here - O - Universiteit Leiden
here - O - Universiteit Leiden
here - O - Universiteit Leiden
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HenriLePrieult,EnglishDepartm ent,UniversityofToulouse(France)<br />
Whatdidcustom m ean fortheBrstEnglish gram m arians:afriend orafoe?<br />
6ispaperaimsatanalysingt<strong>here</strong>ferencestotheconceptof‘custom’inthe!rstgrammars<br />
ofEnglish(late16 th and 17 th c.).<br />
6estandardisationofEnglish,aswelasofmostEuropeanlanguages,maybedated<br />
backtothetimewhenthe!rstgrammarsofthevernacularwerewriten,eitherinEnglish<br />
orLatin,from theendofthe16 th centuryonward.Atthattim e,theauthorityoftheGreco<br />
Latindescriptiveandprescriptiveframework,devisedandtransmitedfrom theClasical<br />
Ages,wouldbegeneralyacknowledged,althoughsometimeschalenged,bythe!rst<br />
grammariansoftheEnglishlanguage.<br />
Whenconsideringthese!rstatemptsatdescribingandstandardisingEnglish,one<br />
frequentlyencountersverydiversede!nitionsofsom eofthecentralconceptstoany<br />
de!nitionofnormsandstandards:‘norms’,‘usage’,‘rules’,‘authority’,‘anomaly’,‘corectnes’,<br />
etc.Attimes,usageispromoted,tothepointofpavingthewayfortheacceptanceofvarious<br />
posiblestandards.Butitisrarelyclearastowho,infact,decideswhatisacceptable:<br />
Reason,Nature,anyspeechcommunity,oralearnedminority?Consequently,onemight<br />
enquirewhatisinfactunderstoodbytheconceptof‘custom’.Isitmerelya“barbarousand<br />
gothic”practice(Lane1700),thesymptom ofagenerallackof“publicauthority”andan<br />
altogether“unadvised”temptation(Cooper1687)?Canthegrammarian!ghtagainstitoris<br />
itjust“invincible”(W ilkins1668)?Conversely,can’titbegladlywelcom ed asa“friend”<br />
ratherthanasa“foe”,the“companionofreason”(M ulcaster1582),endowedwith“theforce<br />
ofNatureitself”(Lewis1670),evenacceptedas“amendingforce”(Johnson1640)?<br />
Withrepeatedandregularreferencesto‘custom’duringthe!rstdecadesofthe<br />
foundingofthegram m arofEnglish,itseem edrelevanttoca ryoutasurveyofthevarious<br />
sem anticfeaturesasociatedwiththiscentralconceptinordertounderstandtheirrelation<br />
tot<strong>here</strong>presentation ofusageatthattim e.<br />
6ispaperwilatempttoprovideadetailedviewof‘custom’asde!nedandusedby<br />
the!rstgram m ariansofEnglishinordertoreachabeterunderstandingofthelegacythese<br />
worksprovidedtothedescriptive/prescriptivetradition.<br />
References:<br />
Auroux,Sylvain.1994.Larévolutiontechnologiquedelagrammatisation.Mardaga:Liège.<br />
Jones,RichardFoster.1966.6 eTrium phoftheEnglishLanguage.Stanford:S.U.P.<br />
LePrieult,Henri.2006.Grammaticalité:Traditionsetmodernités.Toulouse:P.U.M.<br />
Michael,Ian.1970.EnglishGrammaticalCategoriesandtheTraditionto1800.Cambridge,<br />
CambridgeUniversityPres.<br />
Robins,R.H.1951.AncientandMediaevalGrammatical6 eoryinEurope.Washington/London:<br />
KennikatPres.
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