255 106 62MB
English Pages 344 [345] Year 2001
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