Mcintyre Final 080701.Indd

66 DEVELOPMENT B5.3 Expanding the lexicon In B1.2 you can read about how new words were formed in Old English via the process of compounding (putting existing words together to form new words). In the Middle English period borrowing words from Latin and French was the principal means by which the vocabulary of English was expanded (see B3.4 for examples). In the Early Modern period, considerable disagreement arose among certain scholars concerning the most apt way of enlarging the lexicon of English. Th e disagreement occurred in the second half of the sixteenth century and centred on the appropriate- ness of expanding the vocabulary of English by borrowing words from Latin and other Classical languages such as Greek. Some writers, such as Sir Th omas Elyot, believed that the expressive capability and status of the English language could be enriched by borrowing vocabulary from such languages. Other commentators felt that these loanwords were unnecessarily complex and that it was better to use ‘simple’ Germanic vocabulary. Th is disagreement has come to be known as Th e Inkhorn Controversy. Inkhorn is another term for inkpot, into which scholars would dip their pens as they wrote. Th ose writers who scorned the borrowing of Classical vocabulary decribed such loanwords as inkhorn terms, a disparaging phrase that conveys the belief that using such terms was a scholarly aff ectation. Sir John Cheke, a Cambridge scholar who was famously against the use of inkhorn terms, expressed his objections to the practice of borrowing Classical vocabulary in a letter of 1557: I am of the opinion that our own tongue should be written clean and pure, unmixt and unmangled with borrowing of other tongues, wherein if we take not heed by time, ever borrowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt. (Cheke 1557, quoted in Johnson 1944: 115) It may seem surprising that the ‘inkhorn terms’ to which Cheke and others were ob - jecting included such now common words as audacious, celebrate, clemency, compatible, contemplate, expectation, hereditary, insane and promotion. Notice that commentators such as Cheke demonstrated an overtly prescriptive (and proscriptive) view of the development of English. B6 THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ENGLISH Th e spread of English overseas from the late 1500s onwards necessitates a change in terminology when we talk about the language. Although dialectal variation existed in English from its earliest inception, from the point at which English begins to spread to other countries it becomes necessary to talk also about international varieties of the language. American English is one such example of an international variety that diff ers from British English (though it is important not to overstate the diff erences which, in the twenty- fi rst century, are marginal owing to globalisation and the mixing of cultures that this has led to). THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ENGLISH 67 In this section we will consider how English developed in America aft er the arrival of English speakers in what was then seen as ‘the New World’ (we will focus specifi cally on North American English and will look at other international varieties – or World Englishes – in B7 and B8). It is important to remember that the fi rst Brit- ish settlers in America would have spoken varieties of Early Modern English. Initially, then, varieties of English in America would have sounded like varieties of English in Britain. Over time, though, diff erences emerged as a result of numerous factors: contact with other languages, the infl uence of other cultures, power struggles, etc. Th e forging of a national identity distinct from that of Britain was also responsible for developments in the language. B6.1 Causes of linguistic development in the American colonies In A6.1 it is noted that the fi rst British settlers in America came from a variety of places in England. London was just one of these. Additionally, settlers originated from such counties as Gloucestershire, Somerset, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Essex and Kent. What is particularly important here is that the early British settlers were drawn from the lower- and middle- classes of Britain, and consequently the English that was initially spoken in America included many regional dialectal features as opposed to being solely a form of Standard English. Cassidy (1984: 178) makes the salient point that ‘people at the top of the social scale do not become colonists’. Th is is signifi cant when we consider research in sociolinguistics which suggests that change and development in language is generally instigated by the middle- classes. Cassidy (1984: 179) goes on to suggest what some of the factors might have been that would have caused the development of English in the earliest American colonies. Th ese include: ❏ Numerical majority – the dialectal forms that were most frequent in the colonies were the ones that were most likely to survive and develop into American Eng- lish. i.e. Th e larger the group of settlers from a particular area of Britain, the more likely their regional dialect was to have an infl uence on what became the norm in the developing American English variety. ❏ Prestige – the linguistic forms used by community leaders would most likely have been viewed as prestigious and adopted into American English for this reason. ❏ Lack of contact with Britain – the infl uence of British English was, over time, reduced as a result of diminishing contact between the settlers and their homeland. Conversely, the experiences of colonial life were more likely to aff ect the development of American English. In addition to these factors there is also the signifi cant issue of language contact. In A3 you can read about the importance of language contact for the development of Middle English. Contact between English and other languages played a similarly important part in the development of American English. Languages and dialects that English came into contact with included those of the Native American Indians, as well as Dutch, Spanish, French and German (the languages of other immigrant groups in the country at the time). 68 DEVELOPMENT B6.2 A developing standard Reed (1967: 16) makes the point that because the early British settlers in America were not from the upper echelons of society (and hence, perhaps, not as well educated), it is likely that spoken language more than written language determined the standard form of American English that developed. Th e standard that gradually emerged was not as socially charged as, say, written Standard British English and Received Pronunciation, most likely because the social hierarchy of Britain had not been transplanted to the American colonies. In a study of contemporary American English, Toon (1984: 214) claims that ‘[I]n general, English in the United States is most uniform in the domain of syntax and most variable in pronunciation’. Th is is an observation also made by contemporary observers of American English in the 1700s (Marckwardt 1980: 70), though it is likely that this was overstated somewhat. Dillard (1985) puts this down to dialect- levelling, a process by which the characteristic features of dialects are gradually lost as dialects converge (i.e. speakers accommodate their language use to become more like other language users). Dillard explains that this dialect- levelling occurred from the beginning of the 1700s until well into the last quarter of that century (1985: 70) and that, within a generation of settlers, ‘access to the levelled dialect was pos- sible’ (1985: 62). Th is rapid development came about in part because of the establish- ment of schools wherein children would be exposed to standard forms, as well as the peer- pressure that caused colonial children to accommodate their language use to that of their classmates (Dillard 1985: 63). Nevertheless, by the end of the 1700s, dialectal diversity became more commonplace owing to contact with the frontier varieties spoken by immigrants from other countries (Dillard 1985: 71). B6.3 ‘Archaisms’ in American English In the early years of the American colonies, in addition to the fact that American Eng- lish was seen as remarkably uniform in terms of dialect, it was also oft en observed that it retained a number of ‘archaic’ forms of British English (the same claim is sometimes made today too). To a certain extent this was true, but it is necessary to exer- cise caution when investigating this. For example, it is not the case that forms of Early Modern English have been preserved in American English entirely without change (Marckwardt 1980: 71). And while it may sometimes be claimed that a particular word, grammatical structure or pronunciation in American English is an archaic form of British English, it is oft en the case that the form is still in use in dialects of Brit- ish English other than SE (remember the necessity of considering varieties of English before making generalisations about linguistic change; see A8.3). Hence, some of the cited archaisms in American English are oft en simply forms which are no longer in use in Standard British English. ‘Archaism’ is perhaps not, therefore, the best term to use when describing these diff erences. As an example, here are some linguistic vari- ables that are commonly cited as being archaic but which still survive in regional Brit- ish dialects: ❏ Marckwardt (1980: 73) reports that the word druggist was used in England until around 1750, when it was replaced by chemist. However, druggist remained in use in the American colonies. Nevertheless, as Marckwardt points out, while druggist fell out of usage in the Standard British English of the time, it was retained THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ENGLISH 69 in some dialects of Scotland.

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