MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD

By the end of the Sixteenth century, the new language emerged from the east Midland dialect of Londonbecame accepted as the standard form of Modern English. The main characteristics of modern English are seen inspelling, grammar, and vocabulary.

Spelling : The system of spelling is illogical while O.E. and Middle English spellings were roughly phonetic.The spellings of Modern English words are sometimes absurd and irrational as there is no co-relation between thespelling of a word and its pronunciation. The sound long (i) is spelt differently in words like see, chief, machine,deceive etc. So also there are silent letters like ‘P’ and ‘K’ in the words psychology and knowledge respectively andthose letters are obviously superfluous. The same letter of the alphabet represents different sounds in differentwords. eg : the letter ‘u’ is pronounced in a number of ways as in put, cut, fuse, useful and guide.

Attempts were made to revise the system of pronunciation to be in confirmity with its spelling. As a resultan initial ‘h’ was introduced in words like honest, honour, hospital, an aspirate in the last syllable of words likeneighbourhood, brotherhood etc. There was bitter opposition against any interference with the traditional spellingsystem on account of its etymological value. A simplified system of spelling was introduced in U.S.A. which washeartily accepted by the nation.

Grammar :- A distinguishing feature of the Modern English period is the gradual decay and ultimate

better way; auxiliary verbs are used for more em-phasis. Natural gender system is followed. Nouns areused in the place of adjectives in compounding. Girlfriend, bus station, Cinema - theatre, ship - yard, Airport are some of the typical usages.

Vocabulary :- Modern English has a very richand heterogenous vocabulary. Christianity broughtLatin words. Danish invasion gave Scandinavianelements. In the middle English period, there was a flowof french words. The Norman conquest brought loanwords from all the languages of the world with whomthey had dealings. Technical terms, medical terms likeappendicitis & Meningitis, diphtheria, bronchitis andallergy found their way into the common usage. Afterthe two world wars french words like camp, camouflage,Radar, machine gun, Air - raid, parachute, fifth columnhave become current in use.

Words connected with space - Cosmos Cosmo-naut; cinema - films, news reel, screen movie, pictureRadio - broadcast, News, news bulletin, aerial, announc-er, wavelength, radio - play, radiostar, radio - artist andprogramme executive have enriched the vocabulary. Atpresent, English has risen to the level of a world lan-guage and it is spoken in many countries of the world.

English language has developed a standard dur-ing this period. The great vowel shift has made pronun-ciation within reach and spelling became unphonetic.Great writers in the contemporary periods freed, the lan-guage from local dialects in the way of the developmentof the language to the present stage.

Inspite of the tremendous progress made towardsa uniform standard a good many features still remainunsettled. The difference between literary language andcolloquial English of the educated society became nar-rower but still the difference in the pronunciation andspellings of certain words do exist.

r ––– is a scheme invented by C.K. Ogden and I.A.Richards

- Basic English

r Basic English is

- It consists of 850 wordsthought necessary forexpressing the minimum ofthings and thoughts required

for simple international intercourse with technical wordsfor special purpose

r ––––– is second only to Chinese, as the languagespoken by people in number

- English

r A special feature of modern English is

- Disappearance of inflectionalendings of O.E.

r Old English period is

- the period of full inflections

r Middle English period is

- the period of levelledinflections

r Modern English period is

- the period of lost inflections

r Modern English has –––– vocabulary

- Heterogenous

r ––– brought Latin words

- Christianity

r Danish invasion gave –––– elements

- Scandinavian

r Norman conquest brought –––– words

- French

r Words like cosmos, screen, parachute are ––– inorigin

- Modern

r In modern English, words are some times absurdas there is no relation between spelling andpronunciation, give example

- Psychology, knowledge

INDIAN ENGLISH

A language undergoes changes when it is trans-ported from its native home to another region. The dif-ferences become wider if it is used as a second lan-guage along with the native tongue. This analogy iswider applicable to Indian English which is mostly awritten language in India. There is not much differencebetween British English and Indian English in regard tospelling, grammar and vocabulary. The difference main-

ly lies in usage as well as in pronunciation of the nativetongue. This analogy is the difference in pronuncia-tion is due to several reasons. English is essentially astress using language whereas the Indian languagesare not. As such it will be very difficult for the Indiansto follow the English accident. There is great differencebetween English speech sounds and the native lan-guages of India and some of the English phonemes arenot found in Indian languages and viceversa.

English is basically a written language and notthe mother tongue. Hence the spelling structure andshape of words affects the pronunciation. The princi-pal differences one seen in the pronunciations of thevowel ‘a’ In ‘father’ and ‘mat’ the same vowels is usedin writing but pronounced as ‘a’ or ‘ae’ in India. Actu-ally it is a short (a). The central vowel /e/is absent inIndian languages and is pronounced as (e) which isincorrect.

The ‘r’ is often pronounced as a strong frictionconsonant, in British English is not pronounced beforea consonant and also before a pause. The allophonevariation of ‘l’ as ‘loyal’ and ‘pull are not properly dis-tinguished and pronounced correctly. The voiced ‘z’ isoften mispronounced. The consonant ‘v’ represents twosounds ‘f’ and ‘w’. The dental fricative ‘th’ occuring inthe words ‘that and ‘think’ are pronounced as stopsounds and not as fricatives.

English is still the important medium of communi-cation along with 225 native languages in administra-tion, commerce and higher education. Elementary edu-cation has been shifted over to the regional vernacularlanguages since independence. English is the mediumof instructions of most of Indian universities, publicschools, and as an auxiliary language in the high schools.Radio, T.V. and print media still use English as theirmedium. It is the connecting link between the unionand the State governments, among the various states,Parliament, High courts, Supreme court, though Hindihas been declared as the national language of India.

r British English and Indian English is similar in

- Spelling, grammar andvocabulary

r The main difference between British English andIndian English is in

- Pronunciation and usage

r ––– is essentially a stress using language whereasthe Indian language are not

- English

r The ––– occupation of portugal brought wordslike copra, catamaram, mango, curry etc.

- Goan

r The English translation of the Indian epic resultedin

- Adoption of words like guru,karma, yogi, nirvana,Brahman into English

r ––––– is basically a written language and not themother tongue of Indians

- English

r The letter 'r' is produced by Indians in ––– position.

- All positions, initial, medialand final

Indian Writing in English - Warren Hastings asgovernor General of India, saw the real birth of literatureand literary status in India. The first English newspaperin India was Hickey’s Bengal Gazette (James AugustusHickey 1783). The first Indian who encouraged Englisheducation was RajaRamMohan Roy. Benkim ChandraChatterji was the first graduate of the Calcutta HinduUniversity.

The outstanding literary luminaries of the 19thcentury are Ramesh Chandra Dutt, Madhusudan Dutt,Derozio and ToruDutt. Rudyard Kipling, an Indian bornEnglish man wrote on Indian themes.

Among the 20th century writers RabindranathTagore, Gandhiji, Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Ne-hru, Sarojini Naidu, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan,RajaRao. Ezekiel, Kamala Das were only a few amongthe talented group.

r –––– was the first English news paper in India

- Hickey's Bengal Gazette

r ––– was the publisher of Bengal Gazette

- James Augustus Hickey(1783)

r English education in India was inaugurated by

- Raja Ram Mohan Roy

r ––– was the first graduate of the Calcutta HinduUniversity

- BankimChandra Chatterji

r Indian writing in English begins with

- Henry Derozio (poetry)

r –––– was the Nobel laureate from India

- Rabindranath Tagore

r The ascetic who shook the Chicago session ofInternational Congress of Religion

- Swami Vivekananda

r Homophones

- words that are spelt differentlybut are pronounced alike

eg : boy - buoy

r Homonyms

- Words pronounced differentlythough spelt identically

eg : lead (n) lead (v)

r Idiom

- Popular ideas in concreteimagery and are concernedwith ordinary life

r The Greek word 'idiom' means

- Standing a part on its own

r Metaphors

- Symbolic in characterexpressing an abstractemotion through concrete, orvisual imagery

r Modern English period starts from

- 1500 to the present

r Modern English period covers

- The historical period from theclose of the middle ages andthe completion of therenaissance to the present.

r The middle English period ends with

- the introduction of printing toEngland

r 'Angle land' came to be known as

- England

r The first epic in English

- Beowulf (verse)

r R.P is –––– Received pronunciation

-

r Common standard for pronunciation (R.P) was