A History of the

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE
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Albert C. Baugh
Felix E. Schelling Memorial Professor of English

University of Pennsylcania

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SECOND EDITION

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THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

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Sorne of these events and changes are reflected in the English
The Nineteenth Century and After
211. Influenc'es Affecting the Language. The events of the nin
teenth century 'and of the early twentieth affecting the Engli .
speaking countries were of great political and social importa
but in their effect on the language they were not of a revoluti .
ar)' character. The success of the British on the sea in the ca
of the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in Nelson's famous victo
at Trafalgar in 1805, left England in a position of undispnti
naval supremacy and gave her control over most of the worIo
commerce. The war against Russia in thc Crimea (1854-56).
the contests with native princes in India had the effect of ag
turning English attention to the East. The great reform me
-the reorganization of parliament, the revision of the penal
and the poor laws, the restrictions placed on child labor, and
other industrial reforms-were important factors in establis' .
English society on a more democratic basis. They lessened
distance between the upper and the lower classes and grea
increased the opportunities for the mass of the population
share in the economic and cultural advantages that became a
able in the course of the century. The establishment of the
cheap newspaper (1816) and of cheap postage (1840), and
improved mearis of travel and communication brought abon
the railroad, the steamboat, and the telegraph had the eff.
uniting more clpsely the different parts of England and of sp
ing the influence of the standard speech. At the same time
growth in importance of sorne of England's larger colonies,
356
'E NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER 357 1:r~1~:
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, ~ ¡i·"
,dy trend towards autonomy, and the rapid development of
"United States have given increased significance to the forms
é,English spoken in these territories and have led the populations
.them to the belief that their use of the language is as much
titloo to be considered a standard as that of the mother coun-
:abulary. But more influential in this respect are the great
'elopments in science and the rapid progress that has been
de in every field of intellectual activity in the last hundred
:s. .P~riº9s_ºLgreatenterprise¡.md activity seem ~en~rally to
om12aniedbya correspondü1gincrease in new words. This
the· more true when all classes o~ the people participate in such
:tivity, both in work and play, and share in its benefits. Accord­
y,the great developments in industry, the increased public
. 'St in sports and amusements, lmd the many improvements in
roode of living, in which even the humblest worker has
'00, have all contributed to the vocabulary. Among recent
stances affecting the life of almost every one have been the
fld wars and the troubled periods following them. We shall '·'
them also leaving their mark on the language. The last hun- "
M,
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L •
years offer an excellent opportunity to observe the relation
een a civilization and the language which is an expression of
12. The Growth of Science. The most striking thing about our
,eDt-day civilization is probably the part wlúch science has
. ted in bringing it to pass. We have only to think of the prog­
'\vhich has been made in medicine and the sciences auxiliar)'
-súch as bacteriology, biochemistry, and the like, to realize
'~erence that marks off our own day from that of onl)' a
:nerations ago in everything that has to do with the diag­
·treatment, prevention, and bure of disease. Or we may
to reflect upon the relatively short period that separates
in, flying his kite in a thundehtorm, or Faraday, deflecting
,gnetic needle with an electric current, from Bell andEdison
WestinghoU'Se, from telephones and electric refrigerators and
358 , A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANG
i
hydrorlectric power plants. In every field of science, P'i
appli~d, there has been need in the last hundred years f()r,~j
¡
sands of new terms. The great majority of these are teC~
word~ known only to the specialist, but a certain numbel'
in tiI1le become familiar to the layman and pass into gener
Thq,s, in the field of medicine this is particularly appare
speakifamiliarly of acidosis, anaemia, appendicitis, arteriosd
difficult as the word is, of bronchitis, diphtheria, and n
other diseases and ailments. We use with sorne sense of
meaning words like homeopathic, osteopathy, bacteriolog
munology, orthodontia. We maintain clinics, administer an
toxin or an anesthetic, and vaccinate for smallpox. We'
learned the names of new drugs like aspirin, iodine, insuUn"
phine, strychnine, and we acquire without effort the names (¡('
biotics and so-called 'wonder drugs', such as penicillin, st~
mycin, and a whole family of sulfa compounds. We sp
adenoids, endocrine gwnds, and hormones, and know the'
of the stethoscope and the bronchoscope. We refer to the­
bustion of food in the body as metabolism, distinquish b
proteins and carbohydrates, know that a dog can digest boft!
cause: he has certain enzymes or digestive fiuids in bis stOj
or sa~ that a person who has the idiosyncrasy of being marle
certaih foods has an allergy. All of these words have coro
use during the nineteenth, and in sorne cases, the twe'
I
century.
In ~lmost every other field of science the same story con
toldo In the field of electricity words like dynamo, com
altemating current, arc light have been in the language
about 1870. Physics has made us familiar with terms like
electron, ionization, ultraviolet rays, the quantum theo1tj;
relativity, though we don't always have a very exact idea oE'
they mean. More recently atomic energy, radioactive, hYI
bomb, chain reaction, and on a more colloquial leveI
smasher have come into common use. Chemistry has con
so many common words that it is difficult to make a sel
alkali, benzine, cyanide, creosote, formaldehyde, nitrogl
INETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
to say nothinjg of such terros as biochemical, petrochem­
the like. Oritinally scientific words and expre~siotis su~ i
e~ natural se'Aection, stratosphere have becorrie f~mili8,.r . ~
~
j
the popularitr of certain books 01' the scientific ~eports :{,
I <".
zines and ne~spapers. The psychologist has taught us to
:of apperceptior, egocentric, extravert and introvert, be­
, inhibition~ inferiority complex, and psychoanalysis.
usly or unccinsciously we have become scientifically
in the last few generations, and our vocabularies refiect
ension of our consciousness and interest.
Automobile, Moving Picture, Radio, Scientific discoveries
entions do not always influence the language in propor­
:0 their importance. It is doubtful whether the radio and the
. g picture are more important than the telegraph and the
~hone, but they have brought more new words into general
'Such additions to the vocabulary depend more upon the
ree to which the discovery or invention enters into the life of
.community. Tbis can be seen admirably exemplified in t~e
new words or new uses of old words that have resulted
le popularity of the automobile and the numerous activities
ited with it. Many an old word is now used in a special
Thus we park aicar, and the verb to p¡ark scarcely suggests
r. f
erage man anrthing ex~ept leaving his cal' alon t~~ sid~:
:reet or road or f1 a parkmg space. But the wordls oIf¡
ed as a militaIj terro (to park cannÓn) and later of cal'"
Tbe word autorlwbile and the more common word injEng­
otor car, are nd,w, but such words as 'sedan, coach, cPupé,
are terros adapted from earlier types of vehicle. The
'cian truck is the English lorry to wbich we may attach a
" We have learned new words or new meanings in carbure­
:rk plug, choke, clutch, gear shift, piston rings, throttle,
001, universal, steering wheel, self-starter, shock absorber,
, hood (English bonnet) , windshield (in England wind
bumper, chassis, hubcap, and automatic transmission. We
high and low, have a blowout or a flat, use tubeless tires,
~spare, drive a convertible ol' station-wagon, and put the
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360 lA HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGU
1
car in ~ garage. We may tune up the engine or stall it,iL
knock dr backfire, or we may skid, cut in, side swipe anoth '
and he Iflned for speeding or passing a traffic signal. Of la(
have hfard a good bit about safety glass, knee-action,
steering, while service stations and motor courts are ev,
along the road and the superhighway. We must buy g,
America and petrol in England. Many more examples coul:
added of terros familiar to every motorist, but they would
further illustrate what is sufficiently clear, the way in whi
new thing which becomes genuinely popular makes dem
upon and extends the resources of the language.
The same principIe might be illustrated by the moving pie
and the radio. The words cinema and moving picture date
1899, while the alternative motion picture is somewhat
Screen, re el, newsreel, film, scenarío, protector, close-up, fa,
feature picture, animated cartoon, are now common.
radiogram goes back to 1905, it is only with the spread of pop
interest, in wireless transmission that the vocabulary has ,,});,
expand~d from this source. The word radio in the sense of
ceiving!set dates from about 1925. From the circumstance th
the beginning many amateurs built their own sets, a goodc
technical terms carne to be widely used, words like variable·
I •
denser, .radio-frequency transformer, input, inductance, í
ance, superheterodyne, kilocycle. Even now when any one,
tum the dials of a factory-built set we are familiar with
expressions as listen in, stand by, hook-up, selectivity,
speaker, aerial, antenna, lead-in, and FM or frequency m.
tion. Words like announcer, broadcast, reception, microp.
and tone control have acquired special meanings sometimes "
moner than their more general senses.
214. The W orld Wars. As a further example of how ','
developments or events leave their mark upon languagew,
observe sorne of the words that carne into English between'
ancl 1918 as a direct consequence of the war then being
Sorne of these were military terrns representing new me
warfare, such as air raid, battleplane, antiaírcraft gun, tankí
i I
INETEENTF CENTURY AND A FTE' :: 36~,;
roall tank), anq blimp (a smaIl dirigible). Gas ma$~ anqf
~,·',O{ficer were ne~I comhinations with a ~ilitary signific~nce;·:
' I '
:flage was horr0t-ved from French, where it had forrilerIy
term of the sce~-painter's craft, hut it caught the popular
ntl was 500n us~d half facetiously for various forros of dis­
'()I':misrepresentation. Old words were in sorne cases adapted
iw'uses. Sector was used in the sense of a specific portion of
ghting line; barrage, originaIly an artificial barrier like a
'Íll'a river, designated a protective screen of heavy artiIlery
hine-gun nre; dud, a general word for any counterfeit
'as specincaIly applied to a shell that did not explode; and
quired the meaning of a crack airrnan, especiaIly one who
,'rought down nve of the enerny's machines. In a number of
,a word which had had but a limited circulation in the
age now carne into general use. Thus hand grenade goes
fu 1661, but attained new currency during the war. Other
,ions already in the language but popularized by the war
ugout, machine gun, periscope, no man's land, and eveti th~
designation of an American soldier, doughboy, which:wa~
quial use in th~ United States as earIy as 1867. Blighty
popular bit of B1tish arrny 5lang, derived from Iqdía land
ying England or ijome, and was often applied to a wdund
~ent aman back Ito England. Other expressions suc~ as
','trench foot, cobtie, war bride, and the like were ei~er
4Jff in the heat o~ the moment or acquired a poignant Isig­
from the circumstances under which they were used.
f, these words wiIl doubtless prove a permanent part of
abulary.
'Ould seem that World War 11 was less productive of mem­
words, as it was of memorable songs. Nevertheless it
¡ts contribution to the language in the form of certain new
"new meanings, or an increased currency for expressions
·had been lIsed before. In connection with the air raid, so
cnt a feature of the war, we have tlle words alert (air-raid
19), blackout, blitz (Gerrnan Blitzhieg, literally lightning
blockbuster, dive-bombing, evacuate, air-raid shelter. The

362 A H 1 S TOn y OF T JI E E N G LIS H L A N G l) A G
words beaclllz('ad, paracll1ltíst, poratroop, landing strip, crash
Landing, roadbloek, jeep, fax lzole (as a shelter for one or two,
~
men), bulldo;:;er (an American \yorcl usecl in a new sense), de·,
contamination, task force (a military or naval unit assigned to the,
carrying out of a particular operation), resistance movement, anil
radar are not in the Oxfonl Dietionary or its 19,33 Supplement. To
h
spearhead an attack, to mop up, ami to appease were new verbs,
"
or old verbs with a new military ar political significance. The
colloquial flattop is shorter amI more convenient than aircraf~'
carrier. Flack (antiaircraft fire) was taken over from Gennan,~
where it is an abbreviation of Flíc::crabtcehrkanone, antiaircraft .
gun. Commando, a ",ord which gaes back to the Boer \Var, ae"
quired a new and specializcd me:lning, Sorne words which were
either new or enjoyed great currcncy cluring the war-priority,.
tooling up, bottlencck. ceilíng (uppcr limit), backlog, stockpile­
have become a part of the yocabulary of civilian life, while le~ ,
lease has passed into history. The aftermath of the war has given
us such expressions as iron ctlrtain, cold war, fellow traveler,
tront organization, police statc, all with a very special connota~
tion.
215. Language as a Mirror of Progress. Words, being but synv
bols by which aman expresses his ideas, are an accurate measure.
of the range' of his thought at any given time. They obviouslf';
designate the things he knows, and just as obviously the vocab-',
ulary of a language must keep pace with the advance of bis
knowledge. Thc date when a new word enters the language is in
general the date ,vhen the object, experience, observation, or what- :,i
ever it is that calls it fortlt has entered his consciousness. Thus'~
with a work like the Oxford Dictionary, which furnishes us with";
dated quotations showing when the different meanings of every':J
J
word have arisen and whcn new words first appear in the lan:':~',
guage, \Ve could almost write the history of civilization merelt
from linguistic eviuence. \Yhen in the early part of the nineteentn
century \Ve fine! growing up a worel like horsepower al' lithograp¡{;~
"ie may depene! upon it that sorne form oE mechanical power:
which needs to be measured in familiar terms or a ne\\' process'
.¡
NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
:cOf engraving has been devised.The appearance in the language
363
fi
'of words Iike railway, locomoÚve, turntable about 1835 teHs us
,¡
I
:;.Jhat steam railways were ther:! coming in. In 1839 the words
..~.photograph and photography f;rst appear, and a beginning is
',,,,;made towards a considerablevocabulary of special worc1s ar
senses of words such as cam~ra, Kodak (still a tradc-mark),
h
l.".
film, enlargement, emulsion, focus, shutter, light meter. Concrete
,', i
'in the senSe of a mixture of crushed stone and cement dates from ~
1834, but reinforced concrete is an expression called forth only -'1
in the twentieth century. The word cable occurs but a few )'ears
before the laying of the first Atlantic cable in 1857-58. Refrígera­ "~¡'';;'
_,... ;n
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lor is first found in English in an American quotation of 1841. ; :~,' ~ ~
Too words emancipation and abolitioníst have for every Ameri­
~ ,
. can specific meanings connected with the efforts to abolish slavery,
efforts which culminated in the Civil War. In the last quarter of
·the nineteenth century an interesting story of progress is told
by new words or new meanings such as typewriter, telephone, .~~
apartment house, twist drill, dl'Op-forging, blueprint, oilfield,
motorcycle, feminist, fundamentalist, marathon (introduced in
.j
, 1896 as a result of the revival oE the Olympic games at Athens in
that year), battery and bunt, the last two indicating the grow­
¡pg popularity of professional baseball in America.
The twentieth century permit~ us to see Ü1e process of vocab­
ulary growth going on under ou~ eyes, sometimes, it ",ould seem, ,
.',llt an accelerated rateo At the tur~ of the century \~e gd the word
qite.stionnaire and in 1904 the fitst hint of television. In 1906 ·the
British launched a particular battleship named the Dreadnaught,
"and the word dreadnaught passed into popular use for any war­
<spip of the same class. Ayear later we got the word raincoat and
:~bout the same time Thermos bottle. This is the period when
1
.''roany of the terros of aviation that have since become so familiar
,i',Brst carne in--airplane, aircraft, airman, monoplane, bíplane,
:.{ hydroplane, dirigible, and even autogiro. N ose-dive belongs to
, "fue period of the wal'. About 1910 we began talking about the
ruturist and the postimpressioníst in art. Intelligentsia as a desig­
nation for the c1ass to which superior culture is attributed, and
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Id
364 A H 1$ T O R Y O F THE E N G LIS H L A N G U A G, ,
bolshevík for:a holder of revolutionary political views wer,::
originaIly applied at the time of the First WorId War to group$
in Russia. At this time profiteer and in America prohibition arO:
with specialized meanings. Meanwhile foot-falllt, fairway, p
foms, fox trot, auction bridge, and contract were indicative of
popular interest in certain games and pastimes. The 1933 supple-,
ment to the Oxford Dictionary records Cellophane (1921);
Celanese (1923), and rayon (1924), but it does not yet knowtbe:',
Ma;:;da lampo Mazda is a traoe-mark which few people probably
realize is derived from the name of the Zoroastrian god of thé'
light-giving firmamento Only yesterday witnessed the birth of
crooner, lwdist, air-conditioned, plastic (the nOlln), nylon (orig¡'
nally él traoe name), transistor, Deepfree;;,e, record changer, tape
recorder, automatian, prefabricated, and such popular American
expressions as coffee break ano baby sitter. Tomorrow wiU
witness others as the exigencies of the hour caIl them into being.,
216. Sources of the New Words: BorTowings. Most of the new
words coming into the language since 1800 have been derive
from the same SOllrces or createo by the same methods as tho
that have long,been familiar, but it wiII be convenient to examin
them here as an ilIustration of the processes by which a languag,
extends its vocabulary. It shoulo be remembered that the pri
ciples are not new, that what has been going on in the last ce
tury and a haIf coulo be paraIleled from almost any period
the Ianguage.
As is to be expecteo in the light of the English disposition t()
borrow words from other languages in the past, many of the n
words have been taken over ready made from the people fro
whom the idea or the thing designated has been obtained. Th
from the French come apéritif, bengaline, charmeuse, chauffe
chiffon, consommé, garage, marquisette; from Italian come ca:
fetti and vendetta; ano fram Spanish, by \Vay of the United Statés,"';
hcnanza. German has given us rucksack, zeppelin, and zítller. ,:
From Rnssia come the words caraclll and vodka, like the articIe~
themselves. Goulash is a Magyar woro, robot is from Czech, while'
the East is represented by afghan, loot, thllg from India, pata
E NINETEENTH CEN~URY AND AFTER 365
J
ritish pyfamas) from Persia, rnd chop suey from China. The
ISInopolitan character of the English vocabuIary aIread)' poi:lted
, ,t is thus being maintained, ana. we shaIl see in the next chapter
,íh~t America has added many 6ther foreign words, particularIy
lrom Spanish and the languages of the American Inoian.
¿217. Self-explaining CampouneIs. A second source of new
\vords is represented in the practice of making self-explaining
< pounds, one of the oldest mcthods of word-formation in the '
~ ~tt-. ,~¡
,language. Of recent origin are airworthy (on the analogy of i ' ,.:
,,"
<~eaworthy), Caterpillar tractor, fingerprint (in its technical _:
,
t-··,~
lo-
-~
~~ense), fiTe extinguisher, hitchhike, iet propulsion, the colIoquial
It -..
'~now-how, lípstick, newsprint, player piano, road hog, searchlight,
skyline (as applied to the outline of the tops of buildings against
'tlíe sky), speedboat, spotlight, steam roller, steam shovel, stream­
'Un,e, and teen-age. Many of thesc betray their newness by being
w itten with a hyphen or as separate words, or by preserving a
rilther strong accent on the second elemento They give um;nistak­
!~'ble testimony to the fact that the power to combine existing
'words into new ones expressing a single concept, a power that
:was so prominent a feature of Old English, stilI remains with uso
18. CompauneIs Formed fT01/1 Greek and Latin Elements.
same method may be emIiloyed in forming words from
ments derived from Latin ahd Greek. The large' classical
ment aIready in the English vocabulary makes such formations
quite congenial to the lang~age, and this has long been a
'mrite source of scientific terms~ Thus eugenics is formed from
two Greek roots, ~Ú- meaning well, and yn- meaning to be horno
±he word therefore means well-bom and is applied to the efforts
.hring about weIl-born offspring by the selection of healthy
árents. The same root enters into genetics, the experimental
dy of heredity and allied topics. In the words stethoscope, .'4'
";1
chascope, flUOToscope, and the like we have -scope which
,~~ ,ears in telescope. It is a Greek word (J'IC01rÓ<¡ meaning a watcher.
;I~ as -ri¡A€ in Greek means far and enters into such words as
'télephone, telescope, television, etc., so we have stethoscope with
lJiefir5t element from Greek uTij-8o<¡ (breast or chest), broncho­
·L':
~.
'E'
366 A H 1ST O R Y O F THE E N G LIS FI L A N G U:
seope from Greek f3póyxo~ (windpipe), and fluotOseope wif
same first element as in fluorine (from Latin fluere, to
Panehromatie comes from the Greek words 'lTav- (aH)
xpwp.anKól; (relating to color), and is thus used in photograph'
describe a plate or film that is sensitive to aH colors, Ana;
mobile is something that moves of itself (Greek aVTó~ self +.
mobilis movable). Orthodontia is from Greek óp-8ó~ straig:
óaoú~ (ÓaÓI'T-) tooth, and thus describes the branch of den
that endeavors to straighten irregular teeth. A few minutes
in Iooking up recent scientific words in any dictionary will s
abundant illustrations of this common method of English wb
formatio~.
219. Ptefixes and Suffixes. Another method of enlarging,
vocabul~ is by appending familiar prefixes and suflm
existing words on the pattern of similar words in the lan
SeveraI óf the Latin prefixes seem to lend themselves rea
new combinations. Thus in the period under discussion we
formed transoeeanie, transeontinental, trans-Siberian, tra
ate, transformer, and several more or less technical terms s
transfinite, transmarginal, transpontine, etc. We speak of·
impressionists in art, postprandial oratory, the postelassieal p
or postgraduate study, and frequently apply the term post'
events that have occurred since either World War. In the S3
way we use pre- in such words as prenatal, presehool age;':"
historie, pre-Raphaelite, and we may preheat or preeool in ce
technical processes. In moving picture parlance we may ha~
preview or a prerelease, and we may make prenuptial ..
ments. Dming the wars we often read that one side or the
had launched a eounterattaek, and we organized a eounter"
genee service. In biological laboratories a eounterstain is
render ~ore visible the effect of another stain on a tisS
specimen. In bis Man and Superman Bernard Shaw COiD
word su#erman to translate the German Obermenseh of N'
ian phil~sophy. We subirrigate and build a subeellar,
moving ~ictures we apply the word subtitle to the reading
in a film.! We can deeode a message, defrost a refrigerator,
'NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER 361
'ency, and we may devaluate, debunk, and delouse. It is so
'th suffixes. Recent popular creations on old patterns are
filmdom, fandom, gangster, dopester, profiteer, racket­
'amiliar endings like -some, -fuI, -less can be freely added
ordance with long-standing habits in the language.
,~Coinages. A considerable number of new words must be
buted to deliberate invention or coinage. There has probably
been a time when the creative impulse has not spent itself
nally in inventing new \Vords, but their chances of general
n are nowadays often increased by a campaign of ad­
.g as deliberate a~ the effort which created them. Tney
• stly the product o~ ingenuity and imitation, the two beirg
,Ilded in variable pro~ortions. Thus a trade-mark like iKo~k
lo be pure inventi~n, while Vietrola or Erigidaire conta.ns
izable elements co:bbined in a form sumciently new to be
'red at the Patent Offlce. This does not prevent their passing
:urrent speech and ~ften being treated as cornmon nouns.
has aH but displaced the word camera in popular use,
,ctive of the make of the instrument referred to, and
. and Frigidaire are sometimes miswritten with a small
~Jmd used by many people as synonyrns for phonograph and
'. "refrigerator. N abiseo (National Biscuit e ompany) and
are also trade terms often loosely used, and this is espe­
ue of Zipper, a word coined by the B. F. Goodrich Com­
~and registered in 1925. Words formed by combining the
!',or Drst few letters of two or more words are known as
s. Nabiseo aboye is an example, as are radar (radio
'lg and ranging) and UNESCO (United Nations Edu­
.Scientific, and Cultural Organization).1 In deliberate
,there is often an analogy with sorne other word or words
guage. This is felt, consciously or unconsciously, to 1;>e
le. 1t permits the ineaning more easily to be guessed at,
c;a mild degree of ~ngenuity on the part of the inventor,
~es the attention IIon the distinctive syIlable or syI1~b~s.
;., "
"",', I ! I
t examples have been lCoIlected by T. M. Pearc~, "Acronyn Talle, pI
" 's English,''' Word lStudy, XXII, No. 5 (19417). !
 1f ,1,:
• ~ .~
368 A JI TS T () ny O ro T JI E E N C L TS TI L A N G U AGE ¡ THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTEn 3.59
ll(
Thus Addrcssograp" is malle OH lhtl pattC'rn of other words
encling ill -ogm!J" (I)T/(lI1o,~ml)TI, nllto{!.ntph, de.) and as a
j names of persons anu places. Every one is av"nre that morccco
,J
is deriveel from the corrcsponding proper name ancí tha' .\'illi, iw/ch
maehíne rol' wriling :lddn-ssl's Prol)('r1y uraws the attentíon to J l~¡
¡ owes its use to the fact that the earl of Sandwich on one ücc~lsiaa .,:;:
address, Líilot!I¡JC is ml'n-ly the l"lmning togethcr of "line o' type,"
sínce it easts an cnlíre line in one piece of metal, but the word
.~
}
put slices of meat hctween pieees of bread. Like ot1Jer proc('sses
of English word derivation this can be wcll illl1stratcd ir; tbc
'.'

resemhles stcrcolU!J(', ami as unalogons fonns with it we now
huve "Al ntwtupe anc1 stct1otype, Dictaphone comhines e1emcnts
founu in the wonls diclalc and telepTlOne, just as travelogue ís a
.¡
cross hctWC'C'il tmvd and dialogue. Burea1tcrat and plutocrat are .J
obvíonsly formecl on the model of aristocrat, lIt/tocrat, etc., as A
electrocute is modclcd after execllte. Sometímcs a Latin formative :¡
e1ement ís uscd anel the new word has a rather specious c1assical
air. Thus novocaine is made up of Latín 110VIIS (new) grafted ·t1
upon thc English word cocaine, and the tradc-name Duralllmin tt
contains the Latin dllrus (hard) merged with the English 1 of one-horse, c10secl carriage known as a brougham owes its name
,t
aluminmH.
:~l;
¡
•
1 nineteenth century and later. Thl1s we get the ",ord fol' tabascn
sauce from the name of the Tabasco River in Mexieo. Camcmbert
comes from the vilIage in Franee from which cheese of this type
was originaIly cxpol'ted. A limol/sine is so caneel from the llame of
a pl'ovince in France and we have more recently secn tbe
American city Charleston giving its name to a dance. Thc \vonl
l
colt for a certain kind of firearm is merely the name oE the in­
Yentor, as tvistaria, the vine, is named after Caspa!' VVistar, 2D
1
American anatomist oE the middle of the last century. The type
f to Lord Brol1gham of about the same date. In 1880 Captain

i
,f;' Wonls of the type of electrocute or travelo{!,t/e are often caned Boycott, the agent of an Irish lanelowner, refused to aceept rent~ '1';'
portma1JtN/lI ~'onls, 01' hcttcr, hTcnns. 1 In them two words are, as at the figure set by the tenants. His Iife was threatened, his
it were, telescopecl into one. This was a favorite pastime of the
author of Aticc in "\Vondcr1aTl(l, and to him we owe the word
~
:i
sen'ants were forced to leave, anel his figure was burnt in effigy.
Hence from Ireland carne the use of the verb to boycott, meaning . +'

,1
~

eh01tie, a hlcmlíng of s/lort and chuckle, and snark (snake +

shark). Often sueh coinagcs are formcd with a playful or
humorous intento The Oxford DicUonary records brunch in the
I,1
to coerce a person by refusing to have, and preventing 0thers
fram having, dealings with him. Similarly, from evidence reccnt!}'
published it seems c1ear that lYl1Ch law owes its origin to Captain
r. ~:f

year 1900. When meel, it is used facetiously in speaking of those

'f
,;
William Lynch, of Virginia, about 1776. In the early nineteenth . "l·.·
'1'-'11:.·'
,.. ~ • :¡

who get IIp too late for brcakfast anel therefore combine break­
fast and lunch. Paradoxology, alcoh()liday, anecdotage, revusieal,
.
!
I century we find the verb to lynch, and it is now a familiar 'Nard.
Mackilltosh is derived from the name of a Glasgow chemist, and
¡: :I'f
.:~~

I
r'" ycllocuti()l1, amI thc likc, often rcvcal flashes of wit. They carry a
<':' momentary appeaI, Iike the coinages of the magazine Time
(cinemactl'ess, cinc!naddicl, cincmagnate, socialite ), but few of
r';:. them are Iikely to finu a permanent place in the language since,
t like epigrams, thcy losc their luster when passed about at second
raglan comes from Lord Raglan, the British commander in the
Crimean War. A recent exampIe is the word Bakelite whieh we
have borrowed from German. It represents the name of the
inventor, L. H. Baekeland. Shrapnel is from the name of the
British general who invented the type of missile, whil~ in

~ "
hand. the period of World War 11 we caned a person who col\abor~ted
221. eommon Word.~ from Proper Names. Another source froro
, ,."
••. '
••
whieh many English words have been deríved in the past is the
1 with the enemy a qllisling, after the Norwegian Vidkun Quisling
yielcled to the German occupation and became the head of 2­
i
~:'

puppet state. More than five hundred common words in English

t: ¡ See Louise Pound, Blcnds: Their Relation to English Word Formation

~.
"
(Heidelberg, 1914). have been b'aced to proper names, and they must be considered
(:
~
J~
¡¡¡
If
..
1 '~

·,:¡:t

ti:i,'­
!L
•
370 A HISTORY
as illustrating one of the sources from which new words
being deriv.ed.
222. Old Words with New Meanings. The resources
vocabulary¡are sometimes extended from within by emplo
old word i* a new sense. We have already seen many exa
of this in spme of the paragrdphs preceding, especially m
the words ~ow applied to the automobile. But the process
ilIustrated pn almost every hand, for it is one of the comm
phenomena in language. Skylíne formerly meant the horizon;
it is now c<;>mmoner in such an expression as the New York'·
líne. Broadcast originaIly had reference to seed, but its appli
to radio se~ms entirely appropriate. A record may be many.
things than a phonograph disc, and radiator was used for.';
thing which radiated heat or light before it was applied
cally to steam heat or the automobile. Cabaret is an old .
meaning a booth or shed, and later a small drinking place. T,
it signifies only a certain type of restaurant. We sign off or
by in radio, take off in an airplane, kick off in football, ca
in war, cal! up on the telephone, and in each of these casi
convey a specific, often technical meaning, quite different'
the sense which these expressions previously hado A
amount of .experimenting with words is constantly going OD¡ .
at times the new use of a word may meet with opposition.
Arnold Bennett used the verb intrigue in the sense 'to in
greatly or firouse curiosity', many people object to this us
the Arneridan businessman's employrnent of contact as a
met with rbistance in certain quarters,l (It is well to rem
that Swift dbjected to behave without the reHexive pronoun.
will decid~ the fate of these words, but whether or not
uses establlsh themse1ves in the language, they must be consia
as exempHfying a well-recognized phenomenon in the b .
of words.
223. The Influem:e of Joumalism. In the introductioti
1 On recent uses of nouns as verbs (fa package, fa se1'VÍce), see
Prenner, "The Current Tendency toward Denominatíve Verbs," A.."
Speech, XIll (1938). 193-96.
NINETEENTH CENTUR y AND AFTER 371
arizing of new words joumalism has been a factor of steadiIy
sing importance. The newspaper and the more popul:tr type
gazine not only playa large part in spreading new locutions
g the people but are themselves fertile producers of new
The reporter necess¡lTily writes under pressure and has ndt
search for the righk- word. In the heat of the mOment he
ñkely as not to strik~ off a new expression or wrencl th~
ge to fit his idea (~acifist, socialize). In. his effort to b~
ting and racy he aqopts an informal and' colloquial styl~,
ÍIlany of the colloqui~lisms current in popular speech find
'way into writing firs~ in the magazine and the newspaper.
way We have come fu back a horse or a candidate, to boost
. mmunity, comb the woods for a criminal, hop the Atlantic,
politician, and spike a rumor, and we speak of a probe,
up, a business deal, a go-between, a political slate. Most of
expressions are stilllimited to the newspaper and colloquial
aod are properly cIassed as joumalistic. The sports writer
11 hard pressed to avoid monotony in his description of
contests day after day, and in his desire to be picturesque
feels any scruple about introducing the latest slang in
. ieular field of interest. Many an expression originating in
lorting page has found its way into general use. We owe
llen, fight shy, and show the white feather to cockfighting,
d neck and out of the running to the race track, and side­
.:own and out, straight from the shoulder, and many othe~
:iODS to boxing. In A¡merica we owe caught napping and!
. base to baseball. If ~ome of these 10cutions are older ~han;
'spaper, there can &e no question but that today ni~chl
the,' ,slang is given curre1cy through this medi~m. One of .our l
'~. news magazines npakes the use of verbal noveIties a!
,f its style. In the p~ges of this weekly we no longer read i
ain of industry' bJt of a tycoon. So' too we find news­
reporter, jeerworthy, pulp magazine, nobelíty (winners
6bel prize), and many other examples of the search for
.'We must recognize that in the nineteenth century a new
.. ting language arose, and that among the many ways in

 :;"
" 372 :\ lTlSTOi\Y Ojo' TIlE ENGLISH t.ANGl1AGE
which il" alrects tlH' langll;lp:e not tlH' kast imporlant are its
,;;: tcndene)' ('otlstallll)' lo n'tlc\\' lhe voca]¡lIlary alld its ahility to
bring abotlt tite adoption or ¡IC\V wonl$.
224. Clwl1gcs of l\fcnniug. 1t is lleccssary lo say something
ahout tlle \Va)' in whiel. wonls gradnally changc their meaning.
For that '.\'onls do undcrgo sllcll cllallgc is a fact readíly pcr­
eeived, :mel can he iIInstrated from an)' pcriod of the language.
That we shoukl choose to ílllIstratc it hy more 01' less re<:ent
examples is a matter mcrcly of convenience. Diflerenees of
meaning are more readily pen:cívcll ",hen the)' allcct C1llTellt use.
n shoulel he clcarly rceogniz('(l, howcvcr, that the tendencies
~ here discussed are universal in their applieation and are not con­
f.: fined to tlle ninetccnth century or to the EngIish language. They
!'r;
":.
will be fOllnd nt work in <,ver)' langllagc and at aH times. Thc
branch 01' lingllistic stlldy which eOlH:crns ílsclf wilh tllc mcanings
~¡ of words amI the wn)' mcanings <!cvclop is known as semasiology
~
~'
or scmonfic8.
lt hns hecn observcd that in their scnse development words
I often purslle eertain wcll-marked temleneies. Among the more
eoromon of these are cxfellsíon of meaning, narrowíng of meaning,
degeneration, and I'cgellcraUoll. By extensíon 01 meaning is meant
f
t
the widening of a wonl's signifieation until it eovers mueh more
~ .- than the idea originany convcycd. Thc tcndcncy is sometimcs
í·: caBed gencralization. Tbc wonllovcly, for example, means prima­
tr rily worthy to he 10v('(I, amI grco{ means lal'ge in sizc, the opposite
of small. Bllt today the schoolgirl's lovel!! and the average man's
~
l'
t
great have no sllch mcaning. A hox of eandy 01' a chair may he
..¡'
lovely, aud anything from a ball game to the weather may be
f
ri
great. When a eollege student says that he fOllnd a certain book
~
\
great, it is morc than likely that his statcment has nothing to do
t with the value of thc hook jllllged as a work of art but simply
I~ roeans that he thorOllghly cnjoyed it. In everyday use these words
have come to express on ly enthusiastie approval of a rather vague
~.
sort. The \Vonl ]J1'O]Josítion primarily means a statement set forth
ror pllrposes of discussion. ol' in mathematics, for demonstration.
H was so uscd hy Linco]n in his Gettysburg Address: ". . . a new
!"<
"
j
"
~
TIIE NINETEENTH C:ENTUP.Y AND ;.FTJ",E ·S:'.?·~:
: i
natíon (Iedicatcc! to tile prop0sition that ~!]] roen :::1"C (T<~:l1:cd
cqual." But in Amcrica Juring tlte last eentury it 1egan 'o !J'] llSC<J
more looscly. Owcn Wistcr says in Tlle Virginian, "Prorositiü!l in
thc 'Vcst docs, in fad, mean wilatcver YOti at thc momcnt please."
Today if aman wants to buy a hOllse and offers the owner "
ccrtain pricc for it, \Ve say that he made him a 1J1"OlJosl1!ion.
"That's a different prnpositíon", cxpresses an idca which in mOJ"(~ j
formal English beeomcs "That"s a difFercnt matter" (an equally
general word). The word is oftcn aecompanied hy an adjcctive:
j
a IO/lgh lJr01Jo:;itioll; he toas the coolesl proposilion 1 Cl)cr me!.
AH of these uses are clistinetJy coIloqllial and are not acecptcd.
in England, but tlwy iUllstrate the principIe of gcncralization.
A more acccptable ilIustration ís the word dean. h has, of course,
its proper mcanings, such as the hend oI the ehapter in a c::ühcdral
c11l1rch 01' the head of the faelllty in a college. But ít has come te
,1 ¡
\
Ai
;¡'!";:;
-'
he used as a designation for the senior 01' foremost person of any
group or clnss, so that we may speak of the dean of American
tritics, 01' imlccd, of sports writers.
·1..·
The opposite tendcncy is for a word gradualJy lo acquire a
more restricteel sense, 01' to be ehiefly used in one speciaJ eon­ "f
,~:;;
ncction. A classie example of this praetiee is the word doctor.
Thcre were doctors (i.e., learned men) in theology, lav.', <'Dd
many othcr nekls besidc medicine, but nowadays when we sc¡¡(-~
for ¡he doctor we mean a member of only one profession. In :ii)JTIC
of the preeeding paragraphs, cspeeially that in ,""hich \Vare
presented examplcs of old words in new meanings, will be fOl1no
a numher of similar ínstanees. The verb lo park as applied to
automobiles and the \Val' word tank are cases in point. The use
of a word in a restricted sense does not precÍude its llse aIso in
other meanings. Thcre was a time in the nineties when the \vord
j•, whce1 suggested to most people a bícycle, but it eould still be
uscd of the wheel of a cart or a cnrriage. Oflen the restricted
scnse of a word belongs to a specinl or class vocabulary. An
:~~ cnlargemenf l1leans to a photographer a large print made from a
,
slllall neg,ltive, and in edllcalional eh'e1es a seniur is a member d
tll(' graduating class, Ccnsequently it somctimes h3!Jpens ¡ha!: ¡:Le
+./'
" "
¡~
¡l"le
b;
• 374 :A H 1ST O R Y O F THE E N G LIS H L A N G U A' .
!
same \\jord will acquire different restricted meanings for diffi
people~ The word gas is an inclusive telm for the chemist,b
calls u~ a more restricted idea for the housewife and a
differeQt one for the American owner of an automobile.
rowingi of meaning may be confined to one locality under'
influenhe of local conditions. Nickel in America means a coín,
for a number of years the word prohibition in this country gene].
suggested the prohibition of intoxicants. In the same way'::
terms democrat and republican seldom have their broader si
cance to an American, but rather imply adherence to one or
other of the two chief polítical parties in the United States.
Degeneratíon 01 meaning may take several forms. It may
the fonn of the gradual extension to so many senses that
particular meaning which a word may have had is compl
lost. This is one form of generalization already illustrated in.
words lovely and great.1 Awlul and terrible have undergo' .
similar deterioration. In other cases a word has retained a
specinc meaning but a less favorable one than it originally,
Prollips in ros N ew W orld 01 W ords (1658) dennes garble
purine¡ to sort out the bad from the good, an expression borr
from Grocers, who are said to garble their Spices, i.e. to p
them [¡rom the dross and dirt." The word was still used in/:
sense ~own through the eighteenth century and even b
But in !the time of Johnson it occasionally carried the impH .
of selecting in an unfair or dishonest way and as used toda'
, " the word bug ha~ degenerated to the specialized me<Íning
1 Chesterfield has an interesting comment on this development in the
vast inhis time: "Not contented with enriching our hlnguage by"
absolutely new, my fair countrywomen have gane still farther, and Íl
it by the application and extension of old ones to various and very
:significations. They take a word and change it, like il guinea into shil
pocket-money, to be employed in the several occasional purposes of,
For instance, the adjective vast, and its adverb vastly, mean anyth·
are the fashionable words of the most fashionable people. A fine
under this head 1 comprehend all fine gentlemen too, not knowing m,
where to place them properly, is vastly obliged, or vastly offended,,~
glad, or vastly sorry. Large objects are vastly great, small ones are'l
little; and 1 had lately the pleasure to hear a fine woman pronounce
happy metonymy, a very small gold snuff-box that was produced in C(J
to be vastly pretty, because it was vastly Hule." (The World, No. 10.:'
.5, 1754.)
N 1 N E T E E N T H C E N TU R Y A N D A F TER 375
'ssignines the ihtentional or unintentional mutilation of a
. I
ent so that a Idifferent meaning is. conveyed· I~ro~ th~t
dedo Smug was 10riginally a good w~rd, meaning n~at 6~
'its present suggestion of objectior¡able seIf-satisf/lction
J
to have grown p during the nineteerith century. ThJ same
'lstrue of vulga1 in the meaning bordering on obscen~, and
bus in its conte~ptuous sense. Amateur and dilettante now
y inexpertness or superficiality, although the former word
conveys a favorable idea when applied to athletícs. A very
'esting fono of degeneration often occurs in words assocíated
things which it is not considered polite to talk about. In 1790
'satirist Peter Pindar wrote:
I've heard that breeches, petticoats and smock,
Give to thy modest mind a grievous shock
And that thy brain (so lucky its device)
Christ'neth them inexprcssibles so nice. l
.s the common word for a woman's undergannent down to
eíghteenth century was smock. It was then replaced by the
'c delicate word shilt. In the nineteenth century the isame
~ye led to the substitution of the word chemise, and in the "
iítleth this has been replaced by combinations, step-ins, and
I~euphemisms. In t/:le same way genteel, elegant, anq viótuals
ávoided by peoplei who would preserve, the qualitY wifhout,
[~ the first-named ~rd. In England one speaks only of infects,
ug'. We have b~en told in certain advertisements' that
Han ugly word") and 'when we must refer to an impolite
like a spittoon, we often disguise it by a more polite word
'or.
if words sometimes go downhilI, they sometimes undergo
?JXlsite process known as regeneratíon. Words like budge,
<:nonplus, shabby, squabble, stingy, tiff, touchy, wobbly,
"were recorded with proper disparagement by Dr. Johnson,
since passed ioto the standard speech. In the eighteenth
 r
i
• I
i
376 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGU'
eentuty snob and sham were slang, but in the nineteen
attain~d respectability, the fonner partly through the inHue
Thackeray. The word sturdy originally meant harsh, roug
intraCitable. We now use it in a whoIly complimentary sense.
the wjOrd smock, which was mentioned aboye as losing ca
the eighteenth century, has now been rehabilitated as appu'
an outer garment. We use it for a certain type of woman's
and we speak of an artist's smock. The changes of meaning
words undergo are but another evidence of the constant sta
flux which characterizes language as it lives on the lips of
225. Slang. AlI the types of semantic change discussed i
preceding paragraph could be i1Iustrated from that part 01
vocabulary which at any given time is considered slang.
necessary to say 'at any given time' not only because sI
Heeting and the life of a slang expression likeIy to be short,
because what is slang today may have been in good use yestell
and may be accepted in the standard speech of tomorrow. S
has b~en aptIy described as "a peculiar kind of vagabon
,
guage, always hanging on the outskirts of legitimate speec.
eontinually straying or forcing its way into the most respe
I
compfny." 1 Yet it is a part of language and cannot be ignO~i
dismissed with a contemptu~us sneer. One of the deveIop
whicH must certainly be credited to the nineteenth ceno
the ~owth of a more objective and scientific attitude to
this feature of language. The word slang does not occur in:
son's Dictionary. It first occurs a few years later and in its
use always has a derogatory force. Webster in 1828 defines
"Iow, vulgar, unrneaning language." But the definition i
Oxford Dictionary, expressing the attitude of 1911, is v
ferent: "Language of a highly coIloquial type, below the 1,
standard educated speech, and consisting either of new wo
of current words employed in sorne special sense." Here the:·,
"Iow" and "vulgar" have disappeared, and this element iD'
guage is treated frankly as a scientific fact.
1
p.55.
Greenough and Kittredge, Words and Their Ways in EngUsh
i
;NINETEEN!TH CENTURY AND AFT~R 3'fr{
1
reason why sIkng cannot be ignored even by the slrict~t
ls that it has nbt infrequently furnished expressions! which~;
¡ -1~
I
'st uses witho~t suspecting their origino Even the student '
19uage is const~tly surprised when he COmes across words
t"lie uses naturaIly and with entire propriety but finds
¡aned or condemned by writers of a generation or a few
tions ago. The expression what on earth seems to us an
atie intensive and certainly would not be objected to in the
~h.of anyone today. But De Quincey condemned it as slang
Iexpressed horror at hearing it used by a government officiaI.
e word row in the sense of a disturbance or commotion was
:in the eighteenth century and described by Todd (1818) as
low expression", but today we find it in the works of
tibIe writers as a word that fittingly suggests the qualities
.:Ytilgar brawl. Boom, slump, crank, fad have an exact and
'M·
es technical meaning. Whatever level of speech they
g to today, it is doubtful if they should be called slang.
ew England grit and the English pluck or the idiom :to go;
;q1l may be some~hat coIloquial, but we should be loath to
up three such racy expressíons by ruling therp out of
ate speech. Ev~n the harmless word ioke was otice ~Ian~ .
eying contenjlporary English we not only have toi conL
,e slang which !has lifted itseIf into the level of edubated .
but we must re~ognize the part played by slang in it~ oml
¡Cter. For there is ihardly a person who does not make use of
iD occasion. Slaitg results from an instinctive desire for
'ess and noveIty of expression. NaturaIly the less a person is
to submit to the restraints imposed by a formal standard,
)re ready he is to accept indiscriminately the newest slang
;n. To dismiss seems to the man in the street tame and
, if not stilted, so he substitutes to give one the airo For
. e reason a young woman who fails to keep an engage­
'With aman stands him up. Sínce novelty is a quality whích
wears off, slang has to be constantIy renewed. Vamoose,
twenty-three, and beat it give place to scram! which
.inIy be forgotten when a newer expression catches the
J
,··1.
1
f' í.
, .,:_',,-<~
. ~. ~
..
378
I
A H 1ST O R Y O F T H E E N G LIS H LANG
popular fancy. It can hardly be denied that sorne sI
pre~sions, while they are current, express an idea that it
be difficult to convey by other means. Flapper, hot air,
whoopee, pussyfoot, hard-boiled undoubtedly owe their po
ity to sorne merit which is recognized by asure instinct
the people. Slang aIso at times softens the offensiveness of an,i
that might be too blunt in formal words. Cut it out and chil.
are examples of slang which serves such an euphemistic purpi
It is sometimes difficult to define the precise quality which
an expression slang. It is often not in the word itself, but i .
sense in which it is used. Blow in is proper enough if we
of a leaf which blows in a window, but it is slang when we s
of aman who blows in to New York from another 10caH
blows in his money after he gets there. So far as coIloquiaI
coqcerned it is impossible to shut our eyes to the prominent
which slang plays in the language.
I~ is dangerous to generalize about the relative promineri~
slartg in this and former times. But it would seem as thou
I
role which it plays today is greater than it has been at
times in the past, say in the Elizabethan age or the eight
century, to judge by the conversation of plays and popularñ,
The cultivation of slang has become a feature of certain
popular writing. We think of men like George Ade, who
Fables in Slang, or Ring Lardner or O. Henry. They are no
the creators of locutions which have become part of the",
of the day, but they have popularized this outer fringeoF
coIloquial and given it greater currency. It would certainly ,
incomplete picture of the language of today which faiI~
inelude slang as a present feature and a source from'
English will doubtless continue to be fed in the future.
226. Cultural Levels and Functional Varieties. 1 The disc
of slang has elearIy indicated that there is more than one
speech. Within the limits of any linguistic unity there are as
languages as there are groups of people thrown toge
1 For the distinction, see John S. Kenyon, "Cultural Levels and F
Varieties of English," College English, X (1948). 1-6.
I
~NINETEEtTH CENTURY AND AFTER
ity and cqmmon interests. Beyond the limits of the
llanguage there are local and elass dialects, technical and
ional vocabularies, slang, and other forms of speech less
,ble. Even within the region of the common language from
these are diverging forms it is possible to distinguish at
;three broad types.
!&upying a sort of middle ground is the spoken standard.
-the language heard in the conversation of educated people.
marked by conformity to the rules of grammar and to certain
derations of taste which are not easily defined but are present
. minds of those who are conscious of their speech. Whatever
ectal coloring, it is free from features that are regarded as
,:andard in the region. To one side of this spoken standard,
,~e domain of the written standard. This is the lang'!1a ge of"
'~ksand ranges frqm the somewhat elevated style of poetry toh ¡
-ofsimple but cqltivated prose. It may differ both in vocabu- '
" d idiom fro~ the spoken standard, although t~e two, J~
,ntly overIap. When we say tip and write gratUíty ~e arel ¡ll'il
'ga conscious choice between these t~o functional varieties.l;
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other directio~ we pass from one cultural level to ahother, , ,
the spoken st~dard to the region of vulgar or illiterate
. This is the lánguage of those who are ignorant of or in­
t to the ideaIs of correctness by which the educated are
ed. It is especiaIly sympathetic to an sorts of neologisms
:eneraIly is rich in slang.
Hethe three types-the literary standard, the spoken stand­
'nd vulgar speech-are easily recognized, it is not possible . !
W a sharp line of demarcation between them. To a certain
itthey ron into one another. The spoken standard itself
a wide range of usage. In speech suitable to formal oc­
s' the spoken standard approaches the written standard,
fu easy and coIloquial conversation it may tend in the
of its more unconventional neighbor. Some interchange
one type and the next is constantIy going on. The
'and the spoken standard have been drawing appreciably
possibly becau~e reading is such a widespread accorriplish­
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