QUESTIONS ON CROWLEY 

 

 

1. What does "elocution" mean? What are elocution lessons? Do they exist in Spanish?

 

Elocution- The art of public speaking so far as it regards delivery, pronunciation, tones, and gestures; manner or style of oral delivery. Also attrib.

 Oratorical or literary expression of thought; literary ‘style’ as distinguished from ‘matter’; the power or art of appropriate and effective expression.

 

Elocution lessons help to improve pronunciation, grammar, style and tone.

I believe that elocution lessons exist not only in Spanish, but in many other languages.

 

 

2. What do "polyglossia" and "monoglossia" mean?

 

Polyglossia - The coexistence of two or more languages, or distinct varieties of the same language, within a speech community.

 

Monoglossia- existence of only one language within a speech community

 

3. What kind of English does Puttenham recommend?

 

The speech of the court, and that of London and the shires lying about London within 1 mile.

 And also Poetic English

 

4. What does "copious" mean? Look up pronunciation.

 

Copious- Abounding in information; full of matter. /ˈkəʊpɪəs/

 

5. What does "trope" mean?

 

Trope- A figure of speech which consists in the use of a word or phrase in a sense other than that which is proper to it; also, in casual use, a figure of speech; figurative language.

 

 

 

6. Why does Crowley call the standardization process a war?

Because it was a process of fights until it became regularised.  It was a common trope in the 18^th century.

 

7. What does "encomium" mean

 

Encomium- A formal or high-flown expression of praise; a eulogy, panegyric.

 

8. Who wrote the "Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue" (1712)?

 

Jonathan Swift.

 

9. Do Johnson and Swift agree that the English language has degenerated? (page 60)

Yes they agree in the fact that language is linked with the civil and religious constitution, and it degenerates like any kind of government.

 

10. Swift proposed an academy. Who else?

Dryden, Defoe, Addison and Wilson.

 

11. Why were the Whigs (See Whigs and Tories in Wikipaedia) against an academy?

Because for them academy represented France, and also was related to Stuart laimants to the monarchy and because it had been instituted by the Cardinal Richelieu, an aristocratic Catholic. And they were also against everything Tories were in favour of.

 

12. What does Sheridan mean by "the genius of our people"?

He refers to the fact that French people would submit to an absolutist government but “our people” would not submit to any laws they do not give their own consent.

 

13. What reason does Swift give for the "decay of Latin"

The change of government into tyranny (no more encouragement for popular orators) The fact of giving freedom to the city and capacity for employments to several towns (in Gaul, Spain and Germany) which brought foreign pretenders into Rome. And invasions from Goths and Vandals.

 

 

14. What does "suffer" in line 2 of page 66 mean?

I think he refers to the fact that writers like Shakespeare Chaucer made an enormous changed in language a lot by the invention of new words and expressions.

 

 

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 Sheridan's solution to the problem of divergence in pronunciation?

To teach clergy (priests) the pronunciation, so they than could work as a medium by which it could be propagated. Church, state and the principles of elocution are yoked together in order to bring about a new linguistic and historical order.

 

17. How did several authors describe other European languages? Do you agree with this kind of classification?

 

Italian “pleasant”, French “delicate”, Spanish “majestic”,

Dutch “manlike”

It is very “romantic” definition, but I think that I do agree with it.

 

 

18. In which novel did Daniel Defoe capture the "colonial fantasy"?

In Robinson Crusoe

 

19. Locke thought that learning Latin was not necessary for which group of people?

 

It was not necessary for the merchants and bourgeoisie.

 

20. How did learning to speak English using Standard English empower people?

 

The languages are directly related to political and social factors. Standard English became the prestigious accent in society. It distinguished different social classes. For example the bourgeois started to take interest in the vernacular in order to be admitted within the social and political life.

 

21. What kind of English is deemed to be "proper" English?

Exist different opinions about it, but it seems to be English used in London, Universities and Court, was the “proper” one.

 

22. How was the inculcation of linguistic patterns carried out with middle-class children?  

Using discipline, punishment and education. For example dividing the class in groups of children according to the length of words they could spell, rewarding them if they do properly changing into a better group.

 

23. What was the purpose of training women linguistically in the 18th century according?

To fulfil the role of the mother: passing on pure language to the child, and to act as companion to the male in public spheres.

 

24. Why did Locke warn against children talking to servants?

He was against the communication between children and servants, because he thought that children would learn an inadequate language as well as tricks and vices( he thought it was bad influence).

 

25. What was the difference between the mistakes made by the working classes and

 those made by the gentry according to Sheridan?

Sheridan claimed that the working classes made grammatical and structural mistakes meanwhile the gentry’s mistakes were mainly in pronunciation.