History of English Language Bias Thesis

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The Old French language became the official language of business and court in the now Norman controlled England (Soon Magazine). Parents who wanted their children to amount to anything would have them schooled in this language, while English was reserved for the commoners.

In this case, one can understand the first pronounced case of language bias in the English language. Although many of today's descriptive grammar linguists would hold that neither language was superior to the other, the social climate of the culture certainly held that the use of French was more correct than the use of English, which must have been seen as a dialect like today's Appalachian dialect. The result of this language bias was an altered English, Middle English, which emerged around 1200, when the French and English kingdoms were again sovereign entities (Soon Magazine). Thus, language bias caused the English language to change, which is a positive property of language. Indeed, languages that no longer change are the stuff of history, dead languages ("A History of the English Language" 2-3).

During the European Renaissance, English continued to change, motivated by two different sources. The first was Shakespeare, whose plays and poetry added many phrases and words to the English language (Soon Magazine). In addition to these plays, the King James Bible, the first Bible that was authorized to be printed in the English language, emerged (Soon Magazine). These sources not only served to advance the English language, bringing it to a near modern state, but they also introduced common people to language, and the importance of spoken and written words. Stories have long been told of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, where peasants and royalty alike had the opportunity to view plays, despite the fact that the upper class had comfortable seats while the peasants crowded together, standing, on the first floor.

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In addition, an Interest in knowing the Bible's teachings for themselves motivated many to take up the task of language for reading, questioning, and comprehending their faiths. Despite the fact that language bias had improved from the Norman era, and was beginning to include those of other classes, then, an emphasis on speaking correctly was still perpetrated in the upper class. The best example of this Bishop Robert Lowth's 1762 a Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes. In this publication, "Lowth prescribed new rules for English, many of them influenced by his own personal taste. Before the publication...practically everyone -- upper-class, middle-class, and lower-class -- said I don't have none," etc. (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams 14). Indeed, Lowth's publication pointed to the fact that middle-class parents wanted their children to speak what was considered "the dialect of the upper-class" (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams 14).

Today, bias in the English language is much like it was during the Norman invasion and Renaissance. Speakers of different dialects like the Southern dialect or African-American Vernacular English are often told by teachers that they are using grammar incorrectly. Furthermore, these variations on English are often regarded as lower-class, as Bill Cosby made famous in his numerous lectures and publications urging African-Americans to speak more "correctly," which many of them viewed as contrary to their culture. Thus, According to "A History of the English Language," English has spawned across the world for several linguistic reasons, and English may soon become the official language of much of the world. While this may serve to further unite cultures that suffered from communication barriers in the past, it may also continue the cycle of language bias that made itself known in the evolution of the English language.

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