Corpus Stylistics Research Articles

Reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in the Digital Age: On Corpus Stylistics and “Intricacy”

Reading <i>Pilgrim at Tinker Creek</i> in the Digital Age: On Corpus Stylistics and “Intricacy”

Making a Case for New Directions in English Language Research at University of Cape Coast (UCC)

Drawing insights from existing studies on research synthesize (e.g. Farsani &amp; Babaii, 2018/2020; Plonsky &amp; Oswald, 2015), this study engages in a meta-analysis of MPhil theses from the Department of English, University of Cape Coast (UCC), in order to make a case for new directions for language research in the department. A critical content analytical approach was adopted to analyse eighteen (18) theses purposively sampled from the University of Cape Coast Institutional Theses Repository. The analysis focused on the research topics/domains, theoretical frameworks adopted, and research methods used. The study revealed following: (a) most of the studies were conducted in the domain of the media; (b) while most of the studies employed the qualitative research paradigm, very few adopted the mixed method approach and no study employed the quantitative approach; and (c) most of the studies were underpinned by the Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) theory while few employed the Theory of Nativization and Genre Theory. The study contends that there should be a shift in the focus of MPhil thesis to make it possible for the adoption of the mixed method and quantitative approaches as well as theories such as pragmatics, language variation, generative linguistics and corpus stylistics.

The Stylistic Features of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from the Perspective of Corpus Stylistics

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was Irish writer James Joyces first published novel. The novel tells the story of the protagonist Stephen grow from a little child to an artist. Although Joyce uses third-person narration in the novel, he describes the surrounding society from Stephens point of view everywhere. When Stephen grew up, his thoughts gradually matured, and he gradually changed from obedience to rebellion. The stylistic features of the novel also changed a lot in this process. Corpus stylistics is a scientific stylistic research method which combines qualitative research with quantitative research. With the support of corpus stylistics, the author studies and analyzes the stylistic changes in the novels during Stephens childhood, adolescence and youth, and explains the causes of the corresponding characteristics. Through profound analysis, the author finally draws the conclusion: With the growth of the protagonist, the vocabulary of the novel becomes increasingly difficult and rich, the use of sentence grammar gradually becomes mature, and the difficulty of the text gradually increases. The style of the novel is closely related to the growth of the characters and the theme of each stage.

The ‘Ands’ and ‘Buts’ in Kahlil Gibran’s English Works: A Corpus Stylistics Perspective

The sentence-initial coordinating conjunctions (and, but), referred to in the literature as SIA and SIB, have been well established as discourse markers beyond their syntactic function as connectors of related propositions. In reference to the proof-editing process of The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran’s most internationally acclaimed work in English, records show that Gibran tends to “overuse” “Ands” and “Buts”. In this context, this study traces Gibran’s use of sentence-initial coordinating conjunctions (and, but) in The Prophet and his seven other works in English, attempting to determine whether his use of SIA and SIB can be stylistically characterized. In this context, this study adopts a corpus stylistics approach to look into the frequency of SIA and SIB across Gibran’s English works. The findings of this study reveal that Gibran’s frequent use of SIA and SIB is statistically “meaningful” and his use of SIA and SIB is a “conscious” act of discourse marking, similar in nature to their “unique” use in King James Bible and William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Gibran’s most influential and inspirational literary sources). In addition, the collocational networks for both SIA and SIB display that Gibran depends heavily on the coordinating conjunction (and) to verbalize his arguments and points of view, shifting his prose-poetry as close as possible to “orality”—a biblical stylistic feature par excellence

What’s in a voice? Quantifying the Narrating Instance in Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room

This paper aims at reconsidering aspects raised by criticism of Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room (2018). While almost universally praised for its contents, the novel has been met with a more diverse response as far as its stylistic and narrative structures are concerned. By adopting a double methodology, grounded in traditional close reading and quantitative tools derived from corpus stylistics, this analysis addresses the issue of voice and perspective in Kushner’s novel in order to show how ultimately traditional their use is. These findings thus clash with previous views on The Mars Room, and they confirm the more aprioristically identifiable impact certain narratological features (such as focalization) tend to have on style when compared to broader notions like that of voice, which intrinsically involves a broader ‘field of action’ and is thus more problematic when it comes to quantification.

A Comparative Study of Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac under Ecocriticism Theory

Silent Spring is important in the field of natural literature. However, studies on it are only few, and most of them are based on traditional literary study methods. Corpus stylistics emerged in the 1980s, providing a new paradigm for literary research which transcends traditional literary research methods in many aspects. Based on ecocriticism, this study conducts a comparative study on the themes, language features and narrative perspectives of Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac by using corpus tools. The results show that, as for the themes, Silent Spring pays attention to the intervention of human activities on nature, while A Sand County Almanac focuses on the charm of nature itself. In terms of language features, Silent Spring is more objective and convincing, while the language of A Sand County Almanac is more vivid. As for the narrative perspective, Silent Spring often uses an objective third-person perspective, while A Sand County Almanac uses a subjective first-person perspective. Although Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac are different in themes, language features and narrative perspective, they both reveal a love for nature and strong awareness of environmental protection.

AN EXPLORATION OF DISCOURSE STYLES IN PAKISTANI ENGLISH FICTIONS

The current study explores emergent discourse styles in English-language Pakistani fiction using multiple levels of analysis. The modern discourse styles in Pakistani English-language fiction have been explored using the "Corpus Stylistics" methodology and computational tools. In the past, the quantitative research on Pakistani fiction in English as a whole has hardly ever examined the entire collection of fundamental language elements. The current study is ground-breaking in that it has assembled a sizable corpus of Pakistani fiction in English for a specific goal based on a sizable collection of novels and short tales. Applying statistical factor analysis, the whole collection of essential lexico-grammatical elements presents in fictionized writing in Pakistan has been taken into consideration. The current research introduces innovative discourse styles and labels them as: "Expression of Thought vs. Descriptive Discourse Production," "Context-oriented Discourse," "Concrete Action Discourse vs. Abstract Exposition," and "Narrative vs. Dialogic Discourse." it does this by marking information from the large substantial corpus of English-language Pakistani fiction. Keywords: English and fiction, English language, literacy Pakistan, education system.

Savior or Villain? A Corpus Stylistic Approach to the Linguistic Construction of Victim-Survivors of Sexual Violence in Westworld

This paper explores how the identity of victim-survivors of sexual violence is portrayed in the dystopian TV series Westworld (2016-present) by analyzing the linguistic characterization of the lead female character, Dolores Abernathy. To do so, this paper adopts a mixed methodology which combines corpus stylistics and Appraisal Theory with a feminist critical reading of the results in order to examine the textual cues in Dolores’ dialogue which characterize her journey from being a victim to becoming an empowered being. The results of the analysis show that the series features a misappropriation of female empowerment and liberation since Dolores presents a masculinization of her fictional identity which mirrors patriarchal practices and attitudes against women.

The Curious Case of “Translator’s Style”: What can Corpus Stylistics and Cognitive Poetics Tell us about the Mind Style of the Translator?

The Curious Case of “Translator’s Style”: What can Corpus Stylistics and Cognitive Poetics Tell us about the Mind Style of the Translator?

Interior Monologue as a Stylistic Device in Constructing the Character of Santiago in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

The current investigation takes up Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and provides a corpus-based analysis by selecting monologues as data for this study. The focal point of this corpus analysis is to highlight and identify textual features in the construction of the character of Santiago. This study goes for a corpus stylistic analysis of the selected text and unravels textual features which were previously unnoticed. Only monologues are selected as corpus data and AntConc 3.5.8 (Anthony, 2010) is utilized as a tool for corpus analysis. The study displays the significant role of corpus-based approaches for a better understanding of a literary text. It is clear after this analysis, corpus-based approaches in studying Hemingway's monologues highlight linguistic features of monologues and provide new avenues and perspectives, thus enhancing the value of literary corpus stylistics.

Style of creative nonfiction

Abstract The study examines author style within underlying patterns of variation in nonfiction essays. The study employs corpus linguistic methodology, building on research on style in fiction (Biber &amp; Finegan, 1994; Biber, 2008b; Egbert, 2012), applies a multidimensional analysis to a corpus of nonfiction essays written by modern authors, a previously unexplored domain, and identifies four unique but interrelated dimensions of variation based on linguistic co-occurrence: Interactive vs. Informational Style, Abstract Expository vs. Concrete Descriptive Style, Immediate vs. Removed Style, and Hypothetical Style. Authors’ works are then plotted along these dimensions, revealing stylistic tendencies with relation to the observed patterns of variation. The study also observes that considerable within-author variation along a given dimension results from differences in situational characteristics of individual texts rather than simply idiosyncratic preferences for certain language. The study contributes to the field of corpus stylistics and has practical implications for creative writing, literary analysis, and translation.

Corpus Stylistics in Contemporary English Dramas: Keywords and Semantic Fields of Delusions

Corpus Stylistics in Contemporary English Dramas: Keywords and Semantic Fields of Delusions

Atmospheric Effects of Strange White Flowers: A Corpus Stylistic Approach to the Text World in The Time Machine

Previous research on plants in The Time Machine has shown the importance of putting these peripheral objects to the core. Studies have indicated potential associations between corpus stylistics and cognitive stylistics, but investigations of The Time Machine have not dealt with the “strange white flowers” in much detail, especially observing from a corpus perspective and interpreting from the cognitive one. The principal objective of this study is to explore the atmospheric effects of these flowers with a combined corpus and cognitive methodological approach. Corpus techniques rely on the tools of Sketch Engine and CQPweb, while cognitive methods lie in the theories of Atmosphere and the Text World. The results showed that “strange white flowers” at the macro-level create elusive and diffusive atmospheric effects of transiency and strangeness, which could be represented at the meso-level by the text-world presentation and explored at the micro-level by collocation and colligation. The findings can contribute to a better understanding of peripheral objects in The Time Machine and add new insight into the study of science.

Investigating EFL Learners’ Ability to Analyse Poetic Language: A Pedagogical Corpus Stylistic Approach

Pedagogical stylistics refers to the application of the tools of stylistics in the teaching of the English language as a foreign or a second language. Teaching and learning poetry is challenging. Thus, pedagogical corpus stylistics (Henceforth, PCS) approach has been introduced to Iraqi undergraduate foreign language learners (EFL) to guide them to analyze poetic language. The study aims to make students interact with authentic examples of poetic language and answer questions about it. The main objective of the study is to examine whether PCS tools enable the learners to provide linguistic evidence from the poetic texts they are exposed to. This in turn ensures objective poetic analyses. Moreover, it aims to enable EFL Iraqi students to discover salient norms related to the Standard English language. The study reveals that the pedagogical corpus stylistic approach helps the students to discover language patterns using corpus tools with the help of the teacher’s guidance at the beginning but this eventually leads to independent learning and discoveries about poetic language.

Lexical and Rhetorical Features in The Time Machine: A Corpus-stylistic Analysis

Corpus stylistics is the study of style by applying linguistic theory and the corpus-based approach. Therefore it combines qualitative and quantitative study. This study adopts the stylistic theory of Leech and Short (2007) and the corpus-based approach to analyze the science fiction The Time Machine. By using the corpus tools WordSmith 7.0 and AntConc, the lexical features and rhetorical features are extracted. Then the writing style and the theme are discussed. Therefore, the research enriches the empirical study of corpus-based fiction stylistics and encourages the appreciation of science fiction in the early times.

Corpus stylistics and colour symbolism in The Great Gatsby and its Thai translations

The present study adopts a corpus stylistic approach to: (1) examine a relationship between textual patterns of colour words in The Great Gatsby and their symbolic interpretations and (2) investigate the ways those patterns are handled in Thai translations. Distribution and co-occurrence patterns were analysed for colour words that are key in the novel: white, grey, yellow and lavender. The density and frequent patterns of each word are argued to foreground an association between the colour word and particular concepts, pointing to symbolic meaning potentials related to the novel’s themes of socioeconomic inequality and destructive wealth. The textual patterns are compared with what occurs in three Thai translations of the novel. While most of the colour images are directly translated, non-equivalents tend to be applied to figurative uses of the colour terms. This results in some changes in textual patterns of the colour words in the translated texts, which can in turn affect readers’ interpretations of colour symbolism in the novel.

Corpus Stylistics in China: Progress, Problems and Prospect

This review attempts to examine the current trends in corpus stylistics in China. It is conducted on corpus stylistics articles in five Chinese journals, from 2008 to 2021. These 42 articles are sorted out by the publishing journals, years, research aspects and research methods. Results show that the research depth so far is not as deep, thus there should be more studies in the next few years; the research aspects are not completely covered, with pragmatic stylistics being on top; the research method is heading from non-empirical to quantitative, and then to qualitative.

A Corpus Stylistic Analysis of Speech and Thought Presentation in James Joyce’s Dubliners

The present article attempts to analyze the interaction between categories of speech and thought in James Joyce’s Dubliners quantitatively and qualitatively by applying Leech and Short Model (1981/2007). Excerpts of 2000-word length have been randomly selected and manually tagged to have the accurate annotation keeping in mind the contextual potential to recognize discourse categories in Joyce fiction and then corpus software AntConc (Laurence Anthony 2018) was used to get quantitative results. The present study is grounded within three separate but interrelated disciplines: Stylistics, Discourse Analysis, and Narratology. It is difficult to imagine an example of a narrative that does not contain a reference to or a quotation of someone’s speech or thoughts. To a large extent, the way we perceive a story depends upon the ways discourse is presented. This is something hard to demarcate the boundaries between them as the various modes have the potential to slip into one another. Special emphasis is given to variations between the three modes as well as to the instances of ambiguity created by their interplay. The article also compares findings with those described in Semino and Short (2004) for their corpus of 20th-century narrative fiction. Keywords: Corpus Stylistics, speech presentation, thought presentation, Leech and Short Model DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/81-05 Publication date: August 31 st 2021

Book Review: Mcintyre, D. &amp; Walker, B. (2019) Corpus Stylistics: Theory and Practice. Edinburgh University Press

Book Review: Mcintyre, D. &amp; Walker, B. (2019) Corpus Stylistics: Theory and Practice. Edinburgh University Press

Poetic Language and the Computer: A Corpus Stylistic Study of The Waste Land

This study aims at proposing a methodology in analyzing one of the significant poems of the twentieth century, The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. By means of applying the tools of the computer, namely; Wmatrix (Rayson 2003, 2008) and WebCorp Live (Birmingham City University). This paper seeks to examine whether corpus stylistics can be helpful in analyzing a single poem 2. Verifying the importance of corpus tools in interpreting poetic language. Moreover, this study attempts to examine key semantic domains, keywords, and concordances in the poem. This study proves that corpus tools are crucial in matters of saving time, reaching to accurate results and achieving much more objectivity than applying only the qualitative method in analyzing the data. Thus, it is recommended to integrate both methodologies (qualitative and quantitative) in the study of poetic language.