What is Corpus Stylistics? PALA Summer School, Maribor, 2014

1. What is Corpus Stylistics? PALA Summer School, Maribor, 2014

2. What is corpus stylistics? Corpus linguistics + (literary) stylistics = corpus stylistics? (Mahlberg 2007: 219)

3. What is corpus stylistics? • Corpus linguistics applied to literary texts? • Corpus techniques used in the service of stylistic analysis • The application of stylistic models in corpus analysis • Corpus theories used in stylistics (semantic prosody)? • Big Corpora used to support language intuitions? (such as prosodies)

4. Corpus + Stylistics? • corpus • serves as a reminder of the various methodological and theoretical borrowings from corpus linguists • stylistics • "[...] the study of the relationship between linguistic form and literary function [...]” (Leech and Short 2007:3) • But not just literary

5. Approaches to Corpus Stylistics • Top down: • uses the intuitions of literary critics or the analyst as a starting point for further analysis.

6. Approaches to Corpus Stylistics • Bottom up: • data driven; • uses quantitative information to steer the linguistic and literary enquiry; • (cf. O’Halloran’s 2007 corpus-informed analysis).

7. Stages of Corpus Stylistics • Descriptive stylistics • Explanatory stylistics (Leech 2008)

8. Objectivity and subjectivity • Corpus Linguistics adds objectivity. • possibly • fully objective corpus stylistic analysis is not achievable, due to factors such as the analyst’s choice and interpretation of the data (Fischer-Starcke 2010:18-19) • Cycles of data generation and interpretation • Combination of top-down and bottom-up • Descriptive and explanatory

9. Objectivity and subjectivity • "[...] the essential role of intuition in formulating hypotheses and analysing data" (Stubbs 2007:234). • “Corpus stylistic analysis is a relatively objective methodological procedure that at its best is guided by a relatively subjective process of interpretation.” (Carter 2010:67).

10. Systematicity • Corpus linguistics adds systematicity. • possibly • Automated tagging, frequency lists, key-words • But what about the interpretative element? • “[...] simply generating keywords does not constitute an analysis” (Mahlberg and McIntyre, 2011:206)

11. Systematicity • Short points out, “[...] being systematic applies not just to methodology and analysis but also to one’s general interpretive approach.” (Short 2011:37).

12. Arbitrariness • Corpus linguistics can reduce arbitrariness. • Possibly • The fish hook - stylisticians first come up with an interpretation and then look for the evidence to support it. • Bottom-up approaches - formal analyses to functional. • But, what if you only analyse a selection of forms?

13. Corpus linguistics used in the service of stylistic analysis Possible approaches: Deductive Use literary critical claims as hypotheses for testing Inductive Use corpus techniques to interpret target text

14. Corpus linguistics used in the service of stylistic analysis ‘Within his form, Hemingway embedded a further commentary upon language’s depleted capacity for expression. For example, his paratactic syntax– which juxtaposes clauses and like syntactic units without subordinating conjunctions– creates static, abrupt sentences that seem to stammer or bark’ (Trodd 2007: 8)

15. Corpus linguistics used in the service of stylistic analysis Hypothesis Subordinating conjunctions are significantly under-represented in Hemingway’s writing

16. Method • Corpus of 7 novels & 1 short story collection • 774,527 tokens • Tag corpus for parts-of-speech • Compare tagged corpus against a reference corpus of fiction • Determine whether subordinating conjunctions are under-represented in Hemingway • If yes, hypothesis is validated • If no, hypothesis is invalidated?

17. Results CC = coordinating conjunction

18. Results CC = coordinating conjunction CS = subordinating conjunction Subordinating conjunctions not under-represented in Hemingway’s writing – in fact, the opposite. Hypothesis validated?

19. cs . They were smoking cigars . When we came in they looked up . Rome een them . He must have felt it when Brett gave him her hand . He was id in English , and laughed . " So they do n't kill me . " He looke d me go . It was not pleasant . When I came back and looked in the ca . I won't stand it . Who cares if he is a damn bankrupt ? " His vo " " You know where she is . " " If I did I would n't tell you . " " Mike said languidly . " Is that where she is ? " Cohn turned to me . " " " She was with you . Is that where she is ? " " Go to hell ! " " I u do n't mean that . " " I do , though , " Mike said . " I 'm not one o Jake . It 's been simply hell . When I met her down here Brett treate I could not find the bathroom . After a while I found it . There was a n on the edge of the bath-tub . When I got up to go I found I had tak time to see the bulls come in , so I shoved through the crowd to th e , and I could not see the man because the crowd was so thick around hi ack and the other on my chest , where it looked as though the horn mus to come to the fiesta each year after he was married . The next day hi ve been half past three o'clock when I had gone to bed and the bands Cohn. 'I 'd be ashamed to . ' " So the bull-fighter fellow hit him carry him to the bed . He said if Cohn helped him he 'd kill him , 'd kill him anyway this morning if Cohn was n't out of town . Cohn tt what for , you know . I said if she would go about with Jews and . " I say , Jake , do you mind if I drink that bottle of yours ? S or , you know . Ninth baronet . When he came home he would n't sleep sleep on the floor . Finally , when he got really bad , he used to t ett used to take the shells out when he 'd gone to sleep . She has n' e little islands of onlookers . When the cars emptied , the onlookers wd . You did not see them again except as sport clothes , odd-looking a sh so that you did not see them unless you passed close to a table . Al Rather . I 'm going with you , if you do n't mind . " " How 's you

20. cs . They were smoking cigars . When we came in they looked up . Rome een them . He must have felt it when Brett gave him her hand . He was id in English , and laughed . " So they do n't kill me . " He looke d me go . It was not pleasant . When I came back and looked in the ca . I won't stand it . Who cares if he is a damn bankrupt ? " His vo " " You know where she is . " " If I did I would n't tell you . " " Mike said languidly . " Is that where she is ? " Cohn turned to me . " " " She was with you . Is that where she is ? " " Go to hell ! " " I u do n't mean that . " " I do , though , " Mike said . " I 'm not one o Jake . It 's been simply hell . When I met her down here Brett treate I could not find the bathroom . After a while I found it . There was a n on the edge of the bath-tub . When I got up to go I found I had tak time to see the bulls come in , so I shoved through the crowd to th e , and I could not see the man because the crowd was so thick around hi ack and the other on my chest , where it looked as though the horn mus to come to the fiesta each year after he was married . The next day hi ve been half past three o'clock when I had gone to bed and the bands Cohn. 'I 'd be ashamed to . ' " So the bull-fighter fellow hit him carry him to the bed . He said if Cohn helped him he 'd kill him , 'd kill him anyway this morning if Cohn was n't out of town . Cohn tt what for , you know . I said if she would go about with Jews and . " I say , Jake , do you mind if I drink that bottle of yours ? S or , you know . Ninth baronet . When he came home he would n't sleep sleep on the floor . Finally , when he got really bad , he used to t ett used to take the shells out when he 'd gone to sleep . She has n' e little islands of onlookers . When the cars emptied , the onlookers wd . You did not see them again except as sport clothes , odd-looking a sh so that you did not see them unless you passed close to a table . Al Rather . I 'm going with you , if you do n't mind . " " How 's you

21. The application of stylistic models in corpus analysis • The story of 15 year old Christopher Boone, who discovers his neighbour’s dog, Wellington, dead in her garden and sets out to solve the mystery • First person narration from Christopher • Christopher has Asperger Syndrome

22. ⑰ The policeman looked at me for a while without speaking. Then he said, "I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer." This made me feel a lot calmer because it is what policemen say on television and in films. Then he said, "I strongly advise you to get into the back of the police car, because if you try any of that monkey business again, you little shit, I will seriously lose my rag. Is that understood?" I walked over to the police car, which was parked just outside the gate. He opened the back door and I got inside. He climbed into the driver's seat and made a call on his radio to the policewoman, who was still inside the house. He said, "The little bugger just had a pop at me, Kate. Can you hang on with Mrs. S. while I drop him off at the station? I'll get Tony to swing by and pick you up." And she said, "Sure. I'll catch you later." The policeman said, "Okeydoke," and we drove off. (Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time)

23. ⑰ The policeman looked at me for a while without speaking. Then he said, "I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer." This made me feel a lot calmer because it is what policemen say on television and in films. Then he said, "I strongly advise you to get into the back of the police car, because if you try any of that monkey business again, you little shit, I will seriously lose my rag. Is that understood?" I walked over to the police car, which was parked just outside the gate. He opened the back door and I got inside. He climbed into the driver's seat and made a call on his radio to the policewoman, who was still inside the house. He said, "The little bugger just had a pop at me, Kate. Can you hang on with Mrs. S. while I drop him off at the station? I'll get Tony to swing by and pick you up." And she said, "Sure. I'll catch you later." The policeman said, "Okeydoke," and we drove off. (Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) Hypothesis: Christopher uses more direct speech than is usual in narration

24. Foregrounding Formally, foregrounding is a deviation, or departure, from what is expected in the linguistic code or the social code expressed through language; functionally, it is a special effect or significance conveyed by that departure. (Leech 2008: 3) Question: Are our intuitions supported statistically?

25. Method • Compare speech presentation in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time against speech presentation in fiction generally • Use a model of discourse presentation developed in stylistics • Target corpus: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: (63087 tokens) • Reference corpus: Fiction section of the Lancaster Speech, Writing and Thought Presentation Corpus (87570 tokens)

27. An example of annotation <dptag cat="N">The policeman looked at me for a while without speaking. </dptag><dptag cat="NRS">Then he said,</dptag><dptag cat="xDS">"I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer."</dptag><dptag cat="NxI">This made me feel a lot calmer</dptag><dptag cat="N">because it is what policemen say on television and in films.</dptag><dptag cat="NRS">Then he said,</dptag><dptag cat="xDS">"I strongly advise you to get into the back of the police car, because if you try any of that monkey business again, you little shit, I will seriously lose my rag. Is that understood?"</dptag>

33. Result • Hypothesis validated • Christopher does indeed use significantly more direct speech than is usual in prose fiction • Functional effect? • Indicative of an abnormal mind style (Fowler 1986)

34. Investigation of the character/narrators in a novel using a combination of corpus linguistics and stylistics

36. Stuart, Oliver and Gillian Three main narrators: Stuart, Oliver and Gillian Moseley notes that Barnes’ ‘. . . creation of these three very different voice-personalities is a matter of vocabulary, references, reticences, syntax, and cadence.’ (Moseley 1997: 140).

37. Stuart, Oliver and Gillian Others who have written about the novel : Stuart – ‘dull’ (Guignery 2006: 73), ‘unclever, unimaginative’ (Moseley 1997: 140), ‘stolid and unglamorous’ (Pateman 2002: 54), and ‘a plodder, teetering on the edge of full-blown wallyhood’ (Heller 1991: 28)

38. Stuart, Oliver and Gillian Oliver – ‘flamboyant and erudite’ (Pateman 2002: 54), ‘dashing, quick . . . witty, cultivated, charming’ (Moseley 1997:125), ‘foppish, learned, showy, precious’ (Moseley 1997: 141), ‘pedantic and self-centered’ (Guignery 2006: 75), and ‘a clever dick’ (Heller 1991: 28)

39. Stuart, Oliver and Gillian Gillian – ‘reticent and deliberate’ (Levenson 1991: 44), self-protective (Moseley 1997:139), ‘sensible’ (Humphreys 1991), and ‘cool and opaque’ (Heller 1991: 28).

40. Research questions How are the impressions of these 3 characters created? Are there differences in the narrations and do these differences relate to character?

41. Method Compare the different narrations with each other Do any differences relate to character? Analysis constrained by Culpeper’s (2001) checklist of textual character cues.

42. Culpeper’s (2001) checklist

43. Method The contributions of one of the MAIN narrators compared with the contributions of ALL the OTHER narrators combined Comparison process carried out automatically by Wmatrix. Key-concepts

45. Key concepts in Oliver’s narration

46. Oliver’s UNMATCHED group

47. Oliver’s UNMATCHED group

48. Oliver’s character • The unmatched items suggest that • Oliver regularly opts for ostentatious and less conventional words • Avoids more obvious, more commonly used, and perfectly adequate alternatives. • Barnes creates a character who shows off lexically. • Relates to descriptions: • “showy”, “clever dick”, “erudite” and “learned”.

49. Oliver’s character • Relate to Moseley’s comments: • “[...] different voice-personalities is a matter of vocabulary [...]” (Moseley 1997: 140). • This analysis shows specific words that form part of Oliver’s vocabulary - which help to create his “different voice-personality”. • Wmatrix helps to highlight these words • Culpeper’s implicit cue - lexis.

50. WMatrix • Corpus tools provide systematic, automated analysis of the novel • Characterisation framework from stylistics provides focus • Constrains analysis of Wmatrix output • Together, they allow for a more complete analysis of potential character cues across a novel