The alternations in <u>/<v> and <i>/<j> are among the most well-known and commented-upon changes in Early Modern English spellings, yet little has been said about the potential factors underlying their standardisation, and whether and how the two alternant pairs could be linked together. The reason behind this knowledge gap may be found in the absence of a large-scale, quantitative investigation of these spellings, and consequently, the impossibility of commenting upon the relationship between patterns of chronological development and potential causes of change. This article focuses on the standardisation of word-initial <u>/<v> and <i>/<j> between 1500 and 1700 in printed English, and uses a quantitative model for the analysis of patterns of diachronic development in the two alternant pairs, across a range of texts from a sampled version of Early English Books Online. The results describe a rather abrupt, synchronised change in the redistribution of word-initial <u>/<v> and <i>/<j> between the 1620s and the 1640s. The discussion argues for a close connection between the diachronic developments in word-initial <u>/<v> and <i>/<j>, and pragmatic factors that affected the Early Modern English printing industry.
During the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, a number of spelling solutions gradually became established in English as ways to indicate vowel quality, namely whether a vowel sound was different from another, and vowel quantity, that is to say whether a vowel was long or short. Among the solutions that arose to indicate vowel quality, <ea> and <oa> were introduced for spellings like sea and boat. For vowel quantity, ‘single’ consonants in pairs like <g> and <dg>, <ch> and <tch>, as well as <k> and <ck> began to be used for immediately preceding long vowels. My contribution explores all of the examples of vowel diacritic spelling mentioned above in printed English between 1500 and 1700, using a quantitative model for the analysis of patterns across a range of texts from Early English Books Online. The analysis shows an overall process of standardisation occurring between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, and provides fresh insights into the lexical distribution for the standardisation of vowel diacritic spelling. The discussion reflects upon the development of the spellings, and argues for pragmatic factors within the Early Modern English printing industry as responsible for their modern standardisation.
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