We all think we know what a dictionary is for and how to use one,
so most of us skip the first pages-the front matter-and go right to
the words we wish to look up. Yet dictionary users have not always
known how English "works" and my book reproduces and examines for
the first time important texts in which seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century dictionary authors explain choices and promote
ideas to readers, their "end users." Unlike French, Spanish, and
Italian dictionaries compiled during this time and published by
national academies, the goal of English dictionaries was usually
not to "purify" the language, though some writers did attempt to
regularize it. Instead, English lexicographers aimed to teach
practical ways for their users to learn English, improve their
language skills, even transcend their social class. The anthology
strives to be comprehensive in its coverage of the first phase of
this tradition from the early seventeenth century-from Robert
Cawdrey's (1604) A Table Alphabeticall, to Samuel Johnson's
Dictionary of the English Language (1755), and finally, to Noah
Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).
The book puts English dictionaries in historical, national,
linguistic, literary, cultural contexts, presenting lexicographical
trends and the change in the English language over two centuries,
and examines how writers attempted to control it by appealing to
various pedagogical and legal authorities. Moreover, the
development of dictionary and attempts to codify English language
and grammar coincided with the arc of the British Empire; the
promulgation of "proper" English has been a subject of debate and
inquiry for centuries and, in part, dictionaries and the teaching
of English historically have been used to present and support ideas
about what is correct, regardless of how and where English is
actually used. The authors who wrote these texts apply ideas about
capitalism, nationalism, sex and social status to favor one
language theory over another. I show how dictionaries are not
neutral documents: they challenge or promote biases. The book
presents and analyzes the history of lexicography, demonstrating
how and why dictionaries evolved into the reference books we now
often take for granted and we can see that there is no easy answer
to the question of "who owns English."
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!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
