Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 2014 vol. 49.1
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Browsing Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 2014 vol. 49.1 by Subject "Shakespeare"
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Item "Can" in Shakespeare and Marlowe(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2014) Skorasińska, MonikaThis paper seeks to present the main meanings and the use of the modal verb can in the plays of two Early Modern English playwrights, William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. In particular, the study aims at presenting a comparative analysis and provides descriptive as well as quantitative data. The research is based on the analysis of the corpus consisting of the plays written by Shakespeare and Marlowe between 1593-1599. The choice of the works is not random but includes the plays which bear the strongest resemblance in terms of theme, structure, and most importantly, the language of both authors.Item Wilt thou be lord of all the world? Modals and persuasion in Shakespeare(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2014) Nakayasu, MinakoPersuasion is defined as human communication designed to influence the judgements and actions of others (Simons & Jones 2011). The purpose of this research is to analyse the discourse of persuasion in Shakespeare from the perspective of historical pragmatics (Jucker & Taavitsainen 2010), with particular attention to modals employed as part of the strategies. The modals under investigation are proximal and distal central modals, SHALL/SHOULD, WILL/WOULD, CAN/COULD, MAY/MIGHT, MUST, and the contracted form ’LL. The data for the present study is drawn from The Riverside Shakespeare (Evans 1997) and the concordance by Spevack (1968-1980). The corpus includes both cases where the persuasion attempt is successful and unsuccessful. After defining persuasion in comparison to speech acts, quantitative analysis reveals how frequently the persuader and the persuadee employ a modal regarding each type of modality and speech act. Further analysis shows in what manner the persuader and the persuadee interact with each other in discourse resorting to the following strategies: modality, proximal and distal meanings of the modal, speech act of each utterance including a modal, and use of the same modal or switching modals in interaction. This research thus clarifies how effectively speakers attempted to persuade others in interactions, shedding light on communication mechanisms in the past.