The Language of Joseph Lowe: Standard English with Scottish Influences

Abstract

The language of a private journal provides a conundrum: it is a personal record, almost a form of talking to oneself, and yet by being written it becomes rather more public. It tends to be rather formal and this affects the vocabulary and the syntactic constructions employed. But because it is also a personal record it tends to be an informal document. This tension can give rise to a great deal of variability in the style of such writing. In the case of Joseph Lowe's Journal, the fact that it records his dealings with royalty, and that it is intended to relate, for his descendants one suspects, a very important time in his life, pulls towards the formal side.