ABSTRACT
This book developed out of an attempt to explore in detail the way in which the concepts of ‘vulgar’ and ‘refined’ language functioned at the end of the eighteenth century, as these concepts were identified as central to the linguistic thinking of the period by Olivia Smith. What I quickly discovered, however, was that although the terms ‘vulgar’ and ‘refined’ do get used by writers and critics during this period, they are far from being the most common stylistic categories, and they are not employed in any stable way. The uncritical acceptance of these terms by some modern scholars has tended to obscure the complexity of stylistic prescription in the late eighteenth century. Although there was a general belief that a single ‘correct’ form of the English language both existed and was desirable, there was considerably less agreement about what this meant in terms of style, and it was widely recognized that many decisions about style depended upon context. As such, ‘propriety’ has perhaps a better claim to being the period’s key stylistic concept, along with a host of related terms and formulations such as ‘proper’, ‘appropriate’, ‘suitable’, ‘improper’ and ‘impropriety’.
