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A Study Of Mind Styles In Mrs. Dalloway: A Cognitive Stylistic Approach

Posted on:2007-05-04Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J J XingFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360212978227Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
This paper aims at presenting a cognitive stylistic analysis of the"mind style"of characters in fiction. The term"mind style"was first used by Roger Fowler (1977) to refer to the way in which consistent linguistic patterns in a text can reveal a particular world-view, a characteristic way of perceiving and conceptualizing the textual"world".For this purpose, the present paper has selected for analysis Mrs. Dalloway, a novel by Virginia Woolf well-known for its use of stream-of-consciousness technique. The paper has focused on the analysis of the mind style of Clarissa Dalloway, the heroine of the novel. The analysis is conducted at five facets: 1) the lexical choice of Clarissa; 2) her preferred syntactic patterns; 3) the cohesive devices in her expressions; 4) the imagery and symbols in her thought representations; and 5) the use of metaphors. For the analysis of linguistic patterns, the present paper has followed the models originated by R. Fowler (Fowler, 1977; 1983; 1996), G. Leech and M. Short (Leech and Short, 1981). It has also applied the notions developed by M.A.K. Halliday (Halliday, 1973; 1994) concerning the analysis of mind styles. For the analysis of metaphors, the present paper has mainly resorted to the cognitive metaphor theory.It is hoped that the present paper will extend the studies of mind styles to a wider scope, to include literary analysis of major characters in fiction. It is also hoped that the present research will provide a new perspective for readers and critics in appreciating and analyzing characters in fiction characterized with the use of the stream-of-consciousness technique.
Keywords/Search Tags:mind style, cognitive stylistic, characters in fiction, stream-of -consciousness
PDF Full Text Request
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