"The Most Lamentable Comedy": : A study of genre-based linguistic variation in the First Folio

Roberts, Ellen and Culpeper, Jonathan and Hardie, Andrew (2025) "The Most Lamentable Comedy": : A study of genre-based linguistic variation in the First Folio. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

This study seeks to bring insights from linguistics to the genres listed in Shakespeare’s First Folio (Comedy, Tragedy, History), by observing possible connections between ‘text-external’ literary genres and ‘text-internal’ linguistic variation. Much of the literary and linguistic scholarship surrounding Shakespeare’s genres is based on the exploration of ‘text-external’ features of the texts, such as staging conventions (Gurr, 2011; Stern, 2021); adaptation of other dramatic works, both contemporary and classical (Danson, 2011); and plot-lines and character types (Danson, 2000). Relatively few studies have explicitly explored the possibility of approaching these genres from a ‘text-internal’ standpoint, with exceptions including Brainerd (1979), Hardie and van Dorst (2020), Witmore and Hope (2007) and Witmore et al. (2018), among others. The present research seeks to expand on the existing ‘text-internal’ studies by conducting a comprehensive Multi-Dimensional Analysis (MDA) of the First Folio. MDA is an established linguistic method to explore variation among text varieties (Biber, 1988). There are multiple motivations for this research, both analytical and methodological. The primary aim is to explore how dimensions of linguistic variation observed via an MDA correspond to existing genre categories within the First Folio. The secondary aim is to explore to what extent the functional characteristics of the linguistic features may explain some of the genre variation identified by the MDA. The main methodological aim is to explore the suitability of traditional MDA, using out-of-the-box tools and software, to the plays of Shakespeare. To provide a point of comparison for the traditional MDA, this project also conducts a non-traditional MDA, using custom searches and an alternative statistical procedure (Principal Component Analysis). Comparison enables the replicability and suitability of this methodology to be assessed. This analysis ultimately reveals several genre-related differences in the First Folio. The most distinguishable genre appears to be history, which appears linguistically separated from both comedy and tragedy in both analyses. Functionally, the history plays are more informational in comparison to the more interactive comedy and tragedy plays. Further functional and linguistic distinctions are also found across both MDAs. Additionally, results are found regarding specific plays and passages. For example, Othello is found to be comedy-like in its use of linguistic features, supporting findings from other quantitative studies and literary criticism more generally. Methodologically, this study identifies a number of potential issues related to the traditional MDA procedure, specifically, issues related to the clarity of the original procedural stages and the accuracy of the tagging.