Massimo Sturiale is currently serving as an Associate Professor at the Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures, and Mediations at the University of Milan (Italy). With a Ph.D. in English and Anglo-American Studies, he specializes in historical (socio)linguistics, translation studies, and phonetics. His academic journey includes a Master’s degree from the University of Sheffield and numerous teaching and research roles at the University of Catania.

Prof. Sturiale has an extensive publication record, including a monograph, edited volumes, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles on prescriptivism, pronunciation dictionaries, and sociolinguistics. He has organized and participated in international conferences and serves as a reviewer for esteemed academic journals. His work also extends to institutional leadership, having held key roles in academic governance, curriculum development, and international collaborations.

An active member of the Italian Association for English Studies (AIA) and the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE), Massimo Sturiale contributes to shaping linguistic scholarship through research, editorial responsibilities, and mentorship. His expertise bridges the gap between historical linguistics and modern language variation, making significant contributions to the field of English studies.

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the social and ideological processes through which spoken Standard English came to be constructed as a model of linguistic correctness and social prestige. Adopting a historical sociolinguistic perspective, it explores how variation—an inherent and systematic property of language—came to be reinterpreted as deviation, error, or social stigma through prescriptive practices and normative discourses (Curzan 2014; Labov 1972; Milroy & Milroy 1999). The focus is on the codification of English pronunciation from the eighteenth century onwards, a period widely recognised as crucial in the development of standard language ideology (Haugen 1966; Mugglestone 2003).

The paper first situates the discussion within historical sociolinguistics, emphasising the relationship between linguistic change, social structure and ideology. While early historical linguistics acknowledged language change and variability, it was only with the emergence of sociolinguistics that variation began to be understood as socially meaningful rather than merely corrupt or degenerate (McColl Millar 2012). Against this backdrop, the eighteenth century represents a turning point in the history of English, marking the rise of prescriptivism and the systematic attempt to regulate spoken language, particularly pronunciation.

Central to this process were pronouncing dictionaries and orthoepic works, which played a key role in fixing norms and establishing authoritative models of “correct” speech (Beal 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014; Hickey 2009; Pouillon 2018). Drawing on a range of eighteenth-century pronouncing dictionaries (e.g. Sheridan 1780; Walker 1791), the paper analyses how linguistic authority was constructed and legitimised through appeals to notions such as “polite usage”, “good company” and social refinement. These works did not merely describe pronunciation but actively evaluated variants, classifying them as correct, vulgar, provincial or improper, thereby embedding phonetic variation within a rigid, class-based hierarchy (Mugglestone 1988).
The paper further argues that the social reach of these evaluative categories was significantly expanded through the press. Late modern newspapers functioned as key sites for the circulation of metalinguistic discourse, contributing to the dissemination and reinforcement of prescriptive attitudes towards spoken English (Percy 2009, 2012; Agha 2007). Letters to the editor, in particular, provide valuable evidence of lay engagement with issues of pronunciation, revealing how normative judgements were negotiated, reproduced and contested beyond specialist linguistic circles (Lukač 2015). Through repeated references to “vulgar” or “provincial” pronunciation, newspapers helped consolidate linguistic stereotypes and reinforce social divisions, effectively transforming pronunciation into a marker of moral worth and social legitimacy (Sturiale 2016a, 2016b, 2023).

By combining theoretical discussion with historical data from pronouncing dictionaries and newspapers, the paper highlights the close relationship between correctness, prestige and power in the social making of spoken Standard English. It argues that standard pronunciation emerged not simply as a linguistic norm, but as a powerful ideological construct closely tied to social hierarchy, authority and exclusion. The study thus offers a critical perspective on standard language ideology, demonstrating its historical roots and its enduring relevance to contemporary debates on language, inequality and linguistic authority.

References

Agha, Asif, 2007, Language and Social Relations. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Beal, Joan C., 2009, “Pronouncing Dictionaries - I Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries” in A.P. Cowie, The Oxford History of English Lexicography, Oxford, Clarendon Press, , pp. 149-175.

Beal, Joan C., 2010, “Prescriptivism and the Suppression of Variation”, in R. Hickey (ed.), Eighteenth-Century English. Ideology and Change, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 21-37.

Beal, Joan C., 2012, “By Those Provincials Mispronounced”: The Strut Vowel in Eighteenth-Century Pronouncing Dictionaries. Language & History. Special Issue (Guest Editors: J. Beal and M. Sturiale) Prescriptivism and Pronouncing Dictionaries: Past and Present, 55 (1), pp. 5-17.

Beal, Joan C., 2014. “Words of Dubious and Unsettled Pronunciation: Standardising Pronunciation in 18th-Century Britain”. In English Words in Time, ed. M. Sturiale, C. Nocera and G. Iamartino. Monza, Polimetrica, pp. 81-98.

Curzan, Anne, 2014, Fixing English. Prescription and Language History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Haugen, Einar, 1966, “Dialect, Language, Nation”, American Anthropologist, 68, pp. 922-935.

Hickey, Raymond. 2009. “‘Telling People How To Speak’: Rhetorical Grammars and Pronouncing Dictionaries”, in I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade and W. van der Wurff (eds), Current Issues in Late Modern English, Bern, Peter Lang, pp. 89-116

Labov, William, 1972, Sociolinguistic Patterns, Philadelphia, Philadelphia University Press.

Lukač, Morana, 2015, “Linguistic Prescriptivism in Letters to the Editor”,  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2015.1068790.

McColl Millar, Robert, 2012, English Historical Sociolinguistics, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.

Milroy James, Milroy Lesley, 1999, Authority in Language. Investigating Language Prescription and Standardisation, London and New York, Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Mugglestone, Lynda C., 1988, “Prescription, Pronunciation, and Issues of Class in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries”, in D.M. Reeks (ed.), Sentences for Allan Ward: Essays Presented to Alan Ward on the Occasion of his Retirement from Wadham College, Oxford, Bosphoros Books, pp. 175-182.

Mugglestone, Lynda C. 2003 (1995), Talking Proper. The Rise of Accent as Social Symbol, 2nd edn. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Percy, Carol, 2009, “Periodical Reviews and the Rise of Prescriptivism: The Monthly (1749-1844) and Critical Review (1756-1817) in the Eighteenth Century”, in I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade and W. van der Wurff (eds), Current Issues in Late Modern English, Bern, Peter Lang, pp. 117-150.

Percy, Carol, 2012, “Early Advertising and Newspapers as Sources of Sociolinguistic Investigation”. In: J. M. Hernández-Campoy – J. C. Conde-Silvestre (eds) The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 191-210

Pouillon, Véronique, 2018, “Eighteenth-Century Pronouncing Dictionaries: Reflecting Usage or Setting Their Own Standard?”, in Linda Pilliere, Wilfrid Andrieu, Valerie Kerfelec, Diana Lewis (eds), Standardising English, Norms and Margins in the History of the English Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 106-126.

Sheridan, Thomas, 1780, A General Dictionary of the English Language. London: J. Dodsley et al.

Sturiale, Massimo, 2016, “‘[Sir,] Who is the English Authority on Pronunciation?’: Accent and Normative Attitude in The Times (1785-1922)”, Language and History, Special Issue (Guest Editors Joan C. Beal and Giovanni Iamartino) Towards a History of the English Normative Tradition, 59/1, pp. 37-47.

Sturiale, Massimo, 2016‘As The Times Goes By’: The Codification of (British) English Pronunciation and the Press”, Textus: English Studies in Italy, 29/3, 2016, pp. 59-80.

Sturiale, Massimo, 2023, “The Press and the Standard Accent” in Nicholas Brownlees (ed.), The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, Volume 1, Beginnings and Consolidation 1640–1800, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 215-219. 

Walker, John, 1791, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary. London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson.