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All Outputs (29)

Viewpoint in Eighteenth-Century Birthing Narratives: A Survey of Midwifery Manuals (2025)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2025). Viewpoint in Eighteenth-Century Birthing Narratives: A Survey of Midwifery Manuals. Women's Writing, https://doi.org/10.1080/09699082.2024.2447192

This article provides a literary linguistic analysis of narrative viewpoint in a selection of eighteenth-century midwifery manuals. The eighteenth century is when the medicalisation of childbirth gained pace and the obstetric surgeon (known as the “... Read More about Viewpoint in Eighteenth-Century Birthing Narratives: A Survey of Midwifery Manuals.

When people overload the/their stomach(s): Non-Verbal Plural Number Agreement and Generic Reference in Early and Late Modern Medical Discourse (2024)
Book Chapter
Rudnicka, K., & Whitt, R. When people overload the/their stomach(s): Non-Verbal Plural Number Agreement and Generic Reference in Early and Late Modern Medical Discourse. In English Historical Medical Discourse: Corpus Linguistic Perspectives. Routledge

This study examines the use of distributive singular and plural forms of stomach in Early and Late Modern English medical regimens, drawing on data from the Early Modern English Medical Texts (EMEMT) and Late Modern English Medical Texts (LMEMT) corp... Read More about When people overload the/their stomach(s): Non-Verbal Plural Number Agreement and Generic Reference in Early and Late Modern Medical Discourse.

Sensory Language as a Gateway to Knowledge and Evidence in Early Modern English Midwifery Writing (1540-1800): On Verbs of Tactile Perception (2024)
Book Chapter
Whitt, R. (in press). Sensory Language as a Gateway to Knowledge and Evidence in Early Modern English Midwifery Writing (1540-1800): On Verbs of Tactile Perception. In English Historical Medical Discourse: Corpus Linguistic Perspectives. Routledge

The Early and Late Modern periods witnessed many developments in both midwifery practice and writings about childbirth: the advent of instruments, medical men (‘man-midwives’) gaining regular access to the birthing chamber and midwifery texts being w... Read More about Sensory Language as a Gateway to Knowledge and Evidence in Early Modern English Midwifery Writing (1540-1800): On Verbs of Tactile Perception.

The Poetics of Sexual Violence in Three African-American Women's Neo-Slave Narratives: Margaret Walker's Jubilee, Octavia E. Butler's Kindred and Toni Morrison's Beloved (2024)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. (in press). The Poetics of Sexual Violence in Three African-American Women's Neo-Slave Narratives: Margaret Walker's Jubilee, Octavia E. Butler's Kindred and Toni Morrison's Beloved. Journal of Literary Semantics, 54(1),

This paper focuses on the representation of sexual violence in the neo-slave narratives of Margaret Walker, Octavia E. Butler and Toni Morrison. Through an exploration of mind-modelling in three key scenes, a range of linguistic techniques are employ... Read More about The Poetics of Sexual Violence in Three African-American Women's Neo-Slave Narratives: Margaret Walker's Jubilee, Octavia E. Butler's Kindred and Toni Morrison's Beloved.

Schemata of estrangement in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (2024)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2024). Schemata of estrangement in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Language and Literature, 33(2), 111-129. https://doi.org/10.1177/09639470241240923

Ursula Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed (1974) is the first literary treatment of anarchic utopianism, presenting the society on the moon Anarres as operating on social principles lacking any sort of State or governmental oversight (known in the nove... Read More about Schemata of estrangement in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.

Satire in Eighteenth-Century Medical Discourse: Elizabeth Nihell, Tobias Smollett and the Advent of Man-Midwifery (2023)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2023). Satire in Eighteenth-Century Medical Discourse: Elizabeth Nihell, Tobias Smollett and the Advent of Man-Midwifery. English Studies, 104(8), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838x.2023.2266232

This paper examines Tobias Smollett’s scathing assessment in the Critical Review of Elizabeth Nihell’s midwifery treatise, Treatise on the Art of Midwifery (1760), a polemic against the use of instruments in childbirth and the increasing popularity o... Read More about Satire in Eighteenth-Century Medical Discourse: Elizabeth Nihell, Tobias Smollett and the Advent of Man-Midwifery.

Trauma, Mind Style, and Unreliable Narration in Toni Morrison’s Home (2023)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2023). Trauma, Mind Style, and Unreliable Narration in Toni Morrison’s Home. Style, 57(2), 187–204. https://doi.org/10.5325/style.57.2.0187

This article provides a twofold reading of Toni Morrison's novel Home. In the first instance, the stylistic representation of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is explored in relation to Frank's mind style; this is done through a focused examinat... Read More about Trauma, Mind Style, and Unreliable Narration in Toni Morrison’s Home.

Irma Taavitsainen, Turo Hiltunen, Jeremy J. Smith and Carla Suhr (eds.), Genre in English medical writing, 1500–1820: Sociocultural contexts of production and use (Studies in English Language). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xviii + 322. ISBN 9781009108683. (2023)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2023). Irma Taavitsainen, Turo Hiltunen, Jeremy J. Smith and Carla Suhr (eds.), Genre in English medical writing, 1500–1820: Sociocultural contexts of production and use (Studies in English Language). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xviii + 322. ISBN 9781009108683. English Language and Linguistics, 27(3), 629-633. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674322000429

Epistemic space and key concepts in early and late modern medical discourse: an exploration of two genres (2023)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. (2023). Epistemic space and key concepts in early and late modern medical discourse: an exploration of two genres. English Language and Linguistics, 27(2), 241-269. https://doi.org/10.1017/s136067432200034x

This article provides a corpus-driven overview of the ‘epistemic space’ surrounding the use of two lockwords of Early and Late Modern writings on midwifery and childbirth, child and uterus. Rather than searching for epistemic stance markers themselve... Read More about Epistemic space and key concepts in early and late modern medical discourse: an exploration of two genres.

Language, labour and ideology Constructing epistemologies of childbirth in the first three centuries of English-language midwifery texts (1540–1800) (2022)
Book Chapter
Whitt, R. J. (2022). Language, labour and ideology Constructing epistemologies of childbirth in the first three centuries of English-language midwifery texts (1540–1800). In T. Hiltunen, & I. Taavitsainen (Eds.), Corpus Pragmatic Studies on the History of Medical Discourse (179-202). John Benjamins Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.330.08whi

Writings on midwifery and women’s medicine related to childbirth reflect the many changes affecting this field during the Early Modern period, which in turn reflect changes in epistemological values Through the lens of critical discourse analysis, th... Read More about Language, labour and ideology Constructing epistemologies of childbirth in the first three centuries of English-language midwifery texts (1540–1800).

Expressions of knowledge in early modern English- and German-language midwifery and gynaecological texts (ca. 1500-1700): on the use of pronominal subjects and that- complement clauses (2019)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. (2019). Expressions of knowledge in early modern English- and German-language midwifery and gynaecological texts (ca. 1500-1700): on the use of pronominal subjects and that- complement clauses. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 120(1), 83-109

This paper presents the results of a corpus-based study of that-complement clauses and their pronominal subjects in early modern English- and German-language midwifery and gynaecological texts published from circa 1500 to 1700. These two centuries wi... Read More about Expressions of knowledge in early modern English- and German-language midwifery and gynaecological texts (ca. 1500-1700): on the use of pronominal subjects and that- complement clauses.

“And all this is spoken of the naturall byrth . . .”: Metadiscourse in The Birth of Mankind and its German source text, Rosengarten (2018)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2018). “And all this is spoken of the naturall byrth . . .”: Metadiscourse in The Birth of Mankind and its German source text, Rosengarten. English Text Construction, 11(2), 225-255. https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.00010.whi

This paper provides an examination of the use of metadiscourse in the two versions of The Birth of Mankind, the first midwifery manual to be printed in English during the sixteenth century. It is a translation of a Latin text, which itself is a trans... Read More about “And all this is spoken of the naturall byrth . . .”: Metadiscourse in The Birth of Mankind and its German source text, Rosengarten.

Evidentiality and propositional scope in early modern German (2018)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2018). Evidentiality and propositional scope in early modern German. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 19(1), 122–149. https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.00013.whi

This paper provides an overview of verbal markers of evidentiality in Early Modern German (1650-1800) in light of Boye’s propositional scope hypothesis. The markers under investigation include the semi-auxiliary scheinen ‘to shine, appear, seem’ and... Read More about Evidentiality and propositional scope in early modern German.

Using corpora to track changing thought styles: evidentiality, epistemology, and Early Modern English and German scientific discourse (2017)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2017). Using corpora to track changing thought styles: evidentiality, epistemology, and Early Modern English and German scientific discourse. Kalbotyra, 69, https://doi.org/10.15388/Klbt.2016.10376

Most research on evidentiality has focused on classifying evidential systems synchronically; meanwhile, diachronic studies on evidentiality seem to have focused on the development of specific items into evidential markers with little regard to discou... Read More about Using corpora to track changing thought styles: evidentiality, epistemology, and Early Modern English and German scientific discourse.

Evidentiality in early modern English medical treatises (1500-1700) (2016)
Journal Article
Whitt, R. J. (2016). Evidentiality in early modern English medical treatises (1500-1700). Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics, 2(2), 235-263. https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsl-2016-0014

This study investigates diachronic trends in the use of evidential markers in Early Modern English medical treatises (1500-1700), with data drawn from the Corpus of Early Modern English Medical Texts. The state of medical thought and practice in Earl... Read More about Evidentiality in early modern English medical treatises (1500-1700).

The development of the würde + infinitive construction in Early Modern German (1650–1800) (2016)
Journal Article
Durrell, M., & Whitt, R. J. (2016). The development of the würde + infinitive construction in Early Modern German (1650–1800). Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 138(3), https://doi.org/10.1515/bgsl-2016-0028

This paper presents a corpus-based analysis of the evolution of the würde + infinitive construction in German during the Early Modern period (1650– 1800), using newly available data from the GerManC-corpus. We demonstrate how this construction occupi... Read More about The development of the würde + infinitive construction in Early Modern German (1650–1800).