Feminine Discourse in Roman Comedy: On Echoes and Voices (Oxford Scholarly Classics)

By Dorota M. Dutsch

As literature written in Latin has almost no female authors, we are dependent on male writers for some understanding of the way women would have spoken. Plautus (3rd to 2nd century BCE) and Terence (2nd century BCE) consistently write particular linguistic features into the lines spoken by their female characters: endearments, soft speech, and incoherent focus on numerous small problems. Dorota M. Dutsch describes the construction of this feminine idiom and asks whether it should be considered as evidence of how Roman women actually spoke.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199533385
• ISBN13: 9780199533381
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.7"