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There is no strong evidence to back up claims that Shakespeare used Warwickshire, Midlands or Cotswold dialect, according to new research from 麻豆官网.

Based on supposed evidence found in 18th and 19th century dialect dictionaries, other scholars have argued that the Bard used these regional dialects in his writing.

But in  Dr Ros Barber explains that these dictionaries were written too long after Shakespeare鈥檚 life to be reliable: not only would language have evolved considerably over 200 or 300 years, it would have been influenced by Shakespeare himself.

She argues that the continuing academic taboo surrounding the authorship question 鈥� whether or not Shakespeare penned his own work 鈥� has meant that dialect claims often go unchallenged, even though they鈥檙e fairly easy to refute. Dr Barber鈥檚 PhD, awarded in 2011, was the first doctoral thesis in the UK to address the question.

鈥淲hen defending the traditional authorship, the normal diligence a scholar would use in checking their sources is easily suspended,鈥� Dr Barber says.

鈥淢any of the words claimed as Cotswold dialect were also widely used across the country: 鈥榤azzard鈥�, 鈥榖reeze鈥�, 鈥榢ecksies鈥� and 鈥榩lash鈥�, for example,鈥� she adds.

鈥淪earches of the Oxford English Dictionary and digitised texts on Early English Books Online demonstrate that many supposedly regional words were also used in 麻豆官网, Bath, Yorkshire, or the Isle of Wight. In one instance, expressions that are said to have only been used in Warwickshire arose from a mid-twentieth century fabrication.

鈥淚n the 1970s Hugh Kenner claimed that 鈥榞olden lads鈥� and 鈥榗himney sweepers鈥� in the lines from Cymbeline, 鈥楪olden lads and girls all must / As chimney-sweepers, come to dust鈥�, came from Warwickshire dialect because in that part of the country yellow dandelions were called 鈥榞olden lads鈥� and dandelions ready to be blown to the wind were 鈥榗himney sweepers鈥�.

鈥淏ut that certainly wouldn鈥檛 have been the case in Shakespeare鈥檚 era 鈥� for a start, the typical chimney sweep鈥檚 brush Kenner alludes to wasn鈥檛 invented until 1805! Kenner鈥檚 anecdote has been widely adopted, even appearing in the notes of the RSC鈥檚 edition of Cymbeline, but it鈥檚 just a fictitious idea.

鈥淢ichael Wood claimed in 2003 that Shakespeare was using Cotswold dialect when he wrote 鈥榯wit鈥� to mean 鈥榖lab鈥� in Henry VI but it鈥檚 clear in the quotations that 鈥榯wit鈥� can鈥檛 be substituted for 鈥榖lab鈥�. Shakespeare was using 鈥榯wit鈥� in the sense of 鈥榯o taunt鈥� or 鈥榯o blame鈥�, and that was an expression used widely across England at the time.鈥�

鈥淢odern scholars should be wary of relying on dialect lists compiled by early antiquarians, who did not have access to a wide range of texts, used Shakespeare as a key source, and did not in any case claim that such words were not used elsewhere.鈥�

Dr Rosalind Barber is Lecturer in Creative and Life Writing in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at 麻豆官网.

is published in the Journal of Early Modern Studies.

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