Sociocultural and Linguistic Change in Late Modern English

Abstract

The present chapter is devoted to the stability paradox, that is, the apparent mismatch between the degree to which English society changes between 1700 and 1900 and the amount of language change that LModE undergoes. While there is general agreement that a great deal of sociocultural change takes place between 1700 and 1900, several linguists point to the comparative lack of structural change in LModE, especially compared with the preceding Middle and Early Modern English periods (see Sections 2.3– 2.4). This lack of correlation may seem unremarkable at first glance, as historical linguistics to some extent has a tradition of regarding a language as a self-contained entity or system that undergoes change more or less independently of what its speakers do (Lass 1980: 120). To understand why the lack of correlation between sociocultural and linguistic change is in fact problematic from the perspective of linguistic theory, it is necessary to consider insights gained from research on social networks. I discuss the general connection made in social-network theory between sociocultural and linguistic change in Section 2.2. Then follow brief surveys of sociocultural (2.3) and linguistic (2.4) change in England between 1700 and 1900. Finally, Section 2.5 synthesizes the conclusions reached in the chapter and discusses why predictions from the perspective of social-network theory appear not to be borne out by empirical linguistic data as regards Late Modern English.