Chapter 8. Jane Austen and the prescriptivists

Abstract

In contradistinction to interpretations that have positioned Austen as the epitome of a fixed and finished style, in this chapter I position her as an author who was writing at a time of considerable linguistic and stylistic change. In order to do so, I take both a micro- and a macro-linguistic approach to her writing. First, I focus on one specific grammatical feature that is highly salient to some modern readers, that of concordance with either, neither and none. Second, I examine the metalinguistic comments made by characters and narrators in her novels and consider the extent to which these provide evidence for Austen’s own attitudes. Finally, I explore whether or not it is true that Austen is unconcerned with nonstandard forms of language, comparing her practices to those of her contemporaries. Overall I argue that Austen was writing at a time when both language attitudes and language practices were in flux, and that as an author her style was shaped by the changes in progress, while she in turn made use of changing language attitudes for purposes of characterisation.

‘Well, taakin about he da bring inta me yead wat I promised var ta tell ee about’: representations of south-western speech in nineteenth-century dialect writing

“…They depict icons of personhood linked to speech that invite forms of role alignment on the part of the reader.' See alsoHodson (2021) on the relationship between metalanguage and stance.…”