THE LANGUAGE of the SEA: a CORPUS DRIVEN EXAMINATION of the INFLUENCE of BRITAIN’S MARITIME TRADITION on STANDARD ENGLISH By
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THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA: A CORPUS DRIVEN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF BRITAIN’S MARITIME TRADITION ON STANDARD ENGLISH by SIMON JONATHON ISSERLIS A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY The Department of Humanities: Centre for Corpus Research The University of Birmingham September 2008 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA: A CORPUS DRIVEN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF BRITAIN’S MARITIME TRADITION ON STANDARD ENGLISH ABSTRACT Britain’s maritime history has fundamentally affected the English language as spoken and written throughout the English speaking world. Maritime expressions (MEs), such as “taken aback” “batten down” and “log” are used on a daily basis, usually without any awareness on the part of the user of their source. This study examines the ideas of discourse communities as defined by Swales (1999) and Teubert (2005; 2007) and how discourse is negotiated by its members. The study aims to describe the process by which the highly specialised language of the very specific discourse community of mariners has influenced the wider English speaking discourse community. Following an assessment of the historical and social conditions that led to the prominence of MEs in English, the study looks at twenty examples, dividing them into “transparent” and “opaque” categories (Moon 1998). Using the Cobuild Bank of English Corpus, the MEs were analysed to reveal patterns about who uses them, why and where. The findings reveal distinctive differences of usage in the major English speaking counties of Britain, America, Canada and Australia, providing revealing insights into the processes of change, as particular expressions develop new meanings or adapt to accommodate the requirements of the modern discourse community. Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my wife, Alison and my mother, Myfanwy Tucker who have stood by me and encouraged me to undertake this work. Without them, none of this could have happened. Thank you. Acknowledgements 4 I would like to thank Dr Nicholas Groom of Birmingham University, who, as my supervisor, advised and supported me during the writing of this work. I would also like to thank my wife Alison and my daughter Hannah for their proof reading skills and advice. I would also like to thank the members of the shanty crew Hanging Johnny for their music and cheerful advice and invaluable insights into the life of merchant seamen during the days of sail. THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA: A corpus based investigation into the linguistic influence of the maritime tradition on Standard English TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 2 DEFINING THE DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES IN TIME, PLACE AND CULTURE................ 3 3 SOURCES AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH ....................................................................................... 12 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 SELECTING THE DATA ...................................................................................................................... 16 4.2 THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION......................................................................................................... 19 5 USING THE BANK OF ENGLISH .................................................................................................... 23 6 THE ANALYSIS: MARITIME EXPRESSIONS IN MODERN USAGE .................................... 25 6.1 GROUP 1: “OPAQUE” EXPRESSIONS................................................................................................. 31 6.1.1 At Loggerheads : Definitions and Etymologies: A detailed analysis ...................................... 32 6.1.2 At Loggerheads: Corpus evidence........................................................................................... 35 6.1.3 Bitter End: Definitions and etymologies ................................................................................ 39 6.1.4 Bitter End: Corpus evidence ................................................................................................... 40 6.1.5 Clean Slate .............................................................................................................................. 42 6.1.6 Cock up.................................................................................................................................... 44 6.1.7 Fit the bill................................................................................................................................ 46 6.1.8 Off and on................................................................................................................................ 50 6.1.9 On the fiddle............................................................................................................................ 52 6.1.10 Aloof...................................................................................................................................... 55 6.1.11 Taken Aback.......................................................................................................................... 59 6.2 GROUP 2 TRANSPARENT EXPRESSIONS ............................................................................................ 64 6.2.1 Between the Devil and the Deep (Blue) Sea............................................................................ 67 6.2.2 Bail out.................................................................................................................................... 70 6.2.3 Batten down (the hatches) ....................................................................................................... 74 6.2.4 Shipshape (and Bristol Fashion)............................................................................................. 77 6.2.5 Jump Ship................................................................................................................................ 79 6.2.6 Lee, Leeway and Leeward....................................................................................................... 82 6.2.7 Log .......................................................................................................................................... 90 6.2.8 Over a Barrel .......................................................................................................................... 94 6.2.9 To sail close to the wind.......................................................................................................... 96 7 CONCLUSIONS: WHO/ WHERE/ WHEN/ WHY?....................................................................... 100 8 FURTHER RESEARCH AND THE BUILDING OF A MARITIME CORPUS. ........................ 109 9 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 111 APPENDIX A MARITIME EXPRESSIONS QUESTIONNAIRE............................................. 113 APPENDIX B SURVEY RESULTS 1 ........................................................................................... 116 APPENDIX C EXCEL SPREADSHEET OF SURVEY RESULTS........................................... 117 APPENDIX D AT LOGGERHEADS ............................................................................................ 118 1 AT LOGGERHEADS: THE ECONOMIST .................................................................................... 118 2 AT LOGGERHEADS: BRITISH BROADSHEETS....................................................................... 119 3 AT LOGGERHEADS: BRITISH TABLOIDS (SUNNOW) ........................................................... 121 4 AT LOGGERHEADS: BBC ............................................................................................................. 122 5 AT LOGGERHEADS: BR SPOKEN ............................................................................................... 122 6 AT LOGGERHEADS: STRATHY (CANADA) .............................................................................. 122 1 THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA: A corpus based investigation into the linguistic influence of the maritime tradition on Standard English 7 AT LOGGERHEADS: OZNEWS (AUSTRALIA)........................................................................... 122 8 AT LOGGERHEADS: US CORPORA ............................................................................................ 123 APPENDIX E BITTER END.......................................................................................................... 124 1 BR NEWSPAPERS ............................................................................................................................ 124 2 BRBOOKS...........................................................................................................................................