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Transcript

Evolution of Early Modern English Orthography

The shift towards what we would perceive as modern English

Introduction

The reasons that led to this transition

Shakespeare's influence

Spread of English language text amongst a broader audience

Early Modern English

First English dictionaries

Marked by historical events

Time Period

Witnessed the advent of science

Analysed period texts from curated repositories

Research and Datasets

Performed statistical analysis on archaic features

Transcribed text as close to the original version as possible

Datasets and Corpora

Official texts adhering to standards in order to minimize effect of personal writing style

Methods and Analysis

The data was analysed using Python and the NLTK and spaCy libraries

Knew beforehand what features to look for

Written language started to be closer to spoken language

Results

Used "V" at the begining and "u" for everything else

Spread of modern "u" and "v" usage due to Lazare Zetzner's work

Interchangeable UV Forms

Typesetting mimicked handwriting, chance of being wrongly transcribed

French-style Spelling

Possible cause of decline being the political association of such forms with the Stuart loyalists

Periods of filtering, coinciding with the

Interregnum Period, Glorious Revolution, the as-

cension to the throne of George I and Samuel Johnson’s linguistic work

Latin Usage

Sharp increase during the English Civil War and the English Commonwealth

Higher frequency in the 18th century due to academic literature's writing conventions

Correlation between language use and political change

Advancements in printing technology shaping word form

Conclusions

More research needed in order to properly understand and track changes

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