You as a stylistic vector of otherness: from self-ascription to enactment in Kincaid (1988), Adichie (2009) and Azumah Nelson (2021)

IF 0.3 2区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
Sandrine Sorlin
{"title":"You as a stylistic vector of otherness: from self-ascription to enactment in Kincaid (1988), Adichie (2009) and Azumah Nelson (2021)","authors":"Sandrine Sorlin","doi":"10.1515/jls-2024-2001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Based on a theoretical pragmatic model (Sorlin, Sandrine. 2022. <jats:italic>The stylistics of ‘you’. Second-person pronoun and its pragmatic effects</jats:italic>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), this article compares the use of the second-person pronoun in three different narratives written by Black writers: Jamaica Kincaid’s essay, <jats:italic>A Small Place</jats:italic> (1988), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story “The Thing Around Your Neck” (2009) and Caleb Azumah Nelson’s first novel <jats:italic>Open Water</jats:italic> (2021). It highlights how the racial nature and assumed universality of <jats:italic>you</jats:italic> is exposed in the texts and argues that the pronoun works as a powerful vector of otherness, bringing the (white Western) reader to experience racism in most intimate terms. The three texts propose varied stylistic constellations that draw on the flexibility of the pronoun in terms of potential reference, entailing different positionings of audiences, going from “self-ascription” (Wechsler, Stephen. 2010. What ‘I’ and ‘you’ mean to each other: Person indexicals, self-ascription, and theory of mind. <jats:italic>Language</jats:italic> 86(2). 332–365) to “enactment” (Caracciolo, Marco. 2014. <jats:italic>The experientiality of narrative</jats:italic>. Berlin: De Gruyter; Popova, Yanna B. 2015. <jats:italic>Stories, meaning and experience: Narrativity and enaction</jats:italic>. London &amp; New York: Routledge). The article also evidences how the inter/intra-personal pronoun triggers a blurring of traditional stylistic and narratorial labels and lines. Lastly, from an enactive perspective that sees reading as an intersubjective participatory act where meaning emerges in the very interaction between a teller and a reader, this article sees communicating as an act of coordination based on the metaphor, <jats:sc>communicating is dancing</jats:sc>, inspired by Azumah Nelson’s rhythmic novel.","PeriodicalId":42874,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF LITERARY SEMANTICS","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF LITERARY SEMANTICS","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jls-2024-2001","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Based on a theoretical pragmatic model (Sorlin, Sandrine. 2022. The stylistics of ‘you’. Second-person pronoun and its pragmatic effects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), this article compares the use of the second-person pronoun in three different narratives written by Black writers: Jamaica Kincaid’s essay, A Small Place (1988), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story “The Thing Around Your Neck” (2009) and Caleb Azumah Nelson’s first novel Open Water (2021). It highlights how the racial nature and assumed universality of you is exposed in the texts and argues that the pronoun works as a powerful vector of otherness, bringing the (white Western) reader to experience racism in most intimate terms. The three texts propose varied stylistic constellations that draw on the flexibility of the pronoun in terms of potential reference, entailing different positionings of audiences, going from “self-ascription” (Wechsler, Stephen. 2010. What ‘I’ and ‘you’ mean to each other: Person indexicals, self-ascription, and theory of mind. Language 86(2). 332–365) to “enactment” (Caracciolo, Marco. 2014. The experientiality of narrative. Berlin: De Gruyter; Popova, Yanna B. 2015. Stories, meaning and experience: Narrativity and enaction. London & New York: Routledge). The article also evidences how the inter/intra-personal pronoun triggers a blurring of traditional stylistic and narratorial labels and lines. Lastly, from an enactive perspective that sees reading as an intersubjective participatory act where meaning emerges in the very interaction between a teller and a reader, this article sees communicating as an act of coordination based on the metaphor, communicating is dancing, inspired by Azumah Nelson’s rhythmic novel.
你作为他者的文体载体:从金凯德(1988 年)、阿迪奇(2009 年)和阿祖玛-纳尔逊(2021 年)中的自我描述到颁布
基于实用性理论模型(Sorlin, Sandrine.2022.你 "的文体学。第二人称代词及其语用效果》。剑桥:剑桥大学出版社),本文比较了黑人作家在三篇不同叙事中使用第二人称代词的情况:牙买加-金凯德(Jamaica Kincaid)的散文《一个小地方》(1988 年)、奇玛曼达-恩格齐-阿迪切(Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)的短篇小说《你脖子上的东西》(2009 年)和凯莱布-阿祖玛-尼尔森(Caleb Azumah Nelson)的第一部小说《开阔水域》(2021 年)。该研究强调了 "你 "的种族性质和假定的普遍性是如何在文本中暴露出来的,并认为代词作为一种强大的他者性载体,使(西方白人)读者以最亲密的方式体验种族主义。这三篇文章提出了不同的文体组合,利用代词在潜在参照方面的灵活性,为受众带来不同的定位,从 "自我描述"(Wechsler, Stephen.2010.我 "和 "你 "对彼此意味着什么?人称索引、自我描述和心智理论》。Language 86(2).332-365) to "enactment" (Caracciolo, Marco.2014.The experientiality of narrative.柏林:De Gruyter; Popova, Yanna B. 2015.Stories, meaning and experience:叙事性与实施》。London & New York:Routledge)。文章还论证了人称代词如何模糊传统文体和叙事标签与界限。最后,本文从一种积极主动的视角出发,将阅读视为一种主体间的参与行为,其意义产生于讲述者与读者之间的互动之中。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
CiteScore
0.90
自引率
10.00%
发文量
19
期刊介绍: The aim of the Journal of Literary Semantics is to concentrate the endeavours of theoretical linguistics upon those texts traditionally classed as ‘literary’, in the belief that such texts are a central, not a peripheral, concern of linguistics. This journal, founded by Trevor Eaton in 1972 and edited by him for thirty years, has pioneered and encouraged research into the relations between linguistics and literature. It is widely read by theoretical and applied linguists, narratologists, poeticians, philosophers and psycholinguists. JLS publishes articles on all aspects of literary semantics. The ambit is inclusive rather than doctrinaire.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信