Jane Austen & Her Letters: A Visit with Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade

"My dearest Cassandra, 

The letter which I have this moment received from you has diverted me beyond moderation. I could die of laughter at it, as they used to say at school."   —Jane Austen, September 1, 1796

It's been speculated that Jane Austen may have written nearly 3,000 letters in her lifetime.  While only 161 are known to have survived, that small collection offers a wealth of information about her daily life, her friends and family, her writing, and her voice. In this episode, historical sociolinguist Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade shares insights gained from her study of the language in Austen’s letters—from her vocabulary and spelling to her many instances of linguistic playfulness and clues about her dialect and accent.

Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade is professor emeritus of English Sociohistorical Linguistics at Leiden University's Centre for Linguistics in the Netherlands. A member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, she has published widely in her field. Her works include In Search of Jane Austen: The Language of the Letters (2014), an in-depth linguistic analysis of Austen’s correspondence.

Many thanks to Ingrid for joining us on Austen Chat!

Listen to Episode 32

You can stream this episode on your favorite podcast app and on our YouTube Channel. Or listen to the interview and read the transcript and show notes on the Episode 32 webpage.