Letter Writing and Language Change
Published on 21. March 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-108-71316-0 (ISBN)
Description
Letter Writing and Language Change outlines the historical sociolinguistic value of letter analysis, both in theory and practice. The chapters in this volume make use of insights from all three 'Waves of Variation Studies', and many of them, either implicitly or explicitly, look at specific aspects of the language of the letter writers in an effort to discover how those writers position themselves and how they attempt, consciously or unconsciously, to construct social identities. The letters are largely from people in the lower strata of social structure, either to addressees of the same social status or of a higher status. In this sense the question of the use of 'standard' and/or 'nonstandard' varieties of English is in the forefront of the contributors' interest. Ultimately, the studies challenge the assumption that there is only one 'legitimate' and homogenous form of English or of any other language.
Reviews / Votes
'Letter Writing and Language Change highlights the rich variety of approaches that letters can offer for the study of language variation and change across time, space and the linguistic spectrum.' Terttu Nevalainen, University of Helsinki 'A highly anticipated key publication on letter writing and language standardization, bringing together an impressive selection of contributors and a stellar editorial team. Definitely a must-read for any historical sociolinguist.' Wim Vandenbussche, Vrije Universiteit Brussel 'Overall, the edited collection makes some significant strides in uncovering multiple histories of a given language, which should inspire similar studies based on personal documents like letters and diaries in other languages too. Hence, the collection can be easily used as a textbook in any advanced sociolinguistics class or a graduate level seminar on language change over time, especially for those interested in letter data for historical studies of any language.' Md Mijanur Rahman, LINGUIST ListMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
34 Tables, black and white; 9 Halftones, black and white; 11 Line drawings, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
608 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-71316-0 (9781108713160)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Anita Auer | Daniel Schreier | Richard J. Watts
Letter Writing and Language Change
Book
07/2015
Cambridge University Press
€140.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Anita Auer is Full Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Lausanne. Daniel Schreier is Full Professor of English Linguistics at Universitaet Zuerich. Richard J. Watts is a former Full Professor of English Linguistics at Universitaet Bern, Switzerland, now retired.
Content
1. Setting the scene, letters, standards and historical sociolinguistics Richard J. Watts; 2. Assessing variability and change in early English letters Juan Manuel Hernandez-Campoy and Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre; 3. Private letters as a source for an alternative history of Middle New High German Stephan Elspass; 4. Language in print and handwriting Tony Fairman; 5. Heterogeneity vs homogeneity Marianne Hundt; 6. Emerging standards in the colonies, variation and the Canadian letter writer Stefan Dollinger; 7. Linguistic fingerprints of authors and scribes Alexander Bergs; 8. Stylistic variation Anita Auer; 9. English aristocratic letters Susan Fitzmaurice; 10. Early nineteenth-century pauper letters Mikko Laitinen; 11. A non-standard standard? Exploring the evidence from nineteenth-century vernacular letters and diaries Barbara Allen; 12. Archaism and dialect in Irish emigrant letters Lukas Pietsch; 13. Assessing heterogeneity Lucia Siebers; 14. Hypercorrection and the persistence of local dialect features in writing Daniel Schreier; 15. Epilogue: where next? Anita Auer, Daniel Schreier and Richard J. Watts; References; Index.