U211_1 Exploring the English language About this free course This free course provides a sample of Level 2 study in English Language www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/languages. This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University – There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

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978-1-4730-1242-4 (.epub) In this course you will consider key developments in the English language from the end of the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century. You will study how the social and political changes of this period affected the English language as well as the development of new tools and ways of thinking about language.Firstly, however, some useful ‘tools of the trade’ – you'll take a look at some vital foundations of English grammar.This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 2 study in English Language.After studying this course, you should be able to:understand how the English language has changed over time from its origins to the present dayunderstand the relationship between the history of the English language and social and political processesunderstand methods of enquiry into English language, viewed diachronically and synchronically with awareness of the limitations of any one approachdeploy skills in handling information relating to quantification in various aspects including time in relation to the courses historical aspect and very simple presentation of statistical datademonstrate an awareness of a range of techniques in linguistics for the analysis of data including those related to corpora.Activity 1Allow about 5 minutesLook at an extract from An A to Z of English by clicking on the video clip below. In this extract, poet Michael Rosen acts out a confusing lesson on grammar. How many of the questions would you have got right? (Just give an answer based upon your immediate impression, it's not a test!)‘An A to Z of English’ – Michael Rosen extract (50 seconds)‘An A to Z of English’ – Michael Rosen extract (50 seconds)Teacher‘A noun is a naming word. What is the naming word in the sentence: “He named the ship Lusitania ”?’ ‘Named’, said George. ‘Wrong. It’s “ship”’. ‘Oh’, said George. The teacher said: ‘A verb is a doing word. What is the doing word in the sentence: “I like doing homework”?’ ‘Doing’, said George. ‘Wrong. It’s “like”.’ ‘Oh’, said George. The teacher said: ‘An adjective is a describing word. What is the describing word in the sentence: “Describing sunsets is boring”?’ ‘Describing’, said George. ‘Wrong. It’s “boring”.’ ‘I know it is’, said George.If you had the same problem as George, then the next set of activities on word classes may set you on the right track. If you guessed correctly the identity of the noun, verb, adjective and so on in Rosen's little bit of fun, then the following activities will serve as a useful refresher for you.As a matter of interest, your ability to do these activities may well rest on your age, the type of English lessons you had in school and where you studied. Rosen's depiction of grammar as boring (and ultimately useless) displays the attitude which swung the UK English curriculum away from the study of formal grammatical analysis during the 1960s and 1970s.Michael Rosen's poem focused on the functions of different types of word (or ‘word classes’) in a sentence. It is useful to be familiar with the basic word classes in this course, and the following activities will give you practice in identifying them.Activity 2Allow about 10 minutesIn parts 1 and 2 below you'll find a series of formal and reasonably traditional definitions of eight word classes.Part 1. Read the definitions of the word classes at the top of the table. Then look at the list of word classes, and match the word class to the definition by placing it in the second column.prepositionExamples are by, with, in, on, at, through, during, over, around, according to, apart from. Typically indicate a relationship between other words e.g. slice of bread. Or they are to do with positioning things e.g. in your dreams, over the top.determinerIndicate whether something is general (a car, an example) or specific (the car, the example), or owned by somebody (your dog, her cat). Can also indicate whether something is near (this book, these papers) or far (that view, those roads).pronounCan substitute for nouns. Can be personal (I, you, he, we, they), or possessive (mine, yours, ours), demonstrative (this, that, these, those) or interrogative (who, which), amongst others.nounRefer to places, people, things or ideas. Can usually be expressed as singular or plural, e.g. issue - issues, pencil - pencils. Often used with a or the.Part 2. Now do the same for the word classes below.verbExpress events such as doing, happening, being, saying, feeling, sensing, having. Generally vary for present or past tense (hold - held - was holding) and indicate modality (can hold, could hold, might hold).adverbModify verbs by adding extra information about when/where/how etc. a verb takes place e.g. he smiled grimly, they shouted loudly, we went yesterday. Can also modify adjectives e.g. she seemed genuinely surprised, or other adverbs e.g. they were playing surprisingly well.adjectiveTypically modify nouns (or pronouns), giving them some kind of quality e.g. an old house, decayed flesh, he's lucky, lonesome me. Can themselves be qualified by words like very, so, rather, quite e.g. very old, rather lucky, so filthy.conjunctionJoin parts of a text together, expressing a logical relationship. They include words that add (and, besides, moreover, in addition), compare (like, as, but, in contrast, on the other hand), express time (after, as long as, while) or express cause (so, because, therefore).Activity 3Allow about 25 minutesHere are some word class identification exercises for practice. For each sentence below, write each word (or word group) into the correct row of the table according to its word class.1. Initially, it will only come for a very short distance, but in a few days you will be able to increase the distance.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	distance, days, distance
Verb	will, come, will, be, able, increase
Adjective	short, few
Preposition	for, in, to,
Adverb	initially, only, very
Pronoun	it, you
Determiner	a, a, the
Conjunction	but

2. If you are planning a holiday in Italy this summer, you must visit the ancient city of Rome. Book your accommodation early because it is very hard to find at that time of the year.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	holiday, Italy, summer, city, Rome, accommodation, time, year
Verb	are, planning, must, visit, book, is, to, find
Adjective	ancient, hard
Preposition	in, of, at, of
Adverb	early, very
Pronoun	you, you, it
Determiner	a, this, the, your, that, the
Conjunction	if, because

3. We are developing novel classes of drugs to treat epilepsy at its cause, more effectively and more safely. Our gene discoveries are also potentially powerful tools for the accurate diagnosis of epilepsy.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	classes, drugs, epilepsy, cause, gene, discoveries, tools, diagnosis, epilepsy
Verb	are, developing, treat, are
Adjective	novel, powerful, accurate
Preposition	of, at, for, of, to
Adverb	more, effectively, more, safely, potentially
Pronoun	we
Determiner	its, our, the
Conjunction	and, also

4. If you are a speaker of English you will be able to estimate the social status of native speakers solely on the basis of the linguistic evidence of their speech.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	speaker, English, status, speakers, basis, evidence, speech
Verb	are, will, be, able, to, estimate
Adjective	social, native, linguistic
Preposition	of, of, on, of, of
Adverb	solely
Pronoun	you, you
Determiner	a, the, the, the, their
Conjunction	if

5. When the hawk is bound to a creance and perched on a post or an assistant's hand, you hold a piece of meat in your gloved fist so the hawk can see it.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	hawk, creance, post, assistant, hand, piece, meat, fist, hawk
Verb	is, bound, perched, hold, can, see
Adjective	gloved
Preposition	to, on, of, in
Adverb
Pronoun	you, your, it
Determiner	the, a, a, an, a, the
Conjunction	when, and, or, so

In the last example of the preceding activity, did you correctly identify creance as a noun? Did you know what a creance was before reading this? If you answered ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively, then you have identified the word class by dint of the way it behaves within the text. You've worked out that any word which occurs within that particular context (a -and…) must be a noun. In other words, you've made the identification on the grounds of the function rather than the form of the word. This is usually the most dependable way of making such an identification, since a single form, such as holiday, can behave as a number of different word classes according to its function within the text:It was a dreadful holiday (noun).They have a holiday cottage (adjective).We holiday there each year (verb).This means that you do not have to recognise a word in order to allocate it to a word class. You simply have to analyse its behaviour within the sentence.Activity 4Allow about 5 minutesNow look at this nonsense sentence and place each word into the correct word class.The greeful porgs bleened glidly.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	porgs
Verb	bleened
Adjective	greeful
Preposition
Adverb	glidly
Pronoun
Determiner	the
Conjunction

Activity 5Allow about 5 minutesAs in the previous activities, place each of the following words into the correct word class, thinking once again about the behaviour of the words in the sentence.These cortical striatal fibres may expand their terminal fields and occupy a number of synaptic spaces on caudate neurons vacated by degeneration of their ipsilateral prefrontal input.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Preposition
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner
Conjunction

Noun	fibres, fields, number, spaces, neurons, degeneration, input
Verb	may, expand, occupy, vacated
Adjective	cortical, striatal, terminal, synaptic, caudate, ipsilateral, prefrontal
Preposition	of, on, by, of
Adverb
Pronoun
Determiner	these, their, a, their
Conjunction	and

Activity 6Allow about 60 minutesNow read the textbook extract linked below. This chapter describes key developments in the English language from the end of the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century. You should read the whole of the chapter now to gain an overview. You can then return to it later as you need to.Click here to view Chapter 3, ‘Modernity and English as a national language’.As you have just read in the extract, the period in which modern English arose was characterised by fundamental changes in the structure of society. The key linguistic process associated with these changes is standardisation: English was transformed from a vernacular language into one with a standardised variety that could be identified with England as a nation state.Activity 7Allow about 15 minutesFrom the reading in Activity 6, you have learned that a standard language is one that provides agreed norms of usage, usually codified in dictionaries and grammars, for a wide range of purposes such as education, government and science.What are the four main processes of standardisation? Make some notes about each process.You may have made fuller notes than these but the following is a selection of significant points.The four main processes of standardisation are:Selection: of an existing variety, usually that of the most powerful group in society. Key to this process was the invention of printing and its introduction to Britain by Caxton.Codification: loss of some variability, with the establishment of norms of vocabulary and preferred grammatical forms. In the written form, includes standardised spelling. You may have particularly noted the discussion of the first grammars and dictionaries.Elaboration: development of new specialised words, phrases and other resources to cope with new purposes. There is considerable material about innovations in the language; you may have particularly noted the explanations and illustration of Latin and Greek entering English especially in the realms of scientific and other intellectual domains.Implementation: the distribution of texts; through formal education and other means encourages the prescriptive promotion of the standard variety. The Bible itself was an important ‘focusing agent’ through which the standard language was spread among the populations.Activity 8Allow about 10 minutesThis activity asks you to use basic skills in retrieving and interpreting numerical information about the elaboration and growth of the English vocabulary in the Early Modern English period.Look again at Figure 3.3 in ‘Modernity and English as a national language’ (relinked here) which illustrates changes in the English vocabulary 1500–1700. You can find this figure on page 88. Based on this figure, answer the questions below.1. What happened to the size of the English vocabulary every year between 1500 and 1700? Select one of the options below.GrewDecreasedSometimes grew, sometimes decreasedEvery year the English vocabulary grew. You can only see positive numbers on the chart.2. From the following alternatives, in which decade did the vocabulary grow the least? Select one.1510-15201610-16201670-1680Between 1510 and 1520 the vocabulary grew by less than 500 words. In the other decades it grew by more. In 1610 to 1620 a greater number of words were being added to the vocabulary each year than in the other two periods mentioned.You may well have found this exercise easy. If you have difficulty interpreting this sort of information, you may like to study the OpenLearn courses Working with charts, graphs and tables and More working with charts, graphs and tables, which offer advice on study skills involving information retrieval and working with numbers.Robert Cawdrey's (1604) dictionary is actually called A Table Alphabetical of Hard Usual English Words. It provides some early illustrations describing use of the English language.As this interest in describing (and prescribing) use of the English language developed, so did lexicography, the craft of making dictionaries.In Activity 9 you will look at an extract from Blackadder III which makes fun of the part of a lexicographer's task that might be to do with capturing neologisms, or newly minted words.Activity 9Allow about 5 minutesWatch the extract from the comedy programme Blackadder III by clicking on the video clip below. Recalling Section 3.5 from ‘Modernity and English as a national language’, how did Samuel Johnson actually avoid the problem of being continually confronted by new words?‘An A to Z of English’ – Samuel Johnson extract (sketch from Blackadder III) (1 minute)‘An A to Z of English’ – Samuel Johnson extract (sketch from Blackadder III) (1 minute)SAMUEL JOHNSON Here it is Sir, the very cornerstone of English scholarship. This book, Sir, contains every word in our beloved language.EDMUND BLACKADDEREvery single one, Sir?JOHNSONEvery single one, Sir.BLACKADDERWell in that case, Sir, I hope you will not object if I also offer the Doctor my most enthusiastic contrafibularities.[laughter]JOHNSONWhat?BLACKADDERContrafibularities, Sir, it is a common word down our way.JOHNSONDamn.BLACKADDEROh, I’m sorry Sir, I’m anaspectic, frasmotic, even compunctious to have caused you such pericombobulations.PRINCE REGENTWhat are you on about Blackadder, this is all beginning to sound a bit like dago talk to me.BLACKADDERI’m sorry, Sir, I merely wished to congratulate the Doctor on not having left out a single word. Shall I fetch the tea your Highness?PRINCE REGENT Yes, yes and get that damn fire up here will you.BLACKADDERCertainly Sir. I shall return interfrastically.[laughter]Samuel Johnson set out to collect only words that were well established in the English language.Even if lexicographers decide only to deal with words long established in the language, they are still faced with many problems about defining meanings.Activity 10Allow about 5 minutesWithout looking in a dictionary, or spending more than three minutes thinking about it, define the word category.One brief response to this question would be – category: ‘classified type’. Now let's see what some lexicographers made of the word. Cawdrey defined category as ‘an accusation’ so clearly the meaning of the word has changed over the centuries. He added the information that the word derived from Greek.In his dictionary, Samuel Johnson (1756) gave four definitions as follows: ‘a class; a rank; an order of ideas; predicament’. He also gave the Greek word from which he suggested the word originated and the name of an established author who used the word category. The first three meanings seem contemporary but the last is surprising, possibly related to Cawdrey's but not necessarily so. Perhaps we can find a clue as to meaning changes in the word's etymology, that is, its origins and development.Take a dictionary, either one you have to hand or can find online, and try to find any clues to explain the changing meanings of the word category as illustrated above.At the beginning of the period you've studied in this course, English was an important written language, but was still secondary in status to Latin in the domains of Church and scholarship. Political and social changes combine to have an impact on English; the events of this period demonstrate too the impact of extremely significant technologies. Interest in the English language grew, as evidenced by the beginning of practices that are still key in language description and analysis such as the compilation of glossaries and dictionaries. The stage had been set for a period of immense creativity.

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