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Tim
William Machan.
English
in the Middle Ages.
Oxford
U.P., paperback reissue 2005 (previously issued in hardback 2003).
234mm x
156mm.
224
pages, 1 black and white plate.
Publisher's
recommended price
Hardback
ISBN 0199262683, £47.00
Paperback
ISBN 0199282129, £18.99
A
sample of this book is available in PDF format.
What did people in England
in the Middle Ages think about language? What was their view of
English, French, and Latin, and how did this influence the way they
communicated? This book uses these questions as a basis for a
ground-breaking investigation into the use and status of the English
language in medieval England.
Professor
Machan suggests that many linguistic, literary, and historical
considerations of medieval statements on language have significantly
failed to take into account the social and linguistic contexts of their
production. In this volume he explores not only medieval ideas about
language but also the discursive traditions which generated them.
English in the Middle Ages draws
upon a wide range of documentary evidence, including most notably the
royal letters issued in 1258 prior to the Barons' War. The author also
analyses the language spoken by Chaucer's pilgrims, the conversations
in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,
and many other chronicles, poems, and commentaries. The book concludes
with a consideration of the post-medieval history of the status of
English in law, literature, and education.
The book
will interest scholars from a range of disciplines - particularly
linguistics, literature, and history - and is written in clear,
non-technical language.
Readership:
Scholars and students of linguistics (especially historical English
linguistics) and medieval literature; medieval historians
Contents:
Preface
1 The Ecology of Middle English
2 The Baron's War and Henry's Letters
3 Language, Dialect, Nation
4 What's a Dialect Before it's a Dialect?
5 After Middle English
Works Cited.
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