
Transforming Early English
The Reinvention of Early English and Older Scots
Jeremy J. Smith(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 20. October 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
314 pages
978-1-108-41485-2 (ISBN)
Description
Transforming Early English shows how historical pragmatics can offer a powerful explanatory framework for the changes medieval English and Older Scots texts undergo, as they are transmitted over time and space. The book argues that formal features such as spelling, script and font, and punctuation - often neglected in critical engagement with past texts - relate closely to dynamic, shifting socio-cultural processes, imperatives and functions. This theme is illustrated through numerous case-studies in textual recuperation, ranging from the reinvention of Old English poetry and prose in the later medieval and early modern periods, to the eighteenth-century 'vernacular revival' of literature in Older Scots.
Reviews / Votes
'The questions that the book attempts to answer ... are ... extremely relevant, as any answers will have immediate and crucial import on the field of linguistics in general.' Marcin Krygier, Studia Anglica PosnaniensiaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 13 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
422 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-41485-2 (9781108414852)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2020
Cambridge University Press
€89.99
Available for download

Book
04/2020
Cambridge University Press
€126.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Jeremy Smith is the University of Glasgow's Professor of English Philology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies. His publications reflect his wide interests, which range from English historical linguistics and book history to the language of Robert Burns.
Content
Prologue. Snatched from the fire: the case of Thomas Percy; 1. On historical pragmatics; 2. Inventing the Anglo-Saxons; 3. 'Witnesses preordained by God': the reception of Middle English religious prose; 4. The great tradition: Langland, Gower, Chaucer; 5. Forging the nation: reworking older Scottish literature; 6. On textual transformations: Walter Scott and beyond.