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medieval worlds • no. 12 • 2020
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 12 • 2020  ISSN 2412-3196 Online Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-8852-0 Online Edition
Herbert Schendl
S. 148 - 168 doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no12_2020s148 Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no12_2020s148
Abstract: The multilingualism of medieval England especially in the Middle English period, has for long been the subject of research in historical linguistics, literature, and medieval studies, to name but a few. It is particularly visible in the monolingual texts in the different medieval languages of literacy (Latin and Old English in the Old English period, and French, Latin and English in the Middle English period), where it has left traces in the lexicon and grammar of English. More recently, the numerous multilingual texts from medieval England have attracted increased attention, not least because they can be seen as written evidence for code-switching, a well-known discourse strategy in multilingual societies. Multilingual sermons are among the best-known text types showing this mixing of languages, and they are found from the Old English period onwards, though they are particularly well attested from the later Middle English period. The present paper will look at the main types of multilingual sermons from medieval England, both from the Old English and the Middle English periods. It will, however, go beyond this and place such sermons in the context of other medieval multilingual text types. Based on the analysis of a range of medieval multilingual texts, we will show that multilingual sermons, especially the so-called »macaronic sermons«, are not as unique as sometimes claimed in sermon studies. After a critical discussion of the traditional criteria for defining »macaronic« texts, we will argue that such texts can be better accounted for on the basis of functional classifications as provided by modern code-switching theories. Such an approach in no way reduces the special nature of »macaronic sermons«, but it firmly places them in the wider bilingual context of medieval England and the multilingual strategies regularly used by its speakers and writers in a variety of text types. The contextualisation of multilingual sermons in this wider context of written multilingual texts will hopefully lead to a better understanding of multilingual sermons from medieval England and possibly also those from other European countries. Keywords: multilingualism; language mixing; code-switching; medieval period; England; Latin; English; text-types; sermons; administrative texts; literature Published Online: 2020/11/30 15:13:36 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5572 0x003c0971 Rights:.
medieval worlds provides a forum for comparative, interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Its aim is to overcome disciplinary boundaries, regional limits and national research traditions in Medieval Studies, to open up new spaces for discussion, and to help developing global perspectives. We focus on the period from c. 400 to 1500 CE but do not stick to rigid periodization.
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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