{"id":32482,"date":"2021-04-11T15:13:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T19:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=32482"},"modified":"2021-04-21T19:59:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T23:59:00","slug":"early-modern-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Modern English: Major Linguistic Developments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is Early Modern English? What are the major linguistic developments that took place during this period?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Early Modern English period extends roughly from 1500 to 1800 CE. The major developments during this period were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-great-vowel-shift\/\">the Great Vowel Shift<\/a>, the invention of the printing press, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/english-spelling-reform\/\">English spelling reform<\/a>. It was also the time of William Shakespeare, who made a remarkable contribution to the standardization and exaltation of the English language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read about the key events and linguistic developments that took place during Early Modern English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Arrival of Early Modern English<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Early Modern English phase extends from the late 15th century to the mid-to-late 17th century. The transition from Middle English to Early Modern English was not just a matter of the addition of new words and minor changes to pronunciation. It was the beginning of a whole new era in the history of the English language. It is during this period that English developed many of its modern features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Great Vowel Shift<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps, the major factor that separates Middle English from Early Modern English is the culmination of the revolution of the phonology of English (the Great Vowel Shift), running roughly from 1400-1600 CE, during which English speakers began pushing vowels closer to the front of their mouths. The word <em>life<\/em>, for example, was pronounced <em>lafe <\/em>in Shakespeare\u2019s time, with the vowel lodged further back in the throat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Printing Press<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another key event of the Early Modern English period was the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, which resulted in the gradual spread of written works (and thus, literacy) throughout England. By 1640, there were over 20,000 titles available in English, more than there had ever been. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as printed works produced by London printers began to spread across the country, local London spelling conventions gradually began to supplant local variations. As with the Great Vowel Shift, the sheer weight of London\u2019s gravity was decisive. By the dawn of the 18th century, English had become far more unified in its spelling than it had just a generation before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What this also meant was that <strong>old <\/strong><strong><em>spellings <\/em><\/strong><strong>became fixed just as many word <\/strong><strong><em>pronunciations <\/em><\/strong><strong>were shifting.<\/strong> Consequently, our inheritance is a written language with many words spelled the way they were pronounced 400 years ago. Such spellings often bear little resemblance to how the words are actually spoken. This accounts for many of the silent letters in words like <em>knight <\/em>and <em>aisle<\/em>, which used to be pronounced more phonetically than they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Spelling Standardization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This incongruity of spelling and pronunciation led some notable public figures to champion more robust efforts at spelling standardization and simplification<\/strong> by the end of the 18th century. By the late 19th century, spelling reform groups like the American Philological Association even began to lobby for new spellings like <em>tho<\/em>, <em>wisht<\/em>, and <em>hav <\/em>in an effort to simplify American English spelling and have it more closely align with pronunciation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the great passion and energy poured into spelling reform efforts, however, they mostly failed in their mission. Language is such a fluid and organic tool, used differently by so many people and susceptible to innumerable internal and external influences, that <strong>it is quite impossible for some centrally directed body to impose reforms top-down<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, we are used to the non-phonetic spellings of words like <em>bread<\/em>. It would be deeply strange and unnatural for us to write <em>bred. <\/em>And of course, <em>bred<\/em> is itself a word, which would merely create confusion. <em>Bread<\/em> and <em>bred<\/em> are homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently. The high number of homophones in English gives the non-phonetic spellings of many words a useful purpose. Thus can we distinguish <em>might<\/em> from <em>mite<\/em>, <em>great <\/em>from <em>grate<\/em>, and <em>sure<\/em> from <em>shore<\/em>. Perhaps our spelling isn\u2019t so irrational after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At this time, English began to be regarded for its potential as a language of literature. <strong>No writer took greater advantage of the incredible flexibility and richness of the English language than Shakespeare<\/strong>. The Bard of Avon alone added some 2,000 words to the language, such as <em>mimic<\/em>, <em>bedroom<\/em>, <em>lackluster<\/em>, <em>hobnob<\/em>. He also introduced a host of new phrases we still use today, like \u201cone fell swoop\u201d and \u201cin my mind\u2019s eye.\u201d Shakespeare greatly elevated and exalted the English language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For much of the history of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/evolution-of-english-language\/\">evolution of the English language<\/a>, however, words defied standard spelling, with even Shakespeare offering a bewildering array of different and inconsistent spellings for the same words throughout his works. <strong>The first steps toward standardization only began with the invention of the printing press in the 15th century<\/strong> and the gradual spread of written works (and thus, literacy) throughout England.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1640, there were over 20,000 titles available in English, more than there had ever been. As printed works produced by London printers began to spread across the country, local London spelling conventions gradually began to supplant local variations. What this also meant was that <strong>old <em>spellings <\/em>became fixed just as many word <em>pronunciations <\/em>were shifting because of the Great Vowel Shift.<\/strong> Our inheritance is a written language with many words spelled the way they were pronounced 400 years ago.&nbsp;As a result, <strong>English spellings often bedevil non-native speakers, as well as those who\u2019ve spoken the language their whole lives<\/strong>. Pronunciation and spelling are frequently divergent. To take just one example, the <em>sh <\/em>sound can be spelled <em>sh<\/em> as in <em>mash<\/em>; <em>ti <\/em>as in <em>ration<\/em>;<em> <\/em>or <em>ss <\/em>as in <em>session<\/em>. The troublesome orthography (the set of conventions for writing) of English can be seen in words like <em>debt<\/em>, <em>know<\/em>, <em>knead<\/em>, and <em>colonel<\/em>, with their silent letters, as well as their hidden, but pronounced letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shakespearean Influence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Early Modern English also saw a Golden Age of English literature, championed by William Shakespeare. <strong>No writer took greater advantage of the incredible flexibility and richness of the English language than Shakespeare<\/strong>. In the late-16th and early-17th centuries, the Bard of Avon alone added some 2,000 words to the language, like <em>mimic<\/em>, <em>bedroom<\/em>, <em>lackluster<\/em>, <em>hobnob. <\/em>He also introduced a whole host of new phrases that we still use today, like \u201cone fell swoop\u201d and \u201cin my mind\u2019s eye\u201d owe their origins to Shakespeare. He reshaped English, showcasing its extraordinary possibilities as a language of literature. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Early Modern English? What are the major linguistic developments that took place during this period? The Early Modern English period extends roughly from 1500 to 1800 CE. The major developments during this period were the Great Vowel Shift, the invention of the printing press, and the English spelling reform. It was also the time of William Shakespeare, who made a remarkable contribution to the standardization and exaltation of the English language. Read about the key events and linguistic developments that took place during Early Modern English.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,24],"tags":[261],"class_list":["post-32482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-society","tag-the-mother-tongue","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Early Modern English: Major Linguistic Developments - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Early Modern English extends roughly from 1500 to 1800 CE. 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Read about the key linguistic developments that took place during this period.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-11T19:13:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-21T23:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shakespeare-english-magbeth.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Early Modern English: Major Linguistic Developments\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-11T19:13:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-21T23:59:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/\"},\"wordCount\":1052,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shakespeare-english-magbeth.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Mother Tongue\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/\",\"name\":\"Early Modern English: Major Linguistic Developments - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-modern-english\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shakespeare-english-magbeth.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-11T19:13:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-21T23:59:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Early Modern English extends roughly from 1500 to 1800 CE. 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