Jonathan Swift Quote:

Jonathan Swift formulated "A proposal for correcting, improving and ascertaining the English tongue" (1712): an Academy would 'fix language forever'

Standardisation in the 18th Century

1712: Jonathan Swift writes to the Lord Treasurer urging the formation of an English Academy to regulate usage as many "gross improprieties" could be found in "even the best authors."

1721: Nathan Bailey produces the first substantial Etymological English Dictionary. Criticised for being vague about usage of words and a lack of support. 

1755: Dr. Johnson's dictionary. The first comprehensive dictionary. However, Johnson saw the limitations as he mocks the lexicographer who imagines that his dictionary "can embalm his language" as "to enchain syllables, and to lash the wind, are equally the undertakings of pride."

1762: Robert Lowth's short introduction to English Grammar. Some say he established the prescriptive tradition. Rules such as: don't split the infinitive, don't use a preposition at the end of a sentence and don't use double or multiple negatives.

1770: Thomas Sheridan moved to Bath and founded an Academy for the regular instruction of young gentlemen in the art of reading and reciting and grammatical knowledge of the English tongue. He saw the dialect variations from 'standard English' as 'vulgar' and 'provincial'.

1785: Thomas Dyche's bestselling A guide to the English Tongue. He wrote a bit about the long s. This could possibly be standardisation as it establishes 'ways' to speak correctly.

1794: Lindley Murray's published English Grammar. "was without doubt the most popular and frequently reprinted grammar of English during the nineteenth century"

Many of these acts of standardisation were by educated and upper-class people leading to prejudice against other dialects i.e. Sheridan's opinion of variations of standard English. 

Bibliography:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~cram/iss30/wischer.htm#fn1
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/new_history/enlightenment/sheridan.html
http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/languagechange.htm

Reasons for Language Change

• Change that is initiated by those in a dominant social position of power and authority. Often stating the 'standard' or 'correct' forms. This may link to the introduction of Dr. Johnson's dictionary which was widely popular.
• If the users of a language need neologisms for new inventions or changes in society. For example with technology came words such as; virus, windows, bugs and crash etc... Also the term LGBT to replace words which are no longer acceptable.
• Cultural changes can result in the broadening of a word as the original may have lost significance. For example, 'guy' originally referred to Guy Fawkes. Now guy can refer to any male or female person.
• Processes involved with neosemy; generalisation, broadening, narrowing, amelioration, pejoration, weakening and polysemy.
• As language is passed down through generations and individuals often speak differently, children may be taught different forms of English to others.

The Inkhorn Contorversy

Writers of the Renaissance began coining new words to expand the vocabulary. They borrowed from classical languages such as Latin and Greek and the romance languages French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. The 'Inkhorn controversy' refers to a heated discussion of whether it was proper to borrow words from other languages and use them in English. People believed that foreign borrowing into English was pretentious and unnecessary. However, some believed it enabled creativity for example Shakespeare who introduced around 1700 new words. Those against borrowing believed that it would 'corrupt' the English Language as the neologisms were seen as fashionable and likely to fall out of use. 

'Periods' of English

Old English: 5th Century

Before English, the languages of Britain were Celtic. English developed from the speech of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons (Anglo-Saxon). Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse (a North Germanic language) had a significant influence on the English Language. From this time onwards Latin was highly influential in the formation of English. Due to different areas of settlement different dialects were formed. At this time English was mainly a phonetic language and there was little consistency in written language. 

Middle English: 11th Century

French was the verbal language of the court and administration while Latin was used in written documentation, especially by the Church. English became prominent by the end of the Middle English period with writers such as Chaucer choosing to write in English rather than in French. Dialectal differences remained with marked  differences around the country.  

Early Modern English: 15th Century

William Caxton introduced the printing press from Europe and printed many works in English. He used the South East dialect as the basis for this new standard. This period saw a growing pride in English as many chose to write in English: Shakespeare, James I commissioned the Authroised Version of the Bible. 


Modern English: 18th Century

The English language had grown; words borrowed from Latin, Greek and around the world. Grammarians began to examine the structure and grammar of the language to establish patterns in the ways that people used language. This led them to create 'correct' ways of speaking and writing.


Present-day English: 20th Century.

English has become a global language due to the influence of the media, technology and travel.

Analysis of Sandi Toksvig article

As the article was written for The Telegraph the audience is most likely traditional, older readers who probably have a prescriptive attitude to language change. This article strongly suggests that Toksvig has a descriptivist view and therefore she must mitigate the ways in which she talks about her opinion as it is conflicting with her audience.

The anecdote about a Q&A session ties in prescriptivists and descriptivist attitudes. You could suggest that the anecdote symbolises the common fight between these two viewpoints. She starts off with “…I was roundly scolded by a woman…” The use of the verb “scolded” seems to decrease the power which Toksvig has; the verb ‘scold’ can be associated with parents and their children. This may be to paint a picture of prescriptivists to the audience which may make them subconsciously agree with her. She describes this woman as irate; perhaps symbolising the ways Toksvig believes prescriptivists behave towards language change. She said that, “Naturally I felt terrible…” in response to this woman’s accusations, she allows the audience to see that she wasn’t aware of what was happening and that no one was right or wrong. She seems to remain neutral throughout the article; she does not comment on the woman in a judgemental manner. You could suggest that as her audience may be prescriptivists this subtle way of expressing her opinions does not openly criticise the view point others may hold. Her readers may not want to agree with the ‘irate’ woman because this is describes as an angry and negative opinion to hold.

The use of facts help her article to remain fairly neutral. After her comments on the Q&A session she says, “Ever polite, I didn’t feel the moment was right to remind the irate woman that English is actually a West Germanic language.” Her opinion here is wrapped up in facts. The adverb ‘actually’ could be read with a sarcastic tone suggesting that Toksvig thought this woman was perhaps less knowledgeable than her and that her opinions were based on false ideas. But the use of a fact to back up the point almost gives Toksvig the right to use a sarcastic tone, or to call her irate. This suits the audience and purpose of the article as the prescriptivist readers may not be offended and they may in fact be persuaded by the fact used. The use of a fact that any town which ends in “gate” was created by borrowing the Danish word for “street” “gade”, may debunk some prescriptivists opinions. They may have said “Margate, “Ramsgate” etc… but been unaware how these proper nouns had been formed and been perfectly accepting of the word itself. Following this with a joke, “You can just imagine the Q&A session 1,200 years ago when some poor writer would’ve been help responsible for the ‘wretched Vikings’ coming over here and ruining our perfectly good words for ‘road’,” seems to state that those who are against language change are wrong. By backing up the joke with facts suggests that it is funny that people reject language change. But her audience cannot disagree unless they have been openly unaccepting of many towns names.

 

Pidgins and Creoles

A pidgin language is nobody's native language. It often arises when two speakers with no common language try and have a makeshift conversation. Lexicon usually comes from one, structure from the other. The prestige of Pidgin languages is very low due to slavery and colonialism for example. Many pidgins may only exist for one speech event.

A Creole is a stable natural language which has developed from a pidgin.