House M.D. and creativity : a corpus linguistic systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis approach

Abstract

This present study has examined the use of creative language / linguistic creativity, i.e pattern-reforming and pattern-forming creativity as defined by Carter (2004), in the television drama dialogue of House M.D., and has investigated its correlation with semiotic modes using a combination of corpus linguistic and systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SFMDA) approach. Based on Halliday's (1985; 2010) systemic functional theory, this study has also proposed two new analytical frameworks to explore and describe linguistic creativity from a systemic functional perspective: the Creativity-In-Register Cube Framework (CIRCF) combines theories from Carter's (2004) creativity matrix, Poynton's (1985) three continua of tenor and Matthiessen's (2009; 2015b) registerial cartography to form a multi-dimensional descriptive model for the representation of the probabilistic nature of linguistic creativity; the Analytical Framework for Creativity in Multimodal Texts (AFCMT) builds upon the notion of Halliday's (1967) information status 'new' and 'given' and Halliday and Matthiessen's (1999 [2006]) reference to establish the concept of Implicit (Assumed) & Explicit (Known), Endo-referenced & Exo-referenced (IEEE), which classifies creativity in terms of implicitness and reference type, and the Cline of Creativity Complexity (CCC), which explains the degree of creativity complexity using the concept of IEEE. Regarding the SFMDA approach, this study has adopted Halliday and Matthiessen's ([1985] 2014) analysis of interpersonal meanings through SPEECH FUNCTION and MOOD analysis, as well as Bednarek's (2010) multimodal analysis of mise-en-scene, nonverbal behaviour and acting. This study has demonstrated the steps and effectiveness in the computer-assisted extraction of linguistic creativity, and how statistical measures such as t-score and MI value may improve efficiency of the extraction process. Quantitative and qualitative analyses have revealed that several multimodal resources in House M.D. are involved in the construal of interpersonal meanings at the moments of linguistic creativity production, and that they are closely related to conversation type (register), field of activity / socio-semiotic process (field), location (field) and power (tenor).