Phrases in literary contexts: Patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens's novels
Mahlberg M, Smith C, Preston S (2013)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2013
Journal
Book Volume: 18
Pages Range: 35-56
Journal Issue: 1
Abstract
This paper addresses relations between lexico-grammatical patterns and texts. Our focus is on a specific linguistic unit, the 'suspended quotation' (or 'suspension'), which has received particular attention in Dickens studies. The suspended quotation refers to an interruption of a fictional character's speech by the narrator with a sequence of at least five words. We show how corpus linguistic methods can help to systematically study suspensions in a corpus of Dickens's novels: we investigate relationships between patterns of body language presentation and suspensions; we consider the distribution of suspensions across novels; and we illustrate how patterns in suspensions relate to meanings of reporting verbs. Overall, we argue that suspensions are discernible units that contribute to meaningful patterns in narrative prose. © John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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United Kingdom (GB)How to cite
APA:
Mahlberg, M., Smith, C., & Preston, S. (2013). Phrases in literary contexts: Patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens's novels. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 18(1), 35-56. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.18.1.05mah
MLA:
Mahlberg, Michaela, Catherine Smith, and Simon Preston. "Phrases in literary contexts: Patterns and distributions of suspensions in Dickens's novels." International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 18.1 (2013): 35-56.
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