الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract This is a feminist stylistic study of two of Morrison’s novels. It aims to investigate how meaning is created and manipulated in literary texts and to examine the ways in which the author’s attitudes and viewpoints are realized in such texts. Using Halliday’s model of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), which regulates the interpersonal function of language. The study aims to investigate the creation of meaning through the manifestation of modality as a property of language. It also demonstrates that foregrounding some linguistic elements in both novels under study creates an effect in the reading and interpretation of texts. These linguistic elements include modal adverbs, modal auxiliary verbs, verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Modality has a close relationship with point of view according to which viewpoints, judgments, and thoughts are realized in order to provide the ’colour’ and ’feel’ of the story. Therefore, based on Simpson’s framework of Modal Grammar, the study indicates the perspective or ’angle of vision’ through which both novels are told. This helps establish the author’s particular style. Moreover, the study has a feminist dimension because the author is known for being a feminist writer and most of her novels focus on female characters. Therefore, the study aims to highlight some feminist issues through the manifestation and frequency of some linguistic elements related to feminist issues. This study is based not only on the qualitative linguistic analysis of the novels, but also on the quantitative description of the selected linguistic elements through the use of a free software concordance programme called AntConc. As a result, it can be concluded that there is a preponderant use of both the epistemic and perception systems of modality in both novels with varying proportions. |