Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to Zounds

by Dale F. Coye

Overview

Shakespeare is the most influential poet and playwright of the English language. Any good edition of his works includes notes on the meanings of obscure words, names, and phrases, but no edition gives any guidance on pronunciation. Students, actors, and even Shakespearean experts rely on guesswork or must consult a specialized dictionary when confronting unusual words. This volume is an authoritative resource that allows readers to quickly find the correct pronunciation of any difficult word in Shakespeare's works.

In order to determine which pronunciations are actually in use today, 100 Shakespearean scholars and dramaturges from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom were asked for their recommendations on over 300 controversial words. This survey together with research from a variety of dictionaries and linguistic studies are the authorities for the pronunciations given here. Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words is written for a general audience and not solely for experts. Readers will find the language straightforward, and pronunciations are given in a clear, simple form. Variants are listed for the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., and the listings indicate which are most frequently used within that country, which are older or traditional, and which are nonstandard. Helpful appendices, including a brief overview of pronunciation in Elizabethan England and special notes on selected words and word endings, are also included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313306556
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/1998
Pages:	744
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.80(d)
Lexile:	1210L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

DALE F. COYE is Assistant Professor of English at The College of New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Preface
Pronunciation Key
Abbreviations
Introduction
A Pronouncing Guide to the Plays and Poems
The Plays
The Poems
Appendix A: Common Words with More than One Standard Pronunciation in Today's English
Appendix B: Common Archaic Forms in Shakespeare
Appendix C: The Vowel Systems of North American and British English
Appendix D: Special Notes on Selected Words, Word Endings, and Prefixes
References
Index of Words
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

For this specialized guide, Coye (Coll. of New Jersey) pulled together surveys from 100 Shakespearean scholars to determine the correct pronunciation of over 300 words from Shakespeare's plays and poems, seemingly every word necessary for a reasonable reader. The resulting reference, which utilizes The Riverside Shakespeare (Classic Returns, LJ 1/98) as the base text (though a word index does provide access for readers using other editions), is a unique and useful tool. An exhaustive introduction precedes a phonetic pronunciation guide that includes definitions. Organized by play or poem, words are given in the order in which they appear in a linear reading. Lists at the beginning of each work contain pronunciation guides for place and proper names, the most common "hard" words, and the most common reduced forms. In addition, five appendixes cover common words with more than one standard pronunciation, common archaic forms, the vowel system in American and British English, special notes on selected words, and pronunciation in Elizabethan England. Though most good editions of Shakespeare's work include some pronunciation guidance and many of the words in this resource are found in dictionaries, this is still the only collection of established scholarly opinion on pronunciation and one of the few resources providing guidance for place and proper names. This work will greatly benefit students and professors of Shakespearean literature and drama and is recommended for academic libraries supporting these departments.--Neal Wyatt, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., VA

Library Journal

The subject is not how the words were pronounced in Shakespeare's time, but how they are pronounced now. Despite the subtitle, the arrangement is not alphabetical, but line-by-line from each play and poem, so that the next question about pronunciation will not be far from the last. Introductory sections explain such matters as pronunciation variants within the US, lost rhymes and puns, lower class accents, shifting the stress of a word to maintain iambic rhythm, and compressing or expanding words. Appendices consider such factors as common words with more than one standard pronunciation in modern English, the vowel systems of North American and British English, and common archaic forms in Shakespeare. The notation system is fully explained. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews