Colloquialisms in Sophocles' Oedipus the King: presence and function
Keywords:
colloquial language, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles, classical linguistics, Greek tragedyAbstract
Colloquial language, a informal register without linguistic connotations, sensitive to the context of use, dependent on the linguistic context but also on extra-linguistic factors that are activated in the situational context (Cilia, 2009, p. 60), has been the object of interest and study since Antiquity, and has aroused the curiosity of modern scholars. On the basis of a review of the current status of the subject, we have tracked colloquialisms in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, drawing on the research of authors such as Stevens (1937 and 1945), Wàs (1983), López Eire (2006), Cilia (2006, 2009) and Collard (2018), the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae website and stylistic-philological commentaries.
Subsequently, we have classified and categorised these colloquialisms in double-entry tables, in which it is stated what type of colloquialism each one is, in which part of the drama it occurs, which character says it and in which situational context, information which, in addition, will be displayed as a percentage. Then, we have carried out an analysis of those scenes of the plays in which there is a greater number of colloquialisms, with the aim of establishing which could be the function they fulfil, and we have concluded that colloquialisms could function as emphasisers of certain dramatic moments, which we describe as particularly pathetic.
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References
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