Discursive communities/interpretive communities: The new logic, John Locke, and dictionary‐making, 1660–1760

McInnis, Raymond G.; Lindemuth, Amy L.

doi:10.1080/02691729608578807

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…As Elizabeth L. Eisenstein (1980: 117–18) has argued, without a common language, the capacity of the printing press might have been less effective. It is therefore not surprising that dictionaries were among the first genre of books that appeared almost as soon as printing emerged (McInnis, 2001: 325). And it was the popularity of dictionaries that made language standardization, and ultimately many nationalist movements, possible.…”

Section: The Relationship Between Nation Building Language and Dictionariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These dictionaries claim to be “descriptive” dictionaries mainly because they include “non-standard” English such as slang and colloquialisms. In contrast, a prescriptive dictionary, which the Dictionary has claimed to be, 2 aims at stabilizing language to prevent it from changing (McInnis, 2001: 328). It tends to be more concerned about the “correctness” of language.…”

Section: The Dictionary and Its Early Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defining Correctness

Lee

2013

Modern China

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Chinese dictionaries have long been an important tool for promoting the political agenda of the state. Not much has changed in the twenty-first century. A conventional assumption is that dictionary compilation has been controlled by the state. An examination of the history of the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary 现代汉语词典 suggests that such a claim is exaggerated. While the state was indeed actively involved in the compilation of the dictionary before the 1980s, the presumed propagandistic content of the dictionary in the twenty-first century has been more a result of the profitseeking behavior of its publisher, the Commercial Press 商务印书馆, than direct state control. In order to defend the market share of its product, the Commercial Press needs to struggle with rival publishers to present to the public a close affinity with the state, which has the authority to define linguistic correctness. Consequently, the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary has been revised in accordance with the changing political agenda of the state and thus continues to support its nation-building project. This finding revises the conventional wisdom on several scores, particularly by deepening the analysis of language politics and reaffirming its importance in contemporary China.

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Section: The Relationship Between Nation Building Language and Dictionariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Dictionary and Its Early Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%