Nghiên cu  s lch s, xã hi và tính mi
ca vic s dng ngôn ng trong tác phm
Kiêu hãnh và nh ki ca Jane Austen

Nguyn Kim Oanh

i hc Ngoi ng
LuNgôn ng Anh; Mã s: 60 22 15
ng dn: Dr. Ph
o v: 2012

Abstract: The study firstly aimed at giving some certain information about the
temporary English society and literature of the early eighteenth and late nineteenth
     
through the language use in three leading conversations between the two main
characters -Darcy Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Bennet -     
             
             
expressed the researc
as well as major findings and contributions were also stated to recommend a number of
things for readers to consider in the choice of widening their knowledge in literature.

Keywords: Ngôn ng; Ting Anh; S dng ngôn ng Content
PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This initial part stated the problem and the rationale of the study, together with the aims,
objectives, the scope of the study, and the overview of the rest of this research
paper. Above all, it was in


She was also said to be the first novelist capable of conveying both interior and

exterior of human life” as well as developing the means of representing the

totality of human life” (Ian Watt, 1957)

2. Aims of the study

This study was carried out with the hope of exploring the background of the
temporary Britain leading to the remarkable changes in its literal history of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries especially in the view on British novels.

The study also aimed at answering the question: “What is Jane
Austen‟s
distinctive writing style?”. The answer to the question would help the students of
Linguistics, the novel's readers as well as those who wished to specialize in
English Literature realize what made Austen one of the most successful female novelist of
the century.

3. Methodology of procedures

3.1. Design of the study

The study was divided into three main parts. While Part One dealt with the general
information which contained the rationale, aims and objectives, methodology and scope
of the study, Part Two went into further details of the historical and social background;
and the newness of language use in Jane Auste Pride and Prejudice through
four chapters. The suggestions for further research would not be omitted in the last part.


CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1. Definitions of key terms

To be able to analyze the newness of language use through the three acts of the novel,
there were several key terms: discourse and discourse analysis, literary style and language
use, which needed to be deeply understood. So for the purpose of providing a clear
and deep understanding of the matter, this first chapter would focus on the definitions
of those key terms while mentioning some necessary information about previous
studies that related to the matter of the study.

1.1. Discourse and discourse analysis

Through centuries, 'discourse' was defined in various ways by a number of
scholars.


was 'stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and
purposive'. (Cook 1989:156)

Sharing a lot in common with Malinowski, linguists (Hymes, 1960s; Austin, 1962; Searle,
1969; Grice, 1975; and Halliday and Hasan, 1973, 1978, 1989, 1994) had drawn certain
attention to this branch by clarifying some “contextual, grammar and cohesional
models as well as pragmatic and conversational viewpoints”.

However, at the limitation of the minor thesis, the researcher wanted to focus on the
role of contextual analysis in the three major discourses for the reason that
'context' was created by the discourse and vice versa.
1.2. Literary style

Literary style was defined in various ways by a number of scholars.

According to Geoffrey Leech and Mick Short, Literary style referred to “linguistic choice
in general” or to those aspects of linguistic choice which concern alternative
ways of rendering the same subject matter” (cited by Mitchell, A. & McGee, K. 2011:
31-32).

Similarly with those scholars, David Watson in  Elements of Style (1915),
defined literary style as the translation of thought into language”. This
identification of the style surely did not fail in width and generality”. In other words,
there was no doubt, as the widespread belief in the existence and the power of something
so called when words, sentences and voice were carefully chosen to be the means or the
medium of the garment of the certain processes of thought. It gave a distinction to
certain writers or compositions because even though it was not so easy to recognize an
authors
style, readers were still able to see her literary

accent of a school, a nation or an age which could be clarified through the concrete whole
form by means of a number of concrete parts.

1.2.1. Word choice

General speaking, nouns and verbs were the main medium, which helped readers
visualize and convey the meanings of a novel, and a novel writer was said to be good
only if she knew when to choose or weed out the words concisely and precisely. It
should be words which were “active verbs, concrete nouns and specific adjectives”
(cited in


allowed people to convey the meaning above what was said. As Socrates (cited by
Colebrook,
2004)

once
implied, irony was used by saying one thing and meaning
another which resulted in an insistence. Irony was believed to bring about truth and
recognition” even if that truth was hard to be recognized and not fully meaningful.

1.3. Language use

Language use was said to be the
people‟s
production and understanding of a set of
sentences with particular meanings (cited in ny by Colebrook, 2004). In fact, the
term anguage  received a certain attention from literary scholars, but more clearly
and closer to
Halliday

s
theory that the researcher based on when analyzing the
discourses, Clark (2000) developed the theory by Gumperz and Hymes (1964, 1972)
and once acknowledged that the
speakers
word and sentence meaning came first in
theories of language structure. That was the reason for his further study in the use of
words and sentences in his enas of Language u According to him, the meaning
would be clearly recognized through the properties of the three certain arenas: 1.
Participants 2. Social processes 3. Collective activities.



Even though the language use was seen from various viewpoints, there was no doubt
that they had some similarities in the use and choice of words and sentence structures,
which were so typical for each character in different contexts.

1.2 Previous studies Through centuries, not only the content but also the literary style in  and
prejudice was discussed a thousand times by a big number of scholars from all over
the world. However, several ambiguous and contradictory viewpoints began to be
discovered in the process of analyzing the novel such as Tory or Enlightenment
feminism, individual society, etc. By synthesizing
the

related
studies, several ideas
were recognized and considered some typical features, which helped exposing Jane
Austens distinctive writing style under the English society in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries. CHAPTER 2. ANALYTICAL BACKGROUND

2.1. Introduction to Jane Austen

Born on the sixteenth of December, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, England, Jane Austen
was
the


mother - was consumed by the desire to see her daughters married and seemed to care
for nothing
else

in
the world because she believed: “It is a truth universally
acknowledged that a single man
in

possession
of a good fortune must be in want of
wife”. This ball brought Bingley and Jane  the eldest Bennet girl  together through an
actual attraction, and Elizabeths first impression

toward Mr Darcy - the proudest,
most disagreeable man in the world” who would never be welcomed again in
Longbourn. Furthermore, he was

one of the two  with Mr Bingleys sister  adding intensified aversion to the
separation of Bingley and Jane later on.

Meanwhile Mr Collins got a marriage refusal when he proposed to Elizabeth.
Promptly he transferred his affection to Charlotte Lucas which was finally
accepted. Elizabeth once again was brought into a contact with Darcy in
Pemberley, in Derbyshire where Darcy proposed to her in terms that did not conceal
his pride but got an indignant rejection back. During this visit, Elizabeth reached the
news that her sister Lydia eloped with Wickham, son of the steward of the Darcy
property. The story was untied since
Darcy


because there
had

been
no civil war in the country for centuries. The British Isles had
been inhabited by human beings for some 250,000 years, its history might
appropriately begin with the Celts, who crossed from the European continent and settled
in the British Isles (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) during the very first
millennium B.C.

Those thousands of years had passed and the country had been through many
significant changes. During the Medieval Era, Anglo-Saxons conquest and then
Romans first invasion ruined the country, which finally recovered until the Age of
Elizabeth I. It was once again known as the age of the prosperity with economic and
political stabilities.

3.2. Social background

British society, with its class system and different class beliefs also provided a rich source
of
materials

for
character-based novels. Many of them depended on the contrasts, real
and imagined, between people of different classes, most especially the contrast between
the middle and upper class families those who were different mainly in social status and
fortune. On the contrary, to the middle class, who was able to partially afford their own
demands, the upper class was of a very good fortune, a plenty of fertile
lands


serving

people
mainly from the middle class. By giving
the name
n
ovel

to this kind of prose, Daniel Defoe (1660  1731).

After Daniel Defoe, there were two other writers  Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding
who devoted their whole lives to novel writing with a core of bitterness which itself
was to expose a mad hatred to the contemporary society
CHAPTER 4: NEWNESS OF LANGUAGE USE IN ‘PRIDE AND
PREJUDICE’

4.1. Austen’s distinctive writing style

The popularity of Austens six novels did heighten her to be one of the most

important writers with the great contribution to the British Literature.

She was considered one of the most famous female novelists  “the first to
represent society, the general culture, as playing a part in the moral life,

contemporary novels.

4.2. Newness in language use

As mentioned above that to discuss the language use was to discuss the
participants, social processes and collective activities as Watsons theory, which shared
a lot in common with Field, Tenor and Mode in
Halliday

s
theory. The only difference
remained in Mode, which was always essential for readers to recognize an authors
voice. So as a result, this special part of the study would focus on the leading
conversations which formed this world-known novel firstly by briefly noting Field
(social processes and collective activities), Tenor (participants) then thoroughly
discussed Mode of the discourses through the two main
characters
use of language.
4.2.1. Language use in the three leading conversations

As playing the leading roles in the novel, Elizabeth and Darcy were portrayed and drawn
completely to a conflict as in the first Act, further away from her goal in the second Act
and finally resolved in the last Act.

Three leading conversations between Darcy and Elizabeth would be thoroughly
discussed in terms of Field, Tenor and Mode, which mostly helped expose
Austen's ironic voice through her choosing words differently from other authors. So,
this part of the study was to state and to analyze
what


Visits were always made to bring people together. On Elizabeths visit to
Pemberley, she spent some days in Rosings which brought a great disturbance of
Darcys refusing to his increasing love
for

this
second Bennet daughter. He was a lover
who always wished to see his love even his mind stopped him from exposing

that inner desire; and was totally surprised at Elizabeths sudden presence in

Rosings.

4.2.1.3. Act 3

The relationship between these two leading characters had changed since

Elizabeth received and read Darcys letter, with the greatest curiosity, that
explained and brightened her every dull wrong personal opinions about him. He hastily
arrived in Pemberley as his sister who was introduced to Elizabeth to her surprise that
young lady was not like Wickham once told her in Longbourn. This also was the right
time for Darcys official second proposal to the Bennet daughter. The proud
gentleman had become “an exceptionally sweet-tempered, generous and good-natured”
(p. 328) who showed more of his warmth than ever.

PART III: CONCLUSION


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