Chapter 9. Common Language
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Ronald Carter
Abstract
This chapter takes further debates concerning the nature of literary language and the presence of literariness in a range of discourses by exploring the extent to which everyday conversational discourse displays literary properties. The author argues that studies of literary discourse, and of the continuities between literary and non-literary discourse, have tended to focus on written language or on representations of spoken discourse in fictional or dramatic dialogues. This emphasis has made for questionable connections between literature, literacy and the written language because it assumes that spoken language is no more than a less patterned version of written language. Using the Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English (CANCODE), the author shows how verbal inventiveness is pervasive in ordinary talk. The chapter concludes that common, everyday language is far from being either everyday or common – on the contrary, it is pervasively “poetic”.
Abstract
This chapter takes further debates concerning the nature of literary language and the presence of literariness in a range of discourses by exploring the extent to which everyday conversational discourse displays literary properties. The author argues that studies of literary discourse, and of the continuities between literary and non-literary discourse, have tended to focus on written language or on representations of spoken discourse in fictional or dramatic dialogues. This emphasis has made for questionable connections between literature, literacy and the written language because it assumes that spoken language is no more than a less patterned version of written language. Using the Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus of Discourse in English (CANCODE), the author shows how verbal inventiveness is pervasive in ordinary talk. The chapter concludes that common, everyday language is far from being either everyday or common – on the contrary, it is pervasively “poetic”.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
- An indicative list of publications by Walter Nash 9
- Chapter 1. “Warmth of thought” in Walter Nash’s prose and verse 11
- Chapter 2. Chrysanthemums for Bill 37
- Chapter 3. The doubling of design in Walter Nash’s Rhetoric 57
- Chapter 4. Riddling: The dominant rhetorical device in W. H. Auden’s “The Wanderer” 77
- Chapter 5. “My Shakespeare, rise” 85
- Chapter 6. Discourse presentation and point of view in “Cheating at Canasta” by William Trevor 101
- Chapter 7. Doing and teaching 113
- Chapter 8. Fact, fiction and French flights of fancy 127
- Chapter 9. Common Language 149
- Chapter 10. “Americans don’t do Irony” 171
-
POEM
- Defunct Address 193
- Name index 195
- Subject index 199
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
- An indicative list of publications by Walter Nash 9
- Chapter 1. “Warmth of thought” in Walter Nash’s prose and verse 11
- Chapter 2. Chrysanthemums for Bill 37
- Chapter 3. The doubling of design in Walter Nash’s Rhetoric 57
- Chapter 4. Riddling: The dominant rhetorical device in W. H. Auden’s “The Wanderer” 77
- Chapter 5. “My Shakespeare, rise” 85
- Chapter 6. Discourse presentation and point of view in “Cheating at Canasta” by William Trevor 101
- Chapter 7. Doing and teaching 113
- Chapter 8. Fact, fiction and French flights of fancy 127
- Chapter 9. Common Language 149
- Chapter 10. “Americans don’t do Irony” 171
-
POEM
- Defunct Address 193
- Name index 195
- Subject index 199
