Language and the Grand Tour
Linguistic Experiences of Travelling in Early Modern Europe

The Grand Tour provides a unique case study of population movement, language change and education in early modern Europe.

Arturo Tosi (Author)

9781108487276, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 April 2020

318 pages, 17 b/w illus. 1 table
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.62 kg

The Grand Tour was the classical continental trip to France and Italy, undertaken by young aristocratic men in early modern Europe, ostensibly for educational purposes. Using amusing stories and vivid quotations collected from travellers' writings, Arturo Tosi charts the rise of modern vernaculars and the standardisation of European languages. The travellers' writings provide a valuable source of information about language contact, and illuminate how socialisation with the locals led, on the one hand, to conscious borrowings from prestigious foreign peers and, on the other, to linguistic disorientation when confronted with lower-class speech and rural vernaculars. The first of its kind to approach the Grand Tour from a linguistic perspective, this book is a timely addition to this burgeoning area of study, presenting a unique case study of population movement, language change and education in early modern Europe.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Attitudes and Aptitudes: 1. Images and stereotypes
2. Attractions, affections, aberrations
3. Linguistic training at home
Part II. Encounters and Exchanges: 4. Language acquisition and learning abroad
5. Aids, strategies and facilitators
6. Latin and other lingua francas
Part III. Contrasts and Collisions: 7. Perceptions of linguistic diversity
8. Instances of language contact
9. Women travellers and gender issues
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Travel writing [WTL], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Sociolinguistics [CFB]