Background and history

Newspaper English has been shown to be receptive to colloquialization as well as densification in late twentieth-century English. CNNE was compiled in order to be able to answer research questions about the occurrence of these types of change in nineteenth-century newspaper language. Each period sample was compiled with the aim of representing newspaper language from England during the period in question. The periodization was influenced by two main factors. First, the periods should be separated by a larger time span than that covered by each period. Secondly, the two periods should be separated by some important extralinguistic developments that may have had an impact on the newspaper industry in England, such as the abolition of the Taxes on Knowledge (1855 and 1861) and the formation of the Press Association (1868).