Chapter 6: Lexicon and semantics
-
Ian Lancashire
Abstract
As printing technology itself once did, cyberinfrastructure is changing research into the Early Modern English lexicon and semantics. The Online OED, Early English Books Online, Lexicons of Early Modern English, The Textbase of Early Tudor English, and other resources now enable us to chart the growth of English in great detail. The mother tongue remained small, well under 10,000 words, until the 17th century. Printed books, however, by saving and disseminating learned and technical words, expanded available vocabulary by 75% from 1500 to 1600. Hundreds of glossaries and dictionaries printed word-entries that mapped English terms to each other and to other tongues and stimulated interest in semantics. Nouns and verbs were no longer assumed to be names for things and actions, as the famous Lily-Colet grammar taught, but (especially influenced by John Locke in 1690) became pointers to ideas in individual minds. Under the early Tudors, English was widely maligned as a minor tongue lacking the vocabulary and the sophistication of ancient and modern languages. Researchers can now chart a full account of how the English made their own tongue competitive.
Abstract
As printing technology itself once did, cyberinfrastructure is changing research into the Early Modern English lexicon and semantics. The Online OED, Early English Books Online, Lexicons of Early Modern English, The Textbase of Early Tudor English, and other resources now enable us to chart the growth of English in great detail. The mother tongue remained small, well under 10,000 words, until the 17th century. Printed books, however, by saving and disseminating learned and technical words, expanded available vocabulary by 75% from 1500 to 1600. Hundreds of glossaries and dictionaries printed word-entries that mapped English terms to each other and to other tongues and stimulated interest in semantics. Nouns and verbs were no longer assumed to be names for things and actions, as the famous Lily-Colet grammar taught, but (especially influenced by John Locke in 1690) became pointers to ideas in individual minds. Under the early Tudors, English was widely maligned as a minor tongue lacking the vocabulary and the sophistication of ancient and modern languages. Researchers can now chart a full account of how the English made their own tongue competitive.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Chapter 1: Introduction 1
- Chapter 2: Early Modern English: Overview 8
- Chapter 3: Phonology 27
- Chapter 4: Morphology 47
- Chapter 5: Syntax 68
- Chapter 6: Lexicon and semantics 89
- Chapter 7: Pragmatics and discourse 108
- Chapter 8: Dialects 128
- Chapter 9: Language contact 150
- Chapter 10: Standardization 167
- Chapter 11: Sociolinguistics 188
- Chapter 12: Pronouns 209
- Chapter 13: Periphrastic DO 224
- Chapter 14: The Great Vowel Shift 241
- Chapter 15: Relativization 267
- Chapter 16: Literary language 287
- Chapter 17: The language of Shakespeare 309
- Index 333
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Chapter 1: Introduction 1
- Chapter 2: Early Modern English: Overview 8
- Chapter 3: Phonology 27
- Chapter 4: Morphology 47
- Chapter 5: Syntax 68
- Chapter 6: Lexicon and semantics 89
- Chapter 7: Pragmatics and discourse 108
- Chapter 8: Dialects 128
- Chapter 9: Language contact 150
- Chapter 10: Standardization 167
- Chapter 11: Sociolinguistics 188
- Chapter 12: Pronouns 209
- Chapter 13: Periphrastic DO 224
- Chapter 14: The Great Vowel Shift 241
- Chapter 15: Relativization 267
- Chapter 16: Literary language 287
- Chapter 17: The language of Shakespeare 309
- Index 333
