A Computer-Assisted Analysis of the Representation of Vagueness through the Use of Grammatical Words in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

• Pablo Ruano San Segundo ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Extremadura

     Universidad de Extremadura

     Badajoz, España

     
• Localización: Current Trends in Corpus Linguistics / José Luis Oncins Martínez (ed. lit.), 2020, ISBN 9783631797228, págs. 177-194
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In this chapter, I use a computer-assisted methodology to analyse the representation of vagueness through the use of grammatical words in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Specifically, I examine the stylistic role of the grammatical words some, somebody, somehow, someone, something, sometimes and somewhere. Conrad's use of these word's in the novel is first measured and compared against the backdrop of a reference corpus containing the rest of Conrad's works. Then, their function in Heart of Darkness is examined, focusing on the extent to which the extensive use of these words contributes to conveying vagueness through aspects such as time and distance references, places, people, character's speech and Conrad's use of similes. The aim of the analysis is to demonstrate how these linguistic units contribute both to the fictional world presented by Conrad and to major literary themes discussed by traditional literary criticism.