Table Of ContentLanguage Anxiety
in memory of my brother
Michael J. Machan
1946–2007
˝Hœ (cid:1)b(cid:2) S(cid:3) K(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:6)Ø(cid:2) I(cid:1)(cid:7)Ø(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:1)(cid:5)(cid:2)ø (cid:6)(cid:10)ıª(cid:7)æ(cid:9)E(cid:6)Ø(cid:2)
l(cid:1)(cid:7)Ł(cid:11); Kªg (cid:1)b(cid:2) ¼(cid:2)(cid:7)ıŁ(cid:7)(cid:2) Kç(cid:11) Æ¥(cid:1)Æ(cid:10)Ø ç(cid:12)(cid:6)ªÆ(cid:2)(cid:9)(cid:2) Y(cid:6)åø(cid:2);
(cid:7)Y(cid:13)øº(cid:9)(cid:2) (cid:13)(cid:11) (cid:14)(cid:10)(cid:5)æøŁ(cid:7)(cid:2) (cid:14)(cid:10)Æ(cid:15)æ(cid:9)ı (cid:4)(cid:16)ºº(cid:11) Iª(cid:16)æ(cid:7)ı(cid:7)(cid:2).
Homer,TheOdyssey,11.81–3
Language Anxiety
X
Con ict and Change in the History of English
TIM WILLIAM MACHAN
1
3
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ISBN 978–0–19–923212–3
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
OntheUseofPhoneticSymbols ix
1 Language,Change,andResponse 1
2 AMoveableSpeech 27
3 NarrativesofChange 81
4 PolicyandPolitics 130
5 Say theRightThing 186
6 FixingEnglish 238
WorksCited 267
Index 289
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Acknowledgements
The chronological and geographical breadth of this book—conXict over
change in the history of English, of all times and all places—has been both
exhilaratingandchallenging. Ithastaken me,atleastintellectually, toexotic
locales and compelled me to work up material and disciplines with which
I had had only passing familiarity. At the same time, it has introduced me
to new kinds of complexity for the transmission of English and those who
speak it, including the fact that certain kinds of concerns, institutions,
andargumentsevinceastubbornpersistenceacrosstime.Andthispersistence
has opened up not only new characteristics of English but also important,
if also sometimes contested, shared experiences of those who speak it. If
language since Babel has divided us, it can also provide the means to help
usunderstandoneanother better.
Forprovidingmewiththeopportunitytoconsideralltheseideasandput
themintoabook,Iamgratefultoquiteafewpeople.AtOUP,JohnDaveyhas
been friend as well as editor, seeing promise in the book’s idea, oVering
encouragement and insight, and eYciently bringing it into production.
I thank the press’s anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and
comments, David Matthews for reading the typescript and improving its
substanceandstyleinmanyways,andR.F.Yeagerforhiscontinuedencour-
agementofmywork.ShaunHughessharedwithmehisknowledgeofMaori
and Maori English, and A. N. Doane oVered several valuable opportunities
to consider and critique the book’s arguments with a learned audience.
IthankMichaelA.McKinney,formerDeanofArtsandSciencesatMarquette
University, for crafting an administrative schedule that allowed me to draft
the book even as I was still Chair of English, and Krista RatcliVe, for Wlling
in as Chair and allowing that schedule to happen. The Wnal version of the
book was written with the generous aid of a full-year sabbatical from
the Marquette Sabbatical Review Committee and a Summer Stipend from
the National Endowment for the Humanities; any views, Wndings, conclu-
sions, or recommendations expressed in this book do not necessarily reXect
those of the Endowment. Closer to home, I thank Christine, Charlie, and
Tim for indulging my passion for language and keeping me connected to
thosewhospeakit.
Throughout this book I make use of the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA), a standardized system for representing sounds irrespective of the
viii Acknowledgements
languagesthatusethem.ForreaderswhoareunfamiliarwiththeIPA,Ihave
tried to provide contextual information that will clarify what’s being
discussed, and I also include a brief note on phonetic transcription. Some
passages of Middle English use two graphs no longer extant in English:
Z (yogh) for gh and þ (thorn) for th. Citations of the New York Times areto
the Chicago edition, and unless otherwise noted or taken from a published
translation,translationsofforeign-languagematerialsaremyown.
TWM
March,2008
On the Use of Phonetic Symbols
Nearly any English word shows that sounds are very diVerent things
from letters or graphs. Aword like this, for example, has four graphs: t, h, i,
and s. The connection between these letters and the sound of the word they
produce is in many ways conventional, since the graph i can sound quite
diVerentlyinright,ascanthegraphsindogs,whereitis‘voiced’(articulated
withvibrating vocal cords) and sounds more like a z. Conversely, the sound
of the i in this can also be represented by o (women). And th of course uses
two letters to represent one sound, which itself has two versions: a ‘voiced’
oneinthisandabreathy,‘voiceless’oneinthin.
Totalkaboutsoundsasdistinctfromletters,linguistshavedevelopedtheir
ownabstractsystemknownastheInternationalPhoneticAlphabet.Insome
cases,asinporb,theIPAsymbolpointstoessentiallythesamesoundasthat
predicted by English spelling conventions. In others, as in i or e, it can
represent something entirely diVerent. The following few correspondences
should provide enough information for non-linguists to follow any of this
book’sphonologicalarguments.
IPAsymbol comparablesound
i eeinbeet
i iinbit
u ooinboot
U uinput
^ uinputt
e aiinbait
e einbet
o oainboat
O ouinbought
æ ainbad
a oincod
A ainfather
@ ainabout
‚ thinthin
ð thinthis
˛ nginbatting
