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Orality in Medieval Drama Speech-Like Features in the Middle English Comic Mystery Plays

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Orality in Medieval Drama Speech-Like Features in the Middle English Comic Mystery Plays Dissertation zur Erlangung des philosophischen Doktorgrades Orality in Medieval Drama Speech-Like Features in the Middle English Comic Mystery Plays vorgelegt von Christiane Einmahl an der Fakultät Sprach-, Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften der Technischen Universität Dresden am 16. Mai 2019 Table of Contents 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Premises and aims ................................................................................................................2 1.2 Outline of the study .............................................................................................................10 2 Comedy play texts as a speech-related genre ........................................................................13 2.1 Speech-like genres and 'communicative immediacy'...........................................................13 2.2 Play texts vs. 'real' spoken discourse...................................................................................17 2.3 Conclusions.........................................................................................................................25 3 'Comedy' in the mystery cycles................................................................................................26 3.1 The medieval sense of 'comedy'..........................................................................................26 3.2 Medieval attitudes to laughter..............................................................................................37 3.3 Laughter and the comic in the mystery cycles.....................................................................45 3.3.1 Humiles personae – sympathetic laughter....................................................................45 3.3.2 Divine triumph over evil – Schadenfreude ....................................................................52 3.3.3 Funny games of violence – grim irony..........................................................................56 3.4 The potential for 'communicative immediacy' in the mystery 'comedies' ...........................64 3.4.1 Context and sources.....................................................................................................67 3.4.2 Stylistic guidelines........................................................................................................73 3.5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................88 4 Speech-like features in the mystery 'comedies'......................................................................91 4.1 Methodological premises.....................................................................................................91 4.1.1 The data........................................................................................................................91 4.1.2 Speech-like characteristics and linguistic features.........................................................93 4.1.3 Challenges and obstacles............................................................................................101 4.2 Interactivity in pronominal address – (im)politeness, power and dominance......................107 4.2.1 Second-person pronouns............................................................................................108 4.2.1.1 Overall distribution...............................................................................................111 4.2.1.2 Family relationships..............................................................................................115 4.2.1.3 'Official' relationships..........................................................................................123 4.2.1.4 A special case: address in funny games of violence ...........................................131 4.2.2 Summary....................................................................................................................135 4.3 Interactivity in pair structures – cooperation and conflict....................................................138 4.3.1 Questions...................................................................................................................138 4.3.1.1 Overall distribution...............................................................................................142 4.3.1.2 Functional analysis ..............................................................................................146 4.3.1.3 Discussion of results...........................................................................................168 4.3.2 Imperatives ................................................................................................................170 4.3.2.1 Overall distribution..............................................................................................172 4.3.2.2 Functional analysis..............................................................................................178 4.3.2.3 Discussion of results...........................................................................................193 4.3.3 Lexical repetition.........................................................................................................195 4.3.3.1 Overall distribution..............................................................................................197 4.3.3.2 Functional Analysis..............................................................................................199 4.3.3.3 Discussion of results...........................................................................................213 4.3.4 Turn-initial discourse markers......................................................................................214 4.3.4.1 Overall distribution..............................................................................................217 4.3.4.2 Interactional uses................................................................................................221 4.3.4.3 Discussion of results...........................................................................................238 4.3.5 Summary....................................................................................................................239 4.4 Features of sharedness and function – emotion and emphasis .........................................241 4.4.1 Interjections................................................................................................................242 4.4.1.1 Overall distribution...............................................................................................245 4.4.1.2 Emotive-expressive uses.....................................................................................248 4.4.1.3 A special case: swearing.....................................................................................260 4.4.2 Vocatives: Terms of endearment and abuse ...............................................................264 4.4.2.1 Overall distribution..............................................................................................265 4.4.2.2 Analysis...............................................................................................................268 4.4.3 Demonstrative pronouns and deictic reference..........................................................272 4.4.3.1 Overall distribution...............................................................................................274 4.4.3.2 Analysis...............................................................................................................277 4.4.4 Summary....................................................................................................................290 4.5. Discussion: Speech-like features in the Middle English mystery plays..............................292 5 Final remarks ..........................................................................................................................309 6 Bibliography.............................................................................................................................312 7 List of abbreviations................................................................................................................350 8 List of tables............................................................................................................................351 9 List of figures...........................................................................................................................353 1 But, in all the wonderful worlds that writing opens, the spoken word still resides and lives. Written texts all have to be related somehow, directly or indirectly, to the world of sound, the natural habitat of language, to yield their meanings. Walter J. Ong (1982) 1 Introduction Dramatic dialogues from the Middle English mystery cycles have been regarded as potential representations of the spoken language of the period. But how much and in what ways can these texts be considered close or even similar to 'real' conversations from the past? How much interpersonal immediacy is represented in these written data and in what configuration? Consider the following extracts: Secundus Pastor. […] How, gyb, goode morne / wheder goys thou? / Thou goys ouer the corne / gyb, I say, how! '[…] How, Gib, good morning, where are you going? You go over the grain, Gib, I say, how!' Primus Pastor. Who is that? John horne / I make god a vowe!
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