Britain in the 17th Century: Religious & Literary Transformations

1. Britain in the 17th century

2. The End of The House of Tudor • 1603 Queen Elizabeth I dies, James IV of Scotland becomes James 1st of England • Change in domestic policy - attempt to unify Britain in religious aspects - attempt to establish the King as absoluteauthority • King James Bible published as authorized translation into English

3. DomesticReligious Challenges • England: Anglican, King head of church • Scotland: Presbyterian, self-organized • Ireland: majority Catholic • House of Stuart favours Catholicism more or less openly

4. Foreign Religious Challenges • Great European opponent: France • France is a strong power on the continent • Language at court is French • France is catholic • to overcome parliament and still be able to rule, Charles I accepts money from French King to lead Britain back to Catholicism. (Charles II does so, too)

5. Civil War • Several revolts begin in 1639 in Scotland • Public Unrest sweeps through all of ENgland, Scotland and Ireland until 1653 • Monarchy in England is overthrown in 1649 and is not restored before 1660. • In 1660, Charles II is asked by parliament to return from his exile in France to rule as King

6. Glorious Revolution in 1688 • Catholic King James II is forced to leave England • William III of Orange, successful resistance leader against France, becomes William III of England

7. Society in the 17th century • Education for men in the divine language of learning • Latin • Scientific discourse is Latin • Hobbes and Newton publish their works (e.g. Leviathan and Naturalis Principia Mathematica) in Latin

8. Most famous works of 17th century literature

9. A century of change • 17th century is a century of change in literature • Until the beginning of the century, nearly 20.000 books had been printed • 17th century is a century of creativity in literature

10. 17th century literature

11. Writers I Shakespeare (1564-1616) Most important works: • 1603-1606 MACBETH • 1603-1606 KING LEAR • 1603-1605 OTHELLO

12. Writers II John Milton (1608-1674) Most important works: • 1658-1664 PARADISE LOST • POEMS LIKE “LYCIDAS” (1637)

13. Writers III John Donne (1572-1631) Most important works: • Elegy I-XIII • Holy Sonnets I-XIX

14. The King James Bible 1611: King James Bible was issued • Probably the most important work English literature in 17th century • Official translation was worked out by 54 translators • Followed strict translation guidelines • Conservative language

15. Changes in Grammar • THOU:THEE vs. YE:YOU • „DO“-constructions • ITS vs. HIS

16. THOU:THEE vs. YE:YOU • Thou  (intimate / biblical / quaker style) • You  (polite, the norm) • The use of Thou and you remained variable according to mood, formality of context and topic

17. THOU:THEE vs. YE:YOU • Old Englishthou  addressing one personye more than one. Thou / ye  clause subject,thee / you  object • Middle Englishye / you  polite singular form alongside thou/thee • Early Modern English distinction between subject/object uses of ye / you gradually disappearedyou  the norm

18. „DO“-constructions • “Do” as auxiliary in questions and negatives  I doubt it not, why do you look on me? • Periphrastic use of “do”  I do weep

19. ITS vs. HIS • The possessive pronoun of the third person singular neuter changed • It  his (<17th century) • It  its (>17th century, it’s  1800)

20. Developments in Vocabulary

21. General Facts • English vocabulary immensely expanded during Early Modern English period • Numerous loan-words (especially from Latin, Greek and French) • Reasons: • Renaissance had brought back interest for classical, pre-Christian culture • Need for new words (e.g. in the fields of science and theology) • Printing • Want for “enriching” English language • Fashion

22. General Facts • Absolute numbers of new lexemes need to be treated carefully • Printing invented  more texts  new words of Middle English Period e.g. might have been missed • Existence of a word tells nothing about the frequency of its use • Many of the words were short-lived

23. Latin Loans • From 1560-1670 well over half of the loan words in that period come from Latin • Most of them bookish rather than popular or colloquial • Major fields that borrowed from Latin were sciences (including medical field) and religion

24. Latin Loan-Words • Most Latin loans are nouns, adjectives and verbs • Nouns often taken over unaltered • circus, medium, interior • Verb forms adopted as nouns • deficit, exit, recipe

25. Latin Loan-Words • Morphological Anglicisation • Latin inflection dropped, English word created from the stem • expunge from expungere • immature from immaturus • terrific from terrificus • Ending of word adapted • inviolable from inviolabilis • commensurable from commensurabilis

26. Loaning from French • Second of the two largest groups of loan languages • Most of the new words included in general vocabulary • Using French considered fashionable

27. French Loan-Words • French loan words do not depart much from their sources • entrance, brochure • Many ‘social’ loans • madam • moustache • class • champagne • ballet • Affixation • counter from contre • fidelity from fidelité

28. Inkhorn Controversy • Rapidly changing vocabulary brought along some problems, e.g. • different spelling of words in one book (writers followed their own instincts) • understanding English language more difficult due to high number of new words • Edmund Waller: “Poets that Lasting Marble seekMust carve in Latin or in Greek;We write in Sand…”

29. Inkhorn Controversy • Inkhorn Controversy:Dispute about “good English” and how it should be spoken and written • Critics were strictly against the making use of loan-words • called writers who did so “Inkhorn Writers” • called loan-words “Inkhorn Terms” • Led to a strong want for standardization of English language (language change = language decay) • Dictionaries appeared for so-called “hard words”

30. Changes of Meaning

31. Lexical Sets • Lexical items form sets. A change in one member of the set may affect the meaning of all the other

32. Lexical Sets • Lexical items form sets. A change in one member of the set may affect the meaning of all the other • Example: military ranks • brigadier • lieutenant-general

33. Overlapping Fields of Reference • Sets of related lexical items may have fields of reference that overlap.

34. Overlapping Fields of Reference • Sets of related lexical items may have fields of reference that overlap. • Example: words concerned with human faculties • wit • intelligence • ingenuity • genius

35. Gain and Loss of Meanings • Some words narrowed or widened their field of reference by losing or gaining meanings.

36. Gain and Loss of Meanings • Some words narrowed or widened their field of reference by losing or gaining meanings. • Examples: • back • brave • commodity • foul • secure

37. Generalization and Specialization • A word’s field of reference expands or contracts, when it gains or loses meaning. The meaning can become more general or more specialized.

38. Generalization and Specialization • A word’s field of reference expands or contracts, when it gains or loses meaning. The meaning can become more general or more specialized. • Sometimes the more general and the more specific meaning exist side by side

39. Generalization and Specialization • A word’s field of reference expands or contracts, when it gains or loses meaning. The meaning can become more general or more specialized. • Sometimes the more general and the more specific meaning exist side by side • If a word has several meanings, one of them may undergo generalization or specialization, while others remain unchanged, or are lost, and new meanings are acquired.

40. Generalization and Specialization • Examples: • gambit • accident • disease • self-conceit • probe

41. Connotations of Approval and Disapproval • Some words carry connotations of approval or disapproval. In some cases, such connotations have been gained or lost.

42. Connotations of Approval and Disapproval • Some words carry connotations of approval or disapproval. In some cases, such connotations have been gained or lost. • Examples of words where the implication of disapproval has been gained: • mediocrity • obsequious

43. Connotations of Approval and Disapproval • Some words carry connotations of approval or disapproval. In some cases, such connotations have been gained or lost. • Examples of words where the implication of disapproval has been lost: • enthusiasm • shrewd

44. Transfer • Sometimes there is a leap to a remote semantic area, rather than a simple expansion or contraction of boundaries. A leap of this kind is often called transfer. • There are several ways in which transfer takes place.

45. Transfer: Metaphor • One of the common ways in which transfer takes place is by the figurative use of the word, which, if it happens often enough, leads to a permanent new meaning. • Example: • cell

46. Transfer: Formal Influence • Transfer can also arise by the influence of one word on another, because of formal resemblance between them. • Examples: • obnoxious • demean

47. Transfer: Euphemism • Under the influence of taboo or delicacy of feeling, a speaker replaces the normal word by some substitutes. If this is done regularly, the substitute in time becomes the normal word, and so acquires the meaning in question, and in due course has to be replaced by another euphemism. • Example: • lavatory

48. Loss of Intensity • Loss of intensity arises from the common human habit of exaggerating for effect.

49. Generalization of Titles • Generalization has often taken place in polite terms of address and titles: words which at one time were restricted to small groups in the speech-community are now used much more widely.

50. Generalization of Titles • Generalization has often taken place in polite terms of address and titles: words which at one time were restricted to small groups in the speech-community are now used much more widely. • Examples: • master • Ladies/Gentlemen • beastly