Languages and Communities in Early Modern Europe

ISBN-13: 9780521535861 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 226 str.

Peter Burke

Opis

Peter Burke explores major themes in the social and cultural history of the languages spoken or written in Europe between the invention of printing and the French Revolution. One theme is the relation between languages and communities and the place of language as a way of identifying others, as well as a symbol of one's own identity. A second, linked theme is that of competition: between Latin and the vernaculars, different vernaculars, dominant and subordinate, and different varieties of the same vernacular.

Recenzje

'This is a rich and illuminating book, full of insight and often surprising detail. Its strengths lie above all in its diversity - in Burke's ability to offer a close-up of, say, the colonial presence of Portuguese or the decline of Catalan, while also moving happily among a whole range of different languages and writers. … rewarding and insightful …' Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development

Spis treści

Prologue: communities and domains; 1. 'Speak, that I may see thee': the discovery of language in early modern Europe; 2. Latin: a language in search of a community; 3. Vernaculars in competition; 4. Standardizing languages; 5. Mixing languages; 6. Purifying languages; Epilogue: languages and nations; Appendix.