LINGUISTIC MEANS OF EXPRESSING WELSHNESS IN ANGLO-WELSH LITERATURE

Abstract

The aim of the research is to provide a comprehensive linguistic analysis of how Welshness is manifested in Anglo-Welsh borderland literature, therefore the scope of the research is linguistic means of Welshness manifestation. The material for the research into linguistic manifestation of Welshness was collected from the novel The Whithered Root (by Rhys Davies) through continuous selection methodology, and then analysed by the stylistic method, lingvocultural method, the content analysis method, as well as the method of sociolinguistic interpretation. As a result, there have been identified and described three methods of manifesting Welshness in fiction: 1) introducing Anglo-Welsh dialect features in the speech of the characters on the level of syntax influenced by Welsh and through Welsh cultural lexis; 2) metalinguistic description of the characters’ speech through the prism of Welshness, which functions as an ideological tool of identity and a means of influencing the reader; 3) using stylistic devices, based on similarity or juxtaposing contrasting idea, to create the key elements of the positive image of Wales and its values: its beauty, creative talent of the Welsh, their religiousness and passionate nature. The scope of application encompasses teaching and research in the speres of sociolinguistics, dialectology, literature study and cultural linguistics. Findings: Welshness as identity is manifested in fiction through local and ethnical elements in the characters’ speech, through the author’s or the characters’ metalinguistic speculations about the Welshness of the language and through stylistic devices used to describe the key values of the identity. The discussed means function as an ideological tool of promoting identity and creating its positive and unique image.