The building of English language identity through dictionaries and grammar books: two case studies

The present paper focusses on the role the British lexico-grammatical tradition has had in shaping the identity of the English language through the centuries, shifting its focus gradually but steadily from Latin to English. To do so, attention will be drawn to the works of two scholars who contributed to the advancement of English in their own original way; specifically, the 16th-c. lexicographer Peter Levins who authored the first English- Latin rhyming dictionary, and the 19th-c. grammarian Percival Leigh who published two comic grammars, one for Latin and one for English. Their works will be analysed as case studies testifying to the changes undergone in the ‘power-relation’ between English and Latin from the 16th to the 19th century.