Early Modern English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Early Modern English English |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | England, southern Scotland and British colonies | |
| Language extinction: | developed into Modern English | |
| Language family: | Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic Early Modern English |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | — | |
| ISO 639-3: | — | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Early Modern English refers to the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the latter half of the 1400s) to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English, although the King James Bible intentionally keeps some archaisms that were not common even when it was published. Current readers of English are generally able to understand Early Modern English, though occasionally with difficulties arising from grammar changes, changes in the meanings of some words, and spelling differences. The standardization of English spelling falls within the Early Modern English period, and is influenced by conventions predating the Great Vowel Shift, explaining much of the non-phonetic spelling of contemporary Modern English.
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[edit] Pronouns
In Early Modern English, there were two second-person personal pronouns: thou, the informal singular pronoun, and ye, which was both the plural pronoun and the formal singular pronoun. (Thou was already falling out of use in the Early Modern English period, but remained customary for addressing God and certain other solemn occasions, and sometimes for addressing inferiors.) Like other personal pronouns, thou and ye had different forms depending on their grammatical case; specifically, thou's objective form was thee, its possessive forms were thy and thine, and its reflexive or emphatic form was thyself, while ye's objective form was you, its possessive forms were your and yours, and its reflexive or emphatic forms were yourself and yourselves.
In other respects, the pronouns were much the same as today. One difference is that, much as a becomes an before a vowel, my and thy became mine and thine before vowels as well; hence, mine eyes, thine uncle, and so on.
[edit] Verb
Verb conjugations in the "thou" form (second person informal singular) end in -(e)st (e.g. "thou takest"). In Early Modern English, third person singular conjugations end in -(e)th instead of -s (e.g. "he taketh"). Both the second person informal singular and third person singular lost their endings in the subjunctive, which utilizes the bare stem of the verb.
[edit] From Middle English to Early Modern English
The change from Middle English to Early Modern English was not just a matter of vocabulary or pronunciation changing: it was the beginning of a new era in the history of English.
The introduction of printing meant that more books were produced, and more people would have had access to books. People who already read books would have read a greater number of different books, and the average literate person's vocabulary would have been enlarged. Greater political stability and prosperity led to a flowering of lasting literature, which would have helped to stabilise the language and broaden its vocabulary. Greater prosperity would also have led to more trade, with people from different parts of England coming into contact with each other. English was used in church services, making the general population more familiar with a standard version of the language, rather than the liturgy being in Latin, which was totally incomprehensible to most people. The great differences between the Middle English dialects would have started to be ironed out to some extent.
An era of linguistic change in a language with large variations in dialect was replaced by a new era of a more standardised language with a richer lexicon and an established (and lasting) literature. Shakespeare's plays are familiar and comprehensible today, 400 years after they were written, but the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland, written only 200 years earlier, are considerably more difficult for the average reader.
[edit] Timeline: Early Modern English
- 1476 — William Caxton starts printing in Westminster, but the language he uses reflects the variety of styles and dialects used by the authors whose work he prints.
- 1485 — Tudor dynasty established — start of period of (relative) political and social stability.
- 1491 or 1492 — Richard Pynson starts printing in London — his style tends to prefer Chancery Standard, the form of English used by government.
- c1509 — Pynson becomes the king's official printer.
- From 1525 — Publication of William Tyndale's Bible translation (which was initially banned).
- 1539 — Publication of the Great Bible, the first officially authorised Bible in English, edited by Myles Coverdale, largely from the work of Tyndale. This Bible is read to congregations regularly in churches, familiarising much of the population of England with a standard form of the language.
- 1549 — Publication of the first Book of Common Prayer in English, under the supervision of Thomas Cranmer. This book standardises much of the wording of church services.
- 1557 — Publication of Tottel's Miscellany.
- c1590 to c1612 — Shakespeare's plays written — they are still widely read and familiar in the 21st century.
- 1611 — The King James Bible is published, largely based on Tyndale's translation. It remains the standard Bible in the Church of England for many years.
- c1640–1660 — Period of social upheaval in England (the English Civil War and the era of Oliver Cromwell).
- 1662 — New edition of the Book of Common Prayer, largely based on the 1549 and subsequent editions. This also long remains a standard work in English.
- 1667 — Publication of Paradise Lost by John Milton.
[edit] From Early Modern to Modern English
The 17th century was a time of political and social upheaval in England, particularly the period from about 1640 to 1660. Certain forms of pronunciation or vocabulary may have lost or gained prestige, as parts of the upper echelons of society were replaced by people from lower classes. The increase in trade around the world meant that the English port towns (and their forms of speech) would have gained in influence over the old county towns. England experienced a new period of internal peace and relative stability, encouraging the arts including literature, from around the 1690s onwards. Another important episode in the development of the English language started around 1600: the British settlement of America.
