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Chapter 3. Corpus stylistics and our corpora

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Abstract

This chapter first discusses how corpus research can contribute to the study of stylistics and reviews how it has been applied to analysing fictional and non-fictional texts. Then the two corpora we created for our comparative research and the annotation systems we applied to the corpora will be discussed. To compare the two corpora we used two different annotation systems to achieve two main aims. One is to identify stylistic features of contemporary present-tense narrative by comparing them with those in past-tense narrative, and the other is to examine whether the way characters’ speech, writing and thoughts are presented in present-tense narrative is different from the way they are presented in past-tense narrative. To achieve the first objective, an automatic part-of-speech annotation system was used, while for the second, a discourse presentation model developed by Semino and Short (2004) was employed.

Abstract

This chapter first discusses how corpus research can contribute to the study of stylistics and reviews how it has been applied to analysing fictional and non-fictional texts. Then the two corpora we created for our comparative research and the annotation systems we applied to the corpora will be discussed. To compare the two corpora we used two different annotation systems to achieve two main aims. One is to identify stylistic features of contemporary present-tense narrative by comparing them with those in past-tense narrative, and the other is to examine whether the way characters’ speech, writing and thoughts are presented in present-tense narrative is different from the way they are presented in past-tense narrative. To achieve the first objective, an automatic part-of-speech annotation system was used, while for the second, a discourse presentation model developed by Semino and Short (2004) was employed.

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. List of tables xi
  5. List of figures xvii
  6. List of abbreviations xix
  7. Chapter 1. Narrative tense 1
  8. Chapter 2. Present tense in fiction 16
  9. Chapter 3. Corpus stylistics and our corpora 34
  10. Chapter 4. The Semino and Short model and the annotation of PREST and PAST 47
  11. Chapter 5. Comparisons of lexis and grammatical structures in PREST and PAST 71
  12. Chapter 6. Comparisons of speech presentation in PREST and PAST 97
  13. Chapter 7. Comparisons of writing presentation in PREST and PAST 144
  14. Chapter 8. Comparisons of thought presentation in PREST and PAST 156
  15. Chapter 9. Comparisons of narration in PREST and PAST 210
  16. Chapter 10. Conclusion 245
  17. Titles of novels and short stories in the corpora 257
  18. References 260
  19. Index 267
A Corpus Stylistics Approach to Contemporary Present-tense Narrative
This chapter is in the book A Corpus Stylistics Approach to Contemporary Present-tense Narrative
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.43.c3

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. List of tables xi
  5. List of figures xvii
  6. List of abbreviations xix
  7. Chapter 1. Narrative tense 1
  8. Chapter 2. Present tense in fiction 16
  9. Chapter 3. Corpus stylistics and our corpora 34
  10. Chapter 4. The Semino and Short model and the annotation of PREST and PAST 47
  11. Chapter 5. Comparisons of lexis and grammatical structures in PREST and PAST 71
  12. Chapter 6. Comparisons of speech presentation in PREST and PAST 97
  13. Chapter 7. Comparisons of writing presentation in PREST and PAST 144
  14. Chapter 8. Comparisons of thought presentation in PREST and PAST 156
  15. Chapter 9. Comparisons of narration in PREST and PAST 210
  16. Chapter 10. Conclusion 245
  17. Titles of novels and short stories in the corpora 257
  18. References 260
  19. Index 267
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