Lexis And Texts In Early English

These papers reflect the long and distinguished career of Professor Jane Roberts in the field of medieval English studies, and especially her pioneering work on A Thesaurus of Old English, which provides novel source material for several of the contributions to the volume. Many of the papers deal with aspects of early lexicology and lexicography, while others focus on linguistic and literary features of Old and Middle English texts and their interpretation. They will thus be of interest to researchers in many areas of early English. A special introductory article describes the interlinked development of A Thesaurus of Old English, The Historical Thesaurus of English, and the proposed Thesaurus of Middle English. Contributors include: Rosamund Allen, Janet M. Bately, Carole P. Biggam, Michelle Brown, Julie Coleman, Janet Cowen, Jodi-Ann George, Joyce Hill, Rosemary Huisman, Giovanni Iarmartino, George Kane, Éamonn Ó Carragáin, Michiko Ogura, Peter Orton, Jeremy J. Smith, E.G. Stanley, Paul Szarmach, Ronald Waldron.

The chapters collected in this volume examine how the sociohistorical and cultural context may influence structural features of lexis and text types. Each paper pays particular attention to social ‘labels’ and attitudes (conservative, religious, ideological, endearing, or other), thereby focusing on their dynamic and historical dimension. Changes in these are analyzed in order to explain morphological, lexical, and textual changes that would otherwise be hard to account for. Together, they provide a varied window on the effect of historical versions of a dynamic society on lexis and text. Examining lexical and textual change in history from a sociocultural perspective teaches us a great deal – not just about the past, but it also makes us think about similar phenomena in the present, enhancing our knowledge about how universally human some of these phenomena are. This volume will be of great interest to (English) historical linguists, sociolinguists, and scholars of sociohistorical and cultural studies.

The history of regional 'Englishes' in the Early Modern period still presents numerous lacunae that need to be filled, in order to provide a complete insight into the English linguistic setting at this time. This book aims to remedy these deficiencies in some measure. In particular, this monograph seeks to shed light upon the history of Early Modern Northern English vocabulary by means of the first corpus of Early Modern texts where Northern linguistic traits are used for literary purposes. It provides a linguistically documented description of Northern words from a synchronic standpoint, dealing with their distribution, etymology, as well as with some of their morphological and semantic characteristics. In addition, this study offers a discussion of the Early Modern literary representations of Northern speech. A thorough revision of the treatment that Northern lexical items are given in contemporary and modern lexicographic sources is also presented, together with a glossary that outlines the diachronic profile of the terms gathered.

Passages of authentic text are analysed to demonstrate the operations of patterns of lexis across sentence boundaries and over considerable distances within and between texts. These insights are related to a comprehensive theory of language, in which 'lexis' and 'text' are shown to beimportant levels of language organization. Implications for the teaching of reading and writing are also discussed.First Prize English Speaking Union's Duke of Edinburgh Book Competition

Three major developments in English lexicography took place during the seventeenth century: the emergence of the first free standing monolingual English dictionaries; the making of new kinds of English lexicons that investigated dialect or etymology or that keyed English to invented 'philosophical' languages; and the massive expansion of bilingual lexicography, which not only placed English alongside the European vernaculars but also handled the languages of the new world. The essays in this volume discuss not only the internal history of lexicography but also its wider relationships with culture and society.

Anglo-Saxon lexicography studies Latin texts and words. The earliest English lexicographers are largely unidentifiable students, teachers, scholars and missionaries. Materials brought from abroad by early teachers were augmented by their teachings and passed on by their students. Lexicographical material deriving from the early Canterbury school remains traceable in glossaries throughout this period, but new material was constantly added. Aldhelm and Ælfric Bata, among others, wrote popular, much studied hermeneutic texts using rare, exotic words, often derived from glossaries, which then contributed to other glossaries. Ælfric of Eynsham is a rare identifiable early English lexicographer, unusual in his lack of interest in hermeneutic vocabulary. The focus is largely on context and the process of creation and intended use of glosses and glossaries. Several articles examine intellectual centres where scholars and texts came together, for example, Theodore and Hadrian in Canterbury; Aldhelm in Malmesbury; Dunstan at Christ Church, Canterbury; Æthelwold in Winchester; King Æthelstan's court; Abingdon; Glastonbury; and Worcester.

Offers an entirely new way of interpreting and examining Anglo-Saxon texts, via theories derived from cognitive studies. A major, thoughtful study, applying new and serious interpretative and critical perspectives to a central range of Old English poetry. Professor John Hines, Cardiff University Cognitive approaches to literature offernew and exciting ways of interpreting literature and mentalities, by bringing ideas and methodologies from Cognitive Science into the analysis of literature and culture. While these approaches are of particular value in relation to understanding the texts of remote societies, they have to date made very little impact on Anglo-Saxon Studies. This book therefore acts as a pioneer, mapping out the new field, explaining its relevance to Old English Literary Studies, and demonstrating in practice its application to a range of key vernacular poetic texts, including Beowulf, The Wanderer, and poems from the Exeter Book. Adapting key ideas from three related fields - Cognitive Literary/Cultural Studies, Cognitive Poetics, and Conceptual Metaphor Theory - in conjunction with more familiar models, derived from Literary Analysis, Stylistics, and Historical Linguistics, allows several new ways of thinking about Old English literature to emerge. It permits a systematic means of examining and accounting for the conceptual structures that underpin Anglo-Saxon poetics, as well as fuller explorations, at the level of mental processing, of the workings of literary language in context. The result is a set of approaches to interpreting Anglo-Saxon textuality, through detailed studies of the concepts, mental schemas, and associative logic implied in and triggeredby the evocative language and meaning structures of surviving works. ANTONINA HARBUS is Professor in the Department of English at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.