Standardization of English in the British Isles - Essay Example

 Standardization of English in the British Isles Introduction In years after thirteen century, English did not get subjected to catastrophic impacts that arisen from invasion from bilingualism and lingo contact (Trudgill, 1984, 32). This came through the ascent of Standard English within the British Isles. The impacts that were earlier experienced in English transpired through literary channels instead of daily verbal channels and were principally lexical. Standardization of the English language augmented the vocabulary that was present for utilization formal and technical contexts. This contributed profoundly to the functional elaboration that was required to ensure standard language for the entire Britain isles (Trudgill 1984, 32). Standardization of the English language was achievable for the Britain soon after the borrowing of numerous vocabularies from its colonies all over the globe. The English utilized by Britain was comprehensive or all-inclusive offering diversity to the language. English was rarely exploited before standardization since other language such as Latin and Norman French were utilized in various distinctive fields of study and administration. However, the respectability of the English language progressively rose through the years in an attempt to acquire full standards. Standardization of English within the British Isles meant normalization, which is considered containment of any prevalent discretionary variations concerning the grammatical aspects (Trudgill 1984, 32). This implied that standardization could only be accomplished within the written channel. In view of changes that took place in presenting what is considered Standard English numerous restructurings were carried out to bring about these changes. Reconstructing pronunciation, therefore, can be considered, one of the elements that contributed to standardization of English language inside the British Isles (Cote 2006, 3). Writers between the 16th and 17th century imparted efforts on pronunciation. Reconstructions were also done on spelling both casual and informal in individual letters in dissimilar dialects. In the past, the populace utilized dialects as forms of interactions in their societal contexts. During this time, little existed about Standard English all over the globe, since the tongue had not been integrated, with other languages, to develop the standard language. Therefore, there existed disparities in the spoken English within different societal contexts, due to the existence of diverse dialects for different factions of populace. Although dialects were as a result of geographical and social incidences. Dialects have been associated markedly with sociolinguistics, which relate to social attitudes. However, with time dialect has lost its value with the emergence of status among the general populace. The dialect lost its value during the years in history when people started gaining identities, and social status leading to the development of more formal language free of dialects. Introduction of Standard English in the British Isles, therefore, became a reality with the subject of identity and social status. Rise of media serves as an imperative process in the standardization of the English language in the British language (Mair, 2009, 2). It presented high visibility and universal presence as well as the reduction of the numerous dialects experienced in the whole of British. Standardization obtained a substantial boost from the development of the printing press in the Britain isles. The next stage of standardization received a further boost from the media such as the radio and television, which provided standardization for spoken English (Mair, 2009, 2). Over the years, further standardization was achieved through the initial phases of the worldwide web. Standardization received a further boost in the events that followed globalization in which cultural diversity got lost together with linguistic diversity. This provided a clear basis for the standardization of English in the British Isles. Globalization profoundly affects the culture of the surrounding communities leading to erosion of linguistics. Loss of linguistics made standardization of the English language, easier leading to the fast implementation of the standard form. Urbanization also considerably contributed to easier standardization of the English language given that most people lost their initial linguistic identities. This implies that the first languages of the urbanized groups gradually eroded with time and generations leading to complete loss of the linguistic identities. These groups acquired another language that was more pronounced or rather the standardized version. This can be substantially attributed to associations that made the distinction between different societal classes. Standard English gained much association with the middle and high societal classes. Similarly, the dialects were considered languages for groups of the populace that belonged to the lowest class. In order to ensure that people gained social class, they often got associated with the standard version of the English language. Over time, the standard language spread all over British Isles leading to complete achievement of standardization. The Industrial Revolution contributed heavily to the standardization of the English language for the people in the British Isles. It contributed towards spelling standardization through phrases utilized in the Great Exhibition (Courtney, 2009, 1). Standardization of spelling of words such as mills aimed at regulating the English language (Kemmer, 2009, 1). Industrial upheaval presented words that were adapted from other languages, altered, customized and invented. These words came to be utilized largely in the Standard English all over the British Isles. The settlement of the Anglo-Saxons served to contribute in the standardization of the English language given that it led to the loss of most primary languages for the communities that lived in Britain. Soon after, the invaders came; they made other groups speak in their language leading to further erosion of the English language (Courtney 2009, 1). However, the English language reappeared between 17th and 19th century as the Old English. This began with the writing that was undertaken using the English language directing to the reference of the language as the English in the 19th century. As a result of the erosion of the first languages of the existing languages, standardization could be easily achieved. The tongues utilized by various factions of the populace were indeed utilized in the grammatical developments within the English language for the British Isles. Scandinavian settlements contributed to the standardization of the English language. The old English bared similarity to the language that the invaders spoke. This provided further vocabulary to the Standard English that was markedly utilized in the British Isles. Numerous changes occurred in English language solely after the conquest by Norman. Middle English developed soon after the broke down of the old English (Higgins 2004, 1). It was considered the affluent inflectional system of the old English. However, the Standard English that is utilized in the contemporary world replaced this form of English. The vocabulary that was incorporated into the Standard English brought enormous transformations in the English language. The belatedly medieval as well as the early contemporary eras presented a steady procedure on standardization in English language within the British Isles. Later on, the British Isles gained both the written and verbal standards in English since it evolved and progressively produced greater influence within this region at large. Earlier on, dialect was the language spoken within a certain region and was often depicted in the writings by individuals bearing a certain dialect. Most people adopted the standard version of the English language as a shield to prevent themselves from the stigma they faced within the social context. People with little educational knowledge indicated that the people who talked English containing dialect were uneducated. In order to neutralize this perception, the people speaking with dialect had low literacy standards. They, therefore, adopted the Standard English for protection against the stigma that was imposed on the individuals with low literacy standards. The Great Vowel Shift all through this period brought changes in the pronunciation of English words. The presented scenario was concerned purely on the sound changes that transpire in any language within a certain history. These changes transpired as a result of the social and historical elements that assisted in the spread of the impacts of the transformations. Therefore, the changes did not transpire as a result of any outstanding social or historical elements. As a result, of these changes the vowel sounds present in most languages were lost to the English language. The activities of the British Isles majorly contributed to standardization though various ways. The procedures of colonization, exploration and foreign commerce, contributed to significant transformations that the English language underwent (Durkin 2011, 1). Words from different regions of the globe got entangled into the English language through numerous interactions that took place within and outside the British Isles. Developments in grammar and pronunciations emerged through these interactions leading to perfection and standardization of the English language. Later on, English became the global language for the British Isles as well as the world nations (Nevalainen & Raumolin-Brunberg 2005, 38). Consequences of standardization of English The mediaeval years were marked with the rapid spread of the major languages in many parts of the world. When different empires that were thirsty to conquer the world and spread their cultures to indigenous people carried out many explorations, the main languages, found root to these areas and matured overtime leading to their domination. Even, though, these vital languages were admired for their richness or sophistication, their ecological successes rose from the successes of their native speakers in conquering and subduing speakers of other languages throughout the world. The presence of native speakers in these conquered territories led to faster spread of their languages in these territories (Graddol, 194, 1996) Since these languages were at their apogee during these periods, their speakers despised the native languages that were spoken by the native communities. They made concerted efforts to instill their languages into the native’s culture, a process called standardization. As James Milroy succinctly defines it, “standardization refers to the imposition of uniformity upon a class of objects.” The Imposition elicited many responses from different parts of the world, and led to phenomenal changes that fully revolutionized the face of the world. These reactions and revolutions influenced positively and negatively on the world and individuals who lived in it. The standardization of the English language had an enormous impact on the world economy. Before the standardization of English, other languages such as Latin, Spanish, Greek, and French dominated the isles. The existence of many languages was difficult for commercial activities to flow. The commercial activities brought different multiracial groups who were characterized by different languages (Wright, 111, 2006). This was due to communication barrier that existed between the various parties who were involved in trading activities. This barrier created an enabling environment for the existence of a feudal economy. The feudal economy’s chief economic activity was agriculture and the feudal lords in exchange for labor by the peasants owned land. The feudal system was static and self-sufficient that prevented advance by the subjects. Standardization led to the emergence of a competitive economy through commerce and industry. Existence of a common language enabled people to relate freely during commercial activities. This promoted industriousness and led to the emergence of more free economic systems that gave room for personal advancement. The feudal land ownership was replaced by advanced economies that were profit driven in the provision of goods and services to their potential market (Roebuck, 122, 1982). The rise of more free economies in different corners of the world led to overexploitation of the markets to favor individuals who dominated commercial activities. This was another form of feudalism. The owners of production in these economies exploited their subjects or laborers through meager pays, and exposed them to inhuman conditions of work in order to maximize their profits. The existence of a common language would lead to a revolution by the masses because they could not stomach evils by the owners of means of production. The widespread Christianity dominated the early centuries. The Roman Empire had dominated the world in the early centuries, which led to spread of their religion. The Roman Empire had a vast region under its rule that made it easy to spread its policies to the many colonies under its rule. As a result, Christianity found deeper roots into the spiritual world of these colonies. This made the mediaeval period be distinguished by strong conception of Christianity under the leadership of the pope. The pope was situated in Rome but was the symbol of Christianity in all roman colonies and the overall head of the Roman Empire. Standardization of the English language gave room for a critique of Christianity as the dominant religion in the world. Before the spread of Christianity, the colonizers had quashed other religions that existed. Existence of a formally recognized language united people to gang up, denounce Christian faith, and adopt their indigenous religions. This was a platform for the emergence of protestant churches, which strongly criticized Christian morals especially those practiced by the Catholic Church. This gave room for development of national economies. Indigenous religions were also strengthened when the bible was translated to vernacular languages. The free will to practice religion gave room for the emergence of different religions. These religions espoused different ideals that appealed to every in society. This gave room for unique religious practices that went against the roman protocols for worship and eventually led to erosion of the roman practices. The stratification led to a lot of social mobility among the population in the British Isles. The heptarchic kingdoms could easily relate with one another in formal and informal encounters. This social mobility led to the creation of social class among the population in the isles. Before the stratification, of the English language, an individual’s social class was determined by birth in a given social class. The social class was determined by an individual’s level of spiritual belief. Stratification led to the emergence of a middle class even though enduring patterns of life such as social order and family relations were maintained. This social stratification led to contesting views by different classes in relation to that canonical language to be adopted by the different kingdoms (Bex, 44, 1996). The stratification also led advancement in political activities. The people communicated through a universally recognized language in the seven kingdoms that made it easy to communicate their grievances to the ruling class. This propelled the spirit of nationalism when the political centre was moved from Wessex to London. This led to the emergence of nation states that replaced the old heptarchic kingdoms that previously existed. A common language gave the people a platform to debate matters that were of societal importance. This made it easy to formulate policies that would guide the various processes, which controlled governance (Crowley, 127, 2003). Politicians also used the common language for selfish gains. They mobilize individuals around a common goal that they use to propel them to lavish positions in government. When these selfish individuals held power, they disregarded the interests of the society and amassed wealth from the government for their private gains. The adoption of English as a canonical language led to the advancement in literacy levels across the seven kingdoms that existed in the British Isles. A common language gave rise to a schooling system where individuals would learn how to read, write, and keep abreast with various developments in the world. There was construction of universities to give students an opportunity for further learning such as the Oxford University and Cambridge University. These were the earliest centers of learning that emerged during the standardization era (Kramsch, 36, 2002). The increase in literacy levels because of development in educational systems led to increased level of awareness among citizens in the isles. This was opposed to the mentality of a collective whole in dealing with matters that affected the citizen’s wellbeing. This led to use and application of rationalism in approaching matters of concern. The individuals could freely question the notions for advancing arguments and seek evidence for various claims. Modes of thought were never based on faith since the society was freer (Mair, 148, 2003). Conclusion The rich history about the modern languages that dominate the world can be traced back to the mediaeval times when explorers and adventurers toured the world. The spread of these languages can be attributed to the need for domination by different empires. These empires carried out raids on native areas and transferred their populations to newly acquired colonies. The presence of these native speakers in these areas led to the spread of the native languages that would eventually lead to their domination in these areas. This contrasts the spread of language. Even though, significant languages such as French, Latin, Spanish, Greek, and English were attractive and compelling to speak, their spread in the world was not attributed to these. The existence of the many versions of the English language was difficult to carry out daily endeavors because there was a problem with communication. This together with other external factors necessitated standardization to ensure that all these versions were debated and moderated to give a final piece of the English version. Bibliography Durkin, P. 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