Transforming Early English

This book examines the reworking of early English and Scottish texts, offering insights into historical pragmatics and its implications for philological practices.

In Transforming Early English, the author explores the reworking of early English and Scottish texts, advocating for a fresh interdisciplinary perspective on textual studies through the lens of historical pragmatics. This approach not only highlights the importance of language evolution but also emphasizes how socio-cultural contexts influence the transmission of texts over time. The book is particularly geared towards researchers and advanced students in historical linguistics and book history, as well as those with a broader interest in sociocultural dynamics.

The narrative demonstrates how historical pragmatics serves as a robust framework for understanding the transformations that medieval English and Older Scots texts experience. By examining formal elements like spelling, script, font, and punctuation—often overlooked in textual analysis—the author reveals their deep connections to the shifting imperatives and functions of society. This critical examination is supported by a variety of case studies that illustrate the reinvention of Old English poetry and prose during the later medieval and early modern eras, culminating in the eighteenth-century 'vernacular revival' in Older Scots literature.

Ultimately, Transforming Early English invites readers to reconsider the implications of these historical transformations for philological theory and practice. Through its in-depth analysis, the book enriches our understanding of how texts are not static artifacts but dynamic entities shaped by their cultural environments.