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Article published In: Robert Lowth (1710-1787): The making of his grammar and its influence
Guest-edited by Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade
[Historiographia Linguistica 39:1] 2012
► pp. 9–26

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Robert Lowth and the Critics

Literary contexts for the “Critical Notes” in his Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762)

 | University of Toronto
Published online: 22 March 2012
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.39.1.02per
Summary
This article provides a broad intellectual context for Robert Lowth’s (1710–1787) Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762), and in particular for the footnotes or “Critical Notes” in which he documented the grammatical errors of great dead writers. It is well known that Lowth’s notes were innovative in the English grammatical tradition, and that they contrasted and qualified the “Examples from the best Writers” in the Dictionary of the English Language (1755) by Samuel Johnson (1709–1784). Here the author places Lowth in broader context and demonstrate that the ‘bad’ grammar of vernacular classics had already been publicized in debates about translating the bible and editing Shakespeare. In the concluding discussion I draw on current studies of literary canons to argue that by crystallizing the difference between literary and standard language, Lowth’s grammar increased the socio-cultural capital of both.
Résumé
Cet article fournit un large contexte intellectuel pour la Short Introduction to English Grammar [“Courte introduction à la grammaire anglaise”] (1762) de Robert Lowth (1710–1787), et en particulier pour les notes ou les “Notes critiques” dans lesquelles il a documenté les erreurs grammaticales des grands écrivains morts. Il est bien connu que les notes de Lowth étaient une nouveauté dans la tradition grammaticale anglaise et qu’elles contrastent avec les ‘Exemples des meilleurs écrivains’ dans le Dictionary of the English Language [“Dictionnaire de la langue anglaise”] (1755) de Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) et les modifie. L’auteur du présent article replace Lowth dans un contexte plus large et montre que la mauvaise grammaire des oeuvres classiques en langue vernaculaire avait déjà été diffusée dans les débats sur la traduction de la Bible et l’édition de Shakespeare. En conclusion, elle s’appuie sur les études actuelles des canons littéraires afin de démontrer qu’en cristallisant la différence entre langue littéraire et norme, la grammaire de Lowth a augmenté le capital socio-culturel des deux.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Artikel bietet einen Überblick über das intellektuelle Umfeld von Robert Lowth (1710–1787) und seiner Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762), insbesondere, was den Anmerkungen bzw. “Critical Notes” zu entnehmen ist, in denen er grammatische Fehler großer (verstorbener) Autoren dokumentiert. Es ist bekannt, dass die Notizen von Lowth eine Neuerung in der englischen grammatischen Tradition darstellten und dass sie sich von den ‘Beispielen aus den besten Schriftstellern’ im Dictionary of the English Language (1755) von Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) unterscheiden. Die Autorin stellt Lowth in einen breiteren Kontext und zeigt, dass ‘schlechte’ Grammatiken klassischer literarischer Werke in der Volkssprache bereits bei den Debatten über die Übersetzung der Bibel und den Bearbeitung von Shakespeare genutzt worden waren. Mit anderen Worten: sie bezieht sich auf die aktuelle Diskussion über literarische Richtschnuren, um zu zeigen, dass durch die Fokussierung auf die Unterschiede zwischen Literatursprache und Standardsprache die Grammatik das soziokulturelle Kapital beider vermehrt wird.
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Cited by one other publication

Wilton, David
2014. Rethinking the prescriptivist–descriptivist dyad: motives and methods in two eighteenth-century grammars. English Today 30:3 ► pp. 38 ff. DOI logo

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