Centuries before the first dictionary was available, Chaucer used a wide range of words from various origins and worked with intellectual or technical terms as well as vulgar expressions. He also switched playfully between colloquial, formal and professional speech. Additionally he used different dialects to create his characters. Due to all this we can imagine how the Englishmen and –women of the 14th century spoke. Chaucer had not been able to give this heritage to later generations if he would not have been a great sociolinguistic observer, i.e. if he wouldn’t have watched people surrounding him closely and if he wouldn’t have paid attention to the way they talk. This term paper examines Chaucer’s use of dialects and vocabulary in his famous work The Canterbury Tales.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- About this term paper...
- Chaucer's life...........
- The Canterbury Tales ......
- Chaucer as a sociolinguistic observer...
- Chaucer's use of dialects....
- Dialects of Middle English
- Dialect as a tool for describing the Miller
- Dialect in direct speech of the Reeve's Tale and Prologue
- Chaucer's vocabulary...
- General information
- Madame Eglentyne - An example for Chaucer's use of French borrowings
- The high and low – Dealing with registers
- Conclusion.
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This term paper aims to explore Geoffrey Chaucer's work, particularly "The Canterbury Tales," through the lens of sociolinguistics. The paper investigates how Chaucer, as a keen observer of his time, utilized dialects and vocabulary to portray different social classes and individuals in his writings.
- Chaucer's use of dialects as a tool for characterizing individuals.
- The diverse vocabulary employed by Chaucer, including words from various origins and registers.
- Chaucer's ability to capture the nuances of everyday speech and its variations.
- The impact of Chaucer's work on the development of the English language.
- The social and historical context of Chaucer's writings.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The paper begins by providing an overview of Chaucer's life, highlighting his varied experiences and encounters with diverse social groups, which likely influenced his sociolinguistic observations. This is followed by an introduction to "The Canterbury Tales" and its diverse cast of characters, representing a broad spectrum of society.
The second section examines Chaucer's use of dialects in his writings. It explores the dialects of Middle English and how Chaucer skillfully employs them to portray the Miller's character. It further delves into the use of dialect in direct speech, analyzing the Reeve's Tale and Prologue.
Finally, the paper explores Chaucer's vocabulary, including his use of borrowed words, particularly French loanwords, and his adept handling of different speech registers to create distinct characters and situations.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The main keywords and focus topics of this paper are Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Canterbury Tales," sociolinguistics, dialects of Middle English, vocabulary, speech registers, social class, and historical context.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Katharina Schäfer (Autor:in), 2007, Geoffrey Chaucer as a sociolinguistic observer, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/93881
