Letter Writing in Late Modern Europe

Editors
ORCID logoMarina Dossena | University of Bergamo
Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti | University of Florence
HardboundAvailable
ISBN 9789027256232 | EUR 95.00 | USD 143.00
 
e-Book
ISBN 9789027274700 | EUR 95.00 | USD 143.00
 
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In recent years there has been a renewed interest in correspondence both as a literary genre and as cultural practice, and several studies have appeared, mainly spanning the centuries between Early and Late Modern times. However, it is between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the roots of contemporary usage begin to evolve, thanks to the circulation of new educational materials and more widespread schooling practices.
In this volume, chapters representing diverse but complementary methodological approaches discuss linguistic and discursive practices of correspondence in Late Modern Europe, in order to offer material for the comparative, cross-linguistic analyses of patterns occurring in different social contexts.
The volume aims to provide a general and solid methodological structure for the study of largely untapped language material from a variety of comparable sources, and is expected to appeal to scholars and students interested in the linguistic history of epistolary writing practices, as well as to all those interested in the more recent history of European languages.
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 218] 2012.  vii, 254 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Table of Contents
Letter Writing in Late Modern Europe is a landmark publication that crosses cultural and language boundaries in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. At the intersection of historical pragmatics and sociolinguistics, the volume captures the diversity of epistolary communication in all walks of life, ranging from private letters to commercial and diplomatic correspondence. The windows that it opens on changing cultural practices and language history are truly fascinating.”
“Dossena's long-standing expertise in the field has enabled her to present this striking volume which thoroughly explores the tension between early standardization, ideology and everyday best writing practices as they transpired in ego-documents from the 17th through the 19th century. This collection of articles contains cutting-edge research on Late Modern English letter writing, complemented with the very best work from spearheading teams from other language communities. Any scholar working on 'literacy from below', ego-documents or historical correspondence will have to include the present volume as a key reference.”
“Altogether the volume covers a wide range of situations in which mostly ordinary, minimally or only moderately educated, writers had occasion to communicate by letter. The varied and extensive material examined has the potential to throw considerable light on how epistolary language was used at any one time and in different situations. It is a valuable addition to the study of letter writing in modern times.”
“This volume gives a very good impression of the great range represented by the letter genre and of the diverse ways in which linguists can make use of it. The three aspects that stand out especially for me are (i) possible crosslinguistic comparisons, (ii) lower-class/less educated writers, and (iii) formulaic language use.”
“This book is a welcome — and a well done — addition to the increasing family of both studies in late modern linguistics in general and in letter writing in particular. Dossena’s and Del Lungo Camiciotti’s deep knowledge and experience in the late modern era and its language practices has presented us with another high-quality publication, and also a very enjoyable read.”
“[A] solid addition to the field of historical sociolinguistics. The book [...] will provide historical sociolinguists with refined tools, methods, and approaches, as well as the cross-linguistic contextual background necassary for future studies.”
Cited by

Cited by 30 other publications

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Nevala, Minna
2017.  Anita Auer , Daniel Schreier and Richard J. Watts (eds.), Letter writing and language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Pp. 352. ISBN 9781107018648.. English Language and Linguistics 21:3  pp. 574 ff. DOI logo
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2024. “No criticism or remarks & pray burn it as fast as you read it”. In Unlocking the History of English [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 364],  pp. 180 ff. DOI logo
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[no author supplied]
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
ONIX Metadata
ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2012000159 | Marc record