The Pragmatics of Function Words in Fiction

Abstract

This paper uses a computer-aided text analysis (CATA) to decipher the ideologies pertaining to function words in fictional discourse represented by Edward Bond's Lear. In literary texts, function words, such as pronouns and modal verbs display a very high frequency of occurrence. Despite the fact that these linguistic units are often employed to channel a mere grammatical function pertaining to their semantic nature, they, sometimes, exceed their grammatical and semantic functionality towards further ideological and pragmatic purposes, such as persuasion and manipulation. This study investigates the extent to which function words, linguistically manifested in two personal pronouns (I, we) and two modal verbs (will, must) are utilized in Bond's Lear to convey both persuasive and/or manipulative ideologies. This paper sets three main objectives: (i) to explore the persuasive and/or manipulative ideologies the four function words under investigation communicate in the selected text, (ii) to highlight the extent to which CATA software helps in deciphering the ideological weight of function words in Bond's Lear, and (iii) to clarify the integrative relationship between discourse studies and computer-aided text analysis. Two findings are reported in this paper: first, function words do not only carry semantic functions, but also go beyond their semantic functionality towards pragmatic purposes that serve to achieve specific ideologies in discourse. Second, the application of CATA software proves useful in extracting ideologies from language and helps better understand the power of function words, which, in turn, accentuates the analytical integration between discourse studies and computer, particularly in the linguistic analysis of large data texts.