Synopses & Reviews
The Elizabethan conquest of Ireland sparked off two linguistic events of enduring importance. It initiated the language shift from Irish to English, which constitutes the great drama of Irish cultural history, and it marked the beginnings of English linguistic expansion. In Language and Conquest in Early Modern Ireland, Patricia Palmer explores the part which language played in shaping colonial ideology and English national identity. The book is an ambitious, comparative study which will interest literary and political historians.
Review
"A significant contribution to literary history and to the history of imperialism." Bibliotheque d'Humanisme & Renaissance
Review
"Palmer has hit upon a massively important set of analogies and makes a most persuasive argument for Ireland being the forge in which English expansion was first hammered out." Studies in English Literature
Review
"Impressive." Renaissance Quarterly
Review
"A uniformly interesting book..." History
Synopsis
Palmer explores the part that language played in shaping colonial ideology and English national identity.
Table of Contents
Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Conquest, colonial ideologies and the consequences for language; 2. 'A bad dream with no sound': the representation of Irish in the text of the Elizabethan conquest; 3. 'Wilde speech': Elizabethan evaluations of Irish; 4. 'Translating this kingdom of the new': English linguistic nationalism and Anglicization policy in Ireland; 5. New world, new incomprehension: patterns of change and continuity in the English encounter with native languages from Munster to Manoa; 6. The clamorous silence; Conclusion; Glossary; Bibliography.