"The Industrial Revolution created a social shift towards an individualistic, corporate mentality where value
is determined by output, and this shift
will be reflected in the semantic shifts of words like "order/class", "boss", "job",
and "work".
Main Research Questions
1)Do the semantic shifts of these words align
chronologically with key events of the Industrial Revolution?
2)If semantic shifts align with key events of the Industrial Revolution, what do their new meanings indicate about the cultural shifts that took place
during the Industrial Revolution?
Key Beliefs
1)Language is not static
2)Meaning is socially constructed
3)Culture influences language use
4)Language holds cultural information
Research Methodology
1)Decided on a manageable word list
Selected words with modern meanings tied to labor and socio-economic life.
2)Search the Oxford English Dictionary for attestations (~1750–1908)
Used the OED as the primary source for historical definitions and dated attestations.
3)Align attestations with key moments of the Industrial Revolution
Plotted semantic shifts on a timeline alongside identified historical events.
Tested whether changes in meaning correlate chronologically with the timeline of the Industrial
Revolution
Important Caveats
1)The OED does not provide an exhaustive list of attestation, but instead aims to
provide examples of subtle semantic shifts.
2)The goal for this project was to see where major periods of semantic shifts for
words took place.