Hardy　ノ　Wessex　ショウセツ　ニ　オケル　デンタツセツ　ト　キャラクタライゼーション

Reporting Clauses and Their Role in Characterization in Hardy’s Wessex Novels

曹, 芳慧

ソウ, ホウケイ

Division of Language and Culture, Graduate School of Humanities, The University of Osaka

動詞と副詞の共起

ネットワーク可視化

キャラクタライゼーション

Reporting Clauses

Verb-Adverb Co-occurrence

Network Visualization

Characterization

This study focuses on the role of reporting clauses in the 19th-century Wessex novels of Thomas Hardy, aiming to clarify how they contribute to characterization. Dialogue in novels not only advances the plot but also serves as a key tool for expressing the personalities, emotions, and relationships of characters. In particular, reporting clauses―indicating the speaker and manner of speech―help convey nuances of tone, attitude, and emotion, allowing readers to grasp the atmosphere of the conversation beyond what is directly stated. By examining how Hardy uses these clauses, this study seeks to shed light on his distinctive techniques of characterization within the fictional world of Wessex. To achieve this, a custom-built corpus of 14 Wessex novels was created. Reporting clauses were systematically extracted, and the frequencies of reporting verbs and adverbs were analyzed. The study then investigated co-occurrence patterns between verbs and adverbs, followed by a character-based analysis. Additionally, a network visualization was employed to clarify differences in the use of reporting verbs and adverbs across major characters, revealing distinctive stylistic tendencies. Through this multifaceted approach, the study highlights the linguistic strategies underpinning Hardy’s character portrayals. Future directions include comparative analysis with other works and advanced sentiment analysis to deepen understanding of speech representation in literary texts.