Gastvortrag am 22.1.2016: Tony McEnery (Lancaster)

Tony McEnery (Lancaster): Criminalized Poor – exploring a marginalized group in public discourse in the 17th century

Abstract:
Who were the criminalized poor in the 17th century? What did they do? Where did they live? Who did they associate with? What was associated with them? Did the way they were talked about change over time? In this talk I will explore these questions by looking at modern lexicographical resources, 17th century lexicographical resources and the EEBO corpus. In doing so I will cast light on these questions while also exploring the potential and shortcomings of the resources that are used in the study. In particular I will focus upon how the corpus can help us to come to a fuller view of these questions than dictionary resources currently permit. I will also reflect upon and explore ways of dealing with the volatility of collocates over time.