Abstract
This paper examines high-frequency three-word clusters and their stylistic effects in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through the analysis of the five types of clusters by means of corpus, providing a new perspective for the appreciation of the masterpiece The Great Gatsby. According to the analysis, we found that (i) Labels take up too small a percentage to reveal certain stylistic features in this novel. (ii) Speech clusters, occupying the largest percentage, are used to show characters’ mental process and indicate interactions between the narrator and readers. Large amount of negation elements attached to clusters in this group help to deepen the tragic themes, i.e. the failure of American dreams. (iii) As If X clusters serve to portray characters in an objective way and disclose Gatsby’s distorted inner world. (iv) Body Part clusters demonstrate Nick’s inclination to observe others, which enhances the credibility of his narration. (v) Time clusters denoting short time span contribute to the compact storyline. The results demonstrated that high-frequency three-word clusters are of great significance to the interpretation of The Great Gatsby, which provides a new perspective to the analysis of literary works.
Highlights
At present, scholars have not reached an agreement on the definition of cluster, which results in up to 40 relevant terms (Wary 2002: 9), encompassing formulaic language, lexical phrases, lexical bundles, phraseological units, prefabs, etc
The results demonstrated that highfrequency three-word clusters are of great significance to the interpretation of The Great Gatsby, which provides a new perspective to the analysis of literary works
In response to the research questions put forward previously, the case study below aims to offer an in-depth analysis of three-word clusters and the stylistics effects they exhibit in The Great Gatsby, thereby promoting readers’ understanding of the masterpiece
Summary
Scholars have not reached an agreement on the definition of cluster, which results in up to 40 relevant terms (Wary 2002: 9), encompassing formulaic language, lexical phrases, lexical bundles, phraseological units, prefabs, etc. Scott (2004) views cluster as “a group of words which follow each other in a text”, which is adopted as the working definition in the current study for it’s the most popular one among all the studies on clusters in literary works. Studies on clusters have for decades received much attention from researchers. Studies on clusters are mainly concerned with language processing (Anna et al 2011, Tremblay et al 2011), language teaching (Meunier & Gouverneur 2007, Allan 2016), second language acquisition (Nekrasova 2009, Qin 2014, Huang 2015) and English for Special Purposes (ESP) (Grabowski 2015, Wang 2017). There have been much fewer investigations of clusters in literary works (like Hardy 2003; Stubbs 2005), especially in recent ten years (Fischerstarcke 2009)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
