A Corpus Linguistic Approach for Onomastics in Drama

Abstract

Proper names and naming are an integral component of dramatic texts. However, to date, scant and fragmented scholarly attention has been given to the connection between proper names and key dramatic elements—namely, stage directions, characterization, and plot progression. This paper adopts corpus linguistics as a method to show how a corpus linguistic approach to onomastics in drama can, on the one hand, provide analysts with a scoping overview of names and naming in plays, and, on the other hand, offer a richer insight into core dramatic elements. Using as a case study Edward Childs Carpenter’s play The Cinderella-Man (1915), it argues that corpus analysis and visualization techniques such as keyword analysis, frequency analysis, concordance analysis, collocation analysis, and dispersion plot analysis can enrich the study of names and naming in drama. The paper contributes to and extends recent research that has called for the incorporation of corpus linguistic approaches in onomastics research.

Keywords

• corpus linguistics
• literary onomastics
• proper names
• family names
• anthroponomy
• drama