Nineteenth-century English

by Richard W. Bailey

Six aspects of nineteenth-century English are treated in separate chapters: writing, sounds, words, slang, grammar, and voices. In each domain, innovation and obsolescence are discussed as they were observed by contemporary writers. Thus Bailey shows how linguistic details gained powerful social meaning in the emergent stratification by class, region, race, and gender of the anglophone community. An abundance of quotations provides insight into the way English was used. Illustrations and drawings from nineteenth-century sources show how English looked and how people envisioned themselves using the language. Nineteenth-Century English will be of interest to historians of English language and literature and scholars in cultural studies, anthropology, and linguistics as well as the general reader.