本文是一篇语言学论文,本文选取65首狄金森诗歌,对其中的语言变异进行详细的描述,并探讨其功能,以认知语言学的前景/背景理论为理论基础,深入分析狄金森诗歌中的语言变异,并解释语言变异如何被读者所理解。
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Emily Dickinson,a poet on an equal footing with Whitman,holds a prominent positionamong American poets.Although she wrote nearly 1800 poems,only several were publishedduring her lifetime.However,with the publication of a significant number of her poems in the20th century,Dickinson’s poems finally gained widespread acknowledgement.Dickinson’spoems concern themes of love,nature,death,religion,psychological description,immortality,and eternity.Renowned for her compressed,complex,precise diction,as well asunconventional language usage,she was viewed as an experimental visionary by other poetsat her time.Throughout more than 20 years of seclusion,the only thing that alwaysaccompanies her is poetry.When Dickinson writes poems,she does not choose to be in linewith the language norm,leaving puzzles for many editors,readers,and scholars who havebeen trying every means to decipher her thoughts.Therefore,it can be concluded that theunusual language expressions serve as a key to understanding the meanings and themes ofDickinson’s poetry.Although Dickinson’s poems have been studied from diverse perspectivesincluding literature,sociology,ethics,semiotics,aesthetics,linguistics,and philosophy,fewresearch on linguistic deviations in Dickinson’s poems has been conducted from the perspective of foreground/background theory.Consequently,research on linguistic deviationsin Dickinson’s poetry based on foreground/background theory should be extremely urgentneeded.It should be of great significance to employ foreground/background theory to analyzelinguistic deviations in Dickinson’s poems.This study will make great contributions to poetryanalyses and pave the way for further explorations of Dickinson’s poetic world.
1.2 Research Questions
This thesis posits that the interpretation of linguistic deviations based onforeground/background theory merits significant attention.Linguistic deviations in poeticlanguage are against the conventional syntax,and logical constraints and can be achievedthrough various means,including repetition,puns,alliteration,rhyme,innovative metaphors,and other techniques.Linguistic expressions become prominent due to their distinctiveness,directing readers’attention to specific linguistic elements.Through this,poets and writers cannot only fulfill their requirements of expressing themes and emotions but also realize theaesthetic value of literary works.However,according to Liu Xianqing and Wen Xu(2014),any language phenomenon which appears to deviate from cognitive rules actually aligns withhuman cognition and reflects cognitive structures and processes.“Most broadly,they allinvolve departure from a baseline,the exploitation of previous experience(what has alreadybeen established)for the interpretation of subsequent experience”(Langacker,2008:58).Inthis thesis,linguistic deviations can be seen as foreground which is subsequent experience andbackground knowledge as background which is previous experience.Therefore,the researchholds that foreground/background theory can analyze linguistic deviations in Dickinson’spoems.This thesis will investigate the following questions:
(1)What are the features of linguistic deviations in Dickinson’s poems?
(2)What are the functions of linguistic deviations in Dickinson’s poems?
(3)How can linguistic deviations in Dickinson’s poems be interpreted based onforeground/background theory?
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Previous Studies on Linguistic Deviations in English Poems
Poetry stands as the pinnacle of artistic expression.Poetic language often goes againstconventional norms and there often exist many linguistic deviations in poetry.Therefore,language in poetry tends to be more aesthetic,always changing,and colorful compared withdaily language.
2.1.1 Previous Studies on Linguistic Deviations in English Poems Abroad
Scholars abroad have researched linguisti