Corpus Stylistics: Analyzing Elizabeth Gaskell

Resumen

The field of traditional literary analysis is much covered, especially regarding
canonical novels and well-known and influential authors. However, the advent of corpus
linguistics can give a new and undiscovered perspective on such works, allowing researchers
to analyze language throughout a larger number of texts. This computational tool has yet
much potential in this field; there is yet a limited number of literary researches made
thought it. This paper aims to provide a stylistics analysis of the Victorian writer Elizabeth
Gaskell (1801-1865) in her most famous works, namely Mary Barton (1848), Cranford
(1853), Ruth (1853), North and South (1855) and Wives and Daughters (1866). Through
this analysis, it is clear that Gaskell developed a unique style in each of the novels, focusing
on the characters’ voices instead of her own. In addition, the usefulness and application of
Corpus tools are proven, giving very accurate and reliable results, which a traditional
analysis could not provide.