Standardizing English

Elizabeth Peterson:

The language standardization process tends to be a long one, and is much more comprehensive in its scope than is presented here. In many ways the standardization process is a healthy sign that a language is vital, viable and meaningful for its speakers. For one thing, languages with a standardized variety tend to have a writing system based on a unified standard, which in turn opens up opportunities for literature, communication, and other cultural manifestations (see also Moessner 2017).

For English, like for other languages, the standardization process is viewed as having four general stages, as introduced by the linguist Einar Haugen (1966): (1) selection (2) codification (3) implementation (4) elaboration.

Selection refers to the emergence of one dialect which gains recognition as a model, for example, through gaining widespread social prestige. In the case of English, this dialect was London English in the Middle Ages, having to do with the seat of government and population rise in London as people moved to the city from other parts of England (see, for example, Schaefer 2017). Codification means the creation of a code, or in other words, written grammars and dictionaries appear, including those that discuss how the language should or should not be used, what words mean, and how they should be spelled and used. For English, there was wide variation in spelling (Milroy and Milroy 2003) up until about 1650—and any student of English still today may have doubts about how to spell either gray vs grey or queue or cue, among myriad other examples. The codification of English grammar and punctuation came much later, up through the late 1700s, with the apostrophe, for example, serving as a particular sticking point—persisting to this day (Griff in 2016). For example, in 2017 a series of news stories circulated in the British press about the “Grammar Vigilante,” a man who prowled around Bristol, England, at night using a self constructed contraption to correct the use of apostrophes and other perceived written mistakes on local signs. (See eResource.)

The English language saw a huge increase in published work about “correct” grammar after the mid-18th century, which led to a marked rise in prescriptivist attitudes. Once the English language was codified, it was ready for defenders of its valor to emerge: it was during this time period that the “complaint tradition” (Milroy and Milroy 2003) began in earnest (see also Shea 2014).

This system of prescriptivism coincides with the next stage of standardization, which is implementation. Implementation ties in with growing prestige and pride in a language variety. Various decision makers and influential figures and organizations adopt the new norms in their own communication. Prior to about the 1700s, Latin was considered the prime language for any discussion of higher education or learning, not just in England but in much of Europe. When written English was more or less fixed, due to codification, it meant it could be upheld as a language of learning and science. The final stage of standardization, elaboration, refers to widespread use and acknowledgment of the particular variety in elite forms such as science, technology and, for example, higher education. This is also where the common-sense notions and ideologies come to full force: because the variety is widely viewed as the unquestionable, de facto medium of communication, it is effectively cleaved from the process that brought it to this status. The variety is viewed as something that just “is,” with little appreciation for the fact that it is just one of many varieties, and that a social process led to its unquestioned high status. At this stage, the language as a whole is often perceived as one and the same as the standard (see Preston 2017), rather than as another variety. At the same time, authority over language is shifted from the mouths of its everyday speakers and into the care of language pundits, many of whom proclaim responsibility over English on their own volition (see Lippi-Green 2011).

A strange thing about language-related notions is that, because they are seen as “common sense” and “normal,” they seem to have always been there. It is difficult to conceive of a time when the standard would not have been in existence, with its adherents telling us how to use apostrophes, how to spell “I before E except after C,” and so on. In folklore studies, there is a long tradition of exploring the relationship between behavior and beliefs. Classic reading in the field of folklore asserts the function of folklore in maintaining conformity to accepted patterns of behavior, especially as “a means of applying social pressure and exercising control” (Bascom 1954, 346). Folklore, of course, refers in large part to traditional customs that people uphold. When we think of folklore, we might imagine dances or sayings or other cultural rituals. (Pererson, 2020: 18 - 19)

Reference:

Peterson, Elizabeth. (2020). Making Sense of “Bad English”: An Introduction to Language Attitudes and Ideologies. UK: Routledge.