Literature and Corpora Corpus Linguistics Summer Institute 30

Literature and Corpora Corpus Linguistics Summer Institute, 30 June – 3 July 2008 University of Liverpool Michaela Mahlberg

Today’s talk Literature and computer corpora ? Corpus stylistics and theoretical context Examples Work in progress and further directions 2

I am in a car park in Leeds when I tell my husband I don't want to be married to him anymore. David isn't even in the car park with me. He's at home, looking after the kids, and I have only called him to remind him that he should write a note for Molly's class teacher. The other bit just sort of. . . slips out. This is a mistake, obviously. Even though I am, apparently, and to my immense surprise, the kind of person who tells her husband that she doesn't want to be married to him anymore, I really didn't think that I was the kind of person to say so in a car park, on a mobile phone. That particular self-assessment will now have to be revised, clearly. I can describe myself as the kind of person who doesn't forget names, for example, because I have remembered names thousands of times and forgotten them only once or twice. But for the majority of people, marriage-ending conversations happen only once, if at all. If you choose to conduct yours on a mobile phone, in a Leeds car park, then you cannot really claim that it is unrepresentative, in the same way that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't really claim that shooting presidents wasn't like him at all. Sometimes we have to be 3 judged by our one-offs.

I am in a car park in Leeds when I tell my husband I don't want to be married to him anymore. David isn't even in the car park with me. He's at home, looking after the kids, and I have only called him to remind him that he should write a note for Molly's class teacher. The other bit just sort of. . . slips out. This is a mistake, obviously. Even though I am, apparently, and to my immense surprise, the kind of person who tells her husband that she doesn't want to be married to him anymore, I really didn't think that I was the kind of person to say so in a car park, on a mobile phone. That particular self-assessment will now have to be revised, clearly. I can describe myself as the kind of person who doesn't forget names, for example, because I have remembered names thousands of times and forgotten them only once or twice. But for the majority of people, marriage-ending conversations happen only once, if at all. If you choose to conduct yours on a mobile phone, in a Leeds car park, then you cannot really claim that it is unrepresentative, in the same way that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't really claim that shooting presidents wasn't like him at all. Sometimes we have to 4 be judged by our one-offs.

Corpus approaches to literature ? Corpus Linguistics 2005 Oxford Workshop 2006 Pala 2006 Corpus Linguistics 2007 Corpus style mailing list 5

Literature in Corpora ? naturalness, mainstream, repeated patterns in a general corpus a literary text will disappear below the waves (Sinclair 2007) a novel as a unit of meaning (world of the text) text length and balance copyright 6

Literature and computers “the gap is still immense between what readers can do effortlessly, and what a computer can do. Scholars interested in calling on a computer to aid their research are limited to a very narrow range of possible operations, and such operations still fall largely outside the mainstream work of literary scholarship. ” (Miall 1996: online) 7

Literature and language descriptions / grammars “Literature is a prime example of language in use; no systematic apparatus can claim to describe language if it does not embrace the literature also; and not as a freakish development, but as a natural specialization of categories which are required in other parts of the descriptive system. Further, the literature must be describable in terms which accord with the priorities of literary critics. ” (Sinclair 2004: 51) 8

Literariness? “a cline of literariness in language use with some uses of language being marked as more literary than others in certain domains and for certain judges within that domain” (Carter 2004: 69) 9

Corpus stylistics: corpus linguistics + literary stylistics ? L criticism of literary stylistics L corpus-based vs. corpus-driven: stylistics checklist (nouns, verbs, simple sentences, cohesion, etc. ) or challenging linguistic categories (lexical items, patterns) 10

Corpus stylistics: corpus linguistics + literary stylistics ? style is “distinctive: in essence, the set or sum of linguistic features that seem to be characteristic: whether of register, genre, or period, etc” ( Wales 2001: 371) J can be interpreted in CL terms: corpus work is based on comparison 11

Corpus stylistics: corpus linguistics + literary stylistics ? the description of deviations from linguistic norms (Leech 1985) J can be interpreted in CL terms: primary deviation: norms of the language as a whole secondary deviation: norms of literary composition, e. g. author, genre tertiary deviation: internal, norms of a text 12

characterising meanings of words word out of textual context KWIC word in a specific text ? 13

Local textual functions local: apply to (a group of) lexical items in a (group of) texts textual: focus on lexical items in relation to features of texts 14

Clusters as pointers to local textual functions Repetition as evidence of functional relevance. A cluster is a sequence of words that are used repeatedly (at the same time, on the one hand. . on the other hand, at the end of the …. ) 15

Clusters: counting and comparing (norms and deviations) Counting: ü at the end of the is one of the most frequent 5 -word clusters English ü it appeared to me that occurs 7 x in Great Expectations 16

Clusters: counting and comparing (norms and deviations) Comparing: üGeneral corpora üDickens corpus: ~ 4. 5 million words, 23 texts ü 19 th century novel corpus (19 C): ~ 4. 5 million words, 29 texts, 18 authors ü key clusters 17

Striking and long clusters in Dickens: 51 8 -word clusters (min. 5) THE ANGLO-BENGALEE DISINTERESTED LOAN AND LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY (8 words, MC) NOT TO PUT TOO FINE A POINT UPON IT (9 words, BH) (THE) UNITED METROPOLITAN IMPROVED HOT MUFFIN AND CRUMPET BAKING AND PUNCTUAL DEVLIVERY COMPANY (13 words, NN) 18

corpus-driven categories for the 66 key clusters (dynamic groups, ad hoc labels) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Labels 20 Speech 14 As if 6 Body parts 9 Time and place 5 Rest 12

Labels D 19 C THE FATHER OF THE MARSHALSEA 45 0 THE PERSON OF THE HOUSE 37 0 THE LADY OF THE CARAVAN 22 0 MAN OF THE NAME OF 22 1 THE OLD MAN WITH A 21 0 CAPTAIN GILLS SAID MR TOOTS 20 0 MY DEAR SAID THE JEW 19 0 MR PICKWICK AND HIS FRIENDS 19 0 GENTLEMAN IN THE WHITE WAISTCOAT 18 0 THE GENTLEMAN IN THE WHITE 17 0 HOW NOT TO DO IT 16 0

Speech D 19 C DO ME THE FAVOUR TO 31 0 WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 73 15 BEG YOUR PARDON SIR SAID 25 0 UPON MY WORD AND HONOUR 25 1 I BEG YOUR PARDON SIR 56 11 HOW DO YOU FIND YOURSELF 23 0 HOW DO YOU DO MR 29 2 YOU BE SO GOOD AS 19 1 WHAT I AM GOING TO 29 3 AM GLAD TO SEE YOU 24 2

Body part clusters D 19 C HIS HANDS IN HIS POCKETS 90 13 WITH HIS HANDS IN HIS 60 12 HANDS IN HIS POCKETS AND 40 5 WITH HIS HAND TO HIS 31 2 LAYING HIS HAND UPON HIS 22 1 HIS HEAD AS IF HE 18 0 THE PALMS OF HIS HANDS 17 0 HIS HEAD ON ONE SIDE 30 4 HIS HAND AS IF HE 15 1

As if D 19 C AS IF HE WOULD HAVE 41 2 AS IF HE WERE A 45 7 AS IF HE WERE GOING 32 3 IF HE WERE GOING TO 26 3 AS IF IT WERE A 72 23

Time and place D 19 C ON THE TOP OF HIS 21 0 AT THE UPPER END OF 23 1 ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF 54 15 AFTER A GREAT DEAL OF 16 0 THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE 70 26

IN THE COURSE OF THE A QUARTER OF AN HOUR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AT THE TOP OF THE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF AT THE END OF THE OTHER SIDE OF THE UP AND DOWN THE ROOM

What do (key) clusters tell us? Dickens uses more 5 word-clusters. Dickens seems to like certain clusters. . Why?

Local textual functions: body part clusters Contextualising Highlighting

Details of local textual functions Contextualising 'You see, Mr Richard, ' said Brass, thrusting his hands in his pockets, and rocking himself to and fro on his stool, 'the fact is, … (Old Curiosity Shop) 'Let me see then, ' resumed Mr Boffin, with his hand to his chin. 'It was Secretary that you named; wasn't it? ' (Our Mutual Friend) "Eh? What do you say I have got of my own? " asked Mr. Smallweed with his hand to his ear. (Bleak House) 28

Highligthing He was the meekest of his sex, the mildest of little men. He sidled in and out of a room, to take up the less space. He walked as softly as the Ghost in Hamlet, and more slowly. He carried his head on one side, partly in modest depreciation of himself, partly in modest propitiation of everybody else. It is nothing to say that he hadn't a word to throw at a dog. He couldn't have thrown a word at a mad dog. He might have offered him one gently, or half a one, or a fragment of one; for he spoke as slowly as he walked; but he wouldn't have been rude to him, and he couldn't have been quick with him, for any earthly consideration. Mr. Chillip, looking mildly at my aunt with his head on one side, and making her a little bow, said, in allusion to the jewellers' cotton, as he softly touched his left ear: 'Some local irritation, ma'am? ‘ (David Copperfield) 29

'That little man of a doctor, with his head on one side, ' said my aunt, 'Jellips, or whatever his name was, what was he about? 30

Character Mr Snagsby Clusters associated with the character Mr Guppy MAN OF THE NAME OF, OF THE NAME OF GUPPY, YOUNG MAN OF THE NAME, THE YOUNG MAN OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OVER WHICH I HAVE, OVER WHICH I HAVE NO, WHICH I HAVE NO CONTROL YOUR LADYSHIP SAYS MR GUPPY Mr Bagnet OLD GIRL SAYS MR BAGNET, BUT I NEVER OWN TO, I NEVER OWN TO IT, NEVER OWN TO IT BEFORE, BEFORE HER DISCIPLINE MUST BE, HER DISCIPLINE MUST BE MAINTAINED, IT BEFORE HER DISCIPLINE MUST, OWN TO IT BEFORE HER, THE OLD GIRL SAYS MR, TO IT BEFORE HER DISCIPLINE NOT TO PUT TOO FINE, PUT TOO FINE A POINT, TO PUT TOO FINE A, FINE A POINT UPON IT, TOO FINE A POINT UPON

Mr Jellyby HIS HEAD AGAINST THE WALL, WITH HIS HEAD AGAINST THE Mr Bucket SIR LEICESTER DEDLOCK BARONET I BY SIR LEICESTER DEDLOCK BARONET NOW SIR LEICESTER DEDLOCK BARONET INSPECTOR BUCKET OF THE DETECTIVE Mr George YOUR FRIEND IN THE CITY I ASK YOUR PARDON SIR Richard AS WELL AS ANYTHING ELSE, DO AS WELL AS ANYTHING ELSE Esther I THOUGHT IT BEST TO WHEN WE CAME TO THE

Mr Vholes IN THE VALE OF TAUNTON Mr Jarndyce HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT, SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT, WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY Miss Flite Charley Chadband Grandfather Smallweed I EXPECT A JUDGMENT SHORTLY IF YOU PLEASE MISS SAID IN A SPIRIT OF LOVE RIGHT THAT I SHOULD BE YOU ARE TO US A MY FRIEND IN THE CITY TO LOOK AFTER THE PROPERTY Krook Jo MY NOBLE AND LEARNED BROTHER WOS WERY GOOD TO ME

And she rings for Mercury to show the young man of the name of Guppy out. But in that house, in that same moment, there happens to be an old man of the name of Tulkinghorn. And that old man, coming with his quiet footstep to the library, has his hand at that moment on the handle of the door-comes in--and comes face to face with the young man as he is leaving the room. (Bleak House, Chapter 33)

Example of Bleak House Labels most frequent (59 out of 97) Speech labels (e. g. Esther) Character pairs and relationships (Guppy, Bagnet, Bucket, Charley, …) Body part cluster labels (Mr Jellyby) groups of characters that get labels (cf. Tulkinghorn, Lady Dedlock) point of view (Snagsby)

Local textual functions: Clusters not automatically associated with the same functions in all texts. 5 -word clusters useful for comparison: Dickens uses more clusters and cluster functions, in 19 C clusters max character-cluster link in 19 C = 3) the 5 functional groups tend to cover 5 -word clusters differences between novels (BH ~ 350, 000: 97 5 word clusters, 59 labels, 2 As If, GE ~180, 000: 21 5 -word clusters, 4 As If) the longer the cluster, the more text-specific, long clusters useful for literary analysis (the young man of the name of Guppy)

general Dickens 19 C novel

Classification of cluster types into 5 functional groups, figures per 100, 000 words (For each text all 5 -word clusters >4 are classified =716 different types)

Clusters and characterisation • small numbers have to be treated with caution, clusters can not provide full picture of individual character, clusters only point to what is explicitly there, 5 -clusters as formal startingpoint • characterisation is a process, forming impressions of characters in our minds (Culpeper 2001) • but: features of characters have to be seen with regard to textual world, behaviour interpreted against norms of the text world

Speech clusters: definition • Signals of interaction, formal criteria for definition ( inferences about personality? ) i have no doubt of i do not know what i am not at all you need not be afraid

Speech clusters: definition • Speech clusters are not the same as ‘imitation of spoken language’ not a bit of it 1 2 3 4 5 6 all 21 FDS/DS are reconciled then? ' said Perker. 'Not ping her hands and shaking her head. 'Not Dick. 'No I haven't, ' she returned, 'not ing her hands, and shaking her head. 'Not of course it's not. Is it in Africa? Not on't believe it, ' cried the gentleman, 'not a a a bit bit bit of of of it, ' answered Wardle; 'she it. ' 'At least, his name it. Don't you mind about it. ' 'Handford then, ' su it. Is it in America? YOU it. It's an excuse not t

all that sort of thing tendency for FDS/DS but: Mr. Pickwick's upright and honourable bearing, coupled with that force and energy of speech which so eminently distinguished him, would have carried conviction to any reasonable mind; but, unfortunately, at that particular moment, the mind of Mr. Peter Magnus was in anything but reasonable order. Consequently, instead of receiving Mr. Pickwick's explanation as he ought to have done, he forthwith proceeded to work himself into a redhot, scorching, consuming passion, and to talk about what was due to his own feelings, and all that sort of thing; adding force to his declamation by striding to and fro, and pulling his hair-amusements which he would vary occasionally, by shaking his fist in Mr. Pickwick's philanthropic countenance.

• Speech clusters are not the same as the ‘speech tics’, ‘character tags’, or idiolects described in Dickens criticism I‘ll tell you wot it all 6 in PP but I never own to all 6 in BH But I never own to it before her. Discipline must be maintained. (character tags and flat characters: same behaviour in different situations)

politeness promoting social harmony (cf. Leech 1983, Brown & Levinson 1987) am delighted to see you am glad to see you am much obliged to you beg your pardon sir how do you do mr I wish you good night

impoliteness: attacking face (cf. Culpeper 1996) what have you got to. . . Now, it so happened that Mr. Fang was at that moment perusing a leading article in a newspaper of the morning, . . . He was out of temper; and he looked up with an angry scowl. 'Who are you? ' said Mr. Fang. The old gentleman pointed, with some surprise, to his card. 'Officer!' said Mr. Fang, tossing the card contemptuously away with the newspaper. 'Who is this fellow? ' 'My name, sir, ' said the old gentleman, speaking like a gentleman, 'my name, sir, is Brownlow.

'Officer!' said Mr. Fang, throwing the paper on one side, 'what's this fellow charged with? ' 'He's not charged at all, your worship, ' replied the officer. 'He appears against this boy, your worship. ' His worship knew this perfectly well; but it was a good annoyance, and a safe one. . . 'Now, ' said Fang, 'what's the charge against this boy? What have you got to say, sir? ’. . . 'Swear the man, ' growled Mr. Fang. with a very ill grace. 'Now, man, what have you got to say? '

what have you got to (21) what have you got to say for yourself. . what have you got to say to me. . . power relationships of characters (not only magistrate)

pointers to impoliteness and conflict DCorp 19 C what do you mean by 73 15 what do you want here 15 0 (cf. also key clusters)

The respected Mr Lammle was a bully, by nature and by usual practice. Perceiving, as Fledgeby's affronts cumulated, that conciliation by no means answered the purpose here, he now directed a scowling look into Fledgeby's small eyes for the effect of the opposite treatment. Satisfied by what he saw there, he burst into a violent passion and struck his hand upon the table, making the china ring and dance. 'You are a very offensive fellow, sir, ' cried Mr Lammle, rising. 'You are a highly offensive scoundrel. What do you mean by this behaviour? ' […] 'I say, ' repeated Fledgeby, with laborious explanatory politeness, 'I beg your pardon. ’ (OMF)

'Now, sir, ' said Mr Dorrit, turning round upon him and seizing him by the collar when they were safely alone. 'What do you mean by this? ' The amazement and horror depicted in the unfortunate John's face--for he had rather expected to be embraced next--were of that powerfully expressive nature that Mr Dorrit withdrew his hand merely glared at him. 'How dare you do this? ' said Mr Dorrit. 'How do you presume to come here? How dare you insult me? '. . 'I humbly beg your pardon, sir. .

. . . Mrs Quilp, to whom, after contemplating her for some time in silence, he communicated a violent start by suddenly yelling out--'Halloa!' 'Oh, Quilp!' cried his poor little wife, looking up. 'How you frightened me!' 'I meant to, you jade, ' returned the dwarf. 'What do you want here? . . .

aggression as personality trait, villains, hostile relationships but also local context: example of PP

… Dickens very conveniently was a prolific writer… 53

Joint work with Dan Mc. Intyre 54

Aims of the Bond Project • Why Bond? – popular fiction – under-represented within stylistics (though see Ryder 1999; Montoro 2007) – Some literary critical interest (Lindner 2003, Comentale et al. 2005) though considerable lack of focus on the text • Why focus on Casino Royale? – First book in the series; film version released this year, bestseller • What questions do we want to investigate? – What are the stylistic characteristics of Casino Royale? – How is the character of Bond constructed linguistically? – Does a corpus stylistic analysis tie in with literary critical comment on Bond?

Key semantic domains via Wmatrix assigns semantic tags, 21 discourse fields 56

Top 10 key semantic domains Casino Royale compared against BNC Written Sampler Semantic domain Log-likelihood value Examples (1) Pronouns 1375. 62 it, he, his, him (2) Anatomy and physiology 1030. 25 body, arm, profile, chin (3) Games 391. 55 casino, gambler, croupier (4) Light 348. 72 light, illuminated, sunshine (5) Unmatched 217. 84 salle, privee, caisse (6) Furniture and household fittings 171. 18 table, stool, pillow, bed (7) Degree 146. 83 as [high as], as [serious as] (8) Parts of buildings 137. 51 vault, passages, doors (9) Location and direction 131. 71 away from, top, left (10) Darkness 104. 00 dark, unlit, darkness 57

References to Bond’s BODY 58

Key words: building blocks for the world of the text • fewer key words and more selective than Wmatrix 183 words 189 key words in category to start analysis ‘Anatomy and physiology’ • groups of key words built bottom-up (by means of concordancing)

Names (people and places) Bond, Bond’s M Chiffre, Chiffre’s, Le Vesper, Versper’s, Lynd Pont, du Mathis Splendide, Paris, Jamaica, Leningrad

Casino physical aspects of the casino (table, cards, plaques, shoe, rail) people and their roles in the casino (players, croupier, spectators) aspects of games (maximums, bet, slipped) numbers and money (neuf, notes) French words and phrases in the games Messieurs, mesdames, les jeux sont faits. Un banco de cinq cent mille.

Spying gunmen, gunman, organization, smoke-bomb, double, bureau, agent, memorandum, 007, MWD trace … at Royale trying to trace the Jamaican millionaire … … it would take hours to trace the ownership to him … There was no trace of the gunman, … … Next he examined a faint trace of talcum powder on the inner rim … effort to find out, mystery … with a trace of impatience … … Le Chiffre showed no trace of emotion. … characterisation

• Settings and props people/jobs concierge, patron, sommelier places boulevard, night-club, coast, villa, side-road food, drink, champagne, caviar Vesper and Bond having a meal clothes pyjama-coat, dinner-jacket Le Chiffre’s benzedrine inhaler furniture arm-chair cane chair and cane carpet -beater in torture scene

Themes and characterisation luck A 1. 4 Chance, luck black O 4. 3 Colour and colour patterns villains G 2. 1 - Crime evil G 2. 2 - unethical all villains (7) and most evil (15 of 19) in chapter 20

Key word luck 1) Bond as a gambler … Bond had always been a gambler. . , and he accepted the fact, he would be brought to his knees by love or by luck…. (Chapter 7) 2) Bond and Vesper/women “Perhaps I will bring you luck” (Chapter 5) … he felt vague disquiet. On an impulse he touched wood…. (Chapter 5)

Key words black, villains, evil The villains and heroes get all mixed up…. . Now in order to tell the difference between good and evil, we have manufactured two images representing the extremes – representing the deepest black and the purest white – and we call them God and the Devil. (chapter 20) Clothes Vesper: black dress, black velvet skirt, black velvet ribbon on her hat, black hair Bond: black satin tie, black hair

in KW list Anatomy and physiology category not so clearly visible, but: 'Well, when you get back to London you will find there are other Le Chiffres seeking to destroy you and your friends and your country. […] And now that you have seen a really evil man, you will know how evil they can be and you will go after them to destroy them in order to protect yourself and the people you love. […] You may want to be certain that the target really is black, but there are plenty of really black targets around. There's still plenty for you to do. And you'll do it. And when you fall in love and have a mistress or a wife and children to look after, it will seem all the easier. ' Mathis opened the door and stopped on the threshold. 'Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles. ’ He laughed. 'But don't let me down and become human yourself. We would lose such a wonderful machine. ’ (Chapter 20)

Conclusions ü corpus findings can provide insights into the ‘world of a novel’ ü the need for local descriptions ü linking linguistic and literary discussion 68

Future work: bottom-up and top-down: q reception q effects on reader q script and film 69

Further detail…. Mahlberg, M. 2007. "Corpora and translation studies: textual functions of lexis in Bleak House and in a translation of the novel into German". In V. Intonti, G. Todisco, and M. Gatto (eds), La Traduzione. Lo Stato dell'Arte. Translation. The State of the Art. Ravenna: Longo, 115 -135 -- 2007. “Clusters, key clusters and local textual functions in Dickens”, Corpora. -- 2007. “Corpus stylistics: bridging the gap between linguistic and literary studies” In Hoey, M. , Mahlberg, M. , Stubbs, M. , Teubert, W. forthcoming. Text, Discourse and Corpora. Theory and Analysis. London: Continuum. -- forthcoming, 2007 “A corpus stylistic perspective on Dickens’ Great Expectations”. In M. Lambrou and P. Stockwell. Contemporary Stylistics. London: Continuum. 70