...refined circles losing its hold. In his " Journey," published in 1773, Dr Samuel Johnson writes : " The conversation of the Scots grows every day less...rustic even to themselves. The great, the learned and the ambitious, and the vain all cultivate the English phrase, and the English pronunciation, and...

..." The conversation of the Scots," quoth he, rather patronisingly, " grows every day less unpleasant to the English ; their peculiarities wear fast away...phrase and the English pronunciation ; and in splendid company Scotch is not much heard, except now and then from an old lady." \ The practice of sending...

..." The conversation of the Scots," quoth he, rather patronising1.-, "grows every day less unpleasant to the English ; their peculiarities wear fast away...the vain, all cultivate the English phrase and the Er *lish pronunciation ; and in splendid company Scotch is a -*- much heard, except now and then from...

...Even sagacious Dr. Samuel Johnson ventured to prophesy, though he did not know, that ' The Scottish dialect is likely to become in half a century provincial and rustic even to themselves.' * These Titanic blunderings explain how conventionalism was for the time enthroned ; how pseudo-pastorals...

...Johnson writes : " The conversation of the Soots grows every day less displeasing to the English ear. Their peculiarities wear fast away ; their dialect...ambitious, and the vain all cultivate the English phrases and the English pronunciation. In splendid companies Scots is not much heard, except now and...

...advancement from my commemoration, or with women of elegance, which perhaps disclaims a pedant's praise. The conversation of the Scots grows every day less...likely to become in half a century provincial and rustick, even to themselves. The great, the learned, the ambitious, and the vain, all cultivate the...

...as free men, the last impediments to cultural understanding and ideal speech acts removed forever. The conversation of the Scots grows every day less...likely to become in half a century provincial and rustick, even to themselves. The great, the learned, the ambitious, and the vain, all cultivate the...

...Johnson has a great deal to say about language and dialect. Of his company at Edinburgh, he writes: The conversation of the Scots grows every day less...likely to become in half a century provincial and rustick, even to themselves. The great, the learned, the ambitious, and the vain, all cultivate the...

...residence. Samuel Johnson, 1773, 'Ostig in Sky', in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland 51:32 The conversation of the Scots grows every day less...likely to become in half a century provincial and rustick, even to themselves. The great, the learned, the ambitious, and the vain, all cultivate the...

...observes about the linguistic assimilation under way, which had accelerated in the eighteenth century: "The conversation of the Scots grows every day less...to the English; their peculiarities wear fast away. . . . The great, the learned, the ambitious, and the vain, all cultivate the English phrase, and the...