This article brings together linguistic and literary approaches in order to illuminate aspects of the fourteenth-century Pearl poem that might otherwise go unnoticed by a modern reader. In particular, it investigates the sound-semantic (i.e. phonaesthetic) significance incurred by polysemous Middle English gl-words. The essay begins by using the Middle English Dictionary to locate the interrelated semantic fields for words beginning with gl-in Middle English: 'light/vision', 'joy/gladness', 'vitreousness/viscosity', 'quick/smooth movement', and 'deceptiveness'. Then, in the second half of the essay, I describe how soundsalient collocations of gl-w o r d s o c c ur at significant moments in Pearl a n d e x p l o i t a phonaesthetic network, particularly in relation to the now diminished ' d e c e p t i v e n e s s ' category, in ways that add to the aural stylistics of the poem and augment themes to do with the limitations of human perception in the context of spiritual consolation (i.e. ocular/aural scepticism). In turn, it is suggested that Pearl subtly registers questions to do with the limitations of alliterative poetry and the aural 'glossing' it entails. IntroductionThe term phonaestheme, coined by British linguist J.R. Firth in 1930, is defined by the OED as Ôa phoneme or group of phonemes having recognizable semantic associations, as a result of appearing in a number of words of similar meaningÕ. In this vein, the present study augments a nascent body of research on phonaesthesia as an object and method of investigation by focusing specifically on the gl-phonaestheme, which for Present-day English (PDE) speakers is most immediately associable with the semantic field ÔlightÕ (e.g. in glint and glare), but had further, now diminished associations in ME. The objective of this study is twofold: 1) to identify the semantic fields of the glphonaestheme by describing its distribution in the lexicon as recorded in the Middle English Dictionary (MED); and then, 2) to determine to what extent the semantic significance of glmay be related to aural stylistic effects in verse -specifically its conspicuous appearance in the lines of the fourteenth-century Pearl. In particular, I will examine how themes central toPearl to do with the limitations of human senses in processes of spiritual consolation, described by Sarah Stanbury in relation to vision as Ôocular skepticismÕ, 5 are in fact formalized in the sound-salience of the ME gl-phonaestheme, which promotes an ambivalent, aurally sceptical reading/hearing of the poem that runs congruently with period thought, based on the language as it would have been understood by the poemÕs medieval audience.But first, a word on phonaesthesia. Phonaesthesia in EnglishPhonaesthesia is not intrinsic sound symbolism (i.e. the sign is still arbitrary); but has to do with the conventionalization of meanings that historically come to be associated with particular sounds/phonemes through their use and application to new words in the lexicon.Nor is phonaesthesia entirely producti...

No abstract

Located at the intersection of historical pragmatics, letters and manuscript studies, this book offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the letters of Joan and Maria Thynne, 1575-1611. It investigates multiple ways in which socio-culturally and socio-familially contextualized reading of particular collections may increase our understanding of early modern letters as a particular type of handwritten communicative activity. The book also adds to our understanding of these women as individual users of English in their historical moment, especially in terms of literacy and their engagement with cultural scripts. Throughout the book, analysis is based on the manuscript letters themselves and in this way several chapters address the importance of viewing original sources to understand the letters' full pragmatic significance. Within these broader frameworks, individual chapters address the women's use of scribes, prose structure and punctuation, performative speech act verbs, and (im)politeness, sincerity and mock (im)politeness.

No abstract

No abstract