The Linguistic Precepts of the Royal Society and their Influence in Henry Fielding's Language

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact on Fielding's prose of the recommendations made by the advocates of "plain English." The influence of the "plain English" movement is revealed not only in the quality of this novelist's narrative, but above all in the choice of some of his favourite tropes and literary devices. Thus the very verbal depiction of some of Fielding's characters, especially although not exclusively in Joseph Andrews, is an obvious mockery of some of the linguistic modes and speech habits in vogue at that time among some sectors of society, and clearly shows the author's attitude to the use of English.