'By his common talke': Representations of linguistic difference on the early English stage

This dissertation argues that early English drama demonstrates a conscious, social re-evaluation of the English language. It will show that, in accordance with the project of English nationalism, the language begins to define itself against the linguistic other of non-English languages and non-standard dialects. This study examines the stigmatization of various forms of linguistic difference on the early English stage. It looks specifically at Latin, French and dialect speakers and argues that they are one of the most effective lenses through which we can examine the early English national anxieties concerning the development, standardization, and superiority of the English language. It concludes that early English drama establishes a constitutive rhetoric designed dissuade English audiences from using Latin, French and English dialects in favor of a standardized vernacular linguistic authority.;My argument fuses emergent theories of Historical Sociolinguistics with Literary Historicism. It establishes early English drama as an important lens through which we can view and interpret contemporary ideologies concerning the cultural, social and political relationships between different linguistic groups. Individual chapters also offer new readings of the influence of Lollardy and early Reformation ideals on the institutional authority of Latin, the role of the de casibus/Mirror for Magistrates tradition in political culture and the English court system, and the Humanist influence on the standardization of the English language.