Thought presentation
25 Years on
Mick Short
Department of Linguistics and English Language
Lancaster University, UK
11 March 2006
Style in Fiction Symposium
The Leech and Short (1981)
presentation scales
Speech presentation
[N] NRSA
IS FIS DS FDS
Norm?
Thought presentation
[N] NRTA
IT FIT DT FDT
Norm?
Changes suggested as a result of the
Lancaster SW&TP project (1): Another
discourse presentation scale (writing)
The addition of a third parallel scale:
Writing Presentation
Extracts from Ruby Lennox's school report,
summer term, 1966 - Ruby has a real talent
for acting . . . Ruby was the star of the
school play.
(Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes
at the Museum)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (2): Major speech presentation
scale category changes
[N] NV NRSA IS FIS DS (inc FDS)
(NV was called NRS in Short 1996)
The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of
cocktails permeate the garden outside, until
the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and
casual innuendo and introductions forgotten
on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings
between women who never knew each
other’s names.
(Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (2): Major speech presentation
scale category changes: faithfulness claims
NV:
Speech took place (1)
NRSA: (1) + Speech Act (2)
IS:
(1) + (2) + Propositional content (3)
FIS: : (1) + (2) + (3) + (4???)
DS:
(1) + (2) + 3 + Words used to express
the propositional content (4)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (2): Major speech presentation
scale category changes: faithfulness claims
[N] NV NRSA IS FIS DS (inc FDS)
←
→
← Vividness, →
← drama etc →
Faithfulness
←Sum-→
←
mary
Telling → ←
Showing →
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline)
Speech
[N] NV NRSA IS FIS DS (inc FDS)
Thought
[N] NI/NT NRTA IT FIT DT (inc FDT)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline)
[N] NI/NT NRTA IT FIT DT (inc FDT)
←
Faithfulness
← ‘Dullness’ →
← calm etc →
→
← Vividness, →
← drama etc →
←Sum-→
←
mary
Telling →
← Showing →
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): (F)DT
It was George who broke the silence. ‘Do we mind’
he said, repeating the stranger’s words. His face had
gone very red.
‘How absurd he looks!’ thought Mary, as she
glanced at him. ‘Like a bull calf. A blushing bull calf.’
‘Do we mind?’ Damned innocent little bounder!
George was working up a righteous indignation.
‘I should just think we do mind. And I’ll trouble you
to . . .’
Mary broke into laughter. ‘We don’t mind at all,’
she said. Not in the least.’
(Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): NT
You let him slump back again so that he’s
sitting against the chicken-wire gate and
when his eyes start to open you pull his head
forward by the hair and cosh him again. He
falls to the side. You put the plastic ties in
your pocket. You’re thinking. The foxhounds
continue barking and yelping.
(Iain Banks, Complicity)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): NT
[. . . ] thank you mind how you go . . .
*
I’m thinking.
*
‘This is the trickle-down effect in action, is it?’
(Iain Banks, Complicity)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI
But antiquities held no charm for Amanda Fergusson
[. . .]
(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½
Chapters)
He disliked and slightly feared Richard Pearce, who
was almost as big as himself.
(J. G. Ballard, Empire of the Sun)
Miss Fergusson's irritation over the incident in
Erzerum began to calm.
(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½
Chapters)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI
I became aware of the age of this old crone of a ship
for she is positively beaked in the manner of the last
century and flimsy, I should judge, about the bow
withal.
(William Golding, Rites of Passage)
It was in the autumn of 1839, after long meditation,
that Amanda Fergusson proposed to Miss Logan the
expedition to Arghuri.
(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½
Chapters)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI
He doubted his ability to find it in the maze of roads
that wandered around the hillside at the edge of the
town [. . .]
(Malcolm Lowry, Gin and Goldenrod)
Finally, the ladies packed two small glass bottles,
which they intended to fill with grape juice crushed
from the fruit of Noah's vineyard.
(Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 ½
Chapters)
Changes suggested as a result of the Lancaster
SW&TP project (3): Major thought presentation
category changes (no faithfulness cline): NI
[N]
NI/NT NRTA IT FIT DT
Or
[N inc NI]
NT NRTA IT FIT DT
Some arguments for NI being part of narration,
not the thought presentation scale




The prototypical examples do not look like
presentations of thoughts, but narratorial
statements about the internal world of characters,
as opposed to the external fictional world.
The name of the category in its various
manifestations indicates narration or perception, but
not thought.
It could be that quite a lot of what we have called
NI might need to be re-coded. We need to examine
this category more carefully.
Thought is part of cognition, and cognition is
complex and not well understood. But we can’t
assume that all cognition is thought, even though
psychologists tend not to use the term ‘thought’.
Some arguments for NI being part of narration,
not the thought presentation scale





Part of the issue is that there is considerable
ambiguity over how to ‘map’ examples.
The ‘free indirect perception’ problem.
‘Translation’ into the various forms on the thought
presentation scale becomes difficult/impossible with
many examples.
Thoughts can be about displaced matters but
prototypically presented perceptions and descriptions
of mind states are not displaced.
For simplicity’s sake it would be nice to keep the
S/W/T presentation scales parallelism throughout.
Bibliography (1)
Brinton, L. (1980) ‘“Represented perception”: A study in narrative
style’, Poetics 9, 363-81.
Chatman, S. (1978) Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in
Fiction and Film, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Cohn, D. (1978) Transparent Minds: Narrative Modes for Presenting
Consciousness in Fiction, Princeton NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Leech, G. N. and Short, M. H. (1981) Style in Fiction, London:
Longman.
Semino, E., Short, M. and Culpeper, J. (1997) ‘Using a computer
corpus to test a model of speech and thought presentation’,
Poetics 25: 17-43.
Bibliography (2)
——, Short, M. and Wynne, M. (1999) ‘Hypothetical words and
thoughts in contemporary British narratives’, Narrative 7, 3: 30734.
—— and Short, M. (2004) Corpus Stylistics: A Corpus-based Study
of Speech, Thought and Writing in a Corpus of English Writing,
London: Routledge.
Short , M. (1988) ‘Speech presentation, the novel and the press’. In
van Peer, W. (ed.) The Taming of The Text, London: Routledge,
pp. 61-81.
—— (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose.
London: Longman.
—— (2003) ‘A corpus-based approach to speech, thought and
writing presentation’, in A. Wilson, P. Rayson and T. McEnery
(eds), Corpus Linguistics by the Lune: A Festschrift for Geoffrey
Leech, Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang.
Bibliography(3)
Semino, E. and Culpeper, J. (1996) ‘Using a corpus for stylistics
research: speech and thought presentation’, in J. Thomas and M.
Short (eds) Using Corpora in Language Research, London:
Longman, pp. 110-31.
—— , Wynne, M. and Semino, E. (1999) ‘Reading reports: discourse
presentation in a corpus of narratives, with special reference to
news reports’, in Diller, H-J. and Stratmann, E. O-G. (eds) English
via Various Media, Heidelberg: Winter, pp. 39-65.
—— , Semino, E. and Wynne, M. (2002) ‘Revisiting the notion of
faithfulness in discourse presentation using a corpus approach’,
Language and Literature 11, 4: 325-55.
Toolan, M. (2001) Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction (2nd
edition), London: Routledge.
Wynne, M., Short, M. and Semino, E. (1998) ‘A corpus-based
investigation of speech, thought and writing presentation in English
narrative texts’, in Renouf, A. (ed.) Explorations in Corpus
Linguistics, Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 231-45.
—— ,
Free indirect perception (Chatman)/represented
perception (Brinton)/Substitutionary narration
(Fehr)/Psychonarration (Cohn)
She sat at the window watching the
evening invade the avenue. Her head
was leaned against the window curtains
and in her nostrils was the odour of
dusty cretonne.
(James Joyce, (‘Eveline’)
Free indirect perception (Chatman)/represented
perception (Brinton)/Substitutionary narration
(Fehr)/Psychonarration (Cohn)
The clouds were drifting above him
silently and silently the seatangle was
drifting below him; and the grey warm
air was still: and the new wild life was
singing in his veins. Where was he
now?
(James Joyce, A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man)
Changes suggested as a result of the
Lancaster SW&TP project (4): Discourse
embedding
"Mr Willis, Mr Willis! Do not omit to
invite Mr Talbot to glance at the
captain's Standing Orders. You may
transmit to me any suggestions he has
for their improvement."
(William Golding, Rites of Passage)
Changes suggested as a result of the
Lancaster SW&TP project (4): Discourse
embedding
What would they say of her in the Stores
when they found out that she had run away
with a fellow? Say she was a fool, perhaps,
and her place would be filled up by
advertisement. Miss Gavan would be glad. She
had always had an edge on her, especially
whenever there were people listening.
'Miss Hill, don't you see these ladies are
waiting?'
'Look lively, Miss Hill, please.'
She would not cry many tears at leaving
the Stores.
(James Joyce, ‘Eveline’)