Screen LibraryImagining medieval English : language structures and theories, 500-1500 /
Imagining medieval English' is concerned with how we think about language, and simply through the process of thinking about it, give substance to an array of phenomena, including grammar, usage, variation, change, regional dialects, sociolects, registers, periodization, and even language itself...
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| Group Author: | |
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| Published: |
Cambridge University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | Cambridge, United Kingdom : |
| Publication Dates: | 2016. |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Series: |
Cambridge studies in medieval literature ;
95 |
| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
Imagining medieval English' is concerned with how we think about language, and simply through the process of thinking about it, give substance to an array of phenomena, including grammar, usage, variation, change, regional dialects, sociolects, registers, periodization, and even language itself. Leading scholars in the field explore conventional conceptualisations of medieval English, and consider possible alternatives and their implications for cultural as well as linguistic history. They explore not only the language's structural traits, but also the sociolinguistic and theoretical expectations that frame them and make them real. Spanning the period from 500 to 1500 and drawing on a wide range of examples, the chapters discuss topics such as medieval multilingualism, colloquial medieval English, standard and regional varieties, and the post-medieval reception of Old and Middle English. Together, they argue that what medieval English is, depends, in part, on who's looking at it, how, when and why. |
| Carrier Form: | xiii, 320 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-311) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9781107058590 1107058597 |
| Index Number: | PE525 |
| CLC: | H310.9 |
| Call Number: | H310.9/I318 |
| Contents: |
The metaphysics of medieval English / What was medieval English? / The evolution of Old and Middle English texts : linguistic form and practices of literacy / Snakes, ladders, and standard language / "Þæt is on englisc" : performing multilingualism in Anglo-Saxon England / Regional language and culture : the geography of Middle English linguistic variation / The linguistic repertoire of medieval England, 1100-1500 / The nature of material evidence / Sifting through the evidence : principles and pitfalls / Everyday English in late medieval England / Imagining the literary in medieval English / "The most excellent creatures are not ever born perfect" : early modern attitudes to Middle English / Ideas of medieval English in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries / |