Linguistic analysis of literary data

Al-Hindawi, Fareed Hameed; Al-Khazaali, Musaab

Excerpt

CHAPTER THREE

TOWARDS A MODEL OF LOCAL PRAGMATIC COHERENCE IN D. H. LAWRENCE'S

`SONS AND LOVERS' ... 51

3.1. Introduction ... 51

3.1.1 Pragmatic Relations vs. Semantic Relations ... 51

3.1.2 Models of Local Pragmatic Coherence ... 52

3.2. Degand's (1998) Techniques ... 82

3.3. Analyzed Examples for Illustration... 83

3.3.1 Speech Act and Epistemic Relations ... 83

3.4 Conclusions ... 87

References ... 88

CHAPTER FOUR

A MODEL FOR THE PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF ARGUMENTATION IN 'JANE EYRE' AND

'WUTHERING HEIGHTS' ... 92

4.1. Introduction ... 92

4.1.1. Models of Argumentation ... 92

4.2. An Eclectic Model ... 94

4.3. Data Analysis ... 97

4.4 Conclusions ... 102

References ... 103

CHAPTER FIVE

A PRAGMA-STYLISTIC STUDY OF SYMBOLISM IN JOSEPH CONRAD'S `HEART OF DARKNESS' ... 105

5.1 Introduction ... 105

5.2 Theoretical Background ... 107

5.2.1 Pragmatics and Literature ... 107

5.2.2 Stylistics and Literature ... 108

5.2.3 Pragmatic Stylistics ... 109

5.3 Model of Analysis ... 110

5.3.1 Eco's (1984) Pragmatic Model of Symbolism ... 110

5.3.2 Niazi and Gautams' (2010) Pragma- Stylistic Model ... 111

5.3.3 Al-Hindawi and Abu-Kroozs' (2012) Pragma-Rhetorical Tropes Model ... 116

5.4. Data and Analysis ... 119

5.4.1 Data ... 119

5.4.2 Analysis... 119

5.4.3 Results and Discussion ... 128

5.5 Conclusions ... 129

References ... 131

CHAPTER SIX

A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF GOSSIP IN RICHARD BRINSELY SHERIDAN'S `THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL' .. 134

6.1. Introduction ... 134

6.2. Definition ... 135

6.3. Functions of Gossip ... 136

6.3.1 Knowledge ... 136

6.3.2 Friendship ... 137

6.3.3 Influence ... 138

6.3.4 Entertainment ... 138

6.4. Eggnis and Slade's (1997) Generic Structure of Gossip ... 139

6.4.1 Different Stages of Gossip ... 139

6.4.2 The Generic Pragmatic Structure of Gossip as Developed in this Study ... 141

6.5. Data Analysis and Findings ... 146

6.5.1 Illustrative Examples for the Pragmatic Analysis ... 146

6.5.2 Findings ... 151

6.6. Achievement of the Functions of Gossip ... 152

6.7 Conclusions ... 153

References ... 154

CHAPTER SEVEN

A MODEL FOR THE PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF GOSSIP IN J. AUSTEN'S `EMMA' ... 157

7.1. Introduction ... 157

7.2. Definition ... 158

7.2.1 Models of Gossip ... 159

7.2.2 An Eclectic Pragmatic Model ... 160

7.3. Data Collection and Description ... 173

7.3.1 Data Collection ... 173

7.3.2 Data Description ... 173

7.4. Data Analysis and Findings ... 173

7.4.1 Data Analysis ... 173

7.4.2 Findings ... 183

7.5. Conclusions ... 184

References ... 184

CHAPTER EIGHT

A COGNITIVE PRAGMATIC STUDY OF INNER VOICE IN THE FILM `ELEGY OF A VOYAGE' ... 187

8.1. Introduction ... 187

8.2. Literature Review ... 188

8.2.1 Pragmatics ... 188

8.2.2 Cognitive Pragmatics ... 189

8.2.3 Narrative as a Mode of Understanding ... 190

8.2.4 The Narrator's Inner Voice in Films ... 191

8.2.5 Elegy of a Voyage ... 192

8.3. Model of Analysis ... 193

8.3.1 Van Dijk's (1977) Model of Analysis ... 193

8.3.2 Booth 's (1991) Model of Analysis ... 194

8.3.3 Sperber and Wilson 's (1995) Model of Analysis ... 194

8.3.4 Gilles Fauconnier's (2006)Model of Analysis ... 195

8.4. Data and Analysis ... 198

8.4.1 Data ... 198

8.4.2 Analysis... 199

8.4.3 Illustrative Analyzed Examples : ... 199

8.5. Conclusions ... 208

References ... 210

Preface

Literary data are supposed to reflect real life situations and written with styles of writing

that are considered as highly elevated ones. Such reasons have prompted the contributors to

this book to deal with this type of data. Such attempts range from semantics to stylistics and

pragmatics. This book introduces linguistic analyses of literary data from different angles.

This involves dealing with various linguistic topics and different types of literary data.

Hence, many models are presented to analyze the linguistic aspects of those topics in the light

of the genre in which those topics are undertaken. Accordingly, different results are yielded

from those analyses and this makes each type of analysis distinct from the other ones.

It is hoped that this work will be a useful source to all those, whether theoretically or

practically, or both, interested in linguistics, pragmatics of literature, applied linguistics and

literary stylistics.

Contributors

1. Prof. Dr. Fareed Hameed Al-Hindawi, Babylon University.

2. Asst. Prof. Dr. Musaab A. Raheem Al-Khazaali, Kufa University.

3. Dr. Ramia Fuaad Mirza, University of Baghdad.

4. A. Lect. Hassan H. Abukrooz, Kufa University.

5. A. Lect. Akram Nadhum Raheem, Islamic University in Najaf.

6. A. Lect. Susan Abdulhadi Kadhim, Kufa University.

CHAPTER ONE

A STYLISTIC STUDY OF SYNONYMY IN W. WORDSWORTH'S

POETRY

Fareed H. H. Al-Hindawi

Musaab A. Raheem Al-Khazaali

1.1. Introduction

This chapter deals with the role of synonyms in propounding the main themes in

Wordsworth's poetry that is considered one of the best representatives of the romantic poets.

Thus, his style can be a portrait for this movement.

Wordsworth's poetry generally reacts against the thought and literary practices of the

preceding century. His major subject, like most Romanticists, matter is the beauty and

satisfactions derive from nature. Romanticists believe in naturalism and realism in the place

of morality. They believe that man should not be conformed or stereotyped to one norm of

code rather derive pleasure from what he derives from nature (see Abrams, 1953; Moulin,

2005: 1-2). His style, thus, is worth researching because it is a picture of his age.

The hypotheses of this work are built upon the belief that Wordsworth attempts to make

his poetry coherent mainly by using synonyms, and this coherence is mainly a thematic one.

Verschueren (1999: 135-6) points out that thematic coherence, in certain cases, is called

'relevance'. It is connected with the study of information structure and/or thematic structure.

Following van Dijk (1977), this coherence can also be classified into two types: local (which

deals with thematic unity at the level of stanza) and global (which deals with that unity at the

level of a whole poem).

To test the hypothesis, componential analysis, which is thought, here, to be a useful tool

in this regard, is conducted.

Moreover, the work provides a theoretical background on synonymy and the approaches

of analyzing it. The selected approach is applied to a number of poems randomly selected to

verify or reject the hypothesis adopted. In so doing, the current research attempts to answer

the following questions:

a. What is the role of synonymy in creating coherence in Wordsworth's poetry?

b. Is synonymy a stylistic marker in his poetry?

c. Can the componential analysis approach be usefully applied to literary texts?

1.2. Synonymy

When it comes to giving a clear, precise and correct definition of synonymy, many

difficulties arise. There are numerous approaches with numerous definitions of synonymy

and types of synonyms, because synonyms may differ in many ways.

Thus, it would be imprecise to define synonymy as identity of meaning since there are no

two terms with completely identical meaning. Hence, other definitions have emerged.

Generally speaking, synonymy denotes the phenomenon of two or more different linguistic

forms with the same meaning. Those linguistic forms are called synonyms, e.g. peace and

tranquility, or capacity and ability can be substituted for one another in certain contexts (For

more details, see Crystal, 2003: s.v. synonymy).

However, for some other scholars, synonymy is the relation that holds between bound

morphemes, lexemes, lexical units, phrases, clauses, sentences and propositions. Thus,

synonymy can be classified either into lexical and propositional synonymy, or into lexical,

phrasal and propositional synonymy. The first division, in which lexical synonymy comprises

phrasal synonymy, can be explained in the following manner (see O'Grady et. al., 2005: 55).

1.2.1 Lexical synonymy

Lexical synonymy is concerned with bound morphemes, lexemes, lexical units and

phrases. It is a sense relation that holds between two or more lexical units with the same

sense in the given contexts in which they are interchangeable (Crystal, 2003: s.v. synonymy).

Cruse (2000:157) asserts that a level of synonymity can be recognized through a scale

which consists of absolute synonymy, cognitive synonymy and near-synonymy. Absolute

synonymy is set as the complete identity of all meanings of two or more lexemes in all

contexts. However, it is unnatural for a language to have absolute synonyms, or lexemes with

exactly the same meaning. Firstly, the function or use of one of them would gradually

become unnecessary or unmotivated and, as a result, it would soon be abandoned or dropped

out. Secondly, their interchangeability in all the contexts can neither be demonstrated nor

proved, for, on the one hand, the number of contexts is infinite, and, on the other hand, the

exceptions from absolute interchangeability are inevitable.

Therefore, the lexicons of natural languages do not have absolute synonymy as their

feature. It is generally accepted that absolute synonymy is impossible or unreal. It is regarded

only as a referential point on the alleged scale of synonymity or the initial criterion for the

defining of synonymy (Ibid: 157).

As there are no two lexemes with completely the same meaning and no real synonyms,

cognitive synonymy is what most semanticists would regard as synonymy. Lyons (1996: 63)

claims that many theories of semantics would confine the notion of synonymy to what he

calls descriptive or cognitive synonymy, which is the characteristic of descriptive meaning.

Near-synonyms are lexemes whose meaning is relatively close or more or less similar

(mist/fog, stream/brook, dive/plunge). However, the given definition of near-synonymy is

vague, because there isn't a precise correlation between synonymy and semantic similarity.

Near-synonymy is associated with overlapping of meaning and senses. The senses of near-

synonyms overlap to a great degree, but not completely (Murphy, 2003: 155). Moreover,

unlike cognitive synonyms, near-synonyms can contrast in certain contexts:

He was killed, but I can assure you he was NOT murdered, madam. (Cruse, 2000: 159)

1.2.2 Propositional and Cognitive Synonymy

It deals with clauses, sentences and propositions. It can be explained by means of

paraphrase when the propositional contents of sentences are identical:

Mary fed the cat.

The cat was fed by Mary.

It was the cat that Mary fed. (Cann et al., 2009: 9)

Such similar meanings are different only in stylistic syntactic structures. The core

content is the same.

Synonymy is a paradigmatic relation that enables lexically simple units to have the same

meaning as lexically complex units, and vice versa, e.g. ophthalmologist and eye specialist.

Hurford and Heasley (1983:104) assert that synonymy is possible between words

belonging to different parts of speech (as between the verb sleeping and adjective asleep).

To put it in simple terms there exists a synonymy relation between two words if they

share the same meaning. We will give an example of what the lexico-semantic resource

considers to be synonyms. The (near-) synonymy is represented by means of a so-called

synset. Synsets are groupings of synonyms. For example nature, universe, creation, world,

cosmos, and macrocosm form one synset. One word can belong to more than one synset, if it

has more than one sense. There is another sense of the word nature, which is part of the

synset that comprises nature, wild, natural state, and state of nature.

In literature, there is a debate about the definition of synonymy. A summary of some

views in this regard will be introduced in addition to an explanation of which notion accords

with the objectives of this.

Cruse (1986) proposes a scale of synonymy. He argues that since the point of semantic

identity, i.e. absolute synonymy is well-defined and the other end-point, the notion of zero

synonymy, is far more diffuse, a scale of semantic difference is more satisfactory. The

definition of absolute synonyms Cruse (Ibid: 30) provides is as follows: "Two lexical units

would be absolute synonyms if and only if all their contextual relations (...) were identical."

He then continues with examining an illustrative sample of possible candidates for absolute

synonymy. None of the pairs satisfies the criteria. He (Ibid) concludes by stating that "if they

exist at all, they are extremely uncommon." Only in technical domains one can find absolute

synonyms, for example bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and mad cow diseases are

two names for the same thing. Next on the scale are the so-called cognitive synonyms.

Thus, cognitive synonyms must be identical in respect of propositional traits, i.e. they

must yield the same truth-value, but they may differ in respect of expressive traits. Examples

are father-daddy, cat-pussy, and infant-baby. Cognitive synonyms arise where certain

linguistic items are restricted to certain sentences or discourses. Their cognitive counterparts

(synonyms) take their place in other sentences and discourses.

Cruse (Ibid: 33) introduces these precincts under two headings: (i) pre-supposed meaning

and (ii) evoked meaning. Presupposed meaning refers to the semantic traits of a lexical item

that place restrictions on its normal syntagmatic companions. Drink takes for granted an

object that has the property of being liquid. Grilling is usually used for raw food such as meat

or green peppers, and toasting for bread. In the above example the collocational restriction is

systematic. In other cases the restrictions can only be described by listing all collocants.

These restrictions are referred to with the term idiosyncratic collocational restrictions. An

example is the pair umpire-referee. Evoked meaning is a consequence of different dialects

and different registers in a language. Examples of geographical variety are autumn and fall,

lift and elevator. Difference in register gives rise to cognitive synonyms such as matrimony

and marriage. Both absolute synonyms and plesionyms (near-synonyms) are distinguished

from cognitive synonyms by the fact that they yield sentences with different truth-conditions.

Two sentences which differ only in respect of plesionyms are not mutually entailing but there

may well be unilateral entailment. Cruse (Ibid) hence categorises hyponyms/hypernyms

under the plesionym.

Zgusta (1971) considers absolute synonymy as characteristic of all three basic

components of meaning: designatum, connotation, and range of application. The term

designatum refers to a referent of a single word in the extralinguistic world. Synonyms

should have agreement in designatum. Connotation is a semantic term referring to the feeling

or attitudinal value that a lexical element such as pass away distinguishes from dies. The term

range of application refers to the fact that certain words are used in certain contexts. If there

is a difference in one or more of the components, words are near-synonyms only.

1.3. Palmer's (1981) Conception of Synonymy

According to Palmer (1981: 89-91), there are no real synonyms, i.e. no two words with

the same meaning. Thus, there are five basic ways in which synonyms can be considered as

different:

a. Some of the synonyms belong to different dialects of language. Fall, for instance, is used in

the U.S.A for the British equivalence autumn.

b. The different words used for the same meaning are due to the change in style. Degrees of

formality and colloquiality will affect the use of synonyms. For instance, gentleman is more

formal than man.

c. Some words can be said to be distinct in their emotive or evaluative meanings, and their

cognitive meaning remains the same. The function of such words is to influence attitudes. For

example, the words politician=statesman and the like.

d. Some words, which are similar in meaning, may differ in their collocational contexts.

Thus, 'rancid' collocates with butter and bacon, and added with eggs or brains.

e. Some words are regarded as similar by lexicographer and dictionary maker. This is a loose

sense of synonymy.

Crystal (2003: 450) summarizes the definition of synonymy as " a term used in

semantics to refer to a major type of sense relation between lexical items[...]if items are close

enough in their meaning to allow a choice to be made between then in some contexts".

1.4. Approaches for Analyzing Synonymy

1.4.1 Traditional Truth-conditional Approach

This approach depends on relating truth-conditional equivalence to mutual entailment. It

results in the notion of cognitive synonymy. It is mainly a propositional relationship.

Cognitive synonymy can be explained by virtue of relations that hold between sentences or

propositions that contain pairs of cognitive synonyms. Cognitive synonyms require truth-

conditional equivalence of the sentences which contain them.

Propositions are abstract entities which represent the semantic structure of sentences, and

they are characterized by truth values (while sentences are characterized by truth conditions),

i.e. they express something true or false. Cognitive synonymy can be described through

implication (Lyons, 1996: 63) and entailment (Cruse, 2000: 158). Implication is a logical

operation. It is the relation between two assertions that can be true or false. X is the cognitive

synonym of Y if, and only if, the proposition containing one of the synonyms X implies the

proposition with identical syntactic structure in which X is replaced with Y. As a result, such

propositions only differ in the presence of the given synonyms and they are mutually implied,

for synonymy itself is a symmetrical relation (if X is synonymous with Y, then Y is

synonymous with X, and vice versa). In other words, cognitive synonyms are propositionally

equivalent. Given that statesman and politician are cognitive synonyms, a substitution test,

which is a diagnostic test for judging synonymy and contextual restrictiveness of lexemes,

can be applied. Namely, interchangeability of synonymous pairs is tested by means of

substitution of one synonym with another in the same context. Synonyms are interchangeable

only in certain environments, so this test can be utilized to illustrate the difficulties in finding

the pairs of absolute synonyms. The proposition The statesman spoke at the conference

implies the proposition The politician spoke at the conference. Since the first proposition is

true, the second one must necessarily be true, and vice versa.

Entailment is the relation between two sentences or propositions where ''the

propositional content of one proposition includes that of the other. Mutual entailment is the

relation in which the propositional contents of sentences are identical, so the truth of one

requires the truth of the other, and vice versa ''(Cann et al., 2009: 8). A proposition containing

one synonym is mutually entailed by the same proposition containing the other. The

following propositions are mutually entailing: John bought a

violin entails and is entailed by John bought a fiddle; I heard him tuning his fiddle entails and

is entailed by I heard him tuning his violin; She is going to play a violin concerto entails and

is entailed by She is going to play a fiddle concerto. Notice that fiddle is less normal in the

last example, while leaving truth conditions intact, which shows that fiddle

and violin are not absolute synonyms. (Cruse, 2000: 158).

In that respect, considering different argumentations, cognitive synonyms might be

differentiated on the basis of different registers, styles or dialects they belong to, or by virtue

of different connotations, collocations, etc. What they have in common is the same sense.

This approach will not be adopted in this study because of the following reasons:

a. It deals only with the cognitive aspects of the words rather than the stylistic or social

aspects.

b. It is basically related to propositions neglecting single lexemes.

c. It relies on the semantic process of 'entailment' rather than other linguistic processes.

1.4.2 Componential Analysis and Semantic Features Approach

Lexical meaning is arguably at least as relational as it is referential. A very different

theoretical approach to the analysis of lexemes, especially synonyms, developed in linguistics

rather than philosophy, exploits the systematic relationships among words by breaking their

meaning into distinctive features, and then words can be categorized according to their shared

and opposing features. This is the tenet of what is called Componential Analysis (See Curzan

Adams, 2009: 224). The problems of Componential Analysis, which include those of

semantic features, are discussed in Lyons (1977: 317-335) and re-examined in Leech (1981:

117-122). The latter argues that Componential Analysis has the goal of explaining word

sense, not encyclopedic knowledge, and that prototypic categories should be contained in a

psychologically realistic theory of reference. In order to deal with the fuzziness of meaning,

he proposes an extension of the analysis of word-meaning which includes Componential

Analysis and has three levels:

1. 'Word-sense', as the entire 'conceptual unit'.

2. 'Components or features' by Componential Analysis.

3. On the third level both word senses and features, seen as prototypic categories, are 'broken

down into fuzzy sets of attributes' (Ibid:121, cf. 117).

An obvious advantage of semantic feature decomposition approach is that it allows us to

group entities into natural classes (much as we do in phonology). Hence, man and boy could

be grouped together as [+human, +male] while man and woman could be put in a class

defined by features [+human, +adult] (O'Grady et. al., 2005: 207). Thus, this is very useful

for the analysis of the deep featured shared by synonymous words and expressions.

According to the componential model, Kim (2008: 2) asserts that words display what is

called distinctive features (or distinctive semes), which are, in a way, the building blocks that

words consist of and can be broken down into. The distinctive features are binary in the sense

that they can be either X or not X (indicated by +/-). This applies to all aspects of a word,

including its semantic content. Thus, the semantic difference between 'man' and 'boy' is a

matter of a couple of semantic components:

'man' 'boy'

+ + male

+ + human

+ - adult

- + child

This is a very useful method of distinguishing members of a lexical set (words that are

semantically related such that they overlap): clean pure unadulterated (+ unmixed).

To sum up, componential analysis is "a semantic theory which has developed from a

technique for the analysis of kinship vocabulary [...] It claims that all lexical items can be

analyzed using a finite set of components (or `semantic features'), which may, it is felt, be

universal" (Crystal, 2003:91). This approach will be adopted for the data analysis of this

work because it focuses on the deep features of the words that can be shared by other words

in the linguistic system. Moreover, it can be applied to both single lexical items and

propositions. The selected model for analysis can be represented in Fig. 1 below.

Fig. (1): A Model for Analysis

Thematic

coherence

Components

Synonyms

1.5. Data Collection, Description and Analysis

1.5.1 Data Collection and Description

The data are collected from various poems written by W. Wordsworth. They are

randomly selected to be more representative for the results of the study. The first poem is The

Solitary Reaper. Wordsworth's preface to the 1800 Lyrical Ballads argues that poetry

contains a natural delineation of human passions, human characters, and human incidents.

It oughtn't to be judged by the presence of artificial, poetic diction. Rather, the language of

conversation in the middle and lower classes of society can be its medium. The Solitary

Reaper exemplifies these beliefs. Written seven years after Lyrical Ballads, it describes a

nameless listener's delight in a young woman's melancholy song in an unknown language as,

working by herself in a Scottish valley, she swings a sickle, reaping grain. Four eight-line

stanzas, each closing with two couplets and all written in octosyllabic lines, have a musical

lilt. Short lines deliver the rhymes at a quick pace. Sentences normally need two or more such

short lines to complete, so that few lines are strongly end-stopped; most freely enjamb (see

McSweeney, 1996: 22).

The other poems are selected from the lyrical Lucy. The Lucy poems provoked a lot of

speculations about William Wordsworth's life none of which were made conclusive. The

Lucy Poems are elegiac about a person unknown but many critics believe that Lucy was

Wordsworth's sister Dorothy and the poems express his fear of losing her (Cutajar, 2010: 15).

1.5.2 Data Analysis

The following examples are presented to illustrate the results of the analysis conducted

in the data via using the ''Componential Approach''. Some reference to the contextual features

and views, however, will be introduced to provide a clear idea about the analysis.

(1)

The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass!

Reaping and singing by herself;

Stop here, or gently pass!

Alone she cuts and binds the grain,

And sings a melancholy strain;

O listen! for the Vale profound

Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt

More welcome notes to weary bands

Of travellers in some shady haunt,

Among Arabian sands:

A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard

In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,

Breaking the silence of the seas

Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--

Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow

For old, unhappy, far-off things,

And battles long ago:

Or is it some more humble lay,

Familiar matter of to-day?

Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,

That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang

As if her song could have no ending;

I saw her singing at her work,

And o'er the sickle bending;--

I listened, motionless and still;

And, as I mounted up the hill,

The music in my heart I bore,

Long after it was heard no more.

In this poem, one can find that the poet attempts to make use of synonymy to show or

represent one of his basic themes, i. e., the theme of isolation and loneliness. This theme is

one of the recurrent notions in the romantic poetry, in general and W. Wordsworth, in

particular ( see Preston, I960)

The lexical definitions of the words that are used to indicate this theme will be given

according to Hornby (2007) (see Table (1)).

a. Solitary: adj. done alone/ enjoying being alone/ alone (person, place, animal...)/

single.

b. By herself: alone/ without anyone else.

c. Farthest: at the greatest distance in space, direction or time.

d. Far-off: distant/ far away/remote.

According to the componential analysis approach, these words can have the mutual

features [+ isolation] and [+ loneliness]. These synonyms help building up the thematic

coherence of the poem because they are related to one of the main themes of the poem. This

proves what Abrams (1953: 23) asserts that "although, Wordsworth sang of joy and love, he

did not avert his eyes from anguish or evil, but often represents a ``dark world". He (Ibid)

mentions that "Wordsworth is pre-eminently the poet of solitude... no poet is more

emphatically the poet of community". Wordsworth, therefore, has an acute sense of his own

being that sharpens his awareness of other beings, and his intention is to require us his

audience to acknowledge the being of his narrative personae and so to bring them within the

range of conscience and of natural sympathy.

Rural loneliness has been described as the proper environment or condition for the right

contemplation of nature. The Romantic poets prefer the tranquility and serenity of the rural

environment to the contamination and complexity of the city life by implied contrast. The

poet, his life in the rural environment makes the poet think deeply and have a right view of

life.

Table (1): Componential Analysis of Isolation Items.

Lexical item

Number of features

Recurrent features

Solitary

[+loneliness]

[+isolation]

By herself

Farthest

Far-off

(2)

From "Lucy"

Strange fits of passion have I known:

And I will dare to tell,

But in the lover's ear alone,

What once to me befell.

When she I loved look'd every day

Fresh as a rose in June,

I to her cottage bent my way,

Beneath an evening moon.

Upon the moon I fix'd my eye,

All over the wide lea;

With quickening pace my horse drew nigh

Those paths so dear to me.

And now we reach'd the orchard-plot;

And, as we climb'd the hill,

The sinking moon to Lucy's cot

Came near and nearer still.

In one of those sweet dreams I slept,

Kind Nature's gentlest boon!

And all the while my eyes I kept

On the descending moon.

My horse moved on; hoof after hoof

He raised, and never stopp'd:

When down behind the cottage roof,

At once, the bright moon dropp'd.

What fond and wayward thoughts will slide

Into a lover's head!

'O mercy!' to myself I cried,

'If Lucy should be dead!'

'Tis past, that melancholy dream!

Nor will I quit thy shore

A second time; for still I seem

To love thee more and more.

Among the mountains did I feel

The joy of my desire;

And she I cherish'd turn'd her wheel

Beside an English fire.

'Myself will to my darling be

Both law and impulse; and with me

The girl, in rock and plain,

This poem shows the odd processes of human consciousness especially that of lovers;

the poem is an intimation of death of a loved one. It explicates the fear and grief of losing

one's beloved.

The poem is in a form of a narrative told to the people who know what it means to be in

love in a language occasionally stilted with poetic inversions that may be ascribed to the

awkwardness of confessing an apparently trivial and neurotic incident. The sudden

disappearance of the moon stimulates the thought of a possible more grievous disappearance

in the narrator's mind. The moon is a traditional symbol of change. In the poem the moon is

peculiarly fixed in the intensity of the narrator's gaze while he rides and yet it is also oddly

mobile as it descends and drops with uncanny speed which is made mysterious by an optical

illusion (see Cutajar, 2010).

Nevertheless, this quirky psychological aberration is given a prophetic meaning in the

poem by the fact that the other Lucy poems are epitaphs for someone who has died.

In (2), the poet again uses synonymous expressions and words to emphasize another

important theme in the romantic poetry which is `love'. The componential analysis of these

lexical items depends on The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2004) as follows (see Table (2)):

a. Passion: love/affection/strong feeling or emotion.

b. Lover: one who loves/ beloved.

c. Loved: did love/ fall in love with.

d. Dear: fond/affectionate/loved/lovable.

e. Sweet: darling/lover.

f. Fond: dear/affectionate/loving.

g. Desire: love/affection/fond.

h. Darling: dearly loved/sweet/lover.

As shown in this analysis, the poet does not use these words at random, rather he

attempts to motivate the theme of love in the mind of the reader. The componential feature of

such expressions is [+love]. Romantic poets incline to love, real love as a rejection for the

ugliness of reality. Thus, this poem is unified by this current theme through synonymous

words and lexical items expressing `love'. See table (2) below.

Table (2): Componential Analysis of Love Items.

Lexical item

Number of features

Recurrent features

Passion

[+love]

Lover

Loved

Dear

Sweet

Fond

Desire

Darling

(3)

From "Lucy"

'The floating clouds their state shall lend

To her; for her the willow bend;

Nor shall she fail to see

Even in the motions of the storm

Grace that shall mould the maiden's form

By silent sympathy.

'The stars of midnight shall be dear

To her; and she shall lean her ear

In many a secret place

Where rivulets dance their wayward round,

And beauty born of murmuring sound

Shall pass into her face.

'And vital feelings of delight

Shall rear her form to stately height,

Her virgin bosom swell;

Such thoughts to Lucy I will give

While she and I together live

Here in this happy dell.'

Thus Nature spake -- The work was done --

How soon my Lucy's race was run!

She died, and left to me

This heath, this calm and quiet scene;

The memory of what has been,

And never more will be.

A slumber did my spirit seal;

I had no human fears:

She seem'd a thing that could not feel

The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;

She neither hears nor sees;

Roll'd round in earth's diurnal course,

With rocks, and stones, and trees.

This poem enacts an aura of mysteriousness by putting together a number of statements

that seem to contradict each other suggesting the powerlessness of language to pin down the

nature of Lucy's ethereal existence. The poet's inability to put his grief into words refers to a

depth of feeling which is beyond expression, beyond poetic means; a feeling that is ineffable

and indescribable. This is yet another epitaph for Lucy in which the poet's words gain

peculiar power from contradictions resulting in a pattern of inscrutable ambiguity that

delineates the absoluteness of death and our "human fears" (Cutajar, 2010).

In (3), the poet can be noticed to be using other synonymous expressions and items to

assert the theme of silence which is related to the global theme of the poem which is `death'.

The analysis of the words and expressions components depends on Collins Cobuild

Advanced Dictionary of American English (2007) (see Table (3)):

a. Silent: speechless/quiet/soundless/noiseless/mute/hushed.

b. Secret: unknown/private/hidden.

c. Died: hidden/lifeless/motionless/forceless/speechless.

d. Quiet: silent/hush/calm/lull.

e. Slumber: sleeping/motionless/quiet/rest.

f. No motion: motionless/quiet/restful/

g. No force: forceless/calm/silent.

Table (3): Componential Analysis of Death Items.

Lexical item

Number of features

Recurrent features

Silent

[+motionless]

[+silence]

Secret

Died

Quiet

Slumber

No motion

No force

As one can see, these lexical items and phrases have mutual features such as [+silent]

and [+motionless]. Such componential features are related to the themes of silence and death.

These themes are one of the distinctive aspects of the romantic poetry, and they represent the

focus on passion and individuality in such school of literature. In (3), the poet tries to create

or build the theme of Lucy's death gradually by referring to certain notions related to dying

such as silence and quietness. Then, he explicitly points to death using the word `died'.

Finally, he refers to other expressions associated with death and silence such as `no motion',

`slumber' and `no force'. This process is used to keep the whole poem parts and stanzas stick

to the main topic, leading to `thematic coherence'.

1.6 Conclusions

On the bases of the findings arrived at by the analysis, this study has come up with the

following results:

1. Wordsworth's poetry depends on synonymy as a means for creating `thematic

coherence'.

2. Synonymy is a stylistic marker of his poetry.

3. Componential analysis is a useful tool for the analysis of synonymy, when applied to

literary texts.

4. Not only is synonymy related to local themes (that are related to certain stanzas) in

poems but also to `global' ones.

5. Romantic themes such as death, love, and isolation have different deep semantic

features structures, leading to different literary significance.

References

-Abrams, M. H. (1953). The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical

Tradition. London: Longman.

-Cann, R., Kempson, R. Gregoromichelaki, E. (2009). Semantics: An Introduction to

Meaning in Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

-Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary of American English (2007). Boston: Thomson.

-Cruse, A. (1986 ). Meaning in Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

-Cruse, D. A. (2000). Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and

Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

-Crystal, D. (2003). A Dictionary of Phonetics and Linguistics. London: Blackwell.

-Curzan, A. Adams, M. (2009). How English Works. London: Longman.

-Cutajar, M. (2010). ''Poetry analysis: the Lucy poems, by William Wordsworth''. In:

http://www.helium.com/items/1750427-lucy-poems-wordsworth

-Hornby, A. S. (2007). Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

-Hurford, J. R., Heasley, B. (1983). Semantics: A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

-Kim, Ebensgaard Jensen (2008). Translation and Translation Theory. London: Longman.

-Leech, Geoffrey (1981). Semantics. (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin.

-Lyons, John (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

-Lyons, John (1996). Linguistic Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

-McSweeney, Kerry(1996). Performing 'The Solitary Reaper' and 'Tears, Idle Tears'',

Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts (38:2): 281-302.

-Moulin, J. (2005). "Remanent Romanticism in Modern Poetry", Cercles (12): 1-13.

-Murphy, M. L. (2003). Semantic Relations and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

-O'Grady, W., J. Archibald, M. Aronoff J. Rees-Miller (2005). Contemporary Linguistics.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

-Palmer, F. R. (1981). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

-Preston, John (1969). "The Moral Properties and Scope of Things': The Structure of The

Solitary Reaper." Essays in Criticism (19), pp: 60-66.

-The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2004). Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster.

-van Dijk, Teun A. (1977). Text and Context. London: Longman.

-Verschueren, Jef (1999). Understanding Pragmatics. London: Arnold.

-Zgusta L. (1971). Manual of Lexicography. Janua Linguarum, Series Maior (39). Prague:

Academia.

CHAPTER TWO

SEMANTIC CLAUSE RELATIONS IN LITERARY DISCOURSE

Akram Nadhum Raheem

2.1. Literature Review

2.1.1 Introduction

Every language has a limited number of expressions and words part of whose function is

to make explicit the semantic relationships between units in a discourse. These words and

expressions act as signals of those relationships between units which are the basis of the

realization of active contextual meanings. Recently, much attention has been given to the role

of these words and expressions in signaling not only the relations between clauses and

sentences in different kinds of discourse or texts, but also in unfolding the underlying

rhetorical organization of these texts and discourses.

As such, highlighting these lexical signals is considered to be the first step towards

unfolding the underlying rhetorical and relational organization of texts (Hoey, 1983:85).

Therefore, words are no longer viewed as having stable meaning; rather, they have dynamic

and creative meaning contextually negotiable between the encoder and the decoder

throughout the communication process (ibid: 86).

Therefore, this study aims at identifying vocabulary 3 items in a corpus of a literary text as

a means of signalling the clause relations that hold between different parts of the text. This

study also aims at classifying these lexically signalled clause relations. It is hypothesized that

the different types of clause relations which are used in literary texts help the reader to

interpret the message being communicated by the writer about the way in which the literary

discourse should be interpreted. The writer is telling his/her reader to interpret the

juxtaposition of the parts of his/her discourse in a particular way.

2.1.2 Winter's (1977) Semantic Theory of Clause Relations

Winter's semantic theory of clause relations is based on the notion that adjacent clauses and

sentences complement the meaning of each other. That is to say, the semantics of one

sentence is completed by the semantics of another which constitute the contextual

significance of both sentences. The process of interpreting one sentence depends to a greater

extent on the meaning of the preceding sentence or group of sentences.

According to Winter (1977: 37), clause relations refer to a system of predictability of

context; That is, given a sentence with its preceding context, the lexical selection of the next

sentence is frequently predictable. Therefore, the existence of a preceding context of a given

sentence is a crucial factor in the process of interpreting that sentence.

Following Winter (1977: 38), these lexical items can be divided according to their clause-

relating function into three groups; voc.1, voc.2, and voc.3. The first two groups are

grammatical, the third is lexical. The first includes subordinators, the second sentence

connectors or conjuncts, the third includes lexical items which Winter calls 'lexical signals'.

Winter (1982) rephrases his definition of clause relations as:

"A clause relation is the shared cognitive process whereby we interpret the

meaning of a clause or a group of clauses in the light of their adjoining clause or

group of clauses. Where the clauses are independent we can speak of 'sentence

relation'. (p: 178).

Consequently, Winter's developed definition has resolved the conflation between the

sentence and the clause, because independence is the first grammatical requirement of the

sentence, in the traditional definition, though not enough for its meaning in a complete

utterance unit. And since the sentence in Winter's (ibid.) definition consists of more than one

clause grammatically grouped together by subordination, it follows that the clause in its

independent form contains inadequate information and requires lexical realization by

adjoining clauses to be fully understood.

As an illustration, Winter (ibid:185) asserts that though the clause 'There is a problem' is

perfectly grammatical, it remains incomprehensible and needs a lexical realization by the

adjoining clauses. He also terms this clause as 'unspecific clause' which requires semantic

completeness by answering the question ' What is the problem?', i.e., it must have a lexical

realization from the adjoining clauses which he terms as 'specific clauses'.

2.1.2.1 Definition of Clause Relations

Winter's clause relational approach has culminated in a broader definition presented by

Hoey Winter (1986:123) in which they expand Winter's definition (1982) by accounting

for the reader/writer communicative interaction. The reader is the decoder or interpreter of

the combination of sentences or clauses in the light of the preceding ones, whereas, the

writer, as encoder of the message, makes all the possible choices from lexis, grammar and

intonation in the creation of the combination of clauses or sentences in the same discourse.

Thus, Hoey Winter (1986: 123) provide a new definition of clause relation where emphasis

is laid on writer-reader communicative interaction:

"A clause relation is the cognitive process, and the product of that process, whereby

the reader interprets the meaning of a clause, sentence, or group of sentences in the

same discourse. It is also the cognitive process and the product of that process

whereby the choices the writer makes from grammar, lexis, and intonation in the

creation of a clause, sentence, or group of sentences are made in the context of the

other clauses, sentences, or groups of sentences in the discourse.

Therefore, this study adopts the aforementioned definition of clause relation to be the

operational definition due to the fact that it bridges the shortcomings in all previous

definitions.

As such, the following section aims at providing a general background discussion of the

organization and patterning of expository discourse. Thus, it introduces Winter's semantic

theory of clause relations, identifying the categories of these relations and ways of their

signalling with special emphasis on lexical signalling which is the main concern of this study.

The rest of the chapter is devoted to the contributions made by Hoey, Jordan and Crombie to

Winter's semantic theory of clause relations. Winter's semantic theory of clause relations has

undergone several stages towards a deeper understanding into the semantic and logical

relations in language. He starts his investigation in a report about the sentence and the clause

in scientific English written in collaboration with Huddleston, Hudson, and Henirici (1968).

In a supplementary work , Winter (1971) provides a semantic analysis of clause relations. In

his work he distinguishes between outer clause relations (connection between sentences) and

inner clause relations ( connection by subordination) in scientific and non-scientific material.

He also presents his first definition of clause relations: a clause relation is the way in which

the information of one clause is understood in the light of the other clause. ( ibid:42).

Winter considers the definition as a broadening to an earlier definition of concessive

relation given by Quirk (1954). In his Ph.D work Winter (1974) makes initial reference to

vocabulary 1, vocabulary 2 and vocabulary 3 items. These items are found to have a binary

value within a larger semantic whole of two basic clause relations: 'logical sequence' and

'matching relations'. In a comprehensive treatment of lexical signalling of clause relations in

English, Winter (1977:35) defines clause relations as "a system of predictability of context,

that is, given one sentence within its preceding contexts the lexical selection of the next

sentence is frequently predictable. Here, our interest is in prediction or how one part of the

sentence (i.e. the clause) is made explicit in advance by some connective or paraphrase of this

connective in signalling the clause relations. Winter ( ibid:17,49) offers the following three

examples to show how the three types of lexical items: 'by-ing', 'thereby' and 'instrumental'

are classified as vocabulary 1, 2and 3 respectively in the signalling of the binary clause

relation of instrument- achievement:

Example (1):

(1a) By appealing to scientists and technologists to support his party,

(1b) Mr. Wilson won many middle class votes in the election.

Example (2):

(1) Mr. Wilson appealed to scientists and technologists to support his party,

(2) he thereby won many middle class votes in the election.

Example (3):

Mr. Wilson's appeals to scientist and technologists to support his party were instrumental in

wining many middle class votes in the election.

Winter (1982: 178) has rephrased his definition to read A clause relation is the shared

cognitive process whereby we interpret the meaning of a clause or a group of clauses in the

light of their adjoining clause or group of clauses. Where the clauses are independent we can

speak of 'sentence relation' . According to Winter, this definition has resolved the conflation

between the sentence and the clause, because independence is the first grammatical

requirement of the sentence, in the traditional definition, though not enough for its meaning

in a complete utterance unit. And since the sentence in Winter's definition (ibid:183) consists

of more than one clause grammatically grouped together by subordination, it follows that the

clause in its independent form contains inadequate information and requires lexical

realization by adjoining clauses to be fully understood. As an illustration, Winter (ibid:185)

asserts that though the clause 'There is a problem' is perfectly grammatical, it remains

incomprehensible and needs a lexical realization by the adjoining clauses. He also terms this

clause as 'unspecific clause' which requires semantic completeness by answering the question

' What is the problem?', i.e., it must have a lexical realization from the adjoining clauses

which he terms as 'specific clauses'.

Winter's clause relational approach has culminated in a broader definition presented by

Hoey Winter (1986:123) in which they expand Winter's definition (1982) by accounting

for the reader/writer communicative interaction. The reader is the decoder or interpreter of

the combination of sentences or clauses in the light of the preceding ones, whereas, the

writer, as encoder of the message, makes all the possible choices from lexis, grammar and

intonation in the creation of the combination of clauses or sentences in the same discourse.

The definition of clause relations final shape is provided by Hoey Winter (1986: 123)

where emphasis is laid on writer-reader. To facilitate communicative interaction:

A clause relation is the cognitive process, and the product of that process, whereby the

reader interprets the meaning of a clause, sentence, or group of sentences in the same

discourse. It is also the cognitive process and the product of that process whereby the choices

the writer makes from grammar, lexis, and intonation in the creation of a clause, sentence, or

group of sentences are made in the context of the other clauses, sentences, or groups of

sentences in the discourse.

According to Winter (1977) there exists a finite number of words, verbs, nouns and

adjectives, which perform jobs in texts comparable to the grammar words and to which a text

structuring function is assigned. The list of these words as proposed by Winter (1977)

includes (108) items such as: addition, affirm, basis, cause, change, compare, concede,

conclude, contrast, deny, differ, equal, error, example, feature, follow, instance, instrumental,

kind, lead to, like(ness), mean, means of, opposite, problem, reason, resemble, similar,

situation, way etc.

According to Winter, these lexical items signal the relations between clauses in a

text. His theory of clause relations is based on the assumption that a finite number of lexical

items, which he calls 'voc 3' items, indicate the special relation between adjacent clauses or

sentences, and how the interpretation of one clause depends in some way on the interpretation

of the other in the paragraph. In other words, the semantics of one sentence is completed by

the semantics of the other which constitutes the contextual significance of the two of them.

2.1.2.2. Winter's (1977) Classification of Lexical Items

According to Winter (1977), these lexical items can be divided according to their clause-

relating function into three groups; voc.1, voc.2, and voc.3. The first two groups are

grammatical, the third is lexical. The first includes subordinators, the second sentence

connectors or conjuncts, the third include lexical signalling.

2.1.2.2.1 Vocabulary 1: The Subordinators of English

Winter (1977:14-15) lists a set of subordinators which he terms vocabulary 1 items. He

considers these items as a closed-system. Then, he divides them up into two groups: the first

group is the subordinators of clauses which include: 'after', '(al)though', '(as though)', 'apart

from-ing', etc.

In a supplementary work, Winter (1971) provides a semantic analysis of clause relations.

In his work he distinguishes between outer clause relations ( connection between sentences)

and inner clause relations ( connection by subordination) in scientific and non-scientific

material. He also presents his first definition of clause relations: a clause relation is the way

in which the information of one clause is understood in the light of the other clause. (

ibid:42).

Winter considers the definition as a broadening to an earlier definition of concessive

relation given by Quirk (1954). In his Ph.D work Winter (1974) makes initial reference to

vocabulary 1, vocabulary 2 and vocabulary 3 items. These items are found to have a binary

value within a larger semantic whole of two basic clause relations: 'logical sequence' and

'matching relations'. In a comprehensive treatment of lexical signalling of clause relations in

English, Winter (1977:35) defines clause relations as a system of predictability of context,

that is, given one sentence within its preceding contexts the lexical selection of the next

sentence is frequently predictable. Here, our interest is in prediction or how one part of the

sentence (i.e. the clause) is made explicit in advance by some connective or paraphrase of this

connective in signalling the clause relations. Winter ( ibid:17,49) offers the following three

examples to show how the three types of lexical items: 'by-ing', 'thereby' and 'instrumental'

are classified as vocabulary 1, 2and 3 respectively in the signalling of the binary clause

relation of instrument- achievement:

Example (1):

(1a) By appealing to scientists and technologists to support his party,

(1b) Mr. Wilson won many middle class votes in the election.

Example (2):

(1) Mr. Wilson appealed to scientists and technologists to support his party,

(2) he thereby won many middle class votes in the election.

Example (3):

Mr. Wilson's appeals to scientist and technologists to support his party were instrumental in

wining many middle class votes in the election.

Winter (1982: 178) has rephrased his definition to read "A clause relation is the shared