Accessing Dickens's style as an EFL learner : a corpus stylistic approach to lexical style
This study is based on a corpus of the Charles Dickens Complete Works (the DCC), which was constructed to fulfil the aims of this research. The DCC was compiled to represent The Works of Charles Dickens in the National Edition (a set of 40 volumes, including the life of Dickens in the last two volumes, which consists of 6,202,886 tokens in total). This compilation, as the DCC, represents the first complete corpus of Dickensâs works. Employing the corpus stylistic approach was as an underpinning concept, and formed the methodology that has guided the research. The lens of focus is placed on Dickensâs lexicon, in respect to both the lexemes and their relative frequency, alongside the choices of lexis to be found in the context. The rationale for this thesis and value of its aims is primarily the facilitation of non-native English learnersâ access to these works, through provision of an enhanced aesthetic appreciation of Dickensâs style with regards to his semantics and lexical choice. Additionally, the methodology aims to enable the acquisition of vocabulary, while providing learners with training in the reading of complex texts. The software tools used in the analysis are the WordSmith Tools 6.0 suite,
Alsuweed, Muhammad
P Philology. Linguistics ; PR English literature
Accessing Dickens's style as an EFL learner : a corpus stylistic approach to lexical style. This study is based on a corpus of the Charles Dickens Complete Works (the DCC), which was constructed to fulfil the aims of this research. The DCC was compiled to represent The Works of Charles Dickens in the National Edition (a set of 40 volumes, including the life of Dickens in the last two volumes, which consists of 6,202,886 tokens in total). This compilation, as the DCC, represents the first complete corpus of Dickensâs works. Employing the corpus stylistic approach was as an underpinning concept, and formed the methodology that has guided the research. The lens of focus is placed on Dickensâs lexicon, in respect to both the lexemes and their relative frequency, alongside the choices of lexis to be found in the context. The rationale for this thesis and value of its aims is primarily the facilitation of non-native English learnersâ access to these works, through provision of an enhanced aesthetic appreciation of Dickensâs style with regards to his semantics and lexical choice. Additionally, the methodology aims to enable the acquisition of vocabulary, while providing learners with training in the reading of complex texts. The software tools used in the analysis are the WordSmith Tools 6.0 suite,
style efl_learner corpus stylistic lexical style study base_corpus charles complete works construct fulfil aim research compile represent works charles_dickens national edition set volume include life last_two volume consist tokens total compilation represent_first complete corpus work employing corpus stylistic underpinning concept form guide research lens focus place lexicon respect lexeme relative frequency alongside choice lexis find context rationale value aim primarily non_native english_learner access work provision enhance aesthetic appreciation style regard semantics lexical_choice additionally aim enable acquisition vocabulary provide learner train reading complex text software tool_use analysis wordsmith tools suite