Abstract
The Prague Linguistic Circle’s theories of drama and theatre were ground-breaking in the early 20th century. While the many and varied writings of its scholars are only recently gaining global recognition the application of the many semiotic principles as it applies to the stage remain to be fully utilised. Literary analyses over the modern decades have comparatively ignored the play text for stylistic treatment, due significantly to the fact that a suitable framework that can manage the ‘combinatory quality of theatre’ remains at large. Systemic functional linguistics (SFL), a developed, language-based semiotic framework whose foundations share Prague School principles of structure and function, has been suggested to be capable of managing that combinatory quality. This paper, agreeing with that position, compares Prague School principles with that of SFL to advance the further position that combined use of SFL and Prague theatre theories can potentially construct that elusive primary dynamic connecting the page and the stage, as well as facilitate mutual development of both frameworks.
Highlights
The original Prague school began as a collection of linguists and literature, music and theatre theoreticians in 1926 under Vilém Mathésius with Roman Jakobson serving as vice-president up till his exodus to America in 1941
Roman Jakobson is noted to have contributed to every area of research championed by the Prague Linguistic Circle, including semiotics and functionalism which greatly impacted their drama and theatre theory
From Mukarovsky’s (1931) work, ‘An Attempted Structural Analysis of the Phenomenon of the Actor’, in which he identified and described the sign system of Charlie Chaplin’s acting, Prague school semiotics was firmly established as exploring non-language sign systems
Summary
The original Prague school began as a collection of linguists and literature, music and theatre theoreticians in 1926 under Vilém Mathésius with Roman Jakobson serving as vice-president up till his exodus to America in 1941. Prague School Drama and Theatre Theory, systemic functional linguistics, play text, semiotics, functional analysis
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