General Extenders in 18th Century Novels - Relevance in Language Teaching

8/11/2019 General Extenders in 18th Century Novels - Relevance in Language Teaching

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General extenders in 18 th century novels: Relevance in language teaching

Thompson Olusegun EwataDepartment of History & Languages

Elizade University, Ilara !o"in, Ondo #tate $igeriathompson%ewata elizadeuniversity%edu%ng

&'(emi !ahmud

Deptment of English #tudies)de"unle )*asin University

)"ung+a )"o"o Ondo #tate $igeriayemimahmud gmail% om

Abstract - .revious studies /Overstreet 0111 and 2arroll 3445, for e6ample7 esta+lished that the general extenders have +een part of the English language8s development% 9ased on this assertion,this study investigates the use of the general e6tenders in the 05 th entury English novels% The

hoi e of the novel genre and literature is +e ause +oth are refle tions of the sensi+ilities of theage and so iety that produ ed them% This study will give us the opportunity to see how the use of language has +een enhan ed and preserved through writing% Three English novels, RobinsonCrusoe /0:017, Gullivers Travels /0:3;7 and Joseph Andrews /0:


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The General xtenders in nglish

The linguisti items have +een termed differently +y s holars who studied them as aresult of the s holars8 wor"ing from different perspe tivesF applying different methodologies andusing different names /2arroll, p% 57% However, this study adopts the terminology of Overstreet/pp% G


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This list is not e6haustiveF new or more li+eral e6amples are emerging every day,espe ially, in spo"en dis ourse% The present study is, however, limited to the orpus of the three05 th entury novels earlier spe ified%

There is no onsensus among s holars a+out the lassifi ation of >Es% #ome see them asfeaturing mostly in spo"en utteran es /Overstreet and (ule 011:, Overstreet 0111F 2u hi, 344:7while others /2arroll, 3445, Lewis, 344; for e6ample7 +elieve the items are ommon features of written dis ourse% Chile some /Overstreet, 0111, Cinter and $orr+y, 01117 see the items asinformal dis ourse elements used among familiars, others show the items as features of formaldis ourse% 2u hi /344: shows the use of the items in offi ial European parliamentary dis oursewhile Ewata /forth oming7 points out the use of the elements in $igerian newspaper editorials%The elements have +een studied in different languages of the world and are argued to +e@language universalsB /Ceydt, 344;7% They have also +een studied from the perspe tives of age/Cinter and $orr+y, 3444F !artMnez, 34007, lass /Dines, 01547- different professions and genres/!etsN etelN, 344;7F a ademi /Puzaite, 344erman and $ew Qealand English /Terras h"e and Holmes, 344:7 and so on%

)s earlier s holars gave assorted names to the items, they also assigned differentfun tions to them- list ompletion /?efferson, 01147, indi ation that the items in the list are not

ompleted +ut have other mem+ers /2arroll, p% 57, use as intentional vagueness elements thato ur +y hoi e /2utting, 344:, p% ;7F addi tive elements in dis ourse, politeness devi es thathelp in fa e saving, refle t the spea"ersA attitude towards the message or addressee and shared

+a "ground "nowledge among others% This +rings us to the issue of the novel as a genre of literature%

The $ovel as a Genre o% &iterature

The novel is a fi tional narration written in prose and made long +y adventure a+outordinary people /#purgin, 344;, p% GF !oretti, 3445, p% 00=7F without a rigid or stri t form%9efore the novel, drama and poetry were the ma*or genres% The novel has two dimensions- oneFso iologi al, in the sense that it +rings us to the star" realities of the ine ualities of the lasssystem inherent in the human so iety and the other psy hologi al, showing us the inner wor"ingor thin"ing of the hara ters /people7 who are normal human +eings we an asso iate with in theso iety /#purgin, p% ;7%

The history of the novel is the history of the printing press% 9efore the press, te6ts whereons ientiously opied +y hand whi h made +oo"s e6pensive to produ e and diffi ult to get%

Litera y was not as universal as we have now% Cith the invention of the printing press, it meansmore +oo"s were printed and ould rea h a wider audien e than the handwritten ones /$ovels,so iety and history, 34417% )t the same time when the printing press was helping litera yFimproved ommuni ation through road networ" that lin"ed hitherto unlin"ed ities and towns

together was helping out in reating a new lass of the so iety% The novel played a part inreating a new set of friends who were onne ted through the hara ters and events of the novelsthey have read% )lso, the authors were getting paid for their efforts and the pu+lishing outfitswho pu+lished the novels +e ame wealthy as there was great patronage for their efforts%

It is important to stress here that the novel gained the popularity and a eptan e it had, inEngland, +e ause of the presen e of a reading pu+li and a form that was not too omple6 or re uired too mu h efforts to grasp the message li"e the verse% )+ove all, the novel used ate hni ue that endeared it to its audien e as the readers were always yearning for what will


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happen ne6t, that is, the reation of suspense /!oretti, p% 00G7 thus reating a sense of adventure% The other ma*or driving for e of the novel is the use of true to life details%

Ce must also mention that sin e the novel dwells on the ordinary man in the so ietyompared to poetry and drama that emphasised lofty hara ters, it adapts itself to refle ting the

language of the so iety that produ es it% This means that the language or language style prevalentin the so iety at the time of its produ tion will +e refle ted in the novel% It is this language andso iety that this study is leveraging on to e6amine the linguisti elements that it fo uses on%

The 18 th century ngland

The life style of the people in England in the 05 th entury was different from what wehave now% or one, the te hnologi al advan ements we have now were not availa+le +a " then

+ut it was the +eginning of the industrial revolution / laherty, 3403, p% eorge 0, preferred staying over inHanover /part of >ermany7 than in England meaning he ared less a+out the 9ritish /peopleand nation8s affairs7% It was also the era when the government of England owed monumental

de+ts to some English people with means +e ause of the war with #pain and the aftermath of @Treaty of Utre htB that granted monopolies to trade in Latin )meri a whi h resulted in theformation of the #outh #ea 2ompany whi h eventually ruined the e onomies of the people andthe nation the notorious @#outh #ea 9u++leB% It was also the time when the e6pansionisttenden ies of the 9ritish and European powers were in full swing% 9ritain already had olonies inIndia /#outh )sia7, #outh )fri a and $orth )meri a% It was also the era of the "iller diseases smallpo6, dysentery, tu+er ulosis, typhus et % The life of the ordinary man in the period was poor and the ma*ority of the popula e lived in the ountry side% It was the time the offi ial title of the@prime ministerB that is used now was not an offi ial title +ut a mo "ery /Lam+ert, n%d, para 57%

The novel ame at a time when the nation, England, was yearning for a saviour as thegenre +e ame the toni the so iety needed to ure itself% The happenings in the so iety +e ameready made materials for reative men and women to use in their wor"s things the average manand woman an asso iate with%

'ethodology

To prove its thesis, the study adopts the methodologies of orpus linguisti s% 2orpuslinguisti s is the aspe t of linguisti s "nowledge that has +een of great use and help inunderstanding and tea hing language through the prin ipled systemati olle tions of representative te6ts the te6t an +e written or spo"en, usually stored in a omputer data+aseand used in linguisti analysis /! 2arthy, 344


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Linguisti analysis in orpus linguisti s entails sear hing for words and phrases/e6pressions7 in a orpus, and displaying the results in useful ways% 9efore the advent of the

omputer, linguisti e6pressions were manually sear hed after arefully reading the orpus or orpora and the results displayed in what is a on ordan e% #in e the introdu tion of omputer

into language studies, orpus linguisti s has ta"en advantage of the omputer +y using developed

software to sear h for words and phrases% ) simple on ordan e is a list of the o urren es of aword, presented one per line along with its immediate onte6t /LRdeling and ytS7% One of su hsoftware is Lawren e )nthony8s )nt2on % It is a free software and relatively easy to install anduse% This study employs )nt2on 2on ordan e Tool to sear h for the >Es in the three novels%The e +oo" editions of the novels were downloaded from the internet +efore +een su+*e ted tothe "ey word in onte6t sear h of the software%

Analysis o% general extenders in 18th century novels

E6amples of general e6tenders from the novels in lude-

0% %%% I thin" it was a (ear and Half, I rais8d Pafters from it leaning to the Po ", and that h8dor over8d it with 9ows of Trees, and su h things as I ould get to "eep out the Pain %%%/Defoe, 344=, p%;07%

3% Tow wouse, who e6pe ted a wat h, or ring, or something of dou+le the value, answered%%%/ ielding, 344


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The general e6tenders and how they o ur in the three 05 th entury novels are presented +elow for our understanding-

Table 1: General extenders in three 18th century novelsTy(es o% xtenders !e%oe #wi%t )ielding T*TA& + R, $Tand all /thisJthatJ"ind su hJother7


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things, et %, or some other /thing7, or something /very li"e it7 and or su hB used only on one o asionin the novel whi h translates to 4%3< % Though we need to add that there are instan es where theitems were used in the preliminary se tions of the novels +ut we dis ountenan ed them as thosese tions of the novels were not written along with the novels in the 05 th entury% The use of thee6tenders +y the novel is illustrated with the hart +elow-

#ee igure 0, +elow

The same trend is noti ed in Gullivers Travels as the novel used @and thatB most with 31instan es out of 050 instan es in whi h the novel used the >Es whi h gives it 0; of the totaluse +y the novel% @/and7 "ind ofB and @/and7 sort ofB were ne6t in line with 3: /0


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every language onte6t or situation- in a spo"en narrative, in a newspaper editorial, in parliamentary de+ate, songs, radioJtelevision tal" show, news radio, prose narrative, in anemergen y et % )t the same, +eing vague shows the short omings of the human language asthere are instan es where the more spe ifi the ommuni ator intended the more vague the

ommuni ation intent +e omes% )lso, tea hers of language and literature should understand that

language, literature and vagueness are no strangers to themselves and as su h tea hers should not +e @dogmati , narrow minded and fundamentalistB a+out vagueness% Vague e6pressions and their meanings are important to the ommuni ation situation% They help in +ounding the writers@so iallyB with the readers%They also e6press the users8 attitude towards the ommuni ationsituation, the addressee et % )+ove all if learners of English /our students7 failed to master theuse and meaning of vague e6pressions their ommuni ative ompeten e would +e drasti allyimpaired /Cierz+i "a, 0110, p% Gulliver8s Travels used themthe least% The papers a hieved the o+*e tive it sets out to investigating the use of the English

general e6tenders in the three 05th

entury novel orpus% That the linguisti elements are found inthe novel esta+lishes the fa t that the >Es have +een part of the English language8s developmentand have +een preserved through writing% The study also esta+lishes the fa t that the >Es inEnglish are not spo"en dis ourse spe ifi alone as they are part of the repertoire of the Englishlanguage whi h an and are used in +oth spo"en and written dis ourse and are used in anylanguage situation%

Re%erences 9loom, H% /344G7% Introdu tion% In H% 9loom /Ed%7,The eighteenth%century &nglish novel % United

#tates of )meri a- 2helsea House%2arroll, P% /34457% Histori al English phraseology and the e6tender tag% Journal o the 'panish

'ociety or ediaeval &nglish )anguage and )iterature % $W 0=% Petrieved )ugust G4, 3404from- http-JJwww%uniovi%esJ#ELI! %

Defoe, D% /344=7% Robinson Crusoe ( Ce+sterAs #panish Thesaurus Edition ed*"*#an Diego- I2O$>roup%

Downie, ?%)% /011:7% The !a"ing of the English $ovel% Eighteenth 2entury i tion- Vol% 1- Issue% G,)rti le 0% Petrieved 35 )ugust, 340G from-http-JJdigital ommons%m master% aJe fJvol1JissGJ0

ielding% H% /344% Ed%7% .ennsylvania #tate University, Ele troni2lassi s #eries% Petrieved )ugust G4, 340G from- http-JJdl%lu6%+oo"fi%org%

laherty, L% /3403 "* )i e in +,th century &ngland % )ustralia- .earson% Lam+ert, T% /n%d%7% ) History Of 05th 2entury England% Petrieved #eptem+er 04, 340G from-

http-JJwww%lo alhistories%orgJ05th enteng%html%

!oretti, % /3445, p% 00G7% The novel- history and theory% -ew )e t Review =3 ?uly )ugust% Petrieved35 )ugust, 340G from- $ovels, so iety and history /34417% Petrieved )ugust G0, 340G from- www%e6 ellup% omOverstreet, !% /01117% .hales! candlelight! and stu li$e that/ General extenders in &nglish

discourse % $ew (or"JO6ford- O6ford University .ress%#purgin, T% /344;7% The English $ovel /.art I7% Petrieved )ugust G4, 340G from-#wift, ?% /344=7%Gulliver0s Travels into several re#ote regions o the world ( Ce+sterAs #panish

Thesaurus Edition ed*"*#an Diego- I2O$ >roup%%
http://www.uniovi.es/SELIMhttp://dl.lux.bookfi.org/http://www.localhistories.org/18thcenteng.htmlhttp://www.uniovi.es/SELIMhttp://dl.lux.bookfi.org/http://www.localhistories.org/18thcenteng.html


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! 2arthy% !% /344


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A((endixes

)igure 1: >eneral e6tenders used in Po+inson 2rusoe / #ource: .resent #tudy 5

)igure 2: >eneral e6tenders in >ulliverAs Travels / #ource: .resent #tudy 5


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Figure 3: s in Joseph Andrews /#ource: .resent #tudy 5

Figure 4: >eneral E6tenders in the three 05 th entury novels / #ource: .resent #tudy 5

General Extenders in 18th Century Novels - Relevance in Language Teaching

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