ABSTRACT

The events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries affecting the English-speaking countries have been of great political and social importance, but in their effect on the language they have not been revolutionary. The success of the British on the sea in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in Nelson’s famous victory at Trafalgar in 1805, left England in a position of undisputed naval supremacy and gave it control over most of the world’s commerce. The war against Russia in the Crimea (1854-1856) and the contests with princes in India had the effect of again turning English attention to the East. The great reform measures-the reorganization of parliament, the revision of the penal code and the poor laws, the restrictions placed on child labor, and the other industrial reforms-were important factors in establishing English society on a more democratic basis. They lessened the distance between the upper and the lower classes and greatly increased the opportunities for the mass of the population to share in the economic and cultural advantages that became available in the course of the century. The establishment of the first cheap newspaper (1816) and of cheap postage (1840) and the improved means of travel and communication brought about by the railroad, the steamboat, and the telegraph had the effect of uniting more closely the different parts of Britain and of spreading the influence of the standard speech. During the first half of the twentieth century the world wars and the troubled periods following them affected the life of almost everyone and left their mark on the language. At the same time, the growth in importance of some of England’s larger colonies, their eventual in-dependence, and the rapid development of the United States have given increased significance to the forms of English spoken in these territories and have led their populations to the belief that their use of the language is as entitled to be considered a standard as that of Great Britain.