Grammars, grammarians, and grammar-writing in eighteenth-century England / edited by Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Ingrid.

Series:

Topics in English linguistics ; 59.

Topics in English linguistics ; 59

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Grammar--History.

English language.

Grammarians--Great Britain--Biography.

Grammarians.

English language--Textbooks--History--18th century.

English language--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (372 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The book offers insight into the publication history of eighteenth-century English grammars in unprecedented detail. It is based on a close analysis of various types of relevant information: Alston's bibliography of 1965, showing that this source needs to be revised urgently; the recently published online database Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) with respect to sources of information never previously explored or analysed (such as book catalogues and library catalogues); Carol Percy's database on the reception of eighteenth-century grammars in contemporary periodical reviews; and so-called precept corpora containing data on the treatment in a large variety of grammars (and other works) of individual grammatical constructions. By focusing on individual grammars and their history a number of long-standing questions are solved with respect to the authorship of particular grammars and related work (the Brightland/Gildon grammar and the Bellum Grammaticale; Ann Fisher's grammar) while new questions are identified, such as the significant change of approach between the publication of one grammar and its second edition of seven years later (Priestley), and the dependence of later practical grammars (for mothers and their children) on earlier publications. The contributions present a view of the grammarians as individuals with (or without) specific qualifications for undertaking what they did, with their own ideas on teaching methodology, and as writers ultimately engaged in the common aim presenting practical grammars of English to the general public. Interestingly - and importantly - this collection of articles demonstrates the potential of ECCO as a resource for further research in the field.

Contents:

Front matter

Table of contents

Grammars, grammarians and grammar writing: An introduction

Part 1. Background

Background: Introduction

The eighteenth-century grammarians as language experts

Grammar writers in eighteenth-century Britain: A community of practice or a discourse community?

Eighteenth-century grammars and book catalogues

Part 2. Reception and the market for grammars

Reception and the market for grammars: Introduction

Bellum Grammaticale (1712) ... A battle of books and a battle for the market

The 1760's: Grammars, grammarians and the booksellers

Mid-century grammars and their reception in the Monthly Review and the Critical Review

Part 3. The grammarians

The grammarians: Introduction

Ann Fisher's A New Grammar, or was it Daniel Fisher s work?

Joseph Priestley's two Rudiments of English Grammar: 1761 and 1768

Eighteenth-century teacher-grammarians and the education of "proper" women

"Borrowing a few passages": Lady Ellenor Fenn and her use of sources

Part 4. The grammars

The grammars: Introduction

Preposition stranding in the eighteenth century: Something to talk about

Foolish, foolisher, foolishest: Eighteenth-century English grammars and the comparison of adjectives and adverbs

On normative grammarians and the double marking of degree

Back matter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612194719

9781282194717

1282194712

9783110199185

3110199181

OCLC:

476197073