The Multilingual Origins of Standard English

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2020

The Multilingual Origins of Standard English

Edited by: Laura Wright

Volume 107 in the series Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110687545

Overview
Contents

About this book

Textbooks inform readers that the precursor of Standard English was supposedly an East or Central Midlands variety which became adopted in London; that monolingual fifteenth century English manuscripts fall into internally-cohesive Types; and that the fourth Type, dating after 1435 and labelled ‘Chancery Standard’, provided the mechanism by which this supposedly Midlands variety spread out from London. This set of explanations is challenged by taking a multilingual perspective, examining Anglo-Norman French, Medieval Latin and mixed-language contexts as well as monolingual English ones. By analysing local and legal documents, mercantile accounts, personal letters and journals, medical and religious prose, multiply-copied works, and the output of individual scribes, standardisation is shown to have been preceded by supralocalisation rather than imposed top-down as a single entity by governmental authority. Linguistic features examined include syntax, morphology, vocabulary, spelling, letter-graphs, abbreviations and suspensions, social context and discourse norms, pragmatics, registers, text-types, communities of practice social networks, and the multilingual backdrop, which was influenced by shifting socioeconomic trends.

Author / Editor information

Laura Wright, University of Cambridge, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Part 1: The orthodox version
Introduction Laura Wright Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
1. A critical look at previous accounts of the standardisation of English Laura Wright Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. The ‘vernacularisation’ and ‘standardisation’ of local administrative writing in late and post-medieval England Merja Stenroos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
3. The linguistic character of manuscripts attributed to the Beryn Scribe: A comparative study María José Carrillo-Linares and Keith Williamson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
4. Spelling practices in late Middle English medical prose: A quantitative analysis David Moreno Olalla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
5. Standardisation, exemplars, and the Auchinleck manuscript Jacob Thaisen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
6. Bristol <th>, <þ> and <y>: The North-South divide revisited, 1400–1700 Moragh Gordon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
7. <th> versus <þ>: Latin-based influences and social awareness in the Paston letters Juan M. Hernández-Campoy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
8. Early mass communication as a standardizing influence? The case of the Book of Common Prayer Terttu Nevalainen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Part 2: The revised version
9. Abbreviations and standardisation in the Polychronicon: Latin to English and manuscript to print Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
10. William Worcester’s Itineraria: mixed-language notes of a medieval traveller Herbert Schendl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
11. The relationship of borrowing from French and Latin in the Middle English period with the development of the lexicon of Standard English: Some observations and a lot of questions Philip Durkin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
12. The role of multilingualism in the emergence of a technical register in the Middle English period Louise Sylvester Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
13. More sugar and spice: Revisiting medieval Italian influence on the mercantile lexis of England Megan Tiddeman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
14. -mannus makyth man(n)? Latin as an indirect source for English lexical history Richard Ashdowne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
15. Communities of practice, proto-standardisation and spelling focusing in the Stonor letters J. Camilo Conde-Silvestre Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	443
16. A comparison of some French and English nominal suffixes in early English correspondence (1420–1681) Jesús Romero-Barranco Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
17. Textual standardisation of legal Scots vis a vis Latin Joanna Kopaczyk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	487
18. Rising living standards, the demise of Anglo-Norman and mixed-language writing, and standard English Laura Wright Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	515
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	533

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Researchers of Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; History of English; Anglo-Norman French
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 534
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 114
- Tables: 84
Keywords: Standardisation of English; Medieval Multilingualism; Historical Sociolinguistics

eBook

Published: September 7, 2020
ISBN: 9783110687545

Hardcover

Published: September 7, 2020
ISBN: 9783110687514

Paperback

Published: July 18, 2022
ISBN: 9783110995107