News Discourse in Early Modern Britain

This volume contains a selection of the papers presented at the Conference on Historical News Discourse (CHINED) that was held in Florence (Italy) on 2-3 September 2004. The aim of the Conference was to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of recent research in the field of news discourse in early modern Britain. The first section of the volume focuses on news discourse in serial publications while the second part examines aspects of news language in non-serial works. Contributions include synchronic and diachronic analyses of reportage, polemic, propaganda, review journalism and advertisements in a wide range of texts including newsletters, pamphlets and newspapers. Each section is structured chronologically so that the reader can appreciate aspects of the general historical development of news discourse. The variety of topics and methodologies reflects some of the most interesting research being carried out in the field.

The Editor: Nicholas Brownlees is an Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Florence (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy). He was the co-organiser of the Conference on Historical News Discourse held in Florence (2-3 September 2004).

Contents: Nicholas Brownlees: Introduction - Nicholas Brownlees: Polemic and Propaganda in Civil War News Discourse - Maurizio Gotti: Disseminating Early Modern Science: Specialized News Discourse in the Philosophical Transactions - Ellen Valle: Reporting the Doings of the Curious: Authors and Editors in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London - Udo Fries/Hans Martin Lehmann: The Style of 18th-Century English Newspapers Lexical Diversity - Andreas H. Jucker: 'but 'tis believed that...': Speech and Thought Presentation in Early English Newspapers - Mirella Billi: Ladies' Fashion Magazines: Social Life and Consumerism in Eighteenth-Century England - Valerie Wainwright: 'To Smite Friendly and Reprove': The Seven Years War and the Critical Review - Susan Kermas: From Herbal to Advert - Laura Wright: Street Addresses and Directions in Mid-Eighteenth Century London Newspaper Advertisements - Silvia Pireddu: News Language in Elizabethan Prose Dedications and Prefaces - Marina Dossena: Forms of Argumentation and Verbal Aggression in the Darien Pamphlets - Anne M. McKim: Adapting News and Making History: Daniel Defoe and the 1707 Union - Alessandra Levorato: Wisdom, Moderation and Propaganda in the Act of Union Debate of 1801.