Akademisk avhandling--Filologi--Lund, 1979. / Bibliogr. p. 223-226. Index.

Nell’ambito della linguistica storica inglese si è assistito solo negli ultimi anni all’emergere di un nuovo interesse accademico e al conseguente sviluppo di un nuovo campo di ricerca: il Late(r) Modern English (LModE). Lo studio diacronico della lingua inglese, tradizionalmente spintosi fino a includere il periodo dell’Early Modern English, ha infatti solo recentemente accolto nel suo raggio d’indagine lo studio dei secoli a noi più vicini, il XVIII e il XIX, precedentemente soprannominati “the Cinderellas of English historical linguistic study” (Jones 1989). Il presente lavoro propone un’analisi storica e sociolinguistica del periodo che considera l’evoluzione linguistica del British English, l’importante fenomeno del prescrittivismo linguistico e lo sviluppo della grammatografia inglese nel XVIII secolo. Il primo capitolo propone una collocazione temporale del LModE tra il 1660 e il 1945, ne traccia i principali sviluppi storici e sociali, e presenta lo stato dell’arte sulla variazione linguistica del periodo. Il secondo capitolo presenta un’analisi approfondita delle diverse ideologie che hanno contribuito allo sviluppo del prescrittivismo quale fenomeno linguisticamente e culturalmente pervasivo. Il terzo capitolo, infine, traccia lo sviluppo settecentesco della grammatica come genere normativo e presenta l’analisi dettagliata di un'opera finora poco osservata: “Grammatical Observations on the English Language” (1766) del reverendo Caleb Fleming (1698-1779). / A growing amount of scholarly attention has been paid to Late(r) Modern English since Jones (1989) famously dubbed the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries “the Cinderellas of English historical linguistic study”. The present work aims to contribute to such process of “De-Cinderellisation” (Rodriguez-Alvarez & Rodriguez-Gil 2011) through a historical and sociolinguistic account that links the evolution of British English in modern times to the rise of linguistic normativism and the development of grammars. The first chapter frames the period between 1660 and 1945, reports on the major socio-historical developments of the time, and tracks the linguistic variation through a state-of-the-art survey. The second chapter offers a lengthy and thorough examination of the different ideologies which brought about the all-pervasive linguistic and cultural phenomenon of prescriptivism. Finally the third chapter details the eighteenth-century development of English grammars as a normative genre and focuses on the micro-level analysis of the under-researched work by Rev. Caleb Fleming (1698-1779): “Grammatical Observations on the English Language” (1766).

La tesi fornisce uno studio empirico relativo agli elementi linguistici caratterizzanti il parlato faccia-a-faccia e il parlato filmico americano, due domini conversazionali solitamente detti differire in termini di spontaneità, essendo il primo generalmente descritto come la quintessenza del linguaggio parlato (in quanto totalmente spontaneo) e il secondo come non-spontaneo (essendo scritto-per-essere-parlato) e, quindi, non adatto a rappresentare l'uso generale della conversazione. Entrambe le analisi (i.e. quella multi-dimensionale, che offre una panoramica generale dei due domini presi in considerazione, e quella più specifica relativa al comportamento linguistico dell’espressione you know) basate su esempi autentici tratti da corpora dimostrano che, nonostante quanto venga generalmente descritto dalla letteratura a riguardo, conversazione faccia-a-faccia e conversazione filmica hanno molti tratti in comune e confutano l’idea che il linguaggio filmico non possa essere rappresentativo dell'uso generale della conversazione. / The present dissertation examines empirically the linguistic features characterizing American face-to-face and movie conversation, two domains which are usually claimed to differ especially in terms of spontaneity. Natural conversation is, indeed, considered the quintessence of the spoken language for it is totally spontaneous, whereas movie conversation is usually described as non-spontaneous, being artificially written-to-be spoken and, thus, not likely to represent the general usage of conversation. In spite of what is generally maintained by the literature, both the Multi-Dimensional analysis and the micro-analysis of the functions of you know based on authentic data retrieved from corpora show that the two conversational domains do not differ to a great extent and thus confutes the claim that movie language has “a very limited value” in that it does not reflect natural conversation and, consequently, is “not likely to be representative of the general usage of conversation”.

This study investigates short stories published in South Africa and in Zimbabwe before the turn of the twenty-first century. The short story as a genre provides a more accessible and shorter means of viewing literary trends after the official end of the hostilities of apartheid and colonialism. Because of their brevity and specific focus, these short stories from many voices allow a glimpse of different arenas affecting contemporary reality. Post-independence stories reveal that in the process of navigating or directing hope after independence, people are sometimes left bereft as disenchantment with politics sets in, leaving people to search for hope in areas of their everyday lives such as marriage, birth and friendship. But because their lives are also fraught with conflict, hate and betrayal, hope may remain uncertain and prospects frightening. Chapter One embarks on a brief historical and political background of South Africa and Zimbabwe. This chapter also conceptualizes the issues of hope and disillusionment in the South African and Zimbabwean socio-historical contexts. Chapters Two and Three analyze selected stories from South Africa and Zimbabwe, respectively, focusing on issues with which the writers are preoccupied, especially how they explore hope and disillusionment. The analyses of the stories in these two chapters are structured chronologically depicting events in the stories. Thus the study creates its own narrative of South African and Zimbabwean life towards the new millennium. These two chapters discuss how meanings, significances and ramifications of the post-colonial community are negotiated and re-negotiated in selected stories, highlighting the challenges and engagements with hope and disillusionment dramatized in short prose fiction. Chapter Four will undertake to conclude with comparisons of the selected stories, discussing the implications of the study for South African and Zimbabwean contemporary societies at the turn of the twenty-first century. Granted, it is always difficult to generalize about a society from such highly individual, personal stories. But my study suggests that at the turn of the twenty-first century in South Africa, disillusionment is beginning to displace the heady expectation many felt at the 1994 election. And perhaps even more unlikely, given the current crisis, Zimbabwean stories from recent years show people hopefully waiting for the new millennium, a dawning of new, unpredictable possibilities.

This research is an examination of Charles Dickens’ representation of the underprivileged in the Victorian society. The socially disadvantaged members that will be under discussion are the poor, women and children, who are of major concern in Dickens’ selected texts namely Bleak House, Great Expectations, Hard Times and Oliver Twist. It is evident that Dickens noted the impact of industrialisation on the Victorian society as it created a massive urban development, leading to a higher class division. Initially, the English society consisted of the aristocracy, the landed gentry and the servants who belonged to the lower class. The influx of industrialisation created a further division of these classes in which there emerged the capitalists or bourgeoisie, who were the industrialists like Mr. Bounderby in Hard Times, and the working class, who were the industrial workers. Although the Industrial Revolution fostered urban growth, it is unfortunate that the number of the poor also increased. Many of them lived under squalid conditions with poor sanitation leading to fatal diseases and even death. Being a socially conscious writer, Dickens depicts the world in which he lives, as a strategy to raise awareness in his readers of what was really happening, and hopefully, to bring social reforms. Apart from the poor, Dickens also portrays the brutal treatment of children at the workhouses. This research will show that Dickens was an obstinate critique of the Poor Law and its administration. Furthermore, it will be proven that Dickens also abhorred child labour because of his own childhood experience. Moreover, his repugnance is also noted in the way he creates child characters like Oliver Twist who are mistreated and exploited as child workers. Dickens representation of women is largely influenced by the Victorian ideology surrounding the role of women in society. It is evident that the English society was very patriarchal and strongly confined women to domesticity. Women were also expected to uphold virtue and purity and if they lost both, they were despised and not tolerated at all by society. Although Dickens creates both the Victorian stereotypical woman who is the “angel in the house,” and the antitypical women who comprise of the prostitutes, those who bear children out of wedlock and the larger than life characters like Mrs. Joe Gargery and Molly in Great Expectations, he is revealing the different types of women one can find in society. Moreover, the juxtaposition of the stereotype and the antitype is also a suggestion of the latter’s struggle to fight against patriarchy by assuming the unexpected. Therefore, this research will prove that Dickens is not a patriarchal writer but he actually sympathizes with the plight of women. A realist and naturalist reading of Dickens’ selected texts will provide literary theory for this research. Writing during the time that both theories were grounded, it is evident that Dickens adopted both elemental forms of writing. A feminist approach to Dickens’ female characters will also foster the analysis. Being a realist and naturalist writer, Dickens is comparable to writers of his time such as Nikolai Gogol from Russia who also employs a similar mode of writing in his works. Dickens’ antitypical female characters are comparable to those of the later feminist writers who have placed much emphasis on the independent female characters. It is evident that Dickens’ creation of violent or impure female characters influenced the feminist writers to use them as representations of female independence.

During the era of discrimination and disparity in Southern Africa, racial inequality silenced many black writers. It was the white authors that dominated the literary environment presenting their biased views on social and political concerns; the black authors standpoints were seen as unimportant and they were deemed inferior to the white authors. Consequently, it was particularly difficult for black writers to voice their experiences of living in a society riddled with oppression, prejudice and unequal opportunities. The purpose of this study is to critically compare selected texts by African authors Doris Lessing and Bessie Head, which depict the political and social struggles within Southern African society during the era of unequal opportunities. Lessing and Head’s works present incidents of life experiences in Southern Africa from two contrasting viewpoints. The selected texts explored are: The Grass is Singing and “The Old Chief Mshlanga” by Doris Lessing, a white author, in contrast and comparison to the texts: A Question of Power and “The Collector of Treasures” by Bessie Head, a coloured author. The research for this thesis is conducted from an ethnic literary perspective with careful consideration to critical race theory and cultural studies. From this perspective, the focus of the study is on the struggles that affected both the victim and perpetrator during the apartheid era as well as on the idea that those in power determined what was deemed acceptable and unacceptable, behaviourally and ideologically. Specifically, the plight experienced by the female characters living in a patriarchal society, and the segregation and racial inequality faced by the characters of colour is explored by analysing these characters’ influences, pressures and societal manipulations and constraints in the texts. Thus, this study will provide a more in-depth understanding of Southern African society during the apartheid era and the strategic use of literature to spotlight the subjugation and disparity.

This study consists of a comparative analysis of three novels by three prominent African women writers which cast light on the ways in which women are oppressed by traditional and cultural norms in three different African countries. These three primary texts also explore the ways in which African women's lives are affected by other issues, such as colonialism and economic factors, and this study discusses this. An analysis of these novels reveals that the inter-connectedness of racial, class and gender issues exacerbates the oppression of many African women, thereby lessening the opportunities for them to attain self-realization. This study goes on to investigate whether there are possibilities of empowerment for the women in the primary texts, and examining the reasons why some women fail to transcend their situations of oppression. The primary novels will be discussed in different chapters, which explore the problems with which various women are beset, and discuss the extent to which the various women in the novels manage to attain empowerment. In conclusion, this study compares and contrasts the ways in which the women in the primary texts are oppressed and highlights the reasons why some women are able to attain empowerment, whilst others are unable to do so. It also shows that many women are beset with comparable forms of oppression, but they may choose to react to these situations differently. Over and above these issues, the study seeks to draw attention to the fact that women need to come together and contribute to the ways in which they can attain various forms of empowerment.

The desire for heroes is a global and cultural phenomenon that gives a view into society’s very heart. There is no better example of this truism than that of the superhero. Typically, Superheroes, with their affiliation to values and morality, and the notion of the grand narratives, should not fit well into postmodernist theory. However, at the very core of the superhero narrative is the ideal of an individual creating his/her own form of morality, and thus dispensing justice as the individual sees fit in resistance to metanarrative’s authoritarian and restrictive paradigms. This research will explore Superhero comic books, films, videogames and the characters Superman, Spider-Man and Batman through the postmodernist conceptions of power, plurality, and morality.

The primary aim of this project is to examine selected works by John Steinbeck, a significant American writer. Through a close contextual and textual analysis of Steinbeck’s Dustbowl Trilogy, which consists of the novels In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath, this project will interrogate Steinbeck’s contribution to the silencing of women and their inferior placement in their society and determine the extent to which Steinbeck promotes patriarchal ideology through his literature. A close examination of the modernist era in which these novels were written will provide the method of interrogating Steinbeck’s portrayal of women’s situation during the Depression and determine whether it is a reflection of the reality of women’s situation at that time given the political and environmental factors of the 1930s. The theories of various feminist critics, including Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Gayle Rubin, Luce Irigaray, Sherry Ortner, and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar will be explored in order to elucidate the author’s treatment of the female characters and determine the extent to which patriarchal ideology is embedded in his writing. A brief examination of some of his contemporaries, namely F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, will reveal the general treatment of women in male authored modernist literature and determine the extent to which Steinbeck’s female subjugation is representative.

Afhandling--Copenhagen.