Shakespeare’s quotations in German linguoculture: an ecolinguistic approach

Keywords: adaptation, creolization, ecolinguistics, eptonymized citation, internet discourse, linguoculture, translingual aspect, verbalization

Abstract

The article deals with the features of eptonymized quotations from William Shakespeare in German within the framework of the translingual aspect of the ecolinguistic approach to the study of linguistic and speech phenomena. Ecolinguistics makes it possible to study the existence of language in combination of language and speech units with geopolitical, historical, social, and psychological factors. According to this approach, English is considered “super-heavy” in terms of the number of native speakers, which means it can influence the languages with a lower number of native speakers, such as “heavy” German. The aim of the work is to study the features of this influence on the example of quotations from the works of the most famous British writer of all times, William Shakespeare, which are adapted by German linguoculture and which have their own formal and functional characteristics at the present stage of German language development. German versions of eptonymized Shakespeare quotations are the result of cognitive, historical and socio-cultural factors of adaptation of new symbolic phenomena to the language environment-the receiver. The translingual aspect of ecolinguistics allows to explain the use of eptonymized units of English language and culture in the context and by means of German as a receiving language, where these units acquire specific characteristics. The establishment of these characteristics is the purpose of the presented work, which studies as an object the quotations from the Shakespeare works that have acquired the qualities of winged expressions (eptonymized quotations) on the German ground or even demonstrate a tendency to phraseology. The objectives of the work are to determine the ways in which Shakespeare's quotations fall into German linguoculture, to establish structural and semantic features of the use of eptonymized Shakespeare quotations in modern German internet discourses, to describe the main functions of such Shakespeare quotations in the mentioned discourses, taking into account the creolization factor of the text.

Consideration of the socio-historical basis for the integration of Shakespeare's work into German linguoculture allowed us to identify the main factors of popularization of quotations and their penetration into the linguistic consciousness of native German speakers. These factors include translations of Shakespeare's works into German, stage productions, borrowing and processing of Shakespeare's plots by German-speaking writers, and including the works by the British author into mandatory educational programs. According to the formal features, there have been distinguished exact citations in phraseological meaning without pointing to the primary source, exact citations in phraseological meaning with pointing to the primary source, exact citations in phraseological meaning intently without pointing to the source, citation with transformations and unspoken citation without intended transformation. Such quotes perform informative, ornative, attractive, and human functions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Blinn, H. (Ed.) (1982). Shakespeare-Rezeption: Die Diskussion um Shakespeare in Deutschland. Band 2: AusgewähnlteTexte von 1741 bis 1788. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.
Calvet, J.-L. (1999). Pour une écologie des langues du monde [For an ecology of the languages of the world]. Paris: Plon.
Dedner, B. (2013). “Alle Dichter wie Schulknaben”. Büchner und Shakespeare [“All poets like schoolboys”. Buchner and Shakespeare]. In: Georg Büchner. Revolutionär mit Feder und Skalpell, hrsg. von Ralf Beil und Burghard Dedner. [Katalog zur Ausstellung des Instituts Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, 13. Oktober 2013 bis 16. Februar 2014]. Ostfildern, Deutschland: Hatje Cantz Verlag.
Dehrmann, M.-G. (2015). Urgermanisch oder eingebürgert? Wie Shakespeare im 19. Jahrhundert zum “Deutschen” wird [Proto-Germanic or naturalized? How Shakespeare became “German” in the 19th century]. In C. Jansohn (Ed.), Shakespeare unter den Deutschen (pp. 15-31). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Der “deutsche” Shakespeare: Vom Theater-Provokateur zum Opfer der Klassiklegende [The “German” Shakespeare: From the theater provocateur to the victim of the classical legend] (1996). Shakespeare inszeniert: Das westdeutsche Regietheater und die Theatertradition des >dritten deutschen Klassikers< (pp. 15-85). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110929027-002
Die große Chronik-Weltgeschichte: Absolutismus, Aufklärung und Revolution [The great chronicle world history: absolutism, enlightenment and revolution] (2008). Bd. 11. [1648-1793]. Detlef Wienecke-Janz Wissenmedia Verlag.
Fill, A. (2001). Ecolinguistics. State of the art 1988. In A. Fill & P. Mühlhäusler (Eds.), The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment (pp. 43-54). London, New York: Continuum.
“Gut gebrüllt, Löwe”: 16 Shakespeare-Zitate zum Todestag (2016, April 24). Morgenpost. Retrieved from https://www.morgenpost.de/vermischtes/article207462977/Gut-gebruellt-Loewe-16-Shakespeare-Zitate-zum-Todestag.html
Harré, R., Brockmeier, J., & Mühlhäusler, P. (1999). Greenspeak: a study of environmental discourse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Haugen, E. (1972). The eсology of language. Stanford: Standford University Press.
Hauptmann, G. (1915). Deutschland und Shakespeare. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, 51, vii-xii.
Herder, J. G. (2014). Shakespear [Shakespeare]. In H. Korte (Ed.), Herder. Goethe. Frisi. Möser. Von deutscher Art und Kunst (S. 69-94). Stuttgart: Reclam.
Mansky, M. (2011). Die frühe Shakespeare-Rezeption im josephinischen Wien. Überlegungen zur kritischen Haltung der Aufklärer Joseph von Sonnenfels und Cornelius von Ayrenhoff [The early reception of Shakespeare in Josephine Vienna. Reflections on the critical attitude of the enlighteners Joseph von Sonnenfels and Cornelius von Ayrenhoff]. Modern Austrian Literature, 44(1/2), 1-18.
Morozova, O. I. (2015). Ekolohichnyi pidkhid do analizu nepravdyvykh vyslovlen [Ecological approach to analyzing deceptive utterances]. Movni i kontseptualni kartyny svitu, 55, 258-166.
Nurtsch, C. (2019, April 29). Shakespeare: aktuell und unerschöpflich [Shakespeare: topical and inexhaustible]. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved from https://www.dw.com/de/shakespeare-aktuell-und-unersch%C3%B6pflich/a-48524490
Onishchenko, N. A. (2017). Eptonimy O. Vailda v nimetskii movi: ekolinhvistychnyi pidkhid [Eptonyms by O. Wilde in the German language: Ecolinguistic approach]. Visnyk Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V. N. Karazina, 86, 144-152.
Onishchenko, N. A. (2018). Kontseptosfera tsytat z brytanskoi literatury v nimetskii movi: ekolinhvistychnyi aspekt (na materiali eptonimiv O. Vailda ta Dzh. B. Shou) [Concept sphere of British literature quotations in German: an ecolinguistic approach (based on eptonyms by O. Wilde and G. B. Shaw)]. Visnyk Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V. N. Karazina, 88, 112-120.
Paulin, R. (2003). The critical reception of Shakespeare in Germany 1682–1914. Native Literature and foreign genius. Hildesheim, Zurich, and New York: Georg Olms Verlag.
Puppel, S. (2007). Interlingwalizm czy translingwalizm? Interkomunikacja czy transkomunikacja? Uwagi w kontekście wspołistnienia językow naturalnych w ramach globalnej wspolnoty kulturowo-językowo-komunikacyjnej [Interlingualism or translingualism? Intercommunication or transcommunication? Notes on the coexistence of natural languages within the global cultural, linguistic and communicative community]. In S. Puppel (Ed.), Społeczeństwo-kultura-język. W stronę interakcyjnej architektury komunikacji (pp. 79-94). Poznań: Katedra Ekokomunikkacji UAM.
Schrickx, W. (1992). Shakespeare On The German Stage: Volume I: 1586–1914. By Simon Williams. Cambridge: University Press, 1991. Pp. xiii 245 illus. £27.50. Theatre Research International, 17(2), 161-162. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0307883300016345
Semenets, O. O. (2013). Linhvoekolohiia ta problemy movnoho vyrazhennia suspilnykh tsinnostei [Linguistic Ecology and the Problems of Lingual Expression of Social Values]. Nova filolohiia, 58, 174–177.
Shakespeare und seine Übersetzer [Shakespeare and his translators] (2016). Welt.de. Retrieved from https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/gallery154592790/Shakespeare-und-seine-Uebersetzer.html
Shakespeares Einfluß auf die Deutsche Literatur (n.d.). William Shakespeare. Und der Rest ist Schweigen [Shakespeare's influence on German literature. William Shakespeare. And the rest is silence] Web-Seite. Retrieved from http://www.william-shakespeare.de/allgemein_einfluss_auf_deutsche_literatur.html
Shevchenko, I. S. (2016). Evolutsionalnye mechanizmy kognitivnoj semantiki. [Evolutional mechanisms of cognitive semantics]. Cognition, communication, discourse, 13, 131-141. https://doi.org/10.26565/2218-2926-2016-13-07
Skriabina, V. B. (2015). Ekolohiia perekladu yak novyi napriam suchasnoi linhvistyky [Ecology of translation as a new trend in modern linguistics]. Naukovyi visnyk Drohobytskoho derzhavnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu imeni Ivana Franka. Ser.: Filolohichni nauky (movoznavstvo), 3, 245-249.
Wendel, J. (2005). Notes on the ecology of language. Bunkyo Gakuin University Academic Journal, 5, 511-516.
Wiertlewska, J. M. (2011). Ecolinguistic approach to foreign language teaching on the on the example of English. Glottodidactica (vol. XXXVII, pp. 141-151) Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236660383_Ecolinguistic_approach_to_foreign_language_teaching_on_the_example_of_english_Glottodidacticavol_XXXVII_2011
Published
2022-12-30
How to Cite
Onishchenko, N., & Smoliana, T. (2022). Shakespeare’s quotations in German linguoculture: an ecolinguistic approach. Cognition, Communication, Discourse, (25), 33-51. https://doi.org/10.26565/2218-2926-2022-25-03