Shakespeare, the Father of English? A Review of the Vocabulary Question

Abstract

Among the many ways in which Shakespeare has been considered a ‘father’ of English culture, the idea that he contributed a vast number of neologisms and idiomatic expressions to the language is one of the hardest to debunk. Challenged by a number of specialists in recent years, this notion is still alive and well in the digital age, appearing time and time again online and in some important scholarly sources. The aim of this review article is to discuss the specific cultural purposes which the idea seems to serve, such as lending authority to narrative accounts of the development of English as a language.

Keywords

• shakespeare’s language
• neologisms
• linguistic myths
• early modern english
• language history