Linguistic portrait of a teenager in the epistolary novel (based on “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” By S. Chbosky)
DOI 10.51955/2312-1327_2022_3_111
Abstract. The paper contains analysis of linguistic means employed by the author of an epistolary novel to characterize the personages through their speech. According to the hypothesis at the beginning of the research, the genre of an epistolary novel requires specific means of speech characterization. The result of the analysis of the narrator’s speech in the novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by S. Chbosky proved that syntactic means predominate in the linguistic portrait of a character. The novel consisting of personal letters, the linguistic portrait of the narrator seems to be the most elaborate one. Fragmented dialogues, included into the narrative, serve as the base for the principle of analogy and contrast between the main and minor personages. Linguistic portraits of teenagers in the novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by S. Chbosky are based on the same principle. Typical adolescent speech characterized by elliptical structures, a wide use of slang and even obscene words is opposed to Charlie’s structurally complete speech where he finds it difficult to include colloquial words. As the linguistic portrait of the main character approaches the stereotypical characteristics of teenage speech, he moves to the end of the process of his socialization.
Key words: speech portrait, speech characterization, linguistic means, epistolary novel, literary character, linguistic portrait of a personage.
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