Good-natured fellows and poor mothers
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Hanna Andersdotter Sveen
Abstract
The present paper is a corpus-based study which examines social roles as constructed in British nineteenth-century children’s literature. Both gender roles overall as well as the more specific roles of mother and father are investigated. The main approach is to systematically study adjectival descriptions of characters both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to find recurring patterns of description that function as part of defining a social role. The method of classification is primarily through semantic domains. The study shows that the female social role is defined as involving few mental qualities, whereas a pleasant appearance is important. In contrast, social status and positive mental characteristics are important defining factors for the male social role.
Abstract
The present paper is a corpus-based study which examines social roles as constructed in British nineteenth-century children’s literature. Both gender roles overall as well as the more specific roles of mother and father are investigated. The main approach is to systematically study adjectival descriptions of characters both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to find recurring patterns of description that function as part of defining a social role. The method of classification is primarily through semantic domains. The study shows that the female social role is defined as involving few mental qualities, whereas a pleasant appearance is important. In contrast, social status and positive mental characteristics are important defining factors for the male social role.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Language practices in the construction of social roles in Late Modern English 1
- Mr Spectator, identity and social roles in an early eighteenth-century community of practice and the periodical discourse community 29
- How eighteenth-century book reviewers became language guardians 55
- “if You think me obstinate I can’t help it” 87
- Reporting and social role construction in eighteenth-century personal correspondence 111
- Preacher, scholar, brother, friend 135
- The social space of an eighteenth-century governess 163
- Building trust through (self-)appraisal in nineteenth-century business correspondence 191
- Good-natured fellows and poor mothers 211
- Name index 229
- Subject index 235
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Language practices in the construction of social roles in Late Modern English 1
- Mr Spectator, identity and social roles in an early eighteenth-century community of practice and the periodical discourse community 29
- How eighteenth-century book reviewers became language guardians 55
- “if You think me obstinate I can’t help it” 87
- Reporting and social role construction in eighteenth-century personal correspondence 111
- Preacher, scholar, brother, friend 135
- The social space of an eighteenth-century governess 163
- Building trust through (self-)appraisal in nineteenth-century business correspondence 191
- Good-natured fellows and poor mothers 211
- Name index 229
- Subject index 235
