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Negation as a Stylistic Feature in Joseph Heller's Catch-22: A Corpus Study (1)

2003; University of Arkansas Press; Volume: 37; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

2374-6629

Laura Hidalgo Downing,

linguistics and terminology studies

Although logical, grammatical, and semantic features of negation have been object of discussion for decades, little attention has been paid to pragmatic functions of negation in fictional discourse. Thus, few studies have been carried out on negation as a feature of variation, and virtually none on negation as a stylistic feature in fictional discourse. However, enormous influence of quantitative studies in discourse analysis and pragmatics as fields of research has also had its effects on studies in stylistics. Thus, studies on variation in English text types standardly include references to fictional discourse (see, for example Biber), and some monographs have been devoted to quantification of linguistic information in literary (see for example Thomas and Short). Unfortunately, quantitative studies on negation in English are not numerous, and among few that can be pointed to, (1) Gunnel Tottie's Negation in English Speech and Writing clearly stands out; consequently, I will make reference to this study throughout article. (2) The present article is a corpus-based study of negation as a stylistic feature of Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22. The analysis of negation in this novel is carried out by means of comparing it with frequency and functions of negation in two other corpora, sections of general fiction in LOB corpus of British English and Brown corpus of American English. (I will henceforward refer to sections of general fiction in these two corpora as LOB-K and Brown-K respectively.) The motivation for this comparison is, as Michael Stubbs points out, the need for stylistic analysis of individual to be based on comparisons with other texts (5). Thus, analysis of negation in novel Catch-22 will benefit from comparison with frequency and function of negation in electronic corpora of comparable texts, as this comparison will shed light on idiosyncratic properties of negation in Catch-22 The objective of this article is thus to explore nature of negation in Catch22 by observing similarities and differences with frequency and functions of negation types in two corpora of fiction, in particular with Brown, corpus of American fiction. At same time, adequacy of categories proposed by Tottie is discussed with regard to their relevance for analysis of fictional discourse. In section 1 a brief review is offered of concept of negation as a feature of language variation in speech, writing, and in fictional discourse; concept of negation as a marked option in discourse is also introduced briefly. In section 2, method, procedure, and data are described. In section 3, Tottie's categories of negation are presented and discussed with regard to their adequacy for analysis of fictional discourse, and a subclassification of her category of denials is proposed. In section 4 results of analysis of corpora are presented and discussed, followed by conclusions in section 5. Catch-22 is a political satire set on an imaginary island off Italian coast in which protagonists are members of an American bomber squadron during World War II. refers to a catch in military regulations that prevents bombardiers from ever being grounded and sent home. Catch 22 is characterized by a circular logic that is a metaphor of trap in which bombardiers find themselves, since most of them will not be able to leave island alive. The novel is characterized by black humor that becomes progressively bleaker as novel progresses. The protagonist is Yossarian, a typical antihero, whose only concern is to get through war without being killed. 1. Negation as a Feature of Variation in English The differences in frequency and distribution of negation and of negation types across different text types have been discussed by authors such as Tottie and Douglas Biber. …