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WARS OF WORDS
QUESTIONS |
1. What does “elocution” mean? What
are elocution lessons? Do they exist in Spanish?
Elocution is the study of formal
speaking in pronunciation,
grammar,
style, and tone.
Lessons to improve pronunciation, grammar, style and tone.
2. What do “polyglossia”
and “monoglossia” mean? (page
55)
Polyglossia means the coexistence of multiple languages in the same area,in which latin is the
predominant language.
Monoglossia
means the absence of this division,in
which English held away.
3. What kind of English does Puttenham recommend? (page 55)
The usual speech of
the court, and that of London and the shires lying about London within 1 mile.
4. What does “copious” mean? Look
up pronunciation. (page 56, paragraph 2)
Abundant and
archaic without order at all. Caotic.
Energetic without rules
/’kəupɪəs/.
5. What does “trope” mean? (page 57, para. 2)
The use of a word
in a different sense than that which is proper to it.
6. Why does Crowley call the
standardization process a war? (page 57)
Because it was a process of
fights until it became regularised. It was a common trope in the 18th
century.
7. Wat
does “encomium” mean (page 58, para. 2)
A formal or high
expression of praise.
8. Who wrote the “Proposal for
Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English
Tongue” (1712)? (page 59)
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? (page 61)
Dryden, Defoe,
Addison and Wilson.
11. Why were the Whigs (See Whigs
and Tories in Wikipaedia) against an academy? (page 61, bottom of page)
Because they
related the academy to France, and thus with the Stuart claimants to the
monarchy and because it had been instituted by the Cardinal Richelieu, an
aristocratic Catholic.
12. What does Sheridan mean by
“the genius of our people”? (page 62, para. 4)
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” (page 63, bottom)
The change of government into
tyranny, no more encouragement for popular orators, freedom of the city and
capacity for employments to several towns which brought foreign pretenders into
Rome. Summing up heteroglossia brings about the
imperial downfall.
14. What does “suffer” in line 2
of page 66 mean?
I think he refers to the fact
that writers like Shakespeare have changed 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,and his idea was taken
into german romanticism and eventually into the
various forms of cultural nationalism which arose across Europe in the 19C.
16. What was Sheridan’s solution
to the problem of divergence in pronunciation? (page69, bottom)
He proposed that the clergy
should be taught pronunciation in order that they could then act as the 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.
Because it is part
of the duty of every person to attend divine service at least once a week.
17. How did several authors
describe other European languages? Do you agree with this kind
of classification? (page 71)
Lemon classifies French as
“flimsy”, Italian as “neat”, Spanish “grave”, Saxon,
High Dutch “Belgic” and Teutonic tongues as “hoarse
and rough”.
I agree with most of them except
with qualifying French as “flimsy”, as I find it as strong as any other
language like English or Spanish, although it listens very soft.
18. In which novel did Daniel
Defoe capture the “colonial fantasy”? (page 72, top)
In “Robinson Crusoe”.
19. Locke thought that learning
Latin was not necessary for which group of people? (page
77 -also 75)
It was not necessary for the burgeoise,it is to be replaced by
the language which will help in the quotidian round of trade and commerce.
20. How did learning to speak
English using standard English empower people?
(page78)
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? (page 80, bottom-page
81,top)
There are different opinions
about it, but it seems that the English used in London, Universities and Court,
was the “proper” one. It is found upper and middle ranks,over whole British empire.
22. How was the inculcation of
linguistic patterns carried out with middle-class children (page
84, bottom, page 85, top)
By means of
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
Crowley? (page 90, middle)
There were two purposes: 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? (page 93, top)
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.
25. What was the difference
between the mistakes made by the working classes and those
made by the gentry according to Sheridan? (page 96,
bottom)
He argues that the gentry
mistakes are not structural.