Figures of speech
Subtitle: six histories of language & identity in the age of revolutions
By: Tim Cassedy
Series: Impressions: studies in the art, culture, & future of books; Impressions (Series) (University of Iowa Press)
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Iowa City
Language: eng
Number of pages: 307
ISBN-13: 9781609386122
Subjects: English language; Variation; Social aspects; Language and culture; History
Other titles: Six histories of language and identity in the age of revolutions
Description: "This study examines the role that language played at the turn of the nineteenth century as an immediate identifier of nationality. During this time of revolution (U.S., French, and Haitian), language served as a key identifier to quickly and conveniently categorize people within a globalizing world dominated by British and French empires. Linguistic differences, especially among English-speakers, seemed to validate the emerging national, racial, local, and regional identity categories that took shape in the wake of this new world order"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Language makes the difference between man and man; title: Linguistic salves for political wounds; title: The united language of English : linguistic separatism and unionism in the revolutionary Atlantic; title: The abecedarian clock : recording speech before recorded sound; title: How to read the world : pantographia, print specimens, and linguistic identity; title: Mary Willcocks's Caraboo tongue; title: Coda.