Key People
James Adams (1737-1802)
James Adams was a Jesuit and philologist from Bury St Edmunds. Philology is the historical and comparative science of language, tracing the origin of words, exploring grammar, studying texts and through these texts the culture of the people who wrote them.
Adams published a number of works on English pronunciation, and had a particular interest in the pronunciation of English in Scotland. His principal work on language was published in Latin and French as ‘Euphonologia Linguae Anglicanae’ (1794). He revised and republished it as ‘The pronunciation of the English language’ in 1799. Adams argued that there is a correct standard pronunciation of English.
