1. Essay On a Specific Dimension of Language 1
The history of the English language is very complex. It is usually categorized into four
periods: Old English (500-1100 AD), Middle English (1100-1500), Early-Modern English
(1500-1800) and Late-Modern English (1800-Present). Unlike Old English, Middle English can
be read with some difficulty by modern English speaking people. Middle English was greatly
influenced by the French-speaking Normans. The Renaissance era brought even more
widespread innovations by incorporating Latin and Greek words into the language. The
invention of the printing press and the Great Vowel Shift –a series of changes in the English
pronunciation-further changed the English language (Random History). Late-Modern English is
very similar to the Early-Modern English except for the significantly increased number of words
due to several factors (Random History). This essay will demonstrate how cultural aspects of the
age in which two literary pieces were written, influenced their linguistic features.
(a) Sermon on modern infidelity (written before 1600)
"There is, it will be confessed, a delicate sensibility to character, a sober desire of
reputation, a wish to possess the esteem of the wise and good, felt by the purest minds,
which is at the farthest remove from arrogance or vanity. The humility of a noble mind
scarcely dares approve of itself, until it has secured the approbation of others, because
very different is that restless desire of distinction, that passion for theatrical display,
inflames the heart and occupies the whole attention of vain men. The truly good
man is jealous over himself, lest the notoriety of his best actions, by blending itself with their
motive, should diminish their value; the vain man performs the same actions for the
sake of that notoriety. The good man quietly discharges his duty, and shuns ostentation;

2. Essay On a Specific Dimension of Language 2
the vain man considers every good deed lost that is not publicly displayed. The one is
intent upon realities, the other upon semblances: the one aims to be virtuous, the other to
appear so." (Hall 45).
From the above excerpt the passage is composed of initial lengthy sentences; only 5
sentences in a 168-word essay. In Rose’s view, the writers in those times aimed at conveying
numerous messages irrespective of the length of the sentence. Little consideration was placed in
the quality of the passages as few scholars of the time conducted detailed research on sentence
structures linguistic features and the subsequent components (Rose 509).
The linguistic features including phonology, morphology, syntax (word order) determine the
time in which the sentence structure belong to. In Old English, the word order was subject-verb-
object (SVO) similar to the modern English. Ironically to the Old English scholars, the word
order systems adopted was not as important compared to their modern English counterparts.
Most important was the inflectional form between any two sentences that was maintained, as
shown in “…the vain man performs the same actions.”
Concerning the third aspect, old English contains morphological multiplicity overly
evidenced during the word pronunciations. These aspects include the accusative, genitive,
nominative, dative and instrumental. In the modern English, however, the morphological aspects
are rarely included in their sentence construction. As far as vocabulary is concerned, the old-time
dialect used archaic words that are currently obsolete. These words required other complicated
wording in order for a passage to be ‘grammatically’ correct.

3. Essay On a Specific Dimension of Language 3
(b) Poverty; an Endemic beyond us (written within the last 20 years)
According to the World Bank reports, the need to combat poverty has increased at
national, regional and global levels in the last few years. This concern has its roots in a
rapid rise in poverty levels in many parts of the world. The World Bank defines poverty
as pronounced deprivation in well-being. Poverty is thus characterized by the inability of
families to obtain a minimal standard of living and welfare. This index is measured in
terms of household income and expenditure per capita, including domestic production.
The World Bank invented the concept of purchasing power parity to avoid comparing
income and poverty levels across societies. The purchasing power parity accounts for
currency fluctuation and local consumption habits. It is therefore commonly referred to as
the market-basket approach (World Bank).
The above current-time excerpt is characterized by short well structured sentences as
compared to the excerpt (a) above. Of note, the subject-verb-object sentence structure is
maintained as in excerpt (a) primarily because with less wording in the sentence, the structure
can easily be managed. For instance, the first sentences of both passages bear a word difference
of 14; making the excerpt (a) first sentence a little complex and incomprehensible. Contrastingly,
the 121 words in excerpt (b) have been presented in 8 sentences therefore establishing the trend
of wordiness exhibited in the 168-word-5-sentence excerpt (a) above. According to Baugh, the
inability to structure sentences the 17th
century was seen as a prestigious intellectual ability.
Limited research and analysis notwithstanding, most writers of the time were content with their
work as no regulatory body bothered with them.

4. Essay On a Specific Dimension of Language 4
Therefore the variation from the Middle English (ME) to the Modern English (ModE) is
stressed by the short sentences which portray the precision that the writer allows the reader to
easily comprehend the intended message (Baugh 78-83). Some of the numerous changes in the
old English resulted into the modern English include the adoption of punctuation and
substitutions of symbols. The vocabulary contains several more words that are the result of
certain historical factors. Discoveries during the scientific and industrial revolutions created a
need for a new vocabulary. With the increase in communication, travel, radio and television,
English continues to change. Scientific and technological discoveries are still ongoing and
neologisms continue to this day, especially in the field of electronics and computers (Random
History).
Therefore the present-time English purely derives its feature from the fundamental
aspects in both the Old and Middle English. In addition to the adoption of other language words,
contributions are traced back in time to more than a thousand years ago. Lengthy words used
before the 17th
century became obsolete and were reviewed to much shorter and comprehensible
words used in the current times. The English language continues to change and develop every
year with hundreds of new words being constantly introduced. It has truly become the world’s
international language of science, computers, politics, and world trades. This is the dynamism
that English has experienced and continues to experience.

5. Essay On a Specific Dimension of Language 5
Works cited
Baugh, A. C. and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. 3rd edition. NJ:
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
“The Great Melting Pot of Language: A History of the English Language.”Random History.
22 June 2009 http://www.randomhistory.com/l-50/023english.html.
Hall Robert, “Sermon on modern infidelity.” Modern Infidelity with its Influence on Society, D.
Burnett, Book-seller, Paterson, N.J, 1833.
Leech, Geoffrey N., Paul Rayson and Andrew Wilson, Word Frequencies in Written and
Spoken English, Harlow: Longman, 2001.
Rose, James H., ‘Principled limitations on productivity in denominal verbs’, Foundations of
Language. 1973.
World Bank, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, World Bank: Oxford
University Press, 1994.

6. Essay On a Specific Dimension of Language 5
Works cited
Baugh, A. C. and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. 3rd edition. NJ:
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
“The Great Melting Pot of Language: A History of the English Language.”Random History.
22 June 2009 http://www.randomhistory.com/l-50/023english.html.
Hall Robert, “Sermon on modern infidelity.” Modern Infidelity with its Influence on Society, D.
Burnett, Book-seller, Paterson, N.J, 1833.
Leech, Geoffrey N., Paul Rayson and Andrew Wilson, Word Frequencies in Written and
Spoken English, Harlow: Longman, 2001.
Rose, James H., ‘Principled limitations on productivity in denominal verbs’, Foundations of
Language. 1973.
World Bank, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, World Bank: Oxford
University Press, 1994.