Chapter-2 LITERATURE AS TEXT

Literature has attracted the attention of linguist for two very opposite reasons. One is that linguistic description of a literary text sometimes gives sense and secondly it does not give sense sometimes.

Hadliday analyzes Yeat’s Poem “Leda and Swan” how two parts of the system of English are exemplified one nominal group and other verbal group.

Leda and Swan

A sudden blow; the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, the thighs caressed

By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill

He holds her helpless breast upon his breast

Haliday observes definite article “the” in English functions in number of ways and can be distinguish in grammar accordingly. In general its function is to signal that nominal group in which it appears constitutes specific reference. This reference is of three kinds Cataphoric, Anaphoric and Homophoric.

1) Cataphoric: it may include group of words (adjectives) in form of modifiers which come before a noun and qualifiers which come after a head word. For example; “The White goddess in the temple” (white-modifier, in the temple-qualifier). Article in this sentence specifies a goddess.

2) Anaphoric: it is a reference of already mentioned head noun or phrase in the same paragraph. For example “The goddess was figure of mystery” it refers to previous goddess in the poem.

3) Homophoric: when head words explain themselves and when they do not need any reference they are called Homophoric references, for example ‘the sun’ ‘the moon’ the president’ etc.

If a nominal group has either a modifier or a qualifier then the group fall into the category of Cataphoric

reference, but if not having either anaphoric or Homophoric reference.

First criteria have to do with linguistics form and second with communicative function, and relationship between them is considerably important. In Leda and Swan there are 25 nominal groups and 10 contain definite article with modifier or qualifier, this is a simple text analysis of the poem. Those 10 groups must be counted as Cataphoric nominal group because of having modifier and qualifier but they do not operate functional criteria of a Cataphoric reference. For example; “the great wings” and “beating still” “the dark webs” in forms are Cataphoric reference but wings are not identified as kind of

wings which are great and beating, and nor the webs that are dark, so respect to their function they are either anaphoric or Homophoric reference.

So ‘the dark web’ and ‘the great wings’ and ‘staggering girl’ are identified as anaphoric reference to the title of the poem. So these references ‘dark webs’ ‘great wings’ as bodily parts are anaphoric reference to the Swan and ‘Staggering girl” identified +human +female to the Leda to the title of the

poem as anaphoric reference.

Sometimes Cataphoric reference function as deictic reference, when something is pointed that is called deictic reference. In the poem there is possibility that Yeats is pointing towards any picture, painting or to imagined vision in his mind. This view can be supported when he uses “The thighs” instead of saying her

or his thighs. It is same like in guide books when there are no buildings in front but their deictic references are used in the book. On other hand “Burning wall” can be interpreted as Homophoric reference to the historical event of war of Troy.

The first use of definite article in the nominal group “The thighs caressed by the dark webs” this follows the group “the staggering girl” which can relate to the title, but since the latter group establishes the link with Leda identifying her as a girl, but use of “the thighs” instead of her thigh shows the poet is

referring to a specific thigh in a picture or painting etc.

Second observation concern the nominal group “these terrified vague finger” here determiner is adjective “these fingers” refers to which fingers? Which has no other semantic association to it; so, it is painting or a picture.

If it is assumed that; Yeats was looking at a picture/painting of the Battle of Troy while composing this poem. But this is one of the interpretations obtained according to the law of linguistics. No one is fully sure that Yeats was looking at a picture and in order to get more information one has to look at the

deviations as well.

Deviations (Unconventional or odd and unacceptable)

Second reason of Linguistics interest in literary text is that of deviations that cannot be evaluated by linguistics terms but they still carry a meaning. In literary text we find such sentences which could not be generated by generative grammar but are still interpretable. For example:

Me up at does

Out of the floor

Quietly stare

A poisoned mouse

Still who alive

Is asking what

Have I done that

You wouldn’t have

This poem is like an ungrammatical long sentences but it still gives a meaning that mouse that is poisoned talking; since such a sentence is interpretable so grammar should be of such a principle that can generate such kind of sentences. These deviations in literature do not occur randomly but literary writers often

patterns to violate the grammatical rules but they still give sense in literary language.

Deviation may occur at any level of language description e.g. phonological, graphological, syntactic, lexico-semantic, etc. At the graphological level, for example, we may see capital letters where they are not supposed to be. At the syntactic level, subject and verb may not agree in number. Or the normal

order of the clause elements may not be observed e.g. Adjunct may come before the subject. At the lexico-semantic level, words that should not go together may be deliberately brought together. e.g. “dangerous safety,” “open secret.”

1) Category rules violation and sub category: Shakespeare has violet category rule in his work such as “and I shall see – some Squeaking Cleapatra boy my greatness” in this sentence the word ‘boy’ which is a concrete noun is used as a ‘verb’ if we use it in grammar it would look like “she was boying her hair” or “Mary boyed her doll” which is very odd and unacceptable but in

Shakespeare’s language it give sense. In this way writer violets category rule of using noun as verb.

2) Sub-Category Rule Violation: Sub-category rule violation is done when writer uses transitive verb as intransitive verb, a transitive verb always need an object whereas an intransitive verb does not need any object; for instance ‘scaled’ in “I scaled along the house-side’ is used here as intransitive, like

‘climb’ but actually it is transitive verb.

3) Selection and restriction rules violation: in literature large number of Selection Restriction Rules Violation is involved mostly by giving feature of animate to and non-animate things in description of language system. Most common of all instance –animate nouns being given +animate and +human

features for example; in Ted Hughes’ poem “Wind” “seeing the window tremble to come in” in this sentence oddity does not lie in the trembling of window; which can tremble in storm etc. But problem lies the phrase “tremble to come in” which requires a animate subject as ‘he tremble to

come in’ here verb re-categorization of verb and in result it gives it human quality. It is common to give +human attribute to the non-human objects other example

“The yellow fog that rubbing its muzzle” (Eliot) in this sentence the ‘fog’ is given +animate because fog has no muzzle perhaps an animal can do that. For instance “The Thistle saw the gardener” and “winds stampeding the fields” here in these sentences thistle and winds are given +human quality.

4) Transformational Generative Grammar rule violation.

These are four kinds of

1)  Addition: when a word is not required and the writer add it for certain effect this is called addition.

 for example: “and mas in myrth like ‘to’ a comedy” in the poem by Spenser  underlined ‘to’ is added by the writer though it is un-required. In other example. Maria was coming at home, Maria has a god with her, Maria was coming very slowly. Here Maria can be addition and can be removed.

ii) Deletion: when a word is required but the writer deletes it for certain effects. This is deletion.

For example: “the coat ‘which’ was expensive attracted my wife’s attention” in this sentence ‘which’ can be deleted or for example: the coat / the coat was expensive/ attracted my wife’s attention. ‘Tahir wants to meet sidra’ can be written as ‘Tahir wants meet Sidra’

.

iii) Substitution: when the writer instead of using ‘she’ word uses another word this would be substitution. For example: ‘blank day, bald street’ rather than empty street.

iv) Reordering: when the writer changes the order of the words in a sentence for instance ‘No loyal knight and true’ instead of ‘No loyal and true knight’.

“Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,” in this extract ordering is violated it can be “sometimes a troop of glad damsels” according to generative grammar.

Deviations are used deliberately by the poets to beautify the literary work; literary writer is allowed to make such deviance as contrast to a speaker. The result is some degree to surprise the reader and to get reader’s attention.

It is hard to find out the degree of deviations in any rule. The problem of the relationship between grammatical and interpretability is that even ungrammatical sentences are interpretable.

Halliday believes that literary text (in which rules are violated) can be accounted for in term of models of linguistic description while generative grammarians disagree.