Restoring the history of the subaltern: a corpus-informed study of ‘The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave’

Moreton, Emma (2008). Restoring the history of the subaltern: a corpus-informed study of ‘The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave’. University of Birmingham. M.Phil.

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Abstract

Drawing from Halliday’s (2004) account of Systemic Functional Grammar and Hoey’s (2005) theory of Lexical Priming the aim of this thesis is to propose a critical method of examining the language used by the subaltern to talk about their experiences. First, I discuss how the linguistic theories outlined above might be used to explicate key concepts in postcolonial studies relating to the voice of the subaltern subject. Second, I use corpus methods to carry out the type of linguistic analysis being proposed. Taking KNOW, KEEP, SAY, GIVE and TAKE as examples, it is suggested that the use of verbs in ‘The History of Prince’ can not only reveal something about how Prince construed events and perceived the world, but can also reveal something about the social and ideological systems which, through discourse, helped to construct those experiences and operated to suppress her. In this thesis I only focus on five verbs; however, I would argue that this initial investigation shows the benefits of using corpus methods of analysis.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Phil.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Phil.

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