ENG501 — Final Term Summary (Lectures 23–40)

📘 Lecture 23 — History of English from 1500 to 1650- Part III

📖 Overview: This lecture continues the examination of the English language during the Early Modern period, focusing specifically on the great influx of borrowed words. It explores the heated debates between purists and innovators, the permanent additions made through borrowing and adaptation, and the major source languages that enriched English vocabulary during this transformative era.

🗂️ Topics Covered

This lecture covers the defense of borrowing as a compromise position, the permanent additions and adaptations of words from Latin and Greek with specific examples of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, the process of giving new meanings to old words, the reinforcement of vocabulary through French, a classification of objections including inkhorn terms, oversea language, and Chaucerisms, and the major borrowing from languages including French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese during the age of exploration.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 111: Defence of Borrowing Compromise

Dryden asserted, ‘I trade both with the living and the dead, for the enrichment of our native tongue.’ He argued that while England has enough to supply necessity, things of magnificence and splendor must be obtained by commerce. The innovators had precedent on their side—not only English borrowed, but all other languages including Latin and Greek did so too. The strangeness of new words, they argued, would soon wear off. As Mulcaster observed, we must first become acquainted with any new thing ‘and make the thing familiar if it seems to be strange.’

The opposition to inkhorn terms was at its height in the middle of the sixteenth century. By the end of Elizabeth’s reign, borrowing had gone so far that it resulted in strong criticism. However, the attack was directed at the abuse of the procedure rather than at the procedure itself. The use of unfamiliar words could easily be overdone.

It needs to be considered from these perspectives: criticism of reasonable people upon the practice, sweeping terms, and inconsistency with the critics' own usage. Puttenham, for example, warned against inkhorn terms, yet he himself admits having to use some of them. He defends words like scientific, major domo, politien (politician), conduct (verb), and others. Nobody could wholly avoid the use of the new words. Writers differed only in extent. So, the safest course was a middle one: to borrow, but ‘without too manifest insolence and too wanton affectation.’

💡 Why this matters: This compromise position became the dominant approach to vocabulary enrichment in English, allowing the language to grow while maintaining intelligibility and stylistic decorum.

Topic – 112: Permanent Additions & Adaptations

The exaggeration of a critic like Wilson suggested that much effort to introduce new words was pedantic and ill-advised. While some words Wilson ridicules seem forced, it would be a mistake to conclude all or even a large part of the additions were unnecessary. Many of them are in such common use today that it’s hard to realize that to the Elizabethan, these borrowed words were strange and difficult. For instance, Elyot needed a single word for ‘all maner of lerning.’ Some called it the world of science, others the circle of doctrine, but the one-word solution came from Greek: encyclopedia.

The words introduced at this time were often basic words—nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Examples of Nouns include: allurement, allusion, anachronism, atmosphere, autograph, capsule, denunciation, dexterity, disability, disrespect, excursion, expectation, jurisprudence etc. Among Adjectives are: agile, appropriate, conspicuous, dexterous, expensive, external, habitual, hereditary, impersonal, insane, jocular, malignant etc. Among Verbs are: Adapt, alienate, assassinate, benefit, consolidate, disregard (introduced by Milton), emancipate, erupt, excavate, exert, exhilarate, exist, extinguish, harass, meditate (introduced by Sidney) etc.

Most of these words are from Latin, though some are Greek from where they were adopted earlier into Latin. Examples include: anachronism, atmosphere, autograph, antipathy, antithesis, chaos, chronology, climax, crisis, critic, dogma, emphasis, enthusiasm, epitome, parasite, parenthesis, pathetic, pneumonia, scheme, skeleton, system, tactics.

The route of entry for Greek words was typically through Latin or French. However, in the Renaissance, the renewed study of Greek led to direct introduction. Examples include: anonymous, criterion, idiosyncrasy, lexicon, tantalize, thermometer, and tonic.

Regarding Adaptation: Some words, in entering the language, retained their original form; others underwent change. Words like climax, appendix, epitome, exterior, delirium, and axis still have their Latin form. Adaptation occurred through cutting off the Latin ending. For example, Conjectural (L. conjectural-is), consult (L. consult-are), exclusion (L. exclusion-em), and exotic (L. exotic-us) show how easily this could be done. Sometimes, it was necessary to bring the word into accord with usual English forms. So, the Latin ending -us in adjectives was changed to -ous (conspicu-us > conspicuous) or replaced by -al as in external (L. externus). Latin nouns ending in -tas were changed in English to -ty (brevity < brevitas). Nouns ending in -antia, -entia appear in English with the ending -ance, -ence or -ancy, -ency. Adjectives ending in -bilis take the usual English (or French) ending -ble. Examples are consonance, concurrence, constancy, frequency, considerable, susceptible.

🔑 Definition — Inkhorn terms: Newly coined or borrowed words, especially from Latin, that were considered pedantic, obscure, or pretentious by critics during the sixteenth century.

📐 Formula: Latin ending -us → English -ous or -al / Latin -tas → English -ty / Latin -antia, -entia → English -ance, -ence, -ancy, -ency / Latin -bilis → English -ble

📌 Example: Elyot needed a single word for 'all maner of lerning.' A one-word solution came from Greek: encyclopedia. This illustrates how borrowing filled a genuine lexical gap with economy of expression.

💡 Why this matters: The processes of adaptation established patterns that continue to govern how English incorporates new words today, making these Renaissance innovations foundational for modern English morphology.

Topic – 113: Giving New Meanings

If we trace the history of the English language, we realize that words were borrowed more than once. For example, Latin words episcopus and discus appeared in Old English as bishop and dish and were again borrowed later to make our words episcopal and disc (also dais, desk, and discus). In the same way, chaos and malignity were apparently reintroduced in the sixteenth century. Intelligence was used once in Gower and occasionally in the fifteenth century. In The Governour, Elyot writes: ‘intelligence is nowe used for an elegant worde where there is mutuall treaties or appoyntementes, eyther by letters or message.’

When a word is borrowed a second time, it carries the same or a different meaning; both possibilities are equally significant. The word fastidious in 1440 meant ‘proud, scornful’. A century later it was used in the more usual Latin sense of ‘distasteful, disgusting.’ However, its modern meaning is ‘hard to please, fussy’ etc. Chaucer uses the words artificial, declination, hemisphere in astronomical senses, but their present use is due to the sixteenth century. The word abject was found earlier in the sense of ‘cast off, rejected,’ but was reintroduced in its present meaning in the Renaissance.

Among the Verbs, examples include: adapt, alienate, assassinate, benefit, consolidate, disregard (introduced by Milton), emancipate, erupt, excavate, exert, exhilarate, exist, extinguish, harass, meditate (which Sidney introduced) etc.

🔑 Definition — Reintroduction (double borrowing): The process by which a word that already entered English at an earlier stage is borrowed again from the same source language, often with a different meaning or form.

📌 Example: Latin discus → Old English dish (first borrowing, common meaning); Latin discus → Renaissance English discus, disc, dais, desk (second borrowing, technical/specialized meanings).

💡 Why this matters: Double borrowing shows that English did not just add new words but also revived and redefined existing ones, creating rich layers of meaning that continue to distinguish words like bishop and episcopal today.

Topic – 114: Reinforcement Through French

It is not always possible to say whether a word is directly from Latin or came indirectly through French. The reason for this uncertainty is that wholesale enrichment was going on simultaneously in French. The same words were being introduced in both languages. Often the two streams of influence merged. However, firsthand borrowing did happen. The word fact represents the Latin factum and not the French fait, which was taken into English earlier as feat. Verbs like confiscate, congratulate, and exonerate are formed from the Latin participle (confiscat-us, etc.) and not from the French confisquer, congratuler, exonerer. The form prejudicate is Latin while prejudge represents French prejuger. Instruct and subtract have Latin ancestry (instructus, subtractus). The French instruire and subtraire would have become in English instroy (like destroy) and subtray (found in the fifteenth century). Conjugation is probably a direct importation from Latin (conjugation-em) since the more usual form in French was conjugaison.

Sometimes the occurrence of a word in English earlier than in French (e.g., obtuse) points to direct adoption from Latin, as with confidence, confident, which appear in French as confiance, confiant. Still, many words have come into English from Latin or French. Verbs like consist and explore could come either from the Latin consistere and explorare or the French consister and explorer. Conformation, conflagration, and many other similar nouns may represent either Latin conformation-em, conflagration-em or French conformation, conflagration. Adjectives like affable may represent the Latin affabilis or the French affable, etc. Ultimately, all of these have Latin origin. In many cases, French may have offered a precedent for introducing the Latin words into English and may have assisted in their general adoption.

📌 Example: Latin factum → English fact (direct borrowing from Latin); French fait → English feat (earlier borrowing via French). Same source, different routes, different meanings.

💡 Why this matters: The dual influence of Latin and French created a complex layering where English often has multiple words from the same root (like fact and feat), which is a key reason for the richness of English synonyms.

Topic – 115: Permanent Additions and Adaptations

Sixteenth-century purists objected to three classes of strange words, which they characterized as:

1. Inkhorn terms (learned borrowings from Latin/Greek)
2. Oversea language (foreign words from living languages like Italian, Spanish)
3. Chaucerisms (archaic words revived from earlier English)

The foreign borrowings in this period were by no means confined to learned words taken from Latin and Greek. English vocabulary at this time was borrowing from more than fifty languages, which included the following major languages: Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish.

A great role was also played by French Travel and consumption of French books, reflected in such words as alloy, ambuscade, bombast, chocolate, comrade, detail, duel, entrance, equip, essay, explore, naturalize, probability, progress, shock etc. The English also traveled frequently in Italy, observed Italian architecture, and brought back not only Italian manners and styles of dress but also Italian words. Protests against the Italianate Englishman are frequent in Elizabethan literature. Objection was about the impact that it corrupted morals, brought outlandish fashions, and ‘powdered their talk with oversea language.’ Nevertheless, Italian words, like Italian fashions, were frequently adopted in England. Words like algebra, balcony, design, granite, piazza, portico, stanza, and volcano began to be heard on the lips of Englishmen or to be found in English books. Many other Italian words were introduced through French or adapted to French forms, words like: battalion, bankrupt, gala, gazette, grotesque, infantry.

From Spanish and Portuguese, English adopted: alligator, apricot, banana, corral, hammock, hurricane, maize, mosquito, mulatto, negro, peccadillo, potato, rusk, tobacco, and yam.

The reasons that promoted all this borrowing included:

• Cosmopolitan tendency
• Spirit of exploration and adventure
• Interest in the New World

🔑 Definition — Oversea language: A pejorative term used by sixteenth-century purists to describe foreign words, especially from Italian and French, that they considered affected and unnecessary.

🔑 Definition — Chaucerisms: Archaic words revived from Middle English, particularly from Chaucer's works, which were criticized by purists alongside foreign borrowings.

📌 Example: From Italian came balcony, design, stanza; from Spanish came alligator, banana, hurricane, potato, tobacco, yam—words that reflect the travel, trade, and colonial encounters of the period.

💡 Why this matters: The borrowing from over fifty languages during this period shows that English was becoming a truly global language, absorbing vocabulary from every region its speakers encountered, a process that continues to this day.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The lecture establishes that the Renaissance period (1500-1650) saw the greatest influx of borrowed words in English history, with defenders like Dryden arguing for enrichment through commerce with other languages while critics attacked excessive borrowing. The compromise position prevailed—borrow, but without affectation. Thousands of permanent additions entered English from Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, undergoing systematic adaptation (changing Latin -us to -ous, -tas to -ty). Words were sometimes borrowed more than once with different meanings (double borrowing), and the French influence often merged with direct Latin borrowing, creating the complex synonymy that characterizes modern English vocabulary. This period transformed English from a relatively insular Germanic language into a cosmopolitan language enriched by the classical and romance languages of Europe and the New World.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What three classes of words did sixteenth-century purists object to, and what did each term refer to?
2. Explain the difference between direct borrowing from Latin and indirect borrowing through French, using fact/feat as an example.
3. How did the word fastidious change in meaning from 1440 through the Renaissance to its modern sense?
4. What systematic adaptations were made to Latin endings when words entered English (e.g., -us → -ous, -tas → -ty)?
5. Name at least five words borrowed from Spanish/Portuguese during this period and explain what cultural activity they reflect.

📘 Lecture 24 — History of English from 1500 to 1650- Part IV

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the state of the English language during the Renaissance period (1500–1650), focusing on Shakespearean pronunciation, grammatical features, and changes in nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and idiom. It matters because this period represents a critical transition where many features of Modern English were established while still retaining distinctive forms now lost.

🗂️ Topics Covered

This lecture covers five main topics: Shakespearean pronunciation and its differences from modern English; grammatical features of the Renaissance period showing stability in syntax but retention of some older forms; changes in Renaissance nouns, adjectives, and pronouns including the disuse of thou and introduction of its; the verb in Renaissance English with differences in inflection and strong/weak verb fluctuation; and Renaissance usage and idiom including negative placement and prepositional usage.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 116: Shakespearean Pronunciation

Shakespeare's pronunciation was similar to ours but not identical. He pronounced [e] for [i] in some words, similar to Pope saying tay for tea. The merging of er, ir, ur (e.g., herd, birth, hurt) was underway but not completed. Middle English ē had two distinct sounds—open [ε:] and close [e:]—which remained separate in Shakespeare's day. Consequently, sea [se:] did not normally rhyme with see [si:], nor heap with keep, nor speak with seek.

🔑 Definition — Close/Open Vowel Distinction: In Middle English, the long e sound existed in two varieties: a close [e:] (as in see) and an open [ε:] (as in sea), which were still distinct in Shakespeare's time.

By the late 15th century, attempts were made to distinguish these sounds through spelling: closer sounds were often spelled ee or ie (deep, field), while more open sounds were written ea (sea, clean). However, this practice was inconsistent. Words containing a regularly developed into [u:], as in room, food, roof, root. In some words, the vowel was shortened in the 15th century and unrounded to the sound in blood, flood. In other words, length was retained until about 1700 but then shortened without unrounding, giving the sound in good, stood, book, foot.

📌 Example: In Shakespeare's time, flood rhymed with blood while mood and good also rhymed. In Dryden, flood—mood—good all rhymed, showing the three developments of this sound that exist today.

There was much fluctuation in pronunciation during Shakespeare's time. The long vowels of Middle English underwent a Great Vowel Shift in the 15th and 16th centuries. For example, stone in Shakespeare's pronunciation became similar to its present pronunciation [stoun] or [stoUn]. Overall, Shakespeare's pronunciation would be familiar and understandable to modern speakers, unlike Chaucer's more difficult pronunciation.

💡 Why this matters: The Great Vowel Shift fundamentally transformed English pronunciation between Chaucer and Shakespeare, making Shakespeare's English much more accessible to modern readers.

Topic – 117: Grammatical Features in Renaissance Period

English grammar in the 16th and early 17th centuries is marked more by the survival of certain forms and usages that have since disappeared than by fundamental developments. The great changes of reduced inflections from Old English had already taken place. Shakespeare's readers notice only minor differences in form, framing, syntax, and idiom—differences that attract attention but do not seriously interfere with understanding.

This period was one of stability in grammar and syntax. The London standard had been accepted and people adhered to it. This contrasts sharply with vocabulary, which was heavily enriched during this period. Grammar and syntax did not show much modification or transition.

Topic – 118: Renaissance Noun, Adjectives & Pronoun

Noun The only inflections retained in the noun were those marking the plural and the possessive singular. The s-plural had become generalized, except for a few nouns like sheep and swine with unchanged plurals and others like mice and feet with mutated vowels. However, in the 16th century, there were survivals of the old weak plural in -n, such as fon (foes), kneen (knees), and fleen (fleas). Shakespeare sometimes used eyen (eyes) and shoon (shoes) alongside modern forms, similar to modern survivals like children, brethren, and oxen.

An interesting peculiarity was the 'his-genitive'. In Middle English, the -es of the genitive, being unaccented, was frequently written and pronounced -is, -ys. This ending was often identical to the pronoun his, which commonly lost its h when unstressed.

🔑 Definition — His-Genitive: A construction where the possessive ending -es was confused with the pronoun his, leading to forms like "the king his crown" instead of "the king's crown."

Adjective Adjectives had lost all endings and no longer expressed distinctions of gender, number, and case. The chief interest was in the comparative and superlative degrees. Two methods existed: endings -er and -est, or the adverbs more and most. Shakespearian comparisons like honester and violentest are now replaced by analytical forms.

Double comparatives were a striking feature. Shakespeare and his contemporaries used more larger and most boldest. Mark Antony's famous line, "This was the most unkindest cut of all," illustrates this practice.

📌 Example: Modern usage has settled so that monosyllables take -er and -est (e.g., bigger, biggest), while most adjectives of two or more syllables—especially those with suffixes like frugal, learned, careful, poetic, active, famous—take more and most.

The Pronoun Three changes were involved in establishing the personal pronoun in its modern form:

1. Disuse of thou, thy, thee
2. Substitution of you for ye as a nominative case
3. Introduction of its as possessive of it

In earliest English, thou was singular and ye was plural for the second person pronoun. By the 13th century, singular forms (thou, thy, thee) were used among familiars and when addressing children or inferiors, while plural forms (ye, your, you) began to be used to show respect to superiors.

🔑 Definition — A New Possessive Neuter: Its: In Old English, the neuter pronoun was declined as hit, his, him, hit. In unstressed positions, hit weakened to it. At the beginning of the modern period, his remained the proper possessive form. Shakespeare used expressions like "It lifted up it head" (from Hamlet) and "it had it head bit off by it young" (from King Lear).

💡 Why this matters: The introduction of its as the possessive neuter pronoun was a major development of the Renaissance period, replacing the earlier use of his for neuter possession.

Topic – 119: Verb in Renaissance English Period

Casual readers notice certain differences in verb usage that distinguish Renaissance English. These differences are sometimes slight, giving only a mildly unfamiliar tinge. Lennox asks in Macbeth, "Goes the King hence today?"—using an interrogative form without an auxiliary instead of "Does the king go?" Shakespeare often uses is instead of has been.

Impersonal use of the verb was more common than today, as in "It yearns me not" or "it dislikes me." Differences in inflection are noticeable: by the end of the 16th century, forms like tells, gives, says predominated, though doth and hath—the older usage—may have been more common.

📌 Example: From The Merchant of Venice: "The quality of mercy is not strain'd, / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven" —using the older -eth ending.

A writer toward the mid-century observed that while people wrote leadeth it, maketh it, noteth it, in ordinary speech they said leads it, makes it, notes it. During Shakespeare's lifetime, -s became the usual ending for this part of the verb in spoken language.

In Middle English, extensive inroads were made into the ranks of Old English strong verbs. Many verbs were lost, and many became weak. Much fluctuation occurred in past tense and past participle forms. Verbs that developed weak forms included bide, crow, crowd, flay, mow, dread, sprout, wade. Weak forms like blowed, growed, shined, shrinked, swinged were in common use, though these verbs ultimately remained strong. Bote as the past tense of bite (like write—wrote) was still in occasional use. The participle baken was more frequent in the Bible than baked.

📌 Example: In Shakespeare's day, there was much more latitude in verb inflection than is permitted today, with strong and weak forms often existing side by side.

Topic – 120: Renaissance: Usage and Idiom

Language involves not just words and inflections but also idiom and usage. Shakespeare used expressions like creeping like snail, with as big heart as thou, in number of our friends, within this mile and half—where modern idiom requires an article in all cases. Conversely, where we say at length, at last, Shakespeare said at the length, at the last.

Negative placement differed: negatives were placed before the verb, as in "I not doubt," "it not appears to me," "she not denies it."

📌 Example of Shakespeare's multiple negation: "Thou hast spoken no word all this while—nor understood none neither; I know not, nor I greatly care not; Nor this is not my nose neither"

Prepositions also differed significantly. Shakespeare said "I'll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay" (modern: at), "Our fears in Banquo stick deep" (modern: about). The single preposition of shows how many changes have occurred since 1600:

🔑 Examples of of usage in Shakespeare:

• "One that I brought up of (from) a puppy"
• "He came of (on) an errand to me"
• "'Tis pity of (about) him"
• "Not be seen to wink of (during) all the day"
• "It was well done of (by) you"
• "I wonder of (at) their being here together"
• "I am provided of (with) a torchbearer"
• "I have no mind of (for) feasting forth tonight"
• "I were better to be married of (by) him than of another"
• "That did but show thee of (as) a fool"

💡 Why this matters: No picture of Elizabethan English would be adequate without recognizing these idiomatic differences, which claim less attention but are essential to understanding the period's language.

⭐ Key Takeaways

This lecture demonstrates that Renaissance English (1500–1650) was in a transitional state, with pronunciation still differing from modern English—notably in the distinct open/close e sounds (sea vs. see), the Great Vowel Shift affecting long vowels, and fluctuation in words like food, blood, good. Grammar and syntax showed remarkable stability compared to vocabulary, with the London standard already established. Key changes in nouns included survival of -n plurals (eyen, shoon) and the his-genitive; adjectives featured double comparatives (most unkindest); pronouns saw the decline of thou/thee and the introduction of its as the possessive neuter. Verbs retained older inflections like -eth alongside emerging -s forms, and showed great latitude in strong/weak verb fluctuation. Finally, idiom and usage—including negative placement before verbs and distinctive prepositional usage—differed significantly from modern English but were consistent within the period.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What was the difference between the pronunciation of sea and see in Shakespeare's time, and how did spelling attempt to distinguish them?
2. What three major changes affected the personal pronoun system during the Renaissance period?
3. What was the 'his-genitive,' and how did it develop from Middle English genitive endings?
4. How did verb inflection differ in Shakespeare's English compared to today, particularly regarding the third person singular ending?
5. Give three examples of how prepositional usage in Shakespeare differs from modern English, using the word of.

📘 Lecture 25 — Overview of the Development of Renaissance English

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the Renaissance period's profound impact on the English language, highlighting the conscious efforts to develop, standardize, and enrich it. It covers the general characteristics of the age, the deliberate moves to improve English, the emergence of a standard literary language, the language's flexibility, and the features that remained unsettled by the end of the era.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers the general characteristics of the Renaissance spirit reflected in linguistic matters, including the desire to fix, stabilize, modernize, and standardize English. It discusses the conscious efforts made for the development of English through education and vocabulary enlargement, the emergence of a standard literary language free from dialectal variations, the vigor and willingness to venture in language use, and finally, the features that remained unsettled, such as alternative grammatical forms and pronunciation variations.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 121: Renaissance: General Characteristics

The larger spirit of the Renaissance is reflected in linguistic matters, with a conscious interest in the English language emerging. The fifteenth century saw sporadic attempts by writers to embellish their style with 'aureate terms', showing a desire to improve the language along limited lines. In the 16th century, a more concerted effort emerged: books, pamphlets, and prefaces were published to support linguistic change in English. The language was defended against those who compared it unfavorably to Latin or other tongues. English recognized its position as the national speech and urged its fitness for learned and literary use. Overall, this era showed a great desire to fix language, make it stable, modernize it, and standardize it.

Topic – 122: Conscious Efforts for Development

Conscious efforts were made during this period for the development of English. A century or two before, upper classes sent their children abroad for a correct French accent; now, English was considered worthy of cultivation and looked after in the education of the young. Elyot urged that noblemen's sons should be brought up by those who 'speke none englisshe but that which is cleane, polite, perfectly and articulately pronounced, omittinge no lettre or sillabl.' He observed that he knew children of noble birth who had 'attained corrupte and foule pronunciation' through the lack of such precautions. There was also a desire to improve English in various ways, particularly to enlarge its vocabulary and to regulate its spelling. All of these efforts point to a new attitude towards English, making it an object of conscious and fruitful consideration. In this period, we attain something as a standard and recognizably 'modern' English.

Topic – 123: Standard Literary Language

This is the period when a standard and recognizably 'modern' English developed. As an effect of the 'Great Vowel Shift', pronunciation was brought within measurable distance of that which prevails today. The influence of the printing press and efforts of spelling reformers resulted in a form of written English that offers little difficulty to the modern reader. New vocabulary was introduced, but grammar was fixed by this time. In the writings of Spenser, Shakespeare, and their contemporaries, a standard literary language is used free from the variations of local dialect. Although Sir Walter Raleigh might speak with a broad Devonshire pronunciation, Spenser and Shakespeare may have traces in their speech of their Lancashire and Warwickshire ancestry, but they wrote common English without dialectal idiosyncrasies. Puttenham (1589) reminds us: 'herein we are already ruled by the English Dictionaries and other bookes written by learned men, and therefore it needeth none other direction in that behalfe.' Some characteristics of the language were not yet completely settled, but the written language in the latter part of the sixteenth century is fully entitled to be called Standard English. The regularization of spellings in this written standard can be seen as early as the mid-fifteenth century in the official documents of Chancery.

Topic – 124: Vigor and Willingness to Venture

English in the Renaissance, at least as seen in books, was much more plastic than now. People felt freer to mold it to their wills. Words were not always distributed into rigid grammatical categories. Adjectives appear as adverbs or nouns or verbs; nouns appear as verbs. In fact, any part of speech could be used as the alternate of any other part. As Shakespeare wrote 'stranger'd with an oath', he was fitting the language to his thought, not forcing his thought into the mold of grammar. It was a language, as in many other respects, an age with the characteristics of youth—vigor, a willingness to venture, and a disposition to attempt the untried. The spirit that animated Hawkins and Drake was not foreign to the language of their time. Overall, the characteristics of language included vigor, enthusiasm, willingness, and keenness.

💡 Why this matters: This flexibility shows that the Renaissance was a period of experimentation, where the rules of grammar were not rigid, allowing for creative and expressive language use that is different from the more fixed Modern English.

Topic – 125: What is Left Unsettled?

Though a lot of progress was made, a good many features of the language were still unsettled. There still existed a considerable variety of use—alternative forms in the grammar, experiments with new words, variations in pronunciation and spelling. Latitude was clearly permitted among speakers of education and social position. Literary language and good colloquial English were very close. Where one might say, have wrote or have written with equal propriety, as well as housen or houses, shoon or shoes, one must often have been in doubt over which to use. One heard service also pronounced sarvice. Examples of pronunciation variations include: certain—sartin, concern—consarn, divert—divart, clerk—clark, and smert—smart. These and many other matters were still unsettled at the close of the period. Their settlement was one of the chief concerns of the next age. Overall, this was a time of eagerness, enthusiasm, willingness, and acceptance.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The Renaissance period was a time of significant and conscious development for the English language, driven by a desire to standardize and modernize it. The language became more flexible and plastic, with writers like Shakespeare freely converting words from one part of speech to another. The Great Vowel Shift and the printing press played crucial roles in shaping a standard literary language, as seen in the writings of Spenser and Shakespeare, which were free from local dialect. Despite this progress, many features, including grammar, spelling, and pronunciation, remained unsettled, with alternative forms like 'housen' or 'houses' still in use, leaving room for further development in the next age. The general characteristics of the era included vigor, enthusiasm, and a willingness to venture into the untried in all aspects of language.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What were the four main desires for the English language during the Renaissance, as mentioned in Topic 121?
2. What specific advice did Elyot give regarding the education of noblemen's sons, and what was he trying to prevent?
3. How did the Great Vowel Shift and the printing press contribute to the development of a standard literary language?
4. Provide an example from the lecture showing how the language of the Renaissance was more 'plastic' or flexible than modern English.
5. List two examples of pronunciation and two examples of grammar that were still unsettled at the close of the Renaissance period.

📘 Lecture 26 — HISTORY OF ENGLISH FROM 1650 TO 1800- PART I

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the evolution of English during a period of intense intellectual, political, and social transformation from 1650 to 1800. It explores how 17th-century crises and the 18th-century desire for order shaped attitudes toward language, leading to ambitious—and ultimately mistaken—efforts to standardize, refine, and permanently fix the English language.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers the impact of 17th-century social and intellectual forces on language, including the English Civil War, the Restoration, and the conflict between rational scientists and religious "Enthusiasts." It then examines the 18th-century "Augustan" temperament, characterized by a search for order, correctness, and conformity to standards. Key topics include the changing attitudes toward English grammar, the perceived problem of refining a "corrupted" language (with Swift and Campbell's critiques), and the ambitious but flawed desire to permanently "fix" the English language as expressed by Bacon, Waller, Swift, and Pope.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 126: Impact of 17th Century

The social, commercial, technological, and intellectual forces released during the Renaissance culminated in the 17th century, leading to crises and reactions. The English Civil War (1640) and the Restoration of Charles II (1660) created political instability. However, this was accompanied by deeper intellectual turbulence regarding language. New scientists and philosophers clashed with religious zeal and occult science (astrology, alchemy, witchcraft). Radical Non-conformists, labeled 'Enthusiasts', were condemned by supporters of rational science like Henry More, Thomas Sprat, John Wilkins, and Robert Boyle for their 'ranting' language. Conservative minds feared the sheer volume of public, controversial publications, as learned discourse was no longer confined to elite circles. It was an open controversy, and many found it difficult to believe such openness was safe or beneficial.

Result: The 17th century fostered a more focused public consciousness about language. Proposals for control emerged, such as Thomas Hobbes' idea of a single political authority. In 1660, the Royal Society was proposed as a coordinator for English scientific endeavors. The argument was that English prose of scientists should be stripped of ornamentation and emotive language and should be plain, precise, and clear. This led to efforts to design universal languages. However, the Royal Society could neither impose its scheme nor create the 'plain style.'

Topic – 127: The Temper of 18th Century

The first half of the 18th century is known as the Augustan Age in England. Its principal characteristics emerged early and maintained influence throughout the century. A search for stability and a strong sense of order dominated. Adventurous individualism and the spirit of independence of the previous era gave way to a desire for system and regularity. Conformity to a standard recognized by consensus was considered good. Correctness was an ideal, and attempts were made to formulate rules to define and achieve it. Satisfaction in things was linked to logical explanation. However, the new current of scientific rationalism did not sweep away the firm reverence for classical literature. Latin was still a model, and there was a desire for perfection.

💡 Why this matters: This cultural shift directly explains why 18th-century thinkers would try to "fix" English—they believed a perfect, unchanging language was achievable through reason and rules.

Topic – 128: Attitude Towards English (1650 to 1800)

In the early 18th century, efforts were made to standardize, refine, and fix the English language. Discussions took a new turn. Previously, the focus was on whether English was worthy to replace Latin, or whether vocabulary additions or spelling reforms were justified. Now, for the first time, attention was paid to grammar, and it was discovered that English grammar was largely un-codified and un-systematized. The ancient languages had been reduced to rules, where one knew what was right and wrong. In English, everything was uncertain.

Much variation was found even among educated people, which was distasteful to an age desiring an orderly universe. The spontaneous creativity of Shakespeare led to hesitation and uncertainty. Dryden confessed he had to translate an idea into Latin to check its correctness. Using logic to set standards often arrived at false conclusions. The central idea was that English had been and was being daily corrupted; it needed correction and refinement, and it should be fixed permanently and protected from change. The goal was to give the language a polished, rational, and permanent form.

🔑 Definition — Correctness: The ideal of the 18th century that language should conform to a logical, rule-based standard recognized by consensus, distinguishing right from wrong usage.

Topic – 129: The Problem of Refining English Language

Uncertainty was not the only fault. Another was the lack of a standard. The natural result was perceived corruptions and unchecked language. There was a frequent lament that language had been steadily going down, with a regretful backward glance at the good old days. Dryden believed 'from Chaucer the purity of the English tongue began'. For Swift, the golden age was that of the great Elizabethans. He argued that there are corruptions in our language, and very few of the best authors have wholly escaped them. Dr. Johnson agreed, stating in his Dictionary that he endeavored to collect examples from writers before the Restoration, whom he regarded as "the wells of English undefiled."

This talk had a sentimental regard for the past. Swift was a conservative who cherished the principle of authority in church and state and criticized the skeptical spirit of inquiry proposed by the Royal Society. He upheld the classics but also understood the merits of a plain English style, when not polluted by crude usages. George Campbell in his Philosophy of Rhetoric (1776) criticized "barbarisms" arising from the abbreviation of polysyllables, such as hyp for hypochondriac, rep for reputation, and ult for ultimate. Swift opposed the tendency to contract verbs like drudg'd and disturb'd. He criticized young preachers who used modern terms like sham, banter, mob, bubble, bully, cutting, shuffling, and palming.

📌 Example: In Swift's letter to the Tatler (1710) and his Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue, he published a supposedly received letter full of "corrupt" language: "Sir, I cou'dn't get the things you sent for all about Town.—I thôt to ha' come down myself, and then I'd ha' brout'um; but I han't don't, and I believe I can't do't, that's pozz." Swift gave the remedy that the editor should use his position to rid the language of these blemishes.

Topic – 130: The Desire to Fix the Language

One of the most ambitious hopes of the 18th century was to stabilize the language and establish it in a form that would be permanent. Swift talked about 'fixing' the language, and the word was echoed for fifty years. The fear of change was an old one. Bacon (1623) wrote that modern languages "will, at one time or other, play the bankrupts with books," preferring Latin translation. Shortly after the Restoration, the poet Waller wrote (Of English Verse): "But who can hope his lines should long / Last, in a daily changing tongue? ... Poets that Lasting Marble seek, / Must carve in Latin or in Greek; / We write in Sand...."

Swift questioned how a historian could work cheerfully, knowing he "will be read with pleasure but a very few years, and in an age or two shall hardly be understood without an interpreter." Pope echoed this in his Essay on Criticism: "And such as Chaucer is, shall Dryden be." All believed that by taking thought, it was possible to suspend the processes of growth and decay in a living language. However, the anonymous Vindex Anglicus (1644) noted that changes in language are inevitable. James Howell (1630) observed that "the learnedest and more eloquent languages are not free from this common fatality."

⭐ Key Takeaways

The 17th and 18th centuries mark a critical shift from the creative, individualistic spirit of the Renaissance to a deep-seated desire for order, stability, and correctness in English. The central intellectual conflict was between rational science (represented by the Royal Society) and the perceived "ranting" of religious Enthusiasts, which fueled a demand for plain, precise prose. The 18th-century Augustan Age sought to fix and standardize English through grammar rules, viewing variation as corruption, but this effort fundamentally misunderstood that change is an inevitable feature of any living language. Despite the ambitions of figures like Swift, Pope, and Johnson to "fix" English permanently, contemporaries like Howell and the author of Vindex Anglicus recognized the unavoidable nature of linguistic change. The era's mistaken goals of polishing and arresting language growth would be critically re-evaluated in subsequent periods of English language history.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What were the two major political events that created instability in 17th-century England?
2. What label was given to radical Non-conformists, and what was the Royal Society's argument about their language?
3. Why did 18th-century thinkers believe English grammar was a problem, and what was their ideal of "correctness"?
4. Name three specific "corruptions" that Swift criticized in the English language of his time.
5. What did Swift, Waller, Bacon, and Pope all believe was possible regarding the English language, and what opposing view did James Howell express?

📘 Lecture 27 — History of English from 1650 to 1800- Part II

📖 Overview: This lecture traces the movement to standardize, refine, and fix the English language during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, inspired by the examples of Italy and France. It examines the proposals for an English Academy, the objections it faced, and culminates in the monumental achievement of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language in 1755.

🗂️ Topics Covered

This lecture covers the influence of the Italian Accademia della Crusca and the French Academy on English linguistic aspirations; the movement to establish an English Academy, including the Royal Society committee and Swift's famous Proposal; growing objections to an academy on philosophical, political, and practical grounds; and finally, the publication of Johnson's Dictionary as a milestone that effectively ended the academy movement while fixing the language.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 131: In the Footsteps of Italy and France

England faced a threefold problem: standardizing, refining, and fixing the English language. Looking for models, England turned to Italy and France, where academies had been entrusted with the destiny of their languages.

In Italy, the Accademia della Crusca was founded in 1582 with the object of purifying the Italian language. It published a dictionary in 1612, which provoked controversy. The third edition (1691) was about 3 volumes, while the fourth edition (1729–1738) was about 6 volumes. This was taken as an impressive example.

An even more effective precedent was furnished by France. In 1635, Cardinal Richelieu offered a royal charter to a small group of men who had been meeting weekly to talk about books and literature. The original group had only six or eight members; maximum membership was set at forty. It was named the French Academy.

🔑 Definition — French Academy: An officially sanctioned body established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635 to give definite rules to the French language and render it pure, eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and sciences.

Major Aim of the French Academy: The principal function was "to labor with all possible care and diligence to give definite rules to our language, and to render it pure, eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and sciences." Three major aims were:

1. To cleanse the language of impurities, both in writing and spoken language
2. To establish a certain usage of words
3. To compile a dictionary, a grammar, a rhetoric, and a treatise on the art of poetry

The dictionary was the most important project. Work proceeded slowly, and it appeared in 1694. Thus, while England continued to lament the lack of an adequate dictionary, Italy and France both had apparently achieved this object through the agency of academies.

💡 Why this matters: The success of continental academies created pressure and a model for English scholars who desired similar linguistic authority for their own language.

Topic – 132: An English Academy

The vital incentive to establish an academy in England came from the example of France and Italy. The suggestion occurs early in the seventeenth century; learned societies had been known in England from 1572. With the Restoration, discussion of an English Academy became much more frequent.

In the very year Charles II was restored to the throne (1660), a volume titled New Atlantis...Continued by R. H. Esquire pictured an academy "to purifie our Native Language from Barbarism or Solecism, to the height of Eloquence, by regulating the terms and phrases thereof into constant use of the most significant words."

Shortly thereafter, the idea received support from several influential persons, notably from Dryden and John Evelyn. In the dedication of The Rival Ladies (1664), Dryden says: "I am Sorry, that (speaking so noble a Language as we do) we have not a more certain Measure of it, as they have in France, where they have an Academy erected for the purpose."

A few months later, the Royal Society (founded in 1662) took a step. In December 1664, it adopted a resolution stating there should be a committee for improving the English language, particularly for philosophic purposes. The committee had twenty-two members including Dryden, Evelyn, Sprat, and Waller.

Evelyn proposed the compilation of a grammar and some reform of the spelling, particularly leaving out superfluous letters. This might be followed by a "Lexicon or collection of all the pure English words by themselves" with their prime, certain, and natural signification. He further suggested collections of technical words, "exotic" words, dialect expressions, and archaic words that might be revived. Finally, translations might be made of the best Greek and Latin literature as models of elegance and style.

John Dryden was the moving spirit in this gesture of the Royal Society. He was not a pioneer in suggesting the creation of an English Academy but the most consistent advocate. However, at the end of the century, the idea was clearly in the air. In 1697, Defoe in his Essay upon Projects devoted one article to the subject of academies.

💡 Why this matters: The Royal Society's committee represented the first official institutional step toward an English Academy, though it ultimately failed to produce lasting results.

Topic – 133: Swift's Proposal

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, grounds had been prepared and time was ripe for an authoritative plan for an academy. With the example of Richelieu and the French Academy doubtless in his mind, Swift addressed a letter in 1712 to the Earl of Oxford, Lord Treasurer of England. It was published under the title A Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue.

After the usual formalities, Swift launches an attack against the innovations he had objected to in his paper, the Tatler, two years before. The remedy he offered was that a free judicious choice should be made of such persons as are generally allowed to be best qualified, without any regard to quality, party, or profession.

The work of this group, as Swift conceives it, is described: "The persons who are to undertake this work will have the example of the French before them to imitate, where these have proceeded right, and to avoid their mistakes." He further added: "Besides the grammar-part, wherein we are allowed to be very defective, they will observe many gross improprieties... They will find many words that deserve to be utterly thrown out of our language, many more to be corrected, and perhaps not a few long since antiquated, which ought to be restored on account of their energy and sound."

The publication of Swift's Proposal marks the culmination of the movement for an English Academy. Swift's proposal was objected to and opposed by several people, mainly on political grounds. John Oldmixon published Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to the Earl of Oxford, about the English Tongue — a violent attack with political motives. He said: "I should rejoice with him, if a way could be found out to fix our Language forever... But such a thing is impossible." Swift's proposal was not followed up properly and no serious effort was made to accomplish the purpose.

💡 Why this matters: Swift's Proposal represents the high-water mark of the academy movement; its failure demonstrated the political divisions and philosophical skepticism that ultimately doomed the project.

Topic – 134: Objection to Academy

The idea of establishing an academy died hard. The 18th century showed a growing skepticism. The early enthusiasm was replaced with doubts.

Dr. Johnson asserted in the Preface to his Dictionary (1755): "Those who have been persuaded to think well of my design, require that it should fix our language, and put a stop to those alterations which time and chance have hitherto been suffered to make in it without opposition... With this consequence I will confess that I flattered myself for a while; but now begin to fear that I have indulged expectation which neither reason nor experience can justify."

He compared fixing language to the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years: "When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one from another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years." He noted that "the French language has visibly changed under the inspection of the academy."

Another ground for objection was moved by a spirit of personal liberty in the use of language. A policy of no interference appealed to English speakers. After the publication of Johnson's Dictionary, advocacy of an academy becomes less frequent.

🔑 Definition — Objections to an English Academy: Philosophical arguments against fixing language (language naturally changes, as Johnson argued), political opposition (Swift's proposal was attacked on political grounds), and the English spirit of personal liberty that resisted authoritative linguistic control.

Topic – 135: Johnson's Dictionary — A Milestone

The publication of A Dictionary of the English Language, by Samuel Johnson, A.M. in 1755, in two folio volumes, was hailed as a great achievement. It was justly so regarded. It was the work of one man laboring almost without assistance. It was done in a short space of seven years only.

Defects: Judged by modern standards, it was painfully inadequate. Its etymologies are often ludicrous. It is marred in places by prejudice. It includes a host of words with a very questionable right to be regarded as belonging to the language.

Strengths: It exhibited the English vocabulary much more fully than had ever been done before. It offered a spelling, fixed, even if sometimes badly, that could be accepted as standard. It supplied thousands of quotations illustrating the use of words. Johnson himself remarked in his preface that for instances where his own explanation is inadequate, "the sense may easily be collected entire from the examples."

Johnson states in his preface: "Every language has its anomalies, which, though inconvenient... must be tolerated among the imperfections of human things... but every language has likewise its improprieties and absurdities, which it is the duty of the lexicographer to correct or proscribe."

He sums up the chief intent: "The chief intent of it is to preserve the purity, and ascertain the meaning of our English idiom." The dictionary would ensure:

• The pronunciation of the language may be fixed
• Its attainment facilitated
• Its purity preserved
• Its use ascertained
• Its duration lengthened

In 1756, Sheridan wrote: "If our language should ever be fixed, he must be considered by all posterity as the founder, and his dictionary as the corner stone."

💡 Why this matters: Johnson's Dictionary effectively achieved what the proposed academy could not — it fixed English spelling, illustrated usage through quotations, and became the authoritative reference for the language, serving as "the corner stone" of English lexicography.

⭐ Key Takeaways

Johnson's Dictionary of 1755 stands as the crowning achievement of the long movement to fix and standardize English. The lecture traces how England looked to Italy's Accademia della Crusca and France's Academy as models, leading to proposals by Dryden, Evelyn, and finally Swift for an English Academy. However, philosophical objections (especially from Johnson himself, who compared fixing language to seeking an elixir of immortality), political opposition, and the English spirit of personal liberty prevented an academy from being established. Johnson's single-handed compilation in seven years, despite its defects in etymology and occasional prejudice, provided the fixed spelling, standardized usage, and authoritative quotations that the academy movement had sought, making further advocacy for an academy unnecessary.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What were the three major aims of the French Academy as established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635?

2. Who were the two most influential early advocates of an English Academy in the 1660s, and what specific contributions did each make to the movement?

3. What was the title of Swift's 1712 publication proposing an English Academy, and why did his proposal ultimately fail?

4. According to Dr. Johnson in the Preface to his Dictionary, why is it impossible to permanently "fix" a language?

5. What were the three major strengths of Johnson's Dictionary that made it a milestone in English linguistic history?

📘 Lecture 28 — History of English from 1650 to 1800- Part III

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the prescriptive grammar movement of the 18th century, focusing on the grammarians who sought to codify and regulate English syntax. It explores their aims, methods, and the lasting impact of their work on modern English usage, while also highlighting the limitations of their approach, particularly their disregard for natural language change.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers the emergence of 18th-century grammarians who shifted focus from teaching foreigners to treating English grammar as a subject worthy of study. It discusses the goals of these grammarians, including codifying rules and settling disputed usage, and details specific prescriptive rules such as those for lie/lay, case after than, the gerund, and the double negative. Finally, it addresses the serious limitations of prescriptive grammar, including the ignorance of linguistic change, and the misguided attempts to reform vocabulary, with examples from Swift, Harris, and Campbell.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 136: The 18th Century Grammarians

The lecture begins by noting that what Dr. Johnson did for vocabulary, 18th-century grammarians attempted for syntax. While English grammar books existed in the 16th and 17th centuries (by authors like Ben Jonson and Milton), they were primarily for teaching foreigners or studying Latin. Only in the 18th century was English grammar considered a subject worthy of study in itself. William Loughton’s Practical Grammar of the English Tongue (1734) was notable for opposing the forcing of English into Latin rules, even discarding terms like noun and verb for names and affirmations. However, most compilers, having knowledge of classical languages, tried to keep traditional concepts, which was ill-fitting for an analytic language like English. The decade beginning in 1760 witnessed a striking outburst of interest, with many books written by men with no special qualifications, indicating that questions of grammar and usage had become a matter of popular interest.

Topic – 137: Confusion and Issues Related to Division in Stages

This topic outlines the goals of 18th-century linguistic scholarship, which varied from author to author but generally followed a prescriptive tradition of grammar, not considering usage. The grammarians' aims were to: 1) codify the principles of the language and reduce it to rule, 2) settle disputed points and decide cases of divided usage, and 3) point out common errors to correct and improve the language. All three aims were pursued concurrently. The grammarians became lawgivers who were not content to record facts. They pronounced judgments, abhorred uncertainty, and made choices. Once a question was decided, all contrary usage was condemned. Robert Lowth stated that the principal design of a grammar was to teach us to express ourselves with propriety and to enable us to judge whether a phrase or construction is right or not, by laying down rules and pointing out what is wrong.

💡 Why this matters: This prescriptive mindset established the idea that there is a single, "correct" way to use English, a view that persists in many style guides and classrooms today.

Topic – 138: The Beginnings of Prescriptive Grammar

To prescribe and to proscribe were coordinate aims of the grammarians. Many of today’s conventions were first stated in this period. The prescriptive distinction between the verbs lie (to recline) and lay (to place) was first made in the second half of the 18th century; before that, intransitive lay was not considered a solecism. The expressions had rather and had better were condemned by Johnson, Lowth, and Campbell. Another disputed matter was the proper case after than and as. Lowth’s view, accepted today, is that the pronoun is determined by the construction to be supplied or understood. For example, "He is older than she" (understood: "than she is") and "He likes you better than me" (two possible meanings). A puzzling question concerned the case before the gerund (e.g., "I don't like him doing that" vs. "his doing that"). While Harris and Lowth opposed the possessive his, Noah Webster held it was the genuine English idiom, a view now widely held. Finally, the 18th century is responsible for the condemnation of the double negative. Lowth stated the rule: "Two negatives in English destroy one another, or are equivalent to an affirmative," thus banishing a useful idiom from polite speech.

🔑 Definition — Prescriptive Grammar: A grammar that lays down rules for what is considered correct, rather than describing how language is actually used.

📌 Example: The rule against the double negative, as stated by Lowth, transformed the phrase "I didn't see nothing" from a common emphatic negative into a grammatically incorrect statement in formal English.

Topic – 139: Problems of Prescriptive Grammar

While acknowledging the results of the 18th-century grammarians, it is necessary to emphasize their serious limitations. Their greatest weakness was that they did not recognize the importance of usage. They refused to acknowledge that changes in language are impulsive and unreasonable. They approached most questions through logic and imposed authority, attempting to legislate one construction into use and another out of use, with no recognition for the legitimacy of divided usage. Noah Webster criticized them for refusing to base their statements on current use, which contributed to creating and perpetuating differences between the written and spoken language. The root cause of this was ignorance of the processes of linguistic change. The historical study of English was still in its infancy, and they did not realize the importance of the materials that were rapidly becoming available.

Topic – 140: Attempts to Reform Vocabulary

Many weaknesses characterized the attempts to reform vocabulary. Everyone felt competent; everyone prescribed and proscribed. Jonathan Swift lamented that he had tried to stop the progress of words like Mobb and Banter but had been borne down by numbers. George Harris objected to expressions such as "chaulking out a way" and "driving a bargain." An author named "Launcelot Temple" attacked words like encroach, inculcate, purport, and subject-matter, calling the last one "disgusting and detestable." Even the critic George Campbell, who warned against going too far in refining, had his own list of words to be banned, including unto, until, selfsame, oftentimes, and wherewith, which he objected to for having a pleonastic appearance (using more words than necessary). Overall, this individual objection to particular expressions was a misguided effort and an interference with the natural course of linguistic history.

🔑 Definition — Pleonastic: The use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning, e.g., "selfsame" or "oftentimes."

⭐ Key Takeaways

The 18th century marked a decisive shift towards prescriptive grammar, where authorities like Lowth and Johnson sought to codify, regulate, and "perfect" the English language by imposing logical rules. This era is directly responsible for many of the grammar rules we learn today, including the distinction between lie and lay, the condemnation of the double negative, and the case of pronouns after than. However, the grammarians' greatest flaw was their ignorance of linguistic change and their refusal to accept the primacy of actual usage as the driver of language. Their prescriptive approach created a lasting gap between written and spoken English, and their attempts to reform vocabulary were often arbitrary and ultimately unsuccessful, interfering with the natural evolution of the language.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What was the main difference between 16th/17th-century English grammars and those of the 18th century?
2. What were the three main aims of the 18th-century prescriptive grammarians?
3. According to Lowth, what is the rule for the case of a pronoun after the word than?
4. What rule did the 18th century establish regarding the double negative, and who is credited with stating it?
5. What was the greatest weakness of the 18th-century grammarians, according to Noah Webster?

📘 Lecture 29 — History of English from 1650 to 1800- Part IV

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the linguistic landscape of English between 1650 and 1800, focusing on objections to foreign borrowings, the expansion of the British Empire, and key grammatical developments. It explores how English was shaped by concerns over French influence, colonial expansion, and the rise of new verb forms like the progressive passive. Understanding this period is crucial for grasping the foundations of modern English grammar and its global spread.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers five main topics: objections to foreign borrowings and the influence of French; the expansion of the British Empire and its impact on English through borrowings from Mexico, Cuba, the West Indies, Brazil, South America, and India; the development of progressive verb forms; the emergence of the progressive passive; and a summary of key characteristics of the period from 1650 to 1800, including the Augustan Age's search for order and the push for language regulation.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 141: Objections to Foreign Borrowings

There were fears that English was being ruined by foreign words, especially French. Defoe observed that an Englishman is “always borrowing other men’s language” and called the use of foreign words “an intolerable grievance.” Dryden similarly disapproved of mixing English with French, calling it “a sophistication of language, not an improvement of it.”

French was at the height of its prestige, used at almost every court in Europe. Knowledge of French among upper classes in England was general, yet the number of French words admitted to English was not unusually large. Many did not win permanent acceptance, but those retained are very useful.

🔑 Definition — foreign borrowings: Words taken from another language and incorporated into English. 📌 Example: Boulevard, canteen, cartoon, champagne, cohesion, patrol, publicity, routine, syndicate — words we could ill afford to lose.

Topic – 142: Expansion of the British Empire: Impact

The foundations for the wide extension of English globally were laid during this period. The British Empire was a product of circumstances and chance, not a planned program. England entered late in the race for colonial territory after the voyages of Columbus (1492) and Vasco de Gama (1498). The English settlements at Jamestown and Plymouth began colonization in North America. The East India Company was founded in 1600, establishing settlements at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta.

Borrowings from various regions include:

• Mexican words: chili, chocolate, tomato
• Cuba and West Indies: barbecue, hammock, hurricane, maize, potato, tobacco
• Brazil and South America: poncho, tapioca
• India: bangle, bungalow, cashmere, china, coolie, cot, curry, jungle, jute, loot, mandarin, nirvana, polo, punch, rajah, rupee, sepoy, thug, toddy, tom-tom, verandah
• Kangaroo is an interesting example of a native word that passed into universal use.

💡 Why this matters: The British Empire's expansion directly enriched English vocabulary with words from diverse cultures and continents.

Topic – 143: Progressive Verb Forms

One characteristic development in English grammar in the eighteenth century is regarding progressive verb forms. Where French says "je chante" or German "ich singe," English may say: I sing, I do sing, or I am singing. Do-forms are emphatic forms, most important in negative and interrogative sentences (I don't sing, do you sing?). To be forms with the present participle are called progressive forms, indicating an action in progress at the time implied by the auxiliary.

In Old English, expressions like "he wæs lærende" (he was teaching) are occasionally found, usually in translations from Latin. In early Middle English, progressive forms are distinctly rare. Their number increases in the Middle English period, with the chief factor being the use of the participle as a noun governed by the preposition on (he burst out on laughing → he burst out a-laughing → he burst out laughing). Similarly, he was on laughing became he was a-laughing and he was laughing.

📐 Formula: on + participle → a- + participle → modern progressive form 📌 Example: "He was on laughing" → "He was a-laughing" → "He was laughing"

Topic – 144: Progressive Passive

The extension of progressive forms to the passive (the house is being built) was a later development, belonging to the very end of the eighteenth century. Old English had no progressive passive. The construction the man is on building was capable of a passive significance, suggesting that the house is in process of construction. This use is found from the fourteenth century onward.

With some verbs the construction was impossible in a passive sense. At the end of the eighteenth century, we find the first traces of the modern expression the house is being built. Shakespeare uses a participial phrase: “which, being kept close, might move more grief to hide” (Hamlet). The earliest instance of the new construction is from the year 1769.

The new progressive passive is generally used only in the present and simple past tense (is or was being built). We cannot say the house has been being built for two years, and we avoid it will be being built next spring.

📌 Example: "The house is being built" (progressive passive, 1769 onward) 🔑 Definition — progressive passive: A verb construction combining being with a past participle to indicate an action in progress in the passive voice.

Topic – 145: Summary of Characteristics (1650-1800)

Supporters of rational science like Henry More, Thomas Sprat, John Wilkins, and Robert Boyle were disturbed by the 'ranting' language of Enthusiasts. Language should be geared for rational, prosaic discourse. The Royal Society served as coordinator and clearing house for English scientific endeavors.

The impact of the 18th century was that the first half is designated as the Augustan Age in England, characterized by a search for stability and a strong sense of order. Latin was looked upon as a model. For the first time, attention was turned to grammar. People like Swift opposed unchecked language change and creativity. From an English Academy, to objection to the Academy, to the publication in 1755 of A Dictionary of the English Language, this was a very happening period in terms of language development.

💡 Why this matters: The Augustan Age's push for language standardization directly led to the first comprehensive English dictionary and shaped modern attitudes toward grammar.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The period 1650-1800 saw English face significant concerns about foreign borrowings, particularly French, though most adopted words proved valuable. The expansion of the British Empire brought a rich influx of vocabulary from Mexico, Cuba, the West Indies, South America, and India. Grammatically, progressive verb forms became widespread, with the progressive passive (the house is being built) emerging at the end of the eighteenth century, illustrating that English is a living, evolving language. The Augustan Age's emphasis on order and regulation led to the first systematic attention to English grammar, culminating in Johnson's 1755 dictionary. The Royal Society's influence promoted rational, prosaic discourse, setting the stage for modern scientific English.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. Who were the main critics of foreign borrowings in English during this period, and what were their specific concerns?
2. Name at least five words borrowed from India during the expansion of the British Empire.
3. How did the progressive verb form evolve from Old English to the modern period? Provide the linguistic transformation.
4. What is the progressive passive, and when did it first appear in English?
5. What characterized the Augustan Age in terms of language development, and what major publication resulted from this period?

📘 Lecture 30 — Introduction to Modern English

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the major social, political, and technological forces that shaped the English language during the 19th and 20th centuries. It explores how scientific advancements, media development, world wars, and cultural changes contributed to the dramatic expansion of English vocabulary, demonstrating the intimate relationship between a civilization and its language.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers five main topics: influences on English in the 19th and 20th centuries including political events and social reforms; the impact of science on vocabulary across medicine, physics, psychology, and atomic energy; the influence of media including radio, film, television, and computers; the effects of World Wars I and II on military terminology; and how English serves as a reflection of modern times through vocabulary dating.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 146: Influences on the English in the 19th and 20th Century

The political and social events of the 19th and 20th centuries had great importance but were not revolutionary in their effect on language. British naval supremacy after Nelson's victory at Trafalgar (1805) , the Crimean War (1854–1856) , and contests with princes in India turned English attention eastward. Democratic reforms included reorganization of parliament, revision of the penal code, poor laws, restrictions on child labor, and industrial reforms. These changes decreased the distance between upper and lower classes and increased opportunities for the masses.

The establishment of the first cheap newspaper (1816) and cheap postage (1840), along with improved travel and communication, united different parts of Britain and spread the influence of standard speech. World wars and troubled periods left their mark on language. The growth of England's larger colonies, their eventual independence, and the development of the United States increased the significance of English. Developments in industry, increased public interest in sports and amusements, and improvements in living modes all contributed to vocabulary expansion.

💡 Why this matters: The last two centuries offer an excellent opportunity to observe the relationship between civilization and the language that expresses it.

Topic – 147: The Impact of Science

The most striking feature of modern civilization is the role science has played. From the Wright brothers' first powered and controlled airplane flight to astronauts landing on the moon, every field of science has required thousands of new terms in the last two centuries.

In medicine, new terms include anemia, appendicitis, arteriosclerosis, bronchitis, diphtheria, bacteriology, immunology, orthodontics, and the acronym AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Drugs include aspirin, iodine, insulin, morphine, and antibiotics such as penicillin, streptomycin, and sulfa compounds. Medical terms include adenoids, endocrine glands, hormones, stethoscope, CAT scan (computerized axial tomography), cholesterol, and polyunsaturated fats.

In electricity, words like dynamo, alternating current, and arc light have been in the language since about 1870. Physics introduced calorie, electron, ionization, ultraviolet rays, quantum mechanics, and relativity. The development of atomic energy and nuclear weapons gave us radioactive, hydrogen bomb, chain reaction, fallout, and meltdown. Recent terms include black holes, the big bang model, and superstrings. In psychology, we have schizophrenia, extrovert and introvert, behaviorism, inhibition, defense mechanism, bonding, and psychoanalysis.

🔑 Definition — Compounds: New word formations combining existing words, e.g., spacecraft, space shuttle, launch pad, countdown, blast off, flyby, command module.

💡 Why this matters: Consciously or unconsciously, we have become scientifically minded in the last few generations, and our vocabularies reflect this extension.

Topic – 148: The Impact of Media on Modern Language

Scientific discoveries influence language based on how much they enter community life, not necessarily their importance. Film, radio, and television illustrate this principle. Cinema vocabulary includes moving picture (1899), screen, reel, film, scenario, projector, close-up, fade-out, and 3-D. The word radio in the sense of a receiving station dates from about 1925, with television hinted at as early as 1904.

Common vocabulary of broadcasting: broadcast, aerial, antenna, lead-in, loudspeaker, stand by, solid-state. Words like announcer, reception, microphone, and transmitter acquired special meanings. Abbreviations: FM (frequency modulation), AM (amplitude modulation), Cable TV, teleprompter, videotape, VCR, and DVD.

The first electronic digital computers (World War II era) introduced several terms in general use. New meanings emerged for program, language, memory, and hardware. Widespread computer manufacturing during the 1980s brought PC (personal computer), RAM (random-access memory), ROM (read-only memory), DOS (disk operating system), microprocessor, byte, cursor, modem, software, hacker, hard-wired, download. New meanings also appeared for read, write, mouse, terminal, chip, network, workstation, windows, and virus.

Topic – 149: The World Wars and Their Impact on English

World War I brought many words into English between 1914 and 1918 as direct consequences of new warfare methods. Military terms include air raid, antiaircraft gun, tank, blimp, gas mask, and liaison officer. Camouflage was borrowed from French, where it had formerly been a scene-painter's term, but caught the popular fancy.

Old words, new uses:

• Sector — formerly a specific portion of the fighting line
• Barrage — originally an artificial barrier like a dam in a river

From limited circulation to general use:

• Hand grenade goes back to 1661
• Dugout, machine gun, no man's land

World War II was less productive of memorable words but more productive of memorable songs. Air raid-related expressions include alert (air-raid warning), blackout, blitz (German Blitzkrieg, literally 'lightning war'), blockbuster, dive-bombing, evacuate, air-raid shelter.

New verbs or verbs with new significance:

• To spearhead an attack
• To mop up
• To appease
• Commando — a word going back to the Boer War

💡 Why this matters: Overall, the world wars contributed significantly to English vocabulary.

Topic – 150: English: A Reflection of Modern Times

Words are symbols by which people express ideas, and words designate what a culture knows. The date of a word means the date of the object, experience, or observation it represents. Early nineteenth century horsepower indicated mechanical power measured in familiar terms. The appearance of railway, locomotive, turntable around 1835 tells us steam railways were then coming in. In 1839, photograph and photography first appear, followed by camera, film, enlargement, emulsion, focus, shutter, light meter.

Concrete in the sense of crushed stone and cement dates from 1834, but reinforced concrete is a twentieth-century expression. In the last quarter of the 19th century, an interesting story of progress is told by: typewriter, telephone, apartment house, drop-forging, motorcycle, feminist, fundamentalist. About 1910: postimpressionist in art and Freudian in psychology. Intelligentsia is considered a designation for the class to which superior culture is attributed.

💡 Why this matters: This process of addition of new words will always continue.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The most critical thing to remember from this lecture is that the 19th and 20th centuries witnessed an unprecedented expansion of English vocabulary driven by science, technology, media, and global conflict. Scientific fields like medicine, physics, psychology, and atomic energy each contributed specialized terminology that entered everyday usage. Media inventions from film and radio to computers and the internet created entirely new lexical fields with abbreviations and compound words. World Wars I and II introduced both military terminology and transformed existing words with new meanings. Ultimately, the date of a word reflects the date of the object or concept it represents, making English a living historical record of modern civilization's development.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What political and social reforms in 19th-century Britain helped spread standard speech, and what role did cheap newspapers and postage play?

2. List five medical terms and five physics terms that entered English in the 19th and 20th centuries, and explain what scientific advances they represent.

3. What is the difference between how World War I and World War II contributed to English vocabulary, and provide three examples of words from each war?

4. How did the invention of computers in the 1980s affect English vocabulary? Give at least five terms with their full forms or meanings.

5. Explain the principle that "the date of a word means the date of the object" using examples from photography, railways, and reinforced concrete.

📘 Lecture 31 — STANDARDIZATION OF ENGLISH IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the significant developments in English during the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on the massive expansion of vocabulary through scientific and technological advances, the standardization of spelling and pronunciation, the evolving status of slang, the emergence of Received Pronunciation (RP) and regional accents, and the distinct features of Irish English. Understanding these developments is crucial for grasping how English became the global, standardized language it is today.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers five main topics: the creation and expansion of new vocabulary in Modern English through borrowing, coinage, and shortening; the standardization of spelling driven by printing and the changes in pronunciation including spelling pronunciations and the loss of /r/; the nature, history, and social role of slang; the issues surrounding Received Pronunciation (RP) and regional accents in the 19th and 20th centuries; and the history, features, and distinct characteristics of British and Irish English, particularly Hiberno-English.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 151: New Words in Modern English

This topic discusses the immense increase in vocabulary during the Modern English period. Scientists expanded the lexicon through several strategies. One method was taking existing words and giving them a scientific meaning, as chemists did with salt, botanists with fruit and pollen, and zoologists with parasite. Another strategy was borrowing words from other languages: from Latin came words like bacillus, corolla, sphagnum, and tibia; from Greek came acne and eczema; and from German, especially in chemistry and mineralogy, came cobalt, paraffin, and quartz. Scientific units were also created from the names of modern European scientists, such as coulomb (French), gauss and ohm (German), angstrom (Swedish), and volt (Italian).

An extremely common way to invent new words was by using Greek and Latin material. From Greek, words like anode, cathode, electrolysis, and electron were formed. From Latin elements, words such as accumulator, habitat, hibernate, invertebrate, and transliterate were created. Many scientific words combine both Greek and Latin morphemes, for example, biosphere, haemoglobin, and microspecies. The lecture also highlights the process of shortening words, which often started as colloquialisms. This includes cutting off the end of a word (e.g., cabriolet → cab, photograph → photo), successive phases of shortening (e.g., public house → public → pub; taximeter cab → taxi-cab → taxi), and cutting off the beginning of words (e.g., acute → cute, caravan → van, omnibus → bus). Cutting off the ending yields words like ad (advertisement), exam (examination), and gym (gymnasium).

Towards the end of the late modern period, blending became common, creating words like brunch (breakfast + lunch). These are sometimes called 'portmanteau words' , a term taken from Lewis Carroll. Examples include slithy (lithe + slimy) and mimsy (miserable + flimsy). Overall, there was a huge increase in the fund of words during this period.

🔑 Definition — Portmanteau word: A word formed by blending the sounds and meanings of two or more other words, e.g., brunch from breakfast and lunch. 📌 Example: Slithy is a portmanteau word from lithe and slimy.

Topic – 152: Standardization of Spelling & Changes in Pronunciation

The lecture uses the 18th-century writer Addison as an example of good style, noting that his spelling is almost identical with modern usage, with only minor differences like carry'd and publick. While in Middle English and Early Modern English there was no standard spelling, varying from writer to writer and even within a single writer's work, a powerful force for standardization was the introduction of printing. By the end of the early modern period, spelling had become standardized in printed books, though variation persisted in people's private writings. One result of spelling inconsistencies is the prevalence of spelling pronunciations, which occurred with universal education and the wide dissemination of new words from books. For example, schedule began with an /s-/ sound and was commonly spelt sedule or cedul; the spelling with sch from the mid-seventeenth century led to the present-day pronunciations /∫-/ and /sk-/.

In the Late Modern Period, perhaps the most important change in pronunciation has been the disappearance of /r/ before consonants and before a pause. Formerly, the /r/ was always pronounced in words like barn, person, and father. Today in England, /r/ is never pronounced in words like barn and person, but it is pronounced in words like father only if it occurs before a vowel (e.g., 'father and mother').

🔑 Definition — Spelling pronunciation: The pronunciation of a word based on its spelling rather than its traditional, historically established pronunciation, e.g., the /∫-/ pronunciation of schedule. 📌 Example: The word schedule, which began with an /s-/ sound, eventually came to be pronounced with /∫-/ or /sk-/ due to its spelling with sch.

Topic – 153: Slang in the 19th and 20th Centuries

The lecture describes slang as a peculiar kind of vagabond language that hangs on the outskirts of legitimate speech but continually forces its way into the most respectable community. The 19th century was significant for the growth of a more objective and scientific attitude towards slang. The word slang does not occur in Johnson’s Dictionary, and Webster in 1828 defined it as 'low, vulgar, unmeaning language.' However, by 1911, the Oxford Dictionary defined slang as 'Language of a highly colloquial type, below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words, or of current words employed in some special sense.' This shows a shift from being 'unmeaning language' to language used in a 'special sense.' The lecture notes that what is slang today may have been in good use yesterday and may be accepted in the standard speech of tomorrow. For instance, the expression what on earth is idiomatic to us, but De Quincey condemned it as slang. The word row (meaning a disturbance) was slang in the 18th century, and words like boom, slump, crank, and fad were once slang. Slang results from an instinctive desire for freshness and novelty of expression. It is sometimes difficult to define the precise quality that makes an expression slang; it is often not in the word itself but in the sense in which it is used. For example, put down is proper when speaking of soldiers who put down a rebellion, but it is slang when referring to a remark that put someone down.

🔑 Definition — Slang: Language of a highly colloquial type, below the level of standard educated speech, consisting of either new words or current words employed in some special sense. 📌 Example: The word row meaning a disturbance was considered slang in the 18th century, showing how the status of words can change over time.

Topic – 154: Issues of Register and Accent

This topic discusses Received Pronunciation (RP) and regional accents. A non-regional accent based on the speech of the great public schools had been accepted as a standard in England for well over a century. However, RP has lost some of its prestige as people educated at public schools have lost their monopoly of power and education. Today, the majority of university students and most school teachers do not use RP but an educated regional accent, so the influence of schools is toward this rather than toward RP. RP now is the accent usually taught to foreigners learning British English. There has been a rise in the prestige of all national and regional accents in Britain. Very respected broadcasters on the BBC now have educated Welsh and Scottish accents. While there is still considerable prejudice against 'broad' regional accents, what are popularly known as 'soft' accents are now in many contexts more acceptable than RP.

🔑 Definition — Received Pronunciation (RP): A non-regional, prestige accent of British English, historically based on the speech of the great public schools, but now losing some of its dominance.

Topic – 155: British and Irish English

This topic covers the history and features of Irish English (also known as Hiberno-English). Ireland is the second largest island of the British Isles, politically divided between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Irish English has its origin in 1169 with the Norman invasion, but there was competition between three languages: English, French, and Irish. The loss of French appeared to enhance the status of Irish rather than English, at least until the 17th century. Many present-day features of Irish English appear in the Wexford dialects. In early Modern Irish, the use of after as a perfective marker is extensive, as in the example: I'm after missing the bus (meaning I have missed the bus). Irish dialects are typically more conservative than those on the mainland. In terms of syntax, Irish dialects make rather more use of do-periphrasis than elsewhere, for example: They does be lonesome by night, the priest does, surely (Filppula, 1999).

Irish dialect stories make use of distinctive spellings to represent pronunciation, such as tay (tea), desaive (deceive), foine (fine), projuce (produce), fisht (fist), butther (butter), and thrue (true). A notable feature is the influence of the Irish prepositional system upon Hiberno-English, specifically the use of with instead of for meaning 'for the duration of': He's dead now with many a year; He didn't come back with twenty-eight years.

🔑 Definition — Hiberno-English: The variety of English spoken in Ireland, which has distinct features in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, heavily influenced by the Irish language and historical developments. 📌 Example: The use of after as a perfective marker in Hiberno-English: "I'm after missing the bus" means "I have missed the bus."

⭐ Key Takeaways

The 19th and 20th centuries saw an immense expansion of English vocabulary through scientific coinage from Greek and Latin, borrowing from other languages, and processes like shortening and blending. Standardization of spelling, driven by printing, became nearly complete by the end of the early modern period, while pronunciation changes like spelling pronunciations and the loss of /r/ before consonants occurred. Slang, though once considered low and vulgar, became more accepted as a legitimate part of language, reflecting a desire for novelty, with many formerly slang words entering standard speech. Received Pronunciation (RP) lost some of its prestige as regional accents gained acceptance in education and broadcasting. Finally, Irish English (Hiberno-English) developed distinct pronunciation and grammatical features, such as the after perfective and do-periphrasis, influenced by the Irish language.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What are four strategies or techniques used to create new vocabulary in Modern English?
2. What is a "spelling pronunciation," and what example from the lecture illustrates this phenomenon?
3. How did the definition of "slang" change from Webster's 1828 dictionary to the 1911 Oxford Dictionary?
4. What has been the most important change in pronunciation in the Late Modern Period, and what are the conditions for its occurrence?
5. What is the unique use of the word "after" in Irish English (Hiberno-English), and what does it express?

📘 Lecture 32 — 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY ENGLISH: TENDENCIES

📖 Overview: This lecture explores the global expansion and diversification of English in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on the development of world varieties, pidgins, and creoles. It also examines the monumental creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, key grammatical tendencies like verb-adverb combinations, and a summary of the era's linguistic characteristics.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers the worldwide spread of English and its regional variations, the definitions and examples of pidgins and creoles, the history and aims of the Oxford English Dictionary, grammatical tendencies such as the loss of inflections and the rise of the get passive, the extensive development of verb-adverb combinations, and a final summary of the characteristics of 19th and 20th-century English.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 156: English Worldwide

Today, English is not just the language of the British; it has a world-wide currency. In various parts of the former British Empire, such as the United States, Australia, Africa, South Asia, and Canada, the English language has developed differences that distinguish it from the language of England. These regional varieties have peculiarities of pronunciation and vocabulary resulting from separation by time and space, imperfect learning, contact with foreign tongues, and differences in material civilization.

Topic – 157: Pidgins and Creoles

There are numerous pidgins and creoles in the world today, with over two hundred in existence. They are based on many different languages, including Swahili, Arabic, Malay, and Japanese.

🔑 Definition — Pidgin: An auxiliary language used primarily for trade between groups that have no common language. It arises when two or more languages are in contact, forming a simplified version of the dominant language with influence from the other(s). This restricted type can eventually fulfill all language functions and may even become an official language. For example, Papua New Guinea’s pidgin, called Tok Pisin, is formally acknowledged in the country’s constitution.

When a pidgin becomes the first language of a group, it becomes a creole. There are English-based creoles in the Caribbean (e.g., Barbados and Jamaica), and in the United States, the creole called Gullah is spoken by about a quarter of a million people along the south-eastern coastal areas. Pidgins and creoles often co-exist with standard varieties of the donor language, as seen in Jamaica where an English-based creole exists alongside Standard English. Approximately, there are more than nine million people who speak pidgin and creole languages worldwide, with about thirty to forty percent being English-based. The distinction between pidgins and creoles is not sharp, as a variety can be used by some as an auxiliary language and by others as a first language, especially in West Africa. A pidgin preserves minimal grammatical structures and reduces redundancy. The simplification is seen in both phonology and grammar, with a reduced number of phonemes, as in Jamaican Creole where many speakers use the same vowel in block and black.

💡 Why this matters: Pidgins and creoles demonstrate how languages evolve under contact conditions, creating new, rule-governed systems. They are not "broken" versions of a language but complete linguistic systems in their own right.

Topic – 158: The Oxford English Dictionary

In 1857, a committee was appointed by the Philological Society in London to collect words not in existing dictionaries, with a view to publishing a supplement. The committee consisted of Herbert Coleridge, Dean Trench, and F.J. Furnivall. A key outcome was Dean Trench's paper, "On Some Deficiencies in Our English Dictionaries," which led to a formal "Proposal for the Publication of a New English Dictionary by the Philological Society."

The project had two principal aims:

• To record every word that could be found in English from about the year 1000.
• To exhibit the history of each—its forms, spellings, uses, and meanings.

People volunteered as contributors, and the number grew. Before the last part of the dictionary was published, six million slips with quotations had been gathered. Its original name was A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED). In 1895, the title The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was added. The completed work consisted of ten large volumes, occupying 15,487 pages and treating 240,165 main words. Later, in 1933, a supplementary volume was published.

Topic – 159: Grammatical Tendencies- Verb-Adverb Combinations

Several factors affected grammatical tendencies, including the printing press, popular education, improvements in travel and communication, and social consciousness. Very few changes in grammatical forms occurred, though there was some "school-mastering" of the language. The substitution of you were for you was in the singular occurred around 1820, and it is I is now seldom heard. The subjunctive mood has largely disappeared except in conditions contrary to fact (if I were you). There is a tendency toward loss of inflection, noticeable in informal speech, such as the nonstandard he don't, which attempts to eliminate the third-person singular ending. Similarly, disregarding the objective case form whom in interrogatives (Who do you want?) illustrates the same impulse.

Additionally, a new grammatical convention emerged: the get passive (he got hurt), which is largely a nineteenth-century development, providing a dynamic alternative to the static he is hurt or the overly formal he became hurt.

🔑 Definition — Verb-Adverb Combinations: A tendency involving the extensive use of common verbs (often one syllable) combined with an adverb to create new meanings. Before the modern period, these combinations had a fairly literal sense (e.g., climb up, fall down). However, in modern times, a large number of figurative and idiomatic senses have emerged.

📐 Examples:

• Figurative: bring about (cause), catch on (comprehend), give out (become exhausted), put up with (tolerate), hold up (rob).
• Nouns from combinations: blowout, cave-in, holdup, runaway.
• With the adverb up: bring up, brace up, cough up, dig up, shut up, etc.
• Twenty common verbs (back, blow, break, bring, call, etc.) form 155 combinations with more than 600 distinct meanings or uses.

Topic – 160: Summary of Characteristics of the 19th and 20th Century English

The 19th and 20th centuries show a more enlightened and modern attitude toward linguistic questions than the immediate past, which was characterized by well-meaning but misguided individuals who hoped to remake language. These centuries are more tolerant of colloquial and regional forms. More changes occurred in vocabulary due to the influence of science, media, and technology, while there were fewer changes in grammar, leading to more stability. Overall, English achieved worldwide spread, and the key lesson is that knowledge must be coupled with tolerance, especially tolerance toward usage.

⭐ Key Takeaways

English in the 19th and 20th centuries became a global language with diverse regional varieties. Pidgins and creoles, like Tok Pisin and Gullah, are legitimate linguistic systems that emerge from language contact, with a pidgin being an auxiliary language and a creole becoming a first language. The Oxford English Dictionary was a monumental project aimed at recording every word in English from 1000 AD and tracing its history, based on millions of quotation slips. Grammatically, there was a tendency toward loss of inflection (e.g., he don't, who for whom) and the rise of new forms like the get passive. A major lexical and grammatical development was the explosion of verb-adverb combinations (e.g., put up with, catch on), which created hundreds of new idiomatic meanings and noun forms.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What is the difference between a pidgin and a creole?
2. What was the original name of the Oxford English Dictionary and what were its two principal aims?
3. Give three examples of figurative verb-adverb combinations and explain their meanings.
4. What does the nonstandard use "he don't" illustrate about grammatical tendencies in the 19th and 20th centuries?
5. Name three factors that caused more changes in vocabulary during this period.

📘 Lecture 33 — Expansion of the General Vocabulary in Today’s English

📖 Overview: This lecture explores how and why the English vocabulary continues to expand at a rapid rate in the modern era. It examines the major mechanisms of word formation—including borrowing, affixation, compounding, and conversion—that allow English to adapt to changing times, technologies, and cultural needs. Understanding these processes is essential for grasping the dynamic nature of English and its capacity for continuous growth.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers reasons for vocabulary expansion (changing times, inventions, technology, science, traveling, communication, media) and the specific mechanisms: loan words (primarily from Latin and French), affixation (using prefixes and suffixes), compounding (combining free morphemes, including blends), and conversion (shifting a word from one word class to another without changing its form). Examples illustrate each process, from historical borrowings to modern coinages like earworm, staycation, and binge-watch.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 161: Reasons of Expansion of Vocabulary Today

The expansion of the vocabulary is proceeding at a great rate in our time. Many new words continue to be coined from Greek and Latin morphemes, especially in medicine. Regarding how vocabulary expands, words may be: coined, not all coined, borrowed, root borrowed, given new meanings, blended, or chopped off. Regarding why vocabulary expands, the reasons include: changing times, the need of the times, inventions, technology, science, traveling, communication, and media. Some new words enter the general vocabulary, while others remain specialized.

Topic – 162: Expansion of Vocabulary: Loan Words

The main source of vocabulary expansion is borrowing, primarily loan words from Latin. In the early modern period, many words were also borrowed from other languages. The next largest source after Latin has been French. French loans include military words (such as bayonet) and words from the life-sciences (such as anatomy, muscle). Many French words were taken from the general vocabulary (e.g., docility, entrance, invite). There were a few words from Classical Greek, though most came via Latin or French. These tended to be learned words, including technical terms of literary criticism, rhetoric, and theology. Words probably borrowed directly from Greek include anathema, cosmos, larynx, and pathos. Overall, loan words have always been a great source of expansion of vocabulary.

Topic – 163: Expansion of Vocabulary: Affixation

Large numbers of loanwords entered the language in the early modern and modern periods, but words continued to be coined from existing English language-material by traditional methods, especially affixation. By far the commonest method of word-formation has been affixation—the coining of new words by using prefixes and suffixes. Most words thus formed are nouns or adjectives, with some adverbs and a few verbs. The ability to add affixes makes English extremely flexible. Examples of prefixes include com-, con-, de-, ex-, inter-, pre-, pro-, re-, sub-, un-. Examples of suffixes include -al, -ence, -er, -ment, -ness, -ship, -tion, -ate, -ed, -ize, -able, -ful, -ous, -ive, -ly, -y.

Affixation is a simple way to completely alter or subtly revise the meanings of existing words, create other parts of speech, or create completely new words from new roots. Very few rules are present in the addition of affixes in English. Anglo-Saxon affixes can be attached to Latin or Greek roots, or vice versa. For example: Incomprehensibility has the simple root -hen- (from Indo-European ghend- meaning "to grasp or seize") and affixes: in- (not), com- (with), pre- (before), -ible (capable), -ity (being).

The sheer variety and number of possible affixes can lead to confusion. There is no single standard method for something as basic as making a noun into an adjective (-able, -al, -ous, and -y are just some possibilities). Some affix additions are surprisingly recent. For example, Officialdom and boredom are products of the 20th century, and apolitical as the negation of political did not appear until 1952. Adding affixes remains the simplest and perhaps the commonest method of creating new words.

Topic – 164: Expansion of Vocabulary: Compounding

A considerable number of words are formed by compounding—the combination of two or more free morphemes. English allows the formation of compound words by compounding together shorter words (e.g., airport, seashore, fireplace, footwear, wristwatch, landmark, flowerpot). However, it is not taken to the extremes of German or Dutch. Compounds are nearly all nouns, and the commonest type is Noun + Noun (sheep-brand, waterdock). There are also types: Adjective + Noun (Frenchwoman, freshman) and Verb + Object (scrape-penny 'miser'). English may allow different meanings depending on the order of combination. For example: Houseboat/boathouse; Basketwork/workbasket; Casebook/bookcase.

Compounding has also led to blending:

• Motel (blends motor and hotel)
• Smog (blends smoke and fog)
• Chocoholic (blends chocolate and alcoholic)

Modern examples include:

• Earworm: A song or tune that, once heard, is stuck in your head. Use: 'That new Taylor Swift song is such an earworm!'
• Staycation: Spending your holiday in your hometown rather than traveling abroad. Use: 'I'm having a staycation this summer, as I'm trying to save money.'
• Webisode: An episode or series created exclusively for online viewing. Use: 'There's a new Breaking Bad webisode online, have you seen it?'
• Crowdfunding: Funding a project or business venture by asking a large number of people (typically online) to invest a small amount of money—usually via websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
• Handover: Originally political (gaining land or ownership), its modern usage is commonly in the workplace—the act of passing over control or responsibility to another person while off work on holiday or leaving a job. Use: 'I'll send my notes in a handover email so you can continue the project while I'm away.'
• Binge-watch: Watching multiple episodes of a TV show, one after another, in a single sitting. Use: 'I'm planning to binge-watch the entire series of Game of Thrones this weekend!'

Topic – 165: Expansion of Vocabulary: Conversion

Apart from affixation and compounding, the third reasonably common type of word-formation is conversion—the process by which one word is derived from another with no change of form. Conversion is changing from one use, function, or purpose to another. It may be defined as a process by which a word belonging to one word class is transferred to another word class without any concomitant change of form either in pronunciation or spelling. It is a highly prolific form with no restriction and a lot of freedom. Some scholars call it syntactic usage rather than word formation. Pyles and Algeo (1993) call it functional shift.

Major Types:

• Noun to verb
• Verb to noun
• Adjective to noun
• Adjective to verb

Noun to Verb: Refers to the formation of verbs from nouns (to bottle, to network, to commission, to bayonet, to gossip, to invoice).

Verb to Noun: (a call, a command, a guess, a spy)

Adjective to Verb: (to dirty, to empty, to wrong)

Adjective to Noun (Rare): (the poor, the rich, a daily, an ancient, a brisk)

💡 Why this matters: Words formed by affixation, compounding, and conversion are often ordinary everyday words or words to do with practical affairs. By contrast, Latin loanwords tend to be more formal and literary and often concern specialized fields like science, medicine, religion, classical culture, and the liberal arts.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The English vocabulary expands through four main mechanisms: borrowing (especially from Latin and French), affixation (adding prefixes and suffixes—the commonest method), compounding (combining free morphemes, including blends), and conversion (shifting word class without changing form). Affixation is highly flexible, with Anglo-Saxon affixes attaching freely to Latin/Greek roots. Compounding produces mostly nouns, while conversion is a prolific way to create new usages. Understanding these processes reveals how English continuously adapts to changing times, technologies, and cultural needs, creating both everyday words and specialized terminology.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What are the six ways vocabulary can expand (the "how" part), and what are the main reasons for expansion (the "why" part)?
2. Which language has been the largest source of loan words in English, and what kinds of words came from French?
3. What is affixation, and why is the word incomprehensibility a good example of this process?
4. How does compounding differ from blending, and provide two examples of each from modern English.
5. What is conversion (functional shift), and give one example each of noun-to-verb, verb-to-noun, and adjective-to-verb conversion.

📘 Lecture 34 — English as World Language

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the global status of English, tracing its expansion from a language confined to England and southern Scotland to a worldwide lingua franca spoken by approximately a quarter of the world's population. It explores the numbers and categories of English speakers (first, second, and foreign language), the concept of English as a lingua franca (ELF), and the divergent developments that have created multiple varieties of English across the globe.

🗂️ Topics Covered

This lecture covers the status of English in today's world, the number of speakers of English today categorized as first, second, and foreign language speakers, English as a mother tongue and its limitations for achieving global status, English as a lingua franca with its features and criticisms, and the divergent development in modern English including controversies over retaining English in former colonies, with examples of phonological, grammatical, and lexical differences between varieties.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 166: Status of English in Today’s World

Today, English is one of the major world languages, but this is a relatively recent phenomenon. For context, Shakespeare wrote for a speech community of only a few million, whose language was not valued elsewhere in Europe and was unknown to the rest of the world. Shakespeare's language was confined to England and southern Scotland, not yet penetrated into Ireland or Wales. The great expansion in the number of English speakers was first due to the growth of population in England itself. Estimates vary, but most agree there are over 400 million native speakers, with many more using it as a second or foreign language.

The method of its spread created many varieties of English. In North America, Australia, and New Zealand, dense settlement by English-language speakers outnumbered original inhabitants (Native Americans, Australian Aboriginals, Maoris). The settlers dominated them politically and economically, so native languages had hardly any influence on the settlers' language. In Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, there is little regional variation. In South Africa, according to the 2001 census, English was recorded as the language most often spoken at home for 8.2% of the population, though many more speak it as a second language.

Topic – 167: Number of Speakers of English Today

This topic discusses how to measure the popularity and importance of a language, examining speakers of English as:

• First language
• Second language
• Foreign language

First Language: Those who have learned English as a second language are also difficult to estimate. If we take a basic level of conversational ability as the criterion, with little command of specialized vocabulary, the figure is also some 400 million. Population growth in areas where English is a second language is about three times more than in areas where it is used as a first language.

💡 Why this matters: Second-language speakers of English will soon hugely exceed first-language speakers—a situation without precedent for an international language.

Topic – 168: English as a Mother Tongue

A language does not achieve genuine global status until it develops a special role recognized in every country. This role is most obvious in countries where it is spoken as a first language.

English as First Language: English is spoken as first language in USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, several Caribbean countries, and other territories. Today, English is the second or third most popular mother tongue with an estimated 350-400 million native speakers. Best recent estimates of first languages suggest: Mandarin Chinese has around 800-850 million native speakers, while English and Spanish both have about 330-350 million each. Hindi speakers number 180-200 million, Bengali 170-180 million, Arabic 150-220 million, Portuguese 150-180 million, Russian 140-160 million and Japanese roughly 120 million. However, no language has ever been spoken by more than a dozen or so countries as a mother tongue—so mother-tongue use by itself cannot give a language global status.

Then How?: It has to be taken up by other countries around the world through three-pronged development of first-language, second-language, and foreign-language use.

Thus, it is inevitable that a language eventually comes to be used by more people than any other language. English has now reached this stage. Its first language speakers are above 400 million. Approximately there are around 400 million second-language speakers. The British Council has estimated that roughly a billion people are learning English around the world at any one time. Excluding complete beginners, it would seem reasonable to take two-thirds of these as a guess with whom it would be possible to hold a reasonable conversation—say 600 million foreign-language speakers. The grand total was about 1,400 million—in round terms, a quarter of the world's population (just over 6,000 million in 2000). No other language is used so extensively—either numerically or with such geographical reach. So, the current status of English is determined by its role other than as mother tongue.

Topic – 169: English as a Lingua Franca

Lingua Franca is a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different. In the past, Arabic served as a lingua franca for the Islamic world from AD 733 to AD 1792, spread from the borders of China and Northern India through Central Asia, Persia, Asia Minor, and Middle East to North Africa. The term lingua franca was first coined at the beginning of the 17th century by the Italians, referring to a conglomeration of mostly Italian with a smattering of French, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Greek, and Arabic used primarily as the language of commerce. The term literally means 'Frankish language,' as 'Frank' was a common designation for all western Europeans since approximately the 12th century.

Today, the need for a common language or lingua franca is an old concept, but for the whole world it emerged strongly only in the twentieth century, and since the 1950s in particular. The chief international forum for political communication—the United Nations—dates only from 1945 with fifty-one member states. By 1960, this had risen to over eighty members. In 2003, there were 191 members—nearly four times as many as fifty years ago. The need for lingua francas is obvious, and pressure to find a single lingua franca is a consequence. The alternative of multi-way translation facilities is expensive and impracticable.

Where is it Used?: English as a lingua franca (ELF) serves as a useful heuristic in Europe, where a Spaniard, a Frenchman, and a German might all carry on a conversation in English. ELF also plays an important role in former Anglophone colonies such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, among many others.

How is it Used?: ELF differs from Standard English in a number of ways, with several documented overarching similarities and variances including:

• Variances in article usage (or no article usage at all)
• Variances in preposition usage
• Novel use of morphemes (such as importancy and smoothfully)

Criticism: While ELF is widespread and useful, some scholars and linguists have criticized its proliferation as a form of linguistic imperialism. Speakers of ELF may eventually speak both their native language and English imperfectly, leading to issues with effective communication. In spite of these criticisms, ELF continues to flourish in many countries, oftentimes enriching the language with colorful aphorisms and unique phrases.

Topic – 170: Divergent Development in Modern English

The development of so many varieties of English has produced problems and controversies, especially in former British colonies which became independent in the second half of the twentieth century. With independence came disputes over whether English should be retained as an official language or not, and if yes, whether to teach Standard British English or the local variety of English as a standard.

Various factors have played a part in these arguments: nationalist feeling, attachment to traditional culture, desire for advances in science and technology, and the conflicting needs for local and for international communication. During British colonial rule, Standard British English was the language of administration, and local departures from it were stigmatized as errors.

In India, after independence, the Hindi-speaking north favored making Hindi the official language, which was opposed by the south who spoke Dravidian languages, as this would give obvious economic and political advantages to northerners. In some former colonies, a mastery of English was the privilege of a dominant elite who supported its retention, while more radical and democratic forces pushed for replacement by one or more local languages. Many controversies have been fought out in the field of educational policy. There seems, at the moment, to be a trend in many countries towards continuing to accept English as an official or semi-official language.

Phonology: Different varieties of English can differ phonologically in three main ways. First, their phonological systems can differ—the inventory of phonemes may be different. Secondly, the realizations of the same phoneme can be different (pronounced differently). Thirdly, the distribution of phonemes can differ—different phonemes may be selected for the pronunciation of a given word. Also, there can be differences of stress and intonation.

Phonology: Outer-circle Varieties of English: Outer-circle varieties of English often differ considerably in phonological system from RP and General American. The number of phonemes is often much reduced. In many varieties of English in the outer circle, there is no difference between long and short vowels.

📌 Example: In one common form of Nigerian English, there is only one phoneme corresponding to RP /ɪ/ and /iː/, so that bid and bead are both /bid/; only one corresponding to /a/ and /ɑː/, so that hat and heart are both /hat/; only one corresponding to /ɒ/, /ʌ/ and /ɔː/, so that stock, stuck and stork are all /stɔk/; and only one corresponding to RP /ʊ/ and /uː/, so that look and Luke are both /luk/.

🔑 Definition — Outer-circle varieties: Varieties of English spoken in countries where English is not the native language but has an official or historical role, often characterized by reduced phonological systems compared to inner-circle varieties like RP and General American.

Grammar: There are only minor grammatical differences between the main standard forms of English.

📌 Example: American English differs from British English, but the differences are minor. Among past tenses of verbs, some American English has the forms dove, fit, and snuck (British dived, fitted, sneaked) and in a number of forms uses /-d/ where British English has /-t/ (for example, burned, learned, spelled, spilled), though the forms with /-d/ are increasingly found in British English. In some verbs, British English changes the stem vowel from /iː/ to /e/ in the past tense, whereas in American English it remains /i/ (such as dreamed, kneeled, leaped). An American often uses do have where a Briton is more likely to use have got ('Do you have the time?' vs. 'Have you got the time?').

Vocabulary: It is perhaps in vocabulary that we see the greatest divergences between the different varieties of English as a first language. This is because English expanded across the vast North American continent with new flora and fauna and different natural features from those of Europe, building up a new society and building up new vocabulary.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The most critical things to remember are that English achieved global status not through its mother-tongue speakers (approximately 350-400 million) but through its unprecedented expansion as a second and foreign language, with an estimated 1.4 billion speakers worldwide in 2000—roughly a quarter of the global population. English as a lingua franca (ELF) serves as a common language between speakers of different native languages, particularly in international forums like the UN and in former Anglophone colonies, though it has been criticized as linguistic imperialism. The divergent development of English has produced multiple varieties differing in phonology (often reduced phoneme inventories in outer-circle varieties like Nigerian English), grammar (minor differences between American and British English), and vocabulary (the greatest divergences). Finally, the retention of English in former colonies remains controversial, involving tensions between nationalist sentiment, traditional culture, and the practical needs for scientific advancement and international communication.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What was the estimated total number of English speakers worldwide in the year 2000, and what percentage of the world's population did this represent?
2. What are the three main ways in which different varieties of English can differ phonologically, according to the lecture?
3. In the example of Nigerian English phonology given in the lecture, which RP vowel distinctions are collapsed into single phonemes?
4. What is the literal meaning of the term "lingua franca," and what language first coined this term?
5. What were the two opposing positions in the post-independence language controversy in India regarding making Hindi the official language?

📘 Lecture 35 — Introduction to American English

📖 Overview: This lecture introduces American English as a distinct variety of the English language, tracing its historical development from British colonization to its modern forms. It covers the key features of American English including its dialects, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, explaining how these differ from British English and why this matters for understanding global English today.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers five main topics: an introduction to English in America and its general features; the linguistic variety and uniformity found in American dialects; the distinctive pronunciation patterns of General American English; grammatical differences between American and British English; and the creation and evolution of the American English vocabulary, including borrowings from Native American languages and other immigrant sources.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 171: English in America & its Features

American English (also called United States English, U.S. English, AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US) is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States, used as the common language by the federal government and considered the de facto language of the country. It has been given official status by 32 of the 50 state governments. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization of the Americas.

The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since then, American English has developed into new dialects, in some cases under the influence of West African and Native American languages, German, Dutch, Irish, Spanish, and other languages of immigrants. Any American or Canadian English accent perceived as free of noticeably local, ethnic, or cultural markers is popularly called 'General American English'.

Sociolinguist William Labov describes General American English as 'a fairly uniform broadcast standard in the mass media.' However, historical and present linguistic evidence does not support the notion of there being a mainstream Standard English of the United States. According to Labov, with the major exception of Southern American English, regional accents throughout the country are not yielding to this broadcast standard. On the contrary, the sound of American English continues to evolve, with some local accents disappearing, but several larger regional accents emerging.

Compared with English as spoken in England, North American English is more homogeneous and has remained relatively more conservative. North America has given the English lexicon many thousands of words, meanings, and phrases; several thousand are now used in English as spoken internationally. The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as the colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from the Native American languages.

From the 19th century onward, industrial and material innovations were the source of a massive stock of distinctive new words, phrases, and idioms in American English. Examples include the vocabulary of railroading, ranging from names of roads (from dirt roads and back roads to freeways and parkways) to road infrastructure (parking lot, overpass, and rest area).

💡 Why this matters: This topic establishes that American English is not simply a deviation from British English but a distinct variety that has evolved through contact with multiple languages and has its own internal diversity and historical conservatism.

Topic – 172: American Dialects: Linguistic Variety and Uniformity in America

The United States is a federal republic composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. This vast size contributes to significant linguistic variety. The key concepts are "Unity in Diversity" and "Diversity in Unity" : there exists a standard language alongside a variety of dialects.

Cultural and Ethnic American English Varieties include:

• African American Vernacular (Ebonics)
• Cajun Vernacular
• Hawaiian Pidgin
• Latino Vernacular Englishes
• Chicano English
• Miami English
• Pennsylvania Dutch English
• Yeshiva English

Regional and Local Dialects include:

• Eastern New England (including Boston, Rhode Island)
• Southeast Super region
• Mid Atlantic (including Baltimore, Philadelphia)
• Midland
• Hoi Toider
• New Orleans
• Southern
• New York City Northern
• Inland Northern
• Western Pennsylvania

💡 Why this matters: This topic demonstrates that despite a perception of uniformity, the United States contains rich dialect diversity shaped by cultural, ethnic, and regional factors.

Topic – 173: American English Pronunciation

General American English or Standard American English accent is typically found in the middle states and in the west. Studies on historical usage suggest that spoken American English did not simply deviate from British English but retained certain now-archaic features that contemporary British English has since lost.

Rhoticity (or r-fulness): General American accents are firmly rhotic, pronouncing the /r/ sound in all environments, including after vowels, such as in pearl, car, and court. In GA, the letter r is pronounced in all positions, but in RP (Received Pronunciation) , it is only pronounced before vowels (e.g., very, paragraph).

🔑 Definition — Rhoticity: The pronunciation of the /r/ sound in all positions within a word, including after vowels. GA is rhotic; RP is non-rhotic.

Wine-Whine Merger: The consonants spelled w and wh are usually pronounced the same; a separate phoneme /ʍ/ (wh) is present only in certain dialects. In RP, the vowels in pairs like cot/caught are distinct: [o] and [o:] respectively. However, in GA these vowels have merged in various ways. For example, in a southwestern American speech [a] is used in both cot and caught.

📐 Formula: GA Rhoticity Rule → /r/ is pronounced in all phonetic environments (e.g., car, court, pearl), unlike RP where it is only pronounced before vowels.

💡 Why this matters: Pronunciation differences, particularly rhoticity, are among the most noticeable distinguishing features between American and British English.

Topic – 174: American English Grammar

There are a few grammatical differences between American English (AE) and British English (BrE), though the number is less compared to vocabulary and pronunciation differences.

Collective Nouns: In AE, collective nouns (referring to a group of individuals) are treated as singular. Examples include: staff (a group of employees), band (a group of musicians), team (a group of athletes). An American would say, "The band is good." In British English, both singular and plural are possible: "The team are playing tonight" or "The team is playing tonight."

🔑 Definition — Collective Noun: A noun that refers to a group of individuals. In AE, they are typically singular; in BrE, they can be singular or plural.

Auxiliary Verbs: Verbs that help form a grammatical function by adding information about time, modality, and voice. The auxiliary verb shall is used in British English to express the future (e.g., "I shall go home now"), but Americans find shall formal and use "I will go home now" instead. In question form, a British person might say "Shall we go now?" while an American would say "Should we go now?" Americans express lack of obligation by saying "You do not need to come to work today," while British speakers drop the helping verb and contract not: "You needn't come to work today."

Past Tense Verbs: Americans tend to use the -ed ending while British use the -t ending for certain verbs:

• Dream, dreamed, dreamt
• Burn, burned, burnt
• Lean, leaned, leant

Past Participle: The most striking morphological difference between GA and British English is the use of the past participle form gotten in GA. This was the usual form in British English two centuries ago. Americans say "I have never gotten caught" while British say "I have never got caught." Americans tend to use the -en ending for some irregular verbs in the past participle form.

💡 Why this matters: While fewer in number, grammatical differences like collective noun agreement and past participle forms are systematic and reflect historical divergence between the two varieties.

Topic – 175: American English Vocabulary

There have never been any major linguistic differences between British and American English as such, and the last hundred years or so have seen an increasing similarity between them. This is partly due to ever-improving communication systems and partly due to the impact of American culture, notably through television and film. However, most of the differences between UK English and AmE are vocabulary differences.

American Lexicon: North America has given the English lexicon thousands of words and phrases; several thousand are now used in English as spoken internationally. The creation of an American lexicon started as soon as the colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from Native American languages. Examples include names such as opossum, raccoon, squash, and moose, as well as other Native American loanwords such as moccasin.

The languages of other colonizing nations also added to the American vocabulary:

• Cookie, stoop, pit from Dutch
• Kindergarten from German
• Barbeque from Spanish

From the 19th century onward, new words emerged from industrialization and commerce, such as bartender, patrolman, busboy, white-collar, boss, employee, department store, supermarket, thrift store, gift shop, drugstore, and gas station.

A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and were in everyday use in the United States dropped out in most varieties of British English. Terms such as fall ('autumn'), diaper ('nappy'), and candy ('sweets') are often regarded as Americanisms. Fall, for example, came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like 'fall of the leaf' and 'fall of the year.' While the term fall gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became a more common term in North America.

📌 Example: British = bonnet (front of a car); American = hood. British = holidays; American = vacation. Londoners = flats; New Yorkers = apartments. Gotten (past participle of get) is often considered an Americanism, but it came from BrE and still continues to be used in some areas.

💡 Why this matters: Vocabulary differences are the most numerous and noticeable distinctions between American and British English, with many American terms actually preserving older English forms that have since been lost in Britain.

⭐ Key Takeaways

American English is a distinct variety of English that developed from British colonization but has evolved with influences from Native American, West African, German, Dutch, Spanish, and other immigrant languages. Despite a perception of uniformity through a "General American" broadcast standard, the United States exhibits rich dialect diversity, including cultural varieties like African American Vernacular and regional dialects. Key distinguishing features include rhotic pronunciation (pronouncing /r/ in all positions), the use of "gotten" as a past participle, singular treatment of collective nouns, and a large vocabulary that includes both borrowings from other languages and preserved older English terms like "fall." The most numerous differences between American and British English are in vocabulary, though grammatical and pronunciation differences are also systematic and significant.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What is "General American English" and how does sociolinguist William Labov describe it?
2. Name at least four cultural or ethnic varieties of American English mentioned in the lecture.
3. What is rhoticity, and how does General American English differ from Received Pronunciation regarding /r/ pronunciation?
4. How do American and British English differ in their treatment of collective nouns? Provide an example.
5. What is the origin of the word "fall" for autumn, and why is it considered an Americanism today?

📘 Lecture 36 — American vs British English: A Comparison

📖 Overview: This lecture provides a comprehensive comparison between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) across multiple linguistic levels. It examines the historical and social factors behind their divergence and systematically analyzes phonological, morphological, lexical, semantic, and syntactic differences, which is essential for understanding the two major global varieties of English.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture begins by exploring the different attitudes of speakers and the historical, geographical, and social factors influencing the divergence of AmE and BrE. It then provides a detailed comparison at the phonological level, focusing on the /r/ sound, vowel differences, and consonant variations. The analysis continues with morphological differences in word derivation, suffixes, and verb forms, followed by lexical and semantic differences including words with unique origins and different meanings. Finally, the lecture covers syntactic differences in collective nouns, relative clauses, verb forms, and preposition usage.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 176: Difference Between Attitudes of Speakers

Several factors contribute to the differing attitudes between American and British English speakers. Firstly, the process of colonization played a significant role, as the language was transplanted and developed independently. Geography also caused divergence, with the Atlantic Ocean creating a physical barrier. Media, commerce, and trade have influenced both varieties, though often in different directions. Finally, the inherent difference in the nature of people and their cultural identities contributes to distinct linguistic attitudes.

Topic – 177: AmE and BrE: Phonological Differences

Fletcher (1990: 67) defines General American as the variety of accent spoken by the majority of Americans with no noticeable eastern or southern accent, serving as the appropriate pronunciation model for EFL learners who take American English as their model.

The most significant phonological difference is the /r/ Sound. In Received Pronunciation (RP), the /r/ sound disappears except before vowels; it is not pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word unless the next word begins with a vowel. In American English, especially in the middle and western states, the 'r' is pronounced in all positions. Pyles (1971: 261) notes that some prevalent American pronunciations (e.g., Figure /figjər/, leisure /li:3ər/) do not occur in standard English, while the British pronunciations of them are currently in American English (e.g., /figə/, /le3ə/).

Swan (2005: 43-44) clarifies other key vowel differences. Some words pronounced with /u:/ in AmE have /ju:/ in BrE (e.g., after d, t, n, s, l followed by u or ew). British English has one more vowel than AmE: the round short /ɒ/ (in words like cot, dog, off). In AmE, these words are pronounced with /a:/ or /ɒ:/. Words written with a + consonant (e.g., fast) are pronounced with /a:/ in BrE and /æ/ in AmE.

In many varieties of AmE, /t/ and /d/ have a very light voiced pronunciation (/d/) between vowels, so writer and rider can sound the same. In BrE, they are quite different: /raɪtə(r)/ and /raɪdə(r)/. Words ending in unstressed -ile (e.g., fertile, missile) are pronounced with /aɪ/ in BrE and /ɪ/ in AmE.

🔑 Definition — General American: The variety of American English accent spoken by the majority of Americans, with no noticeable eastern or southern accent.

📐 Formula: AmE /r/ (pronounced in all positions) ≠ BrE /r/ (pronounced only before vowels) 📌 Example: Fast: BrE /fɑːst/ (with /a:/) vs. AmE /fæst/ (with /æ/). Fertile: BrE /fɜːtaɪl/ (rhyming with her tile) vs. AmE /fɜːrtəl/ (rhyming with turtle).

Topic – 178: AmE (American English) and BrE (British English): Morphological Differences

Morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language, analyzing the structure of words and parts like stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

In Word Derivation, the directional suffix -ward(s) differs: British English prefers forwards, towards, rightwards (with -s), while American English prefers forward, toward, rightward (without -s). However, in Britain, forward is common in phrasal verbs like look forward to.

AmE freely adds the suffix -s to day, night, evening, weekend, Monday, etc. to form adverbs denoting repeated action (e.g., I used to stay out evenings), a usage now regarded as American. In BrE, the agentive -er suffix is commonly attached to sports (e.g., footballer), while AmE uses football player. In compound nouns of the form verb><noun>, AmE often prefers the bare infinitive where BrE favors the gerund (e.g., cookbook vs. cookery book). AmE has a tendency to drop inflectional suffixes, preferring clipped forms (skim milk vs. skimmed milk).

💡 Why this matters: For the past tense and past participle of verbs like learn, spoil, spell, burn, etc., BrE permits both irregular forms (learnt, spoilt) and regular forms (learned, spoiled). AmE exclusively uses the regular forms (learned, spoiled).

🔑 Definition — Morphology: The study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language.

📌 Example: Skim milk (AmE) vs. Skimmed milk (BrE). He learned the lesson (AmE) vs. He learnt the lesson (BrE).

Topic – 179: AmE and BrE: Lexical and Semantic Differences

A lexicon is made up of different 'units of meaning' (lexical units or lexical items, e.g., 'fly ball' in baseball), including idioms and figures of speech.

There are Words and Phrases with Origins in AmE that are easy to understand: Sidewalk (pavement), Gas (gasoline/petrol), Counterclockwise (anticlockwise), Elevator (lift). Some terms are less frequently heard, like copacetic (satisfactory), and are unlikely to be understood by most BrE speakers.

Many Words have Different Meanings in the two varieties. The word bill can mean paper money in AmE, while in BrE it means an invoice. A biscuit in AmE is what BrE calls a scone, while a biscuit in BrE is a cookie in AmE.

The word whilst is historically acceptable in the UK, while in AmE, only while is used. The term period for a full stop is not used in the UK, while full stop is rarely used in AmE for punctuation. Americans say 'Happy holidays' when religious observances are unknown, while in the UK, 'holiday season' means summer time off (for which AmE uses vacation). The American English has lost vocabulary items like waistcoat, which it now calls a vest.

🔑 Definition — Lexicon: A set of 'units of meaning' (lexical units or items), including idioms and figures of speech.

📌 Example: Elevator (AmE) vs. Lift (BrE). Biscuit (AmE) = Scone (BrE), Biscuit (BrE) = Cookie (AmE).

Topic – 180: AmE and BrE (Syntactic Differences)

AmE and BrE share most, but not all, syntactic patterns. In AmE, collective nouns such as family, staff, committee, and names for sports teams, companies, and institutions generally require singular verbs (e.g., Ballard Team has High Hopes). In BrE, plural verbs with collective nouns are more common. A few collective nouns like police require a plural verb in both AmE and BrE.

American style is more tolerant of lengthy noun string modifiers (e.g., Death penalty opponent Helen Prejean). In restrictive relative clauses, both that and which occur, but AmE shows a stronger preference for that than BrE.

There are differences in verb forms. For the question "Have you finished the assignment?" both varieties permit Yes, I have, but only BrE permits Yes, I have done. In AmE, got serves as a simple past tense meaning 'became' or 'arrived'. In AmE, both got and gotten serve as past participles, but gotten is preferred (meaning 'received, acquired'), while have got means 'have'. AmE displays characteristic adverb use with the amplifier real (e.g., real good) and prefers pretty (pretty easy) over quite as an amplifier.

There are also differences in the choice of prepositions:

• An Englishman lives in a village; an American lives on it.
• The Englishman gets into or out of a car; the American gets on or off a car.
• BrE: at the weekend; AmE: on the weekend.
• BrE: write to me soon; AmE: write me soon.

📌 Example: Have you gotten any? (AmE, meaning 'received') vs. We've got ID cards now (AmE, meaning 'have'). BrE uses got for both.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The divergence between American and British English is systematic and observable across all linguistic levels. Phonologically, the most salient difference is the pronunciation of /r/ (rhotic AmE vs. non-rhotic BrE) and vowel quality, particularly in words like fast and bath. Morphologically, AmE tends to drop inflectional suffixes and prefers regular verb forms (e.g., learned), while BrE retains irregular alternatives (e.g., learnt). Lexically, numerous words have different meanings or unique origins in each variety (e.g., biscuit, elevator, holiday/vacation). Syntactically, AmE and BrE differ in the treatment of collective nouns, relative pronouns, and the use of got vs. gotten. These differences are crucial for accurate comprehension, translation, and effective communication across the two major global varieties of English.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What is the most important general phonological difference between AmE and BrE regarding the /r/ sound?
2. Name one morphological difference in the formation of past tense verbs (e.g., learned vs. learnt) between AmE and BrE.
3. Give an example of a word that has a different meaning in AmE and BrE, explaining both meanings.
4. How does the use of collective nouns (e.g., team, government) differ syntactically in AmE and BrE?
5. Give an example of a prepositional difference between AmE and BrE (e.g., at the weekend vs. on the weekend).

📘 Lecture 37 — Australian English

📖 Overview: This lecture explores the development of Australian English as a distinct variety of English, from its origins with the First Fleet in 1788 through its recognition after World War II. It examines how British colonization, convict transportation, Aboriginal languages, and subsequent immigration waves shaped the unique phonological, lexical, and demographic features of Australian English today.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers five main topics: Australian English speakers and demographics including the history of British exploration and settlement; the First Fleet's arrival and the establishment of the penal colony; the origins of Australian English including Aboriginal loanwords; the current state of Australian English with its remarkable uniformity across vast geographical distances; and the distinctive features of Australian English including colloquial vocabulary, shortened words, and phonological differences from Received Pronunciation.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 181: Australian English: Speakers and Demographics

By 1783, after losing the thirteen American colonies, Britain's empire expanded to Australasia, Africa, and Asia. Australia's original inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines, have the longest continuous cultural history in the world, inhabiting the island for 40,000–70,000 years. The first known Europeans to reach Australia were Portuguese and Dutch sailors in the sixteenth century. Initially called Nova Hollandia ('New Holland'), the name Australia derives from Latin terra australis incognita ('unknown southern land'). Europeans believed there must be a great Southland to balance the northern landmass.

In 1768, Lieutenant James Cook was sent on a scientific expedition to Tahiti to observe Venus's transit, with the additional task of finding the unknown southern continent. He navigated the coast of New Holland aboard the Endeavour and claimed it for Britain as New South Wales. Cook and his men, including botanist Joseph Banks, made white settlement possible.

Australia is a young nation: the Commonwealth of Australia formed in 1901, with Canberra established later. During World War I, Aussie (pronounced 'Ozzie') became an informal short form for Australian. The informal name OZ also exists. The expression Down Under is interpreted by many Australians and New Zealanders as showing a snobbish 'northern hemisphere perspective.'

💡 Why this matters: Although English has been spoken in Australia for over 200 years, Australian English began to be seriously recognized as a distinct variety only after the Second World War.

🔑 Definition — Australian Aborigines: The original inhabitants of Australia with the longest continuous cultural history in the world, beginning habitation 40,000–70,000 years ago. 📌 Example: The name "Australia" comes from Latin terra australis incognita meaning 'unknown southern land.'

Topic – 182: Australia: The First Fleet

In 1788, after an eight-month voyage from Portsmouth, eleven British ships – the First Fleet – carrying convicts, marines, and civilians anchored in Botany Bay. The bay was named after Joseph Banks and botanist Daniel Solander observed many new plants there. However, Arthur Phillip, captain of the First Fleet and first Governor of New South Wales, found Botany Bay unsuitable and landed at Port Jackson (now Sydney Harbour), which he called 'the finest harbor in the world.' The First Fleet anchored in Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1788, now celebrated as Australia Day.

The eleven ships carried just over 1,000 people, most convicts being transported to the penal colony of New South Wales for seven-year hard labour terms. Over the next 80 years, 160,000 convicts were sent to Australia. Transportation ceased in New South Wales by 1840, continued to Tasmania until 1852, and to the West until 1868. Free colonists also arrived.

🔑 Definition — First Fleet: The eleven British ships that arrived in Australia in 1788 carrying convicts, marines, and civilians to establish the penal colony of New South Wales.

The language brought to Australia was essentially late eighteenth-century English. The precise origins of the Australian accent are unknown. The older view that it was essentially Cockney no longer holds. Most scholars agree that a range of British accents were present, but London English was a strong component. Early Australians were largely working-class townsfolk, many Londoners.

The discovery of gold in 1851 accelerated immigration; within ten years, the settler population reached almost 1.2 million – a threefold increase. The gold rush ended convict transportation since gold offered reward rather than punishment. The first large-scale non-British/Irish immigration did not occur until after the Second World War.

Since 1967, Australia has reoriented from being a British bastion to becoming a multicultural immigration country attracting South and East Europeans, and in recent years, many Asians.

📌 Example: The First Fleet's arrival date, 26 January 1788, became Australia Day, the national holiday commemorating the founding of the first European settlement.

Topic – 183: What Becomes Australian English?

Australia is a young nation, but its aboriginal population has lived there for thousands of years. As one scholar notes: 'If the history of language in Australia, currently thought to span about 40,000 years, is reduced to 24 hours, the share of English is about seven minutes.'

Archaeological evidence suggests the first Aborigines migrated from Southeast Asia. The term aborigines comes from Latin aborigine meaning 'from the beginning.' The first Aboriginal loanword in English was kangaroo, recorded by Joseph Banks in 1770. Captain Cook's diary mentioned a strange hopping animal called by natives Kangooroo or Kanguru; in the language encountered, ganjurru referred to one particular species.

Most Aboriginal loanwords refer to Australian fauna and flora, such as budgerigar (small yellow-green parrot), dingo (wild dog), and arboreal marsupials.

📌 Example: Road signs in Australia mix Anglo-Saxon names like Liverpool and Newcastle with Aboriginal names like Wagga Wagga and Indooroopilly.

White settlement was disastrous for indigenous populations and their languages. Today, Aborigines number less than 400,000, many speaking only English. Among surviving Australian Aboriginal languages, about 50 are in active first-language use, mostly in remote areas. It is feared most will die out.

In Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, there is little regional variation in language, but social and ethnic variations exist. Some speakers use a 'broader' accent—one remoter from RP—with more local Australian words.

📌 Example: Ganjurru was the name for one particular species of kangaroo in the language first encountered by Cook's expedition, not a generic term for all kangaroos.

Topic – 184: Australian English Today

Considering its geographical spread, Australian English is remarkably uniform. Phonetician John Wells notes: 'From Perth to Sydney is over 3,000 kilometers, yet their accents are virtually indistinguishable.' Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, and English has had little more than 200 years to spread.

Variations of accent are socially or ethnically determined, not geographically determined. Some vowel sounds resemble Cockney or 'London vernacular,' deriving from the language brought by early immigrants from southeast England.

The characteristic sound of Australian speech is found especially in its vowels. Key differences between 'broader' Australian English and RP (Received Pronunciation):

📌 Example: Chatted in RP is /ætd/, but in Australian English it is pronounced with a schwa.

🔑 Definition — Broader accent: An Australian accent that is remoter from Received Pronunciation, using more local Australian words in vocabulary.

Topic – 185: Features of Australian English

The vocabulary of Australian English tends to be colloquial and informal, much like the stereotypical 'Aussie.' The language is full of imaginative, colourful expressions:

• Full as a goog ('goog' means 'egg' = dead drunk)
• Hoon (also yobbo) = loutish youth
• Ocker = the archetypal uncultivated Australian man
• Prang = minor car accident
• Sanger or sanga = sandwich
• Sheila = girl
• A beaut sheila = an attractive girl

Typical of colloquial Australian English are shortened words:

• Beaut for beautiful
• Words ending in suffix -o or -y/-ie: arvo (afternoon), tinnie (can of beer)

Australian settlers encountered completely alien flora and fauna, requiring new meanings for existing words and new coinages or borrowings from native languages. There are now over 10,000 English words and phrases with Australian origin or meaning.

Examples of Australianisms found in dictionaries like The Macquarie Dictionary or Australian Oxford Dictionary:

• Barbie (also BBQ) = barbecue
• Bush = uncultivated expanse of land remote from settlement (as in bush nurse, bush breakfast, bush house, bushman)
• G'day ('good day') = greeting or parting expression
• Lay-by = buying an article on time payment (US: installment; UK: hire-purchase)

Phonology: Australian English has the same inventory of phonemes as RP, but nearly all vowels are realized differently:

• /a/ and /e/ are closer than in RP (Australian pan sounds like pen to English ears)
• The /ɑː/ phoneme in words like park and path is realized as front [aː] (vs. backed [ɑː] of RP)

📌 Example: In RP, taxes and taxis are both /'taksɪz/, whereas in Australian English, the first is /'taksǝz/ and the second is /'taksiːz/.

🔑 Definition — Australianisms: English words and phrases with an Australian origin or meaning, numbering over 10,000.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The lecture establishes that Australian English is a distinct variety recognized only after World War II, despite English being spoken in Australia for over 200 years. Its remarkable uniformity across vast geographical distances—from Perth to Sydney—is socially and ethnically determined rather than regional, with variations in "broadness" of accent. The phonological features include distinctive vowel realizations: closer /a/ and /e/ sounds, diphthongization of /i:/ and /u:/, fronted /aː/ in words like park, and more extensive use of schwa. Lexically, Australian English is characterized by colloquialism, shortened words with -o and -y/-ie suffixes, Aboriginal loanwords (starting with kangaroo), and over 10,000 Australianisms. The historical foundations lie in late eighteenth-century London English brought by convicts and settlers, with Aboriginal languages contributing to the vocabulary, though many indigenous languages are now endangered.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. Why is Australian English remarkably uniform despite Australia being the sixth largest country in the world, and what determines accent variation instead of geography?
2. What phonological differences distinguish Australian English vowels from RP in words like say, now, happy, and chatted?
3. What was the First Fleet, when did it arrive, and what was the significance of 26 January 1788?
4. Name three examples of colloquial Australian English vocabulary features, including shortened words and their suffixes.
5. What was the first Aboriginal loanword in English, who recorded it, and what did it originally refer to?

📘 Lecture 38 — SOUTH-ASIAN ENGLISH

📖 Overview: This lecture introduces South Asian English, examining its historical roots in British colonialism and its current status as a second language across the region. It details the distinct features, syntax, and vocabulary of varieties like Indian and Pakistani English, while arguing that English has evolved from a colonial legacy into a dynamic, nativized regional asset with a secure future.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture begins with an introduction to South Asian English, its numerical spread, and its role as a link language. It then details the features of South Asian English, dividing it into modern state varieties like Indian and Pakistani English, with specific examples of vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. The historical context is explored through the imperialistic legacies of Sanskrit and Persian. Finally, it covers the syntax of South Asian English with examples of unidiomatic structures and discusses the future of English in the region, focusing on issues of identity and nativization.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 186: Introduction to South-Asian English

The worldwide spread of English is an unprecedented phenomenon. It was brought to the subcontinent in the early seventeenth century by British colonialism. Today, it is spoken as a second language by 3 percent of the population of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, which totals approximately 33 million English-speaking people. South Asian English is sometimes called ‘Indian English’ as British India included most of the region, but today, the varieties are usually divided according to modern states. In India, there are 25 million users of English, even more than in Australia. It serves an intra-national and intra-regional role as a ‘link’ language among people of diverse linguistic backgrounds. After independence, South Asian countries still use English in government, law, the military, higher education, commerce, the media, and the arts. In Pakistan, English is an official language alongside Urdu. In Sri Lanka, there are efforts to ‘peoplize’ English, and in Bangladesh, despite the strong Bangla movement, English enjoys importance. It plays the role of an international medium for communication with the global community.

Topic – 187: Features of South Asian English

English was reinforced by the long rule of the British Empire. Today, the varieties are divided according to modern states: Bangladeshi English, Indian English, Nepali English, Pakistani English, and Sri Lankan English. Although it is fairly homogeneous across the region, there are differences based on various factors. Indian English has words from Indian vernaculars that have entered English (e.g., jungle, tank, bungalow, shampoo, verandah). It also has political, sociological, and administrative terms of modern India (e.g., dharna, hartal, eveteasing, votebank, swdeshi, tiffin, hillstation, gymkhana). 🔑 Vocabulary Example — Indian English: “Our company lays great stress on technical training and knowledge ‘upgradation’.” Spelling and Pronunciation: Most Indian languages have a nearly phonetic spelling. The word ‘of’ is usually pronounced with a /f/ instead of a /v/. Pronunciation of house as [hauz] is prevalent for both noun and verb instead of [haus] as noun and [hauz] as verb. Pakistani English has unique terms:

• In-Charge: a title given to unit, group, or division heads.
• Same to same: indicates something is exactly the same.
• Out of station: out of town.
• Got no lift: received no attention or assistance.
• Miss: used to address female teachers, regardless of marital status.
• Madam: used to address females in authority.
• Cousin-brother (male first cousin) & cousin-sister (female first cousin).
• Overhead bridge: a bridge for pedestrians.
• Flyover: an overpass over a road or train tracks.

Topic – 188: South Asian English: Imperialistic Legacy and Regional Asset

Languages of imperialism in South Asia have a long history. In the second millennium BCE, speakers of Old Indo-Aryan came into South Asia, and their language, in the form of Sanskrit, has persisted. Sanskrit is related to Hinduism. Persian has been associated with Islam. The coming of Islam to South Asia is dated to 711 C.E., when an Arab naval force conquered the Indus valley. The use of Persian came with the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century. Persian continued to be the chief court language of successive Muslim kingdoms, down to the Moghul Empire centered in Delhi, which yielded to Great Britain. In all these polities, Persian was a major and often dominant language.

Topic – 189: Syntax of South Asian English

There is growing recognition of institutionalized nonnative varieties of English (IVEs). Although these sentences are not necessarily ungrammatical in other varieties, they would be considered unidiomatic.

• Examples: “Since her birth, she has been under the hands of men” (meaning subservient to).
• See and Look: “If we see only in the direction of art and literature”; “Now, look the difference between”.
• House for Home: “Women came out of the house for studying.”
• Legs for Feet: “She can stand on her own legs and face the society.”
• Even, Also: “In our country, even women also encourage.”
• Discourse Adverbials: “Like this, the position of women has been changing.” A few characteristics are shared by all South Asian users of English:
• Question Formation: Tendency to form information questions without changing subject and auxiliary position: “What you would like to eat?”
• Reduplication: “Hot hot coffee”; “Small small things”; “To give crying crying”.
• Verb Aspect: Use of present progressive with stative verbs: “I am having an aunt in Chicago”; “I am loving it” (ad for McDonalds). 💡 Why this matters: These syntactic features show how English has been adapted to local cognitive and cultural patterns, creating a distinct regional variety.

Topic – 190: The Future of English in South-Asia

South Asian English is a very interesting and dynamic phenomenon. English has become one of the languages of communication for South Asians, and a distinctive form has emerged. B. Kachru (1986:36) asserts that the use of the term South Asian English is not indicative of linguistic homogeneity. The Issue of Identities: The term identity can be examined in more than one sense.

1. Regional sense: an identifiable speech fellowship in South Asia.
2. Functional sense: recognizing South Asian contexts and domains as sociolinguistically appropriate.
3. In-group identity: claiming identity with other users. English has been nativized to such an extent that it is considered not a foreign or alien language. Creative writing in English is at its peak today, with South Asian writers winning prizes like the Pulitzer Prize (Jhumpa Lahiri) and the Booker Prize (Arundhati Roy). This indicates that English is clearly here to stay.

⭐ Key Takeaways

South Asian English is a distinct, nativized variety born from British colonial rule, now spoken by approximately 33 million people as a second language. It is not monolithic but comprises state-based varieties (e.g., Indian, Pakistani) with shared phonological, lexical, and syntactic features. Key syntactic traits include unidiomatic phrases, unique question formations without inversion, reduplication of words, and the use of the present progressive with stative verbs. Historically, it is the latest in a line of imperial languages (following Sanskrit and Persian) but has now been fully absorbed into regional identity. The future of English in South Asia is secure, demonstrated by its widespread use in administration, education, and award-winning creative writing.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. Approximately how many people speak English as a second language in South Asia, and what percentage of the total population does this represent?
2. Give two examples each of unique vocabulary from Indian English and Pakistani English.
3. What is a key syntactic difference in question formation seen in South Asian English?
4. Name the two imperial languages that preceded English in South Asia and give the date for the arrival of Islam.
5. According to the lecture, in what three senses can the term "identity" be examined in relation to South Asian English?

📘 Lecture 39 — ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: FEATURES OF ENGLISHES

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the global spread and dominance of English in the 21st century, focusing on its role as a world language, the shifting demographics of its speakers, and the emergence of distinct regional varieties. It matters because it explains how English has expanded from a national language to a global phenomenon, creating new power dynamics and linguistic realities that affect billions of people worldwide.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture covers five main topics: the regency of world English and its future prospects; the challenges of estimating the number of English speakers globally; the cross-linguistic influence and historical spread of English; Kachru's three concentric circles model of English use; and the emergence of World Englishes as a concept replacing monolithic views of the language.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 191: The Regency of World English and the Future of English

People have predicted English as a global language for two centuries, but the genuine global phenomenon is relatively recent. English as a first language is used in the USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other territories. It serves as an official language—the primary medium in government, law courts, broadcasting, press, and education—in over seventy countries including Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore, and Vanuatu. English also achieves a special role when prioritized in foreign-language teaching policy, even without official status, making it the foreign language children most encounter at school. Over 100 countries treat English as a foreign language, chiefly in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and Latin America.

The term 'global English' had genuine application by 2000 but not a half-century earlier. The need for a lingua franca as a practical global tool emerged strongly only since the 1950s, driven by postwar demand for regular international communication. The United Nations grew from 51 member states in 1945 to 191 by 2002. This increasing reliance on a 'working language'—English—emerged because translation alternatives are not feasible due to high expense. Today, English is expanding its circle and power.

💡 Why this matters: The shift from English being a national language to a global working language has profound implications for international diplomacy, commerce, and education, reshaping how nations interact.

Topic – 192: Number of English Speakers

Estimates of English speakers come from linguistic surveys, individual authors, and various criteria, each with in-built uncertainty. First-language totals in the 1990s swung between 350 and 450 million. The difference arises because pidgins and creoles historically derived from English have uncertain status—if considered "varieties of English," their speakers are included, moving toward the higher total.

Second and foreign-language totals, often considered together, are even more uncertain because fluency is a continuum. A criterion of native-speaker-like fluency produces a small figure; including every beginner produces a large one. The British Council (1997) referred to a billion (thousand million) people learning English, but this includes all learners from beginners to advanced users. In India, estimates vary between 3% (Kachru, 1986), 19% (Encyclopedia Britannica), and 33% (1997 India Today survey)—a range of 30 million to over 330 million.

The world population passed 6 billion in late 1999. Approximately one in four of the world's population can now communicate usefully in English. A major shift is occurring: from the 1960s when most speakers were first-language speakers, now more people speak it as a second language or foreign language. Combining these latter groups gives a native-to-non-native ratio of around 1:3. Graddol (1999: 61) suggests the proportion of the world's population with English as a first language will decline from over 8% in 1950 to less than 5% in 2050—a situation without precedent for an international language. The number of second and foreign language speakers is increasing speedily.

Topic – 193: Cross Linguistic Influence and the Spread of English

The crucial factor in English development over recent centuries is its role in the world. English has been brought into contact with new environments and languages, developing in new directions and giving rise to different varieties of English. The political and social events affecting English people profoundly affected their language.

The Roman Christianizing of Britain in 597 brought contact with Latin civilization, making significant additions to vocabulary. The Scandinavian invasions resulted in considerable mixture of peoples and languages. The Norman Conquest made English for two centuries the language mainly of the lower classes, while nobles used French. When English regained supremacy, it was greatly changed from 1066. The Hundred Years' War, the rise of an important middle class, the Renaissance, and England's development as a maritime power all impacted English. The expansion of the British Empire and growth of commerce, industry, science, and literature each contributed to language development.

Today we have multiple varieties: British English, American English, African English, South Asian English, Australian English, and many more.

Topic – 194: The Expanding Circle of English

The Indian-American scholar Braj Kachru proposed three concentric circles of English.

🔑 Definition — The Inner Circle: Countries where English is used as a first language. This includes the United States, Canada, the West Indies, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Over 320 million people use English as a first language in these eight regions. They enjoy the privilege of learning this global language with a native accent for free.

🔑 Definition — The Outer Circle: Countries where English is a second, often official or semi-official language, but most users are not native speakers. This includes former British colonies such as Kenya and Tanzania in Africa, and India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Singapore in Asia.

🔑 Definition — The Expanding Circle: Countries where English is learned and used as a foreign language because it is found useful or indispensable for international contacts. This circle encompasses large parts of the world and seems to be ever-expanding, strengthening English's claims as the international language. In the not-too-distant future, it will be appropriate to rename it the 'Expanded Circle.'

Topic – 195: Coming Full Circle: Emergence of World English

English has gone global, dominating publishing, science, technology, commerce, diplomacy, air-traffic control, and popular music. The reasons relate to Britain's political and economic power in the nineteenth century and United States' power in the twentieth century. In the sixteenth century, there were approximately 3 million speakers of English. Today, there are over 300 million native speakers, plus a further 300 million who regularly speak English as a second language. In total, around a billion people use English with varying proficiency.

With this international spread, it is more appropriate to speak of WORLD ENGLISHES. American and British English are the two most important national varieties in terms of speakers and worldwide impact (Britain through its former Empire, North America through its economic power). Other important varieties include Australian, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand, South African English, plus varieties in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and southeast Asia.

Some claim English will succumb to the same fate as Latin—which was used across Western Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor 2,000 years ago but is now dead, its descendants (Italian, French, Spanish) becoming separate languages. Whether English will become a group of mutually incomprehensible languages remains uncertain.

Reasons for the emergence of English as World English are extrinsic—due to the power of people who speak it: political power (colonialism from the sixteenth century, making English "the language on which the sun does not set" by the nineteenth century); the Industrial Revolution (an English-language event); the nineteenth-century growth of United States economic power; and twentieth-century cultural power manifested through American influence in politics, economics, press, media, broadcasting, music, travel, communication, and education.

⭐ Key Takeaways

The most critical points from this lecture are: English has achieved genuine global status only since the 1950s, driven by postwar international organization needs and the rise of the United States as a superpower. The center of gravity has shifted dramatically—while English had mostly native speakers in the 1960s, today non-native speakers outnumber native speakers by a ratio of about 3:1, with approximately one in four people worldwide capable of communicating in English. Kachru's three-circle model (Inner, Outer, Expanding) provides a crucial framework for understanding English's global distribution, though the Expanding Circle is growing fastest. The emergence of "World Englishes" recognizes that English is no longer a single monolithic language but multiple legitimate varieties shaped by local contexts. Finally, English's global dominance is not due to intrinsic linguistic superiority but to the political, economic, technological, and cultural power of its speakers—a fact that shapes both its current status and uncertain future.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. What is the ratio of native to non-native speakers of English today, and how has this shifted since the 1960s?
2. Why do estimates of English speakers vary so widely, particularly for second and foreign language speakers?
3. What are the three concentric circles of English according to Braj Kachru, and what distinguishes each circle?
4. What historical factors account for English becoming a world language, according to the lecture?
5. Why might English face the same fate as Latin, and what would that mean for the future of the language?

📘 Lecture 40 — Future of English

📖 Overview: This lecture examines the future trajectory of English as a global language, exploring the social, political, and technological forces that have propelled its spread and the challenges it faces in the 21st century. It addresses the critical factors that will determine whether English continues to unify or fragment, emphasizing the tension between global standardization and local identity.

🗂️ Topics Covered

The lecture begins by questioning why English achieved global dominance, attributing it not to intrinsic linguistic superiority but to the political, cultural, and economic power of its speakers. It then explores English's role as the medium of knowledge and education, the revolutionary impact of the Internet, and the new language themes emerging for the 21st century. The lecture concludes by considering the future of English, examining trends in vocabulary, grammar, and dialect, and analyzing the centrifugal (diversifying) and centripetal (unifying) forces that will shape its evolution.

📝 Lecture Summary

Topic – 196: Social and Political Power Associated with English

This topic addresses the fundamental question: Why English? The answer lies not in any intrinsic merit of the language itself. Its pronunciation and grammar are no simpler than many other languages, and its spelling is notoriously complex. A language becomes a world language for one reason only: the power of the people who speak it. This power manifests in several forms. Political power emerged through colonialism, which spread English around the world from the sixteenth century onward, making it by the nineteenth century a language "on which the sun never sets." In the twentieth century, cultural power became dominant, primarily through American influence, making English pre-eminent in ten distinct domains of global life.

🔑 Definition — Political Power (of a language): The force exerted by a language due to the colonial and imperial dominance of its speakers, which historically brought English to global prominence. 🔑 Definition — Cultural Power (of a language): The influence a language gains through the cultural, technological, and economic dominance of its speakers, especially evident in 20th-century American influence. 💡 Why this matters: This explains that a language's global status is not a measure of its linguistic quality but a direct reflection of the geopolitical and cultural history of its speakers.

Topic – 197: Power of Knowledge and English Today

English is today the medium of a vast portion of the world's knowledge, especially in science and technology. Access to this knowledge is the core business of education. This educational motive is a primary reason why many nations have adopted English as an official language or their chief foreign language in schools since the 1960s. English has become the normal medium of instruction in higher education even in countries where it has no official status (e.g., the Netherlands). In Africa, no indigenous language is used in higher education; English dominates in most cases. This has fueled the English Language Teaching (ELT) business, which has become a major global growth industry. The Internet has been a revolutionary force in this regard. Though the technology existed since the 1960s, public adoption exploded in the 1990s, expanding the use of a highly distinctive language characterized by slang, jargon, and the breaking of conventional spelling and punctuation rules. While it is speculated that three-quarters of the world's mail is in English, only on the Internet, where messages and data persist indefinitely, can we begin to gauge the true extent of English's dominance in everyday global communications.

🔑 Definition — English Language Teaching (ELT): The global industry and profession dedicated to teaching English to non-native speakers, which has become one of the major growth industries of the past half-century. 💡 Why this matters: The role of English in education and the internet creates a self-reinforcing cycle: the more knowledge is in English, the more people need to learn it, further entrenching its dominance.

Topic – 198: Language Themes for the 21st Century

The linguistic innovation of the 1990s requires us to revise many 20th-century assumptions about language. The arrival of English as a global language has altered the balance of linguistic power and generated new attitudes. Many speech communities feel threatened, leading to the introduction of protective policies to prevent language shift or extinction. At an international level (e.g., the European Union), sophisticated strategies are needed to balance the principle of language equivalence with the practical dominance of English. Communities must exploit the opportunities of a lingua franca while also devoting resources to English teaching and incorporating English into management and tourism. A key issue is that learners and teachers must navigate a rapidly diversifying language with evolving regional standards and "New Englishes" that complicate the old British vs. American English binary. The net-speak community is unprecedented in size, creating a need for fresh policies in examination systems, attention to regional accents and dialects, and clarity on the legal and copyright status of new forms of creative work. This represents an unprecedented linguistic crisis demanding action from governments, international organizations, and activists.

🔑 Definition — Lingua Franca: A language used systematically for communication between people who do not share a native language or a common tongue. 🔑 Definition — New Englishes: The emerging, distinct varieties of English that have developed in regions where English is a second or foreign language, often with their own standardized norms. 💡 Why this matters: The 21st-century linguistic landscape is not a simple story of English triumph, but a complex arena of competition, adaptation, and identity politics where both English and local languages are evolving.

Topic – 199: Future of English

Predicting the exact future of the language is dangerous, but current trends give clues. One striking trend is the expansion of vocabulary. If this continues, the change over a century could rival that of earlier periods like 1300-1400 or 1550-1650. Another is dialect-mixing, which will likely continue unless a global disaster disrupts communications. In England, educated regional varieties have achieved parity of esteem, with TV presenters now using local forms. In pronunciation, trends like the diphthongization of long close vowels may continue. In grammar, past-tense forms like "I done" and the conflation of adjective and adverb forms could become acceptable. More controversially, reduced forms from electronic communications (e.g., L8 for "late," LOL for "laugh out loud") might enter mainstream written usage. The overarching certainty is that the process of change is still going on and will continue. It requires detachment to recognize current change, as innovations we deplore today may become completely respectable for the next generation. The lecture ends by encouraging us to "enjoy the language that you speak" and its richness and variety, as language, like nature, is in constant flux.

🔑 Definition — Diphthongization: A sound change where a pure vowel (monophthong) becomes a diphthong (a complex vowel sound that begins with one vowel and glides into another within the same syllable). 💡 Why this matters: The future of English is not about a single, fixed standard but a dynamic, evolving system where changes we see as "errors" today may become the standard of tomorrow.

Topic – 200: Factors that Will Determine the Future of English

While the number of first language speakers may be in decline, the number of second and foreign language speakers is growing. The parallel with Latin is an imperfect guide to the future because of a key modern factor: global satellite communication. This has created new "pull forces." For example, a group in a remote Pakistani village clustering around a television hearing BBC News now has immediate, routine access to diverse auditory models. This dynamic introduces a tension between two opposing forces. Centrifugal forces foster diversity, reflecting local situations and identities. Centripetal forces foster standardization for mutual comprehensibility. People need to communicate both within a country and internationally, creating a greater need than ever for a world language. Standard English is not identical everywhere; it has similarities in writing but dissimilarities in speaking. Unlike in the Roman Empire, where isolation allowed spoken Latin to fragment, it is now virtually impossible for communities to be isolated from the rest of the world. Ultimately, we need both forces: we want to express our identity through language (centrifugal) and we want to communicate intelligibly (centripetal). We want to be different and we want to be the same.

🔑 Definition — Centrifugal Forces (in language): The influences that drive language diversification and change, allowing for the expression of local identity and the development of regional varieties. 🔑 Definition — Centripetal Forces (in language): The influences that drive language standardization and unity, ensuring mutual comprehensibility across different groups of speakers. 💡 Why this matters: The future of English is not predetermined. It will be shaped by the constant negotiation between the human need for global communication (unity) and the equally powerful need for local identity (diversity).

⭐ Key Takeaways

The lecture establishes that English's global dominance is not due to any inherent linguistic superiority but to the political, cultural, and economic power of its speakers, from British colonialism to American-led cultural and technological influence. This dominance is now self-perpetuating, driven by its role as the primary medium of knowledge, education, science, and the Internet. However, the 21st century presents a complex linguistic landscape where the rise of "New Englishes" and the power of local identity create centrifugal forces that challenge the old standard. The central, unresolved tension for the future of English is the dynamic interplay between these centrifugal forces (which promote diversity and local identity) and centripetal forces (which push for a standardized, globally intelligible language). Ultimately, while predicting the precise form of English in a hundred years is impossible, students must understand that language is a living, constantly changing phenomenon shaped by history, technology, and human needs for both unity and difference.

🧠 Quick Revision Questions

1. According to the lecture, what is the single, overriding reason why English became a global language, despite its complex spelling and grammar?
2. What two major factors or domains are cited as being particularly influential in entrenching English's dominance in the late 20th and early 21st centuries?
3. Define the two opposing forces, "centrifugal" and "centripetal," that will determine the future shape of English.
4. Why is the parallel with Latin considered an imperfect guide to the future of English, according to Topic 200?
5. What does the lecture suggest will likely happen to informal or non-standard grammatical forms (like "I done") and electronic communication abbreviations (like "LOL") in the future of English?