【简介】

‘新世纪英语语言文学界面研究丛书”汇聚了国外近年出版的界面研究的批典范之作,方法多元,探讨深入,向国内读者呈现了‘原汁原味”的国际界面研究的精华成果。丛书由我国外语界面研究权威熊沐清、董洪川撰写总序,每种分册皆由国内相关领域的知名专家撰写中文导读,内容翔实,分析精辟为读音提供提纲挈领的评述,从而帮助读者尽快了解各分册的基本脉络、主要内容及其与相关学科、著述之间的纵横关系相信对界面研究感兴趣的读者一定能从阅读本丛书中获得启迪。

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 Woolfs experimental novel The Waves. Frequencies of grammatical and semantic categories in the language of the six speaking characters are analyzed using Matrix 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.

【Acknowledgements】

I should like to express my gratitude to a number of people who have contributed to the birth of this book. Special thanks are due to Olivia Fialho, whom I met at the annual conference of the Poetics and Linguistics Association(PALA)in Genoa in 2010. It was through her that my research reached Sonia Zyngier. And it is thanks to Sonias support and patience that I had the time to bring this work to its completion. I am especially grateful to Elena Semino, who supervised both my MA and Ph. D. theses on characterization at Lancaster University. I would also like to express my gratitude to Jonathan Culpeper, who supervised me while Elena was on sabbatical. Without their help and encouragement, I could not have gone this far.

I would also like to acknowledge the help of several academic colleagues I met at Lancaster University who have now taken different academic paths. Nicholas Smith and Amy Wang accompanied me throughout Nick helping with the statistics and Amy giving much valuable advice. Michael Oakes also gave me kind helpful support with the statistical part of the work, always ready to settle my doubts. Izumi Tanaka very kindly helped with the tagging of the text and Paul Rayson with detailed information about Matrix whenever I needed it.

I am also grateful to friends from other walks of life, especially Mike Cardwell, who, besides giving moral support, also spent a huge amount of time straightening out the layout of the data and providing practical advice on how to deal with the very large datasets. I am also grateful to Adrian Paul and Christina Chow, Andrew Wilson, Emily Bianchi-Bazzi, Giangio Gilardi, Massimo Vaghi, and my student Loris Molinari, who have either helped with some parts of the book or provided general and specific comments.

Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to John Heywood, who first proof-read the Ph. D. thesis from which this book developed and then supported me throughout the writing process from the first draft to the very last. Not only did he read and re-read it through carefully, but he also made several important editorial

suggestions, especially regarding metaphor analysis. He commented thoroughly and patiently on the style and presentation of each chapter, and helped with the bibliography and index. This long collaboration has also contributed to our deep affective bond. It has been an extraordinary experience to work with him.

【Foreword】

‘Language use is one of the most mysterious products of the human mind, and literature is probably the most enigmatic form of language use”(van Peer 2011: 1). Before the arrival of structuralism, the study of literature tended to be based on free, intuitive interpretation. Today, with the advent of the computer, more systematic studies can be carried out. Will they offer possibilities for solving the enigma of language in literature?

While computer-assisted methods of enquiry have been familiar for some time now across a range of disciplines, such as psychology and other social sciences(Murphy 2010; Pennebaker 2011) the field of literary criticism has resisted the lure of the computer(Gottschall 2008). Corns(1991: 129)observed that computer-aided literary analyses were not being paid sufficient attention and unfairly associated with poor achievements, whereas stylometric studies(Burrows 1987)formed a distinct strand kept quite separate from the main literary critical

tradition. Louw(1993: 152-176; 1997: 240-251)was one of the first scholars to appreciate the potential value and effectiveness of corpus linguistics in the analysis of literary texts. Now computer-aided studies have been accepted as a major research paradigm(Stockwell 2008: 351-363that can contribute a great deal to developing fresh critical insights into the stylistic qualities of texts, including literary ones(Deignan 2005; Zyngier 2008: 169-190; Ludeling and Kyto 2008; 2009; Starcke 2010; Viana et al. 2011).

While we may all agree that the computer will never be able to understand and appreciate a literary text in the ways the human mind does(Graesser et al. 2011: 24-33), we must acknowledge that corpus methodologies open up, in Leechs words(1992: 106), a new way of thinking about language Using the computer leads to discoveries that cannot be seen with the naked eye. A computer-aided approach can also offer new starting points for investigation. It has proven to be a strong research method anchored firmly in theoretical frameworks which can be combined with other qualitative methodologies(Leech and Fligelstone 1992:115-140; Biber et al. 1998; Biber 2011:15-23; Mahlberg and McIntyre 2011:204-227; McIntyre2012:409-415).

This book attempts to demonstrate how a computer-aided approach can guide us through the investigation of language and characterization in Virginia Woolfs The Waves(1931). The focus is on whether characters can be differentiated through examining the word-classes and semantic categories associated with them. Although these corpus-based findings may sometimes be problematic it is argued that they produce new and detailed insights into both the diachronic development of the characters and the novel as a whole. While the investigation of the word classes conducted to assess the presence of in individuality in the characters voices or idiolects(Stewart 2003: 129-138) is purely quantitative, the semantic analysis is more finely articulated. By applying Culpepers(2001)cognitive model of characterization, the semantic fields distinguishing each character to a statistically significant extent are also subjected to qualitative analysis, allowing inferences to be drawn about probable differences in personality traits and idiosyncratic mind stylesFowler1977:103-113; Semino2007:153-203).

The book is conceived in such a way as to bring both theory and practice together. Background information is provided on the theoretical aspects of the debate over characterization in The Waves, followed by a broad survey of studies of characterization from their outset to the present state of the art, and of proposals

for viable ways to study fictional peoples language and their personalities(Eder et al. 2010). The study also provides and puts into practice a detailed methodology for the analysis of character. The corpus-based approach, as suggested here, is also a methodology applicable to the contrastive investigation of language, and of language and personality, in different types of discourses encompassing both fictional personae and real people.

Acknowledgements

Foreword

List of conventions

List of figures and tables

List of appendixes

List of concordances

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

1.1 The issues at stake

1.2 The design of this book

CHAPTER 2

Virginia Woolfs The Waves

2.1 Virginia Woolf and the modernist character

2.2 Introduction to The Waves

2.2.1 Conception

2.2.2 Structure

2.2.3 Method of characterization

2.2.4 Debate over characterization

2.2.5 Studies on lexical patterns

2.2.6 Psychoanalytic approaches to character

CHAPTER 3

Literature review

3.1 The state of affairs in literary characterization

3.1.1 Characters as people and as textual constructs

3.1.2 Character typologies

3.2 Psychological concepts in the perception of personality

3.2.1 Prior knowledge and schema theory

3.2.2 History of schema theory

3.3 Stylistic approaches to characterization

3.3.1 Culpepers model for characterization: Top-down and bottom-up

3.3.2 Cognitive metaphor, mind style and characterization

3.4 Studies of language and personality

3.5 Conclusion

CHAPTER 4

Corpus approaches to the study of language and literature

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Corpus annotation

4.3 Techniques employed in corpus analyses

4.4 Corpus annotation of literary texts

4.4.1 Quantitative stylistic approaches to literary texts

4.4.2 Authorial style

4.4.3 Characterization

4.4.3.1 Characterization in The Waves

CHAPTER5

Methodology

5.1 Introduction

5.2 The narrative framework of The Waves

5.2.1 Synchronic and diachronic structure

5.2.2 The Waves as e-text: Text annotation and text division

5.3 Wmatrix: A software tool for corpus analysis and comparison

5.3.1 The CLAWS and USAS taggers and their tagsets

5.4 The Waves through Wmatrix

5.4.1 Adaptation and revision of POS and USAS tagsets

5.4.2 Data layout in Microsoft Excel

5.4.3 Post-editing of the soliloquy text

5.4.4 Token count of the soliloquy text

CHAPTER 6

Character differentiation through word-classes

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Word-class and characters language

6.2.1 Word-classes in the whole soliloquy text and in each character

6.2.2 Data comparison and treatment of the LL statistics

6.2.3 Characters word-classes in each phase of life:

Significant differences relative to each character

a. Susan

b Jinny

C. Rhoda

d. Louis

e. Neville

f. Bernard

6.2.4 Bernards word-classes in the final soliloquy

6.3 Summary

CHAPTER7

Character differentiation: Semantic fields

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Data comparison and treatment of the LL statistics

7.3 The characters schema of gender dichotomy

7.4 The female characters

7.4.1 Susan

a. The Natural World

b. The House

C. Home-making activities

d. Family and Motherhood

e Time

f. The Senses

7.4.2 Jinny

a. The Body

b. Colours

C Movement

7.4.3 Rhoda

a. The Natural World

b. Movement

C. Emotions

d. Shapes

e. Colours

7.5 The female characters semantic fields and personality traits

7.6 The male characters

7.6.1 Louis

a. Geographical names

b. People and Relationships

C. The Natural World

d. History and Literature

7.6.2 Neville

a. Literature and Philosophy

b. Academic Interests

7.6.3 Bernard

a. Cognition and Abstraction

b. Intellectual Interests

7.7 The male characters semantic fields and personality traits

7.8 Bernards final summing-up and his dramatic role

7.9 Conclusion: The characters semantic fields and their personal traits

7.10 Percival: The other-presented character

CHAPTER 8

Conclusion

8.1 Achievements

8.2 Characterization in this study

8.3 Reading through the computer

8.4 Authorial style versus character voice

8.5 Further directions

References

Websites

Appendixes

Author index

Subject index