Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study

Postcolonial discourse has been a focus of research for the last two decades. Previous studies attempted to investigate several themes and patterns underlying these discourses using different methodologies (Chae, 2015; Budiyanto & Latifah, 2018; Laguarta Bueno, 2018;Salami &am...

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Main Authors: Hira Fatima, Sahar Gul, Wasima Shehzad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Corpus Research Center 2019-07-01
Series:Corporum
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.au.edu.pk/ojscrc/index.php/crc/article/view/253/153
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author Hira Fatima
Sahar Gul
Wasima Shehzad
author_facet Hira Fatima
Sahar Gul
Wasima Shehzad
author_sort Hira Fatima
collection DOAJ
description Postcolonial discourse has been a focus of research for the last two decades. Previous studies attempted to investigate several themes and patterns underlying these discourses using different methodologies (Chae, 2015; Budiyanto & Latifah, 2018; Laguarta Bueno, 2018;Salami & Tabari, 2018). Unlike previous studies, this study utilizes corpus tools to investigate the us versus them binary found in postcolonial texts. The study investigates how prejudice is reflected against the colonized in the selected short stories through the use of adjectives. It looks at the representation of prejudice in the short stories disseminating and reinforcing the binary of us and them. For this purpose, a corpus of 53861 words from eleven postcolonial short stories was formulated. Van Dijk‘s (1998) concept of the Ideological Squareserved as the theoretical framework for this study whereas Corpus Linguistics was the main methodological construct. The adjectives used in the corpus were analysed using WordSmith Tools5.0.(Scott, 2008).From the adjectives, 19 were chosen for analysis and in those adjectives only 4 were positive while the remaining 15 were negative. The results show that the collocations of the negative adjectives with the colonized are dominant as compared to the positive adjectives which are more common with the colonizer. These results determine that in-group and out-group polarization is created through the use of adjectives.
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spelling doaj.art-a1efc9c9f4a944f9a90f569575b4e3b12022-12-22T04:30:14ZengCorpus Research CenterCorporum2617-29172707-787X2019-07-01216778Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based StudyHira Fatima0Sahar Gul1Wasima Shehzad2MPhil Scholar, Air University, IslamabadMPhil Scholar, Air University, IslamabadDean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Air University, IslamabadPostcolonial discourse has been a focus of research for the last two decades. Previous studies attempted to investigate several themes and patterns underlying these discourses using different methodologies (Chae, 2015; Budiyanto & Latifah, 2018; Laguarta Bueno, 2018;Salami & Tabari, 2018). Unlike previous studies, this study utilizes corpus tools to investigate the us versus them binary found in postcolonial texts. The study investigates how prejudice is reflected against the colonized in the selected short stories through the use of adjectives. It looks at the representation of prejudice in the short stories disseminating and reinforcing the binary of us and them. For this purpose, a corpus of 53861 words from eleven postcolonial short stories was formulated. Van Dijk‘s (1998) concept of the Ideological Squareserved as the theoretical framework for this study whereas Corpus Linguistics was the main methodological construct. The adjectives used in the corpus were analysed using WordSmith Tools5.0.(Scott, 2008).From the adjectives, 19 were chosen for analysis and in those adjectives only 4 were positive while the remaining 15 were negative. The results show that the collocations of the negative adjectives with the colonized are dominant as compared to the positive adjectives which are more common with the colonizer. These results determine that in-group and out-group polarization is created through the use of adjectives.https://journals.au.edu.pk/ojscrc/index.php/crc/article/view/253/153adjectivesapplied linguisticscorpus linguisticspostcolonial studiesus vs. them binaries
spellingShingle Hira Fatima
Sahar Gul
Wasima Shehzad
Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study
Corporum
adjectives
applied linguistics
corpus linguistics
postcolonial studies
us vs. them binaries
title Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study
title_full Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study
title_fullStr Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study
title_short Exploring the Projection of the Colonizer/Colonized Binary throughthe Use of Adjectives in Selected Short Stories: A Corpus-based Study
title_sort exploring the projection of the colonizer colonized binary throughthe use of adjectives in selected short stories a corpus based study
topic adjectives
applied linguistics
corpus linguistics
postcolonial studies
us vs. them binaries
url https://journals.au.edu.pk/ojscrc/index.php/crc/article/view/253/153
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