Chapter 9: Early Modern English – Inner History

Figure 9.1 Hamlet

Source: The History of English

Attribution: Public Domain

Introduction

During the Early Modern English (EMnE) period, more written documents were produced than in previous periods of English, and this gives some clear insight into the sound system. However, since spelling was often done phonetically in the late Middle English Period and there were many dialects, it can be difficult to ascertain a clear picture of the exact phonological system. In addition, the EMnE covers roughly three hundred years (1500-1800). Nonetheless, the language was transitioning to what would become Present-Day English (PDE).

By the 16^th century, English spelling was becoming increasing different from pronunciation. Printers in EMnE began to settle on a standard spelling, but pronunciation was shifting. As Weiner (2012) notes, “In the late-fifteenth century printers began printing books written in the form of London English which had already become a kind of standard in manuscript documents. Between 1475 and about 1630 English spelling gradually became regularized.” However, while spelling may have been regularized, pronunciation and dialect shifting meant that spelling was distinct from pronunciation. Speakers of PDE are left with a legacy of a mismatch between spelling and pronunciation. Despite this, we can sketch out a rough picture of EMnE in this chapter.

The Sound System of EMnE

Consonants

The consonant inventory became similar to that of PDE during this time. Figure 9.1 shows the consonants of this period. EMnE added two consonants: /ŋ/ (ring) and /ʒ/ (vision).

Figure 9.2 Consonants of EMnE

While only two consonants were added, there were a number of changes in the distribution of individual consonants. In other words, the environment of some consonants caused the consonants to change. Here are some examples of changes during this period. This is adapted from Milllward and Hayes (2012):

• The post-vocalic [x] allophone disappeared (except in Scotland). Thus, PDE has spelling that does not match pronunciation. Examples include sight, straight, and caught. In final position, this sound became /f/: tough, laugh, cough.
• The consonant /l/ was lost after low back vowels and before velar consonant: half, palm, folk, talk. But was retained in other environments: film, silk, hulk.
• The consonants /t/ and /d/ were often dropped in clusters involving /s/: castle, hasten, handsome, landscape.
• The consonants /g/ and /k/ were lost in initial position before /n/: gnaw, gnome, know, knee, knight.
• Word-final “ng”, as in sing, was still pronounced [ŋɡ] until the late 16^th century, when it began to coalesce into the usual modern pronunciation, [ŋ]. The original pronunciation [ŋɡ] is preserved in parts of England.
• EMnE was rhotic. However, during this period /r/ was being dropped before vowels. This is evidenced by spelling such as quater, Mach, and brothe.

Vowels

The changes to the consonantal system during EMnE was relatively minor in comparison to the massive changes to the vowel system during this time. Let me note two major changes.

• As noted in chapter seven, the Great Vowel Shift (GVS) began in Middle English and continued through the EMnE period. It is difficult to pinpoint dates for the different aspects of the GVS shift because spelling had been standardized early in the EMnE period and future changes were not reflected in spelling. However, the GVS was complete by the beginning 1800.
• Many of the diphthongs from ME changed into monophthongs in EMnC. For example, ME /aɪ/ became /e/ as in day, pay, and eight.

The Syntax of EMnE

The grammatical system of EMnE became increasingly similar to Present-Day English (PDE). Below are points that highlight how the English system was transforming to what we know today. Many of the points below were taken from Weiner (2012).

Inflections

• Most inflections on nouns were lost. The only remnants were the plural -s and possessive apostrophe ’s. Though the apostrophe ’s did not become standard until the 17^th century.
• Adjectives were changing. At the beginning of the EMnE period, polysyllabic words could accept the comparative and superlative (-er, -est). However, by the end of the EMnE period it was more common to use more: complicatedier vs. more complicated.

Pronouns

• Early Modern English had two second-person personal pronouns: thou, the informal singular pronoun, and ye, the plural (both formal and informal) pronoun and the formal singular pronoun. Thou had fallen into disuse during the 17^th century. You, which was originally formal, became the standard singular and plural pronoun.
• During this period, that was the most common relative pronoun. Eventually, which and who were used increasingly. Even today, there is an ongoing debate about the use of that vs. which in relative clauses.

Verbs

There are a number of general trends that happened to verbs during the EMnE period: the reduction of inflections, changing of strong verbs to weak verbs, and the gradual decline of the subjunctive. Below are some example of these trends during this time period.

• ME had the indicative first person singular of verbs in the present tense ends in -e (ich here, 'I hear'), the second person in -(e)st (þou spekest, 'thou speakest'), and the third person in -eþ (he comeþ, 'he cometh/he comes'). However, these ending disappeared during the EMnE period, “giving giving rise to the current arrangement whereby in the present tense only the third singular is marked and all other persons take the base form” (Weiner 2012).
• During the EMnE period, the division between strong and weak verbs was no longer a viable distinction. “The majority of OE strong verbs had disappeared, become weak, or lost separate past and past participle forms” (Millward and Hayes, 2012, p. 265). Though, ironically, several weak verbs moved to becoming strong verbs: dig, spit, and stick. However, it is important to remember that strong verbs that convert to weak verbs often have competing forms for generations. For instance, drank and drunk competed as the accepted past tense form. Similarly, in certain dialect today sneaked and snuck are competing.

Prepositions and adverbs

Since most inflections on nouns were lost, prepositions became much more important. They became an integral part of the syntax. However, much like PDE, prepositions were idiomatic and varied by dialects. Consider the following phrases in PDE:

• Meet you at the restaurant vs. Meet you in the restaurant (Both can mean the same thing.)
• Log on vs. log in

EMnE began to rely on prepositions and even added new prepositions such as in spite of, with regard to, and in accordance with.

EMnE also began using the affix -ly for most new adjectives. And intensifiers such as very and pretty became much more commonly used.

Lexicon

Figure 9.3 Borrowing

Source: Wikiimages

Attribution: Public Domain

During this period, there was a great increase in English vocabulary. Most of the increase came from borrowing and many borrowings came from Latin. However, it is sometime difficult to determine if a word was period directly from Latin or entered from a Romance language, especially French. The substantial borrowing of Latin and sometimes Greek words for abstract concepts, begun in Middle English, continued unabated, often terms for abstract concepts not available in English. Below are some general principles about lexical growth during the EMnE Period.

• Many of the borrowing from Latin (or Romance languages) were “sophisticated” words: ambiguous, census, identical, navigate zone.
• A number of words that are still in common use in Modern English have undergone semantic narrowing. The use of the verb to suffer in the sense of "to allow" survived into EMnE, as in the phrase "suffer the little children" of the King James Version, but it has mostly been lost in Modern English. This use still exists in the idiom "to suffer fools gladly.”
• While EMnE has many word of ultimate Greek origin, many came into English by way of Latin: analysis, anathema, anonymous, archetype, and autograph.
• The excessive borrowing (sometimes from different sources) created many instances of English having two words that fairly synonymous, e.g., weird (OE), odd (Old Norse), strange (Old French).
• Naturally during this period, many words were “lost.” Although, defining lost is a bit problematic. Some words have been retained in some dialects. So, it is difficult to determine lost words because some are still used in specified dialects. Other words were never written down in ME, so we have no way of knowing that such word existed.

Key Concepts from Chapter 9:

• EMnE syntax became more analytic due to loss of inflections.
• Two consonants were added during the EMnE period: /ŋ/ (ring) and /ʒ/ (vision).
• EMnE verbs became regularized. The distinction between strong and weak verbs disappeared, though PDE has some remnants.
• EMnE added many words from Latin (and other languages) as English spread throughout the world.

Materials for Chapter 9 adapted from the following:

Mastin, Luke. The History of English. (Material was used and adapted with permission.)

Early Modern English (Wikipedia contributors, 2022)

Works Cited for Chapter 9:

Milllward, C. & Hayes, M. (2012). A Biography of the English language. Wadsworth.

Weiner, E. (2012). Grammar in early modern English. Oxford English Dictionary Website.

https://public.oed.com/blog/grammar-in-early-modern-english/

Weiner, E. (2012). Early modern English pronunciation and spelling. Oxford English Dictionary

Website. https://public.oed.com/blog/early-modern-english-pronunciation-and-spelling/