Unlocking the History of English
Pragmatics, prescriptivism and text types. Selected papers from the 21st ICEHL
John Benjamins Publishing Co
Published on 4. April 2024
Book
Hardback
253 pages
978-90-272-1472-0 (ISBN)
Description
This volume brings together contributions selected from papers delivered at the 21st International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL, Leiden 2021). The chapters deal with aspects of language use throughout the history of English, including efforts to prescribe and regulate language in texts that share specific forms, functions and audiences. They feature both quantitative and qualitative analyses of changing language use, often in relation to trends of language advice in such metalinguistic works as grammars, spelling books and usage guides. The authors showcase work on pragmatics and prescriptivism (understatement between Middle and Late Modern English, capitalization of common nouns from Early to Late Modern English and the use of stigmatized grammatical variants in eighteenth-century plays), specific text types (case studies of political, legal and medical English) and the language of late modern letters (diachronic stylistic changes, letter-copying practices, the role of letter-writing manuals and changing spelling practices). This volume will be of interest to those working on pragmatics, prescriptivism and sociolinguistics of English, historical linguistics, language change, computational historical linguistics and related sub-disciplines.
Reviews / Votes
The collective volume thus aims to serve as a key 'to word hoards yet to be unlocked' (p. 7); in other words, to discover the linguistic gems which the English language has treasured through history. [...] The analyses presented in the volume are also approached from a myriad of perspectives and methodologies, some of which entail substantial innovations to the field. -- Marta Pacheco-Franco, Universidad de Malaga, in English Language and Linguistics 2025More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Weight
610 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-1472-0 (9789027214720)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Caon Luisella Caon | Gordon Moragh S. Gordon | Porck Thijs Porck
Unlocking the History of English
Pragmatics, prescriptivism and text types. Selected papers from the 21st ICEHL
E-Book
04/2024
1st Edition
John Benjamins Publishing Company
€124.99
Available for download
Persons
Editor
Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University