Speeches and speakers

Encoding Instructions (new P5 version)

The WWP encodes dramatic speakers using the speaker element wherever they occur, whether in dramatic texts, or in verse or prose dialogues. The only exception is where the reference to the speaker is nested inside a stage direction, in which case the speaker element is omitted.

In dramatic texts, speaker is always nested within sp. Speakers in drama are identified using a unique role xml:id, which is declared in the cast list for the play and is referenced using the who attribute on the sp element. The value of the who attribute is required for all sp elements. We consider dramatic texts to be those which include a full dramatic apparatus including a cast list, usually act and scene divisions, and possibly stage directions. Texts representing dramatic dialogue which lack this dramatic apparatus are treated as verse or prose dialogues, and are encoded more simply.

In verse dialogues, speaker is the first child of lg. We do not use sp in verse dialogues, and hence there is neither a who attribute nor a castList.

In prose dialogues, speaker is the first child of p. Again, we do not use sp or castList in prose dialogues.

The WWP does not currently use abbr for names of speakers that are abbreviated. The who attribute can be used to provide an expanded, regularized version of the speaker’s name if that were ever needed for display or retrieval.

We do use persName within speaker to encode proper names, and when we resume using key on persName we will do so within speaker as well. This is because we feel that the key functions separately from the who attribute: the key identifies someone as a historical or literary figure and is unique within the entire corpus, whereas the who attribute identifies someone as a dramatic character and is unique within the individual play. Thus Julius Caesar would receive the same key value in several different plays about him, but might have a different who value in each one.

For large collections of plays in which different encoders may be encoding different plays (e.g. Cowley, Cavendish), we use a standard system to generate who attributes in a consistent way, as follows:

-- r for “ROLE”, followed by a period.

-- 3 letters indicating the name of the character.

Thus, the who attribute for the character Lady Happy in “The Convent of Pleasure” would have a value “r.hap” or something similar.