Colonial Voices
A Cultural History of English in Australia, 1840–1940

Innovative study of the role of language in the 'civilising' project of the British Empire in colonial Australia.

Joy Damousi (Author)

9780521516310, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 June 2010

326 pages, 21 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.66 kg

'… a highly original study of the relationship between language and empire and the centrality of voice and pronunciation in defining individual and collective identity.' The Historical Association (history.org.uk)

Colonial Voices explores the role of language in the greater 'civilising' project of the British Empire through the dissemination and reception of, and challenge to, British English in Australia during the period from the 1840s to the 1940s. This was a period in which the art of oratory, eloquence and elocution was of great importance in the empire and Joy Damousi offers an innovative study of the relationship between language and empire. She shows the ways in which this relationship moved from dependency to independence and how, during that transition, definitions of the meaning and place of oratory, eloquence and elocution shifted. Her findings reveal the central role of voice and pronunciation in informing and defining both individual and collective identity, as well as wider cultural views of class, race, nation and gender. The result is a pioneering contribution to cultural history and the history of English within the British Empire.

Introduction
Prologue: from England to empire
Part I. Colonial Experience: 1. Civilising speech
2. Eloquence and voice culture
3. Elocution theory and practice
Part II. Language Education: 4. Etiquette and everyday life
5. Education
6. Teachers and pupils
Part III. Social Reform and Oratory: 7. Social reform and eloquence
8. Speech in war, 1914–18
Part IV. Australian English: 9. The colonies speak: speech and accent in the empire, 1920s and 1930s
10. Broadcasting the radio voice
11. The advent of the 'talkies' and imagined communities
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM], Linguistics [CF]