Before the 1760s -- with the major exception of Chaucer -- nearly all of Middle English literature lay undiscovered and ignored. Because established scholars regarded later medieval literature as primitive and barbaric, the study of this rich literary heritage was relegated to antiquarians and dilettantes. In The Making of Middle English, 1765-1910, David Matthews chronicles the gradual rediscovery of this literature and the formation of Middle English as a scholarly pursuit.

Matthews details how the careers, class positions, and ambitions of only a few men gave shape and direction to the discipline. Mostly from the lower middle class, they worked in the church or in law and hoped to exploit medieval literature for financial success and social advancement. Where Middle English was concerned, Matthews notes, these scholars were self-taught, and their amateurism came at the price of inaccurately edited and often deliberately "improved" texts intended for a general public that sought appealing, rather than authentic, reading material.

This study emphasizes the material history of the discipline, examining individual books and analyzing introductions, notes, glossaries, promotional materials, lists of subscribers, and owners' annotations to assess the changing methodological approaches of the scholars and the shifts in readership. Matthews explores the influence of aristocratic patronage and the societies formed to further the editing and publication of texts. And he examines the ideological uses of Middle English and the often contentious debates between these scholars and organizations about the definition of Englishness itself.

A thorough work of scholarship, The Making of MiddleEnglish presents for the first time a detailed account of the formative phase of Middle English studies and provides new perspectives on the emergence of medieval studies, canon formation, the politics of editing, and the history of the book.

With contributions by some of the leading scholars in the field, Words and Works: Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature in Honour of Fred C. Robinson is a distinguished collection of essays on Old and Middle English literature and textual analysis. Focusing on issues ranging from philology to literary criticism, the essays represent a variety of perspectives in Old and Middle English scholarship. Words and Works: Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature in Honour of Fred C. Robinson is a worthy tribute to one of the outstanding figures in Old English scholarship in the last quarter of this century.

This is the first full scale attempt to record the diachronic development of this important English language variety and includes extensive essays by some of the foremost international scholars of the Scots language. The book attempts to provide a detailed and technical description of the syntax, phonology, morphology and vocabulary of the language in two main periods: the beginnings to 1700 and from 1700 to the present day. The language's geographical variation both in the past and at the present time are fully documented and the sociolinguistic forces which lie behind linguistic innovation and its transmission provide a principal theme running through the book. WINNER of the Saltire society/National Library of Scotland Scottish Research Book of the Year Award

With the second volume of West Iranian Dialect Materials thirteen short-stories in Luri (Baxtiari) dialect from the collection of D. L. Lorimer are published. The stories appear in transcription, and are followed by translation and an extensive glossary. In arranging the glossary, as in volume one, special attention has been attached to the ethymology of the important words. Lorimer's large linguistic records from southern Iran, collected in 1906, 1908 and 1913-14, consist of valuable materials and can be divided into several sections such as ethnographic materials, folk-stories, inter-tribal relations, history of the Baxtiaris, poetry and the like. This volume will be followed by other volumes covering the publication of all of Lorimer's materials in Luri (Baxtiari).

Using W. Von Wartburg's critical bibliography of dialect and patois as a key reference, this work brings together examples of words derived from Latin femina, domina, and a few kindred words in the regional and border dialects of France. Adams also considers the descriptive terms for woman and girl in the same territory.

With more than 7,000 up-to-date phrases, this dictionary covers situations from talking to a doctor to ordering a meal, and helps learners communicate personal feelings, and make small talk.

This volume provides an overview of all aspects of Hong Kong English in a style designed for undergraduates and general readers. As a former British colony, Hong Kong used English as the language of government, law and education in the early days of colonial rule. Since the Handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, it is no longer used as the primary language of government. However, the status of English has survived the decline of colonial rule, as English has become an international language which is indispensable for a service-oriented economy such as present-day Hong Kong. Its use is still widespread in legal contexts, and English is the medium of instruction in at least a quarter of secondary schools.
Outwith the realm of education, English is important as a means of international communication in the fields of banking and finance, business, and in the tourism and hospitality industry. English is therefore integrated into Hong Kong life in various ways and this has resulted in a thriving and developing variety of English. This book describes English in Hong Kong as a linguistic phenomenon from the point of view of language structure, but also takes into account historical, socio-cultural and socio-political developments.

"Penny Dyer is an inspiration to work with" Helen Mirren "An indispensible aid for actors" Bill Nighy "Penny takes away the fear of an accent for the actor" David Morrissey "Accurate, specific and enabling, these CDs are as fundamental as the use of voice itself" Michael Attenborough "Invaluable for the modern actor" Michael Sheen "Penny Dyer on a CD. What more could I want" Kelly Reilly An essential tool for actors needing to develop an accent at a moments notice. Top voice coach, Penny Dyer, voice coach to Helen Mirren on The Queen and who has worked with Nicole Kidman, Reece Witherspoon and Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra, Only Fools and Horses) present an hour long voice coaching session on CD. The audio contains examples of the accent from a locally born and bred person; a short history of the accent/dialect; a voice coaching lesson between an actor and Penny Dyer who will explain the phonetics, rhythm etc with numerous examples to listen to and then try; a short extract from a play. A small booklet will include some phonetic notes, transcripts of the accent examples, the play example, the background on the accent and an Introduction. An invaluable resource for every actor's library.

This volume unites nineteen papers on core topics in linguistics: phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and phraseology of English, exploring both synchronic and diachronic aspects of the English language. The papers have been collected to honour D. J. Allerton, who has taken a keen interest in all of these fields throughout his professional life. He has just retired from his professorship at the university of Basel where he has been professor of English linguistics since 1980. The authors of the contributions are colleagues and former students, all of whom felt inspired by his way of doing linguistics. Topics covered range from the Great Vowel Shift to contemporary changes in World Englishes, and from theoretical questions on the sound system and word formation patterns of English to more applied topics in phraseology and the lexicon.

Used properly jargon can be effective, but used incorrectly it can damage communications, waste time and money, and harm public, patient and staff relations. This book will enable and encourage readers to use language that the intended audience will understand. It provides practical advice based on the author's experience of producing National Health Service documents and contains explanations of common NHS jargon, with alternatives. Plain speaking and writing techniques are included, and there are numerous examples from real NHS management communications. This is an invaluable book for Health Service managers, clinicians with management responsibilities and all those responsible for communicating information about healthcare.

Have you ever wondered about the origin of son of a gun, flotsam and jetsam, or hunky-dory? Youll find the nautical derivation of these expressions and more than 250 others in this collection of nautical metaphors and colloquialisms. In addition, this book includes thought-provoking and entertaining examples of these words drawn from literature, movies, and song, and contains sections of legends of the sea and weather lore. Fascinating reading for sailors and language enthusiasts alike.

Heres the scuttlebutt: Barge right in and swallow the anchor, and lets chew the fat and splice the main brace til were three sheets to the wind. Listen, you son of a sea cook, Im tired of minding my Ps and Qs. I tell you, Im all at sea, and this is the bitter end. Nothing I can do will keep this ship on an even keel. Hells bells! You think I didnt tell it to the old man? Delivered a broadside, I did, but he just called me a loose cannon. Maybe I caught him between wind and water. Listen, mate. Youd better bootleg a bible aboard. Were sailing under false colors, and where were headed its cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. Its Davy Jones locker Im talking about. The crew was scraped from the bottom of the barrel. They dont know the ropes, and anyway theyre deserting like rats from a sinking ship. Its time to fish or cut bait, mate, or therell be the devil to pay. No use flogging a dead horse. Lets stay armed to the teeth and look for any port in a storm. Therell be nothing but flotsam and jetsam when this tub goes down the hatch.

This volume tells the story of the English language in Ireland over the first millennium. It explains how speakers of English, Scots and Irish Gaelic forged a linguistic amalgam that was carried around the world. It shows how the distilled essence of the language of the three communities provided a rich medium for writers, and suggests that this variety has contributed greatly to World English. The book traces the history of the English language in Ireland, its relationship with Irish Gaelic, its development into varieties now known as Anglo-Irish, Ulster Scots and Hiberno-English, and its spread to other parts of the world, including North America, Australia, Britain, the Caribbean and Africa. The book also includes a dictionary of Irish words in English.

Defining the geographical space of linguistic variation and drawing the areal distribution of linguistic variants are classical issues in dialectology. Over recent decades, advances in geolinguistic methods, along with new trends in the study of linguistic variation, have significantly shaped new ways of approaching limits and areas in dialectology.This volume is at the crossroads of recent methodological and conceptual developments in dialectology and brings together contributions offering an unusual panorama of case studies from Basque, Romance, Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic languages. The seventeen chapters in this volume address a wide spectrum of issues exploring new approaches to the interplay of dialect areas and time and society (Part I), current quantitative methods of studying dialect limits (Part II), and linguistic geovariation focused on lexical, prosodic, syntactic or morphosyntactic topics (Part III).One of the unique features of the volume is the important collection of contributions addressing issues of dialect syntax, a recent and rapidly growing field of linguistic research.

From its beginning in the 8th century Islamic dialectical theology ("kal?m") was increasingly influenced by Peripatetical Logic. The 'orthodox' solutions of the main problems of Muslim theology are the result of centuries of dispute between scholars arguing on the basis of grammatical and logical arguments. This volume offers a new approach in the problems of Islamic hermeneutics and the understanding of Qura?nic exegesis, Muslim theology and the appropriation of Peripatetical logic in the Arabic world. Subjects included are the problems of name ("ism") and qualification ("wa?f"), condition ("sar?") and consequence ("?az "), the whole ("kull") and the part ("ba "), the general (" mm") and the special (" "), expression ("laf?") and matter ("m?dda"), signification by expression ("dal?l al-laf?") and signification by inference ("dal?l al-?aql").