Standardizing Written English

Diffusion in the Case of Scotland, 1520-1659

Professor Devitt offers a new view of the linguistic process of standardization, the movement of specific language features towards uniformity. Drawing on theoretical arguments and empirical data, she examines the way in which linguistic conformity develops out of variation, and the textual and social factors that influence this process. After defining and clarifying the general theoretical issues involved, the author takes as a specific case study the standardization of written English in Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and shows that standardization is a gradual process, that it occurs at significantly different rates and times in different genres, that it encompasses periods of great variation, and that it occurs concurrently with sociopolitical shifts. The interrelationship of linguistic features, genres, and social pressures shape the nature and direction of standardization.

... of course, expect to be able to see this mathematical regularity in real linguistic
changes, if for no other reason than that we have ... Several other studies by
Wang and his colleagues have provided further support for lexical diffusion, but.
as ...