Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Novel of Formation: Conrad’s The Shadow-Line
10.6092/issn.2532-8816/10542
L’avvento dell’era digitale ha avuto un enorme impatto sul modo con cui noi facciamo ricerca, insegniamo e pensiamo il nostro linguaggio (Leech 1992: 1). L’applicazione di metodi computerizzati agli studi umanistici rende fattibile l’analisi di corpora (campioni digitalizzati della lingua in uso), porta a scoperte impossibili con altri strumenti e offre elementi di verifica oggettivi all’interpretazione tradizionale dei testi. Essa aiuta poi efficacemente nell’analisi del linguaggio di singoli testi e rende la lettura ravvicinata più efficace. Questo articolo ha lo scopo di suggerire come si possono analizzare con il software Wmatrix (Rayson 2009) le voci narranti in un’opera narrativa. Oggetto di studio di questo articolo è il Bildungsroman The Shadow-Line, A Confession (1917) di Conrad, un racconto che ha come protagonista l’io narrante un giovane ed inesperto capitano di marina che durante il suo primo comando deve superare una serie di difficoltà per portare a termine la sua missione. In quest’opera la netta divisione tra il mondo interiore dell’io-protagonista e il mondo esterno con cui si deve confrontare si presta all’analisi dei pronomi di prima persona e degli altri pronomi personali nell’intera opera. Considerato che l’analisi stilistica di testi letterari implica un processo fondamentalmente di comparazione, si confronta il testo target The Shadow-Line con un due romanzi simili dello stesso autore per analizzare le categorie grammaticali predominanti dei pronomi. I risultati statistici dei pronomi e la loro analisi tramite concordanze contribuiranno a posizionare l’io narrativo al centro della narrazione e a identificare l’interazione tra l’io narrante e le altre voci narranti.
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Umanistica Digitale
POS keyness analysis.
Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Novel of Formation: Conrad’s The Shadow-Line
Text.Serial.Journal
https://umanisticadigitale.unibo.it/
Articles
2020-12-31
2020-02-25
2020-12-31
2021-04-01
79-96
Um. Dig.
Giuseppina Balossi
2020/12/31
10.6092/issn.2532-8816/10542
79
Liceo Scientifico e Musicale 'G.B.Grassi' (lecco)
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POS keyness analysis.
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Tabata, T. (1995). Narrative Style and the Frequencies of Very Common Words: A Corpus-Based Approach to Dickens’s First Person and Third Person Narratives. English Corpus Studies (2), pp. 91-109.
Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Novel of Formation: Conrad’s The Shadow-Line
https://umanisticadigitale.unibo.it/article/view/10542/11905
@ Umanistica Digitale - ISSN: 2532-8816 -11. 9, 2020
C. Balossi - Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: Conrad's The Shadow-
Line
DO!: http://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2532-8816/ 10542




  Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Novel of Formation:
               Conrad's The Shadow-Line

                                            Giuseppina Balossì

                        Liceo Scientifico e Musicale ‘G.B. Grassi’, Lecco, Italy
                                         g.balossi@libero.it




        Abstract

The advent of the digitai age has had an enormous impact on the way we research, teach and
chink ahout language ([23]:l). In digical humanities, the applicacion of computer-assbted
mcthods can facilitate invcstigation of corpora, (i.e. digitiscd samplcs of languagc in use), lcad to
discoveries barely detectable with the naked eye and help put interpretation by intuition to test.
Such mechods can also assist in investigation of che language of single cexts and make our dose
rcading more cffcctivc. This articlc aims to suggcst how wc may investigate thc narrative voiccs
in a work of fiction rhrough thc program Wmatrix ([30]). Thc case study undcr analysis is
Conrad' s Bildungsrornan The Shadow-Line, A Confession (1917), a story revolving around a young
inexperienced sea-captain who, during his tìrst command of a ship, has to overcome a series of
difficulties to accomplish bis mission. In this work, the neat division between tbe I protagonisr-
narrator's internal world and the external adult world he has to confrom lends itself to
invc.:stigation of thc tìrst pcrson and othc.:r persona! pronouns in thc wholc work. Givcn that
scylistic analysis of lirerary rexts is fundamentally a comparative process, I am bere interesred in
comparing the target text, The Shadow-Line to two comparison texts by the same author. The
kcyncss statistics for thc pronouns and thcir dctailcd analysis through concordanccs will
contribute to placing the I-voice at che centre of che narration and to identifying the
foregrounded patterns of pronoun use that convey tbe I-voice and tbe other narrative voices 1
throughout thc story.




    By 1-voice or narrative voice, l refer ro ali rhe pronominal forms (e.g. 1, me, my, mine an<l myse1/J and
    ro rheir grammatica! functions (e.g. subjecr, object, etc.).



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L'avvento del!' era digitale ha avuto un enorme impatto sul modo con cui noi facciamo ricerca,
insegniamo e pensiamo il nostro linguaggio (l23J: 1). L'applicazione di metodi computazionali
agi i studi umanistici rende fattibile l'analisi di corpora (campioni digitalizzati della lingua in uso),
porta a scoperte impossibili con altri strumenti e offre elementi di verifica oggettivi
all'interpretazione tradizionale dei testi. Essa aiuta poi efficacemente nell'analisi del linguaggio
di singoli testi e rende la lctrura ravvicinata più etfìcace. Questo articolo ha lo scopo di suggerire
come si possono analizzare con il software Wmatrix ([30]) le voci narranti in un'opera narrativa.
Oggetto di studio di questo articolo è il Bi!.dungsroman The Shado w-Line, A Confessùm (1917) di
Conrad, un racconro che ha come protagonista l'io narrante di un giovane e inesperto capitano
di marina che durante il suo primo comando deve superare una serie di difficoltà per portare a
termine la sua missione. In quest'opera la netta divisione tra il mondo interiore dell'io-
protagonista e il mondo esterno con cui si deve confrontare si presta all'analisi dei pronomi di
prima persona e degli altri pronomi personali nell'intera opera. Consideraro che l'analisi stilistica
di testi letterari implica un processo fondamentalmente di comparazione, si confronta il testo
target The Sham1w-Line con due romanzi simili dello stesso autore per analizzare le categorie
grammaticali predominanti dei pronomi. I risultati statistici dei pronomi e la loro analisi tramite
concordanze contribuiranno a posizionare l'io narrativo al centro della narrazione e a identificare
l'interazione era l'io narrante e le altre voci narrative.



        1. lntroduction

By definition, the term 'corpus-assisted methods' involves the analysis of large corpora. Biber
(l7J: 15) defines a corpus as "a large collection of principled texts srored on computer l ... J
designed to represent a cextual domain in a language". However, Biber did nor exclude the
applicability of corpus linguistics also to literary texts, thus infringing the basic assumptions of
the corpus approach concerning size and representativeness (l9 J). Indeed, within the field of
licera1y stylistics we come across plentiful corpus-based studies that are focussed on an individuai
target text of a givcn amhor, compared against a rdcrencc corpus of che same author. For
examplc, Stubbs (f37l: 5-24) carried out a quantitative analysis of che frequency distribution of
single words and the lexico-grammatical patterns in Conrad's He11rt ofDarkness wirh one of the
fìrst versions of WordSmith Tools (l34J)2, and poimed out that collocations help disclose
connotations and sometimes th e idiosyncratic meanings ofwords. Mclntyre and Archer (f26l)
employed the UCREL Semantic Annotation System (if. Section 3) to investigate the distribution
of semantic domains in Alan Bennet' s play The Lady in the Van in order to show the potentialities
that a quantitative approach brings to the study of a character's mind stylc, a phenomenon which
has traditionally been studied qualitatively. A furrher example of corpus-based methods
implemented on a single target text is found in my own scudy A Corpus Linguistic Approach to
Litmtry Langurtge and Chrtracteriwtion: Virginia Woolfs The Wrives ([51). I bere investigated
quanrirativcly and qualitativcly the dai rn, subjeet to much debate in pan of thc litcrary arena,


2   The laresr updared version ofWordSmith was issued in 2020.

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    G. Balossi- Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: Conrad's The Shadow-
                                                                                                              line

whether the language of each of the six characters can be ciistinguisheci from each other. This
broad issue is tested by means of a series of sratisrical comparisons of each characrer's part-of-
speech and semamic domains through the program Wmarrix (l30J).

In digitai humanities (l32J), corpus-aided methods are largely employed in the study oflanguage
from diffcrcnt pcrspcctivcs, amongst which are intra-tcxtual "variations in thc stylc of a single
author or text, including chronological change, the dialogue or narration of multiple characters
or narrators in a single nove!, and other perceived shifts in style" (l2lj: 17ii); such methods are
also increasingly being applied in pedagogica! rnntexts (see, for example,[26J : 253-270) to look
at the stylistic properties ofliterary texts arising from patterns of use oflinguistic features.
The stylistic properties investigateci in this study are thosc involving pronouns, a grammatica!
category that falls imo the larger category of function words, which has traditionally been the
object of quantitative scudies carried out in che fìeld of authorship attribution ([15]: 27 1-280;
f22l: 59-66), investigations of literary idiolccts, and stylistic changes in a given author's artistic
production (ll 0j; l38J ). More recendy, the use of pronouns and their role in narratives bave been
investigated in rnrpus scylistics ([25];[4];[27]) l to study their stylistic feacures and effects on the
rcader since pronouns

          delineare a narrator's subjecr posirion in relarion ro objecrs/orhers. In effècr che pronoun
          simulraneously derennines, designares, idenrifles, refors ro and (re-) affìrms a parricular
          narratoria! role [ .. .]. A narrarorial voice ofren works as a focalizing \vindow'- a parricular,
          positione<l perspective on fictional worl<ls. ([19]: 2)


In the presem analysis, l will investigate rhe subjcct position of thc 1-protagonisr and narrator in
Conrad's The Shadow Line, in relation to che other pronouns within the same text. With the aid
of Wmattix tools for POS analysis (f30l), the ciisttibutions of persona! pronouns in the target
rcxt can be readily dercrmincd, as wcll as any statistically signifìcant ('kcy') diffcrcnccs in pronoun
frequency between the target text and similar texts by the same aurhor. Meanwhile, the
concorciance lines generateci for the pronouns with the highest frequency will enable observation
of the I-narrator's subject position and irs dynamics of interaction versus the other parricipanrs
deployed at key moments in the narrative.



          2. The Shadow-Line: the target text compared with Heart of
          Darkness and The Secret Sharer

The Shadow-Line, A Confession ([14], hereafrer TSL) is the story of an unnamed young man who,
afrer deciding to leave his position as a mariner on a steamship and return to England for good,



3     Thìs articlc buìlds upon thc papcr I prcscntcd at thc Annual Confcrcncc of thc Poctics and
      Lìnguìstics Associati on (publìshcd online in PALA Procccdìngs, [4 ]), and at AIUCD Confcrcncc
      2019.

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is unexpectedly appoimed captain of a ship. The protagonist, now older, recalls the sea voyage
from Bangkok to Singapore, and the obstacles he had to face. This Bildungsroman or nove! of
formation ([20]: 293-31 I) takcs on thc structurc of a Proppian initiarion ritual 4 in which thc
challenge facing the young captain involves his ability to sai! the ship and manage the crew, while
encountering severe natural obstacles accompanied by an oh.scure and menacing adversary (the
dcad formcr caprain). Howcver, Ransome (rhe hclpcr) is always on hìs side from tbc beginning
to the end of his ordeal. In the end the young captain will manage to bring bis ship safely back
to harbour.

The grammatica! usage of pronouns in TSL, as the target text, will be compared quancitatively
ro that in Hett rt ofD1trkness ([13], HD) and The Secret Shttrer ([12], TSS). Tbcse two rdcrcnce
texts have been selected since ali three works belong to the genre of the novel of formation, and
ali rhree are fìrst-person narratives (Marlow in HD, and an unnamed capcain in his first
command in boch TSS and TSL), each recalling in recrospect his fìrsc sea voyage as a young
captain, thc obstadcs he had to face and th e strugglcs within himsclf and with thc adult world
chac challenge his initial na'ive, idealised worldview and lead to his maturing process.



        3. Methods: text digitisation and POS analysis inWmatrix

Thc analysìs of the persona! pronouns in Conrad's The Shadow Line was carricd our using
Wmatrix (l30j), a web-based environment comaining corpus annotation rools for grammatica!
and semantic analysis dcvcloped by UCREL5 at Lancaster Univcrsity. 6 Sìmilarly to other rext
analysis software, such as WordSmith Tools ([34]), Antconc ([2]), Wmatrix can generate
frequency lisrs, key word lisrs, n-grams/clusters, collocates and word clouds chat display the more
frequenrly occurring words in a larger font for any cext uploaded imo the system (Antconc does
nor have this facil ity). The added value of Wmatrix is chat it can perform automa tic semantic
analysis, which is bcyond the scope of the present analysis ((30]; [3]).

To process an auromatic analysis in Wmatrix, users need to upload their texts imo a web browser,
then the Wmatrix Tag Wizard automatically carries out POS (part-of-speech) and USAS
(UCREL Scmancic Analysis Systcm) tagging. Tbc frcqucncy and relative frcqucncy, grammatica!
or semamic rags are generared and can be sorred out either alphaberically or in order of frequency;
examples of each of these can also be viewed in context in concordance lines. Pan-of-speech
tagging is processed by CLA WS (Constituent Likclibood Automa tic Word-tagging System


4   An initiation ritual marks che entrance of a youth into adulthood, and the concept is used
    metaphorically by l'ropp to categorise a narrative stage performing the same fonction. l'ropp applied
    this noti on fully to his structuralist analysis of thc t,Ùc, cspccially in his work The Morphology ofthe
    FolkMle ( 1968).
5   University Cenere for Computer Corpus Research on Language.

6   Thc ncw vcrsion Wmatrix4, which rcplaccd Wmatrix3, is hcrc cmploycd. Thc introduction to
    Wmatrix and its applications can be accessed at http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/wmatrix/.

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    G. Balossi- Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: C onrad's The Shadow-
                                                                                       line

(rl 7U 181), a tool design ed to assign grammatica! tags to the words in a text. The fìrst step that
the CLAWS tagger carries out is the tokenization of a text and its morphological and grammatica!
analysis, then it allocates words to their parrs-of..speech on a non-comextual hasis, assigns each
word to its grammatica! catcgory and in a subscqucnt phasc, cstablishcs its most probablc word-
rag taking into account the linguistic context in which the word occurs ([30]: 63-65). The
accuracy rating of CLAWS is between 96-7%; if users wanr to increase the accuracy leve! they
can manually intervene on th e processed data. Once a target tcxt is processcd, wc can generate
keywords and key semantic domain profìlcs by comparing a target corpus against otbcr rcfcrence
corpora stored in Wmatrix (e.g. samples from the BNC) or uploaded by users in the Wmatrix
environment.

For a keyness analysis, two word-frequency lists, one from the target corpus and the other from
rbe reference corpus are compared. Keyness is nor measured in rerms of relative frcquency alone,
but using a statistica! measure called Log-likelihood (LL hereafter). This statistica! test establishes
how signifìcant the relative frequencies are between two corpora, or texts, taking into account
rbcir respecrivc sizcs. Tbc normai leve! for statistica! signiflcancc is rhc 95% confìdcncc lcvcl (p
< 0.05) Chi-square value, which equates to an LL value of 3.8 or above. The recommended LL
values for a word/tag to be statistically signifìcam is above 6.63, as this is the cut-off point
reprcscnting 99% confìdencc in irs signifìcancc ([291: 519-549); thc higher tbc LL valuc the
more significam is the difference between the two corpora. Once a keyness analysis is performed
we can see the list of the overused word/tags+ or underused words/tags in the target corpus
relative to che reference corpus sorted on rheir log-likelihood values7 .Here, 011eruse means 'used
with signifìcandy high er frequ ency in thc target than thc comparison corpus', and underuse
means ' used with signifìcamly lower frequency in the target than che comparison corpus'.

Most studies that perform keyness analysis focus on the lexical leve! only, whereas the present
study is one oftbe few to extend rhe concepr to tbe level ofgrammarical word dass (see f29l;[5l).
From a purcly quanritativc perspective, kcyncss analysis hclps idcnrify keywords ([35]), key POS
and key semantic tags in a corpus, while from a qualitative perspective overused or underused
words/rags indicare rbe distinctive features of a given texr thar are either over-represenred or
under-represented as compared with a reference corpus ([24]). For sake of clarity, I bere
reproduce in Figure 1, an extract from a table showing the fìrst four hits obtained after carrying
out a kcyncss analysis of parts ofspcccb (POS) bctwccn TSL (target rcxt) and onc oftbc rcfcrcncc
tcxts (TSS), whcrc O l is thc obscrvcd frcqucncy in th c target tcxt and 0 2 in thc rcfcrcncc tcxt
sorted on the item's LL value. If we look at the PPIOl tag (1st person sing. objective persona!
pronoun lmej) we note that in O 1 this category has a higher number of occurrence (3 72, equa!
to a perccntagc valuc of 0.99%) and an LL valuc (19.17) indicating ovcrusc. On thc lcft of the



7     The I.I. formula can be worked our using Rayson's LI. calculator ar:
      http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/llwizard.html. The Chi-square test cOLÙd also have b een used as it gives
      similar rcsults to LL. Practitioncrs of statistica! tcsts may want to look at two cnlightcning aniclcs
      writtcn by Dunning (Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata.: 61-74) and Rayson et al.
      (Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata.: 1-12) about tbc diffcrcnt applications and issucs
      regarding statistical signifìcance tests such as LI. and Chi-square tests.

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cablc, wc can click on 'Lisci' or 'Lisc2' co secche pronoun word~ comprised in PPIOL or click
on thc concordancc links if wc wam scc kcyword comcxl rcsul1.s for 1hc PPIOl 1.ag.~ Thc worcl
clo11d displ:iycd hdow 1hc l:ihlc shows 1hc mo.~1 li·cq11cn1ly nccurring 1.:1gs in                      :l    largcr font,
,ITTHJngst whid1 b rhe PPIOl rag.

                                              Item                  01            %1       02            %2            LL
     1 List1    I   List2    I   Concordance t~NB                  186        0.49          1        0 .01    +    114.61
     2 list1    I   List2    I   Concordane e PPIOl                372        0.99         90        0 . 60   +     19.71
     3 List1    I   Lis t2   I   Concordane e CST                  299        0 . 79       80        0 . 53   +     10.66
     4 Listi    I   l ist2   I   Concordane e JJ                  2672        7 .09       951        6 . 34   +      8.79

           FÌ!!,ure 1: Sampl~ of a part-of~speech keyness analyi;is, with its associated word doud.




                     CST
                     ---         1131
                                 --
                                        JJ
                                        -
                                             NNB
                                             ------          PPHS1    PPI01 -
                                              l'i~ure 2: Key l'OS cloud.

Thc kcync.~.~ analysis nr 1hc PO.S li·cqucncics o!' 1hc pcrson:11 prnnoun.~ in TSl. is pmd.11ccd
rhrough comparison between the target texr (TSI.} ,md. the refereru:e texts (I Il) and TSS)
respectivdy. The digicised versions of the texts utilì.sed for quantitative analy.si.s are from Project
Gutenberg eBoob (brrpd/www l,'J1ItDbtq,' ore/). The e-ct>xts come in plain text formac (TXT),
drns chcy wcrc alrcady perfcccly suitablc co be fod into and proccsscd by Wmauix. Howcvcr,
bcforc loading cach rcx[ in rn [hc sys[cm, anglc brackcts wcrc inscrcccl. aronnd rhc pans of thc [CXt
[ wanicd 1hc program 10 ignnrc (t:.g. 1.hc covcr p:1gc and 1.hc chap1cr numhcr.~). Tbc ncxl stcp
enrailed selecring rhr~e difforent sample tt'xts I would u.se for qu.ilit.itive analysis. The wmpmer-
based analysis of rhe personal pronouns in T.SL follow.s the stages indicated bdow:

1. Corpus design:

-choìce of target Ct'Xt and reference text.~ (cf Sectìon 2).

2. Pronoun rc1.ric\'al .. through Li1c CI.AWS POS (pm-of:.spccch) laggcr, built iCllo Wmatrix.

- keyne.ss lisrs, lìscing rhe prono un rags in order of keyness.

- cnncorclanccs, showing I hc nccurrcncc or I hc pcr.~nnal prono11ns in 1.hcir co-1.cxl.




8   In Figure l. lhc Log R:\lio is not displaycd nexl w 1hc LL column. This s1a1istic:1l lCSt was addcd l<1
    Wmatri, lf. dit T.og Ratio 5Lalistic i5 an cffoc1-sit.'. statisti<:, nol a signirìcancc statisti<: 5i1Kt it
    reprcosents how hig the difforence her.ween      IWO   corporn a.re fora. keyword (for iimher derails. ~ee:
    http://cass.l:u1cs.a(·.uk/log-ratio-a11-i11formal-imroùucrion/.
    G. Balossi- Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: Conrad's The Shadow-
                                                                                      line

- frequency lists, listing the pronouns in order of frequency. 9

3. lnterpreting the data:

-comparc.:d to the three steps in Stage 2 which are.: quantitativc.:ly basc.:d, this stage of the process,
a!though it makes use of the 'concordance' option in Wmatrix, is qualitative.



          4. Results: key POS tags, and key pronouns

Tablc l shows thc statistically signiflcant persona! pronoun tags 10 sortcd in dcsccnding ordcr of
LL valucs produccd by Wmatrix, whcn thc target corpus The Shadow Line (TS L; corpus sizc
37,710) is compared with the fìrst reference text Heart ofDarkness (HD, corpus size 37.661) and
che second rdèrence text The Secret Sharer (TSS, corpus size 14,997).

          TSL compared with HD             LL/+        TSL compared with TSS               LL/+
          APPGE                            28.89       PPIO1                               19.71

          PPIO1                            24.81       PPHS1                               8.24

          PPHS1                            18.71
          PPIS1                            18.56
                                  Tahle 1: The most 'key' POS tags in TSL

Key:

APPGE - possessive pronoun, pre-nominal (e.g. my, your, our)

PPIO1       - l st person sing. objective persona! pronoun (me)

PPHS l - 3rd person sing. subjective persona! pronoun (he, she)

PPIS 1     - 1st pc.:rson sing. subjective persona! pronoun (I)

More rohust results are recorded when the target text is compared with HD than with TSS,
producing both a higher numbcr of signitìcandy overuscd POS rags (e/ Appendix 1), and highcr
LL values. Tbis is predictable given tbe evident similarities between TSL and TSS. In this regard,
Benson's (l6J: 46-56) study of Conrad's Two Stories oflnitiation ddìnes the two novellas as "twin
storics ofinitiation into maturity" (r6l: 46) and sratcs rhat "thcrc is in The Shadow linea flgurc




9     for reason of space, che concordances for rhe occurring pronouns, and their frequencies of
      occurrences are not given.
10 The POS tags analysed can be vicwcd in Appcndix l ; thc complete UCREL CLAWS7 tagset can be
      accessed at: http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/daws7tags.html.

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analogous to Leggatt of The Secret Sh11rer. The double in the later work is Ransome [... ]" ([6]:
53).
It may be argued that this finding might have been expected, in view of the stronger thematic
and narrative similarìtks rhar TSS sharcs wìth TSL than HD. But whar thc analysis in Wmatrix
provides is important quantitative validation of such a prediction, and (as we shall see with
concordances) detailed, systematic insight imo how those interconnections play out in the text.
In spire of the features that che rwo texts share against which TSL is comparcd, che resulrs in
Table 1 show that statistically significant differences occur in the use not only of first-person
pronouns (PPIO 1: I st person sing. objective persona! pronoun (me); PPIS I: I st person sing.
subjcctivc persona! pronoun f/]), bur also third-pcrson pronouns (PPHS 1: 3rd pcrson sing.
subjective persona! pronoun lhe, shej). Similarly, another key pronominal POS-tag here, APPGE,
(possessive pronoun, pre-nominal) represents pronouns with fìrst person and third person, as
well as second person, referenrs (e.g. my, your, our, hislher). lfwe unpack rhese POS tags, we can
observc that your, our and she hold a much lowcr frcqucncy of occurrencc comparcd to rhe ovcr-
represented I-he words within the same POS tags. Considered that the story revolves around the
masculine activity of a sea voyage, the pronouns such as your, our appear, in rheir co-text, to be
mainly cmploycd by thc T narrator-protagonist to rcfcr to a male or othcr malcs who, most of
the time, is/are pan of the crew. Instead, the she pronouns refer in most cases, as is the convention
in English, to the ship the young captain lefr, and the ship he is appoinred to. The over-
reprcscntcd narrative T-he pattern is further strengthcncd in the kcyncss analysis carried out at
word leve! between TSL and the reference texts. The results are displayed in Table 2 in order of
cheir statistica! signifìcance.

        TSL compared with HD            LL/+          TSL compared with TSS           LL/+
                    my                  42.54                   me                   19.47

                    he                  28.83                    he                  12.54

                    me                  24.44
                     I                  17.41
                    his                 16.59
                Table 2: The most-key pronouns in TSL compare<l with HD an<l TSS.

As already noted in the POS tag keyness analysis, higher statistica! significance is rernrded in the
com pari son bcrwccn The Shadow Line and Hetlrt of D11rkness. Thc ovcr-reprcscnted pronouns in
the target text compared to the reference text (HD) show a signifìcant use of I and he pronouns
occurring in The Shadow Line and hint at a narrative cenrred around an internal self-referenrial
/-voicc with a strong focus on thc cxtcrnal rcfcrential he. From thc concordanccs produccd by
Wmatrix, the over-represented 1-pronouns refer most of the time to the I protagonist, while the




                                                 86
 G. Balossi- Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: Conrad's The Shadow-
                                                                                                        line

he pronouns to tbe adults in bis world, 11 especially w bis sbip-mates Mr. Burns and Ransome.
This suggests tbat the young captain, during bis difficult and challenging voyage, relies on a
dyadic I-he type of interaction and rends to exclude I-they and the I-we relationships.

The dynamics of tbe I-he interaction can be better understood by ohserving their distribution
across rhc narrative. For this purposc, in Scction 5 I look at thc concordancc lincs gcncrarcd from
three sample passages (cf Appendix 2) taken from the beginning, middle and end of the story,
respectively, each representing a key phase of the protagonist's maturing process.



        5. Distribution of the over-represented 1-he pattern in three
        samples from The Shadow-Line

Comparcd to the quantitative analysis of thc pronouns carri cd out in Section 4, this Section is
qualitatively-based as it makes use of tbe concordance tool in Wmatrix to search far tbe occurring
1-he patterns in chree key narrative moments of The Shadow Line. Tbe concordance tool allows
us w scarch far a word/nodc with a given amounr of co-tcxr to its lcft and ro its righr (r36l;[1 l).
In order to look at che concordances for the pronouns in the sample passages, I uploaded each
text-sample in Wmatrix, produced their concordance lines, and manually sorced out the lines in
which rhc llhe pronouns occur as subjccr in order of occurrencc in rhc samplcs. Thc on ly
exception is found in Sample 1 where che occurrence of the tìrst-person possessive ('my') is
shown. Other pronouns occurring in the vicinity of the node (i.e. the search pronouns 'J and
'he') in the concordance lincs are also considcred.

Text Samplc 1 is takcn from the opcning of the story when rhc unnamed proragonist is tclling
thc narratcc (understood in tbis case, by default, as tbc rcader) about tbc rcasons for quitting bis
job as a mariner on a steamship. The passage exemplifìes an elemem typically found at rhe
beginning ofa novel offormation in which, as noted by Stape and Simmons (in [141: xlv), "rhe
youthful bero [ ... ] experiences a sudden discontent, shock, or impulse for change that entails a
breal{ with the known routines of family, career or traditional home." In the concordances
produccd, on ly /-pronouns appcar sincc thc /-narrator, in this scgmcnr of tcxt, is rhc sole
occupant of the narrative, which is characterised by an exclusive focalisation on the protagonist's
inner self.




11 Special arrention was paid to disringuishing berween che 1-pronouns referring to rhe 1-proragonist and
   rhose referring to the other characters, occurring in their direct speech. For example, the pronoun i,
    rhough mainly in<licating rhe narrarnr-proragonisr, can also refer (approximarely 83 rimes out of
    1,301) to other characters rhat the 1-protagonisr interacts with in the story.



                                                   87
(J l_;rnanisrk:1 l)igitak        [$$:\: 2.5j2.·88 I 6     n,   9. 2020



         Tcxt Samplc I: I at the heginning ofthc story

   I. Orùy the. yowighave.such moments.                     I            don\ mean the very yowig. No. They
   2. life in tvhich such moments oftvhich                  I            havespokenarelikely to come. Wbat
   3. story. lt wasrù so badasthat with me.                 My           action,rash asit was, hadmore.
   4. dissatisfaction. Rashmoments.                         I            meanmoments tvhen the.still yowig are.
   5. a sensible person could put a finger                  I            threw upmy j ob chuckedmy berth left
   6. put a gloss on tvhat e.ven at the time                I            m yselfhalfsuspectedto be a caprice


Artcr tk· f,'1.'m:ral op.:riing ~tat<:nwnt "Only tl1<: youn!( haw sud, rno1TK:111s: (/. I ì, tk· I pr--.s<:nt.s
himself a~ d1e speaker of che sua:eeding vague scacemenc: "i don'c meai1 che very young." (LI).
In /1-2 and li clw I oç(:11pks a racl1<:r 'weak' p,.>sicion as it po.sc-rno<lifìcs ·sud, rnonwncs of wl,id,
/ bave spoken," "R,1sh momenrn. / me,m moments." The speaker seems m hkle himselfbehind
inn:nciona lly g<:n crk obscrvacions. I lowcv<:r, che ~p<::i ln:r's k·ad in~ rok: in eh,· srory is ddìr1<:d
t.brnugb the ohje~tive me [L3ì, ,llld the pos.,essives 1t(Y, ,uid ,.,1yse{f'(/I. 5 ,uid G), which m,1ke the
srory mon: subj(:çrivc :u,d pcrson:1I.

Texr Sample 2 is cak~n from rhe mìddle of th~ scory. when the young procagonìsc's crials reaeh
1.hcir climax: thc Cl,icf"M,11c, Mr. Burl1', i., ill, 11,c re.i of" 1.hc <;rcw is ,.,l.,o .,cricm,ly ill, thc ,liip i.,
rnarotrn,·t.l in a dea<.! ~,·a, :u,d eh us 11n abk co rc.rncirn,-· th<: p lanned voyagc. I kr('. rhc yo11 ng
com mJndel' rei ie., on hi., hdper, Ransome.




                                                         88
 G. Balossi- Key Prononns chrough \VmacrLx in a 1'ovel ofFormacìon: Conrad's The Shr,dow-
                                                                                                                            1.inr.

          Text Sample 2: 1-he in the middle ofthe sto,y

  1.    talk anynonsenseto youoflate ? "                                    asked c.asually . ''No , sir. " Ransom
  2.    this nonsense.enough for y ou? "                                    asked,looking confidently at the ÌIJ1
  3.    b y the agency of Captain Giles,                                    had y et an uneasy feeling that such
  4.    perhapsto bepaid forin some way .                                   hadheld, professionally , areview
  5.    professionally , a re.view ofmy c-hances .                          was competent enough forthat.
  6.    competent enoughforthat. At least ,                                 thought so. I had a generai sense of
  7.    for that. At least, I thought so.                                   had a genera! sense ofmy preparedness
  8.    the world . As natural as breathing .                              imagined I couldnothavelived without
  9.    As naturalasbreathing . I imagined                                 couldnothave.lived without it . I do
  10.   d I couldnothavelived without it .                                 don\ know what I expected . Perhaps
  11.   lived without it. I don't know what                                expected . Perhaps nothing else than
  12.   ~ ofy outhfulaspirations . Whatever                                expected I did not expect to be be set
  13.   M aspirations. Wbate.ver I expected                                d.id not expect to be.be set by hwricanes
  14.   expect to be beset b y hwric.anes.                                 knew better than that . In the Gulf of
  15.    areno hwric.anes. Butneither d.id                                 expect to find m yselfboundhand and
  16.   passinghis door. I believe thatif                     he           hadhadthestrengthhe would have
  17.   thatifhehadhadthestrength                             he           would have.calledout afterme.more.
  18.   out afterme.more thanonce. But                        he           hadn't the strength. Ransome ,however
  19.   be picking up wonderfuJJy. " " Did                    he           talk any nonsense.to y ouoflate.? "
  20.   question ; but , after a pause,                       he           addedequably : " He toldme thismoming
  21.   He told me this moming, sir, that                     he           was sorry he had to b ury our late
  22.   is moming. sir, thathe.was sony                       he           hadto b ury our late c.aptainright in
  23.   ofc.are. Ransome.d.idn't know.                        He           hadnot given a thought to the.matter
  24.   the matter. And with a faint smile                    he           flitted away fromme onhis ne.ver-end
  25.      which only a man pursuing a c.alling               he         loves can know. That feeling seemed


The mt,st trt'quencly occnrring pronouns are I-he-, che pattern of occ.urrence in the conc.ordances
fin {.-he ddlnc:ncs      :i   ch;mg<.: in thc n:~ rr~tor--pror;.1gon isr' s suhj<'C:t po..,irion wirh i ri dH.:      ri :nr:ui\'c.

'J ·J1c / i~ no Jougcr foc:alisi ug- L·xdn....ivcl y cm II is i Il ncr ~d( lnu JJC: is c:ou Li u u:.1ll y moviug hc1:vvccu :.1
subjecLi ve imernal po.,ilion (]) ,md the èli.Lernal world by means of Lhe subjecLive he. whkh
 clt'ictically poims either w .'v1r. I\urn. or R:msome. che antagonisc and the helper respecrivdy.
 I:rom thc c:ori c:ortfancc lim.:s ~hovc. dw /.-1Jror~µonisr (il 1.-1 S) rcru rn.., ro pl~y ~ domin~nr rolc
 wi ti. f~-~·lli.\~Jt.ioll on l1il11sd f~ ;md b..: ducs ClOI. k:fl'VC TCJOrtl: CX<:cfH ill ~l vcry dt<.:U IJ1Scrihcd \'l!;L}'~ for
,he e...Lernal world (ì!.16-25) where focalisation shilis onlo h.is 11reocxupa1io11 with the ili Mr.
 fl11rns (<'-K. l. l. ti. l {j-1 ')). R.e~I t>r por~nrial t'vents k-K- /-1 O."! don'r know whac l ,xpec.ced'") give
 rise: LO l1is rdk<.:ticm., ,md iu1prL·ssion~ (t·.g. L13., «'X.,h:.ucvcr I cxp,:<.:Lc:d I did nm L·xpcc:t I.O be hc:s,:t
by hurricanes"}.
Tcxt S.unpk J is rnh'11 ii:om Lhc iìnal pan of Lh,, sLo,y whcn, at las,, ù1,· ship 1·,·acl1c., thc l'on ,,r
Siam and che cension that has acrnmulaced during che voyag.~ is fìnally 1·eleased: the cmv is safe.
Ransomt urH.·xp.;,:cnxi ly inform~ tht you ri g c:aptai n of hi~ d,..-d~ion to k::r"''-" thc ~hip: up~ttting
bi 111. 'l 'bL· L·11di11g of Lhc ordi:;d l~nch-rru1111d.-.; ~1gtl1 n IbL· i:xd usi ve ;1 ud somdmw <lcpcculcu I
rdaLio11.,h.ip of ù1c proL.i.gonisL wwards Ran;omc, as cmc,gcd i11 Lhc anal~sis of'l'l!l<.L Sampk 2.




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          'l'ext Sample 3: 1-he at the end ofthe ,tory

   l.     Y ou don't mean to leave the ship !    "I        cried out. " I do really, sir. I want
   2.     to leave the ship! "I cried out."       I         do really , sir . I want to go and be
   3.     " I cried out. " I do really , sir.     I         want to go and be quiet somewhere.
   4.     ruW will do. "" But , Ransome,"         I         said. " I hate the idea of pa1ting
   5.     do."" But, Ransome, "I said."           I         hate the idea of parting with you ."
   6.     the idea of parting with you ."         I         must go, " he broke in . " I have a
   7.     " I must go, " he broke in."            I         have a right! " ... He gasped and a
   8.     he was another being. And               I         saw under the worth and the comeliness
   9.     about himself. " Of course              I         shall pay you off if you wish it, "I
   10.    shall pay you off if you wish it, "     I         hastened to say. " Only I must ask you
   11.     it, "I hastened to say. " Only         I         must ask you to remain on board till
   12.    board till this aftemoon .              I         can't leave Mr. Burns absolutely by
   13.    understood that ve1y well. When         I         returned on deck everything was ready
   14.    tempering my character--though          I         did not know it. It was awful. They
   15.    reproach of the bitterest kind, till    I         felt a sort of revolt wake up in me.
   16.    Jet them drop me, sir! " While          I         kept on shouting to him in most soothing
   17.     smile for a fleeting moment .          I         left for the shore in the steam pinnacle
   18.    parting with you. " "I must go, "      he         broke in . "I have a right 1" •••
   19.    broke in. " I have a right!" ...       He          gasped and a look of almost savage
   20.    over his face. For an instant          he         was another being . And I saw under
   2 1.   him--this precarious hard !ife, and    he         was thoroughly alarmed about himself
   22.    by himself in the ship for hours."     He          softened at once and assured me with
   23.    in his natural pleasant voice that     he          understood that ve1y well. When I
   24.    Frenchy had gone suddenly under.       He            was carried past me insensible, his
   25.    swollen, breathing ~                   He          looked more like Mr. Punch than ever
   26.    contra1y, had improved temporarily.    He         insisted on walking on his own feet
   27.    on each side of him. But               he         gave way to a sudden panie at the mom
   28.    out his weirdness amazingly .          He         looked like a frightful and elaborate


Thc most frcqucntly occurring pronoun I rdèrs mainly to che 1-protagoniot cxccpt for IL 2-3, Il.
6-7 (in bold), which referto R.ansome. I !ere, ,ve can see hov., the /-protagonist's external use of
/ i11 his dia.logue with Ransome, marked out by d1e invened commas in the concordance lines
and in his internal thought, are ccntrcd on thc anxicty and fr'.ar of having to dcpart from
hdRallsome, the aduh who has supported :rnd guided him into his ell try ill Lhe adult world.
Through rhe secon<l mosr freque11rly occurring pro1101111 he, rhe /-proragonisr shifrs his focus
onto thc cxtcrnal ,vorld, i.e. ali his crcw-mcmbcrs (Cambri! th,'. grizzkd sailor, Frani()', and ì,1r.
Burns). Now, the narrator-pro1ago11isL seems more absorbed in the needs 01 the people he is
rcsponsiblc for [han in himsdf and this shifr in aucmion to che real world could be a sign ofhis
growing maturity.




                                                      90
 G. Balossi- Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: Conrad's The Shadow-
                                                                                   line


        6. Condusions

In this article I bave carried out a computer-aided analysis of the persona! pronouns in Conrad's
The Shadow Line compared to two orher works by the same author. The WMatrix software was
c.:mployc.:d to idc.:ntify and display thc.: pronouns in ordcr of statistical kc.:yncss in thc.: target tcxt
compared to the reference texrs. I then looked ar rhe mosr frequemly occurring pronouns in
three different key phases of the stmy through concordances generated by Wmatrix. This
analytical step exemplifìed how, in this work of' fiction, the foregrounded /-protagonist is
positioned in the external world during his rite of passage.

Further investigation could be carried out in order to ascertain to what extent the over-
represented self:referential 1 and che other-referemial he is a styliscic feature of che Bildungsroman,
or Conrad's fìngerprint. Also, the study of the key pronouns in the The Shttdow Line through
the frequenrly repeated sequences of words, bundles/clusters (l9J:989;l25J) would furrher
comribute co showing che narracor\ interaction wich che adult world and his psychological
devcloprnent in this novella of formation.

Though to practitioners of the advanced and sophisticated currem corpus-aided methods
working with keyness analysis, frequencies and concordances might be regarded as a traditional
and superseded method, they are stili a highly relevant support in stylistic analyses of literary
cexcs. In this arride, l have emphasised that the key POS-tag approach is an importane excension
of rhe widely-used keywords technique, but extended to a more abstract lcvcl of analysis
(grammatica! word class, rather than simply lexis). Given the evidence of my case study, key
POS-cag analysis, when combined with qualitative analysis (e.g. concordances) is a mechod thac
holds promise for literary stylistics more broadly.



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       Appenda: 1: Pronoun tags analysed

 APPGE        possessive pronoun, pre-nominal (e.g. my, your, our)

 PPGE         nominal possessive personal pronoun (e.g. mine, yours)

 PPHO1        3rd person sing. objective personal pronoun (him, her)

 PPHO2        3rd person plural objective personal pronoun (them)

 PPHS1        3rd person sing. subjective personal pronoun (he, she)

 PPHS2        3rd person plural subjective personal pronoun (they)

 PPIO1        1st person sing. objective personal pronoun (me)

 PPIO2        1st person plural objective personal pronoun (us)

 PPIS1        1st person sing. subjective personal pronoun (I)

 PPIS2        1st person plural subjective personal pronoun (we)

 PPX2         plural reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourselves, themselves)

 PPY          2nd person personal pronoun (you)



       Appendix2

        TSL Sample text 1
Only the young have such momenrs. I don't mean rhe ve1y young. No. The very young have,
properly speaking, no moments. It is the privilege of early youth to live in advance of its days in
ali the beautiful cominuiry ofhope which knows no pauses and no imrospection.

One closes behind one the lirt!e gare of mere boyishness--and emers an enchamed garden. Its
vcry shadcs glow with promise. Evcry turn of thc path has irs scduction. And it isn' t bccausc it is
an undiscovered country. One knows well enough that ali mankind had streamed that way. It is
the charm of universal experience from which one expects an uncommon or persona! sensation
- a bit ofonc's own.

One goes on recognizing che landmarb of the predecessors, exciced, amused, taking che hard
luck and che good luck togcchcr--che kicks and thc half:pcncc, as che saying is--che picturesquc
common lot that holds so many possibilities for the deserving or perhaps for the lucky. Yes. One
goes on. And the time, coo, goes on - till one perceives ahead a shadow-line warning one chac the
rcgion of carlyyouch, coo, musc be lcfr behind.


                                                94
 G. Balossi- Key Pronouns through Wmatrix in a Nove! of Formation: C onrad's The Shadow-
                                                                                    line

This is the peri od oflife in which such moments ofwhich I have spoken are likely to come. What
moments? Why, the momems of boredom, of weariness, of dissatisfaction. Rash moments. I
mea11 moments when the stili young are inclined to commit rash actio11s, such as getting married
suddcn ly or else throwing up a job for no rcason.

This is nota marriagc story. lt wasn't so bad as that with mc. My action, rash as it was, had more
the character of divorce - almost of desertio11. For 110 reason 011 which a se11sible perso11 could
put a finger I threw up my job - chucked my berth - left the ship of which the worst that could
be said was that she was a steamship and therefore, perhaps, not emided to that blind loyalty
which .... Howcvcr, it's no use trying to put a gloss on what cvcn at thc time I rnysclf half
suspected to be a caprice.

        TSL Sample text 2
l avoided giving Mr. Burns any opening for conversation for che next few days. l merely used to
throw hi rn a hasry, chccry word whcn passi ng his door. T bdicvc that if hc had had thc strcngth
he would have called out after me more tha11 once. But he hadn't che strength. Ransome,
however, observed tome one afternoon rhat the mate "seemed to be picking up wonderfully."

"Did he talk any nonsense to you oflare?" I asked casually. "No, sir." Ransome was starded by
thc dircct qucstion; but, aftcr a pause, hc addcd cquably: "Hc told mc this morning, sir, that hc
was sorry he had to bury our late captain right in the ship's way, as one may say, out ofthe Gulf."
"Isn't rhis no11sense enough for you?" I asked, looking confìdemly at the imelligem, quiet face
on which che secret uneasiness in the man 's breast had thrown a uansparem veil of care. Ransome
didn't know. He had not givcn a thought to thc mattcr. And with a faine smile hc Aitted away
from me on bis never-ending duties, with his usual guarded activity.

Two more days passed. We had advanced a litde way - a very little way - imo the larger space of
che Gulf of Siam. Seizing eagerly upon the elation of the fìrst command thrown imo my lap, by
thc agency of Captain Gilcs, I had yct an uneasy feeling that such luck as this has got pcrhaps to
be paid for in some way. I had held, professionally, a review of my chances. I was competent
cnough for that. At !cast, I thought so. I had a generai scnsc of my prcparcdncss which only a
man pursuing a calling he loves can know. That feeling seemed to me the most natural thing in
the world. A, natural as breathing. I imagined I could 11ot have lived without it.

I don' t know what I expected. Perhaps nothing else than that special imensity of existence which
is the quintessence of youthful aspirations. Whatever I expected I did not expect to be beset by
hurrica ncs. I knew bcttcr than that. In thc Gulf of Siam th cre are no hurrican cs. But ncithcr did
I expect to fìnd myselfbound band and foot to the hopeless extent which was revealed tome as
che days went on.

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"You don't rn can to lcave the ship!" I cricd out. "I do really, sir. I want to go and be quiet
somewhere. Anywhere. The hospital will do." "But, Ransome," I said. "I hate the idea ofparting
with you. " l must go," be broke in, "l have the righe." He gasped and a look of almost savage

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derermination passed over bis face. For an instam be was anotber being. And I saw under tbe
wortb and the comeliness of tbe man the bumble reality of things. Life was a boon to him - this
prccarious hard lifc, and hc was thoroughly alarmcd about himsclf

"Of coursc I shall pay you off if you wish it," I hasrcned to say. "Only I muse ask you to rcmain
on board till tbis afternoon. I can't leave Mr. Burns absolutely by himself in the ship for hours."
He softened at once and assured me with a smile and in his natural pleasant voice that he
understood rhar very wcll.

When I returned on deck evcryrhing was rcady for the rcmoval of rhe men. lt was che last ordcal
of chat episode whicb had been macuring and tempering my character - chough I did nor know
it.

lt was awfol. They passed under my eyes one afì:er another - each of them an embodied reproach
of the bitterest kind, till l felt a sort of revolt wake up in me. Poor Frenchy had geme suddenly
undcr. Hc was carricd past mc inscnsiblc, his comic facc horribly flushcd and as if swollcn,
breathing stertorously. He looked more like Mr. Punch than ever; a disgracefully intoxicated Mr.
Punch.

The austere Cambri!, on the rnntrary, had improved cemporarily. He insisced on walking on his
own fcct to thc rail - of coursc with assistancc on cach sidc ofhirn. But hc gavc way to a suddcn
panie at the moment ofbeing swung over the side and began to wail despairingly:

"Don't let tbem drop me, sir. Don't !et them drop me, sir!" While I kept on shouting to him in
most sooching accems: "Ali right, Cambri!. They won 't! They won't!"

lt was no doubt very ridiculous. The blue-jackecs on our deck were grinning quiedy, while even
Ransornc himscl F (much to thc forc in lcndi ng a hand) had to cn largc his wistful smilc for a
fleeting moment.

I lcft for tbc shorc in rhc stcam pinnacc, and on looking back bchcld Mr. Burns acmally standing
up by the taffrail, still in his enormous woolly overcoat. The hright sunlight brought out his
wcirdncss amazingly. Hc lookcd likc a frightful and elaborate scarccrow set up on the poop of a
death-srricken ship, set up to keep the seabirds from the corpses.




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