1. What does
"elocution" mean? What are elocution lessons? Do they exist in
Spanish?
(page
54)
( Oratorical or literary expression of thought; literary ‘style’ as
distinguished from ‘matter’; the power or art of appropriate and effective
expression -OED).
Elocution means diction,
pronunciation.
Elocution lessons are the
kind of lessons that help people to reach a certain way of pronunciation,
usually for those wanting to have the prestige or standard pronunciation. They
are not necessary in Spanish as we don't have different sounds for the same
letter.
2. What do "polyglossia" and "monoglossia"
mean? (page 55)
polyglossia is a situation of coexistence of different languages
in the same area as in the case of
3. What kind of English
does Puttenham recommend? (page
55)
He
recommends taking the form which is “natural, pure and most usual of the
country”.The English from
4. What does
"copious" mean? Look up pronunciation. (page
56, paragraph 2)
it means abundant
like English language which is a language without order and rules.
5. What does
"trope" mean? (page 57, para.
2)
it is a metaphorical
figure use to make a comparison between the opposite tendencies about language
in the 18th century and the reality of a war. In that way the term 'trope'
is used with the meaning of metaphor.
6. Why does
The 18th
century –
7. What does
"encomium" mean (page 58, para. 2)
Encomium is an enthusiastic
praise, a panegyric as we see in the text, gently describing the imperial power,
victorious abroad and settled at home, as the author describes when talking
about The British Empire. The ode is not just a description it’s a nationalistic
ode.
8. Who wrote the
"Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English
Tongue"(1712) (page
59)
Swift
9. Do Johnson and Swift
agree that the English language has degenerated? (page
60)
yes, they agree but
Swift is more specific, he talks about English language itself. His idea of
reform aims the creation of a proper vehicle of communication and by fixing it,
avoids any danger of mutability of the history. As he says, preventing
diachronic change it’s possible to ensure the history which remains fixed for
ever. For Johnson who is less specific, the fixation of the language will not guarantee
any successful communication of the success of the past in the future.
10. Swift proposed an
academy. Who else? (page 61)
Defoe, Addison,
Dryden and Wilson.
11. Why were the Whigs
(See Whigs and Tories in Wikipaedia) against an
academy?
(page
61, bottom of page)
The Whigs are often described as one of the two original political
parties (the other being the Tories) in England and later the United
Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries. Although the Whigs'
origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition
to absolute rule, either party might be termed
"conservative" by modern standards[.
Both parties began as loose groupings or tendencies, but became quite
formal by 1784, with the ascension of Charles
James Fox as the leader of a reconstituted "Whig" party ranged
against the governing party of the new "Tories" under William Pitt the Younger.
The Whig party slowly evolved during the 18th century. The Whig tendency
supported the Protestant Hanoverian succession and toleration for nonconformist
Protestants (the "dissenters," such as Presbyterians), while
the Tories supported the exiled Stuart royal family's claims for the throne (Jacobitism), the established Church
of England and the gentry. Later on, the Whigs drew support from the emerging
industrial interests and wealthy merchants, while the Tories drew support from
the landed interests and the British
Crown. The Whigs were originally also known as the "Country
Party" (as opposed to the Tories, the "Court Party"). By the
first half of the 19th century, however, the Whig political programme
came to encompass not only the supremacy of parliament
over the monarch and support for free trade,
but Catholic emancipation, the abolition of slavery and,
significantly, expansion of the franchise (suffrage). Eventually the Whigs would evolve into
the Liberal Party (while the Tories became the Conservative Party).
Tories-The term, derived from Tóraidhe, was originally used to refer to an Irish
outlaw and later often applied to any Confederate or Royalist in
arms.[1] English and British Tories from the time of the Glorious Revolution up until the Reform Bill of 1832 were characterised
by strong monarchist
tendencies, support of the Church
of England, and hostility to reform, while the Tory Party
was an actual organization which held power intermittently throughout the same
period.(wikipedia)
It was a class political
problem. The Whigs were conservative and were against changes (as usual with
conservative mentalities: the past is always better) and the
academy supposed a radical change. They also identified the Academy with
12. What does
He is comparing
13. What reason does
Swift give for the "decay of Latin" (page 63, bottom)
Swift reads the history trough
language therefore he explains the decay of Latin language by looking the moral
and political fortunes of people of that time.
Orators and great
eloquence, he explains is not need it when the monarchy or the power of God
(the tyranny) is in charge on every simple decision.
14. What does
"suffer" in line 2 of page 66 mean?
Swift talked about “the
dangers and problems caused by linguistic mutability” one of the factors in the
campaign for language standardization. But as he says, not only affected
writers, not only them 'suffer' a cause of that, also History could be
affected.
15. Who was the first
person, involved in German cultural nationalism, to make the link between
language and nation? (page 67 para.
2)
Herder
16. What was
To instruct the priests
in standard so people will follow their example and the language will spread
because of them. The clergy are the perfect people to spread uniform
pronunciation.
17. How did several
authors describe other European languages? Do you agree with this kind of
classification? (page 71)
The Italian is pleasant, but without any bases. The
French is delicate, but without countenance. It was flimsy compared to English.
The Spanish is majestical,
but very guttural (of speech sounds produced at the back of the throat and
therefore deep) and not very pleasant and quite grave. The Dutch is considered manlike, very harsh (unpleasant,
unkind)
I don’t agree at all, I
presume that this is just a question of taste. Many people don't like Catalan
or German and I like them. Moreover our mother tongue is usually the one what
we usually prefer finding it more attractive or beautiful.
Robinson Crusoe
written in 1719 by Defoe.
19. Locke thought that
learning Latin was not necessary for which group of people?
(page
77 -also 75)
The bourgeois
sphere of trading and business men.
20. How did learning to
speak English using Standard English empower people? (page78)
Because languages were at
that time a deep form of class division and the correct mode of expression (standard)
gave people respect. Classical languages until there where a sign of well
education and class and now with the upgrading of the bourgeois, the vernacular
English became the standard and an assertion of education and a vehicle of
social and political class.
21. What kind of English
is deemed to be "proper" English? (page 80,
bottom-page 81,top)
the one of the
middle-classes and the upper-classes.
22. How was the
inculcation of linguistic patterns carried out with middle-class children (page
84, bottom, page 85, top)
a process of
discipline, punishment and education. Rewards and punishment were hand on hand
in the process of giving the skills required for their social position.
23. What was the purpose
of training women linguistically in the 18th century according to
The purpose was to fix
their role of good mothers and good wives in order to perform properly both of
them in the public sphere.
24. Why did Locke warn
against children talking to servants? (page 93, top)
to not be
influenced by bad linguistic habits.
25. What was the
difference between the mistakes made by the working classes and those made by
the gentry according to
the upper classes made only occasional mistakes
while the working classes were constantly making them by their bad use of the
language.