What is Corpus Stylistics?

PALA Summer School, Maribor, 2014

What is corpus stylistics?

Corpus linguistics + (literary) stylistics = corpus stylistics?

(Mahlberg 2007: 219)

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)

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

Approaches to Corpus Stylistics

• Top down:– uses the intuitions of literary critics or the analyst

as a starting point for further analysis.

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).

Stages of Corpus Stylistics

• Descriptive stylistics• Explanatory stylistics

(Leech 2008)

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

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).

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)

Systematicity

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

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?

Corpus linguistics used in the service of stylistic analysis

Possible approaches:

DeductiveUse literary critical claims as hypotheses for testing

InductiveUse corpus techniques to interpret target text

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)

Corpus linguistics used in the service of stylistic analysis

Hypothesis

Subordinating conjunctions are significantly under-represented in Hemingway’s writing

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?

ResultsITEM O1 %1 O2 %2 LL

CC 23,257 4.08 7003 3.15 381.89

CC = coordinating conjunction

ResultsITEM O1 %1 O2 %2 LL

CC 23,257 4.08 7003 3.15 381.89

CS 5742 1.01 1959 0.88 27.43

CC = coordinating conjunction

CS = subordinating conjunction

Subordinating conjunctions not under-represented in Hemingway’s writing – in fact, the opposite.

Hypothesis validated?

cs . They were smoking cigars . When we came in they looked up . Romeeen them . He must have felt it when Brett gave him her hand . He wasid in English , and laughed . " So they do n't kill me . " He looked me go . It was not pleasant . When I came back and looked in the ca. I wo n'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 oJake . It 's been simply hell . When I met her down here Brett treateI could not find the bathroom . After a while I found it . There was an on the edge of the bath-tub . When I got up to go I found I had taktime to see the bulls come in , so I shoved through the crowd to the , and I could not see the man because the crowd was so thick around hiack and the other on my chest , where it looked as though the horn musto come to the fiesta each year after he was married . The next day hive 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 ? Sor , 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 tett 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 onlookerswd . You did not see them again except as sport clothes , odd-looking ash so that you did not see them unless you passed close to a table . AlRather . I 'm going with you , if you do n't mind . " " How 's you

cs . They were smoking cigars . When we came in they looked up . Romeeen them . He must have felt it when Brett gave him her hand . He wasid in English , and laughed . " So they do n't kill me . " He looked me go . It was not pleasant . When I came back and looked in the ca. I wo n'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 oJake . It 's been simply hell . When I met her down here Brett treateI could not find the bathroom . After a while I found it . There was an on the edge of the bath-tub . When I got up to go I found I had taktime to see the bulls come in , so I shoved through the crowd to the , and I could not see the man because the crowd was so thick around hiack and the other on my chest , where it looked as though the horn musto come to the fiesta each year after he was married . The next day hive 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 ? Sor , 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 tett 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 onlookerswd . You did not see them again except as sport clothes , odd-looking ash so that you did not see them unless you passed close to a table . AlRather . I 'm going with you , if you do n't mind . " " How 's you

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

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)

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

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?

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)

DISCOURSE PRESENTATION

Speech presentation Writing presentation Thought presentation(F)DSFree Direct Speech

When he did come home to his house his wife sayd, where is my brandiron or trefete(The Mad Men of Gotham)

(F)DWFree Direct Writing

he began and wrote again – Be mine, with all your poverty.(Tom Jones)

(F)DTFree Direct Thought

Very well, thought I(Moll Flanders)

ISIndirect Speech

The Princesse told her, that she had beene lately troubled with a most untoward and fearfull dreame(Cloria and Narcissus)

IWIndirect Writing

Middleton also writes to them out of Holland, that Colonel Dezmond was shipped away…(Every Day’s Intelligence)

ITIndirect Thought

And he shou’d have been entirely comforted, but for the Thought that she was possess’d by his Grandfather.(Ooroonoko)

FISFree Indirect Speech

The rougues presented each a pistol to them, and bid them deliver, or they would blow the brains out of their heads(The Country Journal)

FIWFree Indirect Writing

No occurrence in the corpus FITFree Indirect Thought

But Dedalus finding, he could not build his determinations upon these uncertainties, wherein both the safety of the towne and his own honour might probably suffer(Cloria and Narcissus)

NRSANarrator’s Presentation of a Speech Act

The wynde also began to blow agayne: wherfore we were glad and lauded and thanked god(Hevy newes of an horryble earthquake)

NRWANarrator’s Presentation of a Writing Act

and commytted unto hym the same by Instruccyon sygned and subscrybed with his owne hande(An account of the Battle of Flodden)

NRTANarrator’s Presentation of a Thought Act

All this, you may be sure, was as I wished.(Moll Flanders)

NINarrator’s Presentation of an Internal State

His arguments and divisions being so many, that they caused a great confusion in his brain.(The Blazing World)

NVNarrator’s Presentation of Voice

My lord then made another and a longer speech of the same sort(Tom Jones)

NWNarrator’s Presentation of Writing

The late Parliament having upon their dissolution delivered up the Power which they received from his Excellency at their first sitting, by a Writing under their Hands and Seal(Every Day’s Intelligence)

NTNarrator’s Presentation of Thought

filled her imagination with some unprofitable thoughts(Cloria and Narcissus)

NRSNarrator’s Report of Speech

When he did come home to his house his wife sayd, where is my brandiron or trefete(The Mad Men of Gotham)

NRWNarrator’s Report of Writing

he began and wrote again – Be mine, with all your poverty.(Tom Jones)

NRTNarrator’s Report of Thought

Very well, thought I(Moll Flanders)

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>

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)

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

• 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).

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)

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)

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).

Stuart, Oliver and Gillian

Research questions• How are the impressions of these 3 characters

created?• Are there differences in the narrations and do

these differences relate to character?

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.

Culpeper’s (2001) checklist

Textual Cues

Cues from characters

Explicit Cues

Self-presentation

Other-presentation

Authorial cues

Implicit Cues

Conversational structure

Conversational

implicature

(Im)Politeness

Lexis

Syntactic features

Accent and dialect

Verse and prose

Paralinguistic features

Visual features

Context

Stage directions character names

• 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

Method

Key-concepts: Stuart Key-concepts: Oliver Key-concepts: GillianPRONOUNS (4018), DISCONTENT (22), MONEY GENERALLY (56), EXCESSIVE DRINKING (15), EXISTING (877), MONEY: DEBTS (27), TIME (90), PEOPLE: FEMALE (60), SPEECH: NOT COMMUNICATING (6)

UNMATCHED (785), ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (312), GENERAL APPEARANCE AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (64),LIVING CREATURES: ANIMALS, BIRDS, ETC. (89), GRAMMATICAL BIN (6755), MUSIC AND RELATED ACTIVITIES (41),INVESTIGATE, EXAMINE, TEST, SEARCH (46), COLOUR AND COLOUR PATTERNS (100), SHORT AND NARROW (9),WARFARE, DEFENCE AND THE ARMY; WEAPONS (34), MENTAL ACTIONS AND PROCESSES (18), SENSORY: TOUCH (19), ARTS AND CRAFTS (58), SMOKING AND NON-MEDICAL DRUGS (32), RELIGION AND THE SUPERNATURAL (58), SELFISH (31)

SPEECH: COMMUNICATIVE (232),PRONOUNS (2911), SOUND: QUIET (17), SUBSTANCES AND MATERIALS: LIQUID (24), LINEAR ORDER (159),EVALUATION: ACCURATE (20),THOUGHT, BELIEF (178)

Rank USAS Category Freq. Oliver Freq. others LL

1 Z99 [UNMATCHED] 785 (3.24) 307 (0.73) 557.73

2 B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY] 312 (1.29) 318 (0.76) 43.13

3O4.1 [GENERAL APPEARANCE AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES]

64 (0.26) 31 (0.07) 36.71

4 L2 [LIVING CREATURES: ANIMALS, BIRDS, ETC.] 89 (0.37) 57 (0.14) 35.28

5 Z5 [GRAMMATICAL BIN] 6755 (27.91) 10696 (25.6) 30.58

6 K2 [MUSIC AND RELATED ACTIVITIES] 41 (0.17) 16 (0.04) 29.19

7 X2.4 [INVESTIGATE, EXAMINE, TEST, SEARCH] 46 (0.19) 21 (0.05) 28.13

8 O4.3 [COLOUR AND COLOUR PATTERNS] 100 (0.41) 78 (0.19) 27.83

9 N3.7- [SHORT AND NARROW] 9 (0.04) 0 (0) 18.05

10 G3 [WARFARE, DEFENCE AND THE ARMY; WEAPONS] 34 (0.14) 19 (0.05) 16.39

11 X2 [MENTAL ACTIONS AND PROCESSES] 18 (0.07) 6 (0.01) 14.59

12 X3.3 [SENSORY: TOUCH] 19 (0.08) 7 (0.02) 14.22

13 C1 [ARTS AND CRAFTS] 58 (0.24) 48 (0.11) 14.20

14 F3 [SMOKING AND NON-MEDICAL DRUGS] 32 (0.13) 20 (0.05) 13.17

15 S9 [RELIGION AND THE SUPERNATURAL] 58 (0.24) 51 (0.12) 12.29

16 S1.2.3+ [SELFISH] 31 (0.13) 20 (0.05) 12.15

Key concepts in Oliver’s narration

Oliver’s UNMATCHED group

achortle, aestival, aestivate, afflatus, albid, amatoriously, apothegm,

appurtenances, atop, beagling, bedewed, bedizened, besmirched, bespatted,

bespy, cartologists, costive, crespucularity, curvous, danegeld, despoiling,

dirigents, doff, dormitor, dotards, duncical, dwelleth, effulgent, estivant,

farouchely, febrifuge, foliar, fomenter, frangible, groweth, hie, inspissated,

jocosity, lachrymose, lachrymosity, laggardly, limpid, lilting, mayhap, milady,

miscegenation, mogadonic, moidore, oaken, oleaginous, pensile, plashing,

plodden, quailing, quaveringly, quinquennium, quotidian, quiddity,

rebarbatively, rubescent, runically, saturnine, sempiternal, scurrile, slaked,

sloughed, sog, steatopygous, swain, swaddle, sward, termitic, trepidatiously,

triste, trysting, uranian, venery, vomitorium, wist, yeoman, yore

Oliver’s UNMATCHED group

propanol, isobutyraldehyde, auscultatory, embryonically, xylene, sulphurous,

spectroscopic, pheromones, pachydermatous, deliquesce, rectal, colonic,

faecal, gonads, micturition, ejaculatory, jugular, mucous, corporeal, lactating,

tricep, sputum, subcutaneously, carcinogenic, goitrous, propranolol, valerian.

Beowulf, Berlitz, Casanova, Cartier-Bresson, Dorabella, Ganymede, Goliath,

Halley, Herod, Kafka, Lares, Morpheus, Mélisande, Orfeo, Palladio, Patrodus,

Pelléas, Poulenc, Schreker, Shostakovich, Silenius, Rossini, Rimsky, Tatyana,

Thalia, Tiepolo, Tristan, Uccello, Oskar Werner, Orson Welles, Voltaire

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”.

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.

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

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]face (24), hair (17), hand (11), back (10), shit (8), heart (8), eyes (7), head (6), mouth (6), finger (5),

ear (5), ears (5), arm (5), teeth (5), tears (4), nose (4), eye (4), skull (4), chin (4), blood (4), hands (4),

palm (3), cerebral (3), shoulders (3), cheek (3), heads (3), visage (3), arms (3), forehead (3), faces (3),

sleeping (3), peeing (3), lips (2), cortex (2), pee (2), nerves (2), palms (2), bum (2), derriere (2), tongue

(2), sweat (2), throat (2), scowl (2), feet (2), pregnant (2), tired (2), fingers (2), lenses (2), thumb (1),

spine (1), maracas (1), shoulder (1), nocturnal (1), bowels (1), wrist (1), excrement (1), sputum (1),

spit (1), nipple (1), tongues (1), guts (1), oral (1), pout (1), scowling (1), brows (1), wake_up (1), foot

(1), coeur (1), inhale (1), lap (1), thirst (1), moles (1), membrane (1), dental (1), artery (1), under-arm

(1), tissue (1), lapping (1); pulse (1), courgettes (1), marrow (1), bitches_off (1), mitt (1), went_to_bed

(1), organ (1), agile (1), muscle (1), tendons (1), jaw (1), blinking (1), moustache (1), waist (1), erection

(1), fingernails (1), hip (1), wristwatch (1), pudendum (1), breathe (1), lobes (1), genetic (1), septum

(1), tics (1), roused (1), bicep (1), muscles (1), hiccup (1), tan (1), snap_fingers (1), breasts (1), bitten

(1), crying (1), knee (1), cheeks (1), blinked (1), physical (1), bit (1), wakes_up (1), woke_up (1), organs

(1), fart (1), thumbs (1), ankles (1), skin (1), piss (1), cranium (1), duplicitous (1), stomach (1), flesh

(1), breath (1), frown (1), lungs (1), brain (1), bladder (1), sleep (1), neck (1), pissed (1), waking (1),

elbow (1), shiver (1), swallow (1), forearms (1), baldness (1), farted (1), quaff (1), quaffed (1)

145 types / 312 tokens

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]

• Look at the concordances• See who the anatomical/physiological word

relates to

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]der health of the yen on his wristwatchcomputer , a barman who knowsglass which concentrates the nose , Stuart sliding onto the nexYou think I 'm a patronising pudendum, do n't you ? It 's not real , that Stuart And we go way back - way , way back , back to thd we go way back - way , way back , back to the time when you cion temporarily permitted tobreathe the upper air would have done . Before Gillian , I mean . Back in the days when a groat and r jest might have escaped my lips . But I was happy for him . Hnearly tickled him under the ears . I 'd tried not to make my a , Stuart touched her on the arm - not a gesture I had ever sen accurate simulacrum of her visage and demeanour with the left-lic pair of trainers . Marron hair pulled back and clipped over ed back and clipped over her ears , falling freely behind ; lacramatised her generous brown eyes ; petite mouth and jaunty nosgenerous brown eyes ; petite mouth and jaunty nose , set rather es ; petite mouth and jaunty nose , set rather low on the taperw on the tapered oval of her face , thus emphasising the curvedng the curved hauteur of herforehead . Ears with practically no loed hauteur of her forehead . Ears with practically no lobes , Id . Ears with practically no lobes, I could n't help noticing , could n't help noticing , a genetic trait of increasing popularited as twitchy as a rabbit 's septum . She was twenty-eight , I diat these outward behavioural tics were reliable indicators of rnefit of anaesthetic , which roused him to suggest that perhaps tor interview by laying their hand on the sofa cushion , and thewn , failing to remove their hand ? I acquainted the Principal ten lead to withering of the bicepand tricep muscles , which inring of the bicep and tricep muscles , which in turn led to a breain the chain of command from cerebral GHQ to courting finger . I torom cerebral GHQ to courting finger . I told the now somewhat quiu and Gillie about my career hiccup : a trouble shared is not , i-bummed stride , the fuck-me tan , the effulgent cuff-links ,

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]

• 71 (23%) refer to Gillian’s anatomy and physiology,

• 47 (15%) to Stuart’s, • 65 (21%) to Oliver’s, • 11 (4%) to the anatomy and physiology of

other narrators in the story, • and 116 (37%) relate to other people, or

people in general.

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]der health of the yen on his wristwatchcomputer , a barman who knowsglass which concentrates the nose , Stuart sliding onto the nexYou think I 'm a patronising pudendum, do n't you ? It 's not real , that Stuart And we go way back - way , way back , back to thd we go way back - way , way back , back to the time when you cion temporarily permitted tobreathe the upper air would have done . Before Gillian , I mean . Back in the days when a groat and r jest might have escaped my lips . But I was happy for him . Hnearly tickled him under the ears . I 'd tried not to make my a , Stuart touched her on the arm - not a gesture I had ever sen accurate simulacrum of her visage and demeanour with the left-lic pair of trainers . Marron hair pulled back and clipped over ed back and clipped over her ears , falling freely behind ; lacramatised her generous brown eyes ; petite mouth and jaunty nosgenerous brown eyes ; petite mouth and jaunty nose , set rather es ; petite mouth and jaunty nose , set rather low on the taperw on the tapered oval of her face , thus emphasising the curvedng the curved hauteur of herforehead . Ears with practically no loed hauteur of her forehead . Ears with practically no lobes , Id . Ears with practically no lobes, I could n't help noticing , could n't help noticing , a genetic trait of increasing popularited as twitchy as a rabbit 's septum . She was twenty-eight , I diat these outward behavioural tics were reliable indicators of rnefit of anaesthetic , which roused him to suggest that perhaps tor interview by laying their hand on the sofa cushion , and thewn , failing to remove their hand ? I acquainted the Principal ten lead to withering of the bicepand tricep muscles , which inring of the bicep and tricep muscles , which in turn led to a breain the chain of command from cerebral GHQ to courting finger . I torom cerebral GHQ to courting finger . I told the now somewhat quiu and Gillie about my career hiccup : a trouble shared is not , i-bummed stride , the fuck-me tan , the effulgent cuff-links ,

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]

Oliver says :“[...] I failed to deposit an accurate simulacrum of her visage and demeanour with the left-luggage clerk of memory [...]”

(Barnes 1991:30)

B1 [ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY]

Marron hair pulled back and clipped over her ears, falling freely behind; lack of make-up bestowing a pallor which dramatised her generous brown eyes; petite mouth and jaunty nose, set rather low on the tapered oval of her face, thus emphasising the curved hauteur of her forehead. Ears with practically no lobes […]. Barnes (1991:30)

(B1[ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY] word-forms underlined.)

Conclusions

• It’s not the case that corpus linguistics gives stylistics rigour – stylistics, if done properly, is rigorous anyway.

• But offers potential to extend rigour over longer texts.

Conclusions

• Combining corpus linguistics with stylistics is said to reduce subjectivity and arbitrariness and add systematicity

• BUT, these things should not be taken for granted

• Corpus stylistic analysis must be managed carefully.

References

• Trodd, Z. (2007) ‘Hemingway’s camera eye: the problem of language and an interwar politics of form’, The Hemingway Review 26(2): 7-21.