The end of the Middle English era came around the 16th century and gave way to early modern English. The works of Shakespeare and others set the standard, and the language we know today as English was born. And yes, you guessed it, the tongue was also full of contractions at the time. Contractions can be found everywhere in Shakespeare`s plays. They were an integral part of language and were easily accepted in both entertainment and more scientific works. In fact, early modern English contains many more contractions than today, such as shan`t, `twere, `twon`t, `tis, ha`n`t and many others. It wasn`t until the early 18th century that someone questioned the use of contractions. Unfortunately for bad words, by the end of the century they were considered abominations in formal writing. Although even scholars used them in everyday conversations, for some reason they considered them unacceptable in scientific writings. This attitude has continued to this day, as most people despise contractions. Although they are commonly used in conversation, fiction, and informal writing, using them in formal writing is similar to picking up pencils and doodles on your paper. And so the sad little contractions that we all love so much are always pursued by the educated elite for no real reason, forcing them to be used only by the “uneducated” population.
The contractions will rise to the heights they once held, but when that time comes, I can least predict. Business writing experts generally advocate the use of contractions to create a fluid style that appeals to the reader, but warn that when writing for an international audience where there are no native English speakers, contractions can be confusing and should be avoided. At the turn of the 16th century, the Renaissance came to England and with it came further changes in the language, which at that time is recognizable as the beginning of modern English (1450 AD to 1750 AD). The Latin and Greek words have been adopted and amended (para. B example, militia, misery, illegal and explanatory), and men like Shakespeare introduced new words to the masses at a rapid pace (e.g., assassination. B, cold-blooded, eyeball and fashionable). One of my favorite haunts in historical novels is when writers try to make dialogue authentic by removing all contractions. A natural-sounding phrase like “I`m sure you`ll do it well” becomes embarrassing and funny “I`m sure you`ll do it well.” The French language has a variety of contractions, similar to English, but obligatory, as in C`est la vie, where it means what + is (“it is”). The formation of these contractions is called elision. Other familiar and dialectal contractions are described below: And then there is y`all. It is an Americanism of the early 1800s of the South and later of the West. It was probably adopted in the white language of the African-American language.
As a contraction for “all of you,” “y`all” usually means a plural. When you tell a person, it implies that they are part of a group. Thus, “You all stay away from our property” means “you and all your people.” You-us or Yins was also used in the early 1800s in the Old American Northwest (i.e. Ohio and Pennsylvania). Ain`t (described in more detail in the article ain`t) is colloquial language and a contraction for “I don`t have”, “is not”, “was not”, “are not”, “were not”, “were not”, “did not have” and “did not have”. [27] In some dialects, “ain`t” is also used as a contraction of “do not”, “does not”, “did not”, “cannot/can not”, “could not”, “will not”, “would not” and “should not”. The use of “ain`t” is a constant subject of controversy in English. [28] “An`t” with a long “a” sound was written as “ain`t,” which first appeared in writing in 1749. When “ain`t” appeared, “an`t” was already used for “am not”, “are not” and “is not”.
“An`t” and “ain`t” coexisted as written forms until the nineteenth century. In general, any monosyllabic word ending in e lapse (schwa) contracts when the next word begins with a vowel, h or y (since h is silent and absorbed by the sound of the next vowel; y sounds like i). In addition to this → c`- (demonstrative pronouns “that”), these words are that → qu- (conjunction, relative pronouns or interrogative pronouns “that”), do → n`- (“no”), → s`- (“soi”, “soi”, “soi”, “soi” before a verb), each → j`- (“I”), I → m`- (“I” (“I” before a verb), you → t`- (informal singular “you” before a verb), the → l` (“the”; or “he”, you → t`- (informal singular “you” before a verb), the → l- (“the”; or “he”, “they”, “it” before a verb or after an imperative verb and before the word y or en) and → d`- (“of”). Unlike English contractions, however, these contractions are obligatory: one would never say (or would never write) *it is or *that she). The definition overlaps with the term portmanteau (a linguistic mixture), but a distinction can be made between a portmanteau word and a contraction by noting that contractions are formed from words that would otherwise appear together one after the other, such as .B. do and not, while a portmanteau word is formed by the combination of two or more existing words, which all refer to a singular concept that describes the portmanteau word. Unfortunately, the Coen brothers were misinformed. Mark Liberman of the linguistics blog Language Log discovered that Charles Portis` original novel true grit contained both contractual and non-contractual forms. For comparison, however, Liberman looked at two other novels, including Tom Sawyer, which was published in 1876, and found that these novels contained contractions rather than True Grit, so there really is some contraction avoidance in the novel True Grit.
Perhaps Portis wrote this for characterization purposes, Liberman suggests. He also cited an article in the Journal of English Linguistics on the history of contractions with “not”. It has been said that they first appeared in writing in the early 17th century, increased in the 18th century and were more or less accepted in the 19th century. [3] Yes. He is credited with inventing hundreds of words that were sometimes new combinations of existing words. He also coined a number of phrases such as idioms and other expressions in use today. Contractions are in the occasional language, at least in English, Spanish and Japanese, as far as I know. The Japanese have my favorite contrasts/elisions. Jane Austen gives us an idea of the contractions used in England in the early 1800s. It is much more economical with them than my previous samples, but in pride and prejudice we find: I am, I do not do, I cannot, I do not know, I do not know, I do not want, you will do it and it is.
Lydia and Mrs. Bennet use most of the contractions, but the less silly characters use them occasionally. “To have” and “to have” are apparently more controversial. The OED says the contractions – “ve and -” – are post-Elizabethan, but other scholars, such as E.A.J. Honigmann in The Texts of Othello and Shakespearean Revision, disagree. They find references to contractions such as “they have” and “they” in historical texts and suggest that these contractions could only be used in writing during this period (they may have been used orally some time before). So you`re probably sure of those in most English historical fictions too. Most “no” contractions come a little late in English. My old friend, the online dictionary of etymology, gives this data about when some of them came into use (it would be if they are found in printed form – they may have been used verbally a few years earlier): In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with krassis, abbreviations and initials (including acronyms) with which they share certain semantic and phonetic functions. although all three are connoted with the term “abbreviation” in free language.
[1] Contraction is also different from morphological clipping, in which the beginnings and ends are omitted. .