This study, first published in 2000, examines the complex role of
language as an instrument of empire in eighteenth-century British
literature. Focusing in particular on the relationship between
England and one of its 'celtic colonies', Scotland, Janet Sorensen
explores the tensions which arose during a period when the
formation of a national standard English coincided with the need to
negotiate ever widening imperial linguistic contacts. Close
readings of poems, novels, dictionaries, grammars and records of
colonial English instruction reveal the deeply conflicting
relationship between British national and imperial ideologies.
Moving from Scots Gaelic poet Alexander MacDonald to writers such
as Adam Smith, Hugh Blair, and Tobias Smollett, Sorensen analyses
British linguistic practices of imperial domination, including the
enforcement of English language usage. The book also engages with
the work of Samuel Johnson and Jane Austen to offer a wider
understanding of the ambivalent nature of English linguistic
identity.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!