Transcript Exploring Grammatical Change

Exploring Grammatical
Change
Quick revision …
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Put the following events in the correct order:
Norman Invasion
The invention of the Printing Press
Angles/ Saxons/ Jutes invasion
Viking invasion
William Shakespeare
The Mission of St Augustine
Celtic Tribes
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
Julius Caesar and the Roman Invasion
How did you get on?
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Celtic Britons
55BC – Julius Caesar and the Roman Invasion
449 AD – Angles/ Saxons/ Jutes
597AD – Mission of St Augustine
793 AD – Viking Invasion
1066 – Norman Invasion
1476 – Invention of the Printing Press – William
Caxton
• 1564 – 1616 – William Shakespeare
• 1755 – Samuel Johnson’s dictionary
Grammar
• REMEMBER AO1
• The mark scheme rewards a systematic
approach to analysis, so planning and
annotating the data will help you structure
your ideas together.
• What would you look at under the
framework of grammar? Create a
colourful mind map, sharing ideas with
your partner.
Analysing Grammar
SYNTAX
• Reminder – syntax = the way words are
arranged to make sentences
• Your analysis of the grammatical features
SHOULD include a comment on the
syntax.
• Remember texts from the Late Modern
English period have a very formal style
with unusual syntax.
• Add this to your mind map for revision
STANDARDISATION
• Remember that the most noteworthy
grammatical changes had already happened
before the Late Modern English period as the
language grew from its early influences from
other European invaders.
(Think back to our time-line task at the start of this
lesson)
• Who was important in the standardisation of
grammar?
Write a 100 word response …
1. What is meant by the term
‘Standardisation’ and who were the key
people concerned in this process?
Key words – prescriptivism, descriptivism
Data Analysis
• Consider the extract from Hester Thrale Piozzi’s
1789 work ‘Observations and Reflections Made
in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy
and Germany’.
• This text is compiled from her travel journals and
reveals some fundamental changes in grammar
and syntax.
• As you read it, underline the phrases that seem
‘strange’ to you.
Key features you may have noticed
about the grammar are:
“no very common
occurrence” “I know
not” “For windows
we have none”
“certain it is”
Negation – Constructing a negative in
the (18th is unlike the modern use of the
verb ‘do’
“continues still”
Syntax – The adverb comes before the
verb here
“One a little”
Pronouns – This uses a pronoun we
now view as archaic and representing
an RP accent
Syntax – The syntax differs from
modern usage as the complement
comes before the main subject and verb
“at London”
Prepositions – choices seem odd in using
“at” instead of “in”
Punctuation/
Sentence
Types
The punctuation enhances the complexity of
the text for a modern audience. The majority
of the sentences are compound or complex
and the extract shows the fashionable style
of the time in its multi-clause sentences with
colons and semi-colons joining runs of
connected sentences.
“while I am
starving”
Contractions – There is a lack of
contractions throughout the text. This could
connote a more formal style or a change in
practice in later Modern English texts to
adopt more conversational tones.
Add to your mind map …
• As a result of reading and analysing the
extract, now add five ideas onto the
‘grammar’ mind map you began at the
start of this lesson.
Essay Writing
• Read again the extract we have just studied in
class and pretend that this is your exam text.
• Consider CONTEXT – remember that this is a
piece of travel writing
• Spend ten minutes writing your grammar
paragraph (AO1) about this text. Remember to
use the notes made this lesson, to write in a
formal style and include short, sharp quotations
to demonstrate your analysis.
Key Grammatical Changes across Late Modern
English – Add to your mind map!
Century Practices
Some Influences
C18th
Formal style with
complex sentences,
multiple subordination
and embedded clauses
Standardisation, Hierarchical
and formal society with
emphasis on conventions
and rules.
Writing valued as separate
from speech
C19th
Grammatical formality
still evident, although
sentences less complex
than in C18th
Continuing standardisation.
Changes in class attitudes.
Beginnings of universal
education. Dialectal voices
represented in Literature.
C20th/
21st
Simpler syntax and
co-ordination,
including minor and
simple sentences,
more popular in
media/ advertising
Non-standard
spelling and
punctuation used in
text/ e mail forms
Worldwide and
American English.
Technology
Social levelling and
equality
Oral languages/ forms
affecting writing styles
Growing informality
Growth of entertainment
and leisure industries.
Contemporary Changes
• Currently, persuasive media such as advertising
use pronouns as ‘synthetic personalisation’,
creating a pseudo relationship with their
audience. This persuasive device often results
in a more conversational text and so seems
more appealing to the intended audience as it
pretends a close, friendly relationship with them.
• Norman Fairclough coined the term ‘synthetic
personalisation’ – write this in your Language
Glossary
Homework
• Be on the lookout for synthetic
personalisation on television and in
magazines. Be prepared to share your
findings with the rest of the class!