Quoting Speech in Early English
Quoting Speech in Early English by Colette Moore, published by Cambridge University Press on April 17, 2014, offers an in-depth examination of how early English texts represented speech before the standardization of quotation marks. This 232-page work delves into the fluid organization of English texts from 1350 to 1600, highlighting the diverse lexical and textual strategies employed to mark represented discourse. Moore argues that modern interpretations, influenced by contemporary quotation conventions, can obscure the original narrative and stylistic functions of early speech representation.
Readers will find a comprehensive study that explores the pragmatic and discourse strategies used in pre-modern English texts. By analyzing the cultural assumptions inherent in early written works, this book sheds light on the less-determined nature of speech marking and its role as a narrative tool. The insights provided in this edition are essential for anyone interested in language arts, linguistics, and literary criticism, particularly in the context of historical and comparative studies.
Official synopsis Publisher
Before quotation marks became widespread convention, English texts were organized more fluidly, employing varying lexical and textual strategies for marking represented discourse. When we add our present-day quotation marks to editions of Middle English texts, we also overlay our modern interpretation of speech representation, with its expectations of faithful reporting and carefully delineated voices. In doing so, we mask the less-determined nature of early speech marking, and obscure the ways that its plasticity functions as a narrative and stylistic tool. This book provides the first full study of speech representation in pre-modern English. Studying the pragmatic and discourse strategies of English texts from 1350-1600 is essential to reading Middle English works and to understanding the cultural assumptions implicit in the production of early written texts.
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