A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell
In cognitive stylistics, “deixis” is deemed one of the core linguistic elements through which both the physical and ideological stances of the participants in fictional narratives, namely the narrator and the character(-focalizer)s, are demonstrated. This study aims at investigating the cognitive fu...
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University of Isfahan
2024-09-01
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| Series: | نشریه پژوهشهای زبانشناسی |
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| Online Access: | https://jrl.ui.ac.ir/article_28567_f12674dd869d34ea2239bcc885d83b52.pdf |
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| author | Mohammad Ghaffary Seyed Mohammad Hosseini Mohadesse Khosravi |
| author_facet | Mohammad Ghaffary Seyed Mohammad Hosseini Mohadesse Khosravi |
| author_sort | Mohammad Ghaffary |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In cognitive stylistics, “deixis” is deemed one of the core linguistic elements through which both the physical and ideological stances of the participants in fictional narratives, namely the narrator and the character(-focalizer)s, are demonstrated. This study aims at investigating the cognitive functions of the different kinds of deixis, i.e., perceptual, spatial, temporal, social, textual, and compositional deixis, in The Bell (1958), a critically acclaimed novel by the British philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch. Because of its special narrative discourse, in particular the use of variable internal focalization, Murdoch’s novel proves to be a proper case for exploring how deixis impacts upon the (implied) reader’s cognition of the story. Thus, utilizing a descriptive-analytic method, the present research examines the text worlds and mind styles shaped in this novel through various kinds of deixis, among other textual elements, and explores the relationship between these text worlds and the way they inform the reading process. To achieve this goal, this qualitative study draws upon the cognitive deixis theory to examine selected extracts from Dora Greenfield’s and Toby Gashe’s discourses in this novel, as two of the major character-focalizers. The findings suggest that deictic expressions serve a significant function in appreciating the characterization of the fictional personages, their relations, and consequently the narrative’s overall theme, thereby affecting and somehow directing the reading process. This mainly occurs through the reader’s cognitive pushes and pops in and out of the different layers of the narrative discourse as well as projecting the narrator’s and character-focalizers’ text worlds or deictic fields and constantly shifting among them. By foregrounding the role of deixis in narration, this study carries significant implications for cognitive stylistics of prose fictional narratives, providing a deeper appreciation of the relationships between characters and between characters and fictional settings in such texts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9334d613c81f40b58bad14ad36b09f6e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2322-3413 |
| language | fas |
| publishDate | 2024-09-01 |
| publisher | University of Isfahan |
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| series | نشریه پژوهشهای زبانشناسی |
| spelling | doaj-art-9334d613c81f40b58bad14ad36b09f6e2025-01-18T06:51:27ZfasUniversity of Isfahanنشریه پژوهشهای زبانشناسی2322-34132024-09-01162192810.22108/jrl.2024.141395.184828567A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The BellMohammad Ghaffary0Seyed Mohammad Hosseini1Mohadesse Khosravi2Assistant professor of English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Languages, Arak University, Arak, IranAssistant professor of Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Languages, Arak University, Arak, IranMA in TEFL, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Languages, Arak University, Arak, IranIn cognitive stylistics, “deixis” is deemed one of the core linguistic elements through which both the physical and ideological stances of the participants in fictional narratives, namely the narrator and the character(-focalizer)s, are demonstrated. This study aims at investigating the cognitive functions of the different kinds of deixis, i.e., perceptual, spatial, temporal, social, textual, and compositional deixis, in The Bell (1958), a critically acclaimed novel by the British philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch. Because of its special narrative discourse, in particular the use of variable internal focalization, Murdoch’s novel proves to be a proper case for exploring how deixis impacts upon the (implied) reader’s cognition of the story. Thus, utilizing a descriptive-analytic method, the present research examines the text worlds and mind styles shaped in this novel through various kinds of deixis, among other textual elements, and explores the relationship between these text worlds and the way they inform the reading process. To achieve this goal, this qualitative study draws upon the cognitive deixis theory to examine selected extracts from Dora Greenfield’s and Toby Gashe’s discourses in this novel, as two of the major character-focalizers. The findings suggest that deictic expressions serve a significant function in appreciating the characterization of the fictional personages, their relations, and consequently the narrative’s overall theme, thereby affecting and somehow directing the reading process. This mainly occurs through the reader’s cognitive pushes and pops in and out of the different layers of the narrative discourse as well as projecting the narrator’s and character-focalizers’ text worlds or deictic fields and constantly shifting among them. By foregrounding the role of deixis in narration, this study carries significant implications for cognitive stylistics of prose fictional narratives, providing a deeper appreciation of the relationships between characters and between characters and fictional settings in such texts.https://jrl.ui.ac.ir/article_28567_f12674dd869d34ea2239bcc885d83b52.pdfcognitive stylistics (poetics)deixisdeictic shiftingtext worldfocalizationiris murdoch’s the bell |
| spellingShingle | Mohammad Ghaffary Seyed Mohammad Hosseini Mohadesse Khosravi A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell نشریه پژوهشهای زبانشناسی cognitive stylistics (poetics) deixis deictic shifting text world focalization iris murdoch’s the bell |
| title | A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell |
| title_full | A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell |
| title_fullStr | A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell |
| title_full_unstemmed | A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell |
| title_short | A cognitive-stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell |
| title_sort | cognitive stylistic study of deixis and deictic shifting in iris murdoch s the bell |
| topic | cognitive stylistics (poetics) deixis deictic shifting text world focalization iris murdoch’s the bell |
| url | https://jrl.ui.ac.ir/article_28567_f12674dd869d34ea2239bcc885d83b52.pdf |
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