Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield
We suggest an innovative approach to literary discourse by using corpus linguistic methods to address research questions from cognitive poetics. In this article, we focus on the way that readers engage in mind-modelling in the process of characterisation. The article sets out our cognitive poetic mo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Sage
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32528/ |
| _version_ | 1848794429810278400 |
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| author | Stockwell, Peter Mahlberg, Michaela |
| author_facet | Stockwell, Peter Mahlberg, Michaela |
| author_sort | Stockwell, Peter |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We suggest an innovative approach to literary discourse by using corpus linguistic methods to address research questions from cognitive poetics. In this article, we focus on the way that readers engage in mind-modelling in the process of characterisation. The article sets out our cognitive poetic model of characterisation that emphasises the continuity between literary characterisation and real-life human relationships. The model also aims to deal with the modelling of the author’s mind in line with the modelling of the minds of fictional characters. Crucially, our approach to mind-modelling is text-driven. Therefore we are able to employ corpus linguistic techniques systematically to identify textual patterns that function as cues triggering character information. In this article, we explore our understanding of mind-modelling through the characterisation of Mr. Dick from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Using the CLiC tool (Corpus Linguistics in Cheshire) developed for the exploration of 19th-century fiction, we investigate the textual traces in non-quotations around this character, in order to draw out the techniques of characterisation other than speech presentation. We show that Mr. Dick is a thematically and authorially significant character in the novel, and we move towards a rigorous account of the reader’s modelling of authorial intention. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32528 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:16:03Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Sage |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-325282020-05-04T20:08:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32528/ Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield Stockwell, Peter Mahlberg, Michaela We suggest an innovative approach to literary discourse by using corpus linguistic methods to address research questions from cognitive poetics. In this article, we focus on the way that readers engage in mind-modelling in the process of characterisation. The article sets out our cognitive poetic model of characterisation that emphasises the continuity between literary characterisation and real-life human relationships. The model also aims to deal with the modelling of the author’s mind in line with the modelling of the minds of fictional characters. Crucially, our approach to mind-modelling is text-driven. Therefore we are able to employ corpus linguistic techniques systematically to identify textual patterns that function as cues triggering character information. In this article, we explore our understanding of mind-modelling through the characterisation of Mr. Dick from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Using the CLiC tool (Corpus Linguistics in Cheshire) developed for the exploration of 19th-century fiction, we investigate the textual traces in non-quotations around this character, in order to draw out the techniques of characterisation other than speech presentation. We show that Mr. Dick is a thematically and authorially significant character in the novel, and we move towards a rigorous account of the reader’s modelling of authorial intention. Sage 2015-05 Article PeerReviewed Stockwell, Peter and Mahlberg, Michaela (2015) Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield. Language and Literature, 24 (2). pp. 129-147. ISSN 1461-7293 Character CLiC cognitive poetics corpus stylistics David Copperfield Dickens mind-modelling Mr. Dick Suspensions Theory of mind http://lal.sagepub.com/content/24/2/129 doi:10.1177/0963947015576168 doi:10.1177/0963947015576168 |
| spellingShingle | Character CLiC cognitive poetics corpus stylistics David Copperfield Dickens mind-modelling Mr. Dick Suspensions Theory of mind Stockwell, Peter Mahlberg, Michaela Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield |
| title | Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield |
| title_full | Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield |
| title_fullStr | Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield |
| title_short | Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield |
| title_sort | mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in david copperfield |
| topic | Character CLiC cognitive poetics corpus stylistics David Copperfield Dickens mind-modelling Mr. Dick Suspensions Theory of mind |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32528/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32528/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32528/ |