Matylda Włodarczyk

English Historical Linguistics: A textbook for the 21^st century?

Laurel J. Brinton (ed.). 2017. English Historical Linguistics: Approaches and Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

English Historical Linguistics should be evaluated against the question: What is expected of a modern textbook in the second decade of the twenty-first century? This issue indeed lies at the very origins of the publication. The book identifies and addresses the typical shortcomings of an English historical linguistics textbook: the insufficient awareness of and coverage of the “bird’s eye view” of the discipline. Instead of building a linear narrative around the levels of language organisation or periodisation that have dominated similar textbooks, this volume undertakes a more challenging task. Brinton’s research has contributed many significant ideas to the theories of grammaticalisation, lexicalisation and intersubjectivity. Recently, Brinton coedited the monumental English Historical Linguistics. An International Handbook (2012; with Alexander Bergs) that is still viewed as an invaluable handbook (but see Nevalainen and Traugott 2012; Kytö and Pahta 2016). Indeed, few scholars with a similar record of not only experimental, but also state-of-the-art publications, would be better qualified to supervise the work on a new student-friendly synthesis of the field of English historical linguistics. Although the publisher describes the book as an “essential resource for advanced, undergraduate and graduate students”, Brinton’s English Historical Linguistics is not your regular textbook. Nor does it aim to be, as the editor emphasises: unlike a typical textbook, this one aims to provide “descriptive information on methodology and approach” and “the contextual information necessary for the student to understand where they fit within the broader framework of approaches” (p. 2).

As the subtitle indicates, the focus is on different approaches and perspectives in English historical study over time, with 11 valid approaches singled out and discussed in individual chapters. In effect, the publication provides an overview of English historical linguistics from the perspective of Neogrammarians through generative approaches, to the sociocultural and pragmatic turn accompanied by a growing trend towards interdisciplinarity with emphasis on corpus-based approaches to language change. The book includes an introduction, a list of figures (over 40), a list of tables (over 30), a list of case studies (over 30), a note on the contributors, a list of abbreviations, and 13 chapters, each followed by an exercise section (with answers online). Chapters include an introduction, a theoretical overview and a number of case studies (between 2 and 5), and end with concluding remarks and suggestions for further study that precede the exercises section and the endnotes. As the blurb announces,

chapters contain text boxes on how to conduct research in individual areas. The references section, glossary of key terms and an index close the book. In particular, the glossary and the index show a lot of thoughtful selection. Moreover, due attention is given to psycholinguistic and grammaticalisation- and discourse-based perspectives on language variation, contact and standardisation. What the readers have in their hands is a comprehensive presentation of the scope of English historical linguistics.

Language change is “closely intertwined” with the psychological processes that shape language use here and now (p. 71). Martin Hilpert discusses such interfaces in Chapter 4, which is devoted to usage-based linguistics. He provides a detailed description of the so-called “domain general cognitive processes” and their role in the current linguistic theories. It is important to bear in mind that linguistic theories differ as to the relative importance assigned to them, along with the important question: Do the processes operate only in language acquisition or over a lifetime? Another crucial issue is to investigate which structures in English exemplify the ways the psychological processes influence language change. Corpus-based approaches to language change are the topic of Hundt and Gardner’s contribution (Chapter 5). In the opening sections, the differences between a narrow and a broad definition of corpus-based historical linguistics are discussed (p. 96). Furthermore, issues of representativeness, specific historical corpora and their limitations, as well as speech-like properties or written genres (p. 99) follow. Then the authors list major historical corpora (e.g. corpora of English outside the British Isles, p. 100) and then turn to corpus methodologies. This section aims to provide a hands-on description of steps taken in the analysis based on “start” vs. “begin” variation in Present Day English, with online interfaces of some corpora and concordance software introduced in the process. In particular, the problems related to precision and recall (p. 103), normalisation, statistical significance (e.g. instructions for online calculations of log likelihood at Lancaster, cf. Paul Rayson) are treated.

The next chapters (6 and 7) provide a thorough treatment of the origins, development and offshoots of grammaticalisation theories. As a functional-cognitive and usage-based approach, grammaticalisation – which is among the most robust relatively recent perspectives on language change – contrasts with other theories that ascribe change to incomplete intergenerational transmission in acquisition. In Chapter 6, Reims and Hoffman reflect on the intersection of the processes of grammaticalisation and lexicalisation and the changes in their research foci. Among these, the move from the formal effects (morphosyntax, for instance) to pragmatic-semantic changes, including the possibility of their reconstruction and the increased attention to context, should be singled out. The authors

address the question of whether pragmaticalisation may be viewed as instance of grammaticalisation, and how the distinction between the two needs to be viewed on different levels of grammar (p. 135). The chapter also offers succinct overviews of specific approaches (e.g. Traugott and Trousdale’s constructionalisation) and problems (unidirectionality & degrammaticalisation), as well as limitations of empirical verification and corpus-based grammaticalisation studies in particular. Chapter 7 testifies an expansion of pragmatically informed approaches to language change that are related to grammaticalisation theory and psycholinguistics. López-Couso focuses on the role of pragmatic inferencing in language change, and reviews in detail Traugott’s theory of subjectification and intersubjectification in relation to grammaticalisation. This analysis is based on a synthesis of case studies on epistemic modals like parentheticals, the ‘while’ adverbial clauses and expletives. The chapter also presents Grice’s cooperation principle and maxims, conversational implicature, the role of polysemy in Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Change, and draws a clear line of division between subjectification and intersubjectification. address the question of whether pragmaticalisation may be viewed as instance of grammaticalisation, and how the distinction between the two needs to be viewed on different levels of grammar (p. 135). The chapter also offers succinct overviews of specific approaches (e.g. Traugott and Trousdale’s constructionalisation) and problems (unidirectionality & degrammaticalisation), as well as limitations of empirical verification and corpus-based grammaticalisation studies in particular. Chapter 7 testifies an expansion of pragmatically informed approaches to language change that are related to grammaticalisation theory and psycholinguistics. López-Couso focuses on the role of pragmatic inferencing in language change, and reviews in detail Traugott’s theory of subjectification and intersubjectification in relation to grammaticalisation. This analysis is based on a synthesis of case studies on epistemic modals like parentheticals, the ‘while’ adverbial clauses and expletives. The chapter also presents Grice’s cooperation principle and maxims, conversational implicature, the role of polysemy in Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Change, and draws a clear line of division between subjectification and intersubjectification.

Discourse-based approaches are the topic of Chapter 8 written by Claudia Claridge. In the opening, registers are shown to relate closely to linguistic choices and functions, as well as to the modes of language use over time. Connections are clarified between genre conventionalisation and language processing, and the questions addressed by discourse approaches are discussed. Furthermore, the focus is placed on processes of vernacularisation and standardisation and the role of translation and multilingualism therein. On page 192, the following approaches to researching historical discourse are mentioned: Historical Discourse Analysis proper (pragmaphilology), diachronic Discourse Analysis (diachronic pragmatics) and discourse-oriented diachronic linguistics (pragma-historical linguistics). Later, the interfaces of information packaging and syntactic options are discussed on the basis of the loss of the V2 constraint in Old English. In Chapter 9, on sociohistorical approaches, Peter Grund shows the reader the ropes of English historical sociolinguistics. The discussion brings together the absolute basics: the uniformitarian principle, micro- and macrosociolinguistics, i.e. sociology of language, synchronic vs. diachronic, change from below and above, units of analysis (such as e.g. the Community of Practice), social networks, the “bad” data problem and the most significant corpora available. Grund also reflects on the spoken (vernacular) vs. written distinction and speech-based genres, complexity of social rank and status, and gender as analytic categories and notions. The chapter involves an important reflection upon the state of the art and the existing models of English historical sociolinguistics. For instance, on pages 219-220, the difference between

Berg’s (2005) and Nevalainen and Raumolin-Brunberg’s models (2012) is elucidated. It “lies in how the authors view the relationship between modern sociolinguistics and historical sociolinguistics (…) The kind of data considered and the integration of insights from historical research are the two aspects that set the disciplines apart”. This citation shows how historical sociolinguistics may be viewed both as an independent subdiscipline in Bergs’ view, and also a more coherent uniform approach to the social aspects of language study in Nevalainen and Raumolin-Brunberg’s view.

In Chapter 10, Laurel Brinton provides an overview of English historical pragmatics. She emphasises that methodologically, this subdiscipline has moved toward corpus linguistics (p. 255) and has increasingly relied on multigenre and specialised corpora. Brinton discusses in greater detail the development and change of comment clauses in view of the processes of lexicalisation, grammaticalisation or pragmaticalisation, and concludes that the latter two show too much similarity to be distinguished from one another. Chapter 11 on standardisation and prescriptivism by Ingrid Tieken Boon van Ostade presents a gripping narration of the rise of prescriptivism. Illustrated with photos of artifacts and presented as a broader social phenomenon, including insights into the book market and back stage of the production of grammars and dictionaries, the discussion also touches upon issues of plagiarism and the treatment of misleading evidence (for example, an anonymous but authorised edition’s of Lowth’s grammar). The author stresses the significance of studying the original documents in the archives, also for the periods when printed sources have become extensive.

In Chapter 12, Merja Stenroos provides an overview of geographical variation and presents a modern sociolinguistically-informed view on English historical dialectology. The chapter presents a clear and readable narration in the form of a thought experiment introduced as an approximation of difficulties pertaining to historical studies. The account includes a general introduction to the basics of variation, the distinction between written and spoken language, and issues of prestige. According to Stenroos, modern historical dialectology should focus on “the localisation of texts, the use of historical corpora, and the interpretation of written linguistic data” (p. 318). The author also emphasises the growing dialogue between the subdisciplines: “Even though some scholars would still differentiate between sociolinguistic to historical variation and ‘historical dialectology’, all these directions have been informed by each others’ insights to the point that drawing dividing lines is no longer necessarily useful.” (p. 318). Stenroos also stresses the importance of studying local documents, regardless of the difficulties of accessing these texts, and illustrates how questions pertaining to

geographical, diachronic and domain-related variation need to be addressed in parallel (case study into the sound and spelling of wh-). Chapter 13 is devoted to language contact, and opens with a comparison between English and German to show how English diverged from the typical Germanic features (esp. V2). On top of language contact theory, Schneider presents five case studies into Celtic and Scandinavian influences on OE as change from below (p. 339); Latin borrowings as change from above (p. 342); New Zealand English (including a curio on Pasifika English, p. 349), Singlish and language shift in Singapore and Nigerian Pidgin English.

Approaching comprehensive publications like Brinton’s English Historical Linguistics that aim to take stock of a broad field, the reader is likely to follow her own interests and employ the vantage point of her own expertise. I would therefore like to single out the chapters devoted to the social, discourse and pragmatic perspectives, and the account of prescriptivism. First of all, Grund’s contribution on sociolinguistics is methodologically informed, but not theoretically overloaded, and thus truly accessible to a non-specialist, keen audience. At the same time, Grund’s account is still valuable to a more expert reader: as the author positions himself within the frameworks (e.g. Milroy’s and Bergs’ work is approached with subtle criticism) rather than simply synthesising the development of the subdiscipline. Moreover, the chapter juxtaposes the advantages offered by the use of different kinds of evidence (e.g. spelling vs. social commentary on h-dropping), thus fulfilling the promise of a “bird’s eye view” of English historical linguistics. Moreover, Chapters 8, 9, 10 and 12 in particular have been written with a student audience in mind. For instance, in her discussion of prescriptivism and standardisation, Tieken presents research as a quest for the unknown that is frequently rewarded by remarkable discoveries (p. 278 on Percy’s 2008 and 2009 comparison between Lowth and Baker collections of usage problems; p. 286 on Tieken’s monograph on Lowth; 2011). In doing so, she encourages the reader to undertake detective work on grammars (and beyond). The forcefulness and entertainment stemming from some of the examples and the skilled application of suggestive illustrations have a strong appeal, both to the less-experienced as well as the specialist audience. These, and some other chapters (e.g. by Merja Stenroos) also show the authors’ awareness that a good course book should awaken curiosity, not only through memorable elements or patches of storytelling, but also by indicating closeness and tangibility of the research matter that is presented (e.g. p. 235 with a list of research questions based on Walker’s 2007 study into thou and you). English Historical Linguistics may in fact be a great course book, on the condition that an interested student receives well-informed guidance from more experienced linguists and teachers. It would be difficult to see it as a textbook, unless perhaps it were used as part of a

PhD curriculum for young linguists at the beginning of their research. The blurb promises a sort of American-style teaching aid: written by an international team of leading scholars, it is engaging and offers easy navigation and quick cross-referencing. A closer look into these student-friendly and interactively designed features may be a bit disappointing: for instance, not all chapters include the text boxes “on how to conduct research within different subfields” (missing from Chapter 5), some only include 1 or 2 (Chapter 2 and 3). Individual chapters devote unequal space to the exercises, and the design of such sections could have been more creative in some cases. For instance, the exercises in Chapter 6 are much more engaging and open-ended than those in Chapters 5 or 7, where they are clearly related to specific examples discussed in the pieces, and do not encourage the students to go beyond what they have been taught. Chapter 10, for instance, has a very extensive exercise section that fulfils the needs of student readers more effectively than some other contributions. More experienced readers, especially those familiar with the more recent handbooks in the discipline, would also notice a remarkably low level of dialogue between the individual chapters: cross-referencing is rare, contributing to the overall feel of the compartmentalisation of the approaches. For instance, it would make sense to somehow link and juxtapose the differing significance and roles that more traditional frameworks have played in the development of the individual perspectives (structuralism and generative theory as opposed to pragmatic or functional theories, for instance). This could be achieved in a series of text boxes (like the ones “on how to conduct research”) that would highlight both the affinities and disparities in this respect. Finally, the editorial side of the book is nearly flawless.¹

Overall, there’s no denying that the book is successful in delivering more than the textbooks we have become accustomed to: on the one hand, the discussions are highly specialist and informative. On the other, its usefulness seems greater to post-graduate or doctoral students, or as a course book for advanced students of linguistics. This is in itself unsurprising: the editor assembled a team of a top-notch contributors to provide a comprehensive overview of English historical linguistics; thus, the result comes closer to a readable handbook rather than to a textbook. However, the publication is not only rich in content, but also novel and very likely to supplement the classics in the area.

¹ I noticed the following errors: a misspelling (Joanna Kopazcyk instead of Kopaczyk; p. 229) and missing references to Kopaczyk and Jucker’s coedited collection (2013; referred to mistakenly as 2014; p. 229) and Nevalainen and Raumolin-Brunberg (2012; p. 219).

References

Bergs, Alexander. 2005. Social Networks and Historical Sociolinguistics: Studies in Morphosyntactic Variation in the Paston Letters. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Bergs, Alexander and Laurel J. Brinton (eds.). 2012. English Historical Linguistics. An International Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Kopaczyk, Joanna and Andreas H. Jucker (eds.). 2013. Communities of Practice in the History of English. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Kytö, Merja and Päivi Pahta (eds.). 2016. The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nevalainen, Terttu and Helena Raumolin-Brunberg. 2012. Historical sociolinguistics: Origins, motivations and paradigms. In Juan M. Hernández-Campoy and J. Camilo Conde-Silvestre (eds.), The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 22-40.

Nevalainen, Terttu and Elizabeth Closs Traugott (eds.). 2012. The Oxford Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Percy, Carol. 2008. Mid-century grammars and their reception in the Monthly Review and the Critical Review. In Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (ed.), Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar-Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 125-142.

Percy, Carol. 2009. Periodical reviews and the rise of prescriptivism: the Monthly (1749–1844) and Critical Review (1756–1817) in the eighteenth century. In Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade and Wim van der Wurff (eds.), Critical Review Currrent Issues in Late Modern English. Bern: Peter Lang, 117-150.

Tieken Boon van Ostade, Ingrid. M. 2011. Bishop’s grammar. Robert Lowth and the Rise of Prescriptivism in English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Walker, Terry. 2007. Thou and You in Early Modern English Dialogues: Trials, Depositions, and Drama Comedy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Matylda Włodarczyk
Matylda Włodarczyk is assistant professor in the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Her main research areas include historical socio-pragmatics, reported speech in Early Modern courtroom records, Late Modern nineteenth century correspondence in connection to genre and literacies, historical multilingualism, visual pragmatics and digitisation of multilingual resources.

Download: Matylda Włodarczyk: Review on English Historical Linguistics. 2017. In PRAGMATICS.REVIEWS 2018.6.1

DOI: 10.11584/pragrev.2018.6.1.2