Deviation Of Dickens's Language

This thesis mainly focuses on the deviate components in Dickens's language. Dickens is known as one of the most abundant novelists of English authors, and his language makes him both a great writer and an influential spokesman of the conscience of his age. Comments on Charles Dickens have never stopped. The earlier novels are always his most popular works. But in 1950s, European critics began to discover his artistry and great depth in the later works. Scholars have studied his working method, his relations with his public, and the reason of his popularity for all time. Dickens is also much discussed by Chinese scholars, who show their interest mainly on political problems implied in his novel (especially on humanism), his criticism on the contemporary society or his sympathy for the lower class people. In recent time, critics try to explore something original by weakening the boundary between content and form. Taking one with another, research on the social aspects existing in Dickens's novel has been the most compelling one.In this paper, the author tries to discuss the deviation of his language shared by his novel. There are two reasons why the author has chosen such a topic: One is that it is the trend to study his works in a more comprehensive way rather than to focus on one single novel; the other is that so far there has been no systematic research on such a topic. The demonstration part will fall into three chapters: 1) the analysis of the phonological deviation; 2) the analysis of grammatical deviation; 3) the analysis of the deviation of tone.From the perspective of phonological deviation, in chapter one, the author attempts to probe into Dickens's deviant use of language in such aspects as dialect, idiolect and typographical devices. Through the discussion, the author wants to prove that phonological deviation is an important device used by the writer to imply some specific information and thus shape various kinds of characters.Chapter two lays emphasis on the grammatical deviation and its artistic effects existing in Dickens's novel. Using ungrammatical sentence is one effective device. It is mainly shown through four aspects: lack of verb, lack of deixis, mistaken use of adjective comparison, and using adjective adverbially. The other device used by the writer is syntactic deviation, which is embodied in five sentence types: 1) parallelism (deliberate repetition); 2) cumulative sentence; 3) periodic; 4) multiple negation; 5) special use of simple form. Through grammatical deviation, Dickens's intended to express his ironic intention towards the society or a specific people, arousing readers' emotion, reaching mock reality.Chapter three studies Dickens's deviation of tone. Deviation of tone happens when the mood used by a writer distinguishes from what the reader thinks it should be. The author of this paper talks about it through the following three aspects: 1) deviation existing in conversational tone; 2) deviant factors in defeated expectation; 3) understatement. From the discussion we can see that deviant use of tone is one effective method to defeat or arouse readers' feelings. Deviant use of tone in everyday communication can create a comic effect, in which a sarcastic intention often implies.The concluding part offers a brief summary of the accomplishment of Dickens's deviant language. It points out that his high plane of writing technique lies in the vivid expression of plots and utterance features. He used the deviant devices successfully, showing originality in his literary works. First of all, the advantage of deviation embodies in his figures, through which one's status, character, or even life experiences all unfold before our eyes. Secondly, when telling about background, deviant devices put dynamic changes into the plot. They, like episodes in a piece of music, will please the reader. Language can display the tone of a novel. Dickens, by using deviation, endowed every of his figures with specific characteristics, showing his ironic tone towards them through the delicately arranged plots.Deviation can make Dickens's works more impressive. But more importantly, it makes them much deeper and delicate. Deviation is not equal to twist. It helps the writer to show us social caricatures of all sorts.This thesis offers a new angle for the critics who are interested in Dickens and his works. It is useful both for the linguistic and ideaistic study of his novel. However, it is only a beginning. It needs a further study by the author and anyone who is also interested in this topic.