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A13355S1 
 

FINAL HONOUR SCHOOL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 
 
Paper 4 The History of the English Language to c. 1800 
 
Trinity Term 2016 
 
___________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Choose ONE question from EACH of the two sections. Each answer must be no shorter 
than 2000 words and no longer than 2500 words, excluding bibliography and 
appendices. Answers must be typed double spaced on one side of the paper only; the 
word length of each answer must be indicated at the top of the first page.  
Please remember to number your pages.  
 
In the course of your two answers you must show knowledge of two consecutive periods 
from those covered in the paper (Old English, Middle English to c.1500, early modern 
English c.1500-1800).  

Questions in Section B invite you to make your own selection of texts or passages of 
texts to analyse, in accordance with the terms of the particular question you choose. 
Copies of these texts/passages MUST be included as an appendix to EACH COPY of 
your portfolio. Credit will be given for judicious selection of material, as well as for the 
quality of the analysis. The material you analyse must not exceed a combined total 
length of 100 lines (not 100 lines for each text selected, but 100 lines in total for all texts 
selected). This limit applies to both prose and verse. It is an upper limit: in many cases, 
much shorter pieces of text will be adequate for your purposes. There is no lower limit, 
but the quantity of material you analyse must be sufficient to allow you to produce an 
analysis of the required length.  
 
In both sections, careful attention should be paid to the precise terms of quotations and 
questions. You must acknowledge all primary and secondary sources used in your 
answers, ensure that citations and quotations are accurate, and provide a bibliography 
for each answer. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Section A 
 
1.      ‘Speech and writing are the same language embodied in different channels’ (K. 
ANIPA). 
  
2.      ‘“Standard” and “standardization” are vexatious terms when applied to linguistic 
description … Variability is central, not peripheral’ (R. BAILEY). You may restrict your 
answer to ONE period if you wish. 
  
3.      ‘Loanword is a concept with necessarily fuzzy edges’. 
  
4.      ‘The mechanism of change, the inciting causes of change, and the adaptive functions of 
change are best analysed by studying in detail linguistic changes in progress’ (W. LABOV).  
  
5.      ‘Variables such as gender, age, and social class are by no means easy to examine in the 
history of English’. You may restrict your answer to any TWO variables. 
  
6.      ‘English lexicography before 1800 reveals an uneasy relationship between the impulse 
to record and to reform’. You must make detailed reference to at least TWO dictionaries in 
your answer. 
  
7.      ‘Let any man who understands English, read diligently the works of Shakspeare and 
Fletcher; and I dare undertake that he will find in every page either some solecism of speech, 
or some notorious flaw in sense’ (J. DRYDEN). 
 
 

Section B 
 
8.      ‘Quibbling about periodization is not, perhaps, worthwhile’. Analyse TWO texts which 
either support or contest this view of linguistic periodization. 
  
9.      ‘Since the standard came early and was quickly implemented, the disregarding of 
dialect was quick and dramatic’ (M. GÖRLACH). Provide a close analysis of TWO texts 
which make use of regional discourse in some way. 
  
10.   ‘Our best authors have committed gross mistakes, for want of a due knowledge of 
English grammar’ (R. LOWTH).  Find TWO texts which examine, in different ways, the 
problems of correctness and control, examining the contributions which their own language 
makes to this debate. 
  
11.    ‘Letters and diaries, as “language history from below”, present a range of insights into 
historical practice and principle’. Provide a detailed analysis of TWO texts which seem to 
you to offer ‘insights’ of this kind. 
  
12.    ‘Text-types always need to be assessed in the light of their historical and cultural 
settings: language, here and elsewhere, does not exist in a vacuum’. Making close reference 
to any TWO text types, assess the validity of this claim. 
  
 

 

13.   ‘When we consider the great anomaly of words in our language wherein the 
pronunciation differs from the orthography, can we wonder that strangers should complain of 
the difficulty of acquiring a proper English pronunciation?’ (J. BUCHANAN). Make a close 
analysis of TWO texts, from different periods, which in some way illuminate this problem. 
 
14.    ‘Intralingual translation, seen from the point of view of language, must, of necessity, 
present special difficulties’. Discuss this claim with reference to TWO texts from different 
linguistic periods. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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