11 March 2006 Style in Fiction Symposium

Thought presentation 25

Years on

Mick Short

Department of Linguistics and English LanguageLancaster University, UK

The Leech and Short (1981) presentation scales

Speech presentation[N] NRSA IS FIS DS FDS

Norm?

Thought presentation[N] NRTA IT FIT DT FDT

Norm?

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (1): Another discourse presentation scale (writing)

The addition of a third parallel scale: Writing Presentation

Extracts from Ruby Lennox's school report, summer term, 1966 - Ruby has a real talent for acting . . . Ruby was the star of the school play.

(Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (2): Major speech presentation scale category changes

[N] NV NRSA IS FIS DS (inc FDS)(NV was called NRS in Short 1996)

The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.

(Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (2): Major speech presentation scale category changes: faithfulness claims

NV: Speech took place (1)

NRSA: (1) + Speech Act (2)

IS: (1) + (2) + Propositional content (3)

FIS: : (1) + (2) + (3) + (4???)

DS: (1) + (2) + 3 + Words used to express the propositional content (4)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (2): Major speech presentation scale category changes: faithfulness claims

[N] NV NRSA IS FIS DS (inc FDS)

← Faithfulness → ← Vividness, → ← drama etc →

←Sum-→ mary

← Telling → ← Showing →

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline)

Speech

[N] NV NRSA IS FIS DS (inc FDS)

Thought

[N] NI/NT NRTA IT FIT DT (inc

FDT)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline)

[N] NI/NT NRTA IT FIT DT (inc FDT)

← Faithfulness → ← ‘Dullness’ → ← Vividness, →← calm etc → ← drama etc → ←Sum-→ mary

← Telling → ← Showing →

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): (F)DT

It was George who broke the silence. ‘Do we mind’ he said, repeating the stranger’s words. His face had gone very red.

‘How absurd he looks!’ thought Mary, as she glanced at him. ‘Like a bull calf. A blushing bull calf.’

‘Do we mind?’ Damned innocent little bounder! George was working up a righteous indignation.‘I should just think we do mind. And I’ll trouble you to . . .’

Mary broke into laughter. ‘We don’t mind at all,’ she said. Not in the least.’

(Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): NT

You let him slump back again so that he’s sitting against the chicken-wire gate and when his eyes start to open you pull his head forward by the hair and cosh him again. He falls to the side. You put the plastic ties in your pocket. You’re thinking. The foxhounds continue barking and yelping.

(Iain Banks, Complicity)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): NT

[. . . ] thank you mind how you go . . .

*

I’m thinking.

*

‘This is the trickle-down effect in action, is it?’(Iain Banks, Complicity)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI

But antiquities held no charm for Amanda Fergusson [. . .]

(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters)

He disliked and slightly feared Richard Pearce, who was almost as big as himself. (J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun)

Miss Fergusson's irritation over the incident in Erzerum began to calm.

(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI

I became aware of the age of this old crone of a ship for she is positively beaked in the manner of the last century and flimsy, I should judge, about the bow withal.

(William Golding, Rites of Passage)

It was in the autumn of 1839, after long meditation, that Amanda Fergusson proposed to Miss Logan the expedition to Arghuri.(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½

Chapters)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI

He doubted his ability to find it in the maze of roads that wandered around the hillside at the edge of the town [. . .]

(Malcolm Lowry, Gin and Goldenrod)

Finally, the ladies packed two small glass bottles, which they intended to fill with grape juice crushed from the fruit of Noah's vineyard.(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½

Chapters)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI

[N] NI/NT NRTA IT FIT DT

Or

[N inc NI] NT NRTA IT FIT DT

Some arguments for NI being part of narration, not the thought presentation scale

The prototypical examples do not look like presentations of thoughts, but narratorial statements about the internal world of characters, as opposed to the external fictional world.

The name of the category in its various manifestations indicates narration or perception, but not thought.

It could be that quite a lot of what we have called NI might need to be re-coded. We need to examine this category more carefully.

Thought is part of cognition, and cognition is complex and not well understood. But we can’t assume that all cognition is thought, even though psychologists tend not to use the term ‘thought’.

Some arguments for NI being part of narration, not the thought presentation scale

Part of the issue is that there is considerable ambiguity over how to ‘map’ examples.

The ‘free indirect perception’ problem. ‘Translation’ into the various forms on the

thought presentation scale becomes difficult/impossible with many examples.

Thoughts can be about displaced matters but prototypically presented perceptions and descriptions of mind states are not displaced.

For simplicity’s sake it would be nice to keep the S/W/T presentation scales parallelism throughout.

Bibliography (1)

Brinton, L. (1980) ‘“Represented perception”: A study in narrative style’, Poetics 9, 363-81.

Chatman, S. (1978) Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Cohn, D. (1978) Transparent Minds: Narrative Modes for Presenting Consciousness in Fiction, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Leech, G. N. and Short, M. H. (1981) Style in Fiction, London: Longman.

Semino, E., Short, M. and Culpeper, J. (1997) ‘Using a computer corpus to test a model of speech and thought presentation’, Poetics 25: 17-43.

Bibliography (2)——, Short, M. and Wynne, M. (1999) ‘Hypothetical words

and thoughts in contemporary British narratives’, Narrative 7, 3: 307-34.

—— and Short, M. (2004) Corpus Stylistics: A Corpus-based Study of Speech, Thought and Writing in a Corpus of English Writing, London: Routledge.

Short , M. (1988) ‘Speech presentation, the novel and the press’. In van Peer, W. (ed.) The Taming of The Text, London: Routledge, pp. 61-81.

—— (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. London: Longman.

—— (2003) ‘A corpus-based approach to speech, thought and writing presentation’, in A. Wilson, P. Rayson and T. McEnery (eds), Corpus Linguistics by the Lune: A Festschrift for Geoffrey Leech, Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang.

Bibliography(3)

—— , Semino, E. and Culpeper, J. (1996) ‘Using a corpus for stylistics research: speech and thought presentation’, in J. Thomas and M. Short (eds) Using Corpora in Language Research, London: Longman, pp. 110-31.

—— , Wynne, M. and Semino, E. (1999) ‘Reading reports: discourse presentation in a corpus of narratives, with special reference to news reports’, in Diller, H-J. and Stratmann, E. O-G. (eds) English via Various Media, Heidelberg: Winter, pp. 39-65.

—— , Semino, E. and Wynne, M. (2002) ‘Revisiting the notion of faithfulness in discourse presentation using a corpus approach’, Language and Literature 11, 4: 325-55.

Toolan, M. (2001) Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction (2nd edition), London: Routledge.

Wynne, M., Short, M. and Semino, E. (1998) ‘A corpus-based investigation of speech, thought and writing presentation in English narrative texts’, in Renouf, A. (ed.) Explorations in Corpus Linguistics, Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 231-45.

Free indirect perception (Chatman)/represented perception (Brinton)/Substitutionary narration (Fehr)/Psychonarration (Cohn)

She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne.

(James Joyce, (‘Eveline’)

Free indirect perception (Chatman)/represented perception (Brinton)/Substitutionary narration (Fehr)/Psychonarration (Cohn)

The clouds were drifting above him silently and silently the seatangle was drifting below him; and the grey warm air was still: and the new wild life was singing in his veins. Where was he now?

(James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (4): Discourse embedding

"Mr Willis, Mr Willis! Do not omit to invite Mr Talbot to glance at the captain's Standing Orders. You may transmit to me any suggestions he has for their improvement."

(William Golding, Rites of Passage)

Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster SW&TP project (4): Discourse embedding

What would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow? Say she was a fool, perhaps, and her place would be filled up by advertisement. Miss Gavan would be glad. She had always had an edge on her, especially whenever there were people listening.

'Miss Hill, don't you see these ladies are waiting?'

'Look lively, Miss Hill, please.' She would not cry many tears at leaving

the Stores. (James Joyce,

‘Eveline’)