EL1102 Lecture No. 10
The Spread of English: the USA
Organisation
1. The formation of American English (Video)
Colonisation: Expansion, Appropriation and Settlement à
Language Contact
2. Two natural expectations about the variety that emerged – and the
failure both these expectations
TWO natural expectations about the variety
that emerged
Given the various influences on/inputs into English in America, two
expectations are raised about this variety:
I . That it would be HUGELY DIVERSIFIED
(i) Because it was drawn from a variety of different British sources PRIOR TO standardisation
(ii) It had to adapt to a radically new environment, and accommodate a
massive diversity of peoples, cultures, languages, backgrounds, etc.
(iii) It HAD to innovate, because the country and the people had no
prior, established /institutionalised frameworks of decision making, action,
etc. that they could simply apply to life and experience in their new context.
II. That English in America would be a UNIQUE ENTITY, considerably
DIFFERENTIATED from the ‘mother language’, British English.
- By 1850, Americans did have
a version of English that was recognisably their own.
- It was also felt that this
variety would develop somewhat separately from the ‘mother language’.
H L. Mencken: the differences will ‘go on
increasing’.
The failure of both expectations
I. The expectation of diversity - BUT, remarkable UNIFORMITY instead, when compared
with the hugely differentiated British English.
(Randolph Quirk, The English
Language and Images of Matter)
3 broad varieties corresponding with 3 broad
areas:
- East - ‘clipped’
- West - ‘broader’
- South - influenced by Black speech
-
The Puritan settlers from England
-
many middle class people, who aspired
(a)
to rid themselves of the controls of the old order of society, with its aristocracy
based on birth, inherited privilege, etc.
(b) to have free rein to pursue their
economic goals, self-advancement, etc.
Therefore, they were anti-elitist and individualistic, and could be expected
not to want to conform to the ways of the old country.
‘England and America are two countries divided by the same language.’
II. The expectation that it would be very
different from
- IN FACT, ‘extraordinary unanimity . . . exists over the
bulk of the language (Quirk, p. 30)
- It shows great similarities with British English in
‘grammatical structure and syntax – essentially the operational machinery
of the language’ (A.H. Marckwardt, American English)
- ‘there has been little divergence of British and American
English. Many of the indubitable linguistic differences between a given
American and a given Briton are individual differences, social
differences, or differences that reflect dialectal variation within one or
other community: they often do not, in other words, reflect differences
between British and American English as such’ (Quirk, p. 26)
Some differences in Lexis (cont’d) [UK/US]
the ground floor/the first floor, hire out/rent out
but ALSO:
postcard, postage stamps, post office, postal service in America
mailbags, mail trains, Royal Mail, airmail in Britain
Accounting for the failure
The usual explanations provided in the readings:
Generally the explanations advanced are couched in terms of ‘NATURAL’
factors, tendencies, etc.
i. ‘accent levelling’, etc. because of the diversity
ii. The early settlers’ speech was comparatively uniform, since it had a
‘larger than average proportion of educated use’ and reflected the tendency
‘for educated people to have a concept of standard English transcending
regional dialects’
iii. There was a strong urban bias from the beginning, with an emphasis
on schooling and the existence of an institutionalised education system.
Such ‘natural’ explanations are extended also to account for the
pre-eminent position English won for itself in the new land, selecting itself
inevitably as the language of the place.
1790 Census - 90% of the population were English speaking. Extension of
the sway of English inevitable, natural.
Ideals vs. Reality
An interesting TWO-SIDEDNESS in the development of AE, with REALITY not
always matching IDEALS
- on the one hand, the rhetoric of individual self- realisation,
initiative, opportunity, rights, open-endedness, pluralism, democracy,
freedom, anti-élitism, etc.
- therefore, for instance, frequent remarks on
innovativeness, etc. reflecting the unique individualistic American
experience, invention and so on (as contrasted with British ‘censoriousness’)
- at the same time, differences were ironed out under the
pressure of a common enterprise whose nature was essentially determined by
the original dominant New England settlers driven by economic goals and interests
The erasure of difference
- From the beginning, there was ‘an experience of struggle
and difference’ which needed to be ‘erased’ in pursuit of an image of
unity and solidarity for the survival of which ‘certain interests had to
be excluded or co-opted’ (David Simpson, The Politics of American
English)
- Difficult to see this, because ‘by about 1850, democracy
had become the dominant American ideology or self-image, so that, in the
continuing development of a self-declared pluralistic culture, a struggle
of languages has been the harder to perceive where it does exist.’
- But, it did take place, and its result was the loss of
‘the discourse once available to describe the differences and tensions’ of
(the) polity. (Simpson)
During the 150 years between settlement and
Independence, the dominant groups at the helm of the creation of this new
society were afflicted by insecurities.
- uncertain environment, challenges, dangers
- difference and diversity a major problem
- These could constitute obstacles to the pursuit and
achievement of their economic / political goals. Therefore, they looked
for a COMMON LANGUAGE on ‘national’ principles to establish solidarity and
unity and to preserve the socio - economic system, within which they had
the dominant role.
This represented a move towards
- HOMOGENEITY / UNIFORMITY based on the interests of the powerful
- ‘MELTING POT’ concept , whereby ‘individuals of all nations are melted
into a new race of men
- achieved through assimilation, homogenisation, and also elimination of
rivals
Result:
The establishment of the hegemony of the powerful groups - a new kind of
‘aristocracy, based now not on birth (as in the case of the old aristocracy
they had resisted), but on wealth, power, and individual initiative and
enterprise.
1. Elimination of pre-existing populations:
- Initially, and for centuries after, the ruthless
expropriation/elimination of the native Indian population
- note, the present continuation of this process
through the very recent English Only Movement
2. Political and linguistic
independence from Britain
1775-83: The War of American Independence – a challenge to the political and
economic hegemony of Britain.
- the dominant groups in America affirm their political dominance within
the country
- the linguistic reflex of this, the ASSERTION OF LINGUISTIC
INDEPENDENCE
- From very early times, there had
been negative evaluations of American usage in Britain: bluff,
‘the American dialect, a tract (= process) of corruption to which every
language widely diffused must always be exposed’ (Dr Johnson: 1756)
Around the time of the War, claims began to
be made on behalf of the English used in America
‘As an independent nation our
honour requires us to have a system of our own, in language as well as
government. Great Britain, whose children we are,
(Noah Webster, Dissertations on the English
1802: The US Congress: ‘The American Language’
1828: Webster’s 2-volume An American Dictionary of the English
Language.
- ‘to ascertain the national practice’
3. Perception of linguistic diversity as an
obstacle to political and cultural unity
- ACHIEVING UNIFORMITY (the internal battle). Once the
external political battle had been won, attention turned explicitly to the
internal problems.
- difference, variety were seen as a problem, generating
instability, a threat to civil society within which the position of the
dominant group was otherwise assured.
- they saw a RELATIONSHIP between LINGUISTIC DISCORD AND
SOCIAL DISCORD
This thinking
draws very much on similar thinking in Britain which also legitimises its
middle class dominated status quo in this way.
- These considerations explain the great deal of talk
- This ‘common language’ was not to be allowed to
accommodate all the variation that actually existed, and the claims of
various interests, factions, etc. had to be excluded or co-opted, that is,
it was meant to be a brake on variation in the interests of the dominant
groups
- The focus now falls instead on a STANDARD LANG., as a
means of bringing variety under control.
- Thus, Webster, the nationalist, abandons some of his
earlier recommendations for spelling in his Dictionary: bred, tuf, tung,
thum, iland, wimmin
Just a handful of differences in spelling
BRITISH
|
AMERICAN |
|
colour |
color |
|
honour |
honor |
|
centre |
center |
|
theatre |
theater
or theatre |
|
defence |
defense |
|
mould |
mold |
|
cheque
(as in cashing a cheque) |
check |
|
dialogue |
dialog
or dialogue |
|
through |
through
or (informal) thru |
|
programme
(except computer programs) |
program |
|
omelette |
omelet |
- This standard was based on the usage of the
- The usage selected is the usage, essentially of the
property-owning, educated class of New England and the Virginia groups of
settlers, i.e. the most powerful in society. These become the dominant
white middle class group, and the usage of this class is taken to define
the favoured American English usage.
5. THE BRITISH ORIENTATION of the
standard selected
- The standardising impulse was expressed around the
‘central (British) tradition’ which was retained far more ‘than is
commonly supposed to.’ (G.P. Krapp, The English Language in America)
- The usage of these dominant groups was predominantly
influenced by south-eastern British speech, which formed the basis of
Standard British English - ‘Many of the principal immigrants to this
country were educated at the English universities’ (Webster 1836)
- The establishment of the education system in America
almost at the very start reinforced this orientation
The widely-held
idea that the development of the standard language in America should be in the
hands of great writers, an authoritative ‘senatorial class of men of letters’,
who by developing the language in the desired manner would guard it against the
ravages of populism and the interventions of those who needed to be kept out.
- But such a group of writers was not believed to have yet
come into being. Therefore, there was no alternative but to go to the
established British standard, the further advantage of which was that it
was itself the dialect of the dominant middle class in England.
Therefore,
- Webster: ‘The body of the language is the same as in England
and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness.’
- John Adams: British and Americans must together ‘force
their language into general use, in spite of all the obstacles that may be
thrown in their way’
- Washington Irving (1851): ‘any deviations on our part from
the best London usage will be liable to be considered as provincialism’