Language
The language style is of course colloquial. Sentences are generally very short, even in the occasional more lengthy monologues. It jumps between soft and concerned, creating pauses and carefully placed verbal cues in the lines, to rather witty and harsh, with perfectly timed responses so as to create a quick volley of argument between the characters. This shift is especially noticeable as the play wears on, as situations intensify and emotions rise. It is "brilliantly paced both in the writing and in Eyre's moving, funny, and richly rewarding production."
One could also assess various strategies of the actual sound of the words – consonants versus vowels, dissonance and alliteration – but these components do not seem to play a large part in the overall sense of the play. It is much more about timing and content of the dialogue rather than the literal sound. Each character uses rather similar effects so that there is no noticeable variation in the sound of the speech in terms of individual use of language.
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Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints—the rules that run us. Language is using us to talk—we think we’re using the language, but language is doing the thinking, we’re its slavish agents.”
—Harry Mathews (b. 1930)
“There’s a cool web of language winds us in,
Retreat from too much joy or too much fear:
We grow sea-green at last and coldly die
In brininess and volubility.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“Experiment is necessary in establishing an academy, but certain principles must apply to this business of art as to any other business which affects the artis tic sense of the community. Great art speaks a language which every intelligent person can understand. The people who call themselves modernists today speak a different language.”
—Robert Menzies (1894–1978)