A corpus-based approach to mind style

Fowler's (Linguistics and the novel, Methuen, 1977) original definition of mind style emphasised consistency as a defining feature of the phenomenon, something that is (i) difficult to measure, and (ii) often missed in qualitative analyses. In this paper we investigate how a computational semantic analysis might be used to address this difficulty, with particular reference to McIntyre's (Journal of Literary Semantics 34: 21–40, 2005) analysis of the deviant mind style of the character of Miss Shepherd in Alan Bennett's play The Lady in the Van. To do this we analyse the speech of all the characters in The Lady in the Van using Wmatrix (Rayson, Matrix: A statistical method and software tool for linguistic analysis through corpus comparison, Lancaster University PhD thesis, 2003, Wmatrix: A web-based corpus processing environment, Lancaster University, 2008), to see whether it provides quantitative support for the interpretative conclusions reached by McIntyre. Wmatrix utilises the UCREL Semantic Annotation System (USAS) which has been designed to undertake the automatic semantic analysis of English. The initial tag-set of the USAS system was loosely based on McArthur's Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English (McArthur, Longman, 1981), but has since been considerably revised in the light of practical tagging problems met in the course of previous research, and now contains 232 category labels (such as medicine and medical treatment, movement, obligation and necessity, etc.). We use Wmatrix's facility for identifying key semantic domains in pursuit of our two main aims: (i) to determine whether Miss Shepherd's odd mind style is consistent, as Fowler's definition suggests it should be; and (ii) to determine the usefulness of computational semantic analysis for investigating mind style

Libelling Oscar Wilde: The case of Regina vs. John Sholto Douglas

This paper explores the 1895 libel trial between Oscar Wilde (literary personality) and the Marquis of Queensbury (father of Wilde's close friend). Focussing on the lead defence counsel's cross-examination of Wilde (plaintiff), I demonstrate that Carson's FTAs are “aggressive” and, in some cases, “deliberately” so (cf. Bousfield, Impoliteness in interaction, John Benjamins, 2008: 72). However, as they do not breach the rules of the courtroom or involve an overt “intent to harm” (Goffman, Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behaviour, Pantheon Books, 1967: 14), I argue that they do not constitute impoliteness. I further argue that Carson's FTAs should not be considered “incidental” in nature, given they were more planned and more anticipated than Goffman's (Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behaviour, Pantheon Books, 1967: 14) definition seems to allow, and thus suggest that Carson's FTAs be recognized as sitting somewhere between Goffman's intentional or incidental levels – thanks, in part, to their manipulation of multiple goals (Penman, Facework and politeness: Multiple goals in courtroom discourse, Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1990) – in what I have labelled the ambiguous-as-to-speaker-intent zone (Archer under review). I also demonstrate Carson's use/manipulation of representational frames and reality paradigms so as to emphasize Wilde's moral “deviance”. In brief, a reality paradigm equates to “the systems of beliefs [and] values … by reference to which a person or a society comprehends the world” (Fowler, Linguistic criticism, Oxford University Press, 1986: 130), and representational frames, to the way(s) in which interlocutors opt to “represent the character traits, ideas and opinions of and even statements made by others” (Locher and Watts, Relational work and impoliteness: Negotiating norms of linguistic behaviour, Mouton de Gruyter, 2008: 99, n9). I conclude by responding to two questions highlighted by my investigation: (1) Should we be talking about impoliteness in the courtroom (even when investigating the cross-examination phase)? and (2) To what extent can our understanding of facework be enhanced, in both a courtroom context and more generally, via a consideration of reality paradigms (and their strategic manipulation)

Public appeals, news interviews and crocodile tears: an argument for multi-channel analysis

In this paper, we propose a Six Channel Analysis System (SCAnS) for the (semi-)automatic investigation of potential deception across all communication channels. SCAnS builds on our current system: Six Channel Analysis in Realtime (SCAnR). SCAnR users are trained to code – as Points of Interest (PIns) – relevant occurrences of twenty-seven criteria relating to the six channels, when they appear to point to inconsistencies with respect to the speaker's account (the story they are trying to convey), their apparent baseline and the context. Our experiences to date confirm the view that multi-channel approaches have the potential to lead to higher accuracy rates of deception detection than is possible when using individual methods of detection and/or when focussing on one communication channel independently (Vrij et al., 2000: 257), especially when combined with cognitive elicitation strategies. However, we recognise the importance of (in)validating the relevance of the twenty-seven criteria through ongoing research. SCAnS will provide a (semi-)automated means of achieving this. Given our audience, we focus on the usefulness of content-analysis tools like Wmatrix (Rayson, 2008) for this purpose. More broadly, our research has implications for the analysis of data in forensic contexts, across all available channels of communication, and for the coding of (para)linguistic features

Understanding questions and answers in context: An argument for multi-channel analysis

Currently, understanding what questions and answers mean in context equates to accounting for the questioner’s role as well as what they expect to (versus) achieve, the position as well as form/function of their question(s) within the interaction: and, if spoken, their delivery, as well as whether a response is given, what type, how, etc. This paper advocates for a further widening of the linguistic analytical lens beyond traditional syntactic/pragmatic criteria so that we might account, in turn, for participants’ facial expressions, body movements and gestures as they deliver their questions and/or respond to others. The paper argues this is particularly pertinent when negotiating meaning generally and crucial when seeking to understand potentially deceptive and/or evasive moves on the part of participants

Negotiating difference in political contexts: An exploration of Hansard

This paper explores the language of MPs and Peers, when negotiating their differences in times past. Specifically, I draw upon Historic Hansard data (1803–2005) representative of the two Houses (Commons and Lords), paying particular attention to exchanges involving expressive politeness features (deferential terms, polite preludes, etc.). I demonstrate how such features enabled parliamentarians to “do” deference and respect, but sometimes at a surface level only. For example, utterances containing expressive politeness features functioned as implicit accusations relating to another’s inaccurate or misguided views on a particular issue and/or as a means of claiming a conflicting position. I suggest that, because such behaviour was (and remains) institutionally sanctioned and deliberately ritualistic, it did not then nor does not now constitute systematic impoliteness, in the main (cf. Harris, 2001). Rather, we witness a range of facework behaviour in parliamentary debates: from face enhancement to face aggravation, and everything between (Archer, 2015)

Guidelines for normalising early modern English corpora:decisions and justifications

Corpora of Early Modern English have been collected and released for research for a number of years. With large scale digitisation activities gathering pace in the last decade, much more historical textual data is now available for research on numerous topics including historical linguistics and conceptual history. We summarise previous research which has shown that it is necessary to map historical spelling variants to modern equivalents in order to successfully apply natural language processing and corpus linguistics methods. Manual and semiautomatic methods have been devised to support this normalisation and standardisation process. We argue that it is important to develop a linguistically meaningful rationale to achieve good results from this process. In order to do so, we propose a number of guidelines for normalising corpora and show how these guidelines have been applied in the Corpus of English Dialogues

The faces at play in performance appraisals: With a focus upon a UK retail organization

A variety of face types can be in operation in workplaces, dependent on, for example, the kind of workplace, the various activities engaged in in that workplace, the status/role/gender of participants working in and/or connected with the workplace, etc. This paper offers an adapted version of Archer’s (2015) Facework Scale as a means of accounting for the different types of face in evidence in one activity – Performance Appraisals – in one workplace, relating to a UK retail organization. We will show that interlocutors used facework strategies that emphasized different or multiple facets of face on both a professional and personal level (Jagodziński 2013). This includes attempting to safeguard/support their working relationships (Haugh 2013) by managing impressions of self and/or the company (Jones and Pitman 1982) at the same time as maintaining credibility for self and/or other(s) (Bolino et al. 2016). We use our findings to argue that employers and their employees would benefit from having an understanding of face(work), and briefly discuss the training implications for Performance Appraisals if face(work) notions were introduced

Promotion, Education, and Marketing of an Expanded VCU Bike Share Program

We propose to help promote, market, and provide education about an expanded bike share program at VCU. The goal of the bike share program is three-fold: 1) improve travel between campuses, 2) encourage alternate transportation to reduce traffic and parking difficulties and 3) be a green initiative on the VCU campus. The expanded bike share program will include additional bikes and bike stations, managed by an outside company. Recently, VCU’s Office of Parking and Transportation has learned that they will be receiving funds for the program, and they are looking for assistance to promote, market, and provide education about the program. We will also explore additional aspects of a bike sharing program such as encouraging the use of helmets/safety issues, using technology to track bikes, and conducting a needs assessment to determine consumer demand and preferences