Creating Canadian English
Creating Canadian English
This lively account of the making of Canadian English traces the variety's conceptual, social and linguistic developments from the twentieth century to the present. This book is not just another history of Canadian English; it is a history of the variety's discovery, codification, and eventual acceptance, as well as the contribution of the linguists behind it. Written by an active research linguist focusing on Canadian English, this book is an archive-based biography on multiple levels. Through a combination of new data and re-interpretations of existing studies, a new voice is given to earlier generations of Canadian linguists who, generally forgotten today, shaped the variety and how we think about it. Exploring topics such as linguistic description and codification, dictionary making, linguistic imperialism, linguistic attitudes, language and Canadian identity, or the threat of Americanisation, Dollinger presents a coherent, integrated and balanced account of developments spanning over almost a century.
- Explains over the course of the twentieth century, how 'Canadian English' was established as a positive notion
- Covers an impressively wide range of topics, including linguistic description, codification, dictionary making, linguistic imperialism, linguistic attitudes, language and Canadian identity, or the threat of Americanisation
- Reveals in a longitudinal archival case study the negative effects of trends and fashions in the field of linguistics
Reviews & endorsements
‘Stefan Dollinger has undertaken heroic archival sleuthing to resuscitate the coalition of amateur logophiles and English professors that succeeded in bringing Canadian English into print and, more important, into our consciousness. Through him, this small, almost forgotten band of scholars come to life with their foibles, their labours and above all their dedication.' Jack Chambers, University of Toronto
'For this brilliantly researched book, Stefan Dollinger bravely ventured to parts of the archives other scholars had never reached. He emerged with the fascinating story of how the ‘Lennon & McCartney of Canadian English’, Walter S. Avis and Charles J. Lovell, persuaded Canada - and then the world - to recognize Canadian English as the distinctive language variety that it truly is.' Peter Trudgill, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
‘It is consistently seasoned with lively examples, gems of Canadianisms, explained in context and documented by references to the DCHP and other works. For anybody interested in such a perspective Dollinger’s book is a captivating read.’ Edgar W. Schneider, English World-Wide
‘… Creating Canadian English provides us with a highly competent and readable story, diligently researched in archives and by interviews, written by a scholar working in Canada, in nuanced Canadian English, that all audiences should find is a helpful introduction to its subject and a clear call for further community-involved efforts. I rate it highly.’ David Douglas Robertson, LINGUIST List
Product details
August 2019Paperback
9781108708753
300 pages
227 × 152 × 15 mm
0.5kg
43 b/w illus. 11 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. What is Canadian English?
- 2. The heritage of Canadian English
- 3. Avis pulls it off
- 4. The 'technology': slips, slips, and more slips
- 5. 1967 – excitement and hype
- 6. Riding the wave of success
- 7. A global village and a national dictionary war
- 8. Decolonizing DCHP-1 and DCHP-2
- 9. Is there really a Canadian English?
- Further reading.
