Anni Sairio

PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Room 351, Vironkatu 1
Phone +358 (0)9 191 22975
E-mail: anni.sairio(at)helsinki.fi

Research Interests

I’m working on a lingual biography of the Bluestocking author, social hostess, and businesswoman Elizabeth Montagu (1718-1800), set within social, linguistic and literary realities of Georgian England. My aim is to discuss Montagu’s language use in different phases of her life and with regard to varying levels of social prominence, from her youth to her older years, in various contexts from family interaction to public discourse, and with a particular focus on the concept of identity.

For my PhD dissertation (completed in 2009) I analysed Elizabeth Montagu’s social networks, especially with regard to her membership in the Bluestocking circle, and carried out a set of linguistic studies which investigated the influence of social networks, sociolinguistic variables, and eighteenth-century normative tradition in the epistolary language use of that group.

My post-doctoral research explores constructions and representations of identity / identities in Elizabeth Montagu's private and public writing, and, in order to get a perception of how she was presented by others, in texts of other writers. I am interested in the impact of the normative tradition and language standardization, the social aspects of spelling variation, and anonymous writing and publishing in the eighteenth century. I have edited some 200 letters of Montagu’s correspondence for my research, and currently my material covers the years 1738 to 1778. I'm planning to extend it towards the end of the 18th century.

I collaborate with Minna Palander-Collin and Minna Nevala in the project Language and Identity:  Variation and Change in Patterns of Interaction in the History of English (funded by the University of Helsinki, 2009-2011).

Publications

Monographs

2009. Language and Letters of the Bluestocking Network. Sociolinguistic Issues in Eighteenth-century Epistolary English. (Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki 75). Helsinki: Société Néophilologique. (Doctoral thesis)

Articles

Forthc., with Minna Palander-Collin. ‘The reconstruction of prestige patterns in language history’. In Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy and Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre (eds.), Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

2010. ‘“if You think me obstinate I can’t help it”: Exploring the epistolary styles and social roles of Elizabeth Montagu and Sarah Scott.’ In Nevala, Minna, Arja Nurmi, Päivi Pahta & Minna Palander-Collin (eds.), Social Roles and Language Practices in Late Modern English. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: Benjamins. 87-109.

2009. ’Methodological and practical aspects of historical network analysis: A case study of the Bluestocking letters.’ In Nurmi, Arja, Minna Nevala & Minna Palander-Collin (eds.), The Language of Daily Life in England (1400-1800). Amsterdam: Benjamins. 107-135.

2008. ‘A social network study of eighteenth-century Bluestockings: The progressive and preposition stranding in their letters.’ Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics.

2008. ’Bluestocking letters and the influence of eighteenth-century grammarians’. In Dossena, Marina and Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (eds.), Studies in Late Modern English Correspondence: Methodology and Data. Frankfurt, Bern etc.: Peter Lang.

2006. ‘ Progressives in the letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu and her circle in 1738-1778’. In Christiane Dalton-Puffer, Nikolaus Ritt, Herbert Schendl, and Dieter Kastovsky (eds.), Syntax, style and grammatical norms: English from 1500-2000. Linguistic Insights. Frankfurt, Bern etc.: Peter Lang.

2005a. 'A description of Elizabeth Montagu's correspondence.' In Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics. Internet Journal.

2004. ’”Sam of Streatham Park”: A linguistic study of Dr. Johnson’s membership in the Thrale family circle.’ In Nevala, Minna & Minna Palander-Collin (eds.), European Journal of English Studies, 9:1.

2004. (as Anni Vuorinen-Sairio) 'Värittääkö valta kielen?' [Does power colour language?] In Terttu Nevalainen, Matti Rissanen & Irma Taavitsainen (eds) Englannin aika. Elävän kielen kartoitusta. [The time of English. Charting a living language.] Helsinki: Werner Söderström, 182-186.

2002. (as Anni Vuorinen) 'The gender role of Queen Elizabeth I as reflected by her language.' Helsinki English Studies 2.

2001. (as Anni Vuorinen) 'More than a Man, and in Troth, Sometime Less than a Woman': The Language of Queen Elizabeth I. Unpublished MA thesis. Department of English, University of Helsinki.