Pillaging the Tombs of Noncanonical Texts

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2004

Pillaging the Tombs of Noncanonical Texts

Elizabeth Tebeaux Mitchell Institute

Abstract

Contrary to literary historians, humanist influences did not produce modern English prose style. Instead, technical or utilitarian discourse is inextricable from the development of modern English prose style. Modern English resulted from written text shaped by five factors: (a) brevity induced from accounting/administrative format; (b) aural/oral-based text, written to be heard and seen, that produced conversational style; (c) persistence of indigenous subject-verb-object syntax found in the earliest English documents; (d) a growing Renaissance book market of literate middle-class readers responding to speech-based prose; and (e) English scriptural renditions of the late Renaissance that associated colloquial speech with Protestantism. Of all writing produced before 1700, only a small amount was humanistic; the bulk was utilitarian. The Royal Society’s demand for “plain English” prevailed because the call for precise language by these early scientists reflected the indigenous nature of a plain English that had surfaced as early as 900.

Journal: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published: 2004-04-01
DOI: 10.1177/1050651903260738
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality race and writing multilingual writers voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

Moran et al. (2012)

A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Tebeaux (2011)

Technical Writing and the Development of the English Paragraph 1473–1700

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Moran et al. (2011)

A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Tebeaux (2010)

English Agriculture and Estate Management Instructions, 1200–1700: From Orality…

Technical Communication Quarterly
Tebeaux (2010)

Safety Warnings in Tractor Operation Manuals, 1920–1980: Manuals and Warnings D…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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Tebeaux (2008)

Technical Writing in English Renaissance Shipwrightery: Breaching the Shoals of…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (3)

Tebeaux (2000)

Visual Texts: Format and the Evolution of English Accounting Texts, 1100–1700

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Tebeaux (1998)

The voices of English women technical writers, 1641–1700: Imprints in the evolu…

Technical Communication Quarterly
TEBEAUX (1991)

Ramus, Visual Rhetoric, and the Emergence of Page Design in Medical Writing of …

Written Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →