Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- General Preface
- Abbreviations for Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I The Textual Record
- Part II Lighthouse Works and Authors
- Part III Genre and Medium in the Record
- 17 Grammatical Treatises in Early English
- 18 History Writing
- 19 The Language of Religious Texts
- 20 The Language of Courtroom Documents
- 21 Medical and Scientific Writing
- 22 The Language of Newspapers
- 23 ‘Bad Data’: The Case for Early Audio Records
- 24 Ego Documents in the History of English
- 25 Personal Letters in a Community Context
- 26 Women’s Voices in the History of English
- Part IV Modelling the Record: Methods and Theories
- Appendix: List of Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- Index
- References
25 - Personal Letters in a Community Context
from Part III - Genre and Medium in the Record
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 October 2025
Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- General Preface
- Abbreviations for Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I The Textual Record
- Part II Lighthouse Works and Authors
- Part III Genre and Medium in the Record
- 17 Grammatical Treatises in Early English
- 18 History Writing
- 19 The Language of Religious Texts
- 20 The Language of Courtroom Documents
- 21 Medical and Scientific Writing
- 22 The Language of Newspapers
- 23 ‘Bad Data’: The Case for Early Audio Records
- 24 Ego Documents in the History of English
- 25 Personal Letters in a Community Context
- 26 Women’s Voices in the History of English
- Part IV Modelling the Record: Methods and Theories
- Appendix: List of Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter explores the personal letter in the history of English through textual and material conventions of letter-writing, community aspects of letter-writing and language, and the role of editors and the reliability of edited epistolary sources. Community context is viewed as contemporary letter-writing practices, the involvement and influence of social networks and social relationships in letter-writing and language use, and the human factor and community aspects inherent in editing letters and compiling corpora.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge History of the English LanguageDocumentation, Sources of Data and Modelling, pp. 613 - 636Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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