Languages and Communities in Early Modern Europe

This book is a cultural history of European languages from the invention of printing to the French Revolution.

Peter Burke (Author)

9780521535861, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 September 2004

226 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.31 kg

'This is a rich and illuminating book, full of insight and often surprising detail. Its strengths lie above all in its diversity - in Burke's ability to offer a close-up of, say, the colonial presence of Portuguese or the decline of Catalan, while also moving happily among a whole range of different languages and writers. … rewarding and insightful …' Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development

In this magisterial study, Peter Burke explores the social and cultural history of the languages spoken or written in Europe between the invention of printing and the French Revolution, arguing that, from a linguistic point of view, 1450 to 1789 should be regarded as a distinct period. One major theme of the book is the relation between languages and communities (regions, churches, occupations and genders as well as nations) and the place of language as a way of identifying others as well as a symbol of one's own identity. A second, linked theme is that of competition: between Latin and the vernaculars, between different vernaculars, dominant and subordinate, and finally between different varieties of the same vernacular, such as standard languages and dialects. Written by one of Europe's leading cultural historians, this book restores the history of the many languages of Europe in a large variety of contexts.

Prologue: communities and domains
1. 'Speak, that I may see thee': the discovery of language in early modern Europe
2. Latin: a language in search of a community
3. Vernaculars in competition
4. Standardizing languages
5. Mixing languages
6. Purifying languages
Epilogue: languages and nations
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Cultural studies [JFC], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD], Linguistics [CF]