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Chapter 2. “A geography of names”

A genre analysis of nationality-driven names for venereal disease in seventeenth-century England
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Abstract

We investigate discourses surrounding venereal disease in a wide body of seventeenth-century texts in the one-billion-word Early English Books Online (EEBO) corpus. By combining quantitative methods with close reading of texts within EEBO, we explore whether perceptions of sufferers and responses to the illness itself shifted as the century progressed. In order to uncover the kinds of written works in which references to venereal disease appear, we undertake a genre analysis with the help of genre categories added to the corpus. The analysis shows that at the beginning of the century, references to these diseases were most likely to appear within historical works, while the end of the century witnesses an increase in references to venereal disease in scientific and medical texts.

Abstract

We investigate discourses surrounding venereal disease in a wide body of seventeenth-century texts in the one-billion-word Early English Books Online (EEBO) corpus. By combining quantitative methods with close reading of texts within EEBO, we explore whether perceptions of sufferers and responses to the illness itself shifted as the century progressed. In order to uncover the kinds of written works in which references to venereal disease appear, we undertake a genre analysis with the help of genre categories added to the corpus. The analysis shows that at the beginning of the century, references to these diseases were most likely to appear within historical works, while the end of the century witnesses an increase in references to venereal disease in scientific and medical texts.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Chapter 1. Corpora, pragmatics, and historical medical discourse 1
  5. Part I. Tracing discursive changes
  6. Chapter 2. “A geography of names” 23
  7. Chapter 3. Medical topics and style from 1500 to 2018 49
  8. Chapter 4. Medical discourse in Late Modern English 79
  9. Chapter 5. Survival or death 105
  10. Chapter 6. Towards a local grammar of stance expression in Late Modern English medical writing 127
  11. Chapter 7. “Die Blumenzeit der Frau” 153
  12. Part II. Changing functions, roles and representations
  13. Chapter 8. Language, labour and ideology 179
  14. Chapter 9. Unhappy patients and eminent physicians 203
  15. Chapter 10. The discursive dynamics of personal experience narratives and medical advice in 18th-century British consultation letters 229
  16. Chapter 11. Communicating authority 251
  17. Chapter 12. How old is old? 273
  18. Chapter 13. The popularization of learned medicine in late seventeenth-century England 297
  19. Index 317
Corpus Pragmatic Studies on the History of Medical Discourse
This chapter is in the book Corpus Pragmatic Studies on the History of Medical Discourse
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.330.02mce

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Chapter 1. Corpora, pragmatics, and historical medical discourse 1
  5. Part I. Tracing discursive changes
  6. Chapter 2. “A geography of names” 23
  7. Chapter 3. Medical topics and style from 1500 to 2018 49
  8. Chapter 4. Medical discourse in Late Modern English 79
  9. Chapter 5. Survival or death 105
  10. Chapter 6. Towards a local grammar of stance expression in Late Modern English medical writing 127
  11. Chapter 7. “Die Blumenzeit der Frau” 153
  12. Part II. Changing functions, roles and representations
  13. Chapter 8. Language, labour and ideology 179
  14. Chapter 9. Unhappy patients and eminent physicians 203
  15. Chapter 10. The discursive dynamics of personal experience narratives and medical advice in 18th-century British consultation letters 229
  16. Chapter 11. Communicating authority 251
  17. Chapter 12. How old is old? 273
  18. Chapter 13. The popularization of learned medicine in late seventeenth-century England 297
  19. Index 317
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