Stylistics: Corpus Approaches Martin Wynne Introduction literature, m - PDF document

Stylistics: Corpus Approaches Martin Wynne Introduction literature, makes use of various t the approaches of stylistics and corpus linguistics. Stylistics is a figuistic theory are used to analyse literary texts. A typical way to do linguistic science to poems and matics, cognitive linguistics and ought to bear on texts. These in the literary work. Corpus linguistics, also an empirical approach e evidence of language usage as forms of stylistics have more in common than is obvious at first alysis of texts, and both benefit As linguists and stylisticians resources and techniques, there hastudies published which suggest that the coming together of these is little use of language corpora, or the techniques of corpus ry style. But the use of language corpora is becoming more widespread and more mainstream, as various barriers to the their uptake are overcome. Among the important areas of current activity, Corpus annotation involves investigating a particular linguistic feature by taking (or making) a corpus — a sample or complete udied in electronic form — and occurs in this corpus. The results of the analysis are normally Stylistics: Corpus Approaches Martin Wynne inserted into the electronic text as tags, or annotations. This activity procedures involved in word-clascursive and stylistic categories (see also Leech 1997). Indeed, these stylistic annotations may make use of and build on syntactiexhaustive analysis of a whole text or corpus is a more empirically guistic phenomena, compared to xt forces the em of categorisation to account for all cases. Second, it is possible to extract statistics relating to frequency, distribution and co-occurrence of forms from the Lancaster University on the forms of speech, thought and writing s. Leech and Short (1981) developed a system of classification for sptheory by attempting to apply it a corpus was carried out over a number of years (Semino and ShBritish English narrative texts was constructed, representing fiction, news reports and biographical manually analysed such that each occurrence of any type of reporting, or presentation, of a direct speech, indirect speech, rpus. This enabled the analysts forced them to account for all relevant phenomena found in the retrieve. It also made possible qualitative and quantitative text types. Among the findings of the project were the discoveries that it was necessary to adapt the model so that there were differespeech, thought and writing, and that attempts to describe these phenomena together, as reported discourse presentation, risked entation of the different modes. rms were mapped across the text vered, some categories were between rhetorical function and Stylistics: Corpus Approaches Martin Wynne employing the phrasal verb, without using other evaluative words or phrases. Louw (1993) described how , and developed a general g for semantic prosody can be exploited for ironic effect. Louw argued that an explanation or an r intuition. Such prosodies are and whose extent and development cacomputational methods. The application of the notions developed by the current work of dimension and can be used to account for creativity in language associate meanings with words meaning, but also because of the hearing them. In this way words are meanings. For Hoey, creativity involves a selective overriding of the h these primings are created by habitual usage can be found in corpora, and thus the source of the creativity, but with cognitive aspects of language use as well. are so suited to each other in work on the interface of these There are several reasons why the potential for the use of corpora to any large extent. For historical s of stylistics, with training in more traditional methods of humantheir research. Furthermore, there find and evaluate what is available. Though many texts can be , there is enormous variation in s, text encoding practices, consistency and integrity of many computer hardware and software, in order to do the simplest things resources and software to make research easier. Stylistics: Corpus Approaches Martin Wynne and guidelines for good practice in), are helping improve the quality powerful, flexible and usable software tools for the analysis of literary texts and language corpora. Theoretical objections to the doubtless remain, but it is to be prove to be a useful addition Burrows, J (2002). 'The Englishing of Juvenal: Computational Language and creativity: the art of common talkLondon: Routledge. Lexical priming: a new theory of words and London: Routledge. annotation’. In Garside, R. G., Leech, G. N. & McEnery, A. M. Corpus annotationHarmondsworth: Penguin. Louw, W. (1993). 'Irony in the text or insincerity in the writer? The diagnostic potential of semantic prosodies' in Baker, M., Francis, G. & Tognini-Bonelli, E. (eds.). Text and technologyJohn Benjamins. 157-176. [Reprinted in Sampson, G. and widening disciplinevan Peer, W. (1989). ‘Quantitative studies of style: a critique and Longman. Short, M. H. (1996). Exploring the language of poems, plays, and the evidence’ in Sinclair, J. (ed.) Looking up. Glasgow: Collins, 150-159. Stubbs, M. (2005). 'Conrad in the computer: examples of quantitative stylistic methods' in