An English translation of the author's PhD research previously published in Dutch [1], this volume contributes to the study of historical pragmatics and a recently burgeoning interest in (often harmful) speech acts and their semantic domains in premodern texts and text corpora. It covers speech acts, speech situations, lexicological topics, and a wider discourse of this domain in Middle Dutch, which should interest those who study Middle Dutch, Middle High German, Middle English, and other European languages and literary traditions in the medieval period, the exaggeration of the primary title notwithstanding. Despite several flaws enumerated below, the expansion of such research into the later Middle Ages in the Low Countries from the perspective of cultural discourses on speech acts is welcome.
Chapter 1, the introduction, outlines the corpus of moral-theological (fifteenth century), secular-ethical (fourteenth to fifteenth centuries), and legal texts (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) consulted throughout. Set firmly within twentieth-century speech act theories and discourse studies, the methodological underpinnings are thoroughly descriptive in the sense of cataloguing the implementation of discursive strategies, which the author approaches from both sides of power disparities between speakers. A second chapter further contextualizes the text corpus and theoretical approach. Coherence internally and between the three domains of the study mentioned above is discussed in historical and literary terms; while there are clear parallels and points of convergence in the discourses of theologians and composers of secular treatises on proper and improper speech, the legal domain stands apart in its abundance of terms and, as theory with comparatively little mediation between practical applications, its abundance of finer distinctions between type of speech and concerned parties. An unquestionable coherence of the semantic and conceptual domain across these texts provides a firm basis for analysis. The subsequent literature review of research on speech acts, pragmatics, face-work and other relevant theoretical approaches to discursive practices is adequate, covering major foundational studies and developments from Searle to Grice to Lakoff, and some attention is paid to historical studies that lend additional support to situate the present survey within recent developments in premodern linguistic and literary analysis. From methodologically relevant research on the Icelandic sagas and Beowulf to Shakespeare, to name only a few Germanic language examples, and with the Journal of Historical Pragmatics having begun publication in the year 2000, there is sufficient material on which to build an interpretive framework that overcomes some of the difficulties posed by highly formal written texts without recourse to native speakers; some attention is given to work on Old Frisian and Middle English, as well as a few broader studies of medieval speech analysis and paroemial language, but this scholarship, when referenced, sometimes appears outside of methodological consideration.
Chapter 3, "Sinful Words: Notions on Harmful Speech in the Ecclesiastical Domain," examines texts such as the Middle Dutch version of the Summa vitiorium (1236), Spiegel der sonden, preserved in rhymed verse and prose in, respectively, the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A lexical analysis of terms and a comparison of text-internal/ intratextual definitions provide a thorough survey of the ways in which vernacular theological texts conceptualized harmful speech acts. Slander and defamation (quade raet/quaetspreken), for example, are likened to all manner of unsavory acts such as cannibalism and grave-robbing via imagery from the animal world, which delivers a figurative two-fold condemnation of the uncontrolled controllable and the violation of norms. Veldhuizen's catalogue of the sinful speech differentiated in these texts, unlike elsewhere in the corpus, is wide-ranging across categories but organized according to the framework outlined in the previous chapter in act types such as grace- and face-threatening for both speakers and objects. Theological categorization and definitions of harmful speech acts in the Middle Ages are shown to encompass the same dimensions of discursive analysis available to us in the present and therefore align with description in these terms, but it remains theoretical: no case studies of speech acts in the context of texts containing vernacular dialogues illuminate praxis and its consequences beyond the instructional mode. There are no real speakers in this chapter or the following two, only abstract actors, because the speech acts themselves are not the objects of research, but rather the discourse in medieval Dutch texts about speech acts. The prescriptions and norms form a multifaceted cultural discourse with clear applications for other narrative texts, particularly literary dialogue, and diplomatic sources.
In the fourth chapter, "Improper Words: Notions of Harmful Speech in the Secular-Ethical Domain," texts with gnomic import or otherwise concerned with advising readers on proper conduct illustrate the non-theological, though admittedly still typically religious (86) treatises termed here "ethical-secular" sources, including philosophical texts such as the 1485 printing of the Gentse Boethius and a Dutch adaptation of Brant's Narrenschiff. In the analysis that follows that corpus description one finds similar, though not identical, categories to those in the previous chapter: an extensive discussion of speaking foolishly and the multiple lenses through which it violates norms and functions as a speech act, as well as flattery and slander, and praise and criticism in terms of the speaker, subject, and listener. This portion of the wider semantic domain seems to fit expectations for secular or at least non-theological audiences and sources, namely aspects of life at court. Among other words and situations, the author examines the pragmatics and moral dimensions of sot (foolish) and the gendered construction of these largely paroemial formulations.
In the brief concluding chapter of the analysis, "Criminal Words: A Dispute Between a Landlord and a Tenant (1480)," Veldhuizen relates the complicated legal proceedings between not only a plaintiff (the tenant) and defendant, but also between higher and lower courts in the form of legal recommendations and commentary (wyssenissen) alongside comparative evidence from verdicts of the same period and customary laws. Historicizing a case study in the context of theoretical texts and their ramifications in the real world in a third domain, the legal, provides what the introduction promises. A list of punishable words (143) from various locations, one of which the original complaint corresponds to, at least in part (meyneydich boeve [perjuring crook], 133), can be linked to cases across the Dutch-speaking polities. Detailing the phases of the incident from speech act to punishment through a systematic study of primary and secondary sources, this chapter convincingly affirms that the embodiment of the sinful tongue and its wounds merits consideration in the form of discursive case studies that chart demonstrable variations in speech situations and not only commentary on proper conduct in the form of prudential utterances.
Sins of the Tongue concludes with a review of the "discourse of the untamed tongue" that unites the three textual and conceptual domains discussed in the previous chapters. The idea of control, as well the inability to control speech, suffuses not only the texts in question but also, and from an analytical perspective more significantly, the figurative language, such as conceptual metaphors common across genres, used to convey cautionary information about the effects of failing to control harmful speech. Three appendices follow, the first of which appears to be an empty outline for describing acts in the assembled corpus according to the author's methodological criteria.
Apart from any methodological or interpretative quibbles, the overall presentation suffers from numerous problems of translation, both mechanical and stylistic. From the first page onwards, one finds awkward passages such as "in this way, something which was thought in the late Middle Ages, has now been proven." On the second, the phrase "sew the seeds of hate" appears. Shortly thereafter one encounters this line: "...such a method requires a set of language theory instruments with which successfully to carry out domain-comparing research into notions on harmful speech behavior" (10). Errors, stylistic awkwardness, and sometimes unclear terminology (e.g., the meaning of "notion" seems to fluctuate) occur throughout, with some passages raising no objections while others are stilted at best. Organizationally, it is apparent that the thesis format persists in monograph form, where the introduction is particularly monotonous in terms of listing objectives and relevance under headings that appear unaltered from the dissertation, and the three chapters that develop the central argument number only 111 pages. There is no index.
As a survey and examination of a wider historicized discourse on speech acts in a specific geographical, and linguistic context, this book is successful in providing the foundations of a framework with which other texts might be analyzed. While it would be unfair to criticize the omission of other text types when the author justifies their exclusion in the scope of the present study, comparative textual data from dialogic case studies, either from other genres in Middle Dutch or between vernaculars, particularly given close intellectual contact and literary transmission between the area in consideration and neighboring German- and French-speaking polities, would help to contextualize this discourse in the medieval West, as the title promises, and to link concepts with their expression in written dialogue.
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Notes:
1. Veldhuizen, Martine, De ongetemde tong. Opvattingen over zondige, onvertogen en misdadige woorden in het Middelnederlands (1300-1550) (Hilversum: Verloren Uigiverij, 2014).