1.2. Establishment of the literary norm

As we have said, in the New English period emerged one nation and one national language. But the English literary norm was formed only at the end of the 17^th century, when the first scientific English dictionaries and the first scientific English grammar. In the 17^th and 18^th centuries there appeared great number of grammar books whose authors tried to stabilize the use of language. Thus Samuel Johnson, the author of the famous Dictionary (1755), wrote that he preferred the use of “regular and solemn” pronunciation to the “cursory and colloquial”. Many famous writers also greatly contributed to the formation of the English language, and among them, first and foremost, the great Shakespeare.

Early New English (15^th – beginning of the 18^th century) – the establishment of the literary norm. The language that was used in England at that time is reflected in the famous translation of the Bible called the King James Bible (published in 1611). Although the language of the Bible is Early Modern English, the author tried to use a more solemn and grand style and more archaic expressions.

A great influence was also connected with the magazine by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele called The Spectator (1711 – 1714), the authors of which discussed various questions of the language, including its syntax and the use of words.

Late New English – since the 18^th century.

If the gradual acceptance of a virtually uniform dialect by all writers is the most important event in the emergence of Modern English, it must be recognized that this had already gone a considerable way before 1500, and it was undoubtedly helped by Caxton’s introduction of printing in 1477. The fact that the London dialect was used by him in his translations and prefaces, and that Chaucer’s works were among the books he published, led to its rapid diffusion throughout the country. But the adoption of a standard of spoken English was a slower process. It was not until Elizabeth’s time that the language of the court came to be generally recognized as the best form of spoken English; and as late as the 18^th, and even the early 19^th century country gentlemen in their occasional visits to polite society in London were not ashamed to use dialect.

Nevertheless, despite the persistence of wide varieties in pronunciation, the basic phonetic changes that distinguish Modern English from Middle English are profound, though they are not reflected in a similar modification of spelling. The early printers, whose practice was to prove of decisive importance for the future, derived their spelling from the Middle English scribes (a fact that largely accounts for the difficulty of English spelling today). The most important of theses changes was that affecting the sound of vowels and diphthongs, with the result that the “continental values” of Middle English were finally replaced by an approximation to modern pronunciation. Lesser changes also occurred in the pronunciation of consonants, though some of these have been restored by conscious, and often mistaken, attempts to adapt pronunciation more closely to the received spelling.