英语reexploring o henrys short storiesa corpusbased pilot study本科学位论文.docx

1、英语reexploring o henrys short storiesa corpusbased pilot study本科学位论文Re-exploringO.HenrysShortStoriesA Corpus-Based Pilot Study【摘要】本文试图采用语料库的方法从文体学视角分析欧亨利小说集四百万。研究揭示，通过语料库软件计算出的总体统计数据，为有关欧亨利小说广泛认同的文学阐释提供了更为具体的描述基础。在探讨小说场景和基本主题方面，重现序列的搭配及频数信息发现了前人并未关注过的语言学特征。 Abstract：Thisarticleattemptstoapplycorpus-b

2、asedmethodtoastylisticinterpretationofO.HenrysshortstorycollectionTheFourMillion.Itisshownthattheoverallstatisticscomputedbycorpussoftwarehasprovidedamoredetaileddescriptivebasisforwidelyacceptedliteraryinterpretationsofhisstories.Intermsofstorysettingsandgeneralthemes,thecollocationandfrequencyinfo

3、rmationofrecurrentsequencescanidentifyvaluablelinguisticfeatureswhichliterarycriticsseemnottohavenoticed. Keywords：corpus;O.Henry;setting;theme 1.Introduction HenrywascalledtheAmericanGuyDeMaupassant.Bothauthorswrotetwistendings,butO.Henrysstoriesweremuchmoreplayfulandoptimistic.Amongtheformerstudie

4、sonO.Henrysshortstories,thereisconsensusthatO.Henrysworksaregenerallybrandedwithsuchfeaturesassurprisingendings,useofcoincidenceorchancetocreatehumor,ingeniousandexquisitelayouts,smile-in-tearsironyandsoforth.Despitethedetailedliterarydiscussion,littleworkhasbeendonetorevealitslinguisticstyles.Noris

5、thereworkwithquantitativedataasconvincingevidence.Intermsoftheestablisheddescriptionofhisstyle,itseemsunlikelythatthecorpus-basedmethodcanfindanythingoriginal.However,thestylisticanalysisinthepresentpaperaimstoillustratethevalueofcorpusempiricalmethodinexploringtheliterarystyles.Ontheonehand,statist

6、icdatahelptoconfirmthecanonicalviewonO.Henrysshortstories;ontheotherhand,stylisticsisrelatedtolinguisticfeaturesofhisworks. 2.DataandMethodology ThispaperisdevotedtoinvestigatingthelinguisticstylesofO.Henrysworksinanempiricalway,applyingbothquantitativeandqualitativemethods.Thestudyadoptstwocorpora.

7、OneisO.HenrysbookTheFourMillion(acollectionofstories),publishedin1906,containsaseriesofshortstorieswhichtookplaceintheNewYorkCityintheearlyyearsofthe20thcentury.Thecomputerreadableversionsavailableontheinternetareusedtosetupaminorworkingcorpusforinvestigation(TheotheroneisBrowncorpususedasareference

8、corpus. ThecorpusconcordancesoftwareusedinthisstudyisWordsmithtools.Wordsmithcanundertakemoredetailedanalysesoffrequenciesofconcordanceitemsandextractcollocationalinformation.Byuseofcorporasoftware,wordswithsignificantkeynessinthebookTheFourMillionwillbesortedoutfirst,andthenconcordancelineswithakey

9、wordanditscollocateswillbeextracted.Thecorporadatawillbeprocessedbystatisticalinstruments. 3.OverallStatistics Theoverallstatisticsareoneessentialstartingpointforasystematiccorpus-basedtextualanalysis.WordsmithToolsareusedtoprovidetheoverallstatisticsofthetwocorporaandcomparisonismadeasshowninTable3

10、.1. Table3.1ComparisonofOverallStatisticsbetweentheTwoCorpora textfile intext types(distinctwords) type/tokenratio(TTR) standardisedTTR standardisedTTRbasis meansentencelength(inwords)meanwordlength(incharacters) wordlengthstd.dev. OverallofMini 52,770 8,251 16 46.97 1,000.00 15 4 2.24 OverallofBrow

11、n 1,390,505 47,146 4 39.07 1,000.00 23 5 2.52 Intermsofthenumberoftokens,thecorpusforthepresentstudyseemsrathersmallcomparedwiththatofBrown.However,theobservedstandardizedtype-tokenratio(TTR)intheminorworkingcorpusishigherthanthatofBrown.Thehighertheratiois,themorelexicalvariationitreflects.Theresul

12、tisnotquitesurprising,forthefactthatO.Henrywasnotableforwritingstorieswithadiversityofexpressions.ThemeansentencelengthshowsthatO.Henrywroteshortersentencesthanthoseingeneralwrittentexts.Ineachofhisshortstories,severalincidentsandcluesarecondensedintomerely750wordsorso.Naturally,sentencesinshorterle

13、ngthcandelivernewinformationinaflashoftime.Ittakeslesstimeforreaderstofollowupthedevelopmentofthedramaticplot.Fundamentallyaproductofhistime,O.Henry#39;sworkprovidesoneofthebestEnglishexamplesofcatchingtheentireflavorofanage.Whetherroamingthecattle-landsofTexas,exploringtheartofthegentlegrafter,orin

14、vestigatingthetensionsofclassandwealthinturn-of-the-centuryNewYork,O.Henryhadaninimitablehandforisolatingsomeelementofsocietyanddescribingitwithanincredibleeconomyandgraceoflanguage. 4.KeywordAnalysisforSettings Settingisanindispensableconstituentforstorytelling.Settingbasicallyincludesseveralclosel

15、yrelatedaspectsthetimeinwhichtheeventoractiontakesplace,theplacewheretheeventoractiontakesplaceandsocialenvironmentofthecharacters:themanners,customs,moralvaluesthatgovernthecharacterssociety.Inthepresentstudy,theinformationofthefirsttwoaspectscanbeprovidedbysortingoutthekeywordsofthetextsasTable4.1

16、shows. Indoorplaces room,restaurant,Bogles,Cyphers,store,flat,door,window,dresser,table,skylight,floor,desk, bench,street,corner,sidewalk,Broadway,avenue,park, Denotingtime evening,night,oclock, Itisstrikinglyinterestingthattwooutofthreekeywordsexplicitlyrefertothetimeatoraftersunset,includingevenin

17、g,andnight.Moreinterestingly,almostallthecollocationsofoclockindicatetherighttimefromthelateafternoontillthelatenight.Thefollowingconcordancelinesprovideevidence. 1.swerefew.Thetimewasbarely10o#39;clockatnight,butchillygustsofwind 2.eyDonovan#39;spaper-boxgirl.At10o#39;clockthejollyroundfaceofBigMik

18、e 3.heatresarestupid,anyway.At11o#39;clockthatnightsomebodytappedlightly 4.anttoovershadowherfriend.At4o#39;clockontheafternoonofthethirddayM 5.upperwindowslighted?Well,at6o#39;clockIstoodinthathousewiththeyoun 6.astrike-breaker#39;smotorcar.At6o#39;clockthewaiterbroughtherdinnerandc 7.etothinking.O

19、neeveningabout6o#39;clockmymistressorderedhimtogetbusy 8.larandeighty-sevencents?At7o#39;clockthecoffeewasmadeandthefrying- 9.gingmistress.Itwasmosttimes7o#39;clockwhenhereturnedintheevening.At 10.coddled,praisedandkissedat7o#39;clock.Artisanengagingmistress.Itwa 11.Weweremarriedlasteveningat8o#39;c

20、lockintheLittleChurchAroundtheCor 12.ewsamplesthismorning.It#39;s9.45o#39;clock,andnotasinglepicturehatorpi 13.ghappinesstoyourson.Ateighto#39;clockthenexteveningAuntEllentooka 14.bywemovedout,for#39;twaseleveno#39;clock,andstandsabituponthesidewalk15.dyouburnyourhand,Dele?Fiveo#39;clock,Ithink,said

21、Dele,plaintively. 16.behappening?askedIkey.Nineo#39;clock,saidMr.McGowan.Supper#39;satse 17.ooktomakehimthinkit!Atnineo#39;clockDulcietookatinboxofcrackersa 18.heannounced.Itwasexactlyteno#39;clockwhenwepartedhereattherestaura Furtherobservationofthefilenamesinthecorpusleadstoaconclusionthatallstori

22、esexceptonehappenedtotakeplacefromdusktothelatenight.Isthereanycoincidence?PerhapsinthedaytimethecommonmassesinNewYorkwereexcessivelybusywithworryingabouttheirmeansoflivelihood.Onlyafterworkoraftersupperdidtheyhavetimetotakepartinsomesocialactivities,suchasdinner,ball,caf,park,andplaywhichappearinth

23、econtextofthethreetemporalkeywords.Thisisareflectionofsocialandculturalcontextsattheearly1920sinAmerica.People,whetherpoororrich,wouldliketotakeacupofcoffeeinacaforhaveaglassofdrinkatapub.Younggirlsdreamedofdancingwiththeirbelovedpartnersattheballofthelowerclass. Thenounkeywordsaboutthephysicalplace

24、swheretheeventstookplacecanberoughlygroupedintotwotypes:indoorplacesandoutdoorplaces.Someunexpectedincidentsmighthappeninaroom,restaurant,flat,store,oronthesecondfloor,orevennearadresser,tableanddeskinside.Theyaresuchcommonandeverydayplacesthatonecantexpectanyconspicuousincidenttohappenattheseplaces

25、.However,theauthorwaswiseenoughtoarrangehisunusualstoriesinquiteordinarysettings.Otheradventuresmightbeexperiencedatthestreet,corner,sidewalk,orattheSecondAvenue,orevenonthebenchinalittlepark.InO.Henrysstoriestherewerenoplacesofimposingscaleoruniquestyle.Buttheywereplacesperfectlymatchedwiththestori

26、esofthecommonpeople. Whetherintheindoorplaceslikerestaurant,storeandflat,orattheoutdoorplaceslikestreet,cornerandsidewalk,thereembeddedsomeunknownpossibilitiesforthecomingevents.Itwasattheseinconspicuousandordinaryplacesthattheunexpectedandaccidentalcoincidencestookplaceallthetime.O.Henryisgoodatwri

27、tingaboutordinarypeopleineverydaycircumstances.Heisquotedasoncesaying,Therearestoriesineverything.Ivegotsomeofmybestyarnsfromparkbenches,lamppostsandnewspaperstands. ArangeoffrequentnounkeywordshelptofigureoutthemajorthemesinO.Henrysworks.Tobetterinvestigatewhatthesenounkeywordsreveal,itisnecessarytofurthercategorizethemaccordingtotheirdenotations.ThefollowingTable5.1showsthecategorization. Table5.1Frequ