Social and Sociolinguistic Stratification in England The Seeds of a Popular Revolt (1357-1689)

Chapter 1 establishes the framework through which the worldviews and belief systems of Franklin’s generation can be understood. Central to this framework is the “Great Chain of Being,” an ideology that continues to shape the hierarchical organization of human society today. Its social, cultural, and religious dimensions remain deeply embedded in modern Western societies.One of the most profound and unconscious ways in which the Great Chain of Being has conditioned us is through its influence on our judgements about language, particularly notions of “correct” and “incorrect” usage and the assumptions that are often made about the intellectual capacity and social worth of those who do not, or cannot, master the standard. Its sociolinguistic impact remains all-pervasive and constitutes one of the underlying themes uniting this book.In Franklin’s day, speakers were classified as either “vulgar” or “polite” according to the variety and register of their speech. Although negative attitudes toward dialect speakers have been significantly attenuated over the past seventy years, their persistence remains central to the raison d’être of sociolinguistics as a discipline. This chapter examines the extent to which the sociolinguistic and sociocultural situation in eighteenth-century America was enmeshed in earlier English political (Whig), religious (dissenting) as well as cultural and social traditions—particularly those of eastern England – reaching back to the late Middle Ages.