Translate from catalan language by English with AI
SHAKESPEARE AND RAMON LLULL: VERNACULARISTS?
A Dialogue with AI
Vernaclistic Flag/ Bandera Vernaclística
I asked the AI:
—Can Shakespeare be considered a vernacularist?
It told me this:
—“Yes, you can consider him a vernacularist for three main reasons.
One of them is this:
—“A conscious choice of English: In the sixteenth century, many scholars and intellectuals regarded English as a ‘barbarous’, crude language, incapable of expressing complex ideas, and therefore preferred to write in Latin. Shakespeare chose English for all his works, demonstrating that the language of the people could attain the same level of artistic excellence and depth as the Greco-Latin classics.”
I then asked it this other question:
—Can this be compared with what Ramon Llull did with Catalan several centuries earlier?
It answered me:
—Yes, the comparison is entirely valid in substance, although Ramon Llull’s achievement was even more pioneering and revolutionary for his time.
Both authors share the same historical impact: they used their own language for fields in which Latin held an almost absolute monopoly, elevating the vernacular to the status of a language of culture.
There are differences in context and degree that make Llull’s case unique in Europe:
Similarities: The vernacularist impulse
Breaking the monopoly of Latin: Both Llull in the thirteenth century and Shakespeare in the sixteenth century chose not to confine themselves to Latin, demonstrating that Romance or Germanic languages could express the same intellectual or artistic complexity.
Creation and expansion of vocabulary: In order to discuss philosophy (Llull) or human passions and theatre (Shakespeare), neither language had sufficient vocabulary in everyday speech. Llull had to coin hundreds of Catalan words derived from Latin (such as demonstració, substància and intel·lecte); Shakespeare did the same in English.
Who are they?
What is vernacularism or Vernaclerism?
Book: Amazon "Vernaclística" Catalan Edition
Jordi Salat
Next piece:
WAGNER AND GAUDÍ: VERNACULARISTS OR VERNACLERISTS?
