Rules of use
Subtitle: language and instruction in early modern England
By: Julian Lamb
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2014
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 189
ISBN-13: 9780567238191; 9781472531773; 9781472534552
Subjects: English language; Study and teaching; History; Case studies; Usage; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
Description: "We take it for granted that we can use words properly - appropriately, meaningfully, even decorously. And yet it is very difficult to justify or explain what makes a particular use "proper." Given that properness is determined by the unpredictable vagaries of unrepeatable contexts, it is impossible to formulate an absolute rule which tells what is proper in every situation.In its four case studies of texts by Ascham, Puttenham, Mulcaster, and the first English dictionary writers, Rules of Use shows the way in which early modern pedagogues attempted to articulate such a rule whilst being mindful that proper use can neither be determined by any single rule, nor definitively described in examples.Using the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Stanley Cavell's influential reading of it, Rules of Use argues that early modern pedagogues became entangled in a sceptical problem: aspiring to formulate a definitive rule of proper use, their own instruction begins to appear uncertain and lacking in assurance when they find such a rule cannot be expressed"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-186) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: AcknowledgementsIntroduction 1. Towards a Grammar of UsePedagogy and Scepticism The Augustinian Picture of Language Context Use, Usual, Useful 2. Using Perfection: Roger Ascham's Toxophilus and The Scholemaster Taking Aim: ToxophilusAscham's Scepticism: The Scholemaster, Book 1'The daily use of writing': The Scholemaster, Book 23. Decorous Abuse: George Puttenham's The Art of English Poesy Decorum and the Critics The Art of Ambiguity Usual Speech: The Eye and the Ear Solace4. Usual Spelling: Richard Mulcaster's The First Part of the Elementarie Jonathan Goldberg's Reading of Mulcaster's Elementarie GroundsSound TrainingSound, Reason, CustomRules and Use5. Arts of Use: Early English Dictionaries, 1604-1658Context Johnson's Dictionary: Aspiration and Resignation 'Hard usuall English wordes'An Unused Siding BibliographyIndex.