scholarly journals To the question on methodology of stylistic stratification in analysis of the Early Modern English dramatic oeuvre (on the example of John Skelton’s play “Magnificence”)

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Alina Alekseevna Khavronich

The subject of this research is the methods of differentiation of neutral units and elements of inherent connotation of stylistic plan, which can be applied in stylistic analysis of literary texts of the Early Modern English period. Attention is focused on the peculiarities of general linguistic processes relevant for the early XVI century, as well as sociolinguistic conditionality of establishment of a literary canon. The author examines the specificity of perception of aureate style and unpoetic style as a system of deviations from the forming norm. The article determines the fundamental criteria of identification of stylistically marked units, as well as category of linguistic units revenant for the stylistic analysis, certain common attributes indicating a potential markedness of the word. The work demonstrates an integration algorithm of the data of diachronic corpora at the semantic and metasemiotic stages of the three-level stylistic analysis of a literary text of the Early Modern English period. The scientific novelty lies in the attempt to develop an algorithm that allows verifying or clarifying the stylistic status of linguistic elements in retrospective by applying to interpretation of lexical units of a play of the Early Modern English period the data of corpus-based linguistics and pragmatics. The author refers to the relevant treatises of the XVI century dedicated to the problem of style and corresponding research, systematizing the data for specification of criteria for stylistic stratification.

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Alina Alekseevna Khavronich

The subject of this research is the method of identification and problem of statistical interpretation of archaic lexis in literary texts of the Early Modern English period, namely in D. Lyndsay’s play “A Satire of the Three Estates”. The article discusses the capacity of attracting the data from diachronic corpus and corpus-based dictionaries for determination of archaic elements in literary works of the XVI century. Leaning on the commentaries of reputable philologists of the Early Modern English period and modern research, the article explores the trends of relevant perception pertaining to introduction of archaisms into the literary text by the authors of that time. An algorithm is proposed for identification of outdated units in literary material, created on Scottish (considering the obsolescent character of this dialect), based on juxtaposition of the approximate frequency indexes of reproduction of the element in the Early Modern English and Scottish sections of Helsinki corpus, as well as data from the corpus-based dictionaries of Middle English and Scottish. For stylistic assessment of archaisms in the play of D. Lyndsay, the author applies the method of linguo-stylistic analysis, in which linguistic element is viewed from the contextual perspective. The scientific novelty is substantiated by the fact that for solution of the problem of analysis of archaisms in the texts of Early Modern English period, the author elaborates an algorithm that allows clarifying if a unit is obsolescent in a specific moment of development of the English language. It is established that the prevalent proportion of words in Lyndsay’s play was not archaic within the framework of Scottish dialect; and only few of the involved units were outdated at the moment of creation of text in the standard Early Modern English. The archaisms determined in the play allows stating the Lyndsay considered archaisms a part of elevated lexis. The practical values of this work is defined by the possibility to apply the proposed algorithm for detecting archaisms in any literary text of the Early Modern English period, as well as conduct stylistic assessment of archaisms from the perspective of the trends of their perception by the authors of the XVI century.


Author(s):  
Matthew Walker

This chapter deals with the genesis of architectural knowledge. In particular, it explores those rare moments when early modern English authors wrote about newly discovered examples of ancient architecture, the most important forms of architectural knowledge that existed. I will discuss three such accounts (all published in the Philosophical Transactions) of Roman York, Palmyra, and ancient Athens. These three texts share a preoccupation with truth and accuracy, as befitted the task of communicating highly sought-after architectural knowledge. They also demonstrate the degree of confidence of English writers in this period, not only in how they interpreted ancient architecture, but also in how they sought to criticize previous European authors on the subject. But most importantly, these texts reveal the extent of English intellectuals’ knowledge of the architectural principles of the ancient world and how that knowledge was in a state of flux.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-301
Author(s):  
Andrew Hardie ◽  
Isolde van Dorst

Grammar is one of the levels within the language system at which authorial choices of one mode of expression over others must be examined to characterise in full the style of the author. Such choices must however be assessed in the context of an understanding of the extent of variability that exists generally in the language. This study investigates a set of grammatical features to understand their variability in Early Modern English drama, and the extent to which Shakespeare’s grammatical style is distinct from or similar to that of his contemporaries in so far as these features are concerned. A review of prior works on Shakespeare’s grammar establishes that the quantitatively informed corpus linguistic approach utilised in this study is innovative to this topic. Using two of the grammatically annotated corpora created by the Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s Language project, one made up of Shakespeare’s plays, one of plays by other playwrights of the period, we present a method which steers a course between the narrow focus of close reading and the naïvely quantitative metrics of authorship analysis. For a set of 15 grammatical features of stylistic interest, we retrieve all instances of each feature in each play via complex corpus search patterns and calculate its relative frequency. These results are then considered, in aggregate and at the text level, to assess the differences across plays, across dramatic genre, and between Shakespeare and the other dramatists, via both statistical summary and visual representation of variability. We find that Shakespeare’s grammatical style tends (especially in comedies and tragedies) to disprefer informationally dense noun phrases relative to the other playwrights; and, moreover, to prefer tense, aspect and pronoun features which suggest a greater degree of narrative focus in his style. Furthermore, we find Shakespeare to be highly distinct in his preferences regarding verb complement subordinate clause types. These findings point the way both to a novel methodology and to further as yet unconsidered questions on the subject of Shakespeare’s grammatical style.


2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (4-Part2) ◽  
pp. 1467-1494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison A. Chapman

This article demonstrates an early modern association between the trade of shoemaking and the act of altering the festal calendar. It traces this link through a series of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literary texts including Thomas Deloney's Gentle Craft, Thomas Dekker's Shoemaker's Holiday, and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and — most notably — Henry V. The article argues that the depictions of cobblers making holidays resonated with the early modern English politics of ritual observance, and its concluding discussion of the Saint Crispin's Day speech in Henry V shows how the play imagines king and cobblers vying for control of England's commemorative practice.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1 (8)) ◽  
pp. 58-62
Author(s):  
Mariana Sargsyan

The present article attempts to provide grounds for the idea that a literary text is first and foremost a means of establishing communicative links between the reader and the author. All linguistic units used in the text by the author are interconnected by a common function, i.e. promoting the awareness of the reader which, in its turn, contributes to the comprehensive perception of the given text.


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-124
Author(s):  
Hanna Rutkowska

Abstract This paper is a case study examining the choice and interaction of stylistic devices employed in The Schoole of Vertue, Francis Segar and Robert Crowley’s manual of good manners for children issued between 1582 and 1687. It was designed to convince its readers that particular patterns of behaviour were socially beneficial and worth following. In order to enhance the attractiveness, persuasiveness, and mnemonic qualities of the text, several stylistic devices are employed in the manual, including, for example, rhymes, acronyms, as well as binomials. It is generally agreed that repetitive patterns (especially binomials) are typical of formal registers, and particularly plentiful in legal and literary texts in Early Modern English, but the present study shows that similar rhetorical devices were also readily employed in the less formal and elevated style of manuals of good behaviour. Another rhetorical device frequently used in the manual under consideration consists in addressing the reader directly with the second person singular pronoun, especially in imperative constructions, thus creating an ambiance of emotional closeness, characterising the relationship between the master and the pupil.


2020 ◽  
pp. 83-112
Author(s):  
Susan North

Early modern English medical books are full of advice about cleanliness of the skin, the subject of Chapter 4. It was considered vital for the survival of infants and insisted upon in books dedicated to childcare. Babies needed washing and/or bathing with every change of their nappy/diaper. Surgeons, responsible for the external health of the body, also recommended regular washing of the skin. Washing performed the necessary function of removing sweat, a form of excretion, as well as preventing and treating skin ailments such as the itch, morphew, and scabies. Bathing was considered a particularly effective method of cleaning the skin and the literature on this subject is examined and reassessed.


PMLA ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1033-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hope Emily Allen

During the period covered by the Early Modern English Dictionary, witchcraft occupied the mind of the average man, and became the subject-matter of literature (dramatic, theological, philosophical, legal) to an extent probably not known in any other epoch. It is natural that such a predominating interest should have its effect on the vocabulary. There can now be described, with more detail than has hitherto been available, one instance in which the beliefs and practices of contemporary charlatans, pretending to supernatural connections, made an interesting development of meaning for a common word. This instance will be illustrated at length, for the sake of the analogies which it suggests as to possible starting points for studying other words. The discussion seems to indicate that elements in the problem go back to learned tradition and at the same time to primitive Teutonic folk-lore.


2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Río-Rey

The clear-cut distinction between free adjuncts and absolutes based on the presence in absolutes of an overt subject different from the subject of the matrix clause, as opposed to the covert subject – controlled by the subject of the matrix clause – of free adjuncts, does not always hold. While it is generally agreed that unrelated free adjuncts are fairly frequent in Present-day English (PE), absolutes whose subject is identical to that of the matrix clause are regarded as obsolete (Jespersen, 1909–49; Kortmann, 1991; Söderlind, 1958; Visser, 1963–73). However, no statistical evidence has been provided on this topic for earlier stages of the history of English. This article quantitatively assesses whether the various degrees of relatedness observed in Early Modern English (EModE) coincide with those attested for PE, and concludes that the boundaries between free adjuncts and absolutes were considerably fuzzier in EModE, a phenomenon to which punctuation decisively contributed.


Author(s):  
Alexander Usachev

The object of this research is the works of the prominent Russian writer F. M. Dostoevsky. The subject of this research is the opinion whether F. M. Dostoevsky first and foremost is the Russian philosopher and thinker, and only then a writer. The author examines the peculiarities of such roles in culture as philosopher, thinker and writer, which gives grounds to question unambiguous reference of the works of prominent Russian writer as activity of the thinker. The peculiarity consists in the fact that F. M. Dostoevsky’s literary texts is so rich in images and themes, that shifting the specificity of his artistic image into the background is not quite justified. Special attention is given to clarification of the essence of activity of the philosopher and the writer. The key research method is the comparative analysis of the facts of such types of social practice as the profession of writer, philosopher and thinker in their relation to the fundamental concepts of time, space, text and nature of its perception from the outside perspective .The main conclusion consists in the statement that the philosophical text maintains neutrality in relation to time, as is being written from the standpoint of eternity. Literary text, in turn, is “submerged” in time and space of the events taking place within it, and relies on recognizability of the characters and their existential characteristics. F. M. Dostoevsky appears to the audience as the creator of storylines and images, rather than a person who sets the trends and concepts of social movements.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document