Narrative Progression in the Short Story: A Corpus Stylistic Approach

226 Pages·2009·3.149 MB·English

by  Michael Toolan

Narrative Progression in the Short Story
Linguistic Approaches to Literature (LAL)
Linguistic Approaches to Literature (LAL) provides an international forum
for researchers who believe that the application of linguistic methods leads to
a deeper and more far-reaching understanding of many aspects of literature.
The emphasis will be on pragmatic approaches intersecting with areas such
as discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, rhetoric, philosophy,
cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and stylistics.
Editors
Willie van Peer Sonia Zyngier
University of Munich Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Advisory Editorial Board
Timothy R. Austin Colin Martindale
Loyola University Chicago University of Maine
Douglas Biber Sara Mills
Northern Arizona University Sheffield Hallam University
Lubomir Dolezel Mick Short
University of Toronto Lancaster University
Donald C. Freeman Michael Toolan
University of Southern California University of Birmingham
Harald Fricke Reuven Tsur
University of Fribourg Tel Aviv University
Raymond W. Jr. Gibbs Jean Jacques Weber
University of California, Santa Cruz University Centre Luxemburg
Rachel Giora Peter Verdonk
Tel Aviv University University of Amsterdam
Paisley Livingston
University of Copenhagen
Volume 6
Narrative Progression in the Short Story. A corpus stylistic approach
by Michael Toolan
Narrative Progression
in the Short Story
A corpus stylistic approach
Michael Toolan
University of Birmingham
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
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American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Toolan, Michael J.
Narrative progression in the short story : a corpus stylistic approach / by Michael
Toolan.
p. cm. (Linguistic Approaches to Literature, issn 1569-3112 ; v. 6)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Narration (Rhetoric) 2. Short story--Technique. 3. Fiction--Authorship. I. Title.
PN3383.N35T66 2009
809.3’1--dc22 2008044245
isbn 978 90 272 3338 7 (Hb; alk. paper)
© 2009 – John Benjamins B.V.
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John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
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Table of contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of figures and tables xi
chapter 1
Introduction: Narrative prospecting 1
1. The crucial question: how does text ‘guide’ the reader? 1
2. A brief sketch of the research context and methods 3
3. On genre, relevance, scripts, and background 5
4. Guided expectation 8
5. Text integrity 1 0
6. Predictive reading 1 1
7. Conclusion 1 2
chapter 2
Collocation and corpus stylistics 1 5
1. Studies in discourse prospection and expectation 1 5
2. Collocational stylistics 1 8
3. Choosing an appropriate comparator corpus 2 5
4. A note on the stories selected for analysis 2 8
5. Conclusion 2 9
chapter 3
Lexical patternings in short stories 3 1
1 Word frequencies in “Two Gallants” 3 1
1.1 “Gallantry” in Dubliners 31
1.2 High and low frequency lexis in “Two Gallants” 3 3
2. Textual richness measured by lexical diversity 3 4
2.1 The type-token measure 3 4
2.2 Lexical innovation and text structure 3 7
3. Foregrounding via repetitive phrasing or by novelty of phrasing and
collocation 4 0
3.1 Clusters 4 0
 Narrative Progression in the Short Story
3.2 Achieving the stern task of living: a tissue of not-so-vague
associations 4 2
4. Keyword analysis of “Two Gallants” 4 7
4.1 Using keywords on “Two Gallants”: section by section 5 0
chapter 4
Top keyword sentences as story waymarking 5 3
1. A top keyword abridgement of “Two Gallants” 5 3
2. Applying the top keyword procedure in story abridgements 5 9
2.1 Updike’s “A & P” 5 9
2.2 Carver’s “Boxes” 6 3
2.3 Carver’s “Cathedral” 6 6
3. Further procedural questions about the top keyword method 6 8
3.1 Distinguishing the top keyword from other frequent
keywords. 6 8
3.2 On the importance, in the top keyword, of proper name status. 7 0
4. Some interim conclusions 7 1
chapter 5
Keywords and the language of guidance in “The Love of a Good Woman” 7 7
1. Story opening as initial guidance 7 7
2. Top lexical keywords as narrativity indices 8 7
3. Textual segmentation and keywords’ collocate 9 0
4. Local (within-section) interrelation and collocation of keywords 9 3
chapter 6
Repetition and para-repetition in story structure 9 7
1. A more delicate keywords and plotlinks analysis of
“The Love of a Good Woman” 9 7
2. Keyword personal pronouns and idiolect-signalling 100
3. The non-repetitive echo: long-distance patterning via associated lexis and
analogy 103
3.1 Rubbing and scratching surfaces 103
3.2 Dark above, light below 104
3.3 Sorrowful plummeting 105
3.4 Bashing, banging and braining 106
4. Para-repetitive narrative bonding between story opening and remain-
der 108
Table of contents 
chapter 7
Prospection and expectation: Core signalling 113
1. Sentences featuring named main characters 114
1.1 High frequency and keyword character referencing 114
1.2 Modelling cohesive chains in long texts by sampling 116
2. Narrative-tense finite verbs in character-depicting action clauses 119
2.1 Narrative-tense verbs with inquits excluded 120
2.2 VVD density 123
2.3 Is independent capture of narrative-tense action verbs
needed? 125
3. The cueing power of first sentences of narrative paragraphs 126
4. Narrativity carried by “fully lexical” frequent keywords and clusters 128
4.1 Frequent keywords 128
4.2 Clusters 132
chapter 8
Prospection and expectation: Embedded signalling 135
1. The heightened narrativity of characters’ represented thought 136
1.1 Automating identification of FIT:
rule 1, narrative modal verbs with pronouns 137
1.2 Exclude modals following if, whether, that… 138
1.3 Automating identification of FIT:
Rule 2, include all questions and exclamations in the narrative 139
1.4 Automating identification of FIT:
Rule 3, include all flanking sentences containing subjective
modals 140
1.5 Modifying the three FIT-finding procedures 140
2. Prospective direct speech 145
3. Negation-carrying clauses 148
4. Narrative verbs of modality and mental processing 150
5. Implementing the model with “Two Gallants” 152
6. Compiling the abridgement 157
chapter 9
The textual tracking of suspense and surprise 165
1. Narrative suspense 165
2. Narrative surprise 171
3. Textualising suspense in “Two Gallants” 174
4. Textualising surprise in “Bliss” and “A Small, Good Thing” 179
 Narrative Progression in the Short Story
chapter 10
Next steps 189
1. Corpus-based study of narrativity: a work in progress. 189
2. Expanding and refining the model: modality and evaluation 192
3. The reader’s experience of the text 195
4. Directions for future research 196
References 201
Name index 209
Topic index 211
Acknowledgements
Many friends and colleagues have assisted me in many ways, direct or indirect, in
the writing of this book, including being the source of ideas and inspiration. I
particularly wish to thank the following: Michael Barlow, Beatrix Busse, Ronald
Carter, Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard, Malcolm Coulthard, Pernilla Danielsson,
George Dillon, Catherine Emmott, José Ángel García Landa, Roy Harris, Michael
Hoey, Susan Hunston, Susan Lohafer, Norman Macleod, Miguel Ángel Martinez
Cabeza, Oliver Mason, Rosamund Moon, Nina Nørgaard, Charles Owen, Ruth
Page, John Pier, Paul Rayson, Mike Scott, Mick Short, the much-missed John
Sinclair, and Michael Stubbs.
Kees Vaes was my admirably efficient editor at Benjamins, and Willie van Peer
and Sonia Zyngier edit the series in which this volume appears; I am most grateful
to all three for their support and welcome, after I had encountered a little publish-
ing ‘situation’ elsewhere. Both series editors took a personal interest in the book,
and I found this hugely encouraging. I want to thank Sonia and Willie for the me-
ticulous care with which they read and suggested corrections and improvements
to not one but two full drafts of the book. Such editorial diligence and engagement
is, in my experience, truly exceptional.
Preliminary versions of parts of these chapters were first presented at a variety
of conferences: the conference of the International Association for Literary
Semantics in Krakow; conferences of the European Society for the Study of English,
in Strasbourg and Zaragoza; conferences on the modern short story at Salamanca
and Lisbon; a Narratology Workshop at the University of Southern Denmark,
Kolding; and the annual conference of the Society for the Study of Narrative
Literature, Washington D.C. I was especially fortunate to be invited to run a week-
long workshop, in July 2007, on corpus linguistic approaches to narrative progres-
sion in stories, for a lively and suitably questioning group of scholars. The work-
shop formed part of a hugely enjoyable International Systemic-Functional
Linguistics Congress Summer School, at the University of Southern Denmark,
Odense. I have benefited from colleagues’ comments and questions following all
these presentations.
A particular friend, guide and critic, to whom I am especially indebted, is
Wolfgang Teubert. He was extraordinarily generous with his time and expertise,