Cordelia Reardon SID 1725195 291ENL The Making Of Modern English Seminar 5 The Extent Of Shakespeare’s Influence On The Phraseology Of English.

Cordelia Reardon SID 1725195

291ENL The Making Of Modern English

Seminar 5

The Extent Of Shakespeare’s Influence On The Phraseology Of English

Cordelia Reardon SID 1725195

Social and Political Climate of the Sixteenth Century

New publications in English due to:• interest in the classical languages and literatures• scientific and medical developments• the arts (theatre)

These occurrences took place as part of the renaissance, a period which lasted from approximately 1485 to 1660.

(Crystal 2003:60)

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The Renaissance period included:• the Reformation• discoveries by Copernicus (astronomer)• European exploration of Africa and the Americas

The effects of these fresh perspectives on the English language set in quickly, spread far and were controversial.

The emphasis was on vocabulary; it had to expand in order to accommodate these developments.

(Crystal 2003: 61)

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“The two most important influences on the development of English during the final decades of the renaissance are the works of Shakespeare and The King James Bible” (Crystal 2003:62)

Not because of beauty or technical excellence but because of their widespread popularity due to being produced in English.

Cordelia Reardon SID 1725195

Although Shakespeare was the first to record certain words (e.g. obscene, puppi-dogges), it is likely that they were already used in spoken language of the time.

It was Shakespeare’s custom to write such unofficial words into his plays. This would have been a major factor in creating popular awareness of them and increase their circulation. (Crystal 2003:62)

His plays were performed for a mixed class audience i.e. poorer people stood at the front, richer people would sit further back, higher up in the balconies.

(William Shakespeare Info 2005)

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Lexical Firsts

Shakespeare’s main impact was on the English word stock (the lexicon) and gives an indication of how English was developing. There are many words first recorded by Shakespeare which have survived into Modern English: accommodation, assassination, barefaced, countless, courtship, dislocate, dwindle, eventful, fancy free, lack-lustre, laughable, premeditated, submerged

(Crystal 2003:63)

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Lexical Firsts continued…

There are also many of his words which did not survive:

Abruption, appertainments, cadent, exsufflicate, persistive, protractive, questrist, soilure, tortive, ungenitured, unplausive, vastidity

(Crystal 2003:63)

Cordelia Reardon SID 1725195

Grammatical Conversions

As inflectional endings fell out of use, there was an increase in the use of grammatical conversions.

• One word class would function as another • Shakespeare was fond of making verbs from nouns • This was frequently used in dramatic writing

(Contemporary rhetoricians called it anthimeria)

It out-herods Herod…No more shall trenching war channel her fields…Grace me no grace, or uncle me no uncle…Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels…

(Crystal 2003:63)

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Modern equivalents

An Australian comedian once said that the British are the only people who use glass as a verb.

Other modern examples:

Text a friend

Programme a computer

Email your tutor

Google Shakespeare on the internet

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Hyphenations

Shakespeare frequently used hyphenated compounds which are categorised somewhere between his neologisms (new words) that have survived and those which have died.Examples include:Arch-heretic Baby-eyesFaire-playIll-tunedPale-visag’d

(Crystal 2003: 63)

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Modern Equivalents

Sell-by (date)

Well-paid (job)

Three-piece (suite)

Off-the-record

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Idiomatic expressions

Many of Shakespeare’s quotes have been upgraded from quotes to everyday expressions.

Examples include:

Love is blind

A foregone conclusion

A tower of strength

I must be cruel only to be kind

(Crystal 2003:63)

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Conclusion

Shakespeare’s influence is fairly unavoidable in modern English language. It was his creative approach to describing and conveying everyday concepts which allowed people to latch on to his word craft.

Therefore the extent to which he has shaped the English language has been far stretched.

“He was not of an age, but for all time” Ben Johnson – friend of Shakespeare and fellow playwright

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References

Crystal, D. (2003) The Cambridge Encyclopedia Of The English Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

William Shakespeare Info (2005) Old Globe Theatre Structure [online] Available from <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-globe-theatre-structure.htm> [11 January 2009]