6 Languages on Stage: Aristophanic Language, Cultural History, and Athenian Identity

Abstract

Abstract This chapter aims to retrace Athenian sociocultural attitudes and classifications through their reflection in comic language. A linguistic analysis of various levels of comic discourse leads to the reconstruction of three circles of Athenian identity. This discussion is based on two theoretical premises: (1) every ancient text is the intentional intellectual product of one (or rarely, several subsequent) author(s) and contains a set of conscious and subconscious sociocultural values and opinions, the discovery of which could be expected of at least some members of the primary audience (and the discovery of which is one of the main tasks of modern classical scholarship); and (2) in the absence of contrary evidence, it is legitimate to assume that this set of sociocultural values and opinions was (a) in accordance with the sociocultural values and opinions of the historical author himself, and (b) shared to some degree (though not necessarily completely) by the primary audience so that its reconstruction allows conclusions not only about the values and opinions of the author, but also about those of the society in which he lived and for which he wrote.

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