A Stylistic Comparison of The Comedies by William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson: Incongruity in Terms of ConversationalTurn-Taking Principles

Conversational turn-taking principles are pragmatic principles that must be obeyed by people in order to carry out healthy and successful communication. These turn-taking principles, outlined by Sociologists Harvey Sacks, Emanuel A. Schegloff and Gail Jefferson, are often violated in everyday conversation. Deviations from expected turn-taking principles can be observed not only in everyday conversation but also in fictional dialogues in fictional texts. Incongruity arising from these deviations forms the basis of the language of comedy. Within the context of this paper, the comedies of William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, two great playwrights of the Renaissance Period, will be analysed in terms of conversational turn-taking principles and deviations from these expected principles. This paper aims at analysing The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like It by William Shakespeare and Every Man in His Humour, Volpone: Or, The Fox and The Alchemist by Ben Jonson from this perspective.