Autobiography studying
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essive means the author actualizes the modal meaning, the autobiography contains. To sum up the analysis of the linguistic features in autobiographical genre, we are convinced that these retrospective texts or as we have called them personal narratives are not limited to only those features. So we will also consider the extra-linguistic ones, which are of no less importance than the linguistic ones.connected to linguistic features are the extra -linguistic ones, which are of a great interest for this thesis paper.this paper the term extra-linguistic will refer to the factors, which dont depend on linguistic phenomena. extra-linguistic features are much complex notions since they may include any number of text-external features influencing the language and style of a text. settings of the narrative, the process of sharing information, feelings, themes, situations, the attitude of the writer, his/her personal opinion are all described as extra-linguistic features used in autobiographical narrative. this point, we should distinguish between two types of features: linguistic and extra-linguistic features. Linguistic features refer to the surrounding features of language inside the text, like the typography, sounds, words, phrases, and sentences which are relevant to the interpretation of other such linguistic elements. extra-linguistic features are a much complex notions since they may include any number of text-external features influencing the language and style of a text. In autobiography, the writer, consciously or not, is influenced by a wide variety of contextual factors such as; type of readership, the writers expectations of the readers knowledge, anxiety, the writers creative talent, attitudes, and briefs; the writers expectation that the inter-textual allusion will be picked up by the reader, and last but not least, the writers assumption that autobiography readers have a general knowledge of the social function and stylistic conventions of the text. If one thing has become obvious from this long, but still incomplete list of extra-linguistic factors, it is the fact that conscious or unconscious choices of expression which create a particular style are always motivated, inspired, or induced by contextual circumstances in which both writers and readers are in various ways involved. (J. P. Gee 5)extra-linguistic features can also be regarded the knowledge of the given information by the reader. As the reader cannot be completely included into the text, the effect is always ambivalent. The use of certain linguistic devices presupposes the readers presence in the context of the story. The narrator talks to the second-person addressee with a marked familiar immediacy using such emotive expression as you may like to know. It is as if he is talking to somebody in his presence who knows who he is. Since no second-person addressee is identified in the text, the reader assumes that position. But of course, the reader does not know who he is and so has to somehow construct his identity on the indirect evidence of what he says. However, it should be noted that the extra-linguistic features always find their realizations in linguistic features. While analyzing the extra-linguistic features of autobiography, the following statement should be taken into account.is a specific genre which includes such situational aspects as:
An activity, that is, the specific social activity or activities in which the participants, in this case the writer and the reader of the autobiography are engaging; activities are, in turn, made up of sequence of actions.
A material aspect, that is the place, time, bodies and objects, presented during interaction, which is the autobiographical text decoding process.
A socio-cultural aspect, that is, the personal, social, and cultural knowledge, feelings, values, identities, and relationships relevant in the interaction, including, of course, socio-cultural knowledge about sign systems, activities, the material world, and politics, i.e. all the other aspects above.these extra-linguistic features together constitute an extra-linguistic system, within which extra-linguistic components or aspects simultaneously give meaning to linguistic features. (P. Verdonk 10)the autobiography is a narrative about oneself, it naturally follows that the author is free to impart his/her emotions and feelings while writing the story of his/her life. It goes without saying that the reader takes an immediate part in sharing this kind of information with the writer, the intimacy between the reader and the writer reaches its highest point, especially in autobiographic genre.autobiographical narratives, the use of the linguistic features is preconditioned by extra-linguistic ones. The process of sharing information, for the purpose of giving the reader more detailed information about his/her life, can be influenced by various extra-linguistic features as well., being another factor necessary for the reader-writer interaction is an extra-linguistic feature but it should be noted that it has its realizations in linguistic features, which are mainly modal verbs; such as should/would. For example, - My early readiness in learning to read, and the opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good scholar. (B. Franklin; 3).
Settings are those for example, the nationality of the writer, the country, the year and also the religion of the writer. Settings described in this way are also:
The place in which the events of a work of autobiography happen.
The time in which a work of autobiography takes place.
The social context in which the characters in a work of autobiography exist.
The time and place (sometimes the social environment) of a personal narrative.to sum up the above said, it is essential to note that the extra-linguistic features such as: time, place, authors experience, function with the help of linguistic features.are some linguistic and extra-linguistic features analyzed in the autobiography by Benjamin Franklin.
Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a weeks uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement (B. Franklin; p.1)
- As it was mentioned in previous chapters, one of the linguistic features is the use of the first point of view. In this example we can see the pronoun my, which proofs it. With the help of the first point of view, the reader feels close to the writer. In this case the pronoun my contributes to the intimacy between the reader and the writer.
Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity, the conducting means I made use of, which with the blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity my like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imitated. (B. Franklin p. 1)
In this sentence the author used the pronouns I and my, which, as it was mentioned in the previous example, is the linguistic feature, i.e. the use of the first point of view. In the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of the story. When reading stories in the first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective truth.
That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first. So I might, besides correcting the faults, change some sinister accidents and events of it for others more favorable (B. Franklin p. 1)
In this sentence the author expresses his thoughts with the help of the modal verb should, which shows intention or uncertain future, that is to say the author does not certainly know what will really happen. Besides the author used the modal verb might for the purpose of imparting uncertain future intention.
I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, though respect to age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since this may be read or not as any pleases. (B. Franklin p. 2)
In this sentence we see the linguistic features, which are realized with the help of modal shall the meaning of which is to show obligation.
From these notes I learned that family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in Northamptonshire, for three hundred years. (B. Franklin p. 2)
As it was mentioned in the previous chapters, the extra-linguistic features include the settings, which are the birth place, or the country, being used in the book and which allows the reader to know about where the author is from. In this example we can see the proof by the words Ecton, Northamptonshire.
They got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a joint-stool. (B. Franklin p. 3)
The linguistic features of the autobiography were given as the use of the past tense forms, an example of which is the given sentence. With the help of past tense form, the reader gets the information exactly, that is to say, when the events happened. It is done in such a way so that the reader will be able to feel the sequence of the events.
Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three children into New England, about 1682. (B. Franklin p. 3)
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