The Place of Linguistics in English Studies

Extract

When I first began to put my ideas on this subject in some sort of order, I did not realize that I had hit on a topic such as many an aspirant to the degree of Master or Doctor of Education, driven to writing dreary theses on ‘A Comparison of the Vocabulary Assimilation of Monoglot and Bilingual Children of Schoolgoing Age, and an Examination of certain Findings of Some Welsh Investigators on the Problem of Bilingualism, with special reference to South African Conditions,’ or, more briefly, ‘Analysis of Chemistry Text Books, 1935,’ must have searched for in vain. But how beautifully it shapes itself: Preface, with modest and grateful acknowledgments to the Director of Studies; Pre-History; the Antiquarians of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; The Germanic Invasion; Anglo-Saxon v. Latin and Greek; Eng. Lang, and Lit; The Cambridge Rebellion; The Problem Today; The Problem with special reference to Canada, South Africa, or wherever it may be; Notes; Bibliography!