Nineteenth-Century English
Stability and Change
Published on 19. October 2006
Book
Hardback
316 pages
978-0-521-86106-9 (ISBN)
Description
This volume of Studies in English Language focuses on the nineteenth century, an important period of both stability and change for the English language. Through ten detailed case studies, it highlights the relationships between English, its users, and nineteenth-century society, looking particularly at gender differences and variation across genres. It also discusses major structural aspects of nineteenth-century English, such as nouns, verbs and adjectives, and Germanic vs. Romance vocabulary. Although the nineteenth century is often viewed as a relatively stable period in the development of the language, this volume shows the 1800s to be a time of significant change, some of which continued into the twentieth century. By making comparisons possible with both earlier and later periods, it makes an important contribution to our overall understanding of the history of the English language.
Reviews / Votes
'This volume is an important and highly welcome contribution to the investigation of nineteenth-century English and to the corpus-based diachronic study of linguistic variation in general. It goes without saying that it provides further evidence for the fact that the nineteenth century is a very attractive period in the history of English which merits the particular attention of historical linguists.' Journal of English Language and LinguisticsMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
121 Tables, unspecified; 2 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
666 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-86106-9 (9780521861069)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2007
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€26.49
Available for download
Persons
Merja Kytoe is Professor of English Language, Uppsala University. Mats Ryden is Professor Emeritus in English, Uppsala University. Erik Smitterberg is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in English Linguistics, Stockholm University.
Content
List of plates; List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction: exploring nineteenth century English - past and present perspectives Merja Kytoe, Mats Ryden and Erik Smitterberg; 1. Modifiers describing women and men in nineteenth-century English Ingegerd Baecklund; 2. Words in English Record Office documents of the early 1800s Tony Fairman; 3. The subjunctive in adverbial clauses in nineteenth-century English Peter Grund and Terry Walker; 4. The passive in nineteenth-century scientific writing Larisa Oldireva Gustafsson; 5. Relativizers in nineteenth-century English Christine Johansson; 6. Anaphoric reference in the nineteenth century: 'that/those + of' constructions Mark Kaunisto; 7. Adjective comparison in nineteenth-century English Merja Kytoe and Suzanne Romaine; 8. Nonfinite complement clauses in the nineteenth century: the case of 'remember' Christian Mair; 9. The 'in-ing' construction in British English, 1800-2000 Juhani Rudanko; 10. Partitive constructions in nineteenth-century English Erik Smitterberg; Appendix; References; Name index; Subject index.