Cover not available
Part of
Contact, Variation, and Change in the History of English
Edited by Simone E. Pfenninger, Olga Timofeeva, Anne-Christine Gardner, Alpo Honkapohja, Marianne Hundt and Daniel Schreier
[Studies in Language Companion Series 159] 2014
► pp. 113–136

“Pained the eye and stunned the ear”

Language ideology and the progressive passive in the nineteenth century

ORCID logo | University of Kiel, Germany
My paper is a close analysis of prescriptive comments on the progressive passive over the course of the nineteenth century, based on my collection of 258 nineteenth-century grammar books. I investigate how the progressive passive was evaluated, which language ideologies were involved, and what the criticism can tell us about the construction (and its users) in return. Linking these comments to corpus studies of the rise of the progressive passive, my paper shows that the extreme salience of this construction (to grammar writers) can be explained by referring to its perceived complexity, its text-type sensitivity, and the social status of its users. The singular status of the progressive passive as the “most hated” construction of English is also compared to other constructions that did not attract the same degree of venomous comments.
Published online: 11 September 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.159.07and
References (76)
Data
ARCHER A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers, see Biber et al. (1994)
BNC British National Corpus, see Aston & Burnard ( 1998), available at [URL]
COHA Corpus of Historical American English, see Davies ( 2012), available at [URL]
CONCE Corpus of Nineteenth-Century English, see Kytö et al.( 2006a)
ECCO, Eighteenth Century Collection Online, available at [URL]
References
Aarts, Bas, Lopez-Couso, Maria José & Méndez-Naya, Belén. 2012. Late modern English syntax. In English Historical Linguistics, Vol. 1, Alexander Bergs & Laurel J. Brinton (eds), 869–887. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Allen, William. 1824. An English Grammar; with Exercises, Notes, and Questions. London: G. & W.B. Whittaker. First published 1813.Google Scholar
Anderwald, Lieselotte. 2012. Clumsy, awkward or having a peculiar propriety? Prescriptive judgements and language change in the 19th century. Language Sciences 34: 28–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2014. Measuring the success of prescriptivism: Quantitative grammaticography and corpus-linguistics. English Language and Linguistics 8: 1–21.Google Scholar
. Submitted. Language between Description and Prescription: Verb Categories in Nineteenth-Century Grammars of English. Oxford: OUP.
. Forthcoming. The decline of the BE-perfect, linguistic relativity, and grammar writing in the nineteenth century. In Late Modern English Syntax in Context, Marianne Hundt (ed.). Cambridge: CUP.
Arnaud, René. 1983. On the progress of the progressive in the private correspondence of famous British people (1800–1880). In Papers from the Second Scandinavian Symposium on Syntactic Variation , Stockholm , May 15–16, 1982, Sven Jacobson (ed.), 83–94. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
. 1998. The development of the progressive in 19th century English: A quantitative survey. Language Variation and Change 10: 123–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aston, Guy & Burnard, Lou. 1998. The BNC Handbook: Exploring the British National Corpus with SARA. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Bain, Alexander. 1863. An English Grammar. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green.Google Scholar
Barnard, Henry. 1880. A Treatise on English Grammar and Composition. Containing Copious Exercises in the Structure of Language, Classification, Analysis, Parsing, Rules of Syntax, False Syntax, and Punctuation, Arranged in a Suitable Form for Dictation Exercises; also, Examples of Social and Business Correspondence, Illustrating the Use of the Active, Passive, and Progressive Forms of the Verb, and the Arrangement of Paragraphs and Sentences. San Francisco CA: Barnard and Brothers.Google Scholar
Beard, John R. 1854. Cassell's Lessons in English; Containing a Practical Grammar, Adapted for the Use of the Self-Educating Student. London: John Cassell.Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Finegan, Edward & Atkinson, David. 1994. ARCHER and its challenges: Compiling and exploring a representative corpus of historical English registers. In Creating and Using English Language Corpora, Udo Fries, Gunnel Tottie & Peter Schneider (eds), 1–14. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Bingham, William. 1867. A Grammar of the English Language: For the Use of Schools and Academies. With Copious Parsing Exercises. Philadelphia PA: E.H. Butler and Co.Google Scholar
Booth, David. 1837. The Principles of English Grammar. London: Charles Knight and Co.Google Scholar
Brown, Goold. 1857. The Institutes of English Grammar, Methodically Arranged; with Forms of Parsing and Correcting, Examples for Parsing, Questions for Examination, False Syntax for Correction, Exercise for Writing, Observations for the Advanced Student, Five Methods of Analysis, and a Key to the Oral Exercises: to which are Added Four Appendixes. Designed for the Use of Schools, Academies, and Private Learners, new edn. New York NY: Samuel S. and William Wood. First published 1823.Google Scholar
Bullions, Peter. 1851. The Principles of English Grammar; Comprising the Substance of the Most Approved English Grammars Extant, with Copious Exercises in Parsing and Syntax. New York NY: Pratt, Woodford and Co. First published 1834.Google Scholar
Clarke, Hyde. 1853. A Grammar of the English Tongue, Spoken and Written; for Self-Teaching and for Schools. London: John Weale.Google Scholar
Connell, Robert. 1843. Improved System of English Grammar, with Copious Exercises and Explanatory Observations; Adapted Alike to the Use of Schools, and to the Purpose of Private Tuition. Glasgow: Andrew Rutherglen, Griffen & Co., and Orr & Sons; Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, and A. & C. Black; Aberdeen: Lewis Smith; Perth: James Dewar; London: Longman & Co., Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., and Whittaker & Co. First published 1831.Google Scholar
Crane, George. 1843. The Principles of Language; Exemplified in a Practical English Grammar. With Copious Exercises. Designed as an Introduction to the Study of Languages Generally, for the Use of Schools, and Self-Instruction. London: Whittaker & Co.Google Scholar
Cruttenden, David H. 1870. A Rhetorical Grammar of the English Language, in which an Objective and Synthetic First Course, to be Used by the Student as Reading Lessons after Oral Instructions by the Teacher, is Combined with a Subjective and Analytical Second Course, Designed to Assist the Student in Mastering the Science of Language and its Applications. Revised Edition. New York NY: J.M. Bradstreet and Son.Google Scholar
Davies, Mark. 2010–. The Corpus of Historical American English: 400 Million Words, 1810–2009. [URL].Google Scholar
. 2012. The 400 million word corpus of historical American English (1810–2009). In English Historical Linguistics 2010, Irén Hegedűs & Alexandra Fodor (eds), 219–249. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Dawnay, William Henry (the 7th Viscount Downe). 1857. An Elementary English Grammar. London: Longman, Brown, Greene, Longmans, and Roberts.Google Scholar
Denison, David. 1993. English Historical Syntax: Verbal Constructions. London: Longman.Google Scholar
. 1998. Syntax. In The Cambridge History of the English Language, Vol. IV: 1776–1997, Suzanne Romaine (ed.), 92–329. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
. 2007. Syntactic surprises in some English letters: The underlying progress of the language. In Germanic Language Histories “from Below” (1700–2000), Stephan Elspaß, Nils Langer, Joachim Scharloth & Wim Vandenbussche (eds), 115–127. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fewsmith, William & Singer, Edgar A. 1866. A Grammar of the English Language. Philadelphia PA: Sower, Barnes, and Potts.Google Scholar
Frazee, Bradford. 1845. An Improved Grammar of the English Language, on the Inductive System; with which Elementary and Progressive Lessons in Composition are Combined. For the Use of Schools and Academies, and Private Learners, stereotype edn. Philadelphia PA: Sorin and Ball; and Boston MA: B.B. Mussey. First published 1844.Google Scholar
Görlach, Manfred. 1998. An Annotated Bibliography of 19th-Century Grammars of English [Library and Information Sources in Linguistics 26]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harrison, Matthew. 1850. The Rise, Progress and Present Structure of the English Language. Philadelphia PA: E.C. and J. Biddle. First published 1848.Google Scholar
Hart, John S. 1864. A Grammar of the English Language. Philadelphia PA: E.H. Butler and Co. First published 1845.Google Scholar
Higginson, Edward. 1864. An English Grammar Specially Intended for Classical Schools and Private Students. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green.Google Scholar
Hiley, Richard. 1857. English Grammar, and Style; to which is Added Advice to the Student, on the Attainment and Application of Knowledge, 8th edn. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts. First published 1835.Google Scholar
Hundt, Marianne. 2004a. The passival and the progressive passive: A case study of layering in the English aspect and voice systems. In Corpus Approaches to Grammaticalization in English [Studies in Corpus Linguistics 13], Hans Lindquist & Christian Mair (eds), 79–120. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2004b. Animacy, agentivity, and the spread of the progressive in Modern English. English Language and Linguistics 8: 47–69. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. Global feature – Local norms? A case study on the progressive passive. In World Englishes: Problems, Properties and Prospects, Thomas Hoffmann & Lucia Siebers (eds), 287–308. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013. Using web-based data for the study of global English. In Research Methods for the Investigation of Variation and Change in English, Manfred Krug & Julia Schlüter (eds). Cambridge: CUP:158–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. Forthcoming. 2014. Heterogeneity vs. Homogeneity. In Letter Writing and Language Change, Anita Auer, Daniel Schreier, & Richard Watts (eds). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Jespersen, Otto. 1949. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles, Vol. IV: Syntax (3rd Vol.). London & Copenhagen: Allan and Unwin & Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Jones, Gareth Stedman. 1989. The ‘Cockney’ and the Nation, 1780–1988. In In Metropolis, London: Histories and Representations since 1800, David Feldman & Gareth Stedman Jones (eds), 272–324. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jones, Joshua. 1833. English Grammar, in Two Parts. The First, a Brief Analysis of the English Language. The Second, a Practical System of Etymology and Syntax. With Exercises in Parsing, and Corrections. West-Chester, Penn: Printed by Simeon Siegfried.Google Scholar
Kenyon, William Colgrove. 1849. Elements of English Grammar, Analytical and Synthetical; Arranged in Progressive Exercises, 2nd edn. Rochester CT: Erastus Darrow; New York NY: Baker & Scribner; Philadelphia PA: Hogan & Thompson; and Boston MA: Perkins & Co.Google Scholar
Kerl, Simon. 1868. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. For the Use of Schools. New York NY: Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman and Co. First published 1861.Google Scholar
Kytö, Merja, Rydén, Mats & Smitterberg, Erik (eds). 2006a. Nineteenth-Century English: Stability and Change. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006b. Introduction: Exploring Nineteenth-century English – Past and present perspectives. In Nineteenth-Century English: Stability and Change, Merja Kytö, Mats Rydén & Erik Smitterberg, 1–16. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laing, Dave. 2003. Cockney rock. In Global Pop, Local Language, Harris M. Berger & Michael Thomas Carroll (eds), 207–232. Jackson MI: University Press of Mississippi.Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey, Hundt, Marianne, Mair, Christian & Smith, Nicholas. 2009. Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Michael, Ian. 1991. More than enough English grammars. In English Traditional Grammars [Study in the History of Language Sciences 62], Gerhard Leitner (ed.), 11–26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mulligan, John. 1868. Exposition of the Grammatical Structure of the English Language; Being an Attempt to Furnish an Improved Method of Teaching Grammar. For the Use of Schools and Colleges. New York NY: D. Appleton and Company. First published 1858.Google Scholar
Nehls, Dietrich. 1988. On the development of the grammatical category of verbal aspect in English. In Essays on the English Language and Applied Linguistics on the Occasion of Gerhard Nickel's 60th Birthday, Josef Klegraf & Dietrich Nehls (eds), 173–198. Heidelberg: Julius Groos.Google Scholar
OED. 2011. Oxford English Dictionary online. Oxford: OUP. [URL]Google Scholar
Parker, Richard G. & Fox, Charles. 1835. Progressive Exercises in English Grammar, Part II: Containing the Principles of the Synthesis or Construction of the English Language. Boston MA: Crocker & Brewster; and New York NY: Leavitt, Lord & Co. First published 1834.Google Scholar
Pratt, Lynda & Denison, David. 2000. The language of the Southey-Coleridge circle. Language Sciences 22: 401–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ramsey, Samuel. 1892. The English Language and English Grammar. An Historical Study of the Sources, Development, and Analogies of the Language and of the Principles Governing its Usages. Illustrated by Copious Examples from Writers of all Periods. New York NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.Google Scholar
Sanborn, Dyer H. 1840. Analytical Grammar of the English Language, Embracing the Inductive and Productive Methods of Teaching, with Familiar Explanations in the Lecture Style; Appropriate Parsing Examples, both in Etymology and Syntax; Questions Subjoined for Recitation; Exercises in False Syntax; Orthography, Punctuation, Enunciation, Figures, and an Appendix. In Five Parts. Being a Complete System of Grammar, Containing much New Matter not Found in Other Grammars. Designed for the Use of all who Wish to Obtain a Thorough and Practical Knowledge of the English Language. Concord NH: Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb. First published 1836.Google Scholar
Schopf, Alfred. 1963. He is being clever: Die einfache und umschriebene Form in der prädikativen Formel. Anglia 81: 267–297.Google Scholar
Smith, Nicholas & Rayson, Paul. 2007. Recent change and variation in the British English use of the progressive passive. ICAME Journal 31: 129–159.Google Scholar
Smith, Nicholas & Leech, Geoffrey. 2013. Verb structures in Twentieth-century British English. In The Verb Phrase in English: Investigating Recent Language Change with Corpora, Bas Aarts, Joanna Close, Geoffrey Leech & Sean Wallis (eds), 68–98. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smitterberg, Erik. 2005. The Progressive in 19th-Century English: A Process of Integration. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Spencer, George 1851. An English Grammar, on Synthetical Principles, Illustrated by Exercises for Grammatical Analysis; with Numerous Examples of False Syntax: Adapted to all Classes of Learners. New York NY: Mark H. Newman & Co.; Auburn NY: J.C. Ivison & Co.; Chicago IL: S.C. Griggs & Co.; Detroit MI: A. M'Farren; and Cincinnati OH: Wm. H. Moore & Co. [First published 1849].Google Scholar
Spencer, John T. & Hayden, S.A. 1866. English Grammar Simplified and Adapted to All Classes of Learners for the Use of Schools and Academies. Revised Stereotype Edition. New Orleans LA: Printed for the Editor.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Robert. 1861. An Attempt to Simplify English Grammar: with Observations on the Method of Teaching it, 44th edn. Dublin: Marcus and John Sullivan; London: Longman, Green, Longmans, and Roberts; and Edinburgh: John Menzies. First published b.1843.Google Scholar
Swinton, William. 1884. A Grammar Containing the Etymology and Syntax of the English Language. For Advanced Grammar Grades, and for High Schools, Academies, etc. New York NY: Harper & Brothers. First published 1877.Google Scholar
Warner, Anthony. 1993. English Auxiliaries: Structure and History. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watts, Richard. 2002. From polite language to educated language. In Alternative Histories of English, Richard Watts & Peter Trudgill (eds), 155–172. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2003. Politeness. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. Language Myths and the History of English. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weld, Allen H. 1848. Weld's English Grammar, Illustrated by Exercises in Composition, Analyzing and Parsing. Fiftieth Edition. Portland: Sanborn & Carter. [First published 1845].Google Scholar
Wells, William H. 1847. A Grammar of the English Language; For the Use of Schools. Andover: Allen, Morrill, & Wardwell; and Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. [First published 1846].Google Scholar
York, Brantley. 1862. An Analytical, Illustrative, and Constructive Grammar of the English Language. Accompanied by Several Original Diagrams, Exhibiting an Occular Illustration of some of the most Difficult Principles of the Science of Language; Also, an Extensive Glossary of the Derivation of the Principal Scientific Terms Used in this Work, in Two Parts, for the Use of Every One who may Wish to Adopt it. Raleigh: W.L. Pomercy. [First published 1854].Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Hundt, Marianne, Paula Rautionaho & Carolin Strobl
2020. Progressive or simple? A corpus-based study of aspect in World Englishes. Corpora 15:1 ► pp. 77 ff. DOI logo
Anderwald, Lieselotte
2017. “Vernacular universals” in nineteenth-century grammar writing. In Exploring Future Paths for Historical Sociolinguistics [Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics, 7], ► pp. 275 ff. DOI logo
Hundt, Marianne
2016. Error, feature, (incipient) change – or something else altogether? On the role of low-frequency deviant patterns for the description of Englishes. In World Englishes [Varieties of English Around the World, G57], ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.