This manuscript examines the semantic change in the English language during the Early Modern English (EME) period. It highlights how the meanings of words have changed over time and what social, historical, and psychological factors influenced these changes. The focus is on the various types of semantic change, such as narrowing, broadening, amelioration, and pejoration of meaning. Additionally, the role of Latin during the EME period, as well as the standardization of the English language and the Great Vowel Shift, are discussed. In the final part of the manuscript, a detailed analysis of Sir Thomas Malory's *Le Morte d’Arthur* is conducted to illustrate specific examples of semantic changes through literary texts.
Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION
II. SEMANTIC CHANGE
a. Types of semantic change
b. Reasons for semantic change
i. Social factors
ii. Historical factors
iii. Psychological factors
c. Connection to Jobst Trier’s word field theory
III. EARLY MODERN ENGLISH
a. Time frame
b. Characteristics
c. The role of Latin
IV. SEMANTIC CHANGE ANALYSIS OF THOMAS MALORY’S LE MORTE D'ARTHUR
V. CONCLUSION
Research Objectives and Themes
This paper aims to provide a linguistic-based insight into the language phenomenon of semantic progression within the Early Modern English period, specifically exploring the mechanisms behind meaning shifts and investigating how vocabulary evolved during this era through empirical corpus analysis.
- Theoretical definitions and typologies of semantic change.
- Social, historical, and psychological drivers of vocabulary evolution.
- Linguistic characteristics of the Early Modern English period.
- Case study analysis of semantic shifts in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d'Arthur.
- Methodological application of online corpora and etymological dictionaries.
Excerpt from the Book
SEMANTIC CHANGE ANALYSIS OF THOMAS MALORY’S LE MORTE D'ARTHUR
The Early Modern English language was heavily influenced by different literary works. These include the King James Bible (also King James Version) (1611), William Shakespeare’s works, and lastly Elizabethan pieces of literature (Crystal 2). Another work that is said to be part of EME (Ward et al.) even though it is from 1485 is Thomas Malory’s famous Le Morte d'Arthur.
In the following, I will analyze parts of the latter named work in terms of semantic change. For that, I will do a side-to-side comparison between the original text (Malory) and a modern translated version (Armstrong) to find replaced phrases in the newer version. Afterward, I will use corpora to check if the corresponding word was used within similar contexts during the EME period.
The first replaced word which can be found in the text is fair, as in: “she was called a fair lady” (Malory 4), substituted by “she was a beautiful woman” (Armstrong 1). That reveals that fair in Old English (OE) was used to describe someone as “good looking”. This claim can be confirmed by searching for this word in the Open Source Shakespeare corpus. A corpus that contains every play ever written by William Shakespeare. He used fair in similar contexts such as "fair maid” in All’s Well That Ends Well or “was this fair face the cause” from the same-named play. An additional look into the Oxford English Dictionary ("fair, adj. and n.1.") reveals that fair indeed originates in OE and had the meaning described above during this time. However, this connotation is considered to be outdated ("fair, adj. and n.1."). In a contemporary context, fair as an adjective has well-known meanings like “with justice or fairness” or “adequately, well enough”, according to the OED. The Corpus of Contemporary American English’s collocates-feature confirms today’s usage even more. The top 5 collocates are share, amount, trial, use, and trade (Davis).
Summary of Chapters
I. INTRODUCTION: Introduces the concept of semantic change through historical examples and outlines the research scope regarding the Early Modern English period.
II. SEMANTIC CHANGE: Defines semantic progression, details basic typologies such as widening or narrowing, and explores social, historical, and psychological catalysts.
III. EARLY MODERN ENGLISH: Discusses the temporal framework, major linguistic characteristics, and the transition from Latin to English in scientific and academic contexts.
IV. SEMANTIC CHANGE ANALYSIS OF THOMAS MALORY’S LE MORTE D'ARTHUR: Applies diachronic corpus analysis to examine specific lexical shifts found in Malory’s text compared to modern usage.
V. CONCLUSION: Synthesizes findings on the causes and types of semantic change and underscores the necessity of detailed corpus investigations for linguistic analysis.
Keywords
Semantic Change, Early Modern English, Semantic Progression, Lexical Drift, Widening, Narrowing, Amelioration, Pejoration, Corpora, Le Morte d'Arthur, Etymology, Standardization, Great Vowel Shift, Latin, Vocabulary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on the linguistic phenomenon of semantic change in the Early Modern English (EME) period, analyzing how word meanings evolve over time.
What are the primary themes discussed?
Key themes include the definitions of semantic shift, the reasons behind language evolution (social, historical, psychological), and the standardization of the English language.
What is the main research question of this study?
The document seeks to answer what semantic change is and how specific words from the EME period evolved accordingly through various stages of history.
What scientific methods were employed?
The research uses a mix of theoretical analysis, comparative side-to-side text analysis, and empirical data drawn from online corpora like COCA and EEBO.
What content is covered in the main section?
The main section investigates specific examples of vocabulary shifts, such as 'fair', 'pavilion', and 'leech', using historical corpora to track changes from EME to Present-Day English.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Significant keywords include Semantic Change, Early Modern English, Lexical Drift, Semantic Widening, Semantic Narrowing, and Corpus-based analysis.
How did Jobst Trier’s theory influence this work?
The paper utilizes Trier’s word field theory to argue that semantic progression affects entire structures of vocabulary rather than just individual words in isolation.
Why is the term 'leech' considered a significant case study?
The term 'leech' is analyzed because it underwent a significant narrowing and pejoration, transitioning from a term for a physician to an exclusively negative reference to a parasite.
What role did Latin play during the Early Modern English period?
Latin functioned as the "language of scholarship" until it was gradually replaced in academic and scientific works as the English vernacular gained prestige and standardization.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Leonard Rothenfeld (Autor:in), 2021, Semantic Change of English in the Early Modern English Period, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1518220
