William Bullokar was a 16th-century printer who devised a 40-letter phonetic alphabet for the English language. Its characters were presented in the black-letter or "gothic" writing style commonly used at the time and also in Roman type. Taking as his model a Latin grammar by William Lily,[1] Bullokar wrote the first published grammar of the English language, in a book titled Brief Grammar for English, which appeared in 1586.[2]
Bullokar's alphabet.
Works
Bullokar, William (1580). Booke at large, for the Amendment of Orthographie for English Speech. London: Henrie Denham.,
facsimile edition: Bullokar, William (1968). The Amendment of Orthographie for English Speech. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd.
facsimile in Bullokar (1977)
transcription at Plessow (1906), pp. 237-330
Bullokar, William (1584). Æsops Fábĺz. London: Edmund Bollifant.
transcription at Plessow (1906), pp. 1-212
Bullokar, William (n.d.) [1585]. The short Sentences of the wýʒ Cato. London: Edmund Bollifant.
transcription at Plessow (1906), pp. 213-235
Bullokar, William (1586). Bref Grammar for English. London: Edmund Bollifant.
facsimile in Bullokar (1977)
transcription at Plessow (1906), pp. 331-385
Bullokar, William (1586). Pamphlet for Grammar. London: Edmund Bollifant.
Bullokar, William (1977). Booke at Large for the Amendment of English Orthographie (1580) with A Bref Grammar for English (1586). Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints. ISBN 978-0-8201-1287-9.
Plessow, Max (1906). Geschichte der Fabeldichtung in England bis zu John Gay (1726): Nebst Neudruck von Bullokars "Fables of Æsop" 1585, "Booke at Large" 1580, "Bref Grammar for English" 1586, und "Pamphlet for Grammar" 1586. Berlin: Mayer & Müller.
References
^"The History of English Grammar". lawyerment.com. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
^Valeika, Laimutis; Buitkiene, Janina (2003). An Introductory Course in Theoretical English Grammar (PDF). Vilnius Pedagogical University. p. 7. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
