Standardization of English

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Contents

Introduction to Standardization        2

Standardization of English        2

The lull        3

A fresh start        3

Selection        3

Elaboration of Function        4

Government and Law        4

Literature        4

Religion        5

Codification        5

Changes in Modern English        6

The Great Vowel Shift        6

Variation in Stress Patterns        6

Attitude towards English in World        6

Bibliography        8

Introduction to Standardization 

Standardization of a language is usually considered to be comprised of four basic stages. The four stages of standardization are not always thought of as being chronological. But it is for sure that the process is a continuous one – goes on and a number of factors determine its progress.

Standardization of English

The standardization of English basically expands over three periods. The first period was the unsuccessful period, or also known as the abortive period. The second stage is known as the lull and the third period is the fuller period which is still in practice.

Background & History

In the earlier centuries, when the communities of the Germanics were established for the first time in Britain, the time period was known for the fierce, war-like tribes who wanted to conquer the islands. To great surprise, the idea of standardization was completely absurd until the commencement of 8th century. Within the period of 1 year, between the 8th and 7th century, the country of England was known by the name of the heptarchy – which meant a state having seven kingdoms. It has been known that there existed nearly four dialects in the area. The north-Umbrian, along with the Mercian was called the Anglian. The Kentish along with the Saxon was called the Saxons. (Stephen Greenblatt, 2006)

It was after a long periods of continued wars (over years) that the king of West Saxons, Alfred, conquered the area of the Vikings and had them face a crushing defeat. But later, he negotiated with the Vikings over a number of treaties. He re-established the old tradition of letters. This tradition had been long dead in the time of the war when a number of convents were demolished. Learning and writing were revived once again and there were certain conditions set for relative peace. These gave birth to some ripe conditions for the standardization. The most significant fact in favor of English was that King Alfred, himself, encouraged the use of English over Latin. A number of manuscripts were inscribed in English. Majority of the manuscripts were based on the West Saxon dialect. So, the West Saxon dialect was basically becoming to act as the foundation of being the standard of that time.