Rules of Use Language and Instruction in Early Modern England [Paperback]

We take it for granted that we can use words properly  appropriately, meaningfully, even decorously. And yet it is very difficult to justify or explain what makes a particular use proper. Given that properness is determined by the unpredictable vagaries of unrepeatable contexts, it is impossible to formulate an absolute rule which tells what is proper in every situation.

In its four case studies of texts by Ascham, Puttenham, Mulcaster, and the first English dictionary writers,Rules of Useshows the way in which early modern pedagogues attempted to articulate such a rule whilst being mindful that proper use can neither be determined by any single rule, nor definitively described in examples.

Using the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Stanley Cavell's influential reading of it,Rules of Useargues that early modern pedagogues became entangled in a sceptical problem: aspiring to formulate a definitive rule of proper use, their own instruction begins to appear uncertain and lacking in assurance when they find such a rule cannot be expressed.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Towards a Grammar of Use
Pedagogy and Scepticism
The Augustinian Picture of Language
Context
Use, Usual, Useful

2. Using Perfection: Roger Ascham'sToxophilusandThe Scholemaster
Taking Aim:Toxophilus
Ascham's Scepticism:The Scholemaster, Book 1
'The daily use of writing':The Scholemaster, Book 2
3. Decorous Abuse: George Puttenham'sThe Art of English Poesy
Decorum and the Critics
The Art of Ambiguity
Usual Speech: The Eye and the Ear
Solace

4. Usual Spelling: Richard Mulcaster'sThe First Part of the Elementarie
Jonathan Goldberg's Reading of Mulcaster's Elementarie
Grounds
Sound
Training
Sound, Reason, Custom
Rules and Use

5. Arts of Use: Early English Dictionaries, 1604-1658
Contextl£