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In:Norms and Conventions in the History of English
Edited by Birte Bös and Claudia Claridge
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 347] 2019
► pp. 49–72

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Paradigm shifts in 19th-century British grammar writing

A network of texts and authors

 | Universität Heidelberg
 | Universität Heidelberg
ORCiD logo with link | University of Heidelberg
Published online: 27 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.347.04bus
Abstract
Systematic and comprehensive linguistic studies of 19th-century British grammar books are scarce. This is surprising since the 19th century has often been claimed to constitute a turning point in English grammar writing, particularly due to the assumed paradigm shift from prescriptive works to predominantly descriptive grammars, the emergence of the comparative-historical approach around 1830, and phonetics gaining importance in the 1890s.
Combining methods from network analysis and historical corpus linguistics, we aim to reassess these assumed (meta)linguistic developments in grammar writing by examining authors’ references to other grammarians in a corpus of 19th-century British grammars. We will show that changes, such as the turn away from prescriptive grammar writing, can indeed be further enhanced and systematically supported by quantitative results from the analysed network of referenced grammars and grammarians. Further, the analysis of the grammars’ lexical inventory shows which authors take the lead in terminological progress.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: 19th-century grammar writing
  • 2.The corpus and methodology
  • 3.Results of network and frequency analysis
    • 3.1Most frequently referenced grammarians
    • 3.2Most frequently referencing grammar authors
    • 3.3Network of grammarians’ references
    • 3.4Distribution of linguistic keywords in the grammar corpus
      • 3.4.1Comparative and historical
      • 3.4.2Phonetic(s)/phonology
      • 3.4.3Prescriptive/prescription and descriptive
  • 4.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Corpus of 19th-century grammar books
  • Other grammar books
  • Appendix
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