Old Norse and Earlier English Pronunciation

[Dave Wilton]

After posting, I emailed a colleague who specializes in medieval drama to
ask this very question. His response was that the usual practice for modern
performances is not only to use modern pronunciation, but to translate the
works into modern English as well.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Paul Johnston
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 11:44 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Old Norse and Earlier English Pronunciation

I once saw a production of a 15th century play by a company based in
Cambridge, England, who used, not 15th century pronunciations but
early 17th century ones--in fact, since it was a crowd of historical
linguists going out to this performance, which grammarian the company
used as the source--Wilkins, Hodges or Robinson? (We settled on
Hodges).  The result was intelligible--kind of SW English or Irish-
sounding, but you could make it out.
Since I'm analyzing the dialect of the York plays myself, I'd be very
interested in what pronunciation  model dramatists would use.  If
they really used a York pronunciation of say, 1475, since the final -
e's are gone and the Great Vowel Shift's early stages are completed,
the result would probably only be a bit less intelligible than our
early 17th Standard model, or real Shakespearean pronunciation.  The
Northern vocab might be a problem.

Paul Johnston
On Jun 14, 2010, at 2:43 PM, Dave Wilton wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Old Norse and Earlier English Pronunciation
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Regarding Chaucer and Shakespeare, part of the difference in
> replicating
> authentic pronunciation is undoubtedly in performance vs. reading.
> Shakespeare, the plays at least, have a long tradition of
> performance to
> large audiences. Not only are there many different actors, not
> intensely
> trained in authentic pronunciation, who must deliver the lines, but
> there
> are audience members who must understand the pronunciation without
> too much
> difficulty. Reading, even aloud to small groups, is a very
> different setting
> that is more conducive to replicating the original pronunciation.
>
> It would be interesting to find out how medieval dramas, such as
> the Chester
> cycle, are performed nowadays. Are medieval pronunciations insisted
> on? The
> audience for these more obscure works is, of course, more select
> and more
> likely to appreciate the finer points of authentic pronunciation
> (as far as
> that can be determined,  of course) than that of Shakespeare. The long
> tradition of Shakespearian performance may make those works
> exceptional.

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