Norms and Usage in Language History, 1600–1900
A sociolinguistic and comparative perspective
Historical sociolinguistics has successfully challenged the traditional focus on standardization in linguistic historiography. Extensive research on newly uncovered textual resources has shown the widespread variation in the written language of the past that was previously hidden or neglected. The time has come to integrate both perspectives, and to reassess the importance of language norms, standardization and prescription on the basis of sound empirical studies of large corpora of texts.
The chapters in this volume discuss the interplay of language norms and language use in the history of Dutch, English, French and German between 1600 and 1900. Written by leading experts in the field, each chapter focuses on one language and one century. A substantial introductory chapter puts the twelve research chapters into a comparative perspective.
The book is of interest to a wide readership, ranging from scholars of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, sociology and social history to (advanced) graduate and postgraduate students in courses on language variation and change.
The chapters in this volume discuss the interplay of language norms and language use in the history of Dutch, English, French and German between 1600 and 1900. Written by leading experts in the field, each chapter focuses on one language and one century. A substantial introductory chapter puts the twelve research chapters into a comparative perspective.
The book is of interest to a wide readership, ranging from scholars of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, sociology and social history to (advanced) graduate and postgraduate students in courses on language variation and change.
[Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics, 3] 2014. viii, 334 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 19 December 2014
Published online on 19 December 2014
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Acknowledgements | pp. vii–viii
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The interplay of language norms and usage patterns. Comparing the history of Dutch, English, French and GermanGijsbert Rutten, Rik Vosters and Wim Vandenbussche | pp. 1–18
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Dutch
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Language norms and language use in seventeenth-century Dutch: Negation and the genitiveJudith Nobels and Gijsbert Rutten | pp. 21–48
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Language norms and language use in eighteenth-century Dutch: Final n and the genitiveTanja Simons and Gijsbert Rutten | pp. 49–72
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Norms and usage in nineteenth-century Southern DutchRik Vosters, Els Belsack, Jill Puttaert and Wim Vandenbussche | pp. 73–100
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English
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Norms and usage in seventeenth-century EnglishTerttu Nevalainen | pp. 103–128
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Eighteenth-century English normative grammars and their readersIngrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade | pp. 129–150
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Nineteenth-century English: Norms and usageAnita Auer | pp. 151–170
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French
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From l’usage to le bon usage and back: Norms and usage in seventeenth-century FranceWendy Ayres-Bennett | pp. 173–200
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Jacques-Louis Ménétra and his experience of the langue d’ocR. Anthony Lodge | pp. 201–222
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From local to supra-local: Hybridity in French written documents from the nineteenth centuryFrance Martineau and Sandrine Tailleur | pp. 223–248
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German
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Language description, prescription and usage in seventeenth-century GermanNicola McLelland | pp. 251–276
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Standard German in the eighteenth century: Norms and useNils Langer | pp. 277–302
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Prescriptive norms and norms of usage in nineteenth-century GermanStephan Elspass | pp. 303–320
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Index | pp. 321–334
“Standardisation is a topic which deserves the in-depth attention given to it in the present, well-constructed volume. Here students and scholars alike will find accurate discussions and pertinent analyses of all issues surrounding norms and usage across several centuries. The volume will serve as a reference work in the field for many years to come.”
Raymond Hickey, University of Duisburg and Essen
“This is a very strong volume that I'll use often and recommend to students and colleagues. The issue of norms deserves this attention and the papers treat that issue in a coherent way for a clearly defined context, in terms of languages and time period.”
Joseph. C. Salmons, University of Wisconsin – Madison
“Bringing together leading researchers in each of the respective language fields, the volume unites themes and questions which have coalesced into some of the most fundamental concerns of historical sociolinguistics. [...] The variety of perspectives taken – quantitative and qualitative, focused on large corpora or on just one work or author in particular – means that this will be a valuable volume not only for those working in the four languages covered, but for historical (socio)linguists in general.”
Anna Tristram, Queen's University Belfast, in Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics Vol. 2.1 (2016)
Cited by (19)
Cited by 19 other publications
Amorós-Negre, Carla & Joan Costa-Carreras
2022. PRESENTATION of SPECIAL ISSUE: Variation and Change in Language Norms in Languages. Languages 7:2 ► pp. 145 ff. 
de Vos, Machteld
2022. In Between Description and Prescription: Analysing Metalanguage in Normative Works on Dutch 1550–1650. Languages 7:2 ► pp. 89 ff.
Vandenbussche, Wim
2022. The pursuit of language standardization research as a mission for true sociolinguists. Sociolinguistica 36:1-2 ► pp. 219 ff.
Wulf, Chris De
2022. The nature of graphs and graphemes in Middle Dutch writing and the problem of parsing. NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution 75:2 ► pp. 223 ff.
Ayres-Bennett, Wendy
2021. Modelling Language Standardization. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization, ► pp. 27 ff.
Ayres-Bennett, Wendy
2021. Sociolinguistique historique et suivi de l’évolution des langues : sources, types et genres de textes. Cahiers internationaux de sociolinguistique N° 18:1 ► pp. 19 ff.
Ayres-Bennett, Wendy
2023. Modelant l’estandardització. In Desired Language [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 35], ► pp. 189 ff.
Wendy Ayres-Bennett & John Bellamy
2021. The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization,
Elspaß, Stephan
2021. Language Standardization in a View ‘from Below’. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization, ► pp. 93 ff.
Heinrich, Jan Niklas
2021. Andreas Krogull: Policy versus practice: Language variation and change in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Dutch. Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 7:2 ► pp. 339 ff.
Krogull, Andreas & Gijsbert Rutten
2021. Reviving the genitive. Prescription and practice in the Netherlands (1770–1840). Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 7:1 ► pp. 61 ff.
Rutten, Gijsbert & Rik Vosters
2021. Language Standardization ‘from Above’. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization, ► pp. 65 ff.
Krogull, Andreas, Gijsbert Rutten & Marijke J. van der Wal
2017. Relativisation in Dutch diaries, private letters and newspapers (1770–1840). In Exploring Future Paths for Historical Sociolinguistics [Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics, 7], ► pp. 157 ff.
Säily, Tanja, Arja Nurmi, Minna Palander-Collin & Anita Auer
2017. The future of historical sociolinguistics?. In Exploring Future Paths for Historical Sociolinguistics [Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics, 7], ► pp. 1 ff.
Conde-Silvestre, J. Camilo
Conde-Silvestre, J. Camilo
2022. Historical sociolinguistics. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 756 ff.
Rutten, Gijsbert
2016. Historicizing diaglossia. Journal of Sociolinguistics 20:1 ► pp. 6 ff.
Rutten, Gijsbert
2022. Historical Diaglossia and the Selection of Multiple Norms:MijandMijnas 1st Person Singular Object Pronouns in 17th- and 18th-Century Dutch. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 34:1 ► pp. 35 ff.
[no author supplied]
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFF: Historical & comparative linguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General