ʼn Korpusgebaseerde ondersoek na kohesiepatrone as moontlike stilistiese kenmerk van outeurstyl

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2020-01
Authors
Church-Fleischmann, Anneen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
Writers leave a trail behind when they write a text because individuals have preferences for certain linguistic items (Louwerse, 2004:307). In theory, this means that texts can be identified as the work of a specific author, based on his or her linguistic choices. The identification of an author as the producer of a certain text, is a part of the academic field of authorship attribution studies. Joula (2008:249-251) suggests that there are certain aspects within authorship attribution studies which remain uncertain. These aspects mainly relate to making the most appropriate decisions about methodology when conducting authorship attribution studies. Another aspect he (Joula, 2008:249-251) mentions relates to the choice of linguistic item to be studied as possible indication of authorship. Both the question about appropriate methodological considerations and that of an (linguistic) indication of authorship is explored in this study. This study mainly aims to investigate whether the use of cohesive devices in a text (or texts) can be an indication of authorship. It also attempts to describe the way(s) in which the use and distribution of cohesion links can be used as a basis in authorship attribution studies. The fives types of cohesive devices as described by, among others, Halliday and Hasan (1976) will be used as linguistic variables to show possible authorship. These categories include reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions and lexical cohesion. As an additional aspect to the research, the way in which cohesion links appear in two texts types (and not just the texts of two different authors) is also described. A corpus-based methodology was followed to study the use of cohesive devices in the texts of two popular Afrikaans authors, André le Roux and Dana Snyman. The corpus for this study consisted of four sub-corpora, namely columns and short stories by Dana Snyman and columns and short stories by André le Roux. The data analysis process was made up of different stages, namely the tagging of cohesive linguistic items, sorting of the tags by means of computer software (WordSmith Tools), classifying the sorted tags to indicate the type of cohesion and statistically analysising of the use of cohesive devices. The above-mentioned statistical analysis consisted of multiple stages (just like the process of data analysis) with the goal of systematically and reliably identifying and delineating relevant data. In each stage a dataset was analysed by means of a specific statistical test to identify parts of the dataset which could be unique to the author or text type in question. Data that were identified as a result of the statistical analysis became the dataset for the subsequent stage of statistical analysis. This process is explained in the flow diagram at the beginning of Chapter 6. Through this process relevant data (as identified by statistical analysis) could be used for relevant statistical tests in order to optimize the process of statistical analysis and improve efficiency. After the literature review, data analysis and various stages of the analyses, the nature of cohesive devices as an element of language variation between the texts of the two authors mentioned is discussed. A reflection of the methodological and statistical approaches of this study forms part of the final chapter, together with a discussion of the implications of the findings and recommendations for future research.
Skrywers laat ʼn spoor van hul outeurskap agter wanneer hulle ʼn teks skryf, aangesien elke persoon ʼn voorkeur vir sekere linguistiese items het (Louwerse, 2004:207). Dit beteken in teorie dat tekste uitmekaar geken kan word as die werk van ʼn spesifieke skrywer, op grond van sy/haar toepassing of gebruik van sekere linguistiese items. Hierdie identifisering van die outeur van ʼn spesifieke teks val onder die studieveld van outeurskapidentifikasie. Joula (2008:249-251) stel aspekte binne outeurskapstudies voor waaroor daar nog sekerheid verkry moet word. Hierdie aspekte hou grootliks verband met die kies van gepaste metodologiese benaderings in die veld van outeurskapstudie. ʼn Ander aspek wat Joula (2008:249-251) noem, is die keuse van linguistiese item wat die beste aanduier van outeurskap sou wees. Beide die ʼn metodologiese oorwegings en die (linguistiese) aanduier van outeurskap is in hierdie studie ondersoek. In hierdie studie word hoofsaaklik ondersoek of die gebruik van kohesieskakels in ʼn teks (of tekste) ʼn aanduier kan wees van outeurskap. Daar is ook gepoog om te beskryf op watter manier(e) die voorkoms van kohesieskakels ʼn basis kan bied vir outeurskapstudies. Die vyf tipes kohesieskakels soos, onder andere, deur Halliday en Hasan (1976) uiteengesit, is as moontlike tekens van outeurstyl ondersoek. Hierdie vyf tipes is verwysing, substitusie, ellips, konjunksie en leksikale kohesie. As addisionele aspek van die navorsing, is die voorkoms van kohesieskakels in twee tekstipes (en nie net die tekste van onderskeie skrywers nie), ook beskryf. ʼn Korpusgebaseerde benadering is gevolg in ʼn ondersoek na die voorkoms van kohesieskakels in die tekste van twee populêre Afrikaanse skrywers, naamlik André le Roux en Dana Snyman. Die korpus wat vir hierdie studie gebruik is, het uit vier subkorpusse bestaan, naamlik kortverhale en rubrieke van Dana Snyman en kortverhale en rubrieke van André le Roux en rubrieke van André le Roux. Die data-analiseproses het uit verskeie fases bestaan, naamlik etikettering van kohesief-verwante items, sortering van etikette met die hulp van rekenaarsagteware (WordSmith Tools), klassifikasie van etikette (vir tipes kohesieskakels) en statistiese analise van die voorkoms van die kohesieskakels. Die bogenoemde statistiese analise het ook uit verskeie fases bestaan (net soos die data-analiseproses) wat hoofsaaklik die sistematiese en geldige afbakening van relevante data ten doel gehad het. Tydens elke fase is ʼn datastel aan ʼn spesifieke statistiese toets onderwerp, ten einde potensiële uniekhede in elke subkorpus te identifiseer. Data wat na afloop van die betrokke statistiese toets geïdentifiseer is, is dan in die volgende fase van die statistiese ontleding gebruik. Die resultate van elke fase het dus as die basis gedien vir die volgende fase van ondersoek soos duidelik blyk in die vloeidiagram aan die begin van hoofstuk 6. Deur hierdie proses is daar gepoog om relevante data (soos deur statistiese analise aangedui is) aan relevante statistiese toetsing te onderwerp en sodoende ʼn meer doeltreffende werkswyse te volg. Op grond van die literatuurstudie, data-analise en statistiese analiseresultate is die aard van kohesieskakels as element van variasie tussen outeurs se skryfstyl bespreek. Daar is ook gereflekteer oor die nut van die metodologiese benadering en statistiese analise wat in hierdie studie gevolg is en aanbevelings vir toekomstige studies, is gemaak.
Description
Keywords
Dissertation (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of the Free State, 2020, Writing style, Authorship style, Authorship attribution, Linguistic fingerprint, Textuality, Cohesion, Cohesion link, Text type, Short story, Column, Corpus-based methodology
Citation