The history of English writing is, to a considerable extent, the history of instructional writing in English. This volume is the first collection of papers to focus on instructional writing throughout the history of the language. Spanning a millennium of English texts, the materials studied represent procedural and behavioural discourse in a variety of genres. The primary texts, from Ælfric’s homilies to medieval cooking recipes to seventeenth-century American conduct literature to present-day language textbooks, display a variety of linguistic devices typical of instruction. The materials nonetheless differ with respect to the explicitness of their instructive purpose. Bringing together a broad range of instructional writing from the Old, Middle and Modern English periods, this collection celebrates the sixtieth birthday of Risto Hiltunen, who has successfully combined discourse-linguistic approaches with the history of English in his research, and inspired the colleagues and former students contributing to this volume.
Author(s): Matti Peikola (ed.), Janne Skaffari (ed.), Sanna-Kaisa Tanskanen (ed.)
Series: Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 189
Publisher: John Benjamins
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 257
Instructional Writing in English......Page 2
Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
LCC data......Page 5
Table of contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
In Honour of Risto Hiltunen......Page 10
Tabula gratulatoria......Page 12
1. Instructions and our instructor......Page 16
2. Instructional writing and the history of English......Page 17
3.1 Instructiveness in language and production......Page 19
3.2 Instructiveness in reception: Audience......Page 23
4. Concluding remarks......Page 24
References......Page 25
1. Introduction: Menn behofiað godre lare......Page 28
2. Enter narrative: Ic wolde eow ane lytle race gereccan......Page 33
3. Enter instruction: On ælcum ðæra worda is sum ðincg digle......Page 40
4. Exit: Þes traht is langsum eow to rædenne......Page 43
References......Page 45
1. Introduction......Page 50
2. The context and structure of AW......Page 51
3. Explicit instruction......Page 54
3.1 Linguistic cues......Page 55
3.2 Instruction in Part VIII......Page 58
4. Teaching women......Page 63
References......Page 67
1. Introduction......Page 70
1.1 Contextualizing the vagueness of medieval recipes......Page 72
1.2 The Forme of Cury......Page 74
2. Quantities......Page 76
2.1 Precise (specified) quantities......Page 77
2.2 Vague (approximated) quantities......Page 79
3. Vague Categories......Page 81
4. Placeholder Words......Page 83
5. Flexibility......Page 84
6. Superordinacy......Page 86
7. Omission......Page 90
8. Conclusion: Adapting medieval recipes for modern readers......Page 93
References......Page 95
1. Introduction: Aim, approach and method......Page 120
2. Material used in the study......Page 121
3.1 Setting the scene......Page 123
3.3 Instruction and politeness......Page 126
3.4 Entertainment......Page 130
4.1 Setting the scene......Page 131
4.2 The negotiation and maintenance of authority......Page 133
4.3 Religious and moral preaching......Page 134
4.4 Speech acts and instruction......Page 135
5. Conclusions......Page 137
References......Page 138
1. Introduction......Page 140
2.2 The Female Secretary and its audience......Page 142
3.1 General considerations......Page 145
3.2 Explicit instruction......Page 146
4.1 Topics of the model letters......Page 149
4.2 Intertextuality in the model letters of The Female Secretary......Page 151
5. Proper to their sex: Concluding remarks......Page 153
References......Page 154
1. Introduction......Page 156
2. American conduct literature in the seventeenth century......Page 157
2.1 Religious and social context of Massachusetts, 1692......Page 158
3.1 Structure and rhetoric......Page 160
3.2 The Language of Ornaments......Page 165
4. The other side of virtue: The Salem witch......Page 167
5. Conclusion......Page 173
References......Page 174
1. Introduction......Page 176
2. Literature for children prior to Newbery......Page 179
2.1 The similarity of Newbery’s production to its predecessors......Page 181
3. Newbery the man and his work......Page 183
3.1 The great Mr. Locke......Page 184
4. A Little Pretty Pocket-Book: An overview......Page 186
4.1 Dual address in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book......Page 190
5. A philosophy of tops and balls......Page 193
6. Concluding remarks......Page 197
References......Page 198
1. Introduction......Page 202
2. General organization of the text......Page 204
3.1 Front matter: Authorial self-positioning as scientist and professional physician......Page 206
3.2 Authorial self-positioning and construction of an authoritative voice in the body of the text......Page 209
3.3 A traditional genre brought up to date: The Appendix......Page 215
4. Modal auxiliaries in Domestic Medicine......Page 216
5.1 Theoretical approaches......Page 221
5.2 Advice acts in Buchan’s text......Page 222
References......Page 223
1. Introduction......Page 226
2.1 The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages......Page 227
2.2 The national core curriculum......Page 228
2.3 The matriculation examination......Page 230
3. Concepts and terminology......Page 231
4. The textbooks studied......Page 232
4.2 In Touch......Page 233
5.1 Washback and textbook washback......Page 235
5.2 Materials and methods......Page 237
5.3 Results and discussion......Page 238
6.1 Oral pragmatics in language teaching......Page 240
6.3 Results and discussion......Page 242
References......Page 245
Index......Page 248
The Pragmatics & Beyond New Series......Page 256
