LINGUIST List 15.2336

Thu Aug 19 2004

Books: Historical Linguistics: Goerlach

Editor for this issue: Neil Salmond <neillinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. julia.ulrich, Text Types and the History of English: Goerlach

Title: Text Types and the History of English
Series Title: Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 139

Publication Year: 2004
Publisher:	Mouton de Gruyter
		http://www.mouton-publishers.com

Book URL: http://www.degruyter.de/rs/bookSingle.cfm?id=IS-3110173727-1&l=E
Author: Manfred G�rlach, University of Cologne, Germany

Hardback: ISBN: 3110173727, Pages: xvii, 331, Price: EURO 84.00

			
Abstract:

The history of modern European languages has been largely determined
by the range of functions they have acquired, particularly after
1500. This development necessitated a notable expansion of their
syntax and lexis, but is most cha-racteristically reflected in the
conventionalization of text types.

Starting from the German concept of Textsorte as developed from the
1960s onwards, the present account is a first comprehensive attempt at
charting the field for the history and present-day situation of the
English language. In text types, a designation is linked with a more
or less stable form which guides the writer's production as well as
the reader's expectation, permitting one to recognize straightforward
uses as well as deliberate misuses. Some two thousand of such
designations are here listed with minimal definitions and dates for
first occurrences. The discussion then concentrates on selected types,
which are seen as especially illustrative for English: book
dedications, cooking recipes, advertisements, church hymns, lexical
entries, and jokes. Their functions and development over time are
treated in correlation with their specific linguistic characteristics
and adaptations to different period styles and social changes in the
readership. The func-tional range of text types in traditions outside
England and the consequences of the export of English categories are
exemplified by the history of Scots/Scottish English and of English in
India. The arguments are accompanied by a lavish supply of textual
excerpts and more than fifty pages of facsi-miles, which are
especially relevant for insights derived from typographical
features. A full bibliography and indices are provided at the end.

The book will prove useful for decisions on the constitution of
representative text corpora and stimulate research into a greater
number of individual text types as well as contrastive analyses at
least among European languages.

Contents: 
Preface
A history of text types: A componential analysis
Text types and the linguistic history of modern English
Text types and language history: the cooking recipe
A linguistic history of advertising
The church hymn
Lexical entries
Linguistic aspects of jokes
Text types and the history of Scots
Text types and Indian
English Facsimiles
Bibliography
Indices


Lingfield(s):	Applied Linguistics
		Historical Linguistics
		
Subject Language(s):	English (Language code: ENG)
		
Written In:	English (Language Code: ENG)


 See this book announcement on our website:
 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=11250.