Transforming Early English
The Reinvention of Early English and Older Scots
Published on 13. May 2020
314 pages
978-1-108-35936-8 (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
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 13 Halftones, black and white
File size
10,38 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-108-35936-8 (9781108359368)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2022
Cambridge University Press
€36.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Book
04/2020
Cambridge University Press
€126.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
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.
