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The social, commercial, technological, and intellectual forces that were unleashed in the Renaissance had profound effects on the English language.

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In the Year 1616 he passed away...

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In 1649 he executed and assent of Parliament.

In 1660 The restoration of the monarchy by his name.

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Early 18th century referred to Augustan Age of England in ”histories of literature” (255).

It was an age in search of stability, building off the consensus created by the Royal Society in the 1660s.

Desire for ”a strong sense of order and the value of regulation” (255).

Downplaying of adventurous spirit in language.

Though still venerated, the accomplishments of Greece and Rome, were aiming to be surpassed (256).

187. The Temper of the Eighteenth century

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Dr. Johnson defined it as ”a settled rule; an established standard”.

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Attempts to codify English appeared under ”three main heads” (257).

To reduce the language to rule and set up a standard of correct usage

To refine it – to remove defects and introduce certain improvements

To fix it to a desired form permanently.

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Lack of certainty and standards was noticeable in English in 18th century.

Lack of standardization blamed for corruption of language.

People saw language in decline and many tried to look back to a “golden age.”

Dryden: it was Chaucer’s age.

Swift: it was Elizabethan Age.

It was felt that the Civil War and afterwards had been all part of a decline.

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Swift’s conservatism came from his political and religious affiliations.

Opposed innovations

Three major innovations Swift opposed:

The tendency to clip and shorten words that should have retained their full dignity: modern words like phone, ad, incog, extra.

The tendency to contract verbs: drudg’d, disurb’d, rebuk’d.

The “vogue popularity” of certain words among those of wit and fashion: sham, banter, mob, bully.

He attacked all of these in a letter to the Tatler in 1710 and then two years later in his work: Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue.

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Most ambitious aim of the 18th century was to aim to make English permanent in its standards

“Swift talked about ‘fixing’ the language, and the word was echoed for fifty years by lesser writers who shared his desire and, like him, believed in the possibility of realizing it” (261).

Fear of change was not a new fear.

Sir Francis Bacon had expressed it in 1623.

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The threefold problem of English - standardizing, refining, and fixing – found similar issues in other countries.

Italy and France had long been places of inspiration for English.

Accademia della Crusca of Italy, founded in 1582 with goal of purifying Italian, published a dictionary in 1612.

This only courted more controversy and went through many editions.

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1724: anonymous work The Many Advantages of a Good Language to Any Nation: with an Examination of the Present State of our Own.

Repeats old complaints of English complicated nature

Sought to stir public interest in matters of language, ”calls upon the public to take part in the discussion, and purposes the publication of a series of weekly or monthly pamphlets on grammar and other linguistic topics”

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18th century was a time of “growing skepticism toward it [the academy] and an increasing attitude of dissent” (269).

Grounds for objection were:

Language could not be fixed

Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary noted, would bring an end to liberty. Policy of noninterference was more appealing than arbitrary regulation.

Johnson’s influence was very deciding and after his Dictionary, advocacy for academy dies off.

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In 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson is published.

Represented 7 years of work.

It had defects, especially by modern standards, but its definitions are generally sound and has its virtues.

More full expression of English vocabulary than ever before.

Fixed spelling and standardization.