The Grammar of Empire in Eighteenth-Century British Writing

by Janet Sorensen

Overview

This study explores the complex role of language as an instrument of empire in eighteenth-century British literature. Focusing on the relationship between England and one of its "Celtic colonies," Scotland, Janet Sorensen examines how the expansion of the British empire influenced the formation of a national standard English. The book demonstrates the ambivalence at the heart of British linguistic identity, moving from a close analysis of Scottish writers Alexander MacDonald, Adam Smith, Hugh Blair, and Tobias Smollett to a revised understanding of the language use of Samuel Johnson and Jane Austen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521021555
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/03/2005
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Scripting identity?: English language and literacy instruction in the Highlands and the strange case of Alexander MacDonald; 2. 'A grammarians regard to the genius of our tongue': Johnson's Dictionary, imperial grammar and the customary national language; 3. Women, Celts and hollow voices: Tobias Smollett's brokering of Anglo-British linguistic identities; 4. The figure of the nation: polite language and its originary other in Adam Smith's and Hugh Blair's Lectures in Rhetoric and Belles Lettres; 5. 'A translator without originals': William Shaw's Scots Gaelic and the dialectic of (linguistic) empire; Epilogue: Jane Austen's language and the strangeness at home in the center.

Editorial Reviews

"...a well-researched and intellectually adroit study...Sorensen's book presents a crucial realignment of the relation of Scottish Studies to the study of English Literature in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries." SiR

"...the entire study offers original insight into the processes by which language and identity interact...Sorensen combines entertaining examples with rigorous scholarship to demonstrate how Gaelic became the language of English nationalism...these accomplishments distinguish Sorensen's study as one of the broadest in scope and best informed of recent investigations into the function of Austen's work in the empire, and of the function of the empire in Austen." JASNA News

"The Grammar of Empire is a substantial addition to current discussion of the generative role of Scottish writing in the production of British national identity. It is an ambitious book..." Eighteenth-Century Scotland

"The Grammar of Empire is well positioned to generate discussion in the years to come." Albion

From the Publisher