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Strategies of Ambiguity
Matthias Bauer, Angelika Zirker
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R4,138
Discovery Miles 41 380
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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There has been a growing awareness that ambiguity is not just a
necessary evil of the language system resulting, for instance, from
its need for economy, or, by contrast, a blessing that allows
writers to involve readers in endless games of assigning meaning to
a literary text. The present volume contributes to overcoming this
alternative by focusing on strategies of ambiguity (and the
strategic avoidance of ambiguity) both at the production and the
reception end of communication. The authors examine ways in which
speakers and hearers may use ambiguous words, structures,
references, and situations to pursue communicative ends. For
example, the question is asked what it actually means when a
listener strategically perceives ambiguity, which may happen both
synchronically (e.g. in conversations) as well as diachronically
(e.g. when strategically ambiguating biblical texts in order to
make them applicable to moral lessons). Another example is the
question whether ambiguity awareness increases the strategic use of
ambiguity in prosody. Moreover, the authors not only enquire into
effects of ambiguous meanings but also into the strategic use of
ambiguity as such, for example, as a response to censorship or as a
means of provoking irritation. This volume brings together several
contributions from linguistics, literary studies, rhetoric,
psychology and theology, and aims at providing a systematic
approach to the strategic production and perception of ambiguity in
a variety of texts and contexts. The Open Access version of this
book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made
available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No
Derivatives 4.0 license.
Until recently, collaborative efforts between formal linguistics
and literary studies have been relatively sparse; this book is an
attempt to bridge this gap and add to the hitherto small pool of
studies that combine the two disciplines. Our study concentrates on
Emily Dickinson's poetry, since it displays a highly uncommon and
therefore challenging use of language. We argue this to be part of
her poetic strategy and consider Dickinson an intuitive linguist:
her apparent non-compliance with linguistic rules is a productive
exploration of linguistic expression to reveal the flexibility and
potential of grammar, leading to complex processes of
interpretation. Our study includes a number of in-depth analyses of
individual poems, which combine formal linguistic methods and
literary scholarship and focus on specific aspects such as
ambiguity, reference, and presuppositions. One of our findings
concerns the dynamic interpretation of lyrical texts in which the
pragmatic step of establishing what a poem means for the reader is
postponed to text level. We provide readers with a tool-box of
methods for the formal linguistic analysis not just of Emily
Dickinson's poetry but of linguistically complex literary texts in
general.
Until recently, collaborative efforts between formal linguistics
and literary studies have been relatively sparse; this book is an
attempt to bridge this gap and add to the hitherto small pool of
studies that combine the two disciplines. Our study concentrates on
Emily Dickinson's poetry, since it displays a highly uncommon and
therefore challenging use of language. We argue this to be part of
her poetic strategy and consider Dickinson an intuitive linguist:
her apparent non-compliance with linguistic rules is a productive
exploration of linguistic expression to reveal the flexibility and
potential of grammar, leading to complex processes of
interpretation. Our study includes a number of in-depth analyses of
individual poems, which combine formal linguistic methods and
literary scholarship and focus on specific aspects such as
ambiguity, reference, and presuppositions. One of our findings
concerns the dynamic interpretation of lyrical texts in which the
pragmatic step of establishing what a poem means for the reader is
postponed to text level. We provide readers with a tool-box of
methods for the formal linguistic analysis not just of Emily
Dickinson's poetry but of linguistically complex literary texts in
general.
Wordplay can be seen as a genuine interface phenomenon. It can be
found both in everyday communication and in literary texts, and it
can fulfil a range of functions - it may be entertaining and
comical, it may be used to conceal taboo, and it may influence the
way in which the speaker's character is perceived. Moreover,
wordplay also reflects on language and communication: it reveals
surprising alternative readings, and emphasizes the phonetic
similarity of linguistic signs that also points towards relations
on the level of content. Wordplay unravels characteristics of
literary language in everyday communication and opens up the
possibility to analyze literary texts from a linguistic
perspective. The first two volumes of the series The Dynamics of
Wordplay therefore aim at bringing together contributions from
linguistics and literary studies, focusing on theoretical issues
such as basic techniques of wordplay, and its relationship to
genres and discourse traditions. These issues are complemented by a
series of case studies on the use of wordplay in individual authors
and specific historical contexts. The contributions offer a fresh
look on the multifaceted dynamics of wordplay in different
communicative settings.
Wordplay can be seen as a genuine interface phenomenon. It can be
found both in everyday communication and in literary texts, and it
can fulfil a range of functions - it may be entertaining and
comical, it may be used to conceal taboo, and it may influence the
way in which the speaker's character is perceived. Moreover,
wordplay also reflects on language and communication: it reveals
surprising alternative readings, and emphasizes the phonetic
similarity of linguistic signs that also points towards relations
on the level of content. Wordplay unravels characteristics of
literary language in everyday communication and opens up the
possibility to analyze literary texts from a linguistic
perspective. The first two volumes of the series The Dynamics of
Wordplay therefore aim at bringing together contributions from
linguistics and literary studies, focusing on theoretical issues
such as basic techniques of wordplay, and its relationship to
genres and discourse traditions. These issues are complemented by a
series of case studies on the use of wordplay in individual authors
and specific historical contexts. The contributions offer a fresh
look on the multifaceted dynamics of wordplay in different
communicative settings.
This study analyses concepts and representations of the soul in the
poetry of William Shakespeare and John Donne. It shows how the soul
becomes a linking element between the genres of poetry and drama,
and how poetry becomes dramatic whenever the soul is at its focus.
This double movement can be observed in Shakespeare's The Rape of
Lucrece and Donne's Holy Sonnets: in these texts, the connection
between interiority and performance, psychology and religious
self-care can be found, which is central to the understanding of
early modern drama and its characteristic development of the
soliloquy. The study thus offers a new reading of the poems by
Shakespeare and Donne by analysing them, in different ways, as
staged dialogues within the soul. It contributes to research on the
soliloquy as much as on concepts of inwardness during the early
modern period. The book is aimed at readers studying early modern
literature and culture. -- .
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