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A Presuppositional Study on the Thriller Effects in the Lost Symbol

Author: LiYunLi
Tutor: WuJun
School: Shandong University
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: presupposition thriller effects optimal relevance schema mental space
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Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 11
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Abstract

As one of the newest fictions written by the famous thriller writer Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol has been commented highly by the American media as well as the readers across the world since its sensational release on September 15,2009. This thesis aims at a presuppositional study on the thriller effects in The Lost Symbol by employing the theory of presupposition triggers, Relevance theory, Mental Space theory and Schema theory.Presupposition is an effective angle to study literary effects of novels. Previous studies focus more on the sentential analysis of the literary effects than on the supra-sentential level or the discoursal level. And more than that, presuppositions are mainly used to study comic effects rather than thriller effects in most cases. Lately, however, more and more scholars and linguists continue to put efforts in both directions which provide references for and ultimately make it possible to carry out the present study.Levison’s summary of the 13 presupposition triggers is taken as the core of presupposition phenomenon, based on which the analysis of the thriller effects is carried out at the sentential level. By the work of optimal relevance in the inferential communication, readers infer the information that the author of the novel intends to convey through the manifest information provided by the presuppositions. Then at the supra-sentential perspective, a certain set of presuppositions can provide sufficient information to activate a schema whereas the floating of mental spaces explains how the presuppositions move to fill in the slots holding by the activated schemas or how the information of various kinds including the presupposition is assimilated by an activated schema.Through this presuppositional analysis of the thriller effects at the two levels, the present study comes to the following findings:First, the presuppositional analysis at the sentential level is conducted from the two perspectives:the presuppositions triggered by the lexical terms and the ones triggered by the syntactic structures. The lexical presupposition triggers produce certain presuppositions as well as express them in their own way. Such presupposition triggers as (in)definite articles and factive predicates are more widely used than any of the other lexical triggers. Presuppositions triggered by the noun phrases provide the most basic information to build the fictional worlds, depending on which the novel successfully sets out to create the expected cognitive effects. In the help of the factive predicates, the narrator of the novel expresses characters’ consciousness and beliefs, by which something beyond reality is delivered in the form of presupposition, building fictional worlds as if they are real. In this way, the reading of the novel becomes more effective and interesting.As for the syntactic structures, the presupposition triggers render the presuppositions special means of expression while connecting more information. Questions and temporal clauses are the most widely used syntactic structures. A sense of uncertainty could always be conjured up by the question triggers, leaving readers to search for optimal relevance in different directions, whereas the presuppositions triggered by the temporal clauses are covered deeper by the temporal relations than those by most of the others, the implicitness created by which often catches readers off guard.Second, at the supra-sentential level, presuppositions activate schemas which in turn assimilate various types of information. A set of presuppositions cooperatively activate a relative schema rendering a whole discourse expected contextual effects. The assimilation of the expected or unexpected information by the activated schemas also creates emotional peaks and lulls on the readers’ side.In sum, through the study, the author tentatively explains how the presuppositional mechanism works at the two levels to create the thriller effects. Hopefully the study may shed lights on the presuppositional study on other literary effects at the discoursal level. Part of the author’s hope is also pinned on the appreciation of the novel from the special perspective.

A Presuppositional Study on the Thriller Effects in the Lost Symbol

Abstract

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