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Some Characteristics of Early Modern Periods (1500-1750)
Printing technology, which was developed in Germany in the 15th century, had a significant impact on the vernacular (native) languages of Europe. In England, it had so far-reaching effect that in about a century later, manuscript books (handwritten) were completely replaced by printed ones. Printing made such rapid progress that before the end of 1500, printed books in Europe reached about 35,000. Though the majority of these were in Latin, the effects of printing on modern languages like English was no doubt overwhelming. By 1640, over 20,000 titles appeared in English, ranging from pamphlets to large texts. Books were no longer an exclusive luxury of the upper class; everyone had access to it now because it was possible to reproduce a thousand copies or more of one book exactly like the other. Thus, a powerful force was in place for promoting a standard and a uniform language. And it also provided a means of spreading the language throughout the lands where the language was understood.
Another important factor for the growth of English, which was also a feature of the early modern period, was the rapid growth of popular education. Literacy became widespread. In the latter part of the Middle Ages, a good number of the people of the middle class could read and write and this helped in the rapid spread of standards and uniformity in language use. In the later 17th and 18th centuries, education became much more accessible, with an increase in the number of available schools and colleges. In Shakespeare’s London, for example, it was estimated that more than a third or even a half of the population could read and write. Journalism developed, featuring men like Daniel Defoe, and it was also the period of the rise of the novel. With this kind of progress in education, the printing press was able to exert an unforgettable influence on language as well as learning. Not just in the early modern period alone, it is noticeable that the influence of commerce, transportation, and rapid means of communication has had a great impact on language. We shall look closely at this as we examine the growth of English as a world language in Module 4 Unit 3.
As the modern period began to witness increased technological developments, which enhanced easy travel, communication, and social contacts, people and places which had been isolated during the earlier times were now brought together. This again enhanced the development of language.
Another important factor was social consciousness. This means people’s general tendency to identify with certain social or economic groups. Under modern democracies, a man can easily rise to a higher economic or social class and would likely make some efforts to adopt the standards of grammar and pronunciation of the people of his new class. He becomes careful of his speech, manners, tastes, and general comportment. Most importantly as it applies to us here is that social consciousness creates language awareness. The more social conscious someone is, the more careful he is in his language. This has helped the English language to sustain a uniform standard.
What are the effects of all these social characteristics to the English language of the early modern period? We shall look at them under the next sub-headings.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
Describe the general characteristics of the early modern period.
How did those characteristics affect English language grammar and vocabulary?
The Renaissance Period
Two forces to be identified here are (1) a radical force to produce a change in the vocabulary of English, and (2) a conservative force which aimed at preserving the existing status of the English grammar. The printing press, new reading habits, and the spread of ideas, which came with growth in communication all promoted the extension of vocabulary, while these same factors together with social consciousness as we described above, worked actively towards the maintenance of standards especially in grammar and usage. While education, for example, showed some influence in promoting grammar, spelling, and pronunciation, people were still unconsciously assimilating some features of less Standard English through the reading of books, newspapers, or magazines. In modern times, you will discover that changes in grammar are less compared to changes in vocabulary. This was not the case during the earlier English periods. At that time, changes in grammar were extensive. Remember that it was during the Middle English period that the structure of English, where the verb follows the subject, was stabilized.
In the Middle Ages, the condition under which English was developing was peculiar to England, especially with the Norman Conquest which relegated the English language to the low class. French became the language of the refined noble class. But by the close of the Middle English period, the language having gone through major transforming experiences, needed to establish itself in modern times like other European languages, and be recognized in the fields where Latin had for centuries dominated. That was why it was necessary that English establish a more uniform orthography and enrich its vocabulary. We shall examine these in detail in Unit 4 of this module.
However, we can say that the general interest in the English of the Renaissance focused on vocabulary. And let me remind you that the period from the time of Caxton (1476) until around 1650 was called the Renaissance – a time of great change in Europe.
During the 16th century, following the development of printing, there was a flood of new publications in English as a result of renewed interest in classical languages and literature and in the rapidly growing fields of science, medicine, and the arts. As new concepts, techniques, and inventions were being experienced in Europe, words in the languages were either insufficient or not available at all to express these new ideas, so writers began to borrow new terms. Most of the words that came into English at this time were taken from Latin, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. And as the period of worldwide exploration came underway, words from over 50 other languages including indigenous languages of North America, Africa, and Asia came into English. We shall discuss in detail the vocabulary question and the inkhorn controversy in the next Unit. Inkhorn terms are foreign words in English.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
Can you identify a major influence on the Renaissance English?
What necessitated the widespread borrowing of foreign words into the English language during the Renaissance period?
Changes in Grammar and Pronunciation
By the time of the Renaissance, major shifts in English grammatical structure had already taken place. Words had already lost most of their inflections. Few changes in English syntax could still be noticed. For example, several features of the verb use show a marked difference today.
(i) my life is run his compass (Julius Caesar) where today we should say my life has run its compass.
(ii) verbs developed a wider use of auxiliaries e.g. speak he the truth? (does he speak the truth? Is he speaking the truth?) What makes you? (What are you making?) It judges me (I judge…) It benefits me not (It does not benefit me) etc. Me thinks he did (I think he did).
(iii) Sentences tend to be too long, loose and linear, with repeated ‘and’ and ‘then’ coordination, mostly introduced by ‘which’ or ‘that’. Here is an example from Caxton’s prologue to Golden Legend:
And I shall pray for them unto Almighty God that he of his benign grace reward them etc. and that it profite to all them that shall read or hear it read, and may increase in them virtue and expel vice and sin that by the example of the holy saints, amend their living here in this short life that by their merits they and I may come to everlasting bliss in heaven.
(iv) There were constructions involving a double negative e.g. I cannot do no wrong.
(v) A number of verb inflections (speaketh, pleaseth, know’st, spake etc) fell out of standard use.
(vi) Adjectives lost their inflections, though not completely. Expressions like most unkindest or more longer were no more in use.
(vii) Pronouns like ‘thou’, ‘thee’, ‘thine’, ‘thy’, ‘thyself’, ‘ye’ fell into disuse except in poetry; ‘you’ was substituted for ‘ye’ normative; ‘its’ came into use as the possessive of it.
(viii) The pronoun ‘who’ as a relative pronoun developed in the 16th century.
(ix) The ‘s’ plural became general.
(x) Some unchanged plural remained e.g. Sheep, Swine.
(xi) New conjunctions emerged: ‘because’ for example first appeared in Chaucer, but ‘for’ and ‘that’ remained the normal way of expressing cause until the early 17th century. Participial constructions (use of verbs ending with –ed –en or –ing) became mostly common. This added to the length of sentences. The search for stability in the language continued until the 18th century.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
Identify at least 5 features of Early Modern English grammar.
Conclusion
The Renaissance, being a period of great social and economic change also brought with it some inevitable changes in the English language. Changes in grammar were slight while changes in vocabulary were more dynamic because of the new waves of scientific explorations and increase in knowledge. And we can, therefore, conclude that social changes have great influence on language because language functions as a means of express meaning within specific social contexts.
Summary
The Early Modern Period was characterized by:
(i) a rapid growth of printing technology which resulted in a very high volume of printed materials in England; this provided a means of promoting standard in language use.
(ii) Growth of popular education and high degree of literacy placed more demands on printed information and literature; again increasing the power of the printing press to influence language and learning.
(iii) Modern developments in commerce, medicine, transportation, communication increased the quest for new words to express new concepts and ideas.
(iv) Social consciousness also enabled people to move along social classes, giving them the opportunity to adjust to higher standards of language use.
These factors had a radical effect on the vocabulary of English because new terms emerged and borrowing became necessary to express new knowledge. A conservative force also emerged which sought to preserve the existing structure of grammar. These were the hallmarks of Renaissance English.
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