At the Discourse-Myth interface: A Corpus-based Analysis of Mourning Becomes Electra

Nagwa Younis Ain Shams University Abstract The Electra-myth as a dramatic theme has an outstanding expressive capacity. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the interplay between myth and discourse in O'Neill's trilogy Mourning Becomes Electra. In so doing, Corpus Linguistics is the research method adopted in this study. Keyword in Context (KWIC), frequency and collocation are three techniques provided by the software AntConc 3.5.7 (Anthony, 2018) and applied for data analysis. The interrelationships among characters, which are verbally portrayed as a linguistic manifestation of the Greek myth in discourse, are depicted through these tools. The untypical mother-daughter relationship has its atypical father-daughter/ mother-son counterparts that portray a tragic atmosphere shadowed by the gloomy scent of the Electra-myth. Discursive practices serve as linguistic realizations that bridge the gap between the mythical and the real. Results highlight the effective role played by corpusbased studies to underpin modern discourse analysis.