Figures of speech: six histories of language and identity in the age of revolutions, paperback/tim cassedy

Description Tim Cassedys fascinating study examines the role that language played at the turn of the nineteenth century as a marker of ones identity.

During this time of revolution (U.

, French, and Haitian) and globalization, language served as a way to categorize people within a world that appeared more diverse than ever.

Linguistic differences, especially among English-speakers, seemed to validate the emerging national, racial, local, and regional identity categories that took shape in this new world order.

Focusing on six eccentric characters of the time--from the woman known as Princess Caraboo to wordsmith Noah Webster--Cassedy shows how each put language at the center of their identities and lived out the possibilities of their eras linguistic ideas.

The result is a highly entertaining and equally informative look at how perceptions about who spoke what language--and how they spoke it--determined the shape of communities in the British American colonies and beyond.

This engagingly written story is sure to appeal to historians of literature, culture, and communication; to linguists and book historians; and to general readers interested in how ideas about English developed in the early United States and throughout the English-speaking world.

About the Author Tim Cassedy is assistant professor of English at Southern Methodist University.

He lives in Dallas, Texas.