3.6.5

Early Modern English

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Early Modern English

Early Modern English refers to the period from around 1500 to 1800. The creation of the dictionary is of vital significance.

The British Navy

The British Navy

  • As we move into this period, we see an age of British naval supremacy.
  • As such, there are great deals of trade of products and words in this time.
  • For example, many of our expletives come from interactions with Dutch sailors.
The Renaissance

The Renaissance

  • Beginning in the late 1500s, the Renaissance saw a ‘rebirth’ of Greek and Latin ideas in many different ways.
  • Despite not being spoken or used anymore, Latin was still being taught in schools and so when the educated scholars were working in the Renaissance, there was an upsurge of Latin and Greek words into our language.
Arguments

Arguments

  • These words were being brought into our language by the educated, mostly for the purposes of science and medicine.
  • There were arguments over the high number of Greek and Latinate terms entering our language and this is called ‘the Inkhorn Controversy’.
The Inkhorn Controversy

The Inkhorn Controversy

  • This issue arose because, essentially, nobody had control over the English language.
  • In addition, people in this century had need and desire for categorising things.
  • As a result, we see the birth of the dictionary in this period.

D is for Dictionary (1 & 2)

Whilst there are many attempts to create a dictionary, these are the ones you should know about for your exam:

Dictionary number: 1

Dictionary number: 1

  • Who wrote it? Richard Mulcaster
  • Name: Elementarie.
  • Year: 1582 (the very first attempt).
  • Number of words: 8000.
Limitations

Limitations

  • Limitations: This often isn’t considered a dictionary by some linguists.
  • Essentially, this was just a list of 8000 words – they were alphabetical, but had no definitions.
  • Not very useful or precise – who gets to decide what goes in?
Dictionary number: 2

Dictionary number: 2

  • Who wrote it? Robert Cawdrey.
  • Name: A Table Alphabeticall.
  • Year: 1604.
  • Number of words: 2453.
Limitations and aims

Limitations and aims

  • Limitations: Still a very small amount of words.
  • Not designed for scholarly use.
  • Aims: The main purpose of Cawdrey’s dictionary was to provide definitions and standardised spelling for the average person.

D is for Dictionary (3 & 4)

Whilst there are many attempts to create a dictionary, these are the ones you should know about for your exam:

Dictionary number: 3

Dictionary number: 3

  • Who wrote it? Samuel Johnson.
  • Name: Dictionary of the English Language.
  • Year: 1755 (took 8 years to complete) note this is not part of the EModE period.
  • Number of words: 40,000.
Limitations and aims

Limitations and aims

  • Aims: Johnson was commissioned to write the dictionary by booksellers who were displeased with the state of spoken English.
  • In his preface, Johnson notes that there is ‘perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be regulated’.
  • Limitations: Johnson often used biased definitions in his book and didn’t include dialectal terms.
Key idea

Key idea

  • Although Johnson’s prescriptivist views were that we needed to regulate language and prevent change, he admits in the preface that doing this is like trying to ‘lash the wind’, essentially saying that it cannot be done.
  • You can link this to ideas around standardisation.
Dictionary number: 4

Dictionary number: 4

  • Who wrote it? James Murray (et al).
  • Name: Oxford English Dictionary.
  • Year: 1928 (49 years to complete) note this is not part of the EModE period.
  • Number of words: Over 400,000 words.
  • This dictionary continues to grow and expand and aims to catalogue as many words as possible.
Jump to other topics
1

Language Levels

1.1

Assessment Objectives

1.1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2

Lexis

1.2.1Introduction1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns1.2.3Collective Nouns1.2.4Adjectives1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs1.2.8Mood of Verbs1.2.9Adverbs1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns1.2.12Determiners1.2.13Conjunctions1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3

Grammar

1.3.1Morphology1.3.2Clauses1.3.3Phrases1.3.4Present Tense1.3.5Past Tense1.3.6Future Tense1.3.7End of Topic Test - Grammar
1.4

Semantics & Pragmatics

1.4.1Semantics1.4.2Pragmatics
1.5

Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography

1.5.1Discourse Structure1.5.2Graphology & Orthography1.5.3End of Topic Test - Semantics, Graphology etc.
2

Language, The Individual & Society

2.1

Children’s Language Development

2.1.1The Exam2.1.2Phonemes, Vocal Tract & Articulation2.1.3Writing About Phonemes2.1.4Phonological Simplification2.1.5A Child's First Year & Consonant Acquisition2.1.6Beginning Stages of Language2.1.7Lexical Development2.1.8Stages of Development2.1.9End of Topic Test - Child Language Development
2.2

Children's Language Development - Theories

2.2.1Behaviourism2.2.2Interactionism2.2.3Challenging Interactionism2.2.4Nativism2.2.5Nativism - Exam Answer2.2.6Cognitivism2.2.7Social Constructionism2.2.8Writing About Spoken Acquisition2.2.9End of Topic Test - Development Theories
2.3

Literacy Development: Reading

2.3.1Introduction2.3.2Phonics vs Whole Word2.3.3Debates in Reading2.3.4Modelling Reading Acquisition2.3.5Other Reading Theories2.3.6End of Topic Test - Reading
2.4

Literacy Development: Writing

2.4.1Orthography2.4.2Kroll's Theory2.4.3Barclay's Theory2.4.4Creativity vs Accuracy2.4.5Other Writing Theories2.4.6The Exam2.4.7End of Topic Test - Writing
3

Language Diversity & Change

3.1

The Importance of Gendered Language

3.1.1Writing About Gender3.1.2Dominance Theory3.1.3Interruptions - Zimmerman & West3.1.4Deficit Theory3.1.5Difference Model3.1.6Difference Model - Men3.1.7Diversity Model3.1.8End of Topic Test - Gendered Language
3.2

Social Groups

3.2.1Writing About Social Groups3.2.2Social Class3.2.3Social Class 23.2.4Age3.2.5Age - Teen Speak3.2.6Milroy’s Belfast Study3.2.7Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard Study3.2.8End of Topic Test - Social Groups
3.3

Occupational Groups

3.3.1Writing About Occupational Groups3.3.2Jargon3.3.3Conversations3.3.4Hierarchy & Power3.3.5End of Topic Test - Occupational Groups
3.4

Accents & Dialects

3.4.1Writing About Accent & Dialect3.4.2Introduction to Accents & Dialects3.4.3Accents - Matched Guide Experiment3.4.4Accents - Received Pronunciation & Brummie3.4.5Dialects - Dialectal Variations3.4.6Accent & Dialect Case Study - London3.4.7End of Topic Test - Accents & Dialects
3.5

Language Change

3.5.1Writing About Language Change3.5.2Modelling Change3.5.3Modelling Change 23.5.4Lexical Change3.5.5Semantic Change3.5.6End of Topic Test - Language Change
3.6

History of English

3.6.1Old English3.6.2Old English 23.6.3Middle English3.6.4Middle English 23.6.5Early Modern English3.6.6Late Modern English3.6.7Present Day English3.6.8Global English3.6.9American English3.6.10Modelling Global English3.6.11End of Topic Test - History of English

Practice questions on Early Modern English

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    Dictionary number 1:True / false
  2. 2
    Dictionary number 2:True / false
  3. 3
    Limitations of Cawdrey’s dictionary:Fill in the list
  4. 4
    Dictionary number 3:True / false
  5. 5
    Who commissioned Johnson to write the dictionary?Multiple choice
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Middle English 2

Late Modern English