Linguistic Geographies: The Gough Map of Great Britain and its making

《语言地理学》的目的是帮助解释中世纪地图是如何产生的。人们对中世纪地图绘制的过程知之甚少，但作为视觉对象地图，如本研究的重点-英国高夫地图-它们继续吸引和迷惑现代观众。高夫地图是最早以地理上可识别的形式显示整个英国的地图，传统上可以追溯到公元1360年。然而，尽管它出现在电视节目、书籍封面、学术文章等中，但地图的起源仍然不确定，包括谁制作的，如何制作的，在哪里制作的，为什么？该项目试图通过使用一种创新的方法来探索地图的“语言地理”，即创建地图的(不知名的)抄写员在地图上使用的文字，以解决这些问题。这项技术涉及通常应用于文本手稿的专业古地理和语言技能，但这个项目是在地图手稿上进行试验，目的不仅是为了更多地了解高夫地图的制作，还包括特定方法从语言学到制图史的可转换性。该项目涉及来自英国三所高等学校的一组研究人员，每一人都带来了独特的技能和专业知识。每个人都对地图和测绘感兴趣，尽管从不同的学科角度来看，从地理、地图学和历史。他们的目的是更多地了解高夫地图，特别是，但更广泛的是，促进正在进行的关于如何阅读和解释地图、如何创建和传播跨越时间和空间的地图、以及以视觉和制图形式整理和表示地理信息的技术的学术辩论。该项目的重点是地图，而不是传统的书面文本，这也将打开关于“图像”和“文本”之间的关系的理论和概念问题--因为地图包括两者--以及关于地图作为具有复杂和复杂的生产和消费“语言”的对象和文物的问题。然而，该项目团队远不是简单地针对学术问题，而是热衷于确保他们的发现能接触到尽可能广泛的受众，尤其是因为地图是经久不衰的流行物品，总是能激发人们的想象力；尤其是中世纪的地图。为此，一个主要的项目成果之一是一个网络资源，通过它，高夫地图将被更广泛地获取(目前保存在Bodleian图书馆)，并将通过它免费提供该项目的数据和结果。这将有助于其他人发展这项研究，无论是在学术还是非学术领域。除了网络资源，该项目还将为将在牛津Bodleian图书馆举行的Gough地图公开展览提供基础，届时将举行一次座谈会，讨论中世纪地图和地图的语言和语言学。该项目将持续15个月，在此期间，将在Bodleian图书馆对Gough地图手稿进行主要研究。使用的方法将特别揭示地图创作的新见解，特别是关于抄写员的地点或地理起源，他们在地图上写下名字、描述和地名。最近对地图地理扭曲的研究表明，英格兰东南部被描绘得最准确，这表明地图可能就是在那里绘制的。如果是这样的话，可以预料到地图上的文字反映了英格兰这一地区的方言。找出这一点的唯一方法是对地图的书写进行系统和仔细的分析，就像这里所建议的那样。一旦完成，这些发现将有助于揭示中世纪地图是在哪里以及如何绘制的，有助于我们更好地了解欧洲中世纪文化。

Linguistic Geographies' aims to help explain how maps were produced in the Middle Ages. Very little is known of the processes that were involved in medieval map-making, yet as visual objects maps such as the one which is the focus of this study - the Gough Map of Great Britain - they continue to fascinate and mystify modern audiences. The Gough Map is the earliest to show the whole of Britain in geographically-recognizable form, and is conventionally dated to c.1360. Yet, despite its appearance in television programmes, book covers, learned articles and so forth, the map's origins are uncertain, including who made it, how, where and why? This project seeks to address these questions by using an innovative approach to explore the map's 'linguistic geographies', that is the writing used on the map by the (unknown) scribes who created it. This technique involves specialist palaeographic and linguistic skills that are normally applied to text manuscripts, but with this project they are being tried on a map manuscript, somewhat experimentally, with the aim of not only finding more about the Gough Map's making but also the transferability of particular methods from linguistic to cartographic history.The project involves a group of researchers from across three UK HEIs, each bringing distinctive skills and expertise to bear. Each has an interest in maps and mapping, though from differing disciplinary perspectives, from geography, cartography and history. Their aim is to learn more about the Gough Map, specifically, but more generally to contribute to ongoing intellectual debates about how maps can be read and interpreted; about how maps are created and disseminated across time and space; and about technologies of collating and representing geographical information in visual, cartographic form. The project's focus on a map, as opposed to a conventional written text, will also open up theoretical and conceptual issues about the relationships between 'image' and 'text' - for maps comprise both - and about maps as objects and artifacts with a complex and complicated 'language' of production and consumption. Far from being geared simply to academic questions, however, the project team is keen to ensure that their findings reach the widest possible audience, not least because maps are enduringly popular objects and always capture the imagination; medieval maps especially. To this end one of the main project outcomes is a web-resource through which the Gough Map will be made more widely accessible (it currently resides in the Bodleian Library), and through which the data and findings of this project will be made freely available. This will help others to develop the research, whether in academic or non-academic sectors. As well as the web-resource, the project will provide the basis for a public exhibition on the Gough Map, to be held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, at which a colloquium will provide a forum for discussion on the language and linguistics of medieval maps and mapping.The project will run for a period of fifteen months and during this time the principal research will be undertaken at the Bodleian Library on the manuscript of the Gough Map. The methods used will in particular reveal new insight into the map's creation, especially on the locales or geographical origins of the scribes who wrote down the names, descriptions, and toponyms on that appear on the map. Recent research on the map's geographical distortion has suggested that the south-east of England is most accurately depicted, suggesting that this might have been where the map was drawn. If so, it might be expected that the writing on the map reflects the dialects of this part of England. The only way of finding this out is through the systematic and careful analysis of the map's writing as proposed here. Once done, these findings will help reveal where and how medieval maps were made, contributing to our greater understanding of European medieval cultures.