Jonathan Swift's A Proposal for the English Tongue

Description

In 1712, the English language, according to the satirist Jonathan Swift, was in chaos. He outlined his complaints in this public letter to Robert Harley, leader of the government, proposing the appointment of experts to advise on English use. The model was to be based on that of the Académie Française, which had been regulating the French language since 1634. His proposal, like all the others he made, came to nothing. To this day no official regulation of the English language exists.

The aim of Swift's proposed academy is given on page 31 of A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Language: 'some Method should be thought of for ascertaining and fixing our Language for ever'. The section before suggests how this might be done, for example by rejecting 'very defective' grammatical forms and restoring some antiquated words 'on account of their Energy and Sound'.

Full title:: A proposal for correcting, improving and ascertaining the English tongue, 1712.
Published:: 1712, London
Format:: Book
Creator:: Jonathan Swift
Usage terms: Public Domain
Held by: British Library
Shelfmark:: 626.e.35.

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Discovering Literature: Restoration & 18th century

An introduction to Gulliver’s Travels

Article by:: John Mullan
Themes:: Satire and humour, Travel, colonialism and slavery, Politics and religion, Rise of the novel

Jonathan Swift initially did his best to conceal the fact that he was the author of Gulliver's Travels. John Mullan explores how Swift constructed the work to operate as an elaborate game, parodying travel literature, pretending to be an autobiography and containing obviously false facts presented by a deeply unreliable narrator.