“Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
This paper is an attempt to decode the linguistic games in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) using corpus linguistics. Stylistic devices will be analyzed through a reference to the dominant metaphors and the ironic tone of the playwright. The playwright invents many linguistic gam...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Zadar
2018-12-01
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| Series: | [sic] |
| Online Access: | http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=518 |
| _version_ | 1827221303419994112 |
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| author | Olfa Gandouz |
| author_facet | Olfa Gandouz |
| author_sort | Olfa Gandouz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper is an attempt to decode the linguistic games in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) using corpus linguistics. Stylistic devices will be analyzed through a reference to the dominant metaphors and the ironic tone of the playwright. The playwright invents many linguistic games which have thematic functions; they are meant to parody the American middle-class values and institutions. Fun, verbal battles, guessing games, baby talk, and word-play are used by George and Martha to ensnare their guests in their dysfunctional marriage. I will also refer to the role of deixis in translating the playwright’s lamentation over the transformation of the American motherland into the locus of “ashes.” The bitter reality, the failure of success, and sterility have encouraged the protagonists to move from reality to illusion and to invent a fantasy child who exists linguistically (and not biologically). The aim is to mislead the guests and to validate their unhappy marriage. What is specific about George and Martha is that they insult each other, they blur the boundaries between the private and the public, and they have failed to carry out the functions of a happily united family. Characters will go back to reality at the end of the play; “reality exists at the moment when language stops” (Bigsby 282). In other words, characters will face reality and acquire a realistic vision about their situation when they solve the linguistic enigma. The final goal of the paper is to create an interdisciplinary zone between linguistics and the literary text. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:00:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b90edd532844339842bcbbbfc564089 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1847-7755 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-21T16:20:27Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Zadar |
| record_format | Article |
| series | [sic] |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b90edd532844339842bcbbbfc5640892024-06-17T12:07:19ZengUniversity of Zadar[sic]1847-77552018-12-019110.15291/sic/1.9.lc.2518“Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia WoolfOlfa GandouzThis paper is an attempt to decode the linguistic games in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962) using corpus linguistics. Stylistic devices will be analyzed through a reference to the dominant metaphors and the ironic tone of the playwright. The playwright invents many linguistic games which have thematic functions; they are meant to parody the American middle-class values and institutions. Fun, verbal battles, guessing games, baby talk, and word-play are used by George and Martha to ensnare their guests in their dysfunctional marriage. I will also refer to the role of deixis in translating the playwright’s lamentation over the transformation of the American motherland into the locus of “ashes.” The bitter reality, the failure of success, and sterility have encouraged the protagonists to move from reality to illusion and to invent a fantasy child who exists linguistically (and not biologically). The aim is to mislead the guests and to validate their unhappy marriage. What is specific about George and Martha is that they insult each other, they blur the boundaries between the private and the public, and they have failed to carry out the functions of a happily united family. Characters will go back to reality at the end of the play; “reality exists at the moment when language stops” (Bigsby 282). In other words, characters will face reality and acquire a realistic vision about their situation when they solve the linguistic enigma. The final goal of the paper is to create an interdisciplinary zone between linguistics and the literary text.http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=518 |
| spellingShingle | Olfa Gandouz “Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf [sic] |
| title | “Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf |
| title_full | “Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf |
| title_fullStr | “Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf |
| title_short | “Who can keep learning [the linguistic] games we play?” Linguistic Games and the Parody of Contemporary American Culture in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf |
| title_sort | who can keep learning the linguistic games we play linguistic games and the parody of contemporary american culture in edward albee s who s afraid of virginia woolf |
| url | http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=518 |
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