Modern
English
Modern English is the term used for the contemporary
use of the English language. In terms of historical
linguistics,
it covers the
English
language after the
Middle
English period; that is, roughly, after the
Great
Vowel Shift. Despite some differences in vocabulary, material from the early
16th century,
such as the works of
William
Shakespeare and the
King
James Bible, is considered to be in Modern English, or more specifically,
they are referred to as Early Modern English, and most people who are fluent in
the English of the early 21st century can read these books with little difficulty.
Outline of changes in
Modern English
Phonology
- instability
of (SAMPA) /E:/ with varying,
semi-random results, causing meat, bread, and steak
no longer to rhyme.
- (Southern England,
after 1700): development of non-rhotic
dialect, loss of /r/ at ends of syllables; non-rhotic dialects may develop a new
class of falling diphthongs by substituting schwa
for /r/.
- (Southern England, after 1700):
/æ/ (/{/) -> /a/ before /f, s, th, z, v/ alone or preceded by /n/: bath
-> bawth &c. (the British broad
A)
- (Southern England, after 1800):
intervocalic /t/ -> glottal
stop; /bo`@l/ for bottle
- (Southern England, after 1850):
loss of /o:/, replaced by /@u/; cf. southern English v. North American pronunciation
of boat.
- upper-class southern English speech, esp. dialects
associated with boarding schools, as prestige dialect in England.
- varying
degree of prestige of Southern English changes in North America; some are imitated
in North America, but most changes fail to penetrate past East Coast.
- (North
America, after 1750): loss
of distinction between /a/ and /O/; father and bother rhyme;
- (North America, after 1800):
intervocalic /t/ -> /d/; ladder and latter sound very similar
or identical, distinguished perhaps by degree of aspiration of consonant.
- (Scotland, parts
of North America, date uncertain): /ai, au/ -> /@i, @u/ before voiced consonants;
house (unvoiced) has a different diphthong from houses (voiced).
Syntax
