'Think on my words' : exploring Shakespeare's language PDF
Preview 'Think on my words' : exploring Shakespeare's language
‘Think on my words’ Exploring Shakespeare’s Language David Crystal CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress, NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107617681 #DavidCrystal2008 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2008 5th printing 2011 Canto Classics editio n 2012 Printedand bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN978-1-107-61768-1Paperback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityfor thepersistenceoraccuracyofURLsforexternalor third-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhisbook, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents Listoffiguresandtables pagevii Preface ix Abbreviations xi 1 ‘YouspeakalanguagethatIunderstandnot’: mythsandrealities 1 Thequantitymyth 2 Theinventionmyth 8 Thetranslationmyth 10 Thestylemyth 15 2 ‘Now,sir,whatisyourtext?’Knowingthesources 22 Texts 22 Printing 27 Manuscripts? 31 Shakespeare’slanguage? 40 3 ‘InprintIfoundit’:Shakespeareangraphology 42 Thealphabet 43 Capitalization 48 Space-savers 53 Spelling 58 4 ‘Knowmystops’:Shakespeareanpunctuation 64 Exclamationmarks 72 Parentheses 78 Apostrophes 83 Italics 88 Invertedcommas 94 Hyphens 96 5 ‘Speakthespeech’:Shakespeareanphonology 100 Thewaytheysaidit 101 Prosody 105 Whypentameters? 112 v vi Contents 6 ‘Trippinglyuponthetongue’:Shakespearean pronunciation 125 Theevidence 130 Insights 143 7 ‘Thinkonmywords’:Shakespeareanvocabulary 146 Easywords 147 Metricalconstraints 150 Difficultwords 152 Falsefriends 156 Oldandnewwords 159 Coinages 161 Clusters 165 Repetitions 168 Signposts 171 Collocations 173 Perspective 175 8 ‘Talkofanounandaverb’:Shakespeareangrammar 178 Similaritiesanddifferences 181 Nouns 184 Adjectives 186 Verbs 188 Pronouns 193 Wordorder 199 9 ‘Hearsweetdiscourse’:Shakespeareanconversation 207 Verseandprose 208 Metreindiscourse 219 Varietiesoflanguage 221 Alegalexample 224 Epilogue–‘Yourdaringtongue’:Shakespearean creativity 230 Appendix:AnA-to-ZofShakespeare’sfalsefriends 234 Notes 245 Referencesandfurtherreading 247 Index 249 List of figures and tables Figure1:ApagefromtheFirstFolio page28 Figure2:Shakespearesignatures:a,PublicRecord Office;b,GuildhallLibrary,Corporationof London;c,BritishLibrary;d,eandf,Public RecordOffice 32 Figure3:Type-settinginstanceofShakespeare’sname intheFirstFolio 34 Figure4:TranscriptofpartoftheShakespearean sectionofSirThomasMore:BritishLibrary 36 Table1:Sharedlinesrelatedtothenumberofverse linesintheplays 116 Table2:Proportionsofverseandproseintheplays 210 vii Preface The title of this book means what it says: it is an exploration of Shakespeare’s language, not a comprehensive survey. It is an intro- duction from a particular point of view. Books and anthologies with the words Shakespeare and Language in the title are numerous, and they represent a coming together of several traditions in theatre, literarycriticism,philology,andlinguistics.Mineisbasicallyanuts- and-bolts approach, governed by one basic principle – that one should never examine a linguistic nut or bolt without asking ‘what does it do?’ And ‘what does it do?’ means two things: how does it help us understand the meaning of what is said (a semantic explanation),andhowdoesithelpusappreciatethedramaticorpoetic effectofwhatissaid(apragmaticexplanation)?Ihavefoundmyown understandingimmenselyenhancedbythekindofapproachIemploy. IjusthopeIhavemanagedtoconveysomethingofthatinsightinthese pages. I have used three First Folio sources: the edition of the plays held at the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, my copy of the 1910 Methuen facsimile, and the Norton facsimile. For my statistical data, I have used the concordance whichwascompiledtoaccompanytheShakespeare’sWordswebsite (www.shakespeareswords.com).Thespellingofquotationsismodern inChapters1and2,butafterthedescriptionofElizabethanorthogra- phyinChapter3,mostquotationscomefromtheFirstFolioorcon- temporarytexts. HildaHulme,myShakespeareteacheratuniversity,saidinher insightful book Explorations in Shakespeare’s Language: ‘it is not easytoargueaboutShakespeare’smeaningwithoutbeingexcitedby it’. Or explore it, even, now that we have such powerful electronic ix x Preface searchcapabilities.EverytimeIdoeventhemostmenialsearchofmy Shakespeare database, I discover something I have never noticed before. It is an excitement open to anyone who wishes to increase theirunderstandingofShakespeareandhisworks. DAVID CRYSTAL Holyhead,March2007
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