A critical discourse approach to Benjamin Martin’s preface to "An introduction to the English language and learning" (1754)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.3282Keywords:
English grammars, eighteenth century, Critical Discourse Analysis, systemic functional grammar, transitivity structures, Benjamin MartinAbstract
The purpose of the present paper is to contribute to the depiction of Martin’s role as a grammarian by analysing the preface to his grammar “An Introduction to the English Language and Learning” (1754). By using a Critical Discourse Analysis approach and a method based on systemic functional grammar, this study intends to describe the discourse structures used in the preface to fulfil its advertising function and persuade the addressee as a potential buyer or user of the grammar. Martin’s preface is characterised by a peculiarly exaggerated and aggressive tone and by a strong emphasis on the religious implications of education, all of which confer some distinction to Martin within the discourse community of eighteenth-century grammarians.
Downloads
References
Auer, A. 2008. “Eighteenth-Century Grammars and Book Catalogues”. Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Ed. I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 57-75.
Beal, J. C. 2004. English in Modern Times. London: Arnold.
Chapman, D. 2008. “The Eighteenth-Century Grammarians as Language Experts”. Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Ed. I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 21-36.
Discenza, N. G. 2001. “Alfred’s Verse Preface to the Pastoral Care and the Chain of Authority”. Neophilologus 85 (4): 625-633.
Domínguez-Rodríguez, M. V. and A. Rodríguez-Álvarez. 2015. “‘The Reader is Desired to Observe […]’ Metacomments in the Prefaces to English School Grammars of the Eighteenth Century”. Journal of Historical Pragmatics 16 (1): 86-108.
Eighteenth-Century English Grammars Database. 2010. Compiled by M. E. Rodríguez-Gil and N. Yáñez-Bouza. <http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/ subjects/lel/research/completedprojects/c18englishgrammars/ecegdatabase/>.
Fairclough, N. 1989. Language and Power. London: Longman.
Fairclough, N. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. London: Longman.
Fernández-Martínez, D. 2016. “Genre Structure in the Prefaces to Eighteenth- Century English Grammars: A Study on a Selection of Prefaces from the ECEG Database”. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 117 (2): 289-313.
Genette, G. 1991. “Introduction to the Paratext”. New Literary History 22 (2): 261- 72.
Halliday, M. A. K. 2004. Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Harbus, A. 2007. “Metaphors of Authority in Alfred’s Prefaces”. Neophilologus 91: 717-727.
Martin, B. 1754. An Introduction to the English Language and Learning. In Three Parts. London: W. Owen.
Martin, J. R. 1992. English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. 2000. “Close Reading: Functional Linguistics as a Tool for Critical Discourse Analysis”. Researching Language in Schools and Communities: Functional Linguistic Perspectives. Ed. Len Unsworth. London: Cassell. 275-302.
Martin, J. R. and D. Rose. 2003. Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause. London: Continuum.
Millburn, J. R. 1973. “Benjamin Martin and the Development of the Orrery”. The British Journal for the History of Science 6 (4): 378-399.
Millburn, J. R. 1976. Benjamin Martin: Author, Instrument-Maker, and ‘Country Showman’. Leyden: Nordhoff International Publishing.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2004. J. R. Millburn, ‘Martin, Benjamin (bap. 1705, d. 1782)’. Oxford University Press. <http://www.oxforddnb.com/ view/article/18175>. (Accessed 1 Sept 2015)
Reyk, W. V. 2009. “Educating Christian Men in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries: Public-School and Oxbridge Ideals”. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 32: 425-437.
Rodríguez-Álvarez, A. and M. E. Rodríguez-Gil. 2013. “Common Topics in Eighteenth-Century Prefaces to English School Grammars: An Application of the ECEG Database”. Transactions of the Philological Society 111 (2): 202-222.
Rogers, R., ed. 2011. An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education. New York: Routledge.
Starnes, D. W. T. and G. E. Noyes. 1991. The English Dictionary from Cawdrey to Johnson 1604-1755. Studies in the History of the Language Sciences (Vol. 57). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Teo, P. 2000. “Racism in the News: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reporting in Two Australian Newspapers”. Discourse & Society 11 (1): 7-49.
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I. 1982. “Benjamin Martin the Linguist”. Historiographia Linguistica 12 (1/2): 121-133.
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I. 2008a. “Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing: An Introduction”. Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Ed. Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 1-14.
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I, ed. 2008b. Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Tieken-Boon van Ostade, I. 2008c. “The 1760s: Grammars, Grammarians and the Booksellers”. Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth- Century England. Ed. I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 101-124.
Wang, J. 2010. “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Barack Obama’s Speeches”. Journal of Language Teaching and Research 1 (3): 254-261
Watts, R. J. 1995. “Justifying Grammars: A Socio-Pragmatic Foray into the Discourse Community of Early English Grammarians”. Historical Pragmatics: Pragmatic Developments in the History of English. Ed. A. H. Jucker. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 145-185.
Watts, R. J. 2008. “Grammar Writers in Eighteenth-Century Britain: A Community of Practice or a Discourse Community?” Grammars, Grammarians and Grammar Writing in Eighteenth-Century England. Ed. I. Tieken-Boon van Ostade. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 37-56.
Wells, R. A. 1973. Dictionaries and the Authoritarian Tradition: Study in English Usage and Lexicography. The Hague: Walter de Gruyter.
Young, L. and C. Harrison, eds. 2004. Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis: Studies in Social Change. London: Continuum.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors retain copyright of articles and authorize Journal of English Studies the first publication. They are free to share, redistribute, and/or reprint the article without obtaining permission from the publisher as long as they give appropriate credit to the editor and the journal.
Self-archiving is allowed too. In fact, it is recommendable to deposit a PDF version of the paper in academic and/or institutional repositories.
It is recommended to include the DOI number.
This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
