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Transatlantic perspectives on late nineteenth-century English usage

Alford (1864) compared to White (1871)

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The present contribution investigates two handbooks on English usage dating from the late nineteenth century, one British (i.e. Alford’s The Queen’s English, of 1864) and the other American (i.e. White’s Words and their Uses, of 1871). Both manuals were important and successful in their time and even after, and they can be considered as early specimens of prescriptive guides on English usage on both sides of the Atlantic. The objective of the comparison is to find out whether they concentrate on the same items of disputed usage or whether British and American English had become so much separated at that point in time that both usage guides treat different items or come to different conclusions on the same items. Furthermore, by adopting a transatlantic perspective it will be worked out whether the two authors share the same ideologies concerning the standard language or not.

  • Affiliations: 1: Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

References

  1. Alford, Henry
    [1864] 51880 The Queen’s English: A manual of idiom and usage. London: Bell and Sons.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Anon
    1856 Five hundred mistakes of daily occurrence in speaking, pronouncing, and writing the English language, corrected. New York: Daniel Burgess & Co.; Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.; Cincinnati: Applegate & Co.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Baker, Robert
    1770 Reflexions on the English language. London: Bell. Reprinted by: R. C. Alston. 1968. English Linguistics 1500–1800. No. 87 Menston: Scolar Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. White, Richard Grant
    1880 English in England. The Atlantic Monthly45(269). 374–386.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. [1871] 1886 Words and their uses, past and present: A study of the English language.9th ed., revised and corrected. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Allen, Robert E
    1992 Usage, usage guidance and criticism. In Tom McArthur (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1071–1078. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Baugh, Albert C. & Thomas Cable
    52002 A history of the English language. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Beal, Joan C
    2004 English in modern times 1700–1945. London: Arnold.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bex, Tony
    1999 Representation of English in twentieth-century Britain: Fowler, Gowers and Partridge. In Tony Bex & Richard J. Watts (eds.), Standard English: The widening debate, 89–109. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Burchfield, Robert
    1979 The Fowlers: Their achievements in lexicography and grammar. The English Association3–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. 1991 The Fowler brothers and the tradition of usage handbooks. In 
 Gerhard Leitner (ed.), English traditional grammars: An international perspective, 93–111. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/sihols.62.09bur
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.62.09bur [Google Scholar]
  12. Busse, Ulrich & Anne Schröder
    2006 From prescriptivism to descriptivism? 140 years of English usage guides: Some old and new controversies. In Christoph Houswitschka , Gabriele Knappe & Anja Müller (eds.), Anglistentag 2005, Bamberg. Proceedings, 457–473. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Busse, Ulrich & Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
    2011 Towards a corpus of prescriptivism. Paper given at theHelsinki Corpus Festival. Helsinki University, 28 September–2 October 2011.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Drake, Glendon F
    1977 The role of prescriptivism in American linguistics1820–1970. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/sihols.13
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.13 [Google Scholar]
  15. Finegan, Edward
    1998 English grammar and usage. In Suzanne Romaine (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. IV 1776–1997, 536–588. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. 2001 Usage. In John Algeo (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. VI English in North America, 358–421. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CHOL9780521264792.012
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521264792.012 [Google Scholar]
  17. 2006 English in North America. In Richard Hogg & David Denison (eds.), A history of the English language, 384–419. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511791154.009
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791154.009 [Google Scholar]
  18. Fowler, Henry W
    1926 A dictionary of modern English usage. Oxford: Clarendon.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Fowler, Henry W. & Francis G. Fowler
    1906 The King’s English. Oxford: Clarendon.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Freemantle, W.H
    2013 Alford, Henry (1810–1871), rev. Roger T. Stearn. InThe Oxford dictionary of national biography, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/341, accessed11 July 2013]
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Garner, Bryan A
    2001 Calling for a truce in the descriptivist-prescripivist wars: A reply to Tom McArthur, ‘Error, Editing, and World Standard English’, ET 65 (Jan 01). English Today17(2). 5–9. doi: 10.1017/S0266078401002012
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078401002012 [Google Scholar]
  22. Görlach, Manfred
    1999 English in nineteenth-century England: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511627828
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511627828 [Google Scholar]
  23. Jucker, Andreas H. & Joanna Kopaczyck
    2013 Communities of practice as a locus of language change. In Joanna Kopaczyck & Andreas H. Jucker (eds.), Communities of practice in the history of English, 1–8. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/pbns.235.01int
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.235.01int [Google Scholar]
  24. Leonard, S.A
    1929 The doctrine of correctness in English usage, 1700–1800. Madison: University of Wisconsin.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Kretzschmar, William A. & Charles F. Meyer
    2012 The idea of Standard American English. In Raymond Hickey (ed.), Standards of English: Codified varieties around the world, 139–158. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139023832.008
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139023832.008 [Google Scholar]
  26. Milroy, Lesley
    2001 Britain and the United States: Two nations divided by the same language (and different language ideologies). Journal of Linguistic Anthropology10(1). 56–89. doi: 10.1525/jlin.2000.10.1.56
     https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2000.10.1.56 [Google Scholar]
  27. ODNB: The Oxford dictionary of national biography, www.oxforddnb.com/
     [Google Scholar]
  28. OED: Oxford English Dictionary, www.oed.com/
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Pyles, Thomas
    1952 Words and ways of American English. London: Melrose.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. 21971 The origins and development of the English language. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Schneider, Edgar W
    2007 Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511618901
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618901 [Google Scholar]
  32. Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Ingrid
    2010 The usage guide: Its birth and popularity. English Today26(2). 14–23, 44. doi: 10.1017/S0266078410000052
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078410000052 [Google Scholar]
  33. Weiner, Edmund
    1988 On editing a usage guide. In E.G. Stanley & T.F. Hoad (eds.), Words: For Robert Burchfield’s sixty-fifth birthday, 171–183. Cambridge: Brewer.
     [Google Scholar]

References

  1. Alford, Henry
    [1864] 51880 The Queen’s English: A manual of idiom and usage. London: Bell and Sons.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Anon
    1856 Five hundred mistakes of daily occurrence in speaking, pronouncing, and writing the English language, corrected. New York: Daniel Burgess & Co.; Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.; Cincinnati: Applegate & Co.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Baker, Robert
    1770 Reflexions on the English language. London: Bell. Reprinted by: R. C. Alston. 1968. English Linguistics 1500–1800. No. 87 Menston: Scolar Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. White, Richard Grant
    1880 English in England. The Atlantic Monthly45(269). 374–386.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. [1871] 1886 Words and their uses, past and present: A study of the English language.9th ed., revised and corrected. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Allen, Robert E
    1992 Usage, usage guidance and criticism. In Tom McArthur (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1071–1078. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Baugh, Albert C. & Thomas Cable
    52002 A history of the English language. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Beal, Joan C
    2004 English in modern times 1700–1945. London: Arnold.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bex, Tony
    1999 Representation of English in twentieth-century Britain: Fowler, Gowers and Partridge. In Tony Bex & Richard J. Watts (eds.), Standard English: The widening debate, 89–109. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Burchfield, Robert
    1979 The Fowlers: Their achievements in lexicography and grammar. The English Association3–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. 1991 The Fowler brothers and the tradition of usage handbooks. In 
 Gerhard Leitner (ed.), English traditional grammars: An international perspective, 93–111. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/sihols.62.09bur
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.62.09bur [Google Scholar]
  12. Busse, Ulrich & Anne Schröder
    2006 From prescriptivism to descriptivism? 140 years of English usage guides: Some old and new controversies. In Christoph Houswitschka , Gabriele Knappe & Anja Müller (eds.), Anglistentag 2005, Bamberg. Proceedings, 457–473. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Busse, Ulrich & Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
    2011 Towards a corpus of prescriptivism. Paper given at theHelsinki Corpus Festival. Helsinki University, 28 September–2 October 2011.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Drake, Glendon F
    1977 The role of prescriptivism in American linguistics1820–1970. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/sihols.13
     https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.13 [Google Scholar]
  15. Finegan, Edward
    1998 English grammar and usage. In Suzanne Romaine (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. IV 1776–1997, 536–588. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. 2001 Usage. In John Algeo (ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language. Vol. VI English in North America, 358–421. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CHOL9780521264792.012
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521264792.012 [Google Scholar]
  17. 2006 English in North America. In Richard Hogg & David Denison (eds.), A history of the English language, 384–419. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511791154.009
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791154.009 [Google Scholar]
  18. Fowler, Henry W
    1926 A dictionary of modern English usage. Oxford: Clarendon.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Fowler, Henry W. & Francis G. Fowler
    1906 The King’s English. Oxford: Clarendon.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Freemantle, W.H
    2013 Alford, Henry (1810–1871), rev. Roger T. Stearn. InThe Oxford dictionary of national biography, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/341, accessed11 July 2013]
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Garner, Bryan A
    2001 Calling for a truce in the descriptivist-prescripivist wars: A reply to Tom McArthur, ‘Error, Editing, and World Standard English’, ET 65 (Jan 01). English Today17(2). 5–9. doi: 10.1017/S0266078401002012
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078401002012 [Google Scholar]
  22. Görlach, Manfred
    1999 English in nineteenth-century England: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511627828
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511627828 [Google Scholar]
  23. Jucker, Andreas H. & Joanna Kopaczyck
    2013 Communities of practice as a locus of language change. In Joanna Kopaczyck & Andreas H. Jucker (eds.), Communities of practice in the history of English, 1–8. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/pbns.235.01int
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.235.01int [Google Scholar]
  24. Leonard, S.A
    1929 The doctrine of correctness in English usage, 1700–1800. Madison: University of Wisconsin.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Kretzschmar, William A. & Charles F. Meyer
    2012 The idea of Standard American English. In Raymond Hickey (ed.), Standards of English: Codified varieties around the world, 139–158. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139023832.008
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139023832.008 [Google Scholar]
  26. Milroy, Lesley
    2001 Britain and the United States: Two nations divided by the same language (and different language ideologies). Journal of Linguistic Anthropology10(1). 56–89. doi: 10.1525/jlin.2000.10.1.56
     https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2000.10.1.56 [Google Scholar]
  27. ODNB: The Oxford dictionary of national biography, www.oxforddnb.com/
     [Google Scholar]
  28. OED: Oxford English Dictionary, www.oed.com/
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Pyles, Thomas
    1952 Words and ways of American English. London: Melrose.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. 21971 The origins and development of the English language. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Schneider, Edgar W
    2007 Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511618901
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618901 [Google Scholar]
  32. Tieken-Boon van Ostade, Ingrid
    2010 The usage guide: Its birth and popularity. English Today26(2). 14–23, 44. doi: 10.1017/S0266078410000052
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078410000052 [Google Scholar]
  33. Weiner, Edmund
    1988 On editing a usage guide. In E.G. Stanley & T.F. Hoad (eds.), Words: For Robert Burchfield’s sixty-fifth birthday, 171–183. Cambridge: Brewer.
     [Google Scholar]

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