Summary
Highlights
Professor Stanley Ellis discusses how Elizabethan speech patterns, like the pronunciation of 'time' and 'life' as 'toime' and 'loife', and the use of 'v' instead of 'f' and 'z' instead of 's', are still found in the English West Country. These archaic forms of speech are sometimes used by actors to portray a country accent, reflecting their historical use by Shakespeare.
Contrary to the belief that Elizabethan English is only found in remote parts of America, the West Country counties like Devon, Dorset, and Somerset preserve strong echoes of this speech. Tom Eaton, a 50-year veteran farmer, demonstrates these elongated vowels and rolled 'r's, reminiscent of the 16th century. Shakespeare's Warwickshire roots likely influenced his speech, and he proudly maintained his local accent throughout his life, reflecting a time before standardized speech.
It is believed that Shakespeare had a Warwickshire accent and maintained it throughout his life, as people in that era were not ashamed of their regional accents. The idea of a standard speech was not yet accepted. The villages around Stratford-upon-Avon, particularly Alcester in Worcestershire, offer the closest contemporary resemblance to Shakespeare's own speech patterns.
The Elizabethan era also saw the publication of the King James Bible, which had an even greater influence on the English language than Shakespeare's works. This authorized version made the word of God accessible to everyone in common terms. While Shakespeare used a vast vocabulary of 34,000 words, the King James Bible achieved its majestic prose with only about 8,000 words.
The poetic quality of the Authorized Version is a testament to the collaborative effort of a committee, rather than a single writer. Some of the translators worked at the University of Cambridge. John Boy, a fellow of St John's College, and five colleagues spent most of 1610 meticulously refining and revising the final draft of the Bible.