The Shape of Early Modern English: An interview with Jonathan Culpeper on the Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s Language Project

Abstract

In this interview, Jonathan Culpeper, Professor of Language and Linguistics at the University of Lancaster, UK, and author, among other books, of Early Modern English dialogues: Spoken Interaction as Writing (with Merja Kytö, 2010), as well as co-editor of Stylistics and Shakespeare: Transdisciplinary Approaches (2011), answers questions on a range of topics related to Shakespeare’s language. Starting from the rationale of his AHRC-funded project to complete a two-volume Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s Language which will focus on language in use and in context, Culpeper goes on to discuss more general questions, including the future of literary linguistics, perceptions of early modern English, Shakespeare’s creativity, the use of digital tools and quantitative methods in linguistic and literary investigation.

Keywords: Shakespeare’s language, early modern English, historical linguistics, language in use, historical pragmatics, Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s language