The role of English in the circulation of early modern economic discourse (1550-1600): a preliminary corpus-based analysis

The aim of this paper is to investigate the creation of key terminology responsible for the dissemination of early modern economic discourse; particular reference will be devoted to Latin-based loanwords and borrowings in the establishment of the key concepts of economics as a brand new discipline in the early modern period. In the same period, the English language entered a process of systematization to serve special purposes of communication, and early modern economic discourse definitely required standardization; moreover, economics was still a political practice, and mainly concerned with morality applied to economic theories (1500-1776). Thus, the paper investigates the contact of English with Latin as the high-prestige variety of the circulating economic discourse in the second half of the 16 th century, with particular reference to key terms from the related microlanguage in its path towards standardisation. In the framework of the critical review of theoretical assumptions regarding the history of the English language, I will adopt tools and concepts from corpus linguistics, i.e. a frequency-based analysis of selected morphemes which relate to Latin as a main repository for technical vocabulary. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis will be conducted in a selection of key texts to explore the derivational processes of English as a special language in the key themes and tòpoi of early modern economic discourse. Expected results suggest further investigation into the contribution of Latin to the creation and circulation of new fields of specialized knowledge in the early modern period, especially those which are not yet sufficiently explored in the existing literature.