Review of Bromhead, Helen. 2009. 'The Reign of Truth and Faith: Epistemic expressions in 16th and 17th century English'. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 319pp. ISBN 978-3110205596.

Abstract

The idea that language and culture are closely connected lies at the core of Helen Bromhead's (2009) book 'The Reign of Truth and Faith: Epistemic expressions in 16th and 17th century English'. However unlike other studies in language and culture interface, it takes a step further by observing this link in a historical perspective and demonstrating how changes in language use are interrelated with changes in ideology and culture. Bromhead explores the semantic and cultural universe of the 16th-17th century English and compares it with Modern English. The book tests a hypothesis put forward by Anna Wierzbicka in her 2006 book 'English: Meaning and culture' that the era of Enlightenment and the prevailing intellectual climate of that time with a particular influence of John Locke marked an epistemic shift in Anglo semantic universe from "certainty" to "doubt." In other words, speakers of English became particularly concerned with acknowledging limitations of one's knowledge and distinguishing between what one knows and what one thinks.