Grammar Wars: Language as Cultural Battlefield in 17th and 18th Century England: Language as Cultural Battlefield in 17th and 18th Century EnglandThis 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. |
Contents
Vernacular Claims Victory | |
Hartlib Comenius Milton | |
Good Grammar or Good Writing | |
Battles in Universal Language and Universal Grammar | |
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Andrews Clark Memorial argues authors Charles Gildon claims Clark Memorial Library Comenius Comenius’s common composition correct defines grammar discourse discussion easy eighteenth century England English Dictionary English Grammar English language English Tongue Essay example explains females foreigners foundation French George Dalgarno Gildon grammar books grammar texts grammarians Hartlib idea John John Wilkins Johnson knowledge Latin grammar Latin Tongue learn English learning grammar letter-writing letters lexicographers Lily’s linguistic literacy logic London Lowth Maittaire method middle class Miège Milton moral mother tongue nouns Orbis sensualium pictus pedagogy Philosophical Language practice pronunciation Robert Lowth rules of grammar Samuel Hartlib scholars schoolmasters sentence seventeenth and eighteenth seventeenth century skills social speaking and writing speech spelling style Swift taught teaching grammar things traditional rhetoric understand universal character universal grammar universal language usage verbs vernacular vocabulary vocational wanted Wilkins William Andrews Clark women words writing instruction