The doctoral dissertation entitled The Speech Interpretation of Dramatic Texts on the Example of Stagings of Hlapci by Ivan Cankar investigates the stage speech of Cankar's drama Hlapci (eng. The Bondsmen or The Servants). Stage speech is seen as artistic speech that is realised onstage as a set of individual acting speech interpretations and as a whole functions with the other stage elements (costumes, lights, scenography, music, movement etc.), especially with the directorial concept of an individual production. The dissertation consists of an initial, theoretical section that defines the concept of speech and the prosodic and visual non-verbal features, examines artistic (stage) speech and its development in Slovenia and discusses the role of the language consultant in theatre and the relationship between the written dramatic text and the spoken stage text. The following, practical section deals with the research of stage speech in stagings of Cankar's Hlapci, positioning them in terms of their context in literary and theatre studies. I researched four stagings of Hlapci from the last fifty years that were accessible in their entirety on video recordings and were breakthrough or innovative in their direction, acting or use of stage speech: Hlapci directed by Slavko Jan (SNT Drama Ljubljana, 1967), Mile Korun (SNT Drama Ljubljana, 1980) and Sebastijan Horvat (Slovene Permanent Theatre in Trieste, 2015) and Hlapci.pdf directed by Samo M. Strelec (Drama SNT Maribor, 2005). I considered each staging within its period of theatre history and then dealt in detail with the difference between the language of the spoken stage text and that of the written dramatic script (dramaturgical cuts, the addition of texts, changes to the language genre, updated language, etc.). The central interest was directed toward stage speech which the individual actors form creatively, especially through the use of the different prosodic and visual non-verbal features of speech. When investigating the prosody I focused mainly on loudness, tempo, pauses, intonation and register. The frequency and intensity of their use have proven to be a recognisable distinguishing factor between older and more contemporary stagings. In the frame of visual non-verbal speech elements, I focused mainly on facial expressions, gestures and movement in space, which were dependent upon the perspective of the camera operator, since the research is based upon video recordings of the stagings. The stage speech was analysed in two interrelated steps: in the first, using a sound perception analysis (making a record of the prosodic features: loudness and tempo with pauses and the intonation and register); in the second, with a phonetic computer analysis using the Praat software, which along with measuring the results also allows for their graphic visualisation. Both steps of the analysis complemented one another and together enabled more objective and demonstrable results. The research arose from the supposition that in the course of theatre history not only has the attitude of the creators toward a dramatic text changed but that language has also developed. Both factors have also opened the possibilities for (dramaturgical and linguistic) interventions into Cankar's dramatic text, for different directorial approaches, for variations in the method of acting as well as in the shaping of the stage speech. The dissertation proves the basic hypothesis that all of these factors have influenced the way in which the stage speech has been shaped, most visible in the frequency and intensity of the use of prosodic and visible non-verbal features of speech. The study of the concrete speech realisations concludes with the establishing of a strategy for investigating stage speech by following pre-planned phases; a strategy that will be useful for the further research of stage speech. In the first phase, the researcher compares the dramatic script with the stage speech transcript; in the next phase, the researcher studies the stage speech by viewing the video recordings of the performance and choosing important speech interpretive excerpts, preparing a recording for computer analysis and then analysing the stage speech in the selected excerpts (with audio perception and acoustic computer analysis). The last two phases of analysis focused on the interpretation of the results and the placement of the knowledge about the stage speech into the performative context. The interpretation of the results of the analysis has taken an interdisciplinary focus. Along with phonetics it has also taken into account the findings of literary studies, theatre studies and other studies (psychology, sociology, philosophy) and also the fact that stage speech is an artistic phenomenon and therefore must not be studied only according to scientific criteria, but also in relation to artistic (aesthetic) criteria. The research has attempted to also study the influence of the language consultant and director, of the individual actors' speech realisations and of different generations of actors as well as of the historical and theatrical context in the creation of stage speech. It has opened several new questions that remain unanswered and address other researchers of stage speech.
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