Gillian Brown - 500 years of changing patterns in English English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation
Duration: 1 hour 10 mins
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| Description: | I shall focus most of the discussion on the standard English used in the south east of England to describe very briefly some changes in the structures and use of English over the last 500 years. |
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| Created: | 2015-02-25 18:43 |
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| Collection: | Clare Hall Colloquium |
| Publisher: | Clare Hall |
| Copyright: | Clare Hall |
| Language: | eng (English) |
| Distribution: |
World
(downloadable)
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| Keywords: | English; English usage; |
| Categories: |
iTunes - Language - English iTunes - Language - English Language Learners iTunes - Language - Linguistics |
| Explicit content: | No |
| Abstract: | I shall begin with the most obvious area of rapid change - vocabulary, looking at claims made for Shakespeare's vocabulary, the development of dictionaries, the diversification of English overseas and what's happening in England today.
Then we'll consider a few of the big grammatical changes which were already taking place in the 16th century, speculating on the reasons for some of these changes before moving on to note changes currently in progress, some of which appear to be influenced by current social attitudes. Since I'm particularly interested in sound change, I shall give a slightly more extensive overview of some major changes during the last 500 years before drawing attention to a few of the remarkable changes which are happening now. Gillian Brown, Professor of English Language & Director of the Research Centre in English & Applied Linguistics, 1988-2004, gave this talk on 24 February 2015. |
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