atw: Re: Spelling Society centenary

"Standardisation of spelling was an inevitable consequence of the mass
production of books."

It was also, arguably, a consequence of nation building and the advent
of the novel notion of 'the individual' in the wake of the 17th century
and alongside the emergence of a 'middle class' in the early 18th.

We might remember Steele and Addison feeding a growing need for
'improving' literature.

As for "grammarians of the C17th" bowlderising the lingo - it's nothing
compared to what happened in Italy at the same time. Even now, on the
Continent, there are authorities funded by taxes - like our
classification board - that decide what gets in and what doesn't.

This never happened in England. Even Webster succeeded in imposing only
the tiniest innovations.

-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Lewis
Sent: Tuesday, 20 May 2008 10:34 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Spelling Society centenary

In response to Stephen Nason:

Standardisation of spelling was an inevitable consequence of the mass =
=3D
production of books. In English, the first problem was to get the
dialect =3D
choices right; Caxton had to choose between "eyren" and "eigies" for the
=3D
things we now call "eggs". (Note that, even now, with child, ox, and =3D
sometimes brother, we have -[r]en plural forms.) But, once that choice
was =3D
made, the process began of propagating spelling standards throughout =3D
literate society. The attitudes expressed by Johnson and Chesterfield =
=3D
weren't unduly extreme for their time, but they didn't become fully =3D
entrenched until the advent of mass education in the C19th.

As for grammar, there's a common confusion between what it is and how it
=3D
is taught. All languages have grammar -- consistent patterns that allow
us =3D
to say different things with a measure of economy. (Grammar allows us to
=3D
distinguish between "John hit Fred" and "Fred hit John".) But the
mongrel =3D
character of English caused discomfort among grammarians of the C17th
and =3D
thereabouts (thenabouts?); residual (albeit utterly misguided) ideas
about =3D
Latin as a perfect or ideal language led to attempts to impose the =3D
patterns of Latin onto the English language. Trouble is, English remains
=3D
at heart a Teutonic language, grammatically far removed from the Romance
=3D
languages descended from Latin. So we get those absurd ideas about what
=3D
constitutes an infinitive, and where a preposition might properly =
go.=3D20

Trouble is, those quaint ideas have been perpetuated by primary teachers
=3D
who have themselves learnt the rules with no understanding of the =3D
realities, so many people still believe those rules. In effect, while =
=3D
grammarians now know that they aren't grammatical rules, many people use
=3D
them as criteria of good language. In other words, they've become rules
of =3D
formal style.




Michael Lewis
Lecturer, Writing Skills Advisor, and=3D20
Coordinator of Postgraduate=3D20
Editing and Publishing programs,
Department of Linguistics
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109

Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 7856
Mobile: +61 (0)414 887782
Fax: +61 (0)2 9850 9199
www.ling.mq.edu.au

CRICOS Provider No 00002J

This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain
confidenti=3D
al information.  If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it
=3D
and notify the sender.  Views expressed in this message are those of the
=3D
individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of Department of =
=3D
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