This volume collects papers on pragmatic perspectives on ancient theatre. Scholars working on literature, linguistics, theatre will find interesting insights on verbal and non-verbal uses of language in ancient Greek and Roman Drama. Comedies and tragedies spanning from the 5th century B.C.E. to the 1st century C.E. are investigated in terms of im/politeness, theory of mind, interpersonal pragmatics, body language, to name some of the approaches which afford new interpretations of difficult textual passages or shed new light into nuances of characterisation, or possibilities of performance. Words, silence, gestures, do things, all the more so in dramatic dialogues on stage.
Gunther Martin, DPhil (2005), University of Oxford, is a lecturer and researcher at the Universities of Zurich and Bern. He has, among other things, published books on historiography, oratory, and a commentary on Euripides' Ion.
Federica Iurescia, Ph.D. (2017), Universities of Siena and Pisa, worked as SNSF scientific collaborator at the University of Zurich. Her research interests focus on pragmatics in Latin, chiefly im/politeness and dialogues. Her main publication is Credo iam ut solet iurgabit. Pragmatica della lite a Roma (Göttingen, 2019).
Severin Hof, MA (2016), University of Zurich, has written his PhD thesis on multiperspectivity in Sophocles at that university. His research interests include Greek drama, Medieval Latin, and papyrology.
Giada Sorrentino, Ph.D. (2013), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Br., has completed her post-doc research project at that university. She is author of various articles on Middle and New Comedy and of Comunicazione e relazioni interpersonali nelle commedie di Menandro (Göttingen 2020).
Contributors are: Rutger J. Allan, Peter Barrios-Lech, Luigi Battezzato, Åukasz Berger, Anna Bonifazi, Evita Calabrese, Matteo Capponi, Evert van Emde Boas, Severin Hof, Federica Iurescia, Michael Lloyd, Gunther Martin, Sandra RodrÃguez-Piedrabuena, Renata Raccanelli, Licinia Ricottilli, Carlo Scardino, Lavinia Scolari, Camille Semenzato, Giada Sorrentino, Luis Unceta Gómez, Vanessa Zetzmann.
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âGunther Martin, Federica Iurescia, Severin Hof and Giada Sorrentino
Part 1 Verbal Communication I: Doing Things with Words
How To Do Things with (á¼)κεá¿Î½Î¿Ï and αá½Ïá½¹Ï in Tragedy: Initial Suggestions
âAnna Bonifazi
Pointing to Common Ground in Dramatic Dialogue: The Case of δή and Ïοι
âRutger J. Allan
Terms of Address on Right Periphery in Greek Tragedy
âSandra RodrÃguez Piedrabuena
The Linguistic Characterisation of Oedipus in OT: A Pragmatics-Based Approach to âMind Styleâ
âEvert van Emde Boas
Resonance in the Prologue of Sophoclesâ Ajax
âSeverin Hof
Pentheus und Dionysos in den Bakchen: Die Grenzen des klaren Dialogs
âCamille Semenzato
Iphigenie und ihre Mutter: Pragmatische Bemerkungen zur Iphigenie in Aulis
âGiada Sorrentino
Part 2 Verbal Communication II: Being More or Less Kind with Words
Oedipus and Tiresias: Im/politeness Theory and the Interpretation of Sophoclesâ Oedipus Tyrannus
âLuigi Battezzato
Politeness and Impoliteness in Aristophanes
âMichael Lloyd
Developments in Politeness from Aristophanes to Menander and Beyond
âPeter Barrios-Lech
Advice-Giving in Roman Comedy: Speech-Act Formulation and Im/politeness
âÅukasz Berger
The Politics of Manipulation: Politeness and Insincerity in the Language of Parasites and Courtesans in Plautusâ Comedies
âLuis Unceta Gómez
Part 3 Verbal and Non-verbal Communication: Doing Things Not Just with Words
Silence and the Failure of Persuasion in Tragic Discourse
âVanessa Zetzmann
Doing Things with Words ⦠and Gestures on Stage
âMatteo Capponi
Reflections on Gestures and Words in Terenceâs Comedies
âLicinia Ricottilli
The Kiss in Plautusâ Stichus: Notes on Gestures and Words in View of a Pragmatics of Comic Communication
âRenata Raccanelli
Lacrimae and uultus: Pragmatic Considerations on Gestures in Senecaâs Tragedies
âEvita Calabrese
Pragmatics of fraus: Encoding and Decoding of Deceit in Senecaâs Troades and Thyestes
âLavinia Scolari
Epilogue
Euripides: Von der Rhetorik zur Pragmatik
âCarlo Scardino
Index Locorum Index Rerum
Academics and advanced students interested in ancient Greek and Roman drama, historical pragmatics, drama and performance, linguistics, narratology, literary interpretation of dramatic genres.