Author: SHERIDAN (Thomas):
Title: A Rhetorical Grammar of the English Language. Calculated solely for the Purposes of Teaching Propriety of Pronunciation, and Justness of Delivery, in That Tongue, by the Organs of Speech.
Description: Dublin: Printed for Messrs. Prices, W. and H. Whitestone..., 1781. FIRST EDITION. 12mo, 168 x 98 mms., pp. xxiv [xxv - xxvii Contents, xxviii blank], 238, contemporary calf, gilt spine, green morocco label; a few annotations and underlinings in pencil, front joint very slightly worn, but a very good to fine copy. Sheridan writes in his Preface, "'There was a time...called the Augustan age of England...when English was the language spoken at court; and when the same attention was paid to propriety of pronunciation as that of French at the Court of Versailles...." This undoubtedly a bit of an exaggeration, but his comment on the greater attention paid to pronunciation of English throughout the 18th century is accurate. Sherdian's target audience is his fellow Irishmen, whose Anglo-Irish dialect was hindering their cultural and economic progress.

Keywords: pronunciation language prose


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