Weights and Measures of Eighteenth-Century Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Montagu's Correspondence

Abstract

In this essay, Anni Sairio explores sociolinguistic variation and change in Elizabeth Montagu's personal letters from the 1730s to the 1780s. Corpus analysis of the letters focuses on language features with normative and (in)formal connotations. The language of Montagu's letters changed considerably in the 1750s and 1760s, which indicates that her position in the Bluestocking network and her new social role had linguistic influence. On the one hand, preposition stranding all but disappeared as her social status became more prominent. On the other hand, Montagu's spelling became increasingly informal over the years, which suggests a kind of indifference to the ongoing language standardization. Contracted and abbreviated spellings were also more frequent in her letters to women. Life events, social relationships, and macrolevel linguistic developments all play a part in the variation and change of Montagu's language. In "'The Commerce of Life': Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800)," ed. Nicole Pohl, special issue, http://muse.jhu.edu/issue/39838/print