Mind-Modelling in Characterization of Hanif Kureishi's Novels: A Corpus-Based Analysis

Abstract

Cognitive stylistics is the most recent discipline on the interface of linguistics, cognitive science, and literary studies, seeking the integration of language research with cognitive ideas. It helps understand mind-modeling in the characterization of a story by the writer through the use of various intentionally built textual structures. The current study has analyzed the text of Hanif Qureshi’s novel Intimacy with the help of AntConc 3.5.9 to explore the technique of mind-modeling used by the writer in the novel for the development of characters and generation of themes of love and sexual desires. The keywords, collocations and cluster patterns produced by AntConc 3.5.9 have been interpreted by the model of Stockwell and Mahlberg (2015). Findings of the current study show the themes of love and sexual desires through mind-modelling with the help of collocations, clusters and concordance lines of two major keywords and characters of “Susan” and “Victor”.  The linguistic choices and textual structures are highly significant for the development of characters and themes along with the progression of events of the story. The current study may assist in the field of psycholinguistics to evaluate the characters’ psychology, and the author to develop the cognitive process in his piece of literature for a better understanding. It may illustrate a useful relationship between linguistics and literature.