Eighteenth-Century English. Ideology and Change.

Raymond Hickey

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 426 pages.

The aim of this book has been to bring together a group of those scholars working on aspects of late modern English. The volume is divided into thematic sections which deal with issues central to English in the eighteenth century. It begins with chapters on linguistic ideology and the grammatical tradition in England, This is connected the rise of prescriptivism and also with the contribution of women to the writing of grammars. A further section looks at the interactions of writers at this time, at the manner in which they influenced each other and at modes of politeness in eighteenth-century discourse. The issue of grammatical variation, including that on a regional and dialectal level, is discussed in an ensuing section. The volume also contains an overview chapter on English lexicography in the eighteenth century and some chapters which examine developments in English which reached into the nineteenth century.

Contents

Attitudes and concerns in eighteenth-century English
RAYMOND HICKEY

Prescriptivism and the suppression of variation
JOAN BEAL

Women's grammars
CAROL PERCY

Eighteenth-century women and their norms of correctness
INGRID TIEKEN-BOON VAN OSTADE

Lowth as an icon of prescriptivism
INGRID TIEKEN-BOON VAN OSTADE

Queeney Thrale and the teaching of English grammar
KARLIJN NAVEST

Coalitions, networks, and discourse communities in Augustan England: The Spectator and the early eighteenth-century essay
SUSAN FITZMAURICE

Contextualizing eighteenth-century politeness: social distinction and metaphorical levelling
TERTTU NEVALAINEN AND HELI TISSARI

Expressive speech acts and politeness in eighteenth-century English
IRMA TAAVITSAINEN AND ANDREAS H. JUCKER

Variation and change in eighteenth-century English
RICHARD W. BAILEY

Variation in sentential complements in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English: a processing-based explanation
TERESA FANEGO

Nationality and standardisation in eighteenth-century Scotland
CHARLES JONES

English in eighteenth-century Ireland
RAYMOND HICKEY

Changes and continuities in dialect grammar
BERND KORTMANN AND SUSANNE WAGNER

'Be pleased to report expressly': the development of a public style in late modern English business and official correspondence
MARINA DOSSENA

Registering the language - dictionaries, diction and the art of elocution
LYNDA MUGGLESTONE

References

Late Modern English language studies
RAYMOND HICKEY

Timeline for the eighteenth century
RAYMOND HICKEY

Indexes