Linguistic complexity of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series

• Thesis title in Czech: Jazyková komplexnost knih J.K. Rowlingové o Harry Potterovi
• Thesis title in English: Linguistic complexity of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
• Key words: komplexnost, literatura pro děti, stavba věty a souvětí
• English key words: complexity, children's literature, sentence structure
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2021/2022
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury (41-KAJL)
• Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Markéta Malá, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor, waiting for guarantor's approval
• Date of registration: 03.03.2022
• Date of assignment: 03.03.2022
• Date and time of defence: 18.01.2024 10:00
• Venue of defence: C203/C3, 33 míst u lavice + 4 místa židličky se "stolečkem"
• Date of electronic submission: 03.12.2023
• Date of proceeded defence: 18.01.2024
• Course: Bachelor thesis (OSZD004)
• Opponents: Mgr. Ivana Jančovičová

Guidelines

The thesis will analyse the language of the initial and final volumes of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series from the point of view of language complexity, testing the assumption that the linguistic features of the novels which affect readability are adjusted to the intended readers’ comprehension and reading abilities (Puurtinen 1998).
The thesis will use corpus stylistic methodology to investigate whether the final novels of the series are syntactically and lexically more complex than the initial ones. The criteria of complexity examined will include sentence length; the extent, types and levels of clausal subordination; the use of nonfinite clauses; phrase structure; and type/token ratios (Bulté and Housen 2012). The methods will comprise frequency lists and keyword analysis, lexical bundles, and detailed examination of samples of text (Stubbs 2014).

References

Biber, D. et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Bland, Janice. 2013. Harry Potter and Critical Cultural Literacy. In Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment: Children and Teenagers in English Language Education, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cuni/detail.action?docID=1274351.
Bulté, B. and Housen, A. 2012. Defining and operationalising L2 complexity. In Housen, A. Kuiken, F. and Vedder, I. (eds) Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 21-46.
Montoro, R. 2018. Investigating Simplicity in Popular Fiction. A corpus Sylistic Approach. In Page, R., Busse, B. and Nørgaard, N. (eds) Rethinking Language, Text and Context: Interdisciplinary Research in Stylistics in Honour of Michael Toolan. London and New York: Routledge. 63-78.
Montoro, R. and McIntyre, D. 2019. Subordination as a potential marker of complexity in serious and popular fiction: a corpus stylistic approach to the testing of literary critical claims. Corpora, 14(3), 275-299.
Puurtinen, T. 1998. Syntax, Readability and Ideology in Children's Literature. Meta, 43(4), 524-533.
Stubbs, M. 2014. Quantitative methods in literary linguistics. In Stockwell, P. and Whiteley, S. (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Stylistics. Cambridge: Cambridge Universtity Press. 46-62.