The language of literature (linguistic, stylistic, multimodal and translation perspectives)

1. The language of literature(linguistic, stylistic, multimodal and translation perspectives) 24.10.11 25.10.11

2. 24/10/11 The first lectures dealing with text, textuality (cohesion and coherence), figures of speech etc. and all the other contents are fundamental to effectively read and analyse literature.

3. A method of analysis How can language description be used in the stylistic/linguistic analysis of a literary text? Every analysis of style is an attempt to find the artistic principles underlying a writer’s choice of language. ALL WRITERS, ALL TEXTS HAVE THEIR INDIVIDUAL QUALITIES

4. Checklist of linguistic and stylistic categories. 4 general headings: • Lexical categories • Grammatical categories • Figures of speech • Context, coherence and cohesion

5. 1. Lexical categories General: Is the vocabulary simple or complex? Formal or colloquial? General or specific? How far does the writer make use of the emotive and other associations of words, as opposed to their referential meaning? Does the text contain idiomatic phrases? Is there any use of specialised vocabulary? Are there any morphological categories noteworthy (compound words, particular suffixes…) To what semantic field do words belong?

6. Nouns: Are the nouns abstract or concrete? What use is made of proper names? adjectives.: Are the adjectives frequent? Kinds of attribute? (Physical? Psychological? Visual? Auditory? Emotive? Evaluative? Gradable or not gradable?

7. Verbs: Do the verbs carry an important part of the meaning? Are they stative or dynamic? Movements? Physical acts? Speech acts? Psychological states? Perceptions? etc. Are they transitive or intransitive?

8. Adverbs: Are adverbs frequent? What semantic function do they perform? (manner, place, direction, time, degree…?)

9. 2. Grammatical categories Sentence type: Does the author use only statements? Or does he also use questions, commands, exclamations? Are there sentences with no verb? What is their function?

10. Sentence complexity: Do sentences have a simple or complex structure? What is the average sentence length? Dependent / independent clauses? Does complexity change strikingly from one sentence to another?

11. Noun phrases: Where does the complexity lie? Premodification or postmodification? Verb phrases: Which tense is used? Are there tense shifts? Use of modals?

12. Function words: Prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, determiners, auxiliaries, interjections. Are they used for particular effect? Other general uses: Comparative, superlatives, parenthetical constructions, broken structures (as in spoken language) Are there lists of words?

13. 3. Figures of speech Are there any cases of repetition (anaphora, parallelism etc.?) or of mirror-image patterns (chiasmus). Why? Phonological patterns (rhyme, alliteration, assonance etc.). Do these patterns interact with meaning? Are there any departures from the linguistic code? Neologisms, deviant collocations, semantic, syntactic, phonological, graphological deviations. What other figures of speech does the text contain? Why?

14. 4. Cohesion, coherence, context Does the text contain logical or other links between sentences? What use is made of cross-references by pronouns (he, she…)? By substitute forms (do, so…)? or ellipsis? Is meaning reinforced by repetition of words and phrases or by using the same semantic field? Are the parts coherent? Does the writer address the reader directly or through the words/thoughts of characters? Is there a clear attitude used by the author towards his subject? If a character’s words/thoughts are represented, is this done by direct quotation or by some other method? Are there shifts in style between the narrator’s language and the characters’ language?

15. In-class analysis What images does the title recall? Narrative style? Narrator? Written or spoken language? Formal/informal? Themes 1) The importance of writing to give evidence 2) ‘Household events’ 3) Madness 4) Horror What is the effect of using ‘domesticity’ and ‘madness’ together? Creation of suspense (expectations)? Use of language? Adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs? Difficult vocabulary? Deviant forms? Cohesion and coherence?

16. The Black Cat FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburden my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified - have tortured - have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror - to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place - some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

17. Something about its language and its translation... FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Alla storia che mi accingo a mettere per iscritto, storia demenziale e tuttavia quanto mai domestica, non mi attendo né pretendo si dia credito. Pazzo sarei davvero ad aspettarmelo, in un caso in cui i miei stessi sensi respingono la loro propria testimonianza.

18. Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburden my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. E tuttavia, non sono pazzo e, certissimamente, non sto sognando. Ma domani muoio, e oggi vorrei sgravarmi l'anima. Mio proposito immediato è di porre davanti al mondo, in modo semplice e succinto, una serie di puri eventi familiari.

19. In their consequences, these events have terrified - have tortured - have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror - to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Le conseguenze di tali eventi mi hanno atterrito, torturato, annientato. Ma non cercherò di spiegarli. Per me non sono stati altro che orrore; a molti sembreranno più baroques che terribili.

20. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place - some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. Nei tempi a venire, forse, si troverà un intelletto capace di ridurre i miei fantasmi a luogo comune: qualche intelletto più calmo, più logico, e assai meno eccitabile del mio, che nelle circostanze da me descritte con terrore non vedrà nulla di più di un'ordinaria successione di cause ed effetti naturalissimi.

21. Another translation…

22. Per i fatti estremamente crudi, ma altrettanto casalinghi, che mi accingo a scrivere, non mi aspetto né chiedo di essere creduto. Sarei un folle se me lo aspettassi, quando i miei stessi sensi rifiutano di crederci. Tuttavia, non sono folle e di certo non sto sognando. Ma domani muoio e oggi vorrei alleggerirmi l’anima. Il mio scopo più immediato è di porre davanti al mondo una serie di eventi familiari, in modo semplice, succinto e senza commenti. Le conseguenze di tali eventi mi hanno terrorizzato, torturato e distrutto. Tuttavia non tenterò di esporle. Per me esse non significano altro che Orrore, per molti appariranno più esagerate che terribili. In futuro, forse, si troverà qualche intelletto in grado di ridurre i miei fantasmi a luogo comune - qualche intelletto più calmo, più logico, e molto meno eccitabile del mio potrà percepire nient’altro che una normale successione di cause ed effetti molto naturali in ciò che racconto con terrore.

23. The analysis of meaning in context Two types of meaning: Denotative and connotative meaning. Which is the right meaning to be translated and how can we understand it? Many words are polysemous. Chair: item of furniture, university position, chairperson at a conference and, as a verb, ‘to preside over a meeting’. Spirit: liquor, determination, ghost, ‘holy spirit’ etc. The right meaning is determined by the semotactic environment or co-text.

24. Disambiguation Source Language Spanish: a letter written in S and then translated into English We are writing to invite you to a conference. We expect you will attend. What’s the error here? The incorrect use of ‘expect’ instead of ‘hope’. To expect: aspettarsi, esigere, presumere. The problem is the Spanish SL verb ‘esperar’, because it covers a wide semantic field. Esperar can correspond to hope, want, expect, look forward and the choice of the translator was wrong.

25. This failure in disambiguation could have disastrous consequences. The destruction of Montecassino monastery during the Second World War. The Allies misinterpreted an intercepted German radio exchange that said ‘DerAbtistimKloster’. The translator confused the word ABT (abbot) for an abbreviation of Abteilung (batallion) and rendered the sentence ‘The batallion is in the monastery’. The result was the complete destruction of it.

26. Hierarchical structuring This concerns the right choice of a term among a group of more or less specific words. The generic verb ‘to move’ (a superodinate or hypernym) has many lower-level terms (hyponyms): walk, run, skip, hop, crawl etc. All of them involve movement, but they are very different. Another example ‘flower’ is a hypernym of daisy, lily, rose, daffodil, forget-me-not, tulip etc.

27. Connotative meaning is the emotional response evoked in the reader/hearer. St. John’s Gospel: the Greek word ‘gunai’ was translated as ‘woman’ in the old King James Version, but as ‘mother’ in the New English Bible. The reason for the change is that ‘gunai’ had to be interpreted with a good connotation and over centuries, the ‘neutral’ and not always positive term ‘woman’ was transformed in a more precise and ‘safe’ term as ‘mother’.

28. Connotation is one of the keys to the power of words. It's especially evident, particularly in a literary text, when the most innocent-looking word can acquire the most vivid connotations. Emotive connotations of a word can directly express or evoke: 1) Emotion (e.g.: daddy - father); 2) Evaluation (e.g.: clique - group); 3) Intensity (e.g.: adore – love - like); 4) Stylisticcolouring (e.g.: slay - kill).

29. Can we understand a context by means of isolated words? These words belong to a text. What is it about in your view? Can you identify a genre? Mass Communication Sell Buy Television set Plug Running

30. Again… Pain Shoes Feet Footsteps Stumble

31. Again… Monument Site Found Foundations Build Tools Stone

32. Again… Photograph Look Souvenir Colour print Glance

33. Again… Handshake Contract Career Competitive world Large amounts Graph Power

34. Again… Children Hunger Pain Dirt Crying Fight Weapons Surgery Wounds

35. Again… Condemnation Truth Accusations Lies Repentance Suffer Pride Honesty Blindness Duty Crime

36. Again… Bony fingers Long Pale Sickly Death Living Kill

37. The last at last! Fragile things Special handling Things damaged Things broken

38. Answers: • Television set • Walking in my shoes • Monument • Photograph of you • Everything counts • Shame • Condemnation • Dream on • Precious All of the above are songs by the Depeche Mode. What does this mean??? That you must always have a look at the context before understanding the meaning of something. Words have a meaning not on their own, you ALWAYS have to see things in the right perspective and in the right context in order to get a message properly.

39. 25/10/11 Examples of text analysis Can you guess my evaluation/assessment of the following?

40. Viewed, heard and read texts You are going to watch two videos, which are part of the section “special contents” of a movie on DVD. Before watching them write the following pre-viewing questions: How could you link the videos with the lyrics? Can you see a connection between the two videos? What kind of connection? Can you see any famous people in the video shown? Why are they there? As to the lyrics, can you see connotations, figures of speech, idioms, colloquial expressions, deviations from standard English, or any other outstanding feature?

41. VIDEOS: SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U04YoDrcV0&feature=related • SILENT SIGH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW1y7Oo32GY

42. What would you put in evidence about the following texts?

43. Analysis Voodoo girl by Tim Burton Her skin is white cloth And she’s all sewn apart And she has many colored pins Sticking out of her heart. She has a beautiful set Of hypno-disk eyes The ones that she uses To hypnotize guys She has many different zombies Who are deeply in her trance. She even has a zombie Who was originally from France. But she knows she has a curse on her, A curse she cannot win. For, if someone gets too close to her The pins stick farther in.

44. “Soon I should be a man?” “Very soon” “I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things” he told her passionately. “I don’t want to be a man…keep back, lady, no one is going to catch me and make me a man”. “But, where are you going to live?” “With Tink in the house we built for Wendy. The fairies are to put it high up among the tree tops where they sleep at nights”. “I thought all the fairies were dead”, Mrs. Darling said. “There are always a lot of young ones”, explained Wendy, who was now quite an authority, “because you see, when a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies. They live in nests on the top of trees; and the mauve ones are boys and the white ones are girls, and the blue ones are just little sillies who are not sure what they are”. (Peter Pan – JM Barrie)

45. “I want to be sick. Please let me be sick. Please bring something for me to be sick into”. But this dr. Brodsky called back: “Imagination, only. You’ve nothing to worry about. Next film coming up”. That was perhaps meant to be a joke for I heard a like smeck coming from the dark. And then I was forced to viddy a most nasty film about Japanese torture. It was the 1939-45 war and there were soldiers being fixed to trees with nails and having fires lit under them and having their yarbles cut off, and you even viddied a gulliver being sliced off a soldier with a sword and then with his head rolling about and the rot and glazzies looking alive still, the plott of this soldier actually ran about, krovvying like a fountain out of the neck and then it dropped and all the time there was very very loud laughter from the Japanese. “Stop the film! Please, please, stop it! I can’t stand any more.”. And then the goloss of this dr. Brodsky said: “Stop it? Stop it, did you say? Why, we’ve hardly started”. (A Clockwork Orange – A. Burgess)

46. READ THE EXTRACT given in the following slides AND ANALYSE IT FOLLOWING SOME GUIDE QUESTIONS You can also add things which are not included in the guide questions. You can choose to analyse the text following what was presented yesterday in the ‘method of analysis’ slides (in class discussion 7 november)

47. Questions on the text: Analyse all the adjectives, nouns and verbs of the text. Can you identify different text types? Can you identify narrative, descriptive or other kinds of sequences? What are their distinctive traits? What about the use of verb tenses?

48. Who is the narrator? What about his style? Do you consider this extract a piece of written or spoken text? After reading and understanding the whole extract use some adjectives to describe the text and provide reasons for your choice. Can you see the use of words related to a specific semantic field? Can you identify semantic fields? One? More than one?

49. From Fight Club TYLER GETS ME a job as a waiter, after that Tyler’s pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. For a long time though, Tyler and I were best friends. People are always asking, did I know about Tyler Durden. The barrel of the gun pressed against the back of my throat, Tyler says “We really won’t die.” With my tongue I can feel the silencer holes we drilled into the barrel of the gun. Most of the noise a gunshot makes is expanding gases, and there’s the tiny sonic boom a bullet makes because it travels so fast.  To make a silencer, you just drill holes in the barrel of the gun, a lot of holes. This lets the gas escape and slows the bullet to below the speed of sound. 

50. You drill the holes wrong and the gun will blow off your hand. “This isn’t really death,” Tyler says. “We’ll be legend. We won’t grow old.” I tongue the barrel into my cheek and say, Tyler, you’re thinking of vampires. The building we’re standing on won’t be here in ten minutes. You take a 98percent concentration of fuming nitric acid and add the acid to three times that amount of sulfuric acid. Do this in an ice bath. Then add glycerin drop-by-drop with an eye dropper. You have nitroglycerin. I know this because Tyler knows this.