Perceptions of Latin, and its socially strategic uses, within rural communities in late medieval England

中世纪晚期英格兰农村社区对拉丁语的看法及其社会战略用途

• 批准号: 2277955
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2277955
• 关键词: Perceptions; Latin; its; socially; strategic

My research will explore the potential breadth of perceptions and experiences of Latin within peasant communities in late medieval England. I propose to consider Latin not as an 'other', belonging elsewhere socially and culturally, but as a vernacular, embedded within these communities. By discerning how the peasantry perceived Latin, we will better understand Latin's role in rural social relations, looking not only at interactions with Latinate authorities but, more significantly, how the peasantry made strategic use of the language themselves.Literary scholars have recognised that a language does not have the same associations in every context, enriching the analysis of what different languages could mean in medieval England's "complexly multilingual literary culture" (Wogan-Browne, 2013). However, little attention has been paid to the potential breadth of meanings which Latin had for the peasantry. Instead, Latin is envisioned as being defined by linguistic and social restriction, signifying or enacting exclusion (Evans et al, 1999; Justice, 1994). The peasantry's attitudes towards Latin are understood only in relation to the language's true 'owners' - the higher status, the governing, the ecclesiastical, the literary - and analysis of their strategic use of Latin coalesces around two poles of emulation and rejection. These accounts are reductive.Latin was multifaceted, used and encountered in a variety of registers and contexts (mono- and multilingual), from the religious, medicinal and literary, to accounting, record and law. Drawing on literary studies' analyses of the flexibilities of language, I will examine attitudes towards a multiplicity of Latin vernaculars, the relationships between them, and their interactions with any characterisation of an overarching category of Latin. I will consider how Latin was drawn, or pushed, into peasant communities across social or cultural boundaries, created or used within them, and re-transmitted, and how these processes influenced how Latin was related to and regarded. I will investigate attitudes to Latin amongst peasant communities which are broader and more complex than characterising it essentially as "exclusionary" (Justice, 1994).I will take an all-encompassing approach to the peasantry's encounters with Latin, dividing sources into chapters based around their functions. Function surely played a key role in creating distinct & characterful vernaculars, connecting them to particular social groups, modes of creation & communication, audiences, & aims. I will also analyse how these factors, together with gender & illiteracy, created significant nuances & varied perspectives within these broad functional categories. Focusing upon function will support my investigation of Latin's strategic uses as it emphasises that language choice (intentional or instinctive) had purpose.Proposed chapters are: 'Latin for accounting and record', using administrative documents, court records, & a peasant's commonplace book (Louis, 1980); 'Latin for pleasure', studying literature and performance; & 'Latin for worship and magic', analysing prayer, Church Latin, sermons, pastoralia, & charms. I will follow these with chapters based explicitly around Latin's socially strategic functions. Possible themes are 'Latin for publication' & 'Latin for subversion'. These chapters will develop our understanding of Latin's role in social relationships, not only demonstrating how the peasantry (or groups within it) perceived Latin, but how they expected different audiences to react to their use of it.This research will provide valuable insights into how the peasantry perceived Latin & made strategic use of it in social relationships with people both within & outside their communities. It could contribute to studies of late medieval heresies & the impending Reformation, Latin & translation being key elements of these movements, & to studies of vernacular political culture more broadly.

我的研究将探讨在中世纪晚期英格兰农民社区内拉丁语的认知和经验的潜在广度。我建议不要把拉丁语看作是一个“他者”，属于其他地方的社会和文化，而是作为一种方言，嵌入这些社区。通过辨别农民如何理解拉丁语，我们将更好地理解拉丁语在农村社会关系中的作用，不仅要看与拉丁语当局的互动，而且更重要的是，农民如何战略性地使用语言本身。文学学者已经认识到，一种语言在每一种情况下都不具有相同的联想，丰富了对不同语言在中世纪英格兰“复杂的多语言文学文化”中的意义的分析（Wogan-Browne，2013）。然而，很少有人注意到拉丁语对农民的潜在意义。相反，拉丁语被认为是由语言和社会限制定义的，意味着或制定排斥（埃文斯等人，1999年;正义，1994年）。农民对拉丁语的态度只有在与语言的真正“所有者”--更高的地位、统治者、教会者、文学者--联系起来时才能理解，而对他们使用拉丁语的策略的分析则围绕着模仿和排斥这两个极端。拉丁语是多方面的，在不同的领域和背景下（单语和多语）使用和遇到拉丁语，从宗教、医学和文学，到会计、记录和法律。借鉴文学研究的语言的灵活性的分析，我将检查对拉丁语的方言，它们之间的关系，以及它们之间的相互作用与任何拉丁语的总体类别的表征的多样性的态度。我将考虑拉丁语是如何被吸引，或推到农民社区跨越社会或文化的界限，创造或使用它们，并重新传输，以及这些过程如何影响拉丁语是如何相关的，并认为。我将调查农民社区对拉丁语的态度，这种态度比将其本质上描述为“排斥”（Justice，1994）更广泛，更复杂。我将采取一种包罗万象的方法来研究农民与拉丁语的相遇，将来源分为基于其功能的章节。功能在创造独特而有特色的方言中发挥了关键作用，将它们与特定的社会群体，创作和交流模式，受众和目标联系起来。我还将分析这些因素如何与性别和文盲一起，在这些广泛的功能类别中产生重大的细微差别和不同的观点。对功能的关注将支持我对拉丁语战略用途的调查，因为它强调语言选择（有意的或本能的）有目的。建议的章节是：'拉丁语的会计和记录'，使用行政文件，法院记录，和一个农民的家常书（路易斯，1980年）;“拉丁美洲的乐趣”，学习文学和性能;和“拉丁美洲的崇拜和魔术”，分析祈祷，教会拉丁语，布道，pastoralia，和魅力。接下来的章节，我将明确地围绕拉丁语的社会战略功能展开。可能的主题是“拉丁语出版”和“拉丁语颠覆”。这些章节将发展我们对拉丁语在社会关系中的作用的理解，不仅展示了农民（或其中的群体）如何看待拉丁语，但他们如何期望不同的受众对他们使用它的反应。这项研究将提供有价值的见解，农民如何看待拉丁语，并在与社区内外的人的社会关系中战略性地使用它。它可以有助于研究中世纪晚期的异端邪说和即将到来的宗教改革，拉丁语和翻译是这些运动的关键因素，以及更广泛地研究本土政治文化。