Age-related variation and language change in Early Modern English
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Terttu Nevalainen
Abstract
Focusing on the age variable in real-time language change, my paper traces age-related variation among people taking part in several ongoing changes. More specifically, I examine the age-related patterns characteristic of linguistically progressive and conservative individuals in the English language community in the 15th and 16th century. The data come from the database created for the Quantifying Change project, based on the Corpus of Early English Correspondence. It is shown that we may need to reconsider any sharp distinction between generational and communal change, and pay more attention to the kind, phase and duration of the change in progress, on the one hand, and its social evaluation, on the other.
Abstract
Focusing on the age variable in real-time language change, my paper traces age-related variation among people taking part in several ongoing changes. More specifically, I examine the age-related patterns characteristic of linguistically progressive and conservative individuals in the English language community in the 15th and 16th century. The data come from the database created for the Quantifying Change project, based on the Corpus of Early English Correspondence. It is shown that we may need to reconsider any sharp distinction between generational and communal change, and pay more attention to the kind, phase and duration of the change in progress, on the one hand, and its social evaluation, on the other.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Investigating the lifespan perspective 1
- Disassociating the effects of age from phonetic change 9
- Phonological variation in real time 39
- Language production in late life 59
- Vocabulary and dementia in six novelists 77
- A sociolinguistic perspective on vocabulary richness in a seven-year comparison of older adults 109
- Age-related variation and language change in Early Modern English 129
- Lifespan and linguistic awareness 147
- Tired mind or tired hand? 167
- Kriegsausbruch, Kriegs Ausbruch, KriegsAusbruch 189
- Index 231
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Investigating the lifespan perspective 1
- Disassociating the effects of age from phonetic change 9
- Phonological variation in real time 39
- Language production in late life 59
- Vocabulary and dementia in six novelists 77
- A sociolinguistic perspective on vocabulary richness in a seven-year comparison of older adults 109
- Age-related variation and language change in Early Modern English 129
- Lifespan and linguistic awareness 147
- Tired mind or tired hand? 167
- Kriegsausbruch, Kriegs Ausbruch, KriegsAusbruch 189
- Index 231
