Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English
To what extent is it possible to interpret the data of pronouncing dictionaries of the 18th century in sociolinguistic terms? Several answers are provided by resorting to Labov’s concepts of change from above and change from below the level of awareness. A systematic investigation of John Walker’s C...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2019-12-01
|
| Series: | Studia Anglica Posnaniensia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2019-0015 |
| _version_ | 1818691265964802048 |
|---|---|
| author | Trapateau Nicolas Duchet Jean-Louis |
| author_facet | Trapateau Nicolas Duchet Jean-Louis |
| author_sort | Trapateau Nicolas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To what extent is it possible to interpret the data of pronouncing dictionaries of the 18th century in sociolinguistic terms? Several answers are provided by resorting to Labov’s concepts of change from above and change from below the level of awareness. A systematic investigation of John Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (1791, 1809), the most complete and cumulative of all such dictionaries of the time, makes it possible to show that an orthoepist like Walker often reflects the pressure in favour of change from above for vowel quality and resistance to such a change in matters of stress placement. By preferring analogy to conservative pronunciations due to his bias in favour of a rational pattern, Walker also links analogy to the “vernacular instinct”, promoting variant forms witnessing a change from below. And many other changes under way in his time, which pass unnoticed in the orthoepist’s discourse and transcriptions, properly deserve to be treated as changes from below, thus making his dictionary the common ground for pressures from above and pressures from below. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T12:39:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a0352e66551f46d188e1046bb65928c3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0081-6272 2082-5102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T12:39:09Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studia Anglica Posnaniensia |
| spelling | doaj.art-a0352e66551f46d188e1046bb65928c32022-12-21T21:48:08ZengSciendoStudia Anglica Posnaniensia0081-62722082-51022019-12-0154s131533610.2478/stap-2019-0015stap-2019-0015Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of EnglishTrapateau Nicolas0Duchet Jean-Louis1Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, UMR 7320 BCL, Nice, France.Université de Poitiers, EA 3816 FoReLLIS, France.To what extent is it possible to interpret the data of pronouncing dictionaries of the 18th century in sociolinguistic terms? Several answers are provided by resorting to Labov’s concepts of change from above and change from below the level of awareness. A systematic investigation of John Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary (1791, 1809), the most complete and cumulative of all such dictionaries of the time, makes it possible to show that an orthoepist like Walker often reflects the pressure in favour of change from above for vowel quality and resistance to such a change in matters of stress placement. By preferring analogy to conservative pronunciations due to his bias in favour of a rational pattern, Walker also links analogy to the “vernacular instinct”, promoting variant forms witnessing a change from below. And many other changes under way in his time, which pass unnoticed in the orthoepist’s discourse and transcriptions, properly deserve to be treated as changes from below, thus making his dictionary the common ground for pressures from above and pressures from below.https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2019-0015analogychange from abovechange from beloworthoepypalatalizationphonological changepronouncing dictionariesstress placementjohn walker |
| spellingShingle | Trapateau Nicolas Duchet Jean-Louis Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English Studia Anglica Posnaniensia analogy change from above change from below orthoepy palatalization phonological change pronouncing dictionaries stress placement john walker |
| title | Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English |
| title_full | Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English |
| title_fullStr | Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English |
| title_full_unstemmed | Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English |
| title_short | Change from Above and Resistance to Change in the Early Prescriptive Pronouncing Dictionaries of English |
| title_sort | change from above and resistance to change in the early prescriptive pronouncing dictionaries of english |
| topic | analogy change from above change from below orthoepy palatalization phonological change pronouncing dictionaries stress placement john walker |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/stap-2019-0015 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT trapateaunicolas changefromaboveandresistancetochangeintheearlyprescriptivepronouncingdictionariesofenglish AT duchetjeanlouis changefromaboveandresistancetochangeintheearlyprescriptivepronouncingdictionariesofenglish |