There's no tense like the present: Verbal -s inflection in early Black English

1989 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana Poplack ◽  
Sali Tagliamonte
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Black English ◽  
Environmental Conditioning ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Model ◽  
Third Person ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Time Lead

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to the understanding of the origin and function of verbal -s marking in the Black English grammar by systematically examining the behaviour of this affix in two corpora on early Black English. To ascertain whether the variation observed in (early and modern Black English) -s usage has a precedent in the history of the language, or is rather an intrusion from another system, we focus particularly on the linguistic and social contexts of its occurrence, within a historical and comparative perspective. Our results show that both third person singular and nonconcord -s are subject to regular, parallel environmental conditioning. The finding that both insertion and deletion are conditioned by the same factors suggests that verbal -s marking is a unitary process, involving both concord and nonconcord contexts. Moreover, the (few) variable constraints on verbal -s usage reported throughout the history of the English language remain operative in early Black English. These results, taken in conjunction with indications that -s marking across the verbal paradigm was a prestige marker in the dialect at some earlier point in time, lead us to hypothesize that the contemporary pattern might be a synchronic reflex of the constraint ranking on -s usage in the varieties of English that provided the linguistic model for the slaves. Many of the conditioning effects we report would have been subsequently overridden by the grammaticalization of -s as the Standard English agreement marker. We conclude that present-tense marking via verbal -s formed an integral part of the early Black English grammar.

Another piece for the verbal -s story: Evidence from Devon in southwest England

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Godfrey ◽  
Sali Tagliamonte
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
North America ◽  
English Language ◽  
African American Vernacular English ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Vernacular English ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Vernacular ◽  
And Function ◽  
Detailed Nature

This article aims to contribute (1) new data on verbal -s by systematically examining its behavior in Devon English (DE), a variety spoken in southwest England, and (2) a broader historical and cross-dialectal perspective for understanding the origin and function of verbal -s in nonstandard varieties of English in North America. We focus on the linguistic contexts of its occurrence from the diachronic and synchronic literature. The results show that verbal -s is conditioned by phonological, syntactic, semantic, and lexical factors. These include the few variable constraints on verbal -s attested throughout the evolution of verbal -s in the history of the English language. Moreover, DE exhibits patterns of verbal -s variability that have previously been associated with African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The detailed nature of these linguistic correspondences—not only in frequency of the features examined, but most importantly in the details of an entire set of internal linguistic factors conditioning them—reveal that verbal -s is a linguistic feature of AAVE that originated in British dialects.

scholarly journals The First Major Grammars of English and Romanian: A Comparative Approach

Linguaculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Daniela Doboș
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
English Language ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
North Western

If the history of the English language is the story of its written texts, the same holds true for the history of the Romanian language, and in both cases the first grammars played a major part in the shaping up of the respective vernaculars. The paper proposes a comparative approach to the beginnings of codified grammars in English and Romanian, with a focus on those that are deemed to be the first major works– Robert Lowth’s A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762) and Samuil Micu and Gheorghe Şincai’s Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae (1780). This approach considers topics such as why grammars might have been desirable in the eighteenth century (the political factor), and the functions of ‘grammars’, which are relevant in both cases; what language was actually codified, as well as the role of Latin in this enterprise, since it is worth noting that while English and Romanian belong in different language families, Latin was a formative element in both, ever since the territories of the two respective countries marked the North-Western and South-Eastern borders of the Roman Empire.

scholarly journals The Famous Dictionary of the Eighteenth Century

1930 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 16-18
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Samuel Johnson ◽  
Title Page ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
History Of

The volumes are ponderous. The title-page in sonorous and dignified language informs one that this is “A Dictionary of the English Language in which the WORDS are deduced from their ORIGINALS, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers, to which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar. By Samuel Johnson, A.M. In Two Volumes.” The page is then topped off in good Johnsonian style with a nine-line Latin quotation from Horace.

scholarly journals Authority in Lowth’S and Priestley’S Prefaces to Their English Grammars

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Fernández Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
History Of ◽  
Grammatical Tradition

Abstract The eighteenth century was a crucial period in the process of codification of the English language and in the history of English grammar writing (Tieken-Boon van Ostade 2008b). The need for grammars to provide linguistic guidance to the upper social classes, and to those who aspired to belong to them, led to an important increase in the output of English grammars. Since most of the grammar writers were clearly in competition with one another for a share of the market, they turned the prefaces to their grammars into highly persuasive instruments that tried to justify the need for that specific grammar. Priestley’s and Lowth’s grammars epitomized, respectively, the two main trends of grammatical tradition, namely descriptivism and prescriptivism. Taking a critical discourse analysis approach, this paper aims to examine how both writers claimed their authority through the presentation of the different individuals involved in the text, specifically, the author and any potential readers. We will examine how individuals are depicted both as a centre of structure and action through Martin’s (1992) identification systems and Halliday’s (2004 [1985]) transitivity structures. Such an approach fits in with Wicker’s (2006: 79) assessment of prefaces as textual networks of authority in which it is essential to interrogate how the readers who support and influence the texts are represented and addressed.

scholarly journals Innovative process of education: non-finite verbal paradigm development as a proof of the English language pidginization

2020 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 21017
Author(s):  
Alina Sokolova ◽  
Julia Fedurko
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Innovative Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Paradigm Development

This article deals with the question of whether English was subject to pidginization or not. Different points of view are presented but to answer the question definitely is not possible since there are no specific criteria to define a language as a contact one. However, the necessary external conditions for pidginization actually existed in the history of the English language, and a mechanism similar to the mechanism of the creolization process took place. This conclusion can be proved by the analysis of different elements of the English grammar. This article presents the results of the comparative diachronic research of non-finite verbal paradigm in the English language.

Receiving Romance

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
Helen Moore
Keyword(s):  
Social Contexts ◽  
Don Quixote ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of Reading ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Historical Periods

This chapter explains the book’s methodologies in the history of reading and elaborates its theory of ‘removed’ reading. ‘Removed’ reading describes the acquisition of familiarity with an anterior text through the reading of a posterior text in which it is embedded, as Amadis is in Don Quixote. The political and cultural conditions that determined and inflected Anglo-Spanish relations across the relevant centuries are outlined, and their implications for the reading of romance explored, as is the long-standing function of French as an intermediary for translated Spanish works in English. The second half of the chapter addresses the act and function of allusion-making, and outlines the modes and strategies of reading romance that are deployed or advocated in different historical periods and social contexts, with a particular focus on gender and reading.

The Social Construction of Disability: The Impact of Statistics and Technology

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Shogan
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Social History ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Construction Of Disability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Social Construction Of Disability

This paper aims to foster a discussion about the social construction of disability within adapted physical activity. Social construction of disability refers to the social history of disability and the social contexts that both enable and disable individuals who negotiate these contexts. Statistics and technology are introduced in this paper to illustrate that “the normal,” “the abnormal,” “the natural,” “the unnatural,” “ability,” and “disability” have emerged historically and to demonstrate that these concepts are implicated in social contexts. Work in the history of statistics is drawn upon to establish that the normal is a fairly recent notion in the English language. It is argued that statistics, as a normalization discourse, sustain artificial demarcations between ability and disability and the normal and abnormal when used by researchers and practitioners. To expose assumptions about natural ability, technological-assisted performance for participants with or without disabilities in physical activity and sport are addressed.

Kedudukan dan Fungsi Bahasa dalam Permuseuman

Metahumaniora ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Erlina Zulkifli Mahmud ◽  
Taufik Ampera ◽  
Yuyu Yohana Risagarniwa ◽  
Inu Isnaeni Sidiq
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Communicative Function ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Library Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Museum Guides ◽  
Bahasa Indonesia

Kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa sebagai alat komunikasi manusia mencakup seluruh bidang kehidupan termasuk ilmu pengetahuan antara lain terkait sejarah peradaban manusia; bagaimana manusia mempertahankan hidupnya, bagaimana manusia memperlakukan alam, bagaimana alam menyediakan segala kebutuhan manusia. Apa yang dilakukan manusia saat ini, saat lampau, dan apa yang dilakukan manusia jauh di masa prasejarah, bagaimana kondisi alam di masa-masa tersebut, apa perubahan dan perkembangannya, dapat didokumentasikan melalui bahasa, divisualisasikan kembali, lalu dipajang sebagai salah satu upaya konversai dan preservasi dalam satu institusi yang disebut museum. Penelitian ini membahas kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman. Bagaimana kedudukan dan fungsi bahasa dalam permuseuman baik dalam informasi yang disampaikan oleh pemandu wisata museumnya maupun yang terpajang menyertai benda-benda dan gambar-gambar merupakan tujuan dari penelitian ini. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah gabungan antara metode lapangan dan metode literatur. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa secara umum kedudukan bahasa Indonesia berada pada urutan pertama setelah Bahasa Inggris dan keberadaan kedua bahasa dalam permuseuman ini melibatkan dua fungsi utama bahasa, yakni fungsi komunikatif dan fungsi informatif.The existence and function of language  as a medium of communication covers all fields of human life including knowledge, one of them is the history of human civilization; how humans survived, how human utilized nature for their lives, and how nature provides all the necessities for humans. What humans have been doing now, what they have done in the past and far before that in the pre-history time, how the conditions of the nature at those times were and what changes as well as progresses occurred are documented using language, then re-visualized,  displayed as one of conservation and preservation acts in an institution called museum. This research discusess the existence and function of language in museums. How important the existence of a language in museums and what language functions used in museums both in informations given by the museum guides and on the displays accompanying objects and pictures are the aims of this research. The methods used are the combination between field research and library research. The results show that generally the existence of Indonesian language plays more important role than English and both languages have two main functions; communicative function and informative function.     

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