Abstract

ABSTRACT:

Alliteration is, by common scholarly consent, a major stylistic device in Joyce's work. In general, however, most research on the matter has focused on the impressionistic description of specific alliterative passages, with but few exceptions. This should come as no surprise: the intricate network of phonic devices in Joyce's prose makes it difficult to isolate alliteration for exclusive study, let alone analyze it systematically in his oeuvre. It is my contention that corpus-based methods, most specifically corpus stylistics, can cast some light on the use of alliteration for stylistic purposes, with the limitations imposed by the un-phonetic nature of the English language. Thus, the purpose of this essay is to utilize Wordsmith© software tools to map the use of alliteration as a stylistic device in Ulysses. The present study aims both to provide a general overview of the distribution of alliteration in the novel and to identify its "alliterative hotspots."

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