Language and Characterisation: People in Plays and Other Texts [1 ed.] 9780582357532

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LANGUAGE AND CHARACTERISATION

TEXTUAL EXPLORATIO NS General editors: Ml(}l< SlfORT Laneaster Unlversffy

HENA SEMI'NO Lanc-asler University

Books published in this sertes: Langlfage and Wort"d Cre:atton in Poems and other Texts &LENA SE\41NO

"J:ext Worlds: Representing Conceptual

Spac~

in Dlscourse

PAUL WERTH

The Poetics of Science Ftction PETER STOCKWEU

Mind the Gap: Ell1psis and Stylislic Variation in Spoken and Written English PETER WRS1JN

Lallguage and Gllaracterisation: PeopJe In Plays alld ottrer Te:xts JONATHAN CUlPEPER

LANGUAGE AND CHARACTERISATION PEOPLE IN Pl AYS AND OTHER TEXTS JONATHAN CULPEPER

~~ ~~o~~!~n~~;up LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2001 by Pearson Education Limited Published 201 4 by Routledge 2 Park Squate, Milton Par]\, Abingdon, Oxon OX144RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of tile. Taylor & Fraucis Group, an informilllllsiness Copyright © 200 I, Taylor & Francis. T he right ofJon~than Culpeper to be ideotified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordaoce \\;th we Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All righls reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechant~l. or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system. without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely 011 their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. ln using such information or methods tbey should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or ediiors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instntctioos, or ideas contained in the material herein.

ISBN 13: 978-0-582-35753-2 (pbk) British Library Catalo.g uing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book i.s av:Uiable from the Dririsb Gbrary Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Culpeper, jonathan, 1966Lauguagc and ch.aracterisation : people in plays and other texts I Jonathan Culpeper. p. em. - (Textual explorations) Based on the author'$ thesis. lndudes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o-582-3575:3 -5 (ppr) I. Discourse analysis, Literary. 2. Characters and characrerisrics in literature. :3. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616- Characters-Kath.erine. t Title. II. Series. P:302.5.C85 2001

8081.001'4- dc21

00-069023

Set in 11/ 1:3 pt Bernbo by Graphicraft Ltd, Hong Kong

To my father and in memory of my mother

Q Taylor & Francis

�

Taylor & Francis Group http://tayl o ra ndfra nci s.com

CONTENTS

Preface

xiii xiv

Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1:

MODELLING CHARACTERISATION

1

1.1

Introduction

1

1.2

Raising the issues

3

1.3

Characters: Approaches in literary criticism

5

1.3.1 Humanising approaches

6

1.3.2 De-humanising approaches

7

1.3.3 A mixed approach

9

1.4

Peop le: Approaches in linguistics

12

1.4.1 Language attitude research

13

1.4.2 Identity in sociolinguistics: Insights from gender studies 1.4.3 Social constructivist approaches

15 18

1.4.4 Developing a pragmatic view of language and people 1.5

Text comprehension and characterisation

23 26

1.5.1 Information sources and cognitive processes: Top-down and bottom-up

27

1.5.2 Mental representations in text comprehension

28

1.5.3 Mental representations in literary texts and characterisation 1.6

A model for characterisation

32 34 vii

CONTENTS 1.7

Characterisation in plays: Some preliminaries

38

l.7.1 Discourse structure

38

1.7.2 Text and performance

39

PART ONE: CHARACTERISATION AN D THE MIND CHAPTER 2: CHARACTER CATEGORIES AND IMPRESSIONS OF CHARACTER

47

2.1

Introduction

47

2.2

Literary approaches to categorising character

48

2.2 .1 Traits and 'semes'

48

2.2.2 Actant roles

49

2.2.3 Dramatic roles

50

2.2.4 Character typologies: The 'ftat'/' round' distinction 2.3

2.4

52

The organisation and role of prior knowledge

57

2.3.1 Memory stores

58

2.3.2 Semantic memory and episodic memory

59

2.3.3 Knowledge structures

60

Social cognition

70

2.4.1 Perspectives on social cognition

70

2.4.2 Cognition, social dimensions and discourse

72

2.4.3 From non-social to social categories

73

2.4.4 Social categories: Three main groups

75

2.4.5 Social schemata

76

2.4.6 Social categories and social schemata

2.5

in two advertisements

80

2.4.7 Impression formation

83

Social cognition and fictional characterisation

86

2.5.1 Categories in characterisation

86

2.5 .2 Prototypicality distortions in fictional contexts 2.5.3 Possibility distortions in fictional contexts VII I

88 92

CONTENTS

2.6

2.7

2.5.4 The flat/round distinction revisited

93

2.5.5 Category shifts in characterisation

96

Investigating readers' descriptions of character

99

2.6.1 Aims and methodology

99

2.6.2 Discussion

103

Conclusion

110

CHAPTER 3: I NFERRING CHARACTER FROM TEXTS 3.1

Introduction

3.2

Approaching character inferencing from within

3.3

113 113

literary studies

114

Attribution theories

115

3.3.1 Correspondent inference theory

116

3.3.2 Cr itique of correspondent inference theory

119

3.3.3 Correspondent inference theory, speech act theory and play texts

122

3.3.4 Covariation theory

126

3.3.5 Integrating two attribution ~heories

128

3.4

Foreground ing theory

129

3.5

Foregrounding theory and attribution theory: Are they analogous?

3.6

3.7

3.8

3 .9

133

Attribution theory in practice

135

3.6.1 When and how does attribution occur?

135

3.6.2 Attribution and perceiver biases

136

Attribution theory and language

139

3. 7.1 Conversational action

139

3. 7.2 I nferencing in a communicative context

141

3. 7.3 Language attitude research

143

Inferring characteristics in plays

144

3.8.1 The inferential context

145

3.8.2 Reader manipulations

146

3.8.3 Investigating readers' inferences

149

Conclusion

153 ix

CONTENTS Further di rections and exercises

156

1. Jokes

156

2. Adverts

157

3. Personal adverts

158

4. Newspapers

159

PART TWO: CHARACTERISATION AND THE TEXT CHAPT ER 4: T EXTUAL CU ES IN CHARACTERISATION

163

4.1

Introduction

163

4.2

Preliminaries

164

4.2.1 Form, function and context

164

4.2.2 Idio lect, dialect and different media

166

4.3

Explicit cues: Self-presentation and other-presentation

167

4.3.1 Self-presentation in the presence of other characters

168

4.3.2 Self-presentation in the absence of other characters 4.4

4.5

4.6 X

169

4.;3.3 Other-presentation

171

Implicit cues

172

4.4.1 Conversational structure

172

4.4.2 Conversational implicature

180

4.4.3 Lexis

182

4.4.4 Syntactic features

202

4.4.5 Accent and dialect

206

4.4.6 Verse and prose

213

4.4.7 Paralinguistic f eatures

215

4.4.8 Visual features

221

4.4.9 Context: A character's company and setting

225

Authorial cues

229

4.5.1 Proper names

229

4.5.2 Stage directions

231

Conclusion

232

CONTENTS CHAPTER 5: POLITENESS AND CHARACTERISATION

235

5.1

Introduction

5.2

Speech acts, politeness and characterisation:

5.3

235

Opening examples

235

Linguistic politeness

237

5.3.1 Face, face-threatening acts; and degree 238

of face threat 5.3.2 Superstrategies

243

5.4

A note on impoliteness

245

5.5

The case for the importance of (im)politeness in characterisation

247

5.5.1 (lm)politeness, power and person perception

247

5.5.2 Om)politeness and characterisation: The study of The Entertainer revisited

251

5.6

Characterisation in the film Scent of a Woman

255

5.7

Conclusion

261

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION: THE CHARACTERISATION OF I(ATHERINA IN SHAKESPEARE'S THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

263

6.1

Introduction

263

6.2

Literary criticism and l