Module 2:

 Characteristics of human language- various theories about the origin of language-

Diachronic and synchronic study of language, the rise of standard
English-Contribution of major writers to the English Language- Chaucer, Spencer,
Shakespeare, Milton- the impact of the Bible translations on the English Language.

Language

Language is an integral part of human life, but often it is taken for granted like the air we
breathe. Quite early in life we start imbibing the language of the community in which we grow
up. Language acquisition takes place automatically even without our being aware of the
complexity of its nature or structure. Language is essentially a tool of communication used in
human communities. Animals also communicate, for instance, a dog barks and gives a
Signal to its master about the approach of a stranger. But animal mode of communication is
different from human means of communication. ‘Language’ is used here in the restricted
sense of languages used by human beings alone, which may also be referred to as ‘natural
languages’, as distinct from animal means of communication and also other means of
communication such as through gestures, signs, facial expression, etc.

1.1 What is language?

Attempts have been made from the perspectives of various disciplines to study language
and define it. Let us look at some of these definitions and identify the characteristic features
of language.

(a) “‘Speech is the representation of the experience of the mind’’, ~ Aristotle

(b) ‘‘Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols’’. -E. Sapir in
Language

(c) ‘‘A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols, by means of which a social group
co-operates’’, - Bloch and Trager in Outline of Linguistic Analysis.

(d) *‘The totality of the utterances that can be made in a speech community is the language
of that speech community”, Bloomfield in Language.
(e) “Language is human ...... a verbul systematic symbolism wee & Means Of Lrausmitting
information ...... a form of social behaviour ...... (with a) high degree of convention’. -J.
Whatmough in Language

(f) ‘“‘Human languages are unlimited ...... an unlimited set of discrete signals ...... have great
structural complexity ...... structure on at least two levels ...... are open-ended ...... allow for
the transmission of information.’” -R.W.Langacker in Language and its Structure.

(9) “When we study human language we are approaching what some might call “‘human
essence’’, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man’’, -N.
Chomsky in Language and Mind. .
(h) ‘‘A language is a system of conventional signals used for communication by a whole
community’’. -A. C. Gimson in An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English.
The Origin of Language
It is not possible to discover how language came into existence. There are six major sources
that were believed to have influenced the origin of language and there are several theories
associated with its origin.
1. The Divine Source: In most religions, there appears to be a religious source that
provides man with language. In the Bible, God allows Adam to name all of the living
creatures. Whatever Adam spoke became the language of man. in Hinduism,
Saraswati is the giver of language.

2. The Natural Sound Source: This hypothesis suggests that the words used by
primitive people could have been imitations of the sounds that they heard around
them. This theory seems plausible as all human languages contain words that are
linked to naturally occurring sounds. This is sometimes also referred to as the
bow-wow theory. For example, words like 'cuckoo' and 'crow', and other
onomatopoeic (onomatopoeia-words that sound similar to the noises they describe)
words like 'splash', 'bang', 'boom', 'hiss’ and 'buzz' imitate the sounds they stand for.
However, this theory does not explain how abstract words like 'love' and 'protection'
came into existence.

It has also been suggested that the original sounds of language may have come from
the natural cries of emotion such as pain, anger and joy (like 'Ouch !', 'Yuck!' 'Ah!',
'Wowl' and 'Ooh!'). This theory is called the pooh-pooh theory.

0. The Social Interaction Source: This hypothesis puts the development of human
language in a social context. In other words, it assumes that language evolved only
after man started settling in societies. A major theory associated with the social
interaction theory is the yo-he-ho theory. The yo-he-ho theory states that language
arose from noises made by a group of people engaged in joint labour or effort (like
moving a tree-trunk or lifting a rock).

0. The Physical Adaptation Source: This hypothesis assumes that human language
became possible only because humans possess certain physical features that are
distinct from those of other creatures. For example, human teeth are upright unlike
the outwardly slanting teeth of apes and this makes it easy to articulate sounds like /f/
and /v/. Similarly, the flexibility of human lips makes it easy for human beings to
 pronounce /b/ and /p/. When human beings adopted an upright posture, the larynx
dropped to a lower position and this increased the range and clarity of human
sounds.

0. The Tool-Making Source: About two million years ago, human beings became
capable of making tools. It is possible that there is a connection between the ability to
use language and the ability to make tools. Languages require a structure and
combine sounds or signs in specific arrangements. This became possible when man
started making tools. According to this theory, there are two steps in the creation of a
language. First, humans may have developed a naming ability by producing a specific
and consistent noise to denote one thing (e.g. tree). Then, another noise is used in
combination with the first noise to create a complex message. Thus, it became
possible to say 'tall tree' or'big rock'.

0. The Genetic Source: Some linguists believe in the innateness hypothesis which
states that human beings are born with a special capacity for language. This quality is
unique to human beings and also separates human beings from animals.
Theories in a nutshell
1. Bow Wow Theory—Max Muller's bow wow theory suggests that words in a language
could have been imitations of naturally occurring sounds.

2. Pooh Pooh Theory-This theory states that the original sounds of a language may
have come from involuntary emotional responses such as anger, joy and pain.

3. Ding Dong Theory—This theory was formulated by Max Muller. This theory attributes
the origin of language to man's inborn sense of rhythm. Every sensory impression
was like the striking of a bell, producing a corresponding utterance.

4. Yo-He-Ho Theory—This theory states that language arose from the noises made by a
group of people engaged in joint labour or effort (like moving a tree trunk or lifting a
rock).

5. Gesture Theory—The theory was put forward by Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt argues that
the earliest method of communication was by signs and gestures made with the
hands.

6. Musical Theory-This theory was advanced by Otto Jesperson who argued that
primitive language was a kind of song without words.

7. Contact Theory-This theory believes that language arose through man's instinctive
need for contact with his fellow beings. According to this theory, there are four stages
by which language may have developed—the contact sound, the cry, the call and the
word.

Animal and Human Language

There are several identifiable differences between human language and animal means of
communication. They are:
1. Duality of Structure: Language is structured at two leveis-at the level of sounds and
at the level of words. Any utterance can be analysed in smaller units which can be
combined in different ways to convey different messages. Animal communication
cannot be thus analysed in smaller units. It consists mainly of meaningful cries, very
much limited in number, each one expressing a single message.
 2. Productivity/Creativity/Recursiveness: The creativity of language enables man to
produce and understand an infinite number of sentences with his knowledge of a
finite number of principles of construction. Animal communication has hardly any
creativity or recursiveness. Each species has a fixed stock of calls or signals which
forbids any possibility of novelty.

3. Displacement: Human language is context-free while animal language is

context-bound. Language has the property to be displaced in space or in time.
Animals can respond only to their immediate environment. Human beings alone can
convey information about events or things remote in place or in time.

4. Open-ended System: Human languages are open-ended. The signals in human

languages can be combined in a variety of ways, making it possible for us to produce
new sentences. New items can also be added to the existing ones. Animal
communication systems are closed systems. New items cannot be produced or
added.

5. Dynamic and Modifiable: Human languages are not static but subject to change and
modification. Animal systems are not modifiable.
Characteristics of Human Language
1. Language is the chief human means of communication as well as self-expression. It
is the unique capacity of the human species. It is the vehicle of thought.

2. Language is a system of symbols, primarily of vocal symbols (speech sounds

).Language can be represented using graphic symbols also (the letters of the
alphabet).

3. The relationship between the expression system (utterances expressed through

vocal or graphic symbols) and the content system (the message or ideas represented
by the linguistic symbols) is arbitrary. In other words, there is no logical relationship
between a word and what it stands for.

4. Language exhibits structure. Linguistic symbols are arranged in specific ways to

represent concepts or convey messages. Languages are structured or patterned at
two I eve Is--at the level of sounds or at the level of words. This property of language
is referred to as duality of language.

5. Human languages are structure-dependent. The message conveyed by a sentence

depends on the way it is structured. The same words arranged in different ways
convey different messages.

6. Language is dynamic and modifiable. It is subject to change. Though it is a slow

process, linguistic changes take place over long periods of time.

7. Language is an open-ended system. New words can be added to the existing

vocabulary. It is possible to produce new sentences making use of the signals in
language.

8. Language is creative or productive. Every language has certain principles according

to which its elements combine in different ways. Knowledge of these principles
enables a speaker to produce grammatical sentences which have never been uttered
before and a listener to understand them.
 9. Language is a system of systems. It is a totality made up of elements or units which
can be arranged and rearranged in specific ways. These elements or units form
themselves into systems with sub-systems within the language. Thus, we have the
system of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics etc.

10. Language is not genetically transmitted but culturally transmitted. Children acquire
the language of the community in which they grow up.

11. Human language is context-free. Language has the property to be displaced in space
or time. It is possible for human beings to talk about real or imagined matters in the
past, present or future.

1. THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

It is language that distinguishes man from the rest of the animal world. It is the most
remarkable tool that man has invented and is the one that makes all the others and culture
too possible. Language may be broadly described as a means of expressing human thought.
It is difficult to say when exactly language arose; but its origin can be traced to the days
when people began a settled life of mutual co-operation. Language can flourish only in
communities; it belongs to a group of people rather than to an individual. Language is thus a
signalling system which operates with symbolic vocal sounds and which is used by groups of
people for the purposes of communication and social co-operation.
The question of the origin of language remains a speculation for there is no physical
evidence to show how language originated. All the same, philologists have put forward
several theories about the origin of language, though none of them is satisfactory. These
theories are based on indirect evidence such as the language of children, the behaviour of
higher animals like apes and the behaviour of people with speech defects. These theories
can be grouped under two heads:
(a) the natural sounds source and (b) the oral-gesture source.
a. THE NATURAL SOUNDS SOURCE: The theories in this group base the beginnings of
speech on the concept of ‘natural sounds.’
a.1. The Bow-Wow theory
According to this theory the earliest language could have been imitations of the natural
sounds which early men and women heard around them. They used the imitated sound to
refer to the object associated with the sound. Words like cuckoo, splash, buzz, hiss which
‘echo’ natural sounds (onomatopoeic words) support this theory. Supporters of this theory
point to the example of a child who refers to an animal by imitating its characteristic cry.
Thus a child refers to a dog as ‘bow-wow’ or to the cat as ‘miaw-miaw.’ Words like grumble,
splash, bang, show this sound symbolism. It is only because of the constant association
between the words and the things they denote that we notice this symbolism. There are a
large no of words that are soundless and do not have the onomatopoeic element. For
example in English words with initial ‘fl’ are connected with fire and light (flame, flare, flash)
and also with flying or movement (fly, flick, flee). But the words flannel, flat, flesh and flask
have nothing to do with fire or quick movement. Hence the onomatopoeic element cannot
explain the origin of all the words in the language even though a number of words are
onomatopoeic.
a.2. The Pooh-Pooh theory
According to this theory all forms of speech utterances go back to instinctive cries of emotion
such as pain, anger, joy, sorrow, fear, surprise etc. Our rational speech is looked upon as a
refinement of such exclamations. The expression ‘to pooh-pooh’ which means that
somebody’sideas, or suggestions are not very good is the best illustration of this principle. At
first ‘pooh’ must have been a cry of contempt but later it acquired the status of a word.
a.3. The Yo-He-Ho theory
This theory envisages language as arising from the sounds made by a group of people
engaged in joint labour. Involuntary noises are made when people move a tree trunk or lift a
rock. Vocal noises of this kind might have later developed into words. This theory is
significant as it sees the origin of language in a situation involving human co-operation with
adequate motives.
a.4. The Gesture theory
This theory takes the view that gesture language preceded speech. It suggests that physical
gesture, involving the whole body, could have been a means of indicating emotions and
intentions. According to this theory primitive man used a set of physical gestures to
communicate with his fellow men. As his intelligence developed he needed more exact
gestures but found that his eyes and hands were occupied by his arts and crafts. So the
gestures of the hand were unconsciously copied by movements of the tongue, lips and
mouth. Thus man passed from sign language to spoken language. Words like ‘I,’ ‘here,’
‘come’ are said to show the movement towards the speaker; whereas in ‘you,’ ‘there,’ ‘go’
the movement is away from the speaker.
We have thus a no of theories regarding the origin of spoken language. Each has its own
claims and virtues; but none by itself can claim to be perfect. Hence we cannot but admit
that in dealing with the origin of language we remain in a realm of speculation.
2. THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
Language is an indispensable part of human life and is as familiar to us as our daily
breath. It is language that differentiates man from animals and makes human culture
possible.
Language may be broadly described as a means of expressing human thought. C. L. Barber
defines language as “a signalling system which operates with symbolic vocal sounds, and
which
is used by some group of people for the purposes of communication and social
co-operation.”
Philologists and academicians from different disciplines have made several attempts to
define
language as is illustrated by the following definitions:-
 Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,
emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntary produced symbols. (Edward
Sapir)
 A language is a system of conventional signals used for communication by a whole
community. (A. C. Gimson)
 A language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed
out of a finite set of elements. (Noam Chomsky)
 A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group
cooperates. (Bloch and Trager)
These definitions affirm the fact that the term language is beyond the scope of standard
definition; there is no single definition to explain the term language. Nevertheless language
can
be better understood in terms of its properties or characteristics. Human language has six
distinct
features and they are not likely to be seen in the communication systems of animals.
A) Displacement – is the property of human language that allows the users of language to
talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment. Human language
can refer to the past, present and future eg – last night, now, next week. It enables us to
talk about things and places whose existence we are not sure of eg – fairies, angels,
heaven, hell, superman etc. The property of displacement allows the humans, unlike any
other creature, to create fiction. On the other hand, animal communication is designed for
the immediate place and time. It lacks the property of displacement. Animal
communication is a response to stimulus in the immediate environment like food or
danger.
B) Arbitrariness – There is no ‘natural’ or direct connection between a linguistic form
(word) and the object it represents (meaning). For example the English word ‘tree’
corresponds with ‘vriksha’ of Sanskrit or ‘maram’ of Malayalam. There is apparently no
natural relationship between the various sounds that are used by these languages to these
sequences and the meaning denoted by them ie the relationship between sounds and
meaning is arbitrary (not based on reason). In animal communication there is a clear
connection between the conveyed message and the signal used to convey it. It consists of
a fixed and limited set of forms (vocal or gestural); many of these forms are used only in
specific situations eg—establishing territory or at particular times like the mating season.
C) Duality / Double articulation -- Human language is organized at two levels or layers
simultaneously. This property of language is called ‘duality.’ We have the physical level
at which we can produce individual sounds (phonemes) e.g.—p, a, t. We also have the
semantic level when we combine these sounds in different ways and produce different
levels of meaning eg—pat, tap have different meanings. With a limited set of distinct
sounds we are capable of producing a very large no of sound combinations (words) with
distinct meanings. The communicative signals of animals are fixed and cannot be split up
e.g.—in ‘woof’ w,oo and f cannot be separated out as a distinct level of production.
D) Productivity / Creativity / ‘Open-endedness.’ – Human language is open-ended,
extendable and modifiable. It has the capability to continually create new expressions and
utterances to describe new objects and situations. Human communication makes infinite
use of finite means. Animal communication is a closed system; it has a limited set of
signals and cannot produce any new signals to describe novel experiences.
E) Cultural Transmission – Human beings inherit physical features from their parents but
not language. We acquire a language in a culture with other speakers and not from
parental genes. Cultural transmission is thus the process by which a language is passed on
from one generation to the next. For example an infant, born to Malayali parents who live
in Kerala and speak Malayalam, who is brought up from birth by English speakers in
U.K, will have the physical characteristics inherited from its natural parents, but it will
inevitably speak English. On the other hand, in animal communication only a set of
specific signals are used and they are produced instinctively and not learned.

1.2 Characteristics of Language (More detailed)

The statements above bring out the following as the chief characteristic features of language
which distinguish it from other means of communication.

(1)Language is the chief human means of communication as well as of self-expression. it is

the unique capacity of the human species. It is the vehicle of thought. The process of
thinking may be involuntary but its expression through language, is voluntary, ie. it takes
place under conscious control.
(2) Language is a. system of symbols, primarily of vocal symbols, ie., Our speech is
composed of sequences of sounds produced by our vocal organs. Language can be
represented using graphic symbols also, ie., in the written form.

(3) The relationship between the expression system (ie, utterances expressed through vocal
or graphic symbols) and the content system (ie., the messages, ideas, objects, etc.,
represented by those linguistic symbols) is arbitrary. In other words, there is no logical
relationship between a word and what it stands for. We cannot by any logic ar reason
substantiate why we refcr to a particular object or idea by a particular word. Juliet was right
when she exclaimed,

What's in a name ? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as swect,
(Romeo and Juliet, H, 2,43-44)
The same object is called by different words in different languages. What is called a dog in
English is a hund in German, kutta in Hindi and patti in Malayalam. If the relationship were
not arbitrary probably there would have been only one language in the word.
Of course, there is a small number of words that imitate the sosnds of their referents, viz.,
onomatopoeic words, such as buzz, click, thud, etc. But such words are comparatively few in
a language and hence do not invalidate the general principle of arhitrary relationship
between a word and its referent.
(4) Language exhibits structure. Linguistic symbols are arranged in specific ways to
represent concepts or convey messages. Every language has a restricted number of speech
sounds (the variety of English we study has 44 speech sounds) which combine in principled
ways to form morphemes (ie, units of meaning) and words, which in tum combine with one
another in sequence, in principled ways, to construct an infinite set of messages. For
example, the speech sounds /p/, /a/, and /t/ arrangedin three different ways produce three
different words. – pat, tap, apt.

At the level of sentences also language is structured. Same words organized differently have
different meanings:

Meera loves Venu

Venu loves Meera

The two sentences above are made up of the same words, but they differ in meaning
because of the difference in their arrangement. Thus languages are structured of patterned
at two levels, at the level of sounds and at the level of words. This property of language is
referred to by Charles Hockett as duality of structure.

(5) Human languages are structure dependent. As we have already seen the message
conveyed by a sentence depends on the way it is structured. The same words arranged in
different ways convey different messages. Structure dependence is a property of buman
languages. -
(6) Every language has a limited number of speech sounds, and the total number of words in
a language also can be listed, but the number of sentences in a language is infinite. Every
language has certain principles according to which its elements combine in different ways
and a knowledge of this set of principles enables a speaker to produce grammatical
sentences which have never been uttered before, and a listener to understand them. This
property of language is known as creativity or productivity. Creativity, as a linguistic term,
means that any human being can construct and understand new sentences in his language
which have never been uttered before. New items of vocabulary can also be added. Hence it
is an open-ended system.

Since one sentence can be embedded in another, it is possible to produce infinitely long
sentences like, ““This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that...’’ by repeating the
relative clause pattern. This property of language which allows sentences to be formed
within other sentences is called recursiveness.

(7) Language is a system of systems. It is a totality made up of elements or units which can
be arranged and re-arranged in specific ways. These elements or units form themselves into
Systems with sub-systems within the language. It is like a hierarchy. Thus we have the
systems of phonology, morphology, Syntax, etc., each of which has sub-systems within it.

(8) Language is not genetically transmitted, but acquired from - the environment. An English
child brought up in Kerala in the linguistic environment of Malayalam will automatically learn
to speak Malayalam like a native speaker. Children acquire the language of the community
in which they grow up. Thus language is non-instinctive; it is culturally transmitted. But the
language acquisition faculty is a unique and typical faculty of human beings.

(9) Language is largely a set of social conventions and traditions. Different social groups
separated by geographical and cultural barriers have different sets of linguistic conventions.
The rules and principles governing each language are like the clauses of a mutual contract
among the members of a linguistic community. The changes in these speech communities
are reflected in their languages also.

(10) Language is largely a set of habits. Acquisition of language is also like the acquisition of
other habits. But it is not purely habit formation alone. A large amount of mental activity is
also involved. It is a Creative cum habit formation process.

(11) Language is subject to change, though it is a slow process hardly perceptible for
decades. Linguistic changes take place over long periods of time. However, it iis not static,
but extendable and modifiabie in several ways.

1.4 Language and Animal means of Communication (More detailed)

As we have already found, animals and birds also communicate. We are all familiar with the
barking of dogs for communication. Dolphins and gibbons have their own call systems, with
calls for a limited number of purposes. The bee dance conveys information about the source
of nectar, its direction, and distance, to the other bees. The jackdaws also have a repertoire
of calls. However, there are significant differences between human language and animal
means of communication. Hockett has listed a number of these distinguishing features.

(a) Duality of Structure

As we have seen, language is structured at two levels; it is made up of units of sound, which
combine to form units of meaning called morphemes. Morphemes anc words combine to
form phrases and sentences. Any utterance can be analysed into smaller units. For instance,
the sentence,

My students are reading

can be broken up into words:

My / students / are / reading

The words ‘students’ and ‘reading’ can be further analysed into ‘student/s’ and ‘read/ing’.
Each of these units can be analysed into individual speech sounds.

Animal communication cannot be thus analysed into smaller units which can be combined in
different ways to convey different messages. lt consists mainly of meaningful cries very
much restricted in number, each one expressing a simple message. In the words of Anstotle
‘animal noises cannot be combined to form syllables’.

(b) Productivity / Creativity

The creativity of language enables man to produce and understand an infinite number of
sentences, with his knowledge of a finite number of principles of construction. The property
of recursiveness allows him to construct sentences of unlimited length.

Animal communication, on the other hand, has hardly any creativity or recursiveness. Each
species has only a fixed repertoire of calls or signals which forbids any possibility of novelty.
The bee dance is comparatively slightly more productive since it can convey information
regarding different directions and distances of the source of nectar. But the productivity is
strictly limited within this; it cannot convey any other or new kind of message. In contrast, the
signals in human language allow .a variety of combinations and make language highly
productive.

(c) Interchangeability

The same human being can be both a producer and a receiver (ic., speaker and listener) of
messages. Most animal systems of communication do not have this feature. For example,
some male birds produce calls during the mating season which females cannot, and certain
types of fish also have similar sex-restricted means of communication. The communication
devices are not interchangeable between the sexes in most systems of animal
communication, while they are fully interchangeable in language.

(d) Displacement

Human language is context-free while animal communication is context-bound. Language

has the property to be displaced in space or in time. It is possible for human beings to talk
about req or imagined matters in the past, present, or future. For example, a person in India
can talk about what happened to someone in London (place) in 1987 (time). This is possible
since the use of language is not directly controlled by stamulus. This property of language is
called displacement. Anmals can respond only to their immediate environment. For example
a gibbon’s food call is produced as a response to the stimulus of the presence of food. Bee
dance is also stimulated by the immediate discovery of nectar. The bee cannot communicate
about a past discovery or speculate about a future one. Human beings alone can convey
information about events, things, etc., remote in place or time.

(e) Specialization

Specialization refers to the fact that the act of communication does not require a total
physical involvement of the communicating organisms. Human beings can talk while
engaged in other activities like knitting, washing, eating, etc. In the case of most ammal
communication this is not possible. A bee in a bee dance is completely involved physically in
the process of communication.

(f) Open-ended System

Human languages are open-ended. The signals m humaa languages can be combined in a
variety of ways making it possible for us to produce new sentences. New items can also be
added the existing ones. For example, new lexical items are added to the existing
vocabulary in different ways. Animal communication systems are closed systems, new items
cannat be produced of added. Each one has a limited number of signals for a limited number
of messages.

(g) Dynamic and Modifiable

Human languages are not static, but subject to change and modification. We know how
Modern English has evolved out of Olid English through Middle English. Changes take
place, though of course, over long periods of time, at all levels. Animal communication
systems are not modifiable. A bee dance today is identical with what it was several centuries
ago. Systems of animal communication do not change in the course of time.

It is possible to go on adding to this list, but the above list gives us a fair idea of the
distinguishing features of language as a typically human activity.

1.5 Varieties of Language

Language is not a homogeneous monolithic whole, but a network of varieties which share
common characteristics. When we refer to languages like English, Hindi, or Malayalam, we
are in fact referring to a network of varieties of English, of Hindi, or of Malayalam. As Quirk
and Greenbaum rightly claim, ‘‘there are numerous varieties of the English language, and
what we ordinarily mean by ‘English’, is a common core or nucleus which is realized only in
the different forms of the language that we actually hear or read’’ (1976.1). They distinguish
six kinds of such varieties, based on region, education and social standing, subject matter,
medium, attitude, and interference. Accordingly, we have regional dialects, Social dialects,
registers, spoken and written varieties, stylistic variations, and non-native varieties. Let us
examine each of these variety classes.

Language varieties can be studied in a diachronic or synchronic way. Diachronic variations

are those due to linguistic changes which take place over long periods of ume during the
historical development of a language. The history of a language deals with such variations.
For instance, the history of English traces its evolution through Old English and Middle
English, and we also talk of Elizabethan English, 18th century English, Victorian English, etc.
Every language has diachronic variations.

Synchronic variations, on the other hand, are variations of language as they exist at a given
point of time and not over a period of time. The same language is spoken in variant ways in
differen geographical areas and social classes. We know how Malayalam has different
varieties in the North, Middle, and South of Kerala with a number of sub-varieties within each
variety. At the ‘present time greater interest is shown in synchronic studies of language, Now
let us examine Synchronically the six variety Classes mentioned which may be represented
as follows:
 Language Variations

Diachronic Synchronic

Dialect Register Non-native Varieties

Regional Social

Field Style Mode

Dialects

The variety of language used by a particular group of individuals is called a dialect. The
dialect spoken in a particular geographical area is called a regional dialect. Yorkshire,
Kentish, Derby, etc., are regional dialects of English; Braj-bhasha and Khari-boli are regional
dialects of Hindi. There are also national varieties of English like American English,
Canadian English, Australian English, etc. Each of these has dialectal varieties within it. The
variety that has evolved in India called Indian English also has several sub-varieties
depending mainly on the regional language or mother-tongue of the speakers.
Within a regional dialect there may be other variations based on the education, occupation,
and socio-economic status of the speakers. Dialects based on such social stratifications are
called social dialects, or sociolects which may be class dialects depending on the social
class to which the speakers belong, or caste dialects as in the Indian social context (eg.,
Brahmin dialect, Namboodiri dialect, etc.). Examples of class dialect are upper class dialect,
low class dialect etc. The aristocrat in London, for example, uses one variety of English
which is distinct from the one used by the low class people. The best example of a low class
dialect is the Cockney dialect used by Eliza the flower girl in Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Again, within each dialect area there are the varieties of uneducated and educated speech.
Of these, the uneducated variety will be very close to the regional dialect, while the educated
variety cuts across dialectal boundaries and often has the stamp of status. Features of the
uneducated variety also cut across dialectal boundaries. The best example is the use of the
double negative, quite common in uneducated speech, wherever English is used.

Dialectal differences may be phonological, morphological, syntactic, or lexical, the most

predominant ones being often confined to phonology - differences of pronunciation, stress,
intonation, etc.

Isoglosses and Dialect Boundaries

The study of dialects is known as dialectology. Dialectal distinctions can be marked oa a
map by drawing lines to demarcate areas using divergent linguistic items. Such lines dividing
geographical areas on the basis of distinct linguistic features jy use are called isoglosses.
Bloomfield defines them as “‘lines (drawn) between places which differ as to any feature of
language” (1933-51). When several such lines are drawn for divergent items they crisscross
and overlap, and points where a large number of isoglosses come together are called
-undles of isoglosses. Such bundles of isoglosses mark dialect boundaries. Such maps with
areas marked for specific linguistic features are called dialect maps, and a collection of such
dialect maps is called a dialect atlas.

Even though a dialect is spoken by a group of people, no two speakers ever speak exactly
the same dialect. Each individual has his own idiosyncratic speech habits which characterise
his speech from that of others. The entire speech habits of an individual is called an idiolect
(idio=individual;lect=variety of language). A collection of similar idiolects make up a dialect
and a collection of similar dialects make up a language.

Dialects and Language

The distinction between a dialect and a language is not clearcut. We call English and
German two different languages even though they have descended from the same language
family. Scottish and Irish are called dialects of English. What are the criteria for
distinguishing a dialect from a language?

Mutual intelligibility is often accepted as a distinguishing mark. The dialects of a language

are mutually intelligible to theif speakers and hence if two speakers are mutually intelligible,
ie., they can understand each other's speech, they are using dialects of the same language.
If not, they are using different languages, But mutual intelligibility among dialect speakers is
seldon absolute: there are various degrees of it. Dialects of areas which are geographically
and culturally closer will be mutually more intelligible. Sometimes there may be greater
intelligibility between speakers of two closely related languages (like Hindi and Punjabi) than
between speakers of greatly divergent dialects of the same language. When dialects
become mutually unintelligible we can no more call them dialects of the same language.
Quite often nonlinguistic considerations play a significant role in assigning the status of
language to a dialect. Thus a socially and politically powerful community may manage to get
its dialect acknowledged as a language.

The Standard Dialect

The dialects of a language are often considered as not quite respectable and the ‘standard’
variety looked upon as ‘correct’. This is a misconception. All the dialects of a language are
equally efficient for the communicative purposes of their speakers. However, quite often one
of the dialects acquires greater prestige than the others in course of time, for various
non-linguistic reasons. It ts usually the dialect of the politically and socio-economically
powerful community that thus acquires prestige and becomes a status symbol so that
speakers of other dialects try to emulate it. Often the social prestige of the speakers or of the
region is transferred to the dialect, Such a dialect is referred to as the standard dialect which
soon becomes the standard language. The evolution of Standard English is an example.
Synchronic linguistics is the study of a language at a given point in time. The time studied
may be either the present or a particular point in the past; synchronic analyses can also be
made of dead languages, such as Latin. Synchronic linguistics is contrasted with diachronic
linguistics (or historical linguistics; q.v.), the study of a language over a period of time. In the
20th century, synchronic description has come to be regarded as prior to diachronic
description; the latter presupposes that synchronic descriptions at various stages of the
development of a language have already been carried out. Previously, linguists had placed
emphasis on diachronic linguistics. The terminological distinction between synchronic and
diachronic linguistics was first made by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de
Saussure (1857–1913).

Synchronic linguistics, also known as descriptive or general linguistics, is the analytical study
of a language at a particular time, usually at its present form. However the study of a
language at any point in past also falls under this but that study should be only of a state of
language at that point of time. It means it studies the language at a particular period without
any reference to its earlier or later stages.
Synchronic approach analyses how people use a language to share their ideas in a speech
community at a given point in time. It studies and compares how the same language is used
differently by spatially apart peoples. It is the study of the grammar, classification and
arrangements of the features of a language.

Diachronic linguistics, literal meaning across-time, is the study of a language through

different periods in history. It is the study of the development and evolution of a language. It
examines that how a language has changed and gone through modifications in history.
Its main concerns are as follows:
1. To describe and account for the observed changes in particular languages.
2. To reconstruct the pre-history of languages and determine their relatedness,
grouping them into language families.
3. To Evolve theories about how and why a language changes.
4. To describe the history of speech communities.
5. To study the etymology or the history of words.

Standard English

The English language has numerous varieties, both within and outside England. There are
countries where English is a native language, a second language, or a foreign language.
Within England itself there have always been a large number of dialects. Of these, it was the
dialect of the South East of England, especially of the educated speakers of the London
region that thus acquired prestige, and in time lost some of the local charactenstics of
London speech. This was mainly due to the political and commercial importance of this
region, The court and the two universities, Oxford and Cambndge were situated there The
prestigious Bntish public school also taught this variety and © became widely known through
its use by the B B.C. too. Soon it became the symbol of social status, the language of the
educated, a prestige dialect emulated by speakers of other dialects In due course it acquired
the status of a standard language. Quirk and Greenbaum refer to the ‘remarkable
phenomenon of ‘a single standard of English throughout the world across multiphicaty of
political and social systems’ (1976.4). The world wide agreement in English grammar and
vocabulary seems to be increasing as a result of closer world communication and contact.

Received Pronunciation (RP)

Even within England there is a great diversity in the pronunciation of English as spoken in
different regions and by different sections of the community. One regional accent, however,
gained social prestige. It was the pronunciation of the South-East of England, mainly of the
educated speakers (ie., of the dialect which evolved as Standard English) which thus
attained social status. This accent is referred to as Received Pronunciation (abbreviated to
RP). It is accepted by many as the standard pronunciation of English. Daniel Jones has
claiined it to be ‘easily understood throughout the English speaking world...... a widely
understood pronunciation......° and with only such deviations from other varieties as would
not cause ‘unintelligibility in any part of the English speaking world’ (1963.4). The use of this
socially accepted standard accent for the B.B.C. broadcasts made it synonymous with
‘B.B.C. English’. This prestigious accent of the Public Schools soon got established as a
‘class’ pronunciation rather than a regional one throughout England. Again, it is RP that is
most commonly described in books by phoneticians as the pronunciation of British English
and taught to foreign learners of English. It is often equated with the ‘correct’ pronunciation
of English. ‘The pronunciation represented in the English Pronouncing Dictionary of Daniel
Jones is also RP. Today RP is no longer the exclusive property of a particular social class or
region in England. Other types of pronunciation such as Scottish, American, etc., are also
perfectly acceptable these days throughout England. A considerable number of English
speakers of to-day use some form of American pronunciation. In the matter of a model, the
choice ts between RP and American pronunciation of the educated American. However, RP
continues to be the model for non-native users of English. The sound system of English
described in the following lessons is also that of RP.

A standard dialect is in no way linguistically superior to the other dialects. We can consider
how they deviate from the standard variety, but that does not imply that it is superior to the
other dialects. As G.L.Brook has commented, ‘local English dialects are not simply Standard
English badly pronounced; they are varieties of speech with-a-pedigree as good as that of
Standard English, which 1s simply one of thé-English dialects which for various
non-linguistic reasons, has acquired greater prestige than the other dialects’’ (1965.32.).

1.5.2 Register
Apart from regional and social variations, there are variations depending on the kind of
subject-matter dealt with, disciplines or occupations engaged in, fields of activity, etc. Such
varieties with features determined by the context or the field of discourse are referred to as
registers. Thus we have the legal register, the journalistic register, the medical register, etc.
Each profession or trade tends to develop its own linguistic idiosyncracies. A few examples
of legal register from Geoffrey Lincoln are, ‘I’m much obliged, if your lordship pleases, I
agree with every word that has fallen from my lord,’ etc. (1957). The special form of
language used by the English commercial travellers is characterised by stale stereotyped
expressions or mechanical courtesy. The same individual will have a repertoire of varieties
and he switches from one to another as the situation demands. Thus a lawyer while talking
to fellow lawyers on a legal topic employs the legal register which is not used while talking to
his wife and children at home or to his friends in the club.

Standard English (from A Concise History of English Language and Literature)

FT. Wood has succinctly stated the difficulty of trying to arrive at a definition of Standard
English, “To mention the subject of Standard English is almost inevitably to invite criticism
and controversy.’ It is generally believed that a standard language is a practical impossibility.
Each speaker has his/her own standard and is inclined to regard all variations from it as
affectations. Yet, despite differences and peculiarities in pronunciation, and sometimes in
syntax, there is an accepted form of English. It is a standard form of speech which every
educated person understands and aims at speaking. It stands above regional
dialects—people who speak this standard form are understood by each other, which would
not have been possible if they spoke in their local variants.

Professor H.C. Wyld defines Standard English as the language ‘spoken within certain social
boundaries with an extraordinary degree of uniformity all over the country’. This definition is
incomplete. Originally, perhaps only the elite class might have spoken Scandard English. But
this is no longer the case as Standard English is not the monopoly of one social class any
more.

Daniel Jones defines Standard English as that ‘most usually heard in everyday speech in the
families of southern England whose menfolk have been educated at the great public
schools’. Though this definition too is incomplete, two points in it are noteworthy. He stresses
the fact that Standard English is the form of speech used by the educated classes and that it
is based on the language of Southern England.

Standard English has grown and developed from the dialect of London The dialect used in
and around London gained predominance over the other dialects for a variety of reasons.
The dialect used in London was the Fast Midland dialect. The importance of London was
reflected in its dialect toa. London was the metropolis—the seat of administration, the centre
of national life and the hub of social and intellectual activities. It was the East Midland dialect
with, of course, slight variations, that was used in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Caxton, who introduced printing in England, opularized this dialect by using it in his early
printed works, Moreover, the East Midland stood between the two extremes, the southern
and Northern dialects. The Southern dialects were extremely conservative while the
Northern dialects showed great readiness to change. The East Midland dialect was less
progressive than the Northern but more advanced than the Southern. So it was
comprehensible to the speakers of both dialects. Thus, towards the close of the Middle
English period, the East Midland dialect emerged as the most important dialect. Modern
Standard English has developed from this dialect.

The invention of printing and the publication of Dr Johnson's Dictionary helped in structuring
the language to a great extent. The increased contact between various social classes, the
spread of education and reading among all classes and the advent of the wireless are the
other factors chat contributed to the evolution of Standard English.

Modern Standard English is based chiefly on an Anglo-Saxon foundation. It is quite

surprising that in spite of large-scale borrowings from other languages, English remains
predominantly Anglo-Saxon. About 75 per cent of the total number of words in English is
AngloSaxon. This is because at every stage of the development of the language, as a result
of contact with foreign influences, there has been an attempt by English writers to preserve
the native purity of the language.

The Latin influence of the Renaissance period had threatened to undermine the
Anglo-Saxon basis. Hence, there was a countermovement in the Commonwealth period
when the Puritans came to power. We find the conservative tendency at work in the Puritan
preoccupation to keep the language simple, austere and devoid of Latinisms.

The Restoration period exposed the English language to the influence of Europe, particularly
of France. Though a large number of words came into English in the wake of the
Restoration, writers tn England felt that the language should be regularized. The Royal
Society founded in 1662, though mainly scientific in its interest, was concerned with the task
of improving the English language, Writers like Dryden and Waller were members of this
Society.

In the eighteenth century, Dr Johnson attempted the arduous task of compiling the first
English dictionary, In spite of its imperfections, Johnson's Dictionary provided an
approximate standard for good and correct Fnglish. The nineteenth century saw the growth
of individualism and free trade. It was the age of expansion and empire building and these
tendencies are reflected in the language.

The growth of science and social theory made it necessary for people to exploit the
resources of the classical languages and coin words of a scientific and technical nature. Side
by side with this phenomenon, there was a movement for the purification of the language by
excluding foreign terms and replacing them with AngloSaxon words. This movement found
its champions in Tennyson and William Morris.
The modern attitude seems to be a fine balance of conservatism and progressivism. It is
conservative in matters relating to spelling, bur progressive in matters relating to vocabulary.
Today, as a general rule, usage is allowed to have the final say. We have alternative
spellings in words like ‘waggon’ and alternative pronunciations in words like ‘director’,
‘civilization’, etc. Modern Standard English has accepted such forms as ‘It is me’ and ‘She is
taller than me’ which were earlier regarded as incorrect. Standard English therefore does not
imply standardization. It takes into consideration the fact that language is ever changing.
What is slang or not quite respectable at one time might become literary and acceptable at a
later time.

The ability to express oneself in Standard English has become a practical necessity as well
as a social accomplishment.

Contributions of Major Writers

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

It is generally assumed that the father of modern English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer, has
considerably influenced the English language. Chaucer is undoubtedly a great poet in his
own right. As the author of the fascinating tales of the Canterbury Pilgrimage, Chaucer is
assured of immortality. But living as he did before the age of printing, jt is not possible to say
that Chaucer has made substantial contribution co the English vocabulary and that he had a
dominant influence on the development of the English language.

Nevertheless, the language in which Chaucer wrote is interesting and magnificent when we
consider the different stages in the development of English. He wrote in the East Midland
dialece. He was the court poet and the greatest poet of the day. So Chaucer's use of the
East Midland dialect might naturally have given it some impetus. Yet, it would be an
exaggeration to say that Chaucer was paramount among the influences that brought about
the adoption of a standard language. An equal or perhaps even a greater share of influence
should be attributed to William Caxton. Through his printed works Caxton contributed his
mite to popularize the East Midland dialect and to make it the ancestor of modern Standard
English.

Chaucer's language is the late Middle English of the East Midland type, replete with a large
element of French. As a matter of fact, the opening lines of Chaucer's Prologue to the
Canterbury Tales reveals a strong element of French. In the first 18 lines there is an average
of one French word for every line. These loan words also give us an idea of the diverse
fields from which they are borrowed.

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred in the flour.

Another interesting feature of Chaucer's language is that it shows Modern English grammar
in the making. The Old English inflexions have been simplified. There has been levelling and
regularization. Chaucer shows the -s plural termination for nouns along with -en suffix
sometimes written as -ne. For example, been (bees), shoon (shoes), eyen (eyes). The
genitive case ending is -s though the ‘s’-less genitive is found in certain cases as ‘Lady
Grace Churche door’ etc. The adjective shows considerable simplification. The elaborate
Old English inflexion system has been dropped. The adjective is nearer to Modern English
though traces of Old English declensions are preserved in Middle English. Regular suffixes
for comparisons of adjectives were -er and -est as in Modern English. The definite article in
Chaucer's time is the indeclinable ‘the’. Pronouns are mostly like those in Modern English.
We have in Chaucer ‘I’, ‘myne’, ‘me’, ‘he’, ‘his’, ‘him’ and ‘they’; but the genitive and dative
cases are still ‘here’ and ‘him’. Verbs resemble those of Modern English. The infinitive
ending -an has been weakened to -en. In fact Chaucer shows three different forms for the
infinitive of verbs. For example, seken, to seken, to seke, to seek; to tellen, tellen, to tell. The
third person present singular in Chaucer is -eth or -ith. As a matter of fact we only notice
three -es endings in the whole of Chaucer to denote the third person present singular which
has become the normal form in Modern Standard English. The form that we have in Chaucer
is now archaic and we find it only in poetic or religious usage. The -es form took
considerable time to spread from the northern dialects to the southern.

Compared to Modern English syntax, Chaucer’s word order is loose and conversational. It
does not insist upon rigidity or strict regularity, because the English language then was in a
stage of transition and consequently the process of standardization had not yet begun.
Moreover, in Chaucer's day, the interest of the writer as well as the reader centred more on
the story and its telling than in the language which expressed it. The readers did not look for
qualities like logic and precision. They wanted a good tale to be well told.

Thus, Chaucer’s language is important as it shows how the English language is set on the
way to simplification.

EDMUND SPENSER

A.C. Baugh considers Spenser as the most important poet who consciously made use of old
words to enlarge the poetic vocabulary. These poetical innovations include: (1) revival of old
words like needments, brent, uncouth, housing fire, creast, reed, raft, astound, blameful,
displeasance, enroot, doom, forby (hard by, past), empight (fixed, implanted), natheless,
nathemore, mickle, whilere (a while before); (2) new coinages—elfin, blatant, askew, filch,
flout, freak, bellibone, braggadocio, chirrup, cosset (lamb), delve (pit, den), dit (song), scruze
(a portmanteau word combining screw and squeeze), squall (to cry), and wrizzled (wrinkled,
shriveled); (3) adaptations of old words—baneful, briny, changeful, drear (from dreary),
hapless, oaten, sunshiny and wolfish. Spenser has also used words of one grammatical
category in the place of another—adverb ‘most’ used as adjective; adjective ‘faire’ used as
adverb; adjective ‘weak’ used as noun; verb used as noun as in ‘suspect’.

Spenser’s innovations evoked both censure and praise. Sidney criticized Spenser for the
‘framing of his stile to an old rustic language’. Ben Jonson observed that ‘Spenser in
affecting the ancients writ no language’. But the poet also had his defenders. Defenders like
Spenser’s friend E.K. wrote, “. . . in my opinion it is one special prayse of many whych are
dew to this poete, that he hath laboured to restore as to their rightfull heritage such good and
naturall English words as have ben long time out of use and almost cleane disherited’.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare’s claim to greatness rests not only on the infinite variety of human nature that
he portrays in his plays and in the wonderful poetry of his plays, but also on the substantial
contribution he has made cowards enriching the language. Shakespeare is one of the great
makers of English. He was a daring experimenter and left the language richer than he found
it.

The most striking feature of Shakespeare's language is the vastness of its writings of the
man who knew little Latin and less Greek. An approximate estimate of 2100 words is found
in the vocabulary.

Shakespeare's contribution to the stock of English vocabulary is remarkable. Numerous

words, phrases and expressions that he coined have become household words. Incidentally
the very expression ‘household word’ is Shakespeare’s contribution. ‘A tower of strength’,
‘the seamy side of life’, ‘the primrose path’, ‘the stricken deer’, ‘salad days’, ‘the milk of
human kindness’, ‘a life of fitful fever’, ‘full of sound and fury’, ‘make assurance doubly sure’,
‘time is out of joint, ‘the sere and yellow leaf’, ‘brevity is the soul of wit’, ‘to wear one’s heart
on one’s sleeve’, ‘a foregone conclusion’, ‘the green-eyed monster’, ‘more sinned against
than sinning’, ‘single blessedness’, ‘patience on a monument, ‘sea change’, ‘a Daniel come
to judgement’, ‘a Romeo’, ‘Sir Oracle’, ‘conscience does make cowards of us all’—~are but a
few examples. One interesting expression ‘to out-Herod Herod’ has inspired several similar
expressions like ‘to out-Milton Milton’, ‘to out-Darwin Darwin’, etc. (Herod was a ranting
tyrant on the stage. Anyone who used a more bombastic style was said to out-Herod Herod).

Shakespeare has coined a number of new words with prefixes like em-, en-, un-,
etc.—enkindle, endear'd, unrapt, embay’d, embattle, unavoided, undervalued, unblessed,
etc. Many words make their first appearance in Shakespeare—dwindle, lovely, orb,
auspicious, critic, etc. The fact that they are not found in any earlier writings does not mean
that they are all his coinages. He may have introduced them from the spoken or learned
languages. It may be just an accident that they are first recorded in his plays.
Shakespeare has introduced dialectal words which would have been obsolete, had it not
been for him. In Macbeth we have ‘blood-boltered Banquo’ (with blood in his matted hair),
The dialectal word ‘bolter’ is used here to intensify the effect. Another example is the phrase
‘dwindle peak and pine’ (peak in the sense of waste away). Both “dwindle’ and ‘peak’ are
from the West Midland dialect. His native Warwickshire dialect might be the inspiration
behind the idiomatic phrase ‘to speak within door’ (to speak as quietly as possible), The
expression ‘what the dickens’ is first recorded in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of
Windsor. Another interesting feature in Shakespeare is the new significance he has given to
ordinary words. Thus ‘air’ is used in the sense of ‘aspect’ or ‘manner’ or ‘melody’; ‘stand’ in
the sense of ‘undergo’, ‘lecture’ in the sense of ‘admonitory speech’. Shakespeare has taken
ample liberties in altering the parts of speech. He is a past master in converting words from
one grammatical category to another. ‘Happy’ js used as a verb in a sonnet; ‘safe’ as a verb
in Antony and Cleopatra; ‘sickly’ as a verb in Hamlet. In Macbeth we have a new verb
‘incarnadine’. Nouns like ‘fool’, ‘lip’ and ‘beggar’ are verbs in Shakespeare—‘to fool’, ‘to lip’,
‘to beggar’, ‘child’d and fatherd’ in King Lear or ‘spaniel'd’ in Antony and Cleopatra. By
joining one adjective with another he made new effective poetic compounds like ‘happy
valiant’.

Double comparatives and superlatives, double negatives, singular verbs for plural nouns—all
these point to the freedom that writers enjoyed during the Elizabethan period and also to the
flexibility of the English congue.

Shakespeare was profoundly interested in the English language. Though he did not detest
Latin words and phrases, Shakespeare knew the infinite value of plain honest words. It is by
the use of simple Anglo-Saxon words which are richer in emotional content than thé formal,
stately Latin words that Shakespeare has achieved some of his most significant dramatic
effects. In fact, a sizeable number of words in Shakespeare's vocabulary are Anglo-Saxon.
Thus Shakespeare is the greatest, the most individual, and the most influential of writers
who have left their indelible mark on the English language. As Saintsbury has rightly
observed:

The plays of Shakespeare and the English Bible are, and ever will be, the twin monuments,
not merely of their own periods, but of the perfection of English, che complete expression of
the literary capacities of the language at the time, when it had lost none of its pristine vigour
and put on enough bur not too much of the adornments and limitations of what may be
called literary civilization.

JOHN MILTON

Milton's position as the greatest of Titans among English poets, second only to
Shakespeare, is indisputable. However, unlika Shakespeare, Milton has not made any
substantial contribution to English diction. Only a few Miltonic words and phrases have
become part of the English word stock. This is because Shakespeare meant his plays
primarily for the ordinary man whereas Milton intended his works for a chosen few.
All the same there are many felicitous phrases that are Milton’s own coinages. They include
these expressions—‘gorgeous East’, ‘barbaric pearl and gold’, ‘a pillar of state’, ‘darkness
visible’, ‘confusion worse confounded’, ‘to prove a bitter morsel’, ‘to hide one’s diminished
head’, “human face divine’, ‘the last infirmity of noble minds’, ‘to scorn delights and live
laborious days’, ‘calm of mind all passion spent’, fresh woods and pastures new’, etc. The
word ‘pandemonium’ is the most popular of Milton’s coinages. The first appearance of many
familiar words in Milton is recorded in the Oxford Dictionary. For example, Milton was the first
to use the word ‘anarchy’ to personify chaos. The adjectives ‘olympian’ and ‘titanic’ were
coined by Milton. Milton's love of classical languages inspired him to use Latin syntax in
many of his poems. Sometimes Latin words are used in their primary Latin sense. For
example argument, grateful, virtue. He also made use of archaisms and dialect words for
special effect - 'clomb’, ‘scrannel’, ‘frore’. The word ‘rathe’ which appears in his poem
‘Lycidas’ has become obsolete though its comparative form ‘rather’ survives in Modern
English,

Though Milton was not a reformer of spelling, he tried to make the spelling conform to the
pronunciation as is illustrated by the phonetic spellings of the words ‘sovran’ (sovereign) and
‘iland (island), Milton also spelt dropped, walked and dressed as dropt, walkt and drest. He
distinguished the syllabic ‘n’ from the sound ‘en by deleting the vowel and using an
apostrophe—heav'n for heaven and forbid'n for forbidden, Milton also contributed a number
of words to the literary vocabulary of English and thus gave the stamp of individuality to the
English language.

The Influence of the Bible

The manifold versions of the Holy Writ have played crucial roles in giving better shape to the
English language. The pratice of listening co the Bible being read every Sunday helped
people to assimilate the language of the holy book. Thus the Bible became one of the
greatest formative influences on the language.

When we consider the influence of the Bible on the language, we have to take into account
the various translations of the Bible from those of Tyndale and Coverdale in the sixteenth
century to the Authorised Version made under the direction of King James I in 1611. The
Anglican Prayer Book first issued in 1549 has also left its mark on the language. The
translations made before the invention of printing had introduced many novelties of
expression. But because of the limited circulation of those translations the expressions did
not affect the language. Besides, the translations from Tyndale onwards were not made from
the Latin Vulgate. They were made from the original Hebrew of Greek versions.

Tyndale is noted for the idiomatic yet beautiful style he used in his translation of the Bible. A
great deal of his usages have passed into the language through the Authorised Version.
Tyndale’s coinage of the word ‘scapegoat’ deserves special mention. The word is actually an
crude translation of a proper name in Hebrew. The figurative use of the word is a valuable
addition to the language. We are indebted to Tyndale for such words and phrases as
congregation, elder (priest), peacemaker, long-suffering, ungodliness, weakling, godly,
stumbling block, glad tidings, etc. The familiar and indispensable word, ‘beautiful’ is not
known to have been used by any writer before Tyndale. Again it was Tyndale who brought
the purely legal term ‘trespass’ into common parlance through his translation. The
Authorised Version has ‘forgive us our debts’; but Tyndale rendered it with greater effect as
‘forgive us our trespasses’, Phrases like ‘the burden and heat of day’, ‘eat, drink and be
merry’, the powers that be’, ‘the fatted calf’, which the Authorised Version made familiar,
were originally from the work of Tyndale.

Coverdale’s translation (1535) has contributed beautiful combinations like ‘loving kindness’,
‘tender mercy’, ‘tender-hearted’, ‘avenger of blood’, ‘the valley of the shadow of death’, etc.
Certain phrases like ‘prodigal son’ and ‘mess of pottage’, are also recognized as Biblical
phrases. The well known phrase, ‘the sweat of thy brow’ cannot be found in any extant
version of the Book of Genesis where, according to general opinion, the phrase is ‘sweat of
thy face’. This expression may have survived from one of the Lollard versions of the
fifteenth-century Bible. The expression ‘the iron hath entered my soul’ is from a Jesuit
version of the Bible.

It is not these early translations, but the Authorised Version of 1611, which has exerted the
greatest influence on English phrasing, prose, rhythm, and syntax. The Authorised Version is
unique as an English classic because it has preserved the tradition of the language. Its
language is simple and dignified and at the same time a little archaic as befitting this great
book of divine revelation. It has effectively balanced literary and colloquial styles. The
vocabulary is predominantly Anglo-Saxon; about 94 per cent of the words are native words.

Many phrases from the Bible are used as idioms without any consciousness of their biblical
origin. The idioms—’to cast pearls before swine’, ‘labour of love’, ‘a howling wilderness’, ‘the
eleventh hour’, ‘clear as crystal’, ‘the still small voice’, ‘the shadow of death’, ‘to hope against
hope’, ‘the old Adam’, ‘the salt of the earth’, ‘to wash one’s hands off’, ‘the olive branch’, ‘the
Holy of Holies’, ‘a cry in the wildness’, ‘a perfect Babel’, ‘the Benjamin of the family’, ‘a
painted Jezebel’, ‘the worship of Mammon’, ‘a Leviathan ship' —belong to this category.

The Bible has sometimes given rise to phrases and words through misunderstanding. A
striking instance is the word ‘helpmate’. The phrase was originally used in the Book of
Genesis to describe Eve: ‘it is not good that man should be; I will make a help meet for him.
Readers mistook the two words ‘help’ and ‘meet’ for a compound word and so ‘help meet’
became ‘helpmate’ and a synonym for one's partner in life.

The Authorised Version has revived and saved some words that were on the verge of
becoming obsolete at that time—raiment, apparel, firmament, damsel, travail, etc. ,

The Authorised Version has rendered yeoman service to the literary language. It has also
been influential in shaping the language. It is a well known fact that the mere habit of reading
the Bible and listening to it every Sunday had the effect of causing much of its phrasing and
rhythm to become part of the Englishman’s mental make-up. Poets like S.T. Coleridge,
William Wordsworth, John Milton, Alfred Lord Tennyson and writers like John Bunyan, Sir
Thomas Browne, Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin and Cardinal Newman have been greatly
influenced by the style and diction of the Bible. John Macaulay extols the Bible as a book
which, ‘if everything else in our language should perish, would alone be sufficient to show
the whole extent of its beauty and power’. According to Tennyson, the Bible ought to be read
were it only for the sake of the grand English in which it is written—'an education in itself’.
Arthur Hallam considers the Authorised Version as ‘one of the noblest monuments of English
prose and is the perfection of our language’. Colendge observes, ‘After reading “Isaiah” or
“St Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews”, Homer and Virgil are disgustingly tame to me and Milton
himself barely tolerable.”