Utilizing corpus stylistics to facilitate literary analysis: An assessment of the effectiveness of semantic domains in identifying major literary themes in a selection of Charles Dickens novels
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37134/ajelp.vol10.1.9.2022Keywords:
Corpus Stylistics, WMatrix5, semantic domains, Charles DickensAbstract
This paper argues that corpus linguistic procedures can be considered an addition to the analytical inventory of traditional stylistics. It aims to explore how corpus linguistic procedures, particularly semantic domains, can be effective in detecting major literary themes in fiction. In order to do so, five corpora have been compiled: a corpus for each of the four novels of Charles Dickens’ selected (i.e., Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend) and a compiled corpus combining all four novels. Wmatrix 5, with the BNC Sampler-Written as a reference corpus, is used to extract the key semantic domains in each corpus respectively. The literature on the selected novels is consulted to identify the major themes; it is then verified whether these themes are reflected in the corpus analysis, and, finally, the extent to which the procedure is effective in reflecting the major literary themes is explored. The findings confirm the effectiveness of the procedure of analysing semantic domains in studying literary texts, particularly in relation to their themes.
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