those who have learned the case of Canada or the USA, for
English as a second language (L2). In example, this assumption would
all kinds some cases (e.g. India) this figure is probably be correct; by contrast, in
and have to the result of careful thought by lin- the case of Guyana or Papua New
guists who have studied the socio- Guinea it would be very doubtful.
linguistic situation. In most cases, The total 'residue' of potential L2
in however, no such evaluation has speakers in the figure-less countries
taken place, and all that is available is of Column 6 (their total population
an estimate based on relevant social minus their LI population) is
considerations. The present table has 90,962,800. If we include half of
taken as a guideline the percentage these as possible L2 speakers, we
of people who have completed sec- reach a grand total of over 140 mil-
ondary education or higher, and who lion. (The role of Nigeria is critical, in
are thus likely to have English at a this respect.) Whether this total
reasonable standard. (This percent- goes substantially higher depends
age excludes any LI speakers listed in on how we rate the 'residue' of
Column 3.) All these percentages, those countries where an L2 esti-
and their related totals in Column 6, mate is already given in Columns 5
(LI). This is are preceded by a question mark, to and 6. In six countries, even a small
showtheir uncertain status. increase in the percentages given
• Thegrand total of L2 speakers, on would make a big difference: India,
this basis, is around 98 million -a Pakistan, Ghana, Malaysia, Philip-
much lower figure than that com- and Tanzania. These six had a
pines,
figures monly cited in accounts of world combined total of over 1,000 million
many English, where 300 or 350 million are people in 1990. If we allow only 15
mark) it common estimates. However, we per cent of these to have some com-
can, if we wish, reach this larger total mand of English, we immediately
in several ways. To begin with, in approach 300 million. The more lim-
most countries where English is used ited a command of English we allow
chiefly asan LI, no estimate isavail- to be acceptable, the more this
able for those who might use it asan figure can be inflated. Whether we
(p. 346); L2 (shown by the question marks wish to inflate the figures, of course,
(c), amount without any accompanying figures in depends on factors which go well
Columns 5 and 6). We might dare to beyond the linguistic.
Language) LI {first language) The language nicative needs, such as scien-
first acquired by a child (also tists, doctors, lawyers, or air
called a mother tongue or traffic controllers.
native language) or preferred in MT (mother tongue) LI »
a multilingual situation. The NL (native language) LI »
latter context may not be identi- NNL (non-native language) A lan-
cal to the former: for example, guage which people use other
the children of many European than their mother tongue.
emigrants to the USA have come NNV (non-native variety) A variety
to use English as a first language of English which has developed
in the latter sense, though it is country or region where it is
in a
not their mother tongue. not used as a mother tongue,
L2 {second language) A language such as Indian English.
which is not a person's mother TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign
tongue, but which is used in Language) EFL »
order to meet a communicative TEIL (Teaching English as an Inter-
need. A country may choose to national Language) EIL »
designate a language as an offi- TESL {Teaching of English as a
cial second language for its pop- Second Language) ESL »
ulation, or give it some other TESOL (Teaching English to Speak-
kind of special status (as shown ers of Other Languages) The
in the table opposite). teaching of English to anyone
L3 {third language) An additional who does not have it as a
language used to meet a special mother tongue. The notion
communicative need. This notion developed in the USA, but TESOL
is not as widespread as LI and operations are now found in
L2. many countries. There is no dis-
LSP (Language for Special/Specific tinction between second and
Purposes) A language course foreign, as is generally found in
designed to meet a predictable British language-teaching con-
texts.
1
 WORLD ENGLISH

Country
 . -

II 1 II IS lOR'i or i:n(, 1 i sii

STANDARD ENGLISH WHAT IS STANDARD ture on English,

extract five essential charac-
we may recommend SE as a desir-
able educational target. It is
ENGLISH?
teristics. the variety which is used as
It is difficult to know what to expect, when a language Since the 1980s, the notion the norm of communication
• SE is a variety of English
of 'standard' has come to by the community's leading
ilcvclops a worldwide presence to the extent that a distinctive combination of
the fore in public debate institutions, such as its gov-
English has 08). Fhere are no precedents for such linguistic features with a
(p. 1
about the English language. ernment, law courts, and
particular role to play. Some
a geographical spread or for so many speakers. More- At national level, in several
people call it a 'dialect' of
media. It is therefore the
countries (but especially in variety which is likely to be
over, the speed at which it has ail happened is English - and so it is, but of
the UK), the concern has the most widely dissemi-
unprecedented: although the history of world English a rather special kind, for it
focused on the devising of nated among the public. It
has no local base (p. 298).
can be traced back 400 years (p. 92), the current an acceptable national cur- will,accordingly, be widely
There nothing in the
is
riculum for English in pri- understood - though not to
growth spurt in the language has a history of less than grammar and vocabulary of
mary and secondary the same extent by every-
40 years. There has never been such an increase a piece of SE to tell us which
in education. At international one, and with varying com-
part of a country it comes
independent states (UN membership has more than level, the focus has been on
from.
prehension of some of its
the question of which features (thus motivating
doubled since 1960) nor such a growth in world pop- The linguistic features of
national standards to use in • the demands of the 'plain
ulation (from 2.5 thousand million in 1950 to 5.4 teaching English as a for- SE are chiefly matters of English' campaigns, p. 176).
thousand million in 1992). How will English fare eign language. In both con- grammar, vocabulary, and It may or may not be liked.

texts, however, before orthography (spelling and • Although SE is widely

(how would any language fare?), faced with such punctuation). important
sensible decisions can be It is understood, it is not widely
responsibilities and having to respond to such pres- made about how to intro- to note that SE not a is produced. Only a minority
sures? duce Standard English or matter of pronunciation: SE of people within a country
teach it, there is a need for is spoken in a wide variety (e.g. radio newscasters)
The two chief issues - internationalism and iden- of accents (including, of
clear understanding about actually use it when they
tirv' - raise an immediate problem, because they con- what it actually is. The cau- course, any prestige accent talk. Most people speak a

flict. In the former case, a nation looks out from itself tious opening of the entry a country may have, such as variety of regional English,
on Standard English (SE) in British RP, p. 365). or an admixture of standard
at the world as a whole, and tries to define its needs
The Oxford Companion to • SE is the variety of English and regional Englishes, and
in relation to that world. In the latter case, a nation the English Language reserve such labels as 'BBC
which carries most prestige
looks within itself at the structure of its society and (1 992), written by the editor within a country. 'Prestige' English' or 'the Queen's
Tom McArthur, suggests is a social concept, whereby
English' for what they per-
the psychology of its people, and tries to define its
that we may be entering a some people have high ceive to be a 'pure' SE. Simi-
needs in relation to its sense of national identity. Cor- minefield: larly, when they write -
standing in the eyes of
responding linguistic issues automatically arise. others, whether this derives itself a minority activity -
a widely used term that
from social class, material the consistent use of SE is
resists easy definition but is
• Internationalism implies intelligibility. If the reason success, political strength, required only in certain
used as if most educated
popular acclaim, or educa- tasks (such as a letter to a
for any nation wishing to promote English is to give people nonetheless know
tional background. The newspaper, but not neces-
it access to what the broader English-speaking world precisely what it refers to . .

English that these people sarily to a close friend).

has to offer, then it is crucial for its people to be able Disentangling the issues is choose to use will, by this More than anywhere else,
best done first at national very fact, become the stan- SE is to be found in print.
to understand the English of that world, and to be
level, where the issues have dard within their commu-
understood in their turn. In short, internationalism been around a long time,
On this basis, we may define
nity. In the words of one US
the Standard English of an
demands an agreed standard - in grammar, vocabu- and are reasonably well linguist, SE is 'the English
English-speaking country as
understood. (For the early used by the powerful'
lary, spelling, pronunciation, and conventions of use. a minority variety (identi-
history of Standard English, (James Sledd). fied chiefly by its vocabu-
see p. 54.)
• Identity implies individuality. If a nation wishes to • The prestige attached to lary, grammar, and
preserve its uniqueness or to establish its presence, Towards a definition SE is recognized by adult orthography) which carries
From the dozens of defini- members of the community, most prestige and is most
and to avoid being an anonymous ingredient in a cul-
tions available in the litera- and this motivates them to widely understood.
tural melting-pot, then itmust search for ways of
expressing its difference from the rest of the world.
Flags, uniforms, and other such symbols will have ENGLISH WHAT IS WROTE Whenever there is a public
their place, but nothing will be so naturally and uni- debate about English in
versally present as a national language - or, if there is
schools, newspapers resort
to 'clever' headlines in
none, a national variety of an international language.
which they use nonstandard
In short, in the context of English, identity demands forms. This example, from
- grammar, vocabulary, The Independent, was one

More than just

linguistic distinctiveness in
of many which appeared in
spelling, pronunciation, or conventions of language Britain during the 1 992-3
use. debate on the National
Curriculum for state pri-

talking proP^**
mary and secondary
The future of the English language (p. 1 2) depends 1
schools. Of course, it

on how the tension between these two principles will stands out only because
be resolved. the rest of the paper is in
Standard English.
 WORLD ENGLISH

THE CIRCLE OF
WORLD ENGLISH
One way of representing
the unity and diversity of
the English-speaking
world (from T. McArthur,
1987). At the centre is
placed the notion of
World English, conceived
as a'common core'.
Around it are placed the
various regional or
national standards,
either established or
becoming established
('standardizing'). On the
outside are examples of
the wide range of popu-
lar Englishes which exist.
Each boundary line could
provoke an argument, as
the author acknowl-
edges, but the overall
perspective is illuminat-
ing. A small selection of
heads of state or govern-
ment symbolizes the way
Standard English is used
worldwide in public
roles.

WORLD STANDARD regionally neutral, and unar- English, and those (e.g. Want Ads); this.is illustrated tories which coexist. Would it
ENGLISH? guably prestigious variety Canada) where there is a mix- in detail in There is also a
§20. be more prestigious for a
does not yet exist worldwide. ture of influences (p. 107). certain amount of grammati- report from an international
If we read the newspapers or
• Eachcountry where English One of the most noticeable cal distinctiveness, espe-cially body to appear in British or
listen to the newscasters
is a first language is aware of
features of this divided usage between US and UK English. American spelling? Should it
around the English-speaking
isspelling. In certain domains, refer to cars or automobiles?
world, we will quickly its linguistic identity, and is • Thenotionof a 'standard
anxious to preserve it from
such ascomputing and pronunciation' is useful in the What image do its authors
develop the impression that
medicine, US spellings are wish to convey? Decisions
thereis a World Standard
the influence of others. New international setting of
Zealandersdo not want to be becoming increasingly English as a second or foreign
about such matters are made
English (WSE), acting as a
widespread {program, disk, in innumerable contexts
strongly unifying force Australians; Canadians do not language (p. 08), but here
1

want to be 'Americans'; and pediatrics), but we are a long

too there is more than one everyday. It will take time
among the vast range of vari-
Americanism is perceived as a way from uniformity (p. 305).
teaching model -chiefly,
before the world sees a con-
ation which exists. There is a
sensus, and only time will tell
great deal of evidence to sup- dangersignal by usage • Agreat deal of lexical dis- British Received Pronuncia-
guardians everywhere tion and US General Ameri-
whether this consensus will
port this impression, and tinctiveness can be observed
display the domination of
models such as the 'World (except in the USA) (p. 310). in the specialized terms of can (p. 307).
a present-day variety of
English circle' above formally • Allothercountriescanbe local politics, business, cul- • The question of prestige is
English or the development
represent it. However, it is grouped intothose which ture, and natural history, and not easy to determine, at an
of a new, composite variety
misleading in several follow American English, in the 'domestic' columns of international level, because
(p. 11 3).
respects. A totally uniform. those which follow British national newspapers (such as of the different national his-
 PART I • THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH

There is no linguistic subject more prone to emotional
rhetoric or wild exaggeration than the future of the
English language. Heights oi optimism compete with
depths of pessimism. Among the optimists we may cite
the German philologist Jakob Grimm, who addressed
the point in a lecture published in 1852:

Oi all modern languages, not one has acquired such great

strength and vigour as the English... [it] may be called justly

a L^iNt'iUAGE OF THE WORLD: and seems, like the English

nation, to be destined to reign in future with still more exten-
sive sway over all parts of the globe.

In the late Victorian period, estimates of the numbers

ot mother-tongue English speakers living a century
thereafter (i.e. today) often reached astronomical
heights. One writer, in an issue of The Phonetic Jour-
nal (\ 3 September 1 873) calculated (with hopeful pre-
cision) that by the year 2000
this total would be

1,837,286,153 - an estimate which, with the benefit

ot hindsight, can be seen to be in error by a factor of six

(p. 109). Such totals were commonplace in the heady

atmosphere which accompanied the climax of British
and American colonial expansion.
By contrast, there were the pessimists, predicting
that within a century the English language would be in

fragments. Here we may cite the British philologist

Henry Sweet, who wrote in 1877: WAS HE RIGHT? peningsat MIT or LSE, is
beside the point. On these
by that time [a century hence] England, America, and Aus- In a paper written in 1970 assumptions would confi-
I

for a conference in Luxem- dently predict that English Europe, of course, the place
tralia will be speaking mutually unintelligible languages,
bourg organized by the will retain its prominent of English is likely to affect
owing to their independent changes of pronunciation. London-based Institute of Europe, though the daily
place in lives of the people
Linguists, Randolph Quirk, without these assumptions, still more closely, and cases
The same point had been made nearly a century before then Quain Professor of Ishould not be nearly as like the day-to-day factory
by Noah Webster, in his Dissertations on the English English at UniversityCollege confident. One could in fact useof English by the
Language (1789). Webster thought that such a devel- London, engaged in a spec- go further and predict that Swedish ball-bearing firm
ulation about the future. His English will actually increase SKFare likely to multiply.
opment would be 'necessary and unavoidable', and paper was called 'English in itscurrency, above all for Already the medium for
would result in 'a language in North America, as dif- twenty years'. purposesof trade, butalso more than half the world's
ferent from the future language of England, in scientific communication scientific writing and popu-
as the
Imust base my speculation and in the everyday matters lar entertainment by radio,
modern Dutch, Danish and Swedish are from the about [the future role of of popular culture -for TV and film alike, English
German, or from one another'. From Webster's pro- English] upon assumptions example, through Eurovi- has a momentum which
American point of view, of course (p. 81), this would outside linguistics, and my sion. And all this even in the only a cultural cataclysm
assumptions are these: that European countries whose plus an abyss of much more
not have been such a bad thing.
Britain will become more mother tongue is so impor- than 20 years in width could
Neither Grimm nor Sweet proved to be accurate and more closely involved tant a language as German seriously hamper Given

prophets. English has indeed become a world lan- with continental Europe, or French. Already te something more like a cul-
economically, intellectually Monde produces a weekly tural boost, we may expect
guage, but it is by no means everywhere and it is by no and politically; and that edition in English, and much present uses of English to
means always welcome. And English has indeed devel- English will retain in the of German industry regards expand so that by 1 990
oped many spoken varieties, but these are by no means next 20 years the degree of English as the main lan- everyone in Europe may be
prestige it has enjoyed in guage of export promotion: using, or be exposed to,
mutually unintelligible. Perhaps the only safe general-
continental Europe in the with Britain's increasing English for some part of
ization to be made is that predictions about the future past 20 years. Whether this involvement in Europe every day.
of English have a habit of being wrong. prestige rests upon the between now and 1 990,
achievements of Carnaby English can scarcely be If all this seems very easy, let
Street or Cape Kennedy, on expected to become less rel- the reader now write a cor-
the fame of jump jets or evant in France and Ger- responding paragraph pre-
junkies, on Canadian nickel many. In the rather smaller dicting the role of English in
or Australian fruit, on hap- language communities of 2020.
 WORLD ENGLISH

ATRIDIALECTAL
ONE LANGUAGE OR MANY? FUTURE?

Wherever World Standard

There are two competing pressures currently influ- Each English-speaking country will accordingly fmd English eventually comes
encing the development of Enghsh (p. 1 10):one acts itself with thousands of words to express its local char- from, a new bidialectism (the
ability to use two dialects of
to maintain international intelligibility, promoting a acter. Whether we view these words as part of a world
a language) is sure to
uniform World Standard English; the other acts to standard or a regional standard will depend chiefly on emerge. And because many
preserve national identity, promoting a diverse set of the extent to which the world at large is interested in people are already bidialec-
tal (knowing their national
Regional Standard Englishes. the notions they express. Thus, in South African
standard and a regional
English apartheid and impala have become part of dialect), tridialectism is likely
The drive for intelligibility
to be the norm.
World Standard English, whereas dorp ('small town
The pressure for international intelligibility is very
or village') and bredie ('type of stew') have not. The
strong, and may by now be unstoppable. International
words most resistant to world standardization will be
travel, satellite broadcasting, world press and televi-
those which already have equivalents in Standard
sion, world stock markets, multinational corporations,
British or American English, such as outwith (Scots,
intergovernmental agencies, and many other institu-
'outside') ov godoivn (Indian 'warehouse').
tions have guaranteed a situation of daily contact for
hundreds oi millions of English speakers who together Compromise?
represent every major variety. Historical loyalties (e.g. There may be a natural balance which the language
to Britain) have been largely replaced by pragmatic, will eventually achieve. A nationalistic climate may
utilitarian reasoning. If using British English can sell cause a variety to move in a particular direction away
goods and services, then let British English be used. If from its source standard, but may then be pulled back We have lunch with friends.
We use a variety of English
it needs American English, then so be it. And let either when moderates within the community find it
influenced by the dialect of
or others be employed as occasion demands. increasingly difficult to understand what is being said. the region in which we live.
It is not surprising, in such a climate, to find a core An example of this actually happening was reported
of English grammar, vocabulary, and orthography in 1985 by Alan Maley, at the time the British Coun-
already in widespread use, at least in print (p. 110). cil Representative in South India:
There is, however, still some way to go before the
Mrs Indira Gandhi was prompted to write to her Ministry
world arrives at a level of uniform usage which will
of Education not so long ago to complain of falling stan-
guarantee international intelligibility at levels compa-
dards of English in India, reportedly after attending an
rable to those found intranationally. Breakdowns in
international meeting at which she had been unable to
communication due to differences in idiom, vocabu- understand the contribution of the Indian delegate (speak-
lary, or grammar are common enough, even between ing in English).
British and American English (p. 306), and differ-
ences in regional accent can be devastating. The features of Indian English which gave Mrs
Gandhi a problem are well-recognized (p. 360).
The drive for identity We go to a commercial fair
Whether her reaction was representative and influen-
The pressure to foster national identity is also very in Birmingham, England. We
tial remains to be seen. talk to the sales representa-
strong, and the signs are that divergence is increasing.
tives using British Standard
The 1990s has seen no reduction in the number of English.
conflicts which involve regions trying to establish
their independence, and one consequence of success- WHICH WORLD of those that currently

STANDARD? exist. An example is the

ful nationalism is the early adoption of speech forms kind of English commonly
marking a linguistic distance between the new nation How could a more uni- heard in the corridors of
and its colonial antecedents. Two local factors readily form World Standard power of the European
English arise? There are Community, and called
foster this distancing.
three main possibilities. 'Euro-English'.
It is inevitable, first of all, that when English is in • Acurrent variety could • A be
fresh variety could

close contact with other languages it will adopt some graduallycome to be created, based on a set of
adopted by the leading assumptions about those
of the characteristics of those languages, especially international institutions, aspects of English which
their vocabulary and prosody. The latter, in particu- and emerge as the world are most useful for inter-
standard. American national purposes. An
lar, can be a major source of local variety identity, as
English already seems to example is the proposal in
is heard in the distinctive stress-timed rhythm of have made considerable the early 1980s to develop
Indian or Caribbean English, or the rising intonations progress in this direction. a 'nuclear' kind of English
The different which would include only We are on
of Australian and New Zealand English (p. 249).
• varieties holiday in Egypt,
of English could gradually the most communicative and meet up with people
Secondly, the fact that English is found all over the merge, to produce a new features of grammar and from other English-speaking
world means that it will be used to express an unpar- variety which is like none vocabulary. countries. We talk together
alleled range of fauna, flora, and cultural features. in World Standard English.
 PART I • I HI-: HISIORY OF ENGLISH

THREATENING ENGLISH VORSPRUNG DURCH

As English extends worldwide, its presence is widely
viewed as beneficial. Aims such as international intel-
ligibility and national identity (p. 110) are positive-
sounding and forward-looking. But there is another
side to the coin, for English is not always welcome.
Its presence may generate antagonism, especiallv
when it is perceived to interfere with the character or
use of local languages. Nationalistic movements may
totally reject it - and not always peacefully.

Three forms of antagonism

• There is always mutual influence as languages come
into contact with each other. English itself has a long
history of borrowing from other languages (§§3-5),
and is always ready to increase its lexicon through the
acquisition of loan words (p. 126). When other lan-
guages borrow heavily from English, however, the local
reaction may be far less positive. People may complain
about the excessive influence of English on their lan-
guage, and their country may even try to
legislate against it (as in France). Such activities may be
passionately pursued, though any success is likely to be
limited to restricted domains, such as official publica-
tions or committee dictionaries.
• Lexical invasion is feared because it is seen as the
thin end of a wedge. Linguistic history contains sev-
eral examples of English supplanting other languages
- Cumbric, Cornish, Norn, Manx, most North
American Indian languages, most Australian Aborig-
inal languages. Gaelic, Welsh, Maori, and Hawaiian

struggle to retain their identity. A reaction can take

place, as people become increasingly conscious of the
rights of minorities, but the atmosphere is inevitably
one of uncertainty and mistrust. Small countries feel
particularly threatened, even if they do not have an
English colonial history, as with Denmark and Ice-
land. On this topic, the language is emotive. 'Did
English murder Irish?' asks one journal headline. 'Is

English killing off other languages?' asks another.

• English may be rejected as an official language
because of its associations with colonial history. This
has happened several times in recent years. In Tanza-
nia, English was jointly official with Swahili until
1967, when the latter became sole official language.
In 1974, Kenya also replaced English by Swahili as
the official language. In Malaysia the National Lan-
guage Act of 1967 disestablished English as a joint
official language, giving sole status to Malay. In India,
the role of English in relation to Hindi and other
regional languages is a continuing source of contro-
versy (p. 101).
 -
WORLD ENGLISH

ENGLISH THREATENED
The example of Kenya on the facing page shows that, Some situations prompt pairs of names in order to

while English itself often poses a threat, it can also itself show different levels of dominance by the contributing
be threatened. This development is perhaps unsurpris- languages, as in the case of Spanglish and Englanolox

ing in countries where English acts as a second or for- Freriglish und Fmnglais. It is unusual to see any of these

eign language, but we might not expect to find it varieties in writing, but some are very widely spoken.

within the 'inner circle' of countries where it has tradi- They have received only limited linguistic study.

tionally been a first language (p. 107). The threat to a

threatened by the sub-
• English speakers may also feel
first-language environment is nonetheless perceived as
stantial growth of an immigrant language in their
real, and can come from two directions.
country. Normally, the gradual process of immigration
• Standard English users in the community may results in the process of language shift, with second and

become worried by the spread of a nonstandard vari- third generations of non-English-speaking immigrants
adopting the language of their host state. However, in
ety, especially one which shows a mixture of linguistic

influences. Code-mixing takes place to some degree one country, the USA, the growth in the number of
everywhere that English is spoken alongside another Hispanic speakers has prompted a major protectionist
language, and is a normal feature of bilingualism. The movement, [US English), an ensuing reaction (English

mixed varieties are given blended names to show their Plus), and a sociolinguistic

origins, such as Japlish, Swedlish, Anglikaans, controversy of unpreced-

Anglentsch, Wenglish [Welsh + English), and Tex-Mex. ented proportions.

formation 1987 of an alternative pres-

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE in

sure group, English Plus, to encourage

AMENDMENT
Although English has been the dominant
language of the USA since independence,
has never been legally recognized as offi-
cial. Until recently, this has rarely been an
issue. But in the early 1 980s a movement
developed in America as a reaction to the
perceived dramatic growth of Spanish in
certain parts of the country (such as Florida,
the south-western states, and New York
City). Large numbers of Hispanic immigrants
were felt to be altering the balance of soci-
American bilingualism - English 'plus' one
or more other languages. Its members pro-
it posed their own amendment, the Cultural
Rights Amendment, to ensure that ethnic
and linguistic diversity in the USA would be
celebrated and used as a national resource
rather than condemned and suppressed.
The issues surrounding the ELA have
long ceased to be matters of fact. There are
claims of hidden agendas on both sides.
There are real fears and deeply entrenched
attitudes. In those parts of the country

ety, and there was alarm that one day
English might lose its leading role.
In 1981 Senators. L Hayakawa proposed a
constitutional amendmentto make
the official language of the United States
the English Language Amendment (ELA).
His measure failed, butthe spirit
evidently struck a public nerve, for
US English was founded to take the idea for-
ward. This body saw English as the only way
to integrate US ethnic diversity, and saw an
ELA as the only way to safeguard the future
of English. The movement, known by vari-
where the Hispanic presence is strongest,
there are profound anxieties about the
future of traditional English values and
English resources. Equally profound are the doubts
of those who believe that an inevitable
consequence of an ELA will be increased
behind it discrimination against language minorities.
in 1983 Their fear is that, one day, active bilingual-
ism will be condemned as unAmerican.
The biggest problem now facing either GREETINGS FROM PLANET EARTH
side, inseeking success for their amend-
The US space shuttle into outer space, con-
ments, is the diversity of positions which
English- tained a message in
have been adopted by the individual US Discovery, in its

language livery suggest- from an Austrian,

English
ous names (such as English First and Official states. With each side watching the other
like hawks, and organizing opposition to ing the eventual KurtWaldheim.
English), gathered considerable support,
any legal moves, it is difficult at present to emergence of an 'outer-
and currently claims some 350,000 mem- As the Secretary-General
see a way in which the dispute might be most circle' to add to the
bers. By 1 990, nearly 20 states had made of the United Nations, an
resolved. The compilation of accurate three already found on organization of 147
English theirofficial language.
sociolinguistic statistics will certainly help. Earth (p. 107). Or perhaps
From the outset, US English was bitterly member states who repre-
attacked by many who saw it as a white There is currently some dispute about the we will one day need to sentalmost all of the

numbersof Hispanic immigrants, and the recognize several 'exterior

supremacist movement which would in due human inhabitants of the
extent to which they are turning to English. circles', if the message sent
course deny ethnic minorities their linguis- planet Earth, send greet-
I

Some studies suggest that up to 75 per cent with the Voyager project
tic working towards an 'English
rights - ings on behalf of the
of second-generation Hispanics follow the to the outer planets ever
only' policy rather than an 'official English' peopleof our planet...
normal course of language shift and yieldscommunicative
policy. The organization was widely con-
become bilingual or monolingual English. If fruit.Voyager 1, launched The first seeds, perhaps,
demned for its perceived chauvinism by
in 1977 on a trajectory of Solar System Standard
leading organizations in linguistics and lan- this is so, the motivation for the debate will,
due course, simply disappear. which eventually took it English.
guage teaching. One consequence was the in
 PART II

English vocabulary

Vocabulary is the Everest of a language. There is no larger task than reduplicatives, neologisms), others with a much more appealing
to look for order among the hundreds of thousands of words which resonance (nonsense-words, nonce-words).
comprise the lexicon. There may be many greater ta.sks - working out We then turn to the detailed study of lexical history - to etymol-
a coherent grammatical system is certainly one - but nothing beats ogy, and the processes of semantic change. A major part of this sec-

lexical study for sheer quantity and range. tion is devoted to one of the most fascinating topics in popular
Questions of size and scope are thus the first to be addressed in linguistic enquiry: the history of names - place-names, first names,
Part II. How big is the lexicon of English? How many words do any surnames, nicknames, and much more. This is followed by a careful
of usknow? And how do we calculate size, with such an amorphous examination of the structure of the lexicon. Lexemes are grouped into
phenomenon? Defining the basic unit to be counted turns out to be semantic fields, and the relationships between them are plotted. We
an unexpected difficulty, and the important notion of a lexeme is look at dictionaries and thesauri, synonyms and antonyms, colloca-
introduced, which Part II relies upon greatly. We examine some of tions and idioms, and several other central concepts. A fuller account
the other difficulties, such as the status of abbreviations and proper of lexical reference books, however, is left to Part VI .

names, and draw some tentative conclusions. Part II concludes by taking a series of slices through the lexical

Where does the vastness of the lexicon come from? We look at the cake. We look at some of the ways in which words can be 'loaded',
question of sources. There is an important balance - not to say ten- and introduce such notions as connotations, taboo words, jargon,
sion - between the stock of native words and the avalanche of foreign doublespeak, and political correctness. We capture some of the ways
borrowings into English over the centuries. The use of prefixes, suf- in which the language is most alive, in the form of catch phrases,
fixes, compounding, and other processes of word-building turns out vogue words, slang, slogans, and And we end by a sympa-
graffiti.

to play a crucial part in English vocabulary growth. We make a sep- thetic look at language which is dead or dying - at quotations,
arate study of lexical creativity, which introduces a range of interest- archaisms, and cliches. A few 'last' words round off the treatment of
ing processes, some sounding quite technical (portmanteaux. what is the largest component of the English language structure.

< I
An impressive collection of the English lexicon - but even this library
represents only a fraction of the lexical resources of the worldw/ide
spoken and written language.
 8 THE NATURE OF THE LEXICON
1 he term lexkoii is known in English from the earlv • We encounter the sentence It was raining cats and WHATCOUNTS AS A
1 7th century, when it referred to a book containing a dogs, and {perhaps because we are foreign, and meet- WORD?
selection of a language's words and meanings, arranged ing the phrase tor the first time) need to look it up. We The cover of the periodical
English Today poses a
in alphabetical order. The term itself comes from know meaning of the words rain, cats, and dogs,
the
question of considerable
Greek lexis 'word'. It is still used today in this word- but this does not seem to help. Evidently the meaning theoretical and practical
book meaning, but it has also taken on a more abstract of the whole phrase is different from the combined significance. Usually, people
look at the spaces in a piece
sense, especially within linguistics, referring to the meanings of the constituent words. What shall we call
of writing, and think that
total stock of meaningful units in a language - not only rain cats and dogs, then? The usual solution is to call it
they are enough to decide
the words and idioms, but also the parts of words an idiom, but an idiom is a unit ot meaning larger than the matter. So, the first sen-
which express meaning, such as the prefixes and suf- tence of this paragraph, we
the single word.
would all agree, contains
fixes. This is how the term is used throughout the • We encounter the sentence Come in. Again, we have 16 words. Unfortunately for
present book. a unit of meaning which is larger than a single word, lexicologists, word space is

To study not an infallible guide, as

the lexicon of English, accordingly, is to but this phrase hardly seems to have enough lexical
the cover examples show.
study all aspects of the vocabulary of the language - meat in it to be called an idiom. There are thousands • Hyphens complicate mat-

how words are formed, how they have developed over of such multi-word verbs in English (p. 212), so the ters: shall we count eat-as-

rime, how they are used now, how they relate in mean- much-as-you-like as a single
issue is important. What shall we call come in, then?
word? or Highs-Lows?
ing to each other, and how they are handled in dic- This unit of meaning can hardly be called a word, as • The absence of hyphens
tionariesand other word books. It is a study which is its constituents are themselves words. complicates matters: is

carried on by lexicologists, who are thus practising lex- Value for Money truly three
separate words?
icology. If lexicologists choose to write a dictionary, The term which has been introduced to handle all • Unusual compounds com-

they are known as lexicographers, and their calling is these cases is lexeme (or lexical item) . A lexeme is a unit plicate matters: shall we
The two of terms are closely count F/.y^W/AV and
lexicography (§11). pairs of lexical meaning, which exists regardless of any
C/rrSPR/Wr as single
related, no symmetry between them. Lex-
but there is inflectional endings it may have or the number of words?
icographers need to have had some training in lexicol- words it may contain. Thus, fibrillate, rain cats and • Abbreviations complicate
ogy, it they are to come up with good dictionaries. On matters: are BA and BCal
dogs, and come in are all lexemes, as are elephant, jog,
one word or two?
the other hand, one can be a good lexicologist without cholesterol, happiness, put up with, face the music, and Several other kinds of
ever having written a dictionary at all. hundreds ot thousands of other meaningful items in difficulty can be given.
English. The headwords • Meaning complicates
in a dictionary are all lexemes,
matters: bear (the animal)
and lexemes are the focus of interest in the rest of this and bear (to carry) are
section. plainly different words, but
LEXEMES are lock (on a door) and
lock (in a canal) different
words? Is high in high tea,

What shall we call the units of meaning which appear high priest, and high sea-
son the same word?
as the headwords in an English dictionary? The tradi-
• Usage complicates mat-
tion is to call them words, and for the most part this ters: people sometimes
familiar designation will do. We think of ourselves as write flowerpot, sometimes
flower pot, and sometimes
'looking a word up in the dictionary'. However, in a
flower-pot.
serious study of the lexicon we need to be rather more • Idioms complicate mat-
precise than this, because when we refer to a dictionary ters: if we insist that a word
should have a clear mean-
we actually do something rather more subtle, without
ing, then how many words
consciously thinking about it.
are there in get my act
• We encounter the sentence // was fibrillating, and together and get my
conclude that we need help to understand it. But we
own back?
Problems of this kind mean
do not in fact We
look np fibrillating'in the dictionary. that it is always wise to take
look up fibrillate. We 'know' that this is the important word estimates cautiously,
especially when evaluating
unit, and we disregard the ending. Similarly, we would
the competing claims about
have disregarded the endings we had come across
if
coverage made by English
fibrillated or fibrillates. What shall we call fibrillate, dictionaries. Equally, the

then? It is a word, certainly, but at the same time it is problems present an

interesting challenge to
something more than a word. It is the unit of meaning lexicologists, as they get to
which lies behind the words fibrillating, fibrillated, grips with their task.

unA fibrillates.
 .

THE NATURE OF THE LEXICON

THE
HOW LARGE IS THE ENGLISH SUPERDICTIONARY
LEXICON? This comparison of the
boldface items listed in two
unabridged dictionaries
shows the surprisingly
The two biggest dictionaries suggest around Haifa mil- limited extent of their
lion lexemes - a total approached by the unabridged overlap; and if we looked in

Webster's Third New International (which claimed over addition for

saba correspondence between
450,000 entries in 1 96 1 and by the integrated edition
)
sabadilla senses, the extent of the
of the Oxford English Dictionary (which claimed over sabadillia discrepancy would be even
500,000 entries in 1992). The true figure is undoubt- sabadilline greater. Nor is this the
sabadine whole of the English lexicon
edly a great deal higher.
sabadinine at this point in the alphabet.
A comparison two dictionaries - or of any
of these
sabaean 1
Reference to Chambers
other group of dictionaries of comparable size — shows English Dictionary (a much
sabaean 2
shorter work) brings to light
a remarkable lack of identity between headword lists. sabahdaur
another five items - saba (in
In the sample analysed here (see right), the Webstemnd sabai grass a different sense from the
sabaism one given in Webster),
OA/orrf' dictionaries have only 21 headwords in com-
sabakha sabahan, sabbath-breach,
mon out of a possible 57 — less than two-fifths. If this sabbath-breaker, and
saba I

pattern were continued, their combined lexicon would sabalo sabbath- breaking.
exceed three-quarters of a million. sabalote Reference to Willis's
Dictionary of the Flowering
Discrepancies are usually caused by differing edito- sabal palmetto
Plants and Ferns (8th edn)
sabana
rial emphases. The Oxford ha.s far more historical ref- gives saba/aceae,
sabaoth
erences and British dialect items than does the Webster, sabalacineae, sabaudia,
sabarcane sabaudiella, sabazia,
which in turn has far more local American items. On sabate sabbata, and three senses of
the other hand, neither work would claim to be com- sabathe's cycle sabbatia. We have reached
prehensive in its coverage of the vocabulary of the 'new sabatia over 70 items now, with
sabatler many other specialist
Englishes' (Part V) in such parts of the world as India, dictionaries left to consult -
sabatille
Singapore, and Nigeria, where thousands of new lex-
sabatine 1
but will anyone ever have
emes are coming into the language. And because the enough time and
sabatlne 2
motivation to consult them
tradition in lexicography is to use the written language sabaton all, for the entire alphabet,
as the test for inclusion (p. 442), much local spoken sabayon and thus arrive at a truly
sabba-day complete superdictionary?
nonstandard vocabulary will be omitted. There must
sabbat Until someone (or, we must
be thousands of slang expressions currently in com- sabbatarlal suppose, an electronic
mon which have never been recorded, such as all
use Sabbatarian 1
something) does, estimates
the lexemes which express the concept of 'being drunk' Sabbatarian 2 about the size of the English
lexicon will remain pure
- canned, blotto, squify, jagged, paralytic, smashed, etc. Sabbatarianism
guesswork.
sabbatary
Even if we restrict the issue to standard vocabulary,
sabbath
there are many items which could be included as part sabbathaism
of the lexicon, but which are not usually found in a sabbatharian
dictionary. There are some half a million abbreviated sabbatharie

forms in English 120), many of which have a clear sabbath day

(p.
sabbath-day house
lexical status [BA, FBI, NATO, etc.); and fauna and
sabbath-day's journey
flora also provide a vast lexical resource. For example, sabbathine
there are apparently some million insects already sabbathize
described, with several million more awaiting descrip- Sabbathless

tion. This means that there must be at least a million sabbathly 1

sabbathly 2
designations enabling English-speaking entomologists
sabbath school
to talk about their subject. Should all of these be sabbatia The dicrionarics handle the
allowed into the word-count as well? sabbatian 1 capitalization of lexemes in
sabbatian 2 diflerent ways, and several items

sabbatianism are variable in their use of capit.il

It is difficult to see how even a conservative estimate
sabbatic letters. To avoid complicating
of English vocabulary could go much below a million the issue, no capitals are shown
sabbatical 1

lexemes. More radical accounts, allowing in all ot sci-

sabbatical 2
in the table. Alternative
spellings, likewise (e.g. sabaean
entific nomenclature, could easily double this figure. sabbatically
and sabean) have been ignored,
Only a small fraction of these totals, of course, is sabbaticalness
as have optional hyphenations
learned by any one of us (p. 123). (c.q. in sabbath Hii\)
 -

PARI II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviarions, one of the most noticeable features ot
present-day English linguistic lite, would form a major
part of any superdictionar)'. Often thought to be an
exclusively modern habit, the fashion for abbreviations
can be traced back over 1 50 years. In 1 839, a writer in

the New York Evening Tatler comments on what he

calls 'the initial language ... a species of spoken short-
hand, which is getting into very general use among
loafers and gentlemen of the fancy, besides Editors, to
H/'-spec
whom
referring to
it saves
OK
much
('all
trouble in writing
correct'), /"DQ
...".

Cprett)'
He was
damn
PC System
quick') - two which have lasted - GTCgone to Texas'),
LL and many other forms introduced,
('liver loafers'), MSDOS54-M.crosoftWK,^^^,<,„board
,
often with a humorous or satirical intent, by society , 4 Mb RAM
exP^""""'"
el
OverDrive
people. 170 Ni
- a kind of soci- I 340 Mb storage on
The fashionable use of abbreviation
ety slang - comes and goes in waves, though it is never
.NCUDEL&VAT
totally absent. In the present century, however, it has £1404.95
been eclipsed by the emergence of abbreviations in sci-
ence, technology, and other special fields, such as
drug trafficking, the armed forces,
cricket, baseball,

and the media. The reasons for using abbreviated

forms are obvious enough. One is the desire for lin-
TYPES OF examples illustrate the two Awkward cases
guistic economy - same motivation which makes
the
chief types: the first part Abbreviations which do not
ABBREVIATION is

us want to criticise someone who uses two words where kept (the commoner type, fall clearly into the above

one will do (see p. 80). Succinctness and precision are

1
Initiallsms as in demo, exam, pub. Gill), four categories. Some forms
Items which are spoken as and the last part is kept (as can be used either as ini-
highly valued, and abbreviations can contribute great-
individual letters, such as in bus, plane). Sometimes a tiallsms or acronyms {UFO -
ly to a concise style. They also help to convey a sense BBC, DJ, MP, EEC, e.g., and middle part is kept, as In 'U F O' or 'you-foe'). Some
of social identity: to use an abbreviated form is to be USA; also called alpha- fridge and There are
flu. mix these types in the one
betisms. The vast majority also several clippingswhich word {CDROM, pronounced
'in the know' - part of the social group to which the of abbreviations fall into retain material from more 'see-dee-rom'). Some can
abbreviation belongs. Computer bufts the world over this category. Not all use than one part of the word, form part of a larger word,
will be recognized by their fluent talk of ROM and only the first letters of the such as maths (UK), genfs, using affixes {ex-JP, pro-
constituent words: PhD, for and specs. Turps is a curiosi- BBC, ICBMs). Some are used
RAM, of D05and WYSFWYG. You are no buff if you example, uses the first two ty, in the way it adds an -s. only In writing (Mr, St
are unable to use such forms, or need to look them up letters of the word philo- Several clipped forms also always pronounced in full

(respectively, 'read-only memory', 'random-access sophy, and GHQ and TV show adaptation, such as in speech).
take a letter from the mid- (from French fried
fries
memory', 'disk operating system', and 'what you see is dle of the word. potatoes), Betty (from Eliza- Facetious forms
what you get). Itwould only irritate computer-liter- beth), and Bill (from TGIF Thank God It's Friday
Acronyms
ate colleagues and waste time or space (and thus William).
Initiallsms which are pro- CMC Call Me God (properly,
money) if a computer-literate person pedantically nounced as single words, Blends 'Companion of St Michael
such as NATO, laser, A word which made out and St George')
expanded every abbreviated form. And the same is

UNESCO, and SALT {ta\ks). of the shortened forms of

applies to those abbreviations which have entered Such items would never
KCMC Kindly Call Me God
two other words, such as
(properly, 'Knight Comman-
everyday speech. It would be strange indeed to hear have periods separating the brunch [breakfast + lunch),
der of St Michael and St
letters - a contrast with ini-
someone routinely expanding BBQ NATO, USA, heliport {helicopter + air-
George')
tiallsms, where punctuation port),smog {smoke + fog),
AIDS, and all the other common abbreviations of con- is often present (especially GCMG God Calls Me God
and Eurovision {European +
temporary English. Indeed, sometimes (as with radar in older styles of English). television). Scientific terms (properly, 'Grand Cross of St
However, some linguists do frequently make use of Michael and St George')
and AIDS), the unabbreviated form may be so spe-
not recognize a sharp dis- blending (as in the case of and above all
cialized that it is unknown to most people - a point tinction between acronyms bionic), asdo brand names AAAAAA Association for
not missed by the compilers of quiz games, who regu- and initiallsms, but use the (a device which cleaned
the Alleviation of Asinine
former term for both. your teeth while you used
larly catch people out with a well-known (sic) abbre- Abbreviations and Absurd
the phone might be called
viation. As a test, try UNESCO and UNICEF, AAA, Clipping
Teledent) and fashionable
Acronyms (actually listed In
A part of a word which the Gale Dictionary
SAMmd C/ (context: military), or DDT znd TNT serves for the whole, such
neologisms (p. 130).
described on the facing
(context: chemistry). (See foot of facing page for as ad and phone. These page).
answers, if required.)
 s

• 1987 23
Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary
. Adoption Acl[er/7/sh] AA Architectural Association
Argenteum Astrum [SfVver Sfar] [Secref occu// ety]
. Adrenal [or Adrenocortical] Autoantibody A.-.A
. Adult Accompaniment [Restricted to age 14 and up un/ess AA Arithmetic Average
accompanied by an adult] [Movie rating] [Canadian] AA ,, Arlington Annex [Waiyl
Advanced Analytical [In company name. AA Computer AA Armament Artificer [British and Canadian] World War[
II]
.

Systems] Tarzana. CA\ [Software manufacturer] AA Armature Accelerator 3 ; cm

Advertise and Award
[

AA Arms of America "OASA „„_ osua

:

Advertising Age [A publication] AA Army AirOperations

COIA MD nm
.

. Advice of Allolment AA Arrival Angle

Approved
ERA ETC RADAR |>c:
Aegyptologische Abhandlungen [A publication] AA Arrival [Aviation]

'-^^^
.

Aerodrome Aerodrome A-A ArrociltoAmarillo [Pace o^ma/ze]

. to
Aerolineas Argentines [Argentine airline] AA Ars Aequi. Jundisch Studentenblad {Holland} (0/cf(onary of TGIF
American Law Books]
.

. Aerosol Analyzer Legal Abbreviations Used in

. Affected Areas A&A Art and Archaeology [A publication]

Affirmative Action [ Employment policies tor minorities] AA Art and Architecture [-4 pub/(caf/onl
.

.. M\er M
[Message handling] A4A
AA
Artasi Arheologia [A pub/zcaf/on]
Arthrogryposis Association
.. f<\\'M\[Lava-Flow)[Hawaiian\
.. Air-to-Air AA Artibus Asiae [A pui)//ca//on]
,. Air-to-Air AA Artificial Aerial

.. Air America, Inc. A&A Arts and Architecture [A publication]

., Air Armament AA Ascending Aorta [Anafomy]
.. Air Atlacfie [British] AA Ascorbic Ac\d [Vitamin C] [Biochemistry]
.. Airborne Alert AA Asian Affairs [A publication]
Aircraft Artificer [Srrt/s/)I AA Aspergillus Asthma
..

.. Airlift Association AA Assets Accounting (6us/ness and trade]

Airman Apprentice [Navy rating] AA Associate in Accounting
..

Airplane Avionics AA Associate Administrator [NASA]

..

.. Airstiip Association AA Associate in Arts

Albania [MARC country of publication code] [Library of AA Association of Acrobats [Ausfra//al
..

Congress] AA Astrological Association

.. Alcofiolics Anonymous World Services [An association] AAA Astronautics and Aeronautics [A publication]
AA Atheists Association [Formerly. AAAA]
.. Alert Availability
.. All [text] After [specified point] [Message handling] AA Athletic Association
AA Atlantic Area [Serv/ces to the Armed Forces] [Red Cross]
.. All Along
.. Altesses [Highnesses] (FrencAi) AA Atlas Agena[WASA]
Alttestamentliche Abhandlungen [A publicatiori] AA Atmospheric Applications
..

.. Aluminum Association AA Atomic Absorption

.. Aluminum Co. of America [NYSE symbol] [ Wall Street slang AA Attack Assessment [M/Z/rary]
names: "Ack Ack" and 'All American AA Auctores Antiquissimi[C/ass/ca/s(ud/es]
']

AA Audit Agency
.. Always Afloat
.. Amateur Astronomers AA Audubon Artists
AA AugustinianlAssumptionis [Assumpf(on/sfs](PomanCa/ho/(C
.. Amazing Stories. Annual [A publication]
... fi>.mendn\enls & Addiiions [Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
men 's religious order]
AA Ausfuehrungsanweisung[Pegu/a(oo'/nsrrucf/onsl(Ger.)
Used in American Law Books] Law
[D(c(/onary of Legal Abbreviations Used in American
... American Airlines. Inc. [ICAO designator]
Books]
... American Antfiropologist [A publication]
AA HBsAg][ Immunology]
Australia Antigen [A/so, Au. HBs.
... American Archivist [A publication]
AA AuswaertigesAmt[Fore;gnM/ms(ry][ German]
... American Assembly [An association]
... American Association [Baseball league] AA Aut Aut [A publication]
... American and Australian Une[Shipping] AA Authorized Allowance
... Amino Acid [As substituent on nucleoside] [Biochemistry] AA Author's Alteration [Publishing]
Amino Acid 16/ochem(Sfry] AA Auto Acquisition [RADAR]
...

... Amino-Acid Residue [S/ochem/sfry] AA Auloanalyzer

Aminoacetone [Organic chemistry] AA Automatic Answer [re/ecommun/caf/ons]
...

AA Automobile Association [British]

... Amplitude of Accomodation [Ophthalmology]
AA Autonomous Area
... Amur River and Basin [MARC geographic area code][Library
AA Auxiliary Vessels [Wavy symbo/]
of Congress]
AA Avenue of Appro ach
... Amvets Auxiliary cultural AFSllP
Amyloid-A [Pro/e/n] [Medicine] ^'T-rnnr ^nViniiiiii' iii
1
•
r"""iii",iiiin'ii^'^'°"''"'
...

Ana (Of Each] [Pharmacy] -^

...

...

...
Analysis of Accounts
Analytical Abstracts
AA..
* I
-S^^^^ilu..w3-—
.^s;^!^^---
nFSCTecl
,„-
ACC
ACS
... Ancient and Accepted [Freemasono']
AEA
... Angle of Attack (M//(^ary] AEG
AA 1 Att cargo ""'!,'
.... Anglo-American AEB
.... Anglo-American Magazine [A publication] AEC
.... Angular Accelerometer AFD
.... Angular Aperture AAA... AFDCP
.... Aniline Association AAA.. AFDPDB
AAA. AF
.... Ann Arbor Railroad Co. [AARcode] ...

AAA.. ALCA
.... Anterior Aorta DM* "^ .ALC
.... Anterograde Amnesia [Medicine] AAA.. nn Fiighi AMEC
.... Anthranilic Acid [Organic chemistry] AAA..
^t^^^lS^""'*"""""" rzz-- ..AP
AAA.. APC
....

....
Antiaircraft
Antibody Activity [Immunology] AAA.. 5^^1 ='^;*con»o.ie-i'^=^f :;:;::::::- ,
APCA
AAA.. APS
.... Anticipatory Avoidance [Medicine] .

ARCS
.... Antike und Abendland [A publication] AUB
.... Antioxidant Activity [Food technology] AAA. A ,

.... Antiproton Accumulator [Particle physics] AAA.. AFT

;;,

Antwerpscfi Archievenblad [A publication] AAA.

.... ^HUlililV »'"'«''
.... Any Acceptable AKet
.... Apicultural Abstracts [A publication] AHer nBoorllMi'''30'l
.... Apollo Applications [N-ASA]
.... Apostolicam Actuositatem [Decree on the Apostolate of the AAA..
Vatican II document]
Laity] [
AAA..
Appropriate Authority [Office of Censorship] [ World War II] AAA.
AttelBoHon''"''
Approving Authority AAA
«Het C'"' , ,n Era
Approximate Absolute AHarlheCh"»"a
Arachidonic Acid [Biochemistry] Aner cooler
Arboricultural Association
Archaeologischer Anzeiger [A publication]
 ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Fatklands). Others are felt to be independent of

PROPER NAMES English - or any other language - and would seem to

be more at home in an encyclopedia (e.g. Alpha Ce?i- The symbol of American

commercial theatre -
Are proper names part of the English lexicon? Should tauri, Diplodocus, Helen Keller). Allowing in just a pro-
Broadway. The proper name
all words beginning with a capital letter be excluded portion of the proper names, though, considerably has a more general
from a vocabulary count of the language? One answer increases the si/e ot the lexicon. meaning.
is hidden within a piece of old music-hall repartee:

A: I say, I say, I say. I can speak French.

B: You can speak French? I didn't know that.

Let me hear you speak French.

A: Paris, Calais, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles de
Gaulle ...

The audience laughs, which indicates that they sense

an anomaly here. And indeed, there is an intuitive dif-

ference between such words as table and sleep, on the

one hand, and Paris and Sartre, on the other. We do
not usually count the latter as true vocabulary. If it were
otherwise, we could call ourselves lexically fluent
whenever we toured in a foreign country, and got to
know its towns, streets, and shop names.
However, proper names cannot be so easily dis-

missed. There is a sense in which they are pdiVt of the

learning of a language. If French speakers learn
English, they have to learn to replace Londres by Lou-
don, and Greeks have to replace Joarinishy John. There-
are rules of pronunciation which have to be followed,
WHAT DOES WIGAN
and rules of grammar which apply to proper names in

a special way (p. 122). There are names which form

part of the idiomatic history of an English-speaking
community, such as Billy the Kid, The Times, William
the Conqueror, The Mayflower, Phi Beta Kappa, and
Woolworth's. And there are names which have taken on
an additional sense, such as Fleet Street (= 'the British

press"). The White House (= 'the US government'), and

Fido (= 'any dog). A general encyclopedia contains
thousands of such cases.
Nor does the use of an initial capital help much in
deciding if a word should be in the lexicon. In many
cases, there is uncertainty as to whether a word should
be capitalized or not. Should it be Bible or bible. Sun

or sun, National Park ot nationalpark. Heaven ot heav-

en. Communist Party or communist party {or Commu-
nist partyy. Reference books vary in their practices.
Thus, Chambers Biographical Dictionary has people
receiving the 'Nobel prize for physics', whereas the
Encyclopaedia Britannica has them receiving the
'Nobel Prize for Physics'. There are thousands of these
cases, too.

We have to conclude that English proper names are

on the boundary of the lexicon. Some of them are so
closely bound up with the way meaning is structured
in the language that it would be difficult to exclude

them from any superdictionary. They are felt to

'belong' to the language, and often have a language-
specific form (e.g. Christmas. January, the Moon, the
 THE NATURE OF THE LEXICON

For anyone with the time and energy, it would be

HOW LARGE IS YOUR LEXICON? perfectly possible to go through a medium-sized dic-
tionary (off. 100,000 entries) and mark it up in this

There seems to be no more agreement about the size way. However, most people wishing to live an other-
of an English speaker's vocabulary than there is about wise normal life will prefer to opt for a small sample -
the total number of lexemes (p. 118) in the language. say, Iper cent (20 pages from a 2,000-page book, but
Much depends on a person's hobbies and educational taken from several parts of the alphabet), which gives
background. Someone who reads several novels a week quite a good first approximation. An office secretary,

is obviously going to pick up a rather larger vocabu- a businesswoman (and a voracious reader), and a
lary than someone whose daily reading is restricted to lecturer all carried out this exercise: their active totals
the telephone directory. And a degree in a subject like (respectively) were 31,500, 63,000, and 56,250; their
chemistry or botany will result in an enormous passive totals were 38,300, 73,350, and 76,250 - an
increase in vocabulary, given that so much of the lexi- average increase of 25 per cent.
con is made up of scientific terms. Averages, then,

mean very little. Such figures as 10-1

2,000 (for some- HOW MANY WORDS which lists 29,066 differ- ing about vocabulary size

one who has just left and 20-25,000 (for a

school) IN SHAKESPEARE? ent words and 884,647 in a literary context, where
words in all. we are trying to develop a
college graduate) are often cited in the media - but are
Shakespeare had one of However, before we can sense of an author's
totally lacking in research credibility. the largest vocabularies interpret such figures, we expressive breadth. An
Apart from anything else, there must always be two of any English writer, need to ask what is meant approach which counts lex-
some 30,000 words' (from by 'different words'. The emes (p.l 18) captures this
totals given when presenting the size of a person's
the BBC television series. Concordance counts differ- insight more efficiently: all
vocabulary: one reflecting active vocabulary (lexemes The Story of English, ent text types - for exam- instances of goes, going,
actively used in speech or writing) and the other 1986). This is a commonly ple, all instances of goes and gone would then be
quoted figure, deriving would be counted togeth- placed under the single
reflecting passive vocabulary (lexemes known but not from Marvin Spevack's er, as would all instances of heading, GO. But when
used). Neither figure is easy to arrive at. It is often multi-volume Complete going, and all instances of thisis done, the size of

remarkably difficult to be sure whether one actually and Systematic Concor- gone. But to count these Shakespeare's lexicon takes
dance to the Works of as three different words is a sudden and dramatic fall,
uses or knows a lexeme. In the sample listed below Shakespeare (1968-80), of limited value when talk- to less than 20,000.
(right), do you know the lexeme cableway, or do you
just think you know it? Are you sure you use cab-rank
or cabstand, and not taxi-rank or taxi stand'. It is wise
Part of one person's vocab
to include a category of uncertain cases, when doing
lexeme counts, hence the three columns of known and
used vocabulary in the table.

Thisworld-famous page from Reader's Digest has persuaded

several generations of readers to take
an interest in their
vocabulary. The column has been running
since 1945.
 9 THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON
I low is it possible to see order in the vocabulary of
Kiiglisli, it there are a million or more lexemes to deal
THE COMMON CORE
with (§8)? A common approach looks at origins, and The diagram used by the

asks: Where have rhe items in the lexicon come from?

NATIVE VOCABULARY
Many lexemes have always been there - in the sense
that they arrived with the Germanic invaders, and have
never fallen out of use (§1). The Anglo-Saxon lexical
character continues to dominate everyday conversa-
tion, whether it be grammatical words (in, on, be, that),
lexical words {father, love, name), or affixes {mis-, un-,

-ness, -less). Although Anglo-Saxon lexemes comprise

only a relatively small part of the total modern lexicon,

they provide almost all the most frequently used words
in the language. In the million-word Brown Universi-

ty corpus of written American English {p. 438), the

1 00 most frequently used items are almost all Anglo-
Saxon. The exceptions are a few Scandinavian loans
(such as they-ind are); there is nothing from Romance
sources until items 105 {just) and 107 {people).

SAXONMANIA
Many writers - among
them, Charles Dickens,
Thomas Hardy, Gerard
Manley Hopl<ins, and
George Orwell - have
enthused about the sup
posed 'purity' of Anglo-
Saxon vocabulary, but
never was this enthusiasm
so strong as in the 19th
century, as part of the
English Romantic move-
ment. the case of the
In
Dorsetshire poet, William
Barnes (1801-86), the con-
cern became an obsession.
Barnes left school at 15,
then studied Classics pri-
vately, developing a fasci-
nation with philology. He
opened a school, and in his
40s became a country par-
son. He is best known for
his several books of poems
written the Dorset
in
dialect, but his other writ-
ing includes an Anglo-
Saxon primer. An Outline
of English Speech-Craft
(1878), whose title
reflects his story.
Barnes' aim was to
mote a kind of English
purified of alien (that
non-Germanic) borrow-
ings. In particular, the
removal of French, Latin,
and Greek words would,
he felt, make the lan-
guage more accessibleand
intelligible. There would
THE LEXICAL CONQUEST
A sequence from the
Bayeux Tapestry, depicting
the Norman invasion of
England, and thus symboliz-
ing the most significant
change of direction
history of English vocabu-
lary. By 1400 about 10,000
new lexemes had come
the language from French,
and several thousand more
had entered from Latin. By
the end of the Middle
English period, the surviving
Old English lexicon was
already in the minority.
The tapestry, a linen
231 feet long and 19.5 inch-
es wide (70 m
by 50 cm), is
now displayed in the spe-
cially-designed Bayeux
Tapestry Museum at the
William the Conqueror Cen-
tre, Bayeux. The events are
summarized in a Latin nar-
rative. The sequence dis-
be a psychological benefit,
too, as English came
reassert its identity with
Germanic origins.
What made his
so distinctive was his cre-
ativity. Not only did he use
surviving Anglo-Saxon lex-
emes in place of foreign
ones, he did not hesitate to
resuscitate long-dead
Anglo-Saxonisms, or to
devise completely new
emes using Anglo-Saxon
roots. Thus,he resurrected
Old English inwitior con-
science,and coined such
forms as birdlore for
ornithology and mateword-
ing for synonym.
porary lexicographers,
aptly however, paid him little
attention. A tiny
pro- hiscoinages found their
way into the Oxford English
is, Dictionary (such as speech-
craft for grammar, and
starlore for astronomy), but
the vast majority were
ignored, and are now likely
to be encountered only in
the pages of wordbooks
like this one.
in the
into
played here shows the
the Normans on
arrival of
the English coast. The text
says 'Here the horses are
disembarking from the
band ships and here the knights
have hurried off to [Hast-
ings]'.
THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON
to
its
approach
lex-
So I unto my selfe alone Calander'(1579), draws English, and is particularly
will sing;
attention to a critical fea- scathing of those authors
Contem- The woods shall to me ture of the poet's style: who in his view have
answer, and my eccho
ring. one special prayse, of
'it is 'patched up the holes with
number of many whych are dew to peces and rags of other
The serenity of the refrain this poete, that he hath languages, borrowing here
from Edmund Spenser's laboured to restore, as to of the French, there of the
Epithalamion' (1595) is theyr rightfull heritage, Italian, every where of the
reflected in John Consta- such good and naturall Latine... so now they have
ble's painting ('The Hay English words as have ben made our English tongue a
Wain', 1821). long time out of use and gallimaufray or hodge-
E.K., the anonymous almost cleare disherited...' podge of al other speches.'
author of an Epistle pre-
ceding Spenser's first major E.K. goes on to lament In this he is at one with
work, 'The Shepheardes what has happened to Barnes and Orwell.
ANGLISH To be, or not to be: that is booklore literature
the ask-thing; breaksome fragile
What would have hap- Is't higher-thinking in the folkdom democracy
pened to the lexicon had brain to bear forewit prudence
William the Conqueror The slings and arrows of gleeman musician
been conquered? A possible outrageous dooming hareling leveret
answer was given by British Or to take weapons 'gainst hearsomeness obedience
humorist Paul Jennings in a a sea of bothers loreless ignorant
1966 edition of Punch cele- And by againstwork end outgate exit
brating the 900th anniver- them? soothfastness veracity
sary of the Norman Con- water-giver reservoir
quest. Here is the opening Barnes himself created yeartide anniversary
famous soliloquy,
lines of a thousands of neologisms.
turned (apart from outra- The following dozen exam-
geous) into 'Anglish': ples captures their flavour;
 PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

FOREIGN BORROWINGS
When one language takes lexemes from another, the
new items are usually called loan words or borrowings
- though neither term is really appropriate, as the

receiving language does not give them back. English,

perhaps more than any other language, is an insatiable
borrower. Whereas the speakers of some languages take
pains to exclude foreign words from their lexicons,
English seems always to have welcomed them. Over
1 20 languages on record as sources of its present-
are
day vocabulary, and the locations of contact are found
all over the world.
The borrowing began soon after the Anglo-Saxons
arrived (§3). There are very few Celtic loans during
that period, but the influence of Latin is strong, espe-
cially after the arrival of Christianity (e.g. bishop,
church, priest, school, giant, lobster, purple, plant). The
Viking invasions alone resulted in about 2,000 Scan-
dinavian words coming into English (e.g. dirt, egg, kid,

leg, skin, sky, window). After the Norman Conquest,

the influx ofwords from the continent of Europe, espe-
cially French, doubled the size of the lexicon to over
100,000 items (p. 46-7). By the end of the Renais-
sance, the growth in classically-derived vocabulary,
especially from Latin, had doubled the size of the lex-

icon again. While these periods represent the peaks of

borrowing activity in the history of English, there was
no reduction in the underlying trend during later
centuries.
Since the 1950s, a fresh wave of borrowing has been
taking place, which eventually may exceed the totals
encountered in the Middle English period. The emer-
gence of English as a world language (§7) has pro-
moted regular contact with an unprecedented number
of languages and cultures, and the borrowings have
shown an immediate and dramatic upturn. New fauna
and flora, political groups and institutions, landscape
features, industrial products, foodstuffs, inventions,
leisure activities, and other forms of behaviour have all

generated thousands of new lexemes - and continue

to do so. The growth of local nationalism has had its

effect, too, with people seeking fresh lexical ways of nix, lager, waltz, sauerkraut (German)
^
" anatomy, cellar, chocolate, crococjile,
cushion, entrance, grotesque, increase,
jewel, languish, mecjicine, passport,
showing their local identity within the undifferentiat- chutzpah, gelt, kosher, nosh, precious, sergeant, trespass, sculpture,
oy vay, schmuk (Yiddiih) vogue
ed domain of international Standard English.
^ cimbalom, goulash, hussar (Hungarian)
Of course, not all the new items will be widely intel-
^ howitzer, pistol, robot (Czech)

ligible. In the late 1980s, alongside iritifada, perestroi-

^ cravat, slivovitz (Serbo-Croat)

ka, and glasnost we find pryzhok (Russian, 'leap'),

^ altar, circus, frustrate, include, "S'i^
interim, legal, monk, nervous,
visagiste (French, 'beautician'), and zaitech (Japanese, onus, quiet, ulcer, vertigo (Latin)

'large-scale company financial speculation') - all found balcony, ciao, concerto, falsetto,
giraffe, fiasco, mafia, opera,
in English newspapers and periodicals. Several of the violin (Italian)

items in the world map are of this kind, requiring an

up-to-date dictionary before one can be sure what they
mean. But that is always the way of it, with loan words.
THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON

Notes; No indication is given about the Outside Europe, the locator arrows do not
period during which a lexeme entered the always relate clearly to specific countries or
language: old and new items are listed states, but indicate broad linguistic areas,

together without distinction. such as 'Central Africa' or 'Polynesia'.

 KNtn.lSlI VOCABULARY

(§14). But the importance of word-tormation to the

LEXICAL STRUCTURE development of the lexicon is second to none, and
accordingly the matter needs to be reviewed in this sec-
Most English vocabulary arises by making new lex- tion also. After all, almost any lexeme, whether Anglo-
emes out ofold ones - either by adding an affix to pre- Saxon or change its word
foreign, can be given an affix,

viouslv existing forms, altering their word class, or class, or help make a compound. Alongside the Anglo-
combining them to produce compounds. These pro- Saxon root in kingly, for example, we have the French

cesses of construction are oi interest to grammarians root in royally and the Latin root in regally. There is no
as well as lexicologists, and much of what is involved The processes of affixation,
elitism here. conversion,
in word structure will be reviewed on other pages and compounding are all great levellers.

AFFIXATION 57 VARIETIES OF dis- -connect, -infect pan- -African, -American

PREFIX un- -do, -mask super- -script, -structure

There are three possible types of affix (p. 198): those tele- -scope, -phone
This list gives all the com- Disparaging
which occur before the root or stem of a word (pre- trans- -plant, -atlantic
mon prefixes in English - mal- -treat, -function
fixes), those which occur after (suffixes), ancJ those
though not all the variant mis- -hear, -lead Time and order
which occur within (infixes). English does not have
forms. The prefix in-, for pseudo- -intellectual ex- -husband, -president
affixes in large numbers - only about 50 common
example, becomes ii- fore- -warn, -shadow
prefixes, somewhat fewer common suffixes, and no Size or degree
before words beginning neo- -Gothic, -classical
clear instances of infixes. But these limited resources arch- -duke, -enemy
with /I/ (as in illiberal). Nor paleo- -lithic, -botany
are used in a complex and productive way, as older CO- -habit, -pilot
does the list include scien- post- -war, -modern
children sense when
they play with such forms as hyper- -market, -card pre- -school, -marital
antidisestablishmentarianism. Not all affixes have a
tificand technical items
mega- -loan, -merger proto- -type, -European
strong creative potential, of course: the Old English - which are commonly used
mini- -skirt, -bus re- -cycle, -new
th ending, for example (found in warmth, length,
in compounds, such as
ouf- -class, -run
bio-. Euro-, and techno- Number
depth, width, sixth, and a few other items), is hardly over- -worked, -flow
ever used now to create new words - though zeroth (see facing page). bi- -cycle, -lingual
sub- -normal, -conscious
and coolth are interesting exceptions. On the other Some prefixes appear demi- -god, -tasse
super- -market, -man
hand, there are tens of thousands of lexemes which more than once in the list
di- -oxide, -graph
sur- -charge
-tax,
either exist or are awaiting creation through the use because they have more mono- -rail, -plane
ultra- -modern, -sound
of the ending -ness.
than one meaning. There multi- -racial, -purpose
under- -charge, -play
is between
a difference poly- -technic, -gamy
vice- -chair, -president
unexpected (which means semi- -circle, -detached
simply 'not expected') and Orientation tri- -maran, -pod
A SAMPLING OF a highly abstract unwrap (which adds the anti- -clockwise, -social uni- -sex, -cycle
meaning, difficult to specific sense of reversing auto- -suggestion,
SUFFIXES Grammatical conversion
define precisely: one of a previous action). -biography
Verb to Adjective
-tion, -ship, -ness, -able, the meanings of -ery is Negation contra- -indicate, -flow
a- -stride,-board
ery, -ese, -ling, -like, -let, 'the quality or state of a- -th^ist, -moral counter- -clockwise, -act
pro- -socialist, -consul
Noun to Verb
-esque, -ette, -ess, -ism, having a particular trait' dis- -obey, -believe
be- -friend, -witch
-ite, -ish (snobbery). in--complete, -decisive
Location and distance en- -flame, -danger
Suffixes do more than non- -smoker, -medical
extra- -terrestrial, -mural
These are some of the alter the meaning of the un- -wise, -helpful
fore- -shore, -leg
commonly occurring word to which they are Reversal inter- -marry, -play
English suffixes. A attached. Many of them
de- -frost, -fraud intra- -venous, -national
number of them have a also change the word's
meaning which is fairly grammatical status - for
easy to state: -ess, for example, the -//y ending
example, means 'female turns the noun beauty cause words to change
of (lioness). Some have into the verb beautify, their class, and are thus
WILL IT BURN?
several meanings: -ette and the -ing ending turns best discussed under the There are several
can mean 'female of the concrete noun farm heading of grammar. A lexemes beginning with
(usherette), 'small version into the abstract one complete list of suffixes, in- where the prefix has
of (kitchenette), or farming. In this respect, accordingly, is given in
a locative or intensifying
'substitute for' suffixes differ from the section on meaning, such as inflate
(leatherette). Some have prefixes, which rarely morphology, p. 198. and ingredient. Because
in- also has a negative meaning, however - as with
infrequent and ingratitude - ambiguity is sometimes
AND NO INFIXES? possible. The famous case is inflammable, which
derives from inflame - that is, an inflammable object
Many languages make great use of infixes - affixes which are placed within the stem of a will burn. However, because so many people have
word to express such notions as tense, number, or gender. English has no system of infixes, interpreted the form to mean 'non-flame' - that is,
but people do from time to time coin words into which other forms have been inserted. it will not burn - there has been a gradual change in

This happens quite commonly while swearing or being emphatic, as in absobloom- usage. These days, objects tend to be identified
inglutely and kangabloodyroo. In one case, someone was heard to insert an affix as well as using the contrast of flammable vs nonflammable
a word: I don't like intebloodyminillectuals. On the whole, though, such forms as (or inflammable vs noninflammable).
*compseudoputer or *sarsemicastic are not possible constructions in current English.
 THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON

CONVERSION THE ATHENS OF THE NORTH

Lexemes can be made to change their word class
Thus Edinburgh was once described In a travel magazine. Given this picture, most
without the addition of an affix - a process known
readers would notice only the architectural point being made. The alert linguist, how-
as conversion. The items chiefly produced in this way
ever, would additionally note that here we have an instance of a further type of con-
are nouns, adjectives, and verbs - especially the
version -the switch from proper noun to common noun. Proper nouns do not normally
verbs which come from nouns (e.g. to bottle) and
allow the use of the article (p.208): we do not say */ went to an Athens or */ saw the
the nouns which come from verbs (e.g. a doubt). Not Athens. But given the meaning of 'a member of the class typified by the proper noun',
all the senses of a lexeme are usually carried He'sa realJeremiah and She hassev-
the conversion is indeed possible, as also seen in
through into the derived form, however. The noun eral Picassos.The processes Involved in this kind of conversion would be analysed
paper has several meanings, such as 'newspaper', under the heading of grammar.
'wallpaper', and 'academic article'. The verb to
paper relates only to the second of these. Lecturers
and editors may paper their rooms, but not their
audiences or readers.

THE CONVERTED Grammatical word to

noun
Verb to noun
too many ifs and buts
a swim/hit/cheat/ must
that's a
bore/show-off/ why
the how and the
drive-in
Affix to noun
Adjective to noun ologies and isms
a bitter/natural/final/
monthly /regular/ wet Phrase to noun
a has-been/free-for-all/
Noun to verb
also-ran /down-and-
to bottle/catalogue/oil/
out
brake/referee/ bicycle
Grammatical word to
Adjective to verb
verb
to dirty/empty/dry/
to down tools/to up and
calm down/sober up
do it

Noun to adjective
it's cotton/brick/
reproduction

COMPOUNDS sequence of two independent

words), we need to look carefully
A compound is a unit of at the meaning of the
vocabulary which consists of sequence and the way
more than one lexical stem. On grammatically
the surface, there appear to be used. This question turns up
two (or more) lexemes present, especially in American English,
which uses fewer hyphens than
but in fact the parts are
functioning as a single item, does British English.
Compounds are most readily
which has its own meaning and
grammar. So, flower-pot does classified into types based on the
not refer to a flower and a pot, kind of grammatical meaning
but to a single object. It is they represent. Earthquake, for
pronounced as a unit, with a example, can be paraphrased as
main stress, and it is used
single 'the earth quakes', and the
grammatically as a unit - its relation of earth to quake
plural, for example, is flower- of subject to verb. Similarly, a
pots, and not *floivers-pots. crybaby is also subject + verb
The unity of flower-pot is also ('the baby cries'), despite
signalled by the orthography, but back-to-front appearance.
this is not a foolproof criterion. If Scarecrow is verb -f object ('scares
the two parts are linked by a crows'). Some involve slightly
hyphen, as here, or are printed trickier grammatical relations,
without a space {'solid'), as in such as playgoer, windmill,
flowerpot, then there is no goldfish, and homesick. A list of
difficulty. But the form flower grammatical types (including the
pot will also be found, and in analysis of these examples) is
such cases, to be sure we have a given in the section on syntax,
compound (and not just a p. 220.
ANGLO-COMPOUND-0-MATICS
There is an interesting formation in which one of the elements does not
it is
occur as a separate word. These forms are usually classical in origin, and
are linked to the other element of the compound by a linking vowel,
usually -0-, but sometimes -a- or -/. They are traditionally found in the
domains of science and scholarship, but in recent years some have become
productive in everyday contexts too, especially in advertising and
commerce.
First element
agri- -culture, -business
bio- -data, -technology
micro- -chip, -electronics
Euro- -money, -feebleness
is that
psycho- -logy, -analysis
techno- -phobia, -stress
its Second element
-aholic work-, comput-
-athon mar-, swim-, read-
-matic coffee, wash-o-
-rama sports-a-, plant-o-
Such forms might well be analysed as affixes, but for the fact that their
meaning is much more like that of an element in a compound.
Euromoney, for example, means 'European money'; biodata means
'biological data'; swimathon means 'swimming marathon'.
 PARI II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

UNUSUAL STRUCTURES
Affixation, conversion, and compounding are the description of these methods would have to take into

three major types of word-formation (pp. 128-9); account the different kinds of abbreviation (p. 120),
but these by no means exhaust the methods of lexi- as well as the ingenious techniques illustrated

cal construction available in English. A complete below.

BACK-FORMATIONS
It is common in English to form a new

lexeme by adding a prefix or a suffix

to an old one (p. 128). From happy we
get unhappy; from inspect we get
inspector. Every so often, however,
the process works the other way
round, and a shorter word is derived
from a longer one by deleting an
imagined affix. Editor, for example,
looks as if it comes from edit, where-
ALL GRAMS MINIMUM
as in fact the noun was in the lan-
guage first. Similarly, television gave 20 MINUTES
rise to televise, double-glazing pre- This ad appeared in a London
ceded double-glaze, and baby-sitter magazine in 1986 - one of the
preceded baby-sit. Such forms are earliest published Instances of the
known as back-formations.
new form, from telegram. Gram
Each year sees a new crop of back-
seems tohave established itself as
formations. Some are coined because
a useful generic term for
they meet a real need, as when a
kissagrams. strippagrams. goril-
group of speech therapists in Read-
ing in the 1970s felt they needed a
lagrams, and much more. It might
new verb to describe what they did - be better now to analyse it as a
to therap. Some are playful forma- type of clipping (p. 120).

tions, as when a tidy person is

described as couth, kempt, or shev-
elled. Back-formations often attract
criticism when they first appear, as REDUPLICATIVES
happened in the late 1980s to
explete (to use an expletive) and An interesting type of lexeme is

accreditate (from accreditation). one which contains two

identical or very similar
constituents: a reduplicative.
Items with identical spoken
constituents, such as goody-
BLENDS Yale + Harvard = Yarvard ates a series of shop toys), tional. TV provides drama-
slang + language = not a kind of toy. cons, docufantasies, and goody and din-din, are rare.
A lexical blend, as its name slanguage Blending seems to have rockumentaries. The forms
What is normal is for a single

suggests, takes two lex- vowel or consonant to change

guess + estimate =
emes which overlap in guesstimate
form, and welds them
square -f aerial = squaerial
together to make one
toys + cartoons = toytoons
(p. 1 20). Enough of each
breath -f analyser =
lexeme is usually retained breathalyser
so that the elements are
affluence influenza =
-i-
increased in popularity in are felt to be eye-catching
the 1980s, being increas- and exciting; but how between the first constituent
ingly used in commercial many them be
and the second, such as see-saw
of will still
and advertising contexts. around in a decade remains and walkie-talkie.
Reduplicatives are used in a
Products are sportsational, an open question.
swimsational, and sexsa-
variety of ways. Some simply
imitate sounds: ding-dong, bow-

recognizable. Here are affluenza

wow {p. 230). Some suggest
some long-standing ex- alternative movements: flip-
information + commercials
amples, and a few novelties = infomercials
flop, ping-pong. Some are
from recent publications. disparaging: dilly-dally, wishy-
dock + condominium =
dockominium washy. And some intensify
motor + hotel = motel meaning: teeny-weeny, tip-top.
breakfast -f lunch = brunch
helicopter + airport =
heliport
Inmost cases, the second
element is the one which
controls the meaning of
EURO Reduplication is not a major
means of creating lexemes in
English, but it is perhaps the
smoke fog = smog
-^

advertisement + editorial =
advertorial
Channel + Tunnel =
the whole. So, brunch is a
kind of lunch, not a kind of
breakfast - which is why
the lexeme is brunch and
TUNNEL most unusual one.

Chunnel not, say, *lunkfast. Simi-

Oxford -f Cambridge = larly, a toytoon is a kind of

Oxbridge cartoon (one which gener-

 THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON

FAMILIARITY
PORTMANTEAUX MARKERS
In Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There Sometimes an
the egotistical linguistic philosopher
(1871), Lewis Carroll has abbreviation and an affix
Humpty Dumpty, deal with the question of blends. He calls combine, producing a
them portmanteau words - a ternn which has since achieved lexeme which is highly
some currency in linguistic studies. informal in tone, and
often used as part of the
'You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir', said Alice. slang of a close-knit social
'Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem called group. The most
"Jabberwocky"?' important affixes which
'Let's hear it,' said Humpty Dumpty. can explain all the
'I
work in this way are -y,
poems that ever were invented - and a good many that -o, -er, and -s.
haven't been invented just yet.'
This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse -yiie telly, baddy, goalie,
auntie, daddy, Julie, Billy
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
(and many other familiar
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
forms of first names)
All mimsy were the borogroves.
And the mome raths outgrabe. -o ammo, aggro (British
English, 'aggravation'),
'That's enough to begin Humpty Dumpty interrupted
with,' arvo (Australian English,
'there are plenty of hard words there. "Brillig" means four 'afternoon'), weirdo
o'clock in the afternoon - the time when you begin broiling -er footer ('football'),
things for dinner.' fresher ('freshman'),
'That'll do very well,' said Alice: 'and "slithy"T boner ('blunder'), rugger
'Well, "slithy" "lithe and slimy." "Lithe" is the same
means (all chiefly found in British
as "active."You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two English)
meanings packed up into one word.' -s Moms, Debs, Gramps,
see it now,' Alice remarked thoughtfully: 'and what are
'I bananas ('mad')
"toves"!' . . .
-eroo crackeroo,
'Well, "toves" are something like badgers - they're sockeroo (Australian
something like lizards - and they're something like English, as in It

corkscrews.' disappeared right up the

'They must be very curious-looking creatures.' crackeroo)
'They are that,' said Humpty Dumpty: 'also they make their

nests under sundials - also they live on cheese.' The affixes themselves
may combine, to produce
such forms as fatso,
tootsies, the willies,
TALKING NONSENSE {On addressing the United Nations) O starkers ('stark naked'),
joyful peoplodes! Quick vizzy and preggers ('pregnant').
'Professor' Stanley Unwin, British stage intercapitoles, round table and freedom The forms in -ers are
and film comic personality, renowned in talkit with genuine friendly eyebold especially associated with
the 1960s for the fluent neologistic style gleam... English upper-class slang of
of his academic opinions. The humour (On boxing) Oh the self destructibold of
the period between the
cannot be totally captured by writing the human beale, while we dig in the
two World Wars: Pass the
the words down. The comic effect pokky for a ringside seal towards his
ink "^MCSi^^M and cheer for a bashy-ho. Tutty
champers to Momsie,
depends not just on his bizarre lexical fateful Daffers old sport (rough
creations but on the way these are tutty. translation: 'Pass the
uttered deadpan using a perfectly champagne to Mother,
routine conversational style. Daphne dear''
In his autobiography. Deep Joy (1984),

someone describes him as 'The

gentleman who gets his words all

intertwingled' - an accurate enough

summary of anyone who speaks like this:

NONSENSE WORDS
Supercallfragilistlcexplalidocious
Not all coinages have to mean something before they can achieve
currency - as this example from the Walt Disney film Mary Poppins
illustrates. Sung by Julie Andrews in the title role, it is probably
the most famous nonsense word of the century. However, it is by
no means the longest nonsense word to appear in a book or
script. That accolade probably belongs to James Joyce, one of
whose 100-letter blends is given below. It is one of ten linguistic
thunderclaps in Finnegans Wake, symbolizing the great fall of Tim
Finnegan from his ladder (p. 134). Humpty Dumpty is part of it.

Bothallchoractorschumminaroundgansumuminarumdrumstrumtruminahumptadumpwaultopoofoolooderamaunsturnup
 PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

But there is never any way of predicting the future,

LEXICAL CREATION with language. Who knows, perhaps the English-
speaking world has been waiting decades for someone
Anglo-Saxon forms, borrowings, and the use of affix- to coin just this lexeme. It would only take a newspa-
es account for most of what appears within the English per to seize on it, or for it to be referred to in an ency-
lexicon, but they do not tell the whole story. People do clopedia, and within days (or months) it could be on
some creative, even bizarre things with vocabulary, everyone's lips. Registers of new words would start

from time to time, and a fascinating topic in lexicolo- referring to and within five years or so it would have
it,

g\' is to examine just what they get up to. The general gathered enough written citations for it to be a serious
term for a newly-created lexeme is a coinage; but in candidate for inclusion in allthe major dictionaries. It
technical usage a distinction can be drawn between would then have become a neologism - literally, a 'new
nonce words and neologisms. word' in the language.

A nonce word (from the 1 6th-century phrase^Br the A neologism stays new until people start to use it

nonce, meaning 'for the once) is a lexeme created for without thinking, or alternatively until it falls out of
temporary use, to solve an immediate problem of com- fashion, and they stop using it altogether. But there is

mimication. Someone attempting to describe the never any way of telling which neologisms will stay and
excess water on a road after a storm was heard to call which will go. Blurb, coined in 1907 by the American
it difluddle- she meant something bigger than a pud- humorist Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), proved to meet
dle but smaller than a flood. The newborn lexeme was a need, and is an established lexeme now. On the other
forgotten (except by a passing linguist) almost as soon hand, his coinage oi gtibble, 'to indulge in meaningless
as it was spoken. Itwas obvious from the jocularly conversation', never caught on. Lexical history con-
apologetic way in which the person spoke that she did tains thousands of such 16th century - a
cases. In the

not consider y/W/Z/f to be a proper' word at all. There great age of neologisms (p. 60) - we find disaccustom
was no intention to propose it for inclusion in a dic- and disacquaint alongside disabuse and disagree. Why
tionary. As far as she was concerned, it was simply that did the first two neologisms disappear and the last two
there seemed to be no word in the language for what survive? We also find effectual, effectuous, effectftd, effec-
she wanted to say, so she made one up, for the nonce. tuating, and effective. Why did only two of the five
In everyday conversation, people create nonce-words forms survive, and why those two, in particular? The
like this all the time. lexicon is full of such mysteries.

F IS FOR FLUDDLE THINGUMMYBOB

Now that you have been introduced to fluddle, will
you start using it? Is it truly useful? Or is it just a little
too marginal, or jocular, for your taste? Five years after
the first appearance of this book, we should know.
 THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON

BAGONIZING footbrawl physical violence associated with the

game of soccer

However many words there are in English litterate said of people who care about litter
(p. 119),the total will be small compared with illitterate said of people who do not care about
litter
those which do not yet exist. Native speakers,
however, seem to have a mania for trying to fill catfrontation the cause of nightly noise when
lexical gaps. If a word does not exist to express a
you live in a neighbourhood full of cats
concept, there is no shortage of people very polygrouch someone who complains about
ready to invent one. Following a ten-minute pro- everything
gramme about neologisms on BBC Radio 4 in kellogulationwhat happens to your breakfast
are called away by a 15-
when you
1990, over 1,000 proposals were sent in for new
cereal

English lexemes. Here are a dozen of the more minute phone call, just after you have poured
ingenious creations. milk on it

potspot that part of the toilet seat which causes

aginda a pre-conference drink the phone to ring the moment you sit on it
circumtreeviation the tendency of a dog on a hicgap the time that elapses between when
leash to want to walk past poles and trees on hiccups go away and when you suddenly
realise that they have
the opposite side to its owner
blinksync the guarantee that, in any group - and, of course
photo, there will always be at least one person Bagonize: to wait anxiously for your suitcase to
whose eyes are closed leximania a compulsive desire to invent new appear on the baggage carousel (coined by Neil
fagony a smoker's cough words McNicholas).

LOADSALEXEMES
Loadsamoney, an informal label for someone
who flaunts wealth, first came to notice in
the mid-1 980s as the name of a character
invented by British alternative comedian
Harry Enfield. It caught on, and was given a
boost in May 1988, when Labour Party leader
Neil Kinnock used it to label the Conservative
government's policy of encouraging the cre-
ation of wealth for its own sake. Journalists
began referring to a loadsamoney mentality
and the loadsamoney economy, and gradual-
ly the prefix began to take on a life of its

own. Later that year we find in various news-

papers
loadsasermons, loadsaglasnost, loadsaspace,
and loadsapeopie.
Several affixes seem to have found new life
in the 1980s. Mega- ,for example, was used
with dozens of forms, such as -trendy, -sulk,
-worry, -terror, -plan, -bid, -brand, and -city.
The suffixing use of -friendly was found not
only with user- (its original usage), but also
with audience-, customer-, environment-,
farmer-, girl-, nature-, and many more. Sexism
brought a host of other -isms, such as weight-
ism, heightism, and ageism. Rambo-based
coinages included Ramboesque and
Ramboistic. Band-aid gave birth to Sport-aid
and Nurse-aid. And the Watergate affair of the
mid-1970s lived on linguistically, -gate continu-
ing to attach itself to almost any proper noun
where there may be a hint of wicked goings-
on, as in Irangate, Lloydsgate, and the remark-
able Gospelgate (for the wrongdoings of US
televangelists).
 ENC;i,lSH VOCABUI.ARY

the extraordinary lexical coinages in his novel have

LITERARY NEOLOGIZING their roots in perfectly everyday language. Certainly, it

is our grass-roots linguistic awareness which enables us

The more creative the language context, the more Hke- to disentangle some of the layers of meaning in a

h' we are to encounter lexical experiments, and find Joycean neologism. However, untutored native intu-
ourselves faced with unusual neologisms. The stretch- ition will not sort everything out, as considerable use

ing and breaking of the rules governing lexical struc- is also made of elements from foreign languages and a

tiu-e, for whatever reason, is characteristic of several wide range of classical allusions.

contexts, notably humour (p. 408), theology (p. 403), The style largely depends on the mechanisms
and informal conversation (p. 400), but the most com- involved in the simple pun (p. 408), but whereas puns
plex, intriguing, and exciting instances come from the generally rely for their effect on a single play on words,
language ot literature. it is usual for Joyces forms to involve several layers of
These pages illustrate the range of neologisms used meaning, forming a complex network of allusions
by several modern authors, with pride oi place given which relate to the characters, events, and themes of
to the chief oneiroparonomastician (or 'dream-pun- the book as a whole. There is also a similarity to the

namer' - the term is Anthony Burgess's), James Joyce, 'portmanteau' words of Lewis Carroll (p. 131), though
loyce himself called Finnegans Wake 'the last word in Carroll never tried to pack as much meaning into a
stolentelling', a remark which seems to recognize that portmanteau as Joyce routinely did.

JOYCEAN JABBERWOCKY tailor, soldier, sailor, Paul Pry or polish thurever burst? Someone he was,
man. That's the thing I always want to whuebra they were, in a tactic attack
In Joysprick (1973), Anthony Burgess know. or in single combat. Tinker, tilar, soul-

presents an illuminating analysis of drer, salor. Pieman Peace or Polista-

(b) me, tell me, how could she
Tell
the linguistic processes involved in the mann. That's the thing I always want
cam through all her fellows, the
development of what he calls Joyce's to know.
neckar she was, the diveline? Linking
'jabberwocky'. These successive drafts
one and knocking the next, tapping a
(a-c) of Finnegans Wake, published in (d) Tell me, tell me, how cam she
flank and tipping a jutty and palling
the 1920s, show that the style is care- camlin through all her fellows, the
inand petering out and clyding by on
fully engineered, despite its apparent neckar she was, the diveline? Casting
her eastway. Wai-whou was the first
randomness and spontaneity. Each her perils before our swains from
that ever burst? Someone he was,
version introduces extra connotations, Fonte-in-Monte to Tidingtown and
whoever they were, in a tactic attack
puns, and allusions, and
growing
a from Tidingtown tilhavet. Linking one
or in single combat. Tinker, tailor, sol-
intricacy of lexical structure. The ver- and knocking the next, tapting a
dier, sailor, Paul Pry or polishman.
sion which appears in the book (d) is flank and tipting a jutty and palling in
That's the thing I always want to
included for comparison. and pietaring out and clyding by on
know.
her eastway. Waiwhou was the first
(a) me, tell me, how could she
Tell (c) me, tell me, how cam she cam-
Tell thurever burst? Someone he was,
James Joyce (1882-1941)
cam through all her fellows, the dare- lin through all her fellows, the neckar whuebra they were, in a tac-
devil? Linking one and knocking the she was, the diveline? Linking one tic attack or in single combat

next and polling in and petering out and knocking the next, tapting a Tinker, tilar, souldrer, salor.
and clyding by in the eastway. Who flank and tipting a jutty and palling in Pieman Peace or Polistaman.
was the first that ever burst? Some and pietaring out and clyding by on That's the thing I'm elways
one it was, whoever you are. Tinker, her eastway. Waiwhou was the first on edge to esk.

ECHECHOHOESOF Juinp To bigsing mitt (and there martined by his

JOYCE Droolie are some of sinminstral hex- frival sinxters

Sawdust who have
acordiality (Ping! wint the
A good way of developing Siptumbler cheeped Nine! Nine! to so strongs of the
an understanding of how Actsober supernumerapodical a val- eadg be guitarn-
Joyce's neologisms work is Newwinebar gar halluxination of their berg), put hexes
to try to imitate them, or Descendbeer Herro) it was harpbuzzing on his hocks and
parody them. tags when, achording to said sex is funf,
Burgess suggests a game And a rather more complex Fussboden and Sexfanger, which is why he
to fill long winter evenings. example: the gamut and spinet of it aspiered to a diet
In response to an instruction was (A! O! says Rholy with ty of worms and
to 'punbaptise the names of Construct a sentence in his Alfa Romega) that funf married anon
the months from the view- Joycean oneiroglot, with at went into sox and Queen (Moineau! Con-
point of a confirmed drunk- least five long subordinate Kway was half dousin to her sparrocy!) after
ard', he gives us: clausesand three or four sixther, so that our truetone he had strummed
parentheses. The subject orchestinian luter (may his his naughntytoo
Ginyouvery shall be the origin of the bother martins swallow frets on the door
Pubyoumerry legend of Martin Luther's rondines and roundels of (fish can nosh
Parch six toes on the left foot. Pre- chelidons and their oves be tenders) and was
Grapeswill sent Luther as both a bird eaved on the belfriars) dep- eggscomeinacrated
Tray and a musical instrument. targmined not to be houses-
 )

THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON

Neologistic compounds There is perhaps a phonetic implication in such forms,

Joycean lexicoining is but one of the sevetal techniques suggestive of a difference in rhythm or speed of utter-
described in earher pages available to any author who ance when read aloud; but there is no grammatical or

wishes to neologize. For example, there may be a novel semantic change involved. A different kind of point is

use of affixes: being made: to break graphic convention for its own
sake reinforces the iconoclastic, irreverent tone with
Altarwise by owl-light in the half-way house
which the Liverpool Poets of the 1 960s came to be
The gentleman lay graveward with his furies:
identified.
(Dylan Thomas, 'Altarwise by Owl-light'. 1935-6)

or an unusual word-class conversion:

THE ICINGBUS
we slipped thro' the frenchwindows
the littleman
and arminarmed across the lawn
with the hunchbackedback
(Roger McGough. 'The Fish', 1967)
creptto his feet
to offer his seat
But innovative compounds are particularly wide- to the blindlady
spread, and deserve special space.

The staid set of compound lexemes illustrated on people gettingoff

steered carefully around
p. 129 does not even begin to capture the exuberant the black mound
inventiveness which can be seen in English literature of his back
Old English was dominated by as they would a pregnantbelly
from its earliest days.

its creative compounding (p. 23), as seen in such forms the littleman
as hronrad 'sea (literally, 'whale-road'), and, much completely unaware
Shakespeare made considerable use of neologis- of the embarrassment behind
later,
watched as the blindlady
tic compounds; pity-pleading eyes and oak-cleaving fingered out her fare
thunderbolts. Sometimes several items are joined in a
compound-like way: muchlove later he suggested
that instead A painting of the Liverpool
a base, proud, shallow, beggerly, three-suited- ofa wedding-cake they shouldhave a miniaturebus Poets, 1 985, by Peter Edwards:

hundred-pound, filthy woosted-stocking made outof icing but she laughed (from left to right) Adrian

knave, a Lilly-livered, action-taking, andsaid that buses werefor travelling in Henry (1932-), Roger
and notfor eating and besides McGough (1937-), and Brian
whoreson, glasse-gazing super-seruiceable
you cant taste shapes. ( Roger McGough, 1 967) Patten (1 946-).
fi n icall Rogue ( King Lear, 1 1 . i i .
1 S

It is not a great remove from here to the Joycean jux-

tapositions of Ulysses, 1922: ORWELLIAN COMPOUNDSPEAK

a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed times 3. 12.83 reporting bb ideological; and the 'C (there are no irregular

frankeyed redhaired freely freckled shaggy- dayorder doubleplusun- vocabulary' contains techni- forms in Newspeak).
good refs unpersons cal terms. The B vocabulary Other terms in Newspeak
bearded widemouthed largenosed longheaded
rewrite fullwise upsub comprises only compound are not so much com-
deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairy- words. Orwell describes it pounds as blends, involving
antefiling
legged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero. as 'a sort of verbal short- fragments of either or both
This Newspeak message, of the constituent lexemes
hand, often packing whole
or to the lexical creations of Gerard Manley Hopkins, sent for re-editing to Win-
ranges of ideas into a few (p. 130):
ston Smith, in George
mixing hyphenated and solid forms: syllables'. Its aim is 'to Pornsec ('Pornography
Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-
impose mental
a desirable Section'), Ficdep ('Fiction
Four, given the following
is
This darksome burn, horseback brown. attitude upon the person Department'), Recdep
Oldspeak (standard English)
using them'. Examples ('Records Department'),
His rollrock highroad roaring down . . .
translation:
include: thinkpol ('Thought Police').
A windpuft-bonnet of fawn-troth
The reporting of Big Broth- doublethink, goodthink,
Turns and rwindles over the broth . . .

er's Order for the Day in The novel gives the impres-
oldthink, crimethink, old-
Clnversnaid', 1881) The Times of December 3rd sion that there are hun-
speak, speakwrite,
1983 is extremely unsatis- thoughtcrime, sexcrime, dreds of such forms.
Of course, simply to print a series of words without factory and mal<es refer- prolefeed, dayorder, black-
Indeed, one of the charac-
ences to non-existent ters (Syme) is engaged in
spaces between them is hardly to create a compound, white, duckspeak.
persons. Rewrite it in full the enormous task of com-
except at a most superficial level. A real compound acts and submit your draft to These forms could be piling the Eleventh Edition
as a grammatical unit, has a unified stress pattern, and higher authority before inflected in the usual way. of the Newspeak Dictio-
For example, goodthink nary. In fact, there are only
has a meaning which is insome way different from the filing.
('orthodoxy' in Oldspeak), a few dozen Newspeak
sum of its parts (p. 129). Many literary compounds do Newspeak uses three kinds could generate goodthink- terms mentioned in the
none of this, and have a solely graphic appeal, as in this of word; the 'A vocabu- ing, goodthinkful, good- novel and its Appendix,
lary' consists of everyday thinkwise, goodthinker, though several of them are
later line from Roger McGough's poem:
items; the 'B vocabulary' is and goodthinked used repeatedly.

then you tookoff your other glove

 10 • ETYMOLOGY
Etymology is the study of lexical history. It investigates
the origins of individual lexemes (p.l 18), the affinities ETYMOLOGICAL ANSWERS
they have had to each other, and how they have •punch Despite a widely held view to change, p. 245), and which retains its
changed in meaning and in form to reach their present the contrary, the name of the drink has magical sense. Robert Burns links the two
nothing to do with the effect that the words, referring to gypsies who 'deal in
state. The subject exercises a remarkable popular fas-
mixture can have on the drinl<er. The glamour' and those who are 'deep-read
cination. People readily ask where a word comes from, recipe originated in India, and the name black grammar' (1781). Soon
in hell's

and are prepared to speculate at length about its ori- comes from the Hindi word for 'five', glamour developed the sense of
after,
because there were five ingredients 'enchantment' or 'charm', and by the
gins. Why is the drink />ttKf/j so-called? How could silly involved (spirit, water, lemon-juice, sugar, mid-19th century we find its current
once have meant 'blessed', or sly have meant 'wise', or and spice). sense of 'alluring charm' - an association
treacle have meant 'wild animal'? There is also an • sly The word came into Middle English which for most people (though not for
from Scandinavian, where the dominant this author) is missing from the modern
inevitable curiosity when it is known that two appar-
meaning was 'cunning', with its implica- term, grammar.
ently unrelated words have the same origins. How can tion of special knowledge or wisdom. • treacle The term was formerly used for

it be that glamour and grammar were once the same Sly is also related to sleight 'dexterity' a medicinal compound widely used as an
and slay {originally, 'dexterous with the antidote against poisoning. It came into
word, or W^ry and sausage} Etymology has important
hammer'). Middle English as triacle from French,
links with questions ol folklore: why, for example, is it • and sausage Salary came into
salary and ultimately via Latin from Greek,
the stork which brings babies? And the continuing English via French from Latin, where where theriake had the meaning of 'anti-
salarium meant 'salt-money' (given to the dote against the bite of a wild beast',
popularity of books on 'Naming your Child' suggests
buy salt). Sausage also came
soldiers to Theriake, in turn, is derived from therion,
the decision-making role that the subject can play. Peo- via Frenchfrom Latin, where salsicium a diminutive form of ther, the word for
ple, in short, like to know where words come from, was something made from salted meat. 'wild animal'. The modern substance was
Salt is the common element, seen also in called treacle in the UK (US molasses)
whether they be personal names, place names, com-
sauce and salad. because of its similar appearance to the
mon nouns, idioms, abbreviations, proverbs, or any • grammar and glamour Grammar Is the original medicinal compound.
other recognized lexical domain. In this book, there older form, recorded since the early 14th •storks and babies In Middle High Ger-
century, coming into English via Old man, the related term Storch had the basic
need be no apology for a section on etymology.
French and Latin, and ultimately from meaning of 'stick', specifically referring to
Greek, where grammata meant 'letters'. such objects as a fishing rod, a tree stump,
Arguing etymologically To the illiterate, grammar quickly came to and - in a 15th-century Austrian medical
be identified with the mysterious domain treatise - the male appendage {des
During a discussion, reference to a word's earlier mean-
of the scholar, and thus developed the Mannes Storch). Once the bird was nick-
ing can often influence the way an argument proceeds. sense of 'learning' (in general), and then named 'a stick', it would not have taken
In a recent debate on the way history should be taught of 'the incomprehensible', and even of long for the double entendre to have gen-
'black magic'. Much later, in 18th-century erated the now familiar piece of folklore.
in schools - whether the focus should be on 'facts' or
Scottish English, a form appears which Is (After W. Lockwood, 1976.)
'methods' - a supporter of the latter position referred spelled with an / (a common sound
to the 'real' meaning of history as 'investigation' or
'learning by enquiry', as this was what was meant by The history of silly, showing the way pejorative senses have developed since the 17th
Greek historia, from which the modern term derives. century. (After G. Hughes, 1988.)

Several people were swayed by the point, and referred

to it throughout the debate. When Sigmund Freud was Old English
investigating hysteria, he encountered resistance from
700 900
his colleagues, who argued that, because the term hys-
teria deuwed from the Greek word for 'womb', the con-
cept of male hysteria was a contradiction in terms.
Both these cases illustrate what has been called the
etymological fallacy - the view that an earlier meaning
of a lexeme, or its original meaning, is its 'true' or 'cor-
rect' one. The fallacy is evident when it is realised that
most common lexemes have experienced several
changes in meaning during their history. Nice, for
example, earlier meant 'fastidious', and before that
'foolish' or 'simple', and if we trace it back to the equiv-
alent Latin form, nescius, the meaning is 'ignorant'
(from ne'not + scire\noW). Should we therefore say
meaning of ;nVf is 'fastidious', 'foolish', or
that the true
'ignorant? The
'original' meaning of the lexeme is, of

course, unknowable: sci- derives from a root probably

 10 • ETYMOLOGY

ncaning 'cut' in Indo-European; but no one has any

dca oFwhat meanings existed before that.
The sense of a modern lexeme depends on the way
t is used now, and not on its semantic antecedents,
.vhich are often multiple and obscure. To argue
,;tymologically is to impale oneself on the horns of
several dilemmas. Fascinating as etymologies are, in

debate they can only be a rhetorical cheat.

|>emantic fields
|Etymology has traditionally focused on the study of
Individual lexemes, tracing their earlier forms {et}i-

mons). Often, as in the case oi grammar -ind glamour.

A HISTORICAL MENU
The evolution of terms for food and drink is an inter-
esting reflection of the history of cultural contact
between English-speaking countries and the rest of
the world. (After G. Hughes, 1988.)

Food Drink
 PART II • RNCI.ISH VC)c:ABU1.ARY

SEMANTIC CHANGE EVIDENCE

The lower example is

Everyone knows that words can change their meaning. from a student's notes on
Othello and graphically
We do not need to have taken a course in semantics to
illustrates the linguistic
hold a view about what has happened to gay since the distance which exists
1960s. Some strongly disapprove of the new meaning between Shakespeare's
vocabulary and that of the
which this lexeme has developed; some welcome it; but
20th century. Some of the
all native speakers of English recognize that there has notes are to do with biblio-
been a change, and are able to talk about it. Semantic graphical matters (the Qs
and F refer to alternative
change is a fact of life. And those who have had to study readings in the various
older works of literature, such as a Shakespeare play, printings of the text), but

will need no reminding of how much of the vocabu- several identify important
points of semantic change
lary has been affected by such changes.
(e.g. peculiar 'particular',
Linguists have distinguished several kinds of seman- timorous 'terrifying').
tic change. Four particularly important categories are The upper example makes
the same point, but rather
given below (for other types and examples, see the sec-
more neatly. It is from the
tions on euphemism (p. 172), cliche (p. 186), and fig- Arden Shakespeare edition
urative language (p. 421), and the various dimensions of The Tempest, edited by
Frank Kermode.
of 'political correctness' discussed on p. 177).
• Extension or generalization. A lexeme widens its

meaning. Numerous examples of this process have

occurred in the religious field, where office, doctrine,

novice, and many other terms have taken on a more

general, secular range of meanings.
• Narrowing or specialization. A lexeme becomes
more specialized in meaning. Engine was formerly
used in a general sense of 'mechanical contrivance'
(especially of war and torture), but since the Indus-
trial Revolution it has come to mean 'mechanical
source of power'. Several of the terms of economics
(p. 137) also show specialization.
• Amelioration A lexeme develops a positive sense of
approval. Revolutionary, once associated in the capi-
talist mind with an undesirable overthrowing of the
status quo, is now widely used by advertisers as a sig-

nal of desirable novelty. Lean no longer brings to mind FOR BETTER OR

emaciation but athleticism and good looks. WORSE?
• Pejoration or deterioration. A lexeme develops a neg- Whether you view the
ative sense of disapproval. Middle English villein neu- 'homosexual' meaning of
gay as a semantic change
trally described a serf whereas Modern English villain
for the better
is by no means neutral. Similarly, _/M«to has acquired a (amelioration) or worse
sinister, dictatorial sense, and leu/d (originally, 'of the (deterioration) depends on
factors that are more to do
laity') has developed a sense of sexual
with personal taste and
impropriety. morality than with
language. Because of this,
lexical change can often be such as cosmetics, would see in this term a
COWBOV ;ible
cowboypfur.bers,co.boy controversial. hairdressing, and what in prime example of lexical
resting
example ^^^^le-g'az'ng Shop names frequently inner-city side-streets is deterioration - but those
extend lexical meaning in euphemistically referred to leaving such a parlour
of a sect probably would not. The
°^^°r.d"e";o"t:^^-everal ^ean a member controversial ways. Salon, as 'relaxation'. Parlour,
once a term belonging to formerly a part of a purr-words (p. 171)ofthe
''"'nalWde°e'opedqu,tepos. the French aristocratic social monastery or convent used property developer and
with its rom- scene, may now be found in for conversation, has commercial advertiser
o"g'"^"^J^.,or,s
connotations
twe .j^
all kinds of contexts which developed a similar range of repeatedly provoke
assooat.onsonhe
„,<h..oado.a acrov street meanings. People who
antic have nothing at all to do contradictory reactions in

^«^:°*rbero d^tmctiv with the aristocracy or would never dream of this way.
::i:S,:e-:oes,nce.a,n elegant social interaction. entering a relaxation parlour
teliow-workers.
?^::^:hSK.can.ean
 10 • ETYMOLOGY

FOLK ETYMOLOGY PHYSICIST NEOLOGIST they simply do not like the sound of it.
These difficulties are compounded in a
1 know the exact moment when decided I
scientific subject, where there is an under-
to make the word 'boojum' an interna- standable conservatism, in the interests of
When people hear a foreign or unfamiliar word for :he tionally accepted scientific term. maintaining intelligibility (p. 372), and
first time, they try to make sense of it by relating it to Thus begins the opening chapter of David where terminological proposals are sub-
words they know well. They guess what it must mean Mermin's book, Boojums All the Way jected to detailed peer-group scrutiny.
- and Through: Communicating Science in a In the end, the term did come to be
if enough people
often guess wrongly. However,
Prosaic Age 0990). The year was 1976, recognized, but not without a great deal
make same wrong guess, the error can become part
the
and he was returning from a symposium of effort. The proposal was first recorded
of the language. Such erroneous forms are caWed folk on the discovery of the superf luid phases as part of the published symposium dis-
of liquid helium-3. Superfluids, he cussion, but in quotation marks (as we
or popular etymologies.
explains, are liquids in which currents can would expect). Mermin then gave a paper
Bridegroom provides a good example. What has a
flow for ever, without succumbing to the a few months later in which he used the
groom got do with getting married? Is he going to
to frictional drag that causes currents in term several times. It was published in the
ordinary fluids to die away. Helium-3 is proceedings, and appeared in the index.
'groom' the bride, in some way? Or perhaps he is
an 'anisotropic' liquid - one whose He then used the term at several other
responsible for horses to carry him and his bride off into conferences.
atomic structure in any little region points
the sunset? The true explanation is more prosaic. The along a particular line. The structure is A burst of correspondence followed
especially noticeable in one of its phases, between Mermin and the editor of a
Middle English form was bridgome, which goes back to
and at the symposium the question was scientific journal to whom a paper had
Old English brydguma, from 'bride' + guma 'man'. discussed of how the lines in this phase been submitted which included the term.
However, gome died out during the Middle English would arrange themselves in a spherical The editor objected to boojum on the
drop of the liquid. grounds that it would not be sufficiently
period. By the 6th century its meaning was no longer
1

A theoretical pattern, elegant in its sym- known to the international scientific com-
apparent, and it came to be popularly replaced by a sim- shown Figure below. Figure munity to justify its inclusion. Mermin
metry, is in 1

ilar-sounding word, grome, 'serving lad'. This later 2 shows what happens as a vortex line responded by giving a definition ('any
(the long funnel of a little whirlpool) con- surface point singularity the motion of
developed the sense of 'servant having the care of hors-
nects the point of convergence of the which can catalyze the decay of a super-
es', which is the dominant sense today. But bridegroom lines to the surface of the drop. The vor- current')and pointing out that the lexical
never meant anything more than 'bride's man'. tices draw the convergence point to the item as such was already in the dictionary.
surface (Figure resulting in a final pat- However, the editor was not swayed, and
Here are a few other folk etymologies: 3),

tern, shown in Figure 4, where the sym- the term was rejected.
• sparrow-grass A popular name for asparagus- though metry has collapsed, and the lines radiate Mermin continued his efforts, writing a
this do with sparrows.
vegetable has nothing to from a point on the surface. further article for another leading physics

• cockroach The name came from Spanish cucuracha, What should this new pattern be called? journal, and adding note on the etymo-
a
Mermin was reminded of Lewis Carroll's logical background. The submission led to
the first part of which must have been particularly an in-depth dialogue with one of the
poem 'The Hunting of the Snark', where
obscure to English ears. There is no connection with the last lines are 'He had softly and sud- journal's editorial team, and this time it
denly vanished away / For the Snark was a was finally allowed to appear As part of
cock.
Boojum, you see'. As the symmetrical pat- the discussion, there was a debate about
• helpmate The form comes from a Bible translation of tern in the liquid drop had indeed 'softly which plural form to use: should it be
Genesis 2.18, when God said 'I will make him a help and suddenly vanished away', the term booja, boojum, or boojumsl They settled
seemed highly appropriate. on the last. And in 1978 a paper appeared
meet for him'. Meet in this context is an adjective,
In his book, Mermin tells the story of the which contained boojums in its title, and
meaning 'suitable'; but the popular view preferred to difficulties he faced in getting his term which used the term throughout without
take the word as a form of mate. accepted. It is rare for any new lexeme to apology (as the name of Mermin's book
to the lexicon without reper- 'boojums all the way through').
indicates:
• salt-cellar Old French, a salier^3iS a salt-box. When
In attach itself

cussions, and thiswhat he found. Each

is Boojum therefore emerged in print with-
the word came into English, the connection with salt elbow its way in, and find in a couple of years of its creation, to join
lexeme has to
was evidently not clear, and people started calling the an acceptable place in the semantic field such fashionable physics terms as quaric,
to which it belongs. existence will hedgehog, and charm. Whatever its future
object a salt-saler. The modern form has no connection Its

probably affect the definition of estab- in physics, its place in etymological history
with a cellar. is assured. It is unusual to find the gesta-
lished lexemes. And people may object to
the new lexeme on a whole variety of tion and birth of a lexeme given such a
grounds, such as that it is not needed, or detailed tabulation.
that other terms are better suited, or that
The first simply derived from the
part of sirloin is

French word sur 'above'. The form must have greatly

puzzled the people of the early Middle English period.
Unused to French, they etymologized the form to sir,
and then thought up a legend to make sense of it (the
story of the English king who found this joint of meat
so splendid that he gave it a knighthood).

\G *"—-£» "-"'
FILLET
Tsmm
"^iSXj

BRISKET
fcussatoLi. cut

l^,' %
il
 PART 11 - ENGLISH VOCABULARY

which they live constitute one of the most established

NAMES domains of onomastics. It is not difficult to see why
this should be so. Place names can provide a unique
One of the most popular aspects of etymology is the source of information about a society's history, struc-
liistory of names - those words or phrases which ture, customs, and values. Often, a place name is the
imiqiiely identify persons, animals, places, concepts, only record of a person's existence or of a historical
or things. A 'proper name', as grammar books often event. Pada, Cippa, Cynehild, and Gip are known only
call it (p. 208), presents an entity as an individual from their linguistic memorials in (respectively)

instance, and not as an anonymous member of a class Paddington, Chippenham, Kenilworth, and Ipswich.
(a 'common noun'). The Beatles, Llanfairpwllgivyngyll, Gallowtree Gate in Leicester and Pillory Lane in

A Clockwork Orange, and Peter Rabbit are uniquely London are toponymic reminders of the sanctions of a
located in space and time, and are thus names, in this previous age.
sense; whereas group, village, novel, and rabbit have
multiple and open-ended reference, and are thus com-
mon nouns. In English, names are generally identified
by being printed with an initial capital letter; but this

convention cannot always be trusted: should we write

the church or the ChurclP. the president or the President''.

(p. 122).
There seems to be a universal and deep-rooted drive
to give individual names to things. People, places, pets,
and houses among the most obvious categories, but
are
anything with which we have a special relationship is
likely to 1 990 edition of the BBC Radio
be named. In a
4 Now, over 1,000 listeners sent in infor-
series English

mation about the things they named at home: the list

included cars, yachts, word processors, wheelbarrows,
washing machines, kitchen implements, house plants,
and toothbrushes. Institutions also readily name their
products, most obviously for purposes of identifica-
tion and marketing (as in the case of brand names,
book titles, paint colours, and roses), but also as a way
of maintaining a tradition (as in the case of British
locomotives, many of which are identified by name as

well as number).
The science which studies names is called onomastics
(also onomatologj) . Among its branches are the study
of personal names (anthroponomastics) and place
names These days the
(toponomastics, or toponymy).
subject deals with far more than etymology, and inves-
tigates a wide range of social, psychological, and legal

questions. Why do names come into fashion and go

out of fashion? What factors affect the success of a
name? What controls limit the use of a name? Why are
people so sensitive about their names? Names research
is an open-ended and complex domain, and one
which is particularly greedy of the researcher's time -
as anyone can quickly discover, simply by asking peo-
RUNNYMEDE Skyrack in Yorkshire is the
Runy originally meant 'oak where the shire meets'.
ple why they gave their house the name it has. But few The place where King John 'island where a council is Similar etymologies underlie

other areas of linguistic study prove to be so riveting, met the English Barons in held'. Evidently this locality Spetchley in Worcestershire
1215, and sealed the Magna had an ancient history of ('speech glade'), Spellbrook
or focus so directly on the personal and emotional Carta, has one of the most use for important meetings. in Hertfordshire, Matlock in

aspects of language. familiar names in the history There are many other Derbyshire ('oak at which a
of England. But why did the examples of names which meeting is held'), and Motti-
meeting take place there? refe-' to meeting-places. stone in the Isle of Wight
Place names The name itself provides a Spelhoe in Northumberland ('speaker's stone').
The names people give to the countries, districts, topo- clue. Runnymede means means 'speech hill', and
graphical features, settlements, streets, and houses in
 1 • ETYMOLOGY

NAMING PLACES
To understand how places come to be named, it
is helpful to put ourselves in the position of the
Anglo-Saxon invaders of the 5th century, faced
with vast tracts of unnamed Britain. How would
you set about the task of identifying where peo-
• They also kept some of the place names • Names relating to religious beliefs and
introduced by the Romans during their period of practices, both pagan and Christian, are well
occupation (AD 43-c. 400). There are over 200 represented. Harrow, Weedon, and Alkham all
modern British place names which have Roman contain Old English words relating to heathen
origins, notably those ending in -port, -chiester, or temples or idols. Westminster, Wliitchurch, and St
-street. Ives all contain Christian elements. Some names
• Families or tribal groups would settle in a are of uncertain status: Gadshill in Kent could

ple live and what they do there? This is what the which would then become known by the
locality, refer to either a pagan or the Christian god.
Anglo-Saxons did. head person's name. Examples include Reading • The largest number of place names relate to
• In some cases, they took over a name already ('place of Reada's people'), Dagenham ('Dacca's topography - to the coastline, hills, rivers, woods,
in use by the inhabitants they found there. Sev- homestead'), and those cited on the facing page. trees, stones, fields, and other physical features.
eral river names, in particular, are Celtic, such as There are thousands of these place names - in the The variety of names to do with hills and valleys is
Thames, Avon, Wye, and Ouse. These were often patriarchal society of the time, of course, mostly especially understandable, when we remember
used to help form the names of settlements, such referring to males (but there are several that the Anglo-Saxons came from one of the
as Taunton (on the R. Tone) and Wilton (on the exceptions, such as Bamburgh, from the 7th flattest areas in Europe, and would have been
R. Wylie). It is remarkable that so few such names century Queen Bebba). particularly attentive to the identification value
remain. of even quite gentle slopes and mounds.

TOPOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH PLACE NAMES

Hills and slopes Valleys and
bank, barrow, hollows
borough, breck, cam, bottom, dough,
cliff, crook, down, combe, dale, den,
edge, head, hill, how, ditch, glen, grave,
hurst, ley, ling. Nth, hole, hope, slade
mond, over, pen,
Examples:
ridge, side , tor
Cowdale, Denton,
Examples: Greenslade, Hoole,
Barrow, Blackdown, Longbottom,
Longridge, Redcliff, Thorncombe
Thornborough,
Windhill

Rivers and streams Dwellings

batch, beck, brook, and farms
burn, ey, fleet, font, barton, berwick,
ford, keld, lade, biggin, bold, by,
marsh,
lake, latch, cote, ham,
mere, mouth, ore, hampstead, ham-
pool, rith, wade, ton, house, scale,
water, well sett, stall, thorpe,
toft, ton, wick
Examples:
Broadwater, Examples:
Fishlake, Mersey, Fishwick, Newham,
Rushbrooke, Potterton, Westby,
Saltburn Woodthorpe

Coastline Fields and clearings

features combe, croft, den, ergh,
ey, holme, field, ham, haugh, hay,
hulme, hythe, ing, land, lease, lock,
naze, ness, port, meadow, rick, ridding,
sea rode, shot, side,
thwaite, wardine,
Examples:
worth, worthy
Bardsey,
Greenhithe, Examples:
Sheerness, Applethwaite,
Southport, Cowden, Smallworthy,
Southsea Southworth,
Wethersfield

Notes • Several items have the same form, but differ in

• These elements are all found in many different meaning because they come from different
spellings. Old English beorg 'hill, mound', for words In Old English. For example, -ey has
example, turns up as bar-, berg-, -ber, -berry, developed In different ways from the two words
-borough, and -burgh. Only one form is given ea 'river' and eg 'island'. It is not always easy
above (ThornboroughJ. deciding which is the relevant meaning in a given
place name.
 .

PART II • r.NGi.isH voc:abui.ary

SiRccsshil place-name research puts several academic Saxon times. Even more confusing are the cases where
disciplines to work. Palaeography and philology (p. originally different forms have come out as identical in
436) are needed to decode the names in maps and modern English: there are several places called Aston,
manuscripts, and to work out the subtle relationship and the meaning is usually 'eastern farmstead', but in
between sounds and spellings. History, archaeology, certain localities (such as Cold Aston in Gloucester-
and sociology are needed to provide plausible contexts shire) the meaning is 'farmstead by ash trees'. There is

for the interpretations proposed by linguistic research. also the opposite case, where the same form has devel-
A knowledge ot the relevant source languages is obvi- oped several spellings, sometimes because of dialect
ousl\- critical. .And a health)' scepticism is invariably differences in pronunciation, sometimes because of
One of the earliest-known
beneficial. the new spelling practices introduced by Norman detailed maps of Britain,
The scepticism is required because place names are French scribes after the Conquest: there is no etymo- containing a great deal of
often not what they seem. There is probably little logical difference between Northwich, Northwick, and information about
medieval place names. It
doubt that Highwood or Ridgeivay mean what they Norwich, which come from the Old English words all
was compiled c. 1250 for
appear to mean. But several modern forms no longer meaning 'northern dwelling-place'. Great care is need- the Chronica Maiora of the
have the meaning they once had: z field, for example, English Benedictine chroni-
ed if wrong conclusions are not to be drawn, and in
cler, Matthew Paris of St
is often now an enclosed piece of land, but the word regrettably many instances an original form or mean- Albans (died 1259). It is
referred only to a piece of open country in Anglo- ing cannot be proposed with any conviction. now in the British Library.

MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
"The Domesday Book, compiled by 1086, provides the
earliest recorded spelling of most English village and
parish names. These spellings have to be viewed
critically, however, because the French scribes naturally

transcribed many of the Old English pronunciations

using their own writing system. Also, unfamiliarity with
the names inevitably led to errors.
Earlier sources include the 'Guide to Geography' of
Ptolemy, dating fromc. 150, and a few other Latin sources
and inscriptions. The Old English period has a large
number of charters, wills, and other legal documents
containing place names, as well as the invaluable Ang/o-
Saxon Chronicle ipAA). As the documents are often
preserved in copies made several centuries later, the risk
of copyist error must always be borne in mind.
Sources from the Middle English period include the
Pipe Rolls, dating from the mid-12th century, which
contain the yearly accounts of the sheriffs for each
county. Along with various other legal and administrative
-
documents of the time, they list thousands of local ,T ... S -:
:
f>
" ip,uil ,Sii,i^n= rv,ciK-:u,< J^
names, and are important for the information they ''
-t- ' < 'v'^-'s"',"'V '-""'liinlinU fl'.tiJ^'Vt.'^ror -rfC'A,—
provide about people as well as places (p. 149).

HaalMKisaM.

"yjsC. .if \v>t f»r '*' '"^ . I I 4'-'' '""'sSSi-r. l)--""' "•' ^\ I^^«"'alV'"'f =
gifHgip: ,|^ou,r,r."l"l.'fVf,. ;,.-•„,- '.

1 JM\ ~ ' 1 rt»nf<^

e •"%:£'.

l„W,i....l5«^'jJ
Kc:'

Ivy -.>.—*>-". IKitliiX«w~<," .JjmWwWi*^,

^^ ^„
'^ ^n^-«v!xt

|v-j>j;
i'!;';!r.^i^'v^*^*»^K
-"; ;- - - ?t'.'3ri5^.*'"'-i5"''4'£

»',!Ev.~j -»'

•^''rf.''S:.'.':*i?.;'lpSj-.B. ^
taly^
 5

I • ETYMOLOGY

BRITISH COUNTY 29 Buckingham 'riverside

NAMES land of Bucca's people'
30 Berkshire 'county of
an etymological the wood of Barroc'
This is
('hilly place')
glossary of the county
31 M//ghf 'place of the
names of Great Britain rec-
division' (of the sea) (?)
ognized by the 1972 local
government reorganization. 32 Hampshire 'county of
It excludes those where the
Southampton' ('south-

meaning of the name is self- ern home farm')

evident, asin the case of

33 Oxford 'ford used by
Highland and Borders. Sev- oxen'
eral etymologies are uncer-
34 Wiltshire 'county
tain or controversial,
around Wilton' ('farm
especially those marked (?).
on the river Wylie')
35 Dorset '(territory of

1 S/iet/and 'hilt land' the) settlers around

2 Grampian unknown Dorn' ('Dorchester')
origin 36 Somerset '(territory of

3 Tayside 'silent river' or

around
the) settlers

'powerful river'
Somerton' ('summer
dwelling')
4 Fife 'territory of Vip' (?)
5 Lothian '(territory of)
37 Devon '(territory of)
Leudonus' the Dumnonii' ('the
6 Strathclyde 'valley of deep ones', probably
the Clyde' (the miners)
'cleansing one') 38 Cornwall '(territory of)
7 Dumfries 'woodland Britons of the Cornovii'

stronghold' ('promontory people')

Galloway '(territory of) 39 Scilly unknown origin
40 Avon 'river'
the stranger-Gaels'
41 6/oucester '(Roman)
8 Northumberland 'land
fort at Glevum'
of those dwelling
('bright place')
north of the Number'
42 Gwenf 'favoured place'
9 Tyne 'water, river'
43 Glamorgan '(Prince)
Wear 'river'
Morgan's shore'
10 Durham 'island with a
44 Hereford 'army ford'
hill'
l/1/orcester '(Roman)
11 Oei'e/ar7d 'hilly land'
fort of the Wigora'
12 Yorkshire 'place of
45 Powys 'provincial ANCASHIRE7 1 HUMBERSlb^E
Eburos' ^^^^.j. >,

place' ^YORKSHIRn g-
13 Humberside 'side of
the good river'
46 Dyfed '(territory of)
MERS^IDE
\JANCH£STER^ sO^^,*V»^ ./I V '
the Demetae'
14 Lincoln '(Roman) colony
47 Gwynedd '(territory of) ^CHESHIRE^'*djnji-. r-uNCOLNSHIRI
at Lindo' ('lake place')
1 Derby 'village where Cunedda' (5th-century
•^

YNEDDU
(

ICLWYD^, <S>
_^fli
%> i^)
^ '

'-5^s
leader)
there are deer'
48 Clwyd 'hurdle' on
16 Nottingham 'home-
stead of Snot's people'
river)
(?
rX "', ^®nEIC^STERSHl^,>- 'T NORFO
;<^rrC|^^.„j7^^_®
17 Leicester '(Roman) fort
49 Shropshire 'county of ,mbridg£" ,

SHIRE .0? <;MFFni K

Shrewsbury' ('fortified /
of the Ligore people' (-^(^'''(^ ^**bEDFORD,-W
place of the scrubland /HEREFORD AND '

18 Northampton 'northern
region')
J^ \ -pi. ( WORCESTER ^ '^T^ .^u C^^^^^ \r-^- —w^
19
home farm'
Cambridge 'bridge 50 Warwick 'dwellings by J /,
y-f
>-GlDUCESTERJ cJ x%.^-t4ERTF0RQ--'

^^r-r.,;^™^:;''! '£5"'«' }oxTbRo--~>j^,

shi^^
© ESSEX
^Vk
rQ
'

A-^/
a weir'
over the river Granta'
51 Stafford 'ford beside a
'-iK^rj^TS^Y' v---^ ''^ iSj GREATER_>-»
\"
20 Norfolk 'northern >, BERKSHIRE/^'
landing-place'
people'
21 Suffolk 'southern
52 Cheshire 'county of
Chester' (Roman 'fort')
SOMERSET C^
*'' ''HAMPSHIRE!
^''iZ'"Aj*-\ ^
people' .rJEAST SUSSSX'
22 Bedford 'Beda's ford'
53 Merseyside '(side of T -^ DORSET '. >^^ J \ SU§X

23 Hertford 'hart ford'

the) boundary
54 Manchester '(Roman)
river' ©
24 Essex '(territory of) the T---^
East Saxons'
fort at IVIamucium' ISLES OE TVCORNW/ALL
,, - "

55 Lancashire '(Roman)
25 London '(territory of)
fort on the Lune'
Londinos' ('the bold
one')(?)
('health-giving river') ©
26 Kent 'land on the bor- 56 Cumbria 'territory of
the Welsh'
der' (?)
27 Surrey 'southern district'
57 Man 'land of Mananan'
(an Irish god)
28 Sussex '(territory of)
the South Saxons' 58 Orkney 'whale island' (?)

(After J. Field, 1980.)

 PARI' II • KNCn.lSH VOCAIiULARY

ENGLISH PLACE NAMES SHAKESPEARE COUNTRY Shakespeare himself has been largely
avoided. There is a Shakespeare Island in
IN THE NEW WORLD Rulers, statesmen, explorers, soldiers,
sailors are the ones usually chosen to
and Canada, and a small town called Shake-
speare near Stratford, Ontario. And yet, if
name important places. Artists, writers, a new city was to be built in the middle of
A notable feature of early British toponyms (p. 140), and composers are conspicuous by their the Australian outback, would it feel right
absence. Several of Shakespeare's charac- to propose its name as Shakespeare - or,
is the absence of commemorative personal names. The ters, such as Viola and Othello, have come for that matter, Chaucer, Britten, Elgar, or
Anglo-Saxons readily named places after the chief per- to name small towns in the USA, but Constable?

son who lived there, but rarely used the name of a

famous person from elsewhere. Even the greatest of
Anglo-Saxon kings, Alfred, receives no major place-
name memorial - though several localities stressing the
role rather than the person did follow his reign
(Kingston, Kingswood, etc.). Saints provide a few excep-
tions, as in the case oi St Albans. It must be the self-

effacing English character. Not the done thing.

Things have not much changed in Britain: there seems
to be no town or village in England with a sovereign's
name since the Conquest (though there is no such
reluctance to give a monarchical name to humbler loca-
tions, such as parks, streets, and railway stations). But,

as with modern tourism, when the English travel Shakespeare, Ontario, 1989.

abroad, they act in very different ways. In the USA,

there is a. Jamestown in Arkansas, California, Kentucky,
and
JAMES COOK (1728-79)
several other states, along with numerous cases of
Charleston, Williamsburg, Georgetoion, and Victoria. Captain Cook named thousands of localities
during his voyages between 1768 and 1779.
There are well over 100 cities and townships (and
His names included the Society Islands (after
a state) with the name of Washington. Carolina, the Royal Society, which had sponsored his
expedition) and many of the coastal fea-
Maryland, Fredericksburg, Columbus, Louisiana,
tures of New Zealand and Australia. He
Napoleonville, Carson, Coolidge, Lincoln, and Monroe frequently chose names belonging to con-
temporary British personalities, such as
recall a variety of rulers, pioneers, and statesmen.
Halifax and Grafton. Many others were
Australia, similarly, has Victoria, Tasmania, Cooktown, based on his observations of the physical
environment {Smoky Cape, Botany Bay)
the Flinders Ranges, the Gibson Desert, and such colon-
or on events to do with the journey
ial secretaries as Neivcastle, Bathurst, Kimberley, (Weary Bay, Thirsty Sound). Mount Cook
in New Zealand, the Cook Strait, and the
Normanby, and Hobart. All over the New World,
Cook Islands are among the few localities
famous people are commemorated in ways that are which carry his own name.
thoroughly alien within Britain.
The names used by the English-speaking countries
of the world are remarkable in their diversity. Francisco; French in Montreal Baton Rouge,
• The environment is used in much
same way as in the and Le Roy.
early Britain, but the meaning of the names is usually • Many names have been chosen for their literary

transparent: Twin Peaks, Salt Lake City, Kangaroo Bluff, associations (Longfellow, Hiawatha, Lvanhoe, Elsinore)
Table Mountain, Little Rock, Crooked Creek, Swan River. and many for their romantic sound (Meadowvale,
• Local native names are much in evidence: Saratoga, Sunnyhurst, Arcadia, Rosebud).
Tallahassie, and Oklahoma from American Indian • Pedestrian descriptions abound, as they did in early
languages; Paramatta, Kalgoorlie, and Woomera from. England: there are hundreds of Neivtowns, Newports,
Aboriginal languages; Wanganui, Tauranga, and Mount Pleasants, and Greenvilles around the English-
Akaroai^om Maori. speaking world. North Bay, South Island, Bridgeport,
• Inspirational names have been imported from the Center Point, and Hill City suggest a singular lack of
Old World: Paris, Berlin, London, Athens, Memphis, imagination - or perhaps simply pioneer fatigue.
Hertford. Several have a modifier: New London, New • By contrast, many names display a wild and vivid
Norfolk. inventiveness: //oZ^Coj^^' (Mississippi), Knuckles (Ken-
• Important events or feelings are recorded: Cape tucky), and Difficult (Tennessee). Tesnus (Texas) is

Catastrophe, Waterlooville, Encounter Bay, Hope Valley, spelled backwards to avoid a clash with an already
Fort Defiance, Fog Bay, Hard Luck Creek. existing Sunsetin the same state. Truth or Consequences
• The language of the settlers has been a major influ- (New Mexico) changed its name from Hot Springs

ence: Spanish in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San under the influence of a radio game show.
 10 • ETYMOLOGY

THE UNITED STATES

The 50 American states get
their names from six sources:

•Over half the names (28)

come from native words,
mainly American Indian, with
one from Inuit and one from
Hawaiian.
• Eleven names are from

English, both people and

places.
• Six names come from Span-
ish.
• Three names come from
French.
• One name comes from
^ Dutch - Rhode Island.
J One name comes from
•

America's own history -

Washington - also used for
the capital of the country,
Washington DC. ('District of
Columbia', which helps to dis-
tinguish it from the state).

A lexical feature of the

American states is that they
have all been given nicknames
- sometimes more than one.
Alabama, for example, is also
called 'the Cotton State' and
'the Heart of Dixie', and
Louisiana is called 'the Pelican
State', 'the Creole State', and
'the Sugar State' (p. 306).

A typical mix of New World place

names, seen here on Cape Breton
Island, and along the coastline of
Nova Scotia, Canada. American Indian,
English, and French names all rub
shoulders. The evidence of Scottish
immigration is clearly to be seen in
such names as Loch Lomond and
Inverness.
 PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Street-wise 'Currently Owned by the Woolwich Equitable Build- THE ENGLISH PLACE-
The names ot pubs, shops, houses, alleys, centres, mar- ing Society'. Why Hysteria^. Next door to a house called NAME SOCIETY
kets, parks, promenades, and quaysides, along with the Wisteria. Why ThisdedenP. Derived from 'This'U do'. For over half a century
there has been a society
dozens ot other locutions available in English to Street names are particularly intriguing, partly
devoted to the study of
describe 'the street where we live', provide a rich sup- because of the evidence they provide about social his- English place names It is the

ply of data for the place-name enthusiast. Each English tory, and partly because of their continuing social asso- English Place-Name Society,
founded in 1923 at the sug-
pub sign, for example, has a story to tell, and can give ciations. People will often take note of the name before gestion of Allan Mawer, at
a fascinating glimpse of social history. The Bible and deciding to buy a house in a particular street. Many the time Baines Professor of
Crown was Sun but prefer Avenue, Chase, English Language at the
a Cavalier drinking-toast. The Rising refuse to live in a Street ax. all,
University of Liverpool. The
was a heraldic allusion (to the arms of the House of Crescent, Drive, Gardens, Villas, Close, or some other Society had an ambitious
York). The F/ying Bull derives from stagecoach names. substitute word. Local government offices often aim: to carry out research
name, and a con- intoall the place names of
Each house name, too, tells a personal story, as amply receive requests to change a street
England, and to publish its
demonstrated by the thousands of records in the files siderable amount of time can be devoted to choosing surveys, county by county.
of the Names Society, which has collected house names the names in a new area of housing development. As Mawer became the first

in over 45 languages (L. Dunkling, 1974). Why Cob- so often in place-name studies, social issues outrank Director of the Society,
which moved with him to
webs^ Not what the word suggests, but an acronym - etymological ones.
University College London
in 1929. After his death in

1942, the Society found a

home Reading, then
first in

in Cambridge (1946), then

back in University College
(1951), finally in 1967 mov-
ing Its chief office to its pre-
sent location, the University
of Nottingham, where it

came under the direction of

Professor Kenneth Cameron.
The Society aimed to pub-
lish a volume a year, and
although this programme
was given a setback by the
Second World War, 66 vol-
umes had appeared by
1992. A further five were
then the pipeline, includ-
in

ing the complete survey of

Rutland, and further vol-
umes on Shropshire and
WILLIAM PENN (1644-1718) Norfolk. Research continues
into several other areas, a
^-".a The founder of Pennsylvania, the journal regularly appears,
son of Admiral Sir William Penn, and there are plans for
after whom the state was named. more surveys.
The younger Penn himself named As the reports of its Secre-
and planned Philadelphia ('broth- tariesshow, the history of
erly love'). Because of his Quaker the Society is a remarkable
CITY STREETS owned the land in the early 18th beliefs, he did not want to name story of enthusiasm, loyalty,
century. each street after the most import- and scholarship. It has
Part of a plan of the City of London,
Piccadilly Named after the ruffed lace ant person who lived in it (as was always been precariously
taken from John Leake's An exact
collars (known as pickadills) popular the existing practice). People, in housed, with resources
surveigh of the streets lanes and
in the early 17th century. According his view, were equal before God. barely adequate for its
churches contained within the ruines
to one theory, these collars were He therefore introduced a num- work. Several other coun-
of the city of London, published in
particularly associated with a certain bering system, using the geomet- trieshave well-funded
1667, after the Great Fire of 1666.
whose house came to be
tailor, rical layout of the city as a guide. institutes devoted to place-
Studies of London's streets date from
dubbed Pickadilly Hall. The name East-West streets were called First name study (such as those in
the 16th century, and there are now
later transferred to its locality. Street, Second Street,and so on. Scandinavia). By contrast,
several name guides and dictionaries.
Regent Street Named after the Prince North-South streets were given the volumes of the English
While the etymologies are sometimes
Regent who in 1820 became names from nature, such as Wal- Society have always been
controversial, they are always interest-
George IV nut Street and Pine Street. Many produced on a shoestring.
ing - and surprisingly little known.
Shaftesbury Avenue Named after other towns adopted the system, The British Academy has
Downing Street Named after the sol- Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh Earl with the result that American city been particularly support-
dier and diplomat. Sir George Down- of Shaftesbury (1801-85), the factory centre nomenclature is now very ive, as has Nottingham Uni-
ing (c. 1623-84), who held a lease on reformer and philanthropist. different from its British counter- versity, but the support of
the land. Soho Originally a hunting-cry, and per- part. There is no UK idiom cor- the Society's members has
Kingsway Named for King Edward VII haps the name of an inn in the area. responding to such US elliptical also been crucial, in
(reigned 1901-10). Strand The 'shore' of the Thames. expressions as 'First and Vine' (for enabling the Society to
Oxford Street Named after Edward Tottenham Court Road 'the court of the intersection of First Street and achieve so much in such a
Harley, second Earl of Oxford, who Totta's village'. Vine Street). relatively short time.
(See also p. 446).
 ETYMOLOGY

LIFF, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING NAMES-RACE

Place names often reflect and influence the way society The names of the major physical features of the far side of the moon bring
behaves, and are thus a ready butt of comedy and satire. In together the domains of toponymy and anthroponymy (p. 140). The surnames of
any country, a name can immediately bring to mind a social astronauts, astronomers, and other scientists predominate, alongside the occa-
milieu, or convey a stereotype of it. In London Mayfair sits sional name of a project (Apollo) or place (Moscoviense - Latin 'Moscow'). It is
uneasily alongside Wapping.as does Brooklyn Heights certainly possible to see the history of the lunar space-race in the distinctive sur-
alongside Brownsville New
York City.
in names. By contrast, there is very little sign of the romantic Latin descriptions (such
Add social nuance to the etymological histories of many as Mare Nubium - 'Sea of Clouds') with which the facing side of the moon has so
place names, which have led to recognizable phonetic long been identified.
associations with other words in the language, and to the
symbolic potential of certain sound sequences (p. 250), and we
have the situation which allows a book such as The Meaning of
Liff to appear. Written in 1983 by Douglas Adams, the author
of The Hitch Hilcer's Guide to the Galaxy, and John Lloyd, it
perfectly illustrates the evocative power of English place
names. However, the authors evidently have, deep down, by
their own admission, a serious purpose: to remedy some of the
lexical deficiencies of the language (p. 1 33) by making use of
the place names, which, as their preface points out, 'spend
their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts
pointing at places'. Here are some examples from A to H.

Ahenny (adj.) The way people stand when examining other

people's book-shelves.
Amersham (n.) The sneeze which tickles but never comes.
Banff Pertaining to, or descriptive of, that kind of facial
{adj.)
expression which is impossible to achieve except when
having a passport photograph taken.
Clun (n.) A leg which has gone to sleep and has to be hauled

around after you.

Detchant (n.) That part of a hymn (usually a few notes at the
end of a verse) where the tune goes so high or so low that
you suddenly have to change octaves to accommodate it.
Duleek (n.) Sudden realisation, as you lie in bed, waiting for
the alarm to go off, that it should have gone off an hour
ago.
The first, tiniest inkling you get that something,
Ely (n.)
somewhere, has gone terribly wrong.
Ewelme (n., vb.) The smile bestowed on you by an air hostess.

Goo/e (n.) The puddle on the bar into which the barman puts
your change.
Happle (vb.) To annoy people by finishing their sentences for
them and then telling them what they really meant to say
(cf. p. 295).
Hoffivb.) To deny indignantly something which is palpably
true.

WHERE NAMES GIVE WAY TO NUMBERS

This beautiful object goes by the name of NGC 6302. NGC stands
for Weuv General Catalogue, a listing of 7840 nebulae made by
the Danish astronomer Johan Dreyer in 1888. An earlier cata-
logue, compiled by Frenchman Charles Messier, lists objects using
Messier's initial and a serial number: the so-called Crab Nebula,
for example, is Ml Several other catalogues provide names in
.

this way. With so many objects in the sky to be identified, numeri-

cal listing is the only practicable method.
Certain nebulae, galaxies, and clusters can also be identified in
other ways, with reference to the constellation or large-scale star
pattern in which they appear. Centaurus A, for example, refers to
the first radio source to be found within the constellation of Cen-
taurus.Greek letters are also used as identifiers, as in Alpha
Centaur i.

Descriptive labels are used for a small number of well-known

stellar objects, based on their fancied resemblance to terrestrial
phenomena. Examples are the Crab Nebula and the Ring Nebula.
This approach, ancient in origin, provided the original names of
the constellations, and is most widely recognized in the signs of
the Zodiac.
 PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

pet forms, technically called hypocoristics (Nell, Jojo). PRESIDENTIAL INITIALS

PERSONAL NAMES There is no problem with Pete being felt to be the

There is no linguistic impropriety more likely to irrit-

'same'
same
name as Peter,

as Elizabeth''.
but is Beth always felt to be the '
i^ ^
ate people than a mis-spelling of their name; and noth- Personal names in English are generally classified
ing more likely to fascinate them than an account of into three types. The first name (or given name, for-

their name's origins. Very few, however, know where merly often called the Christian name) is distinguished
their name comesfrom, though etymological aware- from the surname (or family name), and both of these
ness of names often accompanies pregnancy. The
first from the middle name(s), where present. In the early
study of personal names, in any case, suffers from the Middle Ages, there were only first names. Surnames
same kind of research difficulties as does the study of came later - additional names used to aid identifica-

place names (p. 140). The earlier forms of a name are tion between people who had the same given name
often uncertain. Scribes may have introduced errors (the term is from French sur + nom, and is found in
while copying from one manuscript to another, or dif- English from the I4th century). The practice of using
ferent dialect pronunciations may have led to diver- one or more middle names did not emerge until the
gent spellings of the same name. The social pressure to 1 7th century, and there were soon divergences between

use a standard spelling, moreover, did not emerge until Britain and the USA. The American fashion was to use
the 18th century, and earlier writers saw no problem the middle name, routinely reducing it to an initial let-
in spelling a persons name in a variety of ways. In one ter, as in William P. Knott. The British fashion was
study, over 130 variants of the name Mainwaringw^eK either to ignore the middle name, or to keep it in full,
found among the parchments belonging to that fami- especially when it was needed to maintain a family tra-
ly. Nonetheless, thanks to over a century of academic dition, or to distinguish otherwise identical names. In
study of personal names, a great deal of reliable infor- Welsh English, for example, one might hear a fohu
mation now exists, and is available for consultation in Arthur Jones being differentiated from a John Bryu
name dictionaries. Jones, with the middle name acting as a kind of sur-
The question of what counts as a name is not a sim- name (and the true surname often elided, with people
ple one to answer. Variations involving a single letter talking familiarly about 'John Arthur' and 'John
may be considered minor or major: Steven is usually Bryn'). Sequences of middle names are also to be
considered the same name as Stephen (but 'spelled with found, especially when a family finds itself having to
a v') and Catherine as Katherine, but Christine is less remember particular relatives or ancestors, or when
clearly the same as Christina, and Francis is certainly religious or other practices intervene (such as adding a

not the same as Frances. Many names have more sub- saint's name). Eccentricity abounds: there are several
stantial variants - shortened forms (Beth, Pete), forms cases of parents giving their child 26 names, each
with endings marking familiarity (Davy, Mikey), and beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.
 10 h I 'I M CJ L O t, V

SHAKESPEARE'S SIGNATURES

The spelling variation found both in the form of the let-

in personal names is well ters, and in the abbreviations

illustrated by the corpus of used.. (The parentheses

six signatures known to enclose letters which seem to
come from the hand of be absent.) With less well-
William Shakespeare. They known names, such variants
are all found in documents would present serious prob-
dated between 1612 and lems of identification.
1616. The last three belong
to pages 1, 2 and 3 of his will
(1) Will(ia)m Shakp(er)
(25 March 1616), which was
written shortly before his (2) William Shakspe(r)
death; the hand is slightly (3) W(illia)m Shaksper
shaky,and the signatures do (4) William Shakspere
not end confidently. There is
(5) Willi(a)m Shakspere
a great deal of variation
between each example. (6) William Shakspeare

Types of surname PLAYING WITH SURNAMES But now, when the door-plates of Misters
and Dames
Most surnames can be classified from an etymological
The comic possibilities of English sur- Are read, each so constantly varies
point of view into one of four types. names have always attracted the writer, From the owner's trade, figure, and
as can be seen in the cast lists of any com- calling, surnames
• They derive from a place name or general topo-
edy by Shakespeare or Sheridan, or the Seem given by the rule of contraries.
graphical location, identifying where a person has characters of Charles Dickens or Mervyn
Mr Box, though provoked, never doubles
come from. This is by far the largest class of names. Peake:
his fist,
Examples: Norman, Moor, Hall, Chesterfield, Street, Bottom, Flute, Starveling, Snout...
Mr Burns, in his grate, has no fuel;
Absolute, Languish, Malaprop,
Wood. Mr Playfair won't catch me at hazard or
O'Trigger...
whist,
• They represent an occupation - also a large class of Pardiggle, Skimpole, Snagsby, Bucket...
Mr Coward was wing'd in a duel.
Deadyawn, Flannelcat, Prunesquallor,
names. Examples: Cook, Taylor, Clark, Smith, Turner, Mr Wise is a dunce, Mr King is a whig,
Flay...
Mr Coffin's uncommonly sprightly.
Cooper.
The verses below an ancient
also continue And huge Mr Little broke down in a gig,
• They express kinship, the relationship to a parent or tradition of word-play. They are a small While driving fat Mrs Golightly.
part of a work by one James Smith, pub-
ancestor being shown by the word-ending. A first
lished in Ernest Weekley's The Romance of
Mr Barker's as mute as a fish in the sea,
name may also be used without any special ending. Mr Miles never moves on a journey;
Names {^9^4).
Mr Gotobed sits up till half-after three,
Examples: Johnson, Robertson, Watkins, Nicholas,
Mr Makepeace was bred an attorney.
Men once were surnamed from their
Thomas. shape or estate Mr Gardiner can't tell a flower from a
(You all may from History worm it); root,
• They are nicknames, expressing some physical,
There was Lewis the Bulky, and Henry the Mr Wilde with timidity draws back,
moral, or other characteristic. Examples: Long, Little, Great, Mr Ryder performs all his journeys on foot,
Moody, Fox, Brown, Voiing, Rich. John Lackland, and Peter the Hermit. Mr Foote all his journeys on horseback.

MEDIEVAL SURNAMES William le Boteler (Butler -a

bottle-maker) t Sf iy^m^Jr
An extract from one of the John de Cruce (Cross - someone who
medieval Hundred Rolls, part of the lived near an outdoor cross)
list compiled for Sussex (Arundel). Henry le Waleys (Walsh - the
Such rolls provide an excellent western Celtic 'foreigner')
source of information about the Thomas le Clerc (Clark)
early history of personal names. The Alexander de Leycestre (Lester)
following names have been taken Reginald le Blond (Blunt)
from various 1 3th-century lists, with John Rex (King)
one of its modern equivalents (and, William Neuman (Newman -a
where needed, an explanation) newcomer to the area)
given in parentheses. Stephen Cornevaleis (Cornwallis) .-i-h-M

-fc,»-
Baldwin le Bocher (Butcher) Not medieval names remain
all

William de Paris {Parish) productive in modern times.

Richard le Paumer (Palmer - Examples of such dead surnames can
someone who had made a be seen in the occupational names
pilgrimage to the Holy Land) of Stephen /e Hatter and Henry le (To- J-afc 1 i>i *= t^.. 4fc. ^ *A;5i "rtert flfcv« „,.«* f«f" (jr *f» j^,^. ^js™ ^r«
Wimpler. ^'Krs, p«ri.&„A-<Bg^Mj.XTt,~.-,J.. «»ai.t..JLJr: .«-,^. »rt» ni.»>,(!i.Jru-a.
 . .

PART II ENtlLISH VOCABULARY

Types of first name

riiere is no agreed way of classifying first names, but NAMING FASHIONS surrounded their marriage Shakespeare's character
just four years previously. names have been little used.
we can distinguish several types on etymological There is no doubt that • Names with religious How many people do you
grounds. there are fashions in associations form a major know Romeo,
called Portia,
naming. In a particular year, group. They include Old Cordelia, or Hamlet?
• They may identify a particular physical characteris-
one boy in three and one Testament names (Joseph, • Film, television, and
tic: Kevin ('handsome at birth), Maurice ('dark- girl in five are given one of Ruth, Eve, David), New popular music are
skinned, Moorish'), Adam ('red complexion'). Within the 10 top first names. We Testament names (Mark, undoubtedly the dominant
all 'know' which names John, Mary), saints' names contemporary influences,
this category we might also include very general
within our culture are old- (Teresa, Bernardette, with people using the
descriptions, such as Charles {'mzn), Thomas ('twin) fashioned {Herbert, Percy, Francis, Dominic), and names of the stars (Marlon,
• rhey may relate to a time or place of origin, or to a Nellie, May), and which are especially the names of Marilyn, Cary, Kylie, Elvis) or
modern (Karen, Joanne, patron saints (George, the characters they create.
r\-pe of activity: Barbara ('foreign'), Francis ('French-
Craig, Darren). But why do David, Andrew, Patrick). • Some names attract
man'), A'of/ ('Christmas'), Gfor^f ('farmer'). names come and go? We find the same influences disapproval in particular
• They often express a real or desirable characteristic: among English-speaking traditions (and approval in
• Traditionally, members of immigrants whose origins others): for example,
Peter ('rock'), Agnes ('pure'), Alexander ('defender of
the British royal family have lie outside of the Judaeo- Protestantnames such as
men'), Hilary ('cheerful'), Stephen ('crown"). been influential in the UK, Christian tradition: Krishna, Luther and Calvin would not
• They can express a parent's feelings: Amy ('loved'), as shown by the popularity Arjun, Sanjay, Shakti, Kanti usually be found in Roman
of such names as William (from Hindu tradition), Catholic households
Abigail ('[^lYicr rejoices'), Zwry ('light'), Benjamin ('son
and George. This influence Surinder, Rupinder (from (though this association is
of my right hand'). now seems to be waning: Sikhism), and Muhammad, less strong among African-
• Some names are authors' inventions. They may have Elizabeth, Philip, Charles, Abdallah (from Islam). Americans).
and Diana have caused no • Literature can have a
an etymological meaning (as with Shakespeare's
upsurge in the use of these marked influence, as seen in There are also certain names
Miranda, in The Tempest, which means 'fit to be names in recent years. the history of use which are almost universally
admired") or they may have no obvious meaning at all Neither Charles nor Diana surrounding Alice (after avoided in English-speaking
figure in even the top 50 Lewis Carroll), Justine (after countries because of their
(as with Wendy, devised by J. M. Barrie on the basis of names the 1985 lists for Lawrence and
in Durrell), taboo status (Judas, Adolf,
a child's coinage, fivendy-wendy, and used in Peter Pan England and Wales, for Rhett (after Margaret Lucifer).

(1904)). example, despite the Mitchell's Gone l/l/zfA) the

popular acclaim which Wind). Surprisingly,
•Many names contain an element derived from
Hebrew Jehovah or other designations for 'God: John,
Jonathan, Josephine, Joan, Gabriel Jeremy, Emanuel,
Elizabeth.
• Names are often taken from plants, gemstones, and
other natural objects: Susan ('lily'). Fern, Holly, Rose-
mary, Ruby, Crystal This practice was very popular in
the 19th century.
• Surnames may emerge as first names - another com-
mon 19th-century practice: Baron, Beverley, Fletcher,
Maxivell Many of these names were originally place
names (p. 14 1): Cliffiird {'ford near a slope'), Douglas
(a Celtic river name, 'dark water'), Shirley ('bright
clearing').
• Some names have a particular linguistic structure,

which becomes especially noticeable when the names

are in fashion. The prefixes De-, La-, and Sha- are
common African-American elements, for example:
Dejuan, Deshawn, Ladonna, Latisha, Shakirra, Shafaye.
Several endings, such as -ene, -ette, -elk, -ona, and -ice,

occur frequently in contemporary feminine forms:

Jolene, Marlene, Charlene, Darlene . .

• Several names are of obscure or unknown origin:

Antony, Arthur, Belinda, Maiy.
 1 ETYMOLOGY

Data sources about naming habits in other countries, and ethnic

The lists given below, which do not give all the variant differences are now being more seriously addressed. A
spellings, are based on a diverse range of information and the
significant proportion of the people of Britain

,
sources. They include British parish registers, probably USA have non-English-speaking backgrounds, and
themost important source of early names. Modern the naming fashions of their original countries are

. names can be traced through the yearly indexes of the often included in modern name surveys. A Dictionary
various birth registry offices. A popular source is the of First Names (1990), by Patrick Hanks and Flavia
birth announcement columns published by national Hodges, provides supplements on the common
!
newspapers (though inevitably these lists are socio- names of the Arab world and the subcontinent of
economically biased). And name specialists have car- India. They are names about which most white
ried out many surveys of their own, such as compiling Anglo-Saxons have no clear intuitions, even to the

lists of students at various universities in English- extent of recognizing whether they belong to boys or

speaking parts of the world. One unpublished survey, to girls - Arabic names such as Kamal ('perfection'),

by C. V. Appleton, takes as its scope every first name Khalid ('eternal'), Mahmud ('praiseworthy'), and
used by the Smiths of England and Wales since 1837. Mansur ('victorious')-, Indian names such as Ravi

Most studies to date have focused on Britain and ('sun'), Rama ('pleasing'), Vasu ('bright'), and Vish-

the USA, but information is slowly accumulating ivanath ('lord of all').

 PARI' 11 • ENGLISH Vl>C A B U L A RY

Nicknames Chalky goes with White, Nohhy with Clark, Spider

The word nickname'is first recorded in the 15th cen- with Webb, and SpndW\x.\\ Murphy. Some first names,
tury: an eke name' (Old English eke, 'also') was an likewise, have standard nicknames: Chuck (Charles),
extra or additional name used to express such attitudes Menace (Dennis), Spike (Michael). Hair colour (Gin-
as tamiliarit)', affection, and ridicule. Nicknames are get) or absence (Baldy), spectacles (Four-Eyes), size
usually applied to people, but places and things can ( Tubby), and other features of physique or behaviour
ha\e them too. All the US States have nicknames have long been a prime source.
(p. 145), as do many tourist and business areas {Costa
ONOMASTIC
Bmva in Spain, Silicon Valley in California), cities Pseudonyms UNIQUENESS
(Motown for Detroit), countries (The Emerald Isle fox Many people adopt a name other than their original
President Andrew Jackson
Ireland), and astronomical bodies (Red Planet for name for a particular purpose - perhaps to convey an (1767-1845), seventh
Mars). There are even nicknames based on nicknames, image ofsome kind, to avoid an unpleasant association, president of the USA, known
as Old Hickory, whose strong-
such as Costa Geriatricafor the coastal towns in south- to make their identity more memorable, to hide their
willed administration gave
ern England where many retired elderly people live. identity, or simply to make their name more pro- him his nickname (a tree

Among the objects which have been given nicknames nounceable or easier to spell. Terminology varies, but known for its tough wood).
From time to time someone
are flags (Jolly Roger), newspapers ( The Thunderer (or pseudonym, pen-name, nom de plume, stage-name,
isgiven a nickname, inthis
The Times of London), symphonies (Eroica), and byname, alias, and allonymhuve all been used, with dif- way, which remains uniqueto
clocks (Big Ben). A nickname can also have several ferent nuances, to identify the practice. Wliile the that person. There is only one
Merry Monarch (Charles
applications: the Big Bangrmy have happened at the option is available to anyone, certain professions attract
II),

one Capability Brown

beginning of the universe, but it also occurred at the the use of pseudonyms - notably, authors, actors, and (Lancelot Brown, 18th-
moment of deregulation in the Cit\' of London Stock media personalities. Among famous writers who used century landscape-gardener),

Exchange October 1986. one Iron Duke (the Duke of

in pen-names are the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and
Wellington), and one Old
Personal nicknames are commonest among chil- Anne (Currer, Ellis, and Acton 5f//), Charles Dodgson Hickory.
dren, but any closely-knit group will generate nick- (Lewis Carroll), and Charles Dickens (Boz). Stage- Personal namesabound in

idiosyncrasy. The telescoping

names (such as the members of a family, sports team, names have main methods of derivation - they
three
of certain British surnames is
or army unit). People who tend to be nicknamed are may change a surname only (Fred Astaire from Freder- a well-known feature which
special friends or enemies, those in authority (teach- ick Austerlitz),ii first name only (Kim Novakhova Mar- defies predictability: there is

no way in which anyone could

ers, officers, politicians), and anyone who has achieved ilyn Novak), or the whole name (Boris Karloff from.
guess the pronunciation
notoriety (especially criminals). It is an important William Henry Pratt, Cliff Richard from Harold Roger of Marjoribanks as
index of intimacy when we feel comfortable in using Webb, John Wayne from Marion Michael Morrison). 'Marshbanks', of
Featherstonehaugh as
someone's nickname to their face. Some nicknames Single-item names are also known: Twiggy (Lesley
'Fanshaw', or of Cholmondley
have come to be associated with particular surnames: Hornby), Aladonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone). as 'Chumley'. Social, not
linguistic, tuition is what is

required in such cases.

WATCH OUT SCHNOOTER
THE LANGUAGE Mr DEAR CRED the
SnipertySnooperty mother-ship
OF VALENTINES is alter you loves you.
blossom love you
I
James
All my love Sausage DEAR LADY JANE, still differ. All
my love, Simon.
PERFECT IS amazing the redrobin
An extract from apage SCMALISON, caning chemist
your amaz- loves you.
JAY first March too long love now
of St Valentine's Day
mglovebeb Gee.
contemplates coupling SYLVIA Tenth year
with lan- PUDSO Still care
greetings, taken from guid linguist. I STILL lancy you Still SNOWBALL YOU
love there. Togo. STILL warm
from pert.
The Independent on RITA FROM THE HEELANDS FROM AFAR? "tonro. imsnipposh
this Hippos

Sunday on 14 February
1993. Probably on no
you still

KAREN, LOVE YOU

yobread
love MARY, over here
forever. Andrew.
at last, with me .eelrlTalw':r:l
will always be
missed.
!«
loved & forlorn.
heart.
''.' .^^^^^ERED and torn bu,
no,
Love Alan, Derek,
loads, your IAN sausages lor Gra-
other occasion the white Wooly Ram ever. Love cold ham,
is
TOOTS CHESHAM The
fooled mole. slide the
practice of idiosyncratic FIRST MEWSING: then ram linding you. MYNISH,onekishisall wish
courting ELBOW, love you.
I

now ingling; love C ILY, IILWY, YMMW I

""" '""
nicknaming taken to Chris. "
•
'\°^^ ^OU G Happy valentines
THE SWEETIEST kiss Festive 50 Nol 1990
such great extremes. can give
I
ALL MY LOVE Cuddly
The entries are also you after a shooting
star
Chops, Irom
notable for their use of IN PLAY RUB Mooma Vooma KevmCostner ..""I" make your valentine.
ook TANT VOTRE IMAGF i „m
LOVING YOU, MY puppy.
bizarre and deviant lin- ookR.
most wonderful emotion
is ,he I<
guistic features operat- KITBAG Six smashing I pos-
years, love sess.
ing at levels of you more, Div. Yours always,
all your
PETER Bondlgowee
language (p. 400). IS YUMMY, the coley was STINKY VAMP youre
scrummy, mullet my little
man in the world to have
est ' '

love Bubble, Kevin you S.W.

^OU more for my wile.
I LOVE you madly. Be mine
as Mrs COME DOWN FROM THAT 42R.
^T!ci°^^ fence FREDDIE, YOU CAN
forever.
S.P
and sip the wine, no STICK your CLAIRE Tot-Bin admiration
HAPPINESS IS two size six and need to call
fmgers in my chocolate Man-
twelve paws
me Terence, just be mine. heart que Puzzle.
any time you donnerstag
TO TEEB. with love Irom the pet TO TWEETIE PIE from
WENDY. Happy Valentines Love far MUMMY Bear
shores. USA Dobbins 2B. youre the top!
Mark and Rover. ARF Inc
Love let's snog.
BOAT EVANS you bring Daddy 2b,
ALISON, tie your out the BUZZY BEE - Love from
shoelaces to my RATFINK weely weely mine to
shoelaces. Love he(a)stmmeHunkyman wuv yoo yours.
you always
MAUREEN DARLING WIFE fonzlwomwooooi
Dave. our RSK love you even more.
magic continues
DARLING KIRSTY, CLOSER
I
We will
to tingle and make great things in
together, though 93 and onto
perceptions Down Under
 1 ETYMOLOGY

SOUNDS (FE)MALE • The stressed syllables of female male names are used much more
names tend to make much more use predictably. There are several male
When first names are given a of the high front vowel /i/, such as names which have appeared on
phonological analysis (p. 236), some Lisa, Tina, Celia, Maxine, and the every list of the top 20 names in
interesting differences emerge archetypal Fifi and Mimi. Male recent times (e.g. John, David), but
between males and females. It seems names in /i/ are far less common no one female name appears on all

the sexes do not sound the same. {Steve, Keith, Peter). People are much readier to be
lists.

The results reported below were • Female pet names tend to be inventive and different with female
derived from an analysis of 1,667 longer than male. A bisyllabic pet names.
entries in a dictionary of English first name could be either male or Whatever the explanations, it
names, but the claims can easily be female, but a monosyllabic one is would appear that a name such as
checked against the lists of popular much more likely to be male. Jackie Sabrina is as clear-cut a 'feminine'
names given on p. 37. could be either sex, but Jack is male. name as we are likely to find: it has Male names Number of syllables
• Female first names tend to be Several other pairs share this more than two syllables, an un-
expectancy such as Bill/Billie and and a strong l\l 1: 24.3%
longer than males, in terms of the stressed first syllable,

number of syllables they contain. Bob/Bobbie. vowel. Another example is Christine, 2: 60.2%
Males are much more likely to have • Female names are much more judged by men to be the most sexy 3: 13.4%
a monosyllabic first name (Bob, Jim, likely toend in a (spoken) vowel, female name, in one US survey. By
4/5: 2.1%
Fred, Frank, John), and much less as with Linda, Tracey, Patricia, contrast. Bob is a highly 'masculine'
likely to have a name of three or Deborah, Mary, Barbara. If not a name. Such conclusions shed some
more syllables {Christopher, vowel, the last sound will very likely light on the way comedians and

Nicholas). By contrast, there are few be a continuant (p. 242), especially scriptwriters obtain comic effects,
monosyllabic female names in the a nasal {Jean, Kathleen, Sharon, simply by selecting an inappropriate
list {Ann, Joan, May), and many of Ann). By contrast, plosives are much name. Why else would British com-
them are trisyllabic or longer more likely to be found in male end- edian Rowan Atkinson, in one of his
{Katharine, Elizabeth, Amanda, ings {Bob, David, Dick, Jock). Inter- series, call a pretty girl in soldier's

Victoria). esting comparative questions arise. Is uniform Bob, or the British satirical

• 95 per cent of male names have a Kate more male-sounding than Kath programme Spitting Image advise its

firrst syllable which is strongly or Katie or Katherinel Nothing is listeners to 'pretend your name is
stressed, whereas only 75 per cent of more likely to generate controversy. Keith' (in f^e Chicken Song, Virgin
female names show this pattern. It is It is of course difficult, perhaps Records, 1986)?
not difficult to think of female impossible, to explain these trends. (After A. Cutler, J. McQueen &
names which begin with an un- Could the sound-symbolic associa- K. Robinson, 1990.)
stressed syllable {Patricia, Elizabeth, tions of /i/ (p. 250), such as smallness
Amanda, Rebecca, Michelle), but and brightness, explain the bias of Female names IM

male names are few and far that vowel? Can we relate the trend
between {Jerome, Demetrius). In towards use of an initial stressed syl-
Proportions of male
fact, none of the popular British lable to greater masculine aggres-
One names and female names
male names in the past 75 years has siveness? thing is sure: it is
with one, tw/o, three,
had an unstressed initial syllable - much more difficult to generalize
and four/five syllables
and only three American names. safely about female names. Popular
 PART 11 ENGLISH VO C. A lUM. A R V

OBJECT NAMES LOCOMOTIVE NAMES

Most of the larger British steam locomotives have been given individual names - a
In principle, we can give an individual name to any practice which dates from the George Stephenson's Rocfcef (1829)
earliest railway days.
takes its place alongside such contemporary names as Novelty, Locomotion, and Catch Me
entity or concept; in practice, we do this in a very
Who Can. Often, series of names have been devised on a single theme, such as
selective way. There seems to be an intuitive scale of castles, counties, or universities. Some names have come to be particularly well known,
either because of the records they achieved or the routes they travelled, as in the case of
nameability' which motivates us to name things on
the Flying Scotsman, the Mancunian, the Mallard, and the Welsh Dragon. The naming of
the basis of their closeness or relevance to our lives.
locomotives remains, however, a distinctively British practice.
People and the places where they live are at the top of
The Rocket
this scale. Animals come next - but those animals
which we treat as pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, budgerigars,

etc.) are much more names

likely to receive individual

than are the 'lower animals'. We

do not tend to give
personal names to spiders, slugs, and snakes — though
there is a 9-year-old-boy exception to every rule, and
people have been known to develop all kinds of per-
sonal relationships with friendly insects (such as the
English student in a foreign bedsit who dubbed her
daily visiting cockroach Arnold Schwarzenegger).
Objects which move us about in groups are also rela-
tively high on this scale: we regularly name locomo-
tives, aeroplanes, buses, and boats. (Curiously, our
personal chariots — our automobiles, bicycles, motor-
cycles, and skateboards - are much less frequently
named.) Items of special value or usefulness, such as

washing-machines and wheelbarrows, also receive

names (p. 133). At the other end of the scale, we do
not normally name objects which are easily replaced,
or which have only an incidental role in our lives, such COLOUR CHARTS
as pencils, stones, and hedges. Partof the>^f/asoft/ie been devised to identify the Paint manufacturers tend
Munsell Color System, thousands of distinctions not to present their cus-
It is important to appreciate the variety of reasons
devised by the American which can be recognized: tomers with formulae, but
which lead us to name things. Pride, affection, and artist Albert Henry Munsell for example, in one system prefer such appealing and
nostalgia combine with such hard-nosed factors as in 1915. This was the most a particular sample of memorable (albeit arbi-

practicability, recognizability, memorability, and successful of many early emerald green is identifi- trary) labels as Serenade,
attempts to construct a log- able by the formula 5.0G Monte Carlo, Buttercup,
saleability. Many objects, such as locomotives and ical basis for colour systems. 6.7/1 1.2 (which refers to and Forget-Me-Not. How-
coloured paints, are unambiguously identifiable Standard methods of nota- values for hue and chroma). ever these names vary
tion have greatly in their relation-
through their number, code, or formula. They do not
ship to visual reality:
'need" personalized names, but they _ Pastel Green and Silver
are often named nonetheless. And / MOMSELL COLOR
SYSTEM Grey are intuitively
meaningful (though
if a category of objects becomes ol ATLAS the paint shades vary
special human relevance, it will greatly between man-
attract a set of individual names, as ufacturerswho use
these names); Water
we see in the case of food and drink
Lily and Cornflower
(potatoes, apples, cocktails), person- are plausibly recog-
al products (lipsticks, perfumes, S nizable; far/y Dawn
'S and Morning Sun are
deodorants), and hobbies (roses,
° doubtfully predict-
The extent of the
orchids, birds). r able;and Nocturne
phenomenon must be appreciated; *S and Sonata have no
visual basis at all (the
for example there are over 7,500
names being chosen
names in use for the 6,000 cultivars because of their
listed in the National Apple Register of semantic relevance
to a series of colours
the United Kingdom (1 97 1). It is per-
which the manufac-
haps not surprising, then, to find that turer has called
several countries have name societies 'New Harmonies').
(See also p. 171).
which promote an interest in onomas-
tic studies (p. 140).
 1 • ETYMOLOGY

Names into words same term is also sometimes used tor the derived

In this section we have been looking at the many form. So, the name of the French acrobat Jules
ways in which elements of the English language have Leotard (1842-70) as well as the close-fitting one-
been used in the formation of names. It closes with a piece costume which he introduced in his circus act

brief look at the opposite process - where names are could both be referred to as eponyms. Similarly,

used in the formation of new lexemes. When a lexemes which are derived from place names, as well
personal name is used in this way, it is known as an as the place names themselves, are often known as

epoiiym, and the process as eponymy. Confusingly, the toponyms (p. 140).

EPONYMOUS WORDS
Pavlova A meringue topped
with cream and fruit. Source:
Anna Pavlova (1885-1931),
Russian ballerina. The con-
coction was devised by Aus-
tralian chefs, reflecting her
popularity during a tour of
Australiaand New Zealand.
Crufts The annual British
dog show. Source: British
dog breeder and showman
C/iar/esCruftd 852- 1939),
who organized his first
show in 1 did not brand his calves.
maverick An independent
person who refuses to
conform. Source: US
pioneer Samuel Augustus
Maverick (1803-70), who
feddy bear A soft toy in the
shape of a bear. Source: US
president Theodore Roose-
velt 08SS-]9]9). whose
nickname was Teddy. The
usage emerged after a
cartoon showed Roosevelt,
known as a bear-hunter,
sparing the life of a bear
cub.

cardigan A knitted jacket

fastened with buttons, first
worn during the Crimean
War as protection against
the cold winters. Source
volt The unit of electrical English cavalry officer James
potential difference and Thomas Brudenell, seventh
electromotive force. Source: Earl of Cardigan (1 797-
nicotine Chemical com-
pound, known for its pres-
ence in tobacco. Source:
French diplomat and scholar magnolia A genus of
Jean W/cof (1530-1600), shrubs and trees with large
who introduced tobacco showy flowers. Source:

Alessandro
Italian physicist 1868), who led the 'Charge into France. French botanist Pierre
Vo/ta (1745-1 827), the in- of the Light Brigade' at Magno/ (1638-1715),
ventor of the electric battery. Balaclava (1854). known for his system of
plant classification.

EPONYMOUS PLACES
 THE 11 • B2S THE HEAD i FACE

STRUCTURE OF B24 nouns & \ierbs : the eye in detail unsteady; seem to go rapidly on and
ship's lights blinked al
[Tl; I0]v4m£
across the water. 3
its

to wink 4 [C] an act of blinking:

off; The

THE LEXICON The blink of an eye.

winit 1 [Tl; 10] to shut and open (one eye)
quickly, sometimes with quick slight move-
ment of the head, to show friendliness,
amusement, a shared secret, etc: He winked
his left eye. She winked at him and smiled.
2 [C] an act of doing this: He gave a friendly
In seeking guidance about the lexicon of a language,
no book is more widely used or appreciated than the
traditional dictionary (p. 442). Its alphabetical organi-
B25 nouns : Itinds of noses [C]
zation is - once we have learned how to spell - straight-
forwardly efficient, and its sense-by-sense entry
structure is sensible and succinct. We might be forgiv-
en, therefore, for thinking that the dictionary contains
everything we would ever want to know about lexemes
(p. 118). Such a belief however, would be quite wrong.
Conventional dictionaries contain very little informa-
tion about the way the lexicon is structured.
When we talk about the 'structure' of the lexicon,
we are referring to the network of meaning relation- Roman nose a r :•
that curves out near the top
the eye
at the bridge
ships which bind lexemes together - what is known as
eyebrow [C] the line of hairs above each of the
its semantic structure. No lexeme exists in splendid iso- two human eyes: He has very thick dark eye-
brows, they make him look fierce.
lation. As soon as we think of one (say, uncle), a series eyelid [C] one of the pieces of covering skin
which can move down to close each eye: Fish
of others come to mind. Some of these lexemes help
do not have eyelids and some creatures have
to define uncle [brother, father, mother), others relate more than one on each eye. He blinked his
eyelids to clear his eyes.
to it closely in meaning [aunt, cousin, nephew, niece), eyelash [C] one of the small hairs of which a
number grow from the edge of each eyelid in
others have a looser semantic connection (relatives, humans and most hairy animals: The eyelashes retrousse nose
outing), and there may be figurative or keep dust from the eyes. I have an eyelash in my
family, visit, lit-
eye: hurling my eye.
it's

erary uses ( Uncle Sam, Uncle Tom Cobleigh), as well as eyetMll [C] the whole of the eye, including the
part inside the head, which forms a more or retrouss6 nose < nose that is turned back at the
a few personal or idiosyncratic associations { birthday, less round hall lower end
pupil [C] the small black round opening which
funeral loony). If we mentally probe all aspects of the
can grow larger or smaller in the raiddie of the
semantic network which surrounds uncle, we shall coloured part of the eye, through which light
passes
soon build up a number of connections. But ii
large Iris [C] the round coloured part of the eye which
surrounds the pupil
we look at a dictionary entry for uncle, we shall see very white [C] the white part of the eye around the
iris, which shows all the time in the human eye,
few of our intuitions represented there. Some works but is usually hidden in animals: The whites
give the bare minimum of information: 'brother of a of his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.
The frightened horse showed the whites of its
father or mother', says one; and at aunt, 'sister of a eves.
biink 1 [Tl; 10] to shut and open (the eyes)
father or mother'. Nowhere in this particular book are
quickly, usu because of strong hght. surprise,
we told of the meaning relationship which binds these tears, etc: She blinked (her eyes) in surprise. 2 snub nose a nose that is short and flat t

[Wifrg) (of distant lights) to seem to be end turned back

two nouns, despite the alphabetical distance which
divorces them.
When we study semantic structure, we are trying to AN UNCONVENTIONAL up. The Lexicon deals only niece, and cousin are all
DICTIONARY with the central vocabulary grouped together.
expound all the relationships of meaning that relate
of the language - some The illustration shows a
lexemes to each other. However, because of the size and
A page from the Longman 15,000 items -but this section from 'The body, its
complexity of the English lexicon, very little of this Lexicon of Contemporary nonetheless requires a book functions and welfare'. Note
English (1981), showing how of nearly 1,000 pages. the differences between the
structure has been described. There have been a few
lexemes are first grouped To find a lexeme, such as lexical approach and the
theoretical accounts introducing such basic notions as uncle,you consult a 1 25- kind of exposition which
into areas of meaning and
synonymy and antonymy (p. 164), some attempts at then arranged In page alphabetical index at might be found in an
alphabetical order. In this the back of the book. This anatomical textbook. The
general classification, and the detailed investigation of
refers you to a particular latter would not be much
way it is possible to see some
some small areas of meaning. We now know broadly topic area - CI 5, in the case concerned with such
of the semantic links
what kinds of lexical relationship exist; but the descrip- between lexemes more of uncle, which is one of a locutions as Roman nose and

clearly than In a traditional series dealing with 'family snub nose, nor with the use
tive task remains. The following pages can only be
dictionary. However, this relations' within the overall of the phrase the white, or
illustrative, therefore, and can do little more than indi- topic 'People and the family'. such functions as blink and
approach has its penalties -
cate the size of the task facing those who wish to get not least, the space it takes In CI 5, uncle, aunt, nephew, wink.

to grips with lexical structure.

 11 • THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

tion of how best to define a semantic field: shall we say

SEMANTIC FIELDS that tractor belongs to the field of 'agricultural vehi-
cles', 'land vehicles', or just 'vehicles'? is flavour^an of
\. fruitful notion in investigating lexical structure is the the semantic field of 'taste', or taste 'pa.n of the seman-
emantic ov lexical field - a named area of meaning in tic field of 'flavour', or are both members of some
which lexemes interrelate and define each other in spe- broader semantic field, such as 'sensation?

:ific ways. Think, for example, of all the lexemes we These are typical of the problems which keep
uiow to do with 'fruit', or 'parts of the body', or 'vehi- semanticists in work, as they try to relate the neatness
;les', or 'buildings', or 'colour'. We shall have no diffi- of their analytical categories to the fuzziness of the
culty assigning banana, nostril, lorry, town hall, and real world. At the same time, the existence of these
icarlet to their respective fields. To what extent is it difficulties must not hide the fact that a very large
possible to assign all the lexemes in English to a seman- number of lexemes can be grouped together into
'dc field in an unambiguous way? fields and subfields in a fairly clear-cut way. That
The task is not as straightforward as it might appear, these accounts are illuminating can be seen from their
for several reasons. Some lexemes seem to belong to growing use in such domains as foreign language
fields which are very difficult to define, or which are teaching and speech therapy, where it has proved
vague - to what field should ?2oise or dijficiilt belong? helpful to present learners with sets of related lexemes,
Some seem to belong to more than one field - does rather than with a series of randomly chosen items
orange belong to 'fruit' or 'colour? And some lexemes (p. 434). And young children, too, learn much of
seem to fall midway between two fields - does tomato their vocabulary by bringing lexemes together in this

ibelong to 'fruit' or 'vegetable? There is also the ques- way (p. 424).

THE STYLISTIC stylistically neutral lexeme THE VOCABULARY

FACTOR which identifies the field
as a whole is placed in the
centre.
Some of the lexemes
This kind of perspective
belonging to the semantic
is essential ifwe wish to
field of 'madness', so
see order in the long lists
arranged that it is possible
of lexemes found in a the-
to see differences in their
type (p. 394). At
stylistic
saurus (p. 158). When we
are linking items in the lex-
the top of the circle are
icon, we need to take
the items which are liter-
account of the stylistic
ary, academic, or technical
level at which they oper-
in character; at the bottom
ate. From a structural
are the colloquialisms.
semantic point of view, the
Items on the left are some-
opposite of sane is insane,
what dated or archaic;
not bonkers.
those on the right are rela-
tively recent in origin. The (After G. Hughes, 1988.)

insane
of unsound mind
not in full possession of one's faculties

possessed neurotic
psychotic
schizophrenic

\i maladjusted

demented unbalanced

unhinged

bereft of reason bananas

non compos mentis
bonkers
mental
crackers
barmy
cuckoo round the bend
gaga off one's chump

batty
potty
loony
 ENGLISH VOCABULARY

THE THESAURUS PETER MARK ROGET Royal College of Physicians,

(1779-1869) and also of the Royal Soci-
ety, where he eventually

now nearly fifty years took up the post of Secre-

The notion of semantic fields (p. 157) suggests that It is

since I first projected a tary (1827-49). He retired

there may be other possible approaches to lexicogra- as a doctor in 1840, but
system of verbal classifica-
ph\- than the traditional one using alphabetical order. tion similar to that on continued to work at
diverse projects - including
The thesmirus'is such an alternative. Thesauri are based which the present Work is
founded. Conceiving that a calculating machine and
on the notion of grouping lexemes thematically - a pocket chessboard.
such a compilation might
a notion which can be traced back to 16th-century help to supply my own He started again on the
thesaurus project in 1849.
schemes for the classification of all human knowledge. deficiencies, I had, in the
year 1805, completed a retirement from his Royal
Francis Bacon 56 1 - 1 626) and John Wilkins ( 1 6 1 4-
( 1
Society post having given
classed catalogue of words
72), in particular, wrote essays which outlined a way on a small scale ...
him the spare time he
needed. After three years
of dividing everything into a small number of major
Roget was born in Soho, of intensive work, the book
areas, each being progressively subclassified until all
London, the son of the was published, and was a
concepts are dealt with in their appropriate place. Such pastor at the French Protes- remarkable success, with
tant church in ThreacJnee- 28 editions published by
attempts at a universal hierarchy fell out of favour until
dle Street. He studied at thetimeof hisdeath. He
the 19th century, when taxonomy
scientific interest in Edinburgh University, and diedattheageof 91 at
WORD-FINDERS
became a dominant feature of the age, and the botan- became a doctor by the age West Malvern in Worces- In the Chambers Thesaurus
of 19. In 1804 he was John
tershire. His son, (1991) clusters of sense-
ical metaphor of the tree came to be applied to lan-
appointed physician to the Lewis Roget, took over as related items are arranged in
guage as well as to natural history. Manchester Infirmary, and editor, and hisson, Samuel alphabetical order Several
it was there that he began Romilly Roget, continued 'family word-finder' books
to collect material for his the family editorial con- are organized in this way.
Roget's Thesaurus
thesaurus. In 1808 he nection until Longmans,
The influence of natural history is evident in the work moved to London, where silhouette n. configuration,
Green & Co purchased the
we know delineation, form, outline,
which pioneered the thesaurus as it today. he held various medical copyrightfrom him in
and was active in shadow-figure,
Roget's Thesaurus, first published in 1852, divides the posts, 1952. Modern editions
helping to found London show the influence of the shadowgraph, shape.
lexicon into six main areas: abstract relations, space, University. He also became 1962 revision by Cam-
silky adj. fine, satiny, silken,

and sentient/ sleek, smooth, soft,

the material world, the intellect, volition, the first Fullerian Professor bridge scholar Robert
velvety.
moral powers. Each area is then progressively subclas- of Physiology at the Russell Dutch, which reorganized
silly ady. absurd, addled,
Institution. He wrote a the layout and headings,
sified, giving a total of 1,000 semantic categories. In great deal, on a wide range and introduced keywords asinine, benumbed, bird-

aim and method: brained, brainless, childish,

his Introduction, Roger explains his of subjects, and con- in italics. The most recent
many encyclo- cuckoo, daft, dazed,
tributed to edition, edited by Betty
The present Work is intended to supply, with respect to the pediasand journals. He Kirkpatrick, appeared in
dopey, drippy, fatuous,
feather-brained, flighty,
English language, a desideratum hitherto unsupplied in any became a fellow of the 1987.
foolhardy, foolish,
language; namelv, a collection of the words it contains and of
frivolous, gaga, giddy,
the idiomatic combinations peculiar to it, arranged, not in groggy, hen-witted,
the alphabetical order as they are in a Dictionary, but accord- in a thesaurus we have a meaning in mind, and wish immature,
idiotic, illogical,

ing to the ;Wf(?i- which they express . . . The principle by which to check on the lexemes available to express it. A the- imprudent, inane,
inappropriate, inept,
I have been guided in framing my verbal classification is the saurus such as Roget's, however, has obvious limita-
irrational, irresponsible,
same as that which is employed in the various departments of tions. It does not provide any definitions: if we do meaningless, mindless,
Natural History. Thus the sectional divisions I have formed, not know meaning of a lexeme in the thesaurus,
the muzzy, pointless,
correspond to Natural Families in Botany and Zoology, and preposterous, puerile,
we still need to look it up in a dictionary. It says noth- ridiculous, scatter-brained,
the filiation ot words presents a network analogous to the
ing about the stylistic levels at which the lexemes are senseless, spoony, stunned,
natural filiation of plants or animals.
used: formal and informal items rub shoulders, as do stupefied, stupid, unwise,
witless.
Roger assumed that would be able to find
his teaders items belonging to technical, professional, domestic,
There no arttonyms collected,
their way through the Thesaurus by working intu- regional, and other varieties (Part V). is
mature, sane, sensible,
itively down through his classifications. He added a principled basis to the way lexemes are organized
wise.
short alphabetical index, but it was left to his son, John within entry paragraphs. And the traditional the-
n. clot, dope, duffer,
Lewis Roget, to develop this in the 1879 edition into saurus is limited, for reasons of practicability, to the goose, half-wit,
ignoramus, ninny, silly-
a major feature of the book. In modern editions, the more commonly occurring lexemes: users are often
billy, simpleton, twit, wally.
index takes up many pages as does the thematic clas-
as left with the feeling that, even though no lexeme is

sification, and is the way into the work which most listed for the meaning they have in mind, one may
people use. nonetheless exist, but have been omitted by accident.
In recent years, efforts have begun to be made to

New thematic models reduce these limitations, some using new techniques

A thesaurus acts as a complement to the traditional of visual illustration, others aided by the vastly
dictionary: in a dictionary, we have a lexeme in mind, increased storage and rerrieval power of the com-
and wish to check on its meaning or use; by contrast. puter (p. 436).
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

ANOTHER WORD FOR newsl

Two ways of finding the answer to this
THE VISUAL DICTIONARY
question are illustrated below. The first is from
general to particular, identifying that news is a
A picture from the Macmillan Visual
Dictionary (1 992), showing the way a
matter of the intellect, to do with
detailed illustration can add meaning to
communication, and moreover with a particular
what would otherwise be a random listing
mode of communication. The second is to go to
of terms:
the index, where the various meanings of news
are identified, and be sent directly to the
lintel, trefoil, pier, portal, tympanum, etc.
relevant section (529). Most people use the
The approach is obviously limited by the
latter method way of answering
as the quickest
extent to which items can be clearly
a specific query; but the former method has its
drawn, and so the book is largely
uses, too, when we are trying to develop a sense
composed of nouns. However, with over
of the range of vocabulary available to express
800 pages of diagrams covering 600
a concept.
subjects, it is an informative guide to the
Some of the noun entries for news are
use of some 25,000 terms.
illustrated, taken from two editions of Roget:
Dutch (1962) and Kirkpatrick (1987). It is
interesting to compare the entries in detail, to
see how the vocabulary has changed and
developed during the intervening period. The
general headings are those of the 1987 edition.

CLASSIFICATION

EMOTION, RELIGION
& MORALITY
new poor
unlucky person 73 1 n.

poor person 801 n.

news
topic 452 n.

information 524 n.

news 529 n.

broadcast 531 n.

important matter 638 n.

news agency
informant 524 n.

news blackout
prohibition 757 n.

newsagent
tradespeople 794 n.

newscast
publication 528 n.

«evvj529n,
newscaster
news reporter 529 n.

broadcaster 5?>\ n.

news flash
529 News message, oral m.. word of mouth, 529 News message, oral m,. word of mouth, news 529 n.
N. news, good n.; bad news 509n. word, advice, tip 524n. informa- N. news, good n.. no news is good word, advice, tip 524 information; hroadcasi5}\ n.

disappoinimeni; tidings, glad t.; tion; communication 547n. n.; bad news 509 disappointment; communication 547 signal; wireless newsletter
gospel, evangel 973n. religion: signal; marconigram. wireless tidings, glad t.; gospel, evangel 973 message, radiogram, cablegram, publicit)' 52H n-

budget of news, packet of n.. message, radiogram, cablegram, religion; dispatches, diplomatic cable, telegram, telemessage, wire, the press 52S n.

newspacket. despatches, diplo- cable, telegram, wire, lettergram bag; intelligence, report, dispatch, fax. electronic mail 531 telecommu- newsmonger
matic bag; intelligence, report, 53 In. telecommunication; letter, word, intimation, advice; piece of nication; postcard, pc. note, letters, news reporter 529 n,

despatch, word, advice; piece of postcard, letters, despatches information, something to tell, titbit dispatches 588 correspondence. 531 newspaper
information, something to tail, 588n. correspondence; ring, 524 information; bulletin, commu- postal communications; ring, phone the press 528 n.
titbit, flash 524n. infomuaion; phone-call; errand, embassy nique, handout, press release; news- call, buzz, tinkle; errand, embassy reading matter 589 n.
bulletin, communique, hand-out; 75 In. commission. paper report, press notice; news 751 commission. (Index: Kirkpatrick. 1987)
newspaper report, press notice; newsmonger, quidnunc, gossip, item, news flash 531 broadcast; news reporter, newspaperman or
fresh news, stirring n.. latest n., talker 584n. interlocutor; tattler, fresh news, stirring n., hot n.. latest -woman, reporter, cub r.. joumalist,
stop-press n.; sensation, scoop; chatterer; scandalmonger 926n. n.. stop-press n.; sensation, scoop, correspondent, legman, stringer 589
old news, stale n.; copy, filler; defamer; retailer of news, news- exclusive; old news, stale n.; copy, author; gentleman or lady of the
yam. story, old s., tall s.; broad- pedlar; newsman, news-hound, filler; yam, story, old s., tail s.; press, pressman or -woman, press
cast, telecast, newscast, newsreel news reporter, reporter, sob-sis- newscast, newsreel 528 publicity; representative 524 informant: news-
528n. publicity; news-value. ter, special correspondent 589n. news value, news- worthiness. reader, newscaster 531 broadcaster;
rumour, unverified news, uncon- author; newsboy, news-agent, rumour, unverified news, uncon- newsmonger, quidnunc, gossip,
firmed report; flying rumour, ncwsvendor, firmed report; flying rumour, fame; tittle-tattler, talker 584 interlocutor;
fame; hearsay, gossip, gup. talk, (Dutch. 1962) on dit. hearsay, gossip, gup. talk, tattler, chatterer; muckraker. scan-
talk of the town, tittle-tattle 584n. talk of the town, tittle-tattle 584 dalmonger 926 defamer; retailer of
chat; scandal 926n. calumny; chat; scandal 926 calumny; whis- news 52S publicizer; newsagent,
noise, cry. buzz, bruit; talse per, buzz, noise, bruit; false report, newsvendor. newspaper boy or girl.

report, hoax, canard; grape-vine; hoax, canard; grapevine, bush tele- (Kirkpatrick. 1987)
kite-flying. graph; kite-flying.
 PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

one of contrasting meaning (an antonym), such as sold.

LEXICAL STRUCTURE We might replace automobilehy a lexeme of more spe-
meaning (a hyponym), such as Ford or by one of
cific

One way of imposing order on the thousands of lex- more general meaning (a hypernym), such as vehicle.
emes which make up the EngUsh vocabulary is to Or, of course, we might replace automobilehy a lexeme
fields (p. 1 57). But how are
group them into semantic which has nothing to do with it in meaning at all, such
these fields structured? How exactly do the lexemes as dress or pencil The predictable links between lex-
within a field relate to each other? It is obvious from emes are called sense relations, and they are at the core
dictionary definitions and thesaurus groupings that of any account of lexical structure (p. 164).
some lexemes do 'belong together'. How can we define
what this 'belonging together' consists of?
A well-established model of lexical structure makes SYNTAGMATIC AND
us think of lexemes as being related along two inter-

secting dimensions, as shown in the figure (right).

• On the horizontal dimension, we sense the relation-
ships between lexemes in a sequence. There is a certain

mutual expectancy between the main lexemes in the

sentence It writhed on the ground in excruciating pain.

Our linguistic intuition tells us that excruciating lends

to occur with pain, agony, and a few other lexemes, and

not with joy, ignorance, and most other nouns in the
language. Likewise, writhe and agony commonly co-
occur, as do writhe and ground. 'Horizontal' expectan-
cies of this kind are known as collocations, or selectional
restrictions. Excruciating, we can say, 'selects' or 'colloc-
ates with' pain.
• On the vertical dimension, we sense the way in which
one lexeme can substituteior another, and relate to it in

meaning. If the sentence were My auntie has bought a

red automobile, we can focus on any one of the lexemes,
and replace it. We might replace boughthy a lexeme of
similar meaning (a synonym), such as purchased; or by
 11 THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

Investigating collocations of the node: often, collocational studies look only at ON LINE
The print-out of staple on p. 160 illustrates two useful the lexemes which are immediately adjacent to a node, The remarkable collocational
range of an everyday lexeme.
concepts in the study of collocations: there is a central or at those which fall within three or four places on
There are nearly 1 50 predict-
lexeme, or node, surrounded by a fixed amount of either side of it. For common lexemes, we need to able contexts for line, which
language - the span within which the search for examine quite a wide span, and to look at many exam- can be grouped into 30 or so
senses. Traditional dictionary
collocations takes place. The span shown in that exam- ples of use, in order for clear lexical patterns to emerge.
entries do not give this kind
ple is quite large, allowing 1 or so words on either side Computational help is essential in such cases. of information.

LONG THIN
 PART II • HNGLISH VOCABULARY

Predicting lexemes
riie notion ot collocation (p. 160) tocuscs our atten-
BLANKETY —
tion on the extent to which lexemes come together ran- This collocation
has been used as
domly or pretiictably. Often, a sequence of lexemes is
a euphemism
governed by chance - that is, by factors which are con- since the mid-19th
trolled by an individual speaker, and not by tendencies century, but it

received a new
in the language as a whole. For example, the sentence
lease of life from
/ like — gives us no clue about which lexeme will come the popular British
next. Almost anything that exists can be liked. It is up television game
show, Blankety
to the individual to choose. Such sequences as (I) like
Blank, in the 1980s
potatoes or like films are said to be 'free combinations' The aim of the
of lexemes. They are not collocations, because there is game was simple:
participants were
no mutual expectancy berween the items. Thousands
presented with a
ot lexical juxtapositions in everyday speech and writ- phrase in which on
ing fall into this category. of the items was le
blank, and they had
By contrast, the lexical items involved in a colloca-
ful for that reason. Unlike on a universal linguistic skil
to guess which was the
tion are always to some degree mutually predictable, missing lexeme. The game some games, where intel- - our intuitive sense of

relied on people's everyday lectual or physical strength 'which word comes next'. It
occurring regardless of the interests or personality ot
knowledge of collocations, is a prerequisite for success, was the most egalitarian of
the individual user. All mature native speakers use such games.
and was perhaps so success- Blankety Blank relied only
sequences as commit a 7nurder and not, say, commit a
task, even though the sense of 'carry out' would be
applicable in the latter case. And everyone says monu-
ASSOCIATIVE RESPONSES
mental ignorance, not monumental brilliance. Colloca- ° Response
It is important to distinguish Total
tions may occur, moreover, with apparent disregard for between collocations and associat-
I
town
'
Minneapolis
the observable situation to which they relate: we may ive responses. A lexeme might bring '
state
may have to mind all kinds of 'free
be gi'een with envy, and a book a purple pas- country
associations'. If I ask you to say the square
sage, even though no colour is evident on the face or word which comes into your
first people
page. Collocations cannot be predicted from a know- head when say whiskey, you might
I
street

may respond with Scotch, soda, dog St. Paul

ledge of the world. Cojfee with milk look sepia,
building(s)
(because Whiskey is the name of
fawn, khaki, bronze, copper, amber,
hazel, beige, buff, your dog), or Fred (because Fred is
block(s)
big
and various other shades of brown; but we normally someone you know who drinks a New York
lot of whiskey); but only the first house(s)
call it white.
two are collocations - linguistically large
All that is required, for a sequence of lexemes to be predictable sequences known by light(s)

described as a collocation, is for one item to 'call up" mature English language users. noise
The last two are idiosyncratic, and farm
another, to some extent, in the mind of a native speak- village
have to be interpreted to make
er. Sometimes the predictability is weak: heavy colloc- sense. Psychotherapists are often
block
Chicago
ates with quite a diverse range of items {loss, wear, particularly interested in
dirty
associations of this kind, believing
traffic, burden, defeat, etc.), as does line on p. 161. busy
that these can throw light on hall
Sometimes the predictability is strong: auspicious col- what is going on in a person's traffic

locates only with occasion, and a few other closely-relat- unconscious mind. dirt

The table gives the set of dump

ed items (event, motnent,' ezc); circuit collocates with home
associative responses made in
break/broken, close(d), integrated, printed, short, make, round
1952 by a group of American
water
a few figurative expressions to do with travelling (e.g. students to the item city. The car(s)
list shows several personal day
lecture, rodeo, talk-show), but little more. However,
associations (e.g. Rochester, 32 here
when sequences are so highly predictable that they Minneapolis), several 33 live _
:

34 man
allow little or no change in their lexical elements (as collocations of varying degrees
35 parks
of predictability (eg. hall,
with spick and span or run amok), it is not very illu- 36 place ^
square, block, and traffic),
37 ^
minating to analyse them as collocations. Such minim- several items which from a
smoke
38 streetcar
ally varying sequences are usually referred to as fixed linguistic point of view would 39 ^
towers
expressions, or idioms, and require a separate analysis.
be free combinations (e.g. here,
40-92
^
(fc,)
people, large, noise).
Surprisingly, some of the most
central collocations of city are oust, txcelsior,
excitement, factory
Faribault
not in the list - notably,
capital.
(After L. Postman &
G. Keppel, 1970.)

i»r.-, r "" *>«"">. "ow Si'

 .

THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

CREATIVE
IDIOMS cap in hand on the one hand... quite different set of idioms; COLLOCATIONS
close at hand out of hand all hands to the pump
Two central features
come the heavy hand put/dip his hand into his atyour hands Many of Dylan Thomas's
identify an idiom. The
cross my hand with silver pocket my bare hands poetic effects rely on a
meaning of the idiomatic a dab hand put/lay my hands on it change hands deliberate breaking of
expression cannot be
fight hand to hand his left hand doesn't know the devil finds work for idle collocational conventions,
deduced by examining the force my hand between
what his right hand's hands especially adjective
meanings of the constituent and noun,
a free hand doing get my hands on... as can be seen in
lexemes. And the expression
to get/keep my hand in put my hand to the plough our hands are tied this extract from 'After the
is fixed, both grammatically
give/lend me a hand my hand against us
raise/lift hands down Funeral', 1939.
(p. 216) and lexically. Thus,
give her the glad hand his righthand (man) hands up!
put a sock in it! means 'stop Her flesh was meek as milk,
go/be hand in hand rule them with an iron hand I've only got one pair of
talking', and it is not possible but this skyward statue
hand in glove see the hand/finger of God hands
to replace any of the lexemes With the wild breast and
hand it to me on a plate in... have clean hands
and retain the idiomatic blessed and giant skull
hand over fist show/reveal your hand have my hands full
meaning. Put a stocldng in it Is carved from her in a room
have/take a hand in it stay your hand have his blood on my hands
orputasoc*; on /t must be with a wet window
have me eating out of her strengthen your hand in good hands
interpreted literally or not In a fiercelymourning house
hand take it in hand keep your hands off
atall. crooked year
in a
have him in the palm of my throw his hand in lay my hands on it
It is easy to forget just how hand
I knowher scrubbed and sour
to hand ('within reach') many hands make light work
many idiomatic
have to hand it to her try your hand
humble hands
on/off her hands
constructions a lexeme can Lie with religion in their
hold your hand ('support') turn/set/put your hand to out of my hands
enter into. The following list cramp, her threadbare
in hand the upper/whip hand play into his hands
of idiomatic uses of hand, Whisper in a damp word, her
an iron hand in a velvet wait on me hand and foot shake hands
adapted from the Longman wits drilled hollow,
glove with a heavy hand a show of hands
Dictionary of English Idioms Her fist of a face died
know it like the back of my with a high hand sit on their hands
(1979), makes no claim to clenched on a round
hand with an open hand soil/dirty our hands
completeness. pain...
lift a hand/finger with one hand tied behind take my life in my hands
hand
at first livefrom hand to mouth my back take the law into our own IVetwindow, humble hands,
at second hand off hand catch red-handed. hands and (possibly) mourning
a bird in the hand... an old hand throw up my hands (in house are col-locations with
hand that feeds him
bite the on every hand It is important to note that horror) some degree of expectancy.
bound/tied hand and foot on hand the plural form enters into a wash my hands of... Skyward statue and giant
skull are unusual, but at least
they can be readily
Lexical phrases interpreted. Crooked year,
TYPES OF LEXICAL Phrasal constraints
threadbare whisper, damp
We can find other patterns within lexical sequences, PHRASE These are phrases which
word, and round pain go well
allow some degree of vari-
apart firom the ft-ee combinations, idioms, and kinds beyond our expectations,
One study of lexical phras- ation; they are usually
and force us to search for
of collocation described in preceding pages. In par- esgroups them into four quite short,
meanings. Critics of Thomas's
ticular, there are the specially assembled sequences of main types. as I was — (saying, verse are divided over
items which have been called (amongst other names) Polywords mentioning) whether coherent meanings
sentence stems, composite forms, or lexical phrases. (This Short phrases which good —
(morning, night) can be found for such
function very much like a —
ago (day, long time) juxtapositions.
field of study is fairly recent, so terminology is not yet
individual lexemes. They
as far as —
(can see, know)
I
The breaking of
fixed.) To adopt the last of these terms: lexical phras- cannot be varied, and their Sentence builders collocational norms is found
es are rather like the prefabricated components used parts cannot be separated. Phrases which provide not only in poetry, but also in

the framework for whole humour and religion. It is

in building a house or a computer. They are chunks in a nutshell
easyenough to raise a sitcom
sentences; they allow
of language in which all the items have been pre- by the way laugh with such lexical
considerable variation,
so to speak
assembled. Hundreds of such phrases exist, of vary- sequences as a herd of traffic
so far so good not only... but also...
wardens, or / can hear
ing length and complexity, such as it seems to me..., once and for all my point is that... neighing; it must be your
would you mind..., on the one hand... on the other I'm a great believer in...
mother. And prayers such as
Institutionalized that reminds me of...
hand. and lived happily ever after. Some resem- 'Litany for the Ghetto'
. . , . . .
expressions let me begin by...
present a theography (p. 368)
ble formulae: let me start by Xing a/the F{e.g. mak- Units of sentence length,
Phrases from any of these in which the divine and the
functioning as separate
ing the point, asking a question) or the Xer you Y, the categoriesmay be used to human are lexically
utterances. Like polywords,
AeryouB(e.g. the longer you wait, the angrier you get) perform the same social (or juxtaposed:
they are invariable, and
'pragmatic') function. For
Such phrases are used frequently in both speech and their parts cannot be sepa- O God, who hangs on street
example, the function of
rated. They include corners, who tastes the grace
writing, but they are especially important in conver- leave-taking can be ex-
proverbs, aphorisms, and of cheap wine and the sting
sation, where they perform number of roles - for
a pressed by a polyword (so
other quotable utterances of the needle.
long), an institutionalized
instance, expressing agreement, summing up an argu- (§12).
expression (have a nice day),
Help usto touch you...
ment, introducing an example, or changing a topic. How do you do? or a phrasal constraint (see
The full analysis of interactional functions of this Have a nice day. you later). Further exam-
Give me a break. ples of pragmatic functions
kind, involving reference to phonological and gram- Long time no see. are given on 288.
p.
matical factors as well as lexical ones, forms part of You can fool some of the (After J. R. Nattinger&
the study oi pragmatics 286). people some of the time. J. S. DeCarrico, 1992.)
(p.
 PARI' II • KNGLlSIl VOCABUI.ARV

Investigating sense relations

We have a sense relation when we feel that lexemes
APMT171HC
TOOTHSOME IDEA AND WORD CHART
SEUITASLE
(p. 1 18) relate to each other in meaning. Ifwe pick any QUISIIE

two lexemes at random from a dictionary, it is imlike-

ly that they will bear any meaningful relationship to

PKASUDt
each other. There is nothing which obviously relates iiumnua
CUSTO
ff/'oand mayonnaise^ or obedient and rainbow. But we OEIICHT

would feel otherwise ifwe picked out wideund narrow

or tritmpetAnd bassoon. What, then, are the chief types
ot lexical sense relation?

Synonyms (Greek 'same' + 'name')

Synonvms are lexemes which have the same meaning
- a definition which sounds straightforward enough.
However, when we think about it, the notion of syn-
onymy is really rather curious - for why should a. lan-
guage have more than one lexeme to express a

particular meaning? One lexeme per meaning ought to

be sufficient.
may be no lexemes which have exact-
In fact, there
ly same meaning. It is usually possible to find some
the
nuance which separates them, or a context in which
one of the lexemes can appear but the other(s) cannot.
• There may be a dialect difference: autumn 3.n A fall

are synonymous, but the former is British English

and the latter is American (p. 308); sandwich and butty EKCELLEKT
tXCEPriONAl
MATCHLESS
are synonymous in Britain, but the former is standard pctniEss
IKCOMMOAStC
and the latter is regional. CrrSABRDiNAHY
SUPflCME
• There may be a stylistic difference: insane a.nd loony SUBUME

are synonymous, but the former is formal and the

seduce, draw into evil impish, mischievous The idea and word chart from
latter is informal (p. 157); salt ind sodium chloride 3.re
injurious, bad, unjust Hartrampf's Vocabularies (1929)
synonymous, but the former is everyday and the latter Victimise - an early attempt to plot basic
maleficient. mischievous
frame, foist an imposition
is technical. mischievous, bad sense relations. The twelve
(colloq.)
naughty, perverse, bad word-pairs are claimed to
• There may be a collocational difference (p. 160): plant, frame (colloq.)
'underlie the fundamental qual-
sell,betray Depraved
rancid and rotten are synonymous, but the former is ities in all ideas'. To use the
victimise, dupe abandoned, dissolute
and regal 3.K chart, the enquirer chooses a
used only of butter ot bacon; kingly, royal, bad. wicked
Betray key-word (e.g. DISORDER), finds
synonymous (p. 124), but the mail h^s to be royal m betray, victimise treacher-
corrupt, bad
the required vocabulary head-
criminal, wicked
theUk. ously ing, and goes to the page num-
deba.sed. corrupt
• There may be a difference of emotional feeling, or Conspire depraved, debased ber That page gives lists of
abet, aid criminally dishonest, discreditable lexemes, each with a synonym,
connotation: yor/r/; and j/o««^jrc;- are synonymous, but dissolute, wicked and cross-references to opposite
apostatise, desert principles
youths are less pleasant than youngsters. cabal, plot felonious, criminal and associated items. An extract
connive, abet evil from the page for crime
These are not the only ways in which synonyms can ill, is

conspire, concert in crime immoral, corrupt illustrative.

be differentiated, but the examples are enough to make
the basic point: there may be no such thing as a
pair of 'perfect synonyms' - lex-
DICTIONARIES OF SYNONYMS eventually adv. after all, at last, at length,
finally, sooner or later, subsequently,
emes which could substitute for A synonym dictionary is more tightly ultimately.
constrained than a thesaurus (p. 158). ever adv. always, at at all times, at any
all,
each other in all possible loca-
tions. Slight but detectable differ-
CHAMBERS The entries are shorter and the number time, constantly continually, endlessly,
DICTIONARY OF of items less wide-ranging. Such dict- evermore, for ever, in any case, in any
ences invariably present. ionaries usually give some guidance circumstances, on any account, perpetu-

However,
are
for most practical
SYNONYMS about antonyms, too. ally, antonym never
AND This extract from the Chambers Dict- everlasting adj. constant, endless, eternal,
purposes, these differences can
be ignored: enough /sufficient,
AMTONYMS ionary of Synonyms and Antonyms shows
how synonyms are available for all lex-
immortal, imperishable, indestructible,
infinite, never-ending, permanent, per-
emes in the language, not just those petual, timeless, undying, antonyms
perplexed I bewildered, and cheru-
which are literary, distinctive, or difficult. temporary, transient.
bic Iangelic are so close in mean- It also shows that multi-word lexemes everybody n. all and sundry, each one,

ing that they can safely be can also be synonyms. everyone, one and all, the whole world.
described as synonyms.
 11 • THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

Antonyms (Greek opposite" + name)

One of the pairs of drawings by the
Antonyms are lexemes which are opposite in meaning
American illustrator Joan Hanson in
- again a definition which sounds straightforward, her children's book Antonyms
until we begin to think about what is meant by "oppos- (1972).

ite". Unlike synonymy (where there is doubt about

whether true synonyms exist at all), antonymy very

definitely exists - and, moreover, exists in several
forms.
• There are opposites such as large/small, happylsad,

and wetldry. These are items (adjectives) which are

capable of comparison; they do not refer to absolute

qualities. We can say that something is very wetor quite

dry, or wetter or drier tha.n something else. Opposites

of this kind are caWsA gradable antonyms. It is as if there

is a scale of wetness/dryness, with wet zi one end and

dry at the other. Create Destroy
• There are opposites such as single I married, first I kst,
and alive Idead. These are not gradable opposites: there
isnoscaleof'aliveness'or'firstness". In such cases, if one KEEPING TRACK OF ANTONYMS antonyms found in the corpus.The top line
of the first column tells us that there were
of the pair of lexemes applies, the other does not. To be The shutter aperture may be made larger or
4,981 occurrences of bad in the corpus, and
smaller by changing the foil area...
alive is not to be dead; and to be dead is not to be alive. the third column that there were 25, 147
To us and to every nation of the Free World,
occurrences of good. The fifth column gives
The items complement each other in their meaning, rich or poor...
the number of sentences in which both
and are thus known as complementary antonyms. New panels are exchanged for the old... adjectives occur, 515. The sixth column
• There antonyms such as over I under, buyisell, and
are
Am right am wrong 7
I I
estimates the number of sentences which

antonyms are mutually depend- These extracts are taken from a 25-million- would be expected to have this happen by
wife/husband. These
word corpus of American English - a collec- chance (81.7), and the seventh column gives
ent on each other. There cannot be a wife without a the ratio of observed to expected co-
tion of 550 texts of varying sizes compiled by
husband. We cannot buy something without some- the American Printing House for the Blind. occurrences. In the case of bad/good, the
They show one of the most important observed frequency is 6.3 times more than
thing being sold. This type ol oppositeness, where one
features of antonymic use; antonym pairs what would be expected by chance. The
item presupposes the other, is called converseness. The frequently co-occur in the same sentence. final column then estimates the probability
lexemes are converse ter??is. They often appear close together, linked by of this happening. The result for
a single conjunction, or function 'in black/white is especially striking, but all of
All these lexemes have a common feature: they can
parallel', within identical constructions in the co-occurrences are statistically
all be used in the question-answer exchange 'What is
different parts of the sentence. significant.
the opposite of X? Y.' In this respect, they are different The table shows an analysis of some of the (After J. S. Justeson & S. M. Katz, 1 992.)

from the vast majority of lexemes in the language,

which have no opposites at all. It simply does not make

sense to ask 'What is the opposite of rainbow? or of
Number of occurences in the corpus

chemistry? or of sandwich?".
The other point to note is that there is usually an
intuitive certainty about the relationship between the
lexemes. We 'know' that X is the opposite of Y, in these
cases. This is what distinguishes antonymy from other,
vaguer kinds of oppositeness, where the concepts may
be opposed but the lexemes are not. For example, big
and large SiTe very similar in meaning, as are little a.nd
small, but the antonym of little is big, and of large is

small Large is not the antonym of little, even though

they are conceptually opposed. And the same point
applies to more extensive sets ol lexemes. In relation to
the concept of 'awkwardness", for example, we find
such terms as awkward, clumsy, gawky, and ungainly,
on the one hand, and skilful, dexterous, adroit, and deft,

on the other. But it is not possible to pair these off as

antonyms in any obvious way: any of the first set could
be seen as the opposite of any of the second. The con-
cepts are in opposition, certainly, but there are no pairs
of antonyms.
 .

PART II ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Hyponyms (Greek 'under' + name) existence) that clear sense-relations between the
Hyponymy is a less familiar term to most people than lexemes no longer exist. At any point along this path,

either synonymy or antonymy (p. 1 64), but it refers to a lexeme can be seen to have a hyponymic relationship
a much more important sense relation. It describes with everything above it, though we usually take seri-

what happens when we say 'An X is a kind ofY' - A ously only those involving successive levels. So, in
daffodil is a kind offlower, or simply, /4 daffvdil is a flow- answer to the question, 'What is Gorgonzola?', the
er.The relationship between the lexemes can best be expected answer is 'a kind of cheese'. If someone does
shown in the form of a tree diagram, where the more not know exactly what Gorgonzola is, 'a kind of food'
general term is placed at the top, and the more spe- would be an acceptable First approximation; but to go
cific terms are placed underneath. In the present higher in the hierarchy of abstraction by saying 'a kind
example, daffodils one of many lexemes which are all of substance' or 'a sort of thine' would not.
'included' within ^owfr.

HYPERNYM HYPONYMIC HIERARCHIES down the page we travel, the less easy it

becomes to find clear hypernyms.

Eventually, all classifications
lead inexorably to some basic notion of
BEING. Roget's Thesaurus, Part 1, Section 1,
is entitled simply EXISTENCE (p. 1 58). The
figure shows what happens if we follow a
set of lexemes through a dictionary, being
daffodil rose pansy. . HYPONYMS guided only by the hypernyms. Only one of
the senses is quoted in each case, and only
The included items, as the etymology suggests, are the one of the many possible paths. The further
and definitions If we read the figure in the reverse
direction, the point is reinforced. Thus,
there are a limited number of items which
can answer the question 'What can be a
cheese?' and 'What can be food?'. These
questions make sense. But such questions as
'What can be a material?' or 'What can be a
substance? cannot be given a coherent
linguistic interpretation.

hyponyms. The lexeme at the top is the superordinate Gorgonzola emerald

term, or hypernym (Greek 'above' + 'name'). a blue-veined, a rich green variety
strongly-flavoured of the mineral
Hyponymy is particularly important to linguists
(Jheesgiof Italian (beryjprizedasa
because it is the core relationship within a dictionary.
The most illuminating way of defining a lexeme is to
provide a hypernym along with various distinguishing
features - an approach to definition whose history can
be traced back to Aristotle. For example, a majorette is

'a girl' (the hypernym) 'who twirls a baton and accom-

panies a marching band'. It is usually possible to trace
a hierarchical path through a dictionary, following the
nateriaI>consisting a naturally
hypernyms as they become increasingly abstract, until
esseStiallyof occurring solid
we arrive at such general notions (essence, being.

MISSING HYPERNYMS materia^

the elements,
There are many lexemes which belong to no hypernym. constituents or
If we try the formula 'X is a kind of Y' on such items as
su bstan^ of
chaos, nightclub, interesting, and balloon, we shall be
whichWnething
unable to assign any hypernym other than a vague gen- iscomoosed
eral term, such as state, place, or thing. Dictionaries
grope for better alternatives, but not always successful- substancg)
ly: balloon, for example, is variously described as a bag, a fundamental or
ball, pouch, and toy. Abstract nouns are especially diffi- characteristic part or
cult, in this respect, and verbs and adjectives are more (flualit'

awkward still. Also, the

level of abstraction of a (Quality)
lexeme may be difficult peculiar and essential

to determine. Is noise a (xh aract gfe nature ...

kind of sound or sound property

a kind of noise? When
the answer is 'neither',
some other way of the distinctive or
analysing the sense essentialijiatur^of
relation must be something/.
on
All definitions
found, such as by
thispage are taken
using the notion of '
mature I

from the Longman

synonymy (p. 164) or the inherent character or
Dictionary of the
incompatibility (see constitution of a person
facing page). or thing;(gssenc^> —^ESSENC|). English
(1987).
Language
 -

11 • THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

Incotnpatibles
When we want to include one meaning within anoth-
er, we talk about hyponymy. When we want to exclude
one meaning from another, we talk about incompat-
ibility. Under this heading are grouped sets of lexemes

which are mutually exclusive members of the same

superordinate category. Dajfodil tulip, rose, arid pansy,
shown on the facing page, are examples, because they
are all hyponyms of the same hypernym (flower).
What this means can be seen by comparing these two
sentences: • idiophones In this group, the sound is
MUSICAL RELATIONS
generated by the body of the instrument
I am thinking of a single flower and it is a daffodil
The most familiar examples of the itself. They include several percussion
and a rose. interaction between hyponymy and instruments, such as bells and the triangle,
incompatibility are the classifications of
I am thinking of a single flower and it is a daffodil as well as the musical saw, and a few others.
objectsand organisms which we learn as • membranophones In this group, the
and a prizewinner. part of our basic education. The largest sound is generated by a stretched
domain is that of natural history, where
The first sentence fails to make sense because dajfodil membrane. They include the various kinds
organisms are grouped into their presumed of drum, as well as such items as the kazoo
and rose are incompatible. The second sentence suc- evolutionary relationships -the distinctions and tambourine.
ceeds because daffodila-nd prizewinnerare not; they are between species, genus, family, order, class, • electrophones Inthisgroup, the sound is
phylum (for animals) or division (for plants), generated by non-acoustic devices, such as
compatible. Here is another pair of examples - this
and kingdom {p. 372). oscillators. They include synthesizers and
time, using adjectives: The instruments of the modern symphony electric guitars.
orchestra provide another example. These Although the aim of any new
1 am thinking of an object which is painted in a
are traditionally divided into four types classification is conceptual rather than
single colour, and it is red and yellow. woodwind, brass, percussion, and strings - linguistic, there are always consequences for
I am thinking of an object which is painted in a and that is how we see them in the concert the way the language is used. The arrival of
hall. However, it has long been known that
single colour, and it is red and dirty. a new level within the lexical hierarchy for
this classification not entirely satisfactory:
is
talking about instrumentsaltersthe way we
it is instruments
difficult to place certain
Again, there is a problem with the first sentence, express ourselves. In the traditional
under these headings, and the labels are classification, there no problem with
because red and yellow are both hyponyms under sometimes misleading. For example, some
is

saying this:
colour. Red and dirty, however, do not belong to the woodwind instruments can be made of
and can be used together without difficulty. metal (such as saxophones), and some brass can play every kind of brass instrument,
same set, I

instruments can be made of wood (such as but can't play any woodwind.
Learning about sets of hyponyms is an important
I

alphorns).
feature of lexical acquisition (p. 430). To begin with, The standard classification in modern But in the modern classification, we cannot
say this:
we may have no idea how to differentiate them. All musicology is different, and derives from
the work of Erich von Hornbostel and Kurt I can play every kind of aerophone, but I

we may know is that the lexemes relate to the same Sachs, published in 1914. Instruments are can't play any woodwind.
hypernym. An example is crocodile and alligator. Most now divided into five types, according to the
physical characteristics of the sound source - we
wish to enter into a conversation in
people know that these are rypes of reptile, but are still If

the vibrating agent. this area, we need to do more than just

unclear about how to tell them apart. Similar difficul- • aerophones In this group, the sound is 'learn the terminology'. We have to learn
ties can be encountered within any semantic field: there generated by air. They include the brass, how the terminology is organized. And this
is no doubt that second cousin and cousin once removed reed,and woodwind instruments. means learning how the lexemes interre-
• chordophones In this group, the sound is late in terms of hyponymy and incompati-
are types of relative, or that trumpet 2,nd flugelhorn are generated by one or more strings. They bility Without an awareness of the lexical
types oi musical instrument, but for many people that is include the stringed instruments and most structure of the field, we quite literally
keyboard instruments. 'don't know what we're talking about'.
as far as they are able to go without a reference book.

SHOWING OUR mentaries. In a large box The co/ourecy balls can using a second colour
of paints, several dozen be played only after a {black being the 'first'
TRUE COLOURS
colours will befound, red ball has been potted. colour).
The way the linguis- including black, white, • Bycontrast, inthefield • Inthefieldof South
ticworld failstocor- grey, brown, and a num- of health (for Cau- African racial relations,
respondtothe ber of increasingly fine casians),co/ourcan coloured excludes black
physical world is well discriminations {lilac, mean on/y red, or at and white.
illustrated by the mauve, purple, indigo, least pink (in the colour • Inthecinemaandon
useof the lexeme etc.). came back to his cheeks). television, there is a con-
co/our. A physical In language, what is • In publishing, a book trast between films
account recognizes consideredtobea printed in black type on made incolour(as in

red, yellow, and hyponym of colour white paper is not con- Technicolor) and in

blue as primary depends very much on sidered to be in colour. black-and-white. Cam-

colours, and green, the context. Yetif blue, say, is intro- era film and television
wo/et, and orange • Inthe field of snooker, duced to add interest to sets, too, are catego-
astheircomple- the colours exclude red. the page, this is called rized inthisway.
 PART 11 • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Other sense relations

HIERARCHIES The hierarchy of military ranks, showing the differences
Notions such as synonymy and hyponymy (pp. between British and American usage
164-7) are fundamental to semantic analysis, because
A lexical hierarchy is a
graded series of lexemes in
they express basic logical relationships which are rep- which each item holds a
Royal Navy US Navy Army US Army RAF

resented widely throughout the lexicon. Certain other particular rank, being
'higher' or 'lower' than
kinds of meaning relationship, however, are much less
adjacent items. The
widespread, applying to restricted sets of lexemes. sequence corporal-
Three such categories are illustrated below: parts/ sergeant-lieutenant is part
of one such hierarchy. The
wholes, hierarchies, and series.
relationship between
corporal and sergeant is not
one of synonymy (they are
PARTS AND WHOLES not the same in meaning),
The relationship between wheel and car, or sleeve and nor antonymy (they are not
jacket, illustrates a further kind of sense relation - that opposites), nor hyponymy (a
between part and whole. The relationship not as is corporal is not a kind of
» »
obvious as it may seem: a strong
in particular, there is sergeant, or vice versa). It is
major general
tendency for the relationship to be acceptable only really one of incompatibil-
between adjacent items in a chain of more than two ity, but of a rather special
items. Thus, a door is a part of a house and a house is a kind: the relationship
part of a village, but it would be most unusual to say between corporal and
that a door is a part of a village. On the other hand, sergeant is not like that

certain chains do permit a relationship between non- between clarinet and oboe.
adjacent items: a cuff is a part of a sleeve which is part Sergeant is 'higher' than
of a shirt - but also, a cuff is a part of a shirt. Why some corporal, whereas neither of
chains permit this and others do not is unclear. the instruments can be said
There are several other refinements to the part- to outrank the other
whole issue, some of which have attracted the atten- (though soloists of either
tion of philosophers as well as linguists. One distinction instrument might disagree).
has been drawn between those parts which are an Several lexical domains
essential feature of an entity and those which are are organized as hierarchies.
optional: an arm is an essential feature of a (normal) They often reflect
male body, whereas a beard is not. There is also an relationships between
uncertain boundary between allowing something to be people, as the case of
in

a 'part' at all, as opposed to an 'attribute': may we con- military ranks or church

sider a stout person's girth to be a part of the body?
Part-whole relations can be seen in many areas of
the lexicon.
seniority: priest- bishop-
archbishop... Notions of
quantity are also important,
n
especially in relation to units
• Clothing: zip, button, hem, collar, lining, cuff
of measurement: second-
• Food: stalk, leaf, root, husk, shell, bone, seed
minute-hour... Some I
• Vehicle: wheel, brakes, engine, door, steering wheel hierarchies also represent
• Animal: hoof, mane, leg, feather, claw, tail levels of abstraction, as can
• Container: top, lid, door, side, handle, back be seen in the levels of
• House: bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, roof, window, grammar identified on
door p. 217.

SERIES

The number system is unique,

in the lexicon of a language,
because its items are members
of an open-ended series in
which the place of each item is
defined by mathematical
rules. We might be tempted to
refer to such items as one,
two, three, four. . . as a
hierarchy, like military ranks,
but the number system is

different: from a lexical point

of view, 2 is not always

'higher' than 1.
There are other lexical
series which are not open-
ended. The commonest
examples are the days of the
week and the months of the
year, which are cyclical in
character: we reach the end of
the series then we start again.
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEXICON

Making sense belongs, and the specific features or attributes which SEMANTIC FUZZINESS
This section has examined the main ways in which the distinguish that word from related words. Thus, a cow
Enghsh lexicon is structured. It has been an investiga-
Definitions are not always as
is an animal which moos is a childlike attempt at a def- precise as we would like
tion of what we mean when we say that something inition, but might be sufficient to distinguish it
this them to be, largely because
'makes sense'. But there is one notion which we still from a dog is an animal which barks. In these cases, ani- the entities and events which
need to recognize before this investigation is complete: malis the more general term (the hypernym, p. 166),
we want to talk about in the
real world are not always
the definition. A definition is the linguistic mechanism and mooing and barking are the distinguished clear and determinate. It is
which brings everything together. It is a special type of attributes. In mature definitions, several attributes not possible to give a
sentence which relates watertight definition of
all the relevant aspects of a lex- may be required, often involving both formal distin-
factory \n everyday
eme's meaning, enabling us to understand it. Definit- guishing features (e.g. a cow has four legs, horns, a tail) language. How large is

ions are listed in dictionaries, sometimes using and functional ones large''Can a small building
a full (e.g. a cow gives milk, lives in a
sentence {A dress a piece of clothing which. never be a factory? Must it
is . .), some- field, does not give rides). It can also be quite a task contain machines? One of
times in an abbreviated form (dress: a piece of clothing working out the needed in a defi-
essential attributes the dictionaries actually
which...). nition, as the ^crory example (below) illustrates; and builds this uncertainty into its

The basic structure of a definitional sentence has definition: 'especially in

the theoretical problems of working with definitions
great quantities by
been known since the time of Aristotle, who distin- have kept several generations of linguistic philosophers machines'.
guished two factors: a general category to which a word happily occupied. For the most part, such
'hedges' do not matter. We
tolerate a great deal of
WHAT'S A FACTORY? imprecision in daily
interaction. Only in special
When someone asks a question like
cases, such as an Act of
this (a child, a foreigner, a politician), Parliament or a legal conflict
there are two ways of answering. One (p. 374), is it necessary to be

way is and point to it.

to find a factory truly precise, and to give a
The other way, which is generally more definition to such notions as
practicable, is to attempt a definition 'large'.

of the word factory. The first approach, There are many areas of
which identifies the word's reference lexical fuzziness: when does a

in the outside world, is of limited booklet become a book? or a

interest to linguists. The second, which hill become a mountain'' or a

givesthesenseof the word in English, village become a town? or a

is central to linguistic enquiry. discussion become a dispute?
But how do we define factory'! The In relation to attributes, how
essential is the feature 'able
first task is to examine the way in
which the word is used in spoken or to fly' for bird (allowing for
written English. This is in fact what ostriches and penguins)? or
lexicographers do when they write 'having a handle' for cup
their dictionary entries. But as factory (allowing for paper cups and
can be used in all kinds of contexts, it is egg cups)? The more abstract
still necessary to make a selection, to the notion, the more difficult
decide which attributes are essential to it is to arrive at a watertight
lexical definition.
the definition and which are not. A children's dictionary comes near to
Dictionaries do not always agree on this: Everyday language con-
this matter, as the following tainsmany expressions which
a large building or group of buildings introduce imprecision into
definitions show.
Chambers: 'make, usually by
where goods are made {Childcraft what we say: typically
Dictionary)
factory machinery and on a large scale'). roughly, practically, in the
• a building or set of buildings where And a dictionary for foreign learners of region of, thereabouts, well
• the more general term is p/ace, more
the production of goods or processing English gives a two-level definition: nigh, within an ace of,
specifically,building or buildings.
of raw materials takes place (Longman verging on, virtually,
• things are made or manufactured, group of buildings where
a building or
Dictionary of the Englisii Language) perhaps, usually, invariably,
more specifically (according to one of goods are made, especially in great
• a large building or group of buildings sort of, etc. They are also
the definitions) produced and quantities by machines.
where goods are made in large found in technicaland
processed. {Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
quantities, usually with the use of • the things which are made are
scientific discussion, which
English)
machines {Collins Cobuild English often uses such expressions
goods, but (in one case) raw materials
Language Dictionary) It is easy to see how an oversimplified as there are perhaps 1,500
and another case) machinery are
(in
• a place where goods are or careless definition can be mislead- such cases a year. It is too
distinguished separately from the
manufactured {Chambers English ing. In one reported case, a mother easy to dismiss all fuzzy
category of goods.
Dictionary) replied to her young child that a factory expressions as manifestations
• the goods are made with machines,
• a building orbuildingscontaining was 'a place where you make things'. of sloppiness in thought or
in one case described asplantor
equipment for manufacturing
plant or The child then later referred to her speech. Rather, by enabling
equipment.
machinery or goods {Concise Oxford kitchen as a factory! Indeed, on the us to get the gist of a point
• the building is large, and in one case
Dictionary) basis of this response, it could be across, or to focus on a major
the goods are said to be made in large
argued that none of the above books issue, they can play an
Fivemain elements emerge from a quantities.
mentions the salient point, which is important role in efficient
comparison of these definitions (along On this basis, a 'minimalist' definition that the manufactured goods are for communication.
with the definition of manufacture in of factory would be: sale.
 12 LEXICAL DIMENSIONS
hand, because people do have some common experi- CONNOTATIVE
riie Englisli lexicon is so vast aiui varied that it is
FUNCTIONS
impossible to classify it into neat categories. It is not like ences,many lexemes in the language have connota-
which we can cut up into distinct slices. A single tions which would be shared by large groups of Connotations can play an
a cake,
important role in explaining
lexeme (p. 118) simultaneously contains information speakers. Among the widely-recognized connotations
the way in which lexemes are
dimensions:when it came of r/Vy, for example, are 'bustle', crowds', 'dust', 'excite-
relating to several linguistic used. A group of synonyms,

into English (the historical dimension), how it is ment', 'fun', and 'sin (see p. 162). for example, cannot by defi-
nition (p. 164) be distin-
formed (the structural dimension), whether it is in When a lexeme is highly charged with connota-
guished in terms of their
standard use or restricted to a dialect (the regional tions, we commonly refer to it as 'loaded'. The lan-
denotation, but they usually

dimension), whether it carries resonances of gender, guage of politics and religion is full of such loaded display noticeable differ-

radical, federalism, ences of connotation, as in

class, formality, or ethnicity (the social dimension), expressions: capitalist, fascism,
the case of car, automobile,
has special status in such domains as science, democracy, bureaucracy, politician; priest, dogma,
whether it runabout, buggy, banger,
religion, or law (the occupational dimension), and pagan, orthodox, sect, heresy, fiindamentalist. The lan- bus, hot rod, jalopy, old
croc*;, racer, and so on
much more. The lexicon is a particularly sensitive index guage of science and law, on the other hand, attempts
^ '^ , r 11 -1 LI ^ L- L • Indeed, ip describing an
of historical, social, and technological change. As a (not always successfully) to avoid vocabulary which is unconventional design, the
consequence, vocabulary is a relevant aspect of the dis- highly connotative. In general, the more a domain or connotations may become
critical marketing considera-
many parts of this book, but especially in the topic is controversial, the more it will contain loaded
cussion in tions (p. 388).
historical, regional, and social sections (Parts I, V). vocabulary, providing people with the lexical ammu- Connotations are also an
We II by surveying several routine
conclude Part nition they need to reinforce their point of view. important means of convey-
ing personal attitude and
ways which the lexicon plays a role in our lives -
in point of view. Bertrand
sometimes quietly and unconsciously, sometimes ALL THE RIGHT CONNOTATIONS . . .
Russell, BBC Brains Trust
on a

aggressively and controversially. One important role programme some years ago,
residence, dwelling, luxury substantial, spacious, quiet, gave a perfect illustration of
will be conspicuous by its absence: the humorous use of potential, benefit, views, well-appointed, well-screened, thiswhen he 'conjugated'
lexical items, which receives separate treatment in §22. desirable, landscaped, select, prestige position, attrac- the following 'irregular
tive, refurbished, restored, mature, character, unspoilt, verb':
tasteful, well-proportioned, individual, well-stocked,
convenient, modernized, immaculate, magnificent I am firm.

THE LOADED LEXICON opportunity .

You are obstinate.
He is a pig-headed fool.
de.ignedtoprovideopt.mun
The idea prompted the
RECEPT70NAREASAND withmterestingaspects,
Most of our discussion about the lexicon has been space British periodical, The
andlayoutstomeettheneeds
taken up with the dictionary meaning of lexemes |gff.MoOs.otneCourl New Statesman, to set a
of modern
dav living-
competition for its read-
what is often called their denotation. A denotation is isviaanelegantstairway,
ers. Here are some of the
doors into a
the objective relationship between a lexeme and the through double published entries.
'rssvestibule.Asecureddoc.
reality to which it refers: so, the denotation of specta-
fntrvsystemgivesaccesstoth I am sparkling.
clesis the object which balances on our nose in front of topressivemainreceptionhaU You are unusually
a colour with "uhmarbleflooringandper,- talkative.
the eyes; and the denotation of purple is
oddecor.Thetnainsta.rcase.. He isdrunk.
certain definable physical characteristics. A denotation hardwood with
pohshed
of am a creative writer
meaning, which
I

identifies the central aspect of lexical tJnedhandraUandsp.ndk-

- o You have a journalistic
everyone would agree about - hence, the concept of a andaneight-personh flair.
lessexactingroutetotheupvu
He is a prosperous
'dictionary definition'. levels.Thestaircaseand
hack.
By contrast, connotation refers to the personal aspect upstairs
corridorsarefitted
duty Axmin^e daydream.
of lexical meaning - often, the emotional associations Jirt, heavy
I

whilstthedecorma.n- You are an escapist.

carpet,
which a lexeme incidentally brings to mind. So, for tainsthebuildingsUalian He ought to see a
many people, ^rtfhas such connotations as 'cheapness' psychiatrist.

and 'incon- nrealinosphereasawhol

and 'convenience'; for others, 'discomfort' Manyothertriplets
elegance
of sumptuous could be devised:
venience'; for many children, it connotes 'school'; and IS
grandeur ot generally
recalling the Entrance halls are slender/thin/skinny
for many American adults, in this connection, it has a spaciousprovidingacomfort-
another age. frank/blunt/
%learearnwh,chtorecewe
political overtone (because of the 1960s policy in the afford an
insolent,
euests, and they overweight/"
USA of 'bussing' children to school as a means of pro-
Each ot the aP— '.';, fmpressive
i""°duct,on to the
moting social integration in ethnically divided

communities). Connotations vary according to the

urban Osborne Court is
nlture.andeffortsarebeing
,, ;„
mdiv^dual
^
'J'
,,, Living
rooms are
^ous proportions
with
plump/fat...

experience of individuals, and (unlike collocations, p.

^tadewherepossibletoacc-^n;
„odatepurchasers
ownse^c ^g ,^,a ,
by
height accentuated
coving. Light
aster
supplier
160) are to some degree unpredictable. On the other from appo'"'-^
tions _ ^^^ ^^^^^^
^^.^^
of fittings.
The apart wall and .:eiling
on a range ^_^|:^^,^^^,^^,^,,h

mentsthemselveshavebten

SNARLING AND PURRING
The American writer on semantics, S. \. Hayakawa
(1905- ), distinguished between 'snarl' words
and words, when discussing connotations.
'purr'
To take hisexamples: the sentence You filthy scum
is little more than a verbal snarl, whereas You're
the sweetest girl in all the world is the linguistic
equivalent of a feline purr or canine tail wag.
There is little objective content (denotation) in
either sentence.
The most ferocious snarl words raise distinct
issues, and are best discussed separately under
such headings as invective and taboo But (p. 1 72).
there are many other words which carry negative
or unfavourable connotations, as well as many
which carry positive or favourable ones. Often
COLOUR VITAMINS also often used symbolically
in many medieval
The symbolic or psychologi-
paintings.
cal associations of colours
In modern
have a long history. In the
psychological associations
12th century, a colour
of colours, and thus the
sequence for the liturgical
connotations of colour
year in the Roman Catholic
vocabulary, continue to be
Church was outlined by
exploited in a wide range
Pope Innocent III, and con-
of contexts, such as in the
tinues to be used today. For
description of paint shades
example, red vestments are
(p. 1 54), advertising lan-
used at Pentecost or for the
guage, and techniques of
feasts of martyrs, the colour
self-imaging. The Color Me
representing tongues of
Beautiful system is a good
fire and the shedding of
example within the last cat-
blood; black vestments are
egory. This consultancy was
the colour of mourning;
founded by Carole Jackson
violet vestments represent
in the USA in 1974, and
the mitigation of black, in
now has branches in many
Advent and Lent; and green
parts of the world.
Isthe 'neutral' colour, used
to help women
'inordinary time', when
their naturalbeauty
there is no special period or
through colour, using the
feast-day being celebrated.
metaphor of the four sea-
These and certain other
sons. In much the same way
colours (notably white,
as each season presents
blue, gold, and rose) are
distinct array of colours, a
person's colouring
to be in harmony with
one of these palettes, and
advice is given about how
to enhance these natural
colours, and about how to
choose additional colours
(of make-up and
There are 1 1
vitamins', and these are
related to a range of posi-
tive (-^) and negative
attributes.
red
+ up-beat, confident
assertive, exciting
- aggressive, domineering,
bossy, threatening
pink
feminine, gentle, access-
-I-
ible, non-threatening
- pathetic, unimportant,
safe, under-confident
12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS
these contrast, as in the distinction between a patriot, colourful, compact, partnership, jolly,
youngster and a youf/i: green, and environment. People will often
disagree over whether a lexeme snarls or purrs, as
A group of youngsters stood on the street corner.
in the case of curiosity, hanging, communist, civil
A group of youths stood on the street corner.
servant, republican, and ambitious.
You might well chat to the first group, as you problem of studying connotations is
Part of the
passed them by; you might well avoid eye contact that they readily change with the passage of time
with the second. Similarly, po/if/c/ans are (p. 138). Lewdonce meantsimply 'of the laity',
somewhat less respectable than statesmen and 'uneducated', but along with its change of
states-women, as are /odgers compared with meaning has come a distinctly negative tone.
paying guests, plots compared with plans, and Gentle, which comes from a word meaning 'clan'
papists compared with Catholics. or 'people', now has very positive associations. It is
A random selection of snarl words includes particularly difficult keepingtrackof the way
terrorist, exploitation, steam-roller (vb.), skulk, connotations respond to short-term changes in
nag, clammy, clique, loafing, politicking, and fashion and social status -which is one reason why
Among the purrwordsof the
pontificate. it is so difficult to make sense of 'political
language are comrade, enterprise, freedom. correctness' (p. 177).
blue SPRINGS
religious + peaceful, trustworthy,
The range of colours
constant, orderly
times, the - 'holier than thou', recommended for Springs
tiresome, predictable, (note the unusual
conservative countable noun, p 209).
Carole Jackson advises:
brown
'peach, apricot, salmon,
+ earthy, homely,
and coral, as well as all
gregarious
peachy pinks, are for
- safe, boring,
Spring...'
unsophisticated
(After C.Jackson, 1980.)
yellow
-^ cheerful, hopeful, active,
uninhibited
- impulsive, tiresome,
whirlwind, volatile
green
-^ self-reliant, tenacious,
nurturing, dependable
Its aim is
- boring, stubborn, risk-
discover
averse, predictable
orange
vital, funny, enthusiastic,
-^
sociable, uninhibited
- superficial, common,
a
faddist, giddy
is said violet
-^ imaginative, sensitive,
intuitive, unusual,
unselfish
- weird, impractical,
immature, superior
clothing). grey
key 'colour + respectable, neutral,
balanced
- non-committal,
(-)
deceptive, uncertain, safe
black
+ formal, sophisticated,
mysterious, strong
- mournful, aloof,
negative, lifeless
white
^ pure, clean, fresh,
futuristic
- clinical, 'colourless', cold,
neutral
(After M.Spillane, 1991.)
 ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Taboo exposed to them). More commonly, it is a tacit under- GORDON BENNETT

A few dozen lexemes comprise the special category of standing between people, which occasionally becomes A list of euphemisms involv-
ing the word God, and the
taboo language - items which people avoid using in explicit in the form of a comment, correction, or sanc-
year of their earliest recorded
polite society, either because they believe them harmful tion (such as a parental rebuke). The comment may be use in the Oxford English
or them embarrassing or offensive. The possibility
feel directed to oneself ('Pardon my French') or to others Dictionary, would begin with

and may be jocular ("Wash your gog (1 1 386), cod

350s), cofck (

of harm may be genuinely thought to exist, in the case ('Ladies present'),

(1 and include such later
569),
of notions to do with death and the supernatural, or mouth out') or serious ('God forgive me for swearing'). forms as gosh ( 1 743), golly
there may be merely a vague discomfort deriving from There are various ways of avoiding a taboo item. (1 743), grac/ous (1 760s), by

com- George (1842), Drat (= God

a half-believed superstition. Embarrassment tends to One is to replace it by a more technical term, as
rot) (1 844), Doggone (= God-
be associated with the sexual act and its consequences. monly happens in medicine (e.g. amis, genitalia, vagi- Damn (1851), and GreatScort
Ofifensiveness relates to the various substances exuded na, penis). Another, common in older writing, is to (1884). Many pronunciation
variants can befound, over
bv the body, and to the different forms of physical, part-spell the item (f^k bl ). The everyday
the centuries, such as adad,
mental, and abnormality. Words associated with method is to employ an expression which refers to the
.social bedad, begad, begar, begob,
certain other topics may also be called taboo, from time taboo topic in a vague or indirect way - a euphemism. dod, gar, ged, gom, gosse,
gud, gum, icod, and igad. Gor-
to time, because society is sensitive to them. During English has thousands of euphemistic expressions, of
don Bennett and Gordon
the recession of the early 1990s, newspapers would which these are a tiny sample: Highlanders are more recent
talk about 'the R word', and after the 1991 Maastricht coinages.
All swear words generate
conference would refer to the proposed federalism of casket (coffin), fall asleep (die), push up the daisies (be
euphemisms, sooner or later,
the European Community as 'the F word'. For some dead), the ultimate sacrifice (be killed), under the and the stronger the taboo,
people, indeed, all jargon is taboo (p. 174). weather (ill), after a long illness (cancer), not all there the larger the number of
room spend avoidance forms. The number
The prohibition on use may be explicit, as in the law (mentally subnormal), little girl's (toilet),
of euphemistic expressions
courts ('contempt of court'), the Houses of Parliament a penny (urinate), be economical with the truth (lie),
based on God is quite impres-
('unparliamentary language'), and the broadcasting adult video (pornography), let you go (sack), indust- sive, but the strongest taboo

way (pregnant), word, cunt, has accumulated

media (words officially banned until after a certain rial action (strike), in the family
around 700 forms.
time in the evening, so that children are less likely to be expectorate (spit), tired and emotional (drunk). (After G.Hughes, 1991.)

TABOO USAGE 'excrement'

Itis difficult to generalize about the (plural the Ss 'diarrhoea')
usage of taboo words. They express
varying degrees of force, and no two POSITIVE
are exactly the same with respect to
the way they are grammatically used. general emotive response personal abuse negation
It may seem strange to think of taboo (wonder, sympathy, he's a regular/little/first-class S, not give a S, ain't worth a S, ain't got S,

words as following grammatical rules, embarrassment, etc.) they're Ss, on my S-list, don't tell them S

but they do. Damn, for example, Aw SI, a cute littles, S-arse/-bag/-breeches/-face/- trouble
cannot be used with a preceding Sa brick!, hawky-head/-heel/-hole/ be in the S, been through a lot of S, be
personal pronoun (*You damn!) and Shee-y-it, She-it, Sh-i-i-l-tl, -house/-poke/-pot, in S street, S take a lot of S,
out of luck,
arse cannot be followed by one HotS!,S-hot, S-kicker (AmE 'rustic')
when the when
the S hits the
S flies,
(Mrseyou.'); fart cannot be followed Tough S! fan, up S creek (without a paddle), S on
dirty activities
by off or it; bugger, however, can be S-work ('menial housework'), someone from a great height
used in all four of these contexts. S-kickers (AmE, 'heavy work- fear
Taboo words, moreover, vary in their boots') S scared, S oneself, S bricks, scared S-
ability to be used as nouns, verbs,
less, beat/fuck/kick/knock the S out of
adjectives, and adverbs, or to form hard cheese,
tough Cheddar, someone, give one the Ss
part of compounds. Shit is a versatile
term, in this respect.
stiff biscuits, deception/tease
It is also difficult to define the
etc. are you S-ting me?. No S!

'tabooness' of a taboo word. Shit, for nastiness

example (represented as S in the that's a S-ty thing to say in a S-ty mood,
display), includes a great deal more it's S-ting down outside ^\
drugs (cannabis, etc.)
than its central, literal sense of
want some S?, rubbish shirty
'excrement' (as in have a shit). It has
S was scarce, load of S, all that S, shoot the S,
several figurative and idiomatic uses, good S for sale, don't give me any S, full of S,
which vary greatly in rhetorical force, clean white S he thinks the Zodiacs are S
from insult and rudenessto intimacy
EUPHEMISTIC
and solidarity, and it merges with an
Shivers! Sugar!
interesting range of euphemistic and
Shoot! Shute! bull-S,
jocular forms. The usage display is
Shucks! Sherbert! chicken-S
already complex, but it is by no means
complete, because of the problem of
keeping track of the way such forms bull, '^
DIALECT/JOCULAR
are used among social dialects and chicken droppings,
shite, shice, sheiss(e)
subcultures. etc.
 12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

Swearing members of the group were relaxed, there was a notice-

We need to draw a clear distinction between the lan- amount of social ('one of the gang)
able increase in the
guage of taboo, the language of abuse {invective), and swearing. This, the commonest swearing pattern,
This was a daring front page,
the language of swearing. The three may overlap or always depended for its effect upon an audience being
for a British newspaper
coincide: to call someone a shit is to use a taboo word present, and varied in intensity according to the swear- in1960.
as a term of abuse, and if said with enough emotional ing habits of the participants - social swearing
force would be considered an act of swearing. But diminished all round if a non-swearer was pre- Daily
there is no necessary identity. Piss is a taboo word sent. Annoyance swearing was different: this
Mirror
which is not usually employed on its own as invective occurred as a reaction to stress, regardless of
or as a swear word. Wimp is a term of abuse which is audience, and became more frequent as condi-
neither a taboo word nor a swear word. And heck is a tionsbecame more difficult. However, when a / If you will
pardon \
\anolde English phrase
swear word which is neither taboo nor invective. Yet
other distinctions are often drawn, some being given
situationwas extremely stressful, there was no
swearing at all, not even of the annoyance type.
J
legal definition, and invoking sanctions in certain cir-

cumstances. Probably the commonest notions are

One of the psychologist's conclusions was that
swearing is a sign that a stressful situation is
DON'T BE
obscenity, which involves the expression of indecent bearable, and indeed may be a factor in help-

sexuality - 'dirty' or 'rude' words; blasphemy, which

shows contempt or lack of reverence specifically
ing to reduce
hypothesis that those
stress. It raises the interesting
who swear suffer less
SO BLOODY
towards God or gods; and profanity, which has a wider from stress than those who do not. (After
range, including irreverent reference to holy things or
people (such as, in Christianity, the cross or the saints).
H.E.Ross, 1960.)
RUDE!
However, despite these distinctions, the term swearing
TO B— OR NOT TO THAT IS THE BLOODY QUESTION
is often used as a general label for all kinds of 'foul-
mouthed' language, whatever its purpose. TO-NIGHrS "PYGMALION." IN WHICH MRS.
In a narrower sense, swearing refers to the strongly
PATRICK CA^IPBELL IS EXPECTED TO CADSE THE
emotive use of a taboo word or phrase. 'Use' is perhaps
too weak. Swearing is an outburst, an explosion, which GREATEST THEATRICAL SENSATION FOR YEARS
gives relief to surges of emotional energy. It is a substi- On 28 May 1714, Jonathan (rather more likely) claims a towards the end of the
Swift commented, in one of figurative development, 19th century, ceased to be
tute for an aggressive bodily response, and can be
his letters to Stella, that 'it meaning 'the blood is up' regarded as swearing by
aimed either at people or at objects (as when our head was bloody hot walking (so that bloody drunk the 1940s, and was often
makes inadvertent contact with a low roof beam). Its today'. Almost exactly 200 would mean 'ready for a heard in respectable set-
years the Daily Sketch
later, fight').There are several tings. This contrasts with
forcefulness is reflected in its use of short, sharp sounds
of 11 April 1914 used the popular etymologies the situation at the time in
(p. 251) and emphatic rhythms. Its function is to
above headline to report a (p. 139) deriving the word Britain, where the Lord
express a wide range of emotions, from mild annoy- sensation, when Mrs Patrick from by Our Lady or from Chamberlain's office was
Campbell had to say the Ood's blood. Perhaps the still excising the word from
ance through strong frustration to seething anger, and
line 'Not bloody likely' for association of the word plays submitted to it, and
not to make sense. Indeed, if we look closely at swear- with uncouth behaviour, people were being fined
the opening of Shaw's Pyg-
ing formulae, we may find no meaning at all: flecking malion, thus using in public plus the popular belief that for using the word in pub-
a word which 'is certainly it might be profane, gradu- lic. But times were chang-
hella.nd other such phrases are, literally, nonsense.
not used in decent society'. ally led to its being used by ing, and indeedf/ie 7"/mes
However, the view of swearing as an emotional phe- (For the full report, see the lower classes as a swear- printed it in full in 1941 (in
nomenon is itself too narrow. Swearing has important p. 383). Indeed, public out- word. It had certainly a poem containing the line
rage at even the hint of the begun to fall from grace in really loathe the bloody
social functions. It can mark social distance, as when a
'I

word had caused Gilbert Britain by the end of the Hun'). The word's progress
group of youths display their contempt for social con- 8th century, when was towards renewed
and Sullivan in 1887 to alter 1 it

ventions by swearing loudly in public or writing the spelling of their opera recorded as part of under- respectability has been
Ruddygore to Ruddigore. world slang, and dictionar- steady since then, though
obscene graffiti on walls. And it can mark social soli-
The literal use of the ies began to refer to it as Prince Charles' comment in
darity, as when a group develops identical swearing word can be traced back to 'vulgar'. It was definitely a 1989 that English 'is taught
habits. It is important to appreciate, in this respect, Old English, and was com- common swear-word by the so bloody badly' received
mon in Elizabethan drama: early 19th century, called a less publicity for what he
that swearing is universal. Everyone swears — though
'O most bloody sight' (Julius 'horrid word', and printed said than for the way he
the mild expletive use of sugar or golly by one person Caesar, III. 2) is one of many as b y. said it. The associations of
would probably not be considered as swearing by Shakespearian quotations. The word became a some 200 years die hard,
someone whose normal imprecation Its later use as an intensifier major social issue only in and many people never use
is sonofabitch or
(with the basic meaning of Britain. It never gained the word in public, feel
motherfiicker. popularity in America, and embarrassed if someone
'very') has never been satis-
When we join a new social group, it seems we are factorily explained. One in Australia it became so does so, and (in Britain)
theory has associated it frequent that quickly lost complain to the BBC if
much influenced by its swearing norms. Swearing is
it

with the rowdy behaviour its pejorative associations. they hear it on air before
contagious. In one study, the swearing patterns of The 'great Australian 9 pm.
of the 'young bloods' of the
zoologists during an expedition to the Arctic were Restoration period; another adjective', as it was called

observed by a psychologist. She noted that when the

 PARI II • knc;li.sh vocabulary

Jargon standing, then we start to complain; and if we suspect 30 WAYS OF GETTING

Jargon is itself a loaded word (p. 170). One dictionary that the obfuscation is deliberate policy, we unre- THE SACK
defines it, neatly and neutrally, as 'the technical vocab- servedly condemn, labelling it gobbledegook and calling The following expressions
were all used in 1991 by busi-
ulary or idiom of a special activity or group", but this down public derision upon it.
nesses which were having to
sense is almost completely overshadowed by another: No area is sacrosanct, but advertising, political, and 'let people go'- Presumably
"obscure and often pretentious language marked by a military statements have been especially criticised in they felt that the jargon
would somehow provide jus-
roundabout way of expression and use of long words'. recent years by the various campaigns for Plain English
tification for their policy, or
For most people, it is this second sense which is at the (p. .376). In these domains, the extent to which people perhaps it would reduce the
front of their minds when they think about jargon. Jar- are prepared to use jargon to hide realities is a ready trauma for the ex-workforce.
In such cases, jargon is taking
gon is said to be a baduss of language, something to be source of amusement, disbelief, and horror. A lie is a
on the role of euphemism
avoided at all costs. No one ever describes it in positive lie, which can be only temporarily hidden by calling it
(p. 172).

terms {'that was a delightful piece of rousing jargon'). an 'inoperative statement' or 'an instance of plausible career change opportunity
Nor does one usually admit to using it oneself: the myth deniability'. Nor can a nuclear plant explosion be sup- chemistry change
something onlv other people emplov. pressed tor long behind such phrases as 'energetic dis- coerced transition
is that jargon is
decruitment
sassembly', 'abnormal evolution', or 'plant transient'. degrowing
The up side While condemning unnecessary or obscuring jar- dehiring

gon in others, we should not forget to look out for it in deselection

The realin' is that everyone uses jargon. It is an essen-
destaffing
tial part of the network of occupations and pursuits ourselves. It is so easy to 'slip into' jargon, without real- downsizing
which make up society. All jobs present an element of izing that our own listeners/readers do not under- executive culling
force reduction
jargon, which workers learn as they develop their stand. It is also temptingly easy to slip some jargon into
indefinite idling
expertise. All hobbies require mastery of a jargon. All our expression, to ensure that others do not under- involuntary separation
sports and games have their jargon. Each society stand. And it is just as easy to begin using jargon which negotiated departure
grouping has its jargon. The phenomenon turns out to we ourselves do not understand. The motivation to do outplacement
personnel surplus reduction
be universal - and valuable. It is the jargon element such apparently perverse things is not difficult to redeployment
which, in a job, can promote economy and precision grasp. People like to be 'in', to be part of an intellectu- reducing headcount
of expression, and thus help make life easier for the al or technical elite; and the use of jargon, whether redundancy elimination
release
workers. It is also the chief linguistic element which understood or not, is a badge of membership. Jargon, rightsizing
shows professional awareness ('know-how') and social also, can provide a lazy way into a group or an easy way schedule adjustment
selective separation
togetherness ('shop-talk'). ot hiding uncertainties and inadequacies: when termi-
skill-mix adjustment
When we have learned to command it, jargon is nolog)' slips plausibly from the tongue, it is not essen- transitioned
something we readily take pleasure in, whether the tial for the brain to keep up. Indeed, it is commonly vocational relocation
voluntary severance
subject area is motorcycles, knitting, cricket, baseball, asserted that politicians and civil servants have devel-
voluntary termination
computers, or wine. It can add pace, variety, and oped this skill to professional levels. And certainly, work force adjustment
humour to speech - as when, with an important event faced with a telling or awkward question, and the need work force imbalance
correction
approaching, we might slip into NASA-speak, and talk to say something acceptable in public, slipping into

about countdoivn, all systems go, and lifi-off We enjoy jargon becomes a simple way out, and can soon devel-
the mutual showing-off which stems from a fluent use op into a bad habit. It is a short step, then, to jargon's
of terminology, and we enjoy the in-jokes which first cousin, cliche (p. 186).
shared linguistic experience permits. Moreover, we are
jealous of this knowledge. We are quick to demean
anyone who tries to be part of our group without being
prepared to take on its jargon. And we resent it when
some other group, sensing our lack of linguistic aware-
ness, refuses to let us in.

The down side

If jargon is so essential a part of our lives, why then has

it had such a bad press? The most important reason

stems from the way jargon can exclude as well as
include. We may not be too concerned if we find our-
selves faced with an impenetrable wall of jargon when
the subject matter has little perceived relevance to our
everyday lives, as in the case of hydrology or linguis-
tics. But when the subject matter is one where we feel

implicated, and think we have a right to know, and the

speaker uses words which act as a barrier to our under-
 12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS party of economic growth, and hang the recession The king, sir, hath wager'd with him six Bar-
Osric;
round the neck of the Government's monetary and bary horses: against the which he has imponed,
The way jargon enters into our lives, often with-
stewardship.
fiscal as take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with
I

out our even noticing it, can be seen in this short

selection of published examples (from W. Nash,
1993).
«... smells interestingly of flowers and curiously
of bath salts, but has tropical fruit on the palate,
with rough sauvignon blanc edges absent, except
• A mere yard off the fairway at the fourth, he
could only hack out from the clinging Bermuda
rough, three putts adding up to a six. Much
the same happened at the par-five sixth for
another six.
their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so; three of
the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy,
very responsive to the hilts, most delicate car-
riages, of very liberal conceit.
Hamlet What
: call you the carriages?
Horatio (aside to Hamlet): knew you must be edi-
I

perhaps on the finish A famous jargonlzer fied by the margent ['margin'] ere you had done.
• His breast of chicken with tarragon and girolles Literary examplesshow that jargon is by no means Osric. The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
goes back to the classic French repertoire: the skin only a modern phenomenon. Here, Hamlet takes Hamlet: The phrase would be more german to the
of the fowl crisped to gold, oderiferously swathed issue with Osric over the pretentious use of car- matter, if we could carry cannon by our sides: I

in a thick, creamy sauce ... riages - a term more appropriately used, in Ham- would it might be hangers until then.
«... Labour has to establish its credentials as the let's estimation, for guns {cannon) than for swords. (Ham/et V.ii)
 PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

The Doublespeak campaign

AIR SUPPORT
During the 1970s in the USA, there was a marked
increase in concern about the way jargon was being The winner of the first Doublespeak Award in 1974 was Colonel Opfer, the United States

Air Force press officer in Cambodia. After a US bombing raid, he told reporters: 'You
used to confuse or deceive by people in power. In
always write it's bombing, bombing, bombing. It's not bombing! It's air support!'
1971, the National Council of Teachers of English
passed two resolutions on language.

On Dishonest and Inhuniune Uses of Language

That the National Council of Teachers of English find
means to study dishonest and inhumane uses ot
language and literature by advertisers, to bring
offenses to public attention, and to propose classroom
techniques lor preparing children to cope with com-
mercial propaganda.

On the Relation ofLanguage to Public Policy

That the National Council of Teachers of English find
means to study the relation of language to public pol-
icy, to keep track of publicize, and combat semantic
distortion by public officials, candidates for office,
political commentators, and all those who transmit
through the mass media.

In 1973 the Council decided on its way forward, form-

ing a Committee on Public Doublespeak - a blend of
neu'Speak+ doublethink from Orwells Nineteen Eighty-
Four (p. 135).The Committee focused on classroom AND SOME OTHER THE GOLDEN BULL THE ORWELL
activities and on professional awareness, publishing a WINNERS AWARDS AWARDS
newsletter (later, the Quarterly Review ofDoublespeak) • 1977 The Pentagon and These are the British Itshould not always be bad
and other the Energy Research and equivalent of the news. While the thrust of the
materials; but its came
highest public profile
Development Doublespeak Awards, Doublespeak campaign has
with the birth of the annual Doublespeak Awards in Administration, for organized by the Plain been directed against
1974. explaining that the neutron EnglishCampaign and the language misuse, there have
So what is doublespeak? In the view of the Com- bomb was 'an efficient National Consumer Council. also been efforts to reward
nuclear weapon that The first plaque was given those who have helped to
mittee Chair, it is com-
'language which pretends to eliminates an enemy with a in 1982 to the author of direct public attention to the
municate, but really doesn't. It is language which minimum degree of damage Section 38 of the Criminal issues, and who themselves use

makes the bad seem good, the negative seem positive, to friendly territory'. Justice Act, for writing as language well.
follows: The Orwell Awards were
the unpleasant appear attractive, or at least tolerable. It • 1979 The nuclear power introduced by the National
is language which avoids or shifts responsibility, lan-
industry, for the euphemisms (4) An enactment in which Council of Teachers of English
devised in relation to the sertion 31 (6) and (7) of the
to recognize a work which has
guage which is at variance with its real or its purport- incident at Three Mile Island, CriminalLaw Act 1977 (pre- made an outstanding
ed meaning. It is language which conceals or prevents when an explosion was called 1949 enactments) produced contribution to the critical
thought' (W. Lutz, 1987). 'energetic disassembly', a fire the same fine or maximum
It is stressed that such lan- analysis of public discourse.
'rapid oxidation', a reactor fine for different convictions
guage is not the product of carelessness or sloppy The award was given in
first
accident a 'normal shall be treated for the 1 975 to David Wise for his
thinking; rather, it is the result of clear thinking. The aberration', and plutonium purposes of this section as if book The Politics of Lying.
claim is that this language has been carefully designed contamination 'infiltration'. there were omitted from it so Particularly appropriate to this
much of it as before 29th July section was the award given to
to change reality and to mislead. • 1984 The US Department 1977...
of State, for announcing that
Dwight Bolinger's book.
Judging by the media attention given to the annual Language, the Loaded
in reports on the status of The use of 'plain English'
awards, the emergence of similar societies in other human rights in other involves much more than an
Weapon 0980).
countries, the growth in public awareness of the prob- countries, the word killing avoidance of unnecessary A similar concern to develop
positive initiatives is found in
lem, and the way in which many organizations have would in future be replaced jargon, but must take into
the UK, wherein 1990 the
by 'unlawful or arbitrary account questions of
responded positively to the demand for plain English' deprivation of life'. grammar and typography, as Plain English Campaign
introduced the Crystal Mark
(p. 376), the campaign to date has been remarkably this example shows. The
issues raised by such
scheme to recognize clarity in
successful. But, in view of the examples which cont- written documents (p. 375).
examples are therefore
inue to be cited in the yearly award ceremonies, no one discussed later in this book
The choice of this title, it is
believed, does not derive from
is suggesting that the problem is anywhere near (p. 376).
the name of any linguistics
being solved. author living or dead.

1
 12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

Political correctness don't like'. It was, according to an Economist edtnonal -ISTS AND -ISMS
Some of the most loaded words in the language are of the time, 'the most pernicious form of intolerance'. Suffixes (p. 198) mark the
those associated with the way society talks about itself, The arguments continue. Critics of PC believe that areas which cause greatest
and especially about groups of people whom it per- the search for a 'caring' lexicon is pointless, as long as
concern. In each case, the
label identifies one way
ceives to be disadvantaged or oppressed. The most sen- the inequalities which the language
in
reflects do not which people can
sitive domains are to do with race, gender, sexual change. Proponents of PC argue that the use of lan- discriminate against others
affinity, ecology, and (physical or mental) personal guage by using language which is
itself helps to perpetuate these inequalities. At
development. During the 1980s, an increasing num- demeaning or offensive.
present, the speed at which fashions change in the use
ber of people became concerned to eradicate what they of PC terms suggests that Sexist: discrimination against
it is not so easy to manipu-
one sex, typically men
saw to be prejudice (especially language prejudice) in late language as the reformers think. Dissatisfaction against women.
these areas. The label racw/wf was already known from over one term tends to spread to its replacement, as has Racist: discrimination against
the turn of the century, and
from the 1930s. racist been seen with such sequences as negro to black to a race, typically whites
Afro- against blacks.
Sexistwus added in the 1 960s, and followed by a series American to African-American. Above all, it is very dif- Ableist: discrimination by the
of other -wf terms which focussed on real or imagined ficult to ascertain just how far linguistic attitudes are able-bodied againstthose
areas of linguistic discrimination. Many of the critics generally held. In one 1991 survey of black Americans, with physical or mental
difficulties.
were members of progressive or activist groups (e.g. carried out in the USA by the black-oriented Joint Ageist: discrimination against
advocates of minority rights), especially in universities, Center for Political and Economic Studies, over 70 per those of a particular age,
and thus, as the movement grew, attracting hard-line cent of blacks said they preferred to be called black, typically the very young or
the very old.
extremists alongside moderates, drew down upon it notwithstanding the supposed contemporary vogue Heightist: discrimination
itself the antagonism of conservative academics and for the politically-correct African-American. againstthose of a certain
journalists. By the 1990s, this hard-line linguistic height, typically against
Political correctness has become one of the most very short people.
orthodoxy was being referred to, pejoratively, as contentious issues on the US socio-political scene in
political correctness (PC). Other such labels have been
recent years, and attitudes continue to harden. Those proposed, such as fattyistor
Anyone who used vocabulary held to be 'politically who adopt a PC line typically do so with an aggres- we/g/it/sf (against fat people)
incorrect' risked severe condemnation by PC activists. siveness which creates antagonism even among those and heterosex/st (against
Organizations, fearful of public criticism and homosexuals of either sex),
litiga- who might themselves be concerned about traditional
and the list has been
tion, went out of their way to avoid using language labels. However, extreme positions quickly attract extended in many ways,
which might be construed as The word
offensive. ridicule, and it is not surprising especially bythose who have
little sympathy with the PC
black, for example, was felt to be so sensitive that some to find several publications in
frame of mind. Alphabetist,
banned its use in all possible contexts (including such the 1990s beginning to satirise for example, was proposed in
instances as blackboard and the black pieces in chess). them. may 1987to label discrimination
It yet be humour
The generic use of man was against someone on the
widely attacked (p. 368). which will restore a balanced
grounds of alphabetical
Mentally handicapped people were to become people perspective to the debate. order If your name begins
with learning difficulties. Disabled people were to be with an A, you are
differently abled. Third World countries were to be 1^ advantaged (e.g. in a pile of
job applications); with
if Z,
developing nations. All but the most beautiful or you are not.
handsome were aesthetically challenged. And in the
'NTELLECTUAL
academic world there would need to be safe-
literary CHALLENGE
guards against the unhealthy influence wielded by
"^age of Little steph'en',
British for 25 years
ch the logc
such DWEMs('Dead White European Males') as :^--ppe.S^---c.re;^:-;,,,,,^_
Shakespeare, Goethe, and Moliere. "mpa,gn to promote ''""'^^^ ^ "^w
°^;eal people and
a Tore ^o.^ '
a fr^sZ^^^ZT'^^' '"'^ P'«-'
T^here was '^^'^"^9 the
controversy hnw! most of life'
Critical reaction not to change
the
«n^^e from critics
na^S^^w'^" ^^'^"P decided
In the early 1 990s, many people reacted strongly to who felt tha'thtC "^^ ^^" °PP°sition
what they saw as a trend towards terminological
•"t^'yig tnat these
-PymgthatthesepeopleweV'r^-^
npnr,i= " ^^''m of insult ^
Alternativenamerpopotd:"dTt'^^°'^'P*^"- elves
absurdity. The condemnation of 'incor-
inflexible ncludedpeop/e
Jth leantjfffT ^,""'°'' P"^'*'--,
'ntellectually difficulties and the
rect' vocabulary reminded some of the 'thought challenged
police' of futuristic novels. Newspaper headlines
contained references to 'McCarthyism' and 'the
end of academic freedom of speech'. And certain-
ly there were cases cited of academics who had
criticised the PC position being labelled racist or
as an insulf. '=
"° exception. Children ^°"' ^'"^9^
sexist, and losing their courses or their case for are a^ eldlr ,r
id.ots

promotion. According to a writer in the New Suchpoints,

^^^'^>'
""-g each other LDs
however didnot
York Times (July, 1 99 1 ) PC had become 'a lethal
,

weapon for silencing anyone whose ideas you '---oing..rgum^tS;:-:-^.^^a,S:ES^^

^-°'--uesofpc^in-:^e^
1
1 ways;
 PARI II • ENGLISH VOCAIUH.AR'i

THE LIVING LEXICON CATCH STRUCTURES

The grammatical may become popular In Its own right. A
structure of a catch phrase
famous case occurs the opening text of Star Trek: to boldly go where no man has gone
In
\Vc know that something is alive when we see it move;
before. This construction Is often transferred to other contexts, retaining boldly between
and language is no exception. Spoken language, in par- to and the verb (p. 195), but altering the chief meaning-carrying lexemes: to boldly split

ticular, is always on the move; and the more alive a lan- infinitives where no man has split before is one (somewhat abstruse) instance, heard at a
conference on English usage In the 1980s
guageis, the more we see it change, as it adapts to new

demands and circumstances. English, by this criterion,

is in the forefront ot living languages.

In reality, of course, this way of putting it is some-

what misleading. It is not language, as such, which
adapts and changes. Only people do that. And it is
people who, try to communicate fresh
as they
thoughts and feelings, and look for new ways of mak-
ing an impact on each other, explore and stretch the
limits of the lexicon. This section examines some oi
the main areas of vocabulary where we are likely to find
this energy and life most clearly displayed. (For other

examples ot the 'life' ol language, see Part V.)

Catch phrases
In catch phrases, we see the spoken language 'on the
wing'. As the name suggests, a catch phrase is simply
a phrase which is so appealing that people take plea-
sure in using it. It comes to be on everyone's lips, for
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
a while. Insome cases, a phrase comes and goes with-
in a few weeks. More usually, it stays for a few years.

And, every now and then, it stays in use for decades, Here's looking at you, kid.
at least among older people. It is even possible for Phone home.
catch phrases to be so useful that they become per- May the Force be with you!
manent additions to the language, in the form of
rather self-conscious and often jocular expressions On the other hand, many examples will have a much
whose origins people may have long forgotten. Any- more 'local' response. Most people in Britain will
one who says (or adapts) A man's gotta do what a man's know (and many will have used) such TV catch
gotta do. They went thataway, or This town isn't big phrases as the following, though few English speakers
enough for both of us is 'recalling' the catch phrases of in other countries will have much of an intuition
a generation of cowboy Western films, now several about them.
decades old - though it is unlikely that anyone could
now recollect where they first heard them. Pass Used in the sense 'I don't know, ask me another'
Catch phrases, typically, are not like these last in both the BBC TV quiz game Mastermind and the
examples, but have a clearly identifiable source. How- US TV show Password. It is said by contestants who are
ever, to identify them, we need to be part of the unable to answer one question and who wish to move
culture which gave rise to them. The catch phrases onto the next as quickly as possible before they run out
currently echoing around Australia are unlikely to be of time.
recognized in Britain or the USA (and vice versa),
unless they have managed to capture international Gissajob 'Give us a job' - a Liverpool dialect form of
attention through the media. The cinema has been the 'Give us (=me) a job', used by the unemployed charac-
chief 20th-century medium, in this respect. It is prob- ter Yosser in Alan Bleasdale's TV play. Boys from the
able that most native speakers of English will know the Black Stuff{\982).
following examples, though not everyone will be able
to identify their sources with certainty [see foot of Enenin' all 'Good evening, all', typically spoken in a
facing page, if needed}. mock-Cockney pronunciation (with final /g/ omitted
and a vowel-like version ol /I/). The greeting was used
What's up, doc? in the 1950s by the TV character PC Dixon in the
Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into. series about a London policeman, Dixon of Dock

You cannot be serious! Green, and is still widespread.

 12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

Most American viewers, on tiie otiier iiand, would

have no trouble recognizing VOGUE WORDS forms of impasse, such as the positions in
an argument). The term buzz word is also
Heres Johnny Used at the beginning of the US TV chat Vogue words, as the name suggests, are used to describe such a development, and
lexemes which take on a fashionable or cult in some ways is a more appropriate term,
programme, The Johnny Carson Show, to welcome the status within thelanguage as a whole, or with its suggestion of excitement, activity,
host. It is echoed by the insane character played by Jack among the members of a particular group and change - the features of any fashion.
Nicholson as he axes through the door (such as teachers, government ministers, or The use of affixes (p. 1 28) has come to be
at the climax of
teenagers). They are similar in many ways an important feature of vogue words in
the film The Shining.
to catch phrases (which might, indeed, be recent years. The -gate of Watergate has
called vogue phrases), but vogue words retained its popularity into the 1990s, pro-
Very interesting Spoken in a mock German accent,
usually lack the specific sources
which can ducing hundreds of expressions (Carter-
with a lengthened 'meditative' first vowel, by the be found for most catch phrases. gate, Hollywoodgate, Dallasgate,
'German soldier' on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Vogue words do not suddenly appear, Dianagate, Camillagate, etc). Euro- in the
but grow gradually and unobtrusively,
shown on US TV in the 1 960s-70s. He would be seen early 1990s also achieved vogue status,
until one day we are aware that everybody being attached to almost anything which
peering at other characters through foliage and is using them. had - or could be given - a European Com-
commenting on their idiocy. Vogue words are not the same as neolo- munity application {Eurowisdom, Eurocrat,
gisms (p. 1 30). A lexeme which has been in Eurodollar, Euromess, etc.). Other exam-
The transatlantic situation is not a symmetrical one, the language for years may become a ples of vogue affixes which emerged dur-

however. Far more American films and shows are seen vogue word - as happened to absolutely in ing the 1980s include -athon (p. 131),
the late 980s, which came to be used as
1 mega-, -aid, -speak, and all the -isms and
in Britain than move in the other direction. Thus, an emphatic substitute for 'yes agree'. A
I -/sts (p. 177).
most British people would have no trouble with Who neologism must have a certain popularity, The trouble with vogue words is that
of course, otherwise it would not become they are transient and unpredictable. At
loves ya,baby? (imm Kojak) or Hi-yo, Silver (from The
part of the language at all; but only a few the time of writing (1993), the vogue
Lone Ranger), and many other catch phrases from tele- neologisms become so popular that they words of the 1980s {Yuppie and its friends,
vision series. The 64-dollar (later, 64-thonsand dollar) could be called 'vogue'. glasnost, perestroika, Rambo, etc.) are still
To become a vogue word, something in use, but have been overtaken by the
question is used in Britain without hesitation (and
extra has to happen - a word has to be fresh tones of the 1990s {double whammy,
without any replacement of the word dollar). It is dis- taken up and used with extra frequency by virtual reality, etc.). And by the time this
tincdy more unusual for a British catch-phrase to take large numbers of people, and must be book appears, most of these may well have
extended to contexts beyond the one lost their vogue, and been replaced. To be
off in the USA - though the Monty Python series first
which originally gave rise to it (as when up-to-date with examples of vogue words,
shown on British TV had some impact in the 1980s, gridlock, a term describing a type of in fact, you will have to put this book
with such phrases as And now for something completely unmoving traffic jam, is applied to other down, go out-and-about, and listen.
different, and Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.
It is not just the media which generates catch phras-
es, of course. Anyone in the public domain can - wit-
tingly or unwittingly - be the source of one. Politicians
provide one breeding-ground, as illustrated by You
never had it so good, found both in the USA (as the slo-
gan of the Democratic Party in the 1952 presidential
election)and the UK
(by Harold Macmillan in 1957:
most ofour people have never had it so good). Sports per-
sonalities provide another: a famous case is We wuz
robbed, attributed to Joe Jacobs, the
manager of boxing
heavyweight Max Schmeling, who lost on points to
Jack Sharkey in 1932. Generals, admirals, singers,
archbishops, judges, the British Royal Family -
indeed, anyone who is likely to attract the public eye,
and be quoted in the press - can, if they say the right
words at the right time, find themselves taking up
residence in a Dictionary of Catch Phrases. And if what
they say is truly memorable, it might even be a
Dictionary of Quotations (p. 1 84).

MYTHICAL CATCH PHRASES

Me Tarzan, you Jane is not to be found in any of the

Tarzan though Tarzan and Jane do greet each

films,
other some productions. Nor did Sherlock
elliptically in
Holmes ever say Elementary, my dear Watson in any of
the books by Conan Doyle (though it does appear in a
film). Catch phrases are often adapted and renewed
with scant regard for accuracy.
 I'ARl' II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Slogans
(.)rigiiially, the word slogan was used to describe the
battle-cry or rallying-cry of a Scottish clan. Today, the
mod-
fjj/ Britain at its best.
application is different, but the intention behind
ern slogans is much the same - to form a forceful,

mind-grabbing utterance which will rally peo-

catchy,
ple, in this case to buy something, or to behave in a cer-
THE ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE
tain way. Indeed, the force of the hard sell with which
some slogans are placed before the public would no
doubt have received the enthusiastic approval of any
ancient Highlander.
CENTRAL HEATING /or KIDS
In their linguistic structure, slogans are very like
proverbs (p. 184). Sentences tend to be short, with a
strong rhythm:

Safety First
hygena
Beanz Meanz Heinz Simply beautiful. And beautifully simple.
Ban the Bomb
Walls Have Ears

They often have

get at all lengthy:

Make love, not war

a balanced structure, especially if they

miB^MfiJk
^mSmwmJ^m.m^^ MM Nikon
sport optks
You 'II never see things
When you need aspirin, drink Disprin WARM TO THE EXPERIENCE. quite the same againJ^

KYO
There can be striking use of figurative language:

Terylene keeps its promises

Sivitch on the sunshine (Kellogg's cereal)

Frequent use is made of alliteration (p. 415) and I

rhyme ('jingles'):
WORKS WITH YOUR BODY, NOT AGAINST IT.
Guinness is goodfor you
Electroliix brings luxury to life

Drinka pinta milka day

Put a
You'll
tiger in your tank (Exxon/Esso)
wonder where the yellow went
eUa. QTROY'BILT An American Legend Caring For The Land.
When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent The freedom to see

And several mimic a conversational style:

It's fingerlickin' good (Kentucky Fried Chicken)

/ bet (s)he drinks Carling Black Label
You CAN BE SURE OF SHELL
That'll do w/Vf/y (American Express).

As these examples suggest, slogans are used tor br

more than advertising commercial products, but are
an essential part ot campaigns -
protest, health, environmental,
all political, safety,

and so on. Indeed, one ^^ American Sunflower Seed Bureau

of the
slogan,
first steps in any campaign is to think up a good
and some companies run regular competitions W FOR A HEALTHY APPETITE
to obtain fresh ideas from the public. Invent a success-

ful slogan today, and (who knows?) it could be Sun

City for you tomorrow. Leading the way to the USA.
 .

LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

Graffiti • There is a great deal of straightforward praise or WHO WUZ HERE?

The word graffito originally referred to a drawing or invective, for or against particular gangs, religious Two of the longest-standing
on an ancient wall, such as those
inscription scratched groups, political parties, protest groups, etc. The graffiti are Kilroyan6 Chad,
which have been found at Pompeii. In the present cen- group's symbols or logos often play a both of World War 2 origin,
prominent role in
and still being drawn around
tury, the name has come to be used for any sponta- the design. the world in the 1990s.
neous and unauthorized writing or drawing on walls,
vehicles, and other public
• Likewise, a large amount of space is devoted to
places. It is typically obscene
or political in character, but a great deal of humour
obscenity and dirty jokes in general, as only to be
expected from data which originates on lavatory walls.
is
ICiLRd/
and popular wisdom can also be found, which has
formed the basis of several collections by folklorists
and humorists.
• A common tactic is to respond to a well-known quo-
tation or slogan. Biblical quotations are frequently
Woz
Graffiti are ofiren occasional, in character,

ing to current events and preoccupations, such as an

respond- used (Faith can move mountains.
commercial slogans [I thought that an innuendo was an
She's a biggirl) as are Here
Kilroy
election or a famous scandal. Most graffiti, however, Italian suppository until I discovered Smirnoff ) Kilroy began in America.
bear no relation to a particular time or place. The same He may have been a
• Graffiti dialogues also exist, as writers react to each
themes Massachusetts shipyard
recur, over the years, as do some of the
other. inspector, James Kilroy, who
favourite formulae of the graffiti-writers. For example,
in 1941 was marking the
there must by now be thousands of variants of the X Be alert. phrase on equipment to
rules O^structure, said to have begun as a British soc- show he had checked it. Or
Your country needs lerts.
he may have been a
cer boast {Arsenal rules, OK?). A small sample from — No, Britain has got enough lerts noiv, thank you. Sergeant Francis Kilroy
one paperback collection illustrates this sub-genre in Be aloof. whose arrival at a Florida air
base was anticipated by the
action (N. Rees, 1981): - No, really, be alert. There's safety in numbers.
notice Kilroy will be here
Apathy oh dear. next week. Several other
rules, • Puns and word play abound. These are usually of
theories exist, and the truth
Examples rule, e.g. the category that might charitably be described as may never be known.
Einstein rules relatively, OK. execrable [Qiiasimodo - that name rings a bell), but
Bureaucracy rules OK they are sometimes highly ingenious - in this case,
OK
OK
playing with the words of a once popular song ('Miss
Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today'):
~^(^ —^_r"^— c^i^j—
Wot, Mo"BanaMAS?
Several other general characteristics can also be LIFT UNDER REPAIR - USE OTHER LIFT Chad
observed. Chad (also known as Mr
This Otis regrets it's unable to lift today.
Chad) appeared in Britain
early in the War, always
accompanied by a standard

Shaking it all
aboufrufer- phrase of the type What, no
— He turns up, often under
.'.

'
HohtfCokof

OK
^_^
^^^^'^
a different

da). Again,
tions have
name,
countries (e.g. Clem,
many
been proposed,
in several
in Cana-

explana-

QUEEN E SUDE RULES both for the drawing and for

the name. A popular view is
that the facegrew out of a

,, ROLES UK Absolute zero rul^s K diagram, such as that of an

alternating wave form,
which could have been part

DYSLEXIA R'^'-ES KO of a lecture to military per-

sonnel.

THE LAW OF THE EXCLUOEO

MIDDLE EITHER ROUS OR , •
BET, CERTAINLy The name Chad was chiefly
DOES NOT RULE OK MOuUePt yuJc <i i
Royal Air Force; Private
Snoops was the Army equiv-
alent, and The Watcher was
Cf-OCj^UiVb? rules-KO?
PESSIMISTS often found in the Navy.
Theories about its origins are
also highly speculative: they
include the view that it

derives from the name of a

forces lecture centre {Chad-
wick House), and that it
comes from the name of a
l^)l«^»^lM!^i«gwww^v.a^^;«lMl>ilf«gl^pw^^
1940s' film {Chad Hannah).
 PARI' II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Slang
Slang, according to the American poet, Carl Sandburg
(1878-1967) is 'language which takes off its coat, spits
on its hands - and goes to work'. The Oxford English
Dictionary provides a more judicious account: 'lan-
guage of a highly colloquial r\'pe, considered as below
the level of educated standard speech, and consisting
either of new words or ot current words employed in
some special sense'. In a related definition, it also

describes slang as 'language ot a low or vulgar type' and

'the special vocabulary or phraseology ot a particular
calling or profession'. This sums up the paradox ot

slang very well. People look down on it, but can hard-
ly avoid using it, for everyone has some 'calling or pro-

fession', even if the 'call' is only to watch football,

collect stamps, or go drinking. There is upper-class
slang alongside lower-class slang, the slang ot doctors
and of lawyers, the slang of footballers and philatelists,
as well as the slang which cuts across social class and

occupation, available to anyone as the most colloquial

variety of language (p. 290). The word 'most' is impor-
tant. Let's have a drink is colloquial, but not slang. Let's

dip the ^///(Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep), which

means the same thing, is both.
The complexity of slang is immediately apparent
when we examine its varied functions (see right). It
forced to choose the primary function of slang from
Eric Partridge's list, it would have to be number 13
(and its complement, 14). 'The chief use of slang', it

has been wisely said, 'is to show that you're one of the
gang' - and, in Chandler's novels, literally so. Slang is

one of the chief markers of in-group identity. As such,

it comes very close to jargon (p. 174).
 : ;

12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

FUCKER

EVINCE OF BACCHUS 1909 condemned

„ tu„
by tne , ,

^
w
E.t). as iUit«rat«
^^^ _^^ ^^^^^
Emerson infer trom )

Providence: ooU.: 1856, bv 1920 (so I ^^ ^^

haraoter of
Oxford had disapPea;^^-;^ ^^^„,,„,ar-
0-EDl- „, Urunkemiesa: ,„,.,„„y.i^
oS Bacchus.
province »|^^'^0 Egan's Grose.

his first ed
H., in prune, v. To „!? .
liiiij"-* - '" ^^_2 See1. P'"*
and the mmor
puDS.^
P^^s "S.^pubs '
,

good, worthy. l^te C. 17-20.

^^ »q
TO fteq "'
fteqiient '

pub (always pubJe^om^-

It).
o^^pZk womamse low ^

MOWl. To
•
^^ ^ ^r meat K.
1889, Jerome A liquor^
B.f!lproI.r^[-l,- ^^^,tt ghost t^ -- a P;
esp. do
^° for 'the wj :, --r-
pub-crawl from not later tn
bee
mutton, q.v.h-- 1870; ob
of.
walk- :
.tt^«-*l^^iiJ^toking forsomething to
^^^'°°
fc"
Hence pu>}f'^''r^\l„, pl.
X%«t-X
„i of pMs,
fro-
]
ft ps^
:
.

-veral "prongs"
puucs. An incorrert
pubes. "- "^/^g^o.-a.] «-A.F.: since oT W ^^Cd" ^/i?' "'^^ ^a^
(rnm
from ca. ca. 1935 w°°'^ H. & p,.
innominate ^one ^„„, :
i87^ , bWt.c monitory
Prowler, HugU-
name
^"^
Tusser '°^/or
the rest.'
fear of K
„ u^„hwavman: mid-0.
Prowler get home

.eaccessit:ooU.abbr.
lo-i'-
with

(schools'.
eorrectfor^p.^.2^eP^"^
pubis.
region
pubUc.
from ca. 1680.
, theh:

AP"»>b«4iouse^cU.^^
(O.t.l'^)^.
O.E^D._
I
^^F. Journal. Not
practicality
Jackson tei us
IgL ^n *''^
II

of 'J^
" ''°"«*''°t
P^S^s of
^mconnected with H,„ The
nn„

brs"/TJ T^ P^'^^^'
^AX^W._ Hoop;r^&,A-thonyArnistron.?'H
ctelZ
trong and
^m-"

ptoxinie. O.E.D. warden's account .^^^^^ .Prune-iuiorUf^'^-

company
woman keeps an
:
u^rersities') = If
^^"enTiri' insurance Blan (Richard Gordon
Vmi the. -ino **" .^^ r^„li;nQnn.
CoUinson.
ins^a:nce!;iateC. ^^'^^^^ CoUege
nrufJ. Sturdy wm^- .
from
Pasooe, looL
:
ca. A pubUo, in a

'^'•-C.adi.
public,
prim way, repUed

In, of, a
public-house:!
.^Prussian Gua^d
1)1 ^"^""T «'"<=« ca.
'^"1' 1953.)
T L"f
1935.

1870 Ex proo/ <^""/^fCords

wo^ds^ snch as . . •

Wykehamist of C.
^Deprive » ^^^^^^^^ 1^.2°v^^M^°"^peotot oi. '

""* P«bUc buddmgsj^^i^y^^^

ob. Hence,
quill ... P^^ff; • • •
from ca, 1850; 1930.
on a
loafer :
since
C. 17
oTwork: from ca I860; ny^f'^l
••

doxy :
*psyche man.
ca.
HalUwell See fSinf""*^ ^«^'»«^ 1949 ')
perhaps with psychedelia 'Drug^™* '»».'!•
^^°^ib^ co^na^e
Jth .H^ and colour, movies,
dance-,,/,t'"^ ^'S^^, sound
tir,
^IXwV^orPhiladelphia, 18^ taneously
(Peter F:~^7fy«pertnc;d
supplement. Dec.
eS
nU^i^, leather -^ J^^^rSst;S^°d ^o tKo Public Register. , , hippies: since 3,^^967^ ^" ^'"'""' colour
early ^•p'^^g ^'^'^'°^^' and
i%r^in^ro";th^°-^-'^^^^"'^"^- drug, e.g. r„srn :..K 1967
^?°^- Ex psyche^,!;,. ,, °°
(bowler.) clergyman late gave currency to-
different, A :

or auiie least, GODFATHER IV: THE DICTIONARY

Lexicography not usually thought of as a dangerous
>irPertarS-d'_^
^±,jFr:/..n»e/u5H5ue)aha7I^
is

profession - though opinions might change after read-

ing Partridge's account of data sources forA Dictionary
of the Underworld, British and American (1949).
"'Veil, Sammy, ^^'^ VVy,. „on ' Punmng the
Only a little came to me
of the underworld material that
direct was written form, professional criminals being,
in
%ro:'H?rrded.^l864.Je«patt
with the exception of confidence tricksters ('con men'),
B Sl
notoriously inept with the pen, even 'penmen' or
Bo
A MONUMENT TO material had run to 100,000 which the first editors of the
tec!
'scratchers' being useless - outside of forgery. Luckily,

SLANG words, and justified sepa- OED had almost completely famous criminals have employed 'ghosts', and they and
rate publication as a supple- ignored. The Dictionary was other criminals have frequently been tapped by journal-
The speed at which slang mentary volume. There is well received at the time, ists and authors; prison chaplains and governors, or war-

moves can be sensed by trac- now an integrated edition. though when librarians dis- dens, are, to coin a phrase, mines of information; police
ing the natural history of An extract from both vol- covered that it had 'those officers, especially detectives, pick up many words and
what many regard as the umes is shown, illustrating words' in it, many banned it phrases; tramps and hoboes, whether ex-professional or
greatest publication on the first compilation, as well from their shelves, and it is amateur, tend much more than criminals to write of
slang: Eric Partridge's Dictio- as the additional informa- still often available only on their experiences; special investigators into prostitution
nary of Slang and Unconven- tion discovered. Every page restricted loan. and the drug-traffic - that is, those of them who take
tional English. This of the work shows its social, The Dictionary confirmed their work seriously and are engaged therein for long
monumental work first historical, and geographical Partridge in his chosen periods - learn much of the cant (the philologists' term
appeared in 1937, with the range, and the meticulous career.In, 'Genesis of a Lexi- for 'language of the underworld') used by the purveyors
sub-heading Colloquialisms care with which the author cographer', he wrote: and their customers; police-court proceedings are occa-
and Catch-phrases, Solecisms approached his task. It was a sionally helpful. That is an incomplete though not a
and Catachreses, Nicknames, real labour of love, for Par- Although have linguistic
I
grossly inadequate list of the more accessible sources
Vulgarisms, and such Ameri- tridge was no salaried acad- interests other than lexicog- available to a researcher into cant.
canisms as have been natu- emic, but a free-lance raphy and etymology, and But he who deals, or professes to deal, directly with
ralized. The second edition enthusiast. Although he shall, hope, be able to in-
I
the underworld has to be very careful. Criminals are nat-
(1938) contained a substan- lacked the means available dulge myself in expressing urally suspicious of a stranger: and usually they either
tial Addendum. The third to the Oxford English Dictio- them, yet, being a passably withhold information or supply 'phoney' material... .

edition appeared in 1948 naryto give full authentica- honest man, am bound to I
More than one British, and more than one American,
with a much longer Adden- tion to all his historical admit the justice of the journalist and social worker and philologist have had
dum, largely consisting of observations on slang, his charge, 'Once a lexicog- their legs pulled.
new items from World War work was the first major col- rapher, always a lexi-
The book took Partridge 1 3 years to complete. How he
2. By the time of the fifth lection of evidence about cographer'. There are
avoided having more than just his leg pulled through-
edition (1960), the new the development of a genre worse fates.
out this time is difficult to imagine.
 . —
PART II • ENGLISH VOCAIU'l ARV

variant is now a quotation again. But when an utter-

THE DYING AND DEAD ance finally settles down as a quotation, there is no
LEXICON longer any capability for change. We might even con-
sider it as a linguistic specimen, to be collected in the

Words can come alive overnight (as happened to sput- manner of a natural history or anatomy museum. Such
nik, on 4 October 1937); but they take decades to die.
catalogues, indeed, do exist, in the form of dictionar-

Indeed, deciding that a word is dead is by no means ies of quotations. However, the analogy with death can
be taken only so far before too becomes moribund.
easv. For when is a word dead? Presumably, when no
it

one uses it any more. But when can we be sure that Unlike an anatomical specimen in formaldehyde (hor-

people are no longer using a word? How much time ror films aside), a quotation may still exercise a strong

should we allow to go by before we can say that a word and lively pragmatic effect (p. 286).

has stopped being obsolescent (in occasional use by a

few) and has come to be obsolete (used by no one)? In ON MYTHS AND MEN
the case of the standard lexicon, we might have to wait Many quotations have become so well-known that they
tor a whole generation to pass away, before an inquest have entered the standard language, with their origins
all but forgotten. How many now know that the best-laid
would return anything other than an open verdict. In schemes of mice and men is a quotation from Robert
the case of small-group slang, a word may be born and Burns' poem To a Mouse, or that all hell broke loose is

die within weeks or months. from Milton's Parad/se Lost? (Ofm/ce and men is in fact a SOWHOWASTOPSY?
double quotation, as it was also used by John Steinbeck 'Have you ever heard any-
We can rarely observe the birth of a word (but see as the title of a novel). Several Shakespearian and Biblical
thing about God, Topsy?'
p. 139), and never its death - something of a problem, quotations have entered the language in this way The child looked bewildered,
of course, for anyone interested in (lexical) natural (pp.63, 64). but grinned as usual.
Quite often, a quotation is adapted in the process. An
historv. On the other hand, there are several clues 'Do you know who made
example Ours not to reason why, which is an
is
you?'
which tell us that a word is dying, and several corners adaptation of Theirs not to reason why, from Tennyson's
'Nobody, as knows on,' said
I

of the lexicon which demonstrate the changelessness The Charge of the Light Brigade {]8S^). Sometimes, more the child, with a short laugh.
subtle processes are at work. In 1981, British Conservative
that we associate with death. The idea appeared to amuse
politician Norman Tebbitt included in a speech a
her considerably; for her
reference to his father's search for employment, using
eyes twinkled, and she
Quotations the words He got on his bike and looked for work. The added,
media headlined it with the older colloquialism On your
A quotation is a fragment of socially-embalmed lan- 'I spect I grow'd. Don't think
bike ('Go away'), and today it is this phrase which most
language which has been placed on a nobody never made me.'
guage. It is
people would confidently assert to be what Mr Tebbitt (Harriet Beecher Stowe,
pedestal, freely available for anyone to use, but readily said. Like Topsy, the story just 'grow'd'.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1851-2,
sensitive to abuse. An error {misquotation) may not Ch. 20.)

always be noticed, but if it is, there is a real risk of peer-

group derision. Anything which someone has said or PROVERBS Look before you leap. water where the steer
A cat may look at a king. drowns')
written can be a quotation, but the term usually relers Proverbial expressions have An apple a day keeps the (From D. Murison, 1981.)
to those instances which have become 'famous' over been given a variety of doctor away.
labels: adages, dictums, American
the years. Both To be or not to be and Letme see one are A friend in need is a friend
There's no such thing as a
maxims, mottoes, precepts, indeed.
extracts from Hamlet, but only the former has come to saws, truisms- The terms all
horse that can't be rode
Every little helps.
convey the notion of a piece or acowboy that can't be
be treated as quotation. Curiosity killed the cat.
of traditional wisdom,
throwed.
It can be useful to distinguish quotations from catch Ask no questions, hear no
handed down by previous Another day, another dollar.
lies.
phrases (p. 178). By definition, the utterances which generations. In most cases, Nothing is certain except
It never rains but it pours.
the origin of a proverb is death and taxes.
fall within both of these categories have impact and are The pen is mightierthan the
unknown. A friend in power is a friend
memorable, and most can be traced to a specific sword.
lost.
The effectiveness of a
source. Catch phrases are, indeed, a species of quota- proverb lies largely in its
Scottish The wheel that does the
brevity and The
directness. Fuils and bairns never ken squeaking is the one that
tion. But there are important differences. Catch phras-
syntax is simple, the images when they're weel aff gets the grease.
es tend to be of spoken origin, very short, subject to ('Fools and children never The big possum walks just
vivid, and the allusions
variation, relatively trivial in subject matter, and pop- domestic, and thus easy to know when they're well before dawn.
understand. Memorability is off') Every man must skin his own
ular for only a short period. Quotations tend to be of
aided through the use of Ye canna tak clean water skunk.
written origin, indeterminate in length, highly restrict- out o a foul wall. ('You Never trust a fellow that
alliteration, rhythm, and
ed in the contexts where thev may be used, semanti- rhyme (p. 41 5). These points can't take clean water out wears a suit.
of a foul well') Puttin' feathers on a
cally more profound, and capable of standing the test can all be identified in the
following selection. Muckle whistlin but little buzzard don't make it no
of time. There is a colloquial tone to the former, and a redd land. ('Much eagle.
literary tone to the latter. There is no identity. General whistling but little Too many Eskimos, too few
Children should be seen and ploughed land') seals.
Sometimes, especially with political utterances, it is
not heard. There's aye some water (FromW. Mieder, 1992.)
possible to see shifting between the categories. Harold Still waters run deep. whar the stirkie drouns.
Macmillan's never had it so good {p. 179) began life as Once bitten, twice shy. ('There's always some

a quotation, became a catch phrase variant, and the

I
 12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

Archaisms
»*M jiifr--:^^
UNCOMMONLY DATED
An archaism is a feature of an older state of the lan- Not all archaisms are ancient. Many

guage which continues to be used while retaining the items evoke Victorian or Edwardian

Grammar and times, and include a great deal of

aura of its past. the lexicon provide the
slang (p. 182) and social usage, as well
chief examples, though older pronunciations will from as outmoded technical names and
time to time be heard, and archaic spellings seen. The notions. Insuch cases as the follow-

clearest cases are those which are separated by a sub-

ing, we may prefer to give them a less
definite label, such as old-fashioned
stantial time-gap, notably those dating from Middle or dated.
and Early Modern English (Part I).
beau

• Lexical items include behold, damsel ere ('before'),

fain ('rather'), hither, oft, quoth, smite, unto, wight

('person'), wot ^V.no'w^) yonder, , varlet, forsooth, sire.

• Grammatical features include present-tense verb

endings {-est, -eth) and their irregular forms {wilt,

shouldst, etc.), contracted forms ( 'tis, 'twas, 'gainst, e'en

('even'), ne'er, o'er), past tenses {spake, clothed), pro-

nouns such as thou and ye, and vocative (p. 220) con-
structions beginning with O.
The hunter of archaisms will fmd them in an unex-
pectedly diverse range of contexts. Most obviously,
they are used in many historical novels, plays, poems,
and films about such topics as King Arthur or Robin
Hood. Novelists who have used archaic language in a
careful way include Walter Scott in Ivanhoe and
William Thackeray in Esmond. In poetry, Spenser and
Milton were influential in maintaining an archaic
tradition of usage (p. 125). Children's historical stories
also tend to use them, albeit in a somewhat stereo-
typed manner. Archaisms can be found in religious
and legal settings (p. 371, 374), in nursery rhymes and
fairy tales, and (if the product warrants it) in trade
names and commercial advertising. Rural dialects
often retain words which have gone out of use in the
standard language. And many older elements, such as
thorpe{W\\i2,e) and /frtCwood"), are preserved in place
names (p. 140).

THUS WROTE ISILDUR THEREIN

The Great Ring shall go now to bean heirloom of the
North Kingdom; but records of it shall be left in Gondor,
where also dwell the heirs of Elendil, lest a time come
when the memory of these great matters shall grow dim.
It was hot when first took it, hot as a glede, and my
I

hand was scorched, so that doubt if ever again shall be

I I

free of the pain of it. Yet even as write it is cooled, and it

I

seemeth to shrink,
though it loseth neither
its beauty nor its shape.

Already the writing

upon it, which at first
was as clear as red
flame, fadeth and is
now only barely to be
read...
(J.R. R.Tolkien, r/ie
Lord oi the Rings,
1954-5, Parti, Ch. 2.)

J.R. R.Tolkien
(1892-1973)
 .

PART II • ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Cliches he argues, are 'bad, indispen.sable, sometimes good'. NEITHERRHYME

On the one hand, they are 'comfortable', 'Musak of the NOR REASON
In cliches we see fragments of language apparently
when mind', labour-saving device', line of least resis- All of the following items
dying, yet unable to die. Cliches emerge expres- 'a 'a
have been taken from pub-
sions outlive their usefulness as conveyors of informa- tance'. On the other hand, they 'stop us thinking of
lished lists of 'cliches' in
tion. They are dying not from underuse, as with the nothing', and provide 'social lubrication', 'verbal caulk- usage manuals. What is
padding'. But, whether we like them or not, immediately apparent is that
gradual disappearance of old-fashioned words (p. ing', 'useful
such lists combine very differ-
8S), but from overuse. Such phrases as at this moment one thing is certain: 'They are highly contagious, and
1
ent kinds of expressions. It is
in ti>ne and every Tom, Dick, and Hany, it is said, have there is no known immunity, except possibly silence . .
doubtful whether everyone

frequendy used that they have and even that onlv conceals the infection.' would agree that they are all
come to be so lost their
cliches, and, if they did,
power to inform, to enliven, to mean. They have which items should be the
become trite, hackneyed expressions. And yet they sur- most penalized.
vive, in a kind of living death, because people con- to add insult to injury

tinue to use them, despite complaints and criticisms. much of a muchness

a blessing in disguise
They are, in effect, lexical zombies.
to leave no stone unturned
Why do cliches receive such a bad press? Because, in dead as a doornail

the view of the critics, it is the cliche-user who is the like a bat out of hell
she who must be obeyed
zombie. To use expressions which have been largely
twelve good men and true
emptied of meaning implies that the user is someone c'est la vie

who cannot be bothered to be fresh, clear, careful, or sick as a parrot

tell a lie
precise, or possibly someone who wishes to avoid clar-
I

day and age

in this
\x\' and precision. The suggestion is that such people warts and all
are at best lazy or unimaginative, at worst careless or a memory like a sieve
the fair sex
deceitful. In the case of learned cliches, perhaps the\
be that as it may
also wish to impress, to show off from time immemorial
But cliches have their defenders, who point out that it takes all sorts

many of the expressions cited as cliches (such as those The way in which
arbitrary

listed below) have a value. Indeed, their value is pre- usage books operate can be
readily illustrated. In one
cisely the ability to express what the critics condemn.
such book, the items in the
If we wish to be lazy or routine in our thinking, if we first list below are considered

useful idiomatic phrases; the

wish to avoid saying anything precise, then cliches are
items inthe second list are
what we need. Such wishes are commonplace. It is not said to be cliches. {From The
possible to be fresh and imaginative all the time. Life is Right Word at the Right
of occasions when a serious conversation is simply Time, Readers' Digest, 1985.)
full

too difficult, or too energetic, and we gratefully fall a bone of contention

the old school tie
back on They can fill an awkward gap in a con-
cliches.
in the heat of the moment
versation; and there is no denying that there are some IN A NUTSHELL a house of cards
conversations which we would rather not have. In such If may venture an opinion, when all is said and done, it
I
to take someone down a peg
circumstances, cliches are an admirable lexical life- would become me to suggest that should come down
ill I
or two
like a ton of bricl<s, as large as lifeand twice as natural, a wild-goose chase
jacket. The passing remarks as people recognize each
molehill on this issue.
and make a mountain out of a the burden of proof
other in the street but with no time to stop, the self-
From time immemorial, in point of fact, the object of the
the happy couple
conscious politeness of strangers on a train, the forced exercise, as sure as eggs are eggs, has been, first and in no uncertain terms
foremost, to take the bull by the horns and spell it out a tissue of lies
interactions at cocktail parties, or the desperate plati-
loud and clear At the end of the day, the point of the to throw the book at some-
tudes which follow a funeral: these are the kinds ol exercise is to tell it like it is, lay it on the line, put it on the one
occasion which give cliches their right to be. table- putting it in a nutshell, drop a bombshell and get a last-ditch attempt
when we down to the nitty-gritty, the bottom line. think can
No
I I

one would be satisfied with cliches

Plus ^a change, plus c'est
honestly say, without fear or favour, that have left no I
la

expect something better from a speaker or writer. A stone unturned, kept my nose firmly to the grindstone, meme chose. Know what I

politician who answers a direct question with cliches and stuck to my last, lock stock and barrel, hook line and mean?
sinker. This is not to beat about the bush or upset the
can expect to be attacked or satirized. A student who apple-cart, but to give the green light to the calm before
answers a teacher's question with a cliche is, we hope,
the storm, to hit the nail on the head, to bite the bullet,
not going to get away with it. Likewise, we complain if and thus at the drop of a hat to snatch victory from the
with jaws of defeat.
we encounter poems, essays, or radio talks filled
That's it. Take it or leave it. On your own head be it. All
cliches. But a blanket condemnation of all cliches is as
good things must come to an end. I must love you and
futile as unthinking acceptance. leave you. I kid you not. Don't call us, we'll call you. And I

The need for a flexible view of cliche is reinforced by don't mean maybe.
a collage of quotations from various places in Walter Am I right or am I right? I
Redfern's book. Cliches and Coinages ( 1 989) . Cliches,

1
 12 • LEXICAL DIMENSIONS

The words won't lie down and pore over them, attributing to them a fascination
This quotation is from Dylan Thomas - or, at least, which no other quotations could possibly possess. The
from a television dramatization of his last illness - and utterances are a source of pathos, humour, irony, joy,
it acts as an effective epitaph to this part of the Ency- bewilderment, sadness - indeed, all possible human
clopedia. Whatever else we may say about the lexicon, emotions. They provide an apposite coda to any study
and whatever we call the units [words, lexemes, lexical of the lexicon.
items, idioms ...), it is undoubtedly the area of lan-
guage which is most difficult to systematize and con- LAST WORDS I've had eighteen straight Go on, get out! Last words
trol. Its size, range, and variability is both an attraction whiskies, I think that's the are for fools who haven't
It has all been very record ... After 39 years, said enough.
and a hindrance. It comprises the largest part of the interesting.
this is all I've done. (Karl Marx, 1883)
forms and structures which make up a language. As a (Mary Wortley Montagu, (Dylan Thomas, 1953)
1762)
consequence, the present section is inevitably the
largest in the encyclopedia.
Make the world better
(Lucy Stone, suffragist,
The words will not lie down. Even if we left them 1893)
alone, they would not, for vocabulary grows, changes,
and dies without anyone being in charge.There is no
Minister for the Lexicon, and in countries which do
have an Academy with responsibility for the language,
vocabulary rules [an Quai, for example, p. 1 8 1 ) with a
bland disregard tor the pronouncements oi academics,
politicians, and pedants. It is the most anarchic area of
language.
But we do not leave words alone. We do not even let
It would really be more
them rest in peace. There are linguistic resurrectionists,
than the English could
who try to revive words that have been dead for stand if another century
centuries - such as the Anglo-Saxon enthusiasts began and were still alive.
I

am dying as have lived - Now have eine kleine On the whole, I'd rather be
(p. 124). There are reincarnationists, who recall the
I I I'll

beyond my means. pause. in Philadelphia.

previous existence of a word, and let it influence their (Oscar Wilde, 1900) (Kathleen (W.C Fields, 1946)
Ferrier, 1953)
lives (p. 1 25). There are revolutionaries, who are trying
The rest is silence.
to change the lexical world today, and even that is too
(Hamlet)
late (p. 177). There are resuscitators, who assail the

letter-columns of publications with pleas to preserve If this is dying, I don't think

much of it.
past usage; redeemers, who believe that all words can
(Lytton Strachey, 1932)
be saved; and retributionists, who believe that, tor
some words, hanging's too good tor em. A few, well- I am about to, or I am going
to, die. Either expression is
intentioned souls think that the government should
used.
legalize lexical euthanasia. (Dominique Bouhours,
Lastly, there are the linguistic necrologists, who grammarian, 1702)

should be given the last word in any treatment ot the

(From J. Green, 1979.)
lexicon. These are the people who collect last words

LEXICAL GHOST readers assume that the ing 'density'. Before long, Scientific terms have been defect, articulation syn-

STORIES form genuine. Some peo-

A ghost word is one which
has never existed in real life,
but which nonetheless turns
up in a dictionary. It often
happens because lexicogra-
phers are human, and make
mistakes. An error
ing, typing, programming,
or filing can easily lead to a
false spelling or hyphen-
ation, and sometimes even
completely fictitious item.
Once the dictionary has
is the word was appearing in particularly prone to ghost drome, misartlculatlon, or
ple may begin to use it. Cer- other dictionaries too. treatment, and none more any of over a dozen other
tainly other lexicographers This is a somewhat unusu- so than medical terms. One words or phrases. Dictionar-
will notice it, and it may al case, but fictitious forms study cites over a dozen ies of speech pathology do
then find its way into other are certainly not rare. It is nonstandard approxima- not agree about which
dictionaries. very easy for a lexicographer tions for the disease whose terms to include as legiti-
Such was the history of to imagine that a form standard name is myelofi- mate alternatives, and in the
dord. In the early 1930s, the exists,and to slip it into a brosis. And the field of absence of lexical research
in copy- office preparing the second dictionary, even though it speech pathology is well there is no guarantee that
edition of Webster's New may never have been used. known for the uncertainty the terms a particular dictio-
International Dictionary Isthere such a word as of its terminology. Someone nary selects are the most
(p. 442) held a file of abbre- antiparliamentarianisml The suffering from a serious dif- commonly used ones - or,
a viations, one of which was Oxford English Dictionary ficulty in pronunciation, for indeed, whether there is
'D or d' for density. When gives evidence only of example, might be described anyone out there using
the work was published, in antlparllamentarian. Our as manifesting an articula- them at all.

appeared, however, its 1934, the item appeared as intuitions very readily create tion disorder, articulatory
'authority' will then make Dord, and given the mean- these potential words. handicap, articulatory
 .

VVj runA
prdsi)
tascinnted by l-^' ti«.i

1^ ptv^o^
5
CO-
cf=c««s had QXtlA)<
soved
^ed" .
ptiy
what's
ult"

0'
CO U t^-^"^
a coble'

chot in
, jeered" i°^
Hev« onv^ ^ Um /^^, ^^ Y<,ir
clearaph, n°

1 have not g
the w<
cr. by
abov
,^U the
, o£ W
^^°°^
Lnt.

Bi l^ves in the
centz-al area— of
«orks to. the area-r
Hfe
of to^es.
I enjoyed a soprajio
aria^r i^ the '

There ^as an aiaaia-r

of ^hins ±n I
I felt a sense of awe-r
and wonde-
sue eleotrio cineaa-r
in London stc-
|A Cortina-r or
sone car like it.
has: good data-r
about S-Hays

Vl t^^^- ^ °^ deteriorating hcae;

g"ito Brama^r on H

"h^
Peor Sirs

'i/c^ ^':
^^^k^c 1 wmtW flpprwiotc tjtntr
ic^l

(^ o\ CtigUsh, ivKo
,:t^
^/ ^5
fliust kttow better
gi-avitoUio abjectly to
tWfeqtftt
*!

'^•^'' tmlenc^tJ,atijenmtjKiatot5\at,
f,t^
,-^ 1 et^,^^ ^metluHg „Tot.j tt Wcoi«e5 ri^Uj
'"'tead oj eitcleavMvrliig
to ediuote

j?
satne wliots wto some
atjpreti
ke bcatittj |ouml by using
„f"«ixal, ,,-0,
tk it.

Oavid Crystal,
ie5, 0I itwuittng w our ver« vers -^
jMafle.
Sn,-5lish ."ow,

33c London,
VIA lAA

Jear 'Aj:. Brysral,

^ 1 welcome Che return of your series.

Its ::: ;3^=-'"n';..;'- :;i^'.op..?-,f, --«!. 99.? 4
You asked tor exa-tiples of bad English that
"malte
like .f-, P*'''i<:ulaw,: V 'y be bef„,. ..'"Pe^i" «t<-
'«- caf P,t"','^' '"= v.ni """" '-"i.':" "^ '°"="^ our blood boil". I should like to oblige with
Che followins:
'topped? "'= Idiotic nis ,;' 1= there no n'"'
°' -- 1 Pleonastic use of Che subordinating
be ::r^" *t.aaMo„ ' -r^e".^-
,
conjunction "that" after a parenthesis, e.s
"He said chat if ic was rainin'?, chat he
,

would not 30". This locution is freouencly

"tent that it " "Otually !"1 ""^ a»are tha, heard now, even fron educated people, but
to .Tiy knowledge no-one has drawn attention
'W iej.^,

i^°" eenerau,
---

r
'o«caetere'„r"""°''"'=»'i as
"'°'' «» Jead th "... unfair to we old people"
; '^.^'^''-r. by' T "'""" >-°t. t.o^
""^ 2. Phrases lil<;e
i-ou'vL^-^ for
:iind you, 1 have heard the spealier .Tiake up
^ff!''^"''^^ a
sj-i;^rtX:°£-r„e':.:--
'" "eem
seem "•^
"ords, but
K^f ""its,
tef,
"**• "^'e
bu, >Z Have
to . '
for it by saying in the very next sencence
"'^"'e th^t t,^;;°a<icaatera ,'
"Us old people don'c like ic"l
3. Sencences using the perfect infinitive
where Che present one would be correct, e.3
 PART III

English grammar
The central role of grammar in the study of language has become inated the study of the subject for the best part of 200 years, and
an established tenet of modern linguistics; but outside the hallowed investigates some of the leading shibboleths of prescriptive gram-
linguistic halls the status of the subject has in recent decades been mar. This leads to a consideration of current trends, and of the dif-
the subject of much controversy. The pendulum has moved dra- ferences between ancient and modern approaches to grammar.
matically - from a time when few people questioned the place of The remainder of Part III is devoted to a systematic presentation
grammatical knowledge as an essential element of a person's educa- of the main areas of English grammar. It begins with morphology,
tion to one when few people tried to defend it. Currently, there is the study of word structure, looking in particular at the various word-
a definite although erratic movement in the reverse direction, endings which have a role to play in expressing grammatical rela-
towards a position which once again recognizes the importance tionships. In §15 the important concept of the 'word class' (or 'part
of grammar in general education - though this is not the same of speech') is presented, and we identify the most important of these
position the pendulum held in the 1950s, when it started its classes in English, as well as some of the less important ones. Final-
unprecedented swing. ly §16, the largest section in Part III, gives an account of the main
Part III therefore has a historical slant to it. It opens with an aspects of syntax, the study of sentence structure. This is too vast a
account of the various beliefs and attitudes which people hold about domain to be comprehensively covered in a book such as this, but
grammatical study, drawing an essential distinction between 'know- the section does look systematically at a wide range of basic syntac-
ing grammar' and 'knowing about grammar'. It then gives an tic notions, and illustrates them from several areas of usage, from
account of what was involved in traditional grammar, which dom- spontaneous informal conversation to established written literature.

^1 Some of the thousands of letters about English grammar sent in by

listeners to the BBC Radio 4 series, English Now (see further, p. 194).
 13 GRAMMATICAL MYTHOLOGY
rhe study ot grammar goes back to the time of the
ancient Greeks, Romans, and Indians, and from its
THE MYTH OF SIMPLICITY
earliest days has caught the interest of the learned and This advertisement (minus the name of the

the wise. As a result the subject has developed around firm who produced it) appeared in a
foreign Sunday paper a few years ago. It
itself a hallowed, scholarly, and somewhat mysterious represents one of the most pervasive myths
atmosphere. In the popular mind, grammar has about a language -that grammar is needed
for writing, but not for speech.
become difficult and distant, removed from real life,
and practised chiefly by a race of shadowy people 'English. ..has a grammar of great simplicity
(grammarians') whose technical apparatus and ter- and wrote the authors of The
flexibility',

can be Story of English (on p. 47) -a book, based

minology require a lengthy novitiate before it
on a BBC television series, which became a
mastered. The associated mythology has grown with best-seller in the 1980s. This
time, and is now pervasive and deep-rooted. Millions kind of statement is often

of people believe that they are failures at grammar, say made by those who identify
the complexity of a
that they have forgotten it, or deny that they know language with the number
any grammar at all - in each case using their grammar of word-endings it has - an

convincingly to make their point. It is such a shame, unfortunate legacy of the

Latin influence on English
because the fundamental point about grammar is so grammar (p. 192). The
very important and so very simple. reality can be seen in the
three kilos of paper
comprising /4
A matter of making sense Comprehensive Grammar
It is all to do with making The fundamental sense. of the English Language
(1985). Non-native
purpose of language is to make sense - to communi-
speakers of English who
cate intelligibly. But if we are to do this, we need to have spent several years
share a single system of communication. It would be learning the grammar to

no use if one person were using Japanese and the other an advanced level have
little sympathy with the
were using Arabic, or one knew only Morse code and view that English
the other knew only semaphore. The rules controlling grammar is 'simple'.
a different
the way communication system works are known as
a (Flexibility is

matter: see p. 233.)

its grammar, and both sender and recipient need to

use the same grammar if they are to understand each

other. If there is no grammar, there can be no effec-
tive communication. It is as simple as that.
TAKE A WORD,
We can see this by dipping into the vocabulary of
English, and trying to do without grammar. The lex-
icon has been investigated in Part II. With its hun-
dreds of thousands of words, it is certainly the most
prominent aspect of the language; yet without gram-
mar the value of this remarkable resource becomes so
limited as to be almost worthless. We might believe
that 'making sense' is a matter of vocabulary - that
meaning lies in the lexicon. This is certainly the super-
ficial impression we receive whenever we use a dictio-
nary, and 'look up a meaning'. However, all the
lexicon provides is a sense of a word's meaning poten-
tial - its semantic possibilities (p. 118). To draw out
this potential we need add grammar. A dictionary
to
does this unobtrusively, through its defmitions and
citations (p. 156). When we use a dictionary, we are
being fed grammar all the time, without realizing it.
 13 • GRAMMATICAL MYTHOLOGY

TO KNOW OR TO KNOW 'WELL, MARY ANNE?'

ABOUT^
Much mythology stems from a contusion between
'knowing grammar' and 'knowing about grammar'.
Two very different types of knowledge are involved.

• If you have reached this point on the page and

understood what you have read, you must 'know'
English grammar. You may not agree with what I say,
or like the way it, but you are certainly able to
I say
construe what it is I have said. Knowing grammar, in
this sense, is a facility which developed with little con-

scious effort when we were young children. As adults,

we learn to put words together in the right order, and
add the right endings. Moreover, we have the ability
to recognize certain types of error, and know how to
correct them. If sentence the am writing I now con-
tains major errors, you are likely to immediately
notice them. However, to be able to diagnose the
problems with such a sentence, you must 'know
English grammar' (at least, to that extent).

• All of this is an unconscious process. By contrast,

'knowing about' English grammar is a conscious,
reflective process. Itmeans being able to talk about
what it is we are able to do when we construct sen-
tences - to describe what the rules are, and what hap-
pens when they fail to apply. It is not difficult to point
to the errors in the previous paragraph; but it is dif-
ficult to describe precisely what they are, and to state
the rules which have been broken. If you are able to
do this (using such terms as 'word order', 'noun', and
'definite article'), then you 'know about English
grammar' (at least, to that extent).

Fluent native speakers ot English quite often say

that they 'don't know' any grammar, or that foreigners
speak English better than they do. One way of
making sense of such comments, which at first seem
nonsensical, is to apply the above distinction. It is

certainly true that many foreigners can talk about

English grammar more confidently than native
speakers can, because foreign learners have usually
acquired their knowledge in a conscious way. It is

also true that many native speakers have little or no

ability to describe their own grammatical knowledge,
either because they have never been taught to do so,
or because the potential fascination of this task has
been stifled by poor teaching methods. The pedagog-
ical quest has long been to find ways of developing
a person's 'knowledge about' grammar which are
both enlivening and rewarding, and it continues to
be an important goal of contemporary educational
linguistics.
 '

PART III • ENGLISH c; RAM MAR

and terminology which was alien to English, and ATESTINGTIME

TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR apply it correctly to an array of sentences which, very
The English language paper
often, were chosen for their difficulty. To many, which was set as part of the
The study ot English grammar may have its share of accordingly, the subject seemed arbitrary and arcane. London Matriculation exami-
nation for senior pupils in
mnhology (p. 190), but many people have unhappy June 1899.
memories ot an early close encounter with the sub- None of this amounts to a criticism of the task ot Although traditional
ject which was certainly no myth. 'Dry, 'boring', grammatical analysis as such: after all, this task defines grammar was the orthodoxy,
not everyone approved of it,
'pointless', and 'irrelevant' are just some of the criti- modern linguistics as much as it does traditional
as this writer demonstrated:
cal adjectives which have been used. To anyone grammar. But whereas modern linguists take pains to

coming to the subject fresh in the 1990s, and reflect- setup their rules following a careful analysis of the Grammar as a separate sub-
ject inevitably means defini-
ing on the positive reasons which motivate grammat- way the English language actually works, traditional tions and difficulties. My ears
ical enquiry (p. 191), these attitudes might appear grammarians assumed that all relevant grammatical still the voices of Stan-
recall

puzzling. An explanation can, however, be found, distinctions and standards of use could be obtained dard IV boys filling the air
with their sweet jargoning as
deriving from the approach to language study which by automatically applying the categories and practices
they chanted definitions of
developed in the middle of the 18th century (p. 78), ot Latin grammar. This was a false assumption, but it relative pronouns, mood and

and which led to the first influential generation of is one we cannot ignore, tor grammarians of the prepositions.,. What happens
when grammar istreated asa
what were later called traditional English grammars. 1990s are the inheritors of the distortions and limi-
separate subject can be best
The tradition that these grammars represent devel- tationsimposed on English by two centuries of a Lati- illustrated by an example.

oped rapidly in the 19th century and was strongly in nate perspective, and have to find ways of dealing Recently the girls in the
Lower Fifth of a County Sec-
evidence even in the 1960s. Well over a thousand with them.
ondary School had to analyse
such grammars came to be published throughout the this passage: We can only

English-speaking world, and many went through have the highest happiness,

dozens of printings. For example, J.C. Nesfield, the NB ZZ^^^^^ NOT BREAK
"""f^^fBE
GREAT IMPORTANCE W
^^f ILL
such as goes along with being

British author of a highly successful series on English

grammar and composition, produced English Gram-
r™
AND STYLE.
^
^xTFRFn PIECES
TO CLeTrNESS A.0
..CCURACV OE EXPRESSION
a great man, by having wide
thoughts, and much feeling
for the rest of the world as
well as ourselves; and this
mar: Past and Present in 1898; it was continuing to sort of happiness often
sell in its 25th edition in 1961. Nor has the tradition
I—LANGUAGE brings so much pain with it,
e,„cst,ons are to be
(Net more than
seven of these ten that we can only tell it from
died. New versions of old grammars continue to
attempted.) pain by its being wha t we
appear in the 1990s, though printed now in a glossy
would choose before every-
livery and modern typography which belies their thing else, because our souls
content. see it is good. (Romola.)
and examples. Really, it is nothing short of
an outrage that girls of
Hallmarks fourteen and fifteen should
Two chief hallmarks of the traditional era account for have such exercises
inflicted on them .The. .

much of the negative reaction which can arise when exercise so far from
is

people talk about the subject of grammar. exceptional that the unfor-
tunate girls have a book
• Traditionalgrammars insisted that only certain fullof similar passagesand

styles of English were worth studying - in particular, have to dissect one each
week. Surely no one will
the more formal language used by the best orators and wor^^
cognates with *e^e pretend that such exer-
from and some
writers. Textual samples selected for analysis or com- cises have any purpose,

mentary were typically erudite and sophisticated, intellectual or emotional,

useful or ornamental. The
commonly taken from literary, religious, or scholarly instances of each. nearer but.it.
.mr^:,' nca,e
worse one effect they certainly
following woids.-
sources. Informal styles of speech were ignored, or 6 Write notes on the achieve is to make the vic-
condemned as incorrect. This meant that the lan- tims hate English with
peculiar intensity.
guage which most children used and heard around {G.Sampson, 1921.)
them received no positive reinforcement in grammar
lessons. To many, accordingly, the subject became dis-
tant and unreal.

• Traditional English grammars also treated their sub-

ject in a highly abstruse way, describing grammatical
patterns through the use of an analytical apparatus
which derived from Latin grammars. The technique
went under various names (such as parsing, clause
analysis, and diagramming) but the end result was the origin
same: students had to master a classification system
 13 GRAMMATICAL MYTHOLOGY

A SERIOUS SUBJECT
English grammar has generally been perceived
and practised as a highly serious subject of study,
with the aim of continuing the tradition which
began with Classical Greek authors, and which was
held to have reached its heights in the work of such
stylists as Cicero. The focus was always on the writ-
ten language and on the elimination of what was
considered to be grammatical error or infelicity.

Rules of grammar were strictly defined and rigor-

ously enforced-, either by physical punishment or
(as in the case of such young ladies as Mary Anne,
p. 191) through social sanction. No one was
exempt, not even the highest in the land, as

William Cobbett's letters demonstrate.

The atmosphere of many grammar classes was,
as a consequence, one of uncertainty and trepida-
tion. Because a large number of the grammatical
rules stemmed from the arbitrary decisions of the
first grammarians, and lacked a solid basis in the
English language, the only safety for the student
lay in learning by rote, not by reason. 'Parsing'
(p. 197) became an end in itself it was satisfactory
to have correctly identified the parts of a sentence,
and unnecessary to ask what this procedure
Towards the end of William Cobbett's And what does
proved. The grammar class being
prospect of a
English Grammar (1829),
there is a series of the Speaker mean
enjoyable was rare - though we do sometimes lessons 'intended to prevent statesmen from by 'in the same
hear stories of teachers who were able to make the using false grammar, and from writing in an Session?' He may mean 'in one and
subject come alive. For most young people, the
awkward manner'. He takes his examples the same Session;' but, what business had
from speeches made by Lord Castlereagh, the word same there at all? Could he not
aim was to satisfy their teacher or their examin- the Duke of Wellington, the Prince Regent, have said, 'during one Session, or during a
ers, then to leave school and forget about gram- and others. Here is what he has to say about single Session?'
one sentence used by 'the first Commoner of
mar as quickly as possible. Comment
England', the Speaker of the House of Com-
Unfortunately, society would never permit Cobbett pulls no punches and is scared of
mons:
nobody. One of his letters to his son James
school-leavers such friendly oblivion. The distance
(p. 77) is headed 'Errors and Nonsense in a
2.The subjects which have occupied our
between the rules in their grammar books and the attention have been more numerous, more King's Speech'. The condemnations are an

way they actually spoke was so great that for the various and more important than are usually interesting mixture of personal taste

submitted to the consideration of Parliament (coloured also by Cobbett's political opin-

rest of their lives they would find themselves bur- ions), acute observation, and common sense,
in the same Session.
dened with a sense of linguistic inferiority. This is but always filtered through the prescriptive
the real source of such notions, widely held It is what is meant, in Para-
difficult to say grammatical tradition, to which he regularly
graph No. 2, by the word various. The alludes.
among native speakers of English, that they do speaker had already said, that the subjects Not all of his arrows are wide of the mark:
not speak 'correct English', or that foreigners were more numerous, which was quite he often pinpoints a real ambiguity or lack
speak the language 'better" than they do enough; for they necessarily differed from of clarity, thereby anticipating by over a cen-
(p. 191).
each other, or they were one and the same; tury the methods of Sir Ernest Gowers and
Additionally, the fact that a minority of students,
and, therefore, the word various can in this the Plain English campaigners (p. 376). But,
through hard work or good fortune, did manage place have no meaning at all, unless it mean the average person might well think, if
to master the intricacies of traditional grammar, that the subjects were variegated in them- people of such eminence as the King and
selves, which would be only one degree the Prime Minister are perceived to make
and thereby were perceived to be educated, gave
above sheer nonsense. such gross errors, after presumably receiving
them a vested interest in preserving these
norms, Next comes the 'than are' without a nom- a comprehensive grammatical education,

and inimposing them on anyone over whom they inative case. Chambermaids, indeed, write in what chance is there for the rest of us? The
this way, and in such a case, 'the dear unin- same question might be asked after reading
later found themselves to be in control. For telligible scrawl' is, as the young rake says in Lowth's or Murray's criticisms of Shake-
schoolchildren, secretaries, and subordinates of all the play, 'ten thousand times more charm- speare's grammar (p. 79). One of the ironies
ing' than correct writing; but, from a of the prescriptive approach is that its uni-
kinds, the use of split infinitives was one of sev-
Speaker in his robes, we might have versal censoriousness promotes the very
eral sure signs of social linguistic inadequacy expected 'than those which are usually sub- scepticism about grammatical correctness
(p. 195), and their avoidance a mark of successful mitted.' which it was designed to eradicate.
upward mobility.
 PART 111 • i: NC;i,ISH GRAMMAR

of the speech community. A distinction is often

1 KiioL^Kll 1 IVr. (orRAJVliVlAK drawn between prescriptive rules, which state usages
considered tx) be acceptable, and proscriptive rules.
Traditional grammar reflects the approach to language which state usages to be avoided — grammatical 'do's

known as prescriptivism (p. 366) - the view that one and dents'. In fact the 'Thou Shalt Not' tradition pre-
variety ot a language has an inherently higher value dominates, with most recommendations being
than others and ought to be the norm for the whole phrased negatively.

A GRAMMATICALTOPTEN
Complaint Comment
This table lists the 'top ten' com-
1 /should not be used in Thisis an interesting instance of the effect traditional grammatical attitudes can
plaints about grammar found in a
between you and The I. have on intuitions. Many educated people are unconsciouslyawareof the way
survey of letters written to the BBC
pronoun should be me after a these grammars have criticized me in other constructions, recommending It is I

Radio 4 series fng/zs/i/VoiA' in 1986.

preposition, as in Give it to me instead oi It is me. They have a vague feeling that / is somehow the more polite
One programme asked listenersto
203). form, and thus begin to use it in places where it would not normally go.
(p.
send in a list of the three points of
grammatical usage they most dis- 2 Split infinitivesshould not
liked, as well as the three they be used (see facing page).
most liked.The writers were also
asked to give their age. Over a 3 On/y should be next to the The context usually makes it obvious which sense is intended. It is wise to be
thousand letters arrived. word to which it relates. careful in writing, where ambiguity can arise; but spoken usage is hardly ever

Of those writers who did men- People should not say /on/y ambiguous, because on/y is always linked with the next word that carries a strong
tion their age, the vast majority saw Jane when they mean / stress. Note the difference between / on/y sauvJ/A/Vf {and no one else) and only I

were over 50. Many were over 70. sawonlyjane. SAW Jane (I didn't talk to her).
Hardly anyone responded to the
4 None should never be Traditionalgrammars see none as a singular form (= 'no one'), which should
request for 'usages liked'. On the
followed by a plural verb. It therefore take a singular verb. But usage has been influenced by the plural
other hand, only a few obediently
should be None was left on meaning of none, especially when followed by a plural noun. Noneof the books
restrirted themselves to just three
thie table, notNone were left were left on the table means 'They were not on the table'. Concord (p. 22 1 ) is
points under 'usages disliked'. Sev-
on the table. often affected by meaning in this way.
eral letters were over four pages
long, full of detailed complaints. 5 D//ferenff/yj should be Traditionalgrammarians were impressed by the meaning of the first syllable of
The longest contained a list of over followed by from and not by thisword in Latin {c//s- = 'from'), and argued that the historical meaning was the
200 split infinitives which the lis- to or than. correctone (p. 36). But to has come to be the more frequent British usage, per-
1

tener had carefully noted over a haps because of the influence of similar to, opposed to, etc. Than is often objected
period of a month. to in Britain because of its supposed connection with American English (p. 441).
The language of most letters
was intemperate and extreme, 6 A sentence should not end This usage was probably first introduced by John Dryden in the 17th century, and
talking about 'pet hates', and with a preposition. We should shows the influence of Latin grammar, where prepositions usually preceded

using apocalyptic metaphors to say Tnat was the clerk to nouns. has never reflected colloquial practice in English, though in formal
It

describe the writers' feelings. The whom gave the money, and
I English the prescriptive rule tends to be followed (p. 367). To alter someone's

dozen reactions listed below are not That was the clerk I gave practice can be dangerous, as in Winston Churchill's famous reaction to secretarial

typical, and perhaps help to the money to. changes made to his usage:'This is the sort of English up with which I will not put'.
explain why it is so difficult to
7 People should say /s/ia/// Traditional grammars have tried to regularize the use of these auxiliary verbs
make progress in any debate
you will/ he will when they are (p. 2 12) since the 18th century, but it is doubtful whether the words ever followed
about, for example, a grammatical
referring to futuretime, not/ the neat usage patterns recommended. Certainly there has been a tendency to
curriculum in schools. Grammar,
will/you shall/ he shall. replace s/ia// by w/// for well over a century. It is now hardly ever used in American,
for some reason, raises the most Irish, or Scots English, and is becoming increasingly less common in other varieties.
deep-rooted of hackles.
Usages such as /'//be t/i/rty next wee/tare now in the majority.
abomination appal
8 Hopefu//y should not be This is a fairly modern usage, so the fact that it has attracted such criticism shows
blood boil cringe
used at the beginning of a that the prescriptive tradition is alive and well. People argue that it is the speaker,
drive me wild grate
sentence as in Hopefully, Mary not Mary, who is being hopeful in this example, and so a better construction
grind myteeth horrified
will win the race. would be hoped that or hope that. But hopefully is one oi hundreds of
It is I
irritant pain to my ear adverbs which are used in this way (fran*c/y, naturally, etc.), and this general
prostitution shudder
pattern has prevailed. It is unclear why A)opefu//y has been singled out for
criticism.
Many they were
listeners felt that
observing something new in the 9 l/l//iom should be used, not The whom construction has developed very formal overtones, and in informal
language -a trend of the permis- who, in such sentences as That speech people often replace it by who, or drop the relative pronoun altogether:
sive 1980s, or perhaps the particu- is the man whom you saw. The That's the man you saw. It remains the norm for forma writing. Note that a I

lar result of slackness at the BBC pronoun is the object of the stylistic clash would occur if the informal contracted verb were used with the
itself. However, the usage issues verb saw, and should be in the formal relative pronoun: That's the man whom you saw.
on these pages have a much objective case (p. 203).
longer history: for example, many
10 Double negatives should This constructionis no longer acceptable in Standard English, though it was
are referred to by Dean Alford in
be avoided, as in They haven't normal inearlier periods of the language (p. 70). It is now common in nonstandard
T"/ieOueen's£ng//sh{1869), long
done nothing. speech throughout the world. Traditional grammarians condemn it on logical
before the BBC was born, and sev-
grounds -that the two negatives cancel each other out, as minus signs would in
eral go back another century or
mathematics. However, in nonstandard usage a different criterion applies: here,
more. That is the way of it with
extra negative forms add emphasis. They haven't done nothing means 'They really
grammatical shibboleths: they do
haven'tdone anything' and not 'They have done something'.
not readilydie.

THE SPLIT INFINITIVE
STORY
Traditional grammars have
long objected to the insertion
of an adverb betvueen the
particle and the infinitive
form of a verb, as in to defi-
nitely ask. To ask makes
grammatical unit, they argue,
andthetw/o parts should stay
together. The fact that there
was no precedent for sepa-
rating them in Latin (which
formed its infinitives, such as
amare 'to love', using a
word-ending) made the
usage particularly unappeal-
ing.
The extent to which people
inveighed against the split
infinitive in the 19th century
was remarkable. It was con-
sidered a solecism of the
worst kind (p. 85). Henry
Fowler refers scathingly to
'the non-split diehard' -
'bogy-haunted creatures...
who would sooner be caught
putting knives in their
mouths as splitting an infini-
A famous example is
tive'.
reported in Andrew Lang's
Life of Sir Stafford Nortficote,
the British statesman who
was much involved in foreign
affairs inthe 1860s. Lang
describes how the British gov-
ernment was prepared to
make several concessions in
negotiating a treaty with the
United States, but 'tele-
graphed that in the wording
of the treaty it would under
no circumstances endure the
insertion of an adverb
between the preposition to...
and the verb'.
George Bernard Shaw
a
If you do not immediately
suppress the person who
takes it upon himself to lay
down the law almost every
day in your columns on the
subject of literary composi-
tion, up the Cfiron-
will give
I
The man is a pedant, an
icle.
ignoramus, an idiot and a
self-advertising duffer...
Your fatuous specialist... is
now beginning to rebuke
'second-rate' newspapers for
using such phrases as 'to sud-
denly go' and 'to boldly say'.
ask you, Sir, to put this
I
out. ..without interfering
with his perfect freedom of
choice between 'to suddenly
go suddenly' and
go', 'to
'suddenly to go'... Set him
adriftand try an intelligent
Newfoundland dog in his
place. (Letter to the Cfironi-
c/e, 1892.)
T. R. Lounsbury
More than twenty years ago
the late Fitzedward
Hal I... showed conclusively
that the practice of inserting
words between the preposi-
tion and the infinitive went
back to the fourteenth cen-
tury, and that to a greater or
less degree it has prevailed in
every century since. {The
Standard of Usage in Englisfi,
1908.)
catalogue of exam-
Hall's
ples,with some supplemen-
tation by Lounsbury, came
from a galaxy of writers,
including Wycliff, Tyndale,
Coleridge, Donne ('specially
addicted to the usage').
Goldsmith, George Eliot,
Burns, and Browning.
GRAMMATICAL MYTHOLOGY
Macaulay, in revising an arti-
cle in 1843, even changed 'in
order fully to appreciate' to
'in order to fully appreciate'.
(W. H.Mittins, eta/., Att/-
tudes to Englisli Usage,
1970.)
H.W. Fowler
The English-speaking world
may be divided into (1) those
who neither know nor care
what a split infinitive
those who do not know,
care very much; (3) those
who know and condemn; (4)
those who know and
approve; and (5) those who
know and distinguish....
Those who neither know nor
care are the vast majority,
and area happy folk, to be
envied by most of the minor-
ity classes...
We will split infinitives
sooner than be ambiguous
or artificial. {A Dictionary of
IVIodern English Usage,
man 1926.)
Otto Jespersen
This name is misleading, for
the preposition to no more
belongs to the infinitive as a
necessary part of it, than the
definite article belongs to
the substantive, and no one
would think of calling the
good man a split substan-
tive. {Essentials of English
Grammar, 1933.)
Stephen Leacock
Many of our actual verbs are
in themselves split infini-
tives, as when we say
undertake or to
overthrow. Many oi us who
.
write books are quite willing
to split an 'infinitive' orto
half split it or to quite split
according to effect. We
might even be willing to
sometimes so completely,
order to gain a particular
effect, split the infinitive as
to practically but quite con-
sciously run the risk of leav-
ing the to as far behind as
the last caboose of a broken
freight train. {How to
1944.)
is; (2)
but Ernest Gowers
It is a bad rule; it
the difficulty of writing
clearly and makes for ambi-
guity by inducing writers to
place adverbs in
and even misleading
tions. recent ws/t to Greece
/4
has convinced me that the
modern Englishman
completely to recognise
that... Does the modern
Englishman completelyfail
to recognise, or does befall
to completely recognise?...
The reader has to guess and
he ought neverto have to
guess...
Nor is thisall.
infinitivetaboo, leading as it
does to the putting of
adverbs in awkward places,
is so potent that it produces
an impulse to putthem there
even though there is not
really any question of avoid-
ing a split infinitive. have
myself been taken to task by
a correspondent for splitting
an infinitive because wrote
'I gratefully record'.
no doubt, underthe
ence of the taboo to an
exceptional extent. But suf-
ferers from the same malady
in a milder form can be
found on every hand. ..The
split infinitive bogy is having
such a devastating effect
that people are beginning to
feel that it must be wrong to
put an adverb between any
auxiliary and any part of a
verb, or between any prepo-
to sitionand any part of a verb.
{The Complete Plain Words,
1954.)
Barbara Strang
Fussing about split
it infinitives is one of the more
tiresome pastimes invented
by nineteenth century
in grammarians. {Modern
English Structure, 1962.)
David Crystal
To boldly go has one big
thing in its favour. It is fol-
lowing the natural rhythm of
Write, English -the te-tum te-tum
rhythm favoured by Shake-
speare and which is the
mainstay of our poetic tradi-
tion. If the scriptwriter had
two
written boldly to go, the
weak syllables would have
come together, and this
would have sounded jerky. If
he had written to go boldly,
he would have ended up
with two strong syllables
together, which sounds pon-
derous. 7b boldly go is rhyth-
mically very neat. The Star
increases rreJr scriptwriter hasn't really
been linguistically bold at all.
{Who Cares About English
Usage.', 1984.)
unnatural
posi- Reader's Digest
Bear in mind that purists do
still object to the split infini-
fails tive. If you refuse to pander
to this irrational objection
of theirs,and if you are
unconcerned that people
might think you know no
better, then by all means
splityour infinitives. But
remember the possible con-
sequences: your reader or
The split listener may give less credit
to your arguments (because
he thinks of you as a careless
speaker or writer), or he
may simply lose the thread
of your argument entirely
(because he has been dis-
tracted by your grammatical
I
'error').
At the same time, it is also
inadvisable to wrench a
I
sentence into ambiguity or
He was, ugliness simply in order to
influ- avoid splitting an infinitive.
Doing this can cause equal
distraction in your reader or
listener, or it might once
again reduce his regard for
your views - as being those
of a pedant this time, rather
than of an ignoramus. The
best course may be to skirt
such a predicament
altogether, and simply
recast your sentence,
wording it in an entirely
different way. {The Right
Word at the Right Time,
1985.)
 PARI III • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

accept that the influence ot contemporary usage could

THE 20TH-CENTURY LEGACY not be completely ignored, and became more prag-
matic in their approach. At the same time, there were
From the outset, the prescriptive approach to English signs of an increasing respect for the value of the kind

grammar had its critics, some of whom were prepared ot disciplined approach to grammatical study which
to Castigate the Latinate tradition in the strongest lan- framework represented. As the comments
the Latinate
guage, responding to what they saw as excessive on pp. 194-5 illustrate, it is unusual today to see an
authoritarianism in the early grammars (p. 76). By the author unreservedly condemning a traditionally dis-

bi.ginning ot the 20th century, however, the extreme puted point ot English usage - though blanker con-
positions had moderated somewhat. Many traditional demnation is still commonplace in letters ot complaint
grammarians, while continuing to operate happily about usage sent to newspapers and radio feedback
within a Latinate descriptive framework, began to shows.

LOOK IT UP IN FOWLER to debunk the worst excesses entered into our souls, that
of purism, and - most unusu- our grammatical conscience
Fowlei s Dictionary of ally for the prescriptive tradi- has by this time a Latin ele-
Modem English Usage (1926) tion - underpins his remarks ment inextricably com-
has long acted as a bible for with an elegant blend of pounded in it, if not
ttioie concerned with ques- humour and common sense. predominant?
The
tions of disputed usage. For example, he had no time
book was planned in associa- for the distortionsimposed The remnants of this con-
tion with his younger on English by Latinate gram- science are with older people
brother, Francis George, who mars. His entry on case still.How far younger people
had collaborated 20 years judges these grammarians to continue to be influenced by
previously on their first influ- be: it, after the reduced empha-

ential work on usage, The sis on grammar teaching in

King's English (1906).
ever, Francis died in 1918,
having contracted tubercu-
losis in the trenches of World
War and it was left to
1,
Henry to complete the book.
It isa laige, alphabetically
organized list of entries on
points of grammar, pronun-
ciaiion, spelling,
tion, vuLdbulary,
Often referred to in the
revered tones which one
associates with bibles, it is
the apotheosis of the pre-
sci iptive approach (p. 1 94).
Prescriptive in his aims
Fowler certainly is, but he
contrasts with 19th-century
grammatical authors by the
way he ,.onibines a respect
for tradition with a readiness
How- guilty, of flogging the minds many schools since the
of English children with 1960s, is not at all clear. Gen-
terms and notions that are erations of people have now
essential to the understand- passed through school with-
ing of Greek and Latin out ever having been intro-
syntax, but have no bearing duced to basic grammatical
on English. terminology, and who are
unaware of what many of
On the other hand, in a Soci- the traditional shibboleths
punctua- ety for Pure English Tract are all about (p. 194). On the
and style. (No. 26) he defends the role other hand, the Latinate
that traditional language influence on analysis is pro-
study has played in shaping found, and goes much
contemporary consciousness. deeper than the occasional
dispute about usage. With
Whether or not it is regret- some areas of grammar, such
table that we English have as the verb, where the Latin
for centuries been taught model has caused English
what little grammar we tense forms to multiply well
know on Latin traditions, beyond necessity. Fowler's
have we
not now to recog- point has certainly to be ^^y Watson Fow,;;;;^
nize that the iron has granted.

HOW MANY TENSES? An example is A Higher this is a distortion of the way perfect tense endings other techniques to express
English Grammarby English works, we must be (amaw, amavisti, amavit...'i future time (such as
How many tenses of the Llewelyn Tipping, first sure of how the word fense loved, you loved, he/she/it will/shall, be going to, be

verb are there in English? If published in 1927, and with
your automatic reaction is a dozen reprintings to its
to say 'three, at least' - past, credit bythe 1960s. This is
piesent, and future -you strongly Latinate in
aie showing the influence character. Nouns are given
was used in traditional
grammar. Tense was thought
of as the grammatical
expression of time, and
identified by a particular set
loved...'), and several others
marking different tense
forms.
English, by contrast, has
only one inflectional form to
about to, and future adverbs.
The linguistic facts are
uncontroversial. However,
people find it extremely
drop the notion
difficult to

of the Latinate grammatical
tradition. If you go for
larger number, adding such
labels as perfect and
pluperfect, this tradition
even more deep-rooted
within you. Twenty or
tense forms are set up
some traditional grammars.
five cases, and solemnly
a listed: nominative
vocative (O/c/ng), genitive
(king's), dative (king), and
is accusative (king). Over 40
forms of the verb in its
more varioustensesand moods
in are recognized.
To see the extent to which
of endings on the verb. In express time: the past tense of 'future tense' (and related
(king), Latin there were present- marker (typically -ecO, as in notions, such as imperfect,
tense endings (amo, amas, walked, jumped, and saw. future perfect, and
amat...'l love, you love, There is therefore a two-way pluperfect tenses) from their
he/she/it loves...'), future tense contrast in English:/ mental vocabulary, and to
tense endings (amabo, walk vs wa//ced- present
/ look for other ways of
amabis, amab/f...'l will/shall tense vs past tense. English talking about the
love, you will/shall love, has no future tense ending, grammatical realities of the
he/she/it will/shall love...'). but uses a wide range of English verb.
 13 • GRAMMATICAL MYTHOLOGY

THE MAIN BRANCHES OF GRAMMAR

The field oi grammar is often divided into two nouns, and the voice, mood, number, person, and WHY?
domains: morphology and syntax. The former focuses tense of verbs, as well as the question of their classifi-
Syntax: from Latin
on the structure of words, dealing with such matters cation into regular and irregular types. syntaxis, and earlier from
as inflectional endings and the way words can be Most of a traditional grammar was given over to Greel< syn + tassein 'together
+ arrange'. The term is quite
built up out of smaller units (§14); the latter focuses accidence, following the Latin model. Although in
often used in a figurative
on the structure of sentences (§16). Nesfield syntactic matters are to be found throughout way. Article titles
Modern grammars display a major shift in empha- the book, only two chapters are officially assigned to encountered in the 1990s
include 'the syntax of
sis from that found in traditional grammars. A large the subject, and these are largely devoted to the tech-
cooking' and 'the syntax of
part of a traditional grammar was devoted to aspects niques of clause analysis and the parsing of parts of sex'.

of morphology - though not using this label, which speech. By contrast, most of a modern grammar of
term from The term was
MORPHOLOGY: ultimately
is a linguistics. traditional English is given over to syntax. There is relatively
from Greek morphe 'form' +
accidence (from Latin accidentia, 'things which little in the language to be accounted for under the logos 'word'. The term is also
befall'), defined in Nesfieid's Grammar us 'the collec- heading of inflectional morphology, and in some used in other contexts; in
biology, for example, it
tive name for all those changes that are incidental to grammars the notion of morphology is dispensed
refers to the form and
certain parts of speech'. Thus, accidence dealt with with altogether, its concerns being handled as the structure of animals and
such matters as the number, gender, and case of 'syntax of the word'. plants.

NEW GRAMMAR... verbs and ...FOR OLD

adjectives.
The chapter headings in 17 The noun phrase. The chapter headings
S. Greenbaum & R. Quirk's 18 Theme, focus, and in Parti ('Modern
A Student's Grammar of the information English Grammar') of
English Language (1990). processing. J.C. Nesfieid's fng//sh
19 From sentence to Grammar Past and
1 The English language. text. Present C\89S).
2 A general framework.
3 Verbs and auxiliaries. There are some clear 1 Analytical
4 The semantics of the parallels with traditional outline: general
verb phrase. grammar, especially the definitions.
5 Nouns and determiners. opening treatment of 2 Nouns.
6 Pronouns. word classes (Chs. 1-9), 3 Adjectives.

7 Adjectives and adverbs. but over half the book is 4 Pronouns.

8 The semantics and explicitlydevoted to 5 Verbs.
grammar of adverbials. syntax, and a substantial 6 Adverbs.
9 Prepositions and part of the early chapters 7 Prepositions.
prepositional phrases. deals with syntactic mat- 8 Conjunctions
10 The simple sentence. ters too. 9 Interjections.
11 Sentence types and The approach which this 10 Analysis of
discourse functions. grammar represents falls influence of contemporary sentences.
12 Pro-forms and ellipsis. well within the European linguistic theory reverse this 11 The same
13 Coordination. tradition of grammatical order of treatment, begin- word used as different
14 The complex sentence. analysis,but it would be a ning with a systematic expo- parts of speech. The minor role

15 Syntactic and semantic mistake to think that all sition of syntactic matters, 12 Syntax. played by syntax is to be
functions of modern grammars look like leaving matters of word 13 Punctuation, orthe noted, by comparison with
subordinate clauses. this. In particular, many and mor-
classification right use of stops. its major role in modern
16 Complementation of grammars which show the phology to theend. grammars.

An example

PARSING why the noun is in that case. object it governs. The categories reflect the
• Adjective: state kind of • Adverb: state kind ^"-•^'PPing, 1927)- way Latin grammar worked,
Parsing played an important adjective, degree, and what of adverb, degree, with its complex inflectional
role in traditional grammar word it qualifies. and what word it morphology, and also the
teaching. The procedure • PronoL/n; state kind of pro- modifies. method used in learning it
involved stating the part of noun, number, person, • Preposition: state (translation to and from
speech (Latin pars) to which a gender, and case, and why it the word it governs. English). As very few of these
word belonged, and giving is in that case. • Conjunction: state types of word-ending remain
certain details about it. Latin • \/erb: state kind of verb kind (coordinating, t^nse first n!' ^'^'^''^ in English, the technique of
grammars used to ask Quae (whether weak or strong, subordinating) and parsing is no longer seen as
pars orationis?'\Nhat part of p. 21), transitive or intransi- what it joins. having much relevance.
speech?' (See further, §15.) tive, voice, mood, tense, • Interjection: More sophisticated forms of
• Woun: state the number, number, person, the subject statethat it isan sentence analysis have
gender, and case, and say with which it agrees, and the interjection. replaced it (§16).
 14THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS
Morphology, the study of" the structure ot words,
cuts across the division of this book into Lexicon The derivational field of a
single word (from ungracefully

(Part and Grammar (Part III). For Enghsh,

II) it
J.Tournier, 1985),
ungracefulne
means devising ways of describing the properties oi Inflections are a quite dis-
tinctgroup, always occur-
such disparate items as a, horses, took, indescribahlc,
ring at the very end of a
washing machine, and antidisestablishmentarianisni. word {graces, disgraced),
A widely-recognized approach divides the field into and following the deriva-
tional suffixesif there are
two domains: lexical or derivational morphology
any. there were several
If

studies the way in which new items of vocabulary instances of gracelessness to

can be built up out of combinations of elements (as be talked about, we could
say (admittedly, not with
in the case of in-describ-able); inflectional morphol-
any great elegance) grace-
rt^y studies the way words vary in their form in order
lessnesses.
to express a grammatical contrast (as in the case of Tournier's detailed study
also includes extremely full
horses, where the ending marks plurality). The pro-
listings of the derivational
cesses of lexical word-formation are described in §9. affixes in English. There are
In the present section, we examine the processes of a surprisingly large number
of them: excluding variant
inflection.
forms, he gives 386 prefixes
An essential first step is to be able to describe the and 322 suffixes. The latter
elements (or morphemes) out of which words can be total includesdozens of
forms which are rare in
constructed.
everyday conversation
(except among specialists),
• Many words cannot be broken down into gram- such as -acea, -ectomy,
-gynous, -mancy, and
matical parts: boy, a, yes, person, elephant, problem.
-ploid.
These words are said to consist only of a base form
(some grammars refer to this as the root or stem). All

we can do, in such cases, is describe what the words

mean (see Part III) and how they are pronounced or
spelled — such as the number of syllables they have,
or the pattern of vowels and consonants they display
(see Part IV).
• English permits the addition of meaningful,
dependent elements both before and after the base

form: these are called ajfixes. Affixes which precede

the base are prefixes; those which follow it are suf-
fixes. The possibility of affixes occurring within the
base (infixes) is considered on p. 128.
• Prefixes in English have a purely lexical role, allow-
ing the construction of a large number of new
words: nn-, de-, anti-, super-, etc. They are described
as part of word-formation on p. 128.
• Suffixes in English are of two kinds. Most are
purely lexical,primary function being to
their
change the meaning of the base form: examples of
these derivational suffixes include -ness, -ship, and
-able. A few are purely grammatical, their role being
to show how the word must be used in a sentence:
examples here include plural -s, past tense -ed, and
comparative -er. Elements of this second type, which
have no lexical meaning, are the inflectional suffixes
(or simply, inflections) of the language.
 .

14 • THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS

ADJECTIVES TESTING COMPARISON

An item from a screening test designed

Inflections provideone of the ways in which the to assess the language ability of 3- to 5-
year-old children. This particular item
quality expressed by an adjective (p. 211) can be
the child's awareness of
tries to elicit
compared. The comparison can be to the same comparative and superlative forms. The
degree, to a higher degree, or to a lower degree. speech and language therapist uses a
structured prompt, while pointing
• The base torm of the adjective is called the absolute appropriately to the picture:

form: big, happy. boy is little, this one is big,

I

This this one is

even - and this one is the - .

The inflections identify two steps in the expression of

a higher degree. (After S. Armstrong &M.Ainley, 1990.)

• Adding -er produces the comparative form: bigger,

happier.
IRREGULARS farther/farthest (the latter pair being less
• Adding -est produces the superlative form: biggest, common, and mainly used to express
happiest. There are very few irregular comparative physical distance, as in farthest north).
forms, but the ones there are do occur quite • Old has regular forms {older /oldest) and

There are no inflectional ways of expressing the same frequently. also an irregular use {elder/ eldest) when
talking about family members.
or lower degrees in English. These notions are
Setterand faestare the comparison forms
• • Some adverbs (p. 21 1) also allow
expressed syntactically, using as... as (for the same of good; worse and n/orstarethe comparison (e.g. soonest), but
inflectional
degree: X is as big as Y) and less or least for lower comparison forms of bad. most adverbs are compared periphrastically:
• Far has two forms: further/furthest and more frankly, most
degrees {X is less interested than Y, Z is the least inter-
willingly.

ested of all )

There is also a syntactic (often called a

POETICAL SUPERLATIVES very silent you are! think you must be in
I

periphrastic) way of expressing higher degree,

love.' 'Love!' cries the poetical young gen-
ithrough the use of more (for the comparative) and I n h is Sketches by Boz {
1 835-7), Charles tleman, starting up from his seat by the fire
most (for the superlative): A is more beautiful than B Dickens notes a popular use of the superla- and terrifying the cat who scampers off at
tiveform by 'the poetical young gentle- full speed, 'Love! that burning consuming
and C is the most beautiful of all. man'. passion; that ardour of the soul, that fierce
glowing of the heart. Love! The withering
When the poetical young gentleman blighting influence of hope misplaced and
THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT makes use of adjectives, they are all affection slighted. Love did you say! Ha!
begin with un- do allow superlatives. Everything of the grandest, ha! ha!'
The availability of two is

ways of expressing higher the inflection, as in the greatest, noblest, mightiest, loftiest; or the With this, the poetical young gentleman
degree raises a usage case of unhealthier and lowest, meanest, obscurest, vilest, and most laughs a laugh belonging only to poets and
question: which form unhappiest. pitiful.He knows no medium: for enthusi- Mr 0. Smith of the Adelphi Theatre, and
should be used with any asm is the soul of poetry; and who so sits down, pen in hand, to throw off a
• The chief problem arises
particular adjective? The enthusiastic as a poetical young gentle- page or two of verse in the biting, semi-
with two-syllable
answer is largely to do man? 'Mr Milkwash,' says a young lady as atheisticaldemoniac style, which, like the
adjectives, many of which
with how long the she unlocks her album to receive the young poetical young gentleman himself, is full of
permit both forms of
adjective is.
gentleman's original contribution, 'how sound and fury, signifying nothing.
comparison: That's a
• Adjectives of one syllable quieter/more quiet place.
usually take the inflec- A few, such as proper and
tional form: big, thin, eager, are straightforward:
they do not allow the
WHITER THAN
small, long, fat, red. But
inflection at all. Others, WHITEST The brightest knits in town
there are exceptions: real,
right, and wrong do not such as many adjectives
allow *realler, *wronge5t, ending in -y, -er, and -le,
Commercial advertising
provides fertile
WASHES CLEANER
etc. Nor do participles favour it; happier, cleverer,
soil for adjective inflections
(p. 204) allow an inflection and gentlest are THAN ANl OTHER MACHINE.
when they are used as commoner than morel
adjectives: That's the most most happy, etc., but the
THE RESULT: ENGLAND'S
burnt piece of toast I've
choice often made on
is
FINEST
ever seen (not *the grounds. In the
stylistic
previous sentence, for
SMOOTHER, FIRMER SKIN BONE CHINA
burntest).

•Adjectives of three
example, there is little to
choose between j]^j THE PURER WAY TO ADD FLAVOUR
syllables or more use only commoner and more
the periphrastic form: we
do not say *beautifuller or
common except the
rhythm and the immediate
TASTIEST The latest in gas cooking
*interestingest. But here
too there are exceptions:
context {commoner avoids FISH Check with us
DECORATING?
first for all the latest tools and tips
an inelegant clash with
for example, a few three- the use of more two words
syllable adjectives which later). better, bolder, brighter than ever!
 I'ARI III • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

NOUNS: NUMBER ONE OR MORE

THAN ONE?
Most nouns (p. 208) have both a singular and a plural In most cases, the distinc-
tion between singular and
form, expressing a contrast between 'one" and 'more
plural corresponds to that
than one', and these are known as variable nouns. A between 'one' and 'more
small group of cases do not have a number contrast than one', but there are
exceptions. The picture
- the invariable nouns (p. 201). Most variable nouns
shows a large number of
change from singular to plural in a wholly predictable objects growing on a tree:
way, usually described simply as 'adding an -/ ifwe describe what we see
as foliage, we use a singu-
(though the reality is not so straightforward). This is
lar; we say we see leaves,
if

the regular plural form, as seen in cats, oboes, eggs, we use a plural. But the
pterodactyls, grammars, and thousands more words. By number of objects is the
same in each case. Simi-
contrast, there are only a few hundred nouns with an
larly, iv/ieat is grammati-
irregular plural form - though it is these which attract cally singular and oats is
the interest of the grammarian, as they are the ones grammatically plural, but
the distinction is not
which lead to difficulties in language learning, and cry
apparent to the combine
out for explanation. Why doesn't Standard English harvester.

(SE) say mouses, childs, and footsi

EXCEPTIONAL PLURALS English nouns. Several other family words

ADDING AN -S?
showed this ending in Middle English, such

In speech • The ending is -es if there There are several groups of native English as doughtren ('daughters') and sustren ('sis-

no silent -e, and the words which display exceptional plural ters'), both found in Chaucer.
The -s ending is pro- is

forms. Although we cannot say why these • A few nouns change their final fricative
nounced in any of three noun ends in -s, -z, -x, -ch,

possible ways, depending and -sh (all sibilants), as in particular words did not follow the regular consonant (p. 243) as well as adding /z/.
on the nature of the sound buses, buzzes, boxes, pattern, it is at least often possible to see Some change/-f/to/-v/, as in wives, loaves,

at the end of the singular
noun. (An identical set of
rules applies to other uses
of an /-s/ inflection:
pp. 202, 204.)
• the noun ends in an
If
/sMike sound (a sibilant,
p,262)-/s/,/z/,/J/,/3/,
/^/,and /d^/- it is fol-
lowed by an extra
/iz/, as in buses, phrases,
dishes, beaches, sledges,
and (for /j/, some pronun-
ciations of) mirages.
• All other nouns ending
in a voiceless consonant
add /s/, as in cups, pots,
sacks, scruffs, growths.
• Allother nouns ending
in a voiced consonant or a
vowel (including r-
coloured vowels, p.
add /z/, as in cubs, rods,
bags, graves, tithes, farms,
guns, rings, pools, cars,
players, bees, foes, zoos,
etc.
In writing
The spelling rules are
complex. The vast majority
of nouns in the language
simply add an -s. This
includes those nouns
where the singular form
ends in a 'silent -e', such as
plate. But there are several
types of exception (p. 272).
bitches, bushes. why they have their distinctive form by and halves. The spelling reflects a change
• If the noun ends in -o, referring to the types of plural formation which took place in Old English, where /f /
the plural is spelled -os in found in Old English or Germanic (p. 8). was voiced between vowels (the plural of
hiaf'loai' was hiafas). Some change /-fl/ to
most cases (as in studios,
• Seven nouns change their vowel (a process /-(V, as in pat/is, booths, and mouths. House
zoos, pianos, solos, radios,
kilos), but there are a few known as mutation, or umlaut, p. 1 9): man > is unique, with /-s/changing to /-z/ in
men, foot > feet, goose > geese, mouse > houses.
nouns which require -oes
mice, woman > women, tooth > teeth, louse In several cases, usage is uncertain:
(as in potatoes, dominoes,
> lice. The change does not take place when dwarf, hoof, scarf, and wharf w'lW be found
heroes, tomatoes), and
there is a derived sense, as when louse refers with both /-fs/ and /-vz/, and spelled accord-
some allow both (as in vol-
syllable, to a person (you louses!) or mouse to a char- ingly (e.g. both scarfs and scarves); truth,
cano(e)s, cargo(e)s,
acter (we've hired three Mickey Mouses this oath, sheath, wreath, and (especially in
motto(e)s),though
month). American English) youth will be found with
modern usage seems to be
slowly moving towards the
• Four nouns add -en, in two cases changing both/-6s/ and /-6z/, but both spelled in the
-OS norm. the vowel sound as well: ox > oxen, aurochs same way, -ths (much to the frustration of
> aurochsen, child > children, brother > the foreign learner). Exceptions to the
• If a common noun
brethren. The use oi /-n/ as a plural marker exceptions include sf/7/ /(Yes and the Toronto
(p. 208) ends with a in -y,
was a feature of an important class of Old ice-hockey team, the Maple Leafs.
preceding consonant, the
-y is replaced by -/, and -es
is added, as in s^res, flies. If
there is only a preceding
A vowel diagram (p. 238)
showing the way the high front
vowel, the -y stays (as in
237) position of the tongue (in the
ways, boys), as it does in
vowel of the hypothetical
proper nouns {old and
Germanic plural suffix */-iz/)
new Germanys, the three
once 'pulled' the vowel of the
Marys).
associated noun in its
• There are several
direction (p. 19). The effect can
unusual cases, such as con-
be seen relating the singular
still
sonant doubling (.quizzes,
and plural forms of the surviving
more fezzes), the use of apostro-
nouns. Several other nouns were
phes after a letter name
also affected at the time (such as
(cross your t's) or a number
bee, plural of boc 'book' in Old
(i's), especially in British
English), though the mutated
English, and doubling a
forms have not survived in
letter in some written Modern English.
abbreviations, as in pp.
('pages'), exx. ('examples'),
and //. ('lines').
 14 • THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS

NOUNS OF FOREIGN ORIGIN Source 1 ending

Nouns which have been borrowed from foreign

languages pose a particular problem. Some have
adopted the regular plural ending: They sang
another two choruses (not *chori). Some have kept
the original foreign plural: More crises to deal with
(not *crisises). And some permit both: What lovely
cactuses/cacti!
There are no rules. People have to learn which
form to use as they meet the words for the first
time, and must become aware of variations in
usage. Where there is a choice, the classical plural is

usually the more technical, learned, or formal, as in

the case of formulas vs formulae or curriculums vs
curricula.Sometimes, alternative plurals have even
developed different senses, as in the case of (spirit)
mediums vs (mass) media, or appendixes (in bodies
or books) vs appendices (only in books). The table
(right) shows the main types of foreign plural
formation.
 PART 111 i-:nc;i,ish (;rammar

NOUNS: CASE POSSESSIVE

Thereareonly two cases left in Modern English (p. 21):

acommon Cisc, where the noun has no ending at all, and

the genitive. The genitive is formed by adding an -s to
the singular form of the noun. In writing, this appears
with a preceding apostrophe (p. 283, the apostrophe
/): the cat'sfood. With most plural forms, an -sending is

already present, so the written form just adds a follow-

ing sign (the iapostrophe'): thecals' food. In a few irreg-
ular plural instances, !f is used (as in the men's books). In

speech, there is no difference in pronunciation between

cat's And cats'.

The chief meaning ol the genitive case is possession:

the cat's food . But the case is used to express several other
meanings too. The notion of origin is present in the
traveller's story. There is description in a summer's day. A
period is measured in three months' leave. And the form
can express the idea of the noun either doing the action
or receiving the action: in the hostage's application, the
hostage is theonewhoapplies; in the hostage's release, the

hostage is the one who is released.

There is a close similarity between a noun in the gen-

itive case and the same noun preceded by of (the of-

genitive): the ship's name = the name of the ship. The
choice is largely based on factors of gender and style.
Personal nouns and the higher animals (p. 209) tend to
take the genitive ending; inanimate nouns take the of
genitive. Thus we find Hilary's book rather than *the
book ofHilary, but apartofthediJflcult)iT3.zheT than "the
difficulty's part. The genitive case is also used with many
nouns of special human relevance {my life's aim, the
body's needs). But the of form is used for titles (The
Duke ofKent) - always allowing for cases of contrived
inlormalit)' (England's Queen).

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES'(S)

Not all singular nouns can add

a genitive ending. There are a
few instances where the only
signal is the apostrophe. This is

what happens with Greel<

names of more than one
syllable and ending in -s:

Socrates' bust, not usually

Socrates's bust. Names ending
in /-z/ vary in their usage: we
find both Dickens's novels and
Dickens' novels, Jesus's
name and Jesus' name.
With the shorter form,
the implied extra
syllable can still be
pronounced: Dickens'
could be/'dikinz/or
/'dikinziz/.

THE ABERRANT APOSTROPHE
The apostrophe was introduced
English from French in the 16th century
(p. 58), and became widespread during
the 1 7th; but there was much uncer-
tainty about its use, even until the
middle of the 1 9th century. Not only did
it markthe omission of letters (as in
can't), it was often used before a plural
ending, especially when the noun was a
loan word ending in a vowel (as in the
two comma's, which even today many
people feel 'needs' an apostrophe). By
the 18th century, it was being regularly
used as a genitive marker in the singu-
lar, representing (according to the most
likely theory) the omission of the letter e
from the ending of the former genitive
case -es (p, 44). Later, the usage
extended to the genitive plural, but
even at the beginning of the 19th cen-
tury there was inconsistency over
whether constructions such as the girls'
dresses should contain an apostrophe
(because no letter was being 'left out').
Later that century, printers
marians tried to lay down rules saying
when the apostrophe should be used.
Unfortunately, with such a long period
of varying usage to consider, the rules
which they devised were arbitrary and
incomplete, and it proved impossible to
establish a totally logical set of princi-
ples. For example, the apostrophe was
allowed to mark possession in nouns
{girl's) but not in pronouns (hers), and
even this rule had exceptions (one's).
Around the turn of the century, the
apostrophe began to be dropped from
thenamesof many British banks and
large businesses (e.g. Lloyds, Harrods).
PRONOUNS: CASE
Personal pronouns
(p.210) have a genitive
form, as have nouns, but
they also have an objective
form, which nouns no
longer have. This form is
chiefly used when the
pronoun is the object of a
clause (as in He saw me)
and when it is governed by
a preposition (as in He
gave it to me). The term
objective reflects this
function,and replaces the
older term accusative,
favoured bytraditional
grammar (p. 192), which
was more appropriate for
Latin. Similarly, when a
pronoun is the subject of a
clause, it is said to be in the
I HE STRUCTURE OF WORDS
CHAMBER,! _
NEW IMAGES FOR OLD 'Nc
Today in almost always omit-
the UK, it is
OP/EDIA
ted in shop signs, placards, and other The covers of the 935 edition
1 of
into notices. It varies greatly in place names: Chambers's Encyclopaedia and
their 1 993 English Dictionary,
St Ann's Bay in Jamaica contrasts with St
Anns Bay\r\ Cape Breton Island, accord- showing the loss of the
ing to the Britannica Atlas. The bias is apostrophe and extra syllable.
definitely towards omission: of the sev- The change took place, after
eral hundred names of the St Anns type great heart-searching, in the
in the Britannica, two-thirds have no 1960s. The firm's 1966
apostrophe. In shopping centres we catalogue has the apostrophe;
find /.ad/es wear and Mansshop. On the their 969 issue does not.
1
other hand, the 993 New York City
1
Today most public names do
subway map gives Sf, Patrick's Cathedral not use the apostrophe, though
and Grant's Tomb. some businesses consciously
Many modern sign-writers and typo- continue with it as part of an image
graphical designers leave the apostro- of tradition, reliability,and other
phe out because they think it looks fussy such values. In a1992 issue of a
and old-fashioned; and in most cases its
popular British magazine, less than
omission causes no ambiguity, as the 10 per cent of the trade names ending ina genitive used an
context makes it clear whether the -s apostrophe, and most of those which did so had no choice in the
ending refers to number or case, and matter because their names already ended in a sibilant (p. 243), as
whether itexpressesasingular or a in Ross's. For such names, the only alternative is to avoid the
plural genitive meanmg. However, genitive ending altogether- which is actually a popular strategy
there are undoubtedly many occasions nowadays (e.g. John Lewis, instead oi Lewis's).
when the availability of the apostrophe
expresses a valuable written distinction,
and gram- and there is strong pedagogical pres-
sure on children to maintain its use,
especially in the USA.
As a result of changing attitudes and
practices, some people nowadays feel
unsure about the correct use of the
apostrophe, and add it before anything
they sense to bean -sending, such as a
plural or a third person singular: *We
sell fresh pie's, *Everyone like's our
chips. These usages are universally con-
demned by educated writers, but the
uncertainty is understandable, given
the long and confused history of this
punctuation mark in English (see
further, p. 283).
GOODNESS GRACIOUS I!
subjective (formerly,
nom/nat/Ve) case. The objective case has long been a focus of there is now a widespread sensitivity about
Five pronouns showthis prescriptive discontent (p. 194). their use, and this has led people to avoid
distinction: I/me, we/us, them, even in parts of the clause where
he/him, she/her, and • In certain contexts, it is used where the their use would be grammatically correct:
they/them. Who also has Latin-influenced grammatical tradition
Between you and ..(p. 194)I.
an objective form (whom) recommends the subjective:
He asked Mike and to do it. I
as well as a genitive form
Who's there? It's me.
(whose = 'of • There is also uncertainty over the correct
She's as tall as him.
whom/which'). The other form in sentences such as It's no use my/me
Ted and me went by bus.
pronouns have genitive asking her. Older grammars analyse words
forms, too, traditionally These usages attract varying degrees of like asking as 'verbal nouns', or gerunds, and
described as the possess/Ve criticism in a formal setting. Me as a single- insist on the use of the possessive pronoun
pronouns: my/mine, word reply is now used by almost everyone, (my, etc.) or the genitive form of a noun:
our(s), his, her(s), its, and attracts little comment (despite the John's asking me. Modern grammars do not
their(s), and your(s). The publicity it received in the song sung by use the term gerund: asking in this example
alternatives identify two Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren in the film would be analysed as a verb (the -ing form,
constructions, in which the The Millionairess). The X and me type of p. 204), as can be seen from the way it takes
pronoun can either construction, however, is often criticized, an object, him. The possessive is the
accompany a noun or especially when speakers reverse the normal preferred usage in a formal style, especially
stand alone: That is her order of politeness, and put the pronoun if the item is a pronoun or a short, personal
book vs That book is hers. first: Me and Ted went by bus. noun phrase. The alternative is more
Ironically, as a result of the long-standing common in informal styles.
criticism of me and other objective forms,
 PART III • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

VERBS THE IRREGULAR VERBS Class 3

About 40 verbs which have the same ending
There are two main features of irregular for the past and -ed participle forms, but
lexical verbs, both of which pose routine this is irregular; they also change the vowel
The forms of a regular\e\ica.\ verb (p. 212) can be pre-
problems for young children and foreign of the base form: keep > kept, sleep > slept,
dicted by rules. An irregular lexical verb is one where learners (p. 428): sell > sold.
some of the forms are unpredictable. There are thoii- Class 4
• Most irregular verbs change the vowel of About 75 verbs which have an -n ending for
.sands of regular verbs in Modern English, but less
the base to make their past or -ed participle the -ed participle form, and an irregular
than 300 irregular ones. The irregular forms are the forms. This process is known as vowel past form; they also change the vowel of
surviving members of the highly developed system ot gradation (p. 21): meet > met (not the base form: blow > blew > blown, take>
*meeted), take > took (not *taked). took> taken, see > saw > seen.
'strong' verb classes found in Old English (p. 21). • The-edending is never used in a regular
Class 5
Regular verbs appear in four forms, each playing a way, and is often not used at all, as in cut, About 40 verbs which have the same form
different role in the clause (p. 220). met, won: have cut (not *l havecutted), It
I
throughout, as in cut, let, shut: I shut the
was won (not *lt was winned). door (now), /shut the door (last week), /
• The hose form- a form with no endings, as listed in
Using these features, it is possible to group
have shutthe door.
Class 6
a dictionary (sometimes called the iiifhiitive for))i): go, irregular verbs into seven broad classes.
About 70 verbs which have no ending, but
see, remember, provide. Class 1 use the same form for both past tense and
• The -i form, made by adding an -(e)s ending to the About 20 verbs whose only irregular feature -ed participle; they also change the vowel of
is the ending used for both their past and the base form: sp/n >spun, sit > sat, stand >
base (sometimes with a spelling change), used for the
-ed participle forms: have > had, send > stood.
third person singular in the present tense: he/she/it sees.
sent. Class 7
The pronunciation of this ending varies, depending Class 2 About 25 forming the most irregular
verbs,
About 1 verbs whose past tense is regular, type. Thereis no ending; the past and -ed
on the preceding sound, as already described with ref-
but whose -ed participle form has an -n forms differ; and the vowels
participle
erence to nouns (p. 200): I -si, as in looks, chops, and ending, as well as a variant form in -ed: change with each form: sw/m >swam >
jumps; l-zl, as in tries, goes, and reminds; and /-iz/, as mow > mown or mowed, swell > swollen or swum, come > came > come, go > went >
swelled. gone.
in passes, rushes, and buzzes. Does and says are excep-

tions, in that they change their pronunciation when

the ending is added: /dAz/ not */du:z/ and /sez/ not
*/seiz/ (except sometimes in reading aloud). ABURNING QUESTION
• The -ingform, or -ing participle, made by adding Several irregularverbs(of
Class 2) have alternative
-ing to the base (often with a spelling change): rmi-
-edforms, one regular
ning, jumping, going. In traditional grammar, this
(with -ed), the other
would be called the present participle, but as the form irregular (with -t).

They include:
is by no means restricted to expressing present time
(as in He was going), this term is not used by many burned burnt
learned learnt
modern grammarians. smelled smelt
• The -edform, made by adding -edxo the base (often spelled spelt
spilled spilt V'^^traw burned
with a spelling change). This ending found in the or
Znt straw or burned straw'
is
spoiled spoilt
^^'^ straw burnt?
past form and in the -ed participle form. The past form
The -tending is rare in American English The drink burned in my throat.
has just one use: to express the past tense, as in / (It was whiskey.)
(p. 441). In British English, however, there is

kicked the ball. The -fd' participle form has four uses: a great deal of usage variation, and it makes The drink burnt my throat.
an interesting question to ask whether (It was acid.)
to help express a past aspect (as in I've kicked the hall,
someof this could be patterned, expressing Sometimes the context does not bear one or
p. 225); to help express the passive voice (as in The
a subtle difference in meaning between the
other of the above interpretations, which
ball was kicked, p. 225); in certain types of subordi- two forms. could explain why in this next example
nate clause and to begin a clause (as in Kicked and bat- The close comparison of examples sug-
(which seemsto require a long period of
gests that the -edform may be more likely
tered, I hobbled ojfthe field, p. 226); and as an adjective time) the first sentence is more likely than
when the duration of an action is being
the second.
(as in the cooked meal, p. 21 1). The -fia' participle form emphasized. Something which has hap-
would have been called the past participle in tradi- pened once, which has taken up very little They burned with desire for each other.
time, or which focuses on the result of a pro- ?They burnt with desire for each other.
tional grammar, but as its use is not restricted to past
cess rather than on the process itself may be
However, on many occasions the choice
time (as in / will be asked) this label also tends to be more likely to attract the -tending. The fol-
may well be random, because the verb or
avoided in modern grammar. lowing examples can be used to test this
context does not motivate the drawing of
hypothesis. Do they feel different?
such semantic distinctions, as in the case of
Irregular verbs make their -s form and -ingiotm by /spelled/spelt it with ane. Andatthe other
The heather burned for days.
adding an ending to the base, in the same way as reg-
The burnt heather looked awful. extreme, there are some collocations
(p. 160) which permit little or no variation,
ular verbs do. But they have either an unpredictable
The torturer burned my arm. as in the adjectival burnt sienna, burnt
past tense, or an unpredictable -fis' participle form, or Iburnt my arm against the stove. almonds, burnt offering, burnt toast, and
both. Many irregular verbs therefore appear in five We've always burned wood in that stove. T. S. Eliot's poem fiurnfWorton.

forms, instead of the usual four. Isaw a piece of burnt wood in the shed.
 THE STRUCTURE OF WORDS

ADDING AN -fD? nant even when the preceding vowel is unstressed. This is normal practice in
British English,but American English also permits the use of a single conso-
In speech nant (though frequency varies, in the following cases). The chief instances are
The -ed ending of regular verbs is pronounced in anyof three possible ways, -/, -mfmej, and some verbs in -p:

depending on the nature of the sound at the end of the base form. (A similar
set of rules applies to way the /-s/ inflection is pronounced: see p. 200.) Always in BrE, Never in BrE,
often in AmE often in AmE
• If the verb ends or /d/ (an alveolar, p. 243), it is followed by an extra
in a /t/

syllable, /id/, as in wanted, boarded. This form has several pronunciation vari- signalled signaled
ants around the world; for example, it is pronounced /sd/ in South Africa. diagrammed diagramed
• All other verbs ending in a voiceless consonant add/ 1/, as in stopped /stopt/, kidnapper kidnaper
boxed /bokst/.
• All other verbs ending in a voiced consonant or a vowel (including r- Verbs ending in a vowel -h -c spell the doubling with -ck, as in panicked. Hew-
coloured vowels, p. 237) add/d/, as in robed, died, barred. ever, when the base ends in a vowel + -s, there is great variation in usage, with
some publishers insisting on a double consonant, and others avoiding it:
In writing focussedvs focused, biassed vs biased. 7he present book uses a single -s- in
The spelling rules are more complex, and show several regional variations such words.
between British and American English. The chief patterns are as follows: •As with nouns (p. 200), if the verb ends in -y, with a preceding consonant,
the -y is replaced by -/, and -ed is added, as in cried, tried. If there is a preced-
• the base form ends in a 'silent -e', this -e is dropped before -ed (and also
If ing vowel, the -y usually remains (as in stayed). The same rule applies to the -s
beforethe-/ng ending), as in typed, not *typeed(or *typeing). Most verbs ending too: cries, fnes. One difference from nouns isthatthe-ystays in cases
ending -nge, and a few others, lose the -e before -ed (but keep
in -ye, -oe, -/e, where an -ing ending is used: crying, trying.
it before dyed (but dye/ng), s/nged (but s/nge/ng). This allows such
-/ng), as in • Even more than with nouns, there are exceptions to the exceptions. So, if

contrasts as s/ng/ng and s/nge/ng to be distinguished.
• A single consonant letter at the end of the base is doubled before -ed (and
also before -ing), if the preceding vowel carries a stress and is spelt with a
single \etter: jogged (jogging), permitted (permitting). This doubling does
not usually happen when the preceding vowel is unstressed (enter > entered,
entering) or is written with two letters (greet > greeted, greeting).
• Some final consonants are exceptions to this rule, allowing a double conso-
a -yverb is preceded by -a-, the -y is replaced, as in pa/da nd /a/d. And if a verb
ending in -/e adds -/ng, the -/e changes to -y, as in dy/ng and tying. When a
word ends in a silent consonant, it is not doubled, as in croc/ietedand fiurra-
hed. In the present tense, there are such exceptions as does and goes, where
an -e- has been added. And there are a few forms which present variation in
usage, such as ageing and aging, arcked and arced, or verandahed and veran-
da h'd (see further, p. 274).

The contracted form of the

negative word not is used as
an inflection with some
verbs. The ones which allow
this are the auxiliary verbs
(p. 212), most of which can
thus appear in two negative
forms:

does not doesn't

is not isn't

In some cases, the form of

the verb is altered:

will not won't

shall not shan't
were not weren't
do not don't
/daunt/, not
/du:nt/

Some do not
auxiliaries
permit the ending in
Standard English, notably
*amn't (though it will be
heard in Irish English, for
example). Some usages are
dated (mayn't, usedn't). But
the major contrast is with
lexical verbs, which never
allow the contracted form:
*sitn't, *walkedn't.
 -

15 WORD CLASSES
I radirioii.d graniiiiais of F,ni;lish, following an
approach which can be traced back to Latin (§13), THE TRADITIONAL DEFINITIONS
agreed that there were eight parts of speech in The definitions found in traditional grammars vary between authors, but they share a

vagueness and inconsistency of approach which has not endeared them to modern lin-
English: the noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb,
guists. Aset of definitions and examples (from Nesfield, 1898: seep. 197) is given below,
preposition, conjunction, and interjection. Some along with a noteof thechief d iff iculties they present to anyone wanting to make a pre-
books paid separate attention to the participle; some cise description of English grammar. The general intent behind the traditional definitions
is clear enough; but several are insufficiently general to apply to all instances, and the lack
additionally mentioned the article. But none was in
of formal detail about their morphology (§ 1 4) or syntax (§15) makes them difficult to apply
any doubt that the definition of the parts of speech consistently.

was an essential first step in learning about English

Definitions Comments
grammar. A noun is a word used for naming The notional definition isdifficultto work with; some
Why is it necessary to talk about parts ot speech at some person or thing. grammars add a separate reference to places, but
Examples: man, house, Paris, even that excludes many nouns which could not easily
all? The main reason is to be able to make general and
height be described as 'persons, places, and things', such as
economical statements about the way the words of the abstract qualities (beauty) and actions (a thump).
language behave. It is only a matter of common sense No reference is made to morphology or syntax
(see p. 208).
to generalize, when we notice that a set of words all

work in the same way. In a simple case, we observe An adjective is a word used to qual- The definition is too broad and vague, as it allows a
such sentences as
ify a noun. to . restrict the applica- wide range of elements (e.g. the, my, a//) which have
tion of a noun by adding very different grammatical properties, and even
something to its meaning. nouns incertain types of construction (e.g. her
It is in the box.
Examples: fine, brave, three, the brother the butcher) do not seem to be excluded.
It is near the fence. No reference is made to morphology or syntax
It is on the horse. (seep. 211).

It is by the table.
A pronoun is a word used instead The definition is almost there, but it has to be altered
It is under the car. of a noun or noun-equivalent (i.e. in one basic respect: pronouns are used instead of

It is for the book. a word which is acting as a noun]. noun p/irases (p. 222), not just nouns. He refers to the
Examples: this, who, mine whole of the phrase the big lion, not just the word
and note the identity of structure. In each instance, lion (we cannot say *the big he). Nothing is said about
morphology or syntax (see p. 210).
there is an item preceding f/v which seems to have the
same sort of function, expressing some kind of prox- A verb is a word used for saying On this definition, there is little difference between a
something about some person or verb and an adjective (above). Some grammars prefer
imity relationship between />(whatever that is) and the
thing. to talk about 'doing words' or 'action words', but this
following words. Rather than talk about each of these Examples: mal<e, ianow, buy, sleep seems to exclude the many state verbs, such as know,
items individually, it makes sense to group them remember, and be. No reference is made to morphol-
ogy or syntax (see p. 212).
together into a single category. Latin had words with
the same function, which the grammarians called An adverb is a word used to qualify This is an advance on the more usual definition, in

- any part of speech except a noun which adverbs are said to qualify (or 'modify') verbs
prepositions (from prae + positio 'placing in front' that
or pronoun. which is inadequate for such words as very and how-
is, in front of a noun), and modern English grammars Examples: today, often, slowly, ever. Even so, the definition leaks, as it hardly applies
have happily continued to use the term. very to interjections, and examples such as the very man

Modern grammarians happy because this is one

are
and s/oven/yme have to be thought about. Nothing is
really said about morphology or syntax (p. 211).
of the areas where Latin and English grammar seem
to behave in a similar way. The notion of preposition A preposition is a word placed This is a good start, as it gives a clear syntactic crite-
before a noun or noun-equivalent rion.The definition needs tightening up, though, as
is a particularly useful one tor describing English
to show in what relation the prepositions really go before noun phrases, rather
(p. 213). However, there is less happiness when person or thing stands to some- than just nouns, and may also be used in other parts
people try to apply the old part-ot-speech labels to thing else. of the sentence (p. 213). As with nouns above, more
Examples: on, to, about, beyond than just persons and things are involved.
English words that do not have a clear counterpart in
Latin (such as the, shall, or the to in to go), or when A conjunction is a word used to This captures the essential point about conjunctions,
join words or phrases together, or but it needs some tightening up, as prepositions
also
they use definitions of the parts of speech that prove
one clause to another clause. might also be said to have a joining function {the man
difficult to work with. Indeed, when linguists began Examples: and, before, as well as in the garden). A lot depends on exactly what is being

to look closely at English grammatical structure in the joined (p. 213).

1940s and 1950s, they encountered so many prob- An interjection is a word or sound This isvaguerthan it need be, forelsewhere Nesfield

lems of identification and definition that the term thrown into a sentence to express acknowledges the essential point, that interjections
part of speech soon fell out of favour, word class being some feeling of the mind. do not enter into the construction of sentences.
Examples: Oh!, Bravo!, Fie! Despite the emotional function of these words, they
introduced instead. Word classes are equivalent to need to be considered as part of sentence classifi-
still

parts of speech, but defined according to strictly lin- cation (p. 213).

guistic criteria.
 15 • WORD CLASSES

CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS

It is not possible to tell which word class a word

belongs to just by looking at it. We need to look
carefully at how it behaves in a sentence. The
word browru tor example, has three grammatical
uses:

• As an adjective, when it is used in such contexts

as / bought a brown car and My arms are brown.
• As a noun, when it is used in such contexts as /
pocketed the brown.
• As a verb, when it is used in such contexts as

The toast has browned nicely.

Some words have even more uses. Round has five,

as adjective, noun, verb, adverb, and preposition.

IDENTIFYING WORD CLASSES
A word class group of words which,
is a have such an ending.
from a grammatical point of view, behave
the same way. In theory, this means two
things.
• The words are the same morphologically
(§14):they show which class they belong to
by using the same endings. For example,
verbs add such inflectional endings as -/ng
and-s{p. 204); they can also be identified by
various lexical endings, such as -/ze and -\iy
(p. 198).
• The words are the same syntactically (§ 1 6):
they show which class they belong to by being
used in the same way within a sentence.
example, adjectives can appear between the
and a noun, or immediately after a form of
be: thehappycat, the cat is happy.
The task of word class identification is an
interestingone for linguists, as it is not
always obvious which are the best criteria to
use. For example, when trying to decide
what can be called a noun in
(p. 208), there are several possible
each of which identifiesa particulargroup
of words. One criterion is the use of a plural
ending. This includes cats, dogs, horses, and
thousands of other words; but it excludes
many words which do not have a plural
form, such as sheep, police, information,
andJohn. Another possible criterion is the
use of a distinctive noun-making suffix, such
as -hood or -tion. This includes information.
boyhood, and thousands of words; but it SOME NEW WORD CLASSES
excludes thousands of others which do not
When we look carefully at the way words behave in sen-
in At the same time, we sense that certain much as the simi-
tences, the differences can strike us as
criteria have nothing to do with nouns at all. larities. Many
words, indeed, turn out to be unique. For
For example, the use of a comparative or example, there is no other word in the language which
superlative ending (p. 199) does not seem has exactly the same formal properties as house, with its
idiosyncratic way of forming a plural (p. 200). Likewise,
relevant in dealing with such words as cat
and dog; we do not say *catter or *doggest. there are features of the formal behaviour of children,
A different group of words can be identified good, lightning, say, will, and do (all identified in §14)
using that criterion -those we call adjec- which no other word in the language shares. Idiosyn-
tives. crasies of this kind are usually disregarded when dealing
Some criteria, although in principle appli- with word classes. House is still classified as a noun,
cable to nouns, seem to identify such a lim- albeit a slightly individual one.
This approach brings to light several important
ited group of words that they are of little
real value. An example is the use of the gen- groups of words in English which are syntactically so dis-
For
demand separate recognition - which
tinctive that they
itive case, which has a marked preference
for animate nouns (p. 202), as in the boy's means finding a new name for them. Here are three
examples of these 'new' word classes.
back but not *the house's back. Although it
is a relevant criterion, which contributes to • Determiners A group of words which can be used
our sense of what makes a 'typical' noun, it instead of the and a in the noun phrase, expressing such
is not a very useful distinguishing feature, notions as quantity, number, possession, and definite-
because it excludes so many words that are ness. Examples include some, much, that, and my. Tradi-
definitely nouns according to other criteria. tional grammars would call these adjectives.
English Traditional grammar did not have the • Conjuncts A group
of words whose function is to
criteria, same interest in studying the actual linguis- relate (or 'conjoin')independent grammatical units, such
tic behaviour of word classes. It assumed as clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. Examples include
that the criteria which worked well for Latin however, meanwhile, otherwise, and namely. Traditional
would also work for English (p. 192), and it grammars would call these adverbs.
used definitions of the parts of speech • Auxiliaries A group of words whose function is to
which related more to their supposed assist the main verb in a clause to express several basic
meaning than to the way they worked in grammatical contrasts, such as of person, number, and
sentences. Neither of these practices has tense. Examples include have, can, do, and was. Tradi-
proved to be of much help in the description tional grammars sometimes recognized these as a sepa-
of English. rate class of 'defective verbs'.

HOW NOUN-LIKE IS PARIS? A They are words which can be the Deprivation is an 'excellent' noun, A Unlikely (apart from cases where
head of a noun phrase. because it satisfies all four criteria: it becomes a common noun, as
Modern grammars recognize that B They are words which can be the in The Paris I used to know: see
subject of a clause.
A Ihate the terrible deprivation.
p. 208).
the largest word classes are conven-
B Deprivation is increasing.
ient fictions, to some degree. All the C They are words which can have a B Paris is a capital city.

plural form.
C The deprivations were awful. C Unlikely (again, apart from special
words in a proposed class are seen
D They are words which display a
D deprivat/on cases, such as How many Parises
to be sharing some features, but
few share all of them. For example, suffix such as -tion or -hood.
On the other hand, Paris is much less
do you know?).
there are four important features The more criteria a word satisfies, typical.
D None.
often suggested for nouns (p. 208): the more 'noun-like' it is.
 PART III ENGLISH GRAMMAR

THE CLASS OF NOUNS THE MAIN

SUBCLASSES

When we look at the way nouns behave, we find that Nouns can be
grouped Into six
the following factors are involved: main classes. The Proper
first division Is into
• Syntactic stritcture (§\6): a noun is the chief item (or proper and common
nouns. Common
'head") of a noun phrase (p. 222), as in the new tele-
nouns can then be
phones. It is often preceded by one of a small class of divided into count
determiners 207), such as the or some. and noncount types.
(p.
And both of these
• Syntactic fimction (§16): a noun functions as the can be further
subject, object, or complement of a clause (p. 220), as divided Into
in Apples are popular, I like apples. Those objects are concrete and Concrete Abstract Concrete Abstract
abstract types.
apples.
• Grammatical morphology (%\A): a. nonn can change
its form to express a contrast in singular /plural
number or to mark the genitive case 202), as in
SUFFIXES THAT FORM NOUNS
(p.

cat I cats i cat's /cats'.

• Lexical morphology (§14): a noun can be formed by
adding one of a small list of suffixes (e.g. -age, -ment,
-tion) to a verb, an adjective, or another noun.

In nouns (p. 197), traditional grammar

parsing
insistedon noting gender as well as number and case.
Modern grammars disregard this criterion, recogniz-
ing that gender has no grammatical role in English.
They do however find good grammatical reasons for
respecting the importance of several other traditional
contrasts, especially j&w/>fr vs common, and abstract vs
concrete, and have developed the contrast between
massd^nd count nouns into a major dimension of sub-
classification.
 .

1 5 WORD CLASSES

COUNT AND NON- {some music). Both types can ABSTRACT AND
COUNT NOUNS occur with the {the book I
CONCRETE NOUNS
the music).
Common nouns can be Some nouns can be either Both count and non-
divided into two types. count or noncount, depend- count nouns can be
Count nouns refer to indi- ing on their meaning. Cake, divided further into
vidual, countable entities, for example, is a count noun abstract and concrete
such as books, eggs, and in this sentence: types (p. 1 98). Concrete
horses. Noncount nouns nouns refer to entities
Would you like a cake?
refer to an undifferentiated which can be observed
mass or notion, such as but a noncount noun in this and measured, such as
and advice.
butter, music, one: iboo^, car, elephant, and
such groups of things: a flock
Noncount nouns are also butter. Abstract nouns
known as mass nouns. There Do you like cake?
A —OF KITTENS of sheep, a pride of lions. referto unobservable
are clear grammatical differ-
English has some highly spe- notions, such as diffi-
There are many such pairs.
Many noncount nouns have cialized (but nowadays
ences between them. an equivalent countable culty, idea, certainty,
rarely used) collective nouns,
The lights were amazing. expression using such words and remark. The distinc-
• Count nouns cannot stand especially for animals. The tion seems straightfor-
Light travels very fast. as piece or bit (partitive or
item which fills the gap ward, but in fact it can
alone inthe singular {*6oo/c collective nouns) followed
is reef); noncount nouns can I've bought some bricks. above is one of them- a be quite difficult decid-
by of.
kindle of kittens. Other whether
(Chess is fun). It's built of brick. ing a word is
luck a piece of luck colourful collectives are:
• Count nouns allow a being used in a purely
I've had some odd grass a blade of grass
plural {books, eggs); non- an exaltation of larks abstract or concrete
experiences. bread a loaf of bread
count nouns do not a muster of peacocks way. Nouns such as
I've not had much
(* musics). A common quiz question is a plump of waterfowl structure, version, and
experience.
• Count nouns occur the in to find the special collective a rout of wolves mus/c permit both
singular with a (a book); term which describes a skulk of foxes abstract and concrete
noncount nouns with some interpretations.

GENDER • /nan/mate nouns (box, tiger/tigress. The 'lower ani-

In many languages (such as
Latin and French), nouns can
be grouped into types,
based on the kind of end-
ings they have, or on the
way they pattern with other
words in the noun phrase,
and these types are known
as gender classes. For exam-
ple, in German, when nouns
appear as subject of a clause,
one type is preceded by der
('the'), and these are called
masculine. Another type is
preceded by die ('the'), and
these are called feminine.
Those preceded by das
('the') form a third type, and
these are called neuter. This
a classification of
is
matical gender: it may or
may not reflect the biologi-
cal sex of the entities
involved (their natural
gender). For example, in
German one word for 'girl'
{das Madchen) is neuter.
English has nothing like
this. has no grammatical
It
gender; but it does have
ways of identifying natural
gender. We can distinguish
animate beings from inani-
mate ent\t\es, personal itom
nonpersonal beings, and
male from female sexes. It is
chieflydone by using pro-
nouns, which correlate with
nouns in precise ways:
advice) pattern only with
and which.
Here is a box. It is the box
which was in the street.
• /An/mate nouns
ing use of he/she
and are divided into per-
sonal and nonpersonal
types.
Here is a man.Heistheman
who was
in the street.
Here isa woman.S/ie is the
woman who was in the
street.
• Persona/ animate nouns
refer to males and females,
and pattern with he/she/
who, as in the above exam-
gram-
ples, and also in such pairs as
/iost//i05tessand
where the
prince/princess,
noun ending makes the
gender clear. Some nouns
can be either 'he' or 'she'
(they have dual gender),
such as artist, cook, cousin,
and singer.
Your cousin is a singer, isn't
he/she?
• Wonpersona/animate
nouns referto animals. Most
take it/which, but those with
a special place in
society take he/she/who,
and some even have
male/female forms:
bull/cow, dog/bitch,
it do not
mals' {ant, cod, etc.)
normally take ^e/s/ie,
though an enthusiast for
ants (or cod) might well
exclaim:
make vary-
Isn't he/she lovely?
and who,
This is invariably an emo-
tional identification, of
course, given the difficulty
of identifying the true sex in
such cases. FORTY-TWO
• In British English, co//ec- Many nouns are given variable gender, depending on
tivenouns, such as commit- whetherthey are thought of in an intimate way. Vehicles
tee,government, team,
and countries are often called she as well as it {She can
army, and family, can take reach 60 in 5 seconds; France has increased her exports).
either it/which or they/who, Pets are often he or she. A crying baby may become it.
depending on the point of It is not obvious why some entities are readily personi-
view involved. The singular fied while others are not. Nor is it obvious why most enti-
stresses the impersonal unity ties are given female personifications. It is not simply a
of the group; the plural the matter of feminine stereotypes, for she is used in aggres-
personal individuality of its
siveand angry situations as well as in affectionate ones:
members(p.201). guns, tanks, and trucks which won't go remain she. The
only consistently male trend in personification which the
The committee which has
author has heard in is in computing, where
recent years
met. ..It isconcerned...
word processors and other devices are widely given male
The committee who have
met. .They are concerned ..
.
pet names and pronouns. Why this should be so is beyond
him, though the reason is doubtless somewhere within the
Pluralforms are far less answer given by the (male) super-computer Deep Thought
common in American to the Ultimate Question, and quoted above as the head-
English:government, for ing to this item.
example, almost always
'There is an answer?' said Fook with breathless excitement.
takes a singular verb in the
'A simple answer?' added Lunkwill.
USA.
'Yes,' said Deep Thought. 'Life, the Universe, and Every-
human The topic of gender raises
thing. There is an answer. But,' he added, 'I'll have to think
sensitiveusage questions
about it.'
distinct that go beyond grammatical
(Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
issues; these are discussed
1979.)
on pp. 368-9.
 PART III ENGLISH GRAMMAR

• Referring to some unspecified event of the situation: ME, MYSELF, I

THE CLASS OF PRONOUNS (

pointing) Look at that! He going to crash.
's
If people know anything at
Pronouns carry out of functions nouns all about pronouns, it is
a similar range to
words which stand noun usually about the personal
Pronouns are tor a (Latin pro and noun phrases (p. 208) -for example, they can appear
pronouns, which occur more
= 'for"), a whole noun phrase (p. 222), or several noun as subject, object, or complement of the clause (She saw frequently than any other
piirases. Ihey can also refer directly to some aspect of me. That s you) However, they differ from nouns chiefly
.
type. They are called
'personal' because they refer
the situation surrounding the speaker or writer. In each in not usually permitting modification (a bigcar, but not
to the people involved in the
case, the meaning expressed is much less specific than 'a big it), and in expressing a distinctive set of contrasts. act of communication.
that found in phrases containing nouns.
• Some pronouns have and
separate cases for subject • The first person involved
refers to the speaker(s) or
• Replacing a noun: I've got a red hat and Jatie's got a whovs whom (p. 203).
object functions, as in /vs me,
writer(s) of the message:
brown one. • Some show a contrast between personal and nonper-
me, my, mine, myself;
/,

• Replacing a noun phrase: My uncle Fred's just sonal gender and between male and female (p. 209): we, us, our(s), ourselves
• The seconc/person refers to
arrived. He's quite tired. he/she vs it, who vs which. (For the issues raised by
the addressee(s), excluding
• Referring to a very general concept which includes gender, see p. 368.) speaker(s) or writer(s): you,
themeaning of many possible noun phrases: I ca77 see • Some distinguish singular and plural number, but not your(s), yourself/selves
• The th/rdpersor} refers to
someone in the distance (where someone includes men, by adding an -s (p. 200), as in /vs ive, he vs they.
'third parties', i.e. excluding
women, boys, girls, soldiers, etc.). • Some have different persons: /vs you vs he /she/ it. the speaker(s), writer(s), and
addressee(s): he, him, his,
himself; she, her(s), herself;

TYPES OF PRONOUN • Interrogative pronouns WHICH WAY It, Its, itself; they, them,
are used to ask questions their(s), themselves. It is

There are many kinds of about personal and non- What and which permit a contrast between definite and included, even though it

word which can act as a personal nouns: who?, indefinite meaning. refers to nonpersonal enti-
pronoun, but they express whom ?, whose ?, which ?, ties, because it behaves in
different l<inds of meaning, what? the same way as the others.
and they do not all follow There are a few additional
• Relative pronouns {who,
the same grammatical whom, whose, which, that)
personal pronouns. A thou
rules. This means thatdif- series {thee, thy, thyself,
are used to link a subordi-
ferent subclasses of pro- nate clause (p. 226) to the
thine) is still sometimes found
noun have to be in religious use (p. 371), and in
head of the noun phrase,
recognized. The first three as in That's the book which some rural British dialects.

subclassesbelow are some- There are also some nonstan-

caused the trouble.
times grouped together as dard forms, such as youse in
• Demonstrative pronouns
the central pronouns, northern USA, Ireland, and
{this/these, that/those)
because they all express parts of Britain (e.g. Liver-
express a contrast between
contrasts of person, pool, Glasgow). Southern
and 'distant', as in
'near'
gender, and number. USA has the plural you-a// or
Take this one here, not that
y'all.
• Personal pronouns are one over there. They also
the main means of identi- have a range of extended
Special uses
fying speakers, addressees, uses: forexample, this may
The above roles are the usual
and others: /, you, he, she, be used to introduce a new
ones; but there are also a few
it, we, they. topic in familiar speech (/
special uses.
• Reflexive pronouns, saw this girl and that
. .
.),

always ending in -self or may express a negative What road shall we take? (indefinite: an open choice • M/e can refer to a single

selves (myself, etc.), attitude (f/iat Roger.'). person in the 'royal' or

'editorial' we: Wearenot
the meaning of a
'reflect' • Indefinite pronouns
noun or pronoun else- express a notion of quan- amused.
^,. -'"USTON _ HACKNESS
• IVe can refer to the
where in the clause: They tity. There are two main
washed themselves. types. Compound pro- addressee, especially when

nouns consist of two ele-

talking 'down': How are we
• Possessive pronouns today? (nurse to patient).
express ownership, and ments: every-, some-, any-,
• M/e can refer to a third
or no- -^ -one, -body, or -
appear in two forms. My, party: We're in a bad mood
your, etc. are used as deter-
thing, as in someone and
anything. Of-pronouns today (secretary about boss).
miners (p. 207) inthe noun • Vou and t/iey can refer to
phrase, as in mycar, her consist of several forms
which may appear alone or people in general, orto
bike. Mine, yours, etc. are
be f ollowed by of (I've some group within society:
used on their own, as in
eaten all the cake /all of You never can tell. They keep
This is mine. Hers is over
f/ieca<te). Their meanings
putting fares up.
there. • /tcan be usedto refer in a
range from the 'universal'
There are several other sense of a// and both to the general waytotime, dis-
tance, or life in general: Isn't
subclasses. 'negative' sense of none
• Reciprocal pronouns are and few. Other items in this it a shame? It's lovely out.
used to express a 'two-way' class include each, much,
relationship: each other, many, more, most, less, Which road shall we tafce? (definite: we are choosing
one another. fewer, some, and neither. from a small number of alternatives)
 I 5 • WORD CLASSES

THE CLASS OF ADJECTIVES ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES

Words which express some feature or quality of a noun

or pronoun are traditionally known as adjectives. To
decide if a word is an adjective, several criteria are
available.

• An adjective can occur immediately before a noun: a

big house. This is called the adjective's attributive
function.
• An adjective can occur alone after forms ot the verb
be. The house was big. This is the adjective's predicative
function.
• An adjective can be immediately preceded by very2s\^
other intensifying-woxAs: very big, terribly nice.

• An adjective can be compared (p. 199): bigger/ biggest,

more /most beautiful.
• Many adjectives permit the addition of -/yto form an
adverb (see below): sad> sadly.

To count as an adjective, a word must be able to func-

tion in both attributive and predicative positions. The
vast majority of adjectives are like this, and these form

the central c\-3s,s of adjectives. Words which can appear

in only one or other of these positions are peripheral
adjectives. They include utter and loathr. we can say
utter nonsense, but not *the nonsense is utter, and the man
was loath to leave, but not *the loath man.
 PARI III • IINCLISH GRAMMAR

Finite and nonfinite

THE CLASS OF VERBS The forms of the verb (p. 204), and the phrases they are
partof are usually classified into two broad types, based
A sentence may contain a single verb, or it may use a on the kind of contrast in meaning they express. The
cluster of verbs which work together as a verb phrase notion of finiteness is the traditional way ot classifying

(p. 224): I saw till elephant. You didn't see one. They the differences. This term suggests that verbs can be
couldn't have seen one. The last two examples show a 'limited' in some way, and this is in fact what happens

main verb (a form oi see\n each case) accompanied by when different kinds of endings are used.
one or more auxiliary verbs. There can be up to four
• They7«/V<'forms are those wh ich limit the verb to a par-
auxiliaries, all going in front of the main verb, though
ticular number, tense, person, or mood. For example,
constructions using all four are unusual: They must
when the -yform is used, the verb is limited to the third
have been being advised by the government.
person singular of the present tense, as in goes and runs.
Three classes of verb can occur within the verb
If there is a series of verbs in the verb phrase, the finite

verb is always the first, as in I was being asked.

• Lexical verbs (also called full verbs) are those with a

• The nonfinite forms do not limit the verb in this way.

meaning that can be clearly and independently identi- For example, when the -/«^form is used, the verb can be

fied (e.g. in a dictionary), such as run, jump, walk, ivant, referring to any number, tense, person, or mood:
cogitate.They act as main verbs. I'm leaving(£nst person, singular, present)
• Modal verbs convey a range ot judgments about the
They're leavingiihird person, plural, present)
likelihood of events; they function only as auxiliary He was leaving{tWiid person, singular, past)
verbs, expressing meanings which are much less defin-
We might be leaving tomorrow (first person, plural,
able, focused, and independent than those of lexical
future, tentative)
verbs. There are nine verbs in this subclass: can, could,
As these examples show, a nonfinite form of the verb
may, might, will, would, shall should, and must, with
stays the same in a clause, regardless of the grammatical
dare, need, ought to, and tised to having a very similar
variation taking place alongside it.
hmction.
• Primary verbs an function either as main verbs or as

auxiliary verbs. There are just three ot them: be, have,

and do.

Alain verb use:

They «re happy. She has z dog. They do sums.

.Auxiliary verb use:
They are going. She has seen it. Do they go''.

AUXILIARY VERBS won't, but not *wall<n't or

*jumpn 't.
Auxiliary (or 'helping') •The first auxiliary in a
verbs assist the main verb verb phrase has a distinctive
in a clause to express sev- role, as can be used
it

eral basic grammatical con- before the subject in order

trasts, such as in person, to ask a question; this is not
number, and tense. They possible with main verbs.
do not follow the same We can say Have they gone
grammatical rules as main home?, but not *Saw they
verbs, which is why they a car?
must be considered as a
Theauxiliary class can
separate class.
itself be divided into two
• Auxiliaries can be used subclasses:
before the word not; main • The primary verbs have -s
verbs (in modern English)
forms; the modals do not.
cannot. We can change /
We find is, has, and does,
might go \r\to I might not but not 'mays, *wills, or
go, but we cannot change /
*must5.
sai/v/tinto *lsawnotit. • The primary verbs have
• The contracted form n't nonfinite forms; the modals
(p. 98) can be attached to
1 do not. We find to have,
almost all auxiliaries; this is having, and had, but not
never possible with main *to may, *maying, or
verbs. We can say can't and *mayed.
 .

1 5 • WORD CLASSES

THE CLASS OF PREPOSITIONS PREPOSITIONAL MEANINGS

destination
A preposition expresses a relationship of meaning
between two parts of a sentence, most often showing
how the two parts are related in space or time: We sat on
the bench. They left at three. Most of the common

prepositions consist of only one word; they have no dis-

tinctive ending, and do not vary. Several prepositions

consist of more than one word.

•Single-word prepositions include: about, at, before, by,

down, for, from, in, of, on, out, over, round, since,
through, to, under, up, with.
• Multi-word prepositions include: (two words) ahead
'

of, because of due to, instead of, near to; (three words) as

far as, by means of in accordance with, in spite of, on

behalf of The words in these prepositions do not vary
freely, as they would in other circumstances. In spite of
for example, cannot change to *out spite ofox *in spite
for.

Several prepositions are restricted in their frequency of

use, especially such foreign borrowings as anti, circa,
versus, and vis-d.-vis. Unto is archaic, and used only in
religious contexts. There are also some dialect uses,
isuchas towards {^m\s\\) vs toivard{hratnc3,n) outwith ,

(Scots, 'except'), and ziV^/Y? (Yorkshire, 'until').

THE CLASS OF CONJUNCTIONS

Conjunctions are items which join clauses or parts of
'clauses together. There are two ways in which this can
ibe done: through coordination and subordination
Kp. 226). There are thus two types of conjunction:

!• Coordinating conjunctions link units which have the

[same status in the sentence, such as two clauses, two
jnoun phrases, or two adjectives. The chief items are
'and, or, and but,and there are a few 'pairs', such as
neither... nor. These conjunctions signal such mean-
ings as addition and sequence {and), the expression of
alternatives (or), and contrast (btit). Coordination
iwith andnrvl or could continue indefinitely: We were
ywet and dirty and tired and hungry and. .

:• Subordinating conjunctions join units which do not

'have the same grammatical status in the sentence. The
typical case is when one clause is subordinated to
another, as in We went out when the rain stopped. Here,
the main clause {We went out} is joined to the subor-
dinate clause {the rain stopped) by the conjunction
^when. Subordinating conjunctions far outnumber
'coordinating ones, and several consist of more than
3ne word.
 16THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES
The study of sentence structure is called syntax,
and because there is so little variation in the gram- SPOKEN AND WRITTEN SYNTAX opportunity to plan what we want to say, and
we have to allow for false starts, interruptions,
matical structure of English words (§14), a syn- One of the legacies of traditional grammar is second thoughts, words on the tip of the
tactic analysis forms the dominant element in a the view that the spoken language has 'less' tongue, and a host of other disturbances
grammar because it does not 'follow the rules' which take place while we are in full flow.
modern English grammar. The area thus provides
which are found in writing (p. 192). There are Extracts of informal spoken conversation
the main point of contrast with traditional gram- indeed many differences between the two look weird in print, because it is not possible to
mars (§13), which because of their Latinate ori- types of communication (p. 291), and some of show all the melody, stress, and tone of voice
the most important of these are to do with the which made the speaker sound perfectly natu-
gins paid little attention to the syntactic properties
notion of a sentence. Putting it at its simplest: ral in context; but it does show how spoken
of sentences. Do we speak in sentences? The answer is that grammar differs from written. Punctuating
we do, but the kind of sentence organization the material in such a transcript is not easy, as
Sentences we find in speech is rather different from that can be seen by the second version below,
found in writing, as the first transcript below where an attempt has been made to cut out
The sentence is probably the most familiar of all
shows. hesitations and and to identify
false starts,
grammatical terms. We are introduced to it in our When weare writing, we usually have time possible sentences. The use of and in particular
early school years, if not before, and it quickly to make notes, plan ahead, pause, reflect, makes it difficult to work out where one sen-
change our mind, start again, revise, proof- tence ends and the next begins. Readers who
becomes part of our linguistic awareness. We imag- read, and generally polish the language until doubt the seriousness of this problem might
ine we speak in sentences, and we teach children to we have reached a level which satisfies us. The care to pencil in their own impressions about
write in them, making sure that they put in all the reader sees only the finished product. But in where the sentences end, and then compare
everyday conversation, there is no time for their decisions with those shown below. There
periods. It might therefore be thought that sen-
such things to happen. We do not have the will be several discrepancies.
tences are easy things to identify and define. The
Find the sentence
opposite turns out to be the case. As this is a transcript of speech, there are no capital letters. Major pauses are shown by - and ,

Those who learned some traditional grammar units of rhythm by/. (After D. Crystal & D. Davy, 1975.)

will remember the old definition of a sentence as we had our breakfast in the kitchen / - and then we sort of did what we liked / and er got ready to
a complete expression of a single thought". Unfor- go out / we usually went out quite soon after that / - erm the children were always up / at the crack
tunately, this «of/o«rt/ approach is too vague to be of dawn /with the farmer /-and they went in the milking sheds /and helped him feed the pigs/
and all this / you know we didn't see the children / - and er then we used to go out / we - we had
of much help. There are many sentences which
super weather / - absolutely super / - and so we went to a beach / usually tor er but bv about tour
seem to express a single thought, but which are not
o'clock it we were hot and we had to come off the beach / - so we'd generall\- go tor a tea somewhere
complete, by traditional standards: / just in case supper was delayed you know / and then wed get back / and the children would go

straight back on to the farm / and have ponies / their own children had ponies / and they'd come
Lovely day! Taxi! Nice one! Tennis?
up and put them on the ponies' backs / and er - and the milking it was milking time / and really we
There are also many sentences which are com- were committed to getting back for milking time /
plete, but express more than one thought: We had our breakfast in the kitchen, and then we did what we liked, and got ready to go out.
For his birthday, Ben wants a bike, a computer We usually went out quite soon after that.
The children were always up at the crack of dawn with the farmer, and thev went into the milking
game, and a visit to the theme park.
sheds and helped him teed the pigs.

The^rw^/approach to English grammar, by con- We didn't see the children.

trast, tries to avoid these kinds of difficuin' by And then we used to go out.
We had super weather, absolutely super.
describing the way in which sentences are con-
And so we went to a beach, but by about tour o'clock we were hot and we had to come oft the beach.
structed - the patterns of words they contain. It is So we'd generally go tor a tea somewhere, just in case supper was delayed.
an approach which can lead to some surprises, And then we'd get back, and the children would go straight back on to the farm, and have ponies.
especially when we look carefully at what happens Their own children had ponies, and they'd come up and put them on the ponies' backs.

in everyday speech. And it was milking time, and really we were committed to getting back tor milking time.

WORD ORDER Naturally, I got up. / got up naturally {not awk-

1 asterisk shows that the sentence is unacceptable).
wardly).
Word order the heart of syntax, and most of
is at Show me the last three pages (ofonefaoo/c)./Show Iwalked to town./ *l to town walked.
English grammar is taken up with the rules govern- me the three last pages (of three books). Hardly had left.../ *Hardly had left...
I I

ing the order inwhich words, and clusters of words, The man with a dog saw me. /The man saw me with That's a fine old house. / *That's an old fine house.
canappearThe importanceof thisdomaincan be a dog. John and saw her. / *l and John saw her. ^, I

seen from the following set of examples, where the
meaning of the sentence alters fundamentally
once the order varies.
Dog chases postman. /Postman chases dog.
They are outside. /Are they outside?
Only saw Mary. / saw only Mary.
I 1
She switched it on. / *She switched on it.
There are also many rules forbidding us to put
words in a certain order Mother-tongue speakers Mother-tongue speakers instinctively know that
never think twice about them, because they uncon- the first is correct, and the second is not; but
sciously learned these rules as children. But the explaining why this is so to anyone who asks (such
rules are there, nonetheless, making us use the first as a foreign learner) is a specialist task, which
of the following alternatives, not the second (the requires a professional approach if it is to succeed.
 .

16 THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

Three general points apply to any English sentence. sense' by themselves. This is an ancient and plausible
criterion, but it is never a straightforward one. For
• Sentences are constructed according to a system of example, we apply it to the sentences in the extract
if

rules, known by all the adult mother-tongue speakers opposite, we find that we need to do some editing to
of the language, and summarized in a grammar. A sen- make it work. We didn't see the children poses no prob-
tence formed in this way is said to be grammatical. lem; but We usually went out quite soon after that does,
• Sentences are the largest constructions to which the for we have to 'fill out' the meaning of r/wf with refer-

rules of grammar apply. (The formation of larger ence to what has gone before. Also, to make the sen-
units, such as paragraphs, is discussed on p. 232.) This tences in the extract sound truly 'self-contained', we
means that, before we can satisfactorily carry out the have to find a way of dealing with the conjunctions
task of identif>'ing sentences, know some- we need to which appear at the beginning ot several of them - per-
thing about grammatical analysis. Once we have haps by analysing some as dispensable 'thinking'
worked our way through a good English grammar, we noises rather than as true conjunctions with a genuine
know what the possible sentences are, because the linking function The problem turns out to be
(p. 227).
grammar has told us. quite a complex one - and typical ol the intriguing
• Sentences are constructions which can be used on questions which arise when we begin the investigation
their own - units of meaning which seem to 'make of syntax.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING sentence before such words as and

or but, and this rule is often taught
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
in schools. Its source lies in the

A sentence is something wliich uncontrolled way in which young

begins with a capital letter and children use and in their early

ends with a full stop? This written work, reflecting its

traditional definition, which frequency in natural conversation.

applies only to the written But there are other manuals which
language, is faulty on three accept that authors often do begin
counts. sentences in this way (usually to
emphasize a contrast in meaning),
• We have to allow for question and these do not condemn the
marks and exclamation marks as usage. It is a regular feature of the
well (as in the first sentence of this style of the present author, who
caption). finds it on occasion a much more
• Punctuation is often not used in dramatic and rhythmical way of
writing,and yet we still know drawing a contrast than to use the
when a construction is a sentence. various alternatives available. To
Many advertisements, public replace but by howeverXwo
notices, newspaper headlines, and sentences above, for example,
legal documents lack punctuation would be to slow down the
marks. movement of the paragraph quite
• People disagree about the best noticeably - in his view an
way to punctuate a text. In unnecessary change of pace in a
particular, some manuals of style piece of text which wishes to make
say we should never end a its point quickly and economically.

THE END OF THE BEGINNING Winston Churchill, according
the Chambers Biographical
Dictionary, 'the last of the classic
orators with a supreme command
of English'.
The quotation is from the end
of the third and the opening of
the fourth paragraph of Book 1
of The History of the Second
World War. The succinct,
to To those Frenchmen -and there were many in high
authority -who had fought and suffered in 1870 it seemed almost a mir-
acle that France should have emerged victorious from the incomparably
more terrible struggle which had just ended. All their lives they had
dwelt in fear of the German Empire. They remembered the preventive
war which Bismarck had sought to wage in 1875; they remembered the
brutal threat which had driven Declasse from office in 1905; they had
quaked at the Moroccan menace in 1 906, at the Bosnian dispute of
1 908, and at the Agadir crisis of 1911. The Kaiser's 'mailed fist' and 'shin-

dramatic effectiveness of the
contrast should silence for ever
those who unthinkingly
condemn the use of a sentence-
initial conjunction as 'bad style'.
But it won't.
ing armour' speeches might be received with ridicule in England and
America: they sounded a knell of horrible reality in the hearts of the
French. For fifty years almost they had lived under the terror of the
German arms. Now, at the price of their life-blood, the long oppression
had been rolled away. Surely here at last was peace and safety. With one
passionate spasm the French people cried 'Never again!'
But the future was heavy with foreboding. .
 PARI" 111 • ENGLISH C^iRAMMAIi

TYPES OF SENTENCE
It is obvious, as we look through the pages of a novel,
or a daily newspaper, that there must be a large
number of sentence patterns in English. What is less

obvious is that these can be grouped into two main

types, on the basis of whether they are formed in a reg-

ular or an irregular way. Regular sentences are often

referred to as major sentences; irregular ones as minor
sentences.

Major sentences
The major sentences are in the vast majority. All the
sentences in this book, apart from the headings and
some of the examples, are of this type. Essentially, they
are sentences which can be broken down into a spe-
cific and predictable pattern of elements. The follow-
ing examples show some of the possibilities.

Th e visitor
 16 • THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

LEVELS OF SENTENCE DISCOURSE LEVEL Sentence Connectivity

STRUCTURE
We arrived at the shop just as the butcher was clearing away. As a result
the big dogs enjoyed their unexpected bones, and the little puppies liked the scraps.
Major sentences can be very simple {/ love you),
but they have the potential to contain a great deal
of grammatical structure, as is evident from
almost every instance on this page. Literature, ora-
the big dogs enjoyed their unexpected bones, and the puppies liked the scraps.
tory, and other sophisticated forms of communi- little

cation provide particularly striking examples of

sentence complexity (p. 70). To demonstrate the
order which controls this complexity, all gram-
mars work with the idea of 'levels' of organization.
A 'level' is a way of recognizing the fact that a
sentence is not a simple linear string of items.
PHRASE LEVEL
Rather, items are grouped together into units,

which then work as wholes in relation to other

their unexpected bones
units. Adult native-speakers do not have to be told
that these units exist: they 'know" that they do,
subconsciously, as a result of learning the language. WORD LEVEL Word
(They may not be able to describe the elements
they sense to be present, of course, for that is a more un- expect -ed

conscious task - the difference between 'knowing

about' rather than just 'knowing' language, p. 191.)
The sentence The big dogs enjoyed their unex- FINDING GRAMMATICAL
pected bones quickly yields evidence of a hierarchy
of levels of organization. The smallest level ot this
hierarchy hardly needs an explanation. If asked to
divide this sentence into its parts, most people
would immediately identify the seven words. But
this is not the whole story.

• Four of these words contain smaller units: dog +

-s, enjoy + -ed, un-+ expects -ed, and bone+ -s. The
use of suffixes and prefixes shows that there is a
level of structure within the word (the morpholog-
zVa/level, §14).
• The first three words, and the last three, both
combine into larger units: the big dogs and their

unexpected bones. These larger units are called

phrases, and they show that there is a level of struc-
ture between the word and the sentence.
• It would be possible to make the sentence bigger
by linking it to a similar sequence of words: The
big dogs enjoyed their unexpected bones, and the little
puppies liked the scraps. The sentence now consists
of two clauses (p. 216), showing that there can be
a further level of structure between the phrase and
the sentence.

These four levels - word, phrase, clause, sentence -

comprise the grammatical hierarchy summarized
in the figure (above), which also gives further
examples of the units which operate at each level.

The figure also suggests the possibility of a level of

grammatical organization which is larger than the
sentence: this is discussed on p. 232 and in § 1 9.
 I'ART 111 • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

SENTENCE FUNCTIONS STATEMENTS

Almost all the sentences used in this book are statements. A

statement is a sentence whose primary purpose is to 'state' -

Traditionalgrammars recognized four types of sen- to convey information. Two criteria usually apply:
tence fimction: statement, question, command, and
• The clause contains a subject (p. 220) -though in informal
exckmation. Some modern grammars, especially conversation this is sometimes omitted.
those which work within a framework of speech acts (I) Beg (your) pardon?
(p. 290), recognize a much larger range of functions. (1) Told you so.

Even if we restrict ourselves to the four 'classical' (It) Looks like rain.

tvpes, though, there are certain refinements which • The subject precedes the verb. Here too there are a few
exceptions, such as when
the clause begins with hardly,
need to be introduced. In particular, the notion of
barely, or other 'negative' words.
question' covers several different kinds of construc-
Hardly had we left when it started to rain, (not *Hardly we
tion; the sentences called 'commands' express other
had left...)
kinds of meaning in addition to commanding; the
These sentences are traditionally said to have a declarative
notion of 'exclamation is unacceptably vague; and structure - a structure which 'declares' or 'makes something
there is an important sentence type (the 'echo' utter- known'.
ance) which fits into none of these four categories.

QUESTIONS structure of a declarative EXCLAMATORY RHETORICAL

sentence, and only the QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
Questions are sentences question-mark shows
which seek information. their function in writing. Some sentences resemble These sentences also

They fall into three main questions in their structure, resemble questions in
Mary's outside? their structure, but they
types, depending on the but are actually being used
You've bought a new car? asexclamations. They are used as if they were
kind of reply they expect,
and on how they are con- • Wh-quest/onsallowa express the speaker's strong emphatic statements.
structed. Sentences reply from a wide range of feelings, and ask the hearer The speaker does not
formed in these ways are possibilities. They begin to agree. Despite the pres- expect an answer.
said to have an interroga- with a question word, ence of a negative element, Who cares?
tive iXructuie- a structure such as w/hat, why, where, they are strongly positive in How should know? I

which 'interrogates'. or who. meaning. What difference does it make?

• Ves-no questions allow Where are you going? Hasn'tshegrown! and all who give
Public speakers, politicians, poets,
an affirmative or negative Why don't they answer? Wasn't it marvellous! monologues quite often use rhetorical questions as
reply - often just 'yes' or a means of making a dramatic point.
• Alternative questions Often, both positive and
'no'. The subject follows
requires reply which negative forms of the sen- Is man an ape or an angel? (Disraeli)
the auxiliary verb (p. 207).
relates to the options tence can be used, with very
There is always the risk, of course, in a public
Are they ready? given in the interrogative little difference in meaning.
speech, that a member of the audience will choose
Isthe plumber here? sentence. They always Insuch cases, the auxiliary
to reply, in the pause which follows.
contain the connecting verb and the subject are
In addition, a questioning Poets tend to self-question more than others:
word or. usually strongly stressed.
tone of voice (p. 248) can Do wake
I or sleep? (Keats)
turn a statement into a Will you betravelling by Wasn't he angry!
Was he angry! (I'll say he but we are all prone to it:
yes-no question. These train or by bus?
questions have the was!) Now, shall I stop here or add another sentence?

TAG QUESTIONS many dialects, when the melody TAGS, EH?

is rising, the sentence is 'asking';
Sometimes the interrogative structure is
when falling, the sentence
it is Informal English uses a few
left to the end of the sentence, in the form words which perform the
is'telling'. In writing, the
of a tag question, which expects a yes/no same function as tag
punctuation can indicate the
kind of reply. questions. They include eh?,
difference:
It's there, isn't it? OK?, and right? Dialects often
They're not in, are they?
She's not in, is she? have a distinctive form, such
(I really want to know)
Canadian e/i? or Welsh ay?
as
The ending of some tag questions is
n't They're not in, are they!
(pronounced [aij). A joke told
replaced by not in formal English. In legal (I told you so)
by Welsh singer and
cross-examination we might hear:
But in speech this contrast entertainer Max Boyce relies
They left early, did they not? can be unclear, prompting on this last example:
This usage is conversationally normal in the complaint 'Are you
some regional dialects, such as northern asking me or telling me?'
How do people in Bangor spell
IVIississippi?
British and Irish.
Tag questions are M, ay? double s, ay? double s,
If we change the intonation (p. 248), we illus-

trated further on p. 299. ay? double p, ay?

alter the meaning of a tag question. In
 !

16 • THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

DIRECTIVES Ineach case, the verb is in BUY NOW! PAY LATER! EF Internotional
itsbasic form, with no end- Language Schools 1

Directives are sentences ings (p. 204), and there is Advertisements rely a great
which instruct someone to
Language Holidays!
usually no subject element deal on imperative sentences.
do something. They are present. Structures of this But not every verb can be used location.
Learn a language on
often called commands, type are called imperatives in a directive way, and there local
stay with a welcoming
but this term is misleading. - from Latin imperare 'to are several restrictions on the
family, make fnends with
Commanding isjustoneof command'. use of those which can. In from around
other visitors
the many uses of directive Some directives do not particular, many verbs which
the world
sentences. use the basic pattern: express a state, rather than an
activity, cannot be used as Centre
• Commanding: Holiday Language
Sit down!
• They allow a subject, directives:we can say Buy a locations include Nice,
with a strong stress: new/ car but not *Need a new
• Have a drink.
Inviting: Munich and Florence,
car.Nor may we use an
• Warning: Mind your
imperative form of a verb along
head!
You be quiet! 0171^01 3660
Nobody move! with a past time reference: we
• Pleading: Helpme!
can say Buy tomorrow! but not
• Suggesting: Let's walk.
• They begin with let,
* Buy yesterday!
• Advising: Take an aspirin. n>e sound
• Instructing: Turn left.
followed by a subject:
THIS Djscom rhe
of Barra

• Permitting: Hebrides:
Helpyourself.
Let me see.
Let us pray.
COULD
• Requesting: Open the
window, please.
Let's go.
BE ^^'"^ Quests Island
go„„
• Meditating: Let me see. They begin with door
• Expressing good wishes:
•
YOU'.
don't:
Have a nice day! Inclusive
pactap„
• Expressing Do come in. £295-^-4,5
an imprecation: Don't laugh.
Goto hell! Do not leave.
'^I^SnSSSlS^S

EXCLAMATIONS differentiates them from What a lovely day! The abbreviated exclamation, with its succinct and punchy
statements, questions, and What a mess! style, is highly favoured in dramatic newspaper headlines.
Exclamations are directives. How nice!
sentences which show that
Sport
• element begins
Theirfirst Sentences of this kind are
a person has been u'l \
with i/v/iator/ioiv, and is said to possess an POST SPoRT I Top coverage of Test i County cricket
impressed or roused by
followed by a subject and a exdamative structure.
something. They often
take the form of a single
word or short phrase - a
minor sentence (p. 216)
verb, in that order:

What a lovely day it is!

such as Gosh!, Oh
Of all the nerve! But
exclamations can have a
major sentence status too,
with a structure which
What a mess they've made
Exclamatives with subject
and verb inverted are
possible, but rare. They can
sometimes be found in
What a
'Joke ton' leaves
farce!
dear!, or
How nice they look! literary or mock-dramatic Lanes star cold
contexts:
• They also occur frequently
in a reduced form, using How often have I cursed
only the first element: thatterribleday!

ECHOES Questions
A: Have you got my knife? INTELLIGENT ECHOES
The traditional classification of major B: Have got your wife?
I

sentences into statements, questions, In the film version of the novel Being There, by
Directives
commands (or directives), and excla- Jerzy Kosinski, Peter Sellers played the role of a
A: Sit down here.
mations ignores one other type of simpleton gardener who repeats (in a slow, almost
sentence: the echo sentence. It is used
B: Down there?
meditative style) what other people say to him.
only in dialogue, and its purpose is to Exclamations The result is that he is thought to be highly
confirm, question, or clarify what the A: What a lovely day! intelligent.
previous speaker has just said. B: What a lovely day, indeed! A similar strategy is not uncommon in life off the
The essential feature of an echo Echoes sometimes sound impolite, screen. For example, if we find ourselvesout of our
utterance is that it reflects the struc- unless accompanied by an apologetic depth in a conversation, it is possible to convey an
ture of the preceding sentence, which 'softening' phrase, such as I'm sorry or intelligent impression by occasionally echoing
it repeats in whole or in part. All types parts ofwhat the other people are saying. Once,
I beg your pardon. This is most notice-

of sentence can be echoed. able with the question What did you the present author was even congratulated by a
say?, which is often shortened to town councillor for having such sensible ideas,
Statements
l/l/hat? A common parental plea to when all he had been able to do was repeat, at
A: John didn't like the film.
children focuses on this form, which irregularintervals, fragments of what had
B: Hedidn'twhat?
adults consider to be bad manners: emerged in the councillor's own monologue.
Don't say 'What?', say 'Pardon (me)'.
 PART 111 • ENGLISH CiRAMMAR

CLAUSE ELEMENTS VOCATIVES • The vocative is an optional element: it

can be added to or removed from a sen-

All clauses are made up our of elements, each express- A vocative (from Latin i/ocare'tocall') is tence without affecting the rest of the
a name used for the person(s) to whom a construction.
ing a parricular kind of meaning. Tradirional gram- sentence is addressed. It may be there to • It may occur in various positions in a

mars recognized two main elements, which they attract attention (as in Mike, phone for sentence, as in (John) I'd like auntie
you), orto express a particular social rela- (John) to be here (John).
called the subject and the predicate. These make a
tionship or personal attitude (as in • It is not an element of clause structure
useful starting-point for sentence analysis, but the Doctor, need a tonic or Leave it alone,
I likesubject or verb.
predicate heading needs to be analysed further, in imbecile!). In traditional grammar A vocative belongs to a whole sentence,
order to distinguish several very different kinds of (p. 192), was claimed to be a distinct
it however many clauses it contains, as in

noun and glossed by the word O-

'case', Mary, come in, sit down, and tell me what
construction. The present grammatical analysis rec- a usage now found only in religiouscon- happened.
ognizes five types of clause element, all of which texts(OGod, who...).
appear in the following sentence:

That cyclist / has called / Dave / a fool / twice.

MY LORDS, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN...
•The first element in this clause is the subject (S).
Vocatives can be of several kinds.
The subject usually identifies the theme or topic of
• Names, with or without titles: Dav/d, Mrs Smith
the clause. We are evidently talking about a cyclist.
• Family labels: mum, unc/e.
• The second element is the verb (V). The verb • Markersof status or respect: s/r, my Lord.
expresses a wide range of meanings, such as actions, • Labels for occupations: waiter, nurse.
• Evaluative labels: darling, pig, dear.
sensations, or states of being. Here we are talking
• General labels: /ads, ladies and gentlemen.
about the action of calling, performed by the cyclist. • The pronoun you (an extremely impolite use):
• The third element is the object (O). Objects iden- Vou, Where's the phone?

tif\' who or what has been directly affected by the

• Certain kinds of clause: Come out, come out,
whoever you are!
action of the verb. Here we are talking about Dave, • Some vocatives can be expanded: old man,
who is the object of the cyclist's attention. you fat fraud!

• The fourth element is the complement (C). Com-

plements give further information about another
clause element. Here, a fool adds to the meaning of

Dave— Dave is a fool (according to the cyclist). ANALYSING COMPOUNDS

• The fifth element is the adverbial (A). Adverbials

usually add extra information about the situation, such

as the time of an action, its location, or its manner
of being performed. Here, we are talking about the
frequency of the calling. The cyclist was plainly
very upset.

In Modern English, in about 90 per cent of the

clauses which contain a subject, verb, and object, the
subject precedes the verb, and the verb precedes the
object. The language was not always like this (p. 44),
sunrise 0/7 well scarecrow
and there are several important types of exception, 'the sun rises' (S + V) 'the well contains oil' (S + O) 'it scares crows' (V + O)
notably in questions (p. 218).
Compounds are an impor- Nouns chairperson
tant part of the lexicon Subject + verb Subject + complement
(p. 1 but they can be use-
29), sunrise,headache, {'X is Y' or 'X is like/for Y')
fully classified into types hangman, popcorn, washing oak tree, handyman,
based on the kind of gram- machine, working party, darkroom, flypaper,
matical meaning they repre- dancing girl goldfish, birdcage, tissue
ELEMENTS AND WORDS sent. Popcorn, for example, Verb + object paper, blackboard
can be paraphrased as 'the haircut, tax-payer, scarecrow,
As the examples on this and the previous page suggest,
corn pops', and the relation crime report, chewing-gum, Adjectives
a clause element is not the same as a word. An element
of corn to pops is that of sub- window-cleaner, sightseeing Verb + object
may be a single word, or several words. The following
ject to verb. The order of the Verb + adverbial man-eating, breathtaking
sentences each contain a subject, verb, and object, but
elements (as in this example) living-room ('live in a room') Verb + adverbial
there are varying numbers of words.
does not necessarily corre- playgoer ('goto a play') law-abiding, handmade,
I saw Fred. spondto that found in a Subject + object typewritten, widespread
My uncle has seen Fred, grammatical sentence. A list motorr\i_le, windmill, oil Verbless
All the kids know dear old Fred. of the chief grammatical well, gaslight, doorknob, homesick, camera-ready,
relations involved follows. table leg, postman. rock-hard, Franco-German
 .

16 THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

CLAUSE TYPES S + V: l/yaw/ned. There are a few other kinds of construction which
S + V + O: / opened /the door.
I can be derived from these basic types. They include
Clause elements combine into a very small number S + V + C: /am /ready.
I directives (p. 219) and various kinds of elliptical
of patterns. In fact, most sentences can be analysed S + V + A: /went /to London.
I sentences (p. 228).
into one of only seven basic clause types, each S + V + O + O: 1/ gave / him / a pen.
minimally consisting of two, three, or four S + V + O + C: / got / my shoes / wet.
I

elements: S + V + O + A: 1/ put / the box / on the floor.

The subject usually appears before the verb in statements, and • Object elements usually follow the subject and verb in a clause.

B« after the first verb in questions,

boy yawned.
r/ie
There are two types: direct and /nd/rect. The dirert object is the
common one, typically referring to some person or thing directly
Are you going? affected by the action expressed by the ver b.
• Thesubject controls whether the verb issingularor pi uralin the third The child \ostherball. remember the occas/on.
I

person of the present tense (p. 204). • The indirect object typically refers to an animate being which is the recipi-
She looks fine. They look fine. ent of the action. In these cases, a direct object is usually present in the clause
• The subject controls the form of certain objects and complements: as well.
/shaved myself. They shaved themselves. She gave the dog a stroke. told them I my news.
• Some pronouns (p. 203) have a distinctive form when used as a subject: In these constructions, the indirect object precedes the direct. In such clauses
/can see her. S/iecanseeme. as/gavemypaperto the boy, the order is reversed.
• Subjects can be noun phrases (including single nouns), pronouns, or • Some pronouns (p. 203) have a distinctive form when used as an object:
certain kinds of subordinate clause (p. 226): She saw him. They asked me.
The was late. Mary went home.
tra/n • Objects can be noun phrases (including single nouns), pronouns, or certain
Beer, crisps,and cheese are for sale. kinds of subordinate clause (p. 226):

/like fishing. l/V/iaf he sa/d was funny, (i.e. /t was funny.) saw our new house. We asked Fred. Now hear th/s.
I

• In this analysis, a series of noun phrases is analysed as a single clause She said I'd been foolish, (i.e. She said this.)
element, not as a sequence of different elements. There is only one sub- • As with subjects, a set of connected noun phrases is analysed as a single ele-
ject recognized per clause. ment, in this analysis: He saw a cat, a dog, and a cow is S + V + O.

• The verb plays a central role in clause structure. It is the such as If possible (i.e. if it is possible), arrive early.
most obligatory of all the clause elements, as can be seen • The verb element must be a verb phrase (including a single
from such clauses as verb):
The bus /s com/ng. The dog ate the crisps. I'm sorry.
That farmer drinks beer by the bucketful.
In this analysis, only one verb element is allowed per clause,
S V O A
though this may consist of a sequence of auxiliary verbs as well as
We can omit the adverbial {That farmer drinks beer), the object a main verb (p. 207), all of which combine to express a single
(That farmer drinks by the bucketful), and even the subject, in grammatical meaning.
casual style {Drinks beer by the bucketful, nodding in his • The choice of verb largely determines what other elements are

direction), but we cannot omit the verb {*That farmer beer by the used in the clause, such as whether an object is present or not
bucketful). There is just one type of exception - 'verbless' clauses (p. 212).

• Complements express a meaning which adds to that of another • Adverbials differ from other clause elements chiefly in that there

clause element - either the subject (the subject complement) or can bean indefinitenumber of them in a single clause:
the object (the object complement). She arrived on the bus /on Thursday /in the rain . .

• A subject complement usually follows the subject and verb. The verb is • Adverbials can be used in several possible positions in the clause, though

most often a form of be, but it may also be one of a few other verbs that they are most common at the end:
are able to link complements to their subjects in meaning. These are Twice asked him. twice asked him. asked him twice.
I I I

called copu/ar ('linking') verbs. • Adverbialsexpressa wide range of meanings, such as manner, place, and

She/sa doctor. The bull became angry, (i.e. It was angry.) time:
The tune sounds lovely, (i.e. It ;s lovely.) stayed quietly at home all day.
I

• Anobject complement usually follows the direct object, and its mean- • Adverbials perform diverse roles in sentence construction. Some add
ing relatestothat element. The basic identity between them is shown in information about an event; some link clauses together; and some add a
parenthesis. comment about what is being expressed.
They elected Clinton pres/dent. (i.e. He is president.) walked quietly.
I

It made me angry, (i.e. was angry.)

I The bus was full. However, found a seat. I

• Complements can be noun phrases (including single nouns), adjective Frankly, think it's wrong.
I

phrases (including single adjectives), pronouns, or certain kinds of sub- • Adverbials can be adverb phrases (including single adverbs), preposi-

ordinate clause (p. 226): tional phrases, some nouns and noun phrases, or certain kindsof subordi-
She is a)ourna//st. They became students. nate clause (p. 226):
Arthur is very happy. The car's ready. They ran very quickly. They walked home.
Where's that? That's what/sa/d. We walked in the garden. She phoned me this morning.
• When the complement is a noun phrase, it agrees in number with its Ilaughed when Isawyou.
corresponding element: • Some verbs require an adverbial to complete their meaning. These are
The ch//d is an angel > The children are angels. the S-fV-i-AandS-i-V + O + A constructions.
find your child an angel > find your children angels.
I I The path goes around the field. (We cannot say 'fhe path goes.)
put the book on the table. (We cannot say *lput the book.)
I
 PARI' 111 • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

PHRASES NOUN PHRASE STRUCTURE do not take one), but most noun phrases
do, and the commonest determiners {the

A phrase is a syntactic construction which typically The noun phrase (NP) the main con-is and a) are among the most frequent
struction which can appear as the subject, words in the language.
contains more than one word, but which lacks the sub- object, orcomplement of aclause (p. 221). The determiner can be the centre of Its
ject-predicate structure usually foimd in a clause It consists essentially of a noun or noun- own cluster of words which share In the
220). Phrases are traditionally classified into types like word which Is the most Important expression of quantity. In the present
(p.
constituent of the phrase: a fat cat, the approach, those which appear before the
based on the most important word they contain: it this
horses in the stable, the poor, ten Chi- determiner are called (logically enough)
is a noun, for example, the phrase would be called a nese. Sometimes the noun appears alone predeterminers; they include a// the
in its phrase {Cats are nice). More often, it people, twice the cost, half the money.
noun phrase; if an adjective, an adjective phrase; and so
Isaccompanied by one or more other con- Those which immediately follow the
on. Six word classes (§15) - nouns, verbs, adjectives,
stituents, some of which are themselves determiner, preceding any adjectives
adverbs, pronouns, and prepositions - are found as the fairlycomplex syntactic units In their own which may occur, are called postdeter-
right. As a result, noun phrases are more miners; they are chiefly the numerals {my
identifying elements (or heads) of phrasal construc-
varied in their construction than any three fat cats, the second big party) and a
tions. However, there are considerable differences other kind of phrase In English. few other quantifying words (such as
between the syntactic patterns which can occur within many and severa/).
The parts of a noun phrase • The premodification comprises any
each type of phrase, ranging from the very limited pos- No matter how complex a noun phrase is.
other words appearing between the
sibilities ot pronoun phrases to the highly variable pat- It can be analysed into one or more of the
determiner and the head noun- mainly
following four constituents:
terns found within noun phrases. adjectives or adjective-like words. In the
• The head Is the most Important con- phrase those lovely old French wooden
• Pronoun phrases are restricted to a small number of stituent, around which any other con- spoons, everything between the and
stituents cluster. It IS the head which spoons is said to 'premodify' the noun. (In
constructions, and tend not to be recognized as a pro-
controls any agreement with other parts some grammars, the notion of premodifi-
ductive type in English. Examples include Silly me!. of the sentence. Thus we have His new cation is broader, and includes everything
You there!, she herself, we all nearly everyone, and such book is interesting alongs\de His new In the noun phrase which appears before

books are interesting, and The girl in the the head, including the determiner and
relative clause constructions as those who knew Fred
garden saw It herself alongside The boy its satellites.)
. . .They are usually analysed as a minor type of noun in the garden saw it himself. • The postmod/ftcat/on comprises every-

phrase. »Jhe determiner appears before the thing which appears in the phrase after
noun. This constituent decides ('deter- the head. The chief types are preposi-
• Adverb phrases irt typically found as short intensify-
mines') what kind of noun is in the phrase tional phrases (f/ie car m
the garage),
ing expressions, such as terribly slowly and very happily - In particular, whether it is definite or finite clauses {the film that I saw), and
indeed. Also common are such time phrases as quite indefinite, proper or common, count or nonflnite clauses {the new car parked
noncount (pp. 208-9). Words such as a, outside). Adverbs and adjectives are also
often and very soon, and constructions of the type as
those, some, and any are determiners. It is sometimes used to 'postmodify' the
quickly (as I could). not essential for a noun phrase to have a noun, as in the Journey home and some-
• Adjective phrases are usually combinations of an determiner (for example, proper nouns thing different.

adjective and a preceding intensifier, such as very

happy and not too awkward. Other types include cold

enough and a wide range of constructions which com- GROWING NOUN PHRASES
plement the adjective, such as easy to please ixxA loath to Buns are for sale.
do It. The buns are for sale.
All the buns are for sale.
• Verb phrases display very limited syntactic possibili-
All the currant buns are for sale.
ties: main verb preceded by up
a to four auxiliaries Not quite all the currant buns are for sale.

(p. 207), as in may have gone and won't have been lis- Not quite all the hot buttered currant buns are for sale.
Not quite all the hot buttered currant buns on the table are for sale.
tening. However, this limitation does not prevent the
Not quite all the hot buttered currant buns on show on the table are for sale.
verb phrase from expressing a wide range of meanings Not quite all the many fine interesting-looking hot buttered home-
to do with time, mood, and manner of action. made currant buns which grandma cooked on show on the table are for sale.

• By contrast, noun phrases allow an extremely wide Predeterminer Determiner Postdeterminer Premodification Head Postmodification
range of syntactic possibilities, from such simple con-
structions as the hat to such complex phrases as not buns which. ..table
Not quite all fine. ..currant
quite all the fine new hats which were on sale. They need
to be described separately (see right).
This postcard message shows
• Prepositional phrases are combinations of a preposi- a number of minimum'
'bare
tion plus a noun phrase: in the back garden, beneath the NPs, consisting of a noun
only, as well as several
hedge. They typically perform the role of adverbial in a Determiner -i- Noun
clause: I saw it in the garden = I saiv it there. They are constructions. The longest
also adjectival: the linguist with the red beard. example also shows one NP
{the boat) being used as part
of the postmodification of
another.
 . -
Aspects of noun phrase structure
There are so many
phrase that it is
a general book.
sents such possibilities for structural variation.
consequence ot
patterns are often part ot the stylistic identity of a text,
can be seen in such varieties as popular journalese
as
(p. 380) and scientific writing
several of the meanings expressed by the noun phrase
are extremely subtle, requiring a careful consideration
of many examples
sciously appreciated.
the rules governing the
fully understood.
THE ARTICLES
The system is a
article
good example of the
subtle meanings which
the noun phrase can
express. The contrasts are
not easy to define
despite the fact that most
features of the system
have been intuitively
grasped by the time a
child is 5 yearsold.
Three concepts are
involved, two of which are
familiar from traditional
grammar: the definite
article (the), the indefinite
article {a or an), and the
absence of an article (the
zero article). The use of
these forms affects the
meaning of the noun
phrase- in particular,
allowing usto think of
nouns in a specific way,
referring to individuals
{A/the dog is eating) or
a generic way, referring to
a general class or species
{A/the dog is an interest-
ing animal. Dogs are nice).
The definite article
•The can refer to the
immediate situation or to
someone's general know-
ledge:
Have you fed the dog?
He was wounded in the
war, . .
The can refer back to
• pneumonia
another noun (what is
sometimes called
anaphoric reference):
She bought a car and a
bike, but she used the bike
more.
•The can refer forward to
the words following the
16
facets to the structure of the noun
not possible to refer to all of them in
No other syntactic unit in English pre-
this is that distinctive noun phrase
(p. 372). Another
before their function can be con-
And even in the 1990s, not
way noun phrases work
head noun {cataphoric
reference):
I've always liked the wines
of Germany.
• The can refer to human
institutions that we
sporadically use, attend,
observe, etc.:
I went to the theatre.
I watched the news on
The indefinite article
• A(n) does not presuppose
that a noun has been
mentioned already. In The
book arrived, the speaker
assumes we know which
book is being referred to.
In A book arrived, no such
knowledge is assumed.
•A(n) often expresses a
general state of affairs, or a
notion of quantity:
I'm training to be a linguist.
in He's scored a hundred.
Take this six times a day.
The zero article
The article is often omitted
in idiomatic usage when
talking about human
institutions and routines,
means of transport,
periods of time, meals, and
illnesses:
go to bed in winter
travel by car have lunch
at dawn caught
A common error of non-
native learners of English
to introduce an article
those cases where it is
impossible or inapprop-
riate, as in * I shall go to the
bed now, *l havecaughta
pneumonia.
THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES
Legal English displays a marked preference for postmodif ication in the noun phrase, as can be
seenin this extract from an insurance agreement. When the structure is presented visually in this
way, the meaning is fairly easy to grasp. Without such assistance, the language becomes dense
and confusing -and a target of Plain English campaigns (p. 376).
One the total amount
I
of any instalment then remaining unpaid
I
of the rent hereinbefore reserved
is that and agreed to be paid during the
term
the payment
to the owner -
and the further sum
all of
I
are of ten pounds
THE ORDER OF PREMODIFIERS The following example shows that not all
adjectives can be used in this random kind
Why do you think we make Nuttall's of way.
Mintoes such a devilishly smooth cool
creamy minty chewy round slow velvety a nice big cardboard box
fresh clean solid buttery taste?
not
This advertising caption from the 1960s *a big nice cardboard box
probably holds the record for number of *a cardboard nice big box
adjectives in a noun phrase. It is of
single *a nice cardboard big box
course a highly unusual example -not just
because of its length and its use of unex- or any of the other possible sequences. This
pected word combinations (e.g. taste being is the kind of grammatical rule that most
TV.
described as round or so//d, p. 162), but people neverthink twice about. However,
because the adjectives do not display any working out the factors which make one
restrictions on their order. They could be
sequence acceptable and others not is an
shuffled and dealt out again, and the result
intricate business, and one that is still not
would probably be just as acceptable. entirely understood.
ADJECTIVE ZONES I Adjectiveswith an absolute or intensifying
meaning come first in the sequence, immedi-
Examples such as the following suggest that ately after the determiner and its satellites:
there are four main 'zones' within the pre- same, certain, entire, sheer, definite, perfect,
modifying section of a noun phrase, here superb. Thus we say:
labelledl, II, III, andlV.
the entire American army not *the Ameri-
can entire army
I've got the same big red garden chairs as you.
the perfect red suit not *the red perfect suit
II IV
Words which are usually nouns, or closely
IV II All other adjectives (the vast majority in
related to nouns, are placed next to the the language) occur in this zone: big, slow,
head. They include nationality adjectives angry, helpful, and all those in the advertis-
{American, Gothic), noun-like adjectives ing caption above. Thus we say:
which mean 'involving' or 'relating to' {medi-
asuperb old house not *an old superb
cal, social), and straightforward nouns
house (with a zone item)
I
{tourism brochure, Lancashire factory). Thus
an old stolen car not *a stolen old car (with a
we say:
zone III item)
an old Lancashire factory not *a Lancashire an old social disease not *a social old disease
old factory (with a zone IV item)
a bright medical student not *a medical
There are also signs of 'zones within zones'.
bright student
For example, we tend to say a beautiful new
III Participles and colour adjectives are dress not a new beautiful dress, suggesting
is
placed immediately in front of any in zone IV:
that evaluative adjectives in zone precede
II
in
missing, deserted, retired, stolen, red, green.
other kinds of adjectives there. We also tend
to say a recognizable zig-zag pattern not a
Thus we say:
zig-zag recognizable pattern, suggesting
an old red suit not *a red old suit that more abstract adjectives precede more
the red tourism brochures not *the tourism concrete ones. But, as the word 'tend' sug-
red brochures gests, the rules are not hard and fast.
 I'AKI 111 • ENGLISH t, RAMMAR

tence, and even by the meaning of particular types of

VERB PHRASE MEANINGS verb. For example, an accompanying adverbial
(p. 221) can dramatically alter the period of time to

With only a few verb endings to take into account which a verb form refers: I'm leaving tomorrow is hours

(p. 204) and a very limited range of auxiliary verbs and away from I'm leaving (said while going through the
sequences (p. 212), the verb phrase would seem to door). And a verb which expresses a specific action
provide the linguist with an easy task of syntactic works differently from one which expresses a state of
description. But appearances are deceptive. It is true awareness: we can say / was kicking it but not */ was
that the possible patterns of constituents can be knowing it. Teasing out the various meaning contrasts
described quite quickly, but the meanings which each of tense, aspect, mood, and voice makes the verb
pattern can convey are extremely difficult to state, phrase one of the most intriguing areas of English
being influenced by what else is happening in the sen- syntax.

FUTURE TENSE? • Be going to, followed by the infinitive: I'm

TENSES
going to ask him. This common informal use
One of the importantfunctionsof the verb is to indicate English has no future tense ending (unlike (often pronounced gonna) usually suggests
the time at which an action takes place. The term fense is Latin, French, and many other languages). that the event will take place very soon.
traditionally used to refer to the way verbs change their Rather, future time is expressed by a variety • The present progressive (p. 225), stressing

form to express this meaning. On this definition, English of other means. One of these - the use of the way a future event follows on from an
has only two tenses - present and past - though tradi- i/v/7/ or sha//- is often loosely referred to as arranged plan: The match is starting at
tional grammars would extend the notion to include vari- the 'future tense'. But this usage changes 2 p.m. The happening is usually imminent.
ous kindsof auxiliary verb usage as well (p. 196). the meaning of the word 'tense' so that it • The simple present tense, often implying

Time is often shown as a line, on which the present no longer refers only to the use of verb end- definiteness: I leave soon. Go to bed.
moment is located as a continuously moving point. But ings. There are in fact six main ways of refer- • The use of be to, be about to, have to, and
there is no identity between tense and time. Present and ring to futuretime. a few others, all expressing a future action
past tenses can refer to all partsof the time line. at various removes from the present: She's
• 1/1////, sAia//, or '//followed by the infinitive to sit here. She's about to leave.
without to (I'll see you then) or the progres- • The modal verbs (p. 2 12), which also

Present Time sive form (/'//faesee/ng you) This is by far the convey a future implication: /may/m/g/it/
(includes now) commonest use. could/should travel by bus.

PRESENT TENSE PASTTENSE

SHALL OR WILL?
Three uses refer to present Most uses refer to an action

Ms
time. or state which has taken Traditional grammars drew a sharp distinction /^•''toniwirt
• The stafe present is used for place in the past, at a definite between the use of will and shall (p. 94). 1

timeless statements or 'eternal time, with a gap between its

truths': Oil floats on water, completion and the present To express future time, they recommended
•

Two and two make four. moment. Specific events, shall with first persons, and will with second
• The/iati/tua/presenf isused states, and habitual actions and third persons: //we s/ia// go, Youlhelshel
for repeated events.
usually an accompanying
There is can all be express-ed with
tense: I arrived yesterday
They were upset
this it/they will go.
•To express an intention to act, they recom-
mended i/v/// with first persons, and shall
JO UV£
adverbial of frequency: I goto (event),
town each week. (state). They went to work with the others: I/we will go, YoulhelshelitI
• The instantaneous present is every day (habitual). they shall go.
used when the action begins The past tense is also used
On this basis, sentences such as I will be 20
and ends approximately at the for present or future time.
soon were condemned as wrong, because
moment of speech. It is • The attitudinal past reflects
(it was said) we cannot 'intend' to be a cer
common in demonstrations a tentative state of mind,
tain age.
and sports commentaries: giving a more polite effect
Modern usage does not observe thi:
Smith passes to Brown. than would be obtained by
distinction. Indeed, it may never have
using the present tense: Did
Three uses refer to other existed in the language, but only in th' M4//DJID
you want to leave? {compare
times: minds of grammarians anxious to
the more direct Do you want
impose order on a 'messy' area of
• The h/stor/cpresent describes to leave?)
usage. The issue is of less relevance
the past as if it were happen- • The hypothetical past
today, as shall has come to be increas-
ing now: I hear you've expresses what is contrary to
ingly replaced by will in several vari-
resigned. the speaker's beliefs. It is
eties. Even in conservative southern
• In jokes and imaginative especially used in lY-clauses: /
British English, it is now rare to find
writing, a similar use promotes wish I had a bike{i.e. haven't I

s/ia// in the second and third person

dramatic immediacy: We look got one).
(Shall you go?, Mary shall sit there),
outside (dear reader) and we • In indirect speech (p. 230), a
and it is becoming less common in
see an old man in the street. past tense used in the verb of
• With some time adverbials, 'saying' allows the verb in the
the first person. Nonetheless, usage

the present tense helps to
refer to a specific course of
action in future time (see
above right); We leave
tomorrow.
jouvi
mm
variation remains, as shown by
reported clause to be past
these headlines, both appearing
tense as well, even though it
on the same day and ostensibly
refers to present time: Did
reporting the same royal remark.
you say you had no money?
(i.e. you haven't any now).
Uhrtf-
 16 • THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

ASPECTS OF ASPECTS In informal American English, there is a strong ten- both tenses and with both perfective aspects.
dency to use the past tense instead of the present Non-progressive forms are known as simple
Aspect refers to how the time of action of the perfective - a trend which has begun to affect forms.
verb is regarded - such as whether it is complete, In non-US varieties also.
progress, or showing duration. English uses two Simple Progressive

types of aspectual contrast, which it expresses with US: Did you eat? Theyjump They're jumping

auxiliary verbs; the perfective and the progressive.

You told me already. Theyjumped They were jumping
UK: Have you eaten? They'vejumped They've been jumping
Such contrasts were called tenses in traditional
grammar (e.g. the 'perfect tense'), but far more is You've told me already. They'd jumped They'd been jumping
involved than simply the expression of time, and • The past perfect/ve also expresses 'anterior time', With the progressive, the usual implication is that

indeed the semantic analysis of aspect has proved
to be one of the most complex areas of English lin-
guistics. The examples below illustrate the topic,
but in an earlier time frame. Thus, I am sorry that I
have missed the train, put into the past, becomes /
was sorry that had missed the train.
I
the activity is taking place over a limited period,
and is not necessarily complete. By contrast, the
simple aspect tends to stress the unity or com-

but by no means indicate the extent of this com- pleteness of the activity. The contrast can be seen
plexity. Specific events, states, and habitual actions can all
in these sentences:
be expressed using the perfective aspect.
Perfective aspect I live in France, (permanently)
This is constructed using forms of the auxiliary He has/had built acar. (event) I'm living in France, (at present)
\terb have. The house has/had been empty for years, (state)
He's/'ddone it often, (habitual) Only a small proportion of all verb phrases appear
• The present perfective is chiefly used for an
in the progressive form, and most of those are
action continuing up to the present. This meaning Progressive aspect found in conversation. On the facing page, for
of 'current relevance' contrasts with the past tense Forms of be can be used along with the -ing form example, the text contains 90 verb phrases
meaning: of the main verb (p. 204) to express an event in (excluding the examples), but only a sixth of these
IVe/(VedinParisforayear(and I still do). progress at a given time. This is the progress/Ve use a progressive.
I lived in Paris for a year (but don't now).
I (also called the continuous) aspect. It is used with

TWO VOICES Most verbs which take an object (transitive from those campaigning for clearer forms of
verbs, p. 212) can appear in both active and pas- English in official documents (p. 376), and many
The action expressed by a clause can often be sive constructions: kick, jump, eat, break, etc. writers have been influenced by their argu-
viewed in either of two ways. There are just a few exceptions, such as resemble ments. But passives cannot be dispensed with
and most uses of have: I had a car does not trans- entirely. They give writers the option of an
The dog saw the cat.
form into *A car was had by me. impersonal style, which can be very useful in
The cat was seen by the dog.
The passive is infrequent in speech. In writing, contexts where it is irrelevant to state who actu-
This kind of contrast is referred to as voice. The it is more common informative than in imagi-
in out an action. That elements X and Y
ally carried
firsttype of construction is known as the act/Ve native prose, especially in contexts which were m/xed to form compound Z is usually the
voice. The second, which is far less common, is demand an objective, impersonal style, such as important point, not that it was me, Mary, John,
the passive voice. scientific and official publications. When it is or Dr Smith who did the mixing.
over-used, it tends to attract criticism, especially

HOW TO FORIVl PASSIVES FROM ally because the addition of an agent

ACTIVES would be to state the obvious: Jack fought
Mike and was beaten (by Mike). Some-
• Move the subject (p. 22 1 ) of the active times, though, the omission is deliberate,
verb to the end of the clause, making it the either because the agent not known (The
is

passive agent. Add by. car's been stolen) or because the speaker

• Move the object of the active verb to the does not want it emphasized - as when
front of the clause, making it the passive someone returning a damaged library
subject. book says, neutrally, I'm afraid this page
• Replace the active verb phrase by a has been torn, rather than adding by me.
passive one - usually a form of the auxiliary
verb be followed by the -ed participle
(p. 204).

Get can also be used as a passive auxiliary,

where we want to
especially in contexts
focus attention on the (usually unpleasant)
event affecting the subject. got kicked at
I

the match reports the perception of a

somewhat more vicious event than was /

kicked at the match. The use of get is

avoided in formal style, and even in
informal style it is much less frequent than
be (apart from in invective, such as Get
stuffed.').
Another option is to omit the by-phrase
agent. Indeed, this phrase is missing in
around 80 per cent of passive clauses, usu-
 PARI 111 • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

MULTIPLE SENTENCES The adverbial

of the subordinate
identity

clause can be tested

Up to this point in Part III, most of the sentences iHus- using the technique of
sentence substitution. The clause
trated contain only one clause (p. 220): they are simple
when Mike dropped
sentences. But many sentences can be immediately the plates can be
analysed into more than one clause: they are nnitriple replaced by an adverb
of time, such as then: I

sentences. In fact, multiple sentences form the major-

heard the noise then.
of the sentences in formal writing, and are This example shows
it)'
main clause mam clause
the importance of
common in everyday conversation too. The kind of
clause elements in
monologue reported on p. 214, although presenting
carrying out the
several problems of analysis, makes it plain that much analysis of complex
sentences. If one is
of the spontaneous character of conversational speech
unable to distinguish
is due to the way it uses multiple sentence construc-
between subjects,
tions. These constructions are often classified into two verbs, objects,

broad types, both recognized in traditional grammar complements, and

adverbials in single
(p. 192): compound sentences d^nd complex sentences. I I

clauses (see p. 221), the

I saw his hat but I didn't see his gloves. prospects of carrying
Compound sentences out a successful analysis
compound sentences, the clauses are linked by of a multiple sentence
In
are slim
coordination - usually, by the coordinating conjunc-
tions (p. 213) and, or, or but. Each clause can in prin-
ciple stand as a sentence on its own - in other words,
act as an independent clause, or main cLtuse. Tree dia-
gram A (above right) shows the 'balance' between two
clauses linked in this way. The same analysis would sentence
be made even if one of the clauses had elements omit-
ted due to ellipsis (p. 228). In I cycled as far as Oxford
and Mary as far as Reading, Mary as far as Reading can main clause
- once the ellipsis has been 'filled out' — stand as a
main clause: Mary cycled as far as Reading. 'Main', in
this context, has a purely grammatical sense, and does
not have its everyday general meaning of 'most
important'.

Complex sentences
In complex sentences, the clauses are linked by subor-
dination, using such subordinating conjunctions as
because, when, and since (p. 213). Here, one clause
(called the subordinate clause) is made dependent upon
I I

another (the main clause). This can be seen in tree dia- I heard the noise when Mike dropped the plates.
gram B (below right). The subordinate clause cannot
stand as a sentence on its own. When Mike dropped the
plates needs some other clause before it can be used.

ELEMENTS AS CLAUSES
Subordinate clauses can replace the Clause as subject Clause as object Clause as complement
whole of any clause element except
the verb. Their grammatical function S V S V o S V c
can always be tested by replacing the
clause with a simpler unit whose
identity is known, such as a pronoun,
adjective, adverb, or noun phrase. A
clause as adverbial has already been
illustrated above. Here are examples That he argued was a shame, I said that it was time, The result was what wanted,I

of clauses as subject, object, and (i.e. /twasa shame.) (i.e. I said something.) (i.e. The was good.)
result
complement.
 I'HE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

• Several instances of subordination may occur 'at the COORDINATIOr .AT

I

MULTIPLE STRUCTURES same level'. The sentence What I say is what I think OTHER LEVELS
may seem complex at first sight, but in fact it has a A coordinating conjunction
compound and complex sentences can contain simple three-part structure, just like That that, as can join any two syntactic
Both is
units, as long as they have the
several instances of coordination or subordination. shown in tree diagram E.
same status in the sentence. In
addition to linking clauses, it

• With multiple coordination, the analysis is simple, as can link noun phrases, adjec-
tives, pronouns, and several
seen in tree diagram C. The continual use ot and to
other forms.
build up a long sentence is by no means unusual, as
I bought a paper and a book.
the real-life example on p. 214 suggests. We were hot and dirty.
It's them or us.
There is theoretically no limit
subordinate clause subordinate clause
to the number of units which
can be connected in this way.
S V S V Coordination seems a
simple grammatical matter,
but it hassome hidden sub-
' tleties. To begin with, the dif-
I I
I I I I

I like fish and I like eggs and I like ham. what I say what I think. ferent conjunctions express a
range of meanings. For exam-
Coordination and subordination may of course occur ple, andean convey more than
]• With midtiple subordination, we must take special •
simple addition: in I ranhard
'care to keep the different 'levels' of subordination in the same sentence, to produce a compound-complex
and (therefore) caught the
I
apart. In tree diagram D, the main clause is He said sentence. This possibility is shown in tree diagram F. bus, it expresses 'result'; in

'.[something]. The first subordinate clause tells us what These are among the most complicated sentence struc- / woke up and (then) got
dressed, it expresses 'time
ithe speaker said ('We will eat when the cafe opens'), tures to draw, but the sentences these diagrams repre-
sequence'. When the meaning
I
and is therefore the object of the verb said. The second sent are by no means unusual. A child of 9 could have is one of addition, we may
which only reverse the order of clauses:
'isubordinate clause tells us when they would eat ('when said the sentence analysed in the diagram,
/ take the bus and she takes the
iithe cafe opens'), and is an adverbial modifying eat. goes to show how much grammatical ability we have all train can become She takes the
unconsciously assimilated without realizing it. trainand I take the bus. When
other meanings are involved,

i D we may not: *I caught the bus

sentence and (therefore) ran hard, I

*l got dressed and (then)

main clause main clause Iwoke up.
Moreover when two
S V phrases are linked by and, they
may or may not retain their
subordinate clause
separate grammatical roles.
Compare the f ollowing two
S V A sentences:
I

subordinate clause Matthew and Ben are strong.

Matthew and Ben are alike.

S V The two sentences look the

same, but further analysis
I I
shows they are different. In
I I

the first case, we can say

He said that we would eat when the cafe opened. I went when the rain stopped and after I found my shoes.
Matthew is strong and Ben is
strong. Each phrase can be
MORE AND MORE USES OF AND expanded into its own clause.
But the second case, this
in
There are several idiomatic uses of and which are especially cannot happen: we cannot say
common in informal speech and often criticized in writing. Matthew is alike and *Ben is
*

alike. There is something

• Insuch constructions as /'// tryar^dsee him, and is not
functioning as a coordinator, but as an informal equivalent
about alike which forces the
of the infinitive particle to try to see him.
two nouns to work together
(p. 204): /'//
Similarly, Arthur and Joanna
• Likewise, in such constructions as The room was nice and
have separated cannotbe
warm, n/ce and is being used as an intensifying item (similar
expanded into *Arthurhas
to very), and not as a coordinator He was well and truly
separated and Joanna hassep-
drunk another example.
is
arafed. Cases of this kind add
• word with itself, special meanings are
By coordinating a
complexity and interestto
expressed. In The car went slower and slower, the sense is
one of intensification. In They talked and talked, it is what initially seems a straight-
forward area of English
continuous action. A particularly interesting usage is found
syntax.
in There are roses and roses, meaning 'Everyone knows that

some roses are better/worse than others'. .and then there are roses!
 PART 111 • ENGLISH GRAMMAR

OTHER SYNTACTIC ISSUES WHAT CAN BE A PRO-FORM? Ihave change. Do you want some?
Have you seen the new designs? I've
• Pro-forms used in co-reference are usually bought sei/era/.
This exploration of English grammar is not intended to definite pronouns (p. 210), such ass/ie, Iasl^ed him to leave, and he did (so).
they, myself, his, theirs, that, and such. We
he comprehensive, but only to convey some ot the
can also use a few definite adverbs of time
• Most pro-forms replace or refer to some
or all of a noun phrase (p. 222); but a few
interesting issues which arise when we engage in the or space, such as then, there, and here.
other constructions can be involved.
task oi syntactic analysis. The topics so far have related Mat's ill. He's got flu. Adverb pro-forms relate to adverbials, as in
to the analysis of clauses, and to the ways clauses com- My hat's red. Hers is green. Martha went to the shops and went there I

I'm off to town. See you there. too. Do relates to a part of the clause
bine into sentences. The remaining pages of Part III
containing the verb: Martha went to the
deal with issues which go beyond the structure of an • Pro-forms used in substitution can be
shops and I did too (where did replaces
either definite or indefinite. They are
individual clause, involving sentences as wholes, and went to the shops). So can replace an
mostly indefinite pronouns (p. 210), such as
object, a complement, an adverbial, or even
even sentence sequences (p. 232). one(s),some, none, either, few, many, sev-
a whole clause:
and both. We can also use a few
eral, all,
adverbs, such as so and thus, and the verb A: I'm not feeling well.
Abbreviating the sentence
do plays an important role in such construc- B: I thought so. (i.e. I thought that you're
Ihere arc nvo main ways in which a sentence can be tions as c/o so. not feeling well)
shortened, to avoid saying or writing the same thing
nvice.
• A pro-form can be used - a word which replaces or NEVER A TRUER WORD
refers to a longer construction in a sentence. The first

process, replacement (or substitution), can be seen in

/ve bought t7 new coat and Mary's bought one too, where
the pro-form one replaces the noun phrase a new coat.

rhe second process, referring to another construc-

tion, can be seen in The children hurt themselves,

where the pro-form themselves refers back to the noun

phrase the children. Here, themselves does not replace
the children, but simply refers back to it. The children
hurt the children would mean that some children hurt
some other children. When the pro-form has the
same meaning (or 'reference') as another construc-
tion, but does not replace it, we talk about pro-form

co-reference.
• Ellipsis occurs when part of a sentence is left out
because it would otherwise repeat what is said else-
where. In Td like to eat that biscuit, but I ivon't, the
second clause is elliptical, with eat that biscuit being
omitted. People usually find the full form of such sen-
tences unnecessary or irritating, and use ellipsis to
achieve a more acceptable economy of statement.
Conversation dialogues are full of it. If ellipsis were
not used, our sentences would become gradually
longer as a conversation progressed.

A: Where are you going?

B: To the shops, (i.e. I am going to the shops)
A: Why? (i.e. Why are you going to the shops?)
B: To some bread,
get (i.e. I am going to the shops to
get some bread)
A: Isjohn going with you? (i.e. Is John going with
you to the shops to get some bread?)

In most cases, the ellipsis refers to something which has

previously been said, but sometimes it anticipates what
is about to be said: Don't ask me why, but the shop has
sold out of bread\s desirably short for Don't ask me why
the shop has sold out of bread, but the shop has sold out
ofbread.
 16 • THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

• Asking for attention: you know, you see, mind you,

ADDING A COMMENT you have to admit, as you may have heard.

When comment clauses become noticeable in conver-

People often wish to make a comment, or express an
sation through over-use, it is widely held to be a sign
attitude, about what they are saying or the way they
of unclear or evasive thinking. For example, they are
are saying it. How does the grammar of the language
often to be heard to excess in the linguistic wriggling
enable them to do this? The answers to this question
of a politician faced by an aggressive interviewer— the
require novel terminology, as this issue was never
'yes, well, you know, to be honest about this, putting
addressed in traditional grammar (p. 192).
it in a nutshell' response. This usage has led some crit-

ics to condemn all comment clauses, whatever the

Disjuncts
context. But this is going too far. These clauses play an
An important role is played by a type ot adverbial
important role in conversation, argument, and spon-
(p. 11 1 ) here called a disjunct.
taneous monologue, helping speakers to 'think on
• Some disjuncts convey the speaker's comment about their feet', and giving listeners a chance to grasp what
the style or form of what is being said - expressing the is being said (p. 291). The same effects can also be
conditions under which the listener should interpret introduced into elegant informal writing, where the
the accompanying sentence. In Frankly {said jane), judicious use of a comment clause can add personal
Charles shoidd have gone by bus, Jane is not just saying perspective, strengthen writer-reader rapport, and
that 'Charles should have gone by bus', but is adding improve the accessibility of a dense piece ot text.

a comment about how making her point - she

she is

is 'being frank. There are many words of this kind,

TELLING THE STORY
such as honesdy, literally, briefly, strictly, and confiden-
tially. Alistair Cooke's best-selling
America (1973) was acclaimed for
• Other disjuncts make an observation about the
the way it captured the friendly
truth of a clause, or a value judgment about its con- tone of the original comnnentary
tent. In Fortunately, Charles caught the bus, Jane is not in his television series. One of the

stylistic features which

just saying that 'Charles caught the bus', but that (in
contributes to this warmth is the
her opinion) it was fortunate that he did so. Other regular use of comment clauses
words of this kind include curiously, foolishly, regret- and disjuncts. Here are a few
examples (my italics) from the
tably, undoubtedly, and hopefully (which was arbitrar-
first few pages of his opening
ily singled out for adverse criticism during the 1980s chapter.
by purist commentators on usage). ...my mental picture of the
United States, and of such
Comment clauses scattered human life as it

supported, became sharper but

Disjuncts may be words or phrases, and they may even not, / regret to say, more
have a clausal character, as can be seen in the sequence accurate.

regrettably, to my regret, and / regret to say. When they But believe that the
I

are clausal, they can be analysed as part of a large preconceptions about another
country that we hold on to
number of constructions that have been grouped
most tenaciously are those we
together as comment clauses. These are particularly take in, so to speak, with our
common in informal conversation, where they are mother's milk...

often spoken in a parenthetic tone of voice, with So jotted

I down a long list of
such places, most of them, should /
increased speed and decreased loudness.
guess, not much known to tourists or even to the
standard history books...
The rest, / suppose, will never be known.
You know, it's time you paid me back.
Most people, / believe, when they first come to America,
whether as travelers or settlers, become aware of a new
It's over now, Fm glad to say. and agreeablefeeling: that the whole country is their
oyster.
Comment clauses express several kinds ot meaning:
There are, in fact, large regions of the United States that
• Tentativeness: I think, I assume, I suppose, I'm told, will challenge the hardihood of the most carefree
wanderer.
they say, it seems, rumour has it.
Undoubtedly, all the land mass of the United States has
• Certainty. I know, I'm sure, it transpires, I must say,
been mapped, and the prospects for a livelihood in any
it's true, there's no doubt. part of it are known.
• Emotional attitude: I'm pleased to see, I'm afraid, I
Fortunately, the broad design was drawn for us, nearly a
hope, Heaven knows, I'm delighted to say, to be century and a half ago, by a Frenchman...
honest, frankly speaking.
 .

l-.Nc; I.ISH (, RAM MAR

archaic, and forms such as "^commented he or ""laughed GRAMMATICAL

REPORTING SPEECH they are unacceptable. Inversion at the beginning of a
CHANGES
sentence is found only in some narrative styles, such as When indirect speech is used,

popular journalism: Declared brunette Lucy speakers need to introduce

The usual way in which we report someone's speech is . .

grammatical changes toallow

hv using a special reporting clause, such as she said, he • Indirect speech (also called reported speech) gives the
for differences between their
wrote, r/vy r?/)//^- sometimes adding extra informa- words as subsequently reported by someone. It usually current situation and the situa-
form of a subordinate clause 226) intro- tion they are reporting.
tion (He replied angrily). The accompanying speech or takes the {p.

duced by Michael said that he liked the colour. The • It is usually necessary to
writing is given in the reported clause, which can appear that.
change the tense forms of the
in either ot two forms: direct speech znd indirect speech. conjunction is often omitted in informal contexts:
verbs used in the direct speech
Michael said he liked the colour. (p. most cases, a pre-
224). In
• Direct speech gives the exact words used by the
sent tense becomes past, and
speaker or writer. They are usually enclosed by quota- a past tense is shifted still fur-
This distinction has long been recognized in English
tion marks: Michael said, 'I like the colour'. The report- ther back, by using the perfec-
grammar. Older grammars used Latin names for the tive aspect (p. 225).
ing clause may occur before, within, or after the direct
two modes: oratio recta (for direct speech) and oratio said, 'I'm leaving'.
speech. When it occurs in the middle or at the end oF
I

said was leaving.

obliqua (for indirect speech). However, the basic dis- I I

the sentence, the order ot subject and verb can some-

tinction does not capture the whole range of stylistic I said, 'I saw John'.
times be inverted: I said I had seen John.
possibilities: mixed and modified forms are used in lit-
'1 think,' Michael said, 'that it's time to leave.' The rules governing the correct
erature, such as 'free direct speech' and 'tree indirect
relationship between the verbs
1 think,' said Michael, 'that it's time to leave.'
speech', conveying a wide range of dramatic effects in the reporting and reported

This inversion is most common when the verb is said, (p. 419). And the construction has also been used as clauses are traditionally
labelled the sequence of
and the subject is not a pronoun. Saidsheis literary or a fruitful source of humour (p. 409). They are actually much
tenses.
more complex than these
examples suggest. For exam-
thing very close to death and to the cor- the van. We see your possessions leav- ple, if thetimereferenceof the
REPORTING STYLES
ruption of the body,' Jorge replied with ing the house. What else do we see?' original utterance is still valid

Several conventions are used to repre- asnarl... 'My pony.' at the time of reporting, the

sent direct speech in fiction. Some (UmbertoEco, The Name of the Rose, 'They took that too?' tenseshift is optional,

authors take great pains to vary the 1983, First Day: Compline) told you already.'
'I Mark said, 'Oil floats on water.'
verb of the reporting clause (p. 419), to 'With the furniture? In the same Mark said oil floated on water.
B
avoid the repeated useof sa/d(see A 'I'm afraid I missed the UTE confer-
van?' Mark said oil floats on water.
below). Some use sa/c^ regularly, even in 'No, a separate one. Don't be bloody
ence this year.' And there are special strate-
place of other stalwarts (e.g. asked, one attended here silly.'
'If that's the I in gies when it comes to report-
exclaimed) (B). The reporting clause is then you did well to avoid said
were two vans. Both at the
'So there
'79, it,' ing sentences other than
often omitted, if the identity of the Morris Zapp. 'I mean real conferences,
same time? Or one after the other?'
statements (p. 218).
speakers is clear from the context (C). don't remember.'
'I
international conferences.'
And in drama, theverbof the reporting 'Where was your father physically 'Are you in?' asked Pru.
'I couldn't afford to go to one of

clause is always absent, with quotation located all this time? Was he in the Pru asked if I was in.
those,' said Robyn. 'Our overseas con-
marks never used (D). study? Looking through the window, 'Sit down,' said Pru.
ference fund has been cut to the bone.'
say, watching it all go? How does a man Pru told me to sit down.
'Cuts, cuts, cuts,' said Morris Zapp,
anyone will talk about here. like him bear up -in his disgrace?'
'that's all • Time and place references
Jorge could not keep from comment- 'He was the garden.'
in
First Philip, then Busby, now you.' also need to be altered: for
ing in a low voice. 'John Chrysostom 'Doing what?'
'That's what life is like in British uni- example, tomorrow becomes
said that Christ never laughed.' 'Looking at the roses.'
versities these days, Morris,' said Philip the next day or the following
'Nothing in his human nature for- (John Le Carre, The Little Drummer Girl,
Swallow, presenting Robyn with a glass day, here becomes there.
bade it,' William remarked, 'because 1983, Ch, 7)
of rather warm Soave. spend all my 'I
laughter, asthetheologiansteach, is I said, 'I saw it here yesterday.'
time on committees arguing about
propertoman.' I said I'd seen there the day
it
howto respond to the cuts. haven't I

STANLEY (quickly). \Nh\i are you down

'The son of man could laugh, but it is before.
read a book in months, let alone tried here?
not written that he did so,' Jorge said •Personal pronouns need to
to write one.' McCANN. A short holiday.
sharply,quoting Petrus Cantor. bealtered(p. 210). First and
'Well, have,' said Robyn. house to
'IVIanduca, iam coctum est,' William
I

STANLEY. This is a ridiculous

'Read one or written one?' said second person pronouns have
murmured. 'Eat, for it is well done.' pick on. (He rises.)
Morris Zapp. to be changed to third person,
'What?' asked Jorge, thinking he McCANN. Why?
'Written one,' said Robyn. 'Well, unless the original partici-
referred to some dish that was being STANLEY. Because it's not a boarding
three quarters of it, anyway.' pants are still involved in the
broughttohim. house. Itnever was.
'Ah, Robyn,' said PhilipSwallow, 'you conversation.
'Those are the words that, according McCANN. Sure it IS.
put us all to shame. What shall we do STANLEY. Why did you choose this Pru said to Joe, 'I like your tie.'
to Ambrose, were uttered by Saint
without you?' house? Pru said she liked histie.
Lawrence on the gridiron, when he
(David Lodge, Nice Work, 1988, Ch. 6.) McCANN. You know, sir, you're a bit (if the speaker is talking to
invited his executioners to turn him
over, as Prudentius also recalls in the C depressed for a man on his birthday. someone other than Joe)
And she won, she knew she did, STANLEY (sharply). Why do you call me Pru said she liked your tie ,

Peristephanon,' William said with a

because Kurtz spoke which was sir? (if the speaker is talking to
saintlyair. 'Saint Lawrence therefore first,

the proof. McCANN. You don't like it? Joe)

knew howto laugh and say ridiculous
things, even if it was to humiliate his we recognise that this is
'Charlie, (Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party,
enemies.' we ask you to
very painful for you, but 1960, Act 2)
'Which proves that laughter is some- continue in your own words. We have

I
 16 •
THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

\s given. The distinction between given and new infor-

SENTENCE INFORMATION mation can be clearly seen in this dialogue:

A: Where did you put your bike?

There are many ways in which we can organize the
B: 1 left it / at my friend's house.
information contained in a sentence, as can be seen
from these alternatives: The first part of B's sentence is 'given' (by A); the

second part is new.

A mechanic is fixing a car.
Given information tells us what a sentence is
There's a mechanic fixing a car.
about; it provides the sentence theme. Because the
It's a mechanic that's fixing a car.
information it contains is familiar, this part of the sen-
It's a car that a mechanic is fixing.
tence is not likely to be spoken with any extra promi-
A car is being fixed by a mechanic.
nence 248). New information, on the other hand,
(p.

These sentences all express the same basic meaning, provides the point where we expect people to pay
but they convey several important differences of style special attention, or focus. The part of the sentence
and emphasis. The analysis of these differences is also containing the focus is always spoken in a prominent
part of the study oi grammar. way.
most sentences, the theme appears first, and the
In

Given and new information focus of the message last. But it is possible to bring the

There are usually two kinds of information in a sen- focus forwards, so as to emphasize an earlier part of the

tence. One part of the sentence tells us something new. sentence. This especially happens when we want to

The other part tells us something that we were aware state a contrast, as in The plates are new, not the cups.

of already (either from previous sentences or from our Conversations make frequent use of emphatic con-
general knowledge) - in other words, its information trasts of this kind.

VARYING THE INFORMATION STRUCTURE FROM MOSCOW, OUR CORRESPONDENT.

There are several ways in which special sentence around so that the clause comes
attention can be drawn to the theme of a later The original element is then replaced
sentence. by the pronoun it, which 'anticipates' the
following clause:
Fronting
Fronting occurs when we move to the What you say doesn't matter
beginning of a sentence an item which It doesn't matter what you say.
does not usually belong there. This item
I find reading comics fun.
then becomes the theme, and in such cases
I find it fun, reading comics.
it carries extra prominence:

In examples like these, the clauses have

Across the road they ran.
been moved outside their normal position
David said my name was.
in the sentence. The effect is thus said to
I

Inversion be one of extraposition.

Here the subject and verb appear in the
Existentials
reverse of their normal order:
Sometimes we want to bring the content of
Here's Johnny. a whole clause to the attention of our
Down came the rain. listener or reader, making it all new

They were happy and so was I.

information. To do this, there is a
construction in which the first words have
The verb must be in its simple form (p. 225): no meaning. They seem to act as a theme,
we cannot say *Down was coming the rain. because they appear at the beginning of
Cleft sentences the sentence, but it is a 'dummy' theme.
Another way of altering the normal The main means of achieving this effect is
emphasis in a simple sentence is to split to use the word there (without giving it any
('cleave')the sentence into two clauses, stress) followed by the simple present or News reporting frequently makes use of variations in
giving each its own verb. The first clause past tense of fae: information structure in order to capture attention and
consists of the pronoun it and a form of Many people are in danger avoid monotony. The following extracts from radio
the verb be. The second clause begins with There are many people in danger broadcasts illustrate the use of these techniques.
a pronoun such as that or who. These
constructions are called cleft sentences:
Such sentences express the general /t was /n June that Horace Williams, an unemployed
existence of some state of affairs, and are labourer, first met the Smiths.
Ted broke the plate. thus called existential sentences. Be is not
It was Ted who broke the plate. the only verb capable of being used in this r/iere were cheers inside the court today when a verdict

It was the plate that Ted broke. way, but others (such as exist and arise) are of not guilty was returned...
rarer and more literary;
Extraposition In the West Indian city of Georgetown, the final day of

Where the subject or object element is a There exist several alternatives. the Fourth Test between the West Indies and England
clause (p. 220), it is possible to change the There arose a great cry. has been washed out by rain.
 PART III • KNCil ISH t; RAM MAR

BEYOND THE SENTENCE

A text is a coherent,

III real life, a sentence is rarely used in isolation. Nor- complete unit of speech or
writing. As such it typically
mally, sentences - whether spoken or written - appear
consists of many sentences.
in a sequence, such as a dialogue, a speech, a letter, or But it is possible to find a text

a book. Any set of sentences which 'cohere' in this way which contains only one
sentence, and a short one at
is called a text- a term which applies to both spoken
that (p. 21 6).
and written material {p. 290). The coherence is

achieved through the use of a wide range of features

which connect sentences, some ot which fall well out-
side the domain of grammar, but they are outlined
GRAMMATICAL CONNECTIVITY
here because it is not really possible to appreciate the

specific role of syntax in connectivity without seeing it

in this broader perspective.

• Genera/ knowledge. We often make a link between

sentences because ot our general knowledge or expec-
tations about the way the world functions.

The summer was one of the best they had ever had.
The vintage was expected to be superb.

Here there is no obvious connection in either grammar

or vocabulary to link these sentences. But anyone who
knows about wine can readily supply the missing link.
Such techniques as inference, deduction, and presup-
position are used in these circumstances.

• Vocabulary. Often the choice of words is enough to

connect two sentences:

Look at that dachshund. He'd win a prize in any dog

show.

Because we know that a dachshund is a kind of dog, we

have no difficulty in making the relevant connection
between the sentences.

• Puiictuatioji and layout. Graphic and graphological

features of a text (p. 257) may be enough to show that

sentences, or even paragraphs, are to be connected in a

specific way. The use of panels, headings, special sym-
bols (such as bullets), and colour within a text to show
how themeaning is organized, provides a particularly
clear example - as on the present page.

• Prosody (p. 248). Variations in pitch, loudness,

speed, rhythm, and pause combine to provide the
spoken equivalent of the visual organization and con-
trastivity of a written text. Question-answer
sequences, parenthetic utterances, rhetorical climaxes,
and many other features of speech which involve a
sequence of sentences are usually signalled through the
use of prosodic effects. Several spoken genres, such as
radio news bulletins and sports commentaries, are also
notable for the way they use prosody to demarcate
topics and types of activity.
 16 • THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES

THE PARADOX OF GRAMMAR DISCUSSING THE

PROBLEM
written in association with

the BBC television series

'I like doing homework'?
'Doing' said George.
Language File 0990). WRONG -it's like.'
abounds with metaphors Ifteaching grammar is a
The linguistic literature The teacher said; The teacher said:
problem, it can help to bring
trying to capture the significance of grammar. Gram- the children intothe
A noun is a naming word. An adjective is a describing

of language, What is a naming word word.

mar is said to be at the very 'heart' at the discussion at the earliest
possible point, using role
in the sentence What the describing
is word
'core' of communication. It is seen as the 'key' to our 'He named the ship, in the sentence
play, stories, poems, and
understanding of the way meaning is expressed and other genres to focus their
Lusitania'? 'Describing sunsets is

'Named' said George. boring'?

interpreted. It has been called the 'skeleton' ol narrative attention on a linguistic
issue. This poem by Mike
'WRONG -it's ship.' 'Describing' said George.
and the 'touchstone' ol verbal humour. It has been 'WRONG -it's boring,'
Rosen has been much The teacher said:
widely hailed as the 'mechanism' which, by manipulat- know
'I it is,' said
discussed in British A verb is a doing word.
George.
ing a finite number ol grammatical rules, enables us to secondary schools following What is the doing word
use in a publication the sentence
generate an infinite number of sentences. It dominates its in

the 'milestones' of language learning and acts as a 'yard-

stick' during the course ol language breakdown and

recovery (p. 426). There is no doubt, when we read TAKING NOTHING
such accounts, that the field of grammar is fundamen-
FOR GRANTED
tal, dynamic, relevant, and real. One reason why
On the other hand, there is equally no doubt that grammar teaching can
is that the notions
fail
grammatical study can lack all these attributes. This is
being taught take too
the paradox of grammar: how can something which much for granted. For
ought to be so fascinating come to be so boring? The example, it is not
possibletoteacha
historical reasons have been reviewed in earlier pages young child the
I
(p. 190), but even in a positive and optimistic intellec- concept of letter order
I tual linguistic climate there no gainsaying the fact
is
(in spelling) or word
order (in sentences) if
I that the relationships ol grammar are abstract and at the basic notion of
times intricate, and its terminology imposing and at 'order' is itself not

times abstruse. The level ol difficulty is probably no point was

clear. This
appreciated by Jessie
worse than that encountered in several other sciences, Reidand Margaret
but the inlormation purveyed by those sciences is Donaldson, who
established in school curricula in ways that are far in gave it special
attention at the
advance ol what is as yet available for grammar. The beginning of their
familiarity and accessibility of geography or chemistry reading and
is the result of a long pedagogical tradition, in which the language
programme, R&D
' selection and grading of inlormation has been tried and (1984), aimed at
tested, and curricula devised which are principled and children from
i motivating. Modern approaches to English grammar around the age
of 8.
are not yet in this position, but there is plenty ol evi-
dence to show that efforts are being made to improve
matters. The examples on this page illustrate just a few
of the approaches that are now being used to help DRAWING TO A CLOSE Your handwrlfinajvouknoi^/
people obtain insight into grammatical structure. Animation, cartoons, and computer prod- fo be honest, auite frankly,
ucts are just some of the modern ways of spectkly persfnally, imusf
putting across a grammatical point. While saYi bastcally, know whcif-
GIANT WAVES DOWN FUNNEL the sophistication of the software currently I mean, as a mattcf
lags considerably behind what is available of fact,
Using sentences which are Asailor was dancing with a
in hardware, the way a child can be moti-
grammatically ambiguous wooden leg.
vated to learn about grammatical structure
can motivate an enquiry
Bus on Fire! is well demonstrated by the numerous pack-
intothe competing struc-
Passengers Alight! ages which already teach aspects of gram-
tures involved. (Examples
fromW. H. Mittins, A The airship was about to mar to special groups, such as language-
leave the airport. The last disordered children (p, 434). Cartoons are
Grammar of Modern
person to go up the gang- also now widely used. The following is an
fngfe/i, 1962.)
way was Miss Hemming. offering from Edward McLachlan to a series
The only spectators were a of books for British secondary school chil-
Slowly her huge nose
woman carrying a small turned intothe wind. dren by the present author. Language AtoZ
baby and a large policeman. Then, like some enormous (1991).It accompanies an entry which is

We saw the Eiffel Tower beast, she crawled along attempting to explain to 1 5-year-olds what
flying from London to Paris. the grass. a 'comment clause' is (p. 229).
 15

K for

stands,
an old J\.nife-grindei-

Who wheels his own machine;

And thus the cart before the horse

Is veiy plainly seen.

for a brisk Jjamplighter stands,

- Who lights the gas, and soon

Qur streets will so illuminate.

n'
We shall not miss the moon.
 PART IV

Spoken and Written English

A message constructed in English grammar and vocabulary may be or illuminating, and includes a detailed examination of the way
transmitted in either of two main ways: through speech or through sounds can be used symbolically, in a range of contexts which link
writing. Part IV investigates the technical resources provided by the the poet Keats, breakfast cereals, and the British cartoon character
language under each of these headings. (Stylistic differences in the Desperate Dan.
way spoken and written language are used are considered separately, Chapter 18 adopts a similar approach to the writing system,
in Part V.) beginning with the topic which is widely regarded as its central

We begin with spoken English, the more natural and widespread domain - the alphabet. Here too some methodological preliminaries

mode of transmission, though ironically the one which most people are in order, as writing is a subject studied by several fields, including

find much less familiar - presumably because it is so much more dif- linguists, psychologists, typographers, and graphic designers, and
ficult to 'see' what is happening in speech than in writing. Chapter terms and approaches vary greatly. After looking at the history of
17 works systematically through the sound system, after providing each letter of the alphabet, we turn to some of the interesting statis-

some general perspective about the subjects of phonetics and ticaland symbolic properties of letters, paying particular attention to
phonology and the nature of phonetic transcription. It introduces the approach associated with graphologists, and to different kinds of
and classifies vowels and consonants, emphasizing the differences graphic variety and deviance. We then grapple with what is undoubt-
between the way in which these notions appear in speech and in edly the most notorious aspect of the English writing system: its

writing. It then goes on to review the way sounds combine into syl- spelling. The section reviews the reasons for the complexity, discusses

lables, words, and sentences, and outlines the prosodic resources of the sources of irregularity, and examines possible solutions, including
the language, which convey such important effects as intonation, some of the proposed attempts at spelling reform. The chapter then
emphasis, and tone of voice. The chapter surveys some of the every- concludes with a close look at the history and present-day use of one
day domains in which a knowledge of pronunciation can be useful of the most neglected aspects of the writing system: punctuation.

Letters from an early alphabet book, The Amusing Alphabet, a popular

educational approach in Victorian times, promising 'easy steps' to
literacy (see also p. 407j.
 17THE SOUND SYSTEM
We are used to seeing the written language as a
THE ORGANS OF ARTICULATION
sequence of letters, separated by small segments of
space. This is how we were taught to write. We formed The diagram shows the anatomical location of the vocal organs involved in the
description of English vowels and consonants. It is not e complete representation of all the
our letters one at a time, then slowly and painstak-
vocal organs - the lungs, for example, are not shown.
ingly brought them together in 'joined-up' writing.

We learned to call five of these letters Vowels' (A, E,

I, O, U), and the others consonants". We may also
soft palate (velum)
have learned that letter Y is also 'sometimes' used as a
vowel.
Everyone born with the normal capacity to learn
acquires the ability to listen and speak long before the
abilin' to read and write. Moreover, when the English
upper lip
alphabet was first devised (p. 258), its letters were
-uvula
based on a consideration of the nature of the sounds
lower lip
in Old English. The origins of the written language
lie in the spoken language, not the other way round.
— pharynx
It is therefore one of life's ironies that traditionally in
present-day education we do not learn about spoken
language until well after we have learned the basic
properties of the written language. As a result, it is

inevitable that we think of speech using the frame of

reference which belongs to writing. We even use some
of the same terms, and it can come as something of a
-glottis
shock to realize that these terms do not always have
the same meaning.

A BASIC PERSPECTIVE phonetician would be interested in describing exactly what Key

these differences of articulation are, A phonologist, how- 1 tongue tip
Pronunciation can always be studied from two points of ever, would point out that both articulations are 'types of
view: the phonetic and the phonological. 2 blade of the tongue
/s/': /set/, no matter how the /s/ varies, it continues to con-
(the tapering part,
trast with /bet/, /met/, and other words. There is just one
Phonetics opposite the alveolar
basic unit, or phoneme, involved.
Phonetics isthestudy of the way humans make, transmit, ridge)
'sound system' of English, we
When we talk about the
and receive speech sounds. It is divided into three main
are referring to the number
of phonemes which are used in 3 frontof the tongue
branches, corresponding to these three distinctions:
a language, and to how they are organized. To say there (opposite the hard
• articulatory phonetics the study of the way the vocal
is are '20 vowels' in a particular accent means that there are palate)
organs are used to produce speech sounds 20 units which can differentiate word meanings: /e/ is dif- 4 centre of thetongue
• acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties of
ferent from /i:/, for example, because there are pairs of (opposite where the
speech sounds words (such as set and seat) which can be distinguished hard and soft palate
• auditory phonetics is the study of the way people perceive
solely by replacing one of these vowels by the other. All the meet)
speech sounds vowels in the list on p. 237 (and all the consonants on
5 bacfc of thetongue
This section gives details of the articulation of vowels and p. 242) owe their existence to this principle.
(opposite the soft
consonants, and makes only passing mention of their acous- palate)
Brackets
tic characteristics and the mechanisms of audition. The audi-
To help separate the two ways of looking at pronunciation,
tory perspective is more in evidence in the section on
the practice has grown up in linguistics of using different
prosody (p. 248).
kinds of brackets for the two approaches. Square brackets -
Phonology [
- are used when sounds are being discussed from a pho-
]

Phonology is the study of the sound systems of languages,
and of the general properties displayed by these systems.
By contrast with phonetics, which studies all possible
sounds that the human vocal apparatus can make, phonol-
ogy studies only those contrasts in sound (the phonemes)
which make differences of meaning within language.
netic point of view -that is, purely as sounds, and regardless
of their role in the sound system of the language. Slant
brackets -//- are used when sounds are being discussed
from a phonological point of view - that is, purely as part of
the sound system, and regardless of the particular way they
are articulated. For the most part, transcriptions in this book

When we listen carefully to the way people speak English,
we will hear hundreds of slight differences in the way indi-
vidualspronounce particular sounds. For example, one
person may pronounce /s/ in a noticeably 'slushy' manner,
while another may pronounce it in a 'lisping' manner. A
are phonological: they show the phonemes, and use slant
brackets, as in /pen/ pen and /skru;/ screw When the discus-
sion focuses on points of articulatory detail, however, as in
the description of regional differences of pronunciation, we
will need to rely as well on a phonetic transcription.
 17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

THE VOWELS
A good example of the speech-writing difference is

the way we have to re-thinlc the idea that 'there are five
vowels' when we begin to discuss speech. There are in
fact some 20 or so vowels in most accents of English

(the exact number often depending on the way the

system is analysed), and their sound qualities can vary
enormously from accent to accent. The vowel sounds
of American English, for example, are clearly different
from those of British or Australian, and the vowels
typical of one locality in any of these countries can
differ appreciably from those of another. Indeed,
vowel differences make up most of the distinctiveness
which we associate with a particular accent (p. 298).
The table on this page shows the set of vowels
found in English, along with some common tran-
scriptions (for their place of articulation, see p. 240).
The most striking feature of a list of this kind is the
number of special symbols {pa.no{t\ie phonemic tran-
scription) which have to be devised in order to identify
each vowel unambiguously. With only five (or six)

vowel letters available in the traditional alphabet,

extra symbols, combinations of symbols, and diacritic
marks are needed to capture all the units in the system,
as well as all the variations in vowel quality which
distinguish different accents (pp. 240-1).

TYPES OF VOWEL
 PART IV • SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

Describing vowels a vowel (p. 236). In such words as yet, it acts as a conso-
All vowels have certain properties in common, which nant, occupying the same position as other consonants
distinguish them from consonants (p. 242). (met, set, etc.). In such words as my and tryst, it acts as a
• From a phonetic point of view (p. 236), vowels are vowel, occupying the same position as other vowels
articulated with a relatively open configuration of the {trust, me, etc.).)

vocal tract: no part of the mouth is closed, and none • Vowels typically involve the vibration of the vocal
of the vocal organs come so close together that we can cords {voicing), and their distinctive resonances are
hear the sound of the air passing between them (what made by varying the shape of the mouth, using the
phoneticians call audible friction). The most notice- tongue and lips. In English, there are no vowels whose
able vowel qualit}' is therefore [a], said with the chief characteristic is the use of nasal resonance {nasal
mouth wide open. Consonants have a very different voiveb) - unlike, say, French or Portuguese. English

method of articulation. vowels are all oral vowels, and take on a nasal quality
• From a phonological point of view (p. 236), vowels only when they are being influenced by an adjacent
are units of the sound system which typically occupy nasal consonant, as in no, long, and man.
the middle of a syllable (the nucleus, p. 246), as in cat The chief task in describing the articulation of
/km/ and big /b\g/. Consonants, by contrast, are typi- vowels, accordingly, is to plot the movements of the

cally found at the edges of syllables, shown also by these tongue and The most widely used method of
lips.

examples. (It is reasoning of this kind which explains doing this was devised by Daniel Jones, and is known
why letter Y can be described either as a consonant or as as the cardinal vowel system.

THE CARDINAL
 THE SOUND SYSTEM

The vowel system

TYPES OF DIPHTHONG glide towards a higher
A long list of vowels, such as that given on p. 237, is not position in the mouth, and
as informative as a classification which groups them From the point of view of
are called closing diph-
length, the diphthongs
into tvpes, draws attention to the common properties
(p. 237) are like long
thongs.

of each type, and notes the features which distinguish vowels; but the first part of • One type of closing diph-
a diphthong in English is thong moves in the direc-
one type from another. Becoming aware of the differ-
much longer and louder tion of an [i] quality atthe
ence between a pure vowel, a diphthong, and a than the second. When we front of the vowel area.
triphthong is a start (p. 239) but there, is much more to listen to the diphthong in These sounds are heard in

/hao//iow, for example, the words they/ei/, cry /ai/,

be said about the way vowels work in English. (The
most of the sound is taken and foy/.Ti/.
following examples are all from Received Pronun- up with the/a/ part, the • The other type of closing
ciation (RP, p. 365); regional variants are shown on glide to /u/being quite
diphthong moves in the
short and rapid.
pp. 240-1.) direction of an [u] quality
The eightdiphthongs
A particularly important factor is length (symbol- at the back of the vowel
are usually grouped into
area (and thus adds some
ized by [:]). When we listen to the 12 pure vowels, it is three types, depending on
lip rounding). These
evident that five of them are relatively long in duration, the tongue movement
sounds are heard in the
involved.
and seven are relatively short. Moreover, in several cases words so /3U/ and how
• The first group ends with /au/.
length seems to relate pairs of vowels which are articu-
a glide towards the [s]
lated in roughly thesame part of the mouth. In the fol- vowel inthecentreof the The possibilities are shown

lowing examples, pairs of words are followed by the mouth, and are called cen- inthe diagram below. This
tring diphthongs. They are also shows the two types of
same consonant. If each word is given the same amount triphthong, formed by
heard in the words here
of emphasis, there is no doubt that the vowel in /si:t/ /]s/, air/es/, and sure /us/. adding a central glideto
seat is much longer than that in /sit/ sit; and similar The remainder end with a the closing diphthongs.

effects can be heard in /i'u:d/ food vs Igud/ good, /dom/,

dawn vs /don/ don, and /la:(r)d/ lard/vs \sed/ lad. There
is also a length difference between h:/ and h/, though
as the former occurs only in stressed syllables in RP
{bird servant), and the latter only in unstressed sylla-
bles (above, butter), this is not a contrast which enables
a difference of meaning to be expressed.
The contrast between long and short vowels is not
just one of length (quantity); a different place of articu-
lation (quality) is involved. This is why Gimson, for

example, in his transcription gives different symbols to

these pairs of vowels (i'v.l vs hi, etc.) -drawing attention
to the quality differences between them (p. 237). If
length were the only factor, a transcription of /i:/ vs I'll

would suffice.
 PART IV • SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

VOWEL LOCATIONS AND VARIATIONS the RP location of each vowel (in black) and the many variants reflecting differences in age, social
location of major variants (in red). Diphthongal background, sex, and other factors. The vowel
This table gives a brief description of how each movements are shown by an arrow; pure vowels qualities referred to in the regional variant
English vowel is articulated, using Received by a dot. column, therefore, are intended to be illustrative,
Pronunciation (RP, p. 365) as the reference model. Comments about regional variation should be not representative: they relate to just one of the
To put this accent in perspective, the table also lists interpreted with caution: to say that an RP vowel is accents which are commonly associated with a
just a few of the hundreds of local and interna- diphthongized (p, 237) in Scots, forexample, does region. Further details about regional norms can
tional regional variations which affect each vowel, not mean that this particular quality is to be found be found in §20, and a historical perspective is
as well as some of the variations which are found in a// varieties of Scots. Any major regional dialect given in §7.
within RP itself. The cardinal vowel diagrams show area presents a complex phonetic picture, with

Vowels Articulation Some regional variants Vowels Articulation Some regional variants

Front of tongue Often diphthongized Part of tongue Centralized variants

raised to slightly in RP with a slight nearer centre than common (e.g. Scots,
below and behind glide from a more cen- front raised to just Northern Ireland);
close front position; tral position; notice- above half-close often replaced by [a]
lips spread; tongue ableglide [3i:] in position; lips loosely in RP in unstressed
tense; side rims make several UK accents spread; tongue lax; syllables.
firm contact with Birm-
(e.g. Liverpool, rimsmakelight con-
upper molars. ingham, London), and tact with upper
in broad Australian; molars.
shorter in Scots.

Front of tongue Various diphthongized Front of tongue IVIore open and

raised to between forms, such as [ei] in raised to just below centralized [a] variants
half-open and half- Cockney, [es] in half-open position; in N England, Wales;
close positions; lips refined RP lips neutrally open; diphthongized [iss] in
loosely spread; rims make very slight refined RP; triphthon-
tongue tenser than contactwith upper gized in some rural
for/i/; rims make back molars. American (man
light contact with /meisn/).
upper molars.

Centre of tongue Further back in many Tongue between Fronted to [a:] in many
raised tojust above older RP speakers; centre and back in varieties, e.g. Liver-
fully open position; more open and front fully open position; pool, broad Australian;
lips neutrally open; in Cockney; half-close lips neutrally open; further back in refined
no contact between back in N England, no contact between RP ('far back'); shorter
tongue and upper often rounded [u]. rimsand upper inAmerican [rj-pro-
molars. molars. nouncing accents
(p. 93).

Backof tongue in No lip rounding in Back of tongue Often a triphthong in

open position;
fully American; lengthened raised between half- Cockney (four/foius/);
open lip
slight, and closer variant in open and half-close closer lip rounding in
rounding; no contact conservative RP (off as positions; medium lip refined RP; length
between rims and /3:f/'orff') and Cock- rounding; no contact reduced in parts of
upper molars, ney. between rimsand USA (especially New
upper molars. England).

Tongue nearer Little variation, apart Backof tongue Front rounded variant
centre than back, from some reduced lip below
raised to just marked in Scots;
raised tojust above rounding; longer and close position; lips centralized and
half-close position; closer in Scots and closely rounded; diphthongized in
lips closely but some N England tongue tense; no Cockney.
loosely rounded; accents. firm contact
tongue lax; no firm between rimsand
contact between upper molars.
rimsand upper
molars.
 17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

Vowels Articulation Some regional variants Vowels Articulation Some regional variants

Centreof tongue Closer in Birmingham, Centreof tongue Only in unstressed

raised between half- Liverpool, Australian; raised between half- syllables in RP; replaces
close and half-open; more open in conser- close and half-open; /.\/ as a stressed vowel
lips neutrally spread; vative RP; shorter lips neutrally spread; in many regional
no firm contact when followed by [r] in no firm contact accents; replaced by
between rims and Scots, SW England, between rims and stronger vowel quali-
upper molars. American; diphthon- upper molars. ties in Caribbean and
gized in some regional other stress-timed
American (b/rd /baid/). accents (p. 249).

Diphthongs

Glide begins from Noticeably more Glide beg ins slightly Considerable variation
slightly below half- open element in
first behind front open in first element, both

close front position, Cockney and broad position, moves further forward and
moves upwards and Australian; monoph- upwards towards (i); further back; often
backwards
slightly thongized to le:] in lips change from centralized, e.g. in
towards [i]; lips many British accents; neutral to loosely Canadian; further back
spread. closer start and more spread; obvious clos- and often rounded in
central second ing movement of the broad Australian;
element in Caribbean lower jaw. monophthongized to
(Jamaica /d^amieka/). [i:] in some Scots (d/e

[di:])andto [a:], or
with a vi/eak glide, in S
USA (part of the
'southern drawl').

Glide begins Closer first element in Glide begins in cen- element more
First

between back half-
open and open
positions, moves
upwardsandfor-
wardstowards [i];
lips open rounded
changing to neutral.
Cockney; more open tral position
in conservative RP; between half-close
longer first element and half-open,
in S USA. moves upwards and
back towards [0]; lips
neutral changing to
slightly rounded.
rounded and further
back in conservative RP
and Dublin; tendency
to monophthongize in
RP (goal [g3:l]); more
open start in broad
Australian, and also in
Cockney, where the
glide is more exten-
sive, with little or no lip
rounding.

Glidebegins First element fronted Glide begins in posi- More open first ele-
between back and in Cockney and broad tion ^ox moves
hi, ment in conservative
open positions,
front Australian, and more backwards and RP; second element
moves upwards and noticeable rounding downwards towards sometimes strong in
backwards
slightly on second element; /?/; lips neutral, with 'affected' RP (here
towards [u); lips unrounded fronted slight movement /hjay).

change from second element in from spread to open.

neutrally open to 'royal family' RP
slightly rounded; (house Ihais]; mono-
jaw movement quite phthongized close
extensive. rounded vowel in Scots
(houselhu:s)); first ele-
ment fronted towards
mid-open in West
Country and Dublin;
centralized first

element in Canada
(p. 342).

Glide begins in half- Closer start in Cockney; ha/ Glide beginsin posi- Much variation in RP,

open front position, much moreopen in moves

tion for /u/, with more open first

moves backwards refined RP; centralized forwards and down- element; often
towards/3/; lips neu- long vowel in Birming- wards towards /?/; monophthongized to
trally open through- ham [3:]; moreopen lips weakly rounded \y.], so that sure
out. long vowel in Liver- becoming neutrally appears as [Ja:] 'shaw'.
pool [e;]; closer long spread.
vowel in Scots [e:].
 ,

PARI' IV • SPOKl-N AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

more vibrant than the one at the end of ooze jw.zl (to CONSONANT
CONSONANTS voice this lully would produce an unnatural buzzing
FREQUENCY
effect at the end of the word). A study of the frequency of
consonants in a sample of
The difference between the number of letters and • An alternative way of capturing the difference
conversational RP gave the
sounds found in English, so dramatic in the case of between such consonant pairs as /p/ and /b/ is to com- following results:

vowels (p. 237), is far less significant in the case of con- pare the force with which they are articulated. Voice- % %
sonants. There are 21 consonant letters in the written less consonants are produced with much greater force

alphabet (B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, than their voiced counterparts, and the terms fortis
M
T, V, W, X, Y, Z), and there are 24 consonant sounds ('strong') and lenis ('weak') have come to be used to
in most English accents. The difficult}' of transcribing identify the two types. Thus, /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /9/, /s/,

speech is therefore less serious, as most of the written /J/, and /f/ are all fortis consonants; /b/, /d/, /g/, hi
symbols can be assigned individual phonetic values, Idt, Izi , III , and Id^l are all lenis.

and the resulting transcription thus looks much more • Unlike vowels, some consonants are primarily iden-
immediately readable than that of vowels. However, tified through their use of the nasal cavity. Normally,
because of the erratic history of English spelling, there in English, when we speak we keep the soft palate
is no neat one-to-one correlation between letters and (p. 236) raised, so that it presses against the back of the
sounds. In several cases, one consonant sound is throat and allows no air out through the nose. With the
spelled by more than one letter (e.g. th in this) or one three nasal consonants, /m/, /n/, and /r)/, however, the
consonant letter symbolizes more than one sound soft palate remains lowered (as it is when we breathe),
(e.g. X in^x/foks/). There are thus two answers to the and the result is a series of sounds with a distinctive
question, 'How many consonants are there at the nasal resonance.
beginning or end of the word thickV: 'Two' (in writ-

ing); 'One' (in speech, /6ik/). Consonant or vowel

The distinction between consonant and vowel is fun-
Describing consonants damental, but some sounds sit uneasily between the
All consonants have certain properties in common, two, being articulated in the same way as vowels, but
which identify them in contrast to vowels (p. 238). functioning in the language in the same way as conso-
• From a phonetic point of view (p. 236), they are nants, /j/ as in yes and /w/ as in we are like this, /j/ is

articulated in one of two ways: either there is a closing formed like a very short [i] vowel (as can be heard if we
movement of one of the vocal organs, forming such a draw out y oi yes) but it occurs at the beginning of
t.h.t ,

narrow constriction that it is possible to hear the sound the word, as do other consonants {yes, mess, best). Sim-
of the air passing through; or the closing movement is ilarly, /w/ is formed like a short [u] vowel, but acts as a

complete, giving a total blockage. The closing move- consonant [we, me, see). These two consonants are

ment may involve the lips, the tongue, or the throat, therefore sometimes described as semi-vowels.
but in each case the overall effect is very different from Certain other consonants are also somewhat vowel-
the relatively open and unimpeded articulation lound like, in that they can be sounded continuously without
in vowels. any audible friction: the three nasals, /m/, /n/, and /r)/,

• From a phonological point of view (p. 236), they are /]/ as in lie, and /r/ as in red. These can all be classed
units ot the sound system which typically occupy the together as (frictionless) continuants or sonorants,
edges of a syllable (the margins, p. 246), as in dogs within which the four oral items (/I/, /r/, /w/, /j/) are
/dogs/ and glad /gted/. They may also appear in often recognized as forming a distinct group.
sequences (clusters), as these examples show. In fact, up
to three consonants may be used together at the begin-
ning of a spoken word in English (as in string), and up
to four consonants at the end, though not always very
comfortably (as in twelfths /twelfBs/ and glimpsed
/glimpst/).
• Some consonants involve the vibration of the vocal
cords: these are the w/Vf^ consonants, such as /b/ and
/m/. Others have no vocal cord vibration: these are the
w/cf/ew consonants, such as /p/ and /s/. The distinc-
tion is not absolute: depending on where in a word a

consonant appears, there may be degrees of voicing. At

the end of a word, for example, a voiced consonant typ-
ically loses a great deal of its vibration (it is devoiced).
The /z/ sound at the beginning of zoo /zu:/ is much
 17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

TYPES OF CONSONANT behind the alveolar ridge, as in /r/ (for some accents). • Affricate: a complete closure is made at some
• Retroflex: using the tongue tip curled back to well point in the mouth, with the soft palate raised; air
All English consonants are made with an air-stream behind the alveolar ridge, as in /r/ (for some accents). pressure builds up behind the closure, which isthen
from the lungs moving outwards (unlike certain • Palato-alveolar: using the blade (and sometimes released relatively slowly (compared with the
consonants in some other languages, which use the tip) of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, suddenness of a plosive release), as in /![/ and /CI5/.
other types of air-stream). To differentiate the 24 with a simultaneous raising of the front of the Intermittent closure
consonants from each other, phoneticians use a tongue towards the roof of the mouth, asin/|/and • Roller fr///; the tongue tip taps rapidly against the

classification based on the place and manner of /V, and the second elements in/lj/and/d^/.
articulation, in addition to the criteria of whether • Palatal: raising the front of the tongue close to the
they are voiced or voiceless and oral or nasal, as hard palate, as in /j/.
described on the facing page. (For the names and • Velar: raising the back of the tongue against the
locations of the vocal organs, see the diagram on soft palate, as in and /i]/.
/k/, /g/,
p. 236. For a full description of each individual • Glottal: using the space between the vocal cords
teeth ridge, as in the 'trilled /r/' heard in some
regional accents; a trill in which the back of the
tongue taps against the uvula is also sometimes
heard regionally and in some idiosyncratic 'weak r'
pronunciations.
• Flap: a single tap is made by the tongue tip against

consonant, see pp. 244-5.) tomake audible f rirtion, as in /h/, or a closure, as in the alveolar ridge, as in some pronunciations of /r/
the glottal stop (in some accents). and/d/.
Place of articulation Partial closure
We need to know where in the vocal tract the sound Manner of articulation •Lateral: a partial closure is made by the blade of
made, and which vocal organs are involved. The
is We need to know how/ the sound is made, at the the tongue against the alveolar ridge, in such a way
important positions for English are the following: various locations in the vocal tract. Four phonetic that the air stream is able to flow around the sides
possibilities are recognized. of the tongue, as in /I/.
• Bilabial: using both lips, as in /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/. Total closure Narrowing
• Labio-dental: using the lower lip and the upper • Plosive: a complete closure is made at some point • Fricative: Two vocal organs come so close together
teeth,asin/f/,/v/. in the vocal tract, with the soft palate raised; air that the movement of air between them can be
• tongue tip between the teeth or
Dental: using the pressure builds up behind the closure, which is then heard, as in /f/, M, /H/, /(V, /s/, /z/, /J/, /y, /h/, and the

close to the upper teeth, as in /B/ and /d/. released explosively, as in /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, the second element in /tf/ and /d^/. The consonants /s/,
• Alveolar: using the blade of the tongue close to the elements of /If/ and /d^/, and the glottal stop.
first and /y have a sharper sound than the others,
/z/, /}/,

alveolar ridge, as in /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /I/, and the first • complete closure is made at some point in
Nasal: a because they are made with a narrower groove in
elements oil^/ and /dy. the mouth, with the soft palate lowered, so that air the tongue, and are often grouped together as
• Post-alveolar: using the tongue tip close to just escapes through the nose, as in /m/, /n/, /r)/. sibilants.

CONSONANT COMBINATIONS and /ski-/ are highly restricted, appearing only with certain
vowels.
The 24 consonants found in RP and many other accents the consonant-vowel combinations which make the
It is

may be used singly or in combination in syllables and words table particularly interesting. Is there really no word in
- but only a fraction of the millions of possible combin- the language (using an RP accent) beginning with three
ations actually occur. The table shows the possibilities for consonants and followed by /or/? No /spl.ii-/? /sprsi-/?
three-consonant combinations at the beginning of a word, /stroi-/? Or again, is there no /splau-/? No /skwa:/? It is
using data derived from the English Pronouncing fairly easy to check out the possibilities intuitively fo
Dictionary. These are: short words, though even here it is surprising how many
technical or rare words can be found with unusual initial
s -^
p -I- I, r,
j clusters, such as squamous and sclerosis. Proper names also

s ^ t -^ r,
j
extend the range somewhat; for example, there seems to
s -I- k -f I, r, w be nothing for /strao/ except Stroud (and thus strouding)
j,
and Strauss. The uncertain status of new loan words
In other words, the sequence is /s/ + a fortis plosive + one (p. 1 26) and the existence of mixed accents with variant
of the continuants (see above). Outside of this system, pronunciations (§21) also make it difficult to be absolutely
there is, in addition, a single example of /smj-/ - the name definite that a particular consonant combination does
of a bird, the smew. However, of the 12 possible CCC not exist.
sequences, three (/spw-, sti-, stw-/) do not occur, and /CCj/ (After A. C. Gimson,1970, 2nd edn of Gimson 1962.)
 .

PART IV • SPOKEN ANO WRITTEN ENGLISH

CONSONANT LOCATIONS AND VARIATIONS

This table gives a brief description of how each English
consonant is articulated, using Received Pronunciation
(RP, p. 365) as the reference model. To put this accent in
perspective, the chief regional and social variations vs/hich
4
affect certain consonants are also listed. The diagrams show
place of articulation only. As with vowels (p. 240), comments
about regional variation are illustrative, not representative,
and should be interpreted with caution. For further
discussion of variation, see §20; historical developments are
summarized on pp. 18, 42.

Articulation: Dental fricatives: soft palate raised;

tongue tip and rims make light contact with edge and
Articulation: Bilabial plosives: soft palate raised;
inner surface of upper incisors, and a firmer contact
complete closure made by the upper and lower lip; /p/
with upper sideteeth; tip protrudes between teeth for
voiceless, /b/voiced (and devoiced in word-final
some speakers; /B/ voiceless, /5/ voiced (and devoiced
position); /p/ fort is, /b/ lenis.
in word-final position); /9/ fortis, /<)/ lenis; lip position

Some regional variants: No important regional depends on adjacent vowel (spread in thief, heath,
variants, though the amount of aspiration (the force /e,d/ rounded in though, oath).
b/ of air following the release of /p/) and the degree of
/p. Some regional variants: In Cockney and London-
voicing can vary.
influenced varieties, replaced by labio-dental /f/and
replaced by a dental /t/ and /d/; often
/v/; in Irish,
Articulation: Alveolar plosives; soft palate raised;
omitted in clusters in informal speech (e.g. /kiauz/
complete closure made by the tongue tip and rims for clothes).
against the alveolar ridge and side teeth; /t/ voiceless,
/d/ voiced (and devoiced in word-final position); /t/
Articulation: Alveolar fricatives: soft palate raised;
fortis, /d/ lenis; lip position influenced by adjacent
tongue tip and blade make light contact with alveolar
vowel (spread for tee, meat; rounded for too, foot); ridge, and rims make close contact with upper side
tongue position influenced by a following consonant, teeth; air escapes along a narrow groove in the centre
/t.d/ becoming further back (post-alveolar) in try, dental in of the tongue; /s/ voiceless, /z/ voiced (and devoiced in
eighth; when in final position in a syllable or word,
word-final position); /s/ fort is, /z/ lenis; lip position
they readily assimilate (p. 247) to /p, k/or/b, g/if
depends on adjacent vowel (spread in see, ease,
followed by bilabial or velar consonants. /s.z/ rounded in soup, ooze).
Some regional variants: American, and often in
In
Some regional variants: UK West Country /s/ weakly
informal speech generally, /t/ between vowels is a
articulated, approaching [z]; several deviant forms in
lenis, rapid tap, resembling [d ]; dental in Irish;
speech pathology, especially the use of [6] and [d] for
affricate release as [ts] or [dz] in some urban UK
/s/and/z/respectively(an interdental lisp).
dialects (Liverpool, Cockney) and rish;/t/ replaced by
I

glottal stop[?] between vowels and before/ /(as in 1

Articulation: Palato-alveolar fricatives: soft palate

bottle) very noticeable in Cockney, Glasgow English,
raised; tongue tip and blade make light contact with
and urban speech generally; glottal stop increasingly alveolar ridge, while front of tongue raised towards
heard in RP, especially replacing/t/before/n/(as in
hard palate, and rims put in contact with upper side
button) and in final position (as in shut the gate)
teeth; /J/voiceless, /s/ voiced (and devoiced in word-
final position); /J/ fortis, /3/ lenis, but both sounds laxer
Articulation: Velar plosives: soft palate raised;
than /s/ and /z/; lip rounding influenced by adjacent
complete closure made by the back of the tongue
/J. 3/ vowel (spread in she, beige, rounded in shoe, rouge),
aga inst the soft palate; /k/ voiceless, /g/ voiced (and
but some speakers always round their lips for these
devoiced in word-final position); / k/ fort is, /g/ lenis; lip
sounds.
position influenced by adjacent vowel (spread for
keen, meek, rounded for cool, book; also, quality Some regional variants: No important regional
variesdependingon the following vowel (/k/in keen variation; some speakers vary between these sounds
/k.g/ is much further forward, approaching the hard palate, and/sj/or/zj/in the middle of such words as /ssue,
than/k/in car). casual; also usage variation with /si/ or /zi/ as in
appreciate, ratio; /J/ and /j/ are themselves
Some regional variants: No important regional
alternatives in version, Asia, and several other words;
variations, apart from some variation in aspiration
word-final position
/j/ often replaced by/cl5/ in (e.g.
and voicing (as with /p/and/b/).
garage, rouge).

Articulation: Glottal fricative: soft palate raised; air

Articulation: Labio-dental fricatives: soft palate
from lungs causes audible friction as it passes through
raised; light contact made by lower lip against upper
the open glottis, and resonates through the vocal tract
teeth; /f / voiceless, /v/ voiced (and devoiced in word- with a quality determined chiefly by the position of the
final position); /f /fortis, /v/ lenis.
tongue taken up for the following vowel; voiceless
Some regional variants: UK West Country/f/ weakly with some voicing when surrounded by vowels (aha).
articulated, approaching [v];/f/ in of often omitted in Some regional variants: Occurs only in syllable initial
informal speech (capo' tea), as is the /v/ in auxiliary /h/ (followed by [i]
/f,v/ position, before a vowel; omitted in many regional
have {could have). vowel)
accents, and widely considered the chief sign of
'uneducated' British speech; usage variation in initial

unaccented syllable (e.g. an hotel vs a hotel).

 17 THE SOUND SYSTEM
Affricates
Articulation: Palato-alveolar affricates: soft palate
raised; for the first element, closure made by the
tongue tip, blade, and rims against the alveolar ridge
and side teeth; at the same time, front of the tongue is
raised towards the hard palate, so that when the
closure released the air escapes to give a palato-
is
alveolar quality; /tf/ voiceless, /d5/ voiced; /f/fortis,
/f,(^/ {stop phase /d5/leni5; lip position influenced by following vowel
(spread for clieap, rounded for choose), though some
only)
speakers always round their lips for these sounds.
Some regional variants: No important regional
variation; some RPspeakers replace them by/tj/and
/dj/ (in such words as statue, tune, due).
Articulation: Bilabial nasal: soft palate lowered; a
total closure made
by the upper and lower lip; voiced,
with only occasional devoicing (notably, after[s], as in
smile); labio-dental closure when followed by Ml or
comfort; vowel-like nature allows/ m/to be
Ivl, as in
used with a syllabic function (p. 246), in such words as
bottom /botr]!/.
/m/
Some regional variants: No important regional or
social variations.
Nasals
Articulation: Bilabial nasal: soft palate lowered;
closure made by tongue tip and rims against the
alveolar ridge and upper side teeth; voiced, with only
occasional devoicing (notably, after [s], as in snap); lip
position influenced by adjacent vowel (spread in
rounded noon); much affected bythe place of
in
articulation of thefollowing consonant (e.g. often
labio-dental closure when followed by /f/ or /v/ (as in
infant), bilabial when followed by/p/or/b/);vowel-
like nature allows/n/ to be used with a syllabic
function in such words as button /bMn/.
Some regional variants: No important regional
social variations.
Articulation: Velar nasal: soft palate lowered; voiced;
closure formed between the back of the tongue and
the soft palate; further forward if preceded by front
vowel (sing, compared with bang); lip position
depends on preceding vowel (spread in sing, rounded
in song); this is the normal nasal sound before /k/ or
/g/ in such words as sink and angry, despite having
only an n in the spelling.
Some regional variants: Heard as [ijg] in Midlands
and N England (s/ng/ng as /sir|gir|g/); ending -ing
replaced by /in/ in conservative RP(/iunf/n' and
and widely in regional speech (now
stiootin')
perceived as uneducated in the UK).
Oral continuants
Articulation: Lateral: soft palate raised; closure made
by tongue tip against centre of alveolar ridge, and air
escapes round either or both sides; voiced, with
devoicing chiefly after f ortis consonants (as in please,
sleep); front of tongue simultaneously raised in
direction of hard palate, giving a front-vowel
resonance in such words as RP leap ('clear I'); back of
/I/ (clear [ID
tongue raised in direction of soft palate, giving a back
vowel resonance in such words as RPpoo/Cdarkl'); lip
position depends on adjacent vowel (spread in leap,
peel, rounded in loop, pool); vowel-like nature allows
/I/to be used with a syllabic function in such words as
bottle /bat)/.
Some regional variants: In RR clear / occurs before a
vowel or/j/, and dark
/in other places, but there is
much variation; dark /often becomes a back vowel in
Cockney, especially with lip rounding, so that pee/
becomes more like [pi:o], and this is also heard in
some RP, especially London-influenced speech (as in
careful, beautiful); dark in all positions in some Scots
/
/l/(dark[i]) and much American; clear /in all positions in some
Irish; American uses syllabic/)/ where RP has a
noticeable vowel (e.g. in fertile, missile).
Articulation: Post-alveolar approximant (or
f rictionless continuant): soft palate raised; tongue tip
held closeto(but not touching) the back of the
alveolar ridge; back rims touch the upper molars;
central part oftongue lowered; lip position
influenced by following vowel (spread in reach,
rounded in room); becomes a fricative when preceded
by/d/(as in drive); becomes a tap between vowels and
after some consonants (as in very, sorry, three); voiced,
with devoicing after /p/, /t/, /k/ (as in pry); lip position
influenced by following vowel (spread in reed,
rounded in rude), but some speakers always give /r/
some rounding.
Some regional variants: More variants than any other
consonant; major division (p. 305) into accents which
use /r/ after vowels (rhotic accents) and those which do
not {non-rhotic accents); tongue tip curled back
{retroflexed) in much American, South Asian, 5W
England, the/r/articulation colouring the preceding
vowel (in bird, girl); lingual trill or roll against the
neat, alveolar ridge in some Scots, Welsh, and may be heard
in stylized speech anywhere (as in dramatic
declamation); uvulartrill or fricative in NE England
and some Scots; replacement by /w/ (red/wed/)
fashionable in England in early 19th century; use as a
linking or intrusive sound may attract social criticism
(p. 366).
or Articulation: Labio-velar semi-vowel: soft palate
raised; tongue in the position of a close back vowel;
lips rounded, with greater tension than for [u:]
(compare woes and ooze); voiced, with some
devoicing after f ortis consonants [twice, sweet).
Some regional variants: Several dialects (such as
Scottish), and also conservative RP have a voiceless
variant [hw] or [m] such words as iv/i//e, and this
in
may be contrastive (Wales vs whales); also common
regionally (very noticeable in Cockney) is a strong [w]
element replacing a vowel in such words as door
[dows]; forms such as flower [flaws] may also be
heard in modified RP.
Articulation: Palatal semi-vowel; soft palate raised;
tongue in the position of a front close vowel; lip
position influenced by following vowel (spread in
year, rounded in you); greater tension than for [ i :
]
(compare yeast and east); voiced, with some devoicing
after f ortis consonants (pure, huge).
Some regional variants: Variation between/ju:/and
/u:/in RP after certain consonants, especially/l/and
/s/ (su/t as /sju:t/and /suit/; sa/uteas/salju:t/and
/saluit/); /j/variant now less common, and absent in
most regional accents; variation between /sj, zj, tj, dj/
and /J, 3, if, ct5/insuch words as /ssue, usual, statue,
and educate; also common regionally is a strong [j]
element replacing a vowel in such words as where
[wejs].
 PARI- IV • SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

we may say to someone who is protesting too much.

SYLLABLES And if we want to emphasize a point, or speak plainly,
we may well try to 'put it in words of one syllable'.
Vowels and consonants typically do not act alone; People are also able to count the number of syllables in

thete are very few words or word-like noises which a word, by beating out its rhythm. The rule is basically
one sound (they include simple: each syllable contains one vowel or vowel-like A speech bubble from Comic
consist of only /, eye, oh, m).
Cuts, popular among young
The vast majorit)' of English words contain a combi- nucleus. The word despitehas two such nuclei, so there British children in the 1940s.
CV
nation of vowels (V) and consonants (C), such as are two syllables. The word polysyllabichas five nuclei, The writers have introduced
a system of syllable division,
t^o), VC {up), CVC (cat), CCVCC (stops), and CCCV so there are five syllables. However, there are several
presumably believing that
(screw, p. 243). The combined units are called syllables. t}'pes of word (notably, those which contain diph- this will help children to
In the above examples the words each contain only one thongs or triphthongs, p. 239) where it can be difficult read.

such unit, and are thus often called monosyllables, or deciding just how many syllables there are. Is

monosyllabic words. This notion contrasts with words meteoric four syllables (me—te—o—ric) or three
that contain more than one syllable (poly- (me—teo—ric)^. Is several three syllables or two
syllabic words) — most of the words in the language, in (se-ve-ral or sev—ral)'i Is being two syllables
fact. The present sentence contains instances of a two- (be-ing) or one? Regional accent, speed of
syllable (disyllabic) word, despite IdK^anl (CVCCVC), speech, level of formality, and context of use can
and a three-syllable (trisyllabic) word, instances Imstan- all influence these decisions. For example, the
siz/ (VCCCVCCVC), and the previous sentence has a number of syllables we assign to such words can
five-syllable word, polysyllabic /pohisilabik/, which depend on whether they are being spoken
despite its length has a simple syllabic structure spontaneously or read aloud, and on whether
(CVCVCVCVCVC). they are being said with emphasis, emotion, or
People know about syllables. 'Not another syllable!' equanimit)'.

SYLLABLE STRUCTURE the nucleus. These make up jumped is CVCCC (not

the syllable coda: am, ants, CVCCVC), and fox is CVCC syllable
The structure of English eel. They are traditionally (not CVC).
spoken syllables can be sum- known as 'closed syllables'.
marized asfollows: • Many syllables have both Syllabic consonants
an onset and a coda: cat, There one exception to the
is

• Minimally, a syllable con- jump. rule that a syllable must have

sists of a vowel, or a vowel- • The combination of nucleus a vowel as its nucleus. This
like sound (see below), which and coda has a special signifi- occurs when certain vowel-
acts as the nucleus, centre, or cance, making upthe likeconsonants -/I/, /r/, or a
peaJt of the syllable:/, or, rhyming property of a sylla- -
nasal act as the centre of
ooh. Very rarely, a syllable ble: cat, sat, jump, clump. the syllable, as in bottle
can consist of a consonant: /hot!/,bottom /botm/, nucleus
m,shh. In analysing syllable struc- button /b.\tn/, and (in those (centre, peak)
• Many syllables have one or ture inthisway, it is impor- accents which pronounce /r/,
more consonants preceding tant to look for the p. 245) perhaps /prhaps/. In

the nucleus. These make up
the syllable onset: me, so,
play. Traditionally, they are
known as 'open syllables'.
•Many syllables have one or
pronunciation behind a
word's spelling. Although
ooze ends in a written vowel,
it ends in a spoken conso-
nant, and its structure is VC.
each case, the syllabic conso- the consonants would revert speech. (However, there are
nant is shown by a small ver- to their normal coda value afew regional accents -in
tical mark beneath the (suchas/bnt?!/); but these some parts of Wales, for
symbol. In a very slow articu- pronunciations are highly example- where the avoid-
lation of these words, the artif icial, and would never be ance of syllabic consonants is

more consonants following Similarly, a// is VC (not VCC), vowels would re-appear, and heard in usual conversational normal.)

SYLLABLE BOUND-A-RIES/ because there are no syllables in former analysis. If we follow our do not necessarily correspond to

BOUN-DA-RIES English which begin with the conso- grammatical instinct, and divide syllabicboundaries in speech. The
nant sequence /ksirs/. Similarly, a between the base form and the inflec- following examples come from
It is one thing to be able to count the division between /ekstr/ and /a/ tion (p. 204), we will preferthe latter. Webster's Third New International
number of syllables in a word. It is would feel unnatural. But /ek/ • There are three syllables in bound- Dictionary, where the editor is reflec-
quite another to decide where the +/stra/, /eks/ + /in/, and /ekst/ + /rs/ ary, but again we have the choice of a ting general publishing practice.
boundaries between the syllables are all possible. People usually prefer division on phonetic grounds (after n)
should go. English is full of cases either of the first two options here, or on grammatical grounds (after d), aber'deen'shire ab-er-do-nj-an
where alternative analyses are but there no obvious way of decid-
is preserving a semantic link with ab-er-rance abet'tor
possible. ing between them. bound. abeyance
• There are two syllables \n standing,
• There are two syllables in extra but is the division to be made Hyphenation points There is no division after the a or ab
/ekstrs/, but where should the between stan and ding or standand Some dictionaries add a mark to rec- of abettor, for example, because pub-
boundary between them fall? It is ingl If we follow our phonetic ommend where a printed word may lishers would be unlikely to insert a
unlikely that people would opt for a instinct, and go for two evenly bal- be hyphenated if it appears at the line-break at those points in the
division between /e/and /kstra/. anced CVC syllables, we will prefer the end of a line. However, these points word.
 17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

CONNECTED SPEECH ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE

Several features of con-
Vowel and consonant segments combine into sylla- nected speech can be seen in

this acoustic display of a sen-

bles; syllables combine into words; and words com-
tence, using a machine
bine into phrases and sentences. But the process of known as a speech spectro-
producing connected speech affects the pronuncia- graph. Time is displayed hori
zontally; the utterance lasts
tion of several of these segments in a number of inter- for just overtwo seconds.
esting ways. Certain segments have a tendency to run The acoustic frequency of the speech •There is a perceptible pause after anyway,

together; extra segments may be added to ensure sounds is displayed vertically, and their but otherwise the words have no silences
intensity is shown by the relative darkness between them. This is connected speech.
smoothness of speech; some segments adopt a less
of the marks. The vowels and vowel-like •There is elision of /h/in him, and a very
clearly defined phonetic form; and some completely sounds are darkest, and the different vowel rapid running together of sounds at that
an associated qualities can be clearly seen inthe changing point. It is difficult to see any vowel in him.
disappear. Each of these possibilities has
pattern of black bands (Jormants), which • The two /t/ sounds of not and to have
technical label from the domain of phonetics. (Pro- represent varying concentrations of acous- fused into one.
nunciations shown are those of Received Pronuncia- tic energy in the vocal tract. • The vowel of to is very short and weak.

tion, or RR p. 365.)

ASSIMILATION STRONG AND WEAK FORMS and

Adjacent sounds often influence each other so that they
become more alike, or assimilate. These effects are more
common in rapid speech, but some degree of assimilation
will be found in all spoken styles.
• In anticipatory (or regressive) assimilation, a sound
influenced by the sound which follows
ten balloons, /ten/ to be pronounced hem/, antic-
is likely
ipating the following bilabial consonant. In the greeting
goodnight, /gud/ is usually pronounced /gun/, as some-
Nearly 50 words in English can be pro-
nounced in two distinct ways, depending on
the degree of force with which they are
uttered. They are all words which perform a
is
grammatical function -determiners, pro-
it. In the phrase nouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, con-
junctions, and particles. Strong (or full)
forms are used when the word is said in iso-
lation or is being emphasized, l/l/eafcforms

times shown in writing: g'night. are normal in connected speech: peripheral

• In progress/Ve assimilation, a sound is influenced by the vowels (those which are articulated towards
sound which precedes it. The second word in bridge score the edge of the vowel area in the mouth,
would typically emerge (in RP) as /Jko:/, because of the p. 238) are replaced by those of a more cen-
tral quality, and some consonants may be
influence of the palatal element in the preceding

affricate (p. 245). Similarly, the second word in Church elided. Weak forms are sometimes repre-

Street would be found as /Jtriit/.

sented in writing, though not usually very
• A third possibility is coa/escence- a reciprocal influence, accurately (bacon 'neggs, cup o' coffee).
In the following examples, the strong
where two sounds fuse into a single new segment. In
won'ts/ie, the final /t/ and initial /J/ mutually assimilate forms are given on the left and the weak
to produce /f /, resulting in the fused unit, /wsonf i:/. forms on the right.

ELISION
As speech speeds up, sounds are likely to be left out, or
elided. This is especially so when clusters of consonants
occur. Indeed, some sequences are impossible to articu-
late naturally without elision. Try Henry the Sixth's three
advisers. Tongue twisters capitalize on these difficulties.
• Vowels weak syllables are often elided in informal
in

speech. unusual to hear the first vowel in such words

It is

as police, tomato, and correct, which routinely appear as

p'//ce, etc. A tip for novice public speakers is to give extra
weight to the vowels of their unstressed syllables.
• Consonants in clusters are commonly simplified. We are
unlikely to hear all three consonants articulated at the
end of the first word in -4cts of Parliament: /aks/ is

normal. Similarly, we will find next c/ay /neks dei/,

government/gAvanisnt/, and mashed potatoes /maj
psteitsuz/.
• Whole syllables may be elided, especially when there is

a repeated consonant, as in British English pronuncia-

tions of library and particularly: /laibri:/, /patikjuli:/.
•Some words are especially prone to elision, such as of
before consonants {cup o'tea, lots o' people). Other
examples include gonna {=going to), wanna (=wantto),
and the weak forms of auxiliary verbs (p. 212).
 PART IV • SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

ment and impatience, or (slowing down) emphasis

PROSODY and thoughtfulness. There is a great deal of difference
between No said in a clipped, definite tone ('Nope')
The sound system enables us to expiess meaning in and A'osaid in a drawled, meditative tone ('No-o-o').
speech in both verbal and non-verbal ways. Verbal And grammatical boundaries can often be signalled by
7Heaning {'what we say)on vowels and conso-
relies tempo variation, as when a whole phrase is speeded up
nants to construct words, phrases, and sentences. Non- to show that it is functioning as a single word {a take-

verbal meaning ("the way that we say it') makes use of it-or-leave-it situation).

such factors as intonation, rhythm, and tone of voice to

provide speech with much of its structure and expres-
siveness. As the old song wisely says, 'it ain't what you
NINE WAYS OF SAYING YES
say, it's the way that you say it'. So often, it is the non- No one has yet described all the nuances of meaning which can be conveyed by the intona-
verbal meaning which is the critical element in a com-
tion system. Even if we restrict the example to a single word iyes), and a single context (l/V/7/
you marry me?), it proves difficult to capture everything that is involved. (The accent repre-
munication. sented here The direction of pitch movement is shown between two parallel
isRP, p. 365.
lines,which represent the upper and lower limits of the speaker's pitch range. The commen-
tary indicates the tone's general meaning, and parenthetically remarks on the likelihood of
Prosodic features
its use in nuptial circumstances.)
How many 'ways' are there to say things? The chief pos-
sibilities are dictated by the main auditory properties of low fall
sound: pitch, loudneis, and speed. These properties, used The most neutral tone; a detached, unemotional statement of fact.
singly or in combination (in the

accompanied by the distinctive use of silence (in the

form of rhythm), and
^ (Unlikely, though it could be quite a dramatic answer, after tempestuous
preliminaries.)

form oi pause), make up i\\e prosody ot prosodic features full fall

of the language. This is a much broader sense of Emotionally involved; the highertheonset of thetone, the more involved
the speaker; choice of emotion (surprise, excitement, irritation) depends
'prosody' than is to be found in poetry, where it refers
on the speaker's facial expression. (Possible, especially if accompanied by
only to the study of metrical patterning (p. 415). other tones of voice, such as breathiness.)

• The most important prosodic effects are those con- mid fall
veyed by the linguistic use of pitch movement, or Routine, uncommitted comment; detached and unexcited. ('I'm thinking
about it.' Wedding bellsseem unlikely.)
melody - the intonation system. Different pitch levels

(tones) are used in particular sequences {contours) to low rise

express a wide range of meanings. Some of these mean- Facial expression important; with a 'happy' face, the tone is sympathetic
and friendly; with a 'grim' face, it is guarded and ominous. (Neither makes
ings can be shown in writing, such as the opposition
particular sense, in this context, though the speaker might bethinking,
between statement (
They're ready.) and question 'What's the catch?')
( They're ready?), but most intonational effects have no
equivalents in punctuation, and can be written down full rise
Emotionally involved, often disbelief or shock, theextent of the emotion
only through a special transcription.
depending on the width of the tone. (Unlikely though it might be used
• Loudness is used in a variety of ways. Gross differ- afterwards by the person popping the question, if he/she was not expect-
ences of meaning (such as anger, menace, excitement) ing to get a positive answer don't believe you've said yes'.)
'I

can be conveyed by using an overall loudness level.

high rise
More intricately, English uses variations in loudness to
Mild query or puzzlement; often used in echoing what has just been said.
define the difference between strong and weak [stressed (Unlikely, though it might be used to convey 'Are you sure you know what
and unstressed) syllables. The stress pattern of a word is you're saying?')

an important feature of the word's spoken identity:

level
thus we find nation, not nation; nationality, not Bored, sarcastic, ironic. (Unlikely. If used, it would haveto mean some-
nationality.There may even be contrasts of meaning thing like 'If really must' or give up', or possibly, 'Here we go again, the
I 'I

partly conveyed by stress pattern, as with record [the same old routine'.)

noun) and record {xhs verb). Stress patterns make an

fall-rise
important contribution to spoken intelligibility, and A strongly emotional tone; a straight or 'negative' face conveys uncer-
foreigners who unwittingly alter word stress can have tainty, doubt, or tentativeness; a positive face conveys encouragement or
urgency. (The latter is rather more likely than the former, which would be
great difficulty in making themselves understood
distinctly cagey, in this context. Maybe there are some conditions to be
(p. 249). met.)
• Varying the speed {or tempo) of speech is an impor-
rise-fall
tant but less systematic communicative feature. By
speeding up or slowing
syllables,
down
words, phrases, and sentences,
the rate at which

several kinds of meaning, such as (speeding up) excite-

we
we can convey
say
^ Strong emotional involvement; depending on the face, the attitude might
be delighted, challenging, or complacent. (Very likely. With a bit of
breathiness, the speaker can't wait.)
 -

17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

A REALLY INTERESTING HIGH RISE be associated with the function of a question?

INTONATION^ Any explanation needs to take into account the
descriptive findings of several recent linguistic
Prosody, and especially intonation, is an impor- studies. One such study found:
tant feature of sociolinguistic identity (§§20-21). A
well-known example is the way some regional
• Women used it twice as much as men.
English accents routinely use a rising tone at the
• Teenagers used it ten times more often than
people over 20, and people in the 20-30 age
end of statements, instead of the falling tone
found there in most parts of the English-speaking group used it five times as much as those over 70
• Working-class people used it three times as
world. Rising-tone accents, often described as
'musical' or 'lilting', include those typical of North-
much as middle-class people.
• Ethnic minorities used it two to three times more
ern Ireland, Wales, and parts of NE England.
recent years, attention has been drawn to the
In
often than membersof the majority group. Maori
speakers, for example, used up to 50 per cent more the country's new status had been achieved.
increasing use of a particular type of rising state-
ment intonation in what are traditionally known such tones than Europeans. • An alternative explanation is that the high rising
tone is used as a natural and widespread feature
to be falling-tone accents. This is the use of the Broadlyspeaking, two kinds of explanation
high rising contour. Here are some examples of of conversational interaction. A speaker might
its
have been proposed forthe phenomenon.
adapted from a recent study of New Zealand introduce it for any of several discourse reasons -
use,
The high • One hypothesis focuses on the social differences, as an informal check to see if the listener has
English intonation (S. Allan, 1990). rising
contour is shown by '. and suggests that the tone is preferred by the less understood, as a request for empathy or some
powerful membersof society. Itartsasan (uncon- other form of feedback, or even as an indication
...It just saves on the wear and tear of all the other that the speaker has not yet finished speaking.
scious) expression of uncertainty and lack of confi-
clothes'
dence, perhaps even of subservience and One recent phonetic study found that the tone
...and very rarely we get traffic round here'
it's
deference. This viewpoint has been particularly was actually not very common in speech situations
.the next day we went into Paddy's Market'
gender: one view of uncertainty, such as the giving of opinions
. .

debated by linguists in relation to

Although this usage has been noted in several argues that women have come to use the tone (arguing against the first hypothesis). Rather, it
other parts of the English-speaking world, it has because of their subservience to men. It is also a was particularly associated with narratives, espe-
certainly been a very noticeable feature of Aus- widely held view in relation to nationhood. In a cially with those parts of a story where the speaker
tralian and New Zealand English, at least since the Perth (Western Australia) radio programme in 1980, wished to heighten the interest of the listener. If

1960s, greater frequency in the latter

and its several members of a studio audience expressed the thisexplanation is correct, the social trends could
countrysuggeststhat it may well have originated view that Australians used the tone because of their be explained by variations in interactive aware-
there. uncertain and still evolving national identity. In ness and narrative skills. It will be interesting to see
Why is it used? Why should a statement end 1993 one Australian republican pundit went so far what future, post-republican studies reveal.
with an intonation pattern which would normally astopredictthat the tone would disappear once (After D. Britain & J. Newman, 1992.)

THE FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION RHYTHM PARALINGUISTIC

FEATURES
• Emotional Intonation's most obvious role is to express Features of pitch, loudness, speed, and silence
Prosody does not exhaust
attitudinal meaning - sarcasm, surprise, reserve, combine to produce the effect known as speech
all the non-verbal vocal
impatience, delight, shock, anger, interest, and thousands rhythm. Our sense of rhythm is a perception that there
effects available in
of other semantic nuances. are prominent units occurring at regular intervals as
English. The various cavi-
• Grammatical Intonation helps to identify grammatical we speak. In the main tradition of English poetry, this
ties ofthe throat, mouth,
structure in speech, performing a role similar to regularity is very clear, in the form of the metrical
and nose can each be
punctuation. Units such as clause and sentence (§16) often patterns used in lines of verse. The iambic pentameter,
used to produce 'tones of
depend on intonation for their spoken identity, and in particular, with its familiar five-fold te-tum pattern
voice'thatalterthe
several specific contrasts, such as question/statement, {The curfew tolls the knell of parting day), has given
meaning of what is being
make systematic use of it. the language its poetic heartbeat for centuries
said. These effects are
• Informational Intonation helps draw attention to what (p. 415).
often called paralinguis-
meaning is given and what is new in an utterance. The forms of spoken English have their rhythm,
All
tic-a term which sug-
word carrying the most prominent tone in a contour though in spontaneous speech it is often difficult to
gests that they play a less
signals the part of an utterance that the speaker is hear, because hesitations interfere with the smooth
central role in the sound
treating as new information: I've got a new pen, I bought flow of the words. In fluent speech, however, there is a
system than prosodic fea-
three boo/ts. clear underlying rhythm. This is often called a stress-
tures do.
• Textual Intonation helps larger units of meaning than timed (or isochronous) rhythm - one based on the use
The following exam-
the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news- of stressed syllables which occur at roughly regular
plesof paralinguistic
reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped intervals in the stream of speech. It contrasts with the
effects are accompanied
through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes syllable-timed rhythm of a language such as French,
by a gloss indicating the
in prosody reflect the progress of the action. where the syllables have equal force, giving a marked
context in which they
• Psychological Intonation helps us to organize speech rat-a-tat-a-tat effect.
one of though commonly occur.
into units that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most The history of English is stress-timing,
people would find a sequence of ten numbers (4, 7, 3, 8, 2, there are signs of the alternative rhythm emerging in • whisper - secrecy or
6,4, 8, 1, 5) difficult to recall; the task is made easier by parts of the world where English has been in contact conspiracy,
using intonation to chunk the sequence into two units with syllable-timed languages, such as India and South •breathiness-deep
(4,7,3,8,2/6,4,8, 1,5). Africa. Syllable-timed English, however, is difficult for emotion or sexual desire.
• Indexical Intonation, along with other prosodic outsiders to follow, because it reduces the pattern of • huskiness-unimpor-

features, is an important marker of personal or social stress contrast which adds so much to a word's spoken tance or disparagement.
identity. Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports identity. If it is increasing, as some observers suggest, • nasality -anxiety,
commentators, army sergeants, and several other there will be extra problems for the growth of an •extra lip-rounding
occupations are readily identified through their internationally intelligible standard spoken intimacy (especially to
distinctive prosody. English (p. 360). animals and babies).
 "

PART 1\- SIH.IKKN AND WRITTEN KNc;i ISH

SOUND SYMBOLISM COMIC ONOMATOPOEIA corpus of onomatopoeic exclamatory

expressions emanating from objects or
Sound symbolic items are of two main events encountered by Desperate Dan
It is a fundamental principle of linguistic enquiry that kinds: those which are everyday words in in 1990.
the language (see opposite), and those
individual sounds do not have meanings. It does not
which are special coinages- nonsense
bang, blam, blow, boing, boom, bop, chew,
chomp, clunk, crack, crash, creak, crump,
seem to make sense to ask such questions as 'What words (p. 130) and semi-phonetic rendi-
crunch, heave, hop, kerack, kerash, leap,
does [t] mean?' or 'What does [a] mean?' Consonants tions of ongoing noises. The latter are par-
niff, phft, phllt, phsst, phut, ping, plop,
ticularly common in comic bool<s (for
and vowels are used only to give a distinctive shape to pong, pop, rasp, r-r-ring, roar, rumble,
children or adults), where words (usually in
scrub, shatter, slam, slurp, snatch, sparks,
words, and - the words themselves, along
it is these full capitals and followed by exclamation
splash, split, splooosh, spludge, splurge,
with their component morphemes, such as un- and marks) identify a remarkable range of
squawk, swipe, tear (vb.), tinkle, tug,
noises. The illustration, from a UK children's
-ness (p. 128) - which express a meaning. However, whiff, whirr, whizz, whoosh, whump, yank,
annual based on an imaginary US character,
yarf, yelp.
there are an interesting number of apparent exceptions shows some of these items. As a minor con-
to this general rule - cases where native speakers feel tribution to academic research in this field, This list excludes the following emotional
the following lines comprise a complete vocalizations used by Desperate Dan him-
that there some kind of meaningful connection
is
self, on his journey through
between a sound, or cluster of sounds, and properties life, or by other characters in

ot the outside world. The phonemenon is the stories.

known as sound symbolism, also called aw, bah, blargh, blurb, eek,
phonaesthesia (when focusing on the gee, giggle, glub, glumph,
guffaw, gulp, har, haw-haw,
aesthetic values of sounds) or onomatopoeia
hee-hee, hee-hee-hee, ho-
(when focusing on the use of sound in ho, huh, mmm, mumph,

poetry). oh-oh, oof, ooyah, ouch,

shucks, snort, ssshh, sssshhh,
Sound symbolic effects can be studied trom
ulp, urrr, waah, wayhay,
various points of view. Which sounds or com- wow, yah, yahoo, yeeha,
binations of sound are most often involved? yeow, yeuch, yeurgh, yikes,
yip-yip, yipes, yowch, yup,
Some of the most frequently occurring types
zowee.
are illustrated below (the phonetic terminolo-
In traditional grammar,
gy is explained on pp. 238-43): initial conso- these would be classified
nant clusters (especially involving /s-/), lateral as a separate part of

sounds (either alone, or in a cluster), and plo- speech - interjections

(p. 213), However, con-
sives (especially in final position) are notable.
ventional lists of interjec-
Then there is the question of how clearly we can tions tend to concentrate

identify a symbolic meaning. This is sometimes on the more genteel

examples (such as oh,
fairly easy to state, especially when there is a
ow, and tut-tut), and fail
noise to copy in the outside world: bang, clip- to include the range of
clop, cough, cuckoo, knock, murmur, rat-a-tat. bizarre emotional
expressions which any
whoosh, yackety-yack, zoom. But sometimes we comic provides. But
can do no more than express a vague feeling that then, the characters
the word is somehow appropriate to the thing, who make up the vari-
ous corpora of conver-
without being able to. say why:
sational English (p. 438)
tend not to get into
• Do dimple, pimple, and wimple carry over an such scrapes as those
association from simple^. experienced by
• Is there something in initial /v/ which can rein- Desperate Dan.

force a 'snarling' meaning, as in venomous, vicious,

vile, vindictive, and vitriolic^

• Is there a feeling of shortness in /-nt /, as sug- ®

gested by blunt, dent, grunt, pant, runt, and stunt (but CRIB TO THE THREE-CONSONANT COMBINATIONS TABLE (p. 243)
not hy front, hunt, mint, pint, rant, and tent)'^
split, splendid, splash, splutter, splosh, sclerotin, sclaff (in golf), sclerosis, scleroid.
• Is there a smallness associated with close vowels and
splenetic, spleen, splurge, splay, splice. script, scratch, scrump, scrofula, scream,
a largeness with open vowels, as suggested by slit vs sprig, spread, sprat, sprung, sprocket, scrawny, screw, scrape, scribe, scroll,
slot, chip vs chop, wrinkle vs rumple, and wee, titch, spree, sprawl, spruce, sprain, sprite, scrounge,
and vs vast, large, and grand (but not by big sprout. skew, skewer,
little vs
spume, spurious. squish, squelch, squat, squeeze, squaw,
small OT huge Mi dwarfp. strict, strength, strap, structure, strong, squirm, squamous, squire, Squeers,
strabismus, street, strata, straw, strew, square,
straight, strike, strove, Stroud. smew
stew, Stuart.

J
 17 THE SOUND SYSTEM

Attempts at seeing a symbolic meaning running sort in English, and in each of the categories listed

through a cluster of lexical items carry different levels of below, the evidence for and against sound symbolism
plausibility. Much depends on which sense and which must be carefully weighed. The lists are not compre-
word class an item represents. Hush, for example, car- hensive: a selection has been made from a dictionary,
ries an implication of suddenness only in its verb use; focusing on monosyllabic words but ignoring derived
quite the reverse, as a noun. Swamp, likewise, conveys forms (e.^. floppy {mm flop), idioms (e.g. get the chop),
movement only in its use as a verb. To the extent that we and multiple meanings (e.g. the different meanings of
have to qualify items in this way, identifying particular club). And in each category, before reaching a conclu-
senses or word classes, the case for sound symbolism sion, it is essential to consider the existence of words
weakens. If a sound is credited with a certain intrinsic with the same phonetic shape which do «of convey the
meaning, the meaning should exist wherever the sound range of meaning suggested. (For other examples of
appears. There are no totally convincing cases of this sound symbolism in practice, see pp. 134, 147, 153.)

SOUNDS AND SENSES snide, sniff, snigger, snipe, roll, spiral; words which seem nibble, niggle, pebble, • /-p/ (preceded by a short

snitch, snivel, snob, snoop, to lack this association: earl, piddle, piffle, puddle, vowel) conveys suddenness
Initial consonant clusters snooty, snort, snot, snout, girl, hurl, snarl. pummel, rabble, raffle, or shortness: blip, bop, chop,
with /s-/ snub, snuffle; words which • /gl-/ conveys brightness rubble, rustle, shuffle, clap, clip, dip, drip, flap, flip,
• /si-/ conveys downward seem to lack this association: and light: glamour, glare, snaffle, sniffle, snuffle, flop, gap, hop, lop, nap, nip,
movement, direction, or snack, snap, snip, snooker, glass, glaze, gleam, glimmer, snuggle, speckle, squiggle, pip, plop, pup, quip, rip, slap,
position: slack, slalom, slant, snore, snorkel, snow, snuff, glimpse, glint, glisten, glitter, stubble, tipple, toddle, skip, slip, snap, snip, stop,
slash, slaughter, slave, snug. globe, glossy, glow; other topple, trickle, twiddle, tap, trap, trip, whip, yap, zap,
slender, slice, slide, slight, • /sw-/conveys smooth or 'bright' words: glad, glee, waffle, waggle, wiggle, zip; words which seem to lack
slim, slip, slit, slither, slope, wide-reaching movement: glib, glide, glory; words wobble, wriggle; words these associations: cap, cup,
slot, slouch, slow, sluggish, swaddle, swagger, swallow, which seem to lack or contra- which seem to lack these grip, hip, lap, lip, map, mop,
sluice, slump; often a gener- swamp (vb.), swan (vb.), dict these associations: g/and, associations: knuckle, riddle, ship, shop, swap, top, wrap.
ally negative association: swarm, swat, swathe, sway, gloom, glove, glue, glum, saddle, supple. • /-b/ (preceded by a short
slag, slander, slang, slap, sweep, swell, swerve, swift, glutton. vowel) conveys largeness, or
sleazy, slime, slink, slob, slop, swill, swing, swipe, swirl, • /-[/(preceded by a short Final consonants lack of shape ordirection:
slosh, sloth, slovenly, sludge, swoop; words
swish, swivel, vowel and single consonant) • /-J/conveysswiftorstrong blab, blob, clobber, club, dab,
slum, slur, slurp, slush, slut, which seem to lack these conveys uncertain or movement: bash, brush, cash, flab, glob, gob, grab, grub,
sly; words which seem to lack associations: swear, sweat, repeated movement, or lack clash, crash, crush, dash, dish jab, lob, mob, rub, slab, slob,
these associations: slab, sweet, swim, swine, switch, of size, structure, or impor- (vb.), flash, gash, gnash, gush, stab, tub, yob; words which
slake, slam, sledge, sleek, swot. tance: babble, bubble, lash, mash, push, rash, rush, seem to lack these associa-
sleep, sleeve, slick, slogan, chuckle, couple, cuddle, splash, whoosh; other force- tions: bib, cab, crab, crib, cub,
slumber. Laterals dabble, dapple, diddle, f ul words: brash, fresh, harsh, fib, hub, job, lab, pub, rib,
• /sn-/ conveys unpleasant- • /-3:{r)l/conveys round- doodle, dribble, fiddle, hush (vb.), posh, swish; words rob, rub, snob, snub, sob,
ness: snaffle, snafu, snag, ness: curl, furl, gnarl, pearl, freckle, gabble, giggle, which seem to lack these asso- stub, web.
snail, snake, snare, snarl, purl, swirl, twirl, whirl, and gobble, haggle, huddle, ciations: fa/us/i, bush, fish,

snatch, sneak, sneer, sneeze. whorl; also/-r-l/in barrel, joggle, juggle, muddle, flesh, marsh, wash, ?Welsh.

LONE WORDS
THE SOUND OF short first vowel, the effect Velars Final /-b/: boob, slob.
Forlorn! the very word is like
SWEARING can only be vicious; with a Final /-k/: bohunk, chink, Initial /p-/: pig, pimp, piss,
a bell
long first vowel, it can lose crook, dick, dink, dork, poof, poop, prat, prick,
Given the nature of swear- its unpleasantness, and dreck, dyke, fink, fuck,
To toll me back from thee to
puke, punk.
ing, and of invective in gen- become jocular Similarly, the honk, lunk, mick,
my sole self I

hick, Initial /-b/: bitch, bloody,

eral (p. 172), we would
expect the words involved to
be short, sharp, and to the
point. Gentle sounds, such as
long vowels, nasals, and
sonorants(p. 242) are
unlikely to be much
whereas the harsher impact
of short vowels, plosives, and
high-pitched fricatives
should be of great value to
anyone wishing to express
an insult or curse. Try calling
someone a meem or a
viciously as you can -then
compare the result
ing themgack or a krot.
a vowel area, such
The language provides a
genuine contrast of this kind
in the form of the dual pro-
nunciation of bastard; with a
use of a long central vowel
produces a notable soften-
ing of force, in such words as
berk ar\d jerk, as does the
use of a nasal before a final
/-k/, as in bonk, bonkers,
used, conk, hunk, and lunk.
The really important
sounds are the velar conson-
ants, especially the voiceless
ones, and especially when
these are used in final posit-
ion within a word. Also
rahl as notable is the use of central
vowels, such as/o/, and
with call- those at the extremes of the
as /i/
/a/. It is unusual to hear mid-
vowels, such as/e/and/o;/,
in lexical invective, and front
vowels are preferred to back.
prick,puke, punk, bohunk, bozo, brat, Apart from raising the tone
schmuck, spick, wank, bugger, bum. of the end of this page, these
wick. lines from John Keats's Ode
Alveolars
Initial /k-/: clap, clod, clot, to a Nightingale (1820) act as
Final /-t/: brat, clot, dolt,
crap, creep, cretin, crone, a reminder that there are
fart, git, nit, nut, prat, shit,
crud, cunt, kraut. many individual words con-
slut, tart, tit, twat.
Initial and final velar in same taining elements about
Final /-d/: clod, crud, sod,
word: cack, cluck, cock, which we have phonaes-
turd, yid.
geek, gink, gook, kike, thetic intuitions, but which
Initial /-d/: damn, dick, dink,
kook, quack, skunk. defy any simple categoriza-
dolt, dope, dork, dreck,
Final /-g/: fag, frig, hag, tion. It is an interesting lin-
dyke.
hog, lug, mug, nig, pig, guistic exercise to look for
shag, slag, wog. Fricatives words whose constituent
Medial /g-/: bugger, dago, Final /-s/: ass/arse, piss. sounds convey semantic asso-
nigger. Final /-f/: oaf, poof. way - such as
ciations in this
ragged, spiky, dawdle, fawn-
and Bilabials (Data from popular ing, and scrumptious.
Final /-p/: chump, clap, crap, intuition, supplemented
creep, dope, drip, goop, by H. Rawson, 1991.)
pimp, poop, sap, twerp,
wimp, wop, zip.
 SPOKF.N AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

SOUND SYMBOLISM
IN PRACTICE

ADVERTISING
In commercial advertising
(p. 388),the sound a product
makes, and the emotion it is
claimed to generate in the
user, are often given ono-
matopoeic expression
(p. 250): a particular make of
car might go Vr-o-o-m; a
smell of perfume or gravy
might evoke M-m-m-m-m.
Brand names commonly use
sound (or letter) symbolism,
as the world of breakfast
cereals crisply demonstrates,
with its crunchies, puffs,
pops, and smacks. And slo-
gans often rely on it too.

Polo, the mint with the hole.

Taste the tang in Tango.

Tingling tang, bubbles -
sparkles. New Sparkling
Tango.

Bubble Yum. It's so much

yum, yum, yum. It's number
yum, yum, yum in bubble
gum.
Cap'n Crunch [cereal]:
the crunch always gives
you away.

^* \>oin^
 . .

17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

The muddy, mucky, murky Mouch
On a small asteroid
the terrible void
in
dwells a filthy old slouch,
the vile m-m-m-Mouch.
He sleeps in spaghetti,
looks just like a yeti,
and his grotty green wig
would embarrass a pig.
He enjoys a good splosh
in tomato juice squash,
while from swimming in sludge
he's the colour of fudge.
He gobbles green
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Huffer and Cuffer
Children's literature is full of sound symbolic
words, as these poems illustrate. Onomatopoeic Huffer, a giant ungainly and gruff
nonsense names also abound. Some rely on encountered a giant called Cuffer.
'dark' sounds, full of voiced plosives, nasals, and said Cuffer to Huffer, I'M ROUGH AND I'M TOUGH
laterals, such as Spike Milligan's Bumbley Boo, said Huffer to Cuffer, I'M TOUGHER.
Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, or Jonathan Swift's
BOOB and BUFFOON
they shouted such insults as
giants, the Brobdingnagians. Others rely on
and OVERBLOWN BLOWHARD and BLIMP
'light' sounds, full of short high vowels and
and BLUSTERING BLUBBER and BLOATED BALLOON
voiceless consonants, such as Dick Bruna's Miffy
and SHATTERBRAIN, SHORTY and SHRIMP.
and Snuffy, or Swift's midgets, the Lilliputians.
then Huffer and Cuffer exchanged mighty blows,
The cover of one of Dick Bruna's Miffy
they basted and battered and belted,
books
they chopped to the neck and they bopped
grottles in the nose

swigs pond ooze from bottles and they pounded and pummelled and pelted.
and the stench of his breath
they pinched and they punched and they smacked
scares all known germs to death.
and they whacked
He's a jumbo-sized pest
and they rocked and they socked and they smashed,
falls asleep fully dressed,
and they rapped and they slapped and they
and far, far out in Space
throttled and thwacked
he's the last of his race.
and they thumped and they bumped and they bashed.
The vile m-m-m-Mouch
doesn't run, jump, or crouch, they cudgelled each other on top of the head
but squats, gnarled as a gnome, with swipes of the awfulest sort,
on his asteroid home. and now they are no longer giants, instead
they both are exceedingly short.
WesMagee(1985)
Jack Prelutsky (1982)

The poetic tradition Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;

In literature, especially in poetry and poetic prose, the Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:
Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;
phonaesthetic values of sound segments {p. 414) have
Hiding difference, making unevenness even,
characterized the genre throughout its history. A short
Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.
selection of extracts is illustrative:
Robert Bridges, 'London Snow", \i

Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; CHARACTER NAMES
That I may rise me and bend
and stand, o'erthrow
In adult humorous literature, personal names and place names are often chosen on
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. .

the basis of their sound pattern. Comic writers rely greatly on such effects (pp. 89,
John Donne , Holy Sonnets, 1633 147): famous examples include the headmaster Mr Creakle in Charles Dickens's David
Copperfield, the 'hideous fat boy' Uggug in Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno, the tutor
Mr Thwackum in Henry Fielding's /A History of Tonn Jones, the quack physician Dr Slop
Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings.
in Laurence Sterne's Tristram Stiandy, and US academic Morris Zapp in David Lodge's
This painted child of dirt, that stinks and stings; Changing Places. (For other examples, see pp. 153, 414.)
Whose buzz the witry and the fair annoys. Much of James Thurber's humour relied on the incongruous use of the sound
Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beaury ne'er enjoys. .
symbolic power of words, as can be seen in these cartoons from The Beast
Alexander Pope, Epistle to Dr Arbtithtiot, 1735 in Me and Other Animals {^9A9).

His broad clear brow in sunlight glowed;

On burnished hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flowed
His coal-black curls as on he rode.
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river

He flashed into the crystal mirror,

'Tirra lirra' by the river

Sang Sir Lancelot.

Lord Tennyson, 'The Lady of Shalott', 1832

When men were snow came flying,

all asleep the
In large white flakes tailingon the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,

Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town; ^^ ^ r t.d Bly Pntckard-s
Olf, th.
Woan,
 SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

particular attention to the special cases where features CHANGING HABITS

PRONUNCIATION IN PRACTICE ot pronunciation are drawn to our attention. There
It is curious how fashion
are several areas where this is likely to happen. We may changes pronunciation. In
The study of the sound system of English is in princi- notice a child with immature articulation, an adult my youth everybody said
'Lonnon' not Tondon'....
ple no more difficult than the study of its writing with a speech handicap, a foreign learner with a
The now fashionable
system, but two factors complicate the task. Most marked accent, or a native speaker with a pronuncia- pronunciation of several
is to me at least very
people are unfamiliar with the phonetic terminology tion idiosyncrasy. A great deal of spoken humour relies words
offensive: contemplate - is
required to describe vocal effects; and even after this on our ability to hear or manipulate sound effects,
bad enough; but balcony
terminology is understood it is not always easy to both verbal and non-verbal (p. 248). We may also find makes me sick.

relate these descriptions to recognizable sound quali- ourselves able to identify specific changes which are (Samuel Rogers, 1763-1855.)

ties. Matters are not helped by the fact that we have taking place in the pronunciation of words, and we The earlier pronunciation
little conscious recollection of how we learned to talk will regularly hear letters read out on the radio from had the stress on the second
syllable in each case.
(unlike the tasks of reading and writing, p. 236), so people who have made it their responsibility to com-
that the process of speaking and listening seems totally plain about them. We may also see distinctive pro- For other illustrations of
pronunciation in practice, see
natural and unproblematic. We tend to take pronun- nunciations reflected in the written language,
pp.86, 91,406, and 414.
ciation completely for granted, and notice it only especially when an author has tried to convey the
when it becomes distinctive in some way, or when regional or idiosyncratic speech of a character. The
something goes wrong. examples on this and the facing page illustrate a range
One way of sharpening our phonetic sense is to pay of contexts which focus on pronunciation in this way.

TONGUE-SLIPPING ORDERING WORDS

Analysing slips tongue can sharpen our sense of
of the
syllable structure (p. 245) and sound categories. The
sounds which 'slip' are usually from the same part of the
syllable: an onset consonant swops with another onset
consonant in mell wade (for well made); coda consonants
are involved in wish a brush (for with); nuclei are affected

in fool the pill (for fill the pool). Several other such effects

can be seen in this children's poem by Rod Hull (1989).

They are often referred to as Spoonerisms, after William
Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), Warden of New College,
Oxford, who had many such tongue slips attributed to
him (such as you have hissed all my mystery lessons).

Ronald/Donald
Ronald Derds (or was it Donald Rerds?)
Was a boy who always wixed up his merds.
If anyone asked him; 'What's the time?'

He'd look at his watch and say, 'Norter past quine.'

He'd spoken like that ever since he was two.

His parents at first didn't know what to do.
In order to understand what he'd said.

His father would get him to stand on his head.

But this didn't work, something had to be done.

So Pa and Ma Derds learnt to speak like their son.
'Mood gorning,' he'd cry, as he chat in his sair.

'Corning,' they'd answer, without burning a tair.

And Ron's Mum would say, 'Get a nice brofe of led,'

For Ron to return with a loaf of fresh bread.

Then one special day, young Ronald's voice broke.

He found it affected the way that he spoke.
'Good morning,' he said as he sat in his chair.
'Gorning,' said the others and started to stare.

From that moment on, things just got worse.

The harder they tried, they just couldn't converse.
Ron said to his parents, after a week,
'It's driving me mad, theway that you speak.
I can't understand a word that you say.
You leave me no option, I'm leaving to-day.'

So Ron joined the Navy and sailed to the Barents,

To get as far away as he could from his parents.
And although this story all seems rather sad,
Ron occasionally visits his Dum and his Mad.
 17 • THE SOUND SYSTEM

CROSSING ACCENT
BOUNDARIES A PEA-SIZED ISSUE

The fact that people speak On October 992, BBC presenter Dave Lee Travis (DLT)
1 1

in different accents means was hosting an edition of the Radio competition pro- 1

that, from time to time,
there will be ambiguity. A
word in one accent will be
perceived as a quite different
word in another. Usually,
context sorts things out - but
not always, as the following
examples show.
gramme. Darts, played between teams from two public
houses in different parts of the UK. He asked a team from a
pub in Tyrone (Northern Ireland) the following question:
What's the name of the piece of architecture which goes
over the top of a door?
The team conferred, and their spokesman (who had a
Southern English accent) said what sounded like /enf/7, then
paused and corrected it to lintel. The incongruity of the first
response led to much mirth in the studio, but DLT could not
accept the correction, as the rules of the competition
allowed only the first answer to be accepted.
The complaints then started to pour in to the BBC, and by
the end of the programme DLT had to issue an apology, and
allow the Tyrone pub (which had gone on to lose) another said it it was out of his mouth, though, he
aloud. As soon as
chance to enter the competition at a later date. What had realized his mistakeand corrected it - but by then it was too
happened? team had in effect been penalized forgiving an
late. His
/i/ is widely pronounced in Northern Ireland as a more answer using a Northern Ireland vowel value spoken in a
open and centralized vowel, which to outsiders could easily Southern English accent-though it is hardly surprising that
be heard as /e/. Presumably, while the team was conferring, the presenter was unable to recognize it for what it was. For-
one of the members with a local accent had proposed the tunately the production team in the Radio 1 studio recog-
correct answer, but pronounced lintel as [lentl]. The spokes- nized the validity of the complaints, as they started to come
man (from a different dialect background) at first misheard in from Northern Ireland -otherwise the matter might well
this as lentil, and in the heat of the moment spontaneously have ended up at the European Court of Justice!

HERE TERDAY, GONE My friend, the late Dr. Gee, going his and reading them... he saw as he
TERMORRER round of the hospital wards one day, thought his death-warrant; so he
came to the bedside of a newly- whipped out of bed, and fled for his
Robert Bridges, in his tract On the admitted patient. After examining life; to add, no doubt, a new tale to

Present State of English Pronuncia-
tion (19^3), teWi a story to iWustraXe
his disapproval of the standards of
English speech current at the time.
He is particularly angry at the pho-
netician Daniel Jones (p. 239),
had drawn attention to the way such
words as for, of, and to were nor-
mally pronounced with an
unstressed vowel [3] (which Bridges
transcribes as er):
him carefully, and finding little the the terrersof the hospital.
matter with him, he called for the
bed-card, and in his deliberate The point of the story relies on the
manner prescribed thereon a diet consequences of the patient's failure
with a placebo to betaken three to recognize that the two words are
who times a day. The man, frightened by written in Latin. He assumes that
his gravity and silence, feared the theyare a nonstandard spelling of
worst...and was no sooner left alone the English phrase to die, and inter-
than he snatched down the board, prets this according to the norms of
and seeing and at the
cabalistic signs, informal Received Pronunciation. To must know that the medical Latin for
foot of them the awful words terdie. appreciate the joke, of course, one 'three times a day' is terdie.

This cartoon relies

FAXING UP A JUDGMENT
on a combination
Even the bar is not sacrosanct. Presumably oftwo accent
the increased number of accents in the SE of mismatches. The
England which the [aeland [a] of
in clerk's RP now uses
Received Pronunciation have been pulled in the diphthong
the direction of [a], under the influence of /au/, which is

Cockney, explains this story, reported in The phonetically very

Spectatoron 12 September 1992. close to the
diphthong used by
Ever on the search for legal jokes not neces-
Cockney speakers
sarily connected with the death penalty, I

in such words as
consulted a friend who is still practising. She
know. And his
said a member of her chambers was in court
pronunciation of
one Monday morning when the judge said,
due, whether as
'I'm afraid we'll have to adjourn this case, I

/djui/or/d^u:/,
have written my judgment out, but left it I

'Arriet interprets as
in my cottage in Devon and can't get it sent
I

the assimilation of
here until tomorrow.' 'Fax it up, my Lord,'
do +you(p. 247),
the helpful barrister suggested, to which his
interpreted this as a version of [fAks], with which would be a
Lordship replied, 'Yes, it does rather.' 'Arriht: "Wot toime his the next troine fer
the vowel receiving a more open quality. normal feature of
The barrister must have pronounced fax as her conversational Ammersmith?" Clerk: "Due Now."
The whole exchange seems to have taken '

Arriet: "'Course 01 dawn't now, stoopid.

[faks] instead of [faeks].Thejudge then place using the most judicious of tones. style.
or I wouldn't he harskin' yer!"
 -

18THE WRITING SYSTEM

riuougli the normal educational process, the chief-
LETTERLAND characters explainwhat sounds they make,
features of the English writing system become famil- and why their sounds vary in different
iar and readily identifiable in a way that the elements Two of the characters from Letterland, an contexts. Teachers who have used the
alphabetically populated world devised by system report that the children enjoy using
of the sound system (§17) are never likely to be. Many
British teacher Lyn Wendon to help children the story-like language to talk about the
children, before they are 3, have been given some learn sound-letter relationships. In sound-letter correspondences, and thus
informal tuition in letter shapes and sounds, often in Letterland, letter shapes appear as make progress in their metalinguistic skills

the form of a colourful alphabet book (p. 407) bought pictographic body shapes, and take on life an important first step in the acquisition of
as people and animals. Stories about the written language (p. 425).
as a festival or birthday present; and in societies where

levels of literacy are high, almost all will have had some
A Letterland encounter
systematic teaching - whether from parents, through The Hairy Hat Man (h) hates noise, so he never
the media, or in school - by the time they are 5. speaks above a whisper in words.'
Letters attract most of the attention in these early 'Sammy Snake loves making a hissing sound -
there aren't many hisses he misses!'
years. This is as it should be, for letters are the main
'But... when Sammy Snake is nexttothe Hairy
units available for conveying meaning when writing in Hat Man in a word we
English. But there is more to the writing system
far hear a "sh" sound
than learning to recognize individual letter shapes - instead. Why? Well,
remember what
both 'big' and 'small' - and their associated sounds:
the Hat Man hates?
punctuation and features of graphic design are impor- Noise!

tant elements of the meaning and identity of a written

text; handwriting and typography provide subtle but

pervasive dimensions of interpretation; and the rules

governing letter combinations ('spelling') promote a So before Sammy Snake can hiss, the
standard of intelligible and acceptable communica- Hat Man hushes him up like this: "sh".'

tion (p. 272) - though at the expense of presenting

young children with a long-term and unprecedented
exercise in conscious memorization.

LETTER FRIEZES

The first eight letters of an

alphabet frieze published
by the World Wide Fund
for Nature in 1993: /My
Rare Animal ABC Frieze. A
variant of the alphabet
book, friezes are better
able to capture at a glance
the notion of alphabetic
sequence, as well as to
convey the impression that
the alphabet is a fixed and
finite set of letters. Designs
are invariably eye-catching
and imaginative, and in

the present case the lin-

guistic content addition-
ally conveys an important
environmental message.
(Marcus Davies, 1993.)
 -

THE WRITING SYSTEM

A BASIC PERSPECTIVE as is found in English, the graphic marks rep- TYPOGRAPHIC TERMS
resent, with varying regularity, individual
The study of the linguistic properties of the speech sounds (or phonemes, p. 235).
serifs ascender
written language has lagged somewhat The standardized writing system of a lan-
behind the study of the sounds of speech. guage is known as \Xs orthography. English
Nonetheless, the efforts of typographers, orthography consists of the set of letters
graphic designers, linguists, psychologists, (the alphabet) and their variant forms (e.g.
and others have introduced a number of capitals, lower-case), the spelling system, x-height
useful distinctions and terms, some of which and the set of punctuation marks. The lin-
are designed to avoid the ambiguity inher- guistic properties of the orthographic
ent in the apparently simple term, writing. system can be studied from two points of
This ambiguity arises in several ways: view, analogous to the distinction used in serifs
spoken language between phonetics and
• Writing can refer to either a process or a phonology (p. 236).
result; while we are actively engaged in the • Graphetics, a term coined on analogy with A limited terminology single character, as in ae

we are said to be 'writing'; and

process, phonetics, is the study of the way human exists to describe the many andff.
kinds of typeface and
when we have finished, the product (our beings make, transmit, and receive written
composition, or text) is also called (a piece symbols. However, unlike phonetics, where typesetting in regular use. lowercase Small letters, as
of) 'writing'. a comprehensive methodology for describ- Among the important opposed to any kind of
• Writing can refer to either an everyday or ing the properties of speech sounds has
terms are the following: capital letters (uppercase).

been developed, there is as yet no sophisti- (The 'cases' were originally

a professional activity. All literate people, by ascender A part of a letter
definition, can write; but only a tiny minor- cated graphic classification, though typog- two containers placed one
which extends above the
are 'writers' (i.e. authors). raphers and printers have developed a above the other in a
ity height of the letterx, as in
printing house: the type
• Written language, when contrasted with limited terminology to handle the most dand/i. It contrasts wit ha
speech, refers to anyvisual manifestation of salient features of letter shapes.
for capital letters came
descender, a part of a letter
spoken language -whether handwritten, • Graphology, coined on analogy with from the higher container;
which extends belowthe
printed, typed, orelectronically generated phonology, is the study of the linguistic con- thesmall letters from the
foot of the letterx, as iny
lower.) Upper-case letters
andthisishowtheterm is used in the pre- trasts that writing systems express. In partic- orp.
are divided into large
sent book. In this sense, private letters, bus ular, recognizes the notion of the
it
bold A type with very thick capitals and small capitals
timetables, teletext, and books are all exam- grapheme, on analogy with the phoneme -
strokes, as seen in (Bvss). Small capitals are
ples of 'written text'. On the other hand, the smallest unit in the writing system capa-
boldface. similar in weight and
when people say can't read your writing',
'I ble of causing a contrast in meaning. For
they are referring only to handwritten (not example, because sat and rat have different fount The set of characters height to a lower-case x.

printed or typed) text. meanings, <s> and <r> emerge as different of the one size of the same
Large capitals are the
graphemes; on the other hand, the contrast typeface, including
height of an ascender.
The writing system between sat and sat isnot graphemic, lowercase,
capitals, senYA small terminal
Most obviously, writing isa way of commu- because the graphic difference does not cor- punctuation marks, and stroke at the end of the
nicating which uses a system of visual marks relate with a change of meaning. numerals; also spelled font. main stroke of a letter. A
made on some kind of surface. It is one kind Graphemes are usually transcribed in angle serif typeface is used in the
italic Characters that slope
oi graphic expression (other kinds include brackets. Punctuation marks (such as <.> main text on the facing
to the right, as in italic.
drawing, musical notation, and mathemati- and <? >) are graphemes also, as are such page. Atypeface with no
cal formulae). In an alphabetic system, such units as <2>, <&>, and <$>. The
justification serifs is called sans ser/Y
arrangement of lines of /'sail 'sent7(as in this
text so that there are even column).
margins. Left-justified
GRAPHS setting is standard practice. sort A single character of
Graphemes are abstract DIGRAPHS Digraphs are an
In right-justified setting, type. A special sort is one
important part of the which the typesetter does
units,and appear in a variety When two letters
English writing system,
the typesetter makes the
of forms. The grapheme <e>, last character of each line not have routinely
represent a single sound, more
because there are far
available in a fount, and
for example, may appear as the combination is called a reach the right-hand
phonemes in speech than which must be formed
E, E, e, e, other forms,
or in digraph. Consonant margin at the same point
there are letters in the specially, such as a phonetic
depending on such factors as digraphs include sh in ship (by adjusting the spaces
alphabet (p. 237). There character.
handwriting style and and gh in trough (h is by between the letters and
have been many proposals
typeface. Each of these far the commonest second words). Unjustified seXX'mg
to increase the number of superscript Asmall letter
possible forms is known as a element); vowel digraphs has a 'ragged-edge' right-
letters so that they are in a or figure set beside and
graph. There are thousands include ea in bread and oa hand margin (as in this
above the top of a full-size
one-to-one relationship
of possible physical variations in boat. Some digraphs column).
with phonemes (p. 236), character, as in x^; also
in the shape of graphs. may be physically joined called a super/or.
but historically the deficit kern The part of a letter It

40 forms of the grapheme (ligatured), as in ae, ce, contrasts with subscript, a

<a>. though this is unusual in
modern practice. There is
also the interesting
Z^aAaAaAa or discontinuous digraph
used to mark long vowels
ff,
has been made good by
combining the 26 letters in
various ways, especially to
'split'
capture the range of
vowel distinctions which
exist.
which overhangs the body
of the type, as in the top small letter or figure set
part of f. beside and below the foot
of a full-size character, as in
leading /'ledirj/ The
spacing between lines of
3^; also called an inferior.

type.The term derives X height Theheight of the

^^AaAaAa and diphthongs (p. 272),

as in rate and cone (which
also illustrate the 'magic
so-called because
e',
effect operates at a
distance, changing a short
1
Trigraphs also exist -
three letters representing
from the former printing
practice of separating lines
printing surface of a small
letterx.
a single sound. Examples
of metal type by inserting
its
include tch (watc/i/vvotf/) These features would all
strips of lead between
and the UK spelling of form part of a graphetic
them.

manoeuvre, where the analysis of printed

1 vowel into a long one: rat oeu represents /u:/. ligature Two or more language.
- rate). letters joined together as a (After J. Butcher, 1992.)
 PARI" IV • Sl'OKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

Old English was first written in the runic alphabet

THE ALPHABET (p. 9), but the arrival of Christian missionaries brought
the rapid introduction of the Roman alphabet. The 23

The letter-shapes of the modern alphabet in most Latin letters were applied to the Old English sound
cases are part of an alphabetic tradition which is over system in a systematic way, with the addition of four
3.000 vears old. The earliest-known alphabet was the new symbols to represent unfamiliar sounds: <f (ash), p
22-letterNorth Semitic, which developed c. 1700 BC (thorn), d (eth), and /> (w)'nn); also, ^appeared in a

in the Middle East. Several alphabets were based on modified form as j (yogh). Following the Norman
this model, including the Phoenician, which c. 1000 Conquest, the distinctively Anglo-Saxon symbols
Bt: was used as amodel by the Greeks, who added let- gradually disappeared, at first because the French
ters for vowels. Greek in c. 800 BC itself became the scribes preferred more familiar letters, and later

model for the alphabet used by the Etruscans (a civi- because Continental printers did not have the sorts
lization in the Tuscany area of central Italy), and it is (p. 257) to print the earlier symbols. Ash was replaced
from Etruscan that the capital letters of the 23-letter by a, thorn and eth by th, yogh chiefly hy gh, and wynn
Roman alphabet derived. The Christian era saw the by a new letter, w. To this alphabet of 24 letters were
emergence of new styles of writing throughout the added, from the late Middle Ages, vindj, respectively

Roman Empire, with scribes developing smaller distinguished from it and /', with which they had pre-
scripts which could be written rapidly and smoothly, viously been interchangeable (p. 41). The result is the

and in which the pen remained in contact with the 26-letter alphabet known today. One of the distinctive
paper as much as possible. The distinctive shapes features of this alphabet is its lack of diacritics, apart

ot several modern lower-case letters arose through from the dot over lower-case i andy, and the occasional
the constraints imposed by the need for efficient use of accents in loan words where a pronunciation
handwriting. would otherwise be unclear (e.g. resume, naive).

SOME EARLY FORMS British Isles, where the style THE BOOKOFKELLS
OF HANDWRITING of writing developed an
Insular half-uncial
'insular' character of its

Majuscule script, illustrated by this

own.
Relatively large letters page from the gen-
>'
generally contained within Cursive
ealogy of taken
Christ, baicr coppIaaTTCimlii
a single pair of imaginary from St Luke's Gospel
Handwriting in which the
(3.22-26). The text ^^^ipseiTisaiaCTiiapieiisuuiisiuu
horizontal lines; now charactersare joined in a
reads: 'facta esttu es
usually called capital series of rounded, flowing ijSuurn TRiTT^Trco; in:piiarbimjR.ptius
letters. The Greek and strokes, which promotes
filius meus dilectus in te

Latin alphabets were both ease and speed. Often now

bene conplacuit mihi.
10SCpteS=<9 "' * * *
originally written in this
way.

Minuscule
known
'script'
colloquially as
(US) or 'joined-up
writing' (UK), it was widely
et ipse ihs erat incipiens
quasi
ut
annorum
putabantur
triginta
filius
gl pBTfT ^ hrii * « •

ioseph. qui fuit

used from the 4th century
Relatively small letters heli...matha...levi...
whose parts often extend
BC, and eventually replaced
pMT® ?^ Leiiv '^ *>
above and below
imaginary horizontal
a pair of
uncial and half-uncial as
the handwriting norm.
melchi...ianne...
ioseph... mathat hie...
psHTw
— '"5^ snelch;! i2i^
now usually called small
lines; amos...nauum...esli...
nagge...maath' twra —^^ lavjj-je -

letters or lower-case
letters. IVlinuscule writing
Dual alphabet
The use of capital letters The Book of Kells is a
fiiTm
—--^ iosqohB5^
mmw—-v^^'
and small letters in a single large illuminated vol-
was a gradual
system. This development umecontaining a Latin TTH.rdiairtHp-
development, known in
took place during the version of the Gospels.
Greek from the 7th-8th
renaissance associated with Its date is uncertain, but
centuries ad.
the reign of Emperor it was evidently com-
Uncial Charlemagne (742-814), as piled in Ireland over a
¥ ''

A form of professional part of the script which was considerable period of

writing used in Greek and later called Carolingian time (with some of the
Latin manuscripts during minuscule. Carolingian ornamental work left
the 4th-8th centuries ad. writing, promoted unfinished), probably
The style consists of large throughout Europe, wasan between the late 7th piwTG ''> euRatr'iia i
i

(the name means 'inch- important influence on century and the 9th cen-
high'), simple, rounded later handwriting styles. tury. The manuscript is
letters. A later develop- For example, modern now preserved in the
ment, now known as half- Roman printed letters library of Trinity College,
uncial or semi-uncial, derive from a classical style, Dublin.
prepared the way for based on the Carolingian,
modern small letters. Half- introduced in Italy by
uncial is often found in humanist printers in the
early manuscripts from the early 15th century.
Phonetic terminology used in this section is explained in Chapter 1 7.
 THE WRITING SYSTEM

M ajuscule
North
Semitic
 SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENCiMSH

vowel [stuff, waffle). Because other letters also represent the /(/ sound
(cough, photo), there is occasional usage variation {USsulfur, UK su/phur). An
interesting graphic archaism is the spelling of such upper-class surnames as
ffoulkes and ffrench, arising from a medieval practice of representing a capi-
tal letter by doubling the lower-case character.

M ajuscule
Worth
Semitic
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

Maj uscule
Worth
Semitic
 TARl W SPOKEN AND WRri'TlN 1:N(.;1.ISH

Majuscule
Worth
Semitic
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

Majuscule
North
Semitic
 PART IV • SI'OKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

Majuscule
North
Semitic Greek
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

(p. 260), began life in this way. However, it becomes

PROPERTIES OF LETTERS more difficult to see the linguistic function of letters

when we see them combine. It is much easier to tamper

rhe letters of the alphabet are the basic elements of the with the written language than the spoken language -
writing system. Like phonemes (p. 236), they have no the history of English spelling is littered with attempts
meaning in themselves: their primary role is to com- made by well-meaning individuals to improve the way
bine into linguistic units, each of the 26 letters, or writing reflects speech (p. 274). Norman scribes were
graphemes (p. 257), playing a contrastive role (e.g. bit able to introduce spelling conventions reflecting

vs bet, actvs art). Lewis Carroll once invented a game, French practice, such as qu for cw [queen) or f before e

which he called doublets, based on the pairs of words (cell). And because there was a time when spelling

which can be formed in this way. The aim is to change reformers felt that it was important for words to reflect

one word into another in a series of steps, as few as pos- their classical origins, we now have 3. bm debt, a ^in
sible, each intervening word differing from its neigh- reign, and several other such emendations. As a result ot
bours in only one letter. 'Drive pig mzo sty' was one of these developments, English now often looks like a
own examples:
Carroll's he did it pig- wig
in five steps: Romance language, though it does not sound like one.
- wag - way - say - sty. Several other word games rely This is not all bad news, of course. Because the lan-

on the linguistic properties of the letters of the alpha- guage's history is preserved in the spelling much more
bet (p. 396), in particular their frequency and their than it is in the pronunciation, non-native speakers

ability to combine. (especially those with a classical background) who

The linguistic properties of letters are the most obvi- wish to gain only a reading knowledge of English find
ous. The need to maintain a distinctive graphic form this relatively easy to achieve. And the semantic rela-

has motivated many of the changes in letter shapes tionships between words are often better preserved in

ithroughout the history of the alphabet, such as the use their written than in their spoken form: the links
of the cross-bar in G (to preserve a contrast with C) or between such pairs as sign /signature or telegraph/

the lengthening of the second leg of R (to contrast with telegraphy are straightforward in writing, but by no
P). The dot, the English alphabet's sole diacritic means so evident in speech.

Cumulative Literature Religion Politics Physics Chemistry Morse Code

LETTER FREQUENCY
e 887,010
This table summarizes the
frequency ordering of letters
in all the text entries of The

Cambridge Encyclopedia,
totalling 1 .5 million words.
Column 1 gives the rank
order for the book as a
whole. Columns 2-6 give the
rank orderings for five topic
categories. Column 7 gives
Morse's original order.
Because it is a general
encyclopedia, all topic areas
are represented (though not
w/ith equal sample sizes), and
thus the cumulative total
(over 7.5 million letters) is of
considerable interest. There
are several points to note.
• Only e and v have the same
place in each column.
• The second place for a in
the cumulative total is unex-
pected, as previous counts
have generally assigned this
tot.
• Ifwe calculate a simple
measure of difference from
the cumulative total (same
rank = 0, one rank difference
= 1, etc.), we find that poli-
tics is closest to the norm
(scoring 12 points of differ-
ence), literature and religion
come next (14), then -strik-
 PARI' IV • SIHIKEN AND WRI I'TKN ENC;LISH

Letter distribution
Table A
The motivation for George Udny Yule's classic work,
The Statistical Study ofLiterary Vocabulary ( 1 944) was ,

to solve a case of disputed authorship (p. 423). As part

of this task, he had to answer the question of how
much variation might be expected in the vocabulary of
different works of the same general type from the same
author. He chose some of Macaulay's essays (1825^2)
as one sample, and some of Bunyan's works { 1 678-82)
as another, and analysed lists of nouns taken from
each, putting each on a separate card. Well into his

investigation, he noticed something:

When the work on Bunyan had been finished, I happened

on one occasion to have open before me at the same time the
first drawer of the Bunyan cards and the first drawer of the

cards for the three essays on Macaulay, A, B and C. One can

obviously form a rough judgment of the numbers of nouns
falling under each initial letter from the distances between
guide cards - for my cards f inch = 1 00 cards packed close
-
and to my surprise it was evident at sight that the distribu-

tions of the two authors were quite substantially different.

The first and most conspicuous difference simply hit one in

the eye, for while in Macaulay the As were much more

numerous than the B's, in Bunyan the B's were more numer-
ous than the As. Further inspection showed other points of
difference. Relative to the vocabulary of Macaulay, E's and
Is seemed clearly deficient in Bunyan and Ws obviously in
excess. . .The facts seemed so odd, that they called for further
investigation.

Yule's first impressions are borne out by his analysis,

as can be seen in Table A: the initial letters which show

the greatest differences of rank are A, B, E, F, H, I, and
W. He then established that there was greater consis-
tency between samples taken from within the same
author than from between the two authors. On this

basis, he was able to choose a sample 'blind' from

either of the authors, allowing its initial letter distribu-

tion to predict who had written it, as shown in Table B.

Yule's explanation for his findings was based on a
close look at the vocabulary, where he found far more
words of Romance origin (p. 126) in Macaulay, espe-
cially those which derive from Latin prefixes, such as

ab, ante, cum, contra, ex, infra, and intra. While Yule
stresses that this is by no means 'the whole story', this

early exercise in the analysis of style showed the poten-

tial of graphological analysis in authorship studies, and
helped to found the field oi stylostatistics.
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

The table shows letter pair (digram) frequencies, by A 400 times, and by B 1 2, 1 00 times. The symbol [ sequences. The top ten frequenciesare: IN, TH, HE,
using the whole of the text corpus of The Cambridge stands for a preceding word and for a follow-
space, ] AN, ER, RE, ON, ND, OR, and ES. E is the letter most
Encyclopedia - over (> million adjacent character ing word space: for example, B began a word 75,500 likely to end a word; J is the least likely. Q is followed

pairs. The figures are raw data, and in thousands times and ended a word 1,500 times. by a surprising number of letters, but many of these
(with decimals rounded up). The table should be The table can be used ina variety of ways, showing are due to the presence of abbreviations and foreign
read from left to right: for example, A was followed both the most frequent and least frequent names in the encyclopedia.
 TAKI IV • SPOKHN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

GRAPHEMIC SYMBOLISM GRAPHETIC CONTRADICTIONS

Graphemes, like phonemes, have no intrinsicmean-

ms,: it does not make much sense to ask 'What does m
mean?' or "What does f mean?' The role of graphemes
is to combine and contrast, and it is the larger imits
(the words) which have meaning. However, as with
the study of speech, there are an interesting number of
cases where we would have to accept that individual

and the way they are presented in typography

letters,

or handwriting, do permit some degree of semantic or

psychological interpretation, analogous to that which
is found in sound symbolism (p. 250), though the
element of subjectivity makes it difficult to arrive at

uncontroversial explanations.
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

thickness and consistency of strokes, and regularity of D TALES

ANALYSING HANDWRITING letter sequence are all, in principle, capable of precise Seventeen types of D, with f ea-
description. Graphology has however suffered from turedescriptionsand personality
interpretations, as analysed by
An interesting aspect of graphic symbolism is the scepticism generated by the fortune-telling approach
Austrian graphologist Eric Singer
extent to which individual variations in handwritten to handwriting, often encountered in caravans at agri- in The Graphologist's Alphabet
letter formation can be reliably interpreted. The psy- cultural shows and seaside resorts, where characters (1950). The list is by no means
complete, of course. The present
chological study of handwriting has been practised for are told and futures foretold on the basis of a scrib-
author's D and d, for example, do
over a century, the term graphology {m a different sense bled signature. The subject has also been heavily not fall neatly into any of the cat-
from its later use in linguistics, p. 257) being first used biased towards the famous or infamous, discerning egories, though he likes to think
- but without that there is a striking resem-
by a French abbot, Jean Hippolyte Michon ( 1 806-8 1 ).
the basis ot success in a signature objec-
blance to 5, 8, 9, and 11.
Graphologists are interested in finding out what hand- tive controls: it is not ditficult to 'see' such qualities as
Open at bottom
writing can
as well as
tell them about character and personality,
about a person's suitability for different tasks.
ambition and dominance in Napoleon's handwriting,
when it is evident that the subject is Napoleon.
V 1

Wants
himself
to know

In recent years they have been employed in several pro- The field can do better than this, and current 2 Left parts taste-
fessional contexts, such as personnel management and research is now much more involved with the hand- lessly exaggerated
writing practices of the general population, and with Vulgarity
marriage guidance, and especially in forensic science,
where questions of handwriting identity and imita- carrying out properly controlled, 'blind' investiga- 3 Written in two
parts
tion (forgery) are critical. tions. Still largely untapped are electronic resources,
Individualism, lack
The subject plainly has the potential for scientific such as computational techniques of magnification, of adjustment
development, as such variables as letter size, shape, enhancement, and pattern-matching, and more 4 Second arc broad,
angle, and connection, line direction and separation. sophisticated methods of quantification. with extended
stroke
Underlining of own
importance
5 Block letter
Simplification,
intelligence

6 With claw to left

£go/st

7 Particular shape
Erotic dreams, low-
ered resistance to
sex excesses and
perversions

8 Stroke extended at
top Enterprise

9 Upper length
extended
Respect for spiritual
values, integrity

10 Open attop and

broad, or in two
parts Talkativeness

11 Simplified with
a re to left Taste

12 Inform of musi-
cal notes or keys
Musicality

13 Open at bottom
Hypocrisy
GRAPHOLOGICAL PRACTICE 14 Stroke to the
right Defensiveness
Eric Singer's Manua/ of Grap/io/ogy{ 1953) contains a series
of exercises designed to develop awareness of the distinc- 15 Enrolled
tive features of handwriting. Here are two of them, which Secret/Veness, family
suggest something of the fascination as well as the difficulty man or woman
of the subject. (Singer's answers are given on page 270.)

1 The word Dear has been taken from the opening of 24

letters and cut in two. The task is to match the
corresponding pieces.
2 Suppose these are letters applying for a job. Pick a good
commercial traveller from among these applicants.
 Sl'DKEN AND WRIITEN ENGLISH

GRAPHETIC VARIETY ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP0RSTUVWXYZ&

riie hierarchical structure ot the writing system is
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
most clearly displayed in the

Each typeface (e.g. Times) is

domain ot typography.
represented by several
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ&
alphabets (e.g. roman, bold, italic, upper-case, lower- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
and these consist of letters, punctuation marks,
case),

and other symbols. The symbols may then be com-

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ&
bined into larger units of text, such as words (which abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
have a spoken language equivalent) and lines (which
do not), paragraphs (which have a partial spoken ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ&
equivalent) and pages (which do not). The visual abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
effect of these larger blocks of text, moreover, is not
readily predictable from the graphetic properties of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQB.STUVWXYZ&
individual letters. The complex interaction of type-
face, type size, letter and line spacing, colour, and
other such variables combine to produce what has An elegant Christmas message, sent
sometimes been called texture — the dominant visual by the Museum of Promotional Arts,
Toronto, Canada in 1992 in its
quality of the typeset text. It is at this level that lower-
newsletter Empa. The typeface is
level decisions about choice of type will ultimately be Poetica, devised by Robert Slimbach
judged. The point is effectively summarized by Pierre forAdobe Systems Inc, and
modelled on a style of chancery
Simon Fournier, a leading 18th-century typographer:
handwriting developed during the
Renaissance (p. 41). It is a highly
One letter measured singly may seem neither appreciably complex type family, with

too big nor too small, but ten thousand composed into considerable variation and
ornamentation, as can be seen
printed matter repeat the error ten thousand times over,
from the 58 designs for the
and, be this never so small, the effect will be the opposite
ampersand. The type choice and
of what was intended. {Manuel typographique, 1764-6) typography are by Ed Cleary of
The Composing Room Inc.

GRAPHETIC DEVIANCE
This advertisement goes out of its way to break standard
typographic conventions. The effect is actually achieved
by the regular use of only a small set of transformations.
In particular, serif and sans-serif features {p. 257) are
combined in the same letter, as are angular capital and
rounded lower-case features. The greatest visual
deviance occurs when all four of these characteristics are
used in a single letter,
such as f and N. The
technique also relies
greatly on a visual
ambiguity (a graphic
pun) between upper
and lowercase, as in
the case of Band R.

ANSWERS (p. 269)

1 1 0, 2 V, 3G, 4A, 5U, 6B, 7N. 8H, 9C,
lOT 110. 121. 13J, 14E, 15M, 16K,
17P, 18F, 191. 20R, 21X, 22S, 232,
24Y

^-^ 2 !would consider Example 3 the

most suitable applicant. He is quick
(quick writing), active {quick writ-
ing, inclination to the right). He is

sociable, enthusiastic and likes to

get around (slant to the right, broad

writing). He is persuasive (broad
writing, clearly shaped and spaced
words).'
 —
THE WRITING SYSTEM

EXTRA GRAPHIC DIMENSIONS "Mine

Alice,
is

and sighing.
a long and sad tale!" said the Mouse, turning to

"It is a long tail, certainly, "said Alice, looking down with

The choice of typography, including the way a text is laid wonder at the Mouse's tail; "but why do you call it sad?" And
out on the page, can provide additional dimensions to she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking,

the meaning conveyed by the words and sentences. In a so that her idea of the tale was something like this:

neutral presentation, such as this paragraph, the typo- Fury said to

graphic design adds nothing to the meaning of the a mouse, That

he met
words. Indeed, the whole purpose of the design is to be
in the
unobtrusive, so that it does not interfere with sentence house, The opening lines of The
meaning. If some typographical feature were to draw 'Let us True Story of the 3 Little
both go P/gs (1 989), told from the
attention to itself it would be a distraction, and the
to law: point of view of the Wolf.
design would, in that tiny respect, have failed. Of course, /will The opening letter sums it
one must always be prepared for exceptions, such as prosecute up, really. (Jon Scieszka,

when an author wishes to make a particular pOINt. you. — all

illustrated by Lane Smith.)

Come, I'll

The opposite situation is found when an author wants take no

to make maximum use of the possibilities in graphic
denial;
We must
design to express a meaning, using features which the
purely graphemic elements of the text cannot convey.
Because these features (such as colour, type size, and line

direction) belong to different dimensions of expression,

they permit more than one meaning to be expressed
simultaneously, and thus allow such effects as emphasis
(when the meanings reinforce each other), irony (when
they conflict), atmosphere (when they remind the reader
With na
of other aspects of the story), and humour (when they _
jury or

are incongruous). Equally, the writer may have no subtle 'woJid b=

wailing

or profound semantic intentions at all, but wish to use

these features simply in the hope that the reader will find
them appealing - perhaps elegant, intriguing, charming,
clever, beautiful. At this point, the semantic function of
the writing system merges with the aesthetic, and lin-

guistics gives way to art (pp.406, 416).

"You are not attending!" said the Mouse to Alice, severely.

"What are you thinking of?"

"1 beg your pardon," said Alice very humbly: "you had got
to the fifth bend, I think?"
'Vision and prayer' (1 945) is a sequence of 1 2 short poems
(Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, 1865, Ch. 3.)
by Dylan Thomas. The first six are written in the shape of a
diamond; the second six in the shape of an hourglass. The
last item in the sequence is reproduced here.

Some lines from Alfred Bester's science fiction story 'The Pi Man' (1959), showing his
use of typography to represent the disturbance in the mind of his protagonist. In an
introduction to this story, Bester remarks: 'I've always been obsessed by patterns,
rhythms, and tempi, and always feel my stories in those terms. It's this pattern
I

obsession that compels me to experiment with typography. I'm trying very hard to
develop a technique of blending the sight, sound, and context of words into dramatic
patterns. want to make the eye, ear, and mind of the reader merge into a whole that is
I

bigger than the sum of its parts.'

 -

SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENCiLISH

gives the impression of being more irregular than it A RULE WITH

ENGLISH SPELLING really is.
DEFICIENCIES

One of the most famous

spelling rules-'/ before e except
The two texts on the hieing page reptesent conflict- The notion of regularity after c'- is itself famous for its

ing views about the speihng system. The first is a Much depends, also, on how the notion of regularity is exceptions. The rule was
Victorian saga which suggests that there is so httle defined. With only 26 letters to handle over 40 devised as a mnemonic for such
- one phoneme is words as receive and deceive,
predictabilit)' in English speihng conventions that it phonemes, the criterion of one letter
and it also helps inconce/t and
is unreasonable to think oi them as comprising a plainly too strong. English has never been a 'phonetic ce/7/ng, aswell as in a handful of
'svstem" at all. The linguistic ingenuity of this work language', in that sense. A system which systematically rarerwords (ce/7/d/i, enceinte,
orcein), butit is far outnum-
is so impressive that it is reprinted here in its entiret)'. used two letters to write a given sound would also be
bered by words wherecis fol-
The second is an extract from the highly successful regular, and English employs this kind of convention a lowed by /e and words where a
Dr Seuss series of children's readers, which suggests great deal - most clearly in such cases as sh for /J/ and ng letter other than c is followed by
ei.
that there is indeed a highly predictable spelling for /r)/. Less obvious is the 'magic e rule (p. 42) which
• c-i-/e ancient, conscience, defi-
system, with just a small number of irregular forms lengthens the preceding vowel (ratews rat). Though the
cient, efficient, financier,
causing a disturbance. Supporters of each view two vowel letters are, unusually, separated by a conso- glacier, hacienda, juicier,

would condemn the other text as irrelevant. To chaos nant, there is a rule here nonetheless, for thousands of nescient, science, scient, society,
species, sufficient
theorists, phonic texts are so oversimplified as to be words have their vowels lengthened in this way.
To order theo- • Other+ei beige, buddleia,
no guide to the realities of reading. Regularity implies the existence of a rule which can
cepheid, codeine, deicide, deic-
rists, poems full ot irregularities are no more than a generate large numbers of words correctly. A rule tic, eider(down), eight, either,
spelling treak show, exercising a ghoulish fascination, which works for 500 words is plainly regular; one foreign, height, heir, leisure,
neighbour, neither, protein,
but telling us nothing about what is normal. which works for 1 00 much less so; and for 50, or 20, or
reign, seize, seizure, their,
The truth, evidently, is somewhere in between. But 1 0, or 5 it becomes progressively less plausible to call it weigh, weir, weird.
we must not expect to arrive at a definite figure tor the a 'rule' at all. Clearly, there is no easy way of deciding
There are well over 1 00 such
amount of irregularity in English spelling. If we when the regularity of a rule begins. It has been esti- exceptions. The only way to
include proper names of people and places, and rare impose a degree of order on this
mated that only about 3 per cent of everyday English
muddle is to relate spellings to
foreign loan words (as does the poem opposite), the words are so irregular that they would have to be grammar and pronunciation.
proportion of irregularity will dramatically increase. learned completely by heart, and that over 80 per cent Onetype of exception involves
affixes {agencies, seeing,
If we include lengthy technical terms (such as are spelled according to regular patterns. That leaves
absenteeism, nucleide);
niceish,
trichloroethane), the proportion will decrease, as most some 1 5 per cent of cases where we could argue the another involves proper names
of their syllables are spelled according to quite regular status of their regularity. But given such statistics, the {Einstein, O'Neill, Leicester);

we another involves the way ie/ei

rules. Even if restrict the question to everyday chief conclusion must be that we should not exaggerate
sequences are sounded - all the
vocabulary, there are conflicting answers. There seem the size of the problem, as some supporters of reform words in the first category, for
to be less than 500 words in English whose spelling is are prone to do. Nor minimize it either, for a great deal instance, have the /e in an un-
stressed syllable or with a sound
wholly irregular; but several of them are among the of confusion is caused by that 3-15 per cent, and some
otherthan/i:/, and in the sec-
most frequently used words in the language. Because 2 per cent of the literate population never manage to ond category, such diphthongs
thev are constantly before our eyes, English spelling resolve it (p. 426). as /ei/ play an important role.

WHY THE PROBLEM? by-letter act. And more things can go match June picking
wrong when we try to spell. Faced with catch July picked
If the spelling system contains such regu- the word feep, there is really only one patch September learned
larity,why is there a problem? The answer possible way to pronounce it; but faced watch November reached
is complex, but a majorfactor is that chil- with the sounds /fi:p/, there are several fetch ditch snatch everyone
dren a re rarely taught how to spell. They possible spellings (such as feep, feap, care infant tender
are made to learn spellings by heart, and fepe,pheep). The task facing a speller is careless darling gentle
are rigorously tested on them, but few always greater than that facing a reader. useless cradle weak
attempts are made to explain what it is Learning about the predictable links useful young dull

between spelling and pronunciation is purse nurse fur beak

they have learned. They are not generally
told why spellings are as they are, or about the key to understanding the spelling
hammer too lunch
bench tool buy
how these spellings relate to the way system, it is never enough to rely on the
blade stool beef
words are pronounced. Without such a written language alone. An integrated
wire fool cloth
perspective, spelling becomes a vast, bor- approach can then act as a framework for
blood goose geese cheese
ing, andtime-consuming memorytask. the task of mastering the exceptions that
It comes as a surprise to many to realize history has imposed on the language Some of the words from a page in Group 3 of F. Schonell's The
that there is no simple correlation but this task seems less formidable once it Essential Spelling L/st (1932),which continues to be widely used
between reading and spelling ability. is accompanied by understanding. If there in schools. The words are those that Schonell found often used
Spelling involves a set of active, conscious is a daily battle being fought over in children's writing. The bringing together of words related in

processes that are not required for read- spelling in our classrooms, as some sug- grammar or meaning {care/careless) is helpful; but it is not pos-
ing. It IS possible to read very selectively, gest, it will be won only if children learn sible to see the spelling system when working through words in
as when we 'skim' a newspaper. It is not (as wartime generals did) to 'know their this way. Regular and irregular spellings (geese, cheese) are put
possible to spell selectively: it is a letter- enemy'. side by side with no apparent order.
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

THE CHAOS Knowledge; done, but gone and Worm and storm; chaise, chaos, Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
tone. chair; Compare alien with Italian,

Dearest creature in Creation, One, anemone; Balmoral; Senator, spectator, mayor Dandelion with battalion,
Studying English pronunciation, Kitchen, lichen; laundry, laurel; Ivy, privy; famous, clamour Sa//y with ally; yea, ye.
will teach you in my verse
I
Gertrude, German; wind and And enamour rime with 'hammer.' Eye, ay, aye, whey, key, quay'.
I,

Sounds like corpse, corps, horse mind; Pussy, hussy and possess. Say aver, but ever, fever.
and worse. Scene, Melpomene, mankind; Desert, but dessert, address. Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.
It will keep you, Susy, busy. Tortoise, turquoise, chamo/s-leather, Golf, wolf; countenance; lieutenants Never guess - it is not safe;
Make your /leac/ with heaf grow Reading, Reading, heathen, heather Hoist, in lieu of flags, left pennants. We say calves, valves, half, but
dizzy; This phonetic labyrinth River, rival; tomb, bomb, comb; Ralf.
Tear eye your dress you'll tear.
in Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, Dolland roll and some and home. Heron; granary, canary;
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer. ninth, plinth. Stranger does not nme with anger. Crevice, and device, and eyrie;
Pray, console your loving poet. does not end like ballet;
Billet Neither does devour with clangour Face but preface, but efface.
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it! Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet; Soul, but foul and gaunt, but aunt; Phlegm, phlegmatic; ass, glass,
Just compare heart, faeard and Blood and flood are not like food. Font, front, wont; want, grand, bass;
heard, Nor ismou/dlikeshou/dand would. and, grant, Large, but target, gin, give, verging;
Dies and diet, lord and word. Banquet IS not nearly parquet. Shoes, goes, does.' Now first say: Ought, out, joust and scour, but
Sword and sward, retain and Britain, Which is said to rime with 'darky'. finger. scourging;
(Mind the latter, how it's written!) Viscous, viscount; load and broad; And then: singer, ginger, linger but earn; and wear and tear
Ear,

Made has not the sound oi bade. Toward, to forward, to reward. Real, zeal; mauve, gauze and Do not rime with 'here', but 'ere'.

Say -said, pay -paid,
plaid.
Now! notp/agueyou
surely will
With such words as vague and ague.
But be careful howyou speak.
Say break, steak, but bleak and
streak.
Previous, precious; fuchsia, via;
laid, but And your pronunciation's O. K. gauge; Seven is right, but so is even;
When you say correctly croquet; Marriage, foliage, mirage, age. Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen;
Rounded, wounded; grieve and Query does not rime with very. Monkey, donkey; clerk and jerk;
sieve; Nor does fury sound like bury. Asp, grasp, wasp; and cor*r and
Friend and fiend; alive and live; Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth; work.
Liberty, library; heave and heaven; Job, Job, blossom, bosom, oath. Pronunciation -think of psyche! -
Rachel, ache, moustache; eleven. Though the difference seems little. Is a paling, stout and spiky;
We say hallowed, but allowed; We say actual, but victual. Won't it make you lose your wits.

Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir. People, leopard; towed, but Seat, sweat, chaste, caste; Leigh, Writing 'groats' and saying groats?
Cloven, oven; how and low; vowed. eight, height- It's a dark abyss or tunnel.

Script, receipt; shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devo/d of trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Typhoid; measles, topsails,
Exiles, similes, reviles;
Wholly, holly; signal, signing;
Thames; examining, combining;
Mark the difference, moreover. Put, nut; granite, but unite. Strewn with stones, like rowlock,
Between mover, plover, Dover, Reeferdoesnot rime with 'deafer', gunwale,
Leeches, breeches; wise, precise; feo/fer does, and zephyr, heifer. and /s/e of Wight,
Islington
aisles; Chalice but police and lice. Dull, bull; Geoffrey, George; ate, Housewife, verdict and indicV.
Camel; constable, unstable; late; Don't you think so, reader, rather.
Principle, disciple; label; Hint, pint; senate, but sedate; Saying lather, bather, father?
Petal, penal and canal; Scenic, Arabic, pacific; Finally: which rimes with 'enough',

Scholar, vicar and cigar, Wait, surmise, plait, promise; pal. Science, conscience, scientific; Though, through, plough, cough,
Solar, mica, war and far Suit, suite, ruin; circuit, conduit Tour, but our, and succour, four; hough, or tough?
From 'desire': desirable -admirable Rime with 'shirk it' and 'beyond it'. Gas, alas and Arkansas! Hiccough has the sound of 'cup'...
from 'admire'; But not hard to tell.
it is Sea, idea, guinea, area. My advice is-giveit up!
Lumber, plumber; bier but brier; Why it's pall,
mall, but Pall Mall. Psalm; Maria, but malaria;
Charivarius (G. N. Trenite)
Chatham, brougham; renown but Muscle, muscular; gaol; iron; Youth, south, southern; cleanse
known. Timber, climber; bullion, lion. and clean; vrong. This is the plural of 'doe'.
 -

PARI l\- .SPOKEN AND WRIFI'liN F. N C ; MSH

The sources of irregularity

riic English spelling system is the result of a process
HOW DO YOU
SPELL...?
ot'dcvclopment that has been going on for over 1,000
years. The complications we encounter today are the We are brought up in a

literacy traditionwhich
consequences of the major linguistic and social events
on a definite
insists
which have taken place over this period. answer to this question
We expect there to be a
single correct spelling for
• The origin of the problem lies in the attempt by
any word in the standard
Christian missionaries to use their 23-letter alphabet language; and if we do
for the 35 or so phonemes of Old English (the exact not know what it is, we
expect to find an unam-
number depending on the dialect and method of
biguousanswer in a dic-
analysis). The addition of four new symbols helped However, the
tionary.

(pp. 16, 258), but it still proved necessary to use some is somewhat
reality
more complex.
letters (such as c and ^ to represent more than one

sound, and to represent some sounds by combina-

Alternatives
tions of letters (such as sc- the equivalent of present- There are a remarkable number of alterna- Unknowns
day sb). tive spellings in Standard English. Some are There are some words which it seems impos-
well known, such as the differences sible to spell in an acceptable way. One
• After the Norman Conquest, French scribes intro-
between and American English (-our/
British
study collected examples of words with
duced several new spelling conventions. A number of -or, -rel-er, consonant doubling, p, 307) and unusual endings, and asked howan -edor
Old English forms were replaced, such as qu for cw optional e {judg(ejment, ag(e)ing). The -ing ending might be added to them.
alternations can affect thousands of words
[quick). The scribes replaced /; by gh in such words as
-notably, -isel-isatlonvs -izeZ-ization. a(h) polka, verandah, visa, mascara,
might and enough, c by ch in church, and u by ou in Other important choices include e vs oe umbrella, samba, sauna, aroma, bala-
house. They began to use c before e and in such /'
{f(o)etus) or ae {prim(a)eval) and -xion vs clava, tiara
ction The question of whether
(inflection). e(e) puree, flambe, recce (reconnaissance),
words as city and cell. Because the letter u was writ-
a word should be hyphenated or spelled frisbee, tree
ten in a very similar way to v, n, and m (p. 261), i,
(spelt? p. 204) with a capital letter will add
et parquet, bouquet, beret, duvet, chalet,
they tried to ease the reading task in some sequences thousands more (p. 122). ballet
The pagesof an unabridged dictionary
of these letters by replacing « with o (come, love, one, i ski, sari, Jacuzzi, bikini
will bring to light many examples. Here is

son) - thereby initiating a set of spelling exceptions the result of a cull of just one page of The problem is evident. What is the past
once the motivation for the change had passed. By entries: the beginning of letter fi in Web- tense of samba? Does it look right to put
the beginning of the 1 5th century, English spelling ster's Tliird New International Dictionary. They sambaed or We're sambaing? Some
The symbol * indicates that the alternatives write samba 'd or samba-ing. Try the end-
was a mixture of two systems - Old English and may also be capitalized. ings with the other words above. Profes-
French. baa/ba sional writers vary in their decisions: David
• Further complications were caused by the intro- baal-ha-bos/balabos Lodge has 'her heavily mascaraed eyelids'

baalshem/balshem {Small World, 1984, p, 125); Frederick

duction of printing. Many early printers came from
babacoote / babakoto Forsyth has 'So get visa-ed up in Paris' {The
the Continent, and brought their own spelling norms babasco/barbasco DogsofWar, 1974, p. 17). Dictionaries are
1

to England. For a while, line justification (p. 257) was babassu oil / baba^u oil often silent on the point.
babaylan/babailan/ Sometimes the addition of an ending
often achieved by shortening or lengthening words
babalyan/babalian produces a conflict of readings (though con-
rather than by varying the word spaces. Variation in babbitt/babbit* textmakes real ambiguity unlikely): they
the final c of a word was a common result. A major babbittry/babbitry* skied (from ski or sky); an anoraked figure
babes-ernst / babes-ernest (where the spelling suggests a long vowel
beneficial effect of printing, however, was to impose
babirusa / babirousa / babirussa pronunciation /ei/forthe second a); t/ie
order on the many alternative spellings found in
babu/ baboo current arced (where pronouncing c as /s/
manuscripts. Stabilization gradually emerged after babul /babool before e does not hold, leading some writ-
ers to prefer arcked).
Caxton's choice of the London standard as a printing There were in addition 1 9 cases where the
The author of this study concludes
only difference between the words was the
norm (p. 56), and the notion of a 'correct' spelling by giving a short paragraph containing
use of a capital letter; baal {-ism, -istic, -ite),
began to grow. babel some of his own preferences. What would
babbittical, babbitty, babcock test,
you do?
• Although spelling thereafter was much more stable, babinski reflex,
i-ism, -ization, -ize), babi,
babism, babist, babouvism, babouvist,
pronunciation was not. It is a particular irony that, at Iwould rather be in a comfortable veran-
babylon, babylonian. Including these cases,
same time was being introduced, the dahed house, sitting pyjamaed in a duveted
the as printing this page had 32 items with alternative
bed and being fed pureed fruit by a
vowel sounds of London speech were undergoing the spelling out of a total of 95 entries - a third.
muumuued beauty, than be bivouacked on
greatest change in their history. If printing had come Excluding them, we are still left with 14
a sparsely-treed plain, sitting anorak-ed and
entries (a remarkable 15 per cent). It will be
shivering in the leaden-skied gloom and
a century later, or the Great Vowel Shift (p. 69) a cen- noted that almost all of these entries are eating potatoes that were sauted yesterday
tury earlier, would be
the present-day spelling system loan words, but they are part of
fairly exotic
before the power cables arc-ed.
the language nonetheless. It is words like
vastly more regular than it has turned out to be. As
these which present the English spelling
(After G.Abbott, 1988.)
it is, the spelling of thousands of words now reflects
system with the biggest modern challenge
the pronunciation of vowels as they were in Chaucer's to its consistency.

time. Name, for example, has an a because in

 -

THE WRITING SYSTEM

Middle English it was pronounced with an /a:/ vowel

(like that ot modern calm). The change to /ei/ during
DELIB'RATE MIS-SPELLINGS

the 1 5th century was ignored by the printers. And the

same kind of reasoning explains the many 'silent let- KWfK
of modern spelling (such knee and time),
ters'

where the letter

as in

ceased to be sounded after the print-

SAVE
FOODSTORE
ing conventions had been established.
• Another kind of complication entered the language
A noticeable present-day trend is the use
when 16th-century scholars tried to indicate some- of deviant spelling as part of a trade name
thing of the history of a word in its spelling (p. 66). or an advertising campaign. The motiva-
tion forthe distinctive spelling to pro-
The b in debt, for example, was added by people who is

vide an unambiguous, identifiable

felt it was important for everyone to know that the product name which will not be confused
word comes from debitum in Latin. Similarly, a b was with an ordinary word in the language. In
thecaseof slogans, the spelling often aids
^"^fei^:
added to doubt (from dubitare), a g to reign (from
memorability, as in such famous cases as
regno), and (a famous error) an s to w/rfW (thought to (e.g. Wot, no butter?), used ironi-
Beanz Meanz Heinz or the Kentucky Fried
cally with reference to products in short
come from Latin insula, whereas it is Old English in Chicken line They're finger-lickin'good. It
supply (p. 181).
remains an open question whether such
origin). Although only some of the proposals became • Sez ('says') An accurate transcription of
forms cause serious problems for children
standard, the ones that survived continue to present the way says is usually pronounced in spon-
when they are learning to spell.
taneous speech (whether formal or infor-
modern learners with a problem (especially now that But abnormal spellings are by no means
mal).
restricted to the world of marketing. They
awareness of Latin origins is no longer highly valued). • Innit ('isn't it') A form which represents the
have long been a basis for characterization
Other aspects of rationalization also had mixed elisions (p. 247) found in colloquial speech.
in literature,where idiosyncrasy and
Spellings of this kind are sometimes used as
results. The attempt by some reformers to 'tidy up' regional background are reflected in dis-
a rhetorical device by humorous writers as a
tinctive spelling (p. 416). They may also be
the spelling was often helpful, but it also increased the light-hearted way of making a persuasive
regularly seen in humour (p. 406) and in
number of irregular forms (the gh of night and light,
point. Other examples are dunno ('don't
journalism, where a headline can be made
know'), yeah ('yes', and other variants, such
for example, was extended to such words as delight even more eye-catching if it contains an
asyup), c'mon ('come on'), 'fnW'c ('ter-
and abnormal spelling.
tight). rific'), nuf(f) ('enough'), 'em ('them'), ya
Certain words and phrases have even
('you').
• In the late I6th and early 17th centuries, a new developed what might be called 'standard
• Gaw/d ('God') A spelling which suggests a
wave of loan words arrived in English from such lan- deviance' - accepted ways of writing a collo-
distinctive regional or class pronunciation. It
quial form:
guages as French, Latin, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and isby no means restricted to the representa-
Portuguese They brought with them a host of • Gotcha! ('Got you!') An accurate portrayal tion of uneducated speech, and is often
(p. 60).
of a colloquial assimilation (p. 247). It has used simply for its stylistic effect: Oh Gawd is
alien spellings, which greatly complicated the learn-
been used as the name of a television play, less serious than O God, and would, one
ing of longer words, in particular. Examples include and most infamously as a headline of The imagines, never appear in a liturgical
bizarre, brusque, caustic, cocoa, epitome, gazette, grotto, Sun newspaper when the British navy sank manual, even in prayers of the most sup-
the General Belgrano during the Falklands pi icative kind. Some forms, indeed, are dis-
idiosyncrasy, intrigue, and pneumonia. Many of the War. tinctively upper-class {gels 'girls'). The letter
items which are the butt of the Victorian spelling •M/ot {'what') A spelling often used to r often plays an important role in signalling

critic 273) are loan words in which the foreign signal an uneducated speaker (p. 400). It has the change of stylistic level, as in larf
(p.
a special place in British post-war memories ('laugh'), lorra ('lot of), /uwer/y ('lovely'),
spelling has been retained or only slightly modified.
aspartof the exclamatory phrase Wot, no — harhari'ha ha' laughter), s/iurrup ('shut up').
The situation continues to the present day, with
intifada, perestroika, squaerial, arbitrageur, becquerel,
cajun, and chlamydia just a tiny fraction of the words
Bob Dylan's 'Gotta Serve Somebody' (1979) illustrates a
now in the language which have increased the size of trend in the lyrics of popular songs to spell words in a col-
the task facing those who want to master English loquialway (gofta= '(I've) got to'). Other examples
include wanna ('I wanna hold your hand') and gonna
spelling.
('I'm gonna sit right
down and write
The result ol all this is a system which is an amalgam myself a letter')
spellings which por-
of several traditions, notably Anglo-Saxon, French,
tray the normal
and Classical Latin /Greek. However, these are but the unstressed pronun-
chief sources feeding the English habit of borrowing ciation of these
verbs (p. 212). Such
words (and their spellings) from anywhere and every- American
spellingsgo well
where 126). one of the strengths of
It is said to be television cop-star
(p. beyond the world of
Kojak (Telly Savalas)
the language that it has such a large and varied lexi- pop music, as seen
was known for his
inthe 1980s neolo-
con; but this is bought at the expense ol an increas- catch phrase Who loves
gism wannabee, a
ingly diversified graphology. ya, baby? By no stretch
person who 'wants
of the imagination
to be' likesomeone
else.
could he have said Who
loves you, baby?
 PARI IV • Sl'OKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

SPELLING REFORM AN EARLY REFORMER and literally never

took a day's
The enthusiasm and stamina of the 19th- holiday, or felt

A concern to eliminate spelling irregularities can be century reformers remains a source of that I wanted
admiration. Here is Isaac Pitman, the one; and I

found from the 16th century (p. Hundreds of pro-

66).
inventor of the most widely used British worked on till

posals to reform traditional orthography (TO) have system of shorthand, writing in 1873 about 1864 without
since been devised. his personal situation as part of a fund- the assistance
raising proposal to build a new Phonetics of a clerk or
• Sta»d/irdizinga.ppma.ches, such as New Spelling (see Institute in Bath, where he wished to take foreman.
further his projects on writing reform. During this
opposite), use familiar letters more regularly (typically,
'Phonetics' here does not refer to the period my income
by adding new digraphs, p. 237); no new symbols are modern subject introduced in §17, but to from the sale of
invented. his system of writing and printing words as nonetic books, after
they are pronounced, which he called paying the heavy expenses
• Aiigmeriting approaches, such as Phonotypy (see
phonography arid phonotypy. He writes in connected with the perfecting and
right) add new symbols; diacritics and invented letters his Phonetic Journal, a weekly publication extension of 'Phonetic Printing,' did not
have both been used. 'devoted to the propagation of Phonetic exceed £80 per annum for the first ten
Shorthand, and Phonetic Reading, Writing years, flOOfor the next five years, and £150
• S!ipp/t7iit!?2ga.pproiches replace all TO letters by new and Printing'. There is a positively for the next three years. During the first of
symbols, as in Shavian (see facing page). Dickensian description of the present these periods was twice assessed for the
I

• Regularizing approaches apply existing rules more Institute, in which he worked for some income-tax. appealed, and proved that my
I

18 years. income was under £100. The commissioners

consistently, or focus on restricted areas of the writing
appeared surprised that should carry on
I

system, as in Noah Webster's changes to US English The Phonetics Institute is a single spacious an extensive business for the benefit of
(p. 82) or those approaches which drop silent or redun- room on the third floor above the ground posterity.
floor of a large building formerly used as a {The Phonetic Journal, 12 April 1873,
dant letters, such as Cut Spelling (see facing page).
brewery in Parsonage Lane, Bath, and is pp.1 14-1 5.)
reached by a dreary staircase of fifty steps.
The chief arguments for and against spelling reform It is exposed to the extremes of heat and

have often been rehearsed. For: children and foreign cold, being under the roof, and the walls The British National Anthem, reproduced in

learners would amounts of time and emo-

save vast only six inches thick... Close to the street cursive Phonotypy in The Phonetic Journal,
entrance is a slaughter-house, and 27 September 1873.
tional energy when learning to write; and fewer letters
underneath and round about the
used more systematically would save time and produc- building are the necessary appliances for
tion costs. Against: those who have already learned TO keeping, killing, and cutting up sheep
and cows for a large butcher's business.
would find it difficult to assimilate a fresh perspective;
A more unsavory entrance to business
the many accent differences in World English greatly premises, I think, does not exist in the
complicate the choice of a model; and the break in Although the refuse from the
city.

slaughtered animals is usually removed

continuit)' between old and new spelling would build
every three or four days, it is

a communicative barrier with the past. However, many sometimes allowed to accumulate for
of these arguments are academic, as there has never a longer period, and the smell thence
arising is extremely offensive. have
been agreement among reformers about an optimum occasionally been driven from my
I

system. As Isaac Pitman caustically commented: 'we desk by its pungency. ..The dampness
have long known that it is impossible to induce the of this office has several times been
the cause of loss in the damage of
inventor of any scheme of reformed spelling to support
books by mildew. The roof is
the scheme of any other reformer' ( The Phonetic repaired almost every year, yet a
/owW, 12 July 1873). violent storm or snow-fall always
sends the water through the
That limited reform is possible was shown by the
ceiling...
16th-century reformers and, later, Noah Webster; and From the year 1837, when
the fact that reform bodies continue to be active testifies Phonography was invented, to the
year 1843, when gave up my
I

to a genuine and widespread concern. But the history of

private day-school in order to live
the movement indicates that the disadvantages have for and by the Writing and
generally always outweighed the advantages. A research Spelling Reform, I occupied all my
spare time before and after
perspective is prerequisite for progress. We know too school hours, extending
in
little about the way children actually learn and use Phonography through the post,
spelling systems, the kinds of errors adults make with and by traveling and lecturing
during the holidays. In this
TO, or the nature of compatibiliu' between old and
period gained nothing by my
I

new systems. The strongest argument of the reformers system of shorthand, but spent
is that English spelling should be allowed to evolve nat- all the proceeds of my books in

extending their circulation.

urally - that there is nothing sacrosanct about print.
From 1843to 1861 labored at I

Their biggest problem remains the question of man- the cause from six o'clock in
agement: how can any such evolution be organized and the morning till ten at night.

implemented?
 18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

NEW ALPHABETS FOR OLD THE SHAW ALPHABET FOR WRITERS

The first verse of a folk poem, shown in four late 19th-century versions. /v.?^/- [J/ J S!i<'] J /o\1 I EGA E R A [suddenly throwing dovm her iiick\ I wont
JO r\T^n SKI. go another step.
yvp/'(;c^? lk\iiB /nin] o. wy (?n. in. NDROCLEs [pleading uearily] Oh, not again, dear.
HOU TU KUR A KCTLD. Glosic /^IS p ;vi f ShliB Kpi lA /7(? \ Whats the good of stopping every two miles and
HOUTOOCUREAKOALD kifl V\ /o\1 po A7ffn SKI ? /s /7SI ?V1 ^\ saying you wont go another step? We must get on
(In Fonulipi.) to the next village before night. There are wild
Wun Bidi Broun, a kuntri daim, 1 Q \(.(!S1 fidj [iju \7l. p/> n /7C[

Wsn Bidi Broun, a ksntri dftn, as 'tiz bei meni toald,

[sSlS

/\.}nr.
i\ piS /vi:

7 ion
C7A?, pr
iicvf r /ui
Sf.

f 11, \\ o
beasts in this wood; lions, thev say.
EGAERA. 1 dont believe a word of it. You are

az 'tizmeni laid,
bj went too dhe doktor, (Drensh bei naim,) *f/r? a)\.1r\ifl /s /ip /7cl (sSlS 1 ni always threatening me with wild beasts to make

for shee had kaut a koald.

/s fti p fui So( <1
f
/7 iMi /\\ me walk the very soul out of my body when
went tu de doktor. (Drenq bj nem,) 7 t!7\ 5010 P7J /7\ Jvt [tju A7prt. /\ I can hardly drag one foot before another. We

C7A havnt seen a single lion yet.

for Ji had kot a ke-ld. B7f\) S-iS r Sittyc HI.

The opening exchanges of Androcles and the Lion, by George

The Scotch Scheme Analogic Spelling
Bernard Shaw, printed in a special
HOW TOO CURE A COLD HOWTUCUREACOLD
parallel text. The alphabet (often
Won Biddy Broun a cuntry dame, Wun Biddy Brown, a cuntry dame,
as 'tis by menny told, as 'tis by meny told,
called 'Shavian') was devised by
went too the doctor, (Drensh by name,) went to the doctor, (Drensh by name,) Kingsley Read, who won a competi-
for shee had caut a cold. for she had caut a cold. tion based on the terms laid down
in Shaw's will. The version in tradi-

tional orthography omits the apos-

trophe (Shaw's usual practice). Both

Three modern systems of spelling reform are used appendix to an in this item, an
extracts are set in type of the same
article published by the Simplified Spelling Society underthe heading 'What size, but the Shavian one uses a
mightan improved spelling look like?' third less space. Writers are recom-
mended to learn the alphabet in
Wei, straet the deep end!
in at
shown right, the double
pairs, as
Menshondabuv wosthe revyzed orthografi kauld NueSpeling (NS), wich wos
sed to be 'moderatii strikt' in uezing egzisting leters, combined with the so-kauld
lines showing their relative height.

dygrafik prinsipl, to repreezent the sounds of the langwej. Inishali developt by Tails are letters with ascending
theSosyeti in 1910, the sistem isshoen in thisparagraf in its moest reesent ver- strokes; Deeps have descending
shun as publisht in New Spelling 90. strokes. Capital letters are not dis-
Dhis paragraf and dhe nekst uez dhe preevyus vurshon ov NS, publisht in 1948. tinguished. Four words {the, of,
Dhisvurshon iz much strikter in traking dhesoundzovdhe langgwej, and its ues and, to) are given their own sym-
ov'dh'fordhevoist 'th' (azin 'then' in tradishonalspeling) iza noetabi feetuer. bols, all shown in the extract.
U wil aulsoe havnoetist bei nou dhat NS results in a hie degree ovchaenj in
dhe look ov wurdz, wich moest peepi fiend disturbing - or eeven repugnant - on The headline of language a
furst akwaentans.
reform publication from Canada.
By way of contrast, we havnowswichd to CutSpeling, a wel thot-out exampi
of a posibi partial revision. It is based mainly on th principl of cutng redundnt-
and thus usuly misleadng - leters, plus limitd letr substitutions. Th resulting
chanje inth apearance of words is not nearly so intrusivas with NS.
The Times Ov Toronto
Wethr or not CS or NS as demonstrated here ar found acceptbl, som action is February, 1989 $2.00
seriusly needd to makeenglish esirto use.
Canada's Internasional Nuzepaper
(After B. Brown, 1993.)
The worltJ's furst nuzepaper tu be printed in the Canadean langwaje.

AMERICAN LITERACY COUNCIL THE SIMPLIFIED

The Simpler Spelling Board was founded
called the American Literacy Council, with headquarters in New York City. In a 1993
statement, the Council
reaffirms its commit-
ment to attacking what
Itseestobethechief
cause of English illiter-
acy: the lack of 'phonic
logic and simplicity'. The
use of computer tech-
nology is now an
tant aspect of its
SoundSpeler is one of
the ALC's products,
designed as a remedial
computer program
those having trouble
with literacy. This
extract from a promo-
tional brochure illus-
trates the approach.
the USA in 1906, and since 1989 has been
in
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
What it does, and what you see on the screen
Meny_ f If the first word
is typed "as it sotuids", the
(computer will automatically
correct the "sound spelling"—
instantly turning it int>o
Many _ t normal spelling, and showing the
impor- l^eny « pronunciation below.
work. I liUs follows a respected
teaching principle:
uomediate correction sends good signals to memory.
Many have_ ^ The spelling of any word typed correctly
for
I promptly verified
} by having
Many have _ |
its
Meny hav i pronunciation appear instantly
I on the lower line.
 PART IV • Sl'OKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

PUNCTUATION DOING WITHOUT FOUR FUNCTIONS OF

PUNCTUATION
One way of sharpening a sense of the
Punctuation plays a critical role in the modern writing role of punctuation is to remove it from a Grammar
piece of text, and attempt to decode the She had an idea that the son of a gentle-
system, yet its significance is regularly underestimated.
result. Two variants of an extract from man, if he intended to maintain his rank
At least tour important functions can be distin- Richmal Crompton's Just William are as a gentleman, should earn his income
guished. shown below: one with and one without as a clergyman, or as a barrister, or as a
word spaces. soldier, or as a sailor. These were the pro-
fessions intended for gentlemen.
• Its primary purpose is to enable stretches of written wellmissgrantsintellectualfacelitup (Anthony Trollope, The Vicar of Bull-
language to be read coherently, by displaying their whatabouthiscousindoritatheyreabout hampton, 1870, Ch. 9.)
thesameagearenttheybothelevenwell
grammatical structure (Part III). Important features thetwooftheminwhitesatinwithbunches Prosody
here include the use of sentence-ending points, clause- ofhollydontyouthinkwouldyoumind 'What do mean? Oh, see. What do
I I I

havinghertostayfortheceremony mean? Yes, quite. ought to have

dividing commas, and paragraph-marking indenta- I

missgrantalwaysreferredtoherwedding explained that, oughtn't I? It seems that

tion. hisname isn't Meriwether.' (R G. Wode-
astheceremonyifyoudonthavehishaircut
• It also gives the reader clues about the prosody forabithemightntlooksobad house. Service with a Smile, 1 96 1 , p. 86.)

(p. 248) with which a piece of writing can be read Rhetorical structure
well miss grants intellectual face lit up
aloud, through such features as question marks, excla- The English are apt to admire men
what about his cousin dorita theyre
mation marks, and parentheses. These are especially who do not attempt to dominate
about the same age arent they both
events or turn the drift of fate; who
important when directly representing the intonation eleven well the two of them in white
wait about doing their duty on a short
satin with bunches of holly dont you
and emphasis of spoken language. view from day to day until there is no
think would you mind having her to stay
doubt whether the tide is on the ebb
• It may highlight semantic units or contrasts present for the ceremony miss grant always
or the flow; and who then, with the
in the text but not directly related to its grammatical referred to her wedding as the ceremony
appearance of great propriety and
you dont have his hair cut for a
if bit he
structure. Examples here include the choice of colons complete self-abnegation, with steady,
mightnt look so bad
sterling qualities of conduct if not of
vs semi-colons to show the rhetorical structure of a
heart, move slowly, cautiously, forward
complex sentence, and the use of line divisions and 'Well,' - Miss Grant's intellectual face lit
towards the obvious purpose of the
up-'what about his cousin Dorita.
stanzas in poetry. nation. (W. S. Churchill, A History of
They're about the same age, aren't they?
the English-speaking Peoples, 1956,
• It may add a semantic dimension, unique to the Both eleven. Well, the two of them in
Book 6, Ch. 3.)
graphic medium, which it would be difficult or white satin with bunches of holly. Don't
you think? Would you mind having her to Semantic nuance
impossible to read aloud. Examples here include the
stay for the ceremony?' (Miss Grant My 'home' was a small mean nasty
use of "scare quotes' to show that a word has a special always referred to her wedding as 'the flatlet in Bayswater, in a big square
sense, or capital letters drawing attention to a Very ceremony.') 'If you don't have his hair cut red-brick block in a cul-de-sac. (Iris
for abit, he mightn't look so bad?'
Important Point. Murdoch, A Word Child, 1975, p.l.)

To understand punctuation, a historical perspective

is The modern system is the result of a pro-
essential. HEAVY VS LIGHT STYLES
cess of change over many centuries, affecting both the
The following text shows two punctuation styles, whose choice depends more on personal
shapes and uses of punctuation marks. Early classical preference and an awareness of contemporary taste than on anything to do with grammar
texts were unpunctuated, with no spaces between and semantics. In recent years there has been an increasing tendency to use the simpler,
'less cluttered' style. On the other hand, the writing of individual authors represents many
words. The first marks were introduced as a guide to
positions between these stylistic extremes, and preferences vary between contexts (e.g.
phrasing in an age of oratory, when reading aloud was informal vs formal letters). The present author, for example, always writes letters in the
and professional activity. More elaborate
a prestigious lighter style, but employs a somewhat heavier style in the present text (e.g. using a 'serial

and extensive marking is found in later periods, comma' in such sequences as tall, dark(,) and handsome).
reflecting a wider range of semantic distinctions. Bib-
lical texts, in particular, motivated a special concern to POBox5
display exact nuances of expression. Standardization Holyhead P.O. Box 5,
Gwynedd Holyhead.
gradually emerged after the introduction of printing
LL65 IRG Gwynedd,
(p. 56), but punctuation never achieved the same LL65IRG.
1 January 1994
degree of rule-governed consistency as appears in ' -"^""ary, 1994.
MrJKGalbraith Mr.J.K.Galbra,th
spelling. Two authors might punctuate the same text
A.K. Tools, Ltd.. -^~
AK Tools Ltd
in very different ways. Some (e.g. Dickens) were very
3 The Terrace 3, The Terrace.

concerned about punctuation, and took great pains to Londot>NW32PP London, NW3 2PP.

check it when revising proofs; others (e.g. Wordsworth)

DearMrGalbraith DearMrGalbraith.
left the task to their publishers. Scribes and publishing
houses have always varied in their practices, and even
for the enclosed
today punctuation remains to some extent a matter of sample.s. A.s with vour
previous material. I
have found the.se to be
personal preference. ,
 " " "

18 • THE WRITING SYSTEM

has failed to please Criseyde; her uncle Pandarus, much moved by his
PUNCTUATION OVER TIME grief begs her 'for the love of God, to make an end of this, or kill us
both at once'. In the first verse of the extract, Criseyde reacts to this
One of the best ways of becoming aware of how English punctuation plea of Pandarus, who then replies to her. Troilus intervenes again in
has developed is to see what editors do to a text in a series of editions the second verse.
over several hundred years. The following stanzas have all been taken
from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Book 3, 119—28 (p. 38) in 'Ah, what?' said she, 'byGodandby my troth, I don't know what you want me
editions from the early 15th century to the present day (after M. B. to say.' 'Ah, what?' said he, 'that you have pity on him, for the love of God, and
Parkes, 1992).
don't make him die.' 'Well then', said she, 'I will beg him to tell me what he
has in his mind, for I still do not know what he means.' 'What I mean, O sweet
Because the choice of punctuation responds to the sense of a text, an
dear heart, kind, lovely and generous?' said Troilus, [is that with your clear
indication ot the context of the extract follows, along with a free trans-
eyes you will sometimes look kindly on me. .
.]
lation. Two verses previously, Troilus has said he will kill himself if he

I what quod she by god and by my trouthe {The earliest surviving copy: Cam- What that I mene, O my swete herte dere forcing the exclamation in line 3.

I not uat what je wilne that 1 seye bridge, Corpus Christi, MS 61, fol. 65.)
(q;<od Troilus) godelyfreshe and fre. Apostrophes now mark an ellipsis (2)
The most notable feature the and the genitive (4) (p, 283),
what quod he that je han on hym routhe
is
I
absence of punctuation. The reader is
For goddes loue and doth hym nought to
helpeci only by the way sense units
deye
coincide with lines, and by the posi-
I, what? (quod she) By God and by my {1793: ft. Anderson, A Complete Edi-

Now thanne thus quod she I wolde hym tioning of quod('said') towards the
trouth tion of the Poets of Great Britain,

preye beginning of a line, providing early I not what ye wilne that I seie.
nevir i.363.)

To telle me the fyn of his entente warning of a change of speaker- a Eie! what? (quod he) that ye have on him Punctuation is now being used to give
an indication of speech prosody
^et wist I neuere wel what that he mente role also played by the line space at routh
(p, 248). There are exclamation marks
the end of the verse. For Godd'is love, and doeth him nat to
What that mene o swete herte deere
I in lines 3, 8 and 9, and an additional
deie.
Quod Troilus o goodly fresshe free question mark. The main speech turns
Now than thus (quod she) I wollin him are now all marked by points, allow-
preie ing the semi-colon a role separating
I /what (q»(?d she) by god and by my (.1532: W Ttiynne, The Workesof Gef- To tellin me the fine of his entente; the sentence of lines 5-7 into two
trouthe fray Chaucer newly printed, fol. 187v.) Yet wist 1 nevir wel what that he mente. sense units.

I not nat what ye wylne that I sey There are two features of punctua-
tion: parentheses around a reporting What that I mene, o my swete herte dere!
Ey / what (qHod he) thatyehaueon him
clause is a common 1 6th-century prac- (Quod Troilus) o godely freshe and fre!
routhe
tice; and the oblique (virgula suspen-
For goddes loue and dothe him nat to dey
/
s/Va) indicates a brief pause to show a
Nowe than thus (c\tioA she) I wolde him break the sense (after the exclama-
in "1, what" (quod she) "by God and by my (J870;4/exanc/erC/ia/mers, The Works
prey tory utterances). No other pauses are
trouth of the English Poets from Chaucer to
To tell me the fyne of his entente marked. The following verse is
Cowper,
I not nat what ye wilne that I seye:" p. 252.)
Yet wyste I neuer wel what that he mente indented, perhaps to emphasize the
Inverted commas now enclose speech
"Eye, what" (quod he) "That ye have on
switch to a new speaker The italics in
turns, as in the contemporary novel,
What that I meane / O swete herte dere quod represent an expanded abbrevi- hym rourh
but the parentheses have been
(Quod Troylus) o goodly fresshe free ation. For Godes love, and doeth hym nat to dey:
retained (perhaps to suggest a paren-
"Now than thus" (quod she) "I woll hym
thetic intonation). The omission of
prey. question and exclamation marks
I, what (qd she) by God and by my trouth (1598: Speght, The Workesof our T.
(1, 3),

Antient and Learned English Poet,

To tell me the fyn of his entente. and the use of colons instead of points
I not nat what ye wilne that I seie

Geffrey Chaucer, newly printed, Yet wist I never wel what that he ment." (2, 4) helps to unify the three speeches
Eie, what (qd he) that ye haue on him routh
in the stanza into a single conversa-
For Goddes loue, and doeth him nat deie
fol. 167.)
"What that I mean, O my sweet herte dere" tional flow-again, as in a novel.
Now than thus (qd she) 1 wolde him preie The virgula susper^siva has been replaced by a comma, and there is
(Quod Troilus) "O goodly, tresh and
To tell me the fine of his entent. tree,..."
now a point (puncfus) marking the
Yet wist neuer wel what that he mente.
I
end of the stanza. In the 1502 edition,
Speght adds further punctuation at
What that I meane, o swete hart dere
line endings: colons in lines 2 and "I! what?" quod she, "by God and by my (!957; F. N. Robinson, The Complete
(Qd Troilus) O goodly fresh free commas in 5, 6 and 9, and a point after
4,

trouthe, Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 2ndedn,

each qd. I not nat what ye wilne that I seye." p. 422.)

hym Punctuation introduced to help the

"I! what?" quod he, "that ye han on is

sense wherever possible, both gram-

!, what (q»od she) byGodandby my {1721: J. Urry, The Works of Geoffrey routhe.
matically (marking the parenthetic
trouth Chaucer, p. 292.) For Goddes love, and doth hym nought to
status of for Goddes love or by God
I not nevir what ye wilne that I seie;
Indentation now shows the rhyme deye."
and fay my trouthe) and attitudinally
scheme of the verse: lines and 3, lines
Eie, what? (qj(odhe) that ye have on him
1
"Now thanne thus." quod she, "I wolde (the exclamatory and interrogative
2, 4 and 5, and the final couplet.
routh hym preye tones in lines 1 and 3). There is stan-
Speaker turns are now indicated by
For Godd'is love, and doeth him nat to To telle me the fy-n of his entente. dard modern punctuation around the
punctuation - a semi-colon and two
deie.
points. The semi-colon may have been
Yet wiste I nevere wel what that he mente. passages of direct speech.

Now than thus (qiwd she) I wollin him- used because of the close grammatical
preie
"What that I mene, O swete herte deere?
dependency of line 3 on line ."
Quod Troilus, "O goodly, fresshe free,. .

To tellin me the fine of his entente 2 {tfiatye have is an elliptical object of

Yet wist I nevir well what that he mente. seie). There is a question mark rein-
 PART IV SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

WRITING SYSTEM: A
COMPARISON

Emerging linguistic features of

handwriting and printing can often best
be seen by comparing two versions of a
text. This is a page from the manuscript
used by the printer for the 597 edition 1

of a book. Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical

Politie (Book 5), written by the English
theologian, Richard Hooker (1554-1600). '
r ^' .»., / - .1^ /. ^
r , / ^* ->.
(After M. B. Parkes, 1992.)
The copy, prepared by a scribe,
Benjamin Pullen, was corrected and
emended by Hooker himself (4, 22, 27).
The compositor has marked up the page
ready for typesetting, showing the
beginning of a new page of print by a
pencilled Q12 in the margin (i.e. the
twelfth printed page of section Q of the
book) and a bracket around the word ,kW.
coexistence (21). The manuscript page
before this point corresponds to the last
16 lines of the printed text opposite.
Notable features of the manuscript
include the use of two types of
handwriting. Most of the text uses a
script known as Secretary Cursive,
f
distinguished by its prominent, often

looped ascenders and descenders

(p. 257). There is a raised sign marking a
final -n, as in communion (2). This
material is printed in roman type

opposite. Quotations and other kinds of y?' 'S^.y/^ ,n^fffj^y/ ,r.yla\iC- t/!^^^
special comment are written in the less
ornate Humanist Cursive, seen in the
bottom ten lines of the page, and
printed in italic type opposite (beginning
with This is my bodie). Later use of
underlining within this script (19-20, 23)
indicates that the material should be
printed in roman type. The inverted
commas inthe margin highlight an
important section of the argument (not
a quotation). Points are followed by
capital letters, commas are used to mark
pauses, and there is a question mark
(13). The word-break hyphen at the end
of 12 and 17 is a double line.

eurrc net:

The printed copy follows
the manuscript text quite
closely, but several spellings
have been altered, and
there is a great deal of
inconsistency: -ie often
becomes -y, as in
cf. 1 opposite), ho/y {38,
cf. 9), vertuously {AO, cf. 12),
but not in unnecessarie (33,
cf. 3), var/et/e (41,
certaintie (44,
e sometimes added, as in
is
holde (34, cf. 4) and bee
(34, cf. 4), and sometimes
dropped, as in
cf. 8); there are various
other vowel and consonant
changes, as in me(a)nt (35,
cf. 5) and witftj (38, cf. 10).
Already we can see an issue
over whether there should
be an e in iudgements (41,
cf 1 3). Both styles show the
.
use of 'long
position (p.
s'
263). In the
is used
printed copy, v
initially,u elsewhere (2-5),
and used for J (8)
/is
(p. 260). There is an
abbreviation mark in 4 and
1 3 to help the word fit the
narrow measure (compare
the full form of Tran-
substantiation
final e is also
subtracted to help the
justification (p. 257), as in
bloude (23) MS bloud
be (3) vs bee (34).
Punctuation closely
follows that used in the
manuscript, with occasional
variation (e.g. the extra
comma after first in 45,
cf. 19). The printed
also Illustrates a semi-colon
The location of the
(3).
hyphen is sometimes
different from modern
practice, as in sanctifi-ed,
(30) and doub-ted (43).
There is no apostrophe
{Christs, 20).
18 THE WRITING SYSTEM
EcclepanicallTolitie, ^19
^ SACTAmtnt* jH$J*m ^mtmtmt mfc ffi ffme fnfriA <i,Ttuteijf, <nmf4f'
.k^noith them anH malcrth them
body (32,
VntO vs which OtnCrwlIC cSdcrtmntt^ijItiUmefMtiliterdiomtlc $nfudtteJenttt<il'/lctReB.
that
/««" "«• s.cramen.^ ^«r«. i<Um.c. e. /«,rrf,/„/iw« i.jn.u>
not he, that to vs they
they could
llJt/wv/u ,' crtdturMimfitiftanntmetrfn-iUffMpHmify'ietttfMr'tTitAfcltf-
J / ,. ft
VemeXDymiQZ lUCninltrUmetS ^c„,^ri,t.ln(fiT,tMUim(dCTdmniu ^trhiftu,f$t'int»i(j-jmul
^^-»«.«»/i*.&«/^. '•«»•/•'' ^'A*.
cf. 13),
a$g miftically vet trucly, inuifibly ^ / .->
«m« ,uV- «»< «pjj
cf. 18); final -
vet really worke our n
communion ^li nt^Cc^ JWtw«« (t-^to* -ji ^ <af-T©-
'"••#
brfellowftip with the pcrfonof 'r'-f'^-^'r^" ^"^^^'"^5^x^,1^
'^''L-
IcfiljChrift as well m
that hcc is >.^^
^^,^,^^,^ ^ r, ^s^, ^ if *« a «;«•,«?.« i WpW^por
loulng^{37, man as (jod,our participation al- ^^ ,an*iiifif\^iu ;^«TiutT<ui^ -s-fOMuraTw adtJSf.
foin the fruitc,grace and efficacie j^^-,,, »irtf it«> .Thttd»>£x cjh* * Dommt dtaum tfi^Hec
»mmemurMi^m, ;.«</? w*-." tr tUtafMpH,
ofhis body and bloud, whereup- /*;« « "km,
,
onthcrcenructhakindeot i ran-
a^,^,fy',,u^i^^{,une {,Um, r4^Aiu,^,ctm,h,mm„<i,f4m
*l>m,m^jMur *
fubftantiatio in VS,a true ''change f.iutcm^tnficit . Cyfr:J,c^. e.j f^mcrtalkanj
»rf^Mh,fubfiMiMretmt»,fftcKmfid<iir.
both otioulc and hnflv
U„,^,^^f^,MII,.an/^ body,an altera- ««.».«..*««*«*/""",
an altera
^^^^ ^^^^^ ^,iA,i.r§a»n%r<,isn, */,/^-./-«./»^« ti.i. c i.
tion from death to lite, In a word oSmfiMmfMrtatntii itMli<i,u*ttTn*efcam(3'
<mtMnrfn-*U
mc trafain, Chnff, <inim»r /fft tmw, (g f*«H (sf C4n
non-final \t ^nnMrrrh
It appMrctn not
tnat of an
that or an> ?<"«
all the .u^ ^
iPintmid,
f
.
in
Fathers of the
^^^^ to' d 'i-<'f'«-' 'ft E'ckJUfu* ?•«.
HO"""
Church any X>^7«.«> affciut. i*mnf4TtuifAt„«4mifmim. itid. c. s N^r*
cient
ftrf,nMnec'in,t(<>ifi*nt,iu,hi/ffeam
one did euer COnCeiue or ima- ^,ff,Me,«tunannK m,[iet
gmcofticrthcn onely a myfticall 'V^,,,^^^,,l^,,(;^,.,ju^^„f„^,,,./.,Mu.fi,nf,,refrr,*.
bothbO- titrtmdtHinitstit,mimti>ftrnrftrt\imnmnMiuntttm^lUTitT{mm
participation of Chrifts
5yand bloudin the Sacrament, t;iZlr^^:Z7^Z7c^:!:::''^%"^'^^^^^^
neither are their fpecchcs con- „,,,uh,f4Ha,fcM.fie>\Umhuts>mt*tec\>r$it»cif>r<iut.cjfJt<'»,
enn\x\a the chaUnffCof thc elC- t.e.NcnAlmd<ig,tfMrtmfsMcorf>ris&f*>>t»h,i>arfP>iu4mJtmtd
in 32). A ments themfelues into the body J,„j, „;-,„;,„ ^.^c^/^.r/wo' f^<>'/»«'>'«'i«'^K- *'•' '•
£>« 9.«/«»«. (.^dt
added or andbloudeofChrift fuch, that a 's^^jmcdu^ ,« .y? - tcrr4f4m,^rc.fu.,
fTJUinuocarionediuini nnmim»; «««»"»"«»'''^«"W'''^
man ^., thaeby
,« can ,K«-«.Kw in rnnfcience ^^^^„,^^^j,^„^^„„„ii^,^„t(^eMun,:
in conicicncc su-g nrfcrsm.
alTure himfelfe ftWaS their
mea- R„frr«fienu»iM<i,»r$^t»mtMmnc«iHntc^uftA,lta(fcmre(Hn<{h-
{32),
ningto perfwadetheworlde ey-
;:;-—
X-t;:^^^.^!^^.^^^^^^^^^^
iherofacorporallConiuWtantia- ,^^„a„h^,„„„m,titiii>cjn„c»n,um!}i,j<.t'i,tatffcadepxyii.
tionofChriftwiththofcfanaifi- «»/.<-».^*.^."^l•^
recciucthem. or of the like Tranfubftan-
ed and bleffed elements before we
dauSnofthem into thebodyandbloudofChrift. Which bothtoourmy-
who
that the Fathers
extract fticaU communion vvith Chrift are foynnecelTarie
canndteaOly bee thought to
plainelyholde butthis myfticall communion
Lementanyother change of (acramentallelementsth(j,thatw^^^^^^
rcqu.rethemtoholdc.Thefethingsconfi-
famefpirituaU communion did
loiimg truth and feekmg comfort out
dered howftiould thatminde which
ofholymiftericshathnotperhapstheleafure.pcrhapsnotthcwitnorcapa-
the intricate difputesofthis caufe
dtie^^trcadeout fo cndlSre mazes , as
(houWavertuoiidydifpofedmindebetterrefolue
haucled men into, how
and opinions arguethoblcu- „
withitfclfe then thus? Varietieofiudgements
ririeinthofethingswhereabouttheydiffer.Butthatwhichallpartsrece.ue,,
onehauingfiftedisbynoonedeniedordoub-,,
fortruth, that which cuery
Whereas therforethert,,
ted of,moftneedes be matterofinfal'ibIecertaint|e.
arebutthreeexporuionsmadeofrA/i««»^H.thefirft,Th.s.smitW^^^^^
 —
PART IV SPOKliN AND WRITTEN KNCilTSH

The modern punctuation system is extremely wide-

PUNCTUATION MARKS ranging, including such features as spaces, indentation,
the use of capitals, and a wide range of non-alphabetic
Early English manuscripts present an array of punctu- graphic cues (such as asterisks and footnote numerals),
ation marks which look very different from those used as well as the traditional 'marks'. There is a great deal of
today. Some have now fallen out of use, whereas others hierarchical organization. Some features identify large
have developed over the centuries into their modern units of writing, such as paragraphs and sections; some
counterparts. A few appear not to have changed at all identify small units, such as words or word parts; some
- but it is always important to take care when consid- identify units of intermediate size or complexity, such
ering the function of such marks in a text, as modern as sentences, clauses, and phrases. Most marks are fea-
values often do not apply. A point, for example, was tures that separate - showing the boundaries between
commonly used to indicate a pause rather than a sen- grammatical constructions. A few express a meaning in
tence ending, and different degrees of pause were their own right, regardless of the grammatical context
sometimes shown by varying the height of the point in which they occur. These include the question and
relative to adjacent letters. exclamation marks, the apostrophe, and such special
symbols as £, &, @, *, and t-

GRAPHOLOGICAL ARCHAISMS
The present-day punctuation system began to emerge quite rapidly after the introductic
of printing(p. 55), though differences from modern conventions con- ^__
tinueto be apparent until well into the 19th __-
;ntury. The punc- * /^ TT
tuationof thii PREFACE.
text of 1766 dif-
fers in only minor
AUTHOR'S
respects from that
used today, but it i; Origin
of the
notable that these
are enough toalter
the Univer - --^^,^,
the visual impact of
the page quite dra-
A"
/\ r^at^ons
after
alter
"-J^l^i.^er beginmng

matically. The large

dashes, accompa-
place of
-nankmdschlp
^ ^^ ^^ ^ '

td Conjeaure •,

A stanza from a nied by a comma or le

^^^^^ ana
5th-century 'punctuation poem', in
1
and of natural ^ ^^^^^
ou
which two systems of marl<s compete (in the manner of a semi-colon, the use beginmng from ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^
riddle) to give two very different readings of this text
of capitals on impor e, eife
the f-;^^^^ ways f^^^ by Hifto-
about the nature of priests. The 'orthodox' reading is tant nouns (p. 67),
.ards, by
^^^it^.L ^^^
obtained by following the points (punctus); the and the fairly heavy Genea\og>fts, ^f thele
marking, all con- rians and ^^^ ^.^^^^ ^^^
'unorthodox' reading follows the oblique lines {virgula
tribute significantly to
suspensiva). Both are reproduced in the transcription
below. the overall archaic
appearance of the text.

^
«>
and put toge ^f
a.c.bsev, ^^
Trvsty seldom to their Frendys vniust. fetch out ^ .^^

conqueft, -^o^y
. / / of tn
^f ,he
ANT.QPi->«
Gladd for to heipp no Crysten creator
. /
enqu^r^
fche^e of
Wyllyng to greve . settyng all ye"' ioy & lust ^^-"^
^tV'tr :«tal
'^"ucal way) —
Only in y*' pleasour of god . havyng no cvre /

Who most ryche w''' them y^ wylbe sewer /

is .

Wher nede is gevyng neyther reward ne Fee /

.
EXTINCT SYMBOLS
Vnresonably Thus lyve prestys parde
. . . /
Over 30 obsolete punctuation marks have been identified 7
Reading with points in early manuscripts, most of them disappearing after the
Seldom to their
Trusty. friends unjust. Glad for to help. arrival of printing. Here are two of them:
No Christian creature willing to grieve. Setting all their
joy and desire only the pleasure of God. Having no
in / The virgula suspensiva was widely used in Middle
care who is mostWith them they will be sure where
rich. English to mark a brief pause in a text (p. 68). In the 14th
need is. Giving neither reward nor fee unreasonably. century, many writers used the double form, //, to mark a
Thus live priests. In the name of God. longer pause, or to indicate the beginning of a new para-
graph or section.
Reading with obliques
Trustyseldom / To their friends unjust / Glad for to help IB The hedera, or ivy-leaf, is a very old mark, used in clas-
no Christian creature /Willing to grieve setting all their sical timesto separate words, and in Anglo-Saxon times as
joy and desire - only in the pleasure of God having no a symbol separating major sections of text, or marking the
care/Who[ever] is most rich with them they will be sure/ end of a passage. It was often treated very decoratively,
Where need is, giving neither reward nor fee / and some printers continued to use it in an ornamental
Unreasonably thus live priests in the name of God / role.
 ) )

THE WRITING SYSTEM

MODERN MARKS aversion to using too many parentheses in one punctuation, as is illustrated by the way a space is

sentence, or to using pairs within pairs; special treated in computer languages as an individual
Marks that separate constructions uses, also showing the use of square brackets, character.
include:
Point (.) Marks that convey meaning
(also called a period, full point, full stop, or (Latin) • dates: Henry VIII (1491-1547)
punctus) • glosses: H^O (water) Question mark (?)
Chiefly used to identify a sentence ending • affiliations: Brown (USA) Chief function to show that the preceding
(and sometimes in
(typically a statement); in print • irony: young [sic] people sentence is a question; occasionally found with
type) followed by a wider space than is usual • authorial comment: we will not go [my other roles, such as marking uncertainty (?), irony,
between words; marks an abbreviated word {A.D., emphasis! or astounded silence:
though modern practice varies, p. 278); used in • omitted text: it is [a] disaster
such special contexts as times/dates {8.30, 'We might go in your umbrella,' said Pooh.
'?'
10.10.94), money units (53.50), section numbers in Dash (—
a book (2.2), and decimal numerals (5.006); three Used singly to show a comment or afterthought at Punctus/nterrogat/Vus was originally a wavy mark
points {suspension or ellipsis dots) show the end of a sentence, or simply an incomplete which slanted upwards and to the right above a
incompleteness or omission (as in the middle of a utterance; in pairs, has the same function as point, known from the 8th century; may have
quotation); also used in question/exclamation parentheses; in informal writing, often used originated in an attempt to reflect the rising
marks, colons, and semi-colons. randomly to replace other punctuation marks; inflection of the speaking voice; upright version
special uses include signalling a missing word or introduced by early printers.
Semi-colon (;) letter (in crossword puzzle clues), replacing letters
First used in the 15th century to mark a pause mid- in ataboo word (p. 1 72), and separating elements Exclamation mark (!)
way between the colon (longer) and comma in dates(;7-7;-94)or page numbers (75-22); (also called exclamation point)
(shorter); now identifies the coordinate parts of a handwriting makes no regular distinction Punctus exclamativus (or punctus admirativus)
complex sentence, or separates complex points in between dashes with different sizes and first appeared in 14th century to show an
a list; closely corresponds to the conjunction and; functions; print differentiates the hyphen, the en utterance needed to be read with some
more common than the colon, and no longer dash/rule {-), and the em dash/rule { ) (en and — exclamatory force; in early manuscripts, appears
pausally distinct; especially used in formal writing, em reflect the width of the letters W and in M with two points under a short line, the whole
where several complex ideas need to be traditional type); en dashes usually mean 'and' (as slanting to the right; printers represented it as an
interrelated, and lower-level constructions are in Liberal-Labour alliance) or 'to' (as in upright; in modern usage, may be repeated to
separated by commas (as in this paragraph). London-Holyhead train); em dashes are often show increasing degrees of force (III); also used
printed with a space on each side. ironically {The car (!) was waiting) and as a marker
Colon (:) of silent surprise or enlightenment, as in the
Used in 1 5th-century manuscripts to show a major Inverted commas (' " ") ', sequel to the Pooh quotation:
pause or sense separation; now used mainly to (also known as quotation marks, quotes, or speech
show that what follows is an amplification or marks) 'We might go in your umbrella,' said Pooh.
explanation of what precedes; also used to Derive from the use of a special sign (the diple) in 'Illlir

introduce examples, and to separate numerical the margin of manuscripts to draw attention to For suddenly Christopher Robin saw that they
elements, as in the time or date {5:30); some part of the text (such as a biblical quotation); might.
people use it after the DearX invocation in a printers represented the marks by raised and (A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926)
letter; infrequent, and usually restricted to one inverted commas, and eventually placed them
instance per sentence; first letter of a following within the line; came to indicate quotations and Apostrophe (')

sentence often capitalized in US English; often passages of direct speech (hence the alternative Introduced by early printers as a sign that a letter
followed by a dash (.-) in older printing styles. names); choice of single vs double quotes is or letters had been omitted; still used in this way
variable; latter are more common in handwritten as in grammatical contractions {He's, isn't) and in

Comma (,) and typed material, and in US printing; both forms such words as o'clock, fish 'n' chips, and in '93; use

Wide range of uses, marking a sequence of similar used for speech within speech {Mike said, 'I heard later extended to distinguish the genitive from the
grammatical units (words, phrases, clauses), or Fredshout "Yes" just now.'); US usage prefers plural in nouns {dog's, dogs' vs dogs); some usage

showing one unit being used inside another; the placing inverted commas after other punctuation variation (e.g. ce//o vs 'cello); some arbitrary uses,

most frequent punctuation mark, attracting much marks; British preference is the reverse; also used unrelated to pronunciation, as space when
personal variation; used in early manuscripts, for technical terms {this is known as 'eidetic"), Market Quot'ns
constraints force elisions {Stock
often accompanied by a subscript dot, to show a titles, glosses (Latin punctus 'point'), and special
newspapers). (For the later
[for quotations] in

minor pause or sense change; short semi-circular senses ('scare' or 'sneer quotes', p. 278). development of the apostrophe, and
form, low position, accompanied early
in contemporary uncertainty about its use,
development of printing; no simple rules Hyphen (-) see p. 203.)

governing usage, which has built up over several
hundred years; no longer corresponds neatly with
speech pauses, e.g. a pause after the subject of a
sentence {The chair in the dining room I has a
broken leg) is not reflected by a comma in
Standard English; much divided usage, as in the
'serial comma' before a conjunction (p. 278).
Parentheses
(
Marks two kinds of word division: a break at the
end of a line, and the parts of a compound word
tw/ouldbenicetobe
{green-eyed); practice varies in the latter use
(p. 129),with British English often using hyphens an apostrophe
where US English would omit them; usage also floating
varies on where within a word a line-break
above an s
hyphen should best go: sometimes a contrast in
meaning is conveyed, as in re-cover ('to cover
hovering
again') vs recover ('get back'); in some early like a
paper k'te

(also called round brackets) manuscripts, written both with single and double
An alternative to commas, marking the inclusion strokes (p. 280).
of a grammatical unit in a sentence; emerged the thats
towards the end of the 14th century;
high above
in British Space comet
English colloquially often called brackets (though Separates words and identifies paragraphs (first an inky
in US and typographic usage this term means sentence begins a new line; first word usually spiralling
tossed
square brackets, ]); curly brackets, or braces {{ })
[
indented or extra space separates successive the highest
also used in scientific writing; pedagogical paragraphs); it is a positive feature of
of hats
,,,erMcGough,'Apostrop.e''^^^^-
SAMMY'S
SERVICE CENTRE
K™S';'^».
a,„°g^;,a

:^

1:1.
 PART V
Using English

Parts II, III, and IV of this book investigate the structural proper- English in Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, and
ties of English: the inventory of elements in vocabulary, grammar, South Africa. We look separately at pidgin and Creole Englishes, and
phonology, and graphology which are used to produce meaningful also at the emerging range of second language Englishes in India,

words and sentences. The study of these elements is relatively Africa, South Asia, and elsewhere.
abstract; we can describe the way a sentence is constructed, or the The more we study regional variation, the more we find we
semantic links between words, or the system of vowels and conso- cannot make sense of it without taking social variation into account.

nants, without having to say anything about who is using them, or The next section (§21) therefore looks at what is involved under this
when, or where, or why. Part V turns this approach on its head. heading. It begins with a discussion of two important issues - pre-
It begins by introducing the notion of discourse (§19), which scriptivism and gender - which have been referred to at several other
includes the analysis of larger stretches of speech or writing than the places in this book, and then reviews the chief occupational vari-
sentence, as well as a study of the factors which facilitate linguistic eties, which provide the clearest examples of distinctive social uses
interaction. This leads to the notion of texts — units of discourse of language. Special attention is paid to the English used in religion,
which belong to particular social situations, and whose distinctive science, the law, politics, the news media, broadcasting, and adver-
linguistic features identify a range of varieties in the language. After tising. The chapter concludes with a brief look at restricted varieties

a review of the differences between speech and writing and between of English, and at some of the new varieties which are emerging as

monologue and dialogue, §20 looks systematically at these varieties, a consequence of the electronic revolution.
beginning with those which convey geographical information about Part V ends with an examination of the nature of stylistic deviance
the user: regional dialects. and the associated domain ot personal linguistic identity. Four broad
The section opens with an international overview -a range ol areas are covered in §22. It begins with an account ot the prolifer-
newspaper material illustrating a day in the life of the (written) ating world of word games, in both spoken and written English.
English language. It then looks in detail at the differences between Next it identifies those varieties which are especially likely to break
and within American and British varieties of English, the two chief linguistic rules, and looks at the kind of deviance which emerges.
models ot world language use. The three Celtic-influenced dialects The field of verbal humour is found to play a central role in all ot
of the British Isles are each examined, with particular attention paid this, so the role played by different levels of language structure in
to Scots, which has a much richer dialect literature, extending from jokes and other forms of jocular activity is separately examined.
the Middle Ages to the present, than any other variety ot World Part V then concludes with a similarly detailed review of the way
English apart from Standard English itself We then follow the same the various levels of language structure can be used to guide our
route as in Part complementing the historical perspective pre-
I, observation when approaching the most creative domain ot
sented there with contemporary observations on the features of language use: English literature.

This sequence of photographs, other Canadian expressions can be

taken by Jack Chambers in
Toronto, anticipates several of the
themes of Part V: there is
of distinctive regional variety
(§20), occupational variety (§21),
seen in the Hydro office (the
publicly owned electricity
evidence company), the sign for take out
food (not take away), and the Kiss
'n' Ride subway station (where

and creative usage (§22). Canadian one's spouse drops one off, and
identity is suggested by the gives one a kiss before one takes
unusual spelling combination of the underground the rest of the
tire (US) and centre (UK), and way to work).
 19VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE
"Inhere is a major qualitative difference between study- pages to represent the range of approaches whicl
ing the components ot English structure (as presented exist, and to give an indication, through thi.

in Parts II, III, and IV) and studying the domains of examples, of the complexity which lies behind
English use. Ihe structural properties of the language the apparently simple notion of 'using English".
arc many and complex, but at least they are finite and
fairly easy to identify: there are only so many sounds, GOOD MORNING,
letters, and grammatical constructions, and although GOOD MORNING! HELLO, GOOD
EVENING, AND
there is a huge vocabulary, at least the units (the lex- An apparently simple
greeting or leave-taking
WELCOME!
emes, p. 118) are determinate and manageable. None
can hide some quite subtle
of this applies when we begin to investigate the way conventions of use. The
This predictable
greeting from
English is used: we are faced immediately with a bewil- chief daily greetings (Good
British media
dering array of situations, in which the features of morning/afternoon/
personality David
evening/night), along with
spoken or written language appear in an apparently Frost became a catch phrase in the late
their regional and colloquial
1960s. As a result, it was often used outside its original
unlimited number of combinations and variations. variants (such as Austra-
time frame - the only case the author has encountered
Sometimes the result a use of English, or of a feature lian G'day, informal
is of good ei/en/ng being used in the morning.
'morning, intimate night-
of English, which is highly distinctive and easily
night), do not function in
explained, as is often encountered in regional dialects identical ways.

and in some of the more institutionalized areas of lan- • Good morning conven-
is

tionally used just once

POTTY THING TO SAY
guage use, such as religion and law. Rather more often,
between any pair of people.
The Duke of Dunstable, having read all he wanted to
we are faced with usage that is subtle and indetermi- If A meets
B for the first time
read in The Times and given up a half-hearted attempt
nate, and which demands detailed and lengthy analy- the office at 9 o'clock, it
in
to solve the crossword puzzle, had left the terrace and
sis before we can reach an understanding ot what its
would be appropriate for was making his way to Lady Constance's sitting-room.
each to say Good morning. If He was looking for someone to talk to, and Connie,
purpose is and how it works, as is often found in social A meets B again at 9.05, the though in his opinion potty, like all women, would be
dialects and insome of the more creative areas of lan- greeting is not exchanged a better than nothing....
second time. Indeed, B
guage use, such as humour and literature. He reached his destination, went in without knock-
would find it distinctly odd ing, found Lady Constance busy at her desk, and
Recent years have seen considerable progress in the if A were to repeat Good
shouted 'Hoy!'
study of language in use, and the emergence of several morning, and might even be The monosyllable, uttered in her immediate rear in a
upset or puzzled (if A were
paradigms of enquiry, as people probe the topic from tone of voice usually confined to the hog-calling indus-
the boss, did he/she notice try of western America, made Lady Constance leap like
different points of view. Some linguists favour a me? if B were the boss, is A was a hostess. Concealing her
a rising trout. But she
'bottom up" approach, studying the way sentences trying to gain my attention
annoyance, not that that was necessary, for her visitor
combine into larger units of discourse, and focusing forsome reason?). However, since early boyhood had never noticed when he was
the same constraint does annoying anyone, she laid down her pen and achieved
on the role played by specific features of language in not apply to Good night. If A a reasonably bright smile.
facilitating successful interaction. In this approach, meets B on leaving the 'Good morning, Alaric'
whole books might be written on the communicative then both
office at 6 o'clock,
'What do you mean, good morning, as if you hadn't
are likely to say Good night. seen me before today?' said the Duke, his low opinion
role of a tiny aspect of language (such as the use o^yoH But if A forgets something, of the woman's intelligence confirmed. 'We met at
know in conversations). Other linguists work 'top returns to the office to get
breakfast, didn't we? Potty thing to say. No sense in it.'
it, and meets B again five
down", beginning with a broadly defined category - (P. G. Wodehouse, Serwce with a Sm/7e (1961), Ch. 2.)
minutes later, both may use
such as an area of knowledge (science, politics), a the exchange again without
social situation (gender, class), or a communicative a problem. either by the tired one or by such as when we arrive at a
genre (poetry, joke) - and examining the range of lin-
• Consciously deviant uses an observer). Good evening hotel or telephone a switch-
exist.There are circum- seems to be the most con- board; even in the middle of
guistic features which are found within it. Every con- stances where Good morn- ventional of all the daily the night, Goodei'en/ng or
ceivable kind of academic enquiry can be found, such ing may beiaid in the greetings, with hardlyany Good morn/'ng will be used,
as heavily illustrated descriptions of data samples, afternoon, such as when likelihood of hearing it used never Goodnight). On one
someone sleeps in very late, at other times of day. international television
meticulous statistical or experimental analyses of indi- and arrives in front of the • Good morning. Good sports link-up, thecommen-
viduals and groups, ambitious taxonomies, and highly family when mid-day is long afternoon, and Good tator welcomed the world-
abstract theoretical outlines. The various branches of gone. Correspondingly, evening may be used as we wide viewing audience with
Good afternoon can be said arrive or as we depart, the words Hello, good
linguistics that investigate the topic, such as sociolin- in the morning, such as by a within the appropriate time evening,good afternoon,
guistics, stylistics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, and sarcastic boss to a late- frame; but Good night can good morning, wherever
textlinguistics, present a remarkable range of method- arriving employee. Good be used only as a leave- you are. He did not use
night can be said at any time taking Similarly, only the Goodn/ght- which would
ologies and emphases. Part V cannot give a compre- of day, if someone seems first three can be used as an have been an open invita-
hensive account of all that goes on under these about to fall asleep (spoken opening acknowledgement. tion to viewers to switch off!

headings, but a serious effort is made in the following

 19 • VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE

CONSTRUCTING A DISCOURSE
When we construct a piece oi connected speech or writing,
whether in monologue or dialogue (p. 294), we are con-
stantly tapping the lexical and grammatical resources of the
language to find ways of making our composition flow
same time expressing the nuances we
fluently while at the
wish to convey. The examples on this page illustrate some

of the remarkable range of devices which exist for this pur-

pose, and which most adults use and respond to with
unselfconscious ease.

57 WAYS OF SAYING NO
 -

PART V • USING ENGLISH

MICROLINGUISTIC STUDIES DISCOURSE DIRECTION Summarizers: in a

effect; to cut a long story short;

nutshell; that's about
what
it;

I'm
in

Some items play a particular role in control- trying to say is Z

There is only one way to establish the exact function ot ling the direction of movement within a
discourse. They signal such broad Local macro-organizers
the various elements which contribute to the organiza-
organizational features as topic identifica- Exemplifiers: in other words; for instance; to
tion of discourse, and that is to subject a substantial tion, change, and exemplification, and such give an example; it's like A
amount of linguistic data to a microlinguistic analysis. logical relationships as topic contrast and Relators: nonetheless; however; and also; it
reinforcement. It is never possibleto present has to do with B; it'sthe same with B
In the case ot spoken discourse (p. 29 1 ), a recording ot
a truly simple account, as several items have Evaluators: think/don't think that C; asfar
I

reasonable acoustic quality needs to be made, then 'fuzzy' meaning(p. andanalytical

169), as I can see; seems to me; I'm absolutely
transcribed with maximum attention to detail, paying categories (such as evaluating and summa- certain
rizing) are not always easy to apply consis- Qualifiers: the catch is; it depends on D;
particular attention to its pauses, interruptions, false
tently. Nonetheless, several studies have that's true but D; this doesn't mean that D
starts, hesitations, and other such features. Ideally, a full provided useful first approximations. Asides:where was I?; guess that's beside I

prosodic transcription should be included 248), One such approach focuses on lexical the point; I'm getting ahead of myself
(p.
phrases (p. 153), recognizing eight types of here
though the level ofspecialized training required to hear what it calls macro-organizers. These are
prosodic effects accurately means that this not always The following extract from a meeting
is seen to operate at two levels; global
between a teacher (T) and a student (S) to
a practical option. Each instance of a particular item of features determine the overall shape of the
talk about a thesis shows the use of several
discourse; /oca/ features mark changes of
interest is noted — the word ivelh the hesitation noise er,
direction operating more restricted way.
of these organizational features. This
in a
the clause you see- and its context examined to establish exchange is typical of a discourse where seri-
Global macro-organizers ous business is being transacted, and where
what role it may be playing at that point in the dis- Topic markers, let's look at X; what do you care needsto betaken (notwithstanding
course. An immediate intuitive response to the item think of X?; have you heard about X?; let the informal style) with the manipulation of
can be sharpened by manipulating the data in various me start with X meaning. There are far fewer such features
Topic shifters: by the way; let's move on to Y; in the more loosely structured language of
ways, such as omitting the item to see how this affects that reminds me of Y; this is off the everyday conversation.
the meaning or acceptability of the utterance, or con- subject, butY (After J. R. Nattinger & J. S. DeCarrico, 1 992.)

trasting it with another item. By comparing a large

number of instances, the aim is to arrive at an informa-
T: What wanted mainly to talk about was
I Topic marker
tive classification of uses, and to develop a theory of the
your part on the review of the literature.
organization of discourse which can then be tested
It seems to me that here you just list things, Evaluator
against other kinds of utterance. After more than a
that here you list all this stuff you read, but
decade of research, there are now several theoretical you don't really discuss it.

frameworks which have emerged in this way. Clarification S: Huh? I'm not sure what you mean, do I

discuss It. ..see, in this part here, I talk about it.

A SAMPLE [ overlapping speech

T: Well, you sort of do. Here, you say that Qualifier
TRANSCRIPTION ... relatively long
pause
these theories are the leading ones, in the
/ minor boundary marker
A few lines illustrating // major boundary marker
current literature these are important.
the potential complexity However, that's not all you need to say here, Relator
, low falling tone
of a discourse transcript, you need to say that these are competing
- high falling tone
including prosodic
" falling rising tone theories, or at least that they are different Qualifier
features (from J.J.
^ rising falling tone theories, and also you need to say which you Relator
Gumperz, 1982, p. 105).
~ level tone choose to base your study on. Not only that,
Note the way the speech Relator
" upward
of the two speakers (B pitch register shift you have to say why you support that one...
and A) out so that
is laid high secondary stress Comprehension check you need to say why. OK^ Do yon see^
the points of overlap can
be clearly seen. For
,
low secondary stress
Accepting response — S: Yeah, I guess so. OK I'll try.
"
(doubled mark) extra loud
further illustration of T: OK so (/ei/e/ /ntonat/on) you need to do Summarizer
ace accelerated tempo
intonation contrasts, see more than just list these and tell that they're
dec decelerated tempo
p. 248. important, you need to discuss them more and
whether / say why you're basing your study on a certain
,, 1 aet
get wondenn'
«
but/ sometimes
1

B, yeh
one. OK, now {falling intonation)... I also Topic shifter

wanted to talk to you about your hypotheses. Topic shifter

,t-s all
related//: cause
I don't think they are written well enough, Evaluator
';butult.matelyuis/nght// they're not quite clear enough. How about Exemplifier
werem and 4? They seem to me to contradict each
out/people who Evaluator»:;>
1

started
\„.eaueve.hodv other.
Accepting response S:Ohyeah, that isn't what mean... guess I I

nineteen hundred
/

maybe they do, guess so I

everythin/ right// T: OK so (level intonation) you need to state Summarizer

thev did
not now, now each one more clearly...
that's then /,d^-s
B: ::h but It
^but ultimately

spread out now /

/ so it's all
they it
 19 • VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE

OH YES? A colon marks a lengthened Receiving new information

syllable.) A: Hey, Henry, your girl-
Oh is surprisingly frequent friend's here!
in conversation, whether Correcting oneself B: [from living room]
formal or informal, but Ithink it was in seventeen: Oh yeh?
pinning down its function fifteen, or seventeen fifty
proves to be extremely five. I'm not sure when. Eh: Marking an intense
difficult. It has little by way oh I'm wrong. Seventeen reaction
of a dictionary meaning seventeen. [Girls' High still has a reputa-
which we can hold on to. tion.]
Oh! on its own, as a minor Correcting someone else A: But, like it did?
sentence (p. 216), is relatively [How about 'Death of a B: Oh yes. Girls' High is still

straightforward: it is an Salesman'?] rated. Y'know Girls'

exclamation, expressing a A: Well that was a show, High is rated higherthan
strong emotion whose exact sure. Central,
value depends on the choice B: Oh that was a movie too.
of intonation and facial Some of these uses are easy
expression (p. 248). What is Requesting clarification to recognize, such as the oh
lessobvious is why we use oh A: Is there anyone you of surprise (Oh yeah.' = 'Gosh
to begin an utterance - would uh: talk about- I never knew that') or bel-
sometimes followed by a B: Oh you mean outside? ligerence {Oh yeah! = 'You
brief pause, sometimes not. wanna make trouble?') or
Request for elaboration the oh of strong intensity
Does he opera? like
A: Does she come here or: {Oh really?, Oh God!, Oh
Oh maybe he's too young. B: No we go out to lunch,
c'monl); others require more

mostly, I stop over there. reflection before we can

Here the word does not have consciously identify the
A: Oh, where do you like
any exclamatory force. It nuance; but all of the pro- board. It may be a reformu- selves towards the other's
to go?
may be said with very little posed categories occur with lation of what we already point of view. To leave oh
emphasis, often quite some frequency, and any know, or brand new infor- out can make an utterance
Suddenly remembered mation; it may come from sound immediately more
rapidly. In such spontaneous conversational
question other people in the conver- abrupt or argumentative.
circumstances it seems to be exchange of some length
Oh listen, I forgot to
sation or from within our- It should therefore be plain
more like an introductory will provide copious
ask you...
particle. The question is, examples. selves. Either way, we find why we use oh so often in
what function does this ourselves faced with the task informal (friendly) conversa-
particle have? Knowledge re-orientation Why oh? of replacing one piece of tion. The whole point of a
In a detailed study of oh A: How can I get an Is it possible to find a gener- information by another, conversation is to tell each
and related words (e.g. well, appointment t'go down alization which will apply to and the oh tells our listener other things. The state of
there t'bring my son on of these o/i-using con- that we are ready to carry knowledge of each partici-
so, now, y'know), American all
a tour? pant is therefore continually
linguist Deborah Schiffrin texts? Schiffrin believes that this out.

argues the case for a B: Oh didn't even know

I

they are all instances of a The use of oh therefore changing. Oh marks the
they gave tours! single phenomenon - a has an important role in dis- points where speaker and
discourse function,
identifying several types of signal that speakers are course interaction. Like well, hearer are jointly focusing
context in which it
Unanticipated information preparing to shift their ori- and certain other response their attention on matters of
commonly occurs. (All the Oh I didn't know that. entation to take account of words, it signals the nature real concern, where the
following examples are the information they have of our participation in the information content is in the
taken from her recordings of Display of recognition just received. We use oh, in dialogue. It lets our inter- process of change. Oh is, in
informal conversation, with A: We ate at the - we ate at other words,when we locutor know that we are short, a marker of informa-
a summary of preceding the: eh that Shanty? become aware that our actively paying special atten- tion management.
context square brackets,
in Seafood Shanty? knowledge is in a state of tion to the point which has
where needed. Transcription B: Oh yeh, I've heard that's change, and are prepared to just been made. It also shows (After D. Schiffrin, 1987,
conventions are unchanged. good. take the new knowledge on that we are aligning our- Ch.4.)

PLEASE occur with statements {I'd like some pudding, • Give me more pudding or I'll hit you, please.
please), quest\ons{May I have some pudding, • Ithink you're beautiful, please.
The most interesting property about p/ease (apart please?), commands (Give me some pudding,
These sentences are, respectively, a narrative state-
from its 'magical' social role in persuading others please), and moodless clauses {Pudding, please).
ment, a promise, an offer, an invitation, a threat,
to cooperate) is its discourse function. From a • It has no easily stateable dictionary meaning. If
and a compliment. Please cannot be used with
structural point of view, p/ease is unique. we were to try to define the 'meaning' of p/ease at
such sentences, but only with those which are
all, it would have to be in terms of what it does -to
• It is not easily assigned to any word class: gram- interpretable as a request. The point is not simply a
persuade someone to do something.
mars tend to call it an adverb (p. 21 1), but it is like matter of common sense, as can be seen from the
no other adverb. It cannot, for example, be modi- Are there any sentences, then, where we may errors made by non-native learners of English,
fied by very: we can say very kindly, but not *very r70t saypleasel That there are many such con- who often produce sentences similar to the
please. straints can be seen from the following: unacceptable ones above.
• It can act as a minor sentence in its own right: In short, please is an item whose function is
• He ate more pudding, please. entirely defined by its role in discourse - and more-
A: Would you like some tea?
• Ipromise you can have some more pudding, over, in discourse of a very particular kind (request-
B: Please.
please. ing). More than any other word in English, it is a
• When functioning within a sentence, it is not • Would you like some more pudding, please? discourse-identifying feature. (After M. Stubbs,
constrained by the syntactic type (p. 21 8). It may • Do you want to come to a party, please? 1983, Ch.4.)
 PARr V USING ENGLISH

TEXTS AND VARIETIES CONCEPTS IN TEXT ANALYSIS

Church service
The notion of 'using English' involves much more
than using our knowledge of linguistic structure (such
as the features described on pp. 286-9) to create and
interpret sequences of sentences and conversational
interactions. It also involves being aware of the range
of situations in which English can be used in a dis-
tinctive and predictable way, and of the possibilities
available to us when we wish to produce or respond
to creative uses of the language.
These situations are enormously varied, and not
Text: liturgical prayer Distinctive features
always easy to define, but we can begin to make sense of
Almighty GodJour heavenly •Vocative + relative (p. 2 10)
them by looking at the communicative products, or I

Rather, who pf(th^tender mercyl- • Use of thy, thine

texts, with which they are associated, and at the linguis-

tic features which define these texts' identity. Prayers, didst [give (Jhinl) only
• Word order
• Archaic past tense
posters, road-signs, lectures, sports commentaries,
• Capitalization
novels, speeches, interviews, and recipes are all texts, by
• Collocations (p. 162)
this account. They each have a particular communica-
tive purpose - easier to state in relation to a road-sign t
Variety: religious English (p. 371)
than a novel, perhaps, but a communicative purpose
nonetheless. They are also relatively self-contained
units of discourse, whether spoken or written, and each They are relatively permanent, background features
to some degree has a definable linguistic identity. of the spoken or written language, over which we have
Qualifications such as 'relatively' and 'to some relatively little conscious control. We tend not to
degree' are important, because not all texts have change our regional or class way of speaking as we go
boundaries which are equally easy to identify, or use about our daily business, and usually do not even real-

language which is equally distinctive: for example, the ize that it is there.
boundaries of written texts are typically more deter- • Stylistic features relate to constraints on language
minate than spoken ones, and (within speech) most use that are much more narrowly constrained, and
sermons have a much clearer beginning and end than identify personal preferences in usage (poetry, humour)
most conversations. But when investigating uses of or the varieties associated with occupational groups
English, it is usually practicable to work with a hier- (lecturers, lawyers, journalists). They are relatively
archy of the following notions: situations give rise to temporary features of our spoken or written lan-
texts, and texts make use of sets of distinctive linguis- guage, over which we do have some degree of conscious
tic features. A particular set of these features, repre- control. We often adopt different group uses of lan-
senting a category of text, is known as a variety. To guage as we go through our day (e.g. family, job, reli-

take just one example:. O living God is a distinctive gion, sports), and frequently change our speaking or
feature (a vocative with O, p. 220) of a prayer text writing style to make a particular effect (as when we
which is found in a religious situation: it is therefore put on an accent while telling a story, or play with
a feature of the variety of religious language. language in an informal letter, p. 402).

Sociolinguistic and stylistic features The following pages illustrate many uses of English,
The features which identify a variety are not features manifested in a selection of texts associated with both
of the language as a whole, occurring anywhere the spoken and written varieties of the language. Chap-
language is spoken or written, in all possible social sit- ters 20 and 21 deal with sociolinguistic variation,
uations. Variety features depend on the presence of chiefly of a regional and social kind. Chapters 22 and
certain factors in the social situation. Classifications 23 deal with stylistic variation, with particular refer-
<<«»s^
of these factors vary, but it is possible to group them ence to occupational and personal factors. But we
into two general types, which give rise to what are begin with a review of two very general dimensions
here called sociolinguistic and stylistic features. which must always be taken into account when con-
• Sociolinguistic features relate to very broad situa- sidering the characteristics of a language variety: the
tional constraints on language use, and chiefly iden- chosen medium of communication (speech vs writ-
tify the regional and social varieties of the language ing), and the type of participation involved (mono-
(e.g. Canadian, Cockney, upper-class, educated). logue vs dialogue).
 19 • VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE

we are faced with a genuine choice between speaking TWO ELECTRONIC

SPEECH AND WRITING or writing. Normally, whenever two people are in EXCEPTIONS TO THE
RULE
earshot, they speak to each other. Only very special cir-

Spoken and written language display a number of cumstances - wicked children passing secret messages Speech is normally inter-
-but not when talking
active
important differences, over and above the obvious in class; partners who are 'not talking' to each other; a
to a telephone answering
distinction in physical form - that speech uses the jury foreman passing a verdict to a court official; some- machine, where we have to
medium of phonic substance', typically air-pressure one who cannot speak or hear (and who is unable to produce a monologue while
pretending it is a dialogue
movements produced by the vocal organs, whereas use sign language) - would motivate the enormous
(p. 294). This is not something
writing uses the medium of 'graphic substance', typi- trouble of writing down what we wish to 'say'. Con- which comes easily to most
cally marks on a surface made by a hand using an versely, who are separated by distance in space
people people-though abilities
improve with practice.
implement. These differences are chiefly to do with or time, and who lack electronic means of communi-
Writing not an interactive
is
language use, arising out of the fact that speakers and cation (or the money to use them), have no alternative
medium the same way as
in
writers are operating in fundamentally different but to write to each other. speech, because of the delay
communicative situations. But there are also several Moreover, the status of the two mediums is not in getting the written mes-
sagetothe reader; and in
differences in language structure: the grammar and the same. Written formulations, such as contracts,
many kinds of writing there is

vocabulary of speech is by no means the same as that are usually required to make agreements legally bind- little expectation of a reply

of writing, nor do the contrasts available in phonol- ing. Historical documents, ancient inscriptions, orig- (none at all, pacethe other
sense of 'medium', when the
ogy (§17) correspond to those available in graphol- inal manuscripts, first editions, sacred writings, and
writer is dead). But the
ogy(§18). other such material are given a kind of respect which advent of electronic mail and
Writing is sometimes thought to be little more than is rarely accorded to speech (though archives of the fax machine have altered
the time parameters dramati-
'speech written down'. Speech, correspondingly, is recorded sound are beginning to introduce a bal-
cally. Questions and answers
often judged by its closeness to writing (p. 236). Nei- ance). Above all, written English provides the stan- fly around the world now

ther position is valid. The two mediums, though his- dard that society values, and its relative permanence which are very similar to
those that would be used if
torically related, function as independent methods of and worldwide circulation have given it a very special
the participants were talking
communication. There are few circumstances where place within the life of the community (p. 1 10). to each other (p. 390).

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPEECH AND WRITING

• Speech is time-bound, dynamic, transient. Is is part of an interaction in • Writing is space-bound, static, permanent. It is the result of a situation in

which both participants are usually present, and the speaker has a particular which the writer is usually distant from the reader, and often does not know
addressee (or several addressees) in mind. who the reader is going to be (except in a very vague sense, as in poetry).
• The spontaneity and speed of most speech exchanges make it difficult to • Writing allows repeated reading and close analysis, and promotes the
engage in complex advance planning. The pressure to think while talking development of careful organization and compact expression, with often
promotes looser construction, repetition, rephrasing, and comment clauses intricate sentence structure. Units of discourse (sentences, paragraphs) are
(p. 229). Intonation and pause divide long utterances into manageable usually easy to identify through punctuation and layout.
chunks, but sentence boundaries are often unclear (p. 214).
• Lack of visual contact means that participants cannot rely on context to
• Because participants are typically in face-to-face interaction, they can rely make their meaning clear; nor is there any immediate feedback. Most
on such extralinguistic cues as facial expression and gesture to aid meaning writing therefore avoids the use of deictic expressions, which are likely to be
(feedback). The lexicon of speech is often characteristically vague, using ambiguous. Writers must also anticipate the effects of the time-lag between
words which refer directly to the situation (deictic expressions, such as that production and reception, and the problems posed by having their language
one, in liere, right now). read and interpreted by many recipients in diverse settings.

• Many words and constructions are characteristic of (especially informal) •Some words and constructions are characteristic of writing, such as
speech. Lengthy coordinate sentences are normal (p. 226), and are often of multiple instances of subordination in the same sentence (p. 70), elaborately

considerable complexity. Nonsense vocabulary (p. 1 30) is not usually written, balanced syntactic patterns, and the long (often multi-page) sentences
and may have no standard spelling (whatchamacallit). Obscenity may be found in some legal documents. Certain items of vocabulary are never
replaced by graphic euphemism (f***). Slang and grammatical informality, spoken, such as the longer names of chemical compounds.
such as contracted forms (isn't, he's) may be frowned upon.
• is very suited to the recording of facts and the communication of
Writing
• Speech is very suited to social or 'phatic' functions, such as passing the time ideas, and to tasks of memory and learning. Written records are easier to
of day, or any situation where casual and unplanned discourse is desirable. It keep and scan; tables demonstrate relationships between things; notes and
is also good at expressing social relationships, and personal opinions and lists provide mnemonics; and text can be read at speeds which suit a person's

attitudes, due to the vast range of nuances which can be expressed by the ability to learn.
prosody and accompanying non-verbal features.
• Errorsand other perceived inadequacies in our writing can be eliminated in
• There an opportunity to rethink an utterance while it is in progress
is later drafts without the reader ever knowing they were there. Interruptions,
(starting again, adding a qualification). However, errors, once spoken, cannot if they have occurred while writing, are also invisible in the final product.
be withdrawn (the one exception is when a sound engineer performs
• Unique features of writing include pages, lines, capitalization, spatial
wonders of auditory plastic surgery on a tape-recording of nonfluent speech);
organization, and several aspects of punctuation. Only a very few graphic
the speaker must live with the consequences. Interruptions and overlapping
conventions relate to prosody, such as question marks and underlining for
speech are normal and highly audible.
emphasis. Several written genres (e.g. timetables, graphs, complex
• Unique features of speech include most of the prosody (p. 248). The many formulae) cannot be read aloud efficiently, but have to be assimilated
nuances of intonation, as well as contrasts of loudness, tempo, rhythm, and visually.
other tones of voice cannot be written down with much efficiency.
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

MIXED MEDIUM SPEECH WRITING MIXING

Ifwe choose to speak, we Ifwe choose to write, we nor- There remain a few situ-
medium of speech and may intend our utterance to mally intend that what we have ations where speaking
The distinction between the
be heard immediately. This written should be read; and the and writing are mutually
the medium of writing at first sight seems clear-cut: is the normal state of norm, at least since late classical dependent; the language
either things are written or they are spoken. In prac- affairs. But there are several times, has been for the recipient used is partly made up of
tice, the situation is considerably more complex. interesting alternatives. to read silently. Here too there speaking/ listening activi-
are several alternatives. tiesand partly of read-
When we choose to use either one of these mediums, • We may intend our utter- ing/writing activities, in
the reason for our choice may require us to bear in ance to be heard at a later • We may choose to write with proportions that are
mind the existence of the other, and that then influ- point in time, as when we the intention that what we sometimes difficult to
use a telephone answering have written should be read disentangle. There are
ences the nature of the language we use.' The figure machine(p. 291). aloud. If so, we must make a three chief possibilities,
below summarizes the chief alternatives which are • We may intend that what further choice. We may write depending on the nature
likely to produce distinctive styles of spoken or written we say should not be heard, in such a way that our end- of the addressee.
as when we speak sotto product, when read aloud, will
Hnglish, and the text illustrates some typical situations
voce ('under our breath'). sound like written language. It • We may address our-
under each heading. There are of course two fur- willbe relativelyformal and mixed way,
selves in this
ther options here; the gen- controlled. Those who prepare as when we compile a
uine sotto voce, which our the text for radio news-readers shopping list simultane-
TELEPROMPTING listener does not hear, but fall into this category. Alterna- ouslyquestioning our-
A television presenter facing a teleprompter, also called which nonetheless makes us we may write in such a
tively, selves about what we

(from the manufacturers' names) an autocue or auto- feel better for having said way that the end-product will want while writing down
scr/pt. The text is typed on rolls of transparent material, it; and the pseudo sof fo not sound scripted, as in those some of what we say.
and projected as large type, enabling the presenters to voce, which we intend our who write material for radio • We may address a
read it. It is so positioned that they can see it while facing listener to hear (usually for and television drama. The single listener, as when
the camera, conveying the illusion of direct speech to the jocular purposes). Uninten- latter are not always successful, people work together in

viewer. Any style of text can be used- informal or formal, tionally overheard sotto of course. a co-authorship situa-

monologue or dialogue. voce can lead to trouble for • We may choose to write with tion, jointly poring over a
the speaker, though this the intention that only some of text (an academic paper,
depends on non-linguistic what we have written should be a sitcom script) and each
factors (such as the relative read aloud, the rest being contributing suggestions
physical build of speaker ignored. An example of this to it.

and listener). rather unusual situation can be • We may address a

• We may intend our utter- found in a radio channel's conti- groupof listeners, as
ance to be written down. If nuity studio, where information when teacher is using
a
so, there are two further of potential interest to the lis- the blackboard, keeping
possibilities; we may leave tener (e.g. about the weather, up a running com-
the task of representing traffic delays) is continually mentary to a class while
what we say to the listener, coming in on a television screen doing so.
thus speaking in a relatively or being passed to the presen-
'natural' way (as in some ter innote form. The presenter Insuch cases, an audio
magazine interviews or selects what there istimeto recording would tell only
police statements); or we incorporate intothe running would a
half the story, as
may speak 'carefully', order of the programme. The photograph of the writ-
instructing the writer material arrives in a variety of ten work. Both mediums
to ignore non-fluencies styles, often highlyelliptical, work together to
jointly
and errors (as in letter reflecting the ongoing rush of produce a successful use
dictation). the live broadcast situation. of language.

CLASSIFICATION OF MIXED MEDIUM TEXTS

Now (norm)
ENOW
-To be heard -

Later (telephone answering machine)

As if
II spoken (police statement, magazine interview, ghost writing)
- Speech - To be written down CMS
As if written (letter, dictation, recorded announcements)
- To be unheard {sotto voce speech)

self (memoranda, shopping list)

ETo
To single other (co-authorship sessions, sharing a letter, with commentary)
To many others (commentary on blackboard, handout, slides)

-To be read (norm)

As if
II spoken (radio/TV drama, teleprompter)
I

— Writing To be read aloud - rMi

As if written (radio.'TV newsreading, teleprompter)

-To be partly read aloud (broadcasting continuity summaries)

 19 VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE

HOW TO LECTURE OVERLAPS BETWEEN SPEECH AND WRITING

Sir Lawrence Bragg not talk. must write
I
The differences noted between speech and writing on
(1891-1971), joint it out,' I am tempted p. 291 are best thought of as trends rather than as absolute
Nobel prize-winner to ask, 'Then why distinctions. For example, while it is true that a great deal
with his father at the lecture? Why not of speech depends on a shared context, and thus uses
age of 25, and later send a written many situation-dependent expressions (such as this/that,
Cavendish Professor account to your here/there), it is all speech. A spoken lerture is
not true of
of Experimental friends and let them usually quite self-contained, except when it refers to hand-
Physics at Cambridge. read it comfortably outs or board diagrams. On the other hand, such written
As resident professor at home; instead of material as office memos and personal letters regularly
at the Royal dragging them all depend on a shared context. 'Followthatl', beginsone
Institution (1953-66) out to a lecture hall informal letter. 'Have you got one for me too?', begins
he inaugurated the to listen to your another
weekly 'schools reading the very It is therefore very likely that there are few, if any, abso-
lectures' for children, same thing?' lute differencesbetween speech and writing, and that no
and became widely We come back, it parameter of linguistic variation can distinguish all
single
known for the clarity seems to me, to the spoken from all written genres. Rather, the range of
of his own lecturing essential feature of a potentially distinguishing linguistic features provides a
He wrote a
style. lecture which justifies 'pool' of resources which are utilized by spoken and writ-
number of papers on bringing the lecturer ten genres in various ways. The different genres of speech
the topic of lecturing and hisaudience and writing always seem to overlap inthe way they usea
(following in the together.It is the particular linguistic variable. For example, using the crite-
tradition of Michael emotional contact rion of explicitness of reference mentioned above, one
Faraday, who was also between lecturer and study showed that, while written genres do tend to have
much interested in the audience. If a lecturer high scores (i.e. their reference is less situation-dependent)
subject, p. 87), and his has to find his words and spoken genres have low scores (i.e. their reference is
remarks provide a as bespeaks, he will more situation-dependent), there were several exceptions.
relevant perspective be automatically Some kinds of spoken language (public speeches and inter-
on the different roles restrained from views) had relatively high scores, whereas some kinds of
of spontaneous vs going too fast written language (types of fiction, in particular) had rela-

scripted speech. His because he is tivelylow scores. It might be thought that, in a diagram
comments on the thinking along with such as the one below, which represents the scores
nature of transcribed hisaudience. Every obtained on a single scale, all the written varieties should
spontaneous speech lecturer knows the be above zero and all the spoken varieties below. In
are echoed elsewhere trick of watching a practice, an overlapping situation obtains.
in this book (p. 214). few sympathetic (After D.Biber, 1988.)
the audience
faces in

I feel so strongly and of judging (by official documents

about the wrongness noting their
of reading a lecture that my language may response) whether he has been successful in professional letters

seem immoderate. think it is a dreadful

I making his points or whether he must put
thing to do, something out of keeping with things another way. A lecturer who reads is
all that a lecture should mean. The spoken earthbound to his script, but the lecturer
word and the written word are quite who talks can enjoy a wonderful feeling of press reviews; academic prose
different arts. Though the reader can pause being airborne and in complete accord with
and go back to a passage he has found his audience. It is the greatest reward of religion

difficult,the listener cannot do so and may lecturing.

lose the thread of the argument. It is boring
popular lore
in a written account to be repetitious; it is Footnote
right in a spoken account to put a key idea It is my when have to read
experience that I
editorials; biographies
in several ways to make sure the audience a literal transcript of one of my lectures I
spontaneous speeches
has grasped the point. When a man writes am quite appalled, even when have felt I

prepared speeches; hobbies

out his lecture he inevitably writes it as if it was rather a good one.
that the actual talk
were to be read, not heard. The ideas The account taken from the tape-record is press reportage; interviews
follow each other too fast. It is, of course, ungrammatical, with jerky unfinished humor
far easier for the lecturer to read than for sentences and repetitions, and one blushes science fiction
him to 'think on his feet' by constructing his to read it. have found that most of my
I

sentences on the spot, because he can colleagues have had the same experience.
frame his sentences at his leisure. realize I There may be some speakers whose
general fiction
that many lecturers read their material language is impeccable in written form, but
personal letters; mystery and adventure fiction
from a feeling of modesty, thinking they Iam not convinced that the polished talk is face-to-face conversations; romantic fiction
will give a poor rendering if they have no necessarily the best. A talk can be 'craggy'
script. While appreciating their reluctance, I and yet very effective, just as a bust in
am sure they are wrong. feel that to I which the artist has thumbed on irregular telephone conversations
collect an audience and then read one's chunks of clay is often a far more brilliant
material is like inviting a friend to go for a likeness than one which is carefully
walk and asking him not to mind if you go smoothed to the finest detail. It is more
alongside him in your car. It is easy for the 'live' just because it leaves more to the

lecturer to deliver well-considered imagination it excites.

rounded phrases, but the audience has to
follow and to think. If someone says, dare 'I Advice to Lecturers
 PART V USING KNtWJSH

MONOLOGUE AND DIALOGUE

A factor which fundamentally influences the linguis-

tic character of a use of language is the number of par-

ticipants involved in the activity. Theoretically, the
distinction is clear-cut: there is monologue, in which
only one person is involved in the linguistic act, and
there is dialogue, in which (typically) two people are
involved. We would also expect there to be a close cor-
respondence with the two categories of medium
(p. 291): monologue is associated with the activities of
writing and reading, and dialogue with speaking and
listening. As with so many of the theoretical distinc-
tions presented in this book, the outline is broadly cor-
rect, but there are several cases where the distinctions
become blurred or overlap, and it is these which pro-
vide some of the most interesting examples of the way
we use language.
We can see how some of these cases arise by paying
careful attention to definition. Monologue does not
mean that a person is alone, as is typical of most autho-
rial writing - the 'lonely profession, as it has been

called. It refers rather to an activity in which the lan-

guage producer does not expect a response, even
though an audience may be present (and even though
that audience may, from time to time, respond, as in
the heckling which can accompany a political speech).
In a monologue, the language is conceived as a self-

contained presentation. By contrast, it is of the essence

of dialogue that the participants expect each other to
respond, and it contains many linguistic features
which enable this to happen (most obviously, question
forms). The interesting cases, accordingly, are those
where the situation imposes special demands or con-
straints upon the speaker/writer, and interferes with
the normal expectations of response.

Not all writers

believe that their
 -

19 • VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE

long way from what can happen in everyday conver-

UNEXPECTED FEATURES sation. The stereotype is that people speak in com-
OF DIALOGUE plete sentences, taking well-defined turns, carefully
listening to each other, and producing balanced
When we investigate how dialogues actually work, as amounts of speech. The reality is that people often

found in recordings of natural speech, we are often in share in the sentences they produce, interrupt each
for a surprise. We are used to seeing dialogue in con- other,do not pay attention to everything that is said,
texts where the language has been carefully crafted, and produce a discourse where the contributions of
such as the script of a play or the conversations in a the participants are wildly asymmetrical. Yet all of this
language teaching textbook. Such dialogues may be nonetheless produces a perfectly normal, successful
very effective for their purpose, but they are usually a conversation.

THE STEREOTYPE Contrast the response pattern of the

A page from Book 1 of a successful
course for foreign learners of English,
launched in 1968. The controlled
nature of the dialogue appeals to the
non-native learner; but there is still a
considerable distance between this
following extract of dialogue from the
author's four-member household
around the dinner table, on one of the
rare occasions when all were present.
The participants are a father (D), a
mother (M), a boy (Ben, aged 1 6), and a
girl (Lucy, aged 18):

style of interaction and real

conversational English. The writers of D {to Lucy): Are you going out this
the course would be aware of this -it is evening?
only Book 1, after all -but it is (to which Lucy 'replies')
surprising how many people think that
L: Where did put my green skirt?
I

real conversation is like this all the time.

(to which Ben 'replies')
In the whole of this section, which

continues for another half a dozen BrPassthe salt. Luce.

exchanges, Martin speaks 1 1 times and (to which M 'replies', talking to D)
Jillian 10; he produces 207 words, and
M: She can never find that skirt.
she 21 1. It is a perfectly balanced
(to which Lucy 'replies', to herself)
conversation. There are no
interruptions, or speaking at the same L: I think put
I it in the wash.
time, and the two participants respond (to which D 'replies', talking to Ben)
carefully to each other D: There you are. (and passes the salt)
Notwithstanding the content of this
passage, their relationship seems safe
enough.

THE REALITY A: ...so he was talking about sentences in progress.

B: Sentences in?
In many dialogues, the point of conversational turn A: Progress. where one person starts, and another
It's

(when one person stops talking and another one B: Oh yes, see, chips in and finishes it off. know what you mean. I'vegot a friend who's always
I I

starts) often does not coincide with the end of a doing it. You're making a point, and then becomes in and finishes it off for you. Uncanny,
sentence. Rather there is a shared expectation that sometimes, how he's able to anticipate exactly
both people be involved in completing the
will A: What you're going to say. know. Some people are almost -almost
I

sentence. This only likely to be frequent between

is B: Obsessive
people who knoweach other well, and in such A: Yes, obsessive about it. It's as if they can't stop. must say find it very irritating. But Lerner's
I I

circumstances the participants may be totally
unconscious that it is happening at all. Twins, for
example, regularly complete each other's sentences
in this way. Conversely, it can be extremely irritating
to be talking to an acquaintance who tries to
complete your sentences when you are perfectly
capable of finishing them off yourself.
paper isn't about the obsessive types. He's suggesting that joint sentence formulation is quite
common in everyday informal conversation, and that there are certain syntactic strategies
which promote this kind of collaboration between speakers,
B: Suchas...
A: Well, starting a sentence with an if-clause, for instance, especially if you're being a bit hesitant,
thinking something out as you go along...
B: The other speaker is likely to chip in and finish it off

The following extract was based on some of the A: And the first speaker is happy enough for this to happen, because the point is made, and
features observed by US linguist Gene Lerner in a B; Even better the other person ismaking the point for him,
1991 study of what he called 'sentences in progress'. A: Which is what any conversationalist is happy to have happen. After all, what's a conversation
It is somewhat artificial, in that the various non- about otherwise, if it isn't about getting your point of view across?
fluencies which characterize normal spontaneous B: And rapport.
speech have been omitted, and the piece has been A: And?
written to illustrate several features in a short space; B: Rapport. RAP
but all of the sentence-completing features shown A: PORT. Ohyes, rapport, of course.
here reflect those which have been observed in B: Because when you're in an informal situation like that, imagine this kind of thing isn't by any
I

naturalistic recordings, and provide a notable meansrestricted to justone pair of utterances. guess you could keep going more or less
I

contrast with the finished conversational turns of A: More or less indefinitely.

most stage and textbook dialogues. B: Indefinitely, yes.


MONOLOGUE VARIATIONS
There are two possible situations in which someone
may choose to engage in a monoloijue, whether
Audience present
With an audience present, the likelihood is
that the medium will be speech (p. 291),
and interruptability provides an interesting
basis for classification. Many spoken
monologues presented to an audience are
in principle uninterruptable (other than by
non-linguistic responses, such as applause).
Examples include a very formal speech
(p.294), a lecture, and a sermon (in
conservative religious traditions).On the
other hand, there are several such
situations which do permit interruption.
The preachers facing many US black
congregations are reinforced in their
rhetoric by responses from their listeners,
and often adopt a questioning style in
order to elicit them (p. 371). Political
speeches, likewise, regularly play to the
audience in this way (p. 378).
An interesting category is the case of an
audience which is present but in no position
to respond (a 'pseudo-audience'). Examples
of these situations include the dentist who
carries on a conversation (even including
questions!) while the listener's mouth is full
of dental equipment, and the adult talking
to a prelinguistic infant (or the mother
talking to the baby in her womb). It is a
moot point whether such events are best
described as monologue or dialogue.
Audience absent
Leaving aside the case of literary
expression, which can be defended
as
either monologue or dialogue (p. 294), the
notion that there could be monologue
without an audience present at first seems
somewhat unusual. Why should we
say
anything at all, if there is no one to hear
what we say? Why write anything, if there
is no one there to read it? Both speech and
writing, however, provide interesting cases
where monologic activities do take place.
Speech activities
There is little scientific data on the point,
but evidently people do speak to
themselves. The author has it on good
authority that academics have been known
to talk through solutions to their problems
while alone (e.g. in the bath). There is also
the common case of another kind of
pseudo-audience -this time, where no
human being is present -though it is
debatable whether such uses might not
better be called 'pseudo-dialogues'.
There are, for example, people who talk
to plants (and who are ready to give
reasons for doing so). There are also people
who talk to their car - often to condemn it
for malfunctioning. Indeed, virtually any
object can be addressed as if it were a
person. 'Aren't you nice?', someone in a
department store was overheard to say to a
PART V USING HNGLKSH
spoken or written: there may be an audience present,
or there may be no audience. In each case there are
several interesting variations which lead to linguisti-
cally distinctive texts. Few have received in-depth
stylistic investigation.
dress. (Whether we include animals within
this category, or in the same category as the
infants mentioned above, presents a
further topic for debate.)
Writing activities
Here too we have the unusual possibility of
addressing ourselves. The diary is the classic
instance. Other examples include making
notes while preparing a talk, and note-
taking while listening to a talk being given
by someone else. That notes are written for
the benefit only of the note-taker is evident
if ever we try to use another person's
material - a situation which will be familiar
to any student who has missed a class and
tried to catch up in this way. The note-
have
taker's selection of information will
been made with reference to what the
writer already knows, and this, along with FORETELLING
the elliptical style that comes with writing
There is also the possibility that we may speak as /fan
under time constraint, limits the
a
audience were present. This can be writing-based, as
possibilities of shared coherence. when we practise a speech before giving it, or an actor
Pseudo-audiences for monologic writing rehearses lines, or it can be unscripted, as in the case of
activities are also rather unusual. Written
talking to an answerphone (p. 291). Television weather-
examination answers are probably the forecasting is probably the most famous example of this
clearest instances. There has been a
second category. The visual material is prepared in
dialogue in one direction (the examiner has advance, but during the broadcast the spoken
asked the student a question), but the reply commentary is spontaneous -with a close eye on the
is a monologue (for the student has no
clock, which dictates exactly when the forecast must end.
expectation of a response - except
At the BBC, each broadcast has to finish exactly on time,
indirectly, in the form of a grade). Some
because eight seconds before the forecast ends the next
party-games also provide pseudo-audiences programme starts to run -and cannot be stopped. Woe
for written language. In one such game,
betide the unfortunate forecaster who launches into a
participants each write a sentence about
long subordinate clause just before that point is reached.
someone else in the room and drop their No other form of spontaneous language use presents a
contributions (anonymously) into a hat. The speaker with so many constraints in such a short time.
sentences are then pulled out randomly in This extract, from a day in a weather-forecaster's life,
pairs and placed in a sequence. In a
hints at the difficulties.
children's party, the enjoyment comes from
the juxtaposition of incongruous activities 8.00am: Startdrawing upsymbolsmapsforthe first
(such as Michael has got a new rabbit - British Isles forecast which is a detailed forecast for the
Jane's feeling hungry). In adult parties, southern region. Is it going to rain in Margate and not
rather more risque incongruities can in Brighton? Is it going to be colder to the north of
transpire. London than in Sussex?... Draw maps for the 9am
Lastly, there are cases where we can write national broadcast which could be of as little as fifteen
as (fan audience is present, because we seconds duration.
know that at a later stage one will be. 8.30: Engineers arrive to switch on camera...
Activities here include preparing a handout 8.40: Place drawn electronic maps in order to be shown
for a talk, writing an essay for a tutor, or in the bulletin and copy them onto slide file.
indexing a book. Indexing has sometimes 8.45: Switch on lights, put in earpiece by which the
been described as a task where the network director communicates during the broadcast.
compiler is trying to anticipate every Get dressed and ready for broadcast. Make sure the
possible query about content which future countdown clock is working. (We work on a system
readers of the book might have. Indexers whereby a digital clock appears on the camera lens
are in effect trying to provide answers to a counting the seconds down.) Practice broadcast.
host of unasked questions -an interesting 8.56.50: South-east broadcast starts - clock counts down.
reversal of communicative priorities. They 8.59.20: Cue me to do the broadcast -has to finish -
therefore need to work as if their audience exactly at 8.59.50 to link back to the nationalnews at
is present - though, without knowing who 9am.
this audience will be, and without receiving 9.00: National news followed by first broadcast for the
any feedback as to whether their British Isles, lasting just fifteen seconds.
judgments have been successful, the task is 9.04: Switch off lights and prepare maps for 10am
a difficult one, requiring exceptional broadcast...
communicative commitment. (From Bill Giles, The Story of Weather, 1990, p. 97.)
 - - - -

19 • VARIETIES OF DISCOURSE

timing of the language contributions relative to each

DIALOGUE VARIATIONS other. The norm is for there to be two participants,
who speak in sequence (but with a certain amount
One way of classifying dialogues is to examine their of expected overlapping, p. 288). However, several
symmetry - to seewhether the participants are co- types of dialogic situation depart from this norm in
eqiially involved. There may also be variation in the interesting ways.

Symmetrical dialogue
It is possible for people to use language
simultaneously, giving the impression of dialogue,
but probably with little meeting of minds. If two
groups of protesters, both carrying placards
expressing their views, were to confront each
other, the juxtaposition of written texts
produce a kind of dialogue, but one in which all
'utterances' were on display at the same time.
In speech, any simultaneity is likely to
unintelligible - but this does not stop
happening, as is regularly heard in
confrontations. Dinner parties also bring up some
interesting cases, where a person might end up
contributing to two conversations at the same
time - introducing remarks into each in sequence,
but listening to both at once. It is something
which succeeds only when one is either very sober,
or very drunk.
A further variation is tor a dialogue to
on a third party, or intermediary. A common
example is in foreign-language interpreting and
translation,where A has to communicate with B
Within a single language, there are also
via C.
well-known situations where one person (or
group) communicates with another via an 'official
couple at another table to provide their own be used. In such cases we are trying to make a
responses {sotto voce) to what is said, creating contribution to a dialogue over which someone
their own ongoing dialogue stimulated by the else has control. If we do manage to get our
outsider's utterances. In Francois Truffaut's Oscar- contribution published or read out, there is no
winning film. Day for Night {La Nuit Americaine, way of knowing whom we shall end up 'talking
1973), two of the film crew are seen passing a Editors and programme presenters are adept
to'.
would television setwhich happens to be showing a quiz in making dramatic juxtapositions of letters in
game about films. They stop to watch, and try to this way.
answer the questions ahead of the participants on
be the screen. They talk to each other while
it reflecting on their answers, engaging in a '^ULTILOGUES?
public political dialogue which is, once again, dependent on a
third party.
speaks to '* '"
^ d/a/oque
se*v°e°a']n=^'?''' If a
Asymmetrical dialogue P^°P'espeakTo?ro?'*°"^^'°-fseveaf
These are the most unusual dialogues of all, as ^^^^^VseemsappXnaT/'^^^^'^'^'^Ce
they take place with only one person apparently
present. The qualification 'apparently' is
important, because of course what happens is
depend that the participant is imagining someone else to
be present. In some cases, the missing person is
the one who should start the conversation - as in
the case of a seance, where people sit waiting for
someone to talk to them. In other cases, the
missing person is the one who should respond, as
when we call uncertainly into the darkness 'Is

spokesperson', or (in an apparently rather there anyone there?', and hope that we really are
different domain) a ventriloquist's dummy. engaged in a monologue after all.

An interesting variant is for a dialogue to be Letters to the press or a radio station perhaps
generated using the utterances of a third party. alsointothe asymmetrical category, given
fall

A loud-voiced person in a restaurant may cause a that there is only a remote chance that they will

CLASSIFICATION OF MIXED PARTICIPATION TEXTS

-To u"
self (in
sell bath)
uair
-Speech -
Eio
To pseudo-auc
udience (to plants, car)
As if audience
Hence present (rehearsing)
,— Audience absent
To seiT
self ^uidry;
(diary)
-Writing
Eio
To pseudo-aucjjdience (exam answers)
As if 5nce present (preparing handout)
audience
• Monologue -

Interruptable (interactive sermons)

Audience present To pseudo-audience (unborn child)
Not interruptable (lecture)

Participation 1— No initiator (seance)

I
— Asymmetrical structure -

"1— Norresponder (possible intruder)

I

— Dialogue
Sequential (norm)
Symmetrical structure -
Simultaneous (political squabbling)
£
-

Intermediary (spokesperson)
N (approaches monologue, as N increases)
-Multilogue-
c - 1
Speech (unison prayer)

Writing (joint letters)

 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION
of allthe sociolinguistic and stylistic factors which
promote variety in language use (p. 364), the one
ACCENT AND DIALECT I'll visit in the fall vs /'// visit in the autumn.

• Speakers who have a distinctive regional

which people most commonly enquire about is geo- Throughout this book, and especially in this
dialect will have a distinctive regional
graphical origin. The tact that speech, in particular, chapter, a systematic distinction is drawn
accent; but the reverse does not necessarily
betw/een regional accent and regional
can convey such a clear answer to the question follow. It is possible to have a regional
dialect.
accent yet speak a dialect which conveys
'Where are you from?' exercises a peculiar fascina-
• A regional accent refers to features of nothing about geographical origin, as in
tion, and the terms dialect and accent zvt a normal pronunciation which convey information the case of Standard English (p. 10). 1

part of everyday vocabulary. We readily notice about a person's geographical origin. Regional dialects are also typically
Examples: associated with a range of regional accents
regional differences in the way people talk, and
- some much 'broader' than others.
bath /biiB/ ('short a') vs bath /buiO/ {'long a')
although we may be unable to describe these differ- hold lUsuky \Ji 'oW /sold/ ('dropping the Within a country, there may be a prestige
ences other than in the most vague and impression- aitch') or neutral accent which conveys no
thanks /6ar|ks/ vs thanks /i\u-\ks/ ('no th') information about geographical
istic terms ('guttural', 'musical', 'lilting'), we have no
• A regional dialect refers to features of background. The most famous example
difficulty in responding to them intuitively, laugh- grammar and i/ocafau/ary which convey occurs in Britain, with the accent that has

ing at dialect jokes, enjoying dialect literature and information about a person's geographical long been called Received Pronunciation,
origin. or RP (p. 365). From an international point
folklore, and appreciating the point of dialect paro-
Examples: of view, of course, RP is distinctively
dies (p. 410). They real good vs They are really good regional - perceived as the archetypal
At the same time - and this is the paradox of dialect ready you are ? vs Are you ready?
Is it British accent, and satirized accordingly.

study - we find it easy to make harshly critical judg-

ments about ways of speaking which we perceive as

alien. These attitudes are usually subconscious, of Newspaper headlines

(especially in Britain)
course, but it evidently does not take much to bring
,U-.KSM1TH Harry
OlACKSMlTH
l^„,f^ , r^x^^^-^'^^-^X^^X.
death U.^
often focus attention on
them to the surface. Differences of opinion between the problems which can
"''''
,.,.Ual70
people of different dialect backgrounds can quickly „>\iam«l theory that be caused by differences
,,, ;Lt. the
lead to mutual mockery of each other's speech, and ?J..rthernaecent.ss of regional accent and
how -^'omm*'"- dialect.
one has to be particularly thick-skinned for this „„ilhi

mockery not to hurt. Moreover, disparagement ot

regional speech readily transmutes into disparage-
REGIONAL ACCOMMODATION no point, of course, was the attention of the
ment of the speakers, and newspapers occasionally listenersdrawn to the accent changes: as far
report disturbing or even catastrophic consequences. When people with different regional (or as they were concerned, they were listening
Such matters have attracted a great deal of academic social) backgrounds meet, there is a tendency only to the content of what was being said.
for their speech patterns to become more The results were clear-cut. The listeners
study, especially by sociolinguists, but there is still
alike, or converge. This process, known as evaluated the subjects differently, depend-
little popular awareness of the problems. accommodation, can be observed in all ing on which accent strategy was being

The study of regional linguistic variation has thus aspects of language structure, but is especially employed. In terms of social attractiveness
noticeable in accents. Some people cannot and nationalistic identity, the suspects were
more to offer than purely descriptive interest. The stop themselves unconsciously picking up the rated much more favourably when their
more we know about regional variation and change accent of the person they are talking to. Less accents diverged from that of the police-
in the use of English, the more we will come to noticeably, when people encounter others man. They were also rated as less guilty in
with whom they wish to maintain a distance, and felt to be deserving of a
this condition,
appreciate the striking individuality of each of the
their language tends to become less alike, or milder sentence. On the other hand, the
varieties which we call dialects, and the less we are diverge. There have been several experimen- divergence condition also attracted some
likely to adopt demeaning stereotypes about people tal studies which clearly show both conver- negative ratings, in terms of such factors as
gence and divergence in action, and which intelligence.
from other parts of the country, or of the world. An demonstrate the way we unconsciously asso- This kind of finding is typical of accommo-
essential first step is to replace the notion that a ciate regional variation with dation studies involving regional accents. It
regional variety is 'only a dialect', because it lacks the psychological and social traits. seems there is a real danger that we will rate
one such study, Anglo-Welsh listeners
In unfavourably people whose accents diverge
prestige of the standard language, with the realiza-
(p. were asked to rate a dialogue involv-
334) from our own, and certain groups of people
tion that every dialect is a source of great linguistic ing two suspects with Welsh accents who seem especially at risk. For example, it is now
complexity and potential. It is not easy to persuade were being interrogated by a policeman with well established that immigrant children who
an RP English accent. (All roles were being are a minority in a school classroom risk being
ourselves that a dialect or accent which we dislike or
played by actors.) The actors then altered rated as less intelligent or poorer learners. 'He
detest is a variety of the English language which their accents, in one case adopting accents even sounds thick' illustrates the stereotype.
deserves as much respect, and has just as much right that were more like RP (a convergence strat- Needless to say, there is no correlation what-
egy), in the other case adopting accents that soever between regional speech distinctive-
to exist, as the varietywe speak ourselves. But this is and
were RR and more broadly Welsh (a
/ess like ness level of intelligence.
the breakthrough demanded by a genuinely demo- divergence strategy). The content of the (After J. Bourhis, reported in H. Giles, etal.,

cratic dialectology. interviews was kept the same throughout. At 1991.)

 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

INTERNATIONAL AND INTRANATIONAL

It is inevitable that people ttaditionaiiy think of dialects tion of the population of each country would travel

as a purely intranational matter - local to the country to widely enough for global differences in regional speech
which they belong. Historically, the language was to be apparent. All this has changed, especially in the
restricted to a single geographical area - the British Isles present century. Radio, television, and cinema links,
— and for centuries, until the growth of urban popula- coupled with a vast increase in travelling mobility, have
tions, the only regional variation which most people brought a universal awareness that English dialects

would encounter would be that associated with neigh- operate on a world scale. The study of local dialects has
bouring communities and the occasional visitor from thus come to be supplemented by an international
further afield. Even when English began to move approach to dialectology - the study of 'world
around the world (§7), only a relatively small propor- Englishes'.

REGIONAL TAGS He has arrived, isn't it? (Papua New Guinea) FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES
You are tired, isn't it? (West Africa)
Although dialects operate both intrana- Sometimes the function of a tag question which differen-
it is

tionally and internationally, the features An invariant not so (compare German nicht one study of British and American English,
tiates dialects. In
which signal regional identity come from wahr) is less common, but found in widely peremptory and aggressive uses of tags are identified as being
the same stock of structural resources. Thus separated areas. characteristically British. These have a function which is the
it is not unusual to find the same construc- opposite of that normally associated with tag questions.
tion being used in dialects associated with He will come tomorrow, not so? (West Instead of inviting the listener to join the conversation, they
different parts of the world, though not Africa) freeze the person out. Their force depends on the way they
always with the same function. The tag Your children are still schooling, not so? are said. The following utterance (B), spoken mildly, with a
question (p. 2 18) is one such item. (South Asia) low falling tone, is just a slight put-down; spoken more
In Standard English, tag questions agree They're outside, not so? (Papua New emphatically and with a level tone, it is unpleasantly rude:
with the main verb of theclause: in its Guinea)
A: When will the train arrive?
chief functions, the tag verb changes from
B: We'll know when it gets here, won't we.
positive to negative or vice versa (or adds a This is similar to the use of no as a tag, here
corresponding form of do), and there is seen under the influence of Spanish: One such use has phrase, used when someone
become a catch
publicly denies alleged wrong-doing. It originated during a
agreement in tense, number, and person.
Those men were still singing, no? (SW USA, the 1960s (the 'Profumo affair'),
British political scandal of
Typical examples are
Pueblo) when Mandy Rice Davies, told in court that Lord Astor had
They're outside, aren't they? denied her allegations, remarked: 'Well he would, wouldn't
It's a Porsche, isn't it? Such forms are similar to the use of tag
he'.
You didn't resign, did you? words, such as eh or right, which also show
The aggressive tag is usually spoken more forcefully, and is
regional variation (p. 342).
There are also several other possibilities, used after a statement whose truth or falsity the listener could
expressing a range of attitudes and not possibly know. Because the tag implies that 'everyone
Variant tags should know this', the addressee is made to feel an idiot. It is,
emphases (e.g. They're going, are they?).
Variant tags also diverge regionally, but are in effect, a reprimand. Although formerly associated with
And there are distinctive falling and rising
more likely to be found with in a first lan-
uses of intonation (p. 248), permitting a working-class London speech, the usage is now widespread,
guage community, where the problem of but still chiefly British. Examples are taken from British TV
contrast between interrogation and direc-
syntactic complexity is not really an issue
tion ('Are you asking me or telling me?'). series:
(as the constructions are early acquired by
children). A: What are you doing here?
Invariant tags B: I came to finish those letters, didn't I. (Coronation Street,
In several parts of the world, typically where 1987)
He took his car, did he no? (Scotland)
English is spoken as a second language, an
You can't do it, can't you not? (Tyneside) A: [to a young man on the phone] Is that your brother?
invariant tag construction has arisen - the
We never be out, do we? (Ireland) B: It's my dad, innit. (fastenders, 1986)
same form being used regardless of what
I'm old enough to get in, amn't I? (Ireland,
happens in the preceding clause. Such A: You need to go to your local police.
Scotland)
invariant tags are standard in many lan- B: I've done all that, haven't I.

guages (e.g. n'est-ce pas in French), and {Bergerac, 1986)

In addition, there are variations which stem
their use nowseemsto be growing in (AfterJ.AIgeo, 1988.)
from changing patterns of usage, as one
regional varieties of English as a second lan-
dialect comes to influence another. The use
guage, probably because an invariant form NO? Eachofushashis own view of
of ought and shail as tags, for example, is
avoids the syntactic complexity of the tag others, no.
characteristically British, and is avoided in
construction in the standard language. All You are coming back on Friday,
US English. On the other hand, US usages However, as a standard tag is
the following examples of usage have been aren't you? Come back a day
are increasingly heard in the UK. used just beforehand, inthe
observed. earlier, so you can attend Joshi
first example, no cannot be
An invariant sometimes alternating RDC's farewell. He's retiring,
is it,
We ought to help, oughtn'twe? (chiefly UK) simply a tag. The word seems to
with isn't it, is quite common: no, at the end of the month.
We ought to help, shouldn't we? (US, and be acting more as a marker of
You didn't see him, is it? (Zambia) some UK) Thisexample, from Upamanyu emphasis and social solidarity.
You are coming to the meeting, isn't it? Chatterjee's novel English, In most cases it does not require

(South Asia) Itshould perhaps be added that ain't is not August ( 1 988) shows a d istinc- an answer, because the speaker
They do work, isn't it? (Wales)
a lot of it is heard
a regionally distinctive form: tive use of a particle rio, which assumes the listener shares the
She's gone to town, is it? (South Africa) all overthe English-speaking world. Its resembles a tag question. It is same beliefs. (After J. D'Souza,
You check out now, is it? (Singapore) non-standard status arises from social and used thus elsewhere in the 1991.)

You don't mind, is it? (Malaysia) educational factors (p. 362). novel:
 I'AKi' V usiNc; i-;nc;i,ish

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

What would we find if we collected samples of the
English language in use over the world on the
all

same day, talking about the same range of topics?

With variations in time-scale and content reduced,
would regional variety differences stand out imme-
diatclv? Would we see clearly the linguistic differ-
ences between Britain and the USA, Australia and
C]anada, South Asia and South East Asia, or between
an\' other locations where the language holds a pres-

tigious place?
In a small-scale attempt to find out, 40 newspapers
were collected from all over the English-speaking
world on 6 July 1993, and a selection of what they
contained is shown on these pages. The results are
quite clear, and testify to the outstanding power and
universality of the concept of written Standard Emotional fans chase singer's hearse
English. In the vast majority of instances, it is impos- UvCLIFFORD LO
forever and his spinl will always
SCREAMING fans broke through
sible to tell at a glance which paper belongs to which pulice barriers yesterday as (he
hud risen lo 3.000 by noon.
hearse carrying Wong Ka-kui, Wong. 31, died of a cerebral Inside Uie parlour, walls \ need on Sunday
country on purely linguistic grounds. Indeed, we Hongkong
haemorrhage
days after he
last
fell
Wednesday,
from a slage
six
set
covered by scrolls, flowers
lidbe set up in
of Wong's con-
ring £ I programme great loss of talent," development of
often have to hunt for distinctive linguistic features. aughl ind radio industry fig-
,ribution
rock music
I ic
Hongkong-
There were about 70 poll iding pop star Aaron
We will find them, if we persist - a distinctive lexi- officers, including 40 from the Kwok Fu-^ing
police tactical unit, to control ihe funeral alon^
cal item in paragraph 8 on page 3 of one paper, a dis- crowds and traffic yesterday. members of (he
But as the hearse left, some them Wong Ku
tinctive US or UK spelling in paragraph 1 1 of page fans broke through barriers and
chased the vehicle along King'
singer's brother .1 produce albums

Road
2. There will be rather more linguistic consequences Ja' I
f

Road :
of
Ithy Street
cofrin
permanent
was
c

arising out of the shared knowledge which editors RTHK w

assume in their readers - concepts unexplained,

backgrounds assumed, and terms introduced without
WHERE DID THIS STORY APPEAR? spelling (parlour, programme) and vocabu-
gloss. But we can search for many pages before find- lary (pavements, tram, US sidewalks,
ing something which we could call a distinctively Isit possible to tell from the language alone streetcar) adds a pointer to a British-
the country in which this article appeared influenced partof the world (p. 306). But
regional use of grammar. on 6 July 1993? The picture, the name of the apart from these hints, there is nothing to
We would certainly find more regional differenti- reporter, and the Chinese name of the dead help us. This article could have been found
ation if we carried out this exercise based on the singer may suggest that we are somewhere in many English language newspapers of
in the Far East, but there are millions of the same genre, in several parts of the
spoken language, using radio broadcasts and Vox people of Chinese ethnic origin in several world.
pop' interviews. We would then hear immediately Western countries, reporters with Chinese Knowing thatthe item appeared as the
the many phonological differences which identify names are not unknown in the West, and it lead article on the front page of the paper
is possible that the singer had a cult follow- would probably settle the matter. Only a
regional variety, both segmental and prosodic (§17). ing anywhere. Hong Kong paper would be likely to give
We would be much more likely to encounter dis- A close look at some of the assumptions such prominence to such an item. And,
tinctive grammar, more informal
especially in the made by the writer would give us some indeed, the paper was the Hong-Kong
clues. He assumes we know such places as published South China Morning Post.
varieties of local speech. And there would be a
King's Road and Junk Bay, and what RTHK is.
marked increase in the amount of local vocabula The paper's use of British

again, especially in more informal contexts. Sue

study needs a different medium

SoSthaSi«^nSi«P«^
of presentation than the
pages of a book, however.
For present purposes, the
exercise leaves us with the aS^"8^'''!.,'!''^
overriding impression of Emotional fans
limited but intriguing
"fJ'".SSMii">'? J!XS"};,,';
diversity, and above all of
the unifying power of the
standard language. FIRST
UVDV
One of the
around the world,
English

English.

'garden'
There
feature
the
is
There
first

Atlanta Constitution shows

several signs of

clueinfaehav/or(col. l)and
lexical clues in
yard (in the caption
American
is
-

judgments
is

- or some mixture of the two.

The front page of the

a spelling

levee and

in British English).

a minor grannmatical
in

political
the caption and
report -/Monday
THE TWO MODELS
to make, when comparing samples of written English from
whether the language

News

Braves
is British

Partly cloudy

Today's high. 97
Overnight low. 73
Weather

9,
report,

index.
American
ritisn or /\merican

A2
B8

Marlins 7/ PI
2

Is there
•
—
REGIONAL VARIATION

HOODJiiOlUJ
any end insight upbeat fo
"'-ylinW.
^ President

for on Monday- as well as an

instance of toward (British
towards). Local knowledge is
summit
gives U
required to interpret £07" Deficit plan
('Eastern Daylight Time').
The business page of The new clout, Clinton
Plain Dealer, from Cleveland, , NfWS StHVlCtS
"'''•
Ohio, shows further instances. , ,
. unJ l"» WP
i„„„ii
'

There spelling distinctive- Madison •l.n.aiiV"'!'"'""'";

»u
is
1 Getting real: intiiiii
I'cnnmnlc
to add pol
ness: single -/- (pp. 305, 441) in Avenue IS trying .,,, I hiUun's aonifi.lic
some realism to its aa
fue/ed(topsummary), travel- tianwllii-J '"• """5 Tokyo (or
portrayals of
women. „,„ ,„

ing and traveler (main article).

PLUS ™firf™;o::r*"^iiir.i^'S''.
And there is lexical distinctive- Are
Dairy dilemma: X.^t.l"«tl>«l•
ness in the headline (gas, di-ucs aimed
at aiding m- "--'''rtS
British English petrol) and lead g„tionofdaii7P™f';'«f
ius.m«ngni°™'''™"'
article: gasoline, self-serve
consumers?
I
stations (British self-service risk;
Agonies o(
High Wci)ni-«<1"V SI"'
stations), and cents. .idolescence trigger ,l.W»m
in
dangerous behavior
young women.
_ ^ .
LeOaIre, Iowa,
navigates his
f'^°,^^^l ^ Missouri.

OucUinstoavol-.sc^-^^^ni^e^sv^e^n^^:^^^^^^
.andoaggii's "„ .o
Page AB.
'

disease rose Sec Vrtide,

An ancestral sippi River
,,.; -in Allanun
10 oeivt, -
where levees b.-
sun ounding many
; mysteries r,^v week ahead,
IViip;
A3 ?r SPORTS

ItATESTSPORTS

North Coast mere

,e increas«=
consumer pnce
- ,,.„«*«12--:2K^=^^^^^== ISSii
Report .._=.^ooiiie«i>'o™iSi
^^n^^-llSSiii^^S^S^

-rUESOAV.JULV6.1993

'-"'-"-
Q 1^ of the oil

tordlastye- worried a^^*= re'uCunteadteg -^5,Vara.o.a-*

DRTS ssss^^sc^--'^-'- s»^^s^S£i^s;3i .s^s-'^SSSs ^^r^-Snio-moi

S repr«'"'="rfteau*oT.iations, Myweekend.oui-S'SVmSi ^i^tSs^-SS^^ . traveler: s^

re..—
,e
number
lr,m-lcd to
o'
declineP'^f
" 07,
0" from
'
states in
rece"
„,,„ sources.
fuplV ^
JJ^IlS^V"-
imported
^^ "^
oil

\\xa^<^Jf2-^
n"
"^ ^
before W5_:
gusiofl

ifrrSs'sroedtocpeta-n^s,. !^,»ormore.
^es or more. ,
,. „.„ „s at selt-servejerry__r:::
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

The spelling of the word defence (US defense) in

the headline of the front page of London's The Daily
Te/egrapA) signals the British English identity of this

^^. paper, as does the spelling of cance/Zedin thefirst para-

graph (US chiefly cance/ed). There is distinctive political
vocabulary (MPs, Conservatives), though the terms
are by no means restricted to Britain. Billion would
be likely to mean different things to British and
American readers.

Warning on "on,? ^''Is Tk '"sfcire. n

"»
''»
ynin^ yu cr,

6«,°i'« *o4°"
'"lea ,„
'«p c^r,
Sc
The second extract is from a tourists' advice page
from the Daily Star. The heading traveller's cheques
would appear as traveler's checks in US English, and a
Offence cuts building society is a savings and loan association. There

oy Tory is a great deal of informal vocabulary and slang in the

MPs piece, some of which is distinctively British -such as high

street, hole in the wall (for cash dispenser) and holiday
(US vacation). Cashpoint card, likewise, is a British usage
(= a card for inserting into a cash dispenser).

SPORTS REPORTING
The reporting of national sports in the popular press
generally brings regional variety differences out into
the open. The two reports (US and UK) shown here (the
opening paragraphs only, in each instance) are typical.
To provide a linguistic 'translation' of the unfamiliar
terms would be of limited value, in such cases, as what
is needed isfamiliarity with the rules of the game, the

immediate past history of the event and its players

swamped "^ade safe '''°"'d be
(such as why Pete Schourek is pitching for his life), and
h^^T^ to some extent the cultural history of the country (such
by Padres '''
•'"'S'.'rS.'S as the conflict between England and Australia at
cricket). Indeed, the British reporter actually refers to
Hehadbcent8>o\s^,^/Jf
historical awareness, at one point. It also helps to have
a knowledge of acronyms (ERA = Earned Run Average).

FALSE CONTRASTS

fflie (Tohimbus
iPis|iatdi_^^p,gp^^p It important not to misinterpret regional trends as
is

absolutes when carrying out linguistic comparisons.

The risk is to notice an alien usage in a variety other
than our own, and to assume that it is universally used.
For example, these extracts from two classified adver-

^^^^^^^*^ Jv^^, «nient5 to

tising sections suggest that the British usepostwhere
Americans use mail, and the article from an Atlanta
(Georgia) paper would confirm the impression, with
ma/7 rubbing shoulders with a distinctive US grammati-
'^SSsf^'
HOUSE
i.^i™'"™ cal feature (gotten). On the other hand, the word mail

IE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION SSSS- has been used in Britain for centuries (e.g. today's fioya/
Ma/7and mailorder), and is now increasingly heard as
an alternative to post. In the USA, likewise, the word
post is by no means unfamiliar, as is evident from post
Steve Pilon's mail sometimes comes at office box in the article, and the name of the United
Mail without 10 a.m.. and it sometimes comes at 7 p.m.
States Post Office, \ater Postal Service.

fail — but at And sometimes, doesn't come al all

it

Mail service has ijottcii so bad that Mr.

Pilon, owner of an indcpcndcnl record
The English language magazine, English Today,
published in Britain, has from the outset used a heading
company, has purchased a |K)sI oil ice box its correspondence column which tries to ensure
what hour? for his business correspondence
for
that no one feels excluded.

The common British view that auto(mobile) is American

for car is wrong, as can be seen from this extract from
an advertisement in the Wew York Post. Both words'are
used in the same ad.

ATTENTION: RECENT COLLEGE GRADS! LEASE ANY CAR WITH AfO

CRBDITHISTOR Y! NO CO-StGNER REQUIRED! COME IN FOR DETAILS!
]%^€M.rM.h€X.tt^€M.Ta.

ERICA'S
I Highest Cash
LARGEST AUT O DEA LER
Price ^l^t^ Paid lot Yout Present Car!'
;998-2100 1603-7070
2460 CONEY ISLAND AVE 787 1 1 TH AVENUE
BETWEEN AVES. U & V BET. 54TH & 55TH STS.
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

ME^aSTpriAN Cridiitt
;-£;RiOg-'rU)iJ'3iJsS-
MIXED MESSAGES
These extracts from Aus-
l(VHYjrTAYS Merger's combined tralian newspapers provltde
MICROSOFTJOINS TO BE A POM reservation system an illustration of the way the
PRICE WAR English of a country can be
flying high
influenced by both British

^^r^toiMedicarebackdow^
— -^
Cobra keeps and American models. The
locality makes itself felt in

^^ "^
flying Voo such cultural references as

A^^^^
A.f.jr iL a hop ahead
premiers' conference, Medi-
care, doilars, interstate, and
federal. US spellings are seen
in favorable, honor, and pro-

LE MONTHLY
ideas for home^&earden
LABOR'S BETRAYAL gram, with two prominent
examples under The Age
Omhhun
t'nilip lessons ofhisWserie. masthead: iabor and flavor.
On the other hand, there is a
use of towards (not toward)
Truckles fill up near the end of the political
piece. Thecombination of
interstate to sources is nicely juxtaposed

beat fuel tax

By LYN DUNLEVY
deals privatisation se •^ .. ni,.ir. nairi iRX-free oroflts tnio very dark cloud over ihe wt
in

where
the article on the fuel tax,
true*: drivers
lorry drivers) visit petrol
(not

^commended Ttie compensatloi

stations (not gas stations).
Truck drivers were buying
in Victoria
.

.""year by Ihe Grants But I am tiappy I

.. a one-off payment t'

purported to recognise
The Stale Government D Distinctive Australianisms
fuel in and roadhouse
otiier states, Commission
Tree enterprise would, mally requested the lax »

petrol stations might have to lay off Yesterdays Loan Council meet delivering saUon Issue be put on I are rare in both papers. The
privat"e body, begin
s appli- ,gend.
tne also approved Victoria Victoria company tax revenue lo tbe Com- ml^er.- Contere c
staff following the "bungled" introduc-
cation lor an extra J3.ie
billion In thai will .
[
extracts have partlybeen
$45 million better off th£
borrowing rights, including
:
tion of the State Government's three- when we arrived this morning." chosen because they do con-
SI 08 billion which will
be ^^^^°
Mr Stochdale said the decls -ompensallon lor the sale of abolition
cents-a-litre tax, the state Labor leader. fof r Stocki tainsome examples; truckle,
state to abolish tax compensation e Stale Bank, t
Mr Brumby, said yesterday. 15,000 redundaaclcs In tbe f dollars was satisfied
public sector
privatisation of
' lad been victoria' pom (beneath the masthead
Petrol stations in Victoria servicing
The Premier, Mi Kennetl.
left
planned
1 jeopardised
; program. .....6 —Heatane
and
State InEJr-
Gas of The Australian) and 'roo
interstate truck drivers were already tfie conference
proclaiming a suc- expected to Otflce
s Medi-
^^_
Previously, i

losing business since the tax was intro- cessful detence of Victoria "compensaUon from the lowards ending (= 'flying kangaroo', a nick-
entitlements, Mr Stockdale also said yester-
care compensation Federal Government
duced on petrol and diesel last week, Mr . but decrying the one-day format
of
privatised i that prevl- name of Qantas Airways).
Brumby said. (Cobra a computational
THE TORONTO STAR
is

THE TORONTO STAR Tuesday, acronym -for 'common

branding reservation
architecture'.)
A similar situation can be
,
True Left found Canada, where
in

pry study makes opponents look gooa ]

g^Quid from two papers
extracts
show program and fai/or
TTAWA ^ The ConservaUves scoffed when
propsed a J15-b-
( .hi,n .nvpstmenl Last
importance ol public mveslmeni
roney announced that the
government was
u
L,as. uecember, Mul-
,„„„,.h
"eo o""^ favor GST alongside theatre, fibre
and manoeuvring.
Liberal trader Jean Chretien Sde^eloprngatngh^pee^e.--^^^^^^^^^^^^^ By Trevor Bartram optics,
works program,
iHion public
ing scientists and ^"?""'^^^. ^ / POLITICAL lei
Metro (= the metropolitan
smckered when New Democratic
McLaughhn
Party Lead-

put forward a $7.5-b.lhon

na- exchange vast amounts "f
in "mi.i

"
n'
^
'^^,,,,.,|^
.
,4
^^^^^^^
use
THE NDP the and Libera
area of the city) is also used
adrey
of fibre optics. At
ihc ''''
^^^ search for suppo
milhon in Its
plan- ''
1 infrastnjcwre
minister Don Mazanki>^- -'
Canadian voters, has in the USA. The introduction
may have laughed too soon g
looks as if Ihey
jleased lasl week by a government eom-mi^-
program of roadbuildinti.iii'i 'iM"'' '"_
• ^-''^='- i""""^ iVkhls c
'"I"'
'

V^ |

TORONTO of a French term in a head-

not yet clear
It IS
isk force
airports, waste dis- Campbell will build line (short for Caisse de
1 highways,

il facilities, comrannicalion links and other

capital She does
that she has
n
^^y^^ thealrefesti?^r^ffto^t?5rig^stj depot et placement du
Quebec) hints at the bi-
lingual issue which has dom-
inated Canadian politics.
RmTRTONBUSINisS (Univa is a cultural reference
-thetradenameof a
on Univa grocery business in Canada.)

Foreign investment
approvals touch Lexical items specificto Indian English are
apparent in these extracts from Indian
Rs 3320.89 crore 1] Express. The first story illustrates an item

- Foreign investment approvals

which is regularly used in financial reports:
NEW DELHI
during the first five months crore (='10 million'). The second illustrates
ouctied Rs 3«0.89 crore
Rs 530 crore in the whole ol
several items of local political vocabulary. Tiff
of this year compared to
1992. repons UNI. Chaut:
1991 and Rs 3890 crore m here has a somewhat more serious sense than
by foreign investors Lai of
of mtsus.ng "'" """'""
This unprecedented response mtsusing tlie
,l,e official ni».h"!?.
."1'^'"'=^ "^'"'^X^^ Bhaj,
'^""J customary in such phrases as a lovers' tiff,
new industrial policy is also reflected m a total machiL'rv'fnr is
to the

foreign investment of Rs 7610 crore dunng the post- where the quarrel is felt to be slight and unim-
May 1993), according " ''"™ portant. The lack of a definite article before
policy period Aagnst 1991
to addres.sed to the '" "
(
CEC Chau, n ""'"lunrcafion
to official sources. -d his Congress
tppo i^te'et "'""' "^"'^ M'"-" hotel at the end of the first item may also be a
investments have
More than 90 per cent of these -P'-aally ,he sarpanches,
industnes, the panches and ^ ."'"/ ""' "'''°''"^- feature of the distinctive noun usage which is
gone to high prionty and technology
is in setors
like often to be heard in Indian English (p. 360).
major share of foreign investment
chemicals, electronic
power, oil, food processing,
telecommunication.
and electric equipment,
machinery and hotel and tour-
'

transport, industnal

ism industry
 PART V • USING ENC~, LISH

Some of the English-language newspapers published in parts of the world guistically, in that it is usually possible to seethe influence of the locality in
where English has noofficial status, and istaughtasa foreign language. the way they treat their subject matter. Local terms in such domains as politics
These papers use British or American English as their model, so there is little and sport are introduced without gloss, and a degree of knowledge of local
sign of a 'new English' in their pages. Muchof their material, indeed, is syndi- cultural traditions is assumed. Outsiders reading these papers can therefore
cated through the international news agencies. However, they do differ lin- find some of the articles extremely opaque, as in the sports report opposite.

The PraguePosl

3rhc Korea licralb EUROPE

L«TE CITY EDITION *** SEOUL, TUESDAY. JULY (

Korea to reopen
consulate-general New strike looms as Iraq
Zl in Ho Clii Minli City
rejects U.N. arms inspection
Christopher calls refusal a •had siffii'

Ml!3ck of the 90's

l- '^hvava . 53, B-Daher St, Cairo Tel: 934668,

G7 backtrack on Bosnia

Balladur opposes
GATT to save
French farms
^, R„il lliiyi'i-

lo siaml hy its farmers and go

FniKC IS set
The Monthly
 I

20 REGIONAL VARIATION

MKIHABARA International Removals

Duty-Free

Discount
„„
^-,W The DAiiy Yomiuri (t^ JAPAN EXPRESS

TUESDAY, JULY 6, 1993 PRICE¥l20(V2,«IO«inoiilh) — lax included

Tomonohana loses 1st

in sumo's top division
Daily Yomiuri
minute of being held by the maegashira,
One day after tasting victory for the Takanohana kicked a leg behind Koto-
first time in the makuuchi division. nowaka, twisted his belt, and toppled the
sumo"s teacher learned how to lose. larger wrestler to the sand.
No. 16 maegashira Tomonohana, a for- Wakonohana. facing one of the few rik-

mer high school teacher making his debut ishi smaller than himself, had little trouble
in sumo's top division, fell to No. with No. 6 maegashira Mainoumi, who
1 1 maegashira Terao on Monday at the could use none of his tricks against the
Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. technically-sound sekiwake. A few push-
Tomonohana notched his first win on es from Wakanohana sent Mainoumi off
Sunday against No. 16 maegashira the line and spinning from the ring.
Hitachiryu, and he held his own early Ozeki Konishiki easily walked out No.
against Terao, trading shoves with the 30- 1 maegashira Kirishima to stay unbeaten.
year-old on the tachi-ai. But when The victory gave Konishiki a 16-15 career
Tomonohana tried to move away from record against the former ozeki.
Terao. the more experienced rikishi Sekiwake Musashimaru once again did
quickly pursued and forced him from the his best Akebono imitation, using a slap-
ring. Both wrestlers are now 1-1. ping attack instead of any holds or throws.
Meanwhile in the makuuchi division's Musashimaru went right at the face of
more lofty ranks, the pre-tournament Kitakachidoki, hammering it with
favorites stayed on course for some late- repeated slaps as the maegashira struggled
tournament showdowns. to get inside the Hawaiian's reach. The
Yokozuna Akebono heads the list of sekiwake continued the assault,

wrestlers at 2-0 after defeating komusubi Kitakachidoki started to back up, and fir

Takatoriki. ished him with a few pushes to the chest.

In the day's final bout, Akebono had Still looking for his first victory a
some trouble dropping Takatoriki, who sekiwake Takanonami, who lost to
is

managed to stay on his feet as the

yokozuna landed repeated shots to his face
5 maegashira Mitoizumi.
Both wrestlers got belt holds early
-^=^^^^ — r——-^:^^!!^'' ""«<=«« •'V47'

and

I
chest.

with the
Others
loss.
But
attack broke the komusubi,

2-0
eventually

include
his
who
shoving
fell to

Takanohana,
1-
worked each other around the ring,
the taller Mitoizumi controlling mos|
the action. Takanonami managed to
off Mitzoizumi's first attempts
,
SUMO W^i^p
at '^' Japan iap\
Wakanohana, Musashimaru and Konishi- throw, but eventually yielded to the ^

ki. kg maegashira, backing over the rim.

Ozeki Takanohana found himself in a Komusubi Wakashoyo picked u
tough spot against No. 2 maegashira first win in a brief bout against No. 6(

Kotonowaka. The maegashira had an -gashira rw^k::^<;o>J^s:S^^;°r cha;;---^a.er

Daishoyama. Wakashoyo ju

immediate hold on the young ozeki's belt, to the side chi-ai, pushed do]
on the tach 1^'"'
Wrestling
bete '"^^'^^'^d^So^"^
and
and kept Takanohana from getting two Diashoyama's back and tripped thd the) roreign
foreign aranri " spectators,
^Mcctators Ak«ho "'
arand .h!i'®°°
nh Akoh ,

hands on his own. gashira with his nght leg. nomusubi (juninr
"omusubi ^°Ped with
^°Pec/ With sk/l/fm'^ T''"Sf"'S
| (Junior^ITi!!""'
;^;, skm^'.i^f^"'^
' ^''^St

Twice Kotonowaka attempted throws No maegashira Kotonishiki

"
nngs' edge and n ^l^'^P'on second da., t ''°''9'"9 by ,

that left Takanohana off balance, but both his record at 1-1 by stopping No, Akebon'o's?ir.^_'l^^h''^down.
'-•'xcuuno s res) nam^
T^^lJ^f^onki a, /he
^""""-laKc
!^°r"- Takatoriki'lis
times he recovered. Finally, after nearly a gashira Takamisugi. Defending ^^^^ M.
chamn.n x ^°^3n

This account of the latest stage of a sumo wrestling tournament, taken from
0- »U,e. can "'" ' "' '« "*
the Japanese paper The Daily Yomiuri, assumes a high level of lexical
awareness. It contrasts with a shorter account of the same tournament
reported in the Greek paper, Athens News, which carefully adds glosses for
the technical terms.

' victories. ozeki his

 PAR I V • USINt; KNC;i.l.SH

AMERICAN AND BRITISH BEING ENGLISH

ENGLISH Kent The southeastern-most county* or shire* of England,* running from London* to
the Channel.* Historically, this Is the core of English history, with Dover* the principal
access to the continent*, Canterbury* the home of the English Church,* and the Thames*
As we move away from the formal written English of ports on its north border
the center of sea power and
the press (p. 300) in the direction of the informal
trading prosperity. It Is one
spoken language, the differences between regional of the Home Counties* and
is often called the Garden
varieties dramatically increase. In the case of American
of England both for Its
and British English, the variation is considerable, but
agricultural riches and for
there are no accurate estimates for the number of the lovely rolling hills In the
points of contrast, for two chief reasons. North Downs* that for
many are the visual Image
of England itself, figuring
• Recent decades have seen a major increase in the In numberless works of
amount of influence the two models have had on each literature.

other, especially American on British. The influence of Terms that British people
US films and television has led to a considerable pas- would take completely for granted are aster- Jiggery-pokery tricks, fraud
isked in this entry from David Grote's 6rit/s/i Jocl< nicknamefor a maleScot
sive understanding of much American English vocab-
English for American Readers (1992), which joint roast meat, especially for Sunday lunch
ulary in Britain, and some of this has turned into active shows some of the linguistic consequences (not marijuana)
use (as in the case oi mail, p. 302), especially among of using a place-name. It Is not unusual to jolly as adverb (Jolly good)
younger people. The reverse pattern is less obvious,
find such terms as Home Counties being mis- junction Intersection
applied. Aterm such as county is also very junior school the older section of a primary
but British films and TV programmes are seen suffi- differently used between the two nations. school
ciently often in the USA to mean that a growth in The following selection of headwords kibosh /kaiboj/ ruin, disaster (as In put the
from the middle of the book illustrates items kibosh on)
awareness of UK vocabulary should not be dis-
which Americans would be likely to find dis- kite mark British Standards Institute label
counted. What were originally fairly clear patterns of tinctively British. Such lists have two kinds of knock-on rugby term
lexical differentiation have been obscured by borrow- relevance. They Inform non-British people L learnerdrlver
what certain termsmean, and they Inform /and/orc/operator of a pub
ing on a worldwide scale.
British peopleof the ways in which their announcing closing time in
last call a pub
• The regional dialect surveys of both countries, sev- usage Is distinctive. This last point Is Impor- LawSociety solicitors' association
eral of which have only recently begun to publish their tant, especially for students of language: it is lay-by highway rest area
always easier to Identify distinctive forms In Ibw cricket term
huge amounts of lexical
findings, are bringing to light
varieties otherthanourown.
distinctiveness (p. 309). Few of these forms have any
literary background or enough breadth of use to war-

rant their inclusion in general dictionaries, but they do

form an important part of the regional pattern, and BEING AMERICAN The two Carol inas have been called variously,
but Tarheel State ior North Carolina and Pal-
several of them are retained in educated usage at local American much bound up with
Identity Is metto State for South CaroUna seem likely to
level as markers of group identity. home origins. Conversations between two prevail. Of the origin of the former the Over-
Americans meeting abroad will commonly land Monthly gave the following account In
Include an early focus on their home states 1869: 'A brigade of North Carolinians... failed
Nonetheless, when we take into account local festivals or colleges, whereas this Isunlikely with two to hold a certain hill, and were laughed at by

and folklore, abbreviations, localities, institutional Britons (assuming they talked to each other the MIsslsslpplans for having forgotten to
at all). These ties have a linguistic conse- tar their heels that morning. Hence origi-
differences (e.g. politics, banking, legal systems,
quence in such matters as awareness of nick- nated the cant name.' There are several more
armed forces, sports, honours), local fauna and flora, names -a phenomenon which plays a much flattering versions of the origin of the nick-
and everyday slang, the stock of regional differences is larger role In the USA than in Britain. Very name, butall of these suggest that North
few British counties have nicknames - and If Carolinianswere known as Tarheels before
likely to be extremely large. In a casual collection made they do (e.g. Royal Berkshire) they do not the Confederate War, or, at all events, that
by the author in the 1970s, based solely on available create a sense of identity. A recent letter some notion of tar was associated with them.
dictionaries and literary works, 5,000 differences were from one North Carolinian to another now The DA [Dictionary of Americanisms] offers
living in Britain, asking for some informa- evidence that they were called Tarboilers as
found very easily, and it became apparent that the pro-
tion, ended with a postscript which hoped early as 845 .The newspaper of the stu-
1 . .

ject was too large for such an informal treatment. A that his request ('from one old Tarheeler to dents at the University of North Carolina has
recently published dictionary by David Grote has another') would not be too Inconvenient. It been The Tarheelsince 1892, and when. In
is Inconceivable that someone from Reading 1 922, the state bankers launched a monthly
some 6,500 entries, and deals ow/y with British English
in Berkshire would end a letter to a former organ at Raleigh It was given the name of
for American readers. These totals, it must be appreci- neighbour now living in Australia as 'one Tarheel Banker. The other common nick- .
ated, arise because we are dealing not only with differ- old Royal Berksherlan to another'. name for North Carolina is Old North State; It
In The American Language ('\9^9), H. L. arose naturally out of the geography and his-
ent words (lexemes, p. 118), but also different senses of
Mencken summarizes the linguistic history tory of the state, and the DA traces It to 1 839.
words.UK chips (= US (French) fries) not the same as is of the US states, including their various nick- /.andoffl7eS/(y Is applied to the beautiful
US chips (= UK crisps) — though American influence names (p. 1 52). Here are his remarks on mountain country In the far western part of
North Carolina (taken from a later edition): the state; eastern North Carolina Is far closer
has brought both (French) fries and (potato) chips to
to the bottom of the Atlantic than to the sky.
Britain.
 2 REGIONAL VARIATION

SPELLING
 USING ENGLISH

CLASSIFYING LEXICAL DIFFERENCES

In describing the lexicon of the rwo regions, there are •Some words are straightforward: they have a A STRAIGHTFORWARD
^A;w distinctions which have to be made: some words single sense, and a synonym in the other variety: LEXICAL CONTRAST
(lexemes, p. 118) arc foimd only in American English BrE current account = AmE checking account, BrE Road signs in the USA and
(AmE), some only in British English (BrE), and some estate car = AmE station wagon. If only they were
(from either source) have become established through- all like that.
out the world as part of Standard English (p. 111). • However, they are not, because we have to allow for
Wh ile Congr-ess and Parliament originate in their respec- words which have at least one WSE meaning and one
tive countries, it is no longer very useful to call one AmE ormore additional mennmgs that are specific to either
and the other BrE, from a linguistic point of view. They BrE or AmE: an example is caravan, which in the
arenow part of World Standard English WSE). Simi- ( sense of 'group of travellers in a desert' is common to
there are many items where the word is part of
larly, both varieties; but in the sense of 'vehicle towed by a
WSE, though the entity being referred to differs in cer- car' it is BrE (= AmE trailer).

tain respects from country to country. Many legal terms •Some words have one meaning in WSE and a syn-
tall into this cmegory: jury, juveni/e, and Justice of the onym in one or other of the two varieties (sometimes
peace ZK terms in common to both AmE and BrE, but both). Both AmE and BrE have undertaker, but onlv
their legal definitions are not. Such items are not the AmE has mortician; both have pharmacy, but AmE
focus of interest on this or the opposite page. has drugstore and BrE has chemist's.
The remaining words represent many different • Some words have no WSE meaning, but different

kinds of semantic contrast, and there have been several meanings in AmE and BrE: AmE flyover = BrE fly-
classifications. One system includes the following past, however, BrE flyover = AmE overpass.
important types among its categories (after M. Benson, • We also have to remember the effect of frequency.

E. Benson & R. Ilson, 1986): Some words are used in both varieties, but are much
more common in one oi x\\cm: flat -and apartment iK
• Some words reflect cultural differences but are not
used in both, but the former is frequent in BrE and
partol WSE: AmE Ivy League, Groundhog Day, revenue
the latter in AmE. Other examples are shop vs store.
sharing, BrE A-leveb, giro, VA T. There are no synonyms
and post vs mail (p. 300).
in the other variety. Several of these words are likely to
enter WSE in due course. Groundhog Day, for example,
This set of categories does not exhaust the classifica-
received a boost in that direction following its use as the
tory possibilities, but it should be enough to suggest
title of a successful film in 1 993. Most people in Britain
caution when working through an apparently simple
would not have known the tradition before seeing
list of equivalents, as in the examples opposite.
the film.

AN IMPOSSIBLE LEXICAL CONTRAST

With organizations (p. 168), it is often

hierarchies in

impossible to give a precise answer to the question

'What's the equivalent of a - in BrE/AmE?' because
there is no one-for-one correspondence between the
different ranks, or at best only a partial correspon-
dence. A good example is the hierarchy of university
teaching, shown below.
A
Britishprofessorisnot exactly equivalent to a US
professor, because the latter category divides into
three levels: full professor (the most senior), associate Professor <- -> Full Professor
professor, and most junior).
assistant professor {the
In the UK, the ranks below professor are reader, then
sen/or /ecturer(though some universities treat these
grades as equivalent in salary, but different in func-
Reader/ <• -> Associate Professor
tion), then lecturer. An associate professor is roughly
equivalent to a reader, and lower grades of lecturer Senior Lecturer =:;
can be equated with an assistant professor. But it is
not possible to identify the AmE equivalent of a
senior lecturer, and in the days when tenured posi- Lecturer <- -> Assistant Professor
tions were serious academic options, there was even
less equivalence, as a BrE lecturing post was usually
tenured, whereas an AmE assistant professorial
position was usually not (but rather, 'tenure-track').
 2 REGIONAL VARIATION

In this list of equivalent lexical items, the 'rules of

 PARI' V • USING ENGLISH

There are certain semantic fields (p. 137)

where groups of lexical differences bumper bonnet BrB door handle rear window
cluster.Here is a presentation of the hood AmE boot BrEJ

choices to be made with reference to

trunk AwE
automobiles, adapted from the
Longman Dictionary of English
Language and Culture { 1 992).

numberplate BrB petrol cap BrB aerial BrB

license plate AmE indicator gas tank door AmE antenna AmE

the interior of a car

steering wheel

wing mirror BrB

side mirror AmE
indicator switch BrB
turn signal lever AmE

window winder BrB

window roller AmE

THE PLAY WAS A REAL BOMB!' equivalent between BrE and AmE. Among the drop a brick (=blunder)
exceptions are the following (in each case, the BrE in queer street (=in debt)
The question is: did the speaker like it or not? If variant is given first): a turn-up for the book (=a surprise)
you are an American reader, you are in no doubt: it if the cap/shoe fits, wear it
the best of British! (=good luck!).
was a total disaster. If you area British reader, you the lie/lay of the land
are in no doubt: it was a tremendous success. The
AmE
to turn on sixpence/a dime right off the bat (=with no delay)
point illustrates the need to be careful with
a skeleton in the cupboard/closet feel like two cents (=feel ashamed)
idioms, as well as individual words, when crossing cash on the nail/barrelhead outof left field (=unexpectedly) <
the Atlantic. The author recalls a situation where
blow one's own trumpet/horn take the Fifth (=ref use to answer)
he was at cross-purposes with a US acquaintance off the back of a lorry/truck play hardball (=no holds barred)
who had asked him what someone thought of put my two penniworth/two cents' worth.
in a bum steer (=bad advice).
a book. The response Hilary was full of it! was
interpreted by the American to mean that she Most idioms have no easy equivalent, and must There a growing awareness of AmE idioms
is in

hated it -whereas in BrE the meaning of this simply be interpreted. They include: Britain, and many originally AmE items, such as
idiom isquitethe reverse. BrE ants in his pants and a quick buck, are now
It is unusual for there to be an exact idiomatic hard cheese! {=bad luck!) commonplace.
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

I've just eaten); iviltlwon't is generally found for

GRAMMATICAL DIFFERENCES shall I shan't-, there are also differences in the use of tag
questions (p. 218).
There are relatively few grammatical differences • noun phrase there are some differences of
In the
between educated BrE and AmE. A leading reference word order (e.g. Hudson River vs River Thames, a half
grammar (p. 197) notes regional trends affecting only hour ws halfan hour) and the use of the article {in the

c. 250 points in morphology or syntax, with many of future\s in future, in the hospitalvs in hospital); AmE
these affecting individual items (e.g. irregular verbs), prefers collective nouns (p. 209) in the singular (the
and very few being general points of syntactic government is), whereas BrE allows plural also (the
construction. (AmE examples precede BrE in the fol- government are).

lowing paragraphs; for grammatical terminology, see • Clausal patterns sometimes differ, as in AmE Come
Part III.) take a look (vs Come atid take); AmE also makes more
use of the subjunctive (p. 216), as in I asked that he go
• In the verb phrase, AmE prefers have to have got for (vs I asked him to go), and prefers were lo was'm such
possession (Do yon have the time?vs Have you got the sentences as / wish she were here; different than/from is

time?); answers also tend to vary (I don't vs I haven't); more common than different to/from (p. 441).
AmE prefers such forms as burned to burnt {p.44\), • There are several differences in prepositions (see

and there are some special past tense forms (colloquial below) and adverbs, such as AmE I'll go momentarily
snuck out, dove); AmE also sometimes uses a simple (vs in a moment), real good (ws really good), and back-
past tense where BrE has a present perfect {I just iitews ward (vs backwards).

PARALLEL PREPOSITIONS Prepositions occurr

AmE BrE
It's twenty of four. It's twenty to four.
It's five after eight. It's five past eight.
It's in back of the building. It's behind the building.
I'll see you over the weekend. I'll see you at the weekend.
I haven't seen her in ages. I haven't seen her for ages.
Mondays we take the bus. On Mondays we take the
bus.
Monday through Friday. Monday to Friday inclusive.
Ilooked out the window. I looked out of the window.
Imoved toward the car. I moved towards the car.
You're on the firing line. You're in the firing line.

He's got a new lease on life. He's got a new lease of life.

It caters to all tastes. It caters for all tastes.

Half the cash goes for clothes. Half the cash goes on
clothes.
She's in heat. She's on heat.
They live on X street. They live in X street.

These are some of the ways which prepositions (p. 212)

in

contrast between AmE and BrE, and given the everyday

nature of some of the contexts, it would appear that this is an
area of major grammatical differentiation. There are in
addition several cases where preferences differ; AmE prefers
round to around in such sentences as We went round the
corner and around to about in They walked about a mile.
Amongst is much more likely in BrE, and atop in AmE (literary
Compound prepositions also show some contrasts, such
style).
as theAmE preference for as/de from (BrE apart from), in
behalf of {BrE on behalf of), and the informal off of and back
of.

Are prepositions such a major area of differentiation as

these examples suggest? A study comparing the distribution
of prepositions in two million-word samples of printed text,
one BrE and the other AmE (the Brown and LOB corpora,
p. 438), found that this was not so.

• The percentage of prepositional occurrences in BrE was

12.34 per cent; in AmE it was 12.21 percent.
• There were 81 prepositions that occurred in both corpora,

accounting for 99.9 per cent of all prepositional occurrences.

Just 1 3 prepositions were found only in BrE, and
(coincidentally)just 13 in AmE.
• The distribution of the six most commonly used prepositions
 PART V • USING KNt; I ISH

REGIONAL VARIATION IN AMERICAN ENGLISH

Many of the distinctive features of American English cally it is the area of New England, but it now extends
can be established by comparing it with the other major west in a narrow northern strip from western Vermont
model of English-language use, British English through New York and across all the northern states to
(p. 306); but this exercise much an idealization.
is very show that there is an
the Pacific coast. Dialect studies
To make any comparison practicable, we have to work important boundary (roughly along the Connecticut
with a single linguistic version from each region, and River) separating western and eastern New England.
this is usually (in the case of pronunciation, p. 307) To the east there is a distinctive accent, a major feature
General American and Received Pronunciation. How- of which is the loss of final (postvocalic) -r(p. 93).
ever, as soon as we put external comparison aside, and • the coastal and piedmont areas of
Southern:
begin to investigate each dialect as an end in itself we Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia,
are faced immediately with a vast amount of variation, the Gulf States, and extending into the eastern part of
some of it regional, some These pages
social (p. 362). Texas. In this area also there is frequent loss of final -r.

illustrate aspects of the regional variation which exists. • Midland: a very large area extending across almost
The scientific study of US regional dialects is over a the whole country, from southern New Jersey and
century old, having begun with the formation of the Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, down through
American Dialect Society in 889. A series of linguistic
1 the mountainous areas of Virginia, the Carolinas, and
atlases was planned, the first of which appeared Georgia, westward across Tennessee and western
between 1939 and 1943: The Linguistic Atlas of New Arkansas, then spreading into the whole ofthe western
England (see opposite). Most other areas have now United States. Northern and Southern dialect sub-
received systematic study, and some, such as the Upper regions can be identified. One of the Northern fea-
Midwest and the Gulf Coast, have had extensive mat- tures, shown on the map, is a merger of pronunciation
erial published. These studies have established the between /d/ and /d:/, so that such pairs as cot I caught
existence of three broad dialect areas: and don I dawn sound the same. It is the vast size of
the Midland area that accounts for the impression of
• Northern: an area not to be confused with the polit- general uniformity in American English speech.
ical 'north' ofthe Civil War period (1861-5). Histori- (AfterRG. Cassidy, 1982)

-' r-^

MINNESOTA

-> '(.HAMPSHIRE
\ q, <,^0-wf
WISCONSU*' /*, )""+/ '' .NEW'f' _— MASSACHUSETTS
O cr\\) '-:-)
YORK,- RHODE ISLAND
— I*
/ [

~- CONNECTICUT
_Z,~-i^ - pejiUS'LVANIA NEW
/jersey
-v ^delaware
iLUNOisi ' "West mahyland
; VIRGINIA
COLORADO VIRGINIA
KENTUCKY

OKLAHOMA
jARKANSA^L-
W,
ALABAMA,:

izzirxr:''"

Mexico \1
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

AMERICAN DIALECT ATLASES Atthetimeofthis

survey, of and to were
both important in the
The detailed research required to demonstrate the exis- Northern area,
tence of dialect patterns can be seen in these two maps around Delaware
and Chesapeake
{mm A Word Geography ofthe Eastern United States, one^ Bays; of predomi-
of the first products of the Linguistic Atlas ofthe United nated in the area of
survey work in Boston and in the
States, which began its 1 93 1 The survey
.

Hudson Valley; to
area covered all the coastal Atlantic states from Maine was striking in the
to Georgia, and included Pennsylvania, West Virginia, north-east. Most of
the Southern area
and eastern Ohio - an area which at the time contained
had only to, but till
nearly two-fifths of the US population. Over 1 ,200 was moving from
local people were interviewed from a large number of the South Mid-
land area towards
locations. Interviewers spent between 10 and 15 hours
the coast in the
with each informant, and obtained data on over 1 ,000 southern part of
points of usage. South Carolina.
Pennsylvania
The maps show the kind of distributional informa-
presented a very
The upper map shows a point of gram-
tion obtained. mixed picture:
matical variation: the choice ot preposition in telling t/// was common
in the centre,
the time. The use of ofhzs been identified as a 'stan-
but seemed to
dard' feature of American English, when comparing it
be yielding ground in the
with British English(p. 311). The dialect data shows eastto of, which predominated in the south-east.
In the Pittsburgh area, it was being superseded by of and to.
how much of a simplification that kind of state-
just

ment can be. The lower map illustrates a point of lexi-

cal variation - the several words used for seesaw.
Three dialect subdivisions are recognized, providing Atthetimeofthe
evidence for the nationwide regions shown opposite. survey, the word
seesauv was in use
The Northern division includes the New England set- throughout the
tlement area, upstate New York and the Hudson Valley, whole region, but in
NE Ohio, and beyond. The Midlarid d\v\s\on extends New England, and
parts of the South
south from N Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey,
and the South Mid-
and west into C Ohio and beyond; its southern bound- lands, other expres-
ary swings in an arc from C Delaware along the Blue sionswere more
current.Seesaw
Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and into the Carolinas.
had no real com-
The Southern division comprises the southern two- petitors in a broad
thirds of Delaware, the eastern parts of Maryland, Vir- swathe down the
central part of the
ginia, and North Carolina, most of South Carolina,
area, from Penn-
and (p. 315) the Gulf States. (After H. Kurath, 1949.) sylvania to South
Carolina, and
seemed to be in
Mid-
the process of
land
supplanting
many of the ear-
lier regional
expressions,
j; g g especially in

regular urbanized
fairly common «i t c areas.

^ ^
rare f, -^ 01
t: oi •»;

3g
quarter to (vs of/till)
-< SHARED FEATURES
curtains (vs shades/blinds) Regional dialect divisions are never clear-cut, because of the
piazza (vs porch) X X influence of other (e.g. social) factors. This table shows how
some of the words in the Eastern States survey are shared by
gutters (vs eaves troughs, etci X X Northern and Southern areas, but are largely absent in the
corn house (vs corn crib) Midlands. (After H. Kurath, 1 949, p. 49.)

spider (vs frying pan)

low, loo (vs moo)

 PART V • USING ENGLISH

DARE
The Dictionary ofAmerican Regional Englishis the offi-
cial dictionary of the American Dialect Society. Based
at the Universit}' of Wisconsin, Madison, under the
direction of Frederic G. Cassidy (1907- ), it is a pro-
ject planned in five volumes, two of which have
already appeared (in 1985 and 1991) covering the let-
ters from A to H. The data came from interviews with
2,777 informants in 1 ,002 communities spread across
the 50 states, and was collected between 1965 and
1 970. The informants were natives or long-term resi-
dents ol their communities. The 80 fieldworkers used
a questionnaire of 1,847 items dealing with general
concerns of daily life, and also made tape recordings. In An innovation of the DARE study was the approach. In using the map to show distri-
use of computers to handle the large quan- butions (see below), a dot is placed on each
the final form of the dictionary, use is additionally
titiesof data. It also enabled a US map to be community which gave a particular
made of some 7,000 other oral and written sources generated which reflects population sizes response to a question; a blank space means
between the 17th century and the present-day. The (and thus the number of communities that there was either some other response
selected as part of the survey) rather than or no response at all. (For an explanation of
illustration shows the entries for the items chic sa/e(s)
geographical area. New York and California state abbreviations and the usual shape of
and hurting, along with a computerized map showing especially are enlarged through this theUSA, seep. 312.)
the distribution.

TWO EXAMPLES
 3

I) REGIONAL VARIATION

APPALACHIAN SPEECH many parts of England the Early Modern period

in old carbide light and he turned that over and the
(p. 65). A made for the
strong case can thus be lights were. ..that's all the light we had. And, we
Thisstoryof a raccoon hunt, part of the data colonial influence of these areas on the had to hunt it then and the dogs took right after
collected by a US sociolinguistic study, illustrates continuing use of these features in this dialect. the coon right down the holler and the dogs
some of the features of the Appalachian speech of caught it and Jack beat us all down there. Went
5E West Virginia - an area that has attracted ...John supposedly had a sack to put the coon in if down there and he's a-holding three dogs in one
particular attention because of its supposed we caught one. We's gonna try to bring it back hand and the coon in the other hand. And they's
conservatism in dialect use. The authors of the alive, so we tromped through the woods 'til along all a-trying to bite the coon and the coon a-trying

study showed that there were certainly several
older features still present, but the notion that the
dialect is a living example of Elizabethan English,
although carrying 'a certain romantic charm', they
conclude is too simplistic to be meaningful, as
many new developments in grammar and
phonology exist alongside the older forms.
Nonetheless, the extract does illustrate some
interesting older features. In particular there
the use of the a- prefix with -ing forms of verbs in
certain functions (a-trying), which in late Middle
English was widely found in IVidland and
Southern British dialects (p. 50), and which is
about six o'clock in the morning. The dogs treed to bite Jack and the dogs, and Jack pulled out a
up a big hollow chestnut oak, and we proceeded sack and it wasn't a dang thing but an old pillow
to cut the thing down. It's about three or four case that Maggie had used, his wife, it was about
inches all the way around. About four foot wore out. So we fumbled around 'ere and finally
through the stump. We tied the dogs and cut the got that coon in that sack and he aimed to close
thing down. Well, we down and turned one
cut it the top of it and the coon just tore the thing in
dog loose, and he went down in that thing, way half, in two, and down the holler he went again.
down in the old hollow of the tree and it forked, With that sack on him, half of it and we caught
is and we couldn't get up in there so he backed out that thing, and you know, E.F. Wurst finally pulled
and he tied 'im. And we's a-gonna chop the coon off his coveralls and we put that thing down in
outif it was in there. I's a kinda halfway thought one of the legs of his coveralls and tied that coon
maybe it just treed a possum or something. Well, I up. He's tearing up everything we could get, we
chopped in and lo and behold, right on top of the couldn't hold him he's so stout. And brought that I

often used as a literary stereotype of Appalachian dang coon. Eighteen pounder, Jack Stern says, thing home and kept 'im about a month, fed 'im
speech. There is also evidence of the lack of kitten coon. run in with the axe handle down in
I apples and stuff to eat so we could eat 'em. Well, I

present-tense subject-verb concord (we's, I's, behind him to kep him from getting out or did killed him and tried eat that thing, I'd just
I

he's). This generalization of the -sform has clear backing down in the tree. He reached, fooled soon eat a tomcat or a polecat, wouldn't make I

antecedents in iVIiddle English, especially in the around and got him by the hind legs and pulled much difference. And, that's about the best coon
varieties used in Scotland (and later Northern that thing out, it looked as big as a sheep to me. hunt believe was on.
I I

Ireland) and northern England, and is found in Turned 'im loose, he said 'kitten. Hell.' We had an (FromW. Wolframs D.Christian, 1976, p. 181.)

MIGHT IT COULD? used to couldn't 10

may can 9
The Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States might oughtto 6
(LAGS) is a multi-volume project shouldn't ought to 6
which began publication in 1986, might better 3
under the direction of Lee Pederson might have could have 3
of Emory University, Georgia. Entries might have used to 3
in the concordance to the materials might wouldn't 3
are based on over 5,000 hours of shouldn't have ought to 3
tape-recorded speech from over used to used (to) could 3
1,000 interviews conducted by might couldn't 2
fieldworkers. The inclusion of a great might have would have 2
deal of free conversation in the might will 2
interviews permits a dimension of and single instances of;
description which is usually missing can might, could might, could used
in questionnaire responses to specific to, may not can, may not ought to,
enquiries. may would, might cannot, might
An interesting example of the can't, might could've, might have Code 1 : Race/Class/Age
range of dialect data brought to could, might just could, might not
light by this project is the use of might not could, might should,
'double modals' (such as will can or
can,
might used to, ought to could,
if
mightcould). In Standard English, shouldn't oughtn't (to), used to used
modal verbs do not co-occur (p. 212). (to) wouldn't, would might, would
The double forms are sometimes said use to
to be characteristic of Appalachian
speech (and certainly there are A LAGS computer-generated
antecedents in Middle English, codemap is shown (right) for the
notably in Scotland and northern most frequent of these
England, which would support the combinations. The map gives social,
historical connection hypothesized age, ethnic, and geographical
above). Might it could be a feature? patterns. The age of informants was
The combinations, ordered in classified into three broad bands: 1

terms of frequency, are as follows; a to 30, 31 to 60, and 61 to 99. The

remarkable 39 forms use eight following abbreviations are used;
different first elements. M/ 'white', B 'black', L 'lower class', M
'middle class', U 'upper class'.
mightcould 219 On the map, each dot represents
used to could 124 an informant location. If a double
might can 54 modal form was used, a dot is
might would 41 replaced by a letter or a number. The
used to would 19 key to the symbols is shown
used to wouldn't 11 alongside the map. A, for example, is
 I'ART V • USINC; F.NGLISH

URBAN OBSERVATIONS
A great deal of dialectology has been taken up with
the speech and subject-matter of rural areas — very
ohen restricted to older people who have lived their
whole lives in the same localit)'. Increasingly, studies are
now being made of urban settings, though the mixed
nature of the population invariably defies clear linguistic
classification.

The map (right) is part of a study of the greater

Boston area carried out in the mid- 1 960s, in which 30
informants responded to 1 10 test sentences designed to
elicit all the vowels and consonants of Boston English.
I he study concluded that there were at least three sub-
dialects in the ciry: one accent prevailed, typifying most
levels of society outside the central area; a second char-
acterized a minority of upper-class speakers, mainly
from certain districts (such as Beacon Hill, Back Bay,
Milton) and the third occupied districts
; at the centre of
the city (such as South Boston, East Boston, South
Cambridge). For example, among the various differen-
tiating features of the city centre subdialect were three
consonantal characteristics: the use of a linking /r/ in

such sequences as law and order, the replacement of /n/

by /I/ in chimney, and the use of a flapped [r] for the
second kl'm potatoes. (After R. L. Parslow, 1971.)

CITY TALK have heard the basketball announcer for the

A hint of the complexity to be found the
Chicago area is given in this sketch from a leading
US dialectologist, Raven McDavid, Jr, with several
I social distinction between *rnee/edand l<nelt.
comments about other dialects thrown in for
good measure.
Needless to say, we do not always agree on which
vowel or consonant we will use, even when we
share the whole repertoire. North of Peoria one is
likely to find greasy with /-s/,
/•z/; a person familiar with both pronunciations
likely to consider one more repulsive than the
other -depending on which
at home. In metropolitan Chicago the natives of
smaller suburban communities are likely to pro-
nounce fog, hog, Chicago with the vowel of
father, in the city itself these words normally have
the vowel of /aw... Many Pennsylvanians rhyme
food with good; many highly educated Southern-
ers rhyme soot withcut. Roof with the vowel of
foot widespread in the area of New England set-
is
tlement and some of the areas settled from Penn-
sylvania; coop with the vowel of do is almost
universal north of the Kanawha
rhyming with foot is characteristic of
settlements...
We even show differences in our grammar. No
one in South Carolina, however uneducated,
would say hadn't ought, which is still current in
educated Northern speech, nor would we say sick
to the stomach, which in the North is almost uni-
versal. But many educated Southerners - and
include myself - find a place
mightcould, used to could and used to didn't.
Chicago Tribune become almost schizoid as he
in hesitated between dived aud dove (with the
vowel of go), and there seems to be no regional or
Even ain't- a four-letter word still taboo in writ-
ing despite Ulysses, Lady Chatterly and Norman
Mailer - may be found in educated conversation,
especially among the first families of Charleston.
When we realize this, we can take calmly the
diversity of names for the grass strip between
further south with sidewalk and street, the earthworm, the dragon
is fly or cottage cheese; the debate among New Eng-
landersasto whether a doughnut should be made
is his pronunciation with yeast; or the fact that the New Orleans poor
boy sandwich may be a hoagy in Philadelphia, a
submarine as in Boston, a grinder ai in upstate
New York or a hero as in New York City. Only in
recent years have people outside learned that
clout is our local Chicago name for political influ-
ence, a Chinaman is a dispenser of such influence, the early settlements - a situation repeated in the
a prairie is a vacant lot and a gangway is a pas- westward movement - so that what survived in
sage, usually covered, between two apartment each area was a compromise, ((see p. 94) And after
buildings... referring to traditions of geographical and social
Yet if we are sometimes bewildered by the dif- mobility, industrialization, urbanization, and gen-
River; root ferences in American English, we should be com- eral education, McDavid concludes:] All of these
Yankee forted to learn that by European standards these forces have combined -and are still combining -to
differences are very small. We can notice, in fact, replace local and even regional terms with com-
that not only are the differences along the Atlantic mercial terms of national use, to eradicate the
Seabord fewer and less sharp than one finds in the most noticeable non-standard grammatical fea-
much shorter distance between Cumberland and tures and even to reduce the differences between
Kent, but that differences diminish as we go west. the pronunciation of one region and that of
We owe our relative uniformity of speech to sev- another. Yet though these forces have reduced
I eral forces. First, the speakers of the more extreme some of the regional differences in American
in conversation for varieties of British local speech were not the ones English, they have not eliminated them.
I who migrated. . .Therewas dialect mixture in all of (R.I. McDavid, 1971.)

THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS
ACCENT ATTITUDES
American regional differences are
widespread than, say, in Britain, as
suggests (p. 316), but the ones that do exist seem
toattract just as much publicity, fascination, and
concern, as appears from this newspaper report
from The Monitor, published in McAlien, Texas
(30 August 1992).
Instructor helping students
modify the y'all drawl
GREENVILLE, S.C - Stohestold in
often are tragedies on a small stage. If they
class
sound comic, you must not be from around here.
The class is called "How to Control Your Southern
Accent."
There was the story of the Southern auto
trying to buy clothing in California,
make the vendor understand that
translatedto "race wear".
There was the pair of travelers, far from their
home in the Piedmont, who ordered "ahss tay."
The waitress begged their pardon. "Ahss tay,
plaze," they repeated, meaning the cool drink
made from steeped tea leaves. The waitress tapped
her pencil on the order pad.
"Finally they said, 'Can we have a soda?'"
explained Pence, a speech pathologist by day
who has taught the evening course at Greenville
Technical College for 3V2 years.
He smiled in telling the iced tea saga but said
accents are not a laughing matter.
first class burst into tears.
"Allthese handkerchiefs came out, " he
recalled, as the woman sobbed, "I've been harassed
about my accent so much you don't know how
. . . hillbilly secretary" -a perception she hears
upsetting it is."
The encyclopedia of Southern Culture says
Southerners are "often schizophrenic about their
speech" - proud of its color and expressiveness, but
"insecure" about being heard outside their region.
Some parents, it adds, try to expunge Southern
features from their children's speech.
The goal of Pence's six-week, $65 class is straight-
" - 1
20 • REGIONAL VARIATION
A 650-mile strand of
the Appalachian
Mountains, running
from Pennsylvania
through Maryland,
Virginia, and North
Carolina to Georgia.
Geographically
famous for its wooded
scenery, it is
linguistically well-
known as a boundary
region between
Midland and Southern
dialect areas.
forward but hardly simple: to give his students a Pence gave a more positive reason for wanting
choice in how they communicate, especially with to control a Southern accent; As major corpora-
less non-Southerners. tions locate in this booming corner of the Sunbelt-
Raven McDavid "If people start listening to how you're saying BMW, the latest, announced in June it would build
something, instead of what you're saying, then a $250 million auto plant outside Greenville
you're losing effectiveness," he said. getting and keeping a job depend on being
But in a region wary that Yankee influences are understood.
already spreading ike the unki liable kudzu vine.
I It was the influx of foreign companies that indi-
Pence's effort sounds to some like "Gomer Pyle rectly led Pence to offer his course.
Meets Henry Higgins" - and they hear snickers. Typical clients he sees in his private prartice are
"Go home. We'll never miss you!" declared one stutterers or stroke patients relearning speech, but
of several hate letters he's received. ("I'm from a few years ago Pence began offering foreign-born
Arkansas; that's considered Southern," Pence executives help in pronouncing English.
David Pence's protests, his own native twang threading faintly Not long afterward, he said, "I started getting
through his speech, like thestill-blueseamsof jeans people saying, 'Can you work on my Southern
bleached to white.) accent?'"
Another letter writer stormed that he'd rather Oneof these was Nancy Humphries. "In 1987,
hear "someone from central Georgia read the was crowned Miss South Carolina," she said, and
racer, phone book than listen to Beethoven To my state pageant officials gave her some advice. "To
who couldn't mind you are participating in the destruction of a goto Miss America, they wanted me to have more
"rice wire" priceless piece of Americana." of a general American accent."
An editorial in The News and Courier oi She didn't win the national title but she did
Charleston, S.C, took note of Pence's class and just land the broadcasting job she wanted. And her
chuckled. Southern accent?
"Can y'all stand it?" the newspaper scoffed. "I turn it on and turn it off," she said from her
Southern speech "has character and resonance office at the ABC-TV affiliate in Charleston, WCBD,
that setsit apart from the unaccented, homoge- where she's a reporter and morning news anchor.
nized speech that afflicts most of the nation. "When I'm Nancy can be Nancy. So still keep
I I
No argument there from Pence. But what mySouthernness. It's just in my professional world
about those who don't want their accent to set that loseI my accent."
them apart? Another student of Pence's, 67-year-old Dr.
One student told his class she's passed around on George Grimball, took the class after being named
the phone whenever she calls her company's New district governor of Rotary International; he knew
A student in his York office. "It's the girl from the South," she hears. he'd be making many speeches.
"
Kathy Young, an executive secretary who's Grimball defended Pence's efforts, despite
taking the course for the second time, said, criticism from these longtime Confederates." Still,
"There's no room in the professional world for a his own success was limited by a schedule that
kept him from studying tapes and doing other
reflected in Northerners' comments and blames on homework - and by the complexity of his goal to
television. begin with.
Portrayals of rubes ['country hicks'], from "The "I likethe way Southerners talk," Grimball said
Beverly Hillbillies" to the "Dukes of Hazzard" and in a modified version of the rich drawl that Ameri-
beyond, have stereotyped those who use any of the cans heard when South Carolina Sen. Ernest
25 or so distinct Southern dialects that researchers Hollings ran for president in 1984.
have counted. Even Yale- and Oxford-educated Bill
Clinton didn't escape the "Bubba" tag in New York. (Christopher Sullivan of The Associated Press.)
 '

USING ENGLISH

VARIATION IN BRITISH ENGLISH EARLY VARIETY OBSERVATIONS There is scarcely any part of England,
remote from the capital, where a different
Commentary system of pronunciation does not prevail.
Awareness of regional variation in English is evident Iknow not what can easily deceiue you in As in Wales they pronounce the sharp
writing, vnlesse bee by imitating tlie
it consonants for the flat, so in Somersetshire
from the I4th century, seen in the observations of
barbarous speech of your countrie people, they pronounce many of the flat instead of
such writers as Higden/Trevisa (p. 35) or William whereof will glue you a taste. ..Some
I the sharp: thus for Somersetshire, they say
Caxton 56) and in the literary presentation ot the people speake thus: the mell standeth on Zomerzetzhire; for father, vather; for think,
(p.
the hell, for the mill standeth on the hill; so THink; and for sure, zhure.
characters in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale or the Wakefield
/cnetfor knit, bredg for bridg;knawfor (John Walker, Pronouncing Dictionary,
Second Shepherd's Play (p. 58). Many of the writers on gnaw. ..Take heed also you put not /dfor 1791)

spelling and grammar in the I6th and 17th centuries edas unitid ior united, which is Scottish.
And some ignorantly write a cup a wine for Characterization
made comments about regional variation, and some a cup of wine: and other like absurdities. Good gentleman, go your gait, and let poor
(such as Alexander Gil, p. 66) were highly systematic (Edmund Coote, The English Schoole- volk pass. And 'chud ha' bin zwagger'd out
in their observations, though the material is often Master, 1 597) of my life, 'twould not ha' bin zo long as 'tis
by a vortnight. Nay, come not nearth'old
obscured by a fog of personal prejudices. The scien-
It cannot pass my Observation here, that, man; keep out, che vor' ye, or ise try
tific study of dialect in England began in the late 1 9th when we are come this Length from whither your costard or my ballow be the
century.The English Dialect Society was founded in London, the Dialect of the English Tongue, harder. Chill be plain with you.

1873 by W. W Skeat, and remained active until the

or the Country-way of expressing
themselves, is not easily understood. It is
(Shakespeare, King Lear, IV.vi. Edgar,
adopting a south-western dialect)
launch of the first major work of British dialectolog)': the same in many Parts of England besides,
Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary but in none in so gross a Degree, as in this By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine take
Part. not possible to explain this fully
..It is themselves to slomber, ay'll degudseruice,
(1898-190S).
by Writeing, because the Difference is not or I'll lig i'th'grund for it; ay, or go to death;

so much in the Orthography, as in the Tone and I'll pay't asvalorously as may, that sail
I I

The Survey of English Dialects and Accent; their abridging the Speech, suerly do, that is the breff and the long:
Cham, for / am. Chill for / will; Don, for do Marry, I wad full fain hear some question
The next major step was planned in 1946 by Swiss on, or put on; and Doff, for do off, or put 'tween you tway.
professor Eugene Dieth (1893-1956) and British off; and the like, (Shakespeare, Henry V, lll.ii. Jamy, a
scholar (later Leeds professor of English) Harold (Daniel Defoe, Tour thro' the whole Island representation of Scots)
of Great Britain, 1724-7)
Orton (1898-1975), and became known informally For other examples of dialect represen-
as the Dieth-Orton Survey. A questionnaire ol over tation in literature, see pp. 331, 348, 353.
1 ,300 items was developed, and a field survey under-
taken between 1948 and 1961 in 313 localities
throughout England. It was biased towards rural
communities, its topics being the farm and farming, OLD LANCASHIRE
animals and nature, the house and housekeeping, the
This extract from Tummus and Meary ('Thomas and Mary') by Tim Bobbin -the pseudonym
human body, numbers, time and weather, social of John Collier (1708-86)- isanexampleof the genre of dialect literature which grew up in
activities, and abstract states, actions, and relations. the 18th century. It appears here in an 1854 edition by Samuel Bamford who considers the
account of a century before 'a very imperfect setting forth of the Lancashire dialect' and
Agricultural communities with a static population
correctsmany allegedly Cheshire forms in it. A translation is given alongside.
were selected, and newly built-up areas avoided. The
informants were all locally born, working class, Well Mester Cunstable, sed th'Justice, Well, Master Constable, said the Justice,
what hanyo brought meh neaw? what have you brought me now?
almost all over 60, and mainly men. Responses to the
Why plyesyur worship, ween meet neaw Why please your worship, we have just
questions (over 404,000 items of information) were ta'en a hawsesteyleratwurmayin off with' now taken a horse stealer that was making
transcribed by nine fieldworkers in phonetic tran- tit as hard as he cud. off with it as hard as he could.
Odd! thought t'mehsel, neaw or never, Odd! thought to I myself, now or never,
made of the
I

scription, and tape recordings were also

Tum, spyek for thesel. So aw speek op, an Tim, speak for yourself. So I spoke up, and
unscripted speech of the informants. Much of the sed, 'That's no true, Mr. Justice, for awr boh said, 'That's net true, Mr. Justice, for was I

material remains in archives, but between
1971 the basic material was published in an intro-
duction and four volumes. Then
guistic Atlas of England appeared, containing an
interpretation of a selection of the data.
A great deal of other work has since taken place in
British dialectology, especially focusing
1962 and gooin foots pace.' but going a foot's pace.'
Umph! sed th'Justice, there's no mitch Umph! said the Justice, there's not much
difference as to that poynt. Howdtee the difference as to that point. Hold you your
in 1978 the Lin- tung yung mon, an speake when theawrt tongue, young man, and speak when you
spokken too. Well! theaw mon i'th breawn are spoken to. Well! you man in the brown
cwot theaw, sed th'Justice, whot has theaw coat you, said the Justice, what have you to
to say agen this felley? Is this tit thy tit, say against this fellow? Is this horse your
sesto? horse, do you say?
on the speech It is, Ser. It is. Sir.

Heerclark, bring that book an let's swear book and let's

Here, clerk, bring that
ol urban populations. It has also moved away from him. swear him [in].
the classical model ot English dialects, as illustrated in Th'clark brought th' book, an th'Justice The clerk brought the book, and the
the older rural population, and towards a model sed a nomony toth'felley; an towd him he Justice said a speech to the fellow; and told
munt tey care o' whot he sed, or he moot as him he must take care of what he said, or
which better reflects the more complex sociolinguis-
helt be forsworn, or hong that yeawth he might as likely be forsworn, or hang that
tic situation of a world of considerable population theer. youth there.
mobilit)- and rapid social change.
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

The rural emphasisof the ir

Survey of English Dialects is i> BOWELS
well represented by this + CHITTERUNGS
extract.The question is
taken from Book 3 of the
J * GUTS
* PUDDING
Survey, on animals, and the * PUDDINGS
responses shown here are * SMALL PUDDINGS
for six counties and the Isle •"
THIN PUDDINGS
of Man. All transcriptions * POLLINGS
are the International
in ° ROPPS
Phonetic Alphabet (p. 239). " SKINS

Abbreviations
Nb Northumberland
6 <-. 4 r^ 1* '2 "•

Cu Cumberland (now part

of Cumbria) J ,. V ,-3' ^12 •la
**"
Du Durham % / S '"• '^° 6
We Westmoreland (now
part of Cumbria)
La Lancashire C /f*»22° "

Y Yorkshire • 11 -* "-^
'~"\29n °26 +27
n.a. not available
n.k. not known

7
T r-'
\8 ,^

CONSONANT VARIATION
One of the phonological maps from The Linguistic Atlas of
England, showing the regional distribution of one of the
uu SCOTLAND y
HAND
consonants: initial /h/. This has generally been lost in regional
speech, but has been retained in three specific rural areas: the
far North; an area from East Anglia to N Sussex; and a small
area in the South-West.
In these and the following maps, a dot represents the use of a
particular form in a locality (numbered in each county). A small
cross (x) shows that the f ieldworker did not elicit the form. The
occurrence of an alternative form in an area is shown by special
/&
symbols: i^ is used for the dropping of /h/ in area 1, and A for
the retention of /h/ in area 2. If these symbols are centred on
the dot, it means that both forms are found in that locality; if
centred on the cross, only the alternative form is found.

Key
OE hand, hond
OE h-
A h retained
A h dropped

WALES
i ^-r^ gl s-J!5 .fi A-^^k'I A « ' '"^

HANDY 6Y *1, 29Ess *11; HAND v 39Ha *7

 PART V • USING ENGLISH

VOWEL VARIATION
Plotting vowel variation
is a much more intricate
matter than in the case
of consonants, anci far
more distinctions in pho-
netic detail are required
(p. 238). Vowel maps
have always to be inter-
preted with caution,
becauseof the inevitable
uncertainties which
accompany impressionis-
tic transcriptions, but
do emerge,
clear trends
asinthisexampleof
what happens to /;i/
when followed by A/ and
a consonant (in this case,
/m/).
Abroad distinction
can be drawn between
those accents which
retain some kind of /r/
(generally in the South,
West, and far North) and
those which do not. Sev-
eral qualities of /r/-

colouring can be
distinguished: the sym-
bols show fricative (jl |),

retroflexdrl, especially
in the South-West) and
uvular(|K|, in thefar
North) variants. Front
varieties of vowel quality
are increasingly likely as
one moves away from
the South-East, though
there are pockets of back
vowel Diphthon-
quality.
gization occursin the

North-East. Because
there are so many vari-
ants occurring outside
their 'usual' area, a much
wider range of symbols
for alternative forms is
shown on this map than
inthecaseof/h/(p.319).

Key
 ;

REGIONAL VARIATION

LEXICAL VARIATION

Some of the maps of the

English Dialect Survey
(p. 318) show extensive
lexical variation. There
are ninechief variants
noted for threshold, for
example, and a further
35 alternatives. In the
case of headache, there
is a fairly clear picture.
The standard form is
used throughout most of
the country, butin the

North and parts of East

Anglia there is a compet-
ing regional form, skull-
ache. The variant form
head-wark is found in

the far North, with a

further variant, head-
warch, mainly in S
Lancashire. Northumber-
land opts for the more
prosaic sore head, with
bad head used in adja-

cent localities to the

south. The Survey also
shows the range of
words used as premodif i-
cation (p. 222), where
there is an interesting
distinction between
people who say a
headache and those who
say the headache. (For
the location of English
counties, seep. 143.)

Key
A BAD HEAD
A HEADACHE
OE heafod + aece
tclOOO

HEADWARCH
OE heafodwaerc,
ON hofudverkr
tclOOO

l~l HEADWARK
tc1350

SOREHEAD
OEsar + -
tl549

The followingpre-modifications were rec: A NASTY (HEADACHE) 16Wo 7; 35K2,36Co*1/3/5/6,37D 1/2/5/7/10/11,

A(BADHEAD)1Nb7/8,2Cu'2/*5/6,7Ch*1 AN(HEADACHE)9Nt*1,13Lei 1-6/10, 38Do*2/3/5,39Hal/3

ABITOF(HEADACHE)31So7; 14R1/2,17Wa7,23Mon7; THE (HEADWARCH) 5La 6/8/10, 8Db 1
A(HEADACHE)7Ch4/6,9Nt*1/3, THE (HEADACHE) Nb *4, 3Du 2,
1 ABIT(HEADWARK)3Du*6;
10L2/10, 115a4, 13Lei7/9, 17Wa3/7, 5La 6Y*2/4/*23/24/27/32-34, 7Ch *1/3/5,
5, A(HEADWARK) 2Cu *5, 6Y 1/8/1 0;
18Nth2/4/5, 19Hu1, 20C 2,21 Nf 2/9, 8Db7,9Nt4,10L 8/9/15, 11Sa1/2/5-11, ATERRIBLE (HEADWARK) 6Y 7;
22Sf *2, 23Mon 5, 24GI 7, 250x 3, 26Bk 3-5, 12St*9, 15He 1-6, 16Wo 1-6, 17 Wa 1/4-6, A(SKULI-ACHE)29Ess*6/*14;
27Bd1-3,28Hrt2, 18Nth 1/3, 19Hu2,20C1,21Nf 4/7, 22Sf 1/3/5, THE (SKULI_ACHE) 22Sf 4, 29 Ess 5/M4
29Essl/*6/8/*10/12/13/'14,30MxL2, 23Mon 1/2/6, 24GI 1-6, 250x 1/2/5/6, 26Bk 2, A(SORE HEAD) Nb 1-3/M, 2Cu
1 1

31 So 3/8, 32W 4, 33Brl< 5, 34Sr 2, 37 D 9, 28Hrt 1, 29Ess2/*10/*14,30MxL 1,

38Do*2,40Sx1; 31 So 4/6*9/1 3, 32W 3/5/6/8, 33Brk 4,
 PART V USING ENGLISH

MORPHOLOGICAL
VARIATION

There is a remarkable
diversity in the use of the
verb to be in English
dialects, especially in its

negative forms. The map

shows the range encoun-
tered for the first person
singular: 16variantsare
shovun on the map, and a
further eight isolated
forms listed below.
Among the interesting
features are: the use of
;s/'s in the North (com-

pare the use of this

feature in American
dialects, p. 315); a/n'f is

widespread in the East

Midlandsand South-
East, with variant forms
(en't.yun't) further west;
and forms based on be
dominate inthe South-
west.
For comparison, the
range of forms recorded
in other persons is given
below (minor variants in
parentheses):

lam: am, are, be, bin, is

you are you are,

(sing.):

ye are, thou are, thou

art, thee art, thou is, you
be, you bin, thee bist,
(thee be, thou bist, you
WALES
am)
she is: is, be, bin, (am,
bist)

wears: are, am, be, bin,

(aren)
m:
they are: are, am, is, be, 15.=
bin, (aren, at, bist)

sbe/sn't: isn't, 'snot, -

4 '1 1 (7J ~-4irN

isno', ain't,en'tyun't,
.2. c'SP \^r^ raS
idn', inno, bain't, ben't
(idn't, binno', byent, 's
none, yen't)

they aren't: aren't, 're

not, ain't, en'tyun't,

anno', bain't, baan't,
ben't, byen't, byun't,
binno', (amno', inno',
in't, isn't, 'm not, 're

none)

Key O AMMET AMMENTlNb 1

A 'IVlNOT O AMNO' AM NOT Man *2

A 'S NOT Q BAIN'T AMN' 250x*5

n 'M NONE n BAAN'T BISNT 16Wo5
O AIN'T D BEN'T IN'T 22Sf 1/3
O EN'T BYEN'T 'RE NOT35K*l/'7
YUN'T BYUN'T 'SNOT6YM5
n ISN'T BINNO' YEN'T33Brk4
O AREN'T
 2 • REGIONAL VARIATION

SYNTACTIC
VARIATION

An example of a dialect GIVE IT

map showing variations
in syntax (p. 214). The

word order give me it is

usual in the North, most
oftheEast, andina
narrow band across the
South IVIidlands; give it

medominatesinthe
lower North-West,
West Midlands, and
South-East, with the
prepositional form,
giveit to me, the norm

intheSouth-West,
and also occurring in
enclaves around the
Thames estuary and in
East Anglia. The pronoun
less form g/Ve me is
recorded once, in

Surrey This is doubtless

one of the forms which
would be much more
widely represented in

an urban dialect survey.

(The map summarizes
word order patterns
only ignoring the actual
choice of pronouns.)

Key
A GIVEITME
A GIVEITTOME
n GIVEIVIEIT

GIVE ME{no/t)34Sr*5
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

DIALECTS OF ENGLAND: TRADITIONAL AND MODERN

The picture which emerges from the kind of dialect lowing the boundary between the Anglo-Saxon king-
information obtained by the Survey of English Dialects doms of Northumbria and Mercia, and a secondary
(p. 318) relates historically to the dialect divisions rec- division isfound between much of the Midlands and
ognized in Old and Middle English (pp. 28, 50). This areas further south. The kind of evidence for these

situation is shown below: the map displays 13 tradi- dialect divisions is summarized in the associated table,

tional dialect areas (it excludes the western tip of Corn- which gives an impressionistic transcription using
wall and most of Wales, which were not normal spelling conventions of eight pronunciation cri-
English-speaking until the 18th century or later, and teria (;t refers to the pronunciation of /r/ after a vowel,
the urban area of London). A major division is drawn p. 245) . A hierarchical representation of the dialect rela-
between the North and everywhere else, broadly fol- tionships is shown below. (From P. Trudgill, 1990.)

rNORTH —

— Northumberland

I— Leicestershire

Eastern
Central

Traditional
Dialects -

i
{:

•-Western —

Area
 !0 • REGIONAL VARIATION

Relatively few people in England now speak a dialect of the kind tep- the use of a very short [u] vowel before [1]), and a hierarchical repre-

resented on the facing page. Although such fotms as zeven 'seven' will sentation of the dialect relationships is given below. In this analysis, the

still be encountered in real life, they are more often found in literary vowel in such words as «/) ([up] 'oop' in the North, [Ap] in the South)
representations of di;ilect speech and in parodies by comedians or in is considered to be the chief distinguishing feature, and a division
dialect humour books (p. 410). The disappearance of stich pronuncia- between North and South has been made on this basis (from P. Trudgill,

tions, and their associated lexicon and grammar, is sometimes described 1990). A division using another well-known feature, 'short vs long li

as 'English dialects dying out'. The reality is that they are more than (p. 307) would also be possible, though this would make the boundary
compensated for by the growth of a range of comparatively new dialect run somewhat differently in the Midland area. 'What is plain is that few
forms, chiefly associated with the urban areas oi the country. of the dialect areas coincide with those shown opposite. Moreover, the
If the distinguishing features ot these dialects are used as the basis of traditional North-South boundary turns out to be no longer in Eng-
classification, a vet)' different-looking dialect map emerges, with 16 land, but on the border between England and Scotland, and it is this
major divisions. Once again, a series of pronunciation criteria illustrate division which gives rise to the most noticeable dialect distinction in
the areas (j^ represents the use of /g/ after /i]/, as \n finger, ioo represents modern British English (p. 328).

-:^ NORTH

'/O

Wj^' Central
North

LOWER
NORTH

Central N
LancashireJ.^
Humberside
Merseysidej .L- -Northeast

/ Central' Midlands
CENTRAL
"Northwest Midlan5!s___EASI-_
Midlands rCENTRAL
WEST 'East _ ,

CENTRAL lyndiands^^ [

,«^,"C~
Midlands /y^ South
Midlands
\
/
Anglia

Lower \
Southwest

SOUTH
 PARI' V • USING ENGLISH

URBAN GRAMMAR
A great deal of the descriptive and analytical work on
British dialects over the years has in fact been con-
cerned with vocabulary and accent (p. 299), rather
than with grammar, and as a result many important
features oi English regional variation have remained
undescribed. This page reports on some of the gram-
matical features which have been found in modern
urban dialects, and which will also now be encoun-
tered in any area of countryside influenced by the
economy ot a nearby city.

AUXILIARIES IN as auxiliary verb (p. 212),

READING derived from the speech of

all (24) speakers in the

The English used by a study. The figures suggest

group of adolescents in that there is a grammatical

Reading, Berkshire (40 rule in this area of usage

miles west of London) dis- which Standard English
plays anumber of nonstan- does not share. Dos occurs
dard features. One of the only as afull verb (mainly

main features is a distinc- with third person subjects).

tive present-tense use of Do occurs chiefly as an aux-
do, which appears in as iliary verb. Does is divided,

many as three nonstandard though occurring chiefly

verb forms, alternating
with standard forms.
• An -sending occurs with
all subjects except third
person singular (p.
That's what does, anyway,
I
I just ignores them.
• A form lacking a suffix
occurs with third person
singular subjects:
She cadges, she do.
• The form dos /du;z/ occurs
with all subjects, though
mainly as third person
singular:
the headmaster dos
All
now is makes you stand
corner.
The table below shows the
frequency of use of each of
these forms as full verb and
as a full verb, especially
with third person singular
subjects (as in Standard
English).
In other words, the
204):
forms of do are dependent
on different factors in
Reading English compared
with Standard English. In
the latter, they depend
only on the subject of the
verb (third person vs
others), whereas in Read-
ing they also depend on
the syntactic function of
the verb (whether full or
auxiliary). In this respect,
the regional dialect is more
complex than the standard
in a - clear evidence against the
popular view that dialects
are in some way 'reduced'
or 'simplified' departures
from Standard English.
(AfterJ. Cheshire, 1982.)

Full verb
Subject

Third singular 50.00

Non-third singular 56.80
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

ESTUARY ENGLISH
The 'estuary' in question is that of the R. Thames.
The term was coined in the 1 980s to identify the
way features of London regional speech seemed to
be rapidly spreading throughout the counties
adjoining the river (especially Essex and Kent)
and beyond. It is something of a misnomer, for the
influence of London speech has for some time been
evident well beyond the Thames estuary, notably
in the Oxford - Cambridge - London triangle
(p. 50) and in the area to the south and east of
London as far as the coast. Nonetheless, the phrase
'estuary English' caught the public imagination,
and received considerable publicity, including
a front page headline in The Sunday Times
(14 March 1993):
DIALECT TRAVELS
The top map shows the distribution of words
for a 'food-trough in a cow-house' as recorded to
the south of London by The Survey of English
Dialects (p. 3 8). It is likely that the older form is
1 spread of a form is accelerated in areas with
trough, ami manger {a more standard term in
agricultural writing) has spread into the area
from the north. Is there anything to explain the
pattern of change?
The bottom map shows the main routes of
communication connecting London to popula-
tion centres along the coast. Each of the three
southward movementsof manger coincides with
major road and rail routes-to Dover, Brighton,
and Portsmouth. The suggestion is that the
good communication links, and held back in more
isolated areas (p. 54). This pattern may well be
being repeated on a nationwide scale, in the case
of estuary English.
(After P Trudgill, 1990, pp. 122-3.)

Yer wot? 'Estuary English' Sweeps Britain

While 'sweeping' may be something of an

exaggeration, the spread of the variety has
certainly been noticeable in recent years. London-
influenced speech can now be heard around three
other estuaries- the Humber in the north-east,
the Dee in the north-west, and the Severn in the
west - at least partly because of the relatively easy
rail and motorway commuting networlcs. With

Hull, Chester, and Bristol now only just over two

hours from London, the morning and evening
transport routes to and from the capital carry
many people who speak with an accent which
shows the influence of their place of work.
The factors governing the spread of this variety
are only partly explained by social mobility and
new patterns of settlement. For example, there is
the influence of radio and television, and of
English media personalities who use a modified
form of Cockney such as Ben Elton and Jonathan
Ross. But certainly, after World War 2, thousands
of London speakers did move to outside the city,

and to the new towns which were being built

around the capital. Their move will have caused
many to modify their accents, and their numerical
presence (as well as their economic standing) may
even have influenced the original residents to
accommodate (p. 298) in their direction.
Estuary English may therefore be the result of a
confluence of two social trends: an up-market
movement of originally Cockney speakers, and a
down-market trend towards 'ordinary' (as
opposed to 'posh') speech by the middle class.
There is certainly plenty of anecdotal evidence
that many people these days wish to avoid the
'establishment' connotations of Received Pronun-
ciation (p. 353),and try to speak in a way which
they perceive to be more down to earth. In the
1993 debate which accompanied the Sunday
Times report, one leading businessman was
explicit about this point. Referring to a 'public
school accent' (RP) he commented: 'If you were
unlucky enough to have such an accent, you
would lower it. You would try to become more
consumer friendly'.

A continuum
The phenomenon, as identified in the press, has
been perceived as more to do with accent than
with dialect, and has been described as a contin-
uum of pronunciation possibilities, with Cockney
at one end and Received Pronunciation at the
other. But the variety is distinctive as a dialect, not

just as an accent, as can be seen from the follow-

ing selection of features which are becoming
increasingly widespread.
 I'ARr V USING ENGLISH

LEGAL LANGUAGE
VARIATION IN SCOTLAND DIFFERENCES
Of the 300 entries on law
Of all the varieties of English which have developed example, Scots has received far more lexicographic (p. 374)The Cambridge
in

Encyclopedia 1 994), 88 of (

within the British isles, there are none more distinctive description than other regional British varieties, with
them specify differences
or more divergent hom Standard English than some of such majorpublicationsasjohnjamieson's Etymological between the law in England
those associated with Scotland, hideed, the extent of the Dictionary ofthe Scottish Language ( 1 808, 1 825, 4 vols) and Wales and the law in

Scotland, with various

divergence in one of these varieties has led to a well- and the present-day Scottish National Dictionaty (com- linguistic consequences.
estahlished use of the label, the 'Scots language, and to pleted 1976, 10 vols). The Association for Scottish Lit-

a spirited defence of all that such a label stands for. It is erary Studies has an active Language Committee. And • Several terms, such as bur-
glary, covenant, habeas
argued that Scots differs from the regional dialects of the Scots Language Society's journal, Lallans (p. 333), corpus, subpoena, and sus-
England in two crucial ways. It is unique because it was begun in 1 973, presents material in prose which extends pended sentence, do not
exist in Scottish law.
once the variety used, in the late Middle Ages, when the range of the language to well beyond the literary uses
• Some semantic fields
Scotland was an independent nation; and it is unique to which it has largely been put in recent years (p. 330).
(p. 1 57) are structured differ-
because it has a clearly defined history of its own, with a The identity of English in Scotland has become ently. There is no distinction,

strong literary tradition beginning in Middle English much more than a distinctive regional accent and the for example, between libel
and slander, as the Scottish
(p. 52), its own dialect variants (several of which have occasional habitual feature of grammar and vocabulary.
legal system recognizes only
individual literary histories), its own 'golden age' and It reflects an institutionalized social structure, at its most defamation. And where the
period of decline, a modern literary renaissance, and a noticeable in the realms of law, local government, reli- term m/norexists in England
and Wales for a person below
contemporary sociolinguistic stature which other gion, and education, and raises problems of intelligibil-
the age of 1 8 years, Scottish
dialects of British English do not share. There are many ity that have no parallel elsewhere in Britain. However, law distinguishes between
more Scottish expressions in current use in Scotland despite these national underpinnings, and the extensive pup//s(toage 12 for girls and
14 for boys) and minors (older
than there are English dialect expressions in current use language loyalty, Scots as a language has not so far been
children up to 18).
in any dialect of England. The term 'dialect island' is able to make inroads into the use of Standard English as • Several terms in English law

sometimes used to capture the character of the Scottish the language of power and public prestige, and it has no have Scottish equivalents,
such as:
situation. official existence. Outside certain specialized publica-
The people of Scotland are generally far more aware tions, its public use tends to be restricted to literature England
Scotland and Wales
of the distinctive character of their speech and writing, and folklore, to a few programmes on radio and televi-
advocate barrister
take it far more seriously, and argue about standards of sion about local issues, and to jocular contexts, such as arbiter arbitrator
usage in it far more forcibly than is the case with speak- cartoons and comic strips. At the same time, there have apprehension arrest
blackmail
ers of regional dialects to the south. A representation of been major publications, such as the translation of the extortion
fire-raising arson
a regional dialect often appears in print only for jocular New Testament into Scots. The situation, in short, is
defender defendant
or folklore purposes; this is not so in Scotland, where complex and unclear. However, even those scholars who interdict injunction
aliment alimony
there is in addition a strong and respected tradition of debate whether to call Scots a language or a dialect end
confirmation probate
academic linguistic study, societies devoted to the fur- up by recognizing its special status - for they are faced culpable manslaughter
therance of Scots as a language, and a growing corpus of with no such dilemma in considering the other regional homicide
delict tort
written material in one or other of its varieties. For varieties of English in Britain.

THE BIBLE TRANSLATED theyungson said til him, "Faither, had twa sons. And the young ane said that sud faa tae me" Sae noo the
.

gie me the faa-share o your haudin at
A major step in giving prestige to I haea richttil." Sae the faither
Scotscame with the publication in haufed his haudin atweesh his
983 of the New Testament in Scots
1 twa sons.
by William Laughton Lorimer No lang efterhin the yung son
(1885-1967), which his entry in the fertthe haill o his portion for
Oxford Companion to the English awa furth til a faur-aff kintra,
fuir
Language refers to as 'the greatest whaur he sperfelt his siller livin the
achievement of modern Scots prose'. life o a weirdless waister. Efter he hed
A few lines from the parable of the ganethrou the haill o it, afell faimin
'Prodigal Son' convey something of brak out yon laund, an he faund
i fee'd himsel
the flavour (though not the stylistic himsel in unco sair mister. Sae he
variety) of the translation. For com- gaed an hired wi an indwaller that
parison, the same extract is also kintra, an the man gied him the wark
shown in two other versions, o tentin swine outbye the fields.
his i that the grice ate, but he gat nane.
brought together by the journal Gledlie wad he panged his wame wi
English World-Wide lr^ 1983. the huilsat they maitit the swine wi,
but naebodie gied him a haet..."
Scots
This, tae, he said tae them; 'There wis Lallans (J. K.Annand, 1982)
aince a man hed twa sons; and ae day And he spak: There dwalt a chiel that
til his faither, 'Gie me the bairns'
o gear that will be my due.' And he
bunced aa that he aucht atween them.
And no lang efter the young son
nif- gethert thegither aa his gear and set
siller, an aff for a fremit land, and there he
gaed on the randan. And when he
had wared aa hs siller, there was an
unco famine in that airt, and he was
on his beam-end. And he gaed and
til afermer inthat land,
and he was sent intil the fields to
i fotherthe grice. And he wad hae likit
fine to hae f ullt his kyte wi the brock
Lowland Scots (J. T Low, 1983)
Aince mair he said til them' 'There
war a chiel had twa sons; and the
young ane said til's faither, "Faither,
gie me that pairt o the f aimily walth
pairt faither pairted hisguidsand gear
atween them.
A puckle days later this young ane
chynged his pairt intil sillar and left
his hame tae gang til a kintra hyne
awa. There did he no splairge the
hale hypothec in wastrie and cairry-
ons. Whan he had gane throu aa, a
muckle hership brak oot in that
kintra, and he begud tae thole sair
scant and want. He gaed and socht
wark wi ane o the lairds o that airt;
and this chiel telt him tae gang intil
his parks tae gie the beasts their mair.
He was that sair hungertthat he wad
fain hae filled his kyte wi the hulls
that the grumphies war eatan; and
naebodygied himonything...'
 !0 • REGIONAL VARIATION

SOME SCOTS LINGUISTIC FEATURES out a bit). Double

modals(p. 315) may
The present-day dialect boundary between be heard: might
England and Scotland is one of the most could, will can, etc.
well-defined in Britain. Although there are • The definite article

several features shared with dialects from is often used

the north of England -such as some lexical distinctively, as in the
items (e.g. lass, bairn, bonny, loon) and now ('just now'), the
some pronunciations, there are many day ('today'), the
uniquely distinguishing features, found in both of them, goto
various distributions north of the border. the church (in a
The following is a selection of features generic sense, SE go to
which distinguish Scots from Standard church), they're at the
English (SE). fishing, he wears the
kilt, (SE he wears a kilt),
Pronunciation
and before names of
(See §17 for phonetics terminology.)
chiefs (Robert the
• There is the absence of lip-rounding in
Bruce).
such words as stone and go, giving Scots • Syntactic constructions
stane, gae.
include several uses of
• The close back vowel /u:/ is fronted, so
prepositions, such as the
that SE moon and use are heard in sev-
back of 3 o'clock ('soon
eral dialects with [y] (as in French tu),
after 3 o'clock'), and from
and written in such spellings as mu/n
(frae) for by in passives
andyu/se.
{We were all petrified frae
• Final /!/ was replaced by an u l-type |

him). Tag question

vowel in late Middle English, giving
variations (p. 299) include
many words which are represented Is Mary still outside, is she?
without an / in the spelling, as in saut
See may be used to mark a
('salt'), fou ('full'), bawCbaW). Some
new topic, especially in
spelling systems represent the 'miss-
Glasgow, as in See it's daft
ing by an apostrophe, as in fu'.
/'
doing that.
• There were several different
effects of the Great Vowel Shift
Vocabulary
(p. 69) in Scottish English, such as the
A great deal of the
retention of a pure vowel /u:/ in such
distinctiveness of the Scots
words as /loose ('house') and doon from the
lexicon derives
('down').
influence of other
• Certain vowels have no inherent
languages, especially Gaelic,
length, but are long or short
Norwegian (p. 25), and
depending on the sound which '•

French (p. 46). Gaelic loans,

follows them (the Scoit/s/ivowe/- j
for example, include cairn,
/engt/iru/e). Close vowels /i/ and ^^
capercailzie, ceilidh,
/u/aremostaffected.Forexam- Q
claymore, gillie, glen, ingle,
pie, /i/ is long in leave and sees,
loch, pibroch, sporran, and
but short in leaf and cease. That Oor Wull
'''°'""'''^^°^^^^^^^'^^7:^y whisky, and several of these
this is not just a function of
since 1936. are now part of Standard
longer duration in front of a voiced (lenis)conso
include English. The following are
nant, as in RP (p. 242), is shown by such pairs as
leafs, wifes, wolfs, lifes, etc. among the lexical items which
agreed (long) vs greed (short) or feel (long) vs feel- • Two pronoun variants are thae ('those') and thir remain restricted to Scots. It
/ng( short), where the conditioning factor is the
('these'). In Orkney and Shetland, and occasionally is the tiniest of samples, considering that The
grammatical boundary between stem and ending. elsewhere, the thou/thee/ye distinction is Scots Thesaurus (1990), for example, lists over
• A velar fricative commonly heard,
is in such words
maintained (p. 71). Other distinctive pronouns 20,000 items,
as loch and n/cht ('night'), and also in technical, often heard include mines ('mine'), they ('these'),
patriarch, Brechin, and other -ch- items. airt direction
t/ieyy/ns ('they'), and yous ('you' plural).
• The voiceless bilabial fricative /w/ is widespread, ay always
• Numeral one appears in different forms,
allowing a contrast between while and wile, or dominie teacher
depending on its position: ae man ('one man') vs
whales and Wales. In the North-East, the /w/ is dreich dreary
thatane ('that one').
replaced by/f/: fa ('who'), fite ('white'), etc. fash bother
• forms include gae ('go'), gaed
Distinctive verb
• A glottal stop is widely heard in urban accents, in high-heidyin boss
('went'), gane {'gone'); hing ('hang'), hang
such words as butter, and is spreading throughout janitor caretaker
('hanged'), hungin ('hung'); lauch ('laugh'), leuch
the country, especially in the speech of younger kirk church
('laughed', past tense form), lauchen ('laughed',
people. outwith outside of
past participle form); and such other past tenses as
• Pitch range and direction tends to be wider than pinkie little finger
g/edCgave'), brung ('brought'), te//t ('told'), taen
and unstressed syllables are often pro-
in RP, swither hesitate
('took'), and se//t ('sold').
nounced with greater emphasis (e.g. Wednesday • The particle not appears as no or nae, often in There are also many words which have the same
with three contracted forms as -na or -ny, as in canna ('can form as in SE, but are different in meaning.
distinct syllables). Examples include scheme {'local government
not') and didnae ('didn't').

Grammar • Auxiliary verbs sha//, may, and ought are not housing estate'), m/nd ('memory, recollection'),
(See Part III for grammatical terminology.) normally used in speech, being replaced with such travel ('go on foot'), and gate ('road'), as well as
• Irregular plural nouns include een ('eyes'), shuin forms as will {iot shall), can or maybe (for may), and several idioms, such as to miss oneself {'to miss a
('shoes'), and hors ('horses'). Regularized nouns should or want {for ought, asm You want to get treat') or be up to high doh ('be over-excited').
 PART V • USING F.NGLISH

DOD AND DAVIE

EARLY TRENDS Comic poems continue to be
popular. Below is an extract

and this fuelled a small but continuing poetic from J. K. Annand's Dodand
rhe anglicization of Scottish writing became notice- time,
Dawe. Published in 1986, itisa
able after the joining of the crowns of England and output which did much to motivate the revival of the translation of Wilhelm Busch's
Scotland in 1603 and was increasingly domi-
(p. 53), variety, in a more colloquial style, during the 1 8th cen- well-known German tale of
and humorous tales of two naughty children. Max
nant throughout the 17th century. Within a decade, tury, in the poetry, ballads,
und Mor/tz (1 855). A transla-
southern English became the printing model, apart Allan Ramsay, Alexander Ross, and others. Their lan- tion of the same extract into
from in certain legal or literary texts, and by the end guage was often called 'Doric', because of a supposed Standard English by Elly Miller
between use of Scotticisms and the features follows, published, along with
of the 17th century there was little sign of a distinc- parallel its
four Creole versions (p. 349), in
tively Scottish variety in manuscript writing. Southern of pastoral Classical Greek poetry. Later, with the the journal English World-
English speech also became the norm, with the use of advent of Romanticism in literature, provincial lin- Wide 0984).
'Scotticisms" attracting fierce criticism from the pre- guistic identity came to be even more highly valued. A
Fowrth Ploy
scriptive attitudes of 'polite" societ}' which dominated serious academic interest grew in the vernacular,
It was statute and decreed
the middle decades of the 18th century (p. 78), and though was recognized (but now with regret rather
it Whatna learnin Man was

which condemned all instances of what was perceived than delight) that Scots was 'going out as a spoken need
NoalanetheABC
to be 'unrefined' usage. The 1750s saw the first pub- tongue every year' (a much-quoted remark of the Helps him heicherthings
lication of alphabetical lists of Scottish expressions Edinburgh judge. Lord Cockburn, in 1 838). A further comprie;

which educated people ought to avoid, and the arrival 1 9th-century development was the rise, as in England,
No alane can scrievin, readin,
Gie the gumption that he's
in Scotland of elocutionists who taught people how to of urban dialects, resulting in a distinction between needin;
change their accents towards the London norm. 'guid Scots', spoken in rural areas, and 'gutter Scots', No alane wi sign and nummer
Popular comic or heroic poems from the earlier spoken in the cities, with the speech of working-class Should a man his mind
encummer
periods of Scots continued to be published during this Glasgow commonly cited as a prime example.
Buttak pleisure in acquirin
Gift o Wisdom to inspire'm.

ANGLICIZATION OBSERVED Wi sic thin kin aye to hand

Dominie Duncan took his

The changes which took place in five lin-

stand.

guistic variables were examined as part of a

study of anglicization in Scotland between As has frequently been stated
1520 and 1559. A total of 140 texts were People must be educated.
examined, representing national public NotalonetheA, B, C,

records, official correspondence, personal Heightens man's humanity;

correspondence, religious treatises, and Not just simply reading,
private records. The rapidity of the process writing.

can clearly be seen. Makes a person more

inviting;

• The marker of the relative clause changed Nor does Arithmetic learning
from quh-{p. 52) to wh- in
in its spelling
Makea pupil more
such words as which ar^d who. In 1 520, Scot- discerning.

tish writers always used quh- spellings; the Reason, Wisdom, Moral
figures for stay low for some 80 years,
wh- Thought
then dramatically increase, reaching over 80 Must be equally well taught;
per cent by 1659. And to teach with erudition
• The past tense ending changed from -itto Was Professor Lample's
-ed: intendit became intended. Here too
mission.

there is a slow start to the change, 5 percent

in 1 520, then a sharp increase after 1 580,

reaching 87 percent in 1659.

• The indefinite article ane changed to a or
an: ane missive, ane oath became a missive,
an oath. This change is more in evidence at
the outset (1 6 per cent), but by 659 it still
1

had furtherto go, having reached only 74

percent.
• The negative particles na and nochtchanged to no and It should be noted that these trends are summaries of very

not. These items change very rapidly during the 40 years complex patterns of usage. It is not a question of, for exam-
after 1 520, and the rise continues steadily after 1 600, so that ple, 50 per cent of texts in 1520 using only -/ng and 40 per
by 1 659 not has reached 1 00 per cent use, with no (shown on cent using only -and; usage up to 1500 is highly variable,
the graph) just a little behind, at 94 per cent. with authors often using both forms, sometimes even within
• The present participle ending changed from -andio-ing: a single sentence. But after the uniting of the crowns, this
labourandbecame labouring. Jhii is the most highly angli- kind of variability dies away within two generations. More-
cized featureof the study. The -/ngform was already being over, the changes took place more rapidly in certain genres:
used inover 60 per cent of cases in 1520, and though its use in religious writing, the process is virtually complete by 1500,
varies somewhat, the process of replacement is virtually whereas it is slowest in national public records, which remain
complete by 1500. conservative even in 1659. (After A. J. Devitt, 1989.)
 20 REGIONAL VARIATION

ROBERT BURNS (1759-96)

The traditional distinctive-
nessof the English language
in Scotland is for many
people identified with the
writing of Robert Burns, the
country's national poet.
Born in the Ayrshire village
of Alloway, the son of a
poor farmer, he read
widely asa child, and later
was greatly influenced by
thepopulartalesand
songs of the time, espe-
cially as recalled by his
wife's cousin, Betty Davidson.
On his father's death in 1 784 he was left in charge of
the farm. The birth of an illegitimate child to one of the
farm servants, and newsof impending twins to a local
girl, Jean Armour, whom he wished to marry, brought

local church condemnation and the opposition of Jean's

father. As the farm went to ruin, his poverty, passion, and
despair produced from 1 784 a remarkable outpouring of
poetry. Looking for money to emigrate to Jamaica, he
published in 1786 the now-famous Kilmarnock edition
of his poems, which brought such acclaim that he was The Burns Supper is an annual celebration
persuaded to stay in Scotland. oftheartand ach ievements of the poet. It
He visited Edinburgh, where he was feted, then trav- takes place on the anniversary of the poet's
elled widely in Scotland. Early 1 788 is known for a short birth,25 January, or as near to it as is
but passionate period of correspondence with 'Clarinda' practicable. The first recorded supper took
(Agnes Maclehose). A growing reputation led to his place in Ayrshire in 1801, attended by some Haggis' -the 'Great Chieftain o' the Puddin-
acceptance by Jean Armour's family. He married her in of Burns's close friends. Today, the Burns race'. After the dinner, the principal
April 1788, and in all they had nine children together. He Federation, based in Kilmarnock, has over speaker delivers an address to 'The
leased a farm near Dumfries, but succeeded in gaining a 300 affiliated clubs. Immortal Memory'. 'The Toast to the Lasses'
more secure appointment as an excise officer in 1 789. The basic structure of a Supper is is proposed by a gentleman speaker, and a

When the farm began to fail, he left for Dumfries town, hallowed by tradition. A member of the lady speaker replies. Various songs and
where he continued to write. In 1 793 the family found a clergy recites 'The Selkirk Grace'. Dinner is recitations of Burns's work follow, and the
house in Mill Vennel (now Burns Street), and there, three accompanied by the piping in of the haggis, evening ends with the company singing
years later, he died. and a reading of Burns's 'Address to the 'Auld Lang Syne'. (After N. Marshall, 1 992.)

Nae man can tether time or tide; O my Luve's like a red, red rose Should auld acquaintance be forgot. Burns composed his version of 'Auld
The hour approaches Tam maun ride; That's newly sprung in June; And never broughtto mind? Lang Syne' in 1788, adding the third
That hour o'nights black arch the O my Luve's like the melodie Should auld acquaintance be forgot. and fourth verses. The first verse and
key-stane, That's sweetly play'd in tune. And auld lang syne! chorus is now an anthem sung atthe
That dreary hour he mounts the As fair art thou, my bonie lass. For auld lang syne, my dear, close of gatherings all over the
beast in; So deep in luveam I; Forauld lang syne. English-speaking world, and is

And sic a night he taks the road in And will luve thee still, my dear.
I We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, probably the best-known
As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in. Till a' the seas gang dry. Forauld lang syne. contribution of Scots to World
English. (The melody was composed
The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last; Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear, And surely ye'll be your pint stowp! by William Shield, and forms part of
The rattling show'rs rose on the blast; And the rocks melt wi' the sun; And surely be mine!
I'll the overture to his opera Rosina
The speedy gleams the darkness O I will love thee St ill, my dear, And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, (1783).)
swallow'd; Whilethesandso' lifeshall run. Forauld lang syne.
Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder And fare thee weel, my only Luve! auld lang syne days of long ago
bellow'd:
Andfarethee weela while! We twa hae run about the braes. stowp tankard twa two
That night a child might understand And pou'd the gowans fine: hae have braes meadows
And I will come again, my Luve,
The Deil had business on his hand.
Tho' it were ten thousand mile! But we've wander'd monya wearyfitt. pou'dpulled gowansdaisies
The distinctive rhythms of Tam Sin' auld lang syne. monymany fitt foot
Burns is thought to have developed s/n'since pa/d/'d paddled
o'S/7anter( 1790), which many critics
regard as Burns's masterpiece. Set in
the words of this famous song in 1794 We twa hae paid I'd in the burn bum stream frae from
from a street ditty expressing a Frae morning sun till dine: d/ne dinner-time braid broad
Alloway churchyard, ittellsof Tam's
soldier's farewell to his sweetheart. But seas between us braid hae roar'd ftere friend g/e's give us
nightmare meeting with spirits of the
other world. It is always a popular The haunting melody accompanying Sin'auld lang syne. gude-willie goodwill

item at a Burns Supper. the words is Graham's Strathspey. waught draught

And there's a hand, my trusty f iere!
nae no maun must stane stone bonie pretty gang go weel well Andgie'sa hand o' thine!
s/csuch ta/cs takes And we'll tak a right gude-willie
'twad blawn would have blown waught
lang long De/7 Devil Forauld lang syne.
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

SCOTS DIALECT AREAS

The map shows the chief
dialect areas of Scots, and
the counties of Scotland as
they existed before the 1 975
reorganization of local
government in the UK. The
Highlandsand Hebridesare
left blank, as these are the
traditional Gaelic-speaking
areas, and it isGaelic rather
than Scots which needs to
be taken into account
when analysing English
usage there.

Insular Scots
Orkney and Shetland

Northern
• Caithness, Sutherland, Ross
and Cromarty, Inverness
• Nairn, Moray, Banff,
Aberdeen {North-East Scots)
• Kincardine, E Angus

Central
fast Central
• W Angus, Perth, Stirling,
Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan
{North-East Central)
• West Lothian, Edinburgh,
Midlothian, East Lothian,
Berwick, Peebles (South-fast
Central)
West Central
•Wand E Dunbarton,
Renfrew,
Argyll, Bute,
Glasgow, Lanark, N Ayr
South-l/l/est
• S Ayr, Wigtown,
Kirkcudbright, Galloway, W
Dumfries

Southern
• Roxburgh, Selkirk, E/Mid
Dumfries

Ulster Scots (p. 337)

WRITING DAVIELY now: usage confined to the stated area,

though formerly more widespread
One of 75 lexical items expressing
tiredness or exhaustion collected by AbcJ
The Scots Thesaurus (1990). The
meanings vary somewhat in force,
from 'languid' and 'weary' to 'totally
exhausted' and 'worn out'. Only
adjective or adverb uses are shown
here, with regional restrictions
italicized (for locations, see map
above). The retention of the -/tending
in informal spoken Scots is notable.

hyphen: shows continuity, e.g. Bnf-Fif

means that the word is also found in
the intervening counties
local: usage found sporadically in the
stated area
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

THE PRESENT-DAY PROMOTING LALLANS maun be original and ne'er afore

Entries
prentit.They may be (a) Poems up to 60
An early example from the Lallans journal up to 3,000 words; (c) plays
lines; (b) tales

(1977). In this example, the grammar corre- that tak nae mair nor 25 meenits to
We find today a complex dialect picture, which is
sponds to Standard English, including the perform. Ilk entry maun be signed wi a
beginning to be understood through such surveys as
byname, and the byname should be prentit
use of may (which is not used in Scots,
The Linguistic Atlas of Scotland Cixom 1975). There is p. 329). (From A. J. Aitken, 1984 )
on the outside o a sealed envelope, that
has inside the entrant's real name and
evidently a continuum linking Standard English and
Scots Literature Competition 1978 address, and, for them under 18, the date
Scots in informal speech, and to some extent in writ-
o
The Scots Language Society offers prizes birth.
ing. At one extreme, people fi-om Scotland may speak for scrievin in the Scots tongue. There are
dialect which is to all intents and purposes Standard three clesses: Age
18 and owre wi prizes o scrievin writing owre over wi with o of
a
£20, £10 and
age 12-17 wi prizes o £10,
£5; maun must prent/t printed
English, with only a slight Scottish accent indicating tak nae mair take no more
£5 and £2.50; and under 12, prizes o £5, £3
where they are fi"om. At the other extreme, a highly and £2. meenits minutes ilk each
distinctive variety may be used, with an extremely
localized English vocabulary, pronunciation, and
grammar, often coloured by borrowings from Gaelic. OURAIN LEID? wantan a registir conding for academic
In between, Scots features may appear in varying pro- screivins, hit maun bide bea'hauf-leid'
The opening sentences of a journal article (Halbsprache: the word o the German leid-
portions, coloured by regional variations within Scot-
on Scots, a contribution to a symposium on scolarHeinzKloss)atthebest...(J. D.
land, and often with substantial dialect mixing. Ourain leid? ('Our own language?') pub- McClure, 1981.)
Certain regions are much more distinctively Scottish, lished in the journal English World-Wide in
1981 This author uses an orthography (Inthe development of a language to full
and some have developed their own literatures,
.

which is further removed from Standard maturity of literature, the establishment

notably the north-east, Shetland, and Glasgow. The English than is usually to be found, but of an expository prose is often judged a
term 'Doric' continues to be used for rural dialects, retains some traditional spellings inthe crucial stage. A language may have a well-
interests of intelligibility. founded tradition of domestic song,
especially those in the north-east.
learned poetry, and even narrative prose;
Inthe upgrowth o a leid ti ha ill matuirityo but lacking a register suitable for
Lallans lettirs, the staiblishin o an exponent prose is academic writers, it must remain a 'half-

In addition, the present century has seen the conscious

aften deimit a determant stage. A leid may language' (Halbsprache: the word of the
hae a weil-founnit tradeition o hameilt German language-scholar Heinz Kloss) at
creation of a 'mainstream' variety of Scots - a standard sang, leirit indyte, an ein nerratif prose; but best...)

literary variety, which its proponents maintain can be

the basis for a revival of Scots as a whole. This 'Scot-
tish Renaissance', as it is sometimes called, looked to SYNTHETIC SCOTS
previous literary and dialect usages from the Scottish
Scots must be re-created (really created,
Lowlands for its distinctiveness. The eclectic variety
has practically
for literary purposes,
for, it

which emerged, at first seen only in poetry and never been) and de-Anglicized.
referred to as 'synthetic Scots', now generally goes This comment by Hugh MacDiarmid in 1925
under the name oi Lallans (='Lowlands'). Guidelines acts as a footnote to his creation of a
revived or 'synthetic' Scots, using a range of
for written consistency were formulated, emphasizing
old and contemporary language sources to
differences with Standard English (notably, the Scots produce a vocabulary which became
Style Sheet of \.\\e Makars' Club in 1947). increasingly esoteric as it developed.

distinctive vocabulary (much MacDiarmid (real name Christopher Murray

Lallans is noted lor its
Grieve) was a poet and critic, and a
of which, because of its historical sources, presents a founder-member of the Scottish National
barrier to the uninitiated, thereby emphasizing its lin- Party in 1928. He became the central figure
of the 20th-century Scottish Renaissance
guistic status). In its grammar and spelling, it shows
which flourished between 1920 and 1940,
the marked influence of Standard English, more so and which provided a major stimulus for
than other Scots dialects, and this in itself is a source later literature in Lallans.

of controversy among its proponents: for example, in I amna fou' sae muckle as tired - deid dune
spelling, should 'out' be spelled as out or oot, or 'was' It's gey and hard wark coupin' gless for
gless
as ivas or wes^.
Wi' Cruivie and Gilsanquhar and the like. 892-1978)
The emergence of Lallans, as with any exercise in And I'm no' juist as bauld as aince wes. I

language planning, has been controversial, meeting The elbuck fankles in the coorse o' time.
hostility (and attracting such nicknames as 'plastic The sheckle's no' sae souple, and the
fou' drunk sae muc/t/e so much deiddead
thrapple
Scots') from those who find the natural character of gey very bau/dbold aince once
Grows deef and dour: nae langer up and
regional dialect forms more appealing. It remains to be e/faucfc elbow fanfc/es gets clumsy
doun
shecfc/e wrist thrapple throat g/eg eager
seen whether this variety can go beyond the literary Gleg as a squirrel spells the Adam's apple.
(From 'A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle',
domain into other stylistic levels, and eventually
1926.)
achieve the kind of prestige which is associated with a
standard language (p. 1 10).
 1

PART V • USING ENGLISH

WELSH ENGLISH
The Welsh, more than any other nation, have a right of religious, educational, and economic factors pro-

to tee! aggrieved when they reflect on the history of moted the dominance of English in Wales. Among
I'.nglish, for it was their ancestor language which was these was the dissolution of the monasteries, which led
displaced when the Anglo-Saxon invaders first arrived to the loss of many centres of Welsh learning. Latin

(§2). Modern Welsh is the direct descendant of the came tobe replaced by English as the language of edu-
Celtic language which was spoken at the time cation, and the Tudor grammar schools set up in sev-
throughout most of Britain. This language survived eral Welsh towns taught through the medium of
tor a while inCumbria, south-west Scotland, Devon, English. In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolu-
and Cornwall, as well as in Wales, but after the Middle tion fostered the emigration of Welsh speakers to jobs

Ages it remained only in the latter two areas, and from in England, and later the immigration of English
the 19th century it is found in Wales alone. speakers to jobs in the mining and smelting industries
English spread rapidly throughout Wales as a result of South Wales. The population movements contin-
of the early Norman conquest of the principality, ued to grow in the present century, fuelled by wars and
resulting in a verv' different situation from that pre- economic recessions. And behind everything, in
sented in other parts of Britain (p. 328). The Statutes recent years, there has been the relentless linguistic
which brought England and Wales together (1535, pressure towards anglicization, stemming from the
1 542) were far earlier than the Acts of Union passed for dominance of English in technology, the media and
Scotland (1707) and Ireland ( 1800), and a complex set the economy - as in every other part of the world.

A BUFFER ZONE
TWENTIETH-
CENTURY CENSUS The change in the fortunes

DATA of Welsh and English during

the present century can be
In 1891, 30 per cent of the total clearly seen in these maps of
population could speak only the linguistic situation in
Welsh.by 1931 this figure had Gwent - a border county in
dropped to 4 per cent; by 1 96 the south-east of the princi-
it was 1 per cent; and in 1981 it
pality. Always the lowest
was 0.8 per cent. The number Welsh-speaking area, the
of those who could speak percentage of bilingual
Welsh and English in 1891 was GWYISfEbD-^l- speakers in the county as
reported to be 54 per cent; this a whole has fallen from 5
had reduced to 37 per cent in per cent in 1921 to 2.4 per
1931,to26percentby1961, cent in 1991. (After W. T R.
and to 1 9 per cent by 1 981 but ,
Pryce, 1990.)
seemed to be levelling off (at
18.7 percent) in 1991. Some
counties have been much more 1901
resistant to English than
others, notably Gwynedd, in
the north-west, where in 1991
as many as 61 per cent of
people over three years of age
claimed to be able to speak
'y POWYS 7^
Welsh. The total population of
Walesatthe 1991 censuswas ^ '''
2,835,073. (After C.H. r-f
Williams, 1990.) r^ '^"'v—._, A
F E t>
iN,

/ WEST ,^WE NT
N> V \

GtAMORQAlSb^MWii -^

i\.
Welsh-speaking population aged over 3. 1981 (%)

0-4.9 ;0-;9.9 50-S9 9

I I I I I I

\ SOQTH,^
I I
5-9 9
I I
30-39 9 | |
60-69 9 rGLAMORGAN
10-199 <0-49 9 70-79.9
I I I I I I
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

the 1960s will diminish the dominance of English or SOME FEATURES OF

THE REACTION increase it; but English will inevitably be affected to WELSH ENGLISH
some degree by the process of forging a new and The distinctiveness of Welsh
English varies greatly within
The statistics show the rapid decHne in the number of socially realistic bilingualism.
Wales, being most notice-
Welsh speakers in Wales during the present century, able in areas where Welsh is

and the corresponding growth in the English-speaking Supporters of Cymdeithas yr Gymraeg (the Welsh Lan-
laith strong (the north-west).
guage Society) protesting in London against the govern- There is no universally used
population; talk about the 'death' of the language,
ment's proposed legislation for the Welsh language, 1993. standard variety, despite the
consequently, has been widespread. Yet there are fact that some features are
unmistakeable signs of cultural and linguistic vitality thought by outsiders to be
'typically Welsh', and used in
and regeneration which make the future less pre-
a stereotyped way in litera-
dictable. The 1991 census showed a significant flat- ture and humour. A good
tening of the downward Welsh-speaking curve. example is the tag look you,
a direct translation from a
Unprecedented moves (especially the Welsh Lan-
legal
Welsh tag, which is rarely if

guage Act of 1967) and media publicity (notably the ever used by real Welsh
establishment of a separate TV channel in 1982) have English speakers (though you

many would never guess from lis-

fostered a fresh consciousness and conscience in
tening to Fluellen in Shake-
monolingual-English Welsh people. More systematic Henry V, one of the
speare's
efforts are being made to counter the 'threat' of many famous literary Welsh).
English (p. 1 14) by a range of political activities which
Pronunciation
extend from government debate to terrorism. It is too (For phonetics terminology,
early to say whether the activities of extremists since see §17.)
• A contrast is not made
between /a/ the two
and /s/:

ANGLO-WELSH LITERATURE Norman-Welsh ancestry and uncertain birth-place, who prob- vowels of butter are identi-
ably knew no Welsh, and lived most of his life in England. cal, unlike RP/'b.\t3/.
Although the term 'Anglo-Welsh' of recent origin, writing
is The been prominent since the 1 920s. Most critics
issue has • Consonants between
in English by Welsh people can be found from the 1 5th cen- now allow the term a broad application, and include within it vowels are often length-
tury, reflecting the emergent bilingualism. The motivation for anyone who relates to Welsh literary, linguistic, or cultural tra- ened, as in money /m3n:i/
the label is plain enough -to avoid the ambiguity which ditions, but who uses English in order to do so. The question and /'hAt:3/.
would come from using the phrase 'Welsh literature', with its asked by Saunders Lewis (1893-1 985) in an influential 1939 • Two Welsh consonants are

reference to literature written in Welsh - but its application is pamphlet, 'Is there an Anglo-Welsh literature?' would now be found: the well-known
uncertain and controversial. Must all 'Anglo-Welsh' writers be answered by a choir of literary voices: early writers such as voiceless /sound, as in
born in Wales? may they be born elsewhere but with Welsh W. H.Davies (1871-1940), John CowperPowys (1872-1953), Llandudno), and the velar
parents? need they have Welsh parents, and simply have and Caradoc Evans (1883-1945, whom some call the father of fricative /x/ (as in bach).
chosen to live in Wales, or chosen to write on Welsh themes? Anglo-Welsh literature), have been supplemented by Emiyn • There is no /// in Welsh,
must they be Welsh-speaking? The range of possibilities can Williams(1905-87), Vernon Watkins (1906-67), Dylan Thomas and in northern dialects
be shown by, at one extreme, the Puritan author Morgan (1914-53), R(onald)S(tuart)Thomas(1913-), Dannie Abse several English word-pairs
Llwyd (1619-59), born in Merionethshire, who lived most of (1923- ), Raymond Garlick(1926-),MeicStephens(1938-), sound the same: pence / pens
his life in Wales, wrote mainly in Welsh, and was an eloquent and the hundreds of authors who since the 1 940s have con- are both /pens/. Similarly, the
preacher in both Welsh and English; and, at the other, the tributed to suchlively periodicals as The Anglo-Welsh Review, , lack of affricates in Welsh
devotional poet George Herbert(1593-1633), of Poetry Wales, and The New Welsh Review. results in identity between
such pairs as chin and gin:
/d^in/.

I was born in a large Welsh town

Grammar and vocabulary
A SPACE FOR VOICES at the beginning of the Great
(For grammatical terminol-
War-an lovelytown, or so
ugly,
ogy, see Part
My name Lowri Dafydd;
is it was and is to me; crawling,
• The tag question
111.)

Famous for nursing was.
rode pillion on a winged horse
I splendid curving shore where
Through the high passes of cloud
To come to a queen's palace.
Airy fingers undid the knot
In time's stubborn bandage
About my green eyes.
Who knows how long
My pay was the sweet talk
In sun-dusted rooms
Of folk, busy as flowers.
Praising my hands' skill.
When I returned, stars were out
Over my roof, the
About its hinges,
A cold wind blowing for ever.
{Lowri Dafydd,
isn't it is
I
sprawling by a long and
used by some speakers after
allpronouns (p. 299): You're
truant boys and Sandf ield boys
leaving, isn't it? Another tag
and old men from nowhere,
is yes, especially in colloquial
beachcombed, idled, and
form asking for agreement,
paddled, watched the dock-
yeah?
bound ships or the ships • To express emphasis, the
I stayed? steaming away into wonder
predicate (apart from the
and India, magic and China,
first verb) can appear before
countries bright with oranges
the subject: Running on
and loud with lions, threw stones
Friday, he is; Fed up am. I
into the sea for the barking outcast dogs; made castles and
• There are several Welsh
forts and harbours and race tracks in the sand; and on
loan-words, such as
door fallen Saturday summer afternoons listened to the brass band,
eisteddfod (a type of arts fes-
and on the hearth watched the Punch and Judy, or hung about on the fringes of
tival), OuwCGod', as in
the crowds to hear the fierce religious speakers who shouted
exclamations), de/('dear', as
R. S. Thomas, 1 958) at the sea, as though it were wicked and wrong to roll in and
a term of endearment), and
out like that, white-horsed and full of fishes...
nain and taid ('grandma',
{Reminiscences of Childhood, Dylan Thomas, 1943)
'grandpa').
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

where the political conflict was originally as.sociated

IRISH ENGLISH with the two languages, nowadays both sides use
English.
Ireland, as a geographical part of the British Isles, is There is as yet little sign of a regionally distinctive
usually considered alongside Great Britain when educated standard in Ireland; but there are many cases
iincsiigating English language use. This makes sense, of words, idioms, and grammatical patterns in infor-
troni a linguistic point of view. It is sometimes for- mal non-standard speech which are characteristic of
gotten that Ireland was the first of the overseas the dialects of the area, and which are reflected in a

English-speaking colonies, and that there has been strong regional literature. From a linguistic point of

some 800 years of continuous contact between the view, Irish English in all its variation is widely referred
two nations. Moreover, the issues involved in identi- to as Hiberno-English, though the term Anglo-Irish has
h'ing the kind of variation found today in Northern a useful role identifying those varieties in which the
Ireland overlap considerably with those encountered phonology, grammar, or vocabulary displays a partic-
in the Irish Republic. Both parts of Ireland are there- ularly strong Celtic influence.

fore dealt with on these pages.

The history of English involvement in Gaelic-
The history of English in
speaking Ireland dates from the 12th century, when
Ireland is largely a matter
the country was invaded by Anglo-Norman knights, of distinguishing the vari-
and English rule was imposed by Henry II. The new ous waves of migration
from Britain over a period
settlers, however, were to adopt Irish ways of living,
of several hundred years.
and, despite attempts to halt this trend, the area under In the east the link was
English control (known as the 'Pale') was still rela- strongest with England,
but in the north it was
tively small by the end of the 16th century. Renewed

efforts were then made by the Tudor monarchs to

spread English power throughout the country. Plan-

tation schemes encouraged English settlers in the
r7 with Scotland, where
people from the Scottish
Lowlands provided the
basis of what is

Ulster Scots (p, 337).

now called
The
south, and support was given to promote the spirit of map shows the extent of
"" HIGHLANDS
the Reformation. The Irish chiefs were defeated in a
;

the earliest period of

English settlement, the
series of wars during the reign of Elizabeth I, and this
direction of later Scottish
was followed by a renewed influx of Protestant set- settlement, and the chief
tlers, mainly from the Scottish Lowlands (p. 332). Gaelic-speaking areas
remaining today.
James I made available large tracts of land in the north
of Ireland, and over 100,000 came to develop plan-
tations there. Further steps to quell Irish rebellion
took place in the 17th century, notably Oliver
Cromwell's campaign of 1649-50. Then in 1803 the
Act of Union made Ireland part of the United King-
dom - a situation which remained until the 1920s,
when there was partition between north (Northern
Ireland, or Ulster) and south.
The chief linguistic consequence of these events
was a steady growth in the use of English, and a cor-
responding decline in the use of Gaelic, except among
the poorer sections of the community. English
became the dominant language in the mid- 19th cen-
tury, and the language of prestige. Gaelic was avoided

in the home, and became a reason for punishment if

children were heard to use it in schools. Today,

English is universal, with Gaelic found only in cer-
tain rural parts of the west (the Gaeltacht) - notwith-
standing its status as an official language in the Irish

Republic alongside English. Since the 19th century,

there have been several attempts to encourage the Gaeliospeaking areas today

spread of Gaelic, and it is now an important element I I

The Pale (around 1600)

of the school curriculum, but these efforts have not

affected the dominance of English. Even in the north,
 .

REGIONAL VA R AT O N 1 I

DIALECT DIVISIONS
As with other Enghsh-speaking varieties, Hiberno-
English is by no means homogeneous. A major bound-
ary can bedrawn, first ofall, between the dialects spoken
in the southern two-thirds o{ the island and those
spoken further north, in the former province ot Ulster (a
larger area than the six counties which comprise modern
Northern Ireland). Ulster, the more varied linguistic sit-
uation, can be divided into two main areas. The dialect
spoken in the north-east of the region is known as Ulster
many features
Scots or Scotch-Irish, because
which can be traced back
it displays
to the speech of the 17th-
-^ r-v„^,
century immigrants from the Scottish Lowlands. The )

dialect used elsewhere, known as Mid-Ulster or Ulster /

Anglo-Irish, displays far less Scots influence, having I I

75-100

been largely settled by immigrants from England I I

50-75

(chiefly from the west and north-west Midlands) I I

25-50

Within both Ulster and the south, a range of varieties I I

Under 21

of Hiberno-English can be found. Rural dialects, espe-

cially those in the west, display a highly conservative
character, much influenced by the speech forms of
Gaelic. Urban dialects, especially those of Dublin and
Belfast, are more heavily influenced by English, and dis-

play many ol the nonstandard forms found in the urban

dialects of Great Britain. And throughout the country
there is an educated variety of Hiberno-English, con-
taining relatively few regional forms - though enough to
make such speech 'sound Irish' to outsiders. As heard in

the formal language of the national radio station. Radio

Telefis Eireann, only occasional items of lexicon (e.g.

taoiseacb /'ti:j3x/ 'prime minister') distinguish it from

Standard English.

PRONUNCIATION
Several phonetic features distinguish Hiberno-English
from Received Pronunciation (RP, p. 363), some involving
subtle contrasts in vowel length, lip rounding, and tongue
position. Below is a selection of features heard in the more
distinctive accents. (For phonetics terminology, see § 1 7.)

• Words such as tea and /ceytend to be pronounced with

/e;/ instead of RP/i;/, as reflected in such literary spellings as
tay, Paycock.
• RP/oi/ is often pronounced /ai/, especially in the south: as
suggested by the literary spellingy/nefor/o/n.
• There are several differences from RP in open vowels: in

particular, words ike path and ca/m often have a long

I

front /a;/, with a long back /u:/ used in saw and talk.
• /r/ after vowels (p. 245) is kept in such words as car and

purse.
• /t/ and /d/ are and the
usually dental (alveolar in RP),
RP th fricatives /6. appear as plosives {thanks /iar]ks/,
d/
t/i/s/d-is/); some pairs of words (e.g. thin and tin) may

therefore sound the same.

• /!/ is always clear (p. 245) in such words as fu// and field.

• Some consonant clusters have been influenced by the

Gaelic sound system: for example, /s/ may become /J/

before /t.n.l/, as in stop /Jtop/.
 I'ARI' V LISINC; ENGLISH

IRISH ENGLISH ABROAD GRAMMAR constructions: Let you stay here a while. Let
you be coming up to see me. The progressive
The features described earlier on this page form is common with negatives: Don't be
In view of the extensive migrations of the Irish over sev- are only a few of the distinctive grammatical troubling yourself.
featuresfound in Hiberno-English. All of the
eral centuries, it is not surprising to find evidence of Other areas
following will also be encountered, though
• Definite article: That's the grand morning,
Hiberno-EngHsh around the English-speaking world. there is considerable geographical and
I had a few jars over the Christmas, The wife
social variation. The verb phrase, in particu-
Signs of its arrival in England can be seen especially in (='my wif e') will be expecting me.
lar, displays a number of idiosyncrasies. (For
the dialect of Liverpool, and its influence has been • Prepositions: till is often used for to/until,
grammatical terminology, see Part III.)
as in It's a quarter till two; for ti can be heard
h)und in a number of modern North American dialects for in order to, as ml went for ti milk
Verb phrase the
and in parts of the Caribbean. It also played an impor- • Several features affect verbal aspect, such cow. On and of are often affected (Vou've
tant role in the emergence of the new varieties of as a wider use of the progressive form [Who my pen on me, Aren't you a slob of a cat.
lost
is this car belonging to ?, Who is it you're What age of a man was he?), and there are
English in Australia and New Zealand (p. 352). Pat-
wanting?) and the use of the present tense some interesting sequences [If he didn't take
terns of linguistic change are complex, as people are instead of the perfect (She's dead these ten the legs from in under me, i.e. 'He knocked
influenced in the way they speak by all kinds of consid- years, i.e. 'has been dead'). One of the most me down'). From can be heard in the sense
distinctive features of Hiberno-English is the of 'since' in Ulster: He's been here from he
erations; in particular, it is difficult to be sure of the role
use of after to express such meanings as left the Navy.
that pronunciation features play when a minority recency and completed event: They're after • Certain constructions show a Gaelic influ-
dialect emerges in a new linguistic setting. Nonetheless, /eawng(='They'vejust left'), They were after ence on word order. Cleft sentences (p. 231)
leaving (='They had just left'). of the following kind are typical: It's meself
linguists have pointed to words, constructions, and
• Copula and auxiliary 5e are used in distinc- was the brave singer, Is it out of your mind
patterns of discourse in these varieties which can tive ways, chiefly expressing contrasts of you are ?There is an interesting double
plausibly be argued to derive from Hiberno-English. habitual action and continuity; be isfound example in It's thinking lam that it's unyoke
with forms of do {It does be colder at nights) li/m we'dfaefterdoClthinkthatwehad
• Yousf ("you plural), is widespread in Ireland, and is and also, especially in the north, with an -s better unyoke him').
ending (/ be walking, She bees walking). • Some plural pronouns or demonstratives
also in Liverpool, Glasgow, Australia, and many
found
Some dialects allow all three patterns: She's are followed by /s: Vouse/s very funny. Them
parts ofNorth America. tired. She be tired. She do be tired. cars is great, Our'ns is fit for anything.

• Positive anymore (as in He fights a lot anymore) is in • Auxiliary usages often vary: will for shall, • And is used as a subordinate clause
marker,
used be for used to be, amn't for aren't. as in on/y struck meand(='when',
/t
some US Midland dialects. It is found in Ireland, but
Forms of be may replace have with verbs of you going out of the door Some-
'whi le') .

not in Britain. motion in a past-time context (He /s gone up times the exact Standard English equivalent
• Sentence-final ^«r( used adverbially, to mean 'though', for He has gone up), an interesting parallel is unclear: How could you see me there and
with such languages as French. (='when', 'if, 'seeing that'?) to be in bed at
want it but), is common in Ulster, parts of
/
as in / don't
• There are some distinctive imperative the time?
Scotland and Tyneside, and in informal Australian
English.
• The construction shown in Come here till I see you ('so
that I can see you ) is used in Liverpool, and often in non- VOCABULARY form, expressing smallness or familiarity, as
in childreen, girleen.
standard Australian English. • There is a huge regional lexicon, which • Gaelic influence can be seen in such
• The use of whenever to refer to a single occasion includes such items as blather talk non- words backy lame; bosthoon clown;
as
sense; bold naughty; cog (to) cheat; delph cleeve basket; glow noise; keerogue cock-
( Whenever I was born, I was given a special present) is
crockery; freet superstition; garda police; roach; kyoch diseased; prockus mixture;
found in Ulster, and is known in New Zealand and parts glit slime; handsel New Year's gift; hogo sleeveen s\'^ one; spalpeen rascal.
of Australia. bad smell; insleeper overnight visitor; kink • Several Scots words are found in
fit of coughing; mannerly well-mannered; Lllster, such as clarty dirty; greet weep;
• The emphatic affirmation It is so (ns'in A: It's raining. B:
widow-woman widow. wee small.
It isn't. A: It is so!) is common in Ireland and in informal • The suffix -een is used as a diminutive
Australian English. It may have influenced US English It
is so /too.
• The Hiberno-English use of ;«;«/7/,f where Standard
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION in the last drop in the bottle.
English says can't {He mustn't have seen me, because he
drove straight past) is unknown in most of England (Liv- • The variety has many distinctive idioms, Discourse patterns
erpool is the chief exception), but is common in Australia such as He'd put the day astray on you ('He The variety is renowned for some of its

would waste your day'), Vbu'/Z/cnocfc a while conversational features.

and the USA. out of /t ('It'll last you for a while'), and He's • Questions in general are rarely answered

the rest of yourself {'He's related to you'). with a straight yes or no, but recapitulate
The British colonies were established by people who • As with Australian English, there is a great the auxiliary.
many dialect backgrounds, and Hiberno-
represented deal of vivid figurative language: as mean as A: Will you ask John for me?
Englishmade its contribution alongside Scots and get out, as often as fingers and toes, as fat in B: I will /I will not.
the forehead as a hen, as sharp a tongue as • Rhetorical questions are usual: Now isn't
London English, in particular. The point was noticed would shave a mouse. Lengthy, often exag- he a fine looking fellow?, What did we want
by several early travellers. As F. Gerstaecker writes, gerated expressions are common: That I may only to get our own ?
in his Narrative of a Journey Round the l%r/</(1853), live long and have my eyesight and nevei see • A common practice is to reply to a question
hide or hair of you again. by using another question: A: Can you tell
'the broad Irish brogue and the London Cockney • Proverbial wisdom is widely employed: me Where's the post office?
dialect seemed to strike me everywhere'. (After P. Charity is a slap in the mouth. There's a truth B: Would it be stamps you're looking for?

Trudgill, 1986.)
 ,

20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

of English expression: their apparent fascination with

THE BROADER SCENE language — a force which motivates authors, scholars,
and lay people alike. The lay interest in linguistic his-

The question of what counts as 'Anglo-Irish' literature tory and scholarship is difficult to match in the English-
i is controversial (as in the case of Anglo- Welsh in Wales, speaking world, as is the long-established academic

I
p. 335). If it is 'work written in English by Irish writ- tradition of medieval studies. The fascination can also
: ers', as some critics have argued, the definition includes be seen in the way ordinary people in their everyday
a vast spread of authorship, including Jonathan Swift conversation, as well as recognized authors in their writ-
(1667-1745), Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), W B. Yeats ing, are prepared to 'play with the language, manipu-
(1865-1939), and Seamus Heaney (1939-), and a lating it and embellishing it with figurative expressions ' M. Syng,
great deal of this writing is in Standard English. How- and flights of linguistic fancy - a process which reaches
ever, an important body of Anglo-Irish literature uses its apotheosis in Finnegans Wake (p. 134). The exploits
Rodd'y Doyli
Hiberno-English, with varying levels of realism, as part of heroic figures are found lyrically recapitulated and
of its medium of expression. The plays of J. M. Synge reflected in the lives of modern characters, and there is

(1871-1909) and Sean O'Casey (1884-1964), and the an awareness of folk-history and myth, a strong sense
novels and short stories ol James Joyce (1882-1941), of locality and of the ancient identify of small commu-
generated particular interest in the literary possibilities nities, and a fluency in story-telling - the 'gift of the
of the variety, and this stimulus has been taken up, gab' - which permeates a great deal of Irish literary

often with convincing urban realism, in the writing of expression, and adds distinctive colour to its language.
contemporary authors such as Roddy Doyle. Its echoes continue to resound in all English-speaking
There is a second way in which Anglo-Irish writers countries which have Irish settlement as a part of their
have made a distinctive contribution to the possibilities history.

VOICES Mahon, and any girl would walk her heart Jimmy Sr put down the flask - needed tha', he said.
1

out before she'd meet a young man was and screwed the top back on - Stop messin', will yeh, said
CHRISTY//nd/gnanf/yy Starting from you, your like for eloquence, or talk at all. it. Then he took the sandwich Bimbo.
is it? will not, then, and when the airs is
I CHRISTY [encouraged] Let you wait to hear out of his mouth. - I'm not messin', said Jimmy
warming, in four months or five, it's then me talking till we're astray in Erris, when - I'm on me break, he told Sr - I'm entitled to me break.
yourself and me should be pacing Neifin in Good Friday's by, drinking a sup from a Bimbo. - Sure Jaysis, said Bimbo, -
the dews of night, the times sweet smells well, and making mighty kisses with our Bimbo looked the way he we did nothin' all nigh' except
do be rising, and you'd see a little, shiny wetted mouths, or gaming in a gap of sun- didwhen he didn't know what for afew minutes ago.
new moon, maybe sinking on the hills. shine, with yourself stretched back unto was going on. -Not the point, said
PEGEEN [looking at him playfully] And it's your necklace, in the flowers of the earth. -I'mentitledtoten Jimmy Sr
that kind of a poacher's love you'd make, PEGEEN [in a low voice, moved by his tone] minutes rest for every two -Notthe point at all. was I

Christy Mahon, on the sides of Neifin, I'd be nice so, is it? hours that work, said
I here. was available to work.
I

when the night is down? CHRISTY [with rapture] If the mitred bish- Jimmy Sr -Hurry up, will yis!
CHRISTY. It's little you'll think if my love's a ops seen you that time, they'd be the like of Bimbo still looked lost. That came from outside.
poacher's, or an earl's itself, when you'll the holy prophets I'm thinking, do be -I looked it up, said - I've five minutes left,
my two hands stretched around you,
feel straining the bars of paradise to lay eyes on Jimmy Sr JimmySrtold Bimbo. -Then
and squeezing kisses on your puckered
I the Lady Helen of Troy, and she abroad He saw that Bimbo's face I'llsweatforyeh.
lips, till I'd feel a kind of pity for the Lord pacing back and forward with a nosegay in was catching up with his brain. (Roddy Doyle, The Van, 1 991
God isall ages sitting lonesome in His her golden shawl. Bimbo stood back from the pp. 279-80.)
golden chair (J. M. Synge, The Playboy of the Western hatch. Jimmy Sr took a slug of
PEGEEN. That'll be right fun, Christy World, 1907, Act 3.) the tea. Jays/s Jesus y/s/yeh you

A RELIGIOUS FOOTNOTE There are however a few unambiguous pointers, The association of flute with the Protestant Commu-
arisingout of different social or educational practices. nity is borne out by the song The Oul' Orange Flute
No account of contemporary Irish English would be For example, children are taught to say haitch in and the following anecdote related to me by a school
complete without acknowledging the conflict in Catholic schools, and aitch in Protestant ones. And inspector The inspector (Protestant) was visiting a
Northern Ireland, and asking: is there a difference what is Derrj/to Catholics is likely to be tondonderry small Catholic school in the Sperrins. He asked the boys
between the way Catholics and Protestants talk in the to Protestants. Linguists who have looked for system- if they knew the name for a man who played the
province? It might be expected that the Catholic pop- atic differences in accent, grammar, and vocabulary piano. All hands shot up and one little boy gave the
ulation of Northern Ireland would speak English in have found some interesting trends, but few convinc- answer: 'Pianist, sir' 'Good,' said the inspector 'and
ways which showed a greater influence of Gaelic ing differences. what's the name for a man who plays the violin?'
(spoken almost exclusively by people whose religion is There is no simple correlation between
certainly Again, all the children knew. 'Well, now,' said the
Catholic), and the Protestant population would show Gaelicism and Catholicism, or between Scotticism and inspector, ask you a hard one. What's the name for
'I'll

more Scottish features. Doubtless, there are cases Protestantism. At the same time, one cannot help a man who plays the flute?' Silence. Not a hand was
where such a contrast exists, but it is unlikely that the wondering about the implications of stories such as raised. 'Come on,' urged the inspector, 'surely some
community isclearlydividedinthis way. Language the onefold by British linguist Loreto Todd. She boy has heard what a man who plays the flute is
varies in ways that uniforms do not. The amount of remarks that the two religious traditions make use of called.' One little hand went up. 'Good boy,' encour-

contact between the two communities, in such different musical instruments, and that the connota- aged the inspector 'What is it?' 'Please sir,' said the
domains as sports and the workplace, makes it likely tions (p. 170)of the terms thereforediffer: fiddle child, 'at home he would be called an orange bastard.'
that there will be many shared linguistic features. suggests Catholic, flute Protestant. (From L Todd, 1984b.)
 PART V • USING r;Nc;i.isH

CANADIAN ENGLISH
Because of its origins (p. 95), Canadian English has
a great deal in common with the rest of the English
spoken in North America, and those who hve out-
side ("anada often find it difficuh to hear the differ-
ence. Many British people identify a Canadian
accent as American; many Americans identify it as

British. Canadians themselves insist on not being

identified with either group, and certainly the vari-

ety does display a number of unique features. In

addition, the presence of French as a co-official lan-
guage, chiefly spoken in Quebec, produces a socio-
linguistic situation not found in other English-
speaking countries.
One of the most distinctive characteristics of
Canadian English stems from the tension which
inevitably exists in such a situation. Both British and
American models have supplied the variety with fea-
tures from the outset, and continue to do so (though
SPELLING VARIATION US model seems to be becoming more
with US English tending now to dominate, especially widespread in popular publications, and the
among younger people). The consequence is a socio- Spellings such as the above, with a US form press on the whole uses US spelling (but see
(t/Ve) juxtaposed with a UK form (centre) are p. 303). British spelling, however, is the norm
linguistic situation of some complexity, with some striking (at least, to a linguist) when they in learned journals and school textbooks.
linguistic features used throughout Canada (or nearly occur, and show that Canadian English And juxtapositions of the two models are
so) and others varying in relation to such factors as cannot be identified with either American or common in private correspondence: the
British English. It is important not to over- author has one letter from a Canadian in
age, sex, education, occupation, geographical loca-
estimate this issue: we may read pages of a which cheque and program (radio, not com-
tion, and political viewpoint. Four types of distinc- Canadian newspaper (p. 303) and not see a puter) co-occur, and another from a differ-
tiveness need to be recognized. comparable instance. However, if we search ent correspondent in which initialed
for instances of words where a spelling appearsalongsidep/ou9/i(p. 307).
choice /spossible.we will soon find an
• Some features originate within Canada, and are unusual aggregation of forms. Vocabulary
thus independent of US or UK models. A number Moreover, surveys of individual spelling Similarly, both US and UK models provide
practices have brought to light considerable sources for vocabulary. British tap (US
of them (such as the technical terms of ice hockey)
geographical, occupational, and social varia- faucet), ra/7uvay (US railroad), and braces (US
have become part of World Standard English (p. 92). tion; for example, in a 1991 report, over 80 suspenders) coexist alongside US gas (UK
per cent of high-school students in Ontario petrol), sidewalk {UKpavement) and wrench
were said to be spelling words like colour (UKspanner), though usage varies from
• Some features originate outside Canada (chiefly US with -our, whileover 60 per cent of their place to place. Vehicle terms (p. 310) are typi-
English, UK English, and French), and are used con- counterparts in Alberta were using -or. The cally American: truck, fender, trunk, etc.

sistently by everyone in a particular region. A

national example is the contrast between (federal)
prime minister and (provincial) premier, a regional
one, the names of political or cultural institutions in
Quebec (e.g. bloc quebecois, caisse popiilaire, p. 303).

• Some features can be identified with US English,

and are used only by sections of the population.

• Some features can be identified with UK English,

and are used only by sections of the population.

It is these last two categories which present real dif-

ficulties for anyone wishing to generalize about
Canadian English. Or, putting this another way, it is Conflicts over spelling may take place (Quebec). The problem facing the
between languages. Thus a matter of airline which is called Canadian in
precisely this problem which captures the uniqueness it is

sociolinguistic identity within Quebec English and Canadien in French was

of the Canadian linguistic situation. (See also the ingeniously solved through the use of
whether one spells the name of the
photographic collage at the opening to Part V, p. 282). province with or without an accent the company logo.
 2 REGIONAL VARIATION

PRONUNCIATION vowels (p. 245), in such words as • /baB/ for bath (a baby), not US
VARIATION far and north. bathe/bci<V.
The flapped /dZ-like articulation Just one of
• •Such words as tune are
to generalize about in such words as Ottawa.
the various
It is difficult of A/ pronounced with initial /ifu:/ or
• The use of a strong syllable in
spellings
pronunciation patterns, because /tju;/, notUS/tu;/.
an already complex system is in a such suffixes as -ary and -ory {Toronna
such words as news are
• Similarly,

state of change. Canadian accents {secretary, laboratory) pronounced /nju:z/, rather than US and Tronno
display features of both US and UK The use of /-si/ in such words are others)
• as is in fact one of the
/nu:z/. This
English (p. 307), but preferences fertile, missile, and hostile. usage issues in the country, with which writ-
ers have
are conditioned greatly by such • In addition, several individual the attention of broadcasters
factors as age and social class. The words adopt US pronunciations, being drawn to the point.
used to
nearness of US English, and the such as schedule with /sk-/ and capture the
Everywhere, variation is normal: fast colloquial pronunciation of
prestige associated with it, tomato with /ei/.
thus in one survey, 68 per cent of the capital city of Ontario, as spoken by
impresses some sections of the
population, while a concern to On the other hand, British adults said leisure with /i;/ rather many of its inhabitants. These spellings
influence evident in a number of than /e/ (a US preference), whereas are trying to represent the deletion of
preserve a distinct Canadian is

individual cases: 84 per cent said /ever with /i;/ /t/after /n/ (as in twenty, antidote, etc.)
identity motivates others to
rather than /e/ (a UK preference). - a feature Canadian shares with US
maintain as much pronunciation
distance from the USA as possible.
• /anli/foranf/- instead of And - notwithstanding the above English (though in fact a similar elision
US/antai/. - younger people, especially those can also be heard in several other vari-
Several features are shared with
• /zed/ for letter z instead of living in the west of the country, eties). In careful speech, the /t/ is
US English, in the speech of most
US/zii/. often say lieutenant in the retained, as can be heard routinely in
Canadians:
•The first syllable of //eutenant American way. the destination announcements at any
• The pronunciation of /r/ after pronounced /let'-/, not/lii;/. Canadian airline terminal.
 PARI' V • USING ENGLISH

UNIQUE FEATURES EMERGING DIALECTS?

Canadian English is not solely identified by its

unusual distribution of US and UK linguistic char-

acteristics. There are several features which seem T2m ^''™""'
to be unique to the variety, and which are often
^^1 Vancouver
m Male
deliberately identified with Canadian speakers in
f Female
such contexts as joke-telling, satire, and literar\'

characterization. 2 50

• In pronunciation, there are tvvo main identifying

features - notably the sound of the diphthong /u:/
and /au/ before voiceless consonants in such words
as house and fight. The effect has been referred tn

as 'Canadian raising': the first element of the diph-

thong is articulated higher and in a more central
Sex
position than would be heard in RP or nearby US f

Age
accents, in the area of [a] (p. 240), so that out
sounds more like RP oat and more like oil. The
isle The apparent homogeneity of Canadian • Non-raising (not shown in the figure) is not
other chief distinction is the way Canadians pro- speech means that dialectologists have to as noticeable, though it is taking place in both
hunt hard to find any regionally distinctive cities. It is more in evidence in Vancouver,
nounce such pairs of words as cot and caught or especially among 12-year-old girls.
variant forms. It is likely that the relative lack
collar and caller with the same short vowel. Such a of variation across most of inland Canada is
Regional differences
merger can be heard in some parts of the USA, but due to the country's fairly recent history of
A close examination of the data brings to
settlement, and the early dominance of a
not just those bordering on Canada. lighttwo interesting contrasts.
single group (Ontarians) in the formation of
an educated middle class. If so, then as popu- • It is a general expectation of socioiinguistic
• An important characteristic of the vocabulary is
lation increases,and other influences inter- enquiry that change is more likely to affect
the use of many words and phrases originating in vene (such as the growing 'presence' of the younger people. If Vancouver adults are fur-
Canada itself These are often borrowings from USA, or the growth in immigrants from non- ther ahead in fronting than those in Toronto,

Native American languages, some of which have English-speaking language backgrounds), we we would therefore expect Vancouver chil-
would expect to find regional variation dren to be further ahead than Toronto chil-
entered the variety directly, some through the becoming more noticeable, with changes dren - but they are not. It appears that
medium of French. A few have become a part of appearing especially in the cities and in Vancouver adults are being more innovative
World Standard the speech of younger people. Is there any than their children. How can this be so?
English. Examples include caribou,
evidence that this kind of change is • Although males score less than females, at a
chesterfield i'sofai') , mukluk {'Inuh
kayak, kerosene,
taking place? given age, they score more than the females
boot'), parka, reeve ('mayor'), and skookiun In a study published in 1986, the phonetic in the next higher age group. This applies reg-

qualityof the diphthong /ao/ (the chief fea- ularly in the present study, but there is one
('strong'). Terms reflecting Canadian culture
ture of 'Canadian raising') was examined in exception: in Vancouverthe 22-year-old
include riding(-3.Y<o\mcz\ consmuency) first nations women have higher scores than the
,
the speech of middle-class people in Toronto 12-year-
(the indigenous peoples), bannock (a type of pan- and Vancouver, using samples of people who old boys. What has caused Vancouver women
cake), the prime minister Ipremier were 12, 22, and over 46 years of age. The to outscore younger males in this way?
distinction
figure shows the chief results.
(p. 340), and many items to do with fur trading, A new change
In younger people, the distinctive central-
The answer to both these questions is to be
lumbering, mining, and local fauna and flora. There ized element of this vowel was often replaced
found in the emergence of a new sound qual-
are around 10,000 words and senses
distinctive by one whose quality was either further for-
ity affecting the /au/ diphthong in Vancouver,
ward in the mouth (fronting), or more open
listed in the Dictionary of Canadianisms, though and found among the younger population. A
(non-raising), or both. These words therefore
lip-rounded first vowel element [o] is often
many of these are restricted to certain localities. sounded more like versions of the diphthong
being used before voiceless consonants, in
common in US English (though not in RP,
• A striking discourse feature is the use of eh^ as a where the characteristic quality is further
words with relatively little stress (such as
about and out). This development seems to
tag (p. 218), often replacing a tag question, but back), and thus suggests the growing influ-
be recent and to be 'competing' with fronting
often with a ence of that variety. Also noteworthy is the
less specific intent during a narrative and non-raising.
fact that the same changes were taking place
sentence: He finally gets to the garage, eh, and the In other words, young people who would
in Canadian cities over 1,500 miles apart.
otherwise be fronting their diphthongs are
car's gone. The form is usually spoken with a rising Threedetailsof the change, suggested by
not doing so, because they prefer to round
the data, are important.
intonation, and is used by the speaker with vari- them instead. It is not that Vancouver adults

ous functions, such as checking that the speaker is

sympathetically attending, or anticipating a point
of special interest in the narrative.
• Fronting correlates with age in both cities, (and especially 22-year-old women) are more
and at about the same rate, but with Vancou- innovative than the youngsters; it is simply
ver adults moving slightly more rapidly than that the youngsters are 'doing their own
A similar form theirToronto counterparts. thing'. Because this change is a recent

may be heard in several other parts of the world, • Fronting correlates with sex in both cities, one, its effects are not so noticeable among
with women the leading innovators. The older people. And it is not taking place at
such as in Scotland, Australia, and Jamaica, though
males in each age group have lower scores all in Toronto.
not with such frequency, and usually lacking the than their female counterparts. (After J. K. Chambers & M. F. Hardwick, 1 986.)
narrative function.

i
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

rural image of the area. Canadian raising (p. 341) is THE ROCK
CANADIAN DIALECTS heard in words with both voiced and voiceless con-
The dialect of Newfound-
sonants: for example, house as noun and as verb both land, locally known as 'the

There is a traditional view that there are no dialects have /ai/ (in other parts of the country, only the noun Rock', displays many differ-
ences from the rest of
in Canadian English - that it is not possible for Cana- would be affected).
English-speaking Canada. It

dians to tell where other Canadians are from just by was not settled by United
listening to them - and the term 'General Canadian • Southern Ontario, the area originally known as Empire Loyalists after the
American Revolution, unlike
has been used to capture this concept. While certainly Upper Canada (p. 95), along the northern shore of other parts of E Canada
there is a greater degree of dialect homogeneity in the the lower Great Lakes, is now the most populated part (p. 95); and it received large

country compared with, say, the UK, this view is far of the country. Its role in Canada's early history pro- numbers of immigrants
from south-east Ireland and
from the truth. would be surprising if it were oth-
It duced a number of political and cultural terms which
south-west England, espe-
erwise, given the great size of Canada and the geo- later came into more widespread Canadian use, such cially in the first half of the

graphical distances separating its communities. The as reeve^ riding, continuation school ('secondary 19th century.
The island's political history
impression of a universally used dialectdue chiefly is school'), and concession (an area of surveyed land), and
and its geographical isolation
to the existence of an educated Canadian variety of it has also developed a great deal of distinctive urban from the rest of Canada
Standard English, heard across the country through speech. Among its local words are eavestrough ('roof helped to preserve many
dialect features from the
radio and television. At a local level (moving from east gutter') and dew worm ('earthworm'). British Isles. Phonological
to west), several dialect areas have been recognized, examples (see §17) include
and although few signs of regional grammatical vari- • The Prairies, in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Mani- the use of a clear /!/ in such
words as pull; an extra
ation have yet been identified, there is an appreciable toba, comprise a huge area with homoge-
a largely
{epenthetic) vowel, as in film
amount of lexical divergence. neous dialect fostered chiefly by the communication /fil'ni/; and a plosive replac-

lines brought by the transport system, especially the ing the dental fricative, in
such words as this and thin
• The Atlantic Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova railway. The grain, cattle, and oil industries each have
(p. 337). Such distinctive fea-
Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, the first part ol their distinctive local vocabulary, such as Dry Belt (an tures, in exaggerated form,
Canada to be settled (p. 95), have long been recog- arid southern area), stampede ('rodeo'), and oil borer have formed a stereotype
of 'Newfie' speech which is
nized as a distinct linguistic region. The area also ('oil driller'). More general terms include nuisance
a source of humour on
includes the island of Newfoundland, which has its grounds ('rubbish dump'), bluff[z. clump of trees), and the mainland.
own dialect identity, often referred to as 'Newfie', and chuck ('food'). Local native languages have supplied There are also several signs
of Hiberno-English grammar
(in common with relatively isolated communities all some items, such as kinrukinik (a type of smoking
(p. 338), such asy/zoryouse
over the world) a source of national dialect humour. mixture) and saskatoon (a kind of shrub). as the plural of 'you',
inflected be (I bees here), and
Local words for sea-going and fishing activities are
perfective after {I'm after
notable, as are weather words such as tempest (an ordi- • The Arctic North, covering the Yukon, Northwest
losing it). Among many local
nary storm) and trap smasher (a severe storm). There Territories, N Quebec, and Labrador, is known for words are 5co/y ('large meal'),

man), praties ('potatoes'), bake-

are many local products, including gnint (a type of Inuit-derived forms such as kabloona ('white
apples (a type of berry),
steamed pudding), snits ('dried apple slices'), larrigan basket sled (2, type of sledge), ^« hitch (of dog teams), screech (a type of rum), ouf-
(a type of footwear), and ivater horse ('salted cod'). angakok ('shaman'), tupik (a type of tent), and chimo port{a fishing settlement),
(a drinking toast). Many words from the area have bayman {an inhabitant of an
outport), and Newfs ('New-
• Quebec, dominated by the issue of bilingualism, entered Standard English, such as igloo and white out.
foundlanders'), a label some-
shows the effects of language contact, with several The fur trade has also been important: a factory, times used derogatorily by
words which reflect French political and cultural for example, is a fur-trading post, and a factor its mainlanders.
In recent decades, there
institutions being part of the awareness of the Anglo- senior officer.
has been a major shift in the
phone population. Loanwords of a more general kind status of the island. New-
include caleche (a type of horsedrawn vehicle), double • The West, in British Columbia, and centred on foundland's important strate-
gic role in World War 2 was
window (a storm window), ivhisky blanc (an alcoholic Vancouver, is separated from the rest of the country
followed by a change in its
drink), and professor (in the sense of 'school teacher'). by the Rocky Mountains, and this has motivated a political status (from British

In an area where language attitudes are strong, of high level of north-south movement along the Pacific dominion to Canadian
province) in 1949. Today, as
course, the extent to which Anglophone people are Coast. As a result, parts of the area - and especially
ties with Britain become
prepared to use words which are perceived to be Vancouver itself - are strongly influenced by US more distant, and contact
French in origin varies greatly. English norms. The influence of regional native lan- with mainland Canada and
the USA becomes routine
guages is also present, resulting in such local lexical
through the media, it is
• The Ottawa Valley, a region west of Ottawa along usages as keekwillee-house (a type of earth lodge), salt- likely that these changes
will have far-reaching
the Ottawa River in Ontario, is known for its history chuck ('ocean'), and kokanee ('land-locked salmon').
effects on the character of
of settlement involving immigrants from Scotland There is a distinctive vocabulary to do with local
Newfoundland speech.
and Ireland. Constructions such as They're after leav- industries, notably mining and forestry {logging, rig-

ing will be heard (p. 338), as well as such items as ging, yarding, caulk, boom chains, jackladdet), with
mind ('remember'), and they have contributed to a many of the terms now part of Standard English.
 PART V USING ENGLISH

THE CARIBBEAN VOICE

CARIBBEAN ENGLISH The Caribbean island arc
stretches for over 1,000 miles

Varieties oi the English language are used in many oi • The area is chiefly characterized by the use of ver- (1600 l<m), and a wide range
of accents is on ly to be
the islands of the Caribbean Sea and in several areas ot nacular varieties known as Creoles, some of which are expected. What is surprising is
tiic adjacent Central and South American mainland, the result of contact with the English language. Tradi- to find that there are so many
shared features in the region,
and the label 'Caribbean English' is used, often with tionally, these have been viewed as dialects of English,
resulting in an accent-type
more geographical than linguistic accuracy, to refer to often referred to somewhat dismissively by such terms which sounds distinctively
its distinguishing properties. The situation is unique, as 'patois'. In recent years, however, with the emer- West Indian to the outsider,
within the English-speaking world, because ot the way gence of several Caribbean countries as independent though containing many
individual differences.
the history ot the region (p. 96) has brought together nations and the growth of a more sophisticated lin- The distinctive prosody
two dimensions of variation: a regional dimension, guistic awareness of the complexity found in Creole (p. 248) of Caribbean English is

from which it is possible to establish a speaker's geo- languages, there has been a tendency to view these vari- undoubtedly the feature
which has the most unifying
graphical origins, and an ethnic dimension, in which eties as languages in their own right, and to avoid the force. Syllables tend to be
the choice of language conveys social and nationalistic use of such designations as 'Creole English'. Some equally stressed, so that a

identity. The interaction between these dimensions supporters of the autonomy of Creoles go so far as to word like Jamaica comes out
with three roughly equal
has produced a melting-pot of linguistic forms from suggest that they are varieties of a single language in beats. A consequence of this
which several varieties of varying distinctiveness the region, Creole (also called West Indian Creole 'syllable-timed' rhythm is that

and stability have emerged and now compete for sur- or Caribbean Creole), and stress its links with the vowels which would be
unstressed in most other
vival. At least six categories of language use need to be languages of West Africa (p. 102). English accents are here
distinguished. spoken with prominence, and
• None of the above varieties has a clearly definable schwa /?/ is little used: bigger
/bi'ga/, section / sek Jan/, sofa
• A variety of Standard English (British or American, boundary. Within any of the islands, it is possible to
/so: fa/, consequence
p. 110) exists as an official means of formal interna- find a continuum of language use, with Standard / kan si kwens/. This rhythmical

pattern, widely heard in 'rap-

tional communication in the area, spoken by an edu- English at one end and a Creole language at the other.
ping', is the main point of con-
cated minority with any one of a wide range of regional Within this continuum, the forms used in any one trast with British or American
accents. Some have learned this variety as a mother variety may influence those used in an adjacent variety. English accents, and the chief

tongue; most have acquired in school as a second lan- Thus, some Creoles have moved more source of intelligibility prob-
it in the direction
lems for those unused to this
guage. The traditional focus on British English is now of Standard English than others, and educated style of speech.
diminishing in several areas. It is American English regional varieties vary in the number of Creole features The rhymes in this e)rtract
which has become the dominant voice of the mass they contain. The nature of this 'creole continuum' has from a poem by West Indian
writer, John Agard, illustrate
media, and it is the USA which is increasing its role in attracted particular attention in recent years, as part of the syllable-timed rhythm of
relation to local economies, especially through the research programme into the history and processes Caribbean speech; the stress

tourism. Both models have their supporters and critics. of creolization. The situation is also characterized by on don forces the reader to
emphasize the second syllable
the existence of multidialectism, and by a great deal of of Common in verse 1 and the
• Each English-speaking country in the region has to code-switching, as people alternate between varieties normally unstressed pronoun
some extent developed its own variety of the standard depending on such factors as the formality and inti-
one in verse 2.

language, most noticeably through variations in macy of the situation. Me not no Oxford don
me a simple immigrant
accent and the use of local vocabulary to reflect indige-
from Clapham Common
nous biogeography and cultural practices. Many of • Standard English has a limited role as a second I didn't graduate
these varieties show the result of contact with other language in the region, notablv in Puerto Rico I immigrate

languages in the region, such as the leading colonial (p. 96). English-based Creoles, however, are widely But listen IVlr Oxford don
languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, used as lingua francas in some of the Spanish-speaking I'm a man onde run
and a man onde run
American Indian languages (e.g. Carib,
p. 96), local countries, such as Colombia and Nicaragua. It is isa dangerous one
Arawak), and the languages of immigrant groups (e.g. unclear whether such Creoles should be classified along
Hindi). with those of the English-speaking territories, or I ent have no gun
I ent have no knife
distinguished from them. but mugging de Queen's
• Because of the shared historical and linguistic her- English

itage of the local peoples, the island varieties have a In recent years.West Indian speech has come be to isthestoryof my life
great deal in common, and the concept of a Standard found outside the Caribbean, with large communities ('Listen, Mr Oxford Don', 1985)
West Indian English, as used by educated people, and of emigrants in Canada, the USA, and Britain, and
distinct from either British or American English, has these new locations have given rise to new varieties.
begun to emerge. The properties of this variety are The children of Jamaicans now living in London
gaining in recognition and acceptability, as they come (many of whom have never been to the West Indies)
to be used in literary expression and also to be treated speak very differently from their counterparts in the
more responsibly in schools and examinations. Caribbean.
 -

20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

WHAT'S A TATU?
The Caribbean islands, showing JAMAICA English official

(a) countries where Standard HONDURAS English-based crcote

The difficulties facing the
English is an official language; in
Caribbean lexicologist are
PUERTO RICO English special status
nicely illustrated bythis story
these areas, English-based Creoles
are also widely used; (b) countries
from a researcher working on
a dictionary of Trinobagian
where a language other than
English is theofficial language,
but an English-based Creole is
CAICOS ISLANDS
o- TURKS ISLANDS
AJLANllC English.

nonetheless spoken. The special

standing of US English in Puerto
OCEAN One of the most tangled
ofnames I've found started
sets

Rico is noted separately (p. 96).

one day on the beach in
Mayaro, on the east coast of
JAMAICA „ ^ ,_^. Trinidad, where was check-
—
-

,^^--^ Port alrPf^nceo SanJuan^ I

1
o.-' . ANGUILLA
^;r ,- ( *-'
Santa -"=> SABA *^ ing fish names and descrip-
'"Kingston Domingo <i ST MAARTIN

^^ OB^tmopan PUERTO "sTKITTSl\ tions. While was helping a

I
'
NEVIS- o ANTIGUA
RICO friend's grandchildren make
K^

GUATEMALA/
,
By.t2E „ ISERRAT-
^
l/guadeloupe a sand pile, I uncovered a
small, fast-moving animal.
_ o^Odoi^inica
The children assured me that I

martinique "o
could pick it up - 'Is a tatu.
O n ST LUCIA
ELSALVAOe^^RU J 5" o,
iJ BARBADOS Yuh could eat dem.' So I

^,.5- ST VINCENT caught it, a white crab-like

5 GRENADA animal, put it in an empty
sweet drink bottle, and took
it to the Department of

Zoology at the University.

There it was identified as
Emerita portoricensis, a
crustacean. But the more I

thought had straightened

I it

out, the more confusion arose.

It turns out that that partic-
ular animal is known as tatu
or sea tatu in Mayaro and
neighbouring areas, proba-
bly because of the similarity
of its articulated shell bands
and its good digging ability
to the land tatu (armadillo). It

is also known askochikong,

SEGMENTAL DISTINCTIVENESS coat) is but /o:/ elsewhere.
/on/ in Jamaica,
an archaic name for the
• RP /9/ and /A/ are usual ly replaced by /t/ and /d/, so that tin
The following vowel and consonant features will be heard armadillo,and as sea
and thin, for example, are both /tin/.
in various varieties of Caribbean English, and some are cockroach. However, sea
• Some varieties pronounce /r/ after vowels in such words as
quite widely represented across the region. (For phonetics cockroach in Tobago and
car and tiardip. 245); this is normal in Barbados and the Virgin
terminology, see §17.) northern Trinidad also refers
Islands, and is also often heard in Jamaica and Guyana.
to the chitons Chiton mar-
• The /a/ and /d/ vowels merge, so that such words as paf and • Final consonant clusters are commonly simplified, especially
moratus and Acanthopleura
potrhyme, both being pronounced with /a/; /,i;/ may join if they end in/t/or/d/:faest/bes/, iva//ced/w:ik/.
granulata. Now these chitons
them, sothatall three words cat, cot, and caug/if sound • The 'dark' articulation of /!/ in such words as fee/and build
are also known aipacro, a
the same. (in RP) is widely replaced by a 'clear /'quality (p. 245).
• The As/ and /ca/ diphthongs also merge, so that such pairs of • Consonants are often assimilated or elided (p. 247) to pro-
word which also refers in
someareastoa black or dark
words as fearand fare sound the same. duce such forms as a/ready /airedi/ and yesterday /jeside/.
• RP/ei/ (as in cake) is/ie/ in some areas (e.g. Jamaica), but
brown mollusk which lives on
Forms such as asl< /aks/ and sandals /slandaz/ show another
shore rocks and is made into
otherwise becomes the monophthong /e;/; similarly /au/ (as in common feature - metathesis.
pacro water, a local aphro-
disiac. Yet another sea coc/c-
roach is Sphaeroma sp., a
small many-legged millipede-
GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY of distinctive lexical items, often relating to its fauna and
like arthropod often seen
flora, or to its folk and religiouscustoms. Afewof these
There are few obvious signs of distinctive grammar in the items have entered Standard English -for example, calypso, scuttling over rocks and sea-
walls. Just to introduce
more standard varieties of Caribbean English, other than gappy, dreadlocks, rasta- but for the most part the vocabu-
those features which betray the influence of a Creole variety lary is regionally restricted. In an informal survey of three
another invertebrate order,
lexical projects (Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago)
the word tatu is also used to
(p. 346). Linguists have, however, noted high frequencies of
certain forms, such as a tendency for would to replace will one researcher found only about 20 per cent of shared identify the wasp known as

(I would go there tomorrow), for get to be used as a passive vocabulary. For example, adictionary of Jamaican English jep tatu, Synoeca surinama,
{It get break, meaning 'it was broken'), and for questions to (with some 15,000 entries) includes duppy ('ghost'), ganja whose mud nests are built in
be marked by intonation ratherthan by inversion {You ('cannabis'), susumba (a type of plant), sweet-mout/i ('flat- bands resembling the
armadillo's....
going home? for Are you going home?). It is also likely that ter'), and watchy ('watchman'). On the other hand, boar-hog
research will one day bring to light more subtle patterns of ('boar'), roti (a type of bread), and congolala (a type of
(From L.Winer, 1989.)
syntax which colourWest Indian speech, such as distinctive medicinal plant) are not to be found in this dictionary, but in
uses of if, so, or well. Trinobagian (Trinidad and Tobago) English. Lexical diversity There are easier ways of earn-
is a major feature of Caribbean English. (For loan words from
ing a living (though they are
Vocabulary, on the other hand, is as usual a powerful
regional differentiator. Each of the islands has a wide range French and Spanish, see p. 96.) not usually so engrossing).
 PAR]- V • USING ENtlLlSH

CREOLE CHARACTERISTICS PIDGINS AND CREOLES

A creo/e isa pidgin language which has become the

Despite the existence oi many political and cultural mother tongue of a community - a definition which
emphasizes that pidgins and Creoles are two stages in a
differences, and the considerable geographical dis-
single process of development.
tances separating some of the countries involved, there A pidgin is a systemof communication which has
are striking similarities among the English-based grown up among people who do not share a common
language, but who want to talk to each other, usually for
Creole languages of the world. This identity can be seen
reasons of trade. Such languages typically have a limited
at all levels ot language structure, but is most dramatic vocabulary, a reduced grammatical structure, and a
in relation to grammar. It can be explained, according narrow range of functions, compared to the languages
from which they derive. They are used only when they
to the Creole hypothesis', as a consequence of the way
need to be, as a 'contact language' in circumstances
these languages have developed out ot the kind of where communication would not otherwise be possible.
Creole English used by the first black slaves in America They are the native languages of no one.
It has often happened that, within a multilingual com-
and the Caribbean. This language, it is thought, was
munity, increasing numbers of people begin to use a The map shows the
originallv ver\' different from English, as a result of its pidgin as their principal means of communication. This distribution of the chief
mixed African linguistic background, but generations causes a major expansion of the grammar and vocabu- English-based pidgin and
lary, and of the range of situations in which the language Creole languages. They
of contact with the dominant white English popula-
comes to be used. The children of these people come to cluster in three main areas:
tion have had an inevitable effect, drawing it much hear it more regularly, and in due course some of them the Caribbean, West Africa,
closer to the standard variety. There are certainly many begin to use it as a mothertongue. When this happens, and the West Pacific. Most of
the language is known as a Creole. the Atlantic varieties
differences between the various Caribbean Creoles, and
The process of creolization is the most important lin- developed along with the
between these and the varieties of Black English Ver- guistic element in the history of the Caribbean, with all growth in British colonial
nacular used in the USA (p. 97) and the English-based the former colonial languages giving rise to Creoles. The exploration and trade in the
process of decreolization is also apparent, when Creoles 15th and 17th centuries; the
Creoles of West Africa; but the overall impression is one
come into contact with standard languages and are Pacific varieties emerged
ot a 'family' of languages closely related in structure influenced by them (p. 344). some time later, (From L.

and idiom. Todd, 1984a.)

Gambian Creole 10
Sierra Leone Krio
Liberian Creole and Kru . '.

Ghanaian Pidgin English

Togolese Pidgin English
Nigerian Pidgin English
Cameroon Pidgin English
8 Fernando Po Pidgin English
9 American Indian Pidgin English
 2 • REGIONAL VARIATION

Carnival in Trinidad Netting Hill carnival, London

SOME GRAMMATICAL FEATURES Dem ready, Shea nice person. Scott's line 'Seals every I away from light' (/Wore
• Serial verbs are commonly used: Tal<eitgo, Hetalk Poem, 1 982), where there is a play on words
Although Carnival revellers in Jamaica and London say you stupid, Dem go try get it. between /and eye.
have different accents and use different vocabulary, • A verb may be brought to the front of a sentence Verbs
they are firmly linked by a core of common gram- foremphasis - a common feature of West African • Past tenses are expressed using the base form

mar. The grammatical features which distinguish languages: /4 talk IVIary talk mal<e she trouble without an ending: Mary go last week.
Caribbean Creoles from each other are few, and ('Mary talks too much and that makes trouble • Did is often used as a past tense marker with

unlikely to interfere with intelligibility -or, at least, for her'). stative verbs: He did know she name.
no more than we might expect to find between • Passive constructions are avoided: De grass cut • Particles such as da, di, or a are used to mark con-

regional dialects anywhere. The following sentence (='has been cut'), Dis record play a /ot (='is played tinuous actions: David a go ('David is going'). She da
from Jamaican Creole looks very similar when it is a lot'). ivor/cnoi/v ('She's working now'). In much US Black
'translated' into Guyana Creole (after L. Todd, • Adjectives are routinely used in adverbial f unc- English the particle is be: Sometime deybe goin'to
1984a): tion: ///7ce/t good. She sing real sof. The use of the see her.
-/y ending is rare. • Completed action is expressed by done: /yust done
Standard English
Nouns tell dem. We be done washed all dose cars soon.
He used to go to school every day last year, now
• Nouns often do not use -s to mark a plural: two • A verb is negated by inserting a no particle: They
sometimes he goes and sometimes he doesn't go.
book, dem creature. no want it now. Multiple negation (p. 194) is
Jamaican Creole
• Particles may be used to mark The rabbit
plurality: used for emphasis: A/n't nobody found no money /n
Him go a school every day last year, now sometime
dem eat it all, George dem went(='Qeorqe and his no box.
him go, sometime him no go.
gang went'). • Auxiliary do is not used along with a question
Guyana Creole
• Possession can be expressed by juxtaposing the word: How they get that?. Why you hit him?
Him a go a school everyday last year, now sometime
noun phrases (datman house) with no 'apostrophe • Past tense can be expressed using been or a vari-
him a go, sometime him naa go.
s', or (in Caribbean Creoles) by adding a ft particle: ant form: We been see him (='we saw him'). This
The following features of Creole grammar will De coat a ft me ('the coat is mine'). kind of construction is less common in UK West
therefore be observed in many varieties, though Pronouns Indian Creole, where been tends to be replaced by
the similarities may sometimes be obscured by • No case distinctions are used in pronouns: She see did or was.
regional variations in pronunciation, or (in written he come, take he coat, and go; Carry dat book to she
form) by different systems of spelling (p. 348). teacher. In addition, Creoles are noted for their readiness to

The exact form taken by the various grammatical
particles can also vary a great deal. In the follow-
ing examples, a slightly modified Standard
English spelling is used, to permit a clearer focus
the grammatical issues.
Syntax
• There is no concord between subject and verb in
the present tense: She sing in de choir.
• There are no forms of be as copula or auxiliary:
• Several pronouns have alternative forms, such as
(for /)m/ and a, (for he) imandi, (for you plural) yu
and unu, and (for they) de and c^em.
on • In some varieties (such asGullah and West African
Pidgins) male and female third person pronouns are
not distinguished: so one day Partridge take her
head an' stick he head unduh he wing.
• In Rastafarian speech, is considered a syllable of
/ Repetition is frequently an important rhetorical
special, mystical significance, and often appears in
unusual contexts, as in West Indian poet Dennis
create new words using affixes (nojokifying) and
through conversion (p. ^29). All dis murder and kill
mus'stop. Reduplicated forms are common: picky-
p/c/cy ('choosy'), one one ('all alone'), mess mess
('wet and sloppy'). There may also be doubling of
grammatical items: only but, or either, dis here, an'
plus, as well as in such constructions as S/// be gone.
effect: They jus' eat eat eat, An' it go far far far
before we stop it.
 I'AR'I" V • USING ENGLISH

SPELLING VOICES head. Before she buck head wid dem addah
gal shecouldn't chat a worda bad English;
The choice of a spelling system is one of the critical London Jamaican Creole, as recounted by now she pass CSE ina it. Why dem call she
questions facing anyone who worl<s with Creole, or who Jennifer Johnson in the short story 'Ballad Lightening because when dem sit down
is

wishes to write in it. Some writers use spellings which are For You' (from D. Sutcliffe, 1982, p. 24). ina corner a chat people business, she always
close to Standard English (e.g. writing car as cah); others misseveryt'ing an' a confused! issue...
try to maximize the differences between the two systems There is want to tell you 'bout.
five gal I

(e.g writing car as caa). A phonetic-like transcription is Dem head from different part a London;
lick ga/ girls dem //c/cheadthey met up
not unusual, because of the considerable differences but is one t'ing dough, dem is one an' di dough though me/t a te<; let me take
between the Creole sound system and that of mainstream same but individual in every sense. Mek a souZ-headsoul music fan buck head met up
accents (e.g. writing car as kaa). Several variant forms will tek dem one by one. dem addah those other
be found in these pages. Lightening hail from Guyana an' is a soul- ac/iatdiscussing
The problem is particularly acute in deciding what
symbols to use for vowels. There is a much reduced vowel
system, with most Caribbean Creole speakers using only
12 phonemes instead of the 20 found in RP. Many spelling
Black Vernacular English, used in a transla- Jesus, he tell him say, 'This ain't no jive, if
alternatives will be f ound for the /ie/ diphthong, which is
tion of the Gospel of St John (Ch. 3) by Walt aman ain't born over again, ain't noway he
a particularly distinctive feature of Jamaican speech:
Wolfram and Ralph Fasold, but in a spelling gonna get to know God.'
samemight appear ass/em, sehm, syehm, syem, siehm, Then Nicodemus, he ask him, 'How a man
which is close to Standard English (from J. C.
and in other ways.
Baratz&R.W.Shuy, 1969). gonna be born when he already old? Can't
The cardinal vowel diagram (p. 238) shown below
nobody go back inside his mother and get
summarizes the vowel system generally found in
Itwas a man named Nicodemus. He was a born.'
speakers of a Caribbean Creole (from L. Todd, 1984a).
leaderof the Jews. This man, he come to So Jesus tell him, say, 'This ain't no jive,
Each phoneme is accompanied by an example.
Jesus in the night and say, 'Rabbi, we know thisthe truth. The onliest way a man gonna
you a teacher that come from God, cause get to know God, he got to get born regular
can't nobody do the things you be doing and hegottoget born from the Holy
'cept he got God with him.' Spirit...

I'll chop you head off.'

An extract from a Gullah folk tale, as told
by Jane Hunter to a researcher in a field trip
in 1971 (froml.VanSertima, 1976).
Duh Rabbit en duh Patrid, dey wastwo
great fren. So one day Patrid take her head
en stick he head unduh he wing, went to
So das two fren now. Das why you fren in
duh one who gets you, enemy who come en
accoshu. Buh if yuh get hurt, it [you] kin get
hurt from fren. So he go en bawl his wife,
bawl. Duh wife take duh big knife en chop
'e head off 'en 'e chop 'e head off.

Rabbit house. So Patrid had a pretty girlfren. Rabbit had

[Rabbit) say, '01 fren, watcha doin?' a very pretty girl, en Patrid wife wasn' as

Say, 'Oh, I ain't doin nuttin but sittin in goodlookin as Rabbit wife. Patrid had a love
f uh Rabbit wife, see? En dats duh only way
duh sun.'
wheahs you head?'
Say, 'Oh, he coulda get Rabbit wife by doin im some
Short vowels Long vowels Diphthongs 'Man, leave my head home f uh my
Say, I
haam. So when duh lady gone en chop duh
three wife to shave.' Rabbit head off. Rabbit pitch off yonduh en
/i/ A:// kill /i;/fn7 /le/ fa/es/n basin
All dattime he had his head unduhnea' die.
/e/ dem they, them /a:/ daag dog /ai/ blain blind
/a/ mada mother duu do roun round his wing. Rabbit run in duh house, say, 'Ol En duh Patrid take 'e head from unduh-
/u:/ /ou/
Gal,' he say, 'Come on to chop my head off.' nea' hewing, say, 'Wing, nuh foolin, nuh
/o/ op up Ajo/ uoI old
/u/ put put 'Esay, 'No, Mistuh Rabbit. If Ichopyuh fun. En wing, no livin, no gettin love.' En
head off, you'll die.' den she had two wife, had his wife en duh
One effect of the reduced inventory is to permit much Say, 'No,won' eidduh, cause Mistuh
I
Rabbit wife.
largernumbersof words which sound the same Patrid leave he head home f uh his wife to
(homophones) compared to most other British or shave en so why caan leave my head f uh
I
Patr/d Partridge fren friends e/ddu/i either
American accents. Thus /den/ could mean den or then; you to shave?' res rest uhwhal doan don't
could be rot or rat; /la:d/could be lord or lard;
/rat/ /tai/ So all his wife, all duh resuh he wife tell accoshu accost you
could be toy or t/e (see also p. 345). him, [he] say, 'If you doan chop my head off.

Themonthsof the year as spelled in two pidgin lan-

guage texts: one in Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea),
Jamaican poet Linton Kwesi Johnson's
the other in Kamtok (Cameroon). There is a great

similarity between the pronunciation of these words

in the two languages, but (apart from three cases)
they certainly look very different.

Tok Pisin Kamtok Tok Pisin Kamtok

Janueri Janyuari Julai Julai
Februeri Fehrbuari Ogas Ohgohs
Mas Mach Septemba Sehptehmba
Epril Epril Oktoba Ohktoba
Me Mei Novemba Novehmba
Jun Jun Desemba Disehmba
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

TOKPISIN bilong indicates possession

('belong')
TokPisin isan English-based pidgin, bosim rule ('boss -H-im')
influenced by local Papuan lan- dai die
guages, used in Papua New Guinea em he, him
by around a million people. It has gat get
been creolized in some areas. The gutpela good ('good -f fellow')
language has a nationwide presence, inap can ('enough')
being widely seen in advertisements kalabusim imprison ('calaboose -f

and heard on radio and television. -im')

There is also a weekly newspaper /cam come

written entirely in pidgin, Wantok kilim kill('kilU-im')
('Friend'). -im suffix marks a transitive verb
The illustration is the last page of laikwant, like
an Old Testament story published by /o decree ('law')
a Christian missionary organization long indicates location ('along')
in Papua New Guinea. It is from the mas must
story of Daniel (Stori bilong Daniel), maus mouth
in which Daraias, the king of Babylon mi I, me
(Bebilon) is persuaded to put Daniel na and
into a den of lions (hul bilong lion). nau now
On the previous page, the king has 0/ they, them ('all')

just called down to see if God has olgeta all, entire ('all together')
looked after Daniel. orait all right, fix
pasim close, fasten ('fast -im')
Glossary pastaim in the past Cpasttime')
a emphatic particle pipel people
amamas be happy (from l\/lalay) singautim call, shout ('sing out -i-

antap on top -im')

autim made, put out ('out') stret straightaway

bagarapim ruin, damage ('bugger tasol but, however ('that's all')

up') tokim tell ('talk + -im')

bekim give back, repay ('back + -im') tru very much ('true')

biknem praise (big name) wanpela a, one ('one + fellow')

b/7tpe/a big ('big -i- fellow') wo/t work
biiip believe yupela you ('you -f fellow')

Jamaican Creole Krio

CREOLE TRANSLATIONS
Badness Nomba Fuor NDmba Fo
WilhelmBusch's/MaxandMor/tz, first published Ole-time people mek wan rule: Dem kinse, cnmiscf gri,
'Learn and study while in school! Manf.-i Ian pas ABC.
in German in 1865, has been translated into
ABCkyanonglestaat Wetin go pliz G.id insef
dozens of languages (including Scots English,
Lov a knallidge in de haat; Na if wi bctf wiscf.
(p. 330). Here the opening verse of the 'Fourth
A Readin, writin, ritmetick Rayt En rid notoni o,
Prank' is four creole/pidgin translations.
given in

translation into Standard English by Eliy Miller is Kyan gi Sietan wan good lick, P.TSin we get sens fo no.
Higlesmaddy wid nofait N.itoarifmitik wan
shown for comparison. (From M.Gorlach, 1984.)
Finedemself a Debbilgate; P.-isin f tray gud wan pan;
.1

Show respeck an lov de wise; If.igladif.o lisin

Fourth Prank
As has frequently been stated Solomon wi gi yuh prize! Webig wandegi Icsin.

Stody ow f ondastan Ticha Lampel .ilwezsi

People must be educated. i

All de waysa Gad an man. Datidudis wit sabi.

NotalonetheA, B, C,
In all learnin, Teacha Lampel (Freddie Jones)
Heightens man's humanity;
Notjust simply reading, writing, Set de very bes example.
Makes a person more inviting; (Jean D'Costa)
Nor does Arithmetic learning
more Cameroonian Tok Pisin
Make a pupil discerning.
Reason, Wisdom, Moral Thought N.-tmba Foa K.mi Trik Namba Foa
Panapu dei, a raitam d.mg, Long ol plesi gat rul
Must be equally well taught;
'Man m.is Icn f.i dis wi gr.ing.' 01 manmeri masskul.
And to teach with erudition
i

Was Professor Lample's mission. NobidasoA, B, C, Ritnarait na ABC

Mek wi sabi hau f 3 bi. I save mekim man ifri.

Nobi sens dei fa tali

.i| Man no gat save
i long ol namba
ChindasabidisfoBali. Igat het olsem kukamba.
Man gctf.i lispn wcl
i
Man no save wok bilong
i
gavman
F.-idi tru wi papa tcl. Em no man tru, tasol hapman.
i i

PaMatyu, wi katakis, Ologeta samting bilong skul

Sabi .Tigutfash.indis. Man no save, em
i
iful.

An glad f.->tichwi tru

i
Na bilong givim gutpela eksampel
Oltiting manglotfodu. Mi tok long wanpela tisa, Lempel.
(LoretoTodd) (Don Laycock)
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH
Australia is a vast country (the sixth largest in the graphical level, would be premature to underesti-
it AN ELDERLY AUSSIE
world by area), with large tracts uninhabited, and mate the extent which there may be linguistic
to
Sandy Stone, the least
nationwide communication dependent on trans- diversity in the more informal varieties ol speech. known of Barry
portation lines or the media. It has a relatively recent Regional differences in fauna, flora, climate, and cul- Humphries' creations,
history of European settlement with close tural practice are inevitable in a country which
was described bySirJohn
(p. 98),
Betjemanas'thebest
political ties to Britain, and a pattern of early popu- extends over 30° of latitude, and these must be introduction to Australia
lation growth in which pioneers moved out from a reflected to some extent in lexical variation. Also, as an Englishman could
single point (Sydney), retaining their links with cen- have'. There are both
with Canada, there have been few studies of the infor-
cultural and linguistic
tral government. The country now has a chiefly urban mal speech of urban centres, where local idiosyncrasy dimensions to the distinc-
population, with most people living in the fertile areas is frequently born. tive vocabulary in The
near the coast; four cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Bris- Life and Death of Sandy
Sfone (1990). This extract
bane, Perth) account for over half of the population.
Social variation is part of a letter from

In all of this there are interesting parallels with earlier Sandy to his wife Beryl,
Statements about accent uniformity are surprising
developments in Canada (p. 340). who is travelling abroad.
because they seem to fly against what we know to be
These factors combine to promote an initial Things at Gallipoli Cres-
the normal state of affairs in language use: social dif-
impression of Australian English as a variety with cent are just the same
ferentiation (p. 362). Such variation undoubtedly and I'm pottering round
little internal variation - an impression (as in Canada)
exists, as the above authors themselves go
on to rec- on my own very nicely
reinforced by the 'single voice' of the country's radio thanks to your list. think
ognize, and terms such must therefore
as 'uniformity'
I

and and the standard language of the press

television of you every time look at I

be interpreted with caution - meaning only the the back of the kitchen
(p. 110). The point has been emphasized by several
absence of variation which can be explained solely on door So far touch wood I

commentators-George Turner, for example: haven't missed the tins or

geographical grounds. When social stratification is
forgotten to defrost the
The homogeneiry of Australian English is remarkable. taken into account, we are faced with a linguistic sit- Silent Knight, although it
It would be difficult to find elsewhere a geographical area uation which is more accurately described as one of cost me a phone call and
so large with so litde linguistic variation. The Eiiglish a couple of notes before
( 'uniformity operating in diversity'.
they cut us down to half a
Language in Australia and New Zealand, 1966, p. 163). With hardly any grammatical distinctiveness to pint and stopped the

And in the Introduction to The Macqiiarie Dictionary point to, it is not surprising that people find the most Women's Weekly.
Everyone is asking
(1981), R. Bernard states: distinctive feature of Australian English to be its
J. after you. The other day
accent. This topic has accordingly attracted consider- when was watering the
I

The picture is of a widespread homogeneity stretching from

able study, both to determine its phonetic basis and indoor shrubs and giving
Cairns to Hobart, from Sydney to Perth, a uniformity of your mother-in-law's
to see whether it is as homogenous as people some-
pronunciation extending over a wider expanse than any- tongue a drink, who
where times claim. It turns out, in fact, that a great deal of should pop in without a
else in the world.
accent variation does exist, and in an influential study by your leave but Nora
It it is true that there is little or no geographical vari- Manly. The poor old
of the 1960s, A. G. Mitchell and A. Delbridge clas-
thing returned that half a
ation, this would be truly noteworthy in a country sified it into three types. (It should be stressed that cup of castor sugar she'd
which is some 30 times the size of Britain. And there there is no sharp boundary between each of these borrowed before Christ-
is a certain amount of evidence in support of the view. mas, and she looked so
types, which are best thought of as groups of accents.)
peaky didn't havethe
There seem to be no notable grammatical differences, I

hearttotell hershe'd
as one moves from state to state, and only a few returned it three times
regional lexical differences have so far been identified, already. Besides, I knew
she just wanted to have a
such as stroller (New South Wales) vs pusher (South
bit of a peer around the
Australia) for a child's push-chair. Language alone, it place while you were
would appear, says very little about a person's geo- away, and I've always felt
a bit sorry for her since
graphical origins. Local people do sometimes try to
Phil strained his valve.
draw general conclusions from differences they have The poor old beggar
noted in individual words or speakers; but few are so THE hasn't any interests and
all he does is pick at his
well-travelled among the informal situations of rural
LIFE AND tucker and potter round
or urban Australia that they can put these differences their brand new unit like
in perspective. Confident judgments about regional
DEATH a blessed ghost.

variation depend upon the findings of research in tins dustbins/garbage

dialectology, and this is still in its infancy in Australia. Silent Knight type of
fridge
It would, however, be a mistake to conclude from
tucker food
impressionistic comparisons with Britain or the USA unit flat or apartment
that there is no variation at all. Even at a purely geo-
 20 REGIONAL VARIATION

• Cultivated An accent, used by about 1 per cent of

the population, on which Received Pronunciation PHONETIC FEATURES broad and general accents, and often
raised in the direction of [ae].
(RP, p. 363) continues to exert a considerable influence. The whole basis for the auditory • A central vowel /.V often replaces III in an
In some speakers the accent is very close to educated impression of a distinctive Australian unstressed syllable; Ajosp/ta/ /hospsil/,
accent lies in the vowel system - and because /hi koz/.
southern British, with just a hint of its Australian origin
especially in the way diphthongs are • Vowels next to a nasal consonant tend to

in certain vowels and in the intonation. In its most RP- handled. The consonant system of retain the nasality more than in RP: such

like form, speakers of other varieties tend to think of it is different only

Australian English in minor words as down and now are often strongly
respects from that found in RP, and raises nasalized in the broad accent, and are the
as 'affected'.
little of regional interest. chief reason for the designation of this
• Broad At the opposite extreme, this accent, used by accent as a 'twang'.
• RP I'v.l and /u:/ (as in see, do) are heard as
about 30 per cent of the population, is the one most diphthongs /3i/ and (much less often) /so/, The phonetic basis for the three accent
clearly identified with the notion of an 'Australian respectively. This effect is marked in the types emerges from a consideration of
many broad accent, and increasingly less so along these qualities. The broad accent makes
twang". It is heard in countries in the voices of
the continuum from general to cultivated. much use of tongue movements which are
the characters portrayed by such actors as Paul Hogan The effect on is particularly
I'v.l striking as a more open or further forward than the RP
and Barry Humphries. marker of Australian accent. norms. The cultivated accent is, literally,
mainstream group ot • RP given a more open
/ei/, as in say, is first 'further back'.
• General In between there is a
element, sometimes fairly front, sometimes Thesourcesof the Australian accent have
accents used by most of the population. further back. It is widely heard in the name also attracted study in recent years. It is

Australia and in the greeting g'day /gsdai/. assumed that much of its character stems
It is this variant which motivates the 'Strine' from the speech of the original settlers,
These variations have provoked not a little controversy
label for Australian English (p. 410). most of whom came from the London area,
in recent years, with the broad Australian accent in par- • RP /so/, as in so, is heard with a much and also from the Midlands and Ireland. For
ticular having its critics and its defenders. There is ongo- more open and fronted articulation in the example, some of the distinctive
broad accent, and to a lesser extent in the diphthongal qualities of broad Australian
ing debate about whether Australians should be proud
general accent. The cultivated accent tends speech, with their more open first elements
of their distinctive speech, and stress its phonetic fea-
to use the same kind of variation as is heard (in such words as say, so, sigh, sow), are

tures, or whether they should aspire to use a more con- in RP, with front or back mid-open qualities, close to those heard in Cockney English.
more clearly symbolized as loul or /cu/. However, the exact way in which these
servative style, associated with the traditional values of
• The first element of RP /ai/, as in my, is accents mixed to produce a distinctive
educated British speech. The picture has been compli- given a back, open quality, /di/, in the broad accent (noticed as such within 30 years or so
cated by a generation of Australian comedians who and general accents. of the first settlement) is not easy to
• The first element of RP/au/, as in now, is establish. (For the distinctive high-rising
exaggerate and satirize the broad accent, and whose
produced at the front of the mouth, in intonation, see p. 249)
work has become widely known through the medium
of television. When all that most people have to go on
is an amalgam of Crocodile Dundee and Dame Edna EMERGING REGIONAL DIFFERENCES clear, and are when a occurs before
striking
Everage, it becomes difficult for outsiders to begin to a nasal (as in dance). There is a 93 per cent
Regardless of the view that Australian use of /ae/ in such words
in the Hobart
distinguish stereotype from reality.
speech is uniform, if Australians from one sample, 42 per cent in Brisbane and Mel-
Comments about accent uniformity in Australia, state are asked whether people in other bourne, 30 per cent in Sydney, and 9 per
therefore, need to be seen within a social context. A con- states have a different accent, several will cent in Adelaide. The word cast/e with/a:/
say yes. In one report, a speaker from seems to be especially distinctive in Sydney.
tinuum involving these three types of accent can be
Queensland thought that using /a:/ rather As in Britain,/a;/ is the prestige form, with
found all over the country. There may be no regional than /ae/ in dance showed someone was residents of middle class suburbs and
basis for distinguishing them (though in the absence of from Victoria or South Australia. Another women using a higher proportion of these
cited the word castle with /a:/ (as in New forms in all cases. The greatest social differ-
nationwide surveys it is impossible to be sure), but there
castle, Castlereagh St) as a Sydney (New ences in the study were in Melbourne, and
is probably a social basis, with such factors as sex, age, South Wales) feature. Is there any truth in Adelaide, with nearly none in Brisbane-a
religion, type of education, and occupation all playing such stereotypes? Australian English does result which agrees with Australian percep-
preserve the distinction between 'short tions of the first two cities as being more
their part, and these areas are currently being investi-
a'/ae/and 'long a', as in RP though the latter sharply stratified by class.
gated by Australian sociolinguists. Another important is further forward in the mouth (/a;/, not Of course, from the opposite point of
factor is likely to be country of origin: some 20 per cent /u:/). As this is an important regional marker view, /a:/ can be seen as the undesirable
in Britain (p. 324), might it not also have this form, by those who wish to distance them-
of the population now has a background where English
function in Australia? selves from cultivated speech. And insofar
is a foreign language. The figure shows the results of a study of as distance from RP (Britain) would be asso-
The sociolinguistic approach (as opposed to one these vowels in a group of nearly 50 speak- ciated with the republican movement, an
ers distributed across five Australian cities. increasing use of /ae/ is likely as we approach
which looks only for regional dialect differences) also
The differences in certain words are very the new millennium. (After D.Bradley, 1991.)
relates more clearly to the historical situation of the
early decades of settlement. The distance from Britain, Hobart Melbourne Brisbane Sydney % Adelaide
graph 100 graph dance dance 60 contrast
coupled with considerable internal population mobil-
chance 100 castle castle graph 30 castle
would have promoted regional homogeneity. At the
ity, demand dance graph chance 20 dance
same time, the great social divisions among the first dance chance demand grasp 15 chance
castle demand chance demand 10 graph
European settlers - convicts, guards, governors, grasp demand
grasp grasp castle
landowners, free immigrants - would have fostered contrast contrast contrast contrast grasp
sociolinguistic diversity. From this point of view, the
Percentage of /ae/ in some lexical items (reading style)
Australian linguistic scene is not so remarkable after all.
 .

PART V USING UNca.lSII

INDIAN
OCEAN

Tropic of^ Capricorn

ct^risbane (1.3)

SOUTHERN
OCEAN '^(0
oSydney (3 5)

28rc> AUSTRALIAN
CAPITAL
TERRITORY
^JVIelbourne
',f (3.0)
Mapof Australia, showing
rounded population figures for
1991
TASMAN
and chief
states, territories,
TASMANIA
cities. Population totals are given
in millions, e.g. 1.1 = 1,100,000;
SEA
0.08 = 80,000

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY and i/vee/cender ('holiday cottage'). Well-known iv/tb/ncooee ('within earshot'). A similar situation
slang items include beaut ('beautiful'), b/gg;e ('big is found in New Zealand with Maori (p. 354).
There are no clear examples of distinctive regional one'), cobber ('friend'), crook ('unwell, irritable'),
usage in Australian English grammar-though d/n<cum ('genuine, true'), do a U-y {'do a U-turn'), Variation
there are hints of Irish influence in some colloquial drongo {'fool'), joker ('person'), larrikin {'hoo\\- The amount of regional lexical variation within
forms (about 30 per cent of the population were gan'), poofter (an effeminate ma\e), sheila ('girl'), Australia is unknown, but is certainly larger than is

of Irish origin by 1890). Examples includeyouse andpommy(an English immigrant, p. 303), along traditionally thought (p. 350). There are several
('you'), mustn't (='can't'), adverbial but (p. 338), with its derivatives (e.g. Pommyland, whingeing clear examples, such as bardi (a type of grub) in
some idioms (Good on you), word-final -o(h), as in Pom). Western Australia, mainlander in Tasmania
smoko ('break'), and the generally vivid rhetorical Australian English is famous for its vivid idioms- (someone from mainland Australia), and evening
speech style. Otherexamplesof colloquial word though many display literary creativity rather than in Queensland (any time after midday). There are
formation, as found in sucti forms as arvo ('after- everyday frequency: bald as a bandicoot, scarce as also many unclear examples, such as the regional
noon') and Aussie ('Australian'), are given on rocking-horse manure, and look like a consump- constraints (if any) governing the choice of
p. 133. tive kangaroo. Domestic idioms - such as ibnng a downpipe and spouting, gumboots and
At a lexical level, a very different picture pre- plate ('bring some food to share') or full as a goog Wellingtons, topcoat and overcoat, or ivasberand
sents itself. It has been estimated that there are (literally 'egg', i.e. 'drunk') - have been neglected facecloth.
over 10,000 lexical items of Australian English by comparison, though some have been brought As in Canada (p. 340), American English (AmE) is
origin, some of which have become part of World to outside attention through television commer- making inroads into the British English (BrE)
Standard English (e.g. flying doctor, pavlova) cials, as in the case of amber flu/d for 'beer' model in varying degrees across the country. It is
Many are to do with the biogeography of the (known from 1905). There are also important dif- evident in such words as caucus (in politics), sedan
region and associated farming or mining practices: ferences in the force of some expressions com- (BrE saloon), station wagon (BrE estate car), truck
pared with British English, notably the 'routine' (BrE lorry), and high school (BrE secondary school).
banksia barramundi (fish), black swan,
(tree),
brush (dense vegetation), bush (natural vegeta-
use of b/oody (p. 173) and bastard. On the other hand, BrE influence is evident in c/ass

Australian English does not have a great deal of (AmE grade), cinema (AmE mov/es), pefro/(AmE
tion) and such derivatives as bushman and
Aboriginally-derived vocabulary (except in place gas), boot (AmE trunk), and tap (AmE also faucet).
bushranger, galah (bird), mallee (tree), outback,
names: see opposite). At the time of European Spelling is also mixed (defence alongside
overlander, quandong (tree), station ('ranch'),
settlement, the Aborigines were nomadic, and program), though there is a traditional preference
walkabout, waterhole, wattle (tree), witchetty
contact was occasional; as a result, hardly any for British English forms. However, the Austra//an
grub.
native words came into English, apart from some /.aborPartyusesthe AmE spelling, and studies
Among many general words are 6 VO ('bring plant and animal names (e.g. dingo, koala, kook- show considerable variation across states and
your own', i.e. drink to a restaurant), footpath aburra, wallaby). Among the exceptions are between age groups in such cases as centre/center
('pavement'), froc*: ('dress'), goodday ('hello'), /ay- boomerang, corroboree (a ceremonial dance), and and co/our/co/or. The situation is fluid, and looks
fay ('hire purchase'), paddock (a field of any size). cooee (a loud call to attract attention), along with likely toremain so.
 20 • REGIONAL VARIATION

A(NDREW) B(ARTON) ASUCEOFPUDDIN'

PATERSON (1864-1941)
The strains of 'Waltzing
Matilda' are enough to
bring Australia to mind for
most people, and the words
the first verse,
(at least of
along with a simplified
chorus) are part of World
Musical English, sung lustily
by many who would be
totally unable to define a
swagman, billabong, or
coolabah tree. Few people
outside of Australia, more-
over, are aware of the later
verses, or its tragic finale.
Written by 'Banjo' Paterson
in 1895, it is probably the
most widely sung of the
genre of bush ballads which
formed a major element in
Australian literature the
in
late 19th century. Other
famous ballads from Pater-
son's pen include 'The Man
from Snowy River' and the
various exploits of Saltbush
Bill. A less well-known piece
is 'Those Names', repro-
duced here partly for its
distinctive vocabulary and
partly for unusual 'meta-
its
linguistic' theme -verbal
duelling with place names
(p. 12).
THOSE NAMES
The shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and
hale and strong,
Afterthe hard day'sshearing, passing the
jokealong:
The 'ringer' that shore a hundred, as they
never were shorn before.
And the novice who, toiling bravely, had
tommy-hawked half a score.
The tarboy, the cook and the slushy, the
sweeper that swept the board.
The picker-up, and the penner, with the
restof theshearing horde.
There were men from the inland stations
where the skies like a furnace glow.
And men from the Snowy River, the land of
the frozen snow;
There were swarthy Queensland drovers
who reckoned all land by miles.
And farmers' sons from the Murray, where
many a vineyard smiles.
They started at telling stories when they
wearied of cards and games.
And to give these stories flavour, they
threw in some local names.
Then a man from the bleak Monaro, away
on the tableland.
He fixed his eyes on the ceiling,
started to play his hand.
He told them of Adjintoothbong, where
the pine-clad mountains freeze.
And the weight of the snow
WALTZING MATILDA
Oh! there once was a swagman camped in a Billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolabah tree;
And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling,
'Who'll cornea-waltzing Matilda with me?'
Who'll comea-waltzing Matilda, my darling.
Who'll comea-waltzing Matilda with me?
Waltzing Matilda and leading a water-bag -
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Down camea jumbucktodrink at the water-hole.
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him in glee;
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker-bag,
'You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.'
Down came the Squatter a-riding his thoroughbred;
Down came Policemen — one, two, and three.
'Whose isthejumbuck you've got in the tucker-bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.'
But the swagman, he up and he jumped into the water-hole.
Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree;
This is a frontways view of Bunyip Bluegum and his
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong
Uncle Wattleberry. At a glance you can see what a
'Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?'
fine, round, splendid fellow Bunyip Bluegum is,
without me telling you. At a second glance you can
billabong an oasis-like old river channel, with no outlet,
which usually fills seasonally seethatthe Uncle is more square than round, and
that his face has whiskers on it.
billy a tin can used for boiling water or cooking; also called a
billycan or billypot
coolabah a type of eucalyptus tree The opening lines of the 'First Slice' of Norman Lind-
say's The /Mag/cPudd/ng, first published in 191 8 and
jumbuck a sheep (hence the seriousness of the offence)
squatter a major land-holder in the outback since reprinted over 30 times, the fourth edition in
swagman a rural tramp, who carries a rolled blanket with his colour. Often said to be Australia's most popular tra-
belongings inside (swag) ditional children's story, the names of its characters
tucker-bag food-bag have limited resonance to those living elsewhere,
for they reflect the local fauna and flora of the con-
tinent (possums, wombats, bandicoots, kookabur-
ras, flying-foxes, wattle gum). The koala bear hero's
breaks branches off the trees,
name, bunyip, for example, is taken from a mythical
And, as he warmed to the business, he let evil being of Aboriginal legend (though leaving its
them have it strong - connotations behind). However, this does not
Nimitybelle, Conargo, Wheeo,
detract from the universal appeal of the saga of the
Bongongolong; inexhaustible Puddin' and the efforts of Bunyip and
He lingered over them fondly, because hisfriendstoprotect it from being stolen.
they recalled to mind
Bunyip lives with his uncle in a small house in a
Athought of the old bush homestead, and
tree, but is forced to leave home to escape the size
thegirl that he left behind.
of his uncle's whiskers:
Then the shearers all sat silent till a man in
the corner rose; The trouble was that he couldn't make up his
Said he 'I've travelled a-plenty but never mind whether to be a Traveller or a Swagman. You
heard names like those. can't go about the world being nothing, but if you
Out in the western districts, out on the are a traveller you have to carry a bag, while if you
Castlereagh are a swagman you
Most of the names are easy - short for a have to carry a swag,
man to say. and the question is:
You've heard of Mungrybambone and the Which is the heavier?
Gundabluey pine,
'Why does Bunyip
Quobbotha, Girilambone, and
want to be a robber?'
Terramungamine,
This question, asked by
Quambone, Eunonyhareenyha, Wee Waa,
a Britishyoungster
and Buntijo-'
reared on children's
But the rest of the shearers stopped him:
comics in which bur-
'Forthesakeof your jaw, go slow.
glars always go around
If you reckon those names are short ones
carrying large bags
out where such names prevail.
marked SWAG, illus-
Just try and remember some long ones
trates a tiny difference
and he before you begin your tale.'
between Australian
And the man from the western district,
and British English.
though never a word he said,
Justwinked with his dexter eyelid, and
Swag is countable in
AusE, but uncountable
in summer then he retired to bed.
inBrE(p. 209).
 ,

PART V • USINC: ENGLISH

NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION • /e/

towards
has a closer articulation, moving
[i], so that yes is heard as 'yis'.

Several features of Australian English Likewise, /a/ is around the position of [t ]

New Zealand English is tlie dark hoisc oi World accents 351) are also found in New
(p. so that outsiders may mishear bat as bet.
Zealanci, such as the tendency to turn /i:/ • The vowels in such pairs as here /in/ and
English regional dialectology It has long been and /ii:/ into diphthongs (as in mean /ia/r/f,V vary greatly, and have merged in
neglected, mentioned only in passing as part of a /ni3]n/, shoot /|.->i)i/), and the use of AV in many speakers, especially in broader
treatment of Australian English (p. 350), or assumed unstressed syllables (as in rocket / nksi/. 1 accents. One linguist found evidence of
It is unclear whether this similarity stems this merger in the name of a hairdresser's
by outsiders to be identical with it in all salient
from a parallel development to what took m downtown Wellington: Hair Say. But
respects. During the 1980s, however, this state of place in Australia (a 'mixing-bowl' theory, not everyone in New Zealand would
affairs began to change, with several studies focusing in which several British accents merged) appreciate this pun, as evidently the
or - politically an unattractive option - direction of the merger (whether here
directly on the variety, and taking into account the whether it is due to the direct influence of comes to sound like hair or vice versa) is

unique features of the New Zealand sociolinguistic Australian English. On the other hand, subject to considerable variation.
situation. The results of this interest suggest that there some of the broader features of • /u:/ is generally maintained in such

Australian pronunciation are not as words as castle and dance. It is commonly

is a great deal that the study of New Zealand English noticeable in New Zealand. /a?/ in Australia 351.)
(p.
can contribute to our understanding of linguistic The threefold distinction between • There is a tendency to maintain the
variation and change, and - more excitingly - that cultivated, general, and broad (p. 351) has voiceless/voiced contrast between such
been widely used in the analysis of New pairs as whales and Wales, especially in
some of its most distinctive developments have yet to Zealand speech. The three types are not as formal speech. However, it seems to be
take place. perceptible as they are in Australia, but falling out of use among younger people.
there is certainly evidence of social • / / is much 'darker' in quality than in RP
Several elements in the country's social history 1

stratification - for example, in the way (p. 245), in all its positions. In final
(p. 99) have already had linguistic consequences. New some people's accents are close to RP, position it is often replaced by a vowel (as
Zealand English is different from other first-language while others are distant from it. That in current 'Estuary' English, p. 327).
varieties around the world in that it has been subject there must be an emerging New Zealand • Several individual words have local
accent is also suggested, ironically, by the pronunciations. The name of the country
to fonrkmds of pressure. In addition to the problems way conservative speakers have come to is often heard with a short /i/: //lUmd/ not
faced by speakers of many varieties of how to deal condemn 'ugly' or 'defective' local speech (as in RP) /zi:bnd/, though this attracts
in the letter columns of the press. some social criticism. The first syllable
with the competing influences of British and Amer-
The following are some of the features of geyser has /ai/ not /i:/. Menu often
ican English (p. 107), New Zealanders have to work
which have attracted attention. (For has /i:/ not /c/. English is often heard
out how to deal with Australian English and how phonetics terminology, see §17.) without the /g/. Spectator is stressed on
to handle their linguistic relationship with the the first syllable.
• /i/ as in fish tends to move towards [o] - • The high rising intonation is a
Maori (who comprise some 12 per cent of the total
a contrast with Australian, where the noticeable feature of Australian and New
population). movement is towards [ij. In popular Zealand speech (p. 249). It is said to be
representations, such as cartoon captions, more frequently used in New Zealand,
the difference is often shown in the and there is speculation that it may have
• Studies of language attitudes in New Zealand show
spelling. New Zealanders often think of originated there, transferring to Australia
that British Received Pronunciation (RP, p. 363) is Australians as saying 'feesh and cheeps', via Sydney (which has many New Zealand

still the most highly rated accent, in terms of such whereas Australians believe New residents).
Zealanders say 'Sudney' for Sydney.
values as educatedness and competence. However,
local accents rate more highly than RP in terms of
solidarity and social attractiveness.
There
VOCABULARY ('inhabitant of Auckland'), bach ('holiday
• is a real question of whether the people, as house'), barnes walk (a diagonal walk at
New Zealand linguist Allan Bell has put it, are falling The existence of a common
word- lexical traffic lights), chilly bin ('insulated
stock between Australia and New Zealand food/drink box'), chocolate fish (a type of
'out of the British frying pan into the American fire'.
should not be underestimated. Hundreds sweet), dwang ('timber floor strut'), fizz
US accents have been ranked highly in some attitude of 'Australianisms' (p. 352) are known and boat ('speed Golden Kiwi (the
boat'),
studies, and there are signs of US influence in pro- used in New Zealand. However, many more name of the National Lottery), lamburger
will not be found, because of the obvious ('burger made from minced lamb'), section
nunciation and vocabulary.
differences in cultural history and ('building plot'), superette ('small
• The question of an emerging variety of Maori biogeography. For example, Australia's supermarket'), swannie (a type of jacket),
English is controversial, and results of studies on lis- penal history brought terms to that and wopwops (a derogatory term for

Maori accent country which have played no part in New the suburbs).
teners' ability to recognize a are mixed.
Zealand's history, and the large 'outback' Among idioms claimed for New Zealand
However, there has been a major shift of attitude Australian vocabulary (p. 352) is either are hook your mutton ('clear out'), have
in recent decades, so that items of Maori provenance irrelevant or differently applied the wood on ('have an advantage over'),
are now being treated with levels of prominence and (e.g. bush is usually dense forest in and at a rate of knots ('very fast'). Among
New Zealand). discourse patterns is the reply to 'How are
sensitivity that have been missing in the past. The biggest lexical between
difference you?' - often, 'Good, thanks'.
the two countries is undoubtedly to do A few terms of New Zealand origin
With British, American, Australian, local English, and with Maori loanwords (see opposite), but have become part of World Standard
there are several other words which have English. The most famous is undoubtedly
Maori resources all available as input, there is a
come to be particularly associated with All Blacks (the New Zealand international
uniqueness about the New Zealand sociolinguistic sit- New Zealand (a few have further usage rugby team), with its chief stress on the
uation which makes it more than likely that a dis- elsewhere). They include: Aucklander first syllable.

tinctive variety will eventually emerge.

 2 • REGIONAL VARIATION

alisms, such as crib ('miners lunch) and its derivatives

REGIONAL VARIATION (e.g. crib tin). As in other countries, there are probably
many local lexical variations waiting to be recorded.
There seems to be little clear evidence oi regional varia-

tion within New Zealand, though local people believe

Map of New Zealand,
that they can hear such distinctions (e.g. between showing 1991 rounded
North and South Island, or West and East Coast), and population figures for
North and South Islands
it may be that such dialects are emerging. However, the and chief cities. Population
few controlled studies of the ability of New Zealanders totals are given in millions,

characteristics have not so e.g. 0.9 = 900,000.

to identify regional far

shown clear results.

In pronunciation, there is one notable exception.
Like Australians, New Zealanders do not pronounce /r/
after vowels; but the 'Southland burr' is found in the

speech of those living in the southern part of the coun-

try, where such place names as Kelso and Invercargill
signal the presence of major Scottish settlement
(p. 328). There are now also signs of the use of /r/ after
vowels in some young New Zealanders elsewhere,
which may be due to the influence of American
English.
In vocabulary, several Scottish expressions, such as

slitters ('woodlice'), have been recorded in the Otago

region. There are also sporadic reports of North Island Invercargil

/ South Island variants, such as Southern quarter (a. loaf

of bread) vs Northern half, a.nd of West Coast region-

MAORI INFLUENCE
In 1987 the Maori Language Act gave official
status to Maori, and led to a much greater public
profile for the language, with several
consequences for English.
• Maori pronunciation is now increasingly used
for words of Maori origin - a policy followed by
the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. Thus,
words spelled with <wh> such as whanau
traditionally pronounced as /a\/ or /w/ by English
speakers, are now being given the Maori sound,
/ty. There are several other points of difference,
such as the use of initial A]/, as in Ngaio, and a
long /u;/ vowel before /q/, as in hangi.
• There are also moves to devise an English
orthography which better reflects the Maori publications in New Zealand. As with Australian
sound system, such as spelling long vowels with a Aboriginal languages (p. 353), Maori place names
macron or a double letter (as in Maori or Maaori). are widely used, and some personal names are
• Maori has also had a small effect on local well known {Ngaio, Kiri).
English grammar. It does not use a plural ending Common loan words include: aue! ('oh, alas'),
on nouns, and this is increasingly becoming the aroha ('love, sympathy'), haere mai (a greeting),
preferred form in loan words. Maori itself is an haka (a ceremonial dance), hongi (the ritual of
example (replacing Maoris). pressing noses), huhu (a type of beetle), hui (a
• New Zealand has more loan words from ceremonial gathering), katipo (a type of spider),
Polynesian languages than any other variety of kia ora ('good health'), moana ('lake'), Pakeha
,
English, but only a handful (such as kiwi and ('white person'), andwhare ('house, hut').
kauri) are known outside the country. Cultural There are also several loan words from
traditions, fauna, and flora provide important Samoan in New Zealand English. Examples
lexical growth points: hapuku, kahawai, tarakihi include aiga ('family'), fale ('house'), faamafu (a
(types of fish), rata, rimu, maire (types of tree), type of home-brewed liquor), talofa (a
moa, kea, tui (types of bird). Such words ceremonial greeting), matai (a titled chief), and
increasingly appear without a gloss in English papalagi ('white man').

VOICES gathering; their precious Maori expressions are central to Keri chest of precious stones has been burgled.
taonga were means by Hulme's Booker prize-winning novel, The (Most of the Maori terms are given rough
This sentence from the New which they communicated Bone People (1985). One passage (p. 33) glosses in the text; a mere is a small stone
Zealand Metro magazine with the dead, and the tangi captures the language's resonances weapon; pounamu is greenstone.)

(September 1 990) does not
use glosses or graphic signals
to show that the Maori words
are anything otherthan an
ordinary part of English:
Maori took seriously what
Christians call the commu-
nion of saints, a sense of
involvement with their
dead: they knew their
whakapapa many genera-
tions back; they mourned
together at each marae
was (and is)forthem a time especially, when her character thinks her
for renewing their place
within the whanau, hapu,
iwi and waka, giving them She opens the lid, her heart thudding. On trays in the pale pool of light, a 100 smooth
their essential dignity and curvilinear shapes.
and worth. Two meres, patu pounamu, both old and named, still deadly.
Many stylised hook pendants, hei matau.
hapu a tribal division iwi
Kuru, and kapeu, and kurupapa, straight and curved neck pendants.
tribe marae courtyard
An amulet, a marakihau; and a spiral pendant, the koropepe.
tang/ mourning taonga
A dozen chisels. Four fine adzes.
heirlooms wa/ca war canoe
Several hei tiki, one especial - so old that the flax cord of previous owners had
whakapapa genealogy
worn through the hard stone, and the suspension hole had had to be rebored
w/ianau family
in times before the Pakeha ships came...
 PART V • USING ENC;L1SH

SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH

riic multilingual and multicultural history of South high schools in Pretoria reported that they often used
AtVica (p. 100) presents a situation without precedent English words when speaking Afrikaans (after V.
in those parts oi the world where English is spoken as Webb, 1992). The situation is an interesting reversal
a fust language. Of all the countries so tar reviewed in of the large-scale borrowing from Afrikaans by English
this chapter, South Africa is the only one where the which characterized the early years ol language contact
language is in a minority (used as a mother tongue by in the region.

about 10 per cent of the population). In addition - There is a great deal of evidence supporting the
and in apparent disregard of this tiny figure - histori- recognition of a distinctive variety of English in South
cal, racial, tribal, and political factors have combined Africa; but this notion is relevant only for those white.
M.K.Gandhi
to produce a sociolinguistic situation of stunning Coloured, and Indian native speakers who use the lan- (1869-1948), who
guage mother tongue. Most of the majority black played a major role in
intricacy, a remarkable array of linguistic proficiency as a
Indian South African
levels, and an unparalleled range of popular stereo- population speak English as a second language, and politics between 1893
types about English structure and use - few of which thus have more in common with people from those and 1913, noted the
early use of 'broken
have been systematically studied. For example, it is other nations of southern Africa where English has
English' by the Indian
often claimed that people from different tribal back- official status (p. 106). English-speaking members of
community. In Indian
grounds have different accents when speaking the white population who have Afrikaans as a mother Opinion (30 January
tongue must also be considered in this category, as 1909) he commented:
English, or that Coloureds (p. 100) have a different
'We observe that some
grammar from blacks and whites. It is not known their variety of English has distinguishing features of Indian youth having
what truth there might be in such claims. its own. For example, mainstream South African acquired a smattering
of English, use it even
The one factor which tends to unite the countries English does not have an /r/ after vowels (p. 245), but
when it is not necessary
of southern Africa is the high status of English. It is the this consonant is often present in speakers with an todoso...'
preferred language of public use, the media, and Afrikaans background.
school instruction throughout much of the region. When we talk about a variety of South African
This is evidently also the case even in South Africa, English, accordingly, we are referring only to those

where despite its minor rank in terms of first language who speak the language as a mother tongue. At the
use there is a much greater degree of language shift same time, the second-language situation cannot be

towards English than towards the other traditionally completely ignored. When and second language
first

co-official language, Afrikaans, especially among the varieties are as closely in contact as they are in South
young Afrikaner population. Studies of code-switch- Africa, some mutual influence is bound to take place

ing indicate this clearly. Over half the pupils in a 1992 - a situation which can only intensify in a post-

investigation into language use in Afrikaans-medium apartheid nation.

SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN ENGLISH Creole, and foreign language learning Englishes in • Rhetorical use of
a fascinating way. question-words:
This variety of English illustrates the unusual socio-
Wlierehe'lldoit!
linguistic complexity which can be encountered in • In pronunciation the variety is losing the retrof lex
('He certainly won't
South Africa. It has been called a linguistic 'fossil', consonants typical of Indian languages, but has
preserved bythehistory of segregation in the retained syllable-timed rhythm has
doit'). What must go? {'Why
I
its (p. 249). It
should lgo?'),Ra;n won't ma/ce you i/vet, what?
country. It datesfrom the period (1860-191 1) when picked up some features of South African speech
('Will rain not make you wet?')
over 150,000 Indians were allowed into Natal, (see opposite), such as the raising of short front
vowels, but rejected others, such as the rounding
• Pronoun omission: /f you got, I'll take; When you
mainly as cheap labour to work on the plantations.
bought?
Most had no knowledge of English, though a local of/u;/.
• Tag questions (p. 2 18): He came t/iere, /sn't?(i.e.
pidgin (p. 346) involving English (Fanagalo) was in • In vocabulary, well over a thousand distinctive
'didn't he?').
use from early times. From the 1950s, the language items have been recorded in informal speech.
• End-placed verbs (without the emphasis associ-
cameto be taught to Indian children in schools, There are loan wordsfrom Indian languages, such
ated with Standard English): Customeryou got, So
and within a generation a process of language shift as thanni (a type of card game), dhania ('corian-
rude you are.
was taking place, with English becoming the first der'), and /se/ ('flying ant'), and adaptations of
• Relative clauses: /boL/ght the th/ngs, which ones
language of the majority It is now spoken by some many native English words; future ('husband/wife-
750,000, mainly in Natal. to-be'), proposed ('engaged'), cheeky ('stern'), and
you told me; Who won money, they're putting up a
Because these children were separated by /fidependent ('haughty').
factorynextdoor(i.e. The people who won money
are...).
apartheid from British children, their English (at
least in informal speech) developed in very differ-
Grammar • Titles: Johnny unc/e, Naicker teacher
Undoubtedly the most notable feature of this vari- • Postpositions: Durban-side ('near Durban'),
ent ways from mainstream South African English. It
etyis its syntax. Several distinctive points have been Afternoon-time it gets hot.
shows some similarities with Creole languages
recorded. (For grammatical terminology, see Part • Final use of some conjunctions and adverbials:
(p. 346), but it has come much closer to the stan-
III.) She can talk English but; I made rice too, I made roti
dard language, having been much influenced by
too ('I made both rice and roti'); r/ieyconi/'ngnow,
the model taught in schools. • Reduplication: fe5t-fast(='very fast'), d/fferent-
The result is a variety of English which mixes fea- d/Werent(='many and different'), who-who maybe.
tures of Indian, South African, Standard British, (='who' plural). (After R.Mesthrie, 1987, 1993.)

i
 20 REGIONAL VARIATION

PRONUNCIATION N G O L A I
Z A M B I A ,-J^_

There is a continuum of accents, as in Australia (p. 350).

/ . a
At one extreme there are many olcier, conservative 1 ZIMBABWE/ .*^
speakers, mostly of recent British descent, whose accents
remain close to Received Pronunciation (RP, p. 363). At NAMIBIA
the other extreme, there are broad accents, used mainly
by working-class people, often with some Afrikaner BOTSWANA o
^-^ NORTHERN
background. These are the accents most often satirized
I

y TRANSVAAL -A
as South African. In between, there is a range of
mainstream accents which are increasingly to be heard -,^ y ^>K*7
NORTH-W/EST /
NORTH-v»ESTi._ »
EASTElS I

on radio and television. The following features / ,C Pretoria AvL, ,

characterize accents towards the broader end of this

continuum. (For phonetics terminology see §17.) ''V^ORA^GE FREE AwAZULU
The short front vowels of RP are all raised, and the _^>'' NORTHERN ' ^^ "^ NATAL
CAPE
closest vowel has been centralized:
, . ^I^LESOTHO .^
\^^ SOUTH^X<^<^Durban
• /a/ as in pat is raised to a mid front position [c], O
sounding more like pet.
VV AFI^tCA ^*c\7e"~

• /e/ as in pet moves in the direction of /i/, sounding more WESTERN l~

Cape Town'^ "^""^
like p/t.
• /i/as in is centralized, with a value between /?/ and
pit
However, this change depends on the nature of
/u/ (put).
the preceding consonant: it does not apply after back
consonants (/k.g.li/); thus there is no rhyme in this variety
between s/t and kit.

GRAMMAR VOCABULARY
An ancient piece of wit helps to fix two of these changes
in the ear of the outsider: for South Africans, it has been There are no important Several words and phrases from South Africa have
said, sex is what you carry coal in, while six is needed for grammatical variations become part of World Standard English. Some have
procreation. from Standard English in origins in Afrikaans or local native languages, or are
Two other features are also very noticeable: formal South African adaptations of Standard English words. They include
speech or writing, but sev- aardvark, apartheid, boer, commando, eland, home-
• la:/ rounded and
as in star is raised, so that it resembles eral distinctive construc- land, kraal, rand, spoor, springbok, trek, and veld.
sounding more like store.
/,-):/, tionsarefound in colloquial Many of the words relating to local fauna, flora, and
• Several diphthongs weaken their glides, sounding more speech. For example, an culture are not known outside the South African
likepure vowels: hair with [o;], right ar\d mouse with object noun or pronoun context. Local institutions and social groups also fall
values near to [u:]. may be deleted: A: I asl<ed into this category, often providing opaque abbrevia-
for the car B: And did you tions to the outsider, as in the case of Bop
get?; A: Would you litce ('Bophuthatswana'), Tuks ('University of Pretoria'),
another cup ? B: still have. I and Zim ('Zimbabwean').
YAWS? Some words may be Among the general items found in this variety are:
AH BIG
arvey ('afternoon'), bad friends ('not on speaking
Pardon, that is. 'I beg repeated to express inten-
sity: now-now('immedi- terms'), bakkie (a type of truck), bell ('to phone'),
yours?'
ately'). Is /f ? is widely used bioscope ('cinema'), bottle store ('liquor store/off-
as a response tag {A: They licence'), butchery ('butcher's shop'), camp
This the title of a humor-
is
were here recently. B: Is it?). ('paddock'), dinges ('thingummy', p. 132), dorp
ous guide to South African
Afrikaans may have an ('village'), fund/ ('expert'), gogga ('insect'), indaba
English ('Guard to Sow
influence, as in the use of ('meeting'), /c/oof ('ravine'), /e*:fcer('nice'), putu (a
Theffricun Innglissh') pub-
lished in 1 972, by Rawbone musttomean 'shall' in ques- type of porridge), robot ('traffic light'), verkrampte
tions (Must / translate?) or ('narrow-minded'), and voorskot ('advance pay-
Malong [Robin Malan], As
the nonstandard use of ment'). A few can also be found in other varieties
with all dialect humour
prepositions (on the of English, such as advocate ('barrister', e.g. in
(p. 410), it relies on many of
moment, anxious over her). Scotland) and shebeen ('illegal liquor establishment',
the informal speech pat-
terns which are not in fact Speech which is character- e.g. in Ireland).

regionally distinctive at all ized by a great deal of An important source for distinctive vocabulary is
running togetherthe Afrikaans grammar and the Dictionary of South African English (4th edition,
(e.g.
words South and African is ants, the devoicing of final idiom is often labelled 1991), which contains some 4,000 fully-illustrated

consonants, suchas/d/to Anglikaans: I've been rather entries. There is still much to do, in such areas as
a perfectly normal feature
is notable. very ill, I'm busy listening regional and ethnic lexical variation. Among regional
of all varieties of English). /t/,

(='l am in the process of lis- items so far recorded are bathing box ('beach hut'),
But in its choice of spellings
It does capture several of Men: Ellbit, Brawn, Choriz, tening'), I'll do it just now monkey face stone, and Tablecloth (the cloud cover-
Claaf, Dayfitt, Jaymce, ('in a littlewhile'), /'//be by ing Table Mountain), all apparantly local to Cape
the resonancesof this vari-
Grayyim, Gregerree, the house (='at home'). Yes- Province. Doubtless hundreds of words, including
ety of English. To say Orffi-
corns aloud in RP (using Jawtch, Hyarrie, Jawn, Pall, no is an emphatic affirma- many invective terms, are also used differently
Furllup, Rawbit, Ritshit, tive. Jawellnofine is an among the various ethnic groups. From those which
conventional spelling
values) does produce some- Rottsa interesting construction -a have already been noted, one word-pair (an appro-
Women: Dawreen, Daffer- combination of Ja ('yes') priate choice for the present book) must suffice as
thing which is remarkably
well no fine (no here in an illustration: the facetious coinage pluralstan, made
close to its target. nee, Alizbiff, Maaibull,
Here is Malong's guide Mehrree, Mayphis, affirmative sense), some- by a black journalist for the various bantustans (black
to 'peeble's neighms'. In Mulldrit.Varlet, Yellsie, times used to satirize homelands), which gave rise to plurals ('blacks') and
Lun, Vellery, Pertreesha. Anglikaans speech. singulars ('whites'). The usage is already an archaism.
addition to the vowel vari-
 w
PART V USING ENGLISH

NEW ENGLISHES: A PRELIMINARY SITTING

The aim of the present chapter has been to review Enghsh regional subtitled 'Journal of English as an International and Intranational
variation, focusing on those countries where it has prominent first- Language'), and English Today (from 1985, subtitled 'The Interna-
language use - the 'inner circle' of English, as it has been called tional Review of the English Language'). Several pioneering collec-
(p. 107). It is important, however, not to ignore the other two cir- tions of essays also appeared, such as English as a World Language (see
cles" identified in §7 - the 'outer circle', consisting of those countries Appendix IV). Nonetheless, the combined efforts of these publica-
where English has come to play an important role as a second lan- tionshad by 1990 resulted in descriptive data becoming available on
guage through a history of colonial contact (such as India and Nige- only a few dozen topics in a few dozen countries. This is not to
ria), and the 'expanding circle', made up of countries where the demean the valuable progress which has taken place, but many of the
importance of English as an international medium has been recog- articles themselves concluded by stressing their programmatic char-
nized, but the language has received no special status (such as Japan acter, and drawing attention to the need for in-depth descriptive or
and Brazil). To systematically survey the 'New Englishes' of these experimental research. Much of what we know is still outline and
countries is not possible, in the present encyclopedia. Over half the impressionistic, apart from in a few countries (such as India) which
countries in the world have now given English some kind of 'special have a well-established tradition of English language study.
status' (p. 106), and probably all of them would these days need to The database required for a systematic approach to world uses of
be included in considering the role and impact of English as a for- English is inevitably going to be first steps in its com- enormous. The
eign language. To deal fairlyand comprehensively with such a diver- pilation have actually already number of countries begun for a
sity of sociolinguistic situations would take a very large book. (p. 438); but no one knows how long it would take to develop such
And such a book cannot yet be written. In most countries, no offi- a project on a world scale, or whether such an extension would be
cial information is published about how English is taught and how practicable. Financial constraints are such that large-scale language
many people speak or write it, and very little academic research is yet projects can easily find themselves left behind by the pace of lan-
available on the nature of local variation in English structure and use. guage change. All scholars may ever be able to do, accordingly, is

During the 1980s, several academic journals began to publish mate- provide partial portraits of the language, varying in accuracy and
rial on these questions, notably Eiiglish World-Wide (imm 1980, sub- depth of detail. At the same time, some subjects are so fascinating
titled 'A Journal of Varieties of English'), World Englishes (from 1 982, that even a partial portrait is well worth painting.

CULTURAL DISTANCE MARRIAGE LINES complexioned, which is fair in the West-

ern sense, and with wheatish, which -, Ma.WorKany«,Sea«st
27^.bmp
Cultural distance from the In the culture of India, religion, caste, suggests the golden-yellow of ripening PhD scholar.
B.Ed.,
countries of the inner circle colour, region, and economic status tra- wheat.
inevitably puts pressure on ditionally play a major role in marriage • full particularsvjould bean astro-
inner-circle linguistic norms, arrangements. As a consequence, news- logical reference -a request for a
English must change, when it paper matrimonial advertisements are horoscope.
arrives in the countries of the very differentin style compared with • good-Zoo/r/nghasto be seen in con-
outer and expanding circles, the equivalent 'lonely hearts' items in trast with other phrases used in this con- highly quaht;''_,^^„fl,,w>th
smart
tomeet the communicative the Western press, and use very differ- text, such as exceptionally beautiful; it Kshamya groom haj'J>^» „{ south
^^^^^
needs of communities whose ent vocabulary.More importantly, many suggests 'average' rather than (as in the telephoiie m a P"'.^^ properties in
social structure involves very items which seem familiar need to be West) 'above-average'. also
Ca>cu"-0-"Xrt.n» -ismay
different priorities and preoc- reinterpreted, if their correct sense in • respectable .well-placed, and well- W°*";
Midnapove. consideration.
cupations. These changes can the Indian context is to be appreciated.
f
established carry implications of eco-
affect any area of language A cultural reading of the vocabulary nomic standing: a h/gh/yrespectafa/e No bar. BOX...
structure, but will be most brings to light several points of semantic family \s a rich one. . . . ,IQSI I
apparent in new vocabulary difference. • staib/ec/iaracteredand s/ncere suggest
and styles of discourse. They loyalty and devotion to a marriage part-
will alsobe most apparent in • hride with a male child is a widow or ner, despite a readiness to socialize with
domains of language use divorcee with a son, mentioned in view the opposite sex.
whose purpose isto reflect ofthe priority given in Indian society • sweef-nafuredandsweet-fempered
intranational activities, such to a male heir, whether natural or hint at the bride's willingness to fit into
as local religious events or adopted. an Indian jointfamily.
local politics. For example, in • broad-m/nded in the West would be • fa// requires reference to a cultural
one study of Indian newspa- likely to mean 'in relation to sexual prac- 'ideal' (often made explicit -155 to
pers (see right), the provincial tices'; here it refers to a readiness to 162cm,or5ft1 in to 5 ft 4 in); the
press showed nearly three embrace modern values while retaining collocation tall, wheatish, slim is

times as many loan words core values of Indian morality. particularly common.
from local Indian languages in • c/ean-sAiaven indicates that the person • working girl and employed girl have
its editorials than did the is Punjabi, but no longer bearded. mixed connotations, as some families
national press. The leading • divorcee is a strongly negative term, will accept a bride who is working,
newspapers of a country tell compared with its modern Western use. whereas others will not.
us more about the norms of • fair means 'relatively light in colour' - • i/egetar/an has a less flexible sense
World Standard English than that is (unlike in the West), the person is than is usual in the West; the norm isto
they do about regional lin- still dark-skinned, though not markedly exclude fish and eggs as well as meat.
guistic identity (p. 300). so; itcontrasts with actua//yfa/r- (AfterV.S. Dubey, 1991.)
 10 REGIONAL VARIATION

NEW NORMS
( One reason why the use of Enghsh by non-native It is possible to interpret the three-circle model of
; speakers is so important is that there are so many of World English in terms of the way norms of usage
1 them. Probably at least as many people speak English manifest themselves. The inner circle can be thought
: as a second language as speak it as a mother tongue, of as 'norm-producing', in the sense that it has given

. and both of these totals are likely to be exceeded rise to the two leading normative models of Standard

I before long by the number of those speaking it flu- English - British and American. Other mother-
I ently as a foreign language. And when large numbers tongue areas can also act asnorms for their local non-
I
of people are involved in speaking a language, there native speakers. The outer circle is 'norm-developing',

is an inevitable tendency to develop fresh local usage in the sense that the special role of English in these
- most naturally in vocabulary, but also in pronunci- communities is fostering an internal standard of edu-
, ation, grammar, and discourse. New vocabulary can cated usage which has a status and dynamic of its
become part of the educated norm quite rapidly. In own. The expanding circle, by contrast, is 'norm-
other areas of usage, change is more erratic, and at dependent', in that speakers of English as a foreign
first is likely to be found only in colloquial styles language in a particular country need to look else-

among small groups. In the course of time, though, where for criteria to judge their usage. This set of dis-
some of these features attract prestige, come to be tinctions is illuminating, as long as we do not
adopted by educated speakers, and eventually form interpret the situation to be more clear-cut than it
new local standards - the same process that promoted really is. In particular, it still leaves open the question

the development of mother-tongue varieties. The of whether new generations of non-native speakers in
emergence of these non-native Englishes, and the a second-language country should look to the exter-
uneasy relationship which exists between them and nal British/American norm or to the emerging
Standard English, especially in the classroom, is a second-language norm? And the question of whether

major feature of the contemporary World English autonomous norms can develop in a foreign language

scene. situation (such as Japan) remains unresolved.

LEXICAL 2 U 4EVA
INNOVATION STUFFMAN
10-in ayiaolder2-morrow
Special circumstances Fua will kill mycoch. He wans nchang to Hapi b/dayfrmdafolksin
can give rise to linguistic yang some medicines for hisyaourt. Pom*
innovations of My jab don hang biog. She does not wan These are the opening
considerable ingenuity. grub some das* wordsof two birthdaygreet-
In this panel two such ings from the Post Courier of
developments, At the University of Yaounde, Cameroon,
Papua New Guinea. Not all
involving substantial students are reported to be developing a
are like this. Some are in
lexical idiosyncrasy, are distinctive variety of English for everyday
Standard English or a local
reported from different purposes which is unintelligibleto
language (e.g. Tok Pisin); but
parts of the world. It is people from outside their group.
many use a telegraphic code.
perhaps no coincidence Whether it is likely to be a long-term
There are abbreviations,
that there are feature of the Cameroon linguistic
numeral rebuses, phonetic
similarities between the scene is unclear. What is of interest is
spellings, and other devices
sociolinguistic situations the way a new variety of English can (suchasXXX'kisses', p. 268).
of the two countries, emerge rapidly out of a mixture of Thestyle probably began
Nigeria and Papua New standard languages (both English and
as away of saving money
Guinea. Each country French, inthiscase), pidgins, and local reto ('restaurant'), tau
is
(the paper charges per line),
highly multilingual, and native languages. The variety is described as ('thousand'), and coch ('room-mate,
but its current usage cannot
a pidgin language plays derogatory, humorous, taboo-orientated, from French copa/nc/ec/iam5re). All local
be explained just by rules
a major role. It is and critical in attitude. Its syntax is largely languages supply loan words, such as
from a financial grammar. It
perhaps not too standard English, though there are several shark ('heavy drinker'), pang ('trousers',
displays grammatical fea-
speculative to suggest mixed forms and constructions. There are French pantalon), nga (Nigerian Pidgin
Papua New
tures from
that there is something parallels with argot, whether natural or lit- 'girlfriend'), muna (Douala, 'child'),
Guinea English (such as 20 /s
in such situations which erary (pp. 182, 395). and yap (Bamileke, 'disgrace'). Many
no teen years or Luv and
might make their The lexicon uses all the main processes of wordsare of unknown origin. (After R prayer from mum), and
speakers more ready to word formation (p. 124). There are English Mbangwana, 1991.)
there are signs that its use
experiment with the and other suffixes, as in dnnfcard ('heavy
may be extending to other
standard language and drinker'), anglose ('anglophone'), chickel * Stuffman: academically reliable.
local contexts. (After S.
more able (through ('chicken'), and painga ('pain'). Compound- 'Poverty will kill my room-mate. He needs
Holzknecht, 1989.)
their wider experience ing is seen in hang pass ('quit'), dickoman money to buy some medicines for his
('scholar', from dictionary), sickdie ('AIDS'), cough.' 'My girlfriend is pregnant. She is * Turning a year oldertomor-
of languages in contact)
to introduce new and paddyman ('friend'). Clipping is seen in unable to eat any food.' row/ Happy birthday from
in Port Moresby
the folks
elements to it.
 PAR r V • USING ! NCIl.lSll

SOUTH ASIAN ENGLISH
The English of the Indian subcontinent - sometimes
called South Asian English - provides the most con-
vincing exampleof the waya 'new English' can
develop in the outer circle (p. 107), Or perhaps this
should be 'new Englishes', for there are many vari-
when speech is rapid. Also highly distinctive are the India, and the vast populations of the countries in
retrof lex plosives t and d, {p. 243), though these are the subcontinent. South Asian English has devel-
often replaced by alveolar plosives in educated oped to a more distinctive level than in other coun-
speech. Similarly, the traditional use of /r/ after tries where English has special status. It certainly
vowels (p. 245) may these days be avoided by presents very clearly the problems of identity facing
younger educated people, especially women. those who use English in such countries- in particu-
Several sounds have regional variants influenced by lar, those in charge of educational programmes,

eties spoken within the region, in a continuum local languages, both within and between
which extends from pidgin forms of English (known countries.
by such names as 'Butler' and 'Babu' English) to edu-
Grammar
cated uses that are indistinguishable from Standard
There aremany distinctive usages -though with
British English and Received Pronunciation (p. 363).
much social variation. The following are widely
There are also several geographical and social sub-
encountered, but often condemned as errors by
varieties, influenced partly by the native languages
those who speak an English close to the British
which have been in contact with English, and partly
norm. (For grammatical terms, see Part III.)
by the highly stratified social system.
Some of these subvarieties have developed over a • The progressive in 'static' verbs: /am
long period of time, during the period of colonial understanding it, She is l<nowing the answer.
rule {p. 101). Asa result, modern South Asian • Variations in noun number and determiners: He
English has thousands of distinctive lexical items- performed many charities. She loves to pull your legs.
some deriving from local Indian languages, some • Prepositions: pay attent/on on, discussabout,
newcombmationsof English words, or English convey him my greetings.
words with new senses. Especially when the subject • Tagguestions(p.218): You'regoing,
matter is provincial or specialized, a text such as here, no?.
a newspaper report can be unintelligible to the • Word order: Who you have come for?.
outsider, and (p. 358) easy to misinterpret. late always. Myall friends are waiting.
• Vesand noagreeing with the form of a question,
Pronunciation
not just its content: A. You didn't come on the bus?
The most noticeable feature of the English spoken
B: Yes, I didn't.
throughout South Asia is its syllabic rhythm (p. 249),
which can be a source of comprehension difficulty Problems of Identity
for those used to a stress-timed variety, especially Because of the length of the British
and authors wishing to express their identity.
• In education, should teachers choose Standard
English as a model in class, or allow the use of the
regional features which the children hear around
them?
• In literature, should authors opt for Standard
English, which will guarantee them a readership
throughout the world, or write according to
regional norms which will give them a more
authentic and personal voice?
Indeed, some go on to argue, should writers
themselves not be making efforts to develop this
regional variety into a standard, as inner circle
authors have done in the past? The Indian author
Raja Rao comments: 'Our method of expression has
isn't it?,He's
to be a dialect which will some day prove to be as
distinctive and colourful as the Irishorthe Ameri-
They're
can... The tempo of Indian life must be infused into
our English expression'. However, at the opposite
extreme, there are authors who wish to stay with
theirmother tongue, and not write in English at all.
These questions are fiercely and emotionally
debated in all partsof the world where there are
presence in emerging varieties of second-language English.

South Asia has been the Pakistan (as i/ve// as hotel)

source of several words in affectee someone affected moot meeting
World Standard English, bearer waiter mudguard (car wing/fender)
Alma-Ata
bandana, brahmin, bungalow, boots shoes, tennis shoes nook and corner nook and
» 8ishkek cent percent a hundred per cranny
calico, caste-mark, chakra, Tashkent
^'^''^^ IVBI KKl".\ KYRGYZSTAN
cheetah, cheroot, chintz, chit, cent opticals eyeglasses
\ ^ SanfiSrkand Xn^ri Shan
chutney, coolie, curry, dacoit, conveyance means of trans- thrice three times (not

guru, jodhpurs, juggernaut, A Dushanbe port (notarcha/c) archaic)

jungle, juice, mogul, mulli-
gatawny, nirvana, pundit,
purdah, rajah, rupee, sahib,
verandah, yoga
tiffin,
The Items shown right are of a
more restricted kind, of vary-
ing general currency. Many are
not known outside the sub-
continent, other thanthrough
literary work or shared special-
ized knowledge, as in
cuisine oryoga.
The vocabulary has been
selected from published
relating to the individual
countries. However, in view of
the common cultural history of
the region, andthe shared
contact with several lan-
guages (such as Hindi and San-
skrit in the north), these
are not claiming to be mutu-
Many of the
ally exclusive.
words are likely to be known
and used throughout South
Asia; but definitive supra-
national studies of regional
variation have yet to be under-
taken.
eartops earrings tubelight fluorescent light
eveninger evening paper weekly-off day off
flying coach a type of bus
freeship scholarship (After R. J. Baumgardner,
hotel eating house 1990.)
India Jawan soldier
allottee person allotted kaccha road dirt road
property lakh hundred thousand
ayah nurse lathi policeman's baton
Indian bandh labour strike makan housing
chapatti type of bread nose-screw woman's nose
cousin-brother/sister ornament
lists male/female cousin paisa 100th of a rupee
cow-worship religious prac- panchayat villagecouncil
tice pantry/kitchen car dining
crore 10 million car (train)
dhobi washerman ryot farmer
Doordarshan TV network scheduled caste lowest
Eve-teasing harassment of Hindu class
lists women stepney spare wheel
godown warehouse Swadeshi hotel native
goonda hooligan restaurant
head-bath hair washing tiffin room snack shop
Himalayan blunder grave wallah one who carries out a
mistake particular occupation (as in
intermarriage marriage policewallah, literature
between religions or castes wallah)
issueless childless (After B.B.Kachru, 1986.)
 !0 • REGlt:>NAL VARIATION

The wood and die trees point of view, the matter can be resolved only by detailed
The old saw oi 'not being able to see the wood for the comparative research.
trees' comes persistently to mind when we try to establish
what is happening to the English language in the outer- The example of Africa
circle nations. Several researchers have now assiduously Another clear example of the tension between the two
collected samples From their individual countries, and perspectives is in West Africa, where both supranational
identified differences trom Standard British or American and national varieties have been proposed. The English
English. They have compiled lists of distinctive words used in many of the constituent countries has now
and idioms, and noted points of local usage in grammar received some degree of investigation, and a series of sep-
and pronunciation. Sometimes the projects have also arate varieties has been suggested using such headings as

investigated local patterns of spoken or written dis- 'Gambiah, 'Nigerian, and 'Ghanaian English'. How-
course, such as the way linguistic distinctiveness emerges ever, authors typically do not provide information about
in a national literature. But in almost all cases, the point whether the features they have observed in their own
of view has remained stubbornly intranational. The country, and think to be distinctive, are also to be found
authors are usually mother-tongue inhabitants or long- in others.

term residents of the country they are studying. Their The answer is not always obvious. Some of these fea-

accounts tend to be impressionistic or based on few tures are unlikely to have supranational distribution,

speakers. They are thus guides to individual perfor- perhaps because a local language is used only within one
mance, but not to the underlying system: there is no way country, and loan-words from that language into
of knowing whether a word encountered is a casual error English are therefore less likely to be found elsewhere.
or a stable feature of usage. Nor is it always clear whether Some of the words, moreover, are bound to identify

what has been observed is also to be found in other terri- national institutions or practices. But in many cases,

tories. As a result, varieties are being postulated for indi- there is extensive international overlap. This seems to be
vidual countries which may turn out to be chimerical. especially so in relation to pronunciation and grammar,
This issue has already been mentioned with reference where we repeatedly encounter similar sound substitu-
to the subcontinent of India (see opposite), where there tions and syntactic patterns as we move from country to
are proposals, on the one hand, to establish a supra- country; but it is also to be found in the lexicon, in the
national notion of South Asian English, and on the other way words are adapted from English in similar ways or
hand to recognize nation-restricted varieties under such taken from one of the pidgin languages used along the
something else;"
names as Indian, Pakistani, and Lankan English. The coast. A comparison of different projects quickly brings
question is clouded by non-linguistic considerations. to light examples of the same or very similar words
There is often covert political pressure to assert auton- (spelling conventions often differ) crossing national

omy: if Country X is thought to have its own variety of boundaries. The consequences of this complex situation
English, then why not Country Y? From a linguistic are explored further on p. 362.

LEXICAL COMPARISONS 'legal' commitment; also bribery (GA); bribe (N) bush meat flesh of
lappa a large piece of cloth worn by women from wild animals
The following words and glosses are taken from around the waist down to the feet (SL); cloth killed for food
four articles on possible varieties of English in used as a wraparound skirt (GA) (GH)
West Leone (SL), The Gambia
Africa: in Sierra stranger guest (SL, N) compound house
(GA), Ghana (GH), and Nigeria (N). The articles and fenced-in
are very different in style and approach, so a • Words which seem to be in more than one list, yard (GA)
proper comparison is not possible, but the but there change in form and perhaps a
is a danfo minibus (N)
exercise does show the methodological problems change in meaning: next tomorrow the day after tomorrow (SL)
which have to be faced before decisions about aunt a female friend of one's parents (SL); anti globe electric bulb (N)
varieties can be reached. aunt (GA) palaba disagreeable situation; argument (GA)
head tie a piece of cloth worn round the head by rentage rent (SL)
• There would be no problem if a word appeared women (SL); sleeping cloth a piece of cloth of varying size
four lists with exactly the same form and
in all headtle headdress (N); which a person uses to cover himself when
meaning. That would be convincing lexical headkerchief a kind of scarf used by women to sleeping (GH)
evidence of a supranational variety. There are no cover their hair (GH) slowly-slowly little by little (GA)
instances of this. yellow fever traffic warden (N)
• Words which more than one list with a
are in
• There are a few instances of words appearing in claimed change meaning: in
more than one list, with no change in form and pepper soup a soup prepared with fresh meat Thousands of lexicographic questions arise from
apparently the same meaning (though there are and/or fish and a lot of pepper but usually no such comparisons. Is globe used for an electric
points of possible significant contrast in the oil (SL); soup without meat or fish but high bulb in Ghana? Is a danfo a minibus in Sierra
definitions): pepper content (N) Leone? Until such questions are answered, the
chop food (SL, GA, GH) lexical identity of the region remains unclear. (For
delayance delay (SL, GH) • The vast majority of words are in one list only, a phonological example, see p. 362.)
kola fruit used as a stimulant; a traditional leaving it unclear whether the word is used in the (After V. O. Awonusi, 1990; I. K. Gyasi, 1991;

symbol of friendship, social solidarity and other areas: J. Pemagbi, 1989; E. B. Richmond, 1989.)
 USING KNGLISH

Broadening the perspective parts of the world, li is the case that there are further
way English used in
LUGGAGES?
1 lie impression of shared distinctiveness described on points of similarity in the is Fiji,

[1.361 leads inevitably to the view that the different Singapore, and Papua New Guinea. And perhaps in all Many nonstandard
taught as a second language we grammatical featuresare
uses of English along the coast may all be manifesta- places where English is
widelydistributed
tions of a single variety of (as it might be called) 'West shall find such similarities. Indeed, it would be sur-
among second-language
African Vernacular English' (WAVE). This concept prising if it were not so. There are presumably certain Englishes. An example is

idiosyncrasies in English, as in any language, which the conversion of an

does not of course deny the existence of national or sub-
uncountable to a count-
national regional variation. It is only to be expected, are likely to pose particular difficulty to learners, able noun as in
(p. 209),

according to this view, in much the same way as dialects wherever it is taught, and it is perfectly possible that advices, furnitures, and
some of these difficulties could become institutional- luggages. Such forms
are recognized within British or American English.
have been cited as typical
But, the argument goes, ifa sufficiently large number of ized into local norms in more or less the same way. If
of Nigeria, Singapore,
the distinctive features observed in the various coun- so, then what we may eventually need to recognize is India, and many other
a super-supranational concept of World Second Lan- places. not difficultto
tries turn out to be held in common, then the idea of a It is

see why. Countability is a

supranational variety becomes plausible. Terms such as guage English, with regional variation arising chiefly 'tricky' area of English

WAVE and 'Educated West African English' have been from its contact with different native languages and grammar, posing a prob-
way of capturing commonality. and primarily reflected in a series of different lem apparently regard-
put forward as a this cultures,
less of the learner's
The argument, of course, cannot stop there. If the lexicons.
language background.
perspective is widened further, and East African uses of There is a further dimension to this problem, fiow Several such topics are

English are taken into account, other similarities can be shall we cope with distinctive features which seem to known to be problem-
atic. For example, there is

noted. The same examples that have been used to illus- cut across the divide between first and second lan-
frequent use of a simpli-
trate WAVE in one article (e.g. the pluralizing of such guage? For example, consonant cluster simplification fied tag-question

nouns as advices znd.fiirnittires) have also been reported (e.g. wan for watit) is widespread both in second- (p. 299), in which the
many possibilities of
in a study of English in Zambia. A reduplicated form language contexts, such as India, and in first-language
Standard English are
such as quick-quick ('very fast') in the West has an contexts, such as some US English accents. It is possi- reduced to a single,
some of the features currently thought to be invariant form, such as is
apparent analogue in now-now ('soon') in the East. ble that
/t?orno?Thepreposing
Phonological changes such as the replacement of /6/ of local significance will eventually turn out to be non- of a noun phrase imme-
and AV by A/ and /d/ are found on both sides of the con- standard universals. Is there a Universal Nonstandard diately followed by a

tinent, as are many of the vowel variants and the conse- English? But this is to engage in science-fiction lin- pronoun {That girl she's
ta//) is recorded in Sri
quences of syllabic rhythm. Spelling pronunciations guistics. In our present state of knowledge, we are a Lanka, Malaysia, Zambia,
also appear to be universal: houses zs Aiausis/, television long way from being in a position to choose between and elsewhere. The use
and those where identity of the progressive form
as Aelevijn/, limb as Aimb/, Christmas as /kristmas/. these large-scale scenarios is
with such verbs as have
Should this lead us to postulate a variety of 'African focused upon individual nations. For the moment, the
[lam having two broth-
English"? task is to broaden the empirical database of regional ers) is associated with

variation at a national level - but bearing these India (p. 360), but is also
cited in other countries,
World Second Language English? broader issues in mind, so that we can ask our empir-
such as Ghana. Even an
The argument continues inexorably, sucking in other ical questions in the most useful way. individual lexical item
can vary in the same
direction, as in the case
VOWEL COMPARISONS of phrasal verbs: cope up
This diagram proposes vowel systems 238) for for cope is recorded in
(p.
West and East African English, shown in relation to Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan,
the vowels of Received Pronunciation (RP, p. 363). It and several other places.
appears that the two systems are very similar: there The absence of the third
are several points of correspondence, notably in the person singular ending
close vowel area. At the same time, various contrasts {She see me) goes wel I

and points of overlap are predicted, such as bud beyond second-language

being typically pronounced as /bod/ in the West and use, being typical of

as /bad/ in the East. Creole languages

The co-existence of points of similarity and (p. 344) and several
difference allows room for debate over whether we dialects of British and
are dealing here with one variety or two. The American English.

differences seem to be greater than, say, those

distinguishing RP and 'General' American English
(p. 307). On the other hand, phonology alone is not a
sufficient basis for variety identification. A reasonable
decision can be made only when grammatical, lexical,
and discourse variations are also systematically (as
opposed to anecdotally) taken into account. Given
the very large number of variables involved, progress
towards this goal is inevitably going to be long-term.
(After R. Angogo & I. Hancock, 1980.)
 2 • REGIONAL VARIATION

Back to the future world are increasing much more rapidly than are
Although this chapter has ostensibly been about first language users. It is therefore possible that the kinds
regional variation, it has repeatedly had to deal with of changes we see taking place in the outer (and even
social issues. A decade of research in sociolinguistics has the expanding) circle may one day be part of World
now made it clear that only a small part of the world's Standard English.
English language variation can be accounted for purely
in geographical terms. In addition, any social focus on EXTRATERRITORIAL
regional varieties of English makes us re-examine the
Thequestion 'What isyour first language?'
way we think about language in general. In particular, often receives an interesting answer in the
we are forced to question the apparently neat distinc- case of well-known writers. Vladimir

tion between a 'first' and a 'second' language. There are

Nabokov (1 899-1 977) is a case in point. He
was born in Russia, moved to England in
several countries where population movement, lan- 1919, where he studied French and Russian
guage loss, divergent language attitudes, and massive literature, lived in Germany and France
from 1922, andemigrated tothe USA in
shifts in language use have made it difficult to answer
1940. He produced original work and
the question 'What is your first language?' A large translations in Russian, English, German,
number of people can even be described as 'semi- and French. The critic George Steiner sums
upthe 'polylinguistic matrix' of Nabokov's
lingual', with an uncertain command of more than one
life in this way (in Extraterritorial,
language, and unclear as to which of them would best 1972, p. 7):

count as a 'mother tongue'. In multilingual countries, a

the political barbarism of the century made
clear distinction between a first language learned Irom
him an exile, a wanderer, a Hotelmensch,
one's parents and a second language learned in school is not only from his Russian homeland but would indeed be difficult to identify the
often difficult to maintain, as both processes may be from the matchless Russian tongue in which 'firstlanguage' {in the sense of a language
his genius would have found its unforced in which one feels most at home) of the
taking place simultaneously.
idiom... But, whereas so many other mature Nabokov; and there are other
The contemporary approach to regional language language exiles clung desperately to the writers, such as Samuel Beckett, who
variety typifies this direction of thinking. The problem artifice of their native tongue or fell silent, present similar uncertainties. Steiner

for the variety analyst is essentially this: if we encounter

Nabokov moved into successive languages argues that fluent literary bilingual ism in
like a traveling potentate. such languages as Latin or French was in fact
a speaker in some second-language country who uses a common in Western literature until the end
linguistic form (a word, a sound, a grammatical con- Such people, who are uprooted from their of the 18th century. At an everyday level,
mother tongue, 'driven from language to extraterritoriality probably exists to an even
struction) not known in Standard English, how do we
language by social upheaval and war', greater extent in multilingual societies
know that this is a genuine, stable feature of a local vari- Steiner characterizes as 'extraterritorial'. It around the world.
ety and not simply on that speaker's part,
a casual error
because of inadequate knowledge ol English (p. 361)?
One criterion, obviously, will be to see \i other speakers WRITTEN EVIDENCE
use the form, but unless samples are large this does not ah beng is so smart
The literature
eliminate the possibility that they may all be making already he can watch tv & knowthe whole story
of a country
your kim cheong is also quite smart
the same error. A more important criterion will be to often
What boy is he in the exam?
provides early
determine whether the form meets a real need, perhaps this playground is not too bad, but i'm always
evidence of
reflecting some aspect of the speaker's society (such as the way stable
so worried, car here, car there.
at exam time it's worse
ethnic or national identity) which Standard English features are
because you know why?
does not capture. Another will be to see whether it
emerging
in a second-
occurs in more formal contexts, such as the written lan- kim cheong eats very little.
language
guage. Another will be to look at local attitudes to the The
variety. givehimsomecomplan.myah beng was like that, now he's
beginning of
word: if educated speakers in the community take it for different, if you give him anything he's sure to finish itall up.
Arthur Yap's
granted, and use it themselves, it is much more likely to
dialogue sure, sure cheong's father buys him
be a genuine variety feature than if they are conscious of poem '2 vitamins but he keeps it inside his mouth
and stigmatize mothers in a and later gives to the cat.
it it. In each ol these cases, we see the it

hdb play- i scold like mad but what for?

need for a broad sociolinguistic perspective. ground' don't see it how can
if i scold? i

One conclusion is plain, from the work which has (1981)cap-

tures several on Saturday, a new type,
tv showed
been done to date: the answer to the question 'What are
of the fea- why don't you call
special for children,
the constraints governing linguistic variation?' is much tures of Singa- his father buy some? maybe they are better. ..

more complex than was first thought. But at least from porean
English. (After hdb Housing Development Board
these studies it is now much clearer what kinds of con- What boy is he What place did he get
J. Piatt &K.
straint are going to be worth investigating on a large Singh, 1984.) complan a proprietary vitamin supplement [international]
scale. It is an important and exciting question to ask, why don't you call his father buy some? Why don't you ask his father to
buy some?
because in answering it we may be seeing the future of his father your husband
the English language. Second language users in the
 21 SOCIAL VARIATION

Regional langmige variation (§20) provides a geo-

graphical answer to the question 'Where are you U AND NON-U Cycle is non-U
from, in the English-speaking world?" Social lan- against U bike.

guage variation provides an answer somewhat to a

The most famous debate on the English Dinner: U-speakers |

language and social class took place in eat luncheon in

dittcrcnt question: 'Who 'What are you,
are you?' or the 1950s, following the publication of the middle of
in the eyes of the English-speaking society to which an article on the subject by British linguist thedayand
Alan Ross. The article distinguished 'U' c//nnerin the
\ou belong?" Or rather, it provides several possible
(upper-class) usage from 'Non-U' (other evening. Non-
answers, because people acquire several identities as kinds of) usage, in terms of its distinctive U speakers
thcv participate in social structure. They belong to pronunciation, vocabulary, and written (alsoU-children j

language conventions. It was an impres- and U-dogs)

different social groups and perform different social
sionistic but perceptive account, and it have their
roles. A person might be identified as 'a woman', 'a
provoked an enormous public reaction. c//nnerin the
parent", 'a doctor", 'a husband", 'a failure", 'an appren- In 1956 Nancy Mitford edited a collection middle of Nancy Mitford
of light-hearted, satirical essays on the the day.
tice", 'a drop-out", 'a lay reader", 'a political activist", 'a
subject called Noblesse Oblige, which Greens is non-U for U vegetables.
senior citizen", 'a 7/>w« reader", 'a member of the pro- contained Ross's essay and contributions Home: non-U - 'they have a lovely home';
letariat", 'a respected community leader", or in many from herself, Evelyn Waugh, John Betje- U - 'they've a very nice house'.
man, and others. It went through three Ill: 'I was ///on the boat' is non-U against
other ways. Any of these identities can have conse-
printings in a month. Here is Mitford's U sick.
quences for the kind of language we use. Indeed, it is
paraphrase of some of Ross's examples, Mental: non-U for U mad.
usually language - much more so than clothing, one of Osbert Lancaster's cartoons from Toilet paper: non-U for U lavatory paper.

- which is the chief the book, and an endpiece by John Wealthy: non-U for U rich.
furnishing, or other externals
Betjeman.
signal of both permanent and transient aspects of our
social identity.

Certain aspects of social variation seem to be of Modes of address, particularly those used

particular linguistic consequence. Age, sex, and for the nobility, have always been a bugbear
to the non-U.... Letters to ambassadors
socio-economic class have been repeatedly shown to whom one does not know should begin
be of importance when
comes to explaining the
it Dear fxce//ency and the envelope should be
addressed/-/. E. TheP- Ambassador...
way sounds, and vocabulary vary
constructions,
[In] writing letters to noblemen of very high
(pp.341, 350, 363). Choice of occupation has a less rank, the rules laid down in the etiquette-
predictable influence, though in some contexts (such books^ need not always be strictly observed.
world of the law) can be highly distinctive. Thus a Duke addressed by a stranger as Dear
as the it
S/r would not necessarily conclude that his
Adopting a social role (such as chairing a meeting, or correspondent was non-U; he might be a
speaking at a wedding) invariably involves a choice left-wing gentleman with a dislike of duke-

of appropriate linguistic forms. And the presence of doms. (From A. S. C. Ross, 1 956.)

influential public institutions, such as the monarchy, 1 It is, of course, very non-U actually to c ultthe
the established Church, the civil service, broadcast-
ing, and the press, has inevitably given rise to a pop-
ular notion of language authority, which can even
become explicit through an official language policy.
In all of this, attitudes to social variation vary
HOW TO GET ON IN SOCIETY I know what wanted to ask you -
I

Is trifle sufficient for sweet?

widely. All countries display social stratification, for Phone for the fish-knives, Norman,
As Cook unnerved;
is a little Milk and then just as it comes, dear?
example, though some have more clearly-defined
You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes I'm afraid the
class boundaries than others, and thus more identi- And must have things daintily served.
I preserve's full of
fiable features of class dialect. Britain is usually said stones;
Are the requisites all in the toilet? Beg pardon, I'm
to be linguistically much more class-conscious than The frills round the cutlets can wait soiling the doilies
other countries where English is used as a first lan- Till the girl has replenished the cruets With afternoon
guage. A highly valued national literature may iden- And switched on the logs in the grate. tea-cakes and
scones.
tify norms of achievement in language use towards ever so close in the lounge, dear.
It's

which children are taught to aspire. And a particu- But the vestibule's comfy for tea.
And Howard is out riding on horseback
lar set of historical circumstances (such as a strong
So do come and take some with me.
system of privileged education) may make one
country, or section of society, especially sensitive to
Now here is a fork for your pastries
And do use the couch for your feet; Sir John Betjeman
language variation.
 .

;l • SOCIAL VARIATION

point that no accent is immune to change, not even WHO FIRST CALLED IT RP?
REQUIESCAT IN PACE? 'the best'. But the most important observation is The British phonetician Daniel
that RP is no longer as widely used today as it was Jones (p. 239) was the first to

In England, one accent has traditionally stood out 50 years ago. It is still the standard accent of the codify the properties of RP. It was
not a label he much liked, as he
above all others in its ability to convey associations Royal Family, Parliament, the Church of England, explains in /An Outime of English
of respectable social standing and a good educa- the High Courts, and other national institutions; Phonet/cs{1918):

tion. This 'prestige' accent is known as Received but less than 3 per cent of the British people speak Ido not consider it possible at the
Pronunciation, or RP. It is associated with the it in a pure form now. Most educated people have present time to regard any special

where most RP-speakers developed an accent which mixture ofRP and type as 'Standard' or as intrinsically
south-east, live or work, is a
'better' than other types. Never-
but it can be found anywhere in the country. various regional characteristics - 'modified RP', theless, the type described in this
Accents usually tell us where a person is from some call it. In some cases, a former RP speaker has book is certainly a useful one. It is
RP us only about a person's social or been influenced by regional norms; in other cases a based on my own (Southern)
(p. 298); tells
speech, and is, as far as can ascer- I

educational background. former regional speaker has moved in the direction

tain, that generally used by those
The ancestral form of RP was well-established of RP. The 'Estuary English' of the 1990s is a major who have been educated at
'preparatory' boarding schools
over 400 years ago as the accent of the court and trend in this respect (p. 327). Regionally modified
and the 'Public Schools'. ...The
the upper classes. The English courtier George Put- speech is no longer stigmatized, as it was in Victo- term 'Received Pronunciation'. ..is
tenham, writing in 1589, thought that the English rian times; it can be a plus feature, expressing such often used to designate this type
of pronunciation. This term is
'of northern men, whether they be noblemen or virtues as solidarity and 'down-to-earthness'. A
adopted here for want of a better.
gentlemen... is not so courtly or so current as our pure RP accent, by contrast, can evoke hostility or
(1960, gthedn, p. 12)

Southern English Most people anxious for

is'. suspicion, especially in those parts of Britain which
The historical linguist H. C. Wyld
social advancement would move to London and have their own educated regional norms, such as also made much use of the term
adopt the accent they found there - though there Scotland and Wales. 'received' \n A Short History oi
English ([S^ A):
arefamous exceptions, such as Walter Raleigh, who Nonetheless RP retains considerable status. It has
held on to his Devonshire accent. long been the chief accent taught to foreigners who It is proposed to use the term

Rece/ved Standard for that form

In due course, RP came to symbolize a person's wish to learn a British model, and is thus widely
which all would probably agree in
high position in society. During the 19th century, used abroad (by far more people, in fact, than have considering the best, that form
itbecame the accent of the public schools, such as it as a in the UK). This in
mother-tongue accent which has the widest currency and
is heard with practically no varia-
Eton and Harrow, and was soon the main sign that itself somewhat surprising, as RP has several fea-
is
tion among speakers of the better
a speaker had received a good education. It spread tures which add to the difficulty of a foreign class all over the country. (1927,
rapidly throughout the Civil Service of the British learner, compared with some regional accents (no 3rdedn, p. 149)
Empire and the armed forces, and became the /r/ after vowels, several subtly different diphthongs, The previous usage to which Jones
voice of authority and power. Because it was a p. 239). Most learners would find a Scots accent, refers can be traced back to the

regionally 'neutral' accent, and was thought to be for example, much easier to pick up. RP has also dialectologist A. J. Ellis, in On Early
English Pronunc/at/on (1869):
more widely understood than any regional accent, been valuable as a standard for linguistic research,
the present day we may, how-
it came to be adopted by the BBC when radio
In
having received many phonetic and phonological
ever, recognize a received pro-
broadcasting began in the 1920s. During World studies, and for convenience I have used it as the nunciation all over the country . .

War 2, it became linked in many minds with the baseline for comparative judgments in this book. It may be especially considered as

the educated pronunciation of

voice of freedom, and the notion of a 'BBC But the wind of change is blowing down the estu-
the metropolis, of the court, the
pronunciation' grew. aries of the world. As British English becomes pulpit, and the bar. (p. 23)
minor dialect of World English, as
increasingly a
Even then, there were signs of the
The present-day situation new second-language norms of pronunciation future, for he goes on to say:
Today, breakdown of rigid divisions
with the emerge, and as fewer British teachers of English as
But in as much as all these locali-
between social classes and the development of the a foreign language come themselves to speak RP and professions are recruited
ties

mass media, RP is no longer the preserve of a social naturally, it is likely that the special world status from the provinces, there will be a
varied thread of provincial utter-
elite. It is best described as an 'educated' accent - accorded to RP in the past will diminish. It will be
ance running through the whole.
though would be more precise, for there
'accents' fascinating to see whether the Royal Family and the
are several varieties. The most widely used is that British establishment can continue to provide
generally heard on the BBC; but there are also con- enough prestige to the accent to enable it to sur-

servative and trend-setting forms. The former is vive. It is difficult to see what might take its place,
found in many older establishment speakers. The though the British press in 1993 were heralding
latter is usually associated with certain social and Estuary English as a possible claimant (usurper,
professional groups - in particular, the voice of the some would say) to the phonetic throne. Phoneti-
London upwardly mobile (the 'Sloane Rangers') in cians have already observed glottalization (e.g. of
the 1980s. final Id in hot) in the speech of younger members
Early BBC recordings show how much RP has of the Royal Family. To some observers, this is a

altered over just a few decades, and they make the sure sign of the beginning of the end.
 5

PART V • USING ENGLISH

'not English', there is no issue, and the notion of 'incor-

PRESCRIPTIVE ATTITUDES rect' is used happily by both sides. The problem arises

only when educated people do ttotaW use language in

Prescriptivism is the view that one variety of a language the same way, or when one person varies in usage on dif-
has an inherently higher value than others, and that ferent occasions (such as in the case of informal vs
this ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech formal speech). In these circumstances, linguists do not
community. It is an authoritarian view, propounded try to make a value judgment about whether one usage
especially in relation to grammar (p. 1 94) and vocabu- is better than the other. They feel that a notion of abso-

lary, and often with reference to pronunciation lute correctness is inadequate to explain what is hap-
(p. 255). The favoured variety is usually a version of pening in such cases, and work instead with a notion of
the standard written language, especially as encoun- relative appropriateness - the suitability of a usage to a
tered in literature, or in the formal spoken language situation.
which most closely reflects literary style, and it is pre- For example, any survey of the use of contracted
sented in dictionaries, grammars, and other official forms (such as it's, won't) would show that they are
manuals. Those who speak and write in this variety are widely acceptable in informal speech and writing, but
said to be using language 'correctly'; those who do not are generally unacceptable in formal writing. Their
are said to be using it 'incorrectly'. acceptability evidently depends on the context in
The alternative to a prescriptive approach is the which they are used. In answer to the enquiry 'Is it all

descriptive approach associated mainly with modern lin- right to write it'sV a linguist would say 'It depends', and
guistics, and the one represented throughout this book. go on to explain the impression of informality it con-
As the name main aim is to describe and
suggests, its veys, raising the question of whether informality is

explain the patterns of usage which are found in all vari- appropriate to the writing task being undertaken. The
eties of the language, whether they are socially presti- same perspective would apply to other examples of col-
gious or not. The approach also recognizes the fact that loquial pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.
language is always changing, and that there will accord- This position has worried those who are concerned
ingly always be variation in usage. Linguists do not deny with the maintenance of standards of usage. Linguists
the social importance of the standard language, but they have been accused of 'not caring about correctness' and
do not condemn as 'ugly', 'incorrect', or 'illogicaf other of 'getting rid of rules'. Such criticisms they strongly
dialects which do not share the same rules. reject, pointing out that the whole thrust of modern
linguistics has been to clarify questions of grammatical-
Correctness vs appropriateness it)^ and to identify the structure of the rules which this

There is no difference between the two approaches notion involves. And, from a sociolinguistic perspec-
when it comes to evaluating such cases as *langaugeov tive, the privileged place of Standard English also looms
*catthe. As all educated speakers agree that such uses are large - as in the present book.

PRESCRIPTIVE AND PROSCRIPTIVE (NOT) A

IT'S with grammatical case. apostrophe's properly.
LAUGHING MATTER 3 Verbs in any essay has to 14 You shouldn't abbrev.
A distinctionoften drawn between prescriptive rules,
is agree with their subject. 1 Always check to see if
which recommend usages considered to be acceptable, Prescriptive attitudes, 4 It isn't good to be some- you have anything out.
and proscr/pt/Ve rules, which recommend usages to be because of their extremism, one whom people realize 16 Take care to never seri-
avoided ('do's and don'ts'). Popular advertisements for readily lend themselves to confuse who and whom. ouslyand purposefully split
'remedial' coursesstart with the latter and move on to satiricaltreatment. Various 5 Nobody should never use infinitives.
theformer. The proscriptions are typically illustrated in 'rules forwriting good' double negatives. 17 Never idly use a preposi-
a speech bubble which contains several examples of were being circulated 5 A writer should not shift tion toend a sentence with,
usage shibboleths, or in a bold headline warning of among US English depart- your point of view. because that is the kind of
the dangers which will befall you if swift action is not ments in the 1970s. This one 7 When writing, participles thing up with which no
taken immediately. (reprinted in English Today) ought not to be dangled. right-minded person will
istaken from The Leaflet 8 Join clauses good, like a put.

YOUR FRIENDS CAN'T TELL YOU &

(Fall, 1979), the journalof good writer should. 18 In my own personal opin-
the New England Associa- 9 Do not write run-on sen- ion myself thinkthat
I

YOUR BUSINESS ASSOCIATES WON'T

tion of Teachers of English, tences, bad style.
it is authors when they are writ-
identifying contentious 10 Sentence fragments. ing should not persuade
may be
. . . what hampering speech mannerisms issues in grammar, vocabu- Watch out for them. themselvesthat it isall right
financial success lary, punctuation, and dis- 11 In letters themes reports to use too many unnecessary
interfering with your social and
course (see also pp. 78, 194). and the like use commas to words; the reason for this is
separate items in a list. because you should express
1 Every pronoun should 12 If teachers have evertold yourself concisely.
I I [
!
Are you ever caught in mistakes of grammar agree with their you, that you don't put a
or vocabulary? This instantly shatters the antecedent. comma before that, they Some people find lists of this
opinions others may have formed of you 2 People likeyou and I were right. kind very funny. Some do
based on your true capabilities. should have no problems 13 Its essential to use not appreciate the joke.

I
 21 • SOCIAL VARIATION

The concept of 'appropriateness' has itself been

EXPLOSIONS less noxious than autograph-hunters, wished
attaclced, usually on the grounds that it is cor- the world rid of them, and also regretted
However, there a world of Thomas Hardy (p. 88) was one who had no having listened to them as a young man; on
rectness 'in disguise'. is
time for purist critics, especially those who
between the two concepts. In particu- their advice he had cut out from his early
difference attacked his use of dialect words. This is evident
poems dialect-words which possessed no ordi-
lar, appropriateness tries to capture a notion of from the following explosion, reported in
nary English equivalents. And still the critics
William Archer's /?ea/Coni'ersat/ons{ 1904);
naturalness in language use: an appropriate use of were plaguing him. One of them complained
have no sympathy with the criticism which of a line: shape smalled in the distance'.
one which does not draw attention 'his
I

language is to
would treat English as a dead language -a Now, what in the world else could he have
itself does not motivate criticism. Informal lan- thing crystallized at an arbitrarily selected written? Hardy then laughed a little. Once or
guage on a formal occasion is inappropriate stage of its existence, and bidden to forget that twice recently he had looked up a word in the
it has a past and deny that it has a future. dictionary for fear of being again accused of
because it stands out, as does formal language on
Purism, whether in grammar or in vocabulary, coining, and found it there right enough-
an informal occasion. Both regularly attract crit- almost always means ignorance. Language was only to read on and discover that the sole
icism, for this reason: the former is stigmatized in made before grammar, not grammar before authority quoted was himself in a half-
language. forgotten novel!
such terms as 'uneducated' or 'careless'; the latter
And Robert Graves, in Good-6ye to All That Some critics have thought this story to be
as 'talking posh' or 'getting on a high horse'. The (1 929, Ch. 28), reports a nice anecdote about apocryphal, but it could very well be true,

best uses of everyday language, by contrast, are Hardy which raises interesting questions about given that there are over a thousand citations
those which do not draw attention to themselves, the authority of dictionaries (p. 442). from Hardy in the Oxford English Dictionary,
He regarded professional critics as parasites, no many his own coinages.
and where the structures do not get in the way ol
the meaning they are trying to convey. To say that
a usage is 'appropriate' in a situation is only to say
GUILT itself. To speak of, to resort to, are hardly verbs
that it is performing this function satisfactorily. and prepositions, but form in each case almost
In §§201-2 of The Queen's English (1869), one word. But let us go on. 'Where do you
Prescriptive attitudes play an important part in
Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury, tries to be come from?' is the only way of putting that
defining the educatedness of a society, and should judicious in his account of prepositions, but
inquiry. 'Whence come you?' is of course
not be glibly dismissed. In the case of English, finds he cannot escape the metaphor of his
pedantic, though accurate. 'Where are you
own linguistic sinfulness. Feelingsof guilt and
they are the product of over 200 years of social going to?' is exactly like the other questions,
inferiority are indeed the legacy of the pre- but here we usually drop the 'to,' merely
history, and it is probably impossible for anyone scriptive tradition - and not even the best- because the adverb of rest 'where,' has come
to grow up in an English-speaking society with- educated are exempt (p. 79).
to be used for the adverb of motion 'whither,'
out becoming sensitized to some of these atti- There is a peculiar use of prepositions, which is and therefore the 'to' is not wanted. If a man
allowable in moderation, but must not be too chooses, as West-country men mostly do, to
tudes. Even writers who are totally against
often resorted to. It is the placing them at the say 'Where are you going to?' he does not vio-
linguistic pedantry have been known consciously end of a sentence, as have just done in the
I
late propriety, though he does violate custom.

to alter a word order, not because it produces a words 'resorted to;' as is done in the command, ... know, in saying this, that am at variance
I I

'Let not your good be evil spoken of;' and con- with the rules taught at very respectable insti-
better style or clearer meaning, but because they
tinually in our discourse and writing. tutions for enabling young ladies to talk
feel that the result will be less likely to distract The account to be given of this is, that the unlike their elders; but this cannot help; and I I

those among their readers who hold strongly pre- preposition, which the verb usually takes after fear this is an offence of which have been, 1

regarded as forming a part of the word and yet may be, very often guilty.
scriptive views. 'I am not in the business of antag- it. Is

onizing my readers', one such writer said, when

asked why he had moved an only from one sen-
THE ULTIMATE PRESCRIPTIVISM verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds
tence position to another. 'It makes for a quieter of nouns that can begot rid of as well. It isn't
The proposed Eleventh Edition of the only the synonyms; there are also the
life', said a radio announcer, in response to a
Newspeak Dictionary (p. 135) reflects the face antonyms. After all, what justification is there
question about his unnatural non-use of intrusive oftotalitarianprescriptivism.Syme, its editor,
for a word which is simply the opposite of
r(p.245). explainsto Winston:
some other word? A word contains its oppo-
Probably most people hold a mixture of pre- 'The Eleventh Edition is the definitive edition,' site in itself.Take'good', for instance. If you
he said. 'We're getting the language into its have a word like 'good', what need is there for
scriptive and descriptive views. Linguist-parents shape -the shape it's going to have when
final a word like 'bad'? 'Ungood' will do just as well
have been heard telling off their child for using nobody speaks anything else. When we've fin- - better, because it's an exact opposite, which
language they do not like. And prescriptivist- ished with it, people like you will have to learn the other is not. Or again, if you want a
it all over again. You think, daresay, that our I
stronger version of 'good', what sense is there
tourists have been heard admiring the properties chief job inventing new words. But not a bit
is in having a whole string of vague useless
of dialect nonstandard speech. What is often said ofWe're destroying words-scores of them,
it! words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all
to detractmost from the prescriptive cause is the hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting the rest of them? 'Plusgood' covers the mean-
the language down to the bone. The Eleventh ing; or 'doubleplusgood' if you want some-
aggression with which its case is presented. Its
Edition won't contain a single word that will thing stronger still. Of course we use these
language is invariably highly charged (p. 194), become obsolete before the year 2050.' forms already, but in the final version of
using the metaphors of conflict (defending the He bit hungrily into his bread and swal- Newspeak there'll be nothing else. In the end
lowed a couple of mouthfuls, then continued the whole notion of goodness and badness
language, a battle lost), and strongly condemna-
speaking, with a sort of pedant's passion. His will be covered by only six words -in reality,
tory. At such times, the watchword of 'eternal vig- thin dark face had become animated, his eyes only one word. Don't you see the beauty of
ilance' becomes obscured by an apparently eternal had lost their mocking expression and grown that, Winston? It was B.B.'s idea originally, of
almost dreamy. course,' he added as an afterthought. (George
intolerance. It is this, more than anything else,
a beautiful thing, the destruction of
'It's Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, pp. 44-5.)
which has made linguists so critical of the pre- words. Of course the great wastage is in the
scriptive tradition.
 I>ARr \' • USING ENGLISH

GENDER ISSUES NEW PRONOUNS

None of the proposals for a neutral third- CO (cos, coself), E (objective Ir), et (etself),
person pronoun has attracted much heesh, hesh, hir, hirm, hizer, ho, jhe /^i:/,
Some of the most important linguistic changes affecting
support, though some have had a lease of mon, na, ne, person (in short, per), po, tey,
English since the 960s havearisen from the way societ)'
1
life in novels and communes. thon (thons, thonself), xe /Jei/
has come to look differently at the practices and conse-
quences of sexism (p. 177). There is now a widespread
awareness, which was lacking a generation ago, of the
DISCOURSE PATTERNS
wav in which language covertly displays social attitudes

towards men and women. The criticisms have been There is much more to
sexistlanguage than
mainly directed at the biases built into English vocabu- and
single lexical items
larv and grammar which reflect a traditionally male- isolated grammatical
constructions. It involves
orientated view ofthe world, and which have been inter-
such considerations as
preted as reinforcing the low status of women in societ)'.
order of mention (*/ now
All of the main European languages have been affected, pronounce you wife and
hut English more than most, because ofthe early impact man) and worthiness of
mention (*Five people
ot the feminist movement in the USA. were involved in the
In vocabular)', attention has been focused on the incident, including two
replacement of "male' words with a generic meaning by men). And analysis may
reveal a whole framework
neutral items - chairman, for example, becoming chair
of thought and belief in

or chairperson (though not without controversy), or operation, often so deep-

rooted that it remains
salesman becoming sales assistant. In certain cases, such
unquestioned by females
as job descriptions, the use of sexually neutral language and males alike.
has become a legal requirement. There is continuing This last prospectis most

how far clearlydemonstrated in

debate between extremists and moderates as to
the language of religion,
such revisions should go - whether they should affect where a male-dominated
traditional idioms such as man in the street and Nean- conception of God has
derthal Man, or apply to parts of words where the male been handed down from
patriarchal times. Along
meaning of man is no longer dominant, such as nian- with it has come the
handleind woman. The vocabulary of marital status has attributes which are
stereotypically associated
also been affected — notably in the introduction of A/jas
with men, such as
,t neutral alternative to Miss or Airs. toughness, coolness, and
In grammar, the focus has been on the lack of a sex- authority. Missing are
- attributes such as caring and weeping. God, it seems, could not possibly cry for a lost
neutral third-person singular pronoun in English a
creation.
gap which becomes a problem after sex-neutral nouns British hymn has attempted to subvert some of these
writer and minister Brian Wren
(such as student) or indefinite pronouns (such as some- traditional attitudes by inverting them. 'Bring many Names' (1989) is one of his hymns in

body). The difficulty can be seen in the following sen- which the words reverse the expected stereotypes and introduce fresh resonances and
collocations (p. 160).
tence, where the blanks would traditionally be filled by
the pronouns Ac or his:

Bring many names, beautiful and good; Old, aching God, grey with endless care,
If- a student loses - key, - should report the loss to the
parable and calmly piercing evil's new disguises,
celebrate, in story,
bursar. holiness in glory, glad of good surprises,
living, loving God. wiser than despair:
To avoid the male bias, various alternatives have been Hail and Hosanna, Hail and Hosanna,
suggested, but all have their critics. He or shear she or he bring many names! old, aching God!

is sometimes used, but this is often felt to be stylistically Strong mother God, working night and Young, growing God, eager still to know,
awkward. In writing, forms such as (s)he ca.n be conve- day, willing to be changed by what you've
planning all the wonders of creation, started,
nient, but this device does not help with his or him. In
setting each equation, quick to be delighted,
informal speech, they is widespread after such words as genius at play: singing as you go:
anyone, but this usage attracts criticism from those who Hail and Hosanna, Hail and Hosanna, ^^
strong mother God! young, growing God!
feel that a plural word should not be made to refer back
to a singular one (p. 221). Many writers therefore Warm father God, hugging every child, Great, living God, never fully known,
choose to recast their sentence structure to avoid the feeling all the strains of human living, joyful darkness far beyond our seeing,
caring and forgiving closer yet than breathing,
problem, for example by turning the singular noun into
till we're reconciled: everlasting home:
a plural {Ifstudents lose their key . . .). A radical solution, and Hosanna,
Hail Hail and Hosanna,
so far unsuccessful, is to invent a completely new pro- warm father God! great, living God!

noun to act as a neutral third person.

 . .

21 • SOCIAL VARIATION

THE SPEED OF CHANGE EDITING LANGUAGE CHANGE |

Before 1978

Several studies suggest that

editorial policy is an important
The linguistic effect of these changes in social attitudes
element in languagechange. An
has been far more noticeable in writing than in speech example isthe way newspapers
- and in certain kinds of writing, in particular. One refer to people by name. If the
headline were Jane/John Smith
study (R. L. Cooper, 1984) compared the frequency
what would the next
fights bacl(,
with which such forms as Ac and ma)i were used in half reference to the person be? There
a million words of American English between 1971 are five possibilities.

and 1 979: the frequency fell from around 1 2 per 5,000

words to around 4 per 5,000 words during that period. • It could use a title: MslMisslMrslMr
Smith said...
Women's magazines showed the steepest decline, fol-
• Itcould bebytheirfirst name:
lowed by science magazines, with newspapers further Jane/John said...
behind, and congressional records last of all. The trend • It could be by the last name: Smith

said.
is likely to continue, and become more pervasive. Pub- .

• It could repeat the whole name:

lishing companies now usually issue guidelines recom- Jane/John Smith said. .

mending that authors should avoid sexist language, as • It could be by a replacement

phrase, such as a description or a

do several national bodies.
nickname: The tall auburn-haired
It will take much longer before we can say whether
doctorsaid...
Last name Title (First name) First name
these changes are having any real impact on the spoken Last name (Last name)
language, with its greater spontaneity. There are con-

scious controls available for the written language A study of usage over a 20-year period the subject of an explicit rule: the use of a
(1966-86) in TheNew York T/mesand The middle initial in a person's name. Prominent
(drafting, re-reading, editing) which are not options in Washington Post saw an important change American men are typically identified, on
the rush of conversational speech (p. 291). No one in editorial practice. In1978, The firstreference, by a full name including a
Washington Post style manual decided that middle initial; this is much less likely with
knows how long it takes for spoken language to respond
last names alone were to be used as the prominent women. The use of the initial
to fresh social pressures so that a new usage becomes second reference for both men and women evidently makes an impression of
automatic throughout a community. There are no -the third option above. Previously, the use importance: James H. Smith sounds more
of titles had been by far the commonest authoritative than James Smith. However,
precedents for the amount of public attention which
wayof referring to women. However, after after the publication of the style manual
has been paid to this area of usage, and it is therefore not 1 978 titled forms totally disappear from the the use of middle initials became more
possible to extrapolate from previous experience of newspaper. The effect of the new policy was equal, even though there was no general
immediate. (After R.Fasold, 1987.) policy drawing attention to it. As reporters
language change. But it is certainly unusual to find a
Style manuals do not cover everything, but and editors are unlikely to be conscious of
change of such magnitude (affecting an area of gram- only what their authors perceive to be the the sociolinguistic significance of this minor
mar, such as the pronoun system) making itself mani- most important patterns. Would a change feature of usage, the fact that they changed
in editorial policy such as the above have an their practices suggests that language
fest in written language to such an extent within a
effect on areas of usage that were not planning policy decisions can have a general
generation. Until the 1960s, after all, the pronoun mentioned in the manual? One study effect on language awareness. (After R.
system had changed little since Middle English. examined a minor pattern which was not Fasold, eta/., 1990.)

GUIDELINES FOR NONSEXIST USAGE modification can signal a general presupposition well as sexist bias, e.g. All the boys kissed Mary.
that referents will be of the other sex (lady • Avoid peopling your examples exclusively with
Many organizations now issue guidelines to their professor, male secretary), and thus that these one sex.

staff on how to avoid sexist language. The referents are aberrant; and conventionalized
following points are adapted from the set of gender-marking 'naturalizes' the presumptive or
recommendations issued in 1992 to its members unmarked sex of the noun's referents
by one organization which ought to be among (stewardess, cleaning lady).
the best-informed on these matters: the Linguistic • Use parallel forms of reference for
Society of America. Of particular interest is the men, e.g. do not cite a male scholar by surname
way sexist considerations can enter into the use only and a female scholar by first
of linguistic examples. surname.
• Avoid gender stereotyped or demeaning
• Avoid so-called masculine generics such as the characterizations, e.g. presenting
pronoun he with sex-indefinite antecedents or and women as passive recipients of others'
man and its compounds (except in unambiguous actions. Men are frequently the agents, women
reference to males). the recipients, of violent acts. recommend We
• Avoid using genuine generics as if they referred that the portrayal of violent acts be avoided
• Avoid consistently putting reference to males
before reference to females. Not only does this
order convey male precedence, in English it will
put males in subject position and women in
women and object position.
• Avoid sexist (or otherwise derogatory) content
name plus in examples (e.g. The man who beats his mistress
will regret it sooner than the man who beats his
wife).
men as actors • Ask yourself whether you have remembered to
cite oracknowledge women as well as men
whose own research is relevant or whose
comments may have helped you. Given
traditional views of men's and women's place in

only to males (e.g. Americans use lots of altogether, regardless of the sex or species of the intellectual endeavour, there is a danger that
obscenities but not around women). participants. ideas advanced by by men
women and adopted
•Avoid adding modifiers or suffixes to nouns to The verb kiss is sometimes employed as an will be remembered as having originated with
mark sex of referents unnecessarily. Such usage alternative to verbs which refer to more violent men, and that more generally women's
promotes continued sexual stereotyping in one of acts; this use, combined with sexist practices in intellectual contributions will tend to be

two ways: by highlighting referent sex. naming participants, results in heterosexist bias as underestimated.
 PART V • USINt; ENGLISH

OCCUPATIONAL VARIETIES LEXICAL IDENTITY bind To hire.

A fissure in the roof, floor, or side
fa/oi/ver

The term 'occupational dialect' has long been used

At its simplest, an occupation can be of a mine, from which a feeder of
identified solely by its lexicon (p. 174), as inflammable air discharges,
lor the distinctive language associated with a partic- can be seen from this selection of words bo//A coal measure. The coal boll
ular way of earning a living. However, such varieties todo with coal mining, collected in 1849. contains 9678.8 cubic inches.
The list shows how an occupational lexi- cage Aframeof iron which works
are not like regional or class dialects. Features of lan-
con is a product of its time: many of the between slides in a shaft,
guage which identify our geographical or social ori- items are no longer current. It also illus- cash A soft band.
gins, once established, tend not to vary, unless trates the way the dimension of occupa- cathead An ironstone ball.
tional distinctiveness interacts with other chaldron The Newcastle chaldron is a
affected by major currents of language change
dimensions of language use. The anony- measure containing 53 cwt. of coals.
(p. 298). It is very difficult, after moving from one mous author calls his collection 'A glossary changer and grather A man whose
part oi a country to another, to change our accent of terms used in the coal trade of province is to keep the buckets in order,
Northumberland and and to change them when necessary.
or dialect so as to identify with our new neighbours;
Durham', suggesting thereby
and, should we wish to do so, it is even more diffi- is an industry whose
that this
cult to change the linguistic indicators of our social vocabulary is prone to
regional variation,
background (p. 364).
Occupational varieties of language are not like barrow-way The way along
which the barrow-men
that. Their linguistic features may be just as dis-
put the corves or tubs of
tinctive as regional or class features, but they are ccals.

only in temporary use. They are 'part of the job' - beans A description of
small coals, so called from
taken up as we begin work, and put down as we end their size.
The
it. notion, of course, has to allow for people beater An iron rod, used

who are 'always on the job' — whose work is so much forstemming or

tamping a hole,
a part of their personality that it permanently influ-
preparatory to blasting.
ences their behaviour, linguistically as well as

socially. Several of Dickens's characters (p. 89), lor

The notion of occupational variety is not 'member of the Boy Scouts of America' has
example, lall into this and it is their
category,
restricted to paid employment: it also to be used as a heading. The Language of
propensity to act in this way which is part of his includes sports, games, hobbies, character- Scout/ng (1 981 ) explicitly points out that a
satire. But mostly, when we stop work, we stop using building, and other types of group activity. BoyScout essentially a youth member of a
is

Hierarchy is implicit in all occupational Boy Scout troop, and that on second refer-
the language of work. To do otherwise (at a party,
groups (in such notions as trainer vs trainee ence or in informal use the term Scout
lor instance) usually carries with it an apology - tor or authority vs neophyte), and this is remains its synonym. Boy in this context is
'talking shop'. reflected the lexicon (p. 1 1 8), as can be
in also semantically more restricted than usual,
seen in this diagram listing the terms for as all the four lowest age groups have only
Any domain could be used to illustrate occupa-
non-adult membersof the international boys as members. The reason is historical:
tional linguistic distinctiveness, or identity. There scout and guide movement in the early boy scouts was the name used forthe origi-
are no class distinctions here. Factory workers have 1980s, Age divisions are approximate. nal group in US scouting in 1910, and when
Regional dialect variation is apparent. groups for younger and older boys were
to master an array of technical terms and adminis-
There is an interesting lexical gap in the added, the name of this first age-group was
trative vocabulary (safety regulations, seniority third column, where a paraphrase such as kept. (After S. Jacobson, 1 985.)
labels, trade union guidelines) in order to carry out
their tasks, and in so doing they develop slang and
jargon which set them apart from outsiders. The
more specialized the occupation, and the more
senior or professional the post, the more technical
the language is likely to be. Also, the more an occu-
pation is part of a long-established tradition, the
more it is likely to have accreted linguistic rituals
which its members accept as a criterion of perfor-
mance. The highly distinctive languages of religion,
the law, and central government provide the clear-
est cases, with grammar, vocabulary, and patterns of
discourse affected in far-reaching ways. However, all

occupations are linguistically distinctive to some

degree, even if all that is involved is a few items of
specialized vocabulary. The following pages illus-

trate the range ol distinctiveness which can be

found, and presents some of the issues raised by
different kinds ot occupational language use.
 :
1 • SOCIAL VA R AT O N I I

guages). People set great store by the accurate and

RELIGIOUS ENGLISH acceptable transmission of their beliefs. Only legal

English (p. 374) resembles it in the way texts are sub-

By contrast with the lexically distinctive uses of jected to disciplined and periodic reinterpretation.
• It is consciously prescriptive, concerned with issues
English shown on the opposite page, religious belief
fosters a variety in which all aspects of structure are of orthodoxy and identity, both textual and ritual.
implicated. There is a unique phonological identity in This is a reflex of English-language religious history
such genres spoken prayers, sermons, chants, and
as since the Reformation.

litanies, including the unusual case of unison speech • It is consciously imaginative and exploratory, as

297). Graphological identity is found in liturgical people make their personal response to the claims of
(p.

leaflets, catechisms, biblical texts, and many other reli- religious belief These responses range from the highly
gious publications. There is a strong grammatical structured to the totally unpredictable, and from the

identity in invocations, prayers, blessings, and other voluble to the silent. The contrasts can be seen in the

ritual forms, both public and private. An obvious tightly structured unison responses of the Roman
lexical identity pervades formal articles of faith and Catholic Mass, the spontaneous loudness of a pente-

scriptural texts, with the lexicon of doctrine informing costal celebration, and the quiet and meditative atmo-
the whole of religious expression. And there is a sphere of a Quaker meeting for worship, fuelled by

highly distinctive discourse identity in such domains as their founder's admonition: "let your words be few'.

liturgical services, preaching, and rites of passage

Commentators on style often point to similarities
(e.g. baptisms, weddings, funerals).
between religious and legal English - notably in the
Religious English, in short, is probably the most
way historical tradition has sanctioned the use of
distinctive of all occupational varieties. There are
archaism (p. 185) and ritual dialogue. But the mix of
three main reasons.
historical and contemporary factors which is found in

• It is consciously retrospective, in the way it con- religion produces an occupational variety that has far

stantly harks back to its origins, and thus to earlier more formally identifiable subvarieties than any other

periods of the English language (or of other lan- use of English.

Keep your hand God's hand

THE SOUND AND THE FURY in
And your eyes on in glory the starposts
Lord said he would fight your battles
Because of the distinctive character of
If you'd only be still
religious language, and its important place in
You may not be a florist
the history of English, features of this variety
have been illustrated in other sections of this
Am I right about it?

But you must tell them, that He's the Rose of Sharon
book: biblical translation (pp. 59, 64),
/know that's right
theological language (p. 403), prayers
You may not be a geologist
(p. 163),and hymns (p. 368). A further genre
But you must tell them, that he's the Rock of Ages
which is highly distinctive, especially in its
/know that's right
prosody (p. 248) and use of formulae, is the
You may not be a physician
highly rhetorical, spontaneously composed
But you must tell them, that He's the great Physician
sermon, heard especially in black Baptist
You may not be a baker
communities within the USA.
But you must tell them, that He's the Bread of Life
The extract from one such sermon, given by
the Rev. D. J. McDowell in 1967, shows the
Am I right about it?

You must tell them

oral formulaic character of this genre. There
That He's a friend
are in fact two main types of formula
That stick close t'his brother
illustrated: quotations (shown in bold) and
He said, 'I'll not cast ya out
the preacher's own verbatim expressions
In the sixth hour, and In the seventh hour
(shown in italics). This preacher has an
didn't know was turnin' ya out'
I

especially repetitive style: the phrase The

I

If y'keep your hand in God's hand.

Christof the Bible is used 24 times
throughout, and Am right about it 1 5 times
I

- frequent indeed, given that the text of the

whole sermon, in this transcription, is only A musical transcription P i
350 lines long. of a fragment from this wyj-
The transcription makes use of line breaks genre of sermon,
r r r "^^"^v

which convey the strongly metrical character showing the wide pitch
of the rhythm. It does however exclude the range (p. 248) used by
continuous vocal reactions of the emotionally the preacher. With such
charged congregation. A famous literary
example of this genre is to be found in
William Faulkner's novel. The Sound and the
fury (1946, pp. 310-13). (After B. A.
intonational
movement, the speech
is almost better

described as chant or
I:-") r
When you
r [•

get
r r r
rea - dy to
r
leave
r r
the hall
J ^
breth-rens
Rosenberg, 1970.) song.
 5 1

PARI' V USING ENGLISH

vocabulai}' (p. 119), and no one understands more PARTIALLY

SClllN llrlC LNGLISH than a fragment of it. But this situation should not DISASSEMBLE...
lead us to ignore the grammatical features of scien- A particularly important
aspect of scientific and tech-
First impressions of the language of science are that tific expression. It is possible to grasp the vocabulary
nological language is the
its distinctiveness lies in its lexicon. The sheer quan- of an area of scientific enquiry, yet still have a major subject-neutral vocabulary
tit}' of technical terms makes this unavoidable: scien- difficulty in comprehension because of the way the which cuts across different
specialized domains. In par-
tific nomenclature comprises most of the English sentences and discourse have been structured.
ticular, a great deal of scien-
tific work involves giving
DIAGNOSING PLANTS avoiding the use of the same name for different plants or instrurtions to act in a certain
groups. Latin is the accepted official language of botanical way, or reporting on the con-
The bulk of English scientific vocabulary stems from the mil- nomenclature. Aswith other biological areas, the name of a sequences of having so acted.
lions of nameable entities the field of biology, and the vari-
in species is a binary combination of the generic name plus a dis- Several lexical categories can
ous branches of have evolved codes of practice to
this science tinguishing epithet, such asFatsiajaponica. However, a large be identified within the 'lan-
promote naming consistency. For example, the International number of terms have come into English as part of a plant's guage' of scientific instruc-
Code of Botanical Nomenclature (first published as such in description (an account of its habit, morphology, and period- tion and narrative.
1 952) presents practitioners of this subject with a series of and diagnosis (an account of its defining features). The
icity) • Verbs of expos/f/on: ascer-
principles, stressing the importance of having only one offi- figure shows one such set: the chief terms used for describing tain, assume, compare, con-
cial nameforeach type of plant or taxonomic group and leaf shapes. (After D.GIedhill, 1989.) struct, describe, determine,
estimate, examine, explain,
label, plot, record, test,
verify
• Verbs of warning and
advising: avoid, check,
ensure, notice, prevent,
remember, take care; also
several negative items: not
drop, not spill.

• Verbs of manipulation:
adjust, align, assemble,
{b) pedate (c) pinnate (d) peltate (e) ternate (f) hastate (g) spathulate (h) sagittate (i) amplextcaui cordate
(j)
begin, boil, clamp, connect,
cover, decrease, dilute,
extract, fill, immerse, mix,
SOME GRAMMATICAL FEATURES OF SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH prepare, release, rotate,
The extract below is from an arti- (see Part III for terminology), as There are 2 sentences,1 parent removable alignment switch on, take, weigh
chosen
cle in neurolinguistics, well as some lexical characteris- with a mean of 22.2 words, grid for drawing external land- • Adjectival modifiers (and
because its subject-matter is to tics (abbreviations, numerals. Sentences range from 8 to 50 marks on the skin. their related adverbs): care-
do with language (and thus of special symbols, etc.). The style is words, • There is a compactness of ful(ly), clockwise, continu-
relevance to the present book) lexically quite dense: 62 percent • The extract begins with uve, structure, illustrated by the use ous(ly), final(ly), gradual(ly),

at a point where the issues are of the words are lexical (mea- but this is anomalous within the of parentheses, and the descrip- moderate(ly), periodic(ally),
anatomical and technological sured, regional, CBF, etc.), and article as a whole, which uses an tive succinctness of the third secure(ly), subsequent(ly),

(and thus unfamiliartoall, bar only 38 per cent are grammati- impersonal style in over 99 per sentence. vertical(ly)

specialists). It is also selected as cal {we, the, during, etc.). (Com cent of its clauses. The norm • There are no features of nar-
an example of international sci- pare the much lower figure for here the passive, used in two-
is rative style, such as sentence-
entific English (its authors are the extract on p. 373.) Figure 1 thirds of the sentences - a connecting items (e.g.
French), processed in an English- (not shown here) presents visu- widely-quoted stereotype of however, secondly). The logic
language journal, and thus likely the information in the
ally scientific English syntax (p. 225, governing the order of topics is
to avoid stylistic idiosyncrasy. second half of the paragraph. but see facing page for another not supported by linguistic
The paragraph illustrates sev- view). sequencing features (apart
eralfeaturestypicalof the • The style is fairly typical of • Noun phrases with complex from the anaphoric use of the,
grammar of scientific English academic scientific writing. structure are usual, as in a trans- p. 223).

CBF Measurement ing of the head was obtained using a for the cortical rim, and as the left and
We measured the regional CBF during transparent removable alignment grid right lenticular and thalamussubcortical
each of the experimental conditions, on for drawing external landmarks on the regions. The two regions in the OM + 9 cm This photograph gives an
the same day, with a 60-75 min interval skin. Mean CBF was calculated in 20 slice were labelled as left and right supe- indication of what the article
between measurements. The CBF was regions of interest (ROI) by means of pre- rior frontal-parietal regions. isabout. Itisa mapof the
assessed using a single photon tomo- definite templates based on anatomical (From P Celcis, eta/., 1991, p. 256.) cerebral blood flow (CBF)
graph (TOMOMATIC 64, Medimatic, considerations, whose sizeand localiza- seen during a brain scan of
Copenhagen) and intravenous injection tion were adapted to each subject using a one of the subjects in the
of Xenon 1 33 (2200 MBeq). Data were col- custom-made interactive software on a study. We are looking down
lected from three transverse slices, each of Macintosh microcomputer with colour
II on the subject, with the front
2 cm thickness, parallel and centred at 1 , monitor. The 20 regions are illustrated in of the head at the top. The.
and 9 cm above the orbito-meatal plane Fig. 1 The two regions in slice 1 (OM +
. subject was being asked to
respectively. The in-plane resolution was cm) corresponded to the left and right remember a series of words
about 1.7 cm FWHM. During the 4 min cerebellum. The 16 regions of the mid slice presented in a list. The map
data collection PCO2 was continuously (OM 5) were labelled as the left and
-I- clearly shows the extra
monitored using a cutaneous electrode right medial-frontal, anterior-middle activity of several regions of
and a Kontron 634 PCO2 monitor The CBF frontal, posterior-inferior frontal, supe- the left hemisphere,
was calculated according to the Celciset rior-middle temporal, posterior tempo- indicating its special role in
a/. (1 981) algorithm. Correct reposition- ral-occipital, and medial occipital regions verbal memory tasks.
 SOCIAL VARIATION

relevance to millions. When scientific narrative is pre-

CLARIFYING CLARITY sented to the general public by professional scientists

it is widely criticized for opaqueness and impenetrab
When less usual patterns of grammatical structure ity. The persistence of this problem has led to various

combine with a high proportion of technical vocabu- remedial measures, in the form of science journalism,

lary, as is often the case in occupational varieties of general reference books (such as this encyclopedia),

English, the result is a sharp increase in comprehension and communication-aware organizations (such as the
difficulty. This is seen most commonly with the lan- Media Resource Service, launched in London in
guage of science, because the breadth of scientific 1985). But, from time to time, science regularly sur-
enquiry, with its applications in such domains as prises everyone by producing acclaimed exceptions

medicine and engineering, makes its concerns of daily of its own. Stephen Hawking

• Clauses have short subjects, with most of the precede new ones (in certain packets that he called
TIME UNRAVELLING
information left until afterthe verb. Such sentences quanta).
much easierto understand than the alternative. • The passive construction (p. 225) is usually con-
One of the best-sel ling scientific books of the 1 980s are
Compare a recast version of the first sentence demned in scientific writing, but 1 7 per cent of the
wasStephen Hawking'sABhefHistoryofTime,
below: The observed rate of emission of radiation verb phrases chapter are passive (e.g. were
in this
which was widely commended for the clarity with
which it expounded fundamental ideas in 20th- from hot bodies is very well explained by the quan- not realized). The passive can evidently be a helpful
century physics. One reader commented; feel 'I tum hypothesis. way of ensuring a smooth flow of ideas, and is
nearerto understanding these matters now than I
• Points of contrast are rhetorically balanced, using important in allowing objects to receive promi-
ever thought would'. Another said: still haven't
I
'I such devices as the more. the less (see // below).
. .
nence within clause structure (Some of the waves of
fully grasped it, but feel it's my fault rather than
I
•Over half the noun phrases consist of a simple light will be scattered. ..).
his'.So what is it that makes scientific material, determiner plus noun (e.g. the particle) or a pro-
noun alone. There are no strings of the type low- Lexical density
although challenging in content, seem easy to read?
• The number of items with 'full' lexical meaning (as
The answer lies in its grammatical and discourse background, high-sensitivity neutron detectors, as
structure. A linguistic analysis by Helen Jenkins of there are in the article illustrated opposite. opposed to grammatical words and other 'empty'
number of • The other noun phrases are also uncomplicated, forms, 372) is relatively low: 48 percent of all
p.
Chapter 4 of the book brought to light a
showing Hawk- typically either compounds (quantum mechanics, X words the chapter There are few lexically dense
in
central features of textual structure
rays) or using nontechnical modifiers (a fundamen- sentences (as in the first sentence below), and many
ing's ability to present his argument transparently
and coherently, distributing its information content tal, inescapable property of the world). which are lexically light (as in the last). In the extract
Knowledge of technical terms is not presupposed. opposite, the proportion is much higher.
in ways which make it seem accessible and
•

introducing new terms, familiar notions tend to (After H.R.Jenkins, 1992.)

digestible. Herearesomeof them. (A comparison In

should be made with the science text on the facing

page.) Connective Subject (Theme) Predicate

Discourse structure The quantum hypothesis explained the observed rate of emission of
• There is a balance between abstract and concrete radiation from hot bodies very well,
points. General discussion alternates with accounts but its implications for determinism were not realized until 1926,
of experiments. when another German scientist,
• The problems are explained as they arose over Werner Heisenberg formulated his famous uncertainty principle,
time. We are told how the thinking developed, and predict the future position and velocity of a
seem to learn along with the author particle
• The text is visually manageable: Chapter 4 consists has to be able to measure its present position
of 14 paragraphs, ranging in length from 3 to no and velocity accurately,
more than 1 2 sentences. The obvious way to do this is to shine light on the particle,
• Most paragraphs begin with a general thematic Some of the waves of light will be scattered by the particle
point, and later sentences elaborate. The theme of and this will indicate its position,

the next paragraph then derives from the previous However, willnot be able to determine the position of
one's elaboration. the particle more accurately than the dis-
• The same tendency seen in sentences: a new ele-
is tance between the wave crests of light,
ment at the end of one sentence is often picked up needs to use light of a short wavelength
as a given element at the beginning of the next (see in order to measure the position of the particle precisely,
below:... one quantum. This quantum ...) Now, by Planck's quantum hypothesis, one cannot use an arbitrarily small amount of
• The relationsbetween sentences and clauses are light;

often made explicit through the use of connectives one has to use at least one quantum,
{now, however, so, etc.). Two out of five sentences This quantum will disturb the particle and change its veloc-
are linked way.
in this ity in a way that cannot be predicted.
• Two out of three sentences have a cross-reference the more accurately one measures
back to a preceding sentence or clause (as in the the position // the shorter the
repeated use of the part/c/e below). This makes it wavelength of the light that
clear that a given topic is still being discussed, and one needs
reduces the scope for vagueness. // the higher the energy of a
single quantum.
Sentence structure So the velocity of the particle will be disturbed by a larger amount.
'

• Chapter 4 has 2,796 words in 1 1 sentences, a mean in other words. the more accurately you try to
of 25.2. Sentences range from 7 to 52 words. This is measure the position of the particle,
typical of academic writing. The text on the facing // the less accurately you can measure

page has in fact a shorter sentence mean. The clarity its speed,
does not reside here. //vice versa.
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

rtcxible enough to adapt to new social situations. FOR ETERNITY

LEGAL ENGLISH Above all, they have to be expressed in such a way that
people can be certain about the intention of the law
Legal language has a great deal in common with the respecting their rights and duties. No other variety of
two varieties already reviewed in this section. It language has to carry such a responsibility.
shares with science (p. 372) a concern for coherence That is why legal language has developed such a
and precision; and it shares with religion (p. 371) a complex grammatical structure. It has lengthy sen-
respect for ritual and historical tradition. It also tences, because it tries to integrate several relevant
shares in the criticisms which these other varieties issues in a single statement. It is repetitive, because it

attract: like science, it is cautioned for its impenetra- needs to make clear whether a new point applies to
bility; like religion, it is thought wilful in its mys- everything which has previously been said or just to a
tique.Any campaign for Plain English (p. 176) will part of it. It goes in for coordinated phrases and long SirWilliam Blackstone
find much of its fuel here. lists of items {debts, dues, bills, accounts, reckonings. .
.), (1723-80), whose
The goal of a simplified, universally intelligible in order to reduce the uncertainty about whether the Commentaries on the Laws of
England {MbS-'i) was the
legal English has an undeniable appeal, but it has to law applies in a particular case. first comprehensive
be pursued wisely if the results are not to raise more Legal language depends a great deal on a fairly description of the principles
problems than they solve. A blanket condemnation of small set of grammatical and lexical features. For
of English law.Two of his
observations place the scope
legal language is naive, in that it fails to appreciate example, modal verbs (e.g. must, shall may, p. 212) of legal language in its
what such language has do if it is to function effi-
to distinguish between obligation and discretion. Pro- proper perspective.
ciently in the service ol the community. Equally, there nouns (e.g. all whoever) and generic nouns (hyper-
An Act of Parliament is the
are no grounds for blanket acceptance. nyms, e.g. vehicle, person, p. 166) help to foster a law's exercise of the highest
general applicability. Certainty can be promoted bv authority that this kingdom
Some functions of legal language acknowledges on earth. It
explicitly listing specific items (hyponyms): if a law
hath power to bind every
Legal language is always being pulled in different concerns a particular category (such as birds), then its
subject in the land, and the
directions. Its statements have to be so phrased that provisions may need to say what counts as a member dominions thereunto
we can see their general applicability, yet be specific of that category (does bird'mdudt belonging: nay, even the King
ostrich, which does
himself if particularly named
enough to apply to individual circumstances. They not fly?). More than any other variety, legal language therein. And it cannot be
have to be stable enough to stand the test of time, so has to impose order on the fuzziness of the English altered, amended, dispensed
that cases will be treated consistently with, suspended or repealed,
and fairly, yet lexicon (p. 169).
but in the same forms and by
the same authority of
WORD-LAW spoken or written decisions which A fundamental distinction separates parliament.
judges make about individual cases. the language of the legislature -the
Legal English has several subvarieties, There is the spoken language of the body (such as Parliament or Congress) What is generally
reflecting its different roles. For courtroom, with the ritual courtesies of which institutes a legal text -and the denominated legal language
example, there is the language of legal judges, counsel, and court officials, and language of the judiciary -the body is realitya meretechnical
in
documents, such as contracts, deeds, the constraints governing what counts (the law courts and judges) which language, calculated for
insurance policies, wills, and many as evidence, and what may or may not interprets and applies that text. A eternal duration and easy to
kinds of regulation. There is the be said. Legal language is unique in the pivotal role is played by the set of be apprehended both in
language of works of legal reference, way its utterances are subject to constitutional statements, statutes present and future times; and
with their complex apparatus of sanctions, such as a fine or and other documents which
(Acts), on those accounts best suited
footnotes and indexing. There is the imprisonment for linguistic contempt come from the legislature. In these to preserve those memorials
language of case law, made up of the of court. cases, the words, literally, are law. which are intended for
perpetual rules of action.
Constitution of the United States (1787)

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I

Section 7 - All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which sh.i
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. • • •

[and one of the amendments proposed by Congress in 1 789]

Article [V]
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indict-
ment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service
in time ot War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be rwice put in jeopard\
of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just
compensation.
 21 • SOCIAL VARIATION

much ot the distinctive structure of legal language. MUCH OBLIGED

PRECISION AND TRADITION But not everything in legal English can be given a
The parodists have had a field
functional justification. A great deal of its stylistic day with legal language. Here
The need for precision accounts for a great deal of the idiosyncrasy, its distance from everyday usage, can be are three of their offerings,
the first a piece of dictation by
character of legal language — though ironically the explained only with reference to its origins. The use
Groucho IVIarx.
concept of precision is not itself especially precise; of legal varieties of Latin and French, after the
rather it is, according to David Mellinkoff 'loose as Norman Conquest (p. 30), introduced a major bar-
water' [The Language of the Law, p. 295). As a theo- rier between the professional lawyer and the ordinary
retical aim, its importance is undisputed, because of person; and when English eventually became the offi-

the demands which legal language has to meet. A cial language of the law in Britain, in the 17th cen-
comment from a 19th-century jurist, James Stephen, tury, a vast amount of earlier vocabulary had already
is often quoted, in this respect: become fixed in legal usage. The reliance on Latin
phrasing {mens rea, ab initio, certiorari) and French
it is not enough to attain a degree of precision which a loanwords (lien, plaintiff, tort) was supplemented by
person reading in good faith can understand, but it is nec- ceremonial phrasing {signed, sealed, and delivered),

essary to attain if possible to a degree of precision which a conventional terminology {alibi, negotiable instru- Gentlemen?
In re yours of the 5th inst.
person reading in bad faith cannot misunderstand. ment), and other which have been handed
features
yoursto hand and in reply, I

down to form present-day legal language. As English wish to state that the judiciary
In practical terms, however, legal language seems to expanded into new situations around the world (§7), expendituresofthisyear, i.e.,
has not exceeded the fiscal
be anything but precise - if means 'no room
precision so the syntax and vocabulary of English common law
year- brackets -this proce-
for misinterpretation. A vast amount of what actu- moved with it, accompanied by a respect for tradition dure is problematic and with
ally goes on in court and in the legal literature is in and a suspicion of change which invariably resulted nullification will give us a sub-
sidiary indirtment and prior-
fact a dispute about the way words are to be inter- in an increased and often unnecessary linguistic com-
ity. Quotes, unquotes, and
preted. The law is truly, to quote Mellinkoff again, 'a plexity. It is in this domain, therefore, that there is a quotes. Hoping thisfinds you,
profession of words'. strong case for reform, which these days is argued I beg to remain as of June 9th,
Cordially Respectfully,
The need to anticipate future bad faith, by leaving both from within and from outside the legal
Regards.
as few linguistic loopholes as possible, accounts for profession. {Animal Crackers, 1928).

The party of the first part

COMPANY LAW hereinafter known as Jack,
C. RESTRICTION ON REUSE OF COMPANY NAMES and the party of the second
1912. Restriction on reuse of company names; meaning of This an extract from a volume (7.2) of the 56-
is
part hereinafter known as Jill,
'prohibited name'. Where a company' ('the liquidating volume Halsbury's Laws of England (4th edition, ascended or caused to be
company') has gone into insolvent liquidation^ on or after 29 1988). It is a book of 1,734 pages, the first 234 pages of ascended an elevation of
December 1 986, a person who was a director^ or shadow which are devoted to tables of statutes and cases, the undetermined height and
company at anytime in the period of 12
director^'of the last 1 10 pages to indexes of company concepts and degree of slope, hereinafter
months ending with the day before it went into liquidation^ terms -some 20 per cent of the text. The extract also referred to as 'hill'.

may not, at any time in the period of five years beginning with shows the high proportion of endnotes to text: (D. Sandburg, The Legal Guide
theday on which the liquidating company went into several pages have a greater proportion of space to Mother Goose, 1978).
liquidation: devoted to notes than to main text, and at one point a
note extends over three pages. In the heels of the higgling
(1) be a directorof any other company that is known by a
The endnotes (shown here as footnotes) identify the lawyers. Bob,
prohibited name; or
points in the semantic structure of the work on which Too many slippery ifs and buts
(2) in anyway, whether directly or indirectly, be
this particular paragraph depends, as well as other
and howevers.
concerned or take part in the promotion, formation or
points of clarification or illustration. A two-level Too much hereinbefore
management of any such company; or
exposition is typical of this genre of legal language,
provided whereas.
(3) in anyway, whether directly or indirectly, be
and isan important device enabling the writer to Too many doors to go in and
concerned or take part in the carrying on of a
reduce the structural complexity of the main text. out of.
business carried on, otherwise than by a company,
This is a piece of legal language intended for Sandburg, 'The Lawyers
(Carl
under a prohibited name,
specialists, and it contains several devices which make
Know Too Much', Complete
except with the leave of the court^ or in the prescribed
it easy to assimilate, such as clear punctuation and
Poems, 950.) 1

excepted cases'.
indentation. Although a long sentence (1 54 words, But parodists have to yield
1 'Company' includes an unregistered company which may be wound up under
the Insolvency Act 1 986 Pt V (ss 220-229); s 2 6 (8). 1
excluding footnotes), it contains a number of before lawyersthemselves,
2 For these purposes, a company goes into insolvent liquidation if it goes into formulae (e.g. whether directly or indirectly) which who have often been highly
liquidation at a time when its assets are insufficient for the payment of its debts would be skimmed over by the experienced reader. critical of the language of
and other liabilities and the expenses of the winding up: ibid s 216 {7). The reader who is not a lawyer, of course, has no way
3 Forthe meaning of 'director' see para 1910 note 3 ante.
their own profession (p. 376).
of knowing which parts of the text are the 'meat', and quotations from
(All R. W.
4 For the meaning of 'shadow director' see para 245 note 2 ante. 1

5 Forthe meaning of 'go into liquidation' see para 1320 note 9 ante,
which the 'etc. etc.'. Benson, 1985.)
6 'The court' means any court having jurisdiction to wind up companies: Compared with some examples of legal language
Insolvency Act 1 986 s 21 6 (5), As to the courts having winding-up jurisdiction see which lawyersthemselves have attacked, this is a clear
para 1435 et seq ante. As to the mode of application and the procedure see para piece of writing, despite its syntactic complexity.
2052 etseq post.
1914-1916 post. As to the
What is disturbing is when material of corresponding
7 Ibid s 21 6 (1U3). As to the excepted cases see paras
penalties and other consequences of contravening these provisions see paras complexity is used without an apology to a lay
1917, 1918post. audience. Then it is time for Plain English sabre-
rattling (p. 376).
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

required in order to determine which plain English

KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW proposals are easy to implement and which are
BEFORE...
The case for plain English is
contentious is time-consuming and of uncertain never more persuasive
Legal language is made to carry one further, critical outcome. Not everyone agrees on what counts as 'plain' than when an original text
English.
is compared with its 'trans-
burden: assumed that everyone knows it. It is a
it is
lated' equivalent. The fol-
well-established dictum that ignorance of the law is • The reference to 'contentious' also raises problems of lowing extract is taken
not a valid excuse, if we wish to defend ourselves a professional kind. 'Simpler' language proposals - and from a Guarantee issued
- by Barclays Bank pic; the
against a charge of wrongdoing. But knowledge pre- there have been many, each offering its own solution
edit by staff of the Plain
supposes comprehension. It is this simple fact which come from people with varying awareness of legal English Campaign is given
has made people feel they have a right to demand clar- issues, and may disregard legal distinctions of opposite.

ity from those who draft statutes, and the many kinds acknowledged importance. Law-writers have to look 1 6. No assurance security
or payment which may be
of publication (leaflets, notices, official letters, appli- beyond the needs of immediate comprehension to
avoided under any enact-
cation forms) which stem from them. anticipate the consequences of having their language ment relating to
(Considerable progress has now been made in raising tested in the courts (the 'bad faith' argument, p. 375). bankruptcy or under sec-
tion 127, 238to245 (inclu-
public awareness of these issues, thanks largely to the Drafting takes place against a background of judicial
sive) of the Insolvency Act
work of the Plain English Campaign (see opposite). decisions and rules of interpretation which they leave 1 986 or any of such sec-
Many complex legal documents have been rendered behind at their peril. tionsand no release settle-
ment discharge or
into a more accessible English, sometimes with an
arrangement which may
account given of the editing principles involved in the The difficulties in the way of change are enormous, have been given or made
task. This kind of exercise is eminently worthwhile, for and progress will require considerable political will. on the faith of any such
assurance security or pay-
it highlights the nature of the problem of legal lan- Even when official enquiries are made into these mat-
ment shall prejudice or
guage in a way that only detailed comparisons can. ters (such as the Renton Report of 1975), there is no affect your right to recover

Whether such analyses gain a sympathetic ear on the guarantee that recommendations will be imple- from the undersigned to
the full extent of this Guar-
part of most law professionals remains to be seen. mented. But the Plain English case is a plausible one;
antee as if such assurance
it needs to be taken seriously, and to be given a detailed security payment release
• There are problems of a practical nature: those who response by the legal profession. For behind all the settlement discharge or

draft parliamentary statutes, for example, are arrangement (as the case
under arguments lies a fundamental principle, acknowledged may be) had never been
considerable pressure just to keep pace with the short- by the Renton Committee: 'the interests of the users granted given or made
term demands of their occupation, coping with a should always have priority over those of the legisla- And any such release set-
never-ending stream of Bills that need to be written tlement discharge or
tors' (The Preparation of Legislation, 1975. HMSO, arrangement shall as
and revised. The kind of dialogue which will be p. 149). between you and the
undersigned be deemed to
have been given or made
LAW OF THE JUNGLE even investigation) of new methods. missed the 20 words of subsection
last
upon the expresscondition
The economic cost of statute law is 8 of section 9 of the Act of 959. So
1
thatit shall become and be
Not only lay people find the enormous, yet official interest has did this expert tribunal itself. do not I

wholly void and of no

language of statutes difficult, as the been lacking. (UK: Lord Renton, blame them for this. It might happen
effect if the assurance secu-
following quotations show (after 1979.) to anyone in this jungle. (UK: Lord
rity payment on the
or
M. Cutts, 1994). 'Supremecourtese', Denning, commenting on Davy v.
• There remains an overwhelming faith of which it was made
'parliamentese', 'legalese', 'gobbledy- Leeds Corporation, 1954.)
need to achieve much greater clarity or given shall be void or (as
gook', 'bafflegab', and 'Fedspeak' are
and simplicity, and overwhelming the case may be) shall at
just some of the uncomplimentary
scope to do just that. The need is any time thereafter be
labels which surround this variety.
manifest: complexity and obscurity avoided underanyof the
• Ihave in my time read millions of cause massive waste - unnecessary before-mentioned statu-
words from the pens of judges and, expense for commerce, for profes- tory provisions to the
despite my professional interest in sionals, for government and for intent and so that you shal I

them, have rarely failed to experi-

I
ence a sense of defeat or even pain.
Sometimes it is as though
people walking on stilts; sometimes
seem to be trying to see through
dense fog; and always there is that
feeling of being belabored with
words. (USA: Weissman, quoted in
R. W. Benson, 1985.)
• In Britain the drafting of legislation
the public; ... complexity means become and be entitled at
uncertainty and ignorance in the any time after any such
I saw daily disputes which will never be avoidance to exercise all or
I
litigated, where bureaucracies and any of the rights in this
the economically dominant will G ua ra ntee expressly con-
usually prevail; complexity brings ferred upon you and/or all
contempt for the law, for Parliament or any other rights which
and for democracy itself. (UK: Richard by virtue and as a conse-
Thomas, Statute Law Review, 1986.) quence of this Guarantgei
you would have been enti-
• must say that rarely have come
I
I

tled to exercise but for such

remains an arcane subject. Those across such a mass of obscurity, even in
release settlement dis-
responsible do not admit that any a statute. cannot conceive how any
I

charge or arrangement
problem of obscurity exists. They res- ordinary person can be expected to
olutely reject any dialogue with understand it. So deep is the thicket
statute law users. There is resistance that ... both of the very experienced
to change, and to the adoption (or counsel lost their way. Each of them Lord Denning
 2 1 • SOCIAL VARIATION

have helped to form a climate of opinion which has

...AND AFTER PLAIN ENGLISH led many organizations to change their practices.
7 Preserving our rights
The campaigners point to enormous savings in
7.1 If:
A growing concern about plain English in several time and money which can result from the use of
• we receive any payment
or security from you, the countries has drawn attention to the unnecessary clearer language. They cite cases where unclear letters
Customer or any other complexity of the official language used by govern- and instructions have led to so many complaints that
person; and
ment departments, businesses, and other organiza- staffhad to be specially employed to answer them.
• we are later ordered
tions which are in linguistic contact with the public. Another common problem is the return of applica-
under insolvency laws to
restore the position to This concern goes well beyond legal language as such, tion forms which have been filled in incorrectly
what it would have been if
and includes such matters as the design of application because the instructions were too complex or
we had not received that
forms and the clarity of instructions on medical ambiguous. The Campaign has estimated that sloppy
payment or security;
labels, but most of their activity relates to material letter-writing alone costs the UK about £6,000 mil-
then you will be liable as
lion a year, as a result of mistakes, inefficiency, and
if we had never received which actually derives from the law. Local govern-
the payment or security. example, have often defended lost business.
ment officials, for
Several contrasting fea-
legalistic phrasing in their publications on the It is not difficult to see why the Plain English Cam-
tures can be noted, such from within the
grounds that this reflects the language of the statute paign has had its critics, especially
as the addition of punc-
on which they are based. And this trend is similarly legal profession. 'Doing Lawyers Out of a Job?' ran a
tuation, the elimination
seen in insurance policies, hire-purchase documents, press headline after one of its successes. More to the
of legal formulae, the
avoidance of repetitive licences, contracts, guarantees, safety instructions, point is the argument that everyday language is itself

phrasing, and the use of very prone to ambiguity, and that the more this is
and many other documents which define our rights
typographic design
a
and responsibilities. used in legal documents, the more there could be
which supports the logi-
The plain English movements are a modern phe- problems of interpretation (p. 374). The public, it is
cal structure of the dis-
course. The result nomenon. In the UK the Plain English Campaign argued, needs to have confidence in legal formula-
speaks for itself, clearly was launched in 1979 by a ritual shredding of gov- tions, and such confidence can come only from
demonstrating the
ernment forms in Parliament Square. By 1985 over lawyers using language that has been tried and tested
wisdom of making such in the courts over many years.
21,000 forms had been revised, and a further 15,000
material available to
withdrawn. In the USA, President So far, these fears seem to be without foundation:
the customer.
Carter issued an order in 1978 there has been no sudden increase in litigation as a
requiring that regulations be written result of the emergence of plain English materials.
in plain English; the order was And although, in view of the undeniable complexit}'

revoked by President Reagan in of some of the (non-linguistic) issues involved, there

1981, but it nonetheless promoted a are presumably limits to the amount of clarification

of local legislation which it is practicable to introduce, in the 1990s

great deal
throughout the country, and an there are signs of the ultimate accolade, with the

increase in plain language awareness institutions of the law themselves using or asking for

among corporations and con- plain English in order tO get their message across.

sumers. The annual Plain English An example is a drafting manual published in the UK
awards in the UK continue to by the Law Sociery in 1990: it is called 'Clarit)'

attract public interest (p. 176) and for Lawyers'.

Chrissie Maher (centre),

co-founder of the Plain
English Campaign, with
colleagues in New York
to launch the International
Plain English Campaign
in 1993.

The Plain English Campaign's

gobbledygook monster receives a punch.
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

does the language say the same thing as it did on the UNPARLIAMENTARY
POLITICAL ENGLISH previous occasion that the speaker addressed the sub- LANGUAGE
ject? There are questions of credibility: do the claims Charles Dickens kept an eye
The language of politicians, especially when they are made by the language live up to the actions which the on parliament. In his essay 'A
speaking in public, is an interesting mixture of old and speaker has undertaken? few conventionalities', a long
catalogue of cliches includes
new: it displays much of the ritual phraseology and Political questionsand answers can rarely be taken the following.
consciousness of precedent which we associate with at face value, when confrontations happen in public.
religion or law (pp.371, 374); and it makes use of Politics is not a setting in which the participants are
Then again, how did it come
to be necessary to the Consti-
many ot the rhetorical and dramatic techniques which willing to assume (as some maxims of conversational tution that should be such a
I

we associate with advertising or the media (pp. 380, theory assert) that each person is telling the truth, or very circuitous and prolix
388). It is a variety which is much abused. One of soci- peer as to 'take leave to
attempting to communicate in a succinct, relevant,
remind you, my Lords, of
ety's great paradoxes is that we elect to power people and perspicuous way. On the contrary, most politi- what fell from the noble and
whose language we readily say we do not believe. cians seem to work on the assumption that what their learned lord on the opposite
But why is this so? What happens to language side of your Lordships' house,
opponent says is a tissue of lies, side-issues, irrele-
who preceded my noble and
when people stand up in public to debate the weight- vance, and waffle. They are aware that this is a stereo- learned friend on the cross
iest issues, be on a doorstep, a platform, or
whether it type, that they are playing a language game; but it is a Benches when he addressed
the floor of a parliament building? Many ordinary game with the most serious of consequences, and they himself with so much ability
to the observations of the
voters know how clear and helpful individual
just play it with no holds barred. They know that their rep- Right Reverend Prelate near
politicians can be when they consult them on a one- utations are at stake, if they make (or are perceived to me, in reference to the mea-
to-one basis in their home locality. Why does every- sure now brought forward by
make) a commitment which they cannot deliver. They
the Noble Baron' -when, all
thing seem so different when we read the words of know that they must speak, often at length and on this time, I mean, and only
these same people in the press, or listen to them in every conceivable subject, with authority, consistency, want to say. Lord Brougham?
Is it impossible for my hon-
the confrontations now commonly broadcast on and conviction. They know that they must always be
ourable friend the Member
radio and television? on their guard, so that they do not give their opponent for Drowsyshire, to wander
The notion of 'confrontation' is probably the key. a chance to seize on a weakness in the way something through his few dreary sen-
When two people of different political persuasions has been said. only possible to survive such
It is
tences immediately before
the division, without premis-
confront each other, there is more at stake than grasp- demands by developing a style of language which is at ing that 'at this late hour of
ing the immediate meaning of the words they use. times opaque, inspecific, or empty. If one has not said the night and in this stage of
There are questions of identity: does the language the debate,', etc.? Because if
something, then one cannot be accused of lying. Pol-
it be not impossible why does
conform to that used in the policy statements of their itics is the world of the half-truth. It is evidently part
he never do it?
party? There are questions of personal consistency: of the price we have to pay for democracy.

THREE IN ONE language in political speeches, using Thatcher: This week has demonstrated (0.4) that we are a
videotaped data. Max Atkinson party united in
In political speaking, the need for applause found many such instances:
is paramount, and much of the distinctive

rhetoric of a political speech is structured in Governor Wallace: and say segre-

I

Pauses are
such a way as to give the audience the maxi- gation now, segregation tomorrow,
shown in
mum chance to applaud on cue. One widely and segregation for ever. purpose
seconds or
used technique is an adaptation of an Norman Labour will spend
Tebbit:
tenths of a
ancient rhetorical structure - the three-part and spend, and borrow and borrow,
second; soft
list: X, Y, and Z. These lists are not of course and tax and tax.
applause is
restricted to politics: Tony eenn:and they kill it secretly,
(0.4) symbolized
privately, without debate.
signed, sealed, and delivered byx, loud
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and literature provide
History applause by
Tom, Dick, and Harry numerous examples: X;an
the truth, the whole truth, and strategy isolated
Abraham Lincoln: Government of
nothing but the truth clap is
the people, by the people, forthe
this, that, and the other separated
people.
by a dash;
Such supported by a strong rhythm and
lists, Mark Antony. Friends, Romans,
stressed
a clear rising falling intonation sequence
-i- Countrymen ... (0.2)
words are
(p. 248), convey a sense of rhetorical power, Winston Churchill: This not the
is
underlined;
structural control, and semantic complete- end. It is not even the beginning of
pitch jumps
ness. They are widely used in formal writing the end. But it is perhaps the end of
are shown
(as in the previous sentence). And they are the beginning.
and re ,
solve. by arrows;
especially common speeches,
in political
overlapping
where the third item provides a climax of
And even crowds use tripartite
audience
expression which can act as a cue for sequences:
response is
applause. (Three-part structures may al$o Lone voice: Maggie, Maggie, Audience: Hear hear shown by
operate at sentence (8.0)
level, as In this para- Maggie. vertical
graph.) Crowd: In, in, in. Audience: \
x-xxXXXXXXXXXXXXxxx-x alignment.
In an acclaimed study of speech and body (After M.Atkinson, 1984.) (Conserva five Party Con ference, 1 980) j

i
 ; 1 • SOCIAL VARIATION

POLITICAL QUESTIONS

Mr Hirst: Does my right hon. Friend agree

that there has been a broad welcome from
the business community, which sees the
reforms as helping redress the appalling
imbalance in business rates north and south of
the border? Is he aware that the business com-
munity also warmly welcomes the protection
which will be given to it during the transi-
tional period of rating reform?Will hecon-
trast the worth of the Government's proposals
with the fact the Labour Party will do nothing
to reform the rates, and with the rather loopy
idea which is circulating in alliance circles that
rates should somehow be linked to the profits
of a business? {Hansard, 1 986f, p. 986.)

Mr Maxton: Is the Minister aware that the

thousands of people in Glasgow who are

waiting for housing improvement grants
would be astonished to hearthat he is blam-
ing local authorities for failure to provide
them? The Government's failure to provide
sufficient funds to remove the backlog is the
problem. (Hansarcy, 1986f, p. 990.)

• The cabinet did not properly discuss

THE POLITICS OF EVASION YES, MINISTER?
the decision.
In the House of Commons, as in other government chambers, the One of the chief difficulties facing Assertions about others
period set aside for MPs to put questions to ministers is a linguis- politicians is that the questions they • Thatcher cancelled the cabinet

ticgame par excellence. The formal asking of a question is a receive are rarely straightforward, but discussion.
chance to do several things - to focus public attention on an issue, are preceded by a series of often • Heseltine protested the cancellation.
express identity with a party political line, or cause trouble for the unclear and controversial claims. If • Somebody omitted the protest from
'other side'. aIt is chance to get oneself noticed, settle old scores, they address these points in their reply, the record.
or repay a constituency debt. Just occasionally, it is a real ques- they may be accused of trying to avoid • Heseltine resigned over the
tion, to which the questioner wishes to receive, and is then given, the question. But if they fail to address cancellation.
a real answer. them, they may be accused of • is demanding his protest be
Heseltine
study of oral answers to questions asked in the House
In a accepting the claims as if they were entered the record.
in

during 1986, several points of this kind emerged. Over 40 ques- facts. This can be seen in an analysis of Attributions about respondent
tions were asked in a session, on average, and over 80 per cent one question which was addressed to a • You know that some/all of the above

were highly constrained, requiring a 'yes/no' response (p. 218). cabinet minister during a radio assertions are true.
However, in practice such questions could rarely be acceptably interview. • You are an expert on the
answered by a simple 'yes' or 'no'. There is invariably a hidden constitution.
text. Parliamentary questions are asked for a reason, which may Well now - when Mr Heseltine • You are member of the cabinet.
a
be little to do with the semantic content of the question and protested at the cabinet meeting on Propositions in question

more to do with the kind of confrontation which is taking place. December 12th - over the fact that Mrs • Thatcher allowed discussion.
The questioner is expecting an explanation, a defence, a justifica- Thatcher had cancelled this meeting • Thatcher allowed proper discussion.
tion. Someone is being put 'on the spot'. on December 13th - he raised a protest • Thatcher allowed discussion by all
Skilled politicians can resort to several techniques in order to -which as you know in his resigna tion
- the cabinet.
evade an awkward question. They can, for example, ignore the statement he said - he said wasn't • Thatcher allowed discussion in detail.

question, decline to answer it, or acknowledge it without answer- recorded in the cabinet minutes - and Questions to be answered
ing it; they can criticize the questioner or the question, or play now he's gone back and said that he • Do you agree that some/all of these

upon its words to make a 'political point'; they can choose to wants that protest recorded - can you propositions are true?
answer just part of the question, repeat an answer to a previous say - as- as a bit of an expert on the • Can you say agree that some/all of
'I

question, or claim that the question has already been answered; constitution - probably more than a bit these propositions are true'?
they can even respond to the questioner by asking another ques- of an expert - can you honestly say as - • Can you say agree that some/all of
'I

tion themselves. Deuce. a member of the cabinet- that you these propositions are true' and be
Formal political questioning of this kind has been around a long were happy that Mrs Thatcher allowed honest about it?

time in the UK. The first such question was asked in the House of proper discussion by all the cabinet in Answers
Commons in 1 721 And very early on, there are reports of dissatis-
. detail of this very important decision • Yes
faction with the way ministers responded. One study of the his- for defence? • No
tory of parliamentary questions (P. Howarth, 1956, p. 35) reports a
comment of the Earl of Grafton in the 770s: 1 Elucidating the content of this But of course, no one would have
question brought to light nearly 20 reached cabinet minister rank who
If called upon in Parliament for information which every member
possible issues. would use such one-word answers by
in either House has a right to expect they either give no reply or
way of reply. What the questioner will
evade the question.
Presuppositions for the validity of the receive is better categorized as a
It seems that there are some aspects of language which do not question 'response' rather than an 'answer'.
change. • There was a decision on defence. (After J. Wilson, 1990 and J. T Dillon,
.(After J.Wilson, 1990.) • The decision was very important. 1990.)
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

riic shared authorship of news reports is suggested EDITORIAL VARIETY

NEWS MEDIA ENGLISH by their reliance on preferred forms of expression, There are several Items in a
their lack of stylistic idiosyncrasy (even in the reports newspaper whose sty! istic
identity conditioned by the
The world of the media is an area where it is of named journalists), and their consistency of style IS

medium of expression. The

important not to confuse the 'object' with the lan- over long periods of time. Once a publication or following are examples of
guage. There are newspapers; there is radio; there is channel has opted for a particular style, it tends to linguistically distinctive

and imposes vigorously on editorial material, otherthan

television. But there is no such thing as 'a variety' of stay with it, it its material.
news 'stories', found in one
newspaper language; or of radio language; or of tele- This has particularly been the case with the press. It
paper (New York Newsday):
vision language.The media reflect all aspects of the is not difficult to identify certain features which char- editorial comment, comic

That why it is possible strips, summaries (e.g.

human condition, and make available to the public acterize certain newspapers. is
weather, TV, lottery, movie
many varieties of language already well known else- to parody them so easily (and also why news report- guide, sports results), personal
where, such as those associated with religion, politics, ing is such a popular topic in English-language stu- columns (e.g. 'Dear Abby'),
dent projects). Moreover, the papers themselves are wordgames, legal notices,
science, and literature, and the more topic-directed
death notices, horoscopes,
aspects of conversation (e.g. discussion, interview, well aware of what they are up to. From time to time and letters. Advertising, with
debate, argument, letter). When we apply the notion a newspaper may even publish a separate collection of its own subvarieties is also a
dominant feature of any
of a language variety (p. 290) to the media, we have material showing off an aspect of its approach.
paper, but is linguistically so
to look within each product (a newspaper, a radio or For example, a collection of headlines from the UK different that it requires its

T\' channel) for uses of language which have been newspaper The Sun was published as a book in 1993. own account: see p. 388.
shaped by the nature of the medium, or whose pur- It was called Gotcha (p. 275).
pose is to make use of the capabilities provided by the
medium. And here, the communication and presen- ASSEMBLING THE NEWS
news
tation of is dominant.
This diagram shows the traditional stages through which a story
moves in the newsroom of a medium-sized daily paper (The Dom/n-
News reporting lon, Wellington, New Zealand). Sixteen steps are distinguished.

The reporting of news, whether in the spoken or writ-

ten media, reflects one of the most difficult and con-
straining situations to be found in the area of
language use. The chief constraint is the perpetual
battle against the pressures of time and space. Only
those who have tried to write something for a news-
paper or a radio/TV programme know just how crip-
pling these pressures can be. They are absolutes. To
fit a column, 20 words may need to be cut. To fit a
radio window, 1 6 seconds of a script may need to go.
There is no argument. If the writer of the original
material does not meet the demand, someone else

higher up the editorial chain of command will do it

instead. Nothing is sacrosanct. Even a letter to the

editor can be chopped in half And there is no come-
back. The editor's decision is final.

There is also the constraint imposed by a 1-2 A news source comes subec//tor edits the lan-
favoured conception of audience - an awareness of into the paper, and the chief guage, cutting the story so
reporter assigns it to ayour- that it will fit, and the page
what 'the readership", 'the listener", or 'the viewer"
nalist, who writes it up. subeditor sees it again.
wants. This applies to everything, from the initial 3-4 The ch ief reporter checks 1 The check subeditor scans
judgment about what should be reported to the and edits the story, passing it it, looking for gaps, errors,
on to the news editor, who and other (e.g. legal) prob-
final decisions about exactly how much should be
edits it further and decides lems.
said about
it, where in it should the medium on its length, page location, 11-16 From this point on, In larger newspapers, other

appear, and how it should be written or spoken. and mode of presentation. the language is in its final stages may be present; and
5-6 The editor or deputy form. It is typeset, in smaller newspapers, one
Here, too, anyone who has produced material for
editor may then see the proofread, and composed individual may combine sev-
the media knows how the finished product can copy, and alter it before on the page. Any final cut- eral roles. These days, jour-
differ greatly from what is first submitted. Very passing it on to the chief ting to fit the page may be often do their own
nalists
subeditor. This stage is carried out by the stone computertypesetting, thus
Famous Reporters may see their piece appear more optional. subeditor (a term from the incorporating steps 1 1-14
or less as they wrote it. This is especially the case 7-9 The page subeditor days when pages were com- into earlier stages of pro-

with syndicated columns. But the average news marks the copy for typeset- posed by hand), and the duction. Forexamplesof
ting and space, including it completed page is sent for text editing, see p. 382.
report, whether printed or broadcast, is the prod-
in a 'dummy' page. The copy printing. (AfterA. Bell, 1991.)
uct of many hands (p. 382).
 SOCIAI WXRIA'I'ION

APRIL FOOL! the history of printing. Extracts from four of them which are part of a parody, a comparison with
are illustrated here. Identity is chiefly conveyed by today's papers would show little stylistic differ-
Probably the most famous journalistic parody of typography, in the distinctive mastheads and ence, despite a gap of over 15 years. Ironically, the
recent years appeared in the UK newspaper The headlines, but several features of each paper's exception (typographically, at least) is The
Guardian on 1 April 1978. It reproduced the front journalistic style is apparent in the texts, showing Guardian, which has since radically changed its
page of twelve newspapers (clones of those pub- the range which exists between 'quality' and house style - a rare event in the history of a news-
lished in the British Isles), said to have been pub- 'tabloid' language in the British (and San Serriffe) paper. Over a longer time frame, of course,
lished that day as part of a journalistic merger on press. Four treatments of a leading story about the changes in approach are more in evidence, as can
the island of San Serriffe - where the custom is evi- Bishop of Bodoni are used as illustration. be seen from the 191 4 example on p. 383.
dently to name people and places after concepts in After making allowances for the exaggerations

THE

,.,;™"»»5
"^
1 sense -^^y appe7/'fday.s
inspire JV ^''>^oAa,H° ''^
''"^e m^ ''>

S B.6GEST
DMLY SALE ''ytost'^JfProb,eT'n°iJ
TTeRRIFFE Nev

lat (h

tfad:l"'P'e

^^^u.vor^ .«, "'ould

be'"as'"e,"«»'-BoeVw'"P'^'^
'f'f.'^'osee '

Stuff it M^ ^'\ tJ ^^''',

Bo*°"' \fv.*''^*^

^^ <l'd no? •
•''tii t;.«p^-„"-"-t-o^R.
^Entered f^.^/""" or p^^ff-^^P^RTr
'town

-
KEOF
""en hg

bishop ^:^^;o fi-*.,f:vet>v^,r'vawe o^*W

I
;V"''antithp;:^7n more
S^'deTanrf'/lA'^od
?"'* )et h?1,^«a,nst Iso.i.e'^^f"'^'
°^ '
'^f'he,"f°^oftheia,p.""-'fs
theiT,'''
,,.^

the"?
these ^^l&5!HS?i:"'^' our
what's all tWis
Blimey, pals, again
Bodon. .s at .t
The batty Bishop of
Cor strike a light .

u^^^ni
Bodoni.
^ '~ Telephone :
Bodoni 1234
'"''"''
problem in a spi
„,,K this P
niHPrir^tine House Square.
'.
We must approachlove, and try
to «<= <
^.^^^
k./.i-Kpflv lo
DARES
^ ^^^^ \m WHO
ofI brotherly
m
j^^^„„
the problem, say
Lumme. what pals, a mouthful. WHISPER „,...r.
matters Flon, and the Phlong
,^e Flong
view ot
«u
probably well which ravage the Bishops
•Brotherly love?" '"'J'.! "oVn, mal It .s
for "i'-
the troubles
wanlins.
In that sense
goide to where
,

" Both sides of the problem ecclesiastical polity Island Ihev are offer a valuable he^
.
of^ they are wanting should
^"'''""Vn wYded by Ihe In what respect u^mediate prionlies.
be'
contention and doubtless l-e h^d,.n
m"d
r^i^'^i-..
••--'"" s=b:?-".= humnmimeni pertinent
•

"H»inf
^if t matter of
indeed of strife
siriie. uu it should be
but
_,,,prjnz Pauline injuiiclion ^^V^'' '"'"*^?.
h^^i

" ™mnmne
^ '^ t 1

|m"be«t qiioddoin
1.1 ^..mumiiP vm-
I'iTI-

o--y«N^4?^.n he oatrVstic authorities which

Shut it !

up Y""'
.

""'^'^
,
rtb^.:^r«^djS ruSras"The "'application
often hard
of
to ^c'ould'be cited in
favour of such a
d'ver^^^
d
sentiment are "any
Stuff if a
S;;Th;7ly Tove IS m'-' will thref^or^
a^A " Thpre are tn^ r it>ng=i
The ensoing debate
'"lr;^^ot^wrtfapvrac^n
IS ours.)
II ^afterrwirf^peH^f^-i
"!„„_,, of the
'"^ B shop
the recj^nt cotnmenU 01
;,,g
rr.ne'fo^ndr:infal%'"-oH
There wouhi be
aphorisms in mind Remains open
ii
'T""
possible both to
hs
adm-re h^ «ords nothing unusual m such
_^^
--^^erffl^^anX^---
hurtling
the e
lournevol ^
^^
Sn I e learned
from thi.. no,

probably thai opei ^ opinion

differences o P_^
of grea er _^

^" observer
'^fy J,?ich faces any

foolhardy to expect it.

Jo , Jill strike a chord In Itiai

ry'faiito'^Wfll^!!!:!!!^
 .

PART V • USING ENGLISH

JOURNALINGUISTICS
Three aspects of the way news is received, processed, and
presented are shown on this page. They are taken from
an in-depth investigation of news media language by
Allan Bell, a New Zealand sociolinguist who has also
worked as a journalist and editor in a daily news service.
This combination of personal experience and linguistic
training is rare in research into language variet}'. We do
not usually find journalist-linguists, politician-linguists, BEFORE AND AFTER
or priest-linguists. People who are busy earning their
Two stages in a story: the left-hand text is a sports story transmitted by Australian Associ-
living from being the first part of these compounds do ated Press-Reuter from Sydney; the right-hand text is the version edited by the New
not usually have the motivation, opportunity, or train- Zealand Press Association. Material is deleted, altered, and added. The commentary below
ing to take up the role of the second. When it does shows the multiple linguisticdecisions which the New Zealand editor made in the first
paragraph. (For grammatical terminology, see Part III.)
happen, the analysis can provide considerable insight
into the mental processes underlying the occupational The waterlogged conditions that Waterlogged conditions ruled out
ruled out play yesterday still play this morning, but the match
variety, as well as accumulate a great deal of practical
prevailed at Bourda this morning, resumed with less than three hours'
illustration which would not be available to outsiders. and it was not until mid-afternoon play remaining for the final day.
The first two examples on this page derive directly from that the match restarted.
Lessthanthree hours' play The West Indies are making a first
Bells personal experience. He had access to the
remained, and with the West Indies innings replytoEngland'stotat of 448.
teleprinter copy coming into a news office after it had still making their first innings reply
been marked up by the receiving editor and before it was to England's total of 448, there was no
chance of a result.
thrown away. And he was able to get hold of both the
At tea the West Indies were two for 1 39. At tea the West Indies were 139 for
agency copy and the edited version of the sports story. two, but there's no chance of a result.
With the advent of direct screen editing, of course, it is

now much more difficult for linguists to observe the Place adverbial atBourc/a deleted. Time adverbia\ not until mid-afternoon
stages in the editorial production of a text. There are Time adverbials yesterday and St/// deleted. deleted.
Main verbprevaZ/eddeleted. resume replaces restart.
simply no 'hard copy' printouts to collect.
Relative clause that... yesterday made a but replaces and.
main clause. Part of the next sentence added: less
Relative pronoun that and associated the ...remaining.
deleted. Changeof finiteness{p. 212): remained
Cleft5tructure{p.231)/t... restarted becomes remaining.
replaced by a subject-predicate clause, the Newtime adverbial introduced: forthe
match resumed... final day.

Some features convey more

than just semantic content; JOURNALESE
they also inform about
readership. This is seen in the
There are several distinctive linguistic features of news
reporting. Most relate fairly clearly to the 'who, when,
way a determiner (p. 207) is
used or deleted in such
where, what, how, and why' which journalists bear in

contexts as [the] Australian

mind when compiling a story.
prime minister Paul Keating • The headline is critical, summarizing and drawing

said ... The top chart shows attention to the story. Its telegraphic style is probably
deletion to be a the best-known feature of news reporting.
sociolinguistic feature of • The first {'lead') paragraph both summarizes and

newspaper style, typical of begins to tell the story This paragraph is also the usual
.

British tabloid journalism. source of the headline, which is written not by the
The bottom chart shows that source journalist but by one of the subeditors (p. 380).
this feature has developed • The original source of the story is given, either in a

during the present century. byline (Reuters) or built into the text {A senior White
The Daily Mirror made no use House official said. ..).
of it in 1920, but it had • The participants are categorized, their name usually__

reached 90 per cent by 990. 1 being preceded by a general term {champ, prisoner,
Why this particularfeature official) and adjectives {handsome French singer Jean
should be so salient is unclear, Bruno...).
but it is certainly diagnostic • Other features include time and place locators
explicit
of the social stratification {In Paris yesterday...), facts and figures {66 people were
which readership analyses killed in a bomb blast...., and direct or indirect
have found for these papers. quotations {PM 'bungles', says expert. Expert says PM
bungled).
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
 SOCIAL VARIATION

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

The front page headline and

page 6 of London's The Daily
Sketch for Saturday 1 1 April
1914. This particular edition
has been chosen for its
content, whichis of historical

interest in relation to the

development of attitudes
towards taboo language,
discussed on p. 173. But the
page as a whole can be used
as an illustration of both the
differences and the C.\RDS AS A CLFRE
the linguistic Shaw FOR
similarities in Introduces pletive in Mr. Bernard ShaWs new play CURSING.
will serve to
and typographical treatment Forbidden Word. .r^ase the complaints
of news reporting over a
against bJC^^^^TZI: Clergj-man A^k^^ "Patience"
WILL "MRS."^^|^ SPEAK As A NerveSoother.
period of 80 years. On the °'™'''
PliS'^f T'™ '" Shakespeare and the other
A RECREATION FOR
one hand, we find such Has The Censor WORKHOUSE
Stepped In
features as a fuller headline Will The Phrase Spread? INMATES.
structure, longer sentences
(including much greater use
Has the Censor interfered'
*' ^'^ chamberlam's theatre
liceteforSS"language, cardV:rer;:f;fr^;7''^-^ "^ ^^°^^"'^- ^"^ -
'^
"°Pvl7^''" Pf,*'-™"^'^
of Bernard ShaWs Af one
At h
nn time ^^even "damns," m plays
withm the memory of living
of subordinate clauses), and '* "" ''^"''^'' Theatre may cause plav snZ
one rftr^ man managers were so afraid of violanng
more formal vocabulary than ''"'^'^°"' °^ ™^ Bo.d Guardians,
would be found in a paper of
Wstory. *eatrical he L™ d of
oneo7*ostaSt
IS

a'dTmntSr'^™*^'^^'-^^--*
a corresponding level today. "*iauT™r d°''•"-'
'"'f'''^
theaudience will e„her t~if:rgrs;s::^-----p"
"' *^"> ^"-^"8 ™y ' „'''CKENS'S DEFENCE
On the other hand, there are happen Wh.
When Dickens wrote
many points of identity, such
Is an expression which hitherto no
"Oliver Twist" there
was a
.uSo;^:-r;iC:^::^-i:«:
respectable greatoutcryagamstwhatwascalled"therevomng1an
guage used by Bill Sikes '=r':vomngjan-
as the short paragraphs,
usr^^tar^^™'^™-"^^^^^^^
rhetorical questions, and Mrs, Patnck Campbell
m '' '™'''^ ™ *^ S™™d that per-
the new Shaw of Skesf"'f
comedy plays son'^s
elliptical headline style. the part of Li^a
Doolittle, a flower-girl
whom a
professorofphoneticsturnsmtoalady
But before her education for'Sri2?of^'*'"''fr^"^''™'^-"">^ ""tamed,
,s quite complete she
language uses
which is-at ^''
present-barred S orations and swear-words to the stage
™"'!' ^^^h ^he has heard h One of the first play orrrefSatf*^'™™-^^"-''™
tT"f r licensers to cut every
"damn-
taowkTrf
Know ^ ""'
It IS not etiquette
to use
^° °''^" *=>* ^he does no
It.
out of every play that
was sent to him waTthe
eminent
'And a very good rule, too!" was the comment „f n,.
^^°^«^ ^°'-" * "olger
THE OFFENDING WORD. at hTorTh T^^f
And How It R^^^I^i^tes dr|r;hi^rhrg::t^ii^3^^^^^^^^^^
From The One of the playwrights out °^ "THE WEDGE.
uerman. of whose play Colman
cut nnT*^"!^ ^J^^
'" '• ^™' '° Colman'se^™"quo f"'™"''''^™''»'^^ll°^'^dtoplav
atl°n 'is-'"'' "^r' Pafience'?^n
Fatence? Certainly not; it would
be the thin end of the
"Dr^^Ts
uamme. It s the
th'*R*™'.^.^)
°™ P'^^^' -^h line's as wedge In a large class of
workhouse the des4 to earn
Brazier" "damn his eyes'"
Better he
"Better be ble IS inherent. It
°^'' damned than dig," and so would be impossible to
stop th™
'""='^'^'' ^™'^ '«-^"y. on why, some of them
runstfolbws: would ganible with
trouser buttons if thev
had a chance
heaven-"
Freddy (opening the door):
Are you going through
the ™ '^'^"'' ^'=™ t" be any particu-
Liza Am I going.' Yes, iWuck!
(Freddie staggers) am
God" &d° ""^^t'^/"^" e.xp'res^,ras lar ri^r'T "'l*"'"
mLv^^r"H'P""^^™™S*-^'"°"nnS.
mary We already provide
takmg a taxi-cab ^'^ '
I
^^ them with di-aughts
and
Heaven! dommoes, but they rarely touch them "
Blessed Heaven grant,"
etc -was ahv^ivs
substituted. Even in "The Ji^htL „' i j ~^^ The master laughed at the suggestion
that card,
wouldpreventprofamt>-."Ifyouplafcardsyoum
said,you ought to know that
it would be
more like v to
aTrdy"""™^'''^^™"''™^--^^:^
"°' ""'''='> '" passages of
!f1'
prayerftilness-when perhaps
anguish or of A CRIME.AN VETERAN.
there mighfbe some
_exa.^but in passages of
lighter or ev'en
Man Who Fought against Us In
Mvoli: The
HiGGiNS: Russian War.
Damn'd nonsense!
IT MUST BE
Clara: Mucky nonsense STOPPED
In a new revue just brought to
Clar.Vs Mother: Clara. London Jhere is !,n
Cla^. Haha.
episode m which the ftmny
man telephones to Heaven thathefoughtmtheCnmeanWar.butperhapsheisthe
(She goes out radiant,
conscious that she tomquireaboutcertampeoplewhoh'ave/usdied"
is thoroughly up-to-date.)
He utters certain comic
replies from Heaven'
This, must be understood,
it
is a literal re translation
this kmd of thing like the
bad language and the
of the German version naming
of Mr. ShaWs play of the Creator
There is tt indicated abSve must be
^.''^btof the word actually stopped, together with
written by th author other forms of"offensrnls'
or£:;:^ss^-''^'^"°^*-'"Stri^
LoSo;'j:;f^^"*^'^'^°^*^*-'n-'";^bsof THE PL^JN_OUTLINE. The fortress is on an island,
The Century Dictionary and had been bombard
shocking word as "very,
'unblushingly defines the Shavian "U^^Tlhimour edforsomeweeksbytheBntishNawAtlastthTorlr
exceedingly desperate"v" And was given to surrender
^yes examples of its use from a„d
"' Phonetics. and Mr. Morris c^e to fte
Dr^d'en anSft gates to raise the white
flag As he d,d »„ , a^
.Jl k" f'^™"g-™less the Lord Chamberlain
Sha?andTr"''T.*.''"'^'^^*^fi'-^'"™binafionof
Shaw
of shell tore off the
top of Ws head
""^ ""''
and Tree m the history
of the modern stage' *^,.^'g"in« of peace Mr.
Morns was released
folb;sr'^"^=''^^™"'-''-ybesumm!^:edas ft om the military goal near
fi-o^'Jr
Portsmouth, and no?S
ACTL u?'l
Jewish
^"""^ ™
''"'""' of b's b long^ng^tSf
faith deeded to
become naturalised. ^
SirHerbertTree has, by '"^'' P™''^' C'-^'^"' Garden,
dintofmanyyears' devotion inSomt'r""''™
ti.Jb p.m. on a very at Until the death of
his wife who
wet summers night was ;.n F„ r u
""'" =>"*-- «' *eat^e woman, last year. Mr. Morris
go^s at
goers His Ma esty s second
aTffis'Matr' fto"'none London in hop and stall in the
had a sm" r freshm
Waterloo-road, and
"n
They have been brought
up on Shakespeare there every day twice to and from
waSfrom
but they are not used
to Shaw. Literary
men and gogjie in Great
the Central S™
women will be there,
and leaders of Socretv
and Enter a flower
Portland street, where
he is a
m»orpaidattendant.Thiswasatotaldistanceoften
MkZ
drama enthusiasts from girl, Liza Doolittle.
Arguements and
Hampstead and the ga"
den cities,
middle-class matrons and
accustomed to hear at His maidens a i ™pX~'"-^'^''"''^^"--™-^^^^^^ buttfsblta'r"'T'°<'^^^'''''«'^"'i^'^'^«now
out ne is suij a keen
Majesty's on Xat He clears himself by pedestnan.
wholesome and pure - and revealing who he is and flin.^
Shakespearean
thev Tl'T p !
'^"'^ '" ""' Upper Circle if aX^s^^lz:^''*'^"^-^-— SOCIALIST WEDDING.
 PART V • USING ENCUISH

BROADCASTING
B\- contrast with most newspapers (p. 380), only .1

small part of radio and television output is devoted

to news and its discussion (current affairs) - as little

as 5 per cent, on some channels - but its significance

is perceived to be far greater than this small figure
suggests. The core element in this output is well-
defined: the news bulletin, consisting of a series ot

items of varying size, often divided into sections (e.g.

general, business, sport, weather), sometimes punc-

tuated by advertising, and fitting into a format which
may be of any length, but often as short as two min-
utes. However, it is much more difficult than in a
newspaper to draw a clear boundary between a news
item proper and its amplification, which can move
in the direction of everyday conversation ('vox pop'
interviews) and even literature (dramatized docu-
mentary).
Analysis oi a typical day's radio or television
broadcasting brings to light, as with the press, sev-
eral varieties of language which are in use elsewhere.
Indeed, probably all conceivable spoken varieties will TWO VERSIONS from special correspondents. However, the
be found at some point or other in the broadcasting TV version given below is much more suc-
There is little obvious linguistic difference cinct and has less complex sentence struc-
media. If a use of language is important enough to
between the way radio and television pre- ture: its headlines use half as many words
develop predictable linguistic features, the situations sent the news,.apart from the occasional ref- per sentence as radio (9.6 vs 1 9.8), and the
to which they relate are undoubtedly going to be ot erence in the latter to what is happening on first few sentences of the main item are a

the screen. Both are highly verbal, and use third shorter (1 5.2 vs 22.2). (/ represents an
regular interest to listeners or viewers. In addition,
the same structure of lead-item summaries intonation unit; -,-,-- increasing pause
the domain of radio and television drama holds a followed by fuller accounts, and reports length.)
mirror up to linguistic nature. There are very few
constraints on the situations (and thus the language) BBC TV, 6 pm News, 7 February 1994 with Astley Jones/- - European Union for-
portrayed in plays — the chief exception being sensi- NEWSCASTER; Europe backs air power to lift eign ministers have agreed that all measures/
the siege of Sarajevo/- - after Saturday's including air power/should be used to lift
tivity to taboo words (p. 172). the siege of Sarajevo /- - John Major has indi-
mortar attack / European Union foreign
The broadcasting media, like the press, have also ministers /say everything must be done /- cated he wants immediate and effective
been responsible for the emergence of varieties of John Major calls for immediate effective action to stop the bombardment of the city /
action /--but how practical would, an air
-MPs were told that Britain was fully pre-
their own - though not many as might be thought.
as
pared to useair power/- if military comman-
strike be /- the CIA look at the options on
These media are in a continual search for new ideas computer/- - - here a hoard of machine-guns ders on the ground / recommended it/-
-

and formats, and their fear of the conventional or is uncovered in Liverpool /- the police say
Merseyside police say weapons /discovered
they were for criminal not terrorist use/--- at a house in Liverpool / were probably / not
stereotyped favours the promotion of linguistic
connected with terrorism /- - share prices /
and another security scare for the Prince of
idiosyncrasy and eccentricity rather than the preser- Wales /- he says it's breeding that keeps him have recovered some of the losses suffered
this morning / when they plunged in reac-
vation of stable and predictable styles. When such cool under pressure /-
PRINCE OF WALES: we're not all made like tion to an interest rate rise / in the United
stylesdo emerge, they stand out, as in the case of States/- [two other headlines] - - - Europe /
James Bond you know or Indiana Jones/- - -

educational programmes for very young children NEWSCASTER: good evening /- European has edged closer towards authorizing the
(whose distinctive prosodic features and simplified foreign ministers have called for the immedi- use of NATO air strikes/ to try to break the
ate liftingof the siege of Sarajevo/-- at a Serb siege of Sarajevo /- in London /John
sentences are often parodied) or game shows (which Major called for immediate / effective / and
meeting in Brussels today /-they said all
regularly fuel the language's stock of catch phrases, means possible should be used / including more muscular action / in the wake of Satur-
Weather reporting is one of the best exam- the use of air power/- John Major has also day's devastating mortar attack on a busy
p. 178).
called for immediate and effective action /to market place /- and as European foreign
ples, especially on radio, where in its specialized form
stop the shelling of Sarajevo /--tomorrow/ ministers met in Brussels/- France/ led ttW'''
(such as the BBC's daily shipping forecasts) it is
senior cabinet ministers will hold a special demands for the Serbs to be issued with an
reduced to its bare essentials, as a restricted language meeting / to discuss the use of air strikes . ultimatum /- - pull back from Sarajevo / or
risk being forced to do so /- in the event / a
-
against the Serbs/- from Brussels/our
(p. 390). But it is the commentary, used in both slightly less strongform of words was agreed
Europe correspondent James Robbins
media, which is probably the most famous and the reports/ by the ministers /- but the threat of air strikes
most distinctive variety to have emerged from the remains/- -our Europe correspondent
BBC Radio 4, 6 pm News, 7 February 1994 Graham Leach / has sent / this report / from
world of broadcasting (see p. 386).
It's six o' clock /--the news from the BBC / Brussels/---
 a . .

;i SOCIAL VARIATION

RAIN LATER
Two contrasting styles of
radio weather forecast
(p. 295): the first, informal and
conversational, presented
before the lunchtime news on
BBC Radio 4 on 7 February
1 994; the second, formal and
formulaic, presented later
that afternoon. The duration
of thefirst extract is minute
1
50 seconds (from a 2 minute 30
second forecast); the second
extract is 1 minute 30 seconds
(from a 5 minute forecast).
A successful weather forecast
isa mixtureof fluent spon-
taneity, controlled informality,
and friendly authority.
tions of features frequently The highly formulaic character of this forecast, with its specialized vocabulary,
recur.
reduced grammar, controlled prosody and cyclical discourse structure, is typical of a
• The conversational tone is restricted language (p. 390). In many ways it resembles the language of commentary
achieved through the use of (p. 386),
informal lexicon (ta/ce
tumble, justa chance, odd now at ten to six it's time for the shipping forecast / issued by the Met Off ice/ at one
rogue shower), everyday turns seven double oh on Monday the seventh of February /-there are warnings of gales in
of phrase which 'ordinary' Viking/ North Utsire/SouthUtsire/ Forties/ Finisterre/Sole/Fastnet /Shannon /Rockall/
and Fair Isle/- -the general synopsis at midday /-low/one hundred and fifty miles west
people use about the weather
{become a little bit guieter, of Bailey /nine eight six /will fill /-new low/expected Bailey /nine eight four /by one two
turn colder), fuzzy expressions double oh tomorrow/- Atlantic high /a thousand and thirty /expected Trafalgar/a thou-
(more or /ess, round sand and thirty six / by same time /- - - the area forecasts for the next twenty four hours /- -
(p. 169)
about), contracted verbs {it's,
Viking/ North Utsire/SouthUtsire/ north-east Forties/- -south-easterly/gale eight/
that's, we'll), and colloquial decreasing six/- - occasional rain or snow/ moderate /occasionally poor /- - south-west
sentence connection Forties/Cromarty /Forth /Tyne/ Dogger /--southerly four or five/ increasing six/perhaps
{anyhow, in actual fact). gale eight later /in south-west Forties and Cromarty /- showers then rain /- good becom-
• At the same time, the scien- ing moderate/--
tific element in the message is
and now the weather reports from coastal stations/for one six double oh G M T/- Tyree
/- south by west four /- recent showers/- nineteen miles/- a thousand and three /- rising
evident in the numerical
underpinning (e/ghtcyegrees, slowly /--Butt of Lewis lighthouse/- south/- three /-twenty four miles/-a thousand and

• The fluency is partly a matter minus one or minus two) and one / rising more slowly/. .

of careful preparation, but is the reference to notions which

largely achieved through the
broadcaster's ability to rely
formulaic phrasing (kv/th//ght
winds and largely clear skies,
blue skies and sunshine,
widespread frost) and on stan-
dard sequences of locations
(e.g. the areas that form the
eastern vs western sides of the
country). The number of likely
weather situations is really
quite limited, in a particular
region, and certain combina-
are generally not found inthe
on speech of the amateur {icy NORTH AND SOUTH WHERE?
patches on untreated roads,
The names of the Meteorological Office sea areas surrounding the British Isles pro-
well broken cloud, south-
vide British English with some of its most distinctive weather-forecasting lexicon. Most
westerly wind). There is little
people know at least some of the names by heart, though few could locate more than
unqualified precision (meteo-
a handful with any accuracy. It also usually comes as a surprise to see how North and
rology is not an exact science,
South /uit'sisrs/ are spelled.
and its predictions are judi-
cious),but these features com-
bine with a measured and
confident tone of presenta-
tion to produce an overall
impression of authority.

good afternoon / it's still unsettled / although not as much as it

was/- and after tomorrow it should become a little bit quieter/
although at the same time turn colder /- and emphasize /- I

that's after tomorrow/- - anyhow back to the present/- and we

more or less have an east-west split /- so we'll start / first of all in
the east/ with south-east and central-southern England /the
Midlands / East Anglia / north-east England/and eastern Scot-
land/- here most places will be dry /with blue skies and sunshine
/-although there's just a chance of an odd rogue shower /- espe-
cially in central-southern England and eastern Scotland /- - tem-

peratures will be close to normal /that's around eight degrees

in southern areas/ and six degrees in the north /- - now during

thisevening and tonight/ with light winds and largely clear

¥) 1
skies/temperatures will take a tumble/- and will soon fall
below freezing /with frost becoming widespread /- tempera-
tures in actual fact probably bottoming out at round about
minus one or minus two/- and in one or two places it'll turn
misty for a time/- and there'll also be some icy patches on any
untreated roads/- - - now for south-west England /Wales/
north-west England/ western Scotland/and Northern Ireland /-
sunny intervals and showers here /the showers heavy in places /-
-one or two variations though /for instance in western Scotland
/the showers will join forces to begin with /-to give some longer
spells of rain or sleet/ with snow on the hills/- - generally speak-
ing the showers in most places should tend to become lighter/
and more scattered during the afternoon /-temperatures/
they'll be close to normal and mostly around seven degrees/-
- -

there'll still be a few light showers around this evening and

tonight /but by then most places will be dry /with well broken
cloud /- - along the coast /temperatures will only fall to around
two or three degrees/ but inland /they'll drop below freezing/
to give a widespread frost / - and some icy patches /- although
later in the night /increasing cloud and a freshening south-
westerly wind /will pick temperatures up again across northern
Ireland /the west of Wales/and in south-west England/ . .
 PARI' V • USING ENGLISH

SPORTS COMMENTARY

Commentary is one ot the most distinctive of all uses

of English. Its roles extend well beyond broadcasting
(it will be heard in such varied contexts as fashion
shows, race-course meetings, and cookery demon-
strations), and within broadcasting its use extends
well beyond sporting occasions (it will be heard
accompanying such public events as funerals, inau-
gurations, and processions). But the most frequent
kinds ot commentary are those associated with sports
and games. Here, two elements need to be distin-
guished: the 'play-by-play' commentary, and the
'colour-adding' commentary. The latter is important,
for it provides an audience with pre-event back-
ground, post-event evaluation, and within-event
interpretation, but there is little to be said about it

srs'listically: it is conversational in style, and often in

dialogue form. Stylistic interest in sports commentary
lies chiefly in the play-by-play component.
Because commentary is an oral reporting ol ongo-
ing activity, it is unlike other kinds of narrative
(which are typically reported in past time). Indeed, it
..- It was two dollars before and just think I sulky overthetop.
is unlike any ozher kind of speech situation. US lin- something's wrong with those dividends that They race their way down the far side (Loop)
guist Charles Ferguson captured its uniqueness when are showing up on our screen. They've got l,600togo
Speedy Cheval the favourite but I'm not and El Red stoked up /to go to the lead now.
he described radio sportscasting as 'a monolog or
exactly sure that that's correct but anyway (2ncJ cycle)
dialog-on-stage directed at an unknown, unseen, het- they're in behind the mobile going towards Race Ruler's going to be caught without cover
erogeneous mass audience who voluntarily choose to the starting point now for the first heat of the followed by Speedy Cheval in the trail.
Lion Brown Rising Star Three Year Old Cham- Florlis Fella was next
do not see the activity being reported, and pro-
listen,
pionship just about there. followed then by Twilight Time.
vide no feedback to the speaker' (1983, p. 156). II They're off and racing now. Little River's got a nice passage /through over

such a strange activity is to survive, and to be suc- And one of the best out was Speedy Cheval on the outside.
{1st cycle) Megatrend next along the rail
cessful in maintaining fluency and listener interest, it
coming out at number two from El Red followed then by Lone Eagle.
needs special linguistic features. and also Florlis Fella's away fairly well / About two lengths away is Belvedere.
a little wider on the track the favourite Race Belvedere was followed by False Image/
Ruler. and one buried on the inside of those two was
Oral formulae Twilight Time is in behind those. Catarina.
The variety does survive successfully, because of the Breaking up behind is Noodlum's Fella But they race through the straight in a bunch
and he went down now {Loop)
way language has been adapted to suit the unique cir-
and one tipped out was My Dalrae/ with 1,300 metres left to go.
cumstances. Its chief feature is a highly lormulaic style and the driver's out of the sulky. El Red the leader by two lengths from Speedy

of presentation, which reduces the memory load on The horse actually went down on its nose and Cheval... {3rd cycle)
cartwheeled,
the commentator and thereby helps fluency. The
amount a commentator has to remember can be quite
considerable, especially in a football match or a horse
EARLY LEARNING rapid shifts in pitch.
race, where many participants are involved. There
It is quite common for children, while they
Josh: Hoyle serves it! Ben Graham cannot
may also be genuine difficulties hindering the com- are playing a competitive game, to give a
get it over the net and it's twelve eight.
. . .

mentator from following what is taking place. At such play-by-play account in this way. This may
Hoyle's lead now.
even happen as a monologue (as in the
times, the commentary cannot stop. Silence is anath- Ben: Hoyle takes the lead by four.
literary representation opposite). In the
ema, especially on the radio. Formulaic language pro- A typical sportscast (of table tennis)? The study from which the above was taken,
"

only difference is that the commentators are spontaneous episodes of this kind lasted
vides a partial solution; it allows the commentator
8-year-old children, and they are playing the from 6 to 22 minutes. The style is not exactly
time to think, as this quotation from a horse race game themselves. Like the professionals that used by adults, but it is not far from it.
illustrates: (p. 387), shows the use of the
their speech What is notable is that such a close stylistic

simple present tense in action verbs, the
ellipsis of sentence elements, and other
it'sFraytas in the lead / followed by as they come grammatical features of commentary style,
round the Canal Turn way over on the other side of as well as a loud and fast
the field by Everest /
approximation can be achieved by children,
presumably just by listening, at such an early
age. (After S.M. Hoyle, 1991.)
prosody marked by
 ;

21 • SOCIAL VARIATION

Presumably the commentator was having some trou-

ble seeing who was in second place, at that point; the
OTHER FEATURES (both slower and faster). passive (perhaps with a tell-

Some sports (such as horse tale pause) allows them to

formula 'it's X followed by Y' was interrupted by two Sports commentary is not racing) may be spoken in a delay mentioning the
other formulae ('they come round the Z' and '(way identified by its vocabulary: monotone, either loudly (as player's name (.His shot is
sporting terms and idioms in horse racing) or softly (as blocked by - Jones).
over) on the other side of the field), giving him time can be found elsewhere, in snooker); others make • Discourse structure is
to work out exactly which horse it was. such as in press reports and use of wide variations in cyclical (see opposite),
There are several different idnds of formula. Some everyday chat. Other pitch range (as in football reflecting the way most
factors are more distinctive. or baseball). A comment- games consist of recurring
1 are used when starting and finishing a race (they're off.,
ator may have a favourite sequences of short activities
.and at the post it's ...). Some introduce a fresh cycle • It is extremely fluent, way of 'pointing' a (as in cricket, tennis, and
of activity {into the straight they come, and round the keeping up with the pace commentary, and baseball) or a limited
of the activities. The rate is idiosyncrasy can be strong. number of activity options
turn it's ...). Scoring formulae are also important in
steady, and there is little • Distinctive grammar is (as in the various kinds of
. such games as football, cricket, and baseball {3-nik sign of hesitation noises, seen in the use of the football). In racing, the

\ 34 for 3\ count of 1 and 1). On the facing page, an false starts, comment present tense (he sends it structure is even simpler,
clauses nonsense
{p. 229), back); the omission of the cyclicity here regularly
'extract from a sulky racing commentary has been set
words and other
(p. 130), elements of sentence informing the listener of
out in lines (rhythm units) so that the phrasal repeti- features of spontaneous structure {Gooch in close), the varying order of the
tions and parallelisms can be more clearly seen. Two speech (though these may inverted word order {over competitors, with each
be found in the 'colour' at third is Smith), and extra 'loop' of the cycle
cycles of activity, and two connecting loops, are
episodes). modifiers (The quiet Texan introduced by its own
. shown, as well as a fragment of the preceding colour • The prosody is suited to Tommy John delivers . .
.
formulae (see opposite
commentary. (After K. Kuiper & P. Austin, 1990.) the sport, reflecting the and Smith, who's scored page). This is a 'state of
atmosphere and drama. well this season, runs back play' summary, crucial for
Some very unusual The frequent use of the
...). listeners/viewers who have
prosodies can be heard, passive is another 'survival' justswitched on - or who
and speeds of articulation device: often commentators have simply lost track of
which differ greatly from see a play before they can what's happening.
everyday conversation identify the player, and the

THE COMMENTATOR
 PAR I \ • USING ENGLISH

uses of language can be said to be 'selling something'. There is also

ADVERTISING ENGLISH an overlap with announcements, such as births and deaths (a type
of prestige advertising?), legal notices, health warnings, and other
Despite the impact of the glossy format, the memorable image, items whose function is chiefly to inform. But commercial adver-
and the famous personality, it is language which can make or break tising stands out stylistically on several counts. Like literature

an ad. If the name of the product is not clearly stated, there is a (p. 412), it can employ other varieties of language in its service:

real risk that we will fail to recall it when the time comes to make any fragment of the human condition (and a fair amount of non-
our choice in the marketplace. Rare indeed are the ads which are human) can be found in an ad. Lexically, it tends to use words
so established that the name can be omitted or hinted at (e.g. using which are vivid {new, bright), concrete {soft, washable), positive

[J] instead of Schweppes). Usually the brand name is presented {safe, extra), and unreserved {best, perfect). Grammatically, it is typ-

to us in more than one form. In the press, it is likely to be in ically conversational and elliptical- and often, as a result, vague
themain text of the ad (the body copy), in the bottom-line sum- {A better deal [than what?]). It uses highly figurative expressions

mary (the signature line), and in the product illustration (if there {taste the sunshine in K-Y peaches), deviant graphology {Beam
is one). On television it is also likely to be vocalized. Radio uses Meanz Heinz p. 275), and strong sound effects, such as rhythm,
sound effects, song, and accents to provide a varied brand-name alliteration, and rhyme, especially in slogans (p. 180). And as the

profile. opposite page shows, it can make effective use of word-play

It is not easy to draw a clear conceptual boundary around the (p. 400). (For other examples of advertising language, see pp.199,
variety of advertising: political speeches, sermons, and several other 219, and 232.)

ADVERTISING GENRES bookmarks, carrier bags, catalogues, consequence. However,

little stylistic lexicalfeatures (§12). The lexical
circulars, flyers, handbills, inserts, size(and cost) does have an effect in items from the following ads identify
Commercial advertising is the largest labels, leaflets, special merchandise theamount of ellipsis and abbrevia- their genres, but thereis nothing else

and most visible form of advertising;
but by no means the
only one. The classified columns of a
newspaper include such categories
as auctions, automobiles, bargains,
careers, entertainment, health
safety,house sales, investments, lost
and found, personal, prestige, and
situations wanted.
Apart from the major media outlets
(dailyor weekly press, radio and TV
commercials), advertising also
employs a vast range of devices and
locations to get its messages across:
they include billboards, book jackets.
(cups, pens, T-shirts), notices, plac-
ards, posters, price tags, pro-
grammes, samples, sandwich boards,
sportswear, showcards, signs, tickets,
tourism brochures, media
and vehicle sides, wrapping paper, and
classified pages in telephone books.
Common features
Despite the many variations
tent and location, advertising
remarkably homogeneous variety.
The most obvious variations, such as
use of pictures, colour, and promi-
nence (peak time, front page) are of
tion used. For example, crammed inthe grammar, graphology, or dis-
into a single line of a three-line course structure to show the differ-
narrow-column ad for a mechanic is: ence between them.
Ford/Merc exp a must. Excel sal/bnfts. • immaculate, views, spacious, land-
trailers, ('Ford / Mercury experience a must.
scaped, near shops (p. 170)
Excellent salary and benefits.') This
• original owner, mint condition,
contrasts with the leisurely style of
warranty (p. 175)
We are currently seeking a high cali- • hot action, wild with desire, pure
bre salesperson to generate substan-
pleasure, hungry, relief
in con- tial business from UK and European • hilarious, for the entire family,
is a clients... inan appointments ad
blockbuster, near you
measuring 18 cm x 9 cm.
Another common feature is the use indeed can be generated by
Hilarity
of a restricted range of vocabulary, mixing up the lexicons of these dif-
including idiom, jargon, and other ferent advertising genres.

PUTTING YOUR MOUTH WHERE • A similar study used the scripts of hit
YOUR MONEY IS plays performed on the New York and
London stage during the same 30 years,
Don't say beer, say Bud. totalling nearly a million words, and
Don't say brown, say Hovis. showed over twice as many brand names
Don't be vague, ask for Haig. in the later period. The frequency was

Foster's the Australian for lager.
So, do we? Is it? Or rather,do consumers
increasingly use brand names in their
language, as a result of advertising
slogans of this kind? This intriguing
possibility was investigated in a series of
studies of the increase in brand-name
reference in aspects of US popular
culture.
• Asampleof31 best-selling US novels
published between 1946 and 1975, and
totalling nearly 3 million words, showed
that five times as many brand names
were being used in the books published
in the 1970s (e.g. Jaws) compared with
those in the 1940s (e.g. The Street). Coca
Co/a was the commonest, appearing 59
times across 18 books, closely followed by
Cadillac (57 times across 1 5 books), then
by Ford, Buick, Chevrolet, and LeW's.
over 50 per cent higher in the plays from
the USA.
• A third study looked at the lyrics of 256
songs which were hits in the USA in the
same period, using a sample of 36,000
words. Only seven different brand names
were found, in seven different songs, but
all except one were in the 1970s. For
example. Chevy {car) appears in
'American Pie' (1971) and Kenworth
(truck) and Microbus (car) in 'Convoy'
(1975). The exception: Stetson (hat) in
'Stagger Lee' (1958).
Apart from the sociological implications,
these studies are an interesting Name 2
Brand
demonstration of the effect of one Variety
variety of language on others, and thus Measure
of a factor which is often ignored in
discussing linguistic change. The The Early
(After M.Friedman, 1985, 1986.) 1950s 1960s 1970s
REFRESHING SLOGANS

Heineken lager beer is

produced under licence in

theUKbytheWhitbread
Beer Company. The slogan
Heineken refreshes the
parts other beers cannot
reach, devised by advertis- Heineken. Reneshes the pazts l^;^.
ing copywriter Terry Love-
lock in 1974, generated
I
other beers cannot reach. i%
one of the most interesting
linguistic sequences in the August 1974
history of commercial
advertising. The creative
brief he received - the
single word reireshment-
led to a fruitful series of
striking visual situations
(presented in posters and
TV commercials), all char-
acterized by the restorative
If
theme 'When something
isn't right, Heineken puts it

right'.
The early success of the
slogan gave it the status of
a catch phrase (p. 178), and
enabled copywriters to
begin playing with its lan-
guage, knowing that
people would readily bring Heineken refreshes the partings
to mind the original ver-
sion. The chief strategy
other beers cannot reach.
was to introduce lexical September 1988
substitutions, parts being
replaced by words with a
similar phonological struc-
ture, such as parrots,
pirates, pilots, and poets.
In 1989, the slogan was
rested, the restorative situ-
ation being supported by
the remark 'Only Heineken
can do this', but it returned
in 1991 as fresh as ever. It is

not difficult to imagine

what the slogan must have
been drinking in the mean-
time to enable it to do this
- nor what new genera- I HEINEIiEN REFRESHES THE FRUX-PRS \

tions of foreign learners OTHER BEERS CANNOT REACH.

(who would not be aware
of the original text) need
to drink in order to grasp
what a sentence such as
Heineicen refreshes the
poets other beers cannot
reach could possibly mean.

Beyond reach.
In the case of Sir Les Patterson (p. 350), the entire slogan is taken for granted.
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

index (p. 296). In the wider community, they are seen

RESTRICTED ENGLISH in newspaper headlines and in certain types of news-
paper announcement, such as birth and death notices
In one sense, all linguistically distinctive uses of or congratulatory messages (p. 359). In more special-

F.nglish are restricted, in that they are more likely to ized domains, we find the language of shipping fore-
be found in some situations than in others. Only in casts (p. 385), sportscasting scores (p. 386), the
literature, advertising, and humour (§22) is it possible numerical formulae of citizen band radio (e.g. 10-4-
in principle to disregard all conventions (though of 'message understood'), postcodes, zip codes, and the NAVYSPEAK?
course in practice there may be legal or social con- codes of cryptology. Internationally, we can observe
or taboo lan- restricted varieties in the international language of air
A traditional, restricted
straints, such as those disallowing libel
language: the British flag
guage). But these general pressures on appropriateness traffic control {Airspeak) and its maritime equivalent signalling code devised by Sir

are very different from the tightly constrained uses of (Seaspeak), with Eurolanguage developments for the Home Popham in 1803. Each
flag combination relates to a
English which are described under the heading of 1990s prompted by the opening of the Channel separate word in the
"restricted varieties'. In these cases little or no linguis- Tunnel form o^ PoliceSpeaka.nd Emergencyspeak
in the Admiralty code book. The
tic variation is permitted. The rules, which often have (for the emergency services). Other restricted varieties illustration shows Nelson's
famous signal, sent at the
to be consciously learned, control everything that can have emerged with the development of electronic sys- Battleof Trafalgar (1805):
be said intelligibly or acceptably. tems of communication. EDIFACT, for example, is 'England expects that every
Restricted varieties appear in both domestic and the international standard for the electronic exchange man will do his duty'.
Ironically, the word duty was
occupational situations. At home, we can encounter of goods trading information. It seems likely that this
not the code book,
listed in
them in a knitting pattern, a cookery recipe, or a book trend will continue. so it had to be spelled out.

ENGLAND EXPECTS

^
DO
220

IP

The signal displayed o

 21 SOCIAL VARIATION

HERALDSPEAK
The confirmation of arms
made by Robert Cool<e,
Clarenceux King of Arms, to
Henry Stanley of Sutton
Bonington, Notting-
hamshire, dated 18 March
1 576. The contemporary
description shows several of
the features of heraldic lan-
guage, such as a special
colour vocabulary (gu/es
'red', asur 'blue') and for-
mulaic syntax {an Egles
headgolde).

Golde thre egles legges rased gules on a chief indented

asur thre staggs heads caboshed golde and to the creast
uppon the healme on a wreath silver and asur an Egles
head golde wth thre pellatts and his beake an Egles foote
rased gules manteled gules dobled silver

KNITWRITE rem remain(ing) COOKWRITE apples, slice parsnips, core

rep repeat and slice apples. Melt
Knitting patterns present a highly si slip Parsnip and Apple Soup butter and oil in a heavy
formulaic restricted variety, noted for its st(s) stitch(es) pan, and add all vegetables
Ingredients
sequences of abbreviations which relate stst stocking-stitch and the curry powder
6oz leeks
to individual words as well as to more tog together Cover and cook gently, stir
10 oz parsnips
complex sets of instructions. Extracts from often, and do not let
6 oz cooking apples
two patterns are shown below. Phrasal abbreviations vegetables brown. Add
1 oz butter
Each uses its own set of abbreviations, RS right side stock and seasoning, bring
tablespoon cooking oil
and follows them scrupulously, but there tbi through back of loop to boil, andsimmerfor
scant teaspoon curry
is a considerable similarity between them, WS wrong side 25-30 minutes until
powder
and some abbreviations seem to be yi yarn forward vegetables are cooked.
1 pt chicken stock
standard (e.g. psso). Sentence-level Pureethesoupina
quarter pt milk
abbreviations vary greatly between Sentence abbreviations blender, add milk, and
salt and pepper
patterns, though the syntax of the Cr2R Knit into front of second stitch on left- reheat.
sentences they refer to is highly restricted. hand needle, then knit first stitch, Wash and slice leeks, peel (FromPam Keating,
Use of upper-case and lower-case letters dropping both stitches off needle parsnips and cooking Ucheldre Recipes. 1992.)
seems to be arbitrary. Square brackets are together.
used to set off alternative values, if KB Knit into back of stitch.
knitting to larger sizes, according to a key Ml Make a stitch by picking up horizontal
shown at the beginning of the pattern; loop lying before next stitch and working RITEWRITE
these are distinguished by punctuation or into back of it.
typography (e.g. bold-face numbers psso Pass slipped stitch over. COLLINS - On July 3, in Liverpool, to Mary (nee Smith) and
correspond to bold-face columns in the SLIK Slip 1 knitways. John, a son (Arthur Hugh).
key). Tw2 Knit next two stitches together but do SMITH - WILLIAMS - On 6 July, at St Mark's Church, Holy-
There are certain differences between not drop off needle, then knit the first head, Anglesey, JOHN, eldest son of Dr and Mrs Gilbert
and American English (p. 306),
British stitch again, dropping both stitches off Smith, of Birmingham, to MARY, onlydaughter of Mrand
which patterns sometimes list as a needle together. Mrs Michael Williams, of Holyhead.
glossary; for example BROWN -on March 8th, peacefully at home in Dublin,
aged 68 years, Michael Edward.
BrE AmE SMITH, Jane beloved wife of Mark; adored mother of
cast off bind off Mary and John; cherished grandmother of Simon and
stocking stitch stockinette stitch Peter; devoted sister of Emily. Service Wednesday 10 am
19sts. '
^'P^''^'.Pl.k5,p2,k,.
tension gauge at Mount Aran Chapel.
yarn forward yarn over
Buttonhole row 1^,*
•
,, All names are fictitious, but otherwise texts
"b rep fr„;, .' ^'' *V^' ><^ tog are reproduced exactly.
Word abbreviations 4(6;6:6J,
^^ ^'°'^ * twice
210:2:4]. more r,b
alt alternate
beg beginning Neck border:
cont continue With RS
—".«, starting at
needles, facii ig
and mm
4 "^^ CHESSWRITE
dec decrease, decreasing /eft ci=^ '° ^

foil following
(KBi, P2) (P2tog) twice
inc increase, increasing times, KBI.
(KBl, P2) (P2tog)
twice.
k, K knit
p, P purl
patt pattern
 PARI' V • USING ENGLISH

available, they are often used inconsistently, because of

NEW VARIETIES the extra effort involved. Participants also tend not to
use 'time-wasting' formulae such as greetings and
The electronic age has changed our lives, as communi- farewells, and messages are characterized by space-
cating human beings. New methods of sending and saving conventions such as ellipsis and abbreviation.
receiving information enable us to communicate with a Because participants are well aware of the possible time
bank or supermarket, interrogate a library catalogue or delays, they tend to avoid expressions which would be
encyclopedia database, or select from a series of menus, ambiguous over time (such as today, this afternoon).

each case, we
as in television data displays (teletext). In Otherwise, style is very close to that of conversation -
have to learn new conventions of communication - and indeed often incorporates emotional expressions
new techniques of accessing or asking, new techniques and other informalities which one would otherwise
of reading and assimilating. Interacting with a com- find only in intimate face-to-face conversation.

puter is (at present) not the same as interacting with a These are very unusual conversations indeed - but
human being. And strange things can happen to con- they are conversations. They are preferred over other

versational language when people let an electronic methods because they can be the most economical way
device come between them. of sending or receiving information. Also, like the fax

machine (p. 291), they do not require the participants

Computer-mediated communication (CmC) to engage in time-consuming rituals of a phatic kind
Electronic messages (e-messages) and electronic mail (asking about health, family, weather). In other cir-

methods of exchanging letter-like messages

(e-mail) are cumstances, a conversation which omitted such pleas-
on-line. In the former, both sender and receiver are antries would be considered rude.

simultaneously logged on to their computers, and the In systems using a list server, the conversation

messages occur in real time; in the latter, a message is becomes even more unusual. Here, a message is sent to

left in a 'mail box' for later reading. E-mail is a type of everyone belonging to a certain group; it is placed on a

delaved dialogue, but unlike the situation of the 'bulletin board', for consultation at any time. We there-
answering machine a reply is likely, using the same fore have a one-to-many conversation, in which a single
system, some time later. What makes it unusual, in the stimulus can elicit many responses, scattered over a

typology of communication situations, is the delay period of time, each of which can be read indepen-
between stimulus and response, which may be of dently. Some responses quickly become out-of-date
several days' duration. through the arrival of later messages; equally, later mes-
The delay between typing, sending, and receiving a sages can make earlier messages redundant. People who
message can cause unusual sequences of conversational consult bulletin boards often have to process some

turns. One study of this phenomenon (D. E. Murray, extremely complex textual tangles.
1990) found the following example:
ONE-WAY
Tl: THEY HAVE IT RUNNING DOWN AT THE DIALOGUE
LAB(ONSYS21) A page from a teletext
PI: yeah -using lab T' for
Tl : ALSO ON SYS24. ISN'T IT SOMETHING?
home terminal support i bet! transmission, showing
some of the features
5?S"eao,i
^OODBATH OS
which identify this iiie?ac.ENDs
P2: what would be the effect of having the home term variety, such as the
with ymon using a high speed modem? colour coding of dif
T2:ALEX WAS INTERESTED IN PUTTING IT ferent kinds of infor-
mation, the succinct
UPONSYS54. sentence structure, '^'•^
HIGH SPEED WOULD MAKE IT REALLY LOOK and the provision of LIVERPOOL L^
SWEET. page connectivity
indicators. More is LEONI tCEATTKir.
*°<^..
involved than the
In this exchange, P'se-message(Pl) interrupts T's turn, provision of infor

in which he is telling P where something is operating. P mation in mono

logueform
then sends a second e-message (P2). T then replies to
(p. 294). Jokes and
both PI and P2 at once. riddles, for exam-
ple, which are
Because time is of the essence, errors in typing may
typical of a dia 119 219
not be corrected. The sender usually ignores letter case
logue situation,
(p. 257), putting everything into either lower or upper may appear on a

case. Depending on the system used, the computer children's interest page

may print everything out in upper case anyway (as in

the above example). When mixed-case programs are
 2 1 • SOCIAL VARIATION

DEMOCRATIC CONVERSATIONS
Electronic conversation programs present tine
linguist with new anci intriguing problems. Here is
the beginning of a creative writing class which
took place at a New York university in 1 992, using
a program called Daedalus Interchange. The
students are each sitting in front of a computer
screen, and after they log on, the following
message appears on their screen from the course
ring foruard story bottoraley and dog?
tutor. (Each message is preceded by the name of
the sender, omitted here.)
/pic by thurs?

Good morning! Would those of you who attended D: body beautiful staying at green men. try .u^- x..it,ivici
last night's lecture say something about your
impressions of the presentation and the material?
G: WHAT DOG?
Did it change your notion of what Hypertext is
and what its possibilities might be? What about its

appropriateness for writing autobiography? ft: HflUE GOOD PICS BB WITH BLfllR AND ON 0W1. BOTTOflLY NO
PROBLEM.
The first two student responses are shown here.
The omitted punctuation in the second response is
C: pit bull, bb already spoken to standard (dick says),
unsurprising, given thespontaneity of the
response. the graphic equivalent of not
It is
check uith nina.
pausing between sentences. Responses in this
medium can be full of typing and spelling errors, D: ade suggests games page, g - shall i ask him to put
with sentences loose and incomplete.
something tgether?
Inever really thought of hypertext in a context
outside of the classroom. didn't realize thet it
I G: PUT ADE ON HOLD. CATH PLEASE CALL HE BEFORE 1688 TUES.
was a medium that could, theoretically, replace
books.

Hypertext is a way of life feel like belong to a

I I

And the only way out is to construct my

cult.
they may be physically distant from each other. for me because sometimes feel intimidated to
I

autobiography.
But the new medium has more fundamental speak out loud in front of people. can put in my I

implications than this. It appears to encourage thoughts whenever want to. don't miss my
I I

As more students join in the conversation, the

participation, in that people do not have to wait chance to talk.'
computer screen fills up with a running scroll of
until one person has finished talking before they The effect of these programs on learning is as yet
electronic messages. Each message is shown in
can make their contribution. Even poor typists can unclear. How students make use of the
sequence as it comes in. However, as the students
make their point (albeit after some delay). It information to which they are exposed, and how
are thinking in different ways, and typing at
avoids the familiar scenario in which student A is they retain salient points faced with a
different speeds, new ideas are mixed with
discomfited because student B has made the point continuously scrolling screen requires research.
responses to old ideas in a nonlinear way.
Maintaining a coherent structure in such a
A wished to make. In an electronic conversation, A But from a linguistic point of view, electronic
can make the point anyway. For students who conversations provide an unprecedented
seminar can be very difficult for the tutor.
tend to be silent in an open class, or who have a multidimensional kind of communication in
On the other hand, those who have experienced
quiet voice, or an accent which attracts notice, it which such established notions as 'interruption',
this kind ofinterchange laud the benefits. There is
can be a way of gaining equality. As one student 'question and answer', and 'conversational turn'
the obvious point, that it enables people to
put it: 'Communicating on the computer is better do not easily apply. (After S. Rakov, 1993.)
participate in the same conversation even though

ANSWERSPEAK choose not to speak, thus rejecting the callee's other kinds of instructions. Some dramatize their
recorded invitation. Secondly, through the moni- message, or introduce creative elements (e.g.
Hello. I'm sorry we're not here at the moment, toring facility the callee can listen to the caller as musical accompaniment), which says more about
but if you'd like to leave a message you have just the message is being recorded and decide their personality than about English.
under three minutes after the tone. Thank you for whether to cut in, thus turning the situation into a When messages are left, they vary greatly in
calling./etfpy real dialogue. form. Some people treat the machine as if it were
Hi. is Arthur Jones. I'm responding to the
This The recorded message is unusual, as far as tele- a person, and talk to it in a natural conversational
got from you this morning. I'm hoping to
letter I
phone linguistic history is concerned. The usual style (introducing their remarks with Hi or Hello
get to the meeting, but I'll try and reach you later response to a caller is a number or hello. Here, nei- and an identifying formula (Th/s/s...; I'm a friend
to talk about it - it's 11.30 now - Tuesday - or you ther of these items may be present (the number of ...). Some train themselves to leave a precise
can ring me at the office. I'll be there till 5. Thanks. may be deliberately avoided for security reasons) record of when their message was made. Some
Bye. and instead there is an explanation and a set of find any kind of communication with a machine
instructions. Situational constraints give this mes- awkward or impossible, and use a formal style,

The answerphone presents a new kind of conver-
sational situation: delayed single-exchange
pseudo-dialogue (p. 296). It is pseudo because in
the typical case there is no feedback and no fur-
ther conversational turn. The situation is also
asymmetrical, in two ways. First, the caller may
sage some of the features of a restricted language
(p. 390). Limited time makes it very short; and
people typically do not include information about
how long they are absent, in case they put their
home at risk. Some leave messages indicating
where a real dialogue can take place, or give
often highly elliptical and disjointed. Although
beginning a message is straightforward, almost
everyone finds it difficult to end one. Many mes-
sages tail off into silence or uncertainty, or end
with an unusual turn of phrase. What is the func-
tion of thanks in the above example?
 22 PERSONAL VARIATION
English
English o[ the 1990s
American English of the 1990s
Educated American English of the 1990s
Spoken Educated American English ot the 1 990s

Spoken Educated Political American English of the 1990s

Spoken Educated Political American English of the 1990s as heard in Speeches
Spoken Educated Political American English of the 1990s as heard in Speeches given by Bi Clinton

In a sequence such as this, it is possible to see how the tionalists', 'good story-tellers', 'good letter-writers',
study of English can proceed from the general to the 'good speech-makers'. What actually makes them so is

particular. We begin with the language as a whole, the the subject of a fascinating and ancient field of
subject-matter of this book. The focus then moves to enquiry: rhetoric.
a particular historical period (§5); a particular medium For the most part, individualistic features are unim-
(§ 1 9) a particular region (§20)
; ; and a particular social portant in the act of communication. When we listen
background, occupational variety, and genre (§21). to what people are saying, we do not spend much time
Up to this point we are able to talk about group paying attention to what it is about their language that
usages -features of English which would be used by makes them different. Indeed, differences, once
anyone who shared the same background. But the final noticed, can get in the way of the meaning. It is not
stepmoves us in a quite different direction: the easy to pay attention to someone who has frequent and

domain of personal identity. prominent linguistic idiosyncrasies. A deviant voice

It is different because, when we begin to describe the qualiry or pronunciation is a distraction, as is eccentric
linguistic features which identify an individual, we handwriting, a persistent use of a particular idiom, or
leave behind the safety-net of predictability, which has a tendency to finish off what someone else is saying
guided our study of varieties (p. 290). The distinctive (p. 295). Nonetheless, because the chief purpose of
features of political speeches are, to some extent, pre- language is to share meanings, when we talk or write to
dictable, as are the features we associate with being each other we try to discount those elements which
educated, being an American, and so on. But there is have no function in that task.

no way of predicting someone's personal linguistic This, at least, is the norm. But there are a number of NORMALLY DEVIANT
identit)' from our knowledge of the way other people important cases where individualitv in the use of Circumstances can
use language. English-a personal style, as it is usually called- « con- remove all vestiges of
linguistic indiviciuality,
sidered to be a matter of importance, and worthy of
as is plain from this
Individual differences studv in its own right. These provide the subject- Victorian observation
Individualit)' in language is a complex matter, arising matter of this chapter. ofMr Punch's
handwriting.
from variations in sex, physique, personality, back-
.

ground, interests, and experience. Physique and phys-

ical condition is important, for example, in the way it
C/7^
UO'TyC^ /
can influence a person's voice quality (p. 249). Person-
alirv' plays a part in voice quality too, and, if the This IS before dinner. 7.30 Attested by After the Claret and the Port.
several witnesses.
graphologists are correct (p. 257), is especially impor-
tant in relation to handwriting. A particular blend of
social and geographical backgrounds, increasingly
common in a mobile society, may produce a distinc- Thisis after the Punch a la Romaine, During the cigars, whiskey and water.
tive accent or dialect. Educational history, occupa- about the middle of the banquet.

tional experience, and personal skills or tastes

(hobbies, leisure pursuits, literary preferences, etc.),
will foster the use of habitual words and turns of This is with the dessert
phrase, or certain kinds of grammatical construction.
Also noticeable will be favourite discourse practices -a
tendency to develop points in an argument in a certain
way, or a penchant for certain kinds of metaphor or
After the Claret. Before getting into bed.
analogy. Some people are, evidently, 'good conversa-
 PERSONAL VARIATION

effect which it may be difficult to pin down. For TALKING BACKWARDS

DEVIANCE example, an increased use of a certain kind of vocab-
One of the first studies of
ulary may become apparent only after a great deal of talking backwards in chil-

il In linguistic enquiry, the notion of individual differ- statistical investigation (as in the case of authorship dren was published in 1981.
It examined an 8-year-old
k ence — of a linguistic effect which does not conform studies, p. 436). For the most part, though, people
and a 9-year-old who had
\. to a rule or norm — is an aspect of what is commonly who are 'being deviant' or 'strange' are being so for a (quite independently)
\i referred to as deviance. In its extreme form, deviance purpose, and the effects are specific and noticeable. invented a game of talking
backwards, apparently with-
5
produces instances of language which are totally We do not normally equate lexical opposites or twist
out anyone's help, and had
; unacceptable: *langauge, *[Iplat], * cat the, *goodness- the language of everyday proverbs; so when we do, it been using it for about a
. ness, and * please thanks are all deviant forms at the stands out immediately. One of the most famous year.Both children had
normal forwards speech. The
1 levels of graphology, phonology, grammar, vocabu- quotations in the language is George Orwell's 'War is
researchers asked each child
I lary, and discourse, respectively (p. 2). (The asterisk is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.' To to 'translate' 100 words into
1 conventionally used to symbolize this kind of deviant explain the purpose and effect of such a dramatic backwards speech, and also a
few sentences.
I formation.) But there is nothing intrinsically unac- example of norm-breaking would require us to move
The two children turned
ceptable about the notion of linguistic deviance. A from a linguistic towards a literary critical world. The out to be very different.
deviant or strange use of language may be highly purpose of the example here is only to introduce the Child A reversed the sounds
of each word, ignoring the
effective and widely appreciated - as in any art form. point that even such a major departure from linguis-
spelling. Child B reversed
There are, moreover, different levels of deviance - tic normality is by no means uncommon, outside as the spellings, sounding the
( degrees of departure from the norms which identify well as within literature. In everyday speech and letters out. The resulting
pronunciations were very
1
the various varieties of English (p. 290), and from the writing. Deviance, it seems, is Normal. Strangeness
different. Size, for example,
: structures they have in common. Slight degrees of is Familiarity. And familiarity, as everyone knows, would come out as [zais]
deviance will hardly be noticed, or will produce an breeds content. using A's method, but as
[ezis] using B's. Here are
some of the words they
spoke (in simplified
transcription):
DEVIANTLY NORMAL and background; but they are com- secret language by children, where
monplace. many varieties exist. Large numbers of
It would be difficult to think of a More complex levels of systematic children experiment with backslang
clearer case of strange linguistic nonsense also exist. The phenomenon (producing a word backwards with a
behaviour than the deliberate use of of 'scat' singing is a case in point: it letter-by-letter or syllable-by-syllable
unintelligible speech; but such cases reaches its peak in the performances pronunciation), and some can reach
are by no means uncommon in every- of Ella Fitzgerald and other profes- great speeds of utterance. In eggy-
day spoken language. A particularly sional jazz singers, as well as in the peggy speech and in Pig Latin, extra
striking instance (because it turns out duet between Mowgli and Baloo in syllables are added to each word in a
to be so widespread, cross-cultural, Walt Disney's Jungle Book. But it can sentence. Such games are found
and international) is the speech of be heard at lower levels of creative widely across languages, and are not
adults talking to babies, where the expertise in many a kitchen or bath- unknown among adults -though
phonetic structure of words is radically room. adults usually have more time to
altered, nonsense syllables are intro- Glossolalia is another interesting experiment with versions of the writ-
duced, and bizarre (from the point of domain: 'speaking in tongues' is prac- ten language (p. 395).
view of normal adult language) into- tised by large numbers of ordinary
nation and rhythm patterns used. people as part of their regular reli-
Moreover, this kind of 'baby-talk' is by gious behaviour In published glosso-
no means restricted to talking to lalia studies, it is evident that the sylla-

babies. It may be heard when people ble sequences produced do not add up
address animals, and even at times to a real, unknown, and 'alien' lan-

between adults on occasions of special guage (what would technically be

intimacy - though in the absence of called xenoglossia), but rather to a
empirical data, confirmation of this radically modified form of the
last point will have to be left to the speaker's own language, which is used
reader's intuition. as a sign of spiritual conversion or
Another example is the range of belief. Some people admit to praying
nonsensical expressions which may 'in tongues' in private. Here too the
accompany a moment of sudden emo- data, because of the intimate nature
tion. One person was observed to of such occasions, are difficult to
utter an expletive (roughly transcribed obtain.
as shplumfnooeeah, with a crescendo The same point applies to a further
at fnoo) when he stood on a broom area of linguistic abnormality, the use
and the handle came up and hit his of hidden or secret languages by crimi-
head. The poet Robert Southey is on nals. Forms of 'speech disguise' have
record as swearing by the great deca- been studied in many parts of the
syllabon Aballiboozobanganovribo. world, the lexicon of criminal argot
Such expressions vary enormously in attracting especial attention. Cockney
kind and degree of complexity, and rhyming slang also shows similarities
their incidence probably varies greatly (p. 182).
in terms of speaker sex, personality. Rather easier to study is the use of Ella Fitzgerald
 PART \' • USING ENGLISH

word games, having its own international competi-

WORD GAMES tions, and attracting media attention.
At the other extreme, the ordinary crossword puzzle
is probably the most familiar and widespread example
Word games played by aduUs provide the clearest of a grid game, though the clues which enable the
example ot the lengths to which people are prepared to puzzle to be completed rely on much more than purely
go to indulge in strange linguistic behaviour. We take lexical knowledge. The game is traditionally one for
considerable enjoyment from pulling words apart and the isolated single player. However, crossword compe-
reconstituting them in some novel guise, arranging titions are not unusual, where competitors have to
them into clever patterns, finding hidden meanings in complete a puzzle 'against the clock', or solve a partic-

them, and trying to use them according to specially ular set of cryptic clues. The genre is continually devel-
inx'ented rules. Word puzzles and competitions are to oping. Enthusiasts do their best to devise puzzles that
be found in newspapers, at house parties, in schools, on are especially ingeniousand testing- though 'tortur-
radio and television, and in all kinds of individual con- ing" would be a better description, bearing in mind
texts -as when a commuter completes a crossword, or the eponyms (p. 155) of some of the great crossword
a child plays a game of Hangman. One of Britain's most compilers (such as Torquemada and Ximenes- leaders
successful television games of the 1980s was 'Blankety of the Spanish Inquisition).
Blank", in which people had to guess which word fills

a blank in a familiar phrase (p. 162). Another was "Call

WORD SQUARES
My Bluff", where the participants had to decide which
of three given meanings correctly defined an unfamil- Word squares involving nine words have been com-
pleted, though many of the words are rare, and involve
iar word. There are thousands of possibilities, provid-
the compiler having to make awkward decisions about
ing an almost inexhaustible series of topics for radio the eligibility of proper names, unassimilated loan
and televisiongame shows, as well as feeding the words, older spellings, compounds, and other unusual
coinages (§8).
insatiable demand for new domestic indoor pursuits.
A N G E

Written medium games

Any aspect of language structure can in principle pro-
vide the basis for a game. Most assume literacy: they are
based on the written language, and rely on players rec-
ognizing the letters of the alphabet (p. 256) and being
able to spell. Some are for individuals to play, the fun
Iving in solving a problem; others are competitive. In
'Word Squares', for example, the aim is to make up
words of equal length which read both horizontallv
and vertically, and sometimes diagonally too. In
'Buried Words', words have to be found within sen-
tences: in a 'find the animals' game, deer czn be discov-
ered in The hunters made errors. In "Words Within
Words', the aim is to make as many words as possible

with the letters of a single word. However, to win a

competition using this game is more difficult than
might at first be thought: one player found 273 words
in psalter.

Grid games A\ operate on the principle of building up

words using letters on a predetermined network of
squares. In 'Word Search", a maze game for one player,
the letters are provided in advance, and the words have
to be found by moving from one square to the next in
any direction. In 'Scrabble®' (see opposite), a game for
several players, the words have to be composed from
randomly obtained groups of letters. Points are
assigned based upon how many letters are used; rarer

letters score higher points; and certain squares in the

grid are more valuable than others. This is a game
which has achieved a special place in the history of
 PERSONAL VARIATION

WORD MAZES
One of the most popular word puzzles: a word maze. In
the easy version, a set of words is given in advance and
the task is to find them. Words may run forwards, back-
wards, upwards, downwards, or diagonally, but they are
always in straight lines, and they do not skip letters. The
same letter may be used in different words. In a more
difficult version, the words are not given in advance;
one is simply told to 'find the names of ten composers'.
The present example allows both: the difficult task is
'Find ten words to do with the rose garden'. After fail-
ing this, the easy task is: 'Find the ten words listed at the
bottom of
p. 399'.

u
 .

PART V • USING ENGLISH

GAME LEVELS • Make a sentence which letter of the alphabet:

Only a few language

contains every letter of the Player 1: Are you in? HANGED AND DRAWN
alphabet (a pangram). This Player 2: Believe it!
games are, literally, word is not difficult to do in long Player 1: Can comeI in,
One of the most popular children's spelling games, known for
games - that is, operating over a century, is 'Hangman' or 'Gallows'. Player A chooses a
sentences containing sev- then?
within the confines of the word, and shows the number of letters it contains by blanks.
eral letter duplications. The Player 2: Do you want to?
orthographic word. Many point of the game is to Player 1: Ever ready.
Player B has to guess which letters appear in the word. If the
go well beyond this, oper- guesses are wrong, a figure of a gallows and a hanged man is
eliminate as many duplica- Player 2: Fine.
ating at levels of sentence built up, error by error. If the guesses are right, the correct
tions as possible, ideally Player 1: Got any gin?
and discourse (p. 285). letters are inserted into the blanks, and no addition is made
ending up with a sentence Player 2: Haven't...
Some examples of each are of 26 letters. Several such
to the figure. The goal is for B to guess the whole word
given below. • Make up a poem in which before the picture of the hanged man is completed. The
sentences have been
a word or phrase is pro- number of steps in the game varies: the illustration shows 1 1
devised, but they succeed
Word level duced by combining the first
only by using rare loan
• Turn one word or phrase letter of each line (an acros-
words (e.g. cwm, veldt,
into another using the tic), alternatively, make one
qoph), proper names,
same letters (an anagram), up in which a word is pro-
abbreviations, and a tele-
if possible so that the duced by combining the last
graphic style: Blowzy
meaning of the two letter of each line (a
night-frumps vex'd Jack Q
versions relate or are telestich). Some acrostics
is one of the more natural
incongruous.
ones.
can be seen just by reading
the text; others are con-
P^^
the eyes > they see
• Make a sentence in
structed as puzzles or riddles
Clint Eastwood > Old West- which the normal spelling
('My first [i.e. first letter] is
action expectancies of the lan-
in Rupertand Petraand Paul
Piet Mondrian > paint I
guage are constrained. In
...').

modern univocalics, only one type

parliament > partial men
astronomers > no more
stars
dyslexia > daily sex
• In aword completion
game, the task is to com-
plete a partly spelled word.
The interest lies in finding
unusual letter sequences
(p. 266).{See foot of
opposite page for answers,
if needed.)
U RD
UAC
ARB
K LA
Sentence level
• Make a meaningful sen-
tence 26 words long in
which each word begins
with a consecutive letter of
the alphabet. A partial
example follows. (See foot
of opposite page for one
possible completion.)
A bronzed cowboy,
ing elegantly for grand
hotels in Jersey...
ray your zebra.
• Make meaningful sen-
a
tence which reads the
same in both directions (a
palindrome). There are sev-
eral possibilities, depend-
ing on whether the word
or the sentence as a whole
of vowel is allowed.
Do not look for lots of
good books on London
Oxford school sports.
In lipograms, a particular
letter or letters
lowed. This is not a particu-
larly interesting
when using an infrequent
letter such as J or X
(p. 265); but it becomes
intriguing when
such as
letter, E or
avoided.
The vowel which
in thissentence is the first
item listed in the time-
honoured sequence of
English letters.
• Make meaningful sen-
a
tence in which each word
begins with the same letter
of the alphabet. Here is the
opening of 'The Saga of
Shrewd Simon Short', to
show what can be done at
danc- discourse level,
wishes:
would X-
Shrewd Simon Short sewed
shoes. Seventeen summers,
speeding storms, spreading
sunshine successively, saw
Simon's small shabby shop
still standing staunch, saw
Simon's selfsame squeak-
ing sign still swinging
silently specifying;
• In 'Just a Minute', a well-
established game on BBC
radio, players take it in
or turns to talk on a given
subject for one minute
without hesitating, repeat-
ing themselves, or deviat-
is disal-
ing from the subject. A PRIZE-WINNING
chairman awards and sub-
game
tracts points accordingly.
• In 'Consequences' the aim
is to create incongruous
juxtapositions by using a
a common
simple story-grammar There
T, is
are several variants, but the
common feature is for a
is missing written narrative to be built
up item by item on a sheet
of paper by the players,
each participant not know-
ing what the previous
person has written. The
leader provides the story
outline, and the players fill
in the variables one at a
time. Typically, the first
player begins by choosing
an adjective; the second fol-
lows with a male name; the
if one so
third adds a further adjec-
tive; the fourth adds a
female name; subsequent
players add where they met;
what he said to her; what
she said to him; the conse-
quence; and what the world
said about it. (Uncertain
Fred and doleful Angela
met in a sauna...) Very pop-
Simon ular in Victorian times, this

is palindromic. If the latter,

Short, Smithfield's sole sur- game is still played, the
either letters or words viving shoemaker... spice often resulting from
can be the basis of the the participants' own names
construction. Discourse level being incorporated into a
• Make a meaningful dia- plot which doubtless
Anna sees nun deified. logue of 26 sentences, so becomes increasingly risque
I moan, Naomi. that each participant pro- as the evening proceeds.
So patient a doctor to duces a sentence begin-
doctor a patient so. ning with a consecutive
 22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

Spoken medium games specialized nature. In the world of television games, MULTI-SYSTEM GAMES
Formally constituted games based on speech sounds for example, there are many competitions where to be
Some word games rely on
are less common, though informal word-play, involv- successful we need to have specialized knowledge, an an interaction with non-
ing riddles, charades, puns and tongue-twisters is excellent memory, a special skill, or considerable linguistic systems-in particu-
lar, with numerical values.
common enough, from an early age (p. 395). The stamina or strength. To win at such quiz games as
• In alpharDetics, a series of
reason presumably is that auditory perception and 'Mastermind', a period of study and preparation is
semantically related words
short-term memory cannot cope with the complexi- required. But for language games, the only require- is in a puzzle which
given
ties of a multi-dimensional game; it is difficult to con- ment is that we can speak/listen or read/write. They can be solved only if num-
bers are substituted for let-
ceive of an auditory version of Scrabble®, for instance rely on our knowledge and memory of language, and
ters. An example is 'Two
(p. 397). On the other hand, these very difficulties nothing else.
wrongs make a right',
can motivate a game. 'Chinese Whispers" (or 'Russian Our linguistic long-term memory is indeed which can be solved if the
We hear an old record on the radio, and sentence is treated as an
Gossip') is an example of a perceptual game, where remarkable.
addition sum: WRONG +
the participants are arranged in a circle, and a mes- find we can sing the words along with it, even though WRONG = RIGHT The task is

sage is passed from one person to the next in a whis- we might not have heard them and would
for decades, to work out what numerical
them deliberately five min- values need to be assigned
per: the fun comes in comparing the original version have been unable to recall
to these letters to make
with the final version. There are also many games in utes before. Our brains are crammed with fragments them add up correctly. (See
which the object is to remember an increasingly grow- of old nursery rhymes, poems learned in school, foot of page for the
answer.)
ing list of things to say, or games where we have to prayers, local dialect expressions, jokes, advertising
• In a similar game, numbers
words from our knowledge of the language
recall slogans, old catch phrases, and much more. And are substituted for letters
{'How many words beginning with Wean you say in beneath all of this is the solid foundation of the rules (usually A=l, B=2, etc.), and

down the 'values' of the words are

a minute?'). And there are games which play with the of grammar, sounds, and vocabulary laid in
then compared to see if they
conventions of discourse rules, such as the Victorian early conversations, and a substantial awareness of
convey hidden meanings.
circle-game 'Cross Questions and Crooked Answers': spelling expectancies picked up from our reading and People at a party might com-
player whispers a question to the second, who writing. combination of skills which makes
pute the values of their
the first It is this
names and see who is
whispers an answer; the second does the same to the everyone qualified to play games with English speech numerically 'related' -
third,and so on; when everyone has taken a turn, and writing. having the same value, adja-
cent values, or separated by
each person reports the question he or she was asked
a significant round number
and the answer he or she received. Some entertaining (such as 100). In earlier times,
juxtapositions usually result. TWISTING TONGUES (MAINLY) thistechnique (known as
gematria) was used to pro-
The range and popularity of word games is intrigu-
Tongue-twisters depend for their effect not only on vide insights into the mean-
ing. Perhaps their appeal lies in their essentially non- consonant tongue movements, but also on using far- ing of life, fuelled by such
apart vowels (p. 238). Bilabial sequences are often coincidences as Jesus and
vowel-based (as in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled Messiah both scoring 74 (as
A UNIQUE UNIVOCAUZER pepper). indeed does the word
English), or Bible and Holy
The Victorian wordsmith, C. C. Bombaugh, devised uni- Palato-alveolar/ alveolar
Writ being separated by
vocalic poems for each vowel. Here is his offering for /: If shipshape ship shop stocks six shipshape shop-
a
exactly 100.
'The Approach of Evening' (1890). how many shipshape shop-soiled ships
soiled ships,
would six shipshape ship shops stock?
Idling, I sit in this mild twilight dim, Bilabial
Whilst birds, in wild, swift vigils, circling skim. 'Are you copper-bottoming 'em,my man?' 'No, I'm PUZZLE ANSWERS
Light winds in sighing sink, till, rising bright, aluminiuming 'em with the minimum of aluminium,
Night's Virgin Pilgrim swims in vivid light! ma'am.' Etymorphs (p. 396): (c);

(b)

Word Mazes {p. 397):

1D|NGBATS beds, blooms, buds,
DINGBATS® bushes, greenfly, hybrid,
petals, scent, thorn, trellis
The aim game, devised by Paul Sellers, and
of this board EVERYTHING
published by Waddingtons in 1 987, is to decode a word-
puzzle to reveal a well-known phrase or saying. The game
12:00 EVERYTHING Word Completion
(p.398): gourd, bivouac,

cuts across the divide between spoken and written lan-

EVERYTHING rhubarb, necklace
EVERYTHING
guage games, and taps all levels of language awareness.
To solve the first card shown you need to see in it a
Plaice Sentence Completion
(p. 398):... knitting lovely
semantic substitution (hyponymy, p. 156), a visual lexical mittens nicely on prettily
pun (homophony), and an implied lexical pun (forvs 1m DINGBATS^ quilted rubber shoes,
four). The second uses a real word, the logic of spatial thought untrained vets ...

prepositions, spelling reversal, and a grammatical pun

(noun phrase back words vs adverb backwards). What
'drives you crazy' (as the game's blurb claims) is the fact
BEND Alphametics (above):
W = 2, R = 4, 0=1, N = 5,

that you do not know which of these (and many other

strategies) you need to solve a particular puzzle - yet you DRAW G = 3,l = 8, H = 9,T = 6
Dingbats (left): a time and
know you know the answer all the time (see below right).

DRAW a place for everything;

bend over backwards.
 PART V USING ENGLISH

RULE-BREAKING VARIETIES DAILY DEVIANCE

This kind of 'nonce' lexical creativity
If asked to say where linguistic deviance is (p.130) helps to solve a communication
most commonly to be found, most people problem or to introduce an element of
would think of literature -poetry, in partic- informality, humour, or rapport into a
A readiness to deviate trom the norms of language
ular -and they would be right {p. 410). If situation. None of the coinages reach the
(p. 394) is found in many varieties of English -though asked to say which variety of language status ofbecoming real neologisms -
by no means all. Indeed, in some situations linguistic holds second place, most people would entering the language as a whole.
hazard advertising - and they would be Phonetic or phonological deviance (§17)
strangeness would be unexpected, unwelcome, or pos- wrong. The second prize definitely has to go is also widely practised, chiefly by putting
itively disallowed. A clear instance is in public legal to a variety which, from a first impression, on 'silly voices'. This is particularly common
settings (p. 374), where there are well-established con- would not seem to be deviant at all: every- in joke-telling, but it often has nothing to
day conversation. do with humour (the participants do not
ventions about what we should say and how we The first impression misleads because most laugh), being more a matter of
should say it (and where, if we do not follow these people have a formal idea of conversation - maintaining rapport.
thinking perhaps of the carefully-fashioned • A man in his mid-twenties enters a room
rules and guidelines, we may be in 'contempt of
dialogues of language teaching textbooks and sees his brother. He addresses him in a
court'). Many religious situations also depend on lin-
(p. 295). There is indeed little sign of linguis- high-pitched, larynx-raised, querulous
guistic stabilit)' and predictability for their identity tic strangeness there; but that is because the voice, to which the other immediately

371). And the house styles used by publishers pro- conversational situations presented are typ- responds, using a similar voice. Several
(p.
ically conventional ones. The participants exchanges are made in this voice, and then
mote a standardized presentation which leaves limited
may not know each other well, or at all, and they switch into their normal voices.
scope tor linguistic individuality. are invariably shown on their 'best However, from time to time during the
On the other hand, there are several situations behaviour'. The realities of everyday, natu- meeting they revert to this voice again. At
ral conversation of the most informal or one point a third person in the room, a
where it is perfectly in order to be strange, and intimate kind are not presented (p. 284). close friend of both, uses it as well
indeed where the breaking of linguistic rules is seen However, when we take the opportunity to Grammatical deviance is less common,
as a positive and desirable feature of communication. listen to such situations, as everyone can do and when it occurs is largely an aspect of
as participant observers, we quickly variety humour (p. 410), adopting a
The world of newspaper headings and headlines is a
encounter evidence of deviant linguistic construction which is not part of one's
case in point, where telegraphic English (p. 382) is forms. normal way of talking. There is no class
the norm, and where puns, misquotation, and other Lexical deviance (p. 1 30) is probably the restriction here: people who speak
most widely practised type. Standard English adopt nonstandard
forms of word play are widespread. But it is probably • Agroupof adultsat a party were struck by constructions, often putting on an alien
the world of advertising — both press and television - one speaker's (normal) use of a prefix, neo-, accent; and people who speak
which provides the best-recognized class of examples mocked him for being hyper-mtellectual, nonstandard English adopt standard
and placed neo- before all kinds of words constructions, often accompanied by a
(p. 388). Most advertising slogans gain their effect by
for several minutes {neo-cake, neo-door 'posh voice'. Very often, the constructions
manipulating the linguistic norms of everyday lan- handles). After a while, the joke faded, but (and the accents) are stereotypes,
guage. Random examples include deviant rhymes itreturned atthe end of the evening, when borrowed from television. A famous British
someone made a further coinage, and a example of the 1980s was the use of a wot
and rh)ahms [Drinka pinta milka day), spellings
new 'round' of neo-isms began. ('what') relative clause, derived from
{EZLern driving school), figures of speech (Kellogg's. • During a conversation before dinner, one comedian Ernie Wise's weekly account of 'a
That's how you can eat sunshine), and grammar (the person, asked if she were hungry, replied play wot wrote'. In the 1990s this is still
I

hungry-isli, which led others to add -ish heard as a grammatical catch phrase
distinctive time adverbial in Only two Alka Seltzers to their responses, and to play with the (p. 178), but now applied to all kinds of
ago, you were feeling downhearted and low). The suffix: starving-ish, said one; I'm ishyas well, situations (a car wot I bought). (For further

Heineken series provides a sophisticated example of said another. examples of variety humour, see p. 410.)

the creative use of deviance (p. 389).

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE MARTINS: Holly Martins.

The adoption of an alien
accent can express social
distance rather than rap-
port. Early in the film
Third Man 0949), Holly
Martins encounters Major
Calloway for the first time,
and they do not get on.
Martins reflects on Harry
Lime's death.
MARTINS: ... Best friend
ever had.
CALLOWAY: No. Sorry.
MARTINS as English as pos-
Ever heard of 'The
sible:
Lone Rider of Santa Fe'?
The
CALLOWAY: No.
MARTINS very American:
'Death at Double X
Ranch'?
CALLOWAY: No.
Inthe film, Joseph Cotten
I
pronounces a drawled |a]
for Ranch, then follows it

CALLOWAY: That sounds up with a mock back RP

like a cheap novelette. |a:] pronunciation. (Based
MARTINS: write cheap
I
on the shooting script by
novelettes. G. Greene, 1973, p. 25.)
CALLOWAY: I've never
heard of you. What's
your name again?
 PERSONAL VARIATION

READ IT ALL ABOUT Loan sharks in sheep's clothing (per- Terry Marsh) {review of book on margarine mod-
sona/ finance) Nip nip hooray (firm rece/Vesfc/mono elling)
Just how universal is linguistic
deviance in newspaper headlines-
Devil'sgrass: let us spray order) A roo awakening at the table
Pork chop {meat banned from pub) {gourmet kangaroo meat)
over and above the standard use of Some British and Canadian papers
At last we've got 'em by the googlies
telegraphic grammar (p. 382)? An showed word play only in the arts • It might be thought that second-
{cricket story)
informal survey of the newspapers and sport sections: language situations would be reluc-
The Guardian tant to use word play, and indeed the
collected for the 'Day in the Life of the
The Times Out on a wing and a prayer (front
Language' section (p. 298) shows papers surveyed from these areas had
Welsh rare hits (concert rev/ew/n page: air force story)
examples of puns, word play, and very little sign of them. But they were
Wales) Kent expose skinny middle {cricket)
functional misquotation all over the
Familiarity breeds sell-outs (6a//et
not totally absent. We leave the last
The slick and the dead {tourist spots) word with the two items found in the
English-writing world, but with con-
review) Where's there a Will? (Loo/c/ng for ew
siderable variation in frequency. surveyed edition oi the South China
Sisters several times removed {theatre dence of Shakespeare)
Usage seems to be influenced more Morning Post:
review) Pride and prejudice (TV rewewof
by subject-matter than by region or Barks worse than their bite {Review of Top of the pots plus tea for two
ethnic story)
readership level. It iscommonest in TV programme about wolves) {ceramics arts review)
Insiders out, outsiders in {book
humorous columns and satirical The Daily Telegraph Manufarturers seek peace of the
review)
diaries, as we might expect, and then action {military technology
Minority rites {TV review of ethnic The Gospels a-go-go {religion and
in the 'creative' pages of the arts. The
programme) discos)
exhibition)
sports pages also attract considerable
Three ages of woman {theatre review) A suitable case for placement
word play. Indeed, in several papers,
Souffle can rise to the occasion {Race- {social care)
these are the only sections which pro- horse called Souffle) The Sydney Morning Herald
vide examples. (Headlines are stan- The Vancouver Sun Tennis suffers from viewers' pass
dardized in lower case; contexts are Bladerunner {sport: fencing) ing shots {audience figures)
indicated in parentheses.)
• British newspapers are much more Medifraud {Medicare fraud)
• Word play popular in the USA
is less
ready to use word play, and to go in Did Ming have a Fling? (rew'ew
than in two New York news-
the UK. In
for highly deviant forms. The leader of book on Menzies)
papers, only one example was found here is The Sun. In the quality press, New low feared at summit (G7
in each-and both of these were in
the arts sections:
New York Newsday
rAieGuarcf/an is traditionally the
monarch of intellectual punning,
though on the day selected for the
meeting)
It's not all Pi in the Sky in HSC

maths {education story)

^Aedentarj
Bold strokes {works of art) survey it provided relatively few Stay composed for music's
New York Times examples (and mainly from the arts electives {education story)
Violinists to play so youngsters can pages). It was an Australian paper Famous femme five of film
string along (mus;cec/(jcaf/on) which in fact provided the most exam- (review of The Piano)
ples of all the papers surveyed. California screamin' (reWeuv
On the other hand, word play was
ofjazz group from Cali-
more evident in a California paper, The Sun
fornia)
sprinkled throughout several sections: Yacht a cheek {frontpage: royal yacht
A shedentary life {men's '^^chen,
Los Angeles Times
costs)
garden sheds)
, , some biokp.
We're toe in love {barefootwedding)
Backin' the saddle again {local council Three men and a brasserie
Kid napper (dewce for sending babies
supports Silver Saddle Casino) {eating out review)
to sleep) t^eir
Pandamonium (zoo story) Trust in the contents own. ;oN
Pain stops play {cricketer bitten by CAS/Mm
Unkindestcutof all {clothingand {review of book on '"vestigates the
adder) shed
sport) National Trust)
Time marshes on {renaming of build- factor.
Atrying situation (court case) Spreading nonsense
ing formerly named after boxer

STRANGENESS?
Even formal scientific language CREATING
becomes lexically inventive, from Even swearing can be creative.
time to time, though not without There are literary precedents in
resistance from the establishment (as the ritual exchanges {flyting)
in the case of boojum, p. 139). Terms used by Germanic leaders
such as quark, strange, and charmed before their battles (p. 1 2), or
have now become part of the in the extravagant invective of
accepted terminology of particle the Scottish makars (p. 53).
physics, as have such metaphors as Verbal duelling contests
slow, split, and decay. between street gangs or indi-
viduals, before or instead of
violence, are probably univer-
sal, and involve a highly in-
ventive figurative language,

.<»•*;
•^^y in which the taunts subject

the participants, their close

relatives, and selected parts
of their bodies to an increas-
ingly bizarre set of unpleasant
circumstances.

A slow neutron about to split a

uranium nucleus.
 ' , 1 ^
PART V • USING ENGLISH

our meeting
PPPPS a'My RefA'our
Ref to the open- l^th, w^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ sa/d
on the reso-
The nearest we can get to Informal ing, or a printed able to ^e'djollif
;'e matter
conversation In the written language gloss to a signa-
outstanding 'ise tfiere'll
i,e
is the informal letter written ture. ^5/(7 Proui!/e
me Know //
between people who know each • Coloured paper Please let else i ;^^jr,r
other well. As with conversation isoften used, of
i3 anything
(p. 400), this variety Is full of usage meantime.
which at times goes out of its way to
varying sizes,
often with decora-
do in the ^^ ^x^ea/^^ tf,e door i>e// ^#
to
break linguistic rules. The most
deviant effects are seen in the
tive designs. ^% a^f mi^te mh U-A/o-^u
^<^Mmg
—
exchanges between young people, Graphology
to com in. s/ra// '
'^^'^'1 1 <,/ ,

;p^^ ,
_,,
shan't /??
but any informal letter will show •There is an exag- ^"^dm,eKteKcimg episode...
some of the following features. The gerated use of MGWUsonTreasure£
ending of one such letter is provided punctuation, espe-
'''^'^"^^
as an illustration, with the close of
a more formal letter brought in
of exclamation
cially
marks and question roBo°KTHolvhead..eS
IRG DeeKK
for comparison. (For terminology, marks. ^'d VOi^ get to
see freddie ?
see §18.) • The formal use of ^f'
^""'^ forget i'„,e
the comma and • The style reflects infor- out o,fri, so
Graphetic effects period is frequently replaced by mal speech in its use of
"^ff
^o»remgi„g,do»'t
if
^'^
• The writing proceeds varying dashes and continuation dots. contracted verb forms:
in
^P^S
directions, often not in straight lines,
and sometimes sideways (as in the
• Punctuation tends to be used

inconsistently. In the illustration, the

afterthought shown here). The letter
termination may vary in its position,
though it is usually in the middle of
the page (unlike modern formal let-
ters, which tend to be left -justified,
p. 257).
• Informal letters are generally
handwritten. Traditionally, typing
such letters would warrant a remark
or apology, but the use of word pro-
cessors (whose speed of operation
can foster an informal style) has
reduced the need for such com-
ments.
• Non-linguistic illustrative material
can be included: the illustration
shows a tiny face and a couple of
kisses.
• Formal letter-writing conventions
may be parodied, such as by adding
last paragraph begins with three sen
fences separated by commas; and the
third postscript does not use periods.
• Capitalization of varying sizes is
used for emphasis, irony, and other
purposes.
• There may be a deliberate use of
deviant spelling - seen here only in
the use of luv in the farewell formula
and the capitalized mock-name of
the visitor.
Grammar
• The style is elliptical. The extract
shows omission of subject pronouns
(got to rush, Am expecting), and
incomplete sentences.
• Sentences are typically loosely con-
structed, often linked by a series of
ands (p. 215).
he'd, there'll.
• No especial attention Is
paid to niceties of grammatical
expression. There may be some
highly colloquial constructions, as
he'd jolly well better had.
Vocabulary
• Informal abbreviations are
common, such as v {'very'), u ('you'),
and - shown here - Fri ('Friday').
• There is considerable use of
vocabulary, such as get (used here
twice) and nice, often criticized in
style manuals.
• Writers use a wide range of
parochial vocabulary, slang, and
semantic allusion, often involving
other varieties of the language (as
in the references to episode and
tablets).
Kee/^ taf^ing tite
tai^lets / \^
Discourse
• The lack of pre-planning is shown
in
by the marginal addendum and the
repeated postscripts - one of the
most widely used informal conven-
tions, allowing great scope for
humour.
• Formal opening conventions may
be disregarded: Dear X can be
'basic'
replaced with Hi! or some nickname;
the date can be a partial or vague
(Tues p.m.) or overprecise (6.07p.m.);
an address can be highly abbreviated
(The Flat).
• So much information is taken for
granted, because of the shared expe-
riences of the correspondents, that
most of an informal letter is unintel-
ligible to the outsider - as here.

—
I r^ina of course,
poems^^,^^d ^9.^^^^^
,.ead American FROM A DRAPER MAD Agricultural Employment Our should have thrown her back he
WITH LOVE Speciality,Wardrobes Bought. said. Business is very poorly. Polly

Among Our Satisfied Customers Garter bought two garters with

3,d so details. do 1.
humour
Xet you know Part of the
famous
in this Ministers of Religion and J.P's. roses but she never got stockings

S^-tlSro-Hr^anthatcabbage stems from the

letter Fittings by Appointment. Adver- so what is the use say. Mr Waldo I

way formal and informal styles tising Weekly in the TwII Bugle. tried to sell me a woman's
--:So^.stpage)^^^^^ of letter-writing are juxta- Beloved Myfanwy Price my Bride nightie outsize he said he found
posed. Mrs Willy Nilly, the in heaven, It and we know where. I sold a
Dylan
postman's wife, has just packet of pins to Tom the Sailors
Wood', MOG EDWARDS
.
„f 'Under Milk steamed open a letter from I love you until to pick his teeth. If thisgoes on I

^-^''"'^^';Srwr>^VOul,kethems^or, Mr Mog Edwards to Miss Death do us part and then we shall be the workhouse. My
in
Myfanwy Price. shall be together for ever and heart is in your bosom and yours
ever. A new parcel of ribbons has is in mine. God be with you

MRS WILLY NILLY From come from Carmarthen to-day, always Myfanwy Price and keep
Manchester House, Llare- all the colours in the rainbow. I you lovely for me in His Heavenly
^°^°^.'reT:^Trs:nd\x^'ht'riT:fa gyb. Sole Prop: Mr Mog wish could tie a ribbon in your
I Mansion. must stop now and
I

Haines adorew. Edwards (late of TwII), hair a white one but it cannot remain. Your Eternal, Mog
D.
letter. soon. Linendraper, Haberdasher, be. dreamed last night you Edwards.
next t,me,v
I

,.„ write fully Master Tailor, Costumier. were all dripping wet and you
28 July 1953. For West End negligee. Lin- sat on my lap as the Reverend MRS WILLY NILLY And then a
tnOscarWilUams,
gerie, Teagowns, Evening Jenkins went down the street. I message with a rubbber
little

Dress, Trousseaux, see you got a mermaid in your stamp. Shop at Mog'sl 1

„,pfprredtoafeewhich Layettes. Also Ready to lap he said and he lifted his hat.
page r
asterisk on the f^t ^^^^^ ^^^
^^^^^ ^,,,, Wear for All Occasions. He is a proper Christian. Not like (Dylan Thomas, Under Milk
,,e Caeoay
was owed. Economical Outfitting for Cherry Owen who said you Wood. 1954.)
Thomas
 .

22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

ETERNAL NOW
THE EDGES OF LANGUAGE TO WHOM WILL YE LIKEN GOD? (ISAIAH 40.18)
Where is the new language, sought by the theologians,

tocome from? Judging by the examples given in their

Religious language has always been a fruitful source programmatic statements, it is to be found chiefly in
of rule-breaking. This is because (to adapt a philo- fresh collocations-new juxtapositions of lexical items

who which suggest ways of talking, and thus of thinking,

sophical aphorism of the 1930s) those believe in
about God that relate more meaningfully to the present
God are continually trying to say what cannot be day. Some of these new ways will emerge through intel-
said. If they choose to operate linguistically at all - as lectual reflection, some through poetic inspiration, some
(as in the gender-inspired hymns illustrated on p. 368)
opposed to using glossolalia (p. 395), primitive
from a mixture of the two. They are invariably contro-
sounds, or silence - they need to bend language in versial, attracting criticism both from within religion (for

order to express their sense of something that exists departing too radically from the safe and familiar think-
ing-grounds of traditional language) and from outside
beyond it. In another figure ot speech, theists have
it (for introducing a misconceived mysticism into
been described as having to walk along the 'edge' of previously untainted everyday notions).
Paul Tillich is one of several
meaning in an attempt to talk insightfully about spir- 20th-century theologians
itual realities; and this metaphor is in fact the title of This poem
arose out of a dictionary study of the kinds of
who have argued for a radi-
collocation which could fuel a new theography (D. Crys-
book on the subject by US theologian cal shift in linguistic con-
an influential tal, 1981, 1986). In principle, the whole dictionary is avail-
He says in his
sciousness.
Paul Van Buren: The Edges ofLanguage 1 972) ( able, from aardvar/r to zygote.
book The Eternal Now
The search for a special language in religion - a lan- Gaardvark (1963, p. 94):

guage which breaks away from the norms of expres- Sometimes can feel YouI the words which are used
sion used elsewhere — is in itself nothing new. burrowing at night, most in religion are those
with Your powerful digging claws whose genuine meaning is
Metaphors and paradoxes are found throughout the
and Your long tubular snout also completely lost... Such
history of English-speaking Christianity, some (such and Your long sticky tongue. words must be reborn, if
as I eat your body) deriving from its very foundation. Rooting out the ants and termites in my mind. possible; and thrown away

creatures great and small, if this is not possible.

John Donne concludes one of his 'Divine Medita- I'd love to like all

But that ain't easy, when they're ants.* The theme is taken up by
tions' (XIV) with a series of striking paradoxes:
We're brought up to hate ants,
another theologian, Gerhard
To exterminate them with boiling water Ebeling, in his Introduction
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I, Or velly efficient Japanese lemedy to a Theological Theory of
Nippooning them at their last supper. Language 0972,
Except you" enthrall mee, never shall be free, p. 192):
The earth pig's way is better.
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee. But not so practicable, in Gwynedd. Ifthe language of faith
ceases to be in dialogue
I wish could exterminate
I

with the experience of the

Expressions of this kind are especially frequent in my mind-bending termites
has effectively
world, it
with the ease of the earth pig,
Christianity, though they can be found in the become the language of
but each time I get one
unbelief.
thought of several religions. Words which in other another hundred come.
situations would seem meaningless, absurd, or self- Especially in the daytime. It is this kind of thought

Why don't You burrow the daytime as well? which motivates such radical
contradictory, are accepted as potentially meaningful in
alternative language as that
in a religious setting. I expect You would if I'd let You.
illustrated on this page.
I do mean to let You.
But figurative language does not stay fresh for ever,
But I forget.
and the metaphors of traditional religious expression
* Or spiders (says my wife).
need to be regularly refurbished, if its message is to
stay relevant, meaningful and alive. The devising of O God, who hangs on street corners, who
new ways of talking about God is always a controver- tastes the grace of cheap wine and the sting
of the needle.
sial activity, given the conservative forces within reli-
Help us to touch you...
gious expression (p. 369), but it is always there; and
the process presents us with a steady flow of fresh lan-
O God, whose name is spick, black-nigger,
bastard, guinea and kike.
guage, whose aim is to make people think again
Help us to know you...
about their response to the issues the language con-
O God, who lives in tenements, who goes to
veys. In the communication-aware 20th century, this
segregated schools, who is beaten in precincts,
process of criticism and revision of traditional modes who is unemployed.
of expression has been particularly noticeable, and Help us to know you...
has spilled over into several everyday religious O God, who cold in the
is slums of winter,

contexts in the form of new prayers, hymns (p. 368), whose playmates are rats —
four-legged ones
who live with you and two-legged ones who
biblical translations (p. 59), and semantic allusions. imprison you.
The unexpected collocations (p. 163) of 'Litany for Help us to touch you...
the Ghetto' provide a striking case in point. (From Robert Castle, 'Litany for the Ghetto', in J. A. T.

Robinson, 1967.)
 : .

PART V • USING ENGLISH

VERBAL HUMOUR PARODIC LANGUAGE a

Bill
medieval bard created for the purpose by
Nash. It also illustrates a further criti-
Parody is a genre of linguistic imitation point about parody - that one's appre-
cal
which has many purposes: it can be writ-
ciation of the joke depends entirely on
ten out of dislike and antipathy, as in a
how well one knows the parodic object. A
Much ot the linguistic deviance which occurs in parody of the doublespeak of govern-
comparison with 36 would not be
p.
informal conversation stems from a humorous use of
ment spokespeople (p. 176), or stem from
amiss, at this point - though one should
a spirit of acclaim and delight, as in
word play. But word play arises in several different bear in mind Nash's own perceptive com-
Anthony Burgess's parody of James Joyce
ment, which applies to the whole genre
wa\s. Sometimes it is isolated and unpremeditated, as on p. 1 34. Whatever the motivation, it is
of parody:
critical that the audience recognize that a
in the spontaneous wisecrack, quip, or deliberate
parody is in fact taking place. A perfect I have discovered that the most apprecia-
pun. Sometimes it is pre-planned and structured, as imitation would not be funny, because it tive readers of Muddle English are those
in the lampoon, impersonation, cartoon, and carica- would be confused with the real thing. who do not know too much about Middle
ture, and in such literary genres as parody and satire. There is a vast difference between parody English. Scholars tend to be a little restive,

and forgery. Parody exaggerates, distorts, and feel obliged to point out that the
.\11 of these are intentional on the part of the
acts,
and aims to be recognizably different - grammar, dialect features, and so forth are
language user. By contrast, humour can arise from an typically by overusing a feature of the not strictly consistent or accurate. Indeed
unintentional use of language, original's language or by displacing the they are not, and this is just the parodic
resulting in such
content so that it could not have been point. In parody there has to be a designed
effects as howlers, misprints, slips of the tongue, and written in the style used for it. imperfection that proclaims to the
. . .

accidental puns. There are also marginal forms of This poem is an example of the latter. It world at large: 'This is a SPOOF. Read in
is on the subject of vacuum cleaners, and accordance with the rules of SPOOFING. If
humour, as in teasing and sarcasm, where only the
is written in Muddle English by Umffrei, you don't know the rules, KINDLY LEAVE.'
speaker is amused; such exchanges are probably better
classed along with ridicule and insult (p. 173). The Vakum Clenere Foteless thow farest thurgh mi halle,
present section deals only with exchanges which both Thow grazest on the grittie grownde.
Ha, vakum clenere, synge thi songe,
listener(s) and speaker agree are (in theory, at least) And, grettest wondyrment of alle,
A luvsum laye hyt ys, I wene.
Thi tayle thow pluggest yn a walle,
funnv. Wyth brethynges amorous and stronge
Yf anye poynte be fownde.
Thow makest mone a mornynge longe
Then welcum, welcum, vakum-wight
Til al mi hows ys dene.
Jokes That suckest uppe the mucke aright.
Then welcum, welcum, vakum-wight
The funny story, or joke, is the archerv'pal instance of That suckest uppe the mucke aright. A derksum closet ys thi den,
humour. can be analysed into several components: Wherin thow liggest stocke-stille
It A serpente ys thi luvelie necke,
Til hit be Saterday, and then
Thi bodie ys a litel bulle;
Thow farest foorth, and alle men
• Speaker floor-taking. Examples: Hey, listen to thiy. On duste thow dynest, manye a pecke,
Cryen, wyth gode wille,
Can I my Kerryman Thow gobblest everie spotte and specke,
tell story now?; I've got a really Ha, welcum, welcum, vakum-wight
Thi beye waxeth fulle.
aivfid one. A preliminary utterance of this kind is not Then welcum, welcum, vakum-wight
That suckest uppe the mucke aright.

strictly necessary, but it is very common, especially in That suckest uppe the mucke aright. (W. Nash, 1992, p. 91.)

joke-telling sessions involving several participants.

COUNTRY LIFF SPOKEN MISPRINTS
• Opening formula. Examples: Have you heard the one
One of the most popular columns in Punch magazine Private Eye,
In the British satirical
about the. There was an Englishman, an Irish-
. .';
magazine 411) was 'Country a read- there column reporting the linguistic
(p. Life', is a
man...; Knock, knock. It is evidently important to let ers' selection of the unintentionally humor- howlers made by presenters on radio and tele-
know ous in print - misprints, howlers, and vision: Colemanballs, named after the BBC
listeners that a joke is about to be told, partly
bizarre observations sent in from all over sports commentator, David Coleman, to whom
to check that they are in the right frame of mind, and the world. such blunders were first ascribed. The genre is
partly to avoid the risk of having the utterance taken popular: three collections of the material have
• At one time he was well up in the first 10
seriously. Dead-pan humour often does without this
now been published. Several items are of little
Wales damaged
places, but hitting a bride in
comic value, being simply slips of the tongue
the suspension and he dropped back.
or malapropisms (p. 406) which could be
(Autosport)
found in any pressured speech situation. But
• Volunteers urgently needed to help stroke
• Recitation. The joke proper, which may be as short each edition also brings to light a gabble of
patients with speech problems. (Charlton
as a single sentence (a 'one-liner') or as long as appealing tautologies, anti-climaxes, mixed
and Wilbrampton News)
metaphors, and non sequiturs. Most listeners
patience permits (the 'shaggy-dog story'). There must • He said it is unlikely pollutionis the cause
or viewers would probably not have noticed
be recognizable and the fish bore no outward signs of dis-
a climax to the recitation (the them at the time they were said: the humour
ease - 'these fish are perfectly healthy,
During the lies in seeing them in the cold light of day,
'punch-line'). telling, there may be except that they're dead'. {Vancouver Sun)
and out of context
accompanying interaction. • Cross-examined by Mr Quinn, witness said

that someone called her husband 'an Irish • Oh and The odd ^,
that's a brilliant shot.
pig'. She said he was not Irish. {Biddulph mum's not very keen on snooker"'
• Interaction. This may be informal and random, in thing is his
Chronicle) • Lillian'sgreat strength is her strength.
the form of groans, feedback noises such as yeah,
• A fifteen-year-old Croydon boy has been • Hurricane Higgins can either win or lose
comments (e.g. I don't think I'm going to like this) , and suspended by his head since last September match tomorrow.
this final

'clever' interpolations. It may also be formal, part of because of his long hair. {Times Educational • He and his colleagues are like hungry
Supplement) hounds galloping after a red herring.
the structure of the joke and requiring a response, as
• The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New • Only one word for that-magic darts!
in such sequences as the following (see top of facing York has joined a group of Orthodox rabbits • The audience are literally electrified and

page) in condemning the 'Life of Brian'. glued to their seats.

(From G. Pierce, 1980.) (From P. Simpson, 1992.)
 22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

A: Why is X to do with Y? (e.g. Why are vampires

Iliads
JOKE FASHIONS
B: 1 dont know. Why? There are fashions in jol<e telling. A particular object,
A: Because Z. (Because they're bats) animal, person, scandal, or TV programme can generate
thousands of jokes for a few months, then disappear. Elephants
Many of the jokes, of course, will turn up again later in A. How do you know
• Evahiatiou. After the joke, there is a reaction, either some new setting. if
there s an
elephant in
nonverbal (groans, laughter) or verbal ( Thais ancient. your bed?
Kerryosity (p. 134) B: By the
Got any more like that?. That's disgusting, or— most big Eon his
Locality jokestend to be more permanent in character. pyjamas.
commonly- both. The absence of these kinds of Every country has its locale which is used as the butt of
A: What should you
reaction is a sign of failure: the joke is unfunny, inept, humour - usually a rural or isolated spot where the do
people are supposed to be more stupid than elsewhere. 'fyou find an
embarrassing, out-ot-place, or too subtle elephant
(/ don't asleep in your
Fortunately, the locals tend to take it in good part, and bed?
get B- Sleep
it). have their own supply of jokes which they use in return. somewhere
else!
People from County Kerry in Ireland, for example, do not
take it personally when they see themselves lampooned
Jokes often occur singly, but the occurrence of one Owls
in such collections as Des MacHale's Bumper Book of Ker-
tends to provoke others, and long 'joke-capping' ryman Jokes (1981). As the editor of the collection says, A: What do lovesick
sequences can emerge -a kind of friendly verbal 'Kerrymen know they are superior, and no other Irish owls say to each
other
county could have absorbed in such a good humoured when it's raining?
duelling (p. 53).
way so many jokes directed against themselves and . . . B:Too-wet-to-woo!
come back smiling looking for more'. In actual fact, some A: Why are
owls clev-
Puns of the jokes reported are standard, turning up in collec- erer than
chickens?
tions all over the English-speaking world, with appropri- B: Have
Puns are the most sharply focused kind of verbal you ever eaten
ate changes of nationality, name, or accent.
Kentucky Fried
humour: two unrelated meanings are suddenly and Owl?
unexpectedly brought together in a single word, and Kerry businessman: 'Where's my pencil?' Sheep
Secretary: behind your ear, sir.'
the incongruity makes us laugh or groan. A pun may 'It's

Kerry businessman: 'Look, I'm a busy man, which ear?

A: Where do sheep
get
constitute a joke in itself (as often the case with their fleece
is cut:"
Have you heard about the Kerry kidnapper? B:Atthebaaber's.
children's rapid-fire dialogues) or be the punch-line
He enclosed a stamped addressed envelope with the A: Where do sheep
of a much larger joke (as in the shaggy-dog story). ransom note. shop?
Pun-capping sequences are commonplace, too, as in B: Woolworth's.
Kerryman: What's Mick's other name?
First
this example, prompted by the arrival of someone Second Kerryman: Mick who?
Dracula
who had an arm in plaster (from D. Chiaro, 1992):
Why do Kerry dogs have flat faces? A: Why is
Dracula's
From chasing parked cars. family so close?
Initiator: No arm in it, eh Peter? B: Because blood
And, from the archive of things Kerrymen are reported is
Participant: Yeah, got to hand it to you . . . thicker than
to have said about people from other Irish counties: water.
Peter: That's not funny! A: How canyou join
Initiator: Put my finger on it have I?
What do you call an intelligent Mayoman? Dracula's fan club?
Very, very lucky. B: Send your name
Participant: 'armless enough!
address and blood'
How do you save a Galwayman from drowning?
group.
Such sequences rarely last very long, for people You don't know?
Good. (From K. Wales, The
quickly get bored with a pun-capping theme, and let
Lights Out Joke Book
it die; but even a well-explored theme can be resur- What's the difference between a Dublin wedding
1991.)
and a Dublin wake?
rected later in a conversation, as with the examples of
One less drunk.
grammatical deviance reported on p. 400.

THE WAY THINGS ARE

The cartoon carries an
visual story line in a
impact which does not depend on linguistic
deviance for its humour. There is generally
little word play in the captions or speech

bubbles of Garfield, Charlie Brown, Andy

Capp, and their fellows. The cartoonist
thinks of a comic situation, and the lan-
guage (if any) follows. Some cartoons, how-
ever, arise from the opposite process: the
cartoonist selects a linguistic feature, and :;>=^
devises drawings to match. These are three
of 101 Things, devised by Peter Gammond
and Peter Clayton - potato-like beings
whose existence stems from an idiom con-
taining the word thing. We thingk, there- 25. these things tire sent to try , "'.S'. fiike your r/iingi off 82. things have come to a pretty pass
fore they are.
 . —
PARI' V • USING ENGLISH

GNASHISMS
HUMOUR IN STRUCTURE The graphic neologisms
of the American humorist,
Ogden Nash (1902-71),
Any oi the recognized domains of language structure
depend on an interplay
and use (§1) can be manipulated in order to provide between sound, spelling,
the input to a joke. The following pages (406-11) and meaning. One of his most
popular tricks is to take a word
illustrate some of the ways in which comic effects can
which isspelled in an unusual
be linguistically categorized. way, find another word which
rhymes with it, then respell
Graphological humour the latter along the lines of
the former, often stretching
Deviation troni the norms ot spelling, punctuation,
the pronunciation to fit.
layout, and typography (§17) motivates a great deal of
written humour, as can be seen in the case of misprints
DO PTELL
(p. 404), mis-spellings (p. 84),and many gralfiti
Graphological deviance is the basis of the effect in the
(p. 181). Some jokes in fact work only in the written children's poem by Charles Connell, 'Please Ptell me
mode: Pterodactyl' (1985), which takes a spelling exception
and turns it into a general rule. Here are the first two
• What did one sheep say to the other? verses.
I love ewe.
Please ptell me, Pterodactyl
• TOO MUCH SEX n,.,k« vou shom.gh^d^ Who ptaught you how pto fly?
• Bakers knead to do it. (p. 409) Who ptaught you how pto flap your wings
And soar up in the sky?
• Why did the antelope?
No prehistoric monster
Nobody gnu.
Could ptake off just like you The baby
And pturn and ptwist and ptaxi A bit of talcum
Phonological humour Way up there in the blue. Is always walcum.
Many jokes rely on a deviation trom the normal use of The jellyfish

sounds, by adding, deleting, substituting, or transpos- Who wants my jellyfish?

I'm not sellyfish!
ing vowels and consonants. Traditionally recognized
la four Bir^day *;, jj There was a brave girl of
genres include tampering with the frequency norms of
Connecticut
consonants (tongue twisters, p. 399), transposing Who flagged the express
sounds [spoonerisms, p. 254), and using similarities in with her pecticut
Which her elders defined
pronunciation to mix up words {malapropisms)
As presence of mind,
• Patient: Doctor! Doctor! I think I'm a bird. But deplorable absence of
i^ VHW F
- T'^t- xisi' ' ' * ecticut.
Doctor: I'll tweet you in a minute.
WtifeW Uddcrlj and Turtley
• What's the difference between a sick cow and
an angry crowd? Some of the strangest plays on words occur in the language of greetings cards. This example,
from the Andrew Brownsword Collection (1991), relies on both sound and spelling effects to
One moos badly and the other boos madly. drive the lexical element underlying the cartoon. The punchline, on the inside of the card,
• What do you get if you cross a chicken and a bell? reads simply Grate (alongside a picture of a fireplace).
An alarm cluck.

Some phonological jokes rely on features of connected

THERE WAS A...
speech (p. 247) or prosody: Some types of phonological pattern are totally identified
with humour - notably the fixed and formulaic rhythms
• Teacher: Use the word antennae \n a sentence. which identify a limerick. This example has an ingenious
There antennae sweets left.
Charlie: interplay between graphology and phonology, in the
manner of Ogden Nash, as well as an opening line which
• What book tells you about famous owls? breaks away from the There was a. ..convention:
Who's Whoooo.
A girl who weighed many oz.
Used language dare not pronoz.
I

This last example also illustrates the phonetic effects For a fellow unkind
which can be introduced into jokes - many of which Pulled her chair out behind
Just to see (so he said) if she'd boz.
are difficult to show in writing:
The clerihew, named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956), presents another
Airline passenger: Where does this door go
comic rhythm: a verse of four short lines in two couplets. It is always biographical in
TO-O-o-o-o. content.

SirHumphrey Davy He lived in the odium

These features are especially important in the silly- Abominated gravy. Of having discovered sodium.
sounding names of nonsense verse, which greatly rely
Thisexample suggests the origins of the genre. Bentley is said to have devised the form
on sound symbolism (p. 250). during a boring chemistry lesson.
 22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

and rhyme, and on the mechanisms of the pun and PARTRIDGE'S

COMIC ALPHABETS the riddle (p. 408). Some are phonetic in character, FAVOURITE
playing with the apparent meanings conveyed by the
Asked for his favourite
sounds of the letters; others are graphic, using only comic phonetic alphabet,
Comic alphabets take each letter in turn, and add a the spellings. 'Comic' is not an entirely accurate Eric Partridge compiled the
following sequence. (Glosses
humorous gloss -sometimes in prose, sometimes in description. Some were much humorous as
not so
are in parentheses.)
poetry -which relates the letter to some character, sit- ingenious -a form of playing with words for its own
A for 'orses (hay for horses)
uation, or saying. They probably arose as a burlesque sake. Also, several of these alphabets had a serious
B for mutton (beef or
of the children's alphabet books which were com- intention, being used as social satire, or as teaching mutton)
monplace after the 16th century (of the kind: 'A for aids (especially for the inculcation of moral values). C for Thailanders (the
Seaforth Highlanders)
an Apple, an Archer and Arrow; B for a Bull, a Bear The classic account of these inventions is Eric Par-
D for rent (different)
and a Barrow...'). They rely greatly on alliteration tridge's Comic Alphabets (1961). E for brick (heave a brick)
F for vest (effervesced)
G for the 3.15 (gee-gee - a
A SELECTION OF EARLY ALPHABETS The Siege of Belgrade (The Bentley Ballads, 1861) horse, for the 3.15 race)
An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, H for retirement (age for
The Comic Alphabet (Uehon. 1876) Boldly by battery besieged Belgrade; retirement)
A is an ARCHER, alarmed, for an arrow. Cossack commanders cannonading come. I for an eye (eye for an eye)
Aimed at an antelope, stuck in a sparrow. Dealing destruction's devastating doom. J for oranges (Jaffa oranges)
B is a BUTCHER, botli burly and bluff; Every endeavour engineers essay K for restaurant (cafe - pro-
is ugly enough.
Bob, his big bull-dog For fame, for fortune - fighting, furious fray: nounced /keif/)
C CAPTAIN, commanding a corps.
is a
Generals 'gainst generals grapple - gracious God! L for leather (hell for leather)
Courageous as Cromwell's companions of yore. How honours Heaven heroic hardihood!... M for sis (sister - emphasis)
D DAMSEL, dashingly dressed.
a N for lade (enfilade)
is
The title-page description of An Alphabet (1871)
Delighting in pleasing, and doing her best.
A Beautiful Collection, Delightfully
O for there (over there)
E,an ESQUIRE, of course nothing less; P for relief (pee for relief)
Etched, Finely Grouped, Highly
Elegant both in his manners and dress. Imaginative, Jestingly Knavish,
Q for flowers (Kew for
F FARMER, ploughing his field;
is a flowers)
Ludicrously Mischievous, Notably
For he neglects it, no crop will it yield.
if R for moment (half a
Odd, Peculiarly Queer, Recreative,
G GAMBLER, throwing the dice.
is a moment)
Sensational, Tittering, Unquestionably
Gambling, young folks, is a terrible vice... S for instance ('s (as), for
Volatile, Whimsically XYZite (= 'exquisite')
instance)
T for two (tea for two)
U for nerve (You've a nerve!)
An extract from The Amusing V for I'amour (Vive
Alphabet, or Easy Steps to I'amour!)

A, B, C, published in London
W for a shilling (double
in the 1850s.
you for a shilling)
X for the spot (i.e. where
the crime was commit-
ted)
Y for mistress (wife or mis-
tress)
Z for fun (said for fun - UK
pronunciation, /zed/)
Z for breeze (Zephyr
breeze - US pronuncia-
tion /zi:/)

This version was compiled

from several comic alphabet
sources. Partridgehad
plenty of choice, as the
range of alternative entries
for the letter R illustrates.

R for crown - dollar - loaf-

pint - tick (all based on
Grocer
"-/.ere
I

»,„,„,^
Cockney half, /a:f/)
R for and his knights (King
Arthur, pronounced /'a:fp/)
R for Askey (British comedian
- or any other well-known

B
Arthur)
R for seat (Arthur's Seat,
overlooking Edinburgh)
R for mometer (our ther-
mometer)
'"•"yiook.,,,.. "' R for the doctor (say 'ah' for
the doctor)
 PART V USING ENGLISH

MORPHOLOGICAL HUMOUR LEXICAL HUMOUR WHAT'S A VIXEN?*

When children are
Under this heading is included all jokes which The chief vehicle of lexical humour is the pun learningtotalk, they
manipulate the elements of word structure (such often make morpholog-
as (p. 405), often classified into semantic and phonolog-
ical changes in words,
affixes, p. 128), combine elements into novel forms ical types. Semantic puns focus on the alternative producing creations
(portmanteaux, p. 133), or divide words in unusual meanings or applications of a word or phrase. They which are a source of
family humour
places. are especially common in riddles.
Mother (going through
• Why did the matchbox? Because it saw the tin can, the alphabet): Say J.
• What has four legs and only one foot? A bed.
• Did you hear aboiu Robin Hood? He just had an Mary (age 3',i): J.
• When is an ambulance not an ambulance?
Mother: U.
arrow escape.
When it turns into a hospital. Mary: U.
• What do you call a man with a shovel, sitting at the Mother: V.
• What did the explorer say when he met a koala in
bottom of a hole? Doug. Mary:\/,
the outback?
• And what do you call a man with a shovel sitting at Mother: W,
I can't bear it. Mary: Double me.
the bottom of a smaller hole?
Marcus (age 3}, in train,
Douglas. [=Dotig-less] Phonological puns play upon two different words approaching
which sound the same {homophones). They are audi- London): Are we
Graffiti sequences (p. 181) often play with word there yet?
tory jokes. In some cases, writing them down in tra-
boundaries, as in this three-part item: Father: No, we're still in
ditional orthography either prejudges the answer or
the outskirts.
• BE ALERT! Your country needs lerts. gives the game away. (Pause)
- No, Britain has got enough lerts now. Be aloof Marcus: Have we
• What's black and white and red all over? reached the inskirts
- No, be alert. There's safety in numbers.
A newspaper. yet?
Most 'Knock knock, Who's there?' jokes are morpho- • Why did Dracula go to the doctor? Michael (age 4, in bed-
room): Don't shut my
logical in character. In the first of these two answers, Because of the /'kof'in/. [coi(ghin7coft[in]
door, mummy.
the words are run together; in the second, the words • Waiter, waiter, what's this? It's bean soup. Mother; Well have to I

are split in rvvo: I can see that. But what is it now? close it, darling,
because the light will
• Egbert. • Soup Other categories of lexical humour include the neolo- keep you awake.
Egbert who? Soup who? Michael: No, don't
gism, as in the coinages of Stanley Unwin (p. 131),
want you
I

to.
Egbert no bacon. Souperman. the use of words with different sense associations Mother: I'll leave it ajar,

on making wrong divisions

Silly book-titles also rely (p. 162), and the many kinds of nonsense verse, then.
Michael: Can you leave
within the author's name, as well as on lexical pun- which break collocations in all directions at once.
itoneanda half jars?
ning and semantic allusion: Mother: Don'targue!
• Hushabye Baby by Wendy Bough-Brakes SUPERCILIOUS KNOWLEDGE Hugh (age 3): don't I

argme.
Looking After Your Garden by Dan D. Lion Mrs Malaprop, a character in Richard Brinsley
Sheridan's play T/ie /?/Va/s (1775), as played by Beryl Reid
(From D. Crystal, 1986,

The name is from French, mal a propos p. 208.)

('not to the purpose'), and is chosen to
PHONOLOGICALLY MOTIVATED NONSENSE capture this character's habit of inappro-
priately replacing a word or phrase with

The bizarre lexical collocations of a great deal of non- others of a similar sound and meaning
sense verse are motivated by rhyme, as in the denoue- Illiterate him, I say, quite from your
ment of Dennis Lee's 'On Tuesdays polish my uncle'.
I memory. [ob//terafe]
(For a further example, see the Dr Seuss extract on Iwould have her instructed in geometry,
p. 273.)
that she might know something of the
contagious countries... and likewise that
So my dad he got snarky and barked at the shark
she might reprehend the true meaning
Who was parking the ark on the mark in the dark.
of what she is saying, [contiguous, com-
And when they got back they had ants in their pants.
prehend]
Dirt in their shirt, glue in their shoe.
Beans in their jeans, a bee on their knee. The user of a malapropism has not fully
Beer in and a bear in their hair,
their ear understood a long word, but makes a
A stinger each finger, a stain in the brain,
in shot at it, substituting a word which
A small polka-dot burp, with headache tablets. 'sounds right'. The lapse is something
And a ship on the lip and a horse, of course. which affects everyone, consciously or unconsciously,
So we all took a bath in the same tub and went to bed from time to time.
early. Sheridan was not the first dramatist to put such effects
into the mouth of a character An earlier practitioner is
Dogberry, in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing: O
Thou wilt be condemned into everlasting
villain! *Oh -a lady vicar
redemption for this. (l\/.2) (Mary, age 6)
 22 PERSONAL VARIATION

SYNTACTIC HUMOUR DISCOURSE HUMOUR

Riddles also commonly involve syntactic ambiva- The vast majority of jokes have a fixed discourse
lence, in which one construction is interpreted as if it structure. Often, stories are told in threes (p. 378), as
were another. This is the source of humour in dan- in themost famous trio of all, the Englishman, Irish-
gling participle constructions (p. 204), and in the man, and Scotsman. Most riddles use one of a small
genre known as Tom Swifties (see below). number of favoured «^/'-question structures (p. 218):

• What kind of animal can jump higher than a What's the difference between an X and a Y?

house? Why did the A do B?

All kinds. Houses can't jump. What did the X say to the Y?
• How do hedgehogs make love? When is a B not a B?
Very carefully. What do you get when you cross an X with a Y?
• Call me a cab. Sir, you are a cab.
• We're having your mother-in-law for dinner tonight. There are many types of interactive jokes, such as the
I'd rather have chicken. music-hall / say I say I say, as well as Knock knock.
Doctor doctor. Waiter waiter, and other 'emergency'
Some jokes also rely on syntax in the sense that they jokes.

have a fixed form. Graffiti chains work in this way,

adding variable endings to a fixed opening, or vari- • Doctor, doctor, I wake up feeling terrible! My head
'

able openings to a fixed ending: 'X rules...' (p. 181), spins and the room's going round!
... until 1 discovered Smirnoff. Definition one-liners You must be sleeping like a top!

provide a further example: these are all ot the form

'An X is a Y who does/is Z'. Some discourse jokes break the pragmatic rules of
conversation (p. 286), or play with the conventions
• A Romeo is someone who ends all his sentences of sequence and cross-reference. Riddles often turn
with a proposition. the tables in this way.
• A metronome is a dwarf who lives in the Paris
underground. • Constantinople is a long word. Can you spell it?

• A ghost-hunter is someone who keeps fit by exor- 1 T

cising regularly. • Good morning doctor, I've lost my voice.
Good morning Mr Smith, and what can I do for

you?
HE SAID CHOICELY

TOM SWIFTIES Adverbial Swifties 'I think there's a hole in 'I'm nonplussed', said In Wysses
(1922), there
'The results of my the road ahead'. Sue haz- the mathematician.
IS an
episode written
This form of word play electrocardiogram were arded. 'I feel unloved', said the in
the form of a
relies on a combination of reassuring', he said 'Damn train two hours tennis ace. play, in
which Joyce often
grammatical ancJ lexical ele- wholeheartedly. late again', she railed. intro-
'But did repair the duces his characters'
ments operating in a formu- 'Can get you some-
I
I
'Do it' types
laic sentence structure. A thing?' the waitress asked boiler', he maintained. speech with a paren-
These phonological puns
popular game among pro- fetchingly. 'What kind of tree? Oh, fir', on an adverbial of thetic adverb:

fessional writers, known 'Wouldn't you prefer a he opined. manner, using the sexual
it is
BLOOM (Coldly.) You
from Victorian times. The poodle?' asked her father 'Can we get on with the connotation of 'doing it' have the advantage
modern name comes from doggedly. operation?', the surgeon cut of
a as the source of the me.
boy's adventure hero, Tom 'You can't even look after in sharply. humour, are very similar
Swift, who would always the plants while I'm away', to the above. In one sequence he
speak with a following she said witheringly. deals out three
Adjectival Swifties Tom
adverb ('said sadly', 'said 'Have you seen my ring?'
'I am totally disinterested', Accountants do it calcu- Swifties:
quietly'), and the genre is she said engagingly.
said the bank manager. latingly.
A MILLIONAIRESS
based on the humorous 'I prefer to die intestate',
'That operation has left Sentries do it haltingly.
development of this he muttered unwillingly. (WcWy.) Isn't he simply
me feeling quite disfigured', Oscar did it wildly.
construction. Here are 'Trythat direction', I sug- wonderful?
said the accountant. Little Bo Peep did it

some of the ingenious gested pointedly.

'I'm disconcerted', said sheepishly. A NOBLEWOMAN
examples which language 'We've no more whiskey', (Nobly.) All that
the conductor. Windsurfers do it stand- man
buffs have submitted for they said dispiritedly. has seen!
'Do you feel disheart- ing up.
publication in English ened?', asked the cannibal. Doctors do it three A FEMINIST (Mascu-
Verbal Swifties
language periodicals.
'What a lovely brook!' Tom 'We've been discharged', times a day after And done!
linely.)

babbled. said the electricians. meals.

 PART V • USING ENGLISH

VARIETY HUMOUR DIALECT BOOKS DKUcaaay

E"9'ish Language

Regional dialect books generally rely for their effect on a

The exisrence of language variety {p. 290) is a major 'translation' from informal local pronunciation, grammar, or
vocabulary into formal Standard English. They can be found all
source of humour, in speech and writing, in everyday
over the English-speaking world (for a further example, see
language and in literature (p. 89), all over the p. 84). The joke lies partly in the re-spelling and partly in the

Knglish-speaking world. The regional accents and very formal glosses given to highly colloquial speech. Addi-
tional glosses are given in parentheses after each example, to
dialects within a communit)' readily lend themselves
aid the foreign reader (or, for that matter, the native one).
to comic exaggeration. If a variety is used as a prestige
The Illustrated Texas Dictionary of the English Language, by
dialect (a 'standard'), its forms provide an effective
Jim Everhart(1968).
means of satirizing the elite group who speak it.
slave: the part of a garment covering an arm only. 'Are yew sayin'
Occupational varieties, such as those of the police- mah left slave is shorter than mah riot?' (= 'Are you saying my left
man, lawyer, or cleric, are especially vulnerable. And sleeve is shorter than my right')
wuf: a large doglike carnivorous mammal. 'Who's afraid of the
a speech idiosyncrasy, such as a weakly articulated /r/
beg, bad wuf?' (= 'Who's afraid of the big bad wolf)
or /s/, is a gift to the vocal satirist. The funny voices barred (past tense): to receive with the expressed intention of
of" many US cartoon characters illustrate the point- returning the same. 'Who barred mah hat an' didn't brang it

'It's a wabbit', howls Elmer Fudd, and Bugs Bunny back?' (= 'Who borrowed my hat and didn't bring it back?')
Sep: to omit or bar. 'Everyone can go in sep yew!' (= 'Everyone
replies with a nasal twang sharp enough to cut steel.
can go in except you')
We are most conscious of these effects when they
Let Stalk Strine, by Afferbeck Lauder, Professor of Strine Studies,
are produced by professional comedians and impres-
University of Sinny (1955). The title translates as 'Let's talk Aus-
sionists; and some 'schools' of comedy have in fact tralian' (as pronounced in fast speech). Sinny is 'Sydney'. To uuDor I

relied heavily on the e.xaggerated or incongruous use decode the other examples on the title page, say the phrases aloud, and
then listen to what you have said: for example, gloria soame? 'glorious home'. (Sex =
of varieties of English. In the UK, an influential
'sacks' - compare X below.)
example was the Monty Python TV series of the
jezz: articles of furniture. As in: 'Set the tible, love, and get a coupler jezz' (= 'Set the
1970s, which regularly used situations where people table, love, and get a couple of chairs')
spoke in an unexpected or inappropriate way. A foot- X: the twenty-fourth letter of the Strine alphabet; also plural of egg; also a tool for
chopping wood.
ball commentary, for example, might be carried on in
sly drool: an instrument used by engineers for discovering Kew brutes and for making
the sr^'le of the Authorized Version of the Bible. In other calculations, ('slide rule cube roots') . . .

the USA, the 'Laugh-in TV series of the 1960s, cheque etcher: Did you obtain. As in 'Where cheque etcher hat?' (= 'Where did you get
your hat?')
having established characters with particular vocal
sPi'les, would then introduce these styles into situa- Lern yerself Scouse, by Brian Minard (1972). The title translates
as 'Teach yourself Scouse', the dialect of Liverpool. The substi-
tions where they would not usually be found. The
tution of learn for teach is in fact common in many English
mock-German accent of one of the characters, lor dialects. 'Where's your sense of humour?' asks the sub-title.
example, might be encountered in a court of law or a Chairs! Good health! (= 'Cheers')
high-class restaurant. Eh la. wurz dthe bog? Excuse me, sir, would you direct me to

Variations of this kind are part of everyday speech, the toilet? (= 'Hey, lad, where's the bog')
Gizzasiggy: Would you be kind enough to give me a
too.
cigarette. (= 'Give us a ciggy' —
short for cigarette)
Upyer pipe! Very well, have listened to you, but nonetheless have no
I I

• A man (with a London accent) is bought a pint of respect for your admonishment. (= 'Up your pipe'- not the politest of
responses)
beer in an English pub: he says 'Thanks', but pro-
nounced it in a mock-Irish way, as /tarjks/ (p. 336). Yackydar, moy bewty! by Sam Llewellyn (1985). The title is a mixture
of a Welsh toast (iechyd da, 'good health') and a rural greeting ('my
His friend responds with a further piece of mock-
beauty', used in addressing horses, rabbits, cars, friends, and all kinds
Irish, "Tis a pleasure, sure and all', and they continue of other worthy recipients. The lady on the cover is saying 'Beg
in this vein for a while. pardon'.

• During a meeting to discuss student applications,

West Country English
an interviewer expresses anxiety that the interviewees Earvoe! Excuse me! (= 'Here you')
won't say very much; 'Ve haf vays off making them Ace? Yes?
Can ee dellus the rawed vor Penzarnce? Please tell me the way to
tock', says another, lapsing into a mock-German Penzance (= 'Can you tell us the road for Penzance?')
interrogation style. Whoart? beg your pardon? (= 'What?')
I

• A British car-driver finally gets a reluctant engine to Northern English

and presses the accelerator triumphantly, saying
fire, Ow do! Excuse me, sir or madam. (= 'How do', short for 'How do you do')
'We have lift-off', in the mock-American tones of a Art ont buzz? Are you travelling by public transport? (= 'Art on the bus?'- short for art
thou, an archaic singular form of are you)
NASA mission controller.
Nay, int caa. No, am travelling by car. {= No, in the car')
I

A wudn't gan theer if a were thee: think that is an unwise choice of destination. (=
I 'I

Casual listening to informal discourse brings to light wouldn't go there if were you') I

dozens of such instances each day.

 22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

A VERY PECULIAR PRACTICE

These few pages have tried to characterize the chief
Hnguistic stratagems used in generating humour, but
they have been limited in several respects. In particu-
lar, it is not possible to use the written medium to
capture the dynamics of joke-telling -especially the
crucial role played by prosody (p. 248) and by the
interaction of face and tone of voice. 'It's the way you
tell 'em' is a subject worthy of much greater investiga-
tion, but communicating its findings will require a
different medium of exposition from the printed
encyclopedia. Writing jokes down does something
lethal to their humour. Children seem to enjoy read- 'Knock, knock. Who's there? Cows go. Cows go who? No, they don't, cows go moo.
ing page after page of such books as Another 1000 Knock, knock. Who's there? Little old lady. Little old lady who? Didn't know you could
yodel. Knock, knock ...'
Best Jokes For Kids, but they do so without a flicker of
humour showing on their faces; whereas the same
jokes in the playground will elicit raucous laughter.
PUNCH LINES

Jokes are not for the individual. There is something We conclude this sec-
tion with a small trib-
very strange about people who tell jokes to them-
ute to Punch, a
selves, or who read jokes alone -and, it has to be magazine without
admitted, who study them alone, as the author of equal in the history of

humour. Founded by
these pages has had to do.
author Henry Mayhew
and engraver Ebenezer
Landells, it was
CURIOSERANDCURIOSER inspired by the satirical
Some jokes tell jokes about jokes: they take the daily, Paris Charivari.
language we need to talk about language, and play The name belonged to
about with that. This is metalinguistic humour, and it is the puppet-show char-
found in catch questions, parodies, and a great deal of acter. Punch, and was,
nonsense. Punch's cartoon captions often made use of it. appropriately enough,
selected after a joke -
• Which word is always spelled wrongly?
Wrongly. that it was 'nothing
without Lemon'. (Mark
• What the longest word in the English language?
is
Lemon was a member
Smiled, because there's a mile between the first and
of the launch editorial
the last letter. team, and sole editor
• What two words have the most letters? until 1870, though it
Post Office. was always 'Mr Punch'
• He walked with a pronounced limp, pronounced who signed the editori-
als.)
I, i, m, p. (Spike Milligan)
The first issue
appeared on Saturday
17July1841,cost3d
and sold 10,000 copies;
the price next went up
in 1917, to 6d. After a
peak circulation of
175,000copiesinthe
1940s, sales declined,
and it ceased publica-
tion with the issue of 8 April guage (and the only one to be The Punch parodies and car-
1992, after 150 years. used as a source in the Oxford toons provided a comic com-
The range of its humour was Dictionary of Quotations). It mentary on most things -and
and
universal, its impact was the first to apply the word not least, on language, as can
international. It was often cartoon to a comic drawing, be seen in this book's selec-
'Frankly, Wallace, I think you'd better stop telling it. banned in Europe. Kaiser Wil- and the first to use the phrase tion of Items out of its pages,
If no one laughs, it may not be a joke.' helm was so annoyed by it
II a curate's egg (in a cartoon from Victorian times to the
that he put a price on caption). It gave the name present-day. With its demise,
the editor's head. It Crysta/ Pa/ace to the 1851 language enthusiasts have
was also one of the exhibition, and its caption it's lost an unparalleled source of
few magazines to being so cheerful as keeps us ongoing contemporary (and
have had any kind going (from a World War 1 thus, eventually, historical)
of permanent cartoon) became a World War illustration aboutvariation
effect on the lan- 2 catch phrase. and usage in British English.
licationofseveraexq ^g^3^
(2A J

punch's Cartoons!
 PART V • USING ENGLISH

times - illustrated in poetry by the 16th-century fash-

LITERARY FREEDOM ion for archaic diction (p. 185), or by 18th-century
Augustan notions of classical elegance - authors were
prepared to write according to certain linguistic
The peak of personal variation in the English lan- conventions, and their attitudes defined a canon of
guage is to be found in the corpus of speech and writ- contemporary literature. The traditional concept of
ing that goes under the heading of English literature. literary 'diction' (p. 419) is one such notion which
This is a corpus whose boundaries resist definition. arose from this outlook. But the present-day consen-
Critics, authors, cultural historians, syllabus design- sus is otherwise. Anything that occurs in language, it

ers, and others have often discussed what counts as seems, can now be put to work in the service of litera-
literature (or Literature), and as the language has ture; and the notion of a clear-cut boundary between
spread around the world (§7) so the issue has broad- literary and non-literary domains turns out to be
ened and become more complex. The notion of an" chimerical. The answer to the question 'What is liter-

English literature is now much less easy to work with, ature?' is not to be found in the study of its linguistic
because it must cope with the claims of a rapidly properties. So there is no separate section called 'liter-
increasing range of linguistically divergent literatures, ary English' in this book.
qualified by ethnic (e.g. black, Creole, African),
regional (e.g. Canadian, Australian, Anglo-Irish), and OPINIONS
other labels. A similar issue faces the linguist, grap- Many authors and critics have thought deeply about the relationship between the

pling with the notion of an English language and the medium of their literary expression and the rest of their linguistic experience. The con-
temporary orthodoxy, stressing the closeness of the relationship, is most often
claims of 'new Englishes" from around the world
expounded with reference to poetry, which on the surface appears to be the most
(p. 106). removed from everyday norms. (For an earlier opinion, see p. 88.)
For the linguist, these problems of literary defini-
William Carlos Williams Robert Frost T. S. Eliot
tion and identity provide a clear signal about the there can no longer be
. . .
To judge a poem or piece No poetry, of course, is

uniqueness of this area of language use. Whatever else serious work
we might say about literature, there is patently no written in
It is a contortion of
way in which we can ascribe to literary works the
to conform to a rigidity of
kind of situational identity which can be given to Speech is the foun-
line...
such notions as occupational varieties and regional tain of the line into which
the pollution of a poetic
in poetry of prose you... listen for
'poetic' diction. the sentence sounds. If you
speech find some of those not
bookish, caught fresh from
the mouths of people,
some of them striking, all
of them definite and rec-
ever exactly the same
speech that the poet talks
and hears: but it has to be
in such a relation to the
speech of his time that the
listener or reader can say
'that is how should talk if
I

dialects (§§20-21). Literature transcends this kind manner and inverted ognizable, so recognizable could talk poetry'... The
I

of constraint. Authors are free to circle above the lan- phrasing should never that with a little trouble music of poetry, then,
guage, to swoop down and take from it whatever they again be permitted to you can place them and must be a music latent in
drain. {Selected Letters, even name them, you the common speech of its
wish. The language of literature has no situational ed. J.C. Thirlwall, 1957, know you have found a time. {Selected Prose, ed.
restrictions; all structures and all varieties are avail- p. 134.) writer. {Selected Letters, F, Kermode, 1975, p. 111.)

able to it as a resource. And because there is no theo- ed. Lawrance Thompson,

1964, p. 113.;
retical limit to the subject-matter of literature, so
there is no theoretical limit to the language variation
which authors may choose to employ.

Literary English?
The consequences of this for the linguist are far-
reaching. It means that there is no clear notion of 'lit-
erary language" to work with - that there is no such
thing as a 'variety' of literature. For there to be a vari-
ety (p. 288), there needs to be a clear and predictable
correlation between features of language Several of the features of conversational speech (p. 286), such as its parentheses, comment
and features
clauses (p. 229), and overlapping talk are seen in this extract from 'A Game of Chess', Part
of a social situation. 'Religious English' exists as a
2 of Eliot's The Waste Land {] 922). (For a further perspective on said, see p. 419.)
variety solely because there are certain linguistic fea-
If you don't
you can get on with it, said.
like it I

tures which are only to be found in situations that Others can pick and choose if you can't.
can be described as 'religious' (p. 370). It is simply But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling.
You ought to be ashamed, said, to look so antique.
not possible to take any set of linguistic features and
I

(And her only thirty-one.)

say that they are predictably 'literary'. I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face.
This is not to gainsay the fact that, in the history of It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.
(She's had five already, and nearly died of young George.)
literature, there have been periods of authorial prac-
The chemist said it would be all right, but I've never been the same.
tice and schools of critical thought which could iden- You are a proper fool, said. I

tify a genre of literary language in this way. At various

 PERSONAL VARIATION

ways. The present section, therefore, looks specifi-

A LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE cally at how the notion of personal identity operates
in a literary context, citing instances of linguistic free-

Refusing to recognize a variety of 'literary English' dom at each of theof language structure (§1),
levels

need not in any way diminish the central role that lit- and drawing attention to those features which occur
erature plays in developing our experience of the lan- with some frequency (and which, therefore, are most
guage. On the contrary: it can reinforce it, as long as often cited as features of 'literary language'). How-
we go on to show how literary experience everywhere ever, no attempt is made to bring these observations

makes contact with everyday language use. Authorial together into an integrated theory of the analysis of
voices may be born out of ordinary language (see literary style. A whole encyclopedia could be devoted
opposite), but they eventually make a renewal of con- to that task alone.
nection with it, providing a dimension through Although literature cannot be identified by lan-

which we are led to see new meaning in the mun- guage, it is wholly identified with it, for it has no
dane. Literary examples therefore pervade this book, other medium of expression. Any of the tools which
providing the most frequent category of illustration. the study of language has made available can there-
They are there for three reasons: to demonstrate the fore be of value in increasing our awareness of the
relevance of a linguistic frame of reference in meaning and effect of the elements which make up a
approaching the description of a piece of literature; text. But the application of these tools has to be car-

to show how specific features of language identified ried out sensitively. The history of stylistics is littered

through analytic means can be used in creative with the intellectual corpses of linguists who have
expression; and to provide ways oi increasing a attempted to bludgeon their way into the language of
reader's personal response to a text. (An example is a literary work, without appreciating the critical per-
the observation on p. 153 about personal name varia- spective to which their enquiries need to relate if the

tion in a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V, which relevance of their findings is to be clear. At the same
arose directly out of an analysis of the phonological time, the complexity of language is apparent to all

properties of first names.) who probe it - authors, critics, and linguists alike —
Because these examples are scattered throughout and any techniques should be explored which seem
the book, it is difficult to see their common feature - capable of providing extra order and illumination in
the opportunity that literature offers writers to what is, structurally and functionally, the most com-
explore language in individual and unprecedented plex of all areas of language use.

LITERARINESS IN CONVERSATION CHAD

How is it possible for features of conver-
sation and other varieties to succeed as
poetry? Part of the answer lies in the
nature of conversation itself, which anal-
yses have shown to be far more struc-
tured and creative than was formerly
believed. Not only does it readily admit
linguistic deviance (p. 394), it also dis-
plays many of the formal features which
are traditionally thought to be 'literary',

such as metrical rhythm, syntactic paral-

lelism, figurative language, alliteration,
and verbal repetition.
The literariness of a conversation is not
immediately obvious. Here is a short
example taken from a study of conversa-
and parallelism. Tran-
tional repetition
scribed in a conventional manner, it is

difficult to see anything of interest

taking place. Laid out differently, several
patterns begin to emerge, and a more
informed comparison can be made with
the crafted conversations of drama. Only
the lexical patterns are shown: several
other links can be found between cer-
tain grammatical words (/, if), and there
are signs of phonological repetition too
(p. 41 5, in terms of time, lot/not,
Just/stuff/much). (After D. Tannen, 1989,
p. 71.)
 -

PARI" V USING ENGLISH

PHONETIC FREEDOM MEMORABLE MELODIES

These passages illustrate the symbolic properties of indi-
vidual sounds, as well as of consonant repetition (allitera
riie phonetic properties of English sounds (p. 236) tion), vowel repetition (assonance), and rhythm.
arc an important source of special effects, especially

in poetry and drama. It is obviously the case that The moan of doves in immemorial elms
And murmur of innumerable bees
speech sounds have acoustic properties which remind (Tennyson, 'The Princess', 1847)
people of noises they encounter in the world; less
The Lotos blows by every winding creek:
obviously, they seem to have properties which people All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone:

often interpret in terms of non-acoustic experiences, Through every hollow cave and alley lone
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is
such as contrasts of size, movement, or brightness
blown.
(sound symbolism, p. 250). We readily talk about (Tennyson, 'Lotos-Eaters', 1833)
speech sounds using such aesthetic judgments as
He sipped with his straight mouth.
'beautiful' or 'harsh', independently of the dictionary
Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long
meaning of the words in which they appear, and the body.
term phonaesthetics is often used for the study of Silently.
(D. H. Lawrence, 'Snake', 1923)
sounds from this point of view. All aspects of pro-
Snip-snap and snick-a-snick
nunciation are affected, including vowels, conso-
Clash the Barber's shears
nants, syllables, and prosodic patterns (p. 248), and (Walter de la Mare, 'The Barber's', 1913) Alfred, Lord Tennyson
the effects extend well beyond literature, into such This the Night Mail crossing the Border
is
(1809-92)
areas as comic names (Mickey Mouse, Donald Bringing the cheque and the postal order.
W. H. Auden once remarked
Duck), tongue-twisters (p. 399), nursery rhyme jin- (W. H. Auden, 'Night Mail', 1935)
that Tennyson had the finest
gles, advertising slogans (p. 180), and nonsense verse Sixty-six different times in his fish-slimy kitchen ping, strike, ear of any English poet. The

406). (For phonetics terminology in these pages,

tick, chime, and tock. first two quotations illus-
(p.
(Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood, 1954) trate his case.
see §17.)

MELODIOUS VELVET Flamingo next and celandine. If ranking is compared with that
this and/ai/(9),/D/(6),/Q:/(5),/ei/,/u:/

In a Sunday Times poll of British

Ominous, tantalise and wine,
Antimacassar, jewel, skill.
found in conversation (p. 244), the

use of /I/ and /m/ is noteworthy.

and /x/
(1). This
(4),
is
M (2),
close to the
/qu/ and /ai3/
vowel rank-
readers' favourite words in 1980, Russet, buckram, delight and thrill. ings of conversation (p. 239).
melody and velvet tied for first Clavichord and didgeridoo, • Therethen a big jump before
is

place. Third was a tie between gos- Doppelganger, fractious, zoo. reaching the low-frequency conso- IsJohn Kitching's intuition represen-
samer and crystal, followed by Idon't know what they mean. Do nants: /f/ and /b/ (9), /p/ and /v/ (8), tative of Sunday Times readers? Of
autumn, peace, tranquil, twilight, you? /g/(7),/z/(6),/i]/(5),/w/{4),/J/,/f/ the 68 vowels and consonants used
and murmur, with caress, melliflu- But like to have them in my head
I and M (3), /B/, /c^ and /j/ (2). Only in the paper's words, only 13 are
ous, and n//i/sper tying for tenth And dandle them and handle them and
/()/ /"s/ do not occur at all. missing from his top eight conso-
place. The occasion seems to have Like Wedgwood china. What finer? nants and top eight vowels. There is
motivated a poem by John Kitching. (©John Kitching, 'Sunday Words',
• If we group these consonants into an 80 per cent chance that the read-
1980.) types according to their manner of ers would like his other words too.
I like to think of words with lovely articulation, frictionless continuants This analysis perhaps explains why
sounds are commonest (1 18: 68 oral, 50 poem about London
What about the phonaesthetics
is it a romantic
That can ease around
I my Sunday of these words which makes them so nasal), followed by plosives (85), Underground stations would very
tongue attractive? Which vowels and conso-
fricatives (55), and affricates (5). As likely include Pimlico and Colindale,
- Like velvet,
melody and young. there are only four oral continuants which closely reflect these intu-
nants are most involved? It is a
Gossamer, crystal, autumn, peace, (/I, r, w, J/) and three nasals (/m, n, itions, and exclude Goodge Street
useful exercise to stop at this point,
Mellifluous, whisper, tranquil, lace, but six plosives (/p, b, d, k, g/) and Wapping, which do not. Also,
and down the sounds which
jot 1]/), t,

Caress and silken, willow, mellow. and nine fricatives (/t, v, 9, i\ s, why friendly space aliens receive
strikeyou as particularly important, 7.,
J,
Lullaby, dawn and shimmer, yellow. before comparing your list with the 3, h/), this distribution is noteworthy. such names as Alaree and Osno-
Silver, marigold and golden. mian, why enemy names include
results of the phonetic survey given
Dream and harmony and olden. below. The task is to notice not only
• Of the 172 vowels, the unstressed Vatch and Triops, and why Klingons
Blossom, champagne, sleep and vowel /a/ is commonest (43), show- are likely to be a mite less aggressive
which sounds are frequently used,
dusk. ing that words of more than one syl- than Kryptons. Also why, if we
but also - rather more difficult -
Magic, hummock, love and mist.
which are not used at all.
lable are preferred. Only 21 words wanted to create a phonaestheti-
Darling, laughter, butterfly. were monosyllables; the largest cat- cally correct new word, would
An analysis of the 81 words listed it

eiderdown and sky,

Charity,
the poem shows some egory (28) was words of three sylla- seem advisable to give it three sylla-
in clear
And parakeet and rosemary. trends. bles. Most were stressed on the first bles, stressthe first, use at least one
Froth, gazebo, ivory, syllable; and most made use of at An/ and /I/ (preferably both), vary
And syllabub and vacillate. • The consonants divide into two least three different manners of the manner of articulation, and
Mesmerism, echo, fate, types: high frequency and low fre- consonant articulation. keep most vowels short. We would
Jacaranda, harlequin quency. Just eight items account for probably find success with ramelon
And chrysalis and violin. 73 per cent of all consonants (254): • The other common vowel was /i/ and drematol. On the other hand,
Enigma, tart and sycamore. /!/ has 41 instances (15 per cent), fol- (38), which occurred over twice as we could simply settle for immemo-
Pomp, chinchilla, truffle, myrrh. lowed by /m/ (27), /s/ (25), /k/ (23), often as the next vowel /a/ (16), fol- rial elms.
Bewildered, claret, akimbo, fur. /r/(21), /t/and/d/(19), and/ii/(18). lowed by /,->()/ (11), /e/ (10), /i:/, /a/.
 21 PERSONAL VARIATION

PHONOLOGICAL FREEDOM METRICS English poetry

were the
-and analyses
staple of traditional metrical
in these terms

Poetic Language is organized into studies,which traced the norms of English

rhythmical units which appear in print as poetic rhythm and evaluated the way poets
With phonology (p. 236), we are not so much Hsten-
lines (p. 291). What phonological principles deviated from these norms. As a system of
ing to the acoustic properties of speech sounds as govern the way these units are used? In description, it worked quite well in giving
sensing how these sounds are distributed within Europe, the traditional study of versificat- an account of the regular lines of tradit-
ion, or prosody (a more restricted sense of ional poetry. But it came to be criticized on
words and sentences. The possibiHty that sounds may
the term used on p. 249) was based on the several counts. It was often mechanically
have some intrinsic meaning is discounted, and all rules of Latin scansion. Poetic lines would be applied, with students being taughtto
the attention is focused on how sounds are used con- analysed into combinations of stressed ( ) identify the form of metrical patterns
at the
and unstressed - ) syllables known as feet. expense of their function, or role, in a poem;
trastively in sequences, pointing to meanings which (

Five types were formerly prominent in and it was unable to cope well with lines
lie elsewhere (e.g. in grammar or vocabulary). There English verse, as shown in the upper table. containing unusual rhythm sequences. Also,
is thus immense scope in literature for manipulating Lines would then be classified in terms of with the bulk of modern poetry no longer
the number of stressed syllables they con- using such metrical patterns, but working
the phonological status of sounds, whether segmen-
tained, as shown in the lower table. In instead with 'free' kinds of verse, the
tally (through vowels, consonants, and patterns of theory there is no limit; in practice, most traditional system of description came to be
syllable structure) or prosodically (through such fea- English metrical lines are found to be five viewed as largely irrelevant. Today, metrists
feet or less; when they exceed six feet, there work in several alternative ways, not
tures as intonation, stress, and rhythm). A distinctive
is a strong intuitive tendency to break them restrictingthemselves to the notion of
phonological pattern always carries a semantic impli- into two parts. stress,but bringing in other prosodic
cation. If I write "What further thought of fresh Combinations of foot-type and line systems, such as tempo and intonation, and
length produced such designations as a general concept of rhythmical weight
desire/Could rouse the deadened mind', the gram-
iambic pentameter -the heartbeat of much (p. 417).
mar of the text says only that the mind is dead; but
the link formed by the alliteration hints that desire Name Syllable type As in Example
may be dead also. This is phonology in action: iamb/iambic foot demand The curfew tolls the knell of
'to connect two words by similarity of sound so that parting day (Thomas Gray)

made of their possible connections' trochee/trochaic foot /^ soldier What of soul was left, I wonder
you are to think
(Robert Browning)
(William Empson, Seven Types of Ambiguity, 1930). spondee/spondaic foot // dry dock M/e t/iree alone in modern times
The similarity of sound, in short, prompts a similarity had brought (W. B. Yeats)
dactyl/dactylic foot 1-^^ elephant T/i/s /s the Night Mail crossing
of" sense.
the Border (W. H. Auden)
anapest/anapestic foot ^^/ disbelieve And the things we have seen
THE FORCE OF RHYME and have know/n and have
heard of, fail us (Robert Bridges)
If we stop after the first of this verse from 'Mr
two lines
Eliot's Sunday Morning Service' 1920), the
(T. S. Eliot, Type No. Example
impression is altogether august and respectful; not so monometer 1 The nursling. Grief,
after the next two lines, with the alliteration (initial- Is dead (Coventry Patmore)

rhyme) forcing us to bring pustular and presbyter dimeter 2 Wintertime nighs (ThomasHardy)
together, and the combination of alliteration and end- trimeter 3 It was the winter wild (Milton)

rhyme turning the eyes from heaven {penitence) to tetrameter 4 I wandered lonely as a cloud (Wordsworth)
earth {piaculative pence). pentameter 5 My name is Ozymandias, king of kings (Shelley)
hexameter 6 When Phoebus lifts his head out of the winter's wave (Michael Drayton)
The sable presbyters approach
heptameter 7 Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth! (Tennyson)
The avenue of penitence;
octameter 8 What of soul was left, wonder, when the kissing had to stop?
I

The young are red and pustular

(Robert Browning)
Clutching piaculative pence.

Three verses later, and the effect is found again, but the
other way round: connotations of gracelessness and conventional in presenting Old English
OLD ENGLISH METRE is

ordinariness are introduced first, with ham and bath, poetry (p. 12). Strong syllables are marked by
then transferred through alliteration and end-rhyme to With some types of poetry, there is a strong and weak by - . Syllables where two light sylla-
masters and polymath. expectation that lines should be broken in the bles are equivalent to a strong syllable are

Sweeney shifts from ham to ham middle. This was especially the case in Old shown by in the text. A stress level which is

Stirring the water in his bath. English (p. 16), where lines can all be divided intermediate between strong and weak sylla-
The masters of the subtle schools into two roughly equal parts, each containing blesisshown by (After D.G.Scragg, 1991,
.

Are controversial, polymath. two strongly stressed syllables and a varying p.61.)
numberof unstressed syllables. Half-lines are
Such techniques are not modern. Alexander Pope is one most commonly organized in a trochaic or Biigon (ja to bence blxdagande, AD
who made much use of them. In this extract there is dactylic pattern (known as Type A to Old
both a reinforcing use of alliteration {destroy and dirty, fylle gefa:gon; ftegere ge[>3Egon AA
English metrists - as distinct from four other
fib and sophistry) and a diminishing use, with thin
identified metrical patterns. Types B, C, D, and medotui manig magas (^ara AA
reducing the elevated tone of thron'd.
E). The half-lines are usually sense units, with

the two parts linked by alliteration, and the swi5hicgende on sele (jam hean, DB
Destroy his fib or sophistry, in vain.
The creature's at his dirty work again, dividing point often emphasized by a change Hroclgar ond Hro[5ulf A
Thron'd in the centre of his thin designs. of rhythm.
Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines! An extract from eeoivu/^lines 113-17)
1 Then the glorious [Danes] rejoiced at the
shows the system in operation. Metrical types feast; Hrothgar and Hrothulf, the resolute
(Alexander Pope, An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, 1735)
for each half-line are identified on the right, ones, their kinsmen, drank many a toast cour-

and the half-lines are separated by a space, as teously in the lofty hall.
 I'ART V • USING ENGLISH

ONE-DIMENSIONAL
GRAPHOLOGICAL FREEDOM DEVIANCE TWO-DIMENSIONAL DEVIANCE
Some graphological Concrete poetry is the sub-genre which has tried most dra-

deviance is simple and matically to free itself from the constraints of visual linearity,
The conventions of the written language are more and to offer alternative representations which do not corre-
specific, involving just one
and perceptible than those of speech,
stable, limited, dimension of variation, spond in anysimple way tothe linear form of spoken lan-
and deviations from written norms are therefore such as spelling, punctua- guage. These poems are typically two-dimensional (conveying
tion, ortypography. an amalgam of horizontal and vertical messages), though
going to be more obvious when they occur. It might
Spelling variation is espe- they often make use of a third dimension (such as typographic
be thought that such deviance is unlikely. Operating cially common, being prominence), and some introduce a fourth (such as colour, or-
with a world standard alphabet, a limited range of employed by novelistsand using animated techniques in television -change in time).
dramatists trying to repre- They present many levels of complexity. Some are visually
punctuation marks, fairly strict constraints on capi-
sent nonstandard speech straightforward, written in a form which is simply mimetic of
talization and other t}'pographic options, extremely (pp.84, 89), and it can be their content. Such 'picture poems' have a long history: a
strict on spelling, and a physical medium
constraints found in poetry too. famous example is from the 7th-century poem 'The Altar', by
1

Examples includethe George Herbert, which is designed in the shape of an altar.

- the page - whose edges form an inflexible perime-
attemptto mark regional A recent example is Dylan Thomas's poetic sequence using
ter, there would seem to be litde real freedom for the identity, as in Scots or butterfly and hourglass shapes, one of which is illustrated
writer in the area of graphetics and graphology. Yet it Caribbean poetry on p. 271.
(pp. 331, 348), the use of The content of a piece of concrete poetry may be extremely
is surprising what can be done.
archaic spelling to convey simple (such as the repetition of a single word or phrase), akin
It is the genre ot poetrs' which has tried most romantic or idyllic associa- to abstract art, but it may also be semantically testing. Some
urgently and successfully to free itself from the sever- tions (p. 185), or the first poems try to exploit all aspects of the multidimensionalityof
example below, in which a visual form, andean be read in several directions at once, or
ity of the constraints imposed by its linear medium. impose no single 'correct' direction of reading. There may
Cocl<ney accent is sug-
Graphological deviance in prose does occur, in both gested chiefly by the omis- need to be a considerable intellectual effort to see what
the short story and the novel - most often to convey sion of /h/. Deviant meaning{s) the text might yield, and uncertainty over the
spelling can also be used 'value' of such readings ('What is it saying?') has fuel led con-
the prosodic features of conversation, such as varia-
simply for fun, as in the troversy over the valueof this genre. On the other hand, a
tions in loudness and tempo (p. 248). Tales of science graphic deviance of critical language for describing the possibilities of variation in

fiction and fantasy also regularly manipulate grapho- Ogden Nash illustrated on visual linguistic form has hardly begun to be developed, so
p. 406. that it would be premature to dismiss nonlinear poems
logical conventions in order to convey a sense of the
by judging them using criteria which were developed for
alien or exceptional 271). And there are some • Then 'ere's to the sons
(p. lineartext.
the Widow,
o'
famous cases of deviant usage in the novel, such as
Wherever, 'owever they
the punctuationless end-pages of Ulysses. But there is roam. This poem isof a simple but somewhat unusual kind, falling
'Ere's all they desire, an' if between the categories of word play (p. 400) and
nothing in prose to match the graphic variations uncertainly
they require poetry. 'Palm tree' (1991) is a palindrome by British academic
which have been used to give visual structure to A speedy return to their Gerry Abbott, which can be read in two dimensions: from top
poetry or to suggest particular modes of oral reading. 'ome. to bottom and from bottom to top.
Nor is there anything to match the remarkable exper- (Rudyard Kipling, Barrack ... sky
Room Ballads, 1892.)
blue balloon
iments in visual form which have plaved such a
• of course shes right not a needle that spikes
prominent part in 20th-century poetic expression. dragon with double armed limbs,
to ruin her hands noticed I

he was always tall<ing to lizard green of ruff or pterodactyl green and leathery of wing
'Flight patterns' (John Sewell, 1989) like flapping umbrellas upraised monstrous and ragged
her lately atthetable
explaining things in the those loom where to eye fearful the leading
paperand she pretending spirals climb

to understand sly of naturally but

course that comes from geometrically;
his side of the house and chipped badly
helping her into her coat and askew
but if there was anything swivelled
wrong with her its me capitals
shed tell not him he cant Corinthian
say pretend things can he
I
stacked
Im too honest as a matter loftily

of fact (From Molly

. . .
come next:
Bloom's soliloquy in the ringed and
final pages of James fat column
Joyce's L//ysses, 1922.) a fossilized
long trunk
• Whenpeop's say, 'I've mammoth like
told you fifty times,' *«*>^>
appears now;
They mean to scold, and one stage is
very often do;
tentacles slow
When poets say, 'I've writ-
grubbing into
ten fifty rhymes,'
oozing liquid:
They make you dread that now backwards
they'll recite them too... word by word
(Byron, Don Juan, all this repeat
1819-24)
therefore; though
it was clear really wasn't it ...
 22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

VISUAL FORM WEIGHT WATCHING And piece together the past and the
future.
An effective technique for seeing how Between midnight and dawn, when the
these concepts of visual form operate in past deception.
Lines, verse structure, the use of white space, and tex-
practice is to rewrite a poem as if it were
is all

The future futureless, before the morning

tual shape define the semantic structure of a poem, prose. The prosaic version is generally
watch
and identify the weight to be attached to its various bizarre and often unintelligible; after
When time stops and time is never ending;
attempting to read it, the return to the
elements. They also control the tempo of a reader's And the ground swell, that is and was from
poetic structure is invariably a relief. When the beginning.
and the pace of an
intetpretation, oral performance. the technique is applied to this passage
Clangs
These variations in visual form offer possibilities from T S. Eliot's 'The Dry Salvages' (1941),
The bell.
itclearly shows the importance of line
which are unavailable in speech. For example, the length and division in controlling the dis- And under the oppression of the silent fog
spatial juxtaposition of ideas on the page can convey tribution of weight and pace within a text. the tolling bell measures time not our
time, rung by the unhurried ground swell,
shifts of tone, ironic contrast, and other rhetorical And under the oppression of the silent fog
a time older than the time of chronome-
meanings. A figurative or abstract graphic shape may The tolling bell ters, older than time counted by anxious
Measures time not our time, rung by the worried women lying awake, calculating
be used as an image or icon of a poem's content. And
unhurried the future, trying to unweave, unwind,
the way the text is structured may signal its relation- Ground swell, a time
unravel and piece together the past and
ship to other varieties or its place within a particular Older than the time of chronometers, the future, between midnight and dawn,
older when the past is all deception, the future
poetic tradition.
Than time counted by anxious worried futureless, before the morning watch
women when time stops and time is never ending;
Lying awake, calculating the future.
SIGHT STANZAS and the ground swell, that is and was from
Trying to unweave, unwind, unravel
the beginning, clangs the bell.
Line and verse division become critical aids to assimilation
when a poet offers us a long or complex sentence. Tliey
give the text a pattern and cohesion, in a real sense 'making THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEVIANCE
poetic' vuhat might otherwise seem to be a random and indigestible collec-
tion of ideas and images. In this extract from William Carlos Williams' 'The E. E. Cummings, perhaps more than any other poet, has experimented with
Semblables' (1 943), the 'sight stanzas' keep the opening sentence of the the aesthetic possibilities of visual form. These items from his most innova-
poem alive and manageable. Without them, it would be difficult to cope tive volume. Wo Thanks (1935), illustrate several aspects of his work.

with the clausal subject - a sequence of four noun phrases (p. 222), each
with complex postmodif ication - whose verb does not appear until line 27.
These stanzas, however, do not coincide with the main syntactic divisions,
producing a series of postulated semantic units which are in tension with
the grammatical structure. The challenge to the reader is to find meaning
within and between these units. Positional prominence can give dramatic
focus to words which would otherwise be unremarkable (such as the
monosyllabic cop in the last stanza) or suggest new lexical relationships, as
is achieved by the foregrounding of monastery and munitions plant.
• Poem No. 9 is an example of the way spatial arrangement can create
movement, with the arm-like wingab sending a ball-like o up the left-hand
margin to the top of the poem, sweeping up any other o's which happen to
get in its way. The 'fanfare' section announcing the president shows alter-
native readings competing simultaneously so as to convey visually a series of
auditory echoes.
• Poem No. 13 has been called Cummings' most famous visual experiment.
Irregular spacing, deviant punctuation, and fractured words are used to

(After E. Berry, 1985.) convey unpredictable movement, with capitalization expressing peaks of
activity. The iconicity in the poem is not solely in the grasshopper shape

The red brick monastery in which might be seen in the overall layout, but in the dislocation of letters,
peaked by the bronze belfry which forces the reader's eye to jump grasshopper-like around the poem,
the suburbs over against the dust-
peaked in turn by the cross, searching for coherence. (After R. D. Cureton, 1986.)
hung acreage of the unfinished
verdigris - faces all silent
and all but subterranean
that miracle that has burst sexless
rily thou
munitions plant; those high
from between the carrot rows. superc
i a)sw(eloo)k
brick walls behind which at Easter hyperpr upnowgarh
Leafless white birches, their >ssal
the little orphans and bastards igious etc kn PPEGORHRASS
empty tendrils swaying in i

in white gowns sing their Latin ;&ifyoud

the all but no breeze guard
t why K
responses to the hoary ritual
behind the spiked monastery fence
while frankincense and myrrh ailed r
the sacred statuary. But ranks
round out the dark chapel making ailed theatre & >

of brilliant car-tops row on row m eves beh

an enclosed sphere of it
give back in all his glory the

of which they are the worm: (The president The rea(be)rran(cc n)gi(e)ng
late November sun and hushed
that cell outside the city beside president of The president .grasshopper;
attend, before that tumbled of the Thelpresident of
the polluted stream and dump
ground, those sightless walls
heap, uncomplaining, and the field The president of the
and shovelled entrances where no thel united
united states The president of the united
of upended stones with photo
a states of The President Of The)United States
one but a lonesome cop swinging
under glass fastened here and there
his club gives sign, that agony Of America unde negant redire quemquam su|
to one of them near the deeply
within where the wrapt machines edh- thr
carved name to distinguish it:
are praying...

that trinity of slate gables

the unembellished windows piling
up, the chapel with its round
window between the dormitories
 . . . . !

PART V • USING ENGLISH

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs

GRAMMATICAL FREEDOM Is those things arms, or is they legs.'

(The Octopus', 1942)

There are severe on the freedom ot writers to
limits And it should additionally be recognized that gram-
deviate from the norms of English grammar, if they matical deviance can account tor much ot what is

want their text to maintain coherence and intelligibil- generally held to be inept verse, because of the way
ity. A sentence such as the following, written by a word order is twisted to fit the metre or rhyme, even
protoundly deaf 16-year-old about the film Star Wars to the extent of fracturing the language's most fixed
(1977), shows what can happen to grammar when idioms. An example is this offering from William
too much deviance is present. McGonagall:
rhe Star Wars was the two spaceship a fighting opened
But, poor soul, he was found stark dead.
door was coming the Men and Storm trooper guns carry Crushed and mangled from foot to head.
on Detoo and threepio at go the space. The Earth
to j\rtoo
(Poetic Gems, 1890)
was not grass and tree but to the sand . .

Grammatical deviance in literature is not usually so

gross,though from time to time - and especially in
poetry - we can encounter constructions which strain THE STRIKING AND THE SUBTLE (another affirmative clause).
tor intelligibility, as in this parenthesis from E. E. The conjunctions seem to provide a
Grammatical deviance can be dramatic. An steadiness of direction to a text which is
Cummings" No Thanks {1935), No. 71: example is the striking syntactic variation, being pulled in different ways by the con-
compounding, and word-class conversion flicting emotions it expresses. There is grief
(the not whose spiral hunger may appease
(p. 129) of Gerald Manley Hopkins, as in and incoherence in the first stanza; mixed
what merely riches of our pretty world this example from the sonnet 'No worst, feelings in the second, as the poet observes
sweetly who flourishes.swiftly which fails there is none' (c. 1 885). Fall, steep and deep those unaffected by loss; an attempt to
become new types of noun. The second find calm in the third, by contemplating
but out ot serene perfectly Nothing hurled sentence reverses its elements and provides the stately ships, with the mood quickly
into young Now entirely arrives a relative clause without a head ([those] extinguished; and anguish in the fourth,
gesture past fragrance fragrant;a than pure who never hung there). And long is made along with a coherence lacking at the
prominent by being moved from its normal outset. The syntax reflects these emotions,
more signalling position after the verb. moving from command to statement, on to
ot singular most flame exclamation, back to statement and excla-
O the mind, mind has
and surely poets only understands) mation, and ending with command and
mountains; cliffs of fall
statement. Such a diversity of functions
Frightful, sheer,no-man-
More commonly, a deviant grammatical pattern is
fathomed. Hold them cheap
could easily result in a text full of erratic,
discordant juxtapositions, incompatible
there for a fairly obvious reason. In poetry it is typi- May who ne'er hung there.
with the mood of meditative longing which
Nor does long our small
cally to satisfy the phonological demands of a line or the words in the body of the text convey.
Durance deal with that steep or
verse. Rhyme-scheme and metrical structure may The potential discord is removed by the use
deep.
of the conjunctions, which provide a
license quite marked deviations from normal word
By contrast, Tennyson's famous poem (1842), smoothness of syntactic linkage, corre-
order, such as the inversion or deletion of clause ele- reprinted below, seems at first to have sponding to the stable metrical beat. (The
ments (p.220), and the addition of extra phrase ele- nothing that stands out grammatically at discord can be artificially introduced by
all, apart from the use of thy, the vocative attempting to read the poem with the
ments (e.g. the use of auxiliary verb do when no
O, and the syntactic blends in O well for ... seven line-opening conjunctions omitted.
emphasis is intended, p. 212). These examples are Yet the regular word order, and its close fit The text remains grammatical, and there is
from Wordsworth's 'Lucy' poems (1799): with the verse structure, is deceptive. There a viable metre; but the steady rhythm is
is subtle deviance in the use of coordina- gone, and the mood is quite lost.) (After
Strange fits of passion have I known . . tion, as can be seen by first considering the E. A. Levenston, 1973.)

1 to her cottage bent my way. .

following sentences:

This child to myself will take... Break, break, break.

1 *Sit down and want I a paper.
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
A slumber did my spirit seal . .
*Run upstairs but it's raining.
*Take this or I'll look.
And would that my tongue could
I utter

Sometimes grammatical deviation *Good The thoughts that arise in me.

is there to add to for you and it's ready.

the archaic tone of a text, using elements of older None of these is normal in English. An O well for the fisherman's boy.
imperative clause cannot be coordinated That he shouts with his sister at play!
morpholog)' {hath, ye, thou, sayest, ungiri) and syntax.
with an affirmative clause. There is only O well for the sailor lad.
Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur (1842) is full of examples That he sings in his boat on the bay!
one type of exception - the conditional
of syntactic archaism, such as the use of negative sense of Ask me and I'll do it ('If you ask me
And the stately ships go on
...')- and this sense is not relevant for the
imperatives without do {But now delay not), adjectives To their haven under the hill;
poem. Tennyson is not suggesting '/f you for the touch of a vanished hand.
afternouns {an act unprofitable), and non-reflexive But
break, Sea ...').
And the sound of a voice that is still!
pronouns {Where I will heal me of my grievous In the poem, the first and last verse

wound). Comic verse also relies greatly on drastic both link imperative and affirmative Break, break, break.
clauses. Similarly, there is unusual linkage At the foot of thy crags, O Sea
grammatical variations, both morphological and syn-
between the second verse (a pair of But the tender grace of a day that is dead
tactic, as can be seen in this snippet from exclamatory clauses) and the third Will never come back to me.
Ogden Nash:
 2 2 • PERSONAL VARIATION

LEXICAL FREEDOM 'YES', SHE SAID

accepted, accosted, accused, acknowledged, added, addressed, adjured, admired, admit-

ted, admonished, advised, affirmed... whimpered, whined, whipped out, whispered,
The lexical range of literary English is illustrated on
whistled, winked, wished, wondered, yattered on, yawned, yelled, yelped.
many earlier pages of this book (chiefly in Parts I and
II). It defies summary. In drama and the novel it is How many substitutes do novelists find for sa/d following direct speech? In a study of 100
novels by 20th-century British and American authors, nearly 600 such substitutes were
virtually unrestricted. And even in poetry, where
found. The 'average' novelist uses a range of about 50 such verbs in any one novel.
there is a well-established tradition of literary vocabu- In N. R Simpson's poem, these alternatives are scrupulously avoided. Said plays a crucial

lary {poetic diction), the 20th century has seen a role in identifying the speakers, but it does far more than this. Its reiterated, unemotional
ordinariness reinforces the absurdly low-key manner in which the writer is reacting to his
remarkable broadening, so that now we are likely to
bizarre situation. And its very routineness, far from being monotonous, adds increasingly
encounter there the whole range of the domestic lexi- to our sense of the surreal, as the story unfolds.
con, including slang and taboo words, as well as the
special vocabulary of regional and social varieties.

As a result, it is no longer so easy to describe the

One of our St Bernard
Dogs Is Missing Dreadful thing Ah
lexical choices in a literary work. We are less likely to I said I said.
encounter well-recognized types of word, such as To happen
A moot point
For the dog
archaisms (damsel, yonder, hither, 'twas, quoth), poeti- Whether was going I to
Make it.
Yes He said.
cally restrictedwords [nymph, shimber, woe, billows, He said.
Ijust had the strength
o'er), or neologisms (as in Hopkins' lovescape and To ring the bell.
It is.
Good thinking
dovewinged, and in the examples from Shakespeare I said.
To
and Joyce given on pp.63 and 134). Rather more There were monks inside
Of all creatures
The drill
And one of them
necessary now is the detailed analysis of lexical items, I said
He said
Eventually
singly and in combination, to see their contribution A Bernard dog
St
When you find
Opened the door. it
That has devoted
to the work as a whole. And a great deal of attention Oh
Its entire
If you ever do

He said. Is to lie down.

has also been paid to the way deviance operates Life
This is a bit of a turn-up
within restricted lexical structures to create specific To doing good
He said Right
And helping
meanings - as in the manipulation by Dylan Thomas For the book.
Others. I said
Opportune
of such time phrases as a grief ago and all the moon Will do.
He said
long. Your arriving at this parti- What was I actually think-
cular ing Lie down on top of it

He said He said
As it were
Moment Since you happen to be To keep it warm
LEXICAL RANGE
In a manner of speaking
Till help arrives.
All the long heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
moon I
Out there already
Flying with the ricks, and the horses You're dead right
Is that That was a week ago, and
Flashing into the dark. I said
Itwas touch and go
If you could my hopes are rising all
(DylanThomas, 'Fern Hill', 1945) At all the time.
Whether could have man- I

See your way clear Ifeel with ever-increasing

It's no go the picture palace, it's no go the stadium. aged
To having a scout confidence
It's no go the country cot with a pot of pink geraniums. To keep going
As it were that once can safely say
It's no go the Government grants, it's no go the elections. much
I

For very
Sit on your arse for fifty years and hang your baton a pension. Longer.
Around, that I am within what
It would save one of us might
(Louis Macneice, 'Bagpipe Music', 1935)
Having to be called striking distance
Paint me a cavernous waste shore No If can so put
I it of knowing where,
Cast the unstilled Cyclades,
in
He said Turn out. within a
Paint me the bold anfractuous rocks The reason use the word I
Ah square mile or two, to start
Faced by thesnarled and yelping seas. opportune I said getting down to looking,
(T. S. Eliot, 'Sweeney Erect', 1920)
Is that That would my troubles are more or
Not to put too fine a point Isuppose less, to all intents and
A barn not called a barn, toput it more plainly.
is on it Make a kind of sense. purposes, apart from frost-
Or a the distance, where sheep may be safely grazing.
field in One of our St Bernard dogs with any luck once
bite,
You must never be over-sure. You must say, when reporting: is
help arrives at long last,
Before you go
At five o'clock in the central sector is a dozen Unfortunately God willing, as good as
He said
Of what appear to be animals; whatever you do. Missing. over.
If can find it
I

Don't call the bleeders sheep. good to be spurred on

You'd better It is

(Henry Reed, 'Judging Distances', 1 946) with hope.

Oh, dear Here it is
Sparkling chips of rock I said. Take this.
are crushed down to the level of the parent block. Not looking for me, I hope.
(N.F.Simpson, 1977)
Were not 'impersonal judgment in aesthetic What is it?

matters, a metaphysical impossibility', you No I said

He said. It's a flask
mightfairly achieve
It went for a walk He said
it.
And got lost in the snow. Of Brandy.
(Marianne Moore, 'To a Steam Roller', 1935)
 -

PART V • USING ENGLISH

DISCOURSE FREEDOM WHAT IS IT?

An important feature of the coherence which defines

Evidence of deviance and personal identity is fairly a discourse is the use of the cross-referring properties

easy to see when the stretch of language being investi- of pronouns (p. 210), Normally, we expect a pronoun
to have a single reference, during the development of
gated is fairly small (a 'bottom-up' approach to stylis-
a single theme, and from school we are taught in
tic analysis, p. 286). But as soon as we leave the safe writing to make our pronoun reference clear (p. 293).
confines of the sentence or stanza, and branch out This poem by Emily Dickinson (1830-86), bends both
these conventions.
into such domains as the paragraph, section, scene,
There is an initial uncertainty over the status of the
act, and chapter, it becomes much more difficult to pronoun it. Is this the third person singular inanimate
see distinctive linguistic structure in action. There are We do not play on graves form (as in it's a computer)? There is an ambivalence,
Because there isn't room; because there is no clear grammatical antecedent:
comparatively few stylistic studies which have investi-
notionally, the link with graves, but that word is plural
Besides, it isn't even, is

gated the larger patterns of discourse in essays, short It slants and people come whereas it is singular. The lack of concord suggests an
stories, novels, plays, and other genres, and an anal- interpretation as 'empty' it (as in it isn't right): it isn't
if And put a flower on it,
even, I It slants would then mean 'There's never any
ysis succeeds it is usually because it has restricted the And hang their faces so.
evenness on graves; they always slant'. By the end of the
We're fearing that their
scope of its enquiry. Typical topics are novel openings poem, we are led to a definite third person reading, but
hearts will drop
and closings, patterns of textual cross reference, the And crush our pretty play.
now the reference of it seems to have grown, allowing
two levels of meaning-beneath the child's wary
use of figurative expressions, modes of speech presen- And so we move as far watchfulness, an adult vision of the inevitable approach
tation, and the functional role of sentence types. As enemies away of death. Is this sense presaged by the opening use of /t?
Just looking round to see The uncertainties of the child seem to be reflected in
However, there is still a considerable gap between the
how far the uncertainties of the grammar. Faced with death,
findings of this kind of enquiry and those which It is occasionally. what is it, that happens?
begin 'top down', operating with such notions as (Emily Dickinson)
characterization, viewpoint, setting, theme, and plot.

THAT'S THE
QUESTION
According to contemporary
thinking in pragmatics, con-
versation succeeds because
we adopt a 'cooperative
principle' - a set of rules gov-
erning linguistic interaction
which everyone recognizes.
We assume, for example,
that when people ask us a
question, they wish us to
respond and they intend to
pay attention to our answer
- for otherwise, why should
they have asked it? Someone
who asks us a question with-
out giving us time to
respond, or who is not inter-
ested in our answer, or who
asks us a question which we
are unable to answer, or
which perhaps is impossible
to answer, is doing some-
thing very strange.
behaviour keeps up over a
series of interchanges,
becomes more than strange:
it becomes menacing. It can
happen anywhere - in a
street, in a bar, between
parent and child - and it can
be finely crafted as a feature
in drama. The
of dialogue
acknowledged master of this
strategy is Harold
The Birthday Party (1957),
Goldberg and McCann are
experts at question domi-
nance, eventually reducing
the verbally defiant Stanley essary but not possible. chicken cross the road?
to inarticulateness. STANLEY: Both. STANLEY He wanted to
GOLDBERG: Wrong! Why do he wanted to...
GOLDBERG: Webber! Why you think the number 846 GOLDBERG: Why did the
did you change your is necessarily possible? chicken cross the road?
name? STANLEY: Must be. STANLEY: He wanted...
STANLEY: I forgot the other GOLDBERG: Wrong! McCANN: He doesn't know
one. He doesn't know whicli
GOLDBERG: What's your McCANN: What about the came first!
name now? Albigensenist heresy? GOLDBERG: Which came
STANLEY: Joe Soap. GOLDBERG: Who watered first?
GOLDBERG: You stink of sin. the wicket at Melbourne? McCANN: Chicken? Egg?
McCANN: can smell it.
I McCANN: What about the Which came first?
GOLDBERG: Do you recog- blessed Oliver Plunkett? GOLDBERG and McCANN:
nise an external force? GOLDBERG: Speak up, Which came first? Which
STANLEY: What? Webber. Why did the came first? Which came
GOLDBERG: Do you recog- chicken cross the road? first?
nise an external force? STANLEY: He wanted to - he
McCANN: That's the ques- wanted to - he wanted STANLEY screams. Harold Pinter
tion!
GOLDBERG: Do you recog-
nise an external force,
responsible for you, suffer
ing for you?
STANLEY: It's late.
If this GOLDBERG: Late! Late
enough! When did you
it
last pray?
McCANN: He's sweating!
GOLDBERG: When did you
last pray?
McCANN: He's sweating!
GOLDBERG: Is the number
846 possible or necessary?
STANLEY Neither.
GOLDBERG: Wrong! Is the
Pinter. In
number 846 possible or
necessary?
STANLEY Both.
GOLDBERG: Wrong! It's nec-
 22 - PERSONAL VARIATION

PIGMENTAL FACTUALITY
While Adam Munro was changing trains at Revolution Square
shortly before 1 1 a.m. that morning of 10th June, a convoy of a
dozen sleek, black, Zil limousines was sweeping through the

Borovitsky Gate in the Kremlin wall a hundred feet above his

head and one thousand three hundredfeet southwest of him.
The Soviet Politburo was about to begin a meeting that would
change history.

This the opening of Chapter 2 of Frederick Forsyth's The

is

Devil's Alternative 0979). It displays many of the discourse

characteristics that we have come to associate with the popular
spy novel genre - in particular its attention to verisimilitude.
The event described in the paragraph is simple enough: some
cars have arrived for a meeting at the Kremlin at a certain time.
The rest is 'atmosphere', 'setting' - but of a rather special kind.
The technical detail (the exact time, the make of cars, the name
of the entrance point) is suggestive of journalistic reporting;
but this passage goes well beyond that. As Walter Nash puts it,
in his commentary on this text: the stylistic commitment

is to the figment of f actuality, to the excitement raised by ref-

erence to every boy's own book of little-known facts. Did you

know that if you were to stand on the platform of the under-
ground station at Revolution Square, Moscow, the wall of the
Kremlin would be exactly one hundredfeet above your head
and one thousand three hundred feet to the south west of
you? Anyone who can tell you that must know what he is talk-
ing about; wefeel that we are there, in the very thick of things.
In the analysis of literary discourse, it is a useful
to define the obligatory core of action which the text
expresses, and then reflect on the reasons
residue. In much popular fiction, the text is mainly residue.
Here is another example of Nash's, along with his comment:
Auntie Dier tapped her fingers with impatience as she listened
to the ringing tone. Eventually, there was an answer.
'Good morning, Kate!' said the older woman,
This is surely not meant to be read with
close attention;
dwelling on it provokes mischievous enquiries - do you tap
your fingers pat/ent/y?; when you have dialled your number,
what else is there to //sten to butthe ringing tone?; and if you
are a character in a short story, using the telephone to speak to
another character, is it not reasonable to suppose that an
answer will come eventually? Why all this descriptive fuss over
a phone call? It could be done quite straightforwardly:
Auntie Dier dialled Kate's number. 'Good morning!' she
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE people {America's been a good friend to
them; France and her neighbours). We dis-
Why should an account of figurative lan- cuss economics in terms of human health (oil
guage be placed under the heading of dis- is our lifeline; an ailing economy). And the
technique to try
course? A clue lies in the traditional
parties in a political conflict interact as if they
designation of this topic -as 'figures of
for the 'optional' were gambUng (showed his hand, whatisat
speech' -suggesting that the kinds of seman-
stake, how much can they lose). Often, sev-
tic contrast involved are of much greater rele-
eral conflicting metaphorsare available, with
vance than the study of the written language
the choice revealing much about the chooser.
alone, and hinting that they relate to much
The metaphors of war, for example, include
wider stretches of language than the individ-
cheerfully.
its description as a game (winner, loser), as a
ual word or phrase. Also, although the 'classi-
medical task (clean up, surgical strike), as a
cal'accounts of these figures are typically
drama (villain, plot), and as violent crime
illustrated from literature, there is a much
(rape of Country X; Country Yas a victim).
broader tradition, which can be traced back
Metaphor plays a major role in structuring
to the subject of classical rhetoric. The literary
theway we think about the world, though
use of figurative language falls within this
most of these everyday metaphors go unno-
tradition, but so does the use made of it by ticed:
many other varieties, such as advertising,
it's difficultto strike a balance
speaking, journalism, and religion.
political
The point emerges even more strongly they were flocking to see it
said. can't stand that sort of thing
when these featuresare studied in relation to I

That, however, misses the major purpose of popstyling, which everyday conversation, where metaphor in the craze was at its height
is to promote constantly the illusion of significant activity on particular has been shown to be of great sig- did the papers cotton on to it?
the part of characters who twitch with life- impatient life, nificance. We argue with each other using These, as George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
cheery life, atapping, rapping, drumming life that makes an the terms of battle (s/ie a ttac/ced my Wei/vs; have succinctly put it in the title of their book
event out of lifting a receiver. he defended himself, I won the argument). on the subject, are among the 'metaphors we
(W.Nash, 1990, pp.40, 64.) We talk about countries as if they were live by'.

EXTENDING FIGURES ignorance is strength. particular are reluctant to put More substance in our enmities
• With metonymy, the attribute down a good figure when
they find Than in our love;
The minimal case of figurative replaces the whole: the crown of one. In the first example below, the (W. B. Yeats, 'Meditations in Time
language is a local, restricted effect France. implications of the opening of Civil War', 1928)
in which special meaning is • With oxymoron, incompatible metaphorical link (between feed
For nature, heartless, witless
extracted from the linking of two notions are brought together: and heart) is extended via the
nature.
unlike words. The following are living death. words fare and substance over
Will neither care nor know
some of the chief ways in which this • With personification, a link is three lines. In the second, the
What stranger's feet may find the
can be done. made between the inanimate and personification of nature in the first
meadow
the human: nature spoke. line is carried on through the verbs
• With metaphor, the linkage is And trespass there and go.
(care, know, ask) until the whole
implicit: idle hill. In most cases, however, these Nor ask amid the dews of morning
stanza is involved.
• With simile the linkage is explicit: effects extend beyond an initial If they are mine or no.

drumming like a noise in dreams. pairing of notions. One effect leads We had fed the heart on fantasies.
• With paradox, there is the need to another, and chains of The heart's grown brutal from the (A. E. Housman, 'Tell me not here, it

to resolve a contradiction: figurativeness arise. Poets in fare; needs not saying', 1922)
 PARI V USINC; HNC;i ISH

contrast, it is much more difficult to introduce vari- CODE-SWITCHING

VARIETY FREEDOM ety distinctiveness into poetry: the tighter constraints
This extrart, from Walter
on language imposed by a metrical scheme or verse Scott's The Antiquary, dis-
It is not only the levels of language structure which, structure can easily distort the features which it is plays a regional variety con-

singly or in combination, can be used in deviant trast in action: between

ways intended to represent. It is no small feat to introduce
Southern British English and
as part of literary self-expression: the complexes of even an everyday conversation into a poem (as does Scots (p. 328). The English-
features which defme regional and social varieties T. S. Eliot, p. 412) so that it both retains its natural- speaking traveller is com-

plaining to Scots-speaking
(p. 290) can also be put to use. A text may begin in ness yet permits a line-based structuring which inte-
Mrs Macleuchar about the
one variety, then switch to another, or build up grates well with the rest of the text. The incorpora- non-arrival of her coach. In
effects by incorporating features of several varieties. tion of individual lexical items from a recognized an initial fit of indignation,
she switches into English as
This is most evident in the novel, where there is little regional or social variety is common enough (such as
she tries to evade the issue,
difficult}' in introducing occupational varieties and the scientific figurativeness of the metaphysical poets then reverts to Scots when
nonstandard forms of speech as part of the portrayal or the religious allusiveness of the romantics), but it she realizes her stratagem
will not work. Walter Scott's
of character; and some novelists (such as Dickens and is unusual to find in a poem lines which tap the
characters often switch
Hardy) have a considerable reputation for their abil- whole range of variety features - in phonolog)-, between varieties when it is

it\- to capture varier\' usage in this way (p. 89). Bv grapholog}', grammar, lexicon, and discourse. to their advantage to do so.

'I say, Mrs Macleuchar!'

NAMING OF VARIETIES STRUCTURING THE RIDICULOUS 'I am just serving a cus-
tomer. - Indeed hinny, it will
One of the most successful instances of variety freedom in poetry is In this extract from N. F. Simpson's A no be a bodle cheaperthan I

Henry Reed's 'Lessons of the War' (1945), where two poems, 'Naming of Resounding Tinkle (1957), a genre of the tell ye.'
Parts' and 'Judging Distances' (p. 419), rely for their impact on the use variety of medicine - the doctor-patient 'Woman,' reiterated the
of a wide range of features from two occupational backgrounds. The interview - is used to structure an traveller, 'do you think we
clinical commentary of the army
instructor is made to contrast with the episode in the theatre of the absurd. The can stand here all day till you
reflective tones of the poet in phonology, syntax, vocabulary, idiom, technique uses the conventions of this have cheated that poor ser-
and discourse. In oral performance, the phonological contrast emerges setting to motivate the humour, rather vant wench out of her half-
even more clearly when the text is read in two 'voices'. than to poke fun at the conventions year's fee and bountith?'
themselves. In this from
respect, it differs 'Cheated!' retorted Mrs
Naming of Parts parody (p, 404), which more than any Macleuchar, eager to take up
other genre depends for its thrust on the the quarrel upon a defensi-
To-daywe have naming of parts. Yesterday,
exaggeration of variety features. ble ground. scorn your'I

We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning. words, sir; you are an uncivil
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day. SECOND COMEDIAN: It's my feet. Doctor. person, and I desire you will
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica FIRST COMEDIAN: What's the matter not stand there to slander me
Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens. with your feet? at my ain stairhead.'
And to-day we have naming of parts. SECOND COMEDIAN: was rather hoping
I
'The woman,' said the
Thisis the lower sling swivel. And this
you might be able to tell me that, senior, looking with an arch
Doctor. glance at his destined travel-
the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
Is

When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel. FIRST COMEDIAN: Let me see them. lingcompanion, 'does not
Second Comedian tal<es off socks and understand the words of
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
shoes. action. -Woman,' again
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
SECOND COMEDIAN: They're all right turning to the vault, 'I
Which in our case we have not got.
now. It's when they suddenly swivel arraign not thy character, but
This is the safety-catch, which is always released round they catch me. I desire to know what is

With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me Second Comedian holds out both legs become of thy coach.'
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy quite straight in front of him. First 'What's your wull?'
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms Comedian stands over them. answered Mrs Macleuchar,
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see FIRST COMEDIAN: What are these? relapsing into deafness.
Any of them using their finger. SECOND COMEDIAN: They're my
kneecaps. Doctor
And you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
this FIRST COMEDIAN: They ought to be
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
much higher up your legs than this.
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this SECOND COMEDIAN: I can't seem to
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards keep them up. Doctor
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers: FirstComedian goes to
They call it easing the Spring. wash-basin where he
begins washing his
They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
hands, while Second
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt.
Comedian goes into the
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
corner, where the desk
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
conceals him, to undress.
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards.
FIRST COMEDIAN:
For to-day we have naming of parts.
Eardrums still getting
overheated?
SECOND COMEDIAN: Only
when listen to anything.
I

Doctor
 22 • PERSONAL VARIATION

DEMONSTRATING IDENTITY WHO WROTE TEXT A? also especially differentiating. Of the 28

discriminators selected, only one was lexical
A typical example of stylometry in action is
{little) - this is typical of stylometric studies.
shown in this graph from a 1992 study. The The graph shows the results of this
These last pages have illustrated ways in which the 50 commonest words of narrative (non-
comparison. There is a clear clustering of
chief levels of structural linguistic description can be dialogue) in two novels by Henry James
the narratives by Austen on the left and by
(c 191,000 words) and three novels by Jane
used to locate features of linguistic deviance that are of James on the right.
Austen 237,000 words) were ranked into
(c.
literary interest. Some of these features are in
a combined 'top 50' for both authors. A Text A
widespread use, entering into the definition of literary statistical procedure was then used to An was brought into the
additional text
determine which of these words would be was anonymous, but
study: Text A. This
genres; others are restricted to individuals, forming
the most discriminating: 28 were chosen known to be by one or other of the authors.
part of an author's linguistic identity. But in all cases, (see list below). For example, all the male Would the procedure be able to indicate its

the identification of potential stylistic features, pronouns turned outto be used provenance clearly? Atotal of 17 words in

significantly more often in James than in TextA was aligned with the 28 known
whether shared or idiosyncratic, has been carried out
Austen. The third person plural pronouns discriminators, and this placed it as shown
impressionistically. Certainly, the more we know were higher in Austen, and the two on the graph. It is perfectly clear that Text A
about the structural possibilities of language, the more indefinite articles (a, an) were very high in must be by James. (After J. F. Burrows,
James. Connectives and prepositions were 1992.)
we shall spot points of stylistic interest when they arise,
and the more we shall be able to explain the nature of
the effects; but that first step -the recognition of dis- 1

tinctiveness -is intuitive.

Can the process be made more objective? The pre-
sent century has seen considerable progress in provid-
ing alternative methods for arriving at stylistic

decisions, aided by developments andin statistics

computing (p. 436). The subject, which has gone

under such names as stydostatistics and stylometry, has
now accumulated a large body of analytical proce-
dures, and several classical textual problems of uncer-
tain authorship have been solved.

(Forensic) stylometry
The basic approach is to calculate the frequency and
distribution of a small number of linguistic variables
in a text, comparing texts of unknown or uncertain
authorship with comparable texts whose authorship is

known. There are many methodological problems

(not least, the question of how words are to be iden-
tified and counted, p. 118), but the subject has had
several successes. At the turn of the century, the move-
ment to see Francis Bacon's hand in Shakespeare's
plays, fuelled by the claims of Ignatius Donnelly and
others that a Baconian cipher could be found
throughout the Shakespearean canon, was countered
by stylometric analyses which showed significant dif-
ferences in word frequency between the two authors.
And more recently there has been the identification
by Alvar Ellegard of Sir Philip Francis as the author of
a series of pseudonymous 18th-century political let-

ters (the 'Junius letters'). Nor is literature the only

beneficiary of these methods. In the legal field, there
isnow a large body of published material showing
how linguistic techniques can be used -though not
uncontroversially-to support a claim of identity or
difference between samples of speech or writing as
part of a case for the defence or prosecution. And this

application has generated yet another name for the

subject: forensic linguistics.

 H

-J
File Edit Query Metrics
^

View
SARA-Qoery2
Window Help
EI
'a]"F]1^77^7^'@] |1^ I

i>ety?

eave, on leave?
eave''
edve the taxpayer free to rnsl- e a choice.
eave their money on deposit for a specified f

eave it' attitude.

reduction the buyer could achieve would still eave the seller entitled to nominal damages
him that these shoes were not to eave the shop w^ithout the label first being re
iM'.Lt'ni.)

nance companies, by adoplinq a "take or eave it' attitude used to insist on inserting te
it

The customer will eave that form with the dealer

BNC So VQU or the "Yew Alley onlv from the Hall, or thr
Ldt

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i er-itet

For Help, press F1 BNC 1:25 ALANEX 27 NUM i-

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4
 PART VI
Learning about English

Most of this book is devoted to the three foundations on which the speak (oracy), and the educational process of learning to read and
study of the Enghsh language is buik: its history, structure, and use. write (literacy). This topic then raises the question of failure - when
It is a subject which never ceases to amaze, as we unravel layer after children do not acquire their language adequately, and when adults
layer of complexity. And it is a subject which seems never-ending, lose their command of the language, whether lor medical or lor other
because people are always finding new contexts and applications for reasons. Major fields ol study in their own right, some of the issues
this knowledge. would take another encyclopedia to deal satisfac-
It dealt with in child language acquisition and language pathology are
torily with these larger enterprises; but it would be wrong to leave the introduced in §23. The aim is not to explain what these disorders
present work without giving at least an indication of what they are. are - a topic which raises issues that, again, go well beyond the study
Many fall within the broader subject of applied linguistics - though of English - but to show how the study of language disability
not all aspects of this subject can be included, because they deal with depends on the information described in Parts II-V of this book if

which go well beyond the study of the English language as such.

issues accurate diagnosis and intervention are to take place.
These are chiefly the topics which fall within the area of languages in The encyclopedia concludes by looking at the future of English
icontact - the nature of foreign (or second) language teaching and language study. The subject has already benefited greatly from new
learning, questions of translation, interpreting, and bilingualism, and techniques, especially in computing. In §24 we look at the way these
the role of language planning in multilingual situations. Nor does this techniques are developing, and at the way corpus studies are advanc-
final section deal with stylistics - a branch of applied linguistics which ing our knowledge of the language, especially in lexicography. Dic-
has already been treated centrally (in Part V). tionaries are given a section to themselves. And we conclude with a
There remains a subject area that earlier pages have not covered. brief review of some of the organizations and publications which
Some reference needs to be made to how children acquire English as help to meet the needs of those who find in the English language a
a first language - the spontaneous process ol learning to listen and source of endless fascination.

A screen display (top) using SARA, prototype software currently being

developed for use with the British National Corpus (p. 438). In this

version, colouris being used to tag different word classes.

 . .

23LEARNING ENGLISH AS A MOTHER TONGUE

riic task hieing the child acquiring EngUsh as a first lan- very specific - governing sentence and word formation
guage can be stated succinctly: to learn inost of what is (Part III).
covered by Parts II, III, IV, and Vofthis book -either as • Several hundred ways of using the prosodic features ot

speaker and writer or as listener and reader. Certain sec- pitch, loudness, speed, and rhythm, along with other
tions of Part V, of course are of limited relevance: people tones of voice, to convey meaning: 'it's not what you say,
do not need to be proficient (as producers or receivers) it's the way that you say it' (§ 1 7)
in all of the enormous range of regional and occupa- • An number of rules governing
uncertain (but large)
tional varieties of English which exist. But everyone the ways in which sentences can be combined into
needs to acquire a certain minimum ability in the three spoken discourse, both in monologue and dialogue
domains of language structure, interaction and use; and (§19).
it is often not appreciated just how much this basic pro- • An uncertain (but very large) number of conventions
ficiency entails. To be an adult, linguistically, means to governing the ways in which varieties of the language
have acquired the following: differ, so that the linguistic consequences of region,
gender, class, occupation, and other such factors can be
• The 20 or so vowels and 24 or so consonants of a
assimilated (§§20-21).
spoken dialect of the language, and over 300 ways of
• An uncertain (but even larger) number of strategies
combining these sounds into sequences (such as /s+k+r/
governing the ways in which all the above rules can be
into scream, and /m+p+s/ into jur?ips) (§17).
bent or broken in order to achieve special effects, such as
• A vocabulary which can evidently reach 50,000 or
in jokes and poems (§22).
more active words, and a passive ability to understand
about half as many again (§8). This is already a great deal; but so far all we have pro-
• At least a thousand aspects of grammatical construc- duced is an illiterate adult. The task of learning to read
tion, dealing with all the rules -some very general, some and write demands an additional set of skills, involving

SUSIE, AT 4V2 ...and so this monologue This transcription does

SUSIE: Oh, look, a crab.
-wew/ere been to the seaside.
BABY-SITTER: Have you?
SUSIE: We saw cr- fishes and
And we saw a jellyfish,
crabs.
andwe had to bury And we
-we did holding crabs, and
we-we holded him
spade.
BABY-SITTER: Oh.
SUSIE: If you stand on them,
they hurt you, won't they.
BABY-SITTER: They would do.
They'd pinch you.
SUSIE: You'd haveto-and we
put them under the sand,
where the sea was. And they
were going to the sea.
BABY-SITTER: Mhm.
continues, for nearly two not represent the imma-
We seen minutes. The story-line, of turity of her pronuncia-
course, comes from one of tion (e.g. crabs as
her favourite bed-time /kwabz/). Nor does it
sagas, and she has evi- clearly show the rather
dently been a keen lis- jerky way in which she
it. tener She reproduces sev- tells the story. She is also
eral of phrases very
its still sorting out some basic
in bythe accurately - not only points of grammar, espe-
some of the wolf's words, cially inthe use of irregu-
but also some of the lar verbs: she says knowed
story-teller's style, such as for knew, we seen as well
Away went.... She also as we saw, and makes sev-
dramatizes the narrative, eral other errors. But the
notably in the huffing overall impression we
and puffing sequence, receive from the story,
and phrases such as big and from the whole dia-
bad wolf are said with logue, is one of great
long drawn-out vowels competence and confi-
(just as adults would say dence. She is having no

SUSIE: And we saw some shells. them). difficulty keeping her end
And we picked them up, and On the other hand, this up in the conversation. A
we heard the sea in them. SUSIE: One - one day they went out to build their houses. is definitely Susie's story, sentence such as If you
And we saw a crab on a lid. One built of straw, one built it of sticks, and one built it
it not the book's. There are stand on them, they hurt
And we saw lots of crabs on of bricks. And he - the little busy brother knowed that in all kinds of partial corre- you displays considerable
the sea side. And I picked the - the woods there lived a big bad wolf, he need nothing spondences, but hardly grammatical skill, as well
up - no, the shells, and
fishes else but to catch little pigs. So you know what, one day anything is repeated as a mastery of the notion
the feathers from the birds. - they went out - and - the wolf went slip slosh slip slosh exactly as it was. She may of cause and effect. And
And saw a pig.
I went his feet on the ground. Then - let me see, er - now I have learned the events she evidently has a wide
BABY-SITTER: Gosh, that was think - he said let me come in, you house of straw. And he of the story off by heart, range of sea-shore vocab-
fun. said, no no by my hair of my chinnychin chin, will not let I and several of its words ulary. It is an impressive
SUSIE: Yes, and know a story
I you come in. Then I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll puff, and and phrases, but it is performance, for some-
about pigs. I'll blow your house down. So he huffed, and he puffed, largely her own grammar one who has been alive
BABY-SITTER: Are you going to and he puffed, and he puffed, and he blew the little which is stringing them for only 1,671 days.
tell it to me? straw house all to pieces.. together (From D. Crystal, 1986.)
 23 • LEARNING ENGLISH AS A MOTHER TONGUE

letter recognition, spelling rules, reading strategies, and clinical therapy, using specialists trained in techniques
writing techniques. And as world literacy studies have of linguistic intervention. The speed and naturalness
repeatedly shown, by no means everyone achieves suc- with which most children pick up spoken and written
cess in these skills. language can fool us into underestimating the enor-
The acquisition of a first language is the most com- mity of the intellectual task which faces them, and thus
plex skill anyone ever learns, and children need a great the enormity of the task facing those who have to solve
deal of help if it is to be accomplished successfully. learning problems when they arise. It is surprising how
From birth, emerging linguistic awareness needs care- often we undervalue the work of the teacher of chil-
ful fostering by parents and other caretakers. In school, dren with special needs in reading or writing, or of the
the nurturing and expansion of linguistic skills needs speech therapist/pathologist who has to build up a
systematic promotion across the whole curriculum, as child's listening and speaking skills from scratch. A
well as in the basic area of reading and writing. And for moment's reflection about the nature of language, in
those children who prove to have special needs, there the light of the breakdown of its components outlined
has to be extra help, in the form of special teaching or above, should make us think otherwise.

THE LITERACY PROBLEM A person is literate who can, with understanding,

both read and write a short, simple statement on
It is traditional to think of illiteracy as a problem his everyday life.
facing the underdeveloped nations of the world.
come
In the latter case, we have a corresponding
It can therefore as a surprise to realize that
definition of the 1960s:
significant numbers of people have major
difficulties with reading and writing in the 'inner A person is literate when he has acquired the
circle' (p. 107) of English-speaking countries. essentialknowledge and skills which enable him
Accurate figures are very difficult to obtain, but toengage in all those activities in which literacy is
the estimates are sobering. In the UK, a commonly required for effective functioning in his group and
cited figure is 3-4 per cent of the population, community.
though some surveys suggest twice this amount.
In the USA estimates are 10-20 percent, in Canada
The criterion of functional literacy makes the
concept of literacy less arbitrary, but also makes it
5-20percent or more; in Australia 10-15 percent;
and in South Africa, they hover around 50 per cent more demanding. It tries to identifythe
(whites less than 1 per cent, Asian and coloureds
minimum level of reading/writing efficiency

over 30 per cent, and blacks over 60 per cent).

The reason for the variation and uncertainty is
largely to do with what is meant by 'being
illiterate'. Literacy is not an all-or-none skill, but a
continuum of gradually increasing levels and
domains of ability. At least five factors are
involved:
• learning to read texts of increasing formal
difficulty (as in a reading test) with
understanding
• learning to read texts from an increasingly wide
range of everyday contexts (e.g. road signs,
newspapers, medical labels) with understanding
• learningto write (or type) with increasing
fluency
• learningto write in response to an increasingly
wide range of demands (e.g. letters, forms,
questionnaires, computer screen instructions)
• learning to spell.
Someone who was totally illiterate would be
unable to perform any of these skills, to any level.
But within and between these factors all kinds of
possibilities exist. Thus, we find people who can
read, but not write or spell; people who can read
and write, but with poor spelling; people who can
read, but with poor understanding; people who
can read only certain kinds of text; and soon.
Illiteracy is not a single dimension of difficulty.
Functional literacy
which would be acceptable in the society to
which a person belongs. In effect, you are
literate only if you can perform the tasks for
which society requires you to be literate.
To be able to read sentences such as The cat
sat on the mat does not make you literate,
in this sense.
What are the literacy tasks which society
perform? One view was put forward
makes
us
in 1970 by the US National Reading Council,
which devised a 'survival literacy study'.
were five application forms
materials
daily use, ordered in an increasing level of
difficulty: an application for public assistance; an
identification form; a request for a driving
licence; an application for a bank loan; and a
request for medical aid. The test showed that
3 per cent of Americans could not read the first
of these, and 34 per cent could not read the last.
These five areas are of course only a fraction of
the literacy demands which modern society makes
upon us. There are so many contexts involved,
such as road signs, record-keeping, social service
pamphlets, time-sheets, tax returns, safety
regulations, business agreements, daily
newspapers, and medicine labels. It is difficult to
generalize about reading problems, when
materials are so diverse. A five-word road-sign
may or may not pose the same amount of reading
difficulty as a five-word medicine label - and
doubtless a road sign read when approaching it at
^^=^=^3SS=^
The test
common
in
standard of literacy. A democratic society and a
free press presuppose high general literacy levels.
There are now more diverse and complex kinds of
matter to read, and people are obliged to read
more if they want to get on. People who had
achieved a basic literacy are thus in real danger of
still being classed as illiterate, as they fail to cope
with the increased everyday written demands of
the media, business, bureaucracy, computing, and
the law. Literate society is continually 'raising the
ante'.
National literacy campaigns in several English-
speaking countries have done a great deal to raise
the threshold of public awareness of the problem,
and to persuade many who had not previously
admitted their difficulties to seek help. Enormous
progress has been made since the 1950s, when
justunder half the world population was thought
to be illiterate. However, no one is under any

World estimates vary greatly, therefore, 30 mph presents a rather different problem illusion that the problem is beaten. UNESCO has
depending on whether a notion of absolute than when approaching it at 70. designated year 2000 as the inter-national year
literacy is being used to measure the problem, or Standards of literacy are generally rising, in the for the abolition of illiteracy; but as the
some concept of 'functional' literacy. In the developed countries, so that - ironically - it is millennium approaches it would seem necessary
former case, we have the definition of UNESCO nowadays much more difficult for illiterate or to view this concept as a statement of ongoing
in 1951: semi-literate people to achieve an acceptable intent rather than as one of achievement.
 PART VI • LEARNING ABOUT ENGLISH

THE DEVELOPMENT OF WILL'S FIRST 50 WORDS

GRAMMAR
The learning of grammar is an almost imperceptible
process, and it happens so quickly. From the time when
parents listen out eagerly for their child's first word to

the time when they plead for peace and quiet is a

matter of only three or four years - and in that time

children master the grammar of the language to an
extent which would be the env)' of any foreign learner.
It is impossible to quantify such matters in any sensi-
ble way, but most children, when they attend their first

school, give the impression of having assimilated at

least three-quarters of all the grammar there is to learn.

By making regular tape-recordings every six months or

so from around age one, it is easy to see how their gram-
mar grows, and the childish errors they make (as in the
case of Susie, p. 426) give an indication of the distance
they have left to travel, before they reach adult ability
levels.

Stages of grammatical growth

Grammar learning is a continuous process, but it is

possible to spot certain types of development taking

place at certain stages, as children grow up in English.

• The earliest stage is hardly like grammar at all, as it

consists of utterances which are just one word long,

such as Gone, Dada, Teddy, and Hi. About 60 per cent
of these words have a naming function, and about 20
per cent express an action. Most children go through
this stage from about 1 2 to 1 8 months. It is often called
a holophrastic szage, because the children put the equiv-
alent of a whole sentence into a single word.
• The next stage looks more like 'real' grammar,
because two words are put together to make primitive
sentence structures. Cat jump oi Catjumpingseems to
express a Subject + Verb construction (p. 220). Shut
door seems to express a Verb + Object construction.
Other sequences might be more difficult to interpret

(what could mummy offrntzn, in the list opposite?),

but on the whole we are left with the impression that,
by the end of this stage (which typically lasts from
around 18 months until 2), children have learned sev-
eral basic lessons about English word order.
• The next step is the 'filling out' of these simple
sentence patterns - adding extra elements of clause
structure (p. 220) and making the elements them-
selves more complex. The 3-element Daddy got car
and the 4-element You go bed now show this progress,
as does (at a more advanced level) My daddy put

that car in the garage. To get to this point, and to be

able to ring the changes on it (such as by asking a
question - Where daddy put the car?) takes up much
of the third year.
 23 • LEARNING ENGLISH AS A MOTHER TONGUE

• At around 3 years, sentences become much longer, as

children start stringing their clauses together to express
WAYS OF MAKING THEM TALK
more complex thoughts and to tell simple stories. And One of the problems of trying to
is the word to listen out for at this stage: Susie (p. 426)
establish just how much children know
about grammar is to find pictures which
has long been an expert in using this type of construc- will interest them and at the same time
tion. Other common linking words at this stage are make them respond with relevant

beaiHse (cos), so, then, when, 3.nA before. This stage speech. Here are three well-produced
if,
pictures from
a photographic colour
takes six months or so tor the basic patterns of clause
library, designed to get the child to
sequence to be established. respond with a preposition. If all goes
well, the first picture (clockwise from
• This takes us towards the age of 4, when children typ-
top) should elicit /n, the second on, and
ically do a great deal of 'sorting out' in their grammar. A the third under. {Colorcards. Winslow
child aged 3'/2 might say Him gived the cheese to the Press.)

mouses. By 4V2, most children can say He gave the cheese

to the mice. What they have done is learn the adult forms
of the irregular noun and verb, and ot the pronoun. As
there are several dozen irregular nouns and several hun-
dred irregular verbs, and all kinds of other grammatical
irregularities to be sorted out, it is not surprising that it

takes children the best part of a year to produce a level

of English where these cute' errors are conspicuous by

their absence. Susie has not yet reached this point.
• And after 4V2? There are still features ot grammar to

be learned, such as the use of sentence-connecting fea-

tures (p. 232) and complex patterns of subordination

(p. 226). The process will continue until the early
teens, especially in acquiring confident control over
thegrammar of the written language - at which point,
the learning ofgrammar becomes indistinguishable
from the more general task of developing an adult
personal style.

^^i
BEING ACTIVE WITH
PASSIVES

When do children learn the

difference between active
sentences (e.g. The panda
chased the monkey) and
shown above.
say,
M^
If you then

'Show me The panda

was chased by the monkey',
you can see whether
children point to the right
picture. This would be
of their comprehension of
a test
correct out of 30 in the
comprehension part of the
experiment, but none of
them produced any passives
at all. A
comprehension
year

correct out of 30,

later, their
total
and now
was 26

passive ones (e.g. The the passive. If you then ask one or two children were
monkey was chased by the 'What happened to the beginning to produce some
panda)? Passive sentences panda?', the child has a passives as well - 4 correct
(p. 225) are far less frequent, chance to respond with 'It responses out of 30. There
and seem to be more was chased by the monkey', was very little difference
complex in their structure, or some similar sentence, between ages 5 and 6; but
so it is likely that they will and you can start compiling from the seventh year, the out of 30 - near perfect;
emerge much later in the data on their production of ability to use passives however their ability to that children are well into
acquisition process. But how the passive. dramatically increased. The produce passives had not their ninth year before they
much later? In one study using this 6-year-olds understood 26 improved greatly - 1 6 out of approach adult norms of
One way of investigating procedure, 10 children were out of 30, and correctly 30 - and 20 per cent of the passive production - at least,
this question is to devise a tested at age 3 to 3'k. The produced 14 out of 30. The subjects were still producing in this kind of experiment.
set of pictures such as those group as a whole scored 17 8-year-olds understood 29 no passives at all. So it seems (After B. Baldie, 1976.)
 5 1

PARI \1 I l.ARNING ABOUT K N c; L [ S H

THE FOUNDATION YEAR EARLY WORD GROWTH Comprehension

Is it possible to be precise

Wlicii docs the process of language acquisition start?

about the rate at which
children learn early
Most people think of the child's 'first word' as the crit- vocabulary? One study
ical point, at around the age of 12 months (p. 428); examined the first 50
words, in both production
biu that is actually quite late in the process of lan-
and comprehension, of
guage learning. Language acquisition is not just a eight subjects between the
matter of producing sounds and stringing them ages of 9 and 20 months.
about being able to The results are shown in the
together into utterances. It is also
figures. By following the
perceive sounds and understand the meaning of the growth curves for each
utterances other people make. And it is, additionally, child, four important points
emerge.
about being able to interact with others - how to hold
• Comprehension is always
a conversation. By 12 months, children have become
ahead of production, with
quite sophisticated in all three areas.
the gap increasing as the
child gets older. This gap
• Speech perception abilities are in evidence from the reaches 5-6 months at the
50-word level.
first days, with babies responding to different types of
• Thechildrentakeon aver-
sound in predictable ways, such as being able to age 2.59 months to get from
distinguish between their mother's and other voices lOto 50 words in compre-
hension; they take 4.8
before they are a day old. They are able to tell the 12 13
months to get from 1 to 50
Age (in months)
difference between several pairs of consonants or in production -almost twice
vowels by about a month, as well as some contrasts as long.
• The average rate of lexical becomes less as children The graph stops at 50 words
in and rhythm, and this ability to
intonation
acquisitionbetween lOand increase their productive in production; a total of 100
discriminate seems to grow steadily during the 50 words was 22.23 new vocabulary, and approaches words is typical after a fur-
first year. words per month in compre- adult norms (p. 123) at ther two months, 200 by 2
hension and 9.09 new words around age 3. months, and 300 by age 2.
• Signs of comprehension emerge between 2 and 4
per month in production. • Thefiguresalsoshowthe Butallof this is eclipsed
months, when babies begin to respond to adult tones For some children, this was a variability in the age of during the third year, when
of voice - such as the difference between angry, sooth- steady process; for others, onset of vocabulary learn- active vocabulary rockets to
periods of slow growth ing. Five of the children had over 3,000 words. No one
ing, and playful voices. Between 6 and 9 months, the
alternated with spurts. produced their first word by has yet studied in detail how
child learns to recognize different utterances in their • The ratio of words under- 10 months, with the remain- this remarkable lexical spurt
Most games
situations (e.g. clap hands; say bye-bye). stood to words produced is ing three by 1 2, 1 3, and 1 takes place. (After H, Bene-
5:1 at 18 months. This ratio months. dict, 1979.)
played at this period have a language component to
which the baby readily responds. And towards the end 70-]

of the first year there are clear signs of verbal learn-

ing - names of family members, pets, or common
objects begin to be acknowledged. Most children
know the meanings of at least 20 words by the end
of the first year, well before they have come to pro-

duce any of them as a first word.

• Similarly, by age 1 children have learned a great deal
about the pragmatics of speech (p. 286). The rules
governing conversational exchanges begin to be
acquired from day 1, as parents react to the baby's

noises, changing way of talking as the type ol

their
vocalization changes. Communication games (such as
'This little piggy went to market') or physical move-
ment games such as bouncing (which also have a
strong language component) begin to be mutually
appreciated. Parental speech style becomes highly dis-
tinctive during this time: short sentences, spoken in

a wide pitch range and often repeated, maximize the

chances for the baby to respond and learn. As a con-
sequence, when a first word finally emerges, it can be
integrated immediately into a conversational context
with which the child is verv familiar.
 23 • LEARNING ENGLISH AS A MOTHER TONGUE

act together"; but it has yet to learn what the act is for PROTO-WORDS
SPEECH PRODUCTION - that sounds are there to enable meaning to be com-
The jump from babbling to
municated in a controlled way. With the production speech often has an
Several stages of development have been distin- of the 'first word', this final step is taken. intermediate step. Short
utterances, just one or two
guished in the first year, when the child develops the • However, the first word is not the first feature of
syllables long, with a clear
skills necessary to produce a successful first word. adult language to be acquired. From as early as 6 melody and rhythm, come to
months there is evidence that the child is picking up be made in a regular and
predictable way. [da:], said
• Apart from the cry patterns associated with hunger, melody and rhythm of the adult lan-
features of the
Jamie, with a rising melody,
pain, and discomfort, the first two months of life dis- guage. Certainly by 9 months strings of syllables are one day; and the next day he
play a wide range of primitive vocal sounds reflecting often being pronounced in conversation-like ways said it a dozen times. No one
was quite sure what it meant
the baby's biological state and activities - as in the which adults interpret as communicative. 'He/she's
to begin with. It sounded as if
vegetative' noises heard while eating and excreting. trying to tell us something' is a common reaction to he was trying to say t/iat, but
Some of the most basic features of speech, such as the a piece of 'scribble-talk', and such speech-act func- this interpretation did not
always fit the situation. It
ability to control air flow and produce rhythmic tions as questioning, commanding, and greeting
made sense when he said it
utterance, are being established at this time. (p. 284) are ascribed to babbled utterances. The while pointing at a passing
melody and rhythm of often-used phrases, such as all cat. His mother immediately
• Between 6 and 8 weeks, there emerge the sounds
said 'What's that? That's a
generally known as cooing, produced when the baby gone, are also likely to be heard long before the vowels
pussy cat'. But it did not seem
is in a settled state. Cooing sounds do not grow out and consonants are clearly articulated. It is these to make sense when he said it
of crying; rather, they develop alongside it, gradually prosodic features (p. 248) which are the first signs of inan off-the-cuff manner
over his mother's shoulder as
becoming more frequent and varied. They are quieter, real language production in children.
he was being whisked off to
lower-pitched, and more musical, typically consisting bed. Was it a word or not?
Aschildren approach 12
of a short vowel-like sound, often nasal in quality, and
usually preceded by a consonant-like sound made
SOUND TRENDS months, they often produce
forms where the sounds are
towards the back of the mouth. Strings of cooing The 2-year-old's words listed on p. 428 are given in clear butthe meaning is not:

noises soon emerge, and the sounds become more normal spelling, which makes them look better than proto-words. These are not
they actually sounded. The process of learning to talk quite true words, where both
varied, as the baby begins to develop a greater mea- involves a gradual mastery of the vowels and the sound and the meaning
sure of control over the muscles of the vocal organs - consonants which is certainly nowhere near complete at need to be clear and agreed
this age. Indeed, even after children have gone to by both speaker and listener.
especially over tongue and lip movements and associ-
school, they will be heard sorting out some residual
ated vocal cord vibration (p. 236). problems, such as difficulties with front fricative sounds
•Between 3 and 4 months, cooing sounds begin to (p. 243), /f, v, 9, d/, words with unusually located

die away, to be replaced by sounds which are much consonants (e.g. using /v/for /b/ at the end of disturb),
and words with awkward consonant clusters (e.g. saying
more definite and controlled, often repeated, and pro- string with /w/ instead of /r/).
duced with wide pitch glides. It is a period commonly There are huge differences between children in the
order in which they acquire vowels and consonants; nor,
called vocal play, because the baby seems to take great
within any one child, does the learning of a sound take
pleasure in producing these noises, especially those place overnight. Some sounds take months before they
made with the lips, but it is perhaps more accurate to are used appropriately in all words and in all positions in
every word. And there is a considerable amount of
call it a time of vocal practice or experimentation.
personal variation while children are learning a sound:
• From around 6 months, vocal play gives way to
one child used as many as six versions of the word
babbling - a period of syllable sequences and repeti- window over a period of several weeks until he settled
tions which can last most of the second half of the down with one of them.
Although it is not possible to make simple
first year. To begin with, the consonant-like sounds generalizations about the order in which children
are very repetitive (as in [babababa]), but at around acquire sounds, certain trends can be observed. In
particular, children tend to treat sounds in similar ways:
9 months the babbling moves away from these fixed
most of them go through such stages as using velar
patterns. The consonants and vowels change from consonants for alveolars (e.g. /gng/ for dog), dropping
one syllable to the next, producing such forms as unstressed syllables (e.g. /nana/ for banana ), and

[adu] and [maba], and there is a wider range of

simplifying consonant clusters (e.g. /dai/ for dry). And
several studies have proposed a typical order of
sounds, anticipating the sounds of the accent of emergence for consonants, such as this sequence from
The utterances do not have any
English to be learned. Pamela Grunwell's Phonological Assessment of Child
meaning, though they often resemble adult words - Speech (1987):
/m, n, p, b, d, \v/ by 2
and of course adults love to 'hear' such words (espe- t,

/k, g, h, I]/ by 2V;

cially mummy and daddy) in the baby's vocalizations.
/f,s,j,l/by3
But babbling does not gradually shade into speech; /^, dj, v, z, J, r/ by 4'*.

/e, d, 3/after4'/2.
indeed, many children continue to babble for several
months after they have begun to talk. Babbling is per-
haps best summarized as a final step in the period of
preparation for speech. The child, in effect, gets its
 PART VI • LKARNING AROUT ENGLISH

when people talk about educational issues. The tradi- TRADITIONAL READER
INTERVENTION tional controversy focuses on low-level questions: TALK
whether reading is best taught by a phonic approach, One little, two little, three
which letters are brought into correspondence with little kittens run to the
Learning to speak and listen (p. 430) is a process in
basket.
which usually takes place spontaneously as part of the sounds (a graphology- phonology link), or by a look-

natural interaction between parent (or other care- and-say approach, in which whole words are brought He saw toys and toys and
toys.
taker) and child. It requires no language specialist to into correspondence with sounds (a lexicon- phonol-
But special help ogy link). Early reading books are typically evaluated can eat caps (said the goat).
inters'cne in order to achieve success.
I

I shall eat caps.

is required in three other contexts of first language in terms of the type of vocabulary they include and
acquisition. how they portray these sound-spelling relationships. A tall red jug stood next.

And children's growth in reading skills is also tradi- 'Come kittens,' said Andy.

tionally assessed in this way. 'Mew, mew,' said the kittens.

• Learning to be literate (p. 427) invariably requires
support in the form of teachers and teaching materi- Modern approaches are much more sensitive to the My teacher is at school.
alswhich deal with the processes of reading, writing, role of grammar, discourse, and variety awareness in My teacher helps me at
school.
and spelling. And it children fall seriously behind their the reading process. It is now evident that each of these She is kind to me.
peers in acquiring these skills, as in the case of dyslexia, levels contributes a great deal to success in reading, I am little and she is big.

further specialist intervention will be required. and also, at a later stage, provides an important foun-
'Come and see this, Peter,'
• The natural process of spoken language learning dation for writing. says Jane. 'Do come and look
at this. the farm cat. Look
may not take place, for a variety of reasons, and chil- It is

what she has.'

dren may become seriously delayed or disordered in • A basic principle of early reading is that the language 'What fun,' says Peter. 'Will
their ability to comprehend and/or produce spoken to be read should bear a close relationship to the she let us play with her?'

language. Intervention here requires special help in spoken language used and heard by the child. Chil- 'We will get her some
milk,' says Jane.
the form of teaching and therapy from a range of pro- dren should already know the words they are being
fessionals who work with language-impaired children. asked to read, when they approach the task of reading; The last three extracts come
from a 'beginning reading'
• A person who has successfully completed the process and the same principle applies to grammatical
corpus of Australian readers,
of learning spoken and written English may lose some constructions. It is now well recognized that tradi- compiled in the 1980s, con-
readers included many features which were taining nearly 84,000 words
or all of that ability, also for a variety of reasons (such tional
and 2, 500 word types. The
as a stroke damaging the language centres of the unfamiliar or even alien, and which promoted a from books
earlier extracts,
brain). Here intervention is chiefly in the hands of the 'mechanical' style of reading, where words and sen- being used in Britain and the
speech and language pathologist/ therapist. tences were visually decoded but not necessarily USA at the time, show that
this kind of material is repre-
understood. Later, of course, reading becomes the
sentative of a worldwide
The world of reading main way of introducing children to new words and genre.

Learning to read and write involves all aspects of lan- extending their grammatical abilities. However, with Here are three findings
from the analysis of this
guage structure and use — phonology, graphology, children who have reading difficulties, the principle of
corpus, one linguistic, one
vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and variety — but maintaining grammatical familiarity stays relevant social, and one psychological.

only the first three of these tend to be acknowledged until well into their teens. • 85 per cent of the sentences
were declarative in type
(p. 218): median sentence
BECOMING AWARE length was five words; and 80
The first step in variety
per cent of the words had less

awareness is to become than four letters.

conscious of the nature of

• word
Half of the uses of the

written language. Not g/r/were accompanied by the

everything that can be seen
word //ft/e, whereas only a
third of the boy uses were;
can be read. One of the first

tasks in the LARR Test about 40 per cent of the

('Language Awareness in instances of //ft/e were for

Reading Readiness') focuses animals or pets.

on this point. The child is
• Positive emotions (good,
shown a picture, such as this
brave, laugh) were much
bus, and asked to 'circle each
more common than negative
thing on the bus that ones (bad, scared, cry); two-
someone can read' (having, words
thirds of the latter

of course, previously were uttered by or applied to

animals.
established that the child
knows what the first part of numbers as well as the some intriguing decisions, be uncertain about what
still The contrast with the
this instruction means). The letters) and also how such as drawing a circle reading is all about at much extracts from modern texts
task is partly to check on exclusive it is (it does not around the whole bus, and older ages on the facing page is immedi-
whether the child realizes include the lion logo). drawing one round the (From J. Downing, ef a/., ate and striking.
just how inclusive the task of Children who are at the capital letters only. Children 1983.) (After CD. Baker &
reading is (it includes the early stages of reading make with reading difficulties may PFreebody, 1989.)
 23 • LEARNING ENGLISH AS A MOTHER TONGUE

• Adult written texts vary greatly in the kind of lan- exchanges consist of statements;' there are few ques-
guage they present to the reader (p. 292), and chil- tions, and even fewer exclamations. The conversa-
dren need to be introduced to this enormous range tional turns are short, often just one sentence or two,
gradually and systematically. Traditional readers offer with the narrator's intervention constantly stopping
littleby way of variety change. Adults and children the possibility of a real monologue.
talk in the same general way, regardless of topic and
The conversations in children's readers are, in
setting, and make little use of emotional and evalua-
short, idealized exchanges, which minimize the com-
tive language. The adults are always benevolent and
plexity of actual oral interaction. It is easy to see why
attentive, prepared to follow the child's choice of
such a genre emerged: it was entirely motivated by the
topic and activity. Participants keep very much to the
need to maintain graphological simplicity - to keep Remembering what had I

point of a topic, politely answering each other's ques-

the words short and the spellings simple. But there is enjoyed when was I

tions. All of this is somewhat removed from the young, remembered

a great deal of research evidence now to show that
I

unpredictable agendas of real conversation, whether what had missed in chil-

I

children can cope with graphological complexity if dren's books, too. The
at home, in class, or in the playground (p. 295).
the reading materials are exciting enough - and this grownups, apartfrom a
wicked stepmother or
• As the Susie conversation illustrates (p. 426), chil- can be seen also at an informal level, in the success of
uncle, were always flat,
dren have enormous oral language knowledge before such authors as Roald Dahl (whose complex language peripheral figures with

they begin to read, and this can be used to help them is popular even among children of 8 or 9). Certainly no emotions and no func-
tion.The books offered to
become familiar with the reading process. However, contemporary readers, whether in schemes or as 'real
me in my childhood left
the discourse structure (§19) of traditional readers is books', have made great progress in escaping from outthe adult world, and
very unlike what children already know. Dialogues the artifice of earlier models. Much more use is now even when they didn't,
entirely,they never pre-
such as the one illustrated opposite present a strange made of techniques of incongruity and humour. sented adults as children
kind of conversation, in which the participants talk And there has been a fresh appreciation of the really see them. Parents

about the 'here-and-now' of a scene, usually in the value of poetry as a means of bringing the reading and teachers were usually
shown askind, loving, dis-
present tense, like commentators (p. 386), and rarely experience of young children closer to the realities
tant figures... notonly
about what is absent or past. Most conversational of their world. were they never beastly
to children except in a

stereotyped, fairytale
SOME MODERN VOICES earth! Flush them downthedrain!' getting more and more worked up. way, but they were never
'Children are foul and filthy! 'thun- 'Children are smelling of dogs' drr- beastly to anyone. They
'Children are rrreee-volting!' screamed
dered The Grand High Witch. roppings!' screeched The Grand High were neverthe uncertain,
The Grand High Witch. 'Veevillvipe 'They are! They are!'chorused the Witch. awkward, quirky, dan-
them all avay! Vee vill scrrrub them off English witches. 'They are foul and 'Pooooooo!' cried the audience. gerous creatu res that I

the face of the earth Vee vill flush

! filthy!' 'Pooooooo! Pooooooo! Pooooooo!' knew adults to be... (Nina
them down the drain!' 'Children are dirty and stinky!' Bawden, 1976,p.8.)
'Yes, yes!' chanted the audience. screamed The Grand High Witch. (Roald Dahl, The Witches, 1983)
Whenanovelisttalkslike
'Wipe them away! Scrub them off the 'Dirty and stinky!' cried the audience,
this, itiseasytothink
'Wellitdidn'tdo/ierany
(From DrXargle'5
harm'. And indeed, many
Book of Earthlets,
children do learn to read
1988, translated into
without problems
Human by Jeanne
regardlessof the reading
Willis, with pictures
scheme used. However,
by Tony Ross.)
there are four facts that
not go away: many
will
people have never
learned to read well (p.

427); many children,

though having learnedto
read, do not seem to have
enjoyed the experience;
the writing levels even of
children who can read
well are nothing to be
complacent about; and
there has been an enor-
mous falling away of
leisure reading in the face
of the television and the
Two'real world' extracts from John Foster'S/4 Third Poetry Book {'[S&l).
computer game in recent
I'm ten and bored
I'm If your hands get wet if they land up the mud,
in a terrible itch years. There is therefore
And I've nothing to do. in the washing-up water, wet grit, paint, or glue ... your nose?.
just inside continuing urgency in the
I'm fed up with watching if they get covered in flour have you noticed (Michael Rosen) search for better ways of
This ant on my shoe. if you get grease or oil it'sjustthen making the reading expe-
(John Kitching) all over your fingers that you always get riencecomealive.
 PART \l LEARNING ABOUT ENGLISH

INSUFFICIENT LANGUAGE
Working professionally with something as complex
as language (p. 426) requires a great deal of training,
even when everything is progressing normally. Lan-
guage disabilit)' introduces a range of extra condi-
tions and factors which immensely complicate the
task. The may be mild, or moderate, or
disabilit)'

may be known (as with deafness and

se\ere. Its causes
mental handicap) or unknown (as with many cases
of stammering and language delay). And it may
involve any aspect, or combination of aspects, of lan-
guage structure and use. A broad-based course ot
study is therefore essential, including medical, psy-
chological, social, educational, and linguistic com-
ponents, as well as the fostering of personal clinical
and teaching skills.

Under the heading ot linguistics, three particulai

kinds of" knowledge are needed, all of which relate (in

the case ot English language problems) to the subject-

matter ot this book.

• Betore intervention can take place, the specialist

needs to have identified exactly what the nature of Language delay
the language disabilit}' is. This requires an analysis ot
those areas ot language that are particularly affected
- whether structural (in phonetics, phonology,
grapholog)', grammar, lexicon, discourse) or func-
tional (language in use) (§1). There are no short cuts.
Effective intervention presupposes the accurate iden-
tification of where the problems lie.

• The target of intervention is to bring the de