Lowth vs. Priestley: Eighteenth-Century Attitudes Toward English Grammar and Usage

doi:10.18627/jslg.34.1.201805.79

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2018 Vol.34, Issue 1 Preview Page Next Page

Lowth vs. Priestley: Eighteenth-Century Attitudes Toward English Grammar and Usage 라우드 대 프리슬리(Lowth vs. Priestley): 문법과 용법에 대한 18세기의 태도: 조선아, 황인태
Joe, Sun-Ah and Hwang, In-Tae

31 May 2018. pp. 79-92

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Abstract

The 18th century was a crucial period in the process of codification and standardization of English and in the chronicling of the traditional English grammar. The need for grammar to provide linguistic guidance to the upper social classes, and to those who aspired to belong to them, led to a sharp increase in the publication of grammar texts. Representative grammar books published in this period were J. Priestley’s Rudiments of English Grammar (1761 & 1768) and R. Lowth’s Study of Short Introduction to the English Grammar (1762). Priestley's and Lowth's grammars epitomized, respectively, the two main trends of grammatical tradition: descriptivism and prescriptivism. This paper, through a contextual reading of Priestley’s grammars, reexamines both the nature of his grammar and discusses possible sources for his norm of propriety or correctness in his grammars, arguing that such a characterization of both Priestley’s work and that of his contemporaries is misleading and, moreover, that Priestley is also one of the main codifiers of the English language and had a profound influence on the standardization of English in the latter part of the 18th century.

Keywords

J. Priestley

R. Lowth

descriptivism

prescriptivism

eighteenth-century English grammars

References

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황인태 ‧ 조선아. 2016. ｢J. Priestley 영문법서(1768)와 그 의의｣. 언어연구 31.4, 1027-46.
황인태. 2017. ｢라우드(R. Lowth) 영문법서(1762)와 그 지위｣. 인문학연구 106, 299-322.
Ash, John. 1766. The Easiest Introduction to Dr. Lowth’s English Grammar, London: printed for E. and C. Dilly.
Auer, Anita. 2008. “Eighteenth-Century Grammars and Book Catalogues”. In: Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (ed.), Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar-Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 57-75.10.1515/9783110199185.1.57
Azad, Y. 1989. The Government of Tongues: Common Usage and the ‘Prescriptive’ Tradition 1650 to 1800. Unpublished PhD Thesis, U. of Oxford.
Bartha, P. 2010. By Parallel Reasoning: The Construction and Evaluation of Analogical Arguments, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325539.001.0001
Battistella, E. 2005. Bad language: Are some words better than others?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172485.001.0001
Baugh, A. C. and Cable, T., 2002. A History of the English Language. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Cameron, D. 2012. Verbal Hygiene, 1995. London & New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203123898
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Crowley, T. 2003. Standard English and the Politics of Language. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge.10.1057/9780230501935
Finegan, E. 1998. English Grammar and Usage. In S. Romaine, ed. Cambridge History of the English Language 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 536-588.
Harris, R. 1993. “Introduction” to reprint of Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language & Universal Grammar by J. Priestley. London: Routledge. v-xi.
Johnson, S. 1747. “Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language.” Lynch, Jack (ed.). Eighteenth-Century E-Texts.
Johnson, S. 1755. A Dictionary of the English Language: in which the words are deduced from their originals. London: F. & C. Rivington, et al.
Labov, W. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Leonard, S. A. 1962. Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage, 1700-1800. New York: Russell & Russell.
Locher, M. A. 2008. “The rise of prescriptive grammars in the 18th century.” In M. A. Locher and J. Strässler (eds.), Standards and Norms in the English Language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 127-147.
Lowth, R. 1762. A Short Introduction to English Grammar, with Critical Notes. Published anonymously. London: A. Millar and R. & J. Dodsley. 1762.
McEvoy, J. G. 1978. “Joseph Priestley, ‘Aerial Philosopher’ Part 1.” Ambix: the Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry 25.
Millward, C. M. and Hayes, M. 2011. A Biography of the English Language. 3rd ed. Cengage Learning.
Mitchell, L. C. 2001. Grammar Wars: Language as Cultural Battlefield in 17th and 18th Century England. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Mugglestone, L. 2003. “Talking Proper.” Grammar Wars: The Rise of Accent as Social Symbol, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.14747598
Priestley, J. 1761. The Rudiments of English Grammar. London: R. Griffiths.
Priestley, J. 1762. A Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language, and Universal Grammar. Warrington: Printed by W. Eyres.
Priestley, J. 1768. The Rudiments of English Grammar, Adapted to the Use of Schools. London: T. Becket et als.
Priestley, J. 1777. A Course of Lectures on Oratory and Criticism. London.
Saussure, F. D. 1916. Course on General Linguistics. Edited by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye in collaboration with Albert Redilinger. Translated by Wade Baskin. London: Fontana.
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Vorlat, E. 1975. The Development of English Grammatical Theory. Leuven: University Press.

Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 34
No :1
Pages :79-92
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.34.1.201805.79

[1] 황인태. 2010. ｢규범론자로서의 Samuel Johnson 읽기｣. 영어학연구 16.1, 55-74.

[2] 황인태 ‧ 조선아. 2016. ｢J. Priestley 영문법서(1768)와 그 의의｣. 언어연구 31.4, 1027-46.

[3] 황인태. 2017. ｢라우드(R. Lowth) 영문법서(1762)와 그 지위｣. 인문학연구 106, 299-322.

[4] Ash, John. 1766. The Easiest Introduction to Dr. Lowth’s English Grammar, London: printed for E. and C. Dilly.

[5] Auer, Anita. 2008. “Eighteenth-Century Grammars and Book Catalogues”. In: Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (ed.), Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar-Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 57-75.10.1515/9783110199185.1.57

[6] Azad, Y. 1989. The Government of Tongues: Common Usage and the ‘Prescriptive’ Tradition 1650 to 1800. Unpublished PhD Thesis, U. of Oxford.

[7] Bartha, P. 2010. By Parallel Reasoning: The Construction and Evaluation of Analogical Arguments, New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325539.001.0001

[8] Battistella, E. 2005. Bad language: Are some words better than others?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172485.001.0001

[9] Baugh, A. C. and Cable, T., 2002. A History of the English Language. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

[10] Cameron, D. 2012. Verbal Hygiene, 1995. London & New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203123898

[11] Chapman, D. 2008. The Eighteenth-century Grammarians as Language Experts. In Tieken-Boon van Ostade (ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 21-36.10.1515/9783110199185.1.21

[12] Crowley, T. 2003. Standard English and the Politics of Language. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge.10.1057/9780230501935

[13] Finegan, E. 1998. English Grammar and Usage. In S. Romaine, ed. Cambridge History of the English Language 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 536-588.

[14] Harris, R. 1993. “Introduction” to reprint of Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language & Universal Grammar by J. Priestley. London: Routledge. v-xi.

[15] Johnson, S. 1747. “Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language.” Lynch, Jack (ed.). Eighteenth-Century E-Texts.

[16] Johnson, S. 1755. A Dictionary of the English Language: in which the words are deduced from their originals. London: F. & C. Rivington, et al.

[17] Labov, W. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics.

[18] Leonard, S. A. 1962. Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage, 1700-1800. New York: Russell & Russell.

[19] Locher, M. A. 2008. “The rise of prescriptive grammars in the 18th century.” In M. A. Locher and J. Strässler (eds.), Standards and Norms in the English Language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 127-147.

[20] Lowth, R. 1762. A Short Introduction to English Grammar, with Critical Notes. Published anonymously. London: A. Millar and R. & J. Dodsley. 1762.

[21] McEvoy, J. G. 1978. “Joseph Priestley, ‘Aerial Philosopher’ Part 1.” Ambix: the Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry 25.

[22] Millward, C. M. and Hayes, M. 2011. A Biography of the English Language. 3rd ed. Cengage Learning.

[23] Mitchell, L. C. 2001. Grammar Wars: Language as Cultural Battlefield in 17th and 18th Century England. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.

[24] Mugglestone, L. 2003. “Talking Proper.” Grammar Wars: The Rise of Accent as Social Symbol, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.14747598

[25] Priestley, J. 1761. The Rudiments of English Grammar. London: R. Griffiths.

[26] Priestley, J. 1762. A Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language, and Universal Grammar. Warrington: Printed by W. Eyres.

[27] Priestley, J. 1768. The Rudiments of English Grammar, Adapted to the Use of Schools. London: T. Becket et als.

[28] Priestley, J. 1777. A Course of Lectures on Oratory and Criticism. London.

[29] Saussure, F. D. 1916. Course on General Linguistics. Edited by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye in collaboration with Albert Redilinger. Translated by Wade Baskin. London: Fontana.

[30] Schofield. R. E. 1997. The Enlightenment of Joseph Priestley: A Study of his Life and Work from 1733 to 1773. PA: Penn State Press.

[31] Smith, O. 1986. The Politics of Language 1791-1819. Oxford: Clarendon.

[32] Swift, J. 1712. A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue. London: printed for Benj. Tooke.

[33] Trask, R. L. 1999. Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. Routledge.

[34] Vorlat, E. 1975. The Development of English Grammatical Theory. Leuven: University Press.

The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

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