The Functioning of Existential Clauses Across the Stages of Narrative in ‘A house of pomegranates’, by Oscar Wilde
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14393/LL63-v39-2023-09Keywords:
Systemic-Functional Linguistics, Transitivity, Existential clause, Stage of narrativeAbstract
This paper aims to identify the functions prototypical existential clauses (there-be construction) may perform across the stages of narratives in a small corpus comprising A house of pomegranates, a collection of short stories by Oscar Wilde. The analysis draws upon Systemic-Functional Linguistics as theoretical framework for the concepts of existential clause and stages of narrative and builds upon Corpus Linguistics as a method of collecting and preparing data. After finding the instances of prototypical existential clauses and tagging the corresponding stages, the functions of the existential clauses in the narratives were identified. Findings show that existential clauses may occur in any stage of a narrative and perform five functions, namely, describing, introducing, listing, pointing, and pondering. Describing and pondering are the most frequent functions in the corpus. The describing function is mainly related to the Orientation and Resolution stages, while the pondering function mostly relates to the Complication and Evaluation stages.Downloads
References
AHMAD, Saeed. Transitivity analysis of the short story 'The Happy Prince' written by Oscar Wilde. International Journal Online of Humanities, Bhopal, v. 5, n. 2, p. 27, Apr. 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24113/ijohmn.v5i2.90. Retrieved from: https://ijohmn.com/index.php/ijohmn/article/view/90/410. Access date: 21 May. 2023.
BRAGA, Aline Barreto Costa. Fractais semióticos em português brasileiro: um estudo sobre os significados circunstanciais em textos da atividade sociossemiótica Relatar. 2021. Tese (Doutorado em Linguística Aplicada) – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2021. Retrieved from: https://repositorio.ufmg.br/bitstream/1843/37879/1/Texto%20Tese%20-%20Final%20%28Aline%20B.%20Costa%20Braga%29.pdf. Access date: 21 May. 2023.
DAVIDSE, Kristin. Existential constructions: a systemic perspective. Leuvense Bijdragen, Leuven, v. 81, n. 1/3, p. 71-99, Apr. 1992. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristin-Davidse/publication/272504722_Existential_constructions_a_systemic_perspective_Part_1/links/54e752d80cf2cd2e02932516/Existential-constructions-a-systemic-perspective-Part-1.pdf. Access date: 7 Nov. 2021.
DAVIDSE, Kristin. Revisiting the canonical existential clause in English. Leuven Working Papers in Linguistics, Leuven, v. 6, n. 36, p. 96-121, 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/ling/workingpapers/papers/pdf-files/lwpl36-davidse.pdf. Access date: 18 Feb. 2022.
DAVIDSE, Kristin. The semantics of cardinal versus enumerative existential constructions. Cognitive Linguistics, Birmingham, v. 10, n. 3, p. 203-250, July/Sept. 1999. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2000.001. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristin-Davidse/publication/249928165_The_semantics_of_cardinal_versus_enumerative_existential_constructions/links/54380f870cf204cab1d51692/The-semantics-of-cardinal-versus-enumerative-existential-constructions.pdf. Access date: 7 Nov. 2021.
FERREGUETTI, Kícila. As orações existenciais em inglês e português brasileiro: um estudo baseado em corpus. 2014. 98 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística Aplicada) – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2014.
FERREGUETTI, Kícila; PAGANO, Adriana Silvina; FIGUEREDO, Giacomo Patrocinio. Significados existenciais no português brasileiro: um estudo contrastivo em textos traduzidos e não traduzidos. In: ENCONTRO DE LINGUÍSTICA DE CORPUS, 10., 2012, Belo Horizonte. Anais […]. Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras da UFMG, 2012. p. 280-293. Retrieved from: http://www.letras.ufmg.br/site/e-livros/Anais%20do%20X%20Encontro%20de%20Lingu%C3%ADstica%20de%20Corpus.pdf. Access date: 18 Feb. 2022.
FUZER, Cristiane; CABRAL, Sara Regina Scotta. Introdução à gramática sistêmico-funcional em língua portuguesa. Campinas: Mercado de Letras, 2014. (As faces da linguística aplicada, 18).
HALLIDAY, Michael Alexander Kirkwood. Language as social semiotic: social interpretation of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold, 1978.
HALLIDAY, Michael Alexander Kirkwood; HASAN, Ruqaiya. Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a socio-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
HALLIDAY, Michael Alexander Kirkwood; MATTHIESSEN, Christian Mathias Ingemar Martin. Construing experience through meaning: a language-based approach to cognition. London: Continuum, 1999. (Open linguistics series).
HALLIDAY, Michael Alexander Kirkwood; MATTHIESSEN, Christian Mathias Ingemar Martin. Halliday's introduction to functional grammar. 4th ed. Milton Park Abingdon Oxon: Routledge, 2014. E-book.
HANNAY, Michael. English Existentials in Functional Grammar. Dordrecht: Foris, 1985. (Functional Grammar Series, 3). E-book. Retrieved from: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1818400. Access date: 6 Feb. 2022.
HASAN, Ruqaiya. The nursery tale as a genre. Nottingham Linguistic Circular, v. 13, p. 71-102, 1984.
LIMA, Lauro Rafael. Processos existenciais em reportagens de capa da revista Superinteressante. 2013. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras) – Centro de Artes e Letras, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, 2013. Retrieved from: https://repositorio.ufsm.br/bitstream/handle/1/9894/LIMA%2c%20LAURO%20RAFAEL.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Access date: 21 Nov. 2021.
LIMA, Lauro Rafael; BARROS, Nina Célia Almeida de. Contribuição de orações existenciais às fases de uma narrativa. In: CABRAL, Sara Regina Scotta; BARBARA, Leila (org.). Estudos de transitividade em linguística sistêmico-functional. Santa Maria: UFSM; PPGL, 2018. p. 216-228.
MARTIN, James Robert; ROSE, David. Genre relations: mapping culture. London: Equinox, 2008. 289 p. (Equinox textbooks and surveys in linguistics).
MARTIN, James Robert; ROSE, David. Working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause. 2nd ed. London: Continuum, 2007. (Open linguistics series).
MATTHIESSEN, Christian Mathias Ingemar Martin; TERUYA, Kazuhiro; LAM, Marvin (org.). Key Terms in Systemic Functional Linguistics. London, New York: Continuum, 2010. E-book.
MIRANDA, Monique Vieira; OLIVEIRA, Ana Larissa Adorno Marciotto. O uso de processos existenciais no domínio acadêmico: uma análise com base em corpus de artigos científicos. Revista do GEL, Araraquara, v. 17, n. 1, p. 189-213, jan./abr. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21165/gel.v17i1.2682. Retrieved from: https://revistas.gel.org.br/rg/article/view/2682/1741. Access date: 21 May. 2023.
MORAIS, Fernanda Beatriz Caricari de. O uso do processo existencial “haver” na escrita acadêmica: um estudo com base em um corpus de artigos científicos de diversas áreas do conhecimento. Revista (Con)textos Linguísticos, Vitória, v. 9, n. 14, 142-160, jul./dez. 2015. Retrieved from: https://periodicos.ufes.br/contextoslinguisticos/article/view/10768/8285. Access date: 21 Nov. 2021.
PAGANO, Adriana Silvina; FIGUEREDO, Giacomo Patrocinio; FERREGUETTI, Kícila. Equivalência em foco: padrões na tradução para a língua inglesa de significados existenciais do português brasileiro. In: VIANA, Vander; TAGNIN, Stella E. O. (org.). Corpora na tradução. São Paulo: Hub Editorial, 2015. p. 211-241.
PALMA, Victor Mariotto. O Jovem Rei, de Oscar Wilde, e suas traduções para o português: períodos compostos e arcaísmos. 2018. Trabalho de conclusão de curso (Graduação em Tradução) – Instituto de Letras e Linguística, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, 2018. Retrieved from: https://repositorio.ufu.br/handle/123456789/21837. Access date: 24 Apr. 2022.
SARDINHA, Tony Berber. Tamanho de corpus. The ESPecialist, São Paulo, v. 23, n. 2, p. 103-122, jul./dez. 2002. Retrieved from: https://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/esp/article/view/9381/6952. Access date: 4 Feb. 2022.
SCOTT, Mike. Wordsmith Tools. Version 8.0.0.81. Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software, 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.lexically.net/wordsmith/downloads/. Access date: 6 Nov. 2021.
SYED, Ali Furqan; AKRAM, Uzma; HUSSAIN, Ijaz. A transitivity analysis of the short story 'Tell-Tale Heart' by E. A. Poe. International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, Gujarat, v. 6, n. 10, Oct. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2015/IJIRMF.2455.0620/202010051. Retrieved from: https://www.ijirmf.com/wp-content/uploads/IJIRMF202010051.pdf. Access date: 21 May. 2023.
TIA, Mastia; SETIANI, Rulik; KUNING, Dewi Sri. An analysis of transitivity of short story 'There will come soft rains' by Ray Bradbury. Jurnal Griya Cendikia, Lampung, v. 7, n. 2, p. 456-467, July, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47637/griya-cendikia.v7i2.408. Retrieved from: https://juma.umko.ac.id/index.php/griya-cendikia/article/view/408/99. Access date: 28 Apr. 2023.
WILDE, Oscar. A house of pomegranates. 7th. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1915. Retrieved from: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/873/pg873-images.html. Access date: 27 Oct. 2016.
WILDE, Oscar. A house of pomegranates. London: J. R. Osgood, 1891. Retrieved from: https://archive.org/details/houseofpomegrana00wild. Access date: 27 Oct. 2016.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Victor Mariotto Palma, Igor Antônio Lourenço da Silva (Autor)
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The authors retain author's rights but grant the journal the right of firsth publication. The works are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows sharing provided that the authors and this journal are properly ackonwledged.