Los preceptos lingüísticos de la Royal Society y su incidencia en la lengua de Henry Fielding
ISSN: 0214-4808, 2171-861X
Year of publication: 1989
Issue: 2
Pages: 157-171
Type: Article
More publications in: Alicante Journal of English Studies / Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses: RAEI
Abstract
This paper analyzes the impact on Fielding's prose of the recommendations made by the advocates of "plain English." The influence of the "plain English" movement is revealed not only in the quality of this novelist's narrative, but above all in the choice of some of his favourite tropes and literary devices. Thus the very verbal depiction of some of Fielding's characters, especially although not exclusively in Joseph Andrews, is an obvious mockery of some of the linguistic modes and speech habits in vogue at that time among some sectors of society, and clearly shows the author's attitude to the use of English.