Abstract The aim of this article is to investigate the way in which tradition combines with modernity in Antonine Maillet’s novels Chronique d’une sorcière de vent (1999) and Pierre Bleu (2006). Having discussed the position and role of Maillet’s fiction in Acadian literature, and having presented the way this prose depends on local culture, language, and folklore, the author of the analysis focuses on the elements of the represented world which go beyond the national character of this literature and at the same time place it within contemporary world literature. At the thematic level, both novels deal with significant questions of time and memory, introducing a reflection on the concept of inheriting memory and re-presenting the past. Consequently, the novels reflect on the role and responsibility of the writer, who, as a character, constitutes a part of the represented world. In this context, writing appears as a weapon in the fight against time, death, and oblivion. At the level of composition, the analysis focuses on the novels’ complex narration, its multiple levels, numerous voices, fragmentation, and eclecticism.
{"title":"Acadian Literature in the 21st Century – Between Tradition and Modernity. Chronique D’une Sorciere De Vent and Pierre Bleu By Antonine Maillet","authors":"A. Zurawska","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0015","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this article is to investigate the way in which tradition combines with modernity in Antonine Maillet’s novels Chronique d’une sorcière de vent (1999) and Pierre Bleu (2006). Having discussed the position and role of Maillet’s fiction in Acadian literature, and having presented the way this prose depends on local culture, language, and folklore, the author of the analysis focuses on the elements of the represented world which go beyond the national character of this literature and at the same time place it within contemporary world literature. At the thematic level, both novels deal with significant questions of time and memory, introducing a reflection on the concept of inheriting memory and re-presenting the past. Consequently, the novels reflect on the role and responsibility of the writer, who, as a character, constitutes a part of the represented world. In this context, writing appears as a weapon in the fight against time, death, and oblivion. At the level of composition, the analysis focuses on the novels’ complex narration, its multiple levels, numerous voices, fragmentation, and eclecticism.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"303 - 316"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48281516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The examination of Old and Middle English religious lexis has attracted attention of many scholars. However, there are hardly any studies that would offer a comprehensive diachronic analysis of the terms denoting ‘Satan/(the)Devil’. The authors of the present study aim to fill this gap by conducting a systematic analysis of early English lexical field of ‘(the) evil spirit’, beginning with the analysis of Old English items that could potentially refer to ‘Satan/(the)Devil’ This paper discusses wiþer-nouns in Old English with the aim to verify which of them were applied with reference to ‘(the) evil spirit’. Thus, the texts compiled in the Dictionary of Old English Corpus have been searched for all the above-listed items. The identification of their uses has allowed us not only to determine the frequency of the words in question but also to specify whether the sense of ‘(the) evil spirit’ was core or peripheral for each lexeme.
{"title":"The Adversary or the Devil?: Semantic Analysis of Wiþer-Nouns in Old English","authors":"Marta Sylwanowicz, Anna Wojtyś","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The examination of Old and Middle English religious lexis has attracted attention of many scholars. However, there are hardly any studies that would offer a comprehensive diachronic analysis of the terms denoting ‘Satan/(the)Devil’. The authors of the present study aim to fill this gap by conducting a systematic analysis of early English lexical field of ‘(the) evil spirit’, beginning with the analysis of Old English items that could potentially refer to ‘Satan/(the)Devil’ This paper discusses wiþer-nouns in Old English with the aim to verify which of them were applied with reference to ‘(the) evil spirit’. Thus, the texts compiled in the Dictionary of Old English Corpus have been searched for all the above-listed items. The identification of their uses has allowed us not only to determine the frequency of the words in question but also to specify whether the sense of ‘(the) evil spirit’ was core or peripheral for each lexeme.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"119 - 137"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44558486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract As some language tests may be more anxiety-provoking than others, anxiety, other affective reactions, and related perceptions evoked by the English oral elicited imitation test (EI), a sentence repetition task measuring the implicit knowledge of grammar in a way not resembling natural communication, were investigated during first-time administration by means of a 10-point rating scale and a thought-listing tool. Because anxiety and other emotions cannot be interpreted in absolute terms, the same reactions induced by a special type of an English oral narrative test (ON) were investigated for comparison. A quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed EI to be more anxiety-provoking than ON as it created considerably higher levels of tension and worry. The possible causes include the perception of EI as very difficult, the uncertainty and confusion generated by the oral nature of its instruction and stimuli, and lack of an openly declared focus. Careful administration of EI is recommended to reduce anxiety and unfavorable perceptions. Other, much less frequent affective reactions to the tests and perceptions included satisfaction, curiosity, excitement, hope, confusion, interest, boredom, uncertainty, and concentration.
{"title":"An Investigation of Affective Reactions to the First-Time Administration of an English Oral Elicited Imitation Test and Oral Narrative Test","authors":"Jakub Bielak, A. Mystkowska-Wiertelak, M. Pawlak","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract As some language tests may be more anxiety-provoking than others, anxiety, other affective reactions, and related perceptions evoked by the English oral elicited imitation test (EI), a sentence repetition task measuring the implicit knowledge of grammar in a way not resembling natural communication, were investigated during first-time administration by means of a 10-point rating scale and a thought-listing tool. Because anxiety and other emotions cannot be interpreted in absolute terms, the same reactions induced by a special type of an English oral narrative test (ON) were investigated for comparison. A quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed EI to be more anxiety-provoking than ON as it created considerably higher levels of tension and worry. The possible causes include the perception of EI as very difficult, the uncertainty and confusion generated by the oral nature of its instruction and stimuli, and lack of an openly declared focus. Careful administration of EI is recommended to reduce anxiety and unfavorable perceptions. Other, much less frequent affective reactions to the tests and perceptions included satisfaction, curiosity, excitement, hope, confusion, interest, boredom, uncertainty, and concentration.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"49 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44453434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper focuses on the practical application of the theory of sound symbolism in brand name development and examines which of the two phonetic dimensions of vowel articulation, the vertical articulatory scale or the horizontal one, is utilised to a higher degree in communicating the size of a vehicle to customers. The methodology used in previous studies on size-sound symbolism did not make it possible to separate the two aspects of vowel articulation. In the present paper, these dimensions were categorised by the use of quantitative methods. Each Received Pronunciation vowel was assigned a numerical value separately on both scales. Then, the correlations between the values obtained for horizontal and vertical articulation of the vowels present in the names of cars sold in Great Britain and the physical attributes of the respective vehicles such as size, weight, and power were calculated. The final results reveal that it is only the vertical scale of vowel articulation which is utilised to signal the physical characteristics of the vehicles examined in this project. Although these findings refer directly to British English, they may also have more universal implications for the theory of magnitude sound symbolism.
{"title":"Correlation Between Car Size, Weight, Power, and Vowel Quality in Model Names","authors":"Łukasz Stolarski","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper focuses on the practical application of the theory of sound symbolism in brand name development and examines which of the two phonetic dimensions of vowel articulation, the vertical articulatory scale or the horizontal one, is utilised to a higher degree in communicating the size of a vehicle to customers. The methodology used in previous studies on size-sound symbolism did not make it possible to separate the two aspects of vowel articulation. In the present paper, these dimensions were categorised by the use of quantitative methods. Each Received Pronunciation vowel was assigned a numerical value separately on both scales. Then, the correlations between the values obtained for horizontal and vertical articulation of the vowels present in the names of cars sold in Great Britain and the physical attributes of the respective vehicles such as size, weight, and power were calculated. The final results reveal that it is only the vertical scale of vowel articulation which is utilised to signal the physical characteristics of the vehicles examined in this project. Although these findings refer directly to British English, they may also have more universal implications for the theory of magnitude sound symbolism.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"21 - 48"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43545607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Definitions in learners’ dictionaries are usually written within a limited defining vocabulary (DV), that is, a set of lexical units specified prior to defining. Some researchers claim that this approach to vocabulary control may lead to definitions being syntactically complex, convoluted, and wordy. This paper aims to examine whether the introduction of a limited DV in OALD5 made its definitions more difficult to read for learners as compared to the definitions in OALD4, which were written with no explicit restrictions on the definition vocabulary. The study examines a selection of construction patterns that are potentially difficult for less advanced learners, using quantitative and qualitative methods. The examination shows that the introduction of the limited DV had no effect on most parameters studied. However, it led to significant increases in the length of definitions and the number of nominal constructions with a postmodifying past participle (e.g., performance given, spice ground, phrase used).
{"title":"Does a Limited Defining Vocabulary Make Definitions Syntactically More Complex?","authors":"M. Kamiński","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Definitions in learners’ dictionaries are usually written within a limited defining vocabulary (DV), that is, a set of lexical units specified prior to defining. Some researchers claim that this approach to vocabulary control may lead to definitions being syntactically complex, convoluted, and wordy. This paper aims to examine whether the introduction of a limited DV in OALD5 made its definitions more difficult to read for learners as compared to the definitions in OALD4, which were written with no explicit restrictions on the definition vocabulary. The study examines a selection of construction patterns that are potentially difficult for less advanced learners, using quantitative and qualitative methods. The examination shows that the introduction of the limited DV had no effect on most parameters studied. However, it led to significant increases in the length of definitions and the number of nominal constructions with a postmodifying past participle (e.g., performance given, spice ground, phrase used).","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"5 - 19"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48982699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Middle English second person pronouns thou and you (T/V) are considered to be among the means employed by medieval speakers to express their attitudes towards each other. Along with face-threatening acts, the use of these pronouns could indicate power relations or solidarity/distance between the interactants (Taavitsainen & Jucker 2003; Jucker 2010; Mazzon 2010; Bax & Kádár 2011, 2012; Jucker 2012). Using the tools available in pragmatic research, this paper attempts to provide an analysis of selected fragments from The Works of Sir Thomas Malory (Vinaver 1948 [1947]), analysed through the lens of Searle’s speech act theory (1969, 1976). The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the usage of T/V pronouns in polite or impolite contexts depends on the speech act in which they appear or not. Secondly, it looks at the presence of face-threatening acts (FTAs) and their potential influence on polite or impolite pronoun usage. Lastly, the analysis looks at the usage of FTAs within specific speech acts. The fragments used in this article were chosen from five chapters of Malory’s text: The Tale of King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere, The Morte Arthur, The Noble Tale, and Tristram de Lyones.
{"title":"T/V Pronouns and FTAs in the Works of Sir Thomas Malory: Medieval Politeness and Impoliteness in Directives, Expressives, and Commissives","authors":"Malwina Wiśniewska-Przymusińska","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Middle English second person pronouns thou and you (T/V) are considered to be among the means employed by medieval speakers to express their attitudes towards each other. Along with face-threatening acts, the use of these pronouns could indicate power relations or solidarity/distance between the interactants (Taavitsainen & Jucker 2003; Jucker 2010; Mazzon 2010; Bax & Kádár 2011, 2012; Jucker 2012). Using the tools available in pragmatic research, this paper attempts to provide an analysis of selected fragments from The Works of Sir Thomas Malory (Vinaver 1948 [1947]), analysed through the lens of Searle’s speech act theory (1969, 1976). The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the usage of T/V pronouns in polite or impolite contexts depends on the speech act in which they appear or not. Secondly, it looks at the presence of face-threatening acts (FTAs) and their potential influence on polite or impolite pronoun usage. Lastly, the analysis looks at the usage of FTAs within specific speech acts. The fragments used in this article were chosen from five chapters of Malory’s text: The Tale of King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere, The Morte Arthur, The Noble Tale, and Tristram de Lyones.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"139 - 176"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42951082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The Laws of Oléron are a compilation of regulations binding in north-western Europe. They concern relationships on board a ship and in ports, as well as between members of one crew and those of another when it comes to safe journey. Even though the “code” was known in England at the beginning of the 14th century, it was only in the 16th century that it was translated from French into (Early Modern) English. The literature on the topic mentions two independent 16th-century renditions of the originally French text (Lois d’Oléron) but disagrees as to the authorship of the earliest translation, its date and place of creation, the mutual relationship between the two, their content and respective source texts. Strikingly, three names appear in this context: Thomas Petyt, Robert Copland, and W. Copland. The picture emerging from various accounts concerning the translations is very confusing. It is the purpose of this paper to trace the history of the misconceptions surrounding the Early Modern English versions of the Laws of Oléron, and to illustrate how, by approaching them from a broader perspective, two hundred years of confusion can be resolved. The wider context adopted in this study is that of a book as a whole, and not of an individual text within the book, set against the backdrop of the printing milieu. The investigation begins with a brief inquiry into the lives and careers of the three people named with respect to the two renditions, in an attempt to determine whether these provide any grounds for disagreement. The analysis also juxtaposes the relevant renditions as far as their contents, layout, and the actual texts are concerned in order to establish what the relationship between them is and whether it could account for the confusion surrounding the translations.
{"title":"On the Earliest English Translation of the Laws of Oléron and Its Editions","authors":"K. Lis","doi":"10.2478/stap-2020-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2020-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Laws of Oléron are a compilation of regulations binding in north-western Europe. They concern relationships on board a ship and in ports, as well as between members of one crew and those of another when it comes to safe journey. Even though the “code” was known in England at the beginning of the 14th century, it was only in the 16th century that it was translated from French into (Early Modern) English. The literature on the topic mentions two independent 16th-century renditions of the originally French text (Lois d’Oléron) but disagrees as to the authorship of the earliest translation, its date and place of creation, the mutual relationship between the two, their content and respective source texts. Strikingly, three names appear in this context: Thomas Petyt, Robert Copland, and W. Copland. The picture emerging from various accounts concerning the translations is very confusing. It is the purpose of this paper to trace the history of the misconceptions surrounding the Early Modern English versions of the Laws of Oléron, and to illustrate how, by approaching them from a broader perspective, two hundred years of confusion can be resolved. The wider context adopted in this study is that of a book as a whole, and not of an individual text within the book, set against the backdrop of the printing milieu. The investigation begins with a brief inquiry into the lives and careers of the three people named with respect to the two renditions, in an attempt to determine whether these provide any grounds for disagreement. The analysis also juxtaposes the relevant renditions as far as their contents, layout, and the actual texts are concerned in order to establish what the relationship between them is and whether it could account for the confusion surrounding the translations.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"55 1","pages":"79 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43801796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. M. Hernández-Campoy, J. C. Conde-Silvestre, Tamara García-Vidal
Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of social and context factors on the diffusion of a linguistic change from above, namely the deployment of the spelling innovation in fifteenth-century English, and especially in some letters from the well-known Paston collection of correspondence. We particularly focus on the socio-stylistic route of this change from above, observing the sociolinguistic behaviour of some letter writers (members of the Paston family) in connection with the social-professional status of their recipients, the interpersonal relationship with them, as well as the contexts and styles of the letters. In this way, different dimensions of this change from above in progress in fifteenth-century English can be reconstructed.
{"title":"Tracing Patterns of Intra-Speaker Variation in Early English Correspondence: A Change from Above in the Paston Letters","authors":"J. M. Hernández-Campoy, J. C. Conde-Silvestre, Tamara García-Vidal","doi":"10.2478/stap-2019-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2019-0014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of social and context factors on the diffusion of a linguistic change from above, namely the deployment of the spelling innovation in fifteenth-century English, and especially in some letters from the well-known Paston collection of correspondence. We particularly focus on the socio-stylistic route of this change from above, observing the sociolinguistic behaviour of some letter writers (members of the Paston family) in connection with the social-professional status of their recipients, the interpersonal relationship with them, as well as the contexts and styles of the letters. In this way, different dimensions of this change from above in progress in fifteenth-century English can be reconstructed.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"54 1","pages":"287 - 314"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45059340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The paper focuses on linguistic terminology used by Ælfric (10th c.) in his translation of an anonymous Latin grammar (Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglicе) going back to Priscian and Donatus’ works. Ælfric’s grammatical metalanguage, comprising loan words, semantic loans, loan translations, and periphrastic expressions created for explanatory purposes, is characterized by great diversity. A question arises whether these terms, remaining occasional, made any impact on the language system and can be thus evaluated as change from above. The paper combines a traditional semantic, morphological, and functional description of Ælfric’s terminology and its consideration within the frame of sociolinguistics; the analysis is supplemented by a cross-linguistic study of Ælfric’s terms with remarks on other Germanic languages. The results achieved enable us to argue that Ælfric’s linguistic terminology, being innovative, displays some features of change from above, arising from language contact and individual change.
{"title":"Change from Above, Language Contact, and Individual Change in Ælfric’s Linguistic Terminology","authors":"Yekaterina Yakovenko","doi":"10.2478/stap-2019-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2019-0016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper focuses on linguistic terminology used by Ælfric (10th c.) in his translation of an anonymous Latin grammar (Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglicе) going back to Priscian and Donatus’ works. Ælfric’s grammatical metalanguage, comprising loan words, semantic loans, loan translations, and periphrastic expressions created for explanatory purposes, is characterized by great diversity. A question arises whether these terms, remaining occasional, made any impact on the language system and can be thus evaluated as change from above. The paper combines a traditional semantic, morphological, and functional description of Ælfric’s terminology and its consideration within the frame of sociolinguistics; the analysis is supplemented by a cross-linguistic study of Ælfric’s terms with remarks on other Germanic languages. The results achieved enable us to argue that Ælfric’s linguistic terminology, being innovative, displays some features of change from above, arising from language contact and individual change.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"54 1","pages":"337 - 355"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44032251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The present paper presents the state of the art of research related to hypothesized changes from above in the diachrony of English. A main aim of the paper is to show how the cooperation of various perspectives can open new directions in the research of language change. We examine the main aspects of a definition of the change from above. We investigate the various perspectives through which the concept of change from above, as an “importation of elements from other systems” (Labov 2007), has been considered a significant factor for the development of English. We show that any attempt to investigate the presence or role of change from above includes the parameters of prestige, distribution of old and new forms, diffusion, gender, and linguistic ideology. Finally, we discuss typical examples of development of patterns and characteristics of English that have been analyzed as influenced by change from above, as well as the prestige dialects / languages and contexts that have been regarded as facilitating a hypothesized change from above (Latin, Anglo-Norman, standardization, prescriptivism, networks and individuals). We argue that the articles of the present special issue provide stable criteria that are required in any attempt to test the hypothesis of change from above in the development of English.
{"title":"The Hypothesis of Change from Above in the History of English: State of the Art and Perspectives","authors":"N. Lavidas","doi":"10.2478/stap-2019-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2019-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present paper presents the state of the art of research related to hypothesized changes from above in the diachrony of English. A main aim of the paper is to show how the cooperation of various perspectives can open new directions in the research of language change. We examine the main aspects of a definition of the change from above. We investigate the various perspectives through which the concept of change from above, as an “importation of elements from other systems” (Labov 2007), has been considered a significant factor for the development of English. We show that any attempt to investigate the presence or role of change from above includes the parameters of prestige, distribution of old and new forms, diffusion, gender, and linguistic ideology. Finally, we discuss typical examples of development of patterns and characteristics of English that have been analyzed as influenced by change from above, as well as the prestige dialects / languages and contexts that have been regarded as facilitating a hypothesized change from above (Latin, Anglo-Norman, standardization, prescriptivism, networks and individuals). We argue that the articles of the present special issue provide stable criteria that are required in any attempt to test the hypothesis of change from above in the development of English.","PeriodicalId":35172,"journal":{"name":"Studia Anglica Posnaniensia","volume":"54 1","pages":"251 - 266"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41330073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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