The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation

This dictionary is the first comprehensive description of Shakespearean original pronunication (OP), enabling practitioners to deal with any queries about the pronunciation of individual words. It includes all the words in the First Folio, transcribed using IPA, and the accompanying website hosts sound files as a further aid to pronunciation. It also includes the main sources of evidence in the texts, notably all spelling variants (along with a frequency count foreach variant) and all rhymes (including those occurring elsewhere in the canon, such as the Sonnets and long poems). An extensive introduction provides a full account of the aims, evidence, history, andcurrent use of OP in relation to Shakespeare productions, as well as indicating the wider use of OP in relation to other Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, composers from the period, the King James Bible, and those involved in reconstructing heritage centres. It will be an invaluable resource for producers, directors, actors, and others wishing to mount a Shakespeare production or present Shakespeare's poetry in original pronunciation, as well as for students and academics in the fields ofliterary criticism and Shakespeare studies more generally.

“"In view of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death this year, The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation has arguably been the most anticipated book of 2016 for Shakespeare lovers, readers, actors, directors, and scholars." --Huffington Post”

This unique book, the result of more than a decade of research, offers a careful, nuanced account of the sounds and rhythms of individual words, as they might have sounded to the audiences of Shakespeares day, revealing rhymes and puns that are often lost or unclear in many varieties of Present Day English (PDE). In doing so, it provides fresh insights into Shakespeares work for a wide range of readers. Sarah Grandage, Early Theatre
Crystal presents his robust, careful research, drawing together insights from linguistics, Shakespearean studies, and theatre practice, with his typical clarity and user-friendly style, repaying both targeted queries and meandering browsing ... [The book] provides insights for a wide range of users beyond theatre makers, including scholars, teachers, and students, the wider early modern heritage industry, as well as linguists with an interest in phonology, sociolinguistics, or stylistics. Sarah Grandage, Early Theatre
Crystals work definitely surpasses all of the expectations that one could have of a magnum opus such as this one, which can definitely be considered as a must-have reference book for all of those interested in the language of Shakespeare. This dictionary is unquestionably another masterpiece by this British linguist. Pablo Tagarro Melón and Nerea Suárez González, Clomputense Journal of English Studies
Crystal's unique dictionary joins his other worthy Shakespearean language works to form an essential collection covering the language of the Bard. R. A. Aken, University of Kentucky
A whole linguistic world is anatomised by David Crystal ... Spectator
fascinating Stratford-on-Avon Observer
Crystal has looked to capture the state of our language at the time when Shakespeare was writing ... he has achieved something quite remarkable. The Bookbag

David Crystal is known throughout the world as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster on language. His work on the language of Shakespeare includes Pronouncing Shakespeare (CUP, 2005), Think on my Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Languages (CUP, 2008), and, with Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words (Penguin, 2002), The Shakespeare Miscellany (Penguin, 2005), and The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary (OUP, 2015).

This dictionary is the first comprehensive description of Shakespearean original pronunication (OP), enabling practitioners to deal with any queries about the pronunciation of individual words. It includes all the words in the First Folio, transcribed using IPA, and the accompanying website hosts sound files as a further aid to pronunciation. It also includes the main sources of evidence in the texts, notably all spelling variants (along with a frequency count for each variant) and all rhymes (including those occurring elsewhere in the canon, such as the Sonnets and long poems). An extensive introduction provides a full account of the aims, evidence, history, and current use of OP in relation to Shakespeare productions, as well as indicating the wider use of OP in relation to other Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, composers from the period, the King James Bible, and those involved in reconstructing heritage centres. It will be an invaluable resource for producers, directors, actors, and others wishing to mount a Shakespeare production or present Shakespeare's poetry in original pronunciation, as well as for students and academics in the fields of literary criticism and Shakespeare studies more generally.

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