Download or read book Strange Vernaculars written by Janet Sorensen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How vocabularies once associated with outsiders became objects of fascination in eighteenth-century Britain While eighteenth-century efforts to standardize the English language have long been studied—from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary to grammar and elocution books of the period—less well-known are the era's popular collections of odd slang, criminal argots, provincial dialects, and nautical jargon. Strange Vernaculars delves into how these published works presented the supposed lexicons of the "common people" and traces the ways that these languages, once shunned and associated with outsiders, became objects of fascination in printed glossaries—from The New Canting Dictionary to Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue—and in novels, poems, and songs, including works by Daniel Defoe, John Gay, Samuel Richardson, Robert Burns, and others. Janet Sorensen argues that the recognition and recovery of outsider languages was part of a transition in the eighteenth century from an aristocratic, exclusive body politic to a British national community based on the rhetoric of inclusion and liberty, as well as the revaluing of a common British past. These representations of the vernacular made room for the "common people" within national culture, but only after representing their language as "strange." Such strange and estranged languages, even or especially in their obscurity, came to be claimed as British, making for complex imaginings of the nation and those who composed it. Odd cant languages, witty slang phrases, provincial terms newly valued for their connection to British history, or nautical jargon repurposed for sentimental connections all toggle, in eighteenth-century jest books, novels, and poems, between the alluringly alien and familiarly British. Shedding new light on the history of the English language, Strange Vernaculars explores how eighteenth-century British literature transformed the patois attributed to those on the margins into living symbols of the nation. Examples of slang from Strange Vernaculars bum-boat woman: one who sells bread, cheese, greens, and liquor to sailors from a small boat alongside a ship collar day: execution day crewnting: groaning, like a grunting horse gentleman's companion: lice gingerbread-work: gilded carvings of a ship's bow and stern luggs: ears mort: a large amount thraw: to argue hotly and loudly

Download or read book The English Dialect Dictionary written by and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Prodigal Tongue written by Lynne Murphy and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOSEN BY THE ECONOMIST AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR An American linguist teaching in England explores the sibling rivalry between British and American English “English accents are the sexiest.” “Americans have ruined the English language.” Such claims about the English language are often repeated but rarely examined. Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language. With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?

Download or read book Passing English of the Victorian Era written by J Redding Ware and published by . This book was released on 2020-06-20 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

Download or read book A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue written by Captain Francis Grose and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is a profane guide to the slang from the backstreets and taverns of 18th-century London. This slang dictionary gathers the most amusing and useful terms from English history and helpfully presents them to be used in the conversations of our modern day. Originally published in 1785, the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was one of the first lexicons of English slang, compiled by a militia captain who collected the terms he overheard on his late-night excursions to London's slums, dockyards, and taverns. Now the legacy lives on in this colorful pocket dictionary. • Learn the origin of phrases like "birthday suit" and discover slang lost to time. • An unexpected marriage of lowbrow humor and highbrow wit Discover long lost antique slang and curse words and learn how to incorporate them into modern conversation. A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is perfect for enlivening contemporary conversation with historical phrases; it includes a topical list of words for money, drunkenness, the amorous congress, male and female naughty bits, and so on. • A funny book for wordplay, language, swearing, and insult fans, as well as fans of British humor and culture • Perfect for those who loved How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King's English, Cockney Slang, and Other Flummoxing British Phrases by Christopher J. Moore; Knickers in a Twist: A Dictionary of British Slang by Jonathan Bernstein; and The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm by James Napoli

Download or read book 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue written by Francis Grose and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 2024-11-01 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue* by Francis Grose is an entertaining and insightful exploration of the colloquial language and slang of early 19th-century England. This unique work serves as both a dictionary and a cultural commentary, capturing the vibrant and often humorous vernacular that characterized the everyday speech of the time. Grose meticulously compiles a plethora of terms and phrases, many of which reflect the social customs, occupations, and idiosyncrasies of the period. In this dictionary, readers will encounter a rich tapestry of language that ranges from the whimsical to the vulgar, providing a window into the lives of ordinary people, including their struggles, triumphs, and playful expressions. Grose’s definitions are often laced with wit and insight, showcasing his keen understanding of the human experience and the linguistic creativity of his contemporaries. The book also features anecdotes and examples that illustrate the use of slang in context, making it a lively and engaging read. *1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue* stands out not only as a linguistic resource but also as a historical document that captures the spirit of its time. Grose’s work serves as an important reminder of the evolving nature of language and how it reflects societal changes. For language enthusiasts, historians, and casual readers alike, this dictionary offers a delightful journey through the colorful expressions of the past. Readers are drawn to *1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue* for its quirky charm and invaluable insights into a bygone era. It is a must-have for anyone interested in the evolution of English slang, the nuances of informal language, or the rich tapestry of human expression. Adding this book to your collection is not just an investment in a linguistic treasure but also an invitation to explore the humor and creativity that language can offer.

Download or read book A Dictionary of the English Language written by Samuel Johnson and published by . This book was released on 1819 with total page 1234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Grammar Wars Language as Cultural Battlefield in 17th and 18th Century England written by Linda C Mitchell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-20 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2001: Although 17th- and 18th-century English language theorists claimed to be correcting errors in grammar and preserving the language from corruption, this new study demonstrates how grammar served as an important cultural battlefield where social issues were contested. Author Linda C. Mitchell situates early modern linguistic discussions, long thought to be of little interest, in their larger cultural and social setting to show the startling degree to which grammar affected, and was affected by, such factors as class and gender. In her examination of the controversies that surrounded the teaching and study of grammar in this period, Mitchell looks especially at changing definitions and standardization of "grammar", how and to whom it was taught, and how grammar marked the social position of marginal groups. Her comprehensive study of the contexts in which grammar was intended or thought to function is based on her analysis of the ancillary materials - prefaces, introductions, forewords, statements of intent, organization of materials, surrounding materials, and manifestos of pedagogy, philosophy, and social or political goals - of more than 300 grammar texts of the time. The book is intended as a landmark study of an important movement in the foundation of the modern world.

Download or read book Semantics and Cultural Change in the British Enlightenment New Words and Old written by Carey McIntosh and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-05-18 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obsolete old words from seventeenth-century English villages reflect the realities of working-class life, exhausting labor, dirt, bizarre foods, magic, horses, outrageous sexism, feudal duties. New words, first appearing in print 1650–1800, reflect a middle-class culture very different from an earlier courtly culture, interested in money, coffee-houses, and self-fulfillment. The book contains chapters on pre-industrial and middle-class culture, the scientific revolution, and semantic change. They give strong evidence that new words and the new senses of old words played a key role in the British Enlightenment, its links with quantification and natural science, its tendencies towards reorganization and democracy, its redefinitions and revitalizations of women’s roles, social stereotypes, the public sphere, and the very concepts of individualism, sociability, and civilization itself.

Download or read book Ship English written by Sally Delgado and published by Language Science Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents evidence in support of the hypothesis that Ship English of the early Atlantic colonial period was a distinct variety with characteristic features. It is motivated by the recognition that late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth century sailors’ speech was potentially an influential variety in nascent creoles and English varieties of the Caribbean, yet few academic studies have attempted to define the characteristics of this speech. Therefore, the two principal aims of this study were, firstly, to outline the socio-demographics of the maritime communities and examine how variant linguistic features may have developed and spread among these communities, and, secondly, to generate baseline data on the characteristic features of Ship English. The methodology’s data collection strategy targeted written representations of sailors’ speech prepared or published between the dates 1620 and 1750, and prioritized documents that were composed by working mariners. These written representations were then analyzed following a mixed methods triangulation design that converged the qualitative and quantitative data to determine plausible interpretations of the most likely spoken forms. Findings substantiate claims that there was a distinct dialect of English that was spoken by sailors during the period of early English colonial expansion. They also suggest that Ship English was a sociolect formed through the mixing, leveling and simplification processes of koinization. Indicators suggest that this occupation-specific variety stabilized and spread in maritime communities through predominantly oral speech practices and strong affiliations among groups of sailors. It was also transferred to port communities and sailors’ home regions through regular contact between sailors speaking this sociolect and the land-based service-providers and communities that maintained and supplied the fleets. Linguistic data show that morphological characteristics of Ship English are evident at the word-level, and syntactic characteristics are evident not only in phrase construction but also at the larger clause and sentence levels, whilst discourse is marked by characteristic patterns of subordination and culture-specific interjection patterns. The newly-identified characteristics of Ship English detailed here provide baseline data that may now serve as an entry point for scholars to integrate this language variety into the discourse on dialect variation in Early Modern English period and the theories on pidgin and creole genesis as a result of language contact in the early colonial period.

Download or read book A Bibliography of Writings on the English Language from the Beginning of Printing to the End of 1922 written by Arthur Garfield Kennedy and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Glossary of Words Used in the Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham Lincolnshire written by Edward Peacock and published by . This book was released on 1889 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Development of Early Modern English written by Marta Zapala-Kraj and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific Study from the year 2009 in the subject English - History of Literature, Eras, course: -, language: English, abstract: In the development of languages particular events often have recognizable and at times far-reaching effects. The Norman Conquest and the Black Death are typical instances that shaped the Middle English. In the Modern English period, the beginning of which is conveniently placed at 1500, numerous new conditions began to play an important role, conditions that previously either had not existed at all or were present in only a limited way, and they caused English to develop along somewhat different lines from those that had characterized its history in the Middle Ages. The new factors were the printing press, the rapid spread of popular education, the increased communication and means of communication, the growth of specialized knowledge, and the emergence of various forms of self-consciousness about language. Above everything, however, there is the factor which should be referred to as self-consciousness about language. This had two aspects, one individual, one public. At the individual level one may observe a phenomenon that has become intensely important in modern times: as people lift themselves into a different economic or intellectual or social level, they were likely to make an effort to adopt the standards of grammar and pronunciation of the people with whom they have identified, just as they tried to conform to fashions and tastes in dress and amusements. However superficial such conformity might be, people were as careful of their speech as of their manners. Awareness that there were standards of language was a part of their social consciousness. Most people were less aware that such standards were largely accidental rather than absolute, having developed through the historical contingencies of economics, culture, and class. The following paper has been written with the purpose of presenting the reader aspects of the fascinatin

Download or read book Varieties of English written by Alexander Bergs and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-10-23 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is one of the first detailed expositions of the history of different varieties of English. It explores language variation and varieties of English from an historical perspective, covering theoretical topics such as diffusion and supraregionalization as well as concrete descriptions of the internal and external historical developments of more than a dozen varieties of English.

Download or read book From Old English to Standard English written by Dennis Freeborn and published by University of Ottawa Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This practical and informative course book is a fascinating, visual volume which leads the student through the development of the language from Old English, through Middle and Early Modern English to the establishment of Standard English in the eighteenth century." "At the core of this substantially expanded second edition lies a series of nearly 200 historical texts, of which more than half are reproduced in facsimile, and which illustrate the progressive changes in the language. The book is firmly based upon linguistic description, with commentaries which form a series of case studies demonstrating the evidence for language change at every level - handwriting, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, grammar and meaning." "Such a wealth of texts, as well as the structured activities and the various case studies, allow the volume to be used not only as a stimulating course text, guiding students through the analysis of data, but also as a comprehensive resource book and invaluable reference tool for teachers and students at all levels."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book The Flash Press written by Patricia Cline Cohen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obscene, libidinous, loathsome, lascivious. Those were just some of the ways critics described the nineteenth-century weeklies that covered and publicized New York City’s extensive sexual underworld. Publications like the Flash and the Whip—distinguished by a captivating brew of lowbrow humor and titillating gossip about prostitutes, theater denizens, and sporting events—were not the sort generally bound in leather for future reference, and despite their popularity with an enthusiastic readership, they quickly receded into almost complete obscurity. Recently, though, two sizable collections of these papers have resurfaced, and in The Flash Press three renowned scholars provide a landmark study of their significance as well as a wide selection of their ribald articles and illustrations. Including short tales of urban life, editorials on prostitution, and moralizing rants against homosexuality, these selections epitomize a distinct form of urban journalism. Here, in addition to providing a thorough overview of this colorful reportage, its editors, and its audience, the authors examine nineteenth-century ideas of sexuality and freedom that mixed Tom Paine’s republicanism with elements of the Marquis de Sade’s sexual ideology. They also trace the evolution of censorship and obscenity law, showing how a string of legal battles ultimately led to the demise of the flash papers: editors were hauled into court, sentenced to jail for criminal obscenity and libel, and eventually pushed out of business. But not before they forever changed the debate over public sexuality and freedom of expression in America’s most important city.

Download or read book A Thesaurus of Old English Introduction and thesaurus written by Jane Roberts and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 2000 with total page 898 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: