John Benjamins Publishing Company
Singular YOU WAS/WERE variation and English normative grammars in the eighteenth century
Abstract
This article investigates the sociolinguistic processes in singular you was and you were variation in eighteenth-century correspondence. The focus is on the sociolinguistic mechanisms in operation when one variant was established as a standard, high-prestige variant, and the other as a non-standard form. The data are drawn from the Corpus of Early English Correspondence Extension and complemented with evidence from A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers. The results show that you was peaks before the mid-eighteenth century and gradually becomes a socially stigmatized linguistic marker, as evinced in normative comments in grammars. Men lead the change: the form peaks earlier among men than women who resort to using the were variant longer than men.
Abstract
This article investigates the sociolinguistic processes in singular you was and you were variation in eighteenth-century correspondence. The focus is on the sociolinguistic mechanisms in operation when one variant was established as a standard, high-prestige variant, and the other as a non-standard form. The data are drawn from the Corpus of Early English Correspondence Extension and complemented with evidence from A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers. The results show that you was peaks before the mid-eighteenth century and gradually becomes a socially stigmatized linguistic marker, as evinced in normative comments in grammars. Men lead the change: the form peaks earlier among men than women who resort to using the were variant longer than men.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- The language of daily life in the history of English: Studying how macro meets micro 1
-
Section 1. Variation and social relations
- Negotiating interpersonal identities in writing: Code-switching practices in Charles Burney's correspondence 27
- Patterns of interaction: Self-mention and addressee inclusion in letters of Nathaniel Bacon and his correspondents 53
- Referential terms and expressions in eighteenth-century letters: A case study on the Lunar men of Birmingham 75
-
Section 2. Methodological considerations in the study of change
- Methodological and practical aspects of historical network analysis: A case study of the Bluestocking letters 107
- Grasshoppers and blind beetles: Caregiver language in Early Modern English correspondence 137
- Lifespan changes in the language of three early modern gentlemen 165
-
Section 3. Sociohistorical context
- Singular YOU WAS/WERE variation and English normative grammars in the eighteenth century 199
- Encountering and appropriating the Other: East India Company merchants and foreign terminology 219
- Everyday possessions: Family and identity in the correspondence of John Paston II 253
- Appendix: Editions in the Corpora of Early English Correspondence 279
- Name index 303
- Subject index 309
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- The language of daily life in the history of English: Studying how macro meets micro 1
-
Section 1. Variation and social relations
- Negotiating interpersonal identities in writing: Code-switching practices in Charles Burney's correspondence 27
- Patterns of interaction: Self-mention and addressee inclusion in letters of Nathaniel Bacon and his correspondents 53
- Referential terms and expressions in eighteenth-century letters: A case study on the Lunar men of Birmingham 75
-
Section 2. Methodological considerations in the study of change
- Methodological and practical aspects of historical network analysis: A case study of the Bluestocking letters 107
- Grasshoppers and blind beetles: Caregiver language in Early Modern English correspondence 137
- Lifespan changes in the language of three early modern gentlemen 165
-
Section 3. Sociohistorical context
- Singular YOU WAS/WERE variation and English normative grammars in the eighteenth century 199
- Encountering and appropriating the Other: East India Company merchants and foreign terminology 219
- Everyday possessions: Family and identity in the correspondence of John Paston II 253
- Appendix: Editions in the Corpora of Early English Correspondence 279
- Name index 303
- Subject index 309
