William Shakespeare and the English Language
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: English
Abstract
This project considers the relationship between William Shakespeare and the English language. We are used to thinking of Shakespeare as one of the chief architects of the English we speak and write, but this assumes a high degree of continuity between language in his time and ours.
The major output of this project is a book which argues that 'language' was by no means the same thing for Shakespeare and his contemporaries as it is for us: we perceive language as fixed, a set of norms we deviate from at our peril, and its ideal form is writing; they experienced language as highly variable, and conceived of it as speech.
Linguistic concepts such as 'word' and 'meaning' have different senses in Shakespeare's culture, and these differences can explain why he appears to be so obsessed with unfunny puns. An understanding of the experience of linguistic variation at the time explains why there is so tittle dialect in Shakespeare's plays. Aesthetic values stress the demonstration of learned skills, not, as now, naturalness.
Understanding alt this leads us to a new understanding of Shakespeare's use of, and relation to, language.
The major output of this project is a book which argues that 'language' was by no means the same thing for Shakespeare and his contemporaries as it is for us: we perceive language as fixed, a set of norms we deviate from at our peril, and its ideal form is writing; they experienced language as highly variable, and conceived of it as speech.
Linguistic concepts such as 'word' and 'meaning' have different senses in Shakespeare's culture, and these differences can explain why he appears to be so obsessed with unfunny puns. An understanding of the experience of linguistic variation at the time explains why there is so tittle dialect in Shakespeare's plays. Aesthetic values stress the demonstration of learned skills, not, as now, naturalness.
Understanding alt this leads us to a new understanding of Shakespeare's use of, and relation to, language.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jonathan Hope (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | People in the renaissance thought about language in a different way to us: they had no dictionaries, and most could not read or write. Language was therefore speech, not writing, and their ideas about 'correctness', dialect, and meaning were consequently unlike ours. The 'best' language was considered to be that which could communicate to most people (the most 'common' language), not that spoken by a narrow social elite. Hence Shakespeare's frequent satires of courtly language, and linguistic pretention. Similarly, in the absence of a 'Standard' in our sense, there is no denigration of dialect. Dialect speakers are not assumed to be stupid or funny: rather, they are likely to be seen as sources of untainted honesty. In the absence of dictionaries, 'meaning' was assumed to reside in *use*, not in an abstract authority separate from day to day language. Speakers work out meaning in context, and delight in the multiple meanings that the same phonetic forms can carry. Puns are thus invitations to characters, and audience, to display active linguistic facility, rather than the dead, empty echoes we perceive. Shakespeare uses syntax to convey meaning - especially his sense that the world is animate, and his increasing desire to mimic in writing the associative processes of thought. Shakespeare's genres show distinct linguistic fingerprints, and we can identify these statistically. The future of research into Shakespeare's language lies in the qualitative interpretation of quantitative studies. |
| Exploitation Route | For academics, my findings offer new ways of thinking about Shakespeare's language, freed from distortions produced by our own linguistic prejudice. My work has already been used by actors in the creative economy/tourism/heritage sectors in rehearsal practices (see URL above). The linguistic description of Shakespeare's genres using computers has potential use in education as a way of introducing students to the formal study of language and computer science. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://winedarksea.org/?p=1440 |
| Description | My findings have been used by actors at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, to inform their rehearsal practices. See http://winedarksea.org/?p=1440 |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |