Certificate of Achievement
has completed the following course:
Shakespeare's Language: Revealing Meanings and Exploring Myths
Lancaster University
This course explored Shakespeare’s language and, more generally, the language of his time. “Big data” corpus methods (methods that use computers to explore large volumes of language data) were introduced as a method of investigating this language and how these methods can be utilised to interrogate the language that Shakespeare used in the context of the wider contemporary language.
4 weeks, 3 hours per week
Jonathan Culpeper
Professor of English Language and Linguistics
Lancaster University
Transcript
Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate an understanding of Shakespeare’s language and empirical methods for its analysis
- Evaluate common myths surrounding Shakespeare’s language
- Compare the language of Shakespeare with that of his contemporaries
- Investigate the linguistic traits of characters and plays
- Apply corpus linguistic concepts and methods
Syllabus
- The general features of the English of Shakespeare’s time, from spellings through words to grammar;
- The nature of Shakespearean texts, including how their production affected their language;
- How huge collections of texts can be explored by computer to highlight meanings (and in a more subtle and yet empirical way than current Shakespearean dictionaries);
- The myths about Shakespeare’s language (e.g. that he coined an extraordinary number of new words); and
- How fresh light can be shed on the linguistic styles of plays and characters through corpus methods.
Issued on 9th March 2022
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