Chapter 2 of Grammar for Grammarians deals with the period of 1642-1700 in England. This period can be called the Prescriptive Period because many 'grammarians' tried to formulate and control the English language. Because England had been in turmoil for most of this period by the 1660s there was a movement to change language and order, regulate, conform, and correct the language and the cultural of the people. The attitudes and interests of the people began to change and they took a new look into the importance of English. They modeled this view from the perfection of Latin since there was a renewed interest in Latin language and Literature in England. Four prominent figures where John Dryden, Daniel Defoe, Johnathon Swift (The author who we made swifties in class the other day), and Samuel Johnson. These figures tried to do three things to English:
1. Standardize it by creating a system of rules for which it had to follow.
2. Refine it by taking away any defects in the language.
3. Ascertain it by making perfect so it will never change and evolve. They did this so that there work would always be understood.
These ideas were good because standarizing the language would make it easier to be taught in schools and more people would be able to speak and understand the language. However refining it and trying to ascertain it would not benefit the language because having the language grow encourages more intellect between scholars. Since this is was the belief of the group they tried to push for an English Academy to monitor the language and create the three rules above. This did not happen however, but there were grammars that were produced that helped understand the difficulties of English.
Although the grammarians of the time did not fully re-order the English language there were leaps and bounds made it its theory and thoughts. Many people began to look into why we have past participle and why it is important to the language. Grammarians were taking a new look into the marvelous language of English!!!!!!
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18 comments:
I think it's very interesting that these people did not want the language to grow at all! Although I believe that it is important to have standard rules in a language, I blieve that a language should keep up the the modern world!
I think that their ideas of not wanting the language to grow was an attempted to keep it standard, which is a good thing..this way once someone learns it..they know it..Also I think we have seen in this class that there are different forms..such as enfish which would be ok in certain writings..But everyone should be taught standard english.
I have read about all of those writers and have never heard that they were put in charge of doing that before, so I thought that was interesting. I agree with Regina that keeping the language standard is a good thing because that way everyone learns it the same way.
Learning about how the founders of our language were hesitant to allow it to expand is very interesting. However, at this time, people thought that change was not a good thing because change often meant rebellion. It is just weird to think of all the changes that have occurred in language over time.
I think that this was very interesting that people do not want language to grow. I agree with Amanda Murphy that language should keep up with the modern world.
That was kind of odd that the people had no interest in the language growing. Language has to grow. I mean, new words and phrases kind of pop up everyday, and everyday there are new ways to pronounce words and things like that so language has to grow.
i think that language has to grow to suit the changing society. For example, in a capitalistic society t would be near impossible to have a society that has a vocabulary ill suited to cover its own time. Language and slang give depth to society.
This chapter was very interesting. I think it is weird that these great figures want to stop the expansion of the language. Change is good and necessary for proper development. This chapter was filled with a lot of useful information and taught me a lot about this great period of English language. I think it is good for everyone to learn where their language comes from in order to better understand where it has been and where it is going. The English language has changed a lot since then and I would like to think it has changed for the better.
Interesting. Until Webster wrote his dictionary, people simply spelled things in whatever fashion they chose. Standardization is a noble goal. Stagnation is not. Languages change and that cannot be stopped.
Bryan Norbut
I agree that language should be updated as time moves forward, and I admit that I catch myself using new words. However, I just can't imagine waking up one day and being told that they have completely revamped the language I have been speaking my whole life! (I'm glad they did it back then though :))
This was a great blog! I agree that certain standards are important to maintain in order for people to learn and continue to learn a certain language. However, as our world changes it is assured that our language will grow and adapt to our expanding society.
I did know that English had derived from the Anglo-Saxon language. What I did not know is how people reacted to the changing or revision of the English language. Overtime the English language has been modified a myriad of times. This ever-changing transformation of the English language has always been fascinating to me.
I think that it is interesting that they did not want their language to grow. I feel that languages should grow with the society and that change is not only inevitable, but a positive thing even when it comes to something like language.
I think it important for a language to grow. If you start putting limitations on things like language and communication, then society will be held within those boundaries. New things happen. There need to be new ways of describing them.
--bonnie bilyeu
... nope, Jonathan Swift has NOTHING to do with Tom Swifties!
;-) What we did in class comes from Tom Swift, a boy's adventure hero created by the prolific American writer Edward L. Stratemeyer under the pseudonym Victor Appleton!
Jonathan Swift is a classical author who wrote "Gulliver's Travels."
Ceating a standard Enlgish was a fantastic idea. It allows more people to be able to easily communicate with each other, and keeps the language regualr. I would have to say that I kind of agree with not wanting the language to grow. Here's an example of why heh. The word bootylicious was added to the dictionary a few years ago, and that is absolutely retarded. They have added other slang words into the dictionary over the last few years as well. This is most likely not what the 4 grammarians had in mind, but I find made up words like bootylicious being added to the dictionary to be a slap in the face to anyone who actualy enjoys the english language.
I believe that keeping a standard for language can, in today's society, be tied to the retention of one's cultural identity. However, in Swift's day, it was an elitist and conservative approach that most likely had more to do with quelling minorities' freedoms than actually retaining the country's culture.
Living in this society language will always change and grow, it has to fit the time then.
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