This book is an attempt to explore the lexical richness of certain well-known literary texts using a statistical gauge called lexical richness curve.
The analysis conducted throughout this scientific study is corpus-based and a recent version of WordSmith Tools (0.7) is used to process the basic statistical frequencies of types and tokens. The study depends basically on a wordlist tool used to analyze digital samples of six novels written by three grand novelists: Virginia Woolf's The Waves and To the Lighthouse , James Joyce's Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and William Faulkner's Light in August and The Sound and Fury .
Fifteen samples are taken randomly from each novel with ( 1000 ) tokens intervals, so the overall samples used in the study are 90 samples. Then each sample is statistically analyzed to find about its lexical richness .The number of the types ( distinct vocabulary words ) and the number of the tokens ( words ) are counted for each sample. The ratio of types and tokens are presented visually by using Microsoft Office Excel diagrams. This will facilitate a rigorous process of figuring out the lexical richness of each novel.
It is quite evident that Joyce's Ulysses holds the highest rate of lexical richness while Faulkner's Light in August reserves the lowest lexical richness curve. As for Woolf, her novels are located somewhere in the middle with an exceptional approaching observed in The Waves to Joyce's Ulysses in some textual samples. Moreover, it is an evident feature that the type – token curves for Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Woolf's To the Lighthouse are virtually reciprocal indicating an exceptional similarity in their lexical repertoires.
Table of Contents
- Chapter One: Introduction
- Chapter Two: Stylistics Vs. Corpus Linguistics
- 2.1 What is Stylistics all about?
- 2.1.1 The Need for Stylistics
- 2.1.2 Major Areas of Stylistics
- 2.2 Corpus Linguistics: What is it all about?
- 2.2.1 Features of Corpus Linguistics
- 2.2.2 The Goals of Corpus Linguistics
- 2.2.3 What is Corpus?
- 2.2.4 Types of Corpora
- 2.2.5 The Use of Computer to Study Language
- 2.2.6 The Corpus-Based Approach VS. The Intuition-Based Approach
- 2.2.7 Corpus Linguistics: A Methodology or an Independent Discipline
- 2.2.8 Corpus-Based and Corpus-Driven Approaches
- 2.3 Corpus Stylistics
- 2.3.1 Goals of Corpus Stylistics
- 2.3.2 Features of Corpus Stylistics
- 2.3.3 Limitations of Corpus Stylistics
- 2.3.4 The Circle of Corpus Linguistics Description and Literary Appreciation
- Chapter Three: Lexical Richness as a Stylistic Feature
- 3.1 Lexical Richness
- 3.2 Measuring Style
- 3.3 The Problem of Measuring Style
- 3.4 Style as Recurrence
- 3.5 The Relationship Between Frequency and Significance in a Corpus
- 3.6 The Quantitative Features of Style
- 3.6.1 Lexical Features
- 3.6.2 Character Specific Features (N-gram feature)
- 3.6.3 Syntactic Features
- 3.6.4 Semantic Features
- 3.7 Lexical Richness and Type-Token Curve
- 3.8 Creativity and Literary Vocabulary
- Chapter Four: Text Corpora and Methodology
- 4.1 Design Consideration
- 4.2 Corpus Design
- 4.3 Technical Preparation
- 4.3.1 Planning a Storage System
- 4.3.2 Copyright
- 4.3.3 Electronic Version
- 4.4 Text Corpora
- 4.5 Corpus Features
- 4.6 Methods Used in Analyzing the Corpus
- 4.6.1 WordSmith Tools Version (7.0)
- 4.6.2 Microsoft Office Excel
- 4.7 The Length of Individual Text Samples
- 4.8 Representativeness and Balance
- 4.9 Sampling Methodology
- 4.10 Summary of the Analysis Procedures
- Chapter Five: Analysis and Results
Objectives and Key Themes
This book aims to investigate the analytical potential of corpus stylistics in measuring lexical richness, specifically using type-token curves. It explores the application of these methods to analyze the lexical repertoires of six novels from the stream-of-consciousness genre. The study seeks to determine the reliability and usefulness of type-token curves for measuring lexical diversity and to compare the lexical richness across these six novels.
- The application of corpus stylistics to literary analysis.
- The effectiveness of type-token curves as a measure of lexical richness.
- A comparison of lexical richness across different authors and novels.
- The relationship between frequency of linguistic features and their stylistic significance.
- Methodological considerations in corpus design and analysis.
Chapter Summaries
Chapter One: Introduction: This chapter introduces the research problem, focusing on the analytical potential of corpus stylistics in measuring lexical richness and the use of type-token curves in investigating writers' lexical repertoires. It outlines the study's objectives, which are threefold: to examine type-token curve’s usefulness in measuring lexical diversity; to analyze the lexical richness of six stream-of-consciousness novels; and to compare the lexical richness across the novels. The methodology, involving corpus construction, sampling, and data analysis using WordSmith Tools and Excel, is briefly described. The study’s limitations, focusing on the selection of a specific statistical marker and a limited corpus size, are also acknowledged. The overall aim is to demonstrate the value of corpus stylistics in validating critical impressions about writers’ lexical richness.
Chapter Two: Stylistics Vs. Corpus Linguistics: This chapter explores the relationship between stylistics and corpus linguistics, outlining the major domains of both disciplines. It defines stylistics as the linguistic study of style, encompassing various perspectives and approaches, and emphasizing the importance of analyzing language use in relation to artistic function. The chapter then defines corpus linguistics as an empirical, computer-aided approach to language description and use. It discusses features and goals of corpus linguistics, different types of corpora, and the advantages and limitations of corpus-based versus intuition-based approaches. Finally, it delves into corpus stylistics, its goals, features, limitations, and the cyclical relationship between corpus linguistic description and literary appreciation.
Chapter Three: Lexical Richness as a Stylistic Feature: This chapter focuses on lexical richness as a key stylistic feature. It defines lexical richness, examining various measures including lexical diversity, sophistication, originality, and density. It discusses the challenges of measuring style, particularly the approaches of style as deviation, choice, and recurrence. The chapter then explores the relationship between word frequency and significance, emphasizing the importance of recurring patterns in revealing stylistic features. It explains various quantitative features of style such as lexical, character-specific (n-gram), syntactic, and semantic features, and their strengths and weaknesses in stylistic analysis. It concludes by examining lexical richness and type-token curves as a common measure in empirical research, including its strengths and limitations in measuring lexical variation.
Chapter Four: Text Corpora and Methodology: This chapter details the methodology used in the study, outlining the design considerations, corpus design, and technical preparations involved in building the corpus of six novels by Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and James Joyce. The chapter describes the corpus features – a specialized, written, synchronic, monolingual corpus – and explains the methods employed for analysis. This includes the use of WordSmith Tools for generating word lists and frequency counts, and Microsoft Excel for creating type-token curves. The chapter carefully addresses issues like sampling methodology, sample size, representativeness, and balance, justifying the chosen approach and its limitations.
Chapter Five: Analysis and Results: This chapter presents the analysis and results of the study. Type-token curve analysis is conducted for each of the six novels. The chapter presents detailed descriptions and interpretations of these curves, visually comparing and contrasting the lexical richness of the novels from each author and in relation to one another. This section discusses the observed patterns and differences in the type-token curves, drawing on the literature to support the interpretations. It culminates in a comparative overview of the results, drawing conclusions about the lexical richness of the novels and their authors.
Keywords
Corpus stylistics, lexical richness, type-token curve, stream of consciousness, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, James Joyce, quantitative analysis, literary style, corpus linguistics, stylistic features.
Frequently Asked Questions: A Corpus Stylistic Analysis of Lexical Richness in Stream-of-Consciousness Novels
What is the main focus of this book?
This book investigates the analytical potential of corpus stylistics in measuring lexical richness, specifically using type-token curves. It applies these methods to analyze the lexical repertoires of six novels from the stream-of-consciousness genre, aiming to determine the reliability and usefulness of type-token curves for measuring lexical diversity and comparing lexical richness across these novels.
What are the key themes explored in the book?
The book explores the application of corpus stylistics to literary analysis, the effectiveness of type-token curves as a measure of lexical richness, a comparison of lexical richness across different authors and novels, the relationship between frequency of linguistic features and their stylistic significance, and methodological considerations in corpus design and analysis.
What methodologies are used in this study?
The study employs corpus linguistics methods, specifically corpus stylistics. It utilizes type-token curves as a quantitative measure of lexical richness. The data analysis involves the use of WordSmith Tools (Version 7.0) and Microsoft Excel. The corpus itself is carefully designed, addressing issues of representativeness, sampling methodology, and balance.
Which novels are analyzed in this study?
The study analyzes six novels from the stream-of-consciousness genre by Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and James Joyce. Specific titles are not listed in this preview but are detailed in the full text.
What are the key findings or results presented in the book (as previewed)?
The full results are detailed in Chapter Five. The preview indicates that type-token curve analysis is conducted for each novel, visually comparing and contrasting the lexical richness of the novels from each author. The analysis aims to identify patterns and differences in the type-token curves and draw conclusions about the lexical richness of the novels and their authors.
What is the relationship between stylistics and corpus linguistics as discussed in the book?
The book explores the relationship between stylistics (the linguistic study of style) and corpus linguistics (an empirical, computer-aided approach to language description). It examines the intersection of these fields in corpus stylistics, highlighting its goals, features, limitations, and cyclical relationship between corpus linguistic description and literary appreciation.
How does the book define and measure lexical richness?
The book defines lexical richness as a key stylistic feature encompassing lexical diversity, sophistication, originality, and density. It discusses the challenges of measuring style and explores various quantitative features, including lexical, character-specific (n-gram), syntactic, and semantic features. The study focuses on type-token curves as a common measure of lexical richness in empirical research.
What are the limitations of the study acknowledged in the preview?
The preview mentions limitations regarding the selection of a specific statistical marker (type-token curve) and a limited corpus size. Further limitations are likely detailed in the full text.
What is the overall aim of this research?
The overall aim is to demonstrate the value of corpus stylistics in validating critical impressions about writers’ lexical richness and to contribute to the understanding of how quantitative methods can be used to analyze literary style.
What are the key words associated with this research?
Key words include: Corpus stylistics, lexical richness, type-token curve, stream of consciousness, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, James Joyce, quantitative analysis, literary style, corpus linguistics, stylistic features.
- Quote paper
- Khalid Shakir Hussein (Author), Ali Hussein Abdul-Ameer (Co-author), 2017, A Corpus-Driven Approach to Stylistic Analysis of a Lexical Richness Curve, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/353181
