Letter Writing in Late Modern Europe
Editors
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.
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
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Acknowledgements | pp. vii–viii
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IntroductionMarina Dossena and Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti | pp. 1–12
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The study of correspondence: Theoretical and methodological issuesMarina Dossena | pp. 13–30
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A historical digital archive of Portuguese lettersRita Marquilhas | pp. 31–44
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Between linguistic creativity and formulaic restriction: Cross-linguistic perspectives on nineteenth-century lower class writers’ private lettersStephan Elspass | pp. 45–64
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Performing identities and interaction through epistolary formulaeLea Laitinen and Taru Nordlund | pp. 65–88
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Fanny to William: A Critical Discourse Analysis approach to the letters of Frances Leonora MacleayEleonora Chiavetta | pp. 89–104
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An atypical commercial correspondence: Negotiating artefacts and statusGabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti | pp. 105–120
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Reporting the news in English and Italian diplomatic correspondenceNicholas Brownlees | pp. 121–138
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Letters as loot: Confiscated Letters filling major gaps in the History of DutchMarijke J. van der Wal, Gijsbert Rutten and Tanja Simons | pp. 139–162
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The problem of reading dialect in semiliterate letters: The correspondence of the Holden family, 1812–16 and of Richard Taylor 1840–51Robert McColl Millar | pp. 163–178
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“I will be expecting a letter from you before this reaches you”: A corpus-based study of shall/will variation in Irish English correspondenceKevin McCafferty and Carolina P. Amador-Moreno | pp. 179–204
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Letters in mechanically-schooled language: Theories and ideologiesTony Fairman | pp. 205–228
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Teaching grammar and composition through letter writing in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century EnglandLinda Mitchell | pp. 229–250
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Index | pp. 251–254
“
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.”
Terttu Nevalainen, University of Helsinki
“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.”
Prof. Dr. Wim Vandenbussche, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
“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.”
Frances Austin, Gillingham, Dorset, in English Studies, Vol. 94:4, pages 498-499.
“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.”
Claudia Claridge, University of Duisburg-Essen, in International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, Vol. 19:3 (2014)
“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.”
Minna Nevala, University of Helsinki, in Journal of Historical Pragmatics, Vol 16:1 (2015)
“[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.”
Aurelija Tamosiunaite, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania, in Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 1(2), 2015
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[no author supplied]
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Subjects & Metadata
BIC Subject: CFG – Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General