6 Words of kings and counsellors: register variation and language change in early English courtly correspondence

Nevalainen, Terttu

doi:10.1515/9781614510543.99

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Parr uses you 45%; total tokens ¼ 46). Henry VIII is an exceptional male, who as a 100% user of you is considerably ahead of the curve (Nevalainen 2013). Overall, the generalisation of you appears to be an "inclusive" change found across the Tudor family network, excepting Seymour (18.7%; tokens ¼ 32).…”

Section: Replacement Of Subject Ye By Youmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Yet so far only the language of Henry VIII and his youngest daughter, Elizabeth I, have been explored from a sociolinguistic perspective, albeit with interesting results. Henry VIII's morphosyntax and spelling show a mixture of innovative and conservative usage, with marked differences to the king's administrative court-based subjects (Nevalainen 2002, Nevalainen 2013. Elizabeth is more consistently progressive: a linguistic leader of morphosyntactic change (discussed in Section 6), as well as showing innovative practice in spelling (see Raumolin-Brunberg 2005;Nevalainen et al 2011;Evans 2013).…”

Section: The Tudor Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘The vsuall speach of the Court’? Investigating language change in the Tudor family network (1544–1556)

Evans

2015

Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics

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This paper considers how micro-level analysis can enrich our understanding of macro-level processes of language change, using a case study of the Tudors. It explores how language use in the Tudor family network relates to the role of the Court in the supralocalisation of innovative forms during the sixteenth century. Using an original corpus of correspondence and other autograph writings, I conduct a comparative analysis of the language of Elizabeth Tudor with her siblings, parents and caregivers. The findings suggest that Elizabeth's siblings, Mary I and Edward VI, were progressive in changes localised at the Court, but that Elizabeth's caregivers and peripheral kin may have influenced Elizabeth's uptake of non-Court-based changes. Using Network Strength Scores to represent the social experiences of Elizabeth and her nearest kin, it appears that Elizabeth's changing position within the Court network, from a peripheral to more central member, may have played a part in the Court's catalyst effect for the supralocalisation of innovative forms, and the emergence of an overtly prestigious "norm" in Early Modern English.

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Section: Replacement Of Subject Ye By Youmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: The Tudor Familymentioning

confidence: 99%