English Fiction and the Evolution of Language, 1850-1914 (Paperback)

Victorian science changed language from a tool into a natural phenomenon, evolving independently of its speakers. Will Abberley explores how science and fiction interacted in imagining different stories of language evolution. Popular narratives of language progress clashed with others of decay and degeneration. Furthermore, the blurring of language evolution with biological evolution encouraged Victorians to re-imagine language as a mixture of social convention and primordial instinct. Abberley argues that fiction by authors such as Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hardy and H. G. Wells not only reflected these intellectual currents, but also helped to shape them. Genres from utopia to historical romance supplied narrative models for generating thought experiments in the possible pasts and futures of language. Equally, fiction that explored the instinctive roots of language intervened in debates about language standardisation and scientific objectivity. These textual readings offer new perspectives on twenty-first-century discussions about language evolution and the language of science.

General

Imprint:	Cambridge UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
Release date:	August 2017
Authors:	Will Abberley
Dimensions:	230 x 152 x 13mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	248
ISBN-13:	978-1-107-49848-8
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > History of science Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 19th century Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > From 1900 Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Evolution Promotions
LSN:	1-107-49848-1
Barcode:	9781107498488

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