Words and the First World War. Language, Memory, Vocabulary, by: Julian Walker

“The experiences could be understood only as being of such extremity that they stood beyond written words; it was not a failure of language, but a view that, for the individual, language, particularly written words, and the enormity of the experience were not matched.”

First World War expert Julian Walker looks at how the conflict shaped English and its relationship with other languages. He considers language in relation to mediation and authenticity, as well as the limitations and potential of different kinds of verbal communication.

Walker also examines:
– How language changed, and why changed language was used in communications
– Language used at the Front and how the ‘language of the war’ was commercially exploited on the Home Front
– The relationship between language, soldiers and class
– The idea of the ‘indescribability’ of the war and the linguistic codes used to convey the experience

‘Languages of the front’ became linguistic souvenirs of the war, abandoned by soldiers but taken up by academics, memoir writers and commentators, leaving an indelible mark on the words we use even today.

Julian Walker is a writer, researcher, artist and educator. He is an Honorary Research Associate at University College, London, UK. He is the co-author of Languages and the First World War: Communicating in a Transnational War (2016), the author of The Roar of the Crowd (2016) and Trench Talk (2012) among many others.  His website is www.julianwalker.net

Writes: Lexicology, First World War, Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Anthropology, World History, Heritage

Author of : Words and the First World War, Team Talk, Discovering Words in the Kitchen, Discovering Words

“This is a substantial book, dense but always accessible, covering both time and space. Gratifyingly, it sidesteps an all too common error that entraps books on words, of becoming no more than a padded dictionary.” – The Daily Telegraph

Words and the First World War
Language, Memory, Vocabulary
By: Julian Walker
Published: 28-12-2017
Format: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 416
ISBN: 9781350001923
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations: 50 bw images
Dimensions: 216 x 138 mm
Prize: £14.99

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