Language Change

Language Change Essay

Both texts F and G offer advice on politeness specifically aimed at how you should behave when eating. As these two texts were published at a considerably large time apart, we can analyse the difference between the language used in both of them in comparison to the language we use today.

Looking at the text in terms of grammar, we can see that imperatives are used strongly throughout. This is because both texts are instructing their audience on how to eat at a dinner table and therefore use imperatives to advise them on what they should do. ‘Remove’ ‘lift’ and ‘wipe’ are examples of this used in both texts as they both follow the same semantic of table manners and therefore the intentions in both texts are the same. Text F was published in 1703 and therefore we can relate this specific text to the era of which it was written in, where instructional and advisory writing were popular in society. Modal verbs also play an important part in both texts when accompanying the imperatives; ‘must’ and ‘should.’ The repetition of these verbs indicate the likelihood in what the action should occur, and in these cases, the strong modal verbs suggest a demanding tone in which the audience ‘must’ follow. On the other hand, the conditional ‘if’ is used frequently in both texts to give the audience an alternative option. In text F, it is clearly evident that minimal full stops are being used, resulting in long, on-going sentences. This supports the fact that in the 18th century, which the text was written, standardisation was in the process however punctuation had not yet been standardised. In contrast to this, Text G was published 19th century and therefore standardisation had been secured. This has resulted in full stops being more frequently used in comparison to the large amount of commas shown in text F, in order to break down the sentences. This resulted in a mixture of simple and compound sentences and makes this text more clearly structured and easier to follow. Both texts are written in present tense as though the action is happening now, which is a common feature for an instructional guide as it is easy to apply and follow in every situation.

Looking at the discourse in Text F, it is evident that the text is displayed in two vertical columns. This is a very formal page layout in contrast to Text G where the text is displayed in paragraphs in a single column. I believe this is because, in 1703 when text F was written, this was the standard discourse structure of a formal printed document due to it being easy to process and print in this early period. Whereas, in the text G more layout concepts had been introduced including the feature of a title ‘table etiquette’ and ‘disgusting habits’ subheading to state the contents of the text. This is most current to the layout of texts that we see today, due to the modern society relying on the titles alone to determine the contents of a piece before choosing to go ahead and read it. Besides the difference in the page layout of these two texts, both F and G read in the form of a list. This follows the basic structure of a recipe where the writer is informing the reader what to do through step-by-step instructions.

Looking at the texts in terms of lexis, it is evident that both texts use a variety of negative lexical choices. A pessimistic tone is strongly used throughout text F against the disgust the writer has for un-polite manners. For example, ‘to belch, hawk and tear’ is used to focus on the unpleasant actions that occur at a dinner table in order to instruct the reader of what not to do instead of what they should do. Likewise, in text G the negative tone is displayed also through their use of lexical choices ‘vulgar’ and ‘disgust.’ These lexical choices instantly accuse the audience of the worst, by patronising them with a disapproving attitude towards what they should not be doing. Time connectives such as ‘Never’ are used in both texts and contribute to this demanding tone also. The use of this word strongly stresses the instruction in which the audience are about to receive. Moreover through looking at both texts, the lexical choices enhance the overt-prestige present. Emotive language such as ‘epicures, Sensual, and of mean, ungenerous education’ exaggerate the point he is stating and gains the writer of text F authority by portraying an intelligent use of language in order for them to trust what he is saying, This is also shown in text G where verbs such as ‘masticated’ and ‘calculated’ are used in replace of the more obvious choice of synonyms. This is used in the similar intention as text F where the writer wants to over power the reader with intellectual vocabulary. In text F, this is enhanced through the lexical choices ‘lord,’ ‘lady’ and ‘servant.’ These nouns immediately give the text a high status authority in the society where it suggests the text is aimed an upper class audience. We can contrast this with the society we live in today, due to social classes not being as clearly divided as they were back in the earlier period which the text was wrote in. The social class was extremely important in the 18th century, where the working class would be looked down upon and would work for the upper class as ‘servants.’ However, in the 21st century this would not be allowed and is socially not the case.

Due to these texts being written in earlier periods, it is also evident that orthographical features have been incorporated. In text F, an unrecognisable symbol that is unfamiliar within the modern language today, is used in place of the letter ‘s.’ This printing convention is put in place due to the printing process used in the earlier period. As Samuel Johnson created the dictionary in 1755, it was therefore not acknowledged when the text was written in 1703. This meant that English language rules had not yet been stated for people to follow, including the standardisation of the correct spelling of words. This is in contrast to text G where the orthography is a lot more recognisable due to the dictionary being already in place. Another unfamiliar orthographical feature shown in text F was the capitalisation on nouns. It is clear that this rule has been applied to common nouns in text f; ‘Hat’ and ‘Napkin.’ This was clearly the established thing to do in 1703 however this contrasts to text G and the modern English we use today due to proper nouns being the only acceptable use for this rule. This once against supports the fact that grammatical rules had not yet been standardised.