How English became English

Every living language is in a continuous state of flux. Over time, the changes become significant enough to matter. For example, today’s English speakers would not recognise Old English, the English that was spoken a thousand years ago.

“Linguistic changes spread like innovations in general: modern standard English is a synthesis of elements from various dialects, with old and new layers coexisting side by side,” says Professor Terttu Nevalainen, who heads the Centre of Excellence for the Study of Variation, Contacts and Change in English (VARIENG).

VARIENG investigates language as a social and discursive phenomenon, processes of linguistic change, and variationist typology. Language may offer various ways of expressing the same thing, but the choices follow specific rules and are by no means random.

“Linguistic variation is integrally linked with the processes by which new grammatical elements such as conjunctions, auxiliary verbs and pronouns emerge in a language. The description of changing grammar and usage in different genres and registers is an essential part of language description as a whole. There is still much to research,” says Nevalainen.

VARIENG also crosses disciplinary boundaries by integrating approaches and methods from fields such as social history, culture and learning research, and computer science into the study of language. Professor Nevalainen’s own project studies change in English as a result of social and geographical contacts.

“We want to learn how English came to be the language it is today,” says Nevalainen. “The study of variation and change in English is based on extensive electronic databases containing millions of words and representing various regional and social dialects and communicative situations. From an international perspective, the electronic text corpora we have compiled are particularly significant, as they have been developed to enable the creation of new research methods and approaches.”

Centre of Excellence for the Study of Variation, Contacts and Change in English (VARIENG)

The research of the Centre of Excellence builds on the work and achievements of the earlier Helsinki-based Centre of Excellence, which was funded during the period 2000-05, and of the Jyväskylä ‘English Voices in Finland’ project. Headed by Professor Terttu Nevalainen from the University of Helsinki, the Centre of Excellence employs nearly 50 researchers from the University of Helsinki and the University of Jyväskylä. The project has a wide-ranging social and cultural impact, benefiting the study and teaching of the English language both in Finland and abroad.

Centre of Excellence for the Study of Variation, Contacts and Change in English (VARIENG)

Text: Arja-Leena Paavola
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
Translation: Valtasana Oy