Patterns of Change in 18th-century English
A sociolinguistic approach
Eighteenth-century English is often associated with normative grammar. But to what extent did prescriptivism impact ongoing processes of linguistic change? The authors of this volume examine a variety of linguistic changes in a corpus of personal correspondence, including the auxiliary do, verbal -s and the progressive aspect, and they conclude that direct normative influence on them must have been minimal.
The studies are contextualized by discussions of the normative tradition and the correspondence corpus, and of eighteenth-century English society and culture. Basing their work on a variationist sociolinguistic approach, the authors introduce the models and methods they have used to trace the progress of linguistic changes in the “long” eighteenth century, 1680–1800. Aggregate findings are balanced by analysing individuals and their varying participation in these processes. The final chapter places these results in a wider context and considers them in relation to past sociolinguistic work.
One of the major findings of the studies is that in most cases the overall pace of change was slow. Factors retarding change include speaker evaluation and repurposing outgoing features, in particular, for certain styles and registers.
Published online on 24 August 2018
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Table of Contents
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Preface and acknowledgments
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Contributors | pp. xi–11
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Part I. Introduction and background
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Chapter 1. Approaching change in 18th-century EnglishTerttu Nevalainen | pp. 3–12
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Chapter 2. Society and culture in the long 18th centuryTerttu Nevalainen | pp. 13–26
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Chapter 3. Grammar writing in the eighteenth centuryNuria Yáñez-Bouza | pp. 27–44
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Chapter 4. The Corpus of Early English Correspondence Extension (CEECE)Samuli Kaislaniemi | pp. 45–60
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Chapter 5. Research methods: Periodization and statistical techniques | pp. 61–74
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Part II. Studies
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Chapter 6. “Ungenteel” and “rude”? On the use of thou in the eighteenth centuryMinna Nevala | pp. 77–95
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Chapter 7. Going to completion: The diffusion of verbal ‑sTerttu Nevalainen | pp. 97–116
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Chapter 8. Periphrastic do in eighteenth-century correspondence: Emphasis on no social variationArja Nurmi | pp. 117–135
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Chapter 9. Indefinite pronouns with singular human reference: Recessive and ongoingMikko Laitinen | pp. 137–158
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Chapter 10. Ongoing change: The diffusion of the third-person neuter possessive itsMinna Palander-Collin | pp. 159–177
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Chapter 11. Incipient and intimate: The progressive aspectAnni Sairio | pp. 179–196
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Chapter 12. Change or variation? Productivity of the suffixes ‑ness and ‑ityTanja Säily | pp. 197–218
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Part III. Changes in retrospect
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Chapter 13. Zooming out: Overall frequencies and Google Books | pp. 221–233
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Chapter 14. Conservative and progressive individualsTanja Säily | pp. 235–242
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Chapter 15. Changes in different stages | pp. 243–254
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Chapter 16. A wider sociolinguistic perspectiveTerttu Nevalainen | pp. 255–270
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References | pp. 271–294
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Appendix: Editions in the Corpora of Early English CorrespondenceArja Nurmi and Samuli Kaislaniemi | pp. 295–304
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Index
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