Stylometry and characterisation in The Big Bang Theory
Literator
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Stylometry and characterisation in The Big Bang Theory Stilometrie en karakterisering in The Big Bang Theory | |
| Creator | van Zyl, Maryka Botha, Yolande | |
| Description | Dialogue is an important aspect of televisual character construction. Writers make linguistic choices on behalf of characters, and these choices can cause viewers to associate a character with a specific stereotype, subculture or social group. This study examines the linguistic construction of the character Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. A cluster analysis tree of the speech of each of the five main characters in the first seven seasons (generated by the R script Stylo 0.6.0) indicated that the character of Sheldon Cooper differs from the other main characters (Leonard, Penny, Howard and Rajesh) with respect to linguistic style. These differences were further explored using corpus analysis software (WordSmith 6.0) to identify keywords and lexical bundles and to compare the use of active versus passive voice constructions. Sheldon’s choice of scientific or more formal words and his relative preference for the passive voice typify his linguistic style as expository rather than colloquial. Dialoog is ’n belangrike aspek van televisuele karakterkonstruering. Skrywers maak talige keuses namens die karakters en hierdie keuses kan daartoe aanleiding gee dat kykers ’n karakter met ’n spesifieke stereotipe subkultuur of sosiale groep vereenselwig. Hierdie studie ondersoek die talige konstruering van die karakter Sheldon Cooper in die CBS-sitkom The Big Bang Theory. ’n Trosanaliseboom van die spraak van elk van die vyf hoofkarakters in die eerste sewe seisoene (gegenereer deur die R-skrip Stylo 0.6.0) dui daarop dat die karakter Sheldon Cooper van die ander hoofkarakters (Leonard, Penny, Howard en Rajesh) verskil ten opsigte van taalstyl. Hierdie verskille word verder ondersoek deur gebruik te maak van die korpusanalise program (WordSmith 6.0.) om sleutelwoorde en leksikale bondels te identifiseer en om die gebruik van aktiewe en passiewe werkwoordkonstruksies te vergelyk. Sheldon se keuse van wetenskaplike of meer formele woorde en sy relatiewe voorkeur vir die passiefkonstruksie tipeer sy taalstyl as verduidelikend eerder as tipies van omgangstaal. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2016-11-22 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/lit.v37i2.1282 | |
| Source | Literator; Vol 37, No 2 (2016); 11 pages Literator; Vol 37, No 2 (2016); 11 pages 2219-8237 0258-2279 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1282/2151
https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1282/2150
https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1282/2152
https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1282/2148
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