William Bullokar was a 16th-century
printer who devised a 40-letter
phonetic alphabet for the
English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
. Its characters were presented in the
black-letter or "gothic" writing style commonly used at the time and also in
Roman type
In Latin script typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of Typeface, historical type, alongside blackletter and Italic type, italic. Sometimes called normal or regular, it is distinct from these two for its upright style (relative to the ...
. Taking as his model a Latin grammar by
William Lily,
Bullokar wrote the first published grammar of the English language, in a book titled ''Brief Grammar for English'', which appeared in 1586.
Works
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** scan:
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** facsimile edition:
** facsimile in Bullokar (1977)
** transcription at Plessow (1906)
pp. 237-330*
** transcription at Plessow (1906)
pp. 1-212*
** transcription at Plessow (1906)
pp. 213-235*
** facsimile in Bullokar (1977)
** transcription at Plessow (1906)
pp. 331-385*
** transcription at Plessow (1906)
pp. 386-390
See also
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History of English grammars
The history of English grammars(subscription required) begins late in the sixteenth century with the ''Pamphlet for Grammar'' by William Bullokar. In the early works, the structure and rules of English grammar were based on those of Latin. A more m ...
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English-language spelling reform
For centuries, there have been movements to reform the spelling of the English language. Such spelling reform seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. ...
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullokar, William
English orthography
Linguists of English
Orthographers
16th-century English businesspeople
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Writing systems introduced in the 16th century
English-language spelling reform advocates