Corpus Stylistics and Dickens's Fiction


Book Description

This book presents a way into the Dickensian world that starts from linguistic patterns, employing corpus linguistic methodology to study electronic versions of his texts. With its corpus stylistics focus, the book presents an innovative approach to the language of one of the most popular English authors, taking a fresh view on aspects such as characterization, speech and body language. Thus, Mahlberg bridges the gap between linguistic and literary studies, providing a useful resource for both researchers and students of language and literature.




Corpus Stylistics


Book Description

This book represents a new direction at the interface between the fields of stylistics and corpus linguistics, namely the use of a corpus methodology to investigate how people's words and thoughts are presented in written narratives.




A Corpus Linguistic Approach to Literary Language and Characterization


Book Description

This book focusses on computer methodologies as a way of investigating language and character in literary texts. Both theoretical and practical, it surveys investigations into characterization in literary linguistics and personality in social psychology, before carrying out a computational analysis of Virginia Woolf's experimental novel The Waves. Frequencies of grammatical and semantic categories in the language of the six speaking characters are analyzed using Wmatrix software developed by UCREL at Lancaster University. The quantitative analysis is supplemented by a qualitative analysis into recurring patterns of metaphor. The author concludes that these analyses successfully differentiate all six characters, both synchronically and diachronically, and claims that this methodology is also applicable to the study of personality in non-literary language. The book, written in a clear and accessible style, will be of interest to post-graduate students and academics in linguistics, stylistics, literary studies, psychology and also computational approaches.




The Bloomsbury Companion to Stylistics


Book Description

This Bloomsbury Companion provides an overview of stylistics with a detailed outline of the scope and history of the discipline, as well as its key areas of research. The main research methods and approaches within the field are presented with a detailed overview and then illustrated with a chapter of unique new research by a leading scholar in the field. The Companion also features in-depth explorations of current research areas in stylistics in the form of new studies by established researchers in the field. The broad interdisciplinary scope of stylistics is reflected in the wide array of approaches taken to the linguistic study of texts drawing on traditions from linguistics, literary theory, literary criticism, critical theory and narratology, and in the diverse group of internationally recognised contributors.




Pronouns in Literature


Book Description

This edited collection brings together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars who together offer cutting-edge insights into the complex roles, functions, and effects of pronouns in literary texts. The book engages with a range of text-types, including poetry, drama, and prose from different periods and regions, in English and in translation. Beginning with analyses of the first-person pronoun, it moves onto studies of the subject dynamics of first- and second-person, before considering plural modes of narration and how pronoun use can help to disperse narrative perspective. The volume then debates the functional constraints of pronouns in fictional contexts and finally reflects upon the theoretical advancements presented in the collection. This innovative volume will appeal to students and scholars of linguistics, stylistics and cognitive poetics, narratology, theoretical and applied linguistics, psychology and literary criticism.




Telecinematic Discourse


Book Description

This cutting-edge collection of articles provides the first organised reflection on the language of films and television series across British, American and Italian cultures. The volume suggests new directions for research and applications, and offers a variety of methodologies and perspectives on the complexities of "telecinematic" discourse – a hitherto virtually unexplored area of investigation in linguistics. The papers share a common vision of the big and small screen: the belief that the discourses of film and television offer a re-presentation of our world. As such, telecinematic texts reorganise and recreate language (together with time and space) in their own way and with respect to specific socio-cultural conventions and media logic. The volume provides a multifaceted, yet coherent insight into the diegetic – as it revolves around narrative – as opposed to mimetic – as referring to other non-narrative and non-fictional genres – discourses of fictional media. The collection will be of interest to researchers, tutors and students in pragmatics, stylistics, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, communication studies and related fields.




Literature in Language Education


Book Description

A state of the art critical review of research into literature in language education, of interest to teachers of English and modern foreign languages. Includes prompts and principles for those who wish to improve their own practice or to engage in projects or research in this area.




Translator Positioning in Characterisation


Book Description

Applying Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), to three translations of a classic Chinese text, Zhao proposes a new model for linking translator positioning with translational norms in the target culture. Zhao combines the Appraisal model from SFL with a characterisation model to describe the role of translator positioning in character construction. Looking at three different translations of the classic Chinese novel Luotuo Xiangzi, she uses corpus tools to compare the opening and ending chapters of each translation, identifying textual patterns of translator positioning. She then analyses and compares the cover designs of the translated novels and reconstructs the translational norms governing the translator’s positioning in characterisation. In doing so she contributes to DTS by developing a systematic and consistent framework to analyse verbal and visual elements in translated novels. Her multimodal analysis also provides insights into the broader patterns of translated language. An insightful read for scholars interested in both theoretical and empirical approaches to translation studies.




Stylistics


Book Description

Stylistics is the linguistic study of style in language. It aims to account for how texts project meaning, how readers construct meaning and why readers respond to texts in the way that they do. This book is an introduction to stylistics that locates it firmly within the traditions of linguistics. Organised to reflect the historical development of stylistics from its origins in Russian formalism, the book covers key principles such as foregrounding theory, as well as more recent developments in cognitive stylistics. It includes an examination of both literary and non-literary texts, and substantial coverage of methodologies for stylistic analysis. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on the practicalities of producing stylistic analyses that are objective, replicable and falsifiable. Comprehensive in its coverage and assuming no prior knowledge of the topic, Stylistics will be essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students new to this fascinating area of language study.




The Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics


Book Description

The Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics (CHECL) surveys the breadth of corpus-based linguistic research on English, including chapters on collocations, phraseology, grammatical variation, historical change, and the description of registers and dialects. The most innovative aspects of the CHECL are its emphasis on critical discussion, its explicit evaluation of the state of the art in each sub-discipline, and the inclusion of empirical case studies. While each chapter includes a broad survey of previous research, the primary focus is on a detailed description of the most important corpus-based studies in this area, with discussion of what those studies found, and why they are important. Each chapter also includes a critical discussion of the corpus-based methods employed for research in this area, as well as an explicit summary of new findings and discoveries.