English and empire : literary history, dialect, and the digital archive / David West Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, David West, author.

Series:

Studies in English language.

Studies in English language

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--History and criticism.

English literature.

Dialogue in literature.

English language--Social aspects--Great Britain--History.

English language.

Minorities in literature.

Characters and characteristics in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 351 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Combining statistical modelling and archival study, English and Empire investigates how African diasporic, Chinese, and Indian characters have been voiced in British fiction and drama produced between 1768 and 1929. The analysis connects patterns of linguistic representation to changes in the imperial political economy, to evolving language ideologies that circulate in the Anglophone world, and to shifts in sociocultural anxieties that crosscut race and empire. In carrying out his investigation, David West Brown makes the case for a methodological approach that links the distant (quantitative) and close (qualitative) reading of diverse digital artefacts. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book will appeal to a variety of scholars and students including sociolinguists interested in historical language variation, as well as literary scholars interested in postcolonial studies and the digital humanities.

Contents:

Literary dialect, race, and empire

Corpus design

An overview of data and the digital toolkit

Case #1: African diasporic dialogue

Case #2: Indian dialogue

Case #3: Chinese dialogue

The enduring power of mimicry and the politics of measurement.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 29 Oct 2018).

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1-108-59187-6

1-108-55104-1

1-108-69732-1

OCLC:

1060524460