Discourse and Register

Abstract

The previous chapters are concerned with Shakespeare’s grammar, largely irrespective of the fact that the texts which mostly provide the data are dramas. This and the next chapter are devoted to an analysis of the dramatic features of the language: what aspects of the language make it more suitable for the interaction of characters in a play? This chapter will consider individual features of language such as forms of address (8.1), the stages of and language for conversational strategies (8.2), discourse or pragmatic markers (8.3), different registers appropriate for individual characters and for different situations (8.4). The next chapter will consider how the different elements are combined with the context and discourse structure to provide a coherent pattern for dialogue in relation to the status of the characters on stage.