Eighteenth-Century English

The 18th century has a special relevance for the development of modern English: the ruling tradition of neo-classical attitudes and perspective grammar laid the foundations for linguisitc correctness on various levels - it established regularity in spelling and later in pronunciation, defined the standard lexis by excluding dialect, slang and lower sociolects, and fixed the rules for the languages of literature and good style, in a unique fusion of literary and linguistic judgments with developments in political and cultural history. The book gives a critical survey of the status of English in the 18th-century Britain and a description on all individual levels (spelling, pronunciation, morphology, syntax, lexis, text types and styles). Forms and functions of the English language outside England (especially in Scotland, Ireland and the United States) are duly considered. More than a hundred texts from various genres are included; they serve as an illustration of the linguistic phenomena and as a basis for the analysis encouraged by 100 study questions.