Medical and Scientific Writing in Late Medieval English
Irma Taavitsainen editor Päivi Pahta editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:11th Mar '04
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- Paperback£36.99(9780521110419)
This 2004 volume discusses the vernacularisation of scientific and medical writing in late medieval English.
The late Middle Ages in England saw a flowering of scientific writing in the vernacular, taking English discourse in new directions and establishing new textual genres. This 2004 book examines the sociolinguistic causes and effects of that process, and offers insights into vernacularisation for linguists and historians of science alike.Medical and scientific writing in English has evolved over more than a millennium, from its genesis in the Anglo-Saxon era to its present-day position as the 'lingua franca' of science. This 2004 volume focuses on its development as a genre in late medieval English. During this period it emerged in the vernacular, as its Graeco-Roman conventions were modified in a new socio-historical context. Seven experts discuss the various linguistic and textual processes involved in vernacularising science, and how they related to communicative practices and to the writers and readers of medical and scientific texts. Referring to authentic medieval texts, they show how discourse communities adopted scriptorial 'house-styles', how vocabulary and code-switching patterns reflect the multilingual context of the period, and how intertextuality featured between shared materials. Bringing together several perspectives on this research area, this book will be welcomed by linguists and historians of science alike.
ISBN: 9780521831338
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 21mm
Weight: 620g
304 pages