By Bill Gaither
On April 24, 2024, members gathered via Zoom to hear an expanded version of Sue Scott’s insightful and entertaining talk, “Is My Idiolect Showing? Individualized Speech Patterns in Austen’s Novels,” which Sue originally delivered at the 2023 JASNA Annual General Meeting (AGM).
This talk discusses the distinctive speech patterns, or idiolects, that Jane Austen created for her characters. The primary focus is on Pride and Prejudice, which was the novel that was studied at the 2023 AGM, but the discussion touches on characters from all of Austen’s novels.
COMPUTATION INTO CRITICISM
The first half of the talk drew on John Frederick Burrows’s influential work, Computation into Criticism: A Study of Jane Austen’s Novels and an Experiment in Method (1987), in which Burrows combined literary analysis with computer-driven statistical analysis to study the direct speech (exactly quoted spoken or written speech) of forty-eight characters across Jane Austen’s novels.
Burrows found that Mr. Collins of Pride and Prejudice utters the pronoun she with greater frequency than any other character of all the novels, owing to his singular devotion to his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Rather symmetrically, Lady Catherine uses the pronoun I with greater frequency than any other character. As to we, us, and our, Burrows found that Lady Catherine uses these inclusive pronouns least among the characters of all the novels, while the gregarious Admiral Croft of Persuasion uses them most. Interestingly, Mrs. Elton of Emma uses we, us, and our to claim status or power: “We cannot allow you to fetch your own letters.”
Characters who use the intensifiers very and quite with great frequency tend to be persons not entirely possessed of steely resolve: Mary Musgrove of Persuasion, Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey, Lady Bertram of Mansfield Park, and Harriet Smith and Mr. Woodhouse of Emma.
In contrast, authoritarian characters eschew intensifiers and rank high in the use of second-person pronouns, as when Sir Thomas Bertram admonishes Fanny for refusing Henry Crawford’s offer of marriage: “I had thought you peculiarly free from willfulness of temper, self-conceit. . . . But you have now shown me that you can be willful and perverse. . . .” Other speakers with “authoritarian idiolects” are Mr. Bennet and Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Although the average sentence length for most of the characters in Pride and Prejudice is 11-17 words, the verbose Mr. Collins has an average sentence length of 29 words! The relatively high average sentence lengths of Mrs. Gardiner (18.1) and Mr. Darcy (18.0) reflect the fact that both have occasion to write long letters. A character’s “epistolary idiolect” typically has a greater average sentence length than his or her spoken idiolect.
Sue emphasized that she had discussed only a very small part of the extensive findings of Burrows in Computation into Criticism. She also provided links to two websites that are helpful in exploring the use of particular words and phrases in Jane Austen’s works or for finding elusive quotations. Both sites miss a few words, so it is a good idea to check both:
- Austen Said (Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln), https://austen.unl.edu
- The Republic of Pemberley, https://pemberley.co
TRANSITION
The second half of the talk focused on several topics that are closely related to idiolects: the social conventions of personal address and reference; verbal patterns that indicate untrustworthiness; and characters who have no direct speech.
SOCIAL CONVENTIONS OF PERSONAL ADDRESS AND REFERENCE
Some characters transgress the conventions of personal address and reference in an attempt to assert an imagined social superiority. Caroline Bingley can correctly refer to Elizabeth Bennet as “Miss Elizabeth Bennet,” but instead she uses a nickname: “Miss Eliza Bennet . . . despises cards.” She even drops the “Miss”: “How very ill Eliza Bennet looks this morning.” Caroline should address Elizabeth as “Miss Elizabeth Bennet,” but instead frequently addresses her as “Miss Eliza” to assert her own supposed superiority.
A male acquaintance may lose his gentlemanly prefix if his conduct no longer warrants his station. Caroline Bingley demeaningly refers to Mr. Wickham as “George Wickham,” but she may do so because she is vaguely aware that he has an unsavory history. However, Elizabeth and Jane Bennet correctly refer to George Wickham as “Mr. Wickham” until they become aware of his misdeeds; then he becomes “Wickham.”
UNTRUSTWORTHY CHARACTERS
Jane Austen uses slang words, pet words and phrases, or exaggeration to indicate that a character might be untrustworthy in some way.
Although it was not considered proper for a young lady to utter slang words, some of Jane Austen’s female characters do so, as well as some male characters. Lydia Bennet uses “fun,” a slang word in Austen’s day, eight times in Pride and Prejudice. Another slang word, “horrid,” is used by a number of female characters (Mrs. Bennet and others) and several male characters. Mrs. Elton of Emma uses the jarringly out-of-date phrase caro sposo several times (possibly incorrectly).
Another indicator of untrustworthiness is the repetition of pet words or phrases. Mr. Elton uses the pet phrase “Exactly so” six times in Emma. Pet words that are used by several characters, male or female, include “amazingly,” “Lord!” and its derivatives, and “La!”
A third way to indicate a character flaw is exaggeration. Characters who exaggerate include Frank Churchill, Lydia Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, Caroline Bingley, and preeminently Mr. Collins.
CHARACTERS WHO DO NOT SPEAK
Jane Austen creates several characters who have no direct speech. In Persuasion, Captain Benwick’s words to Anne Elliot are summarized rather than reported exactly, perhaps to suggest that his professions of grief are without great substance. In Pride and Prejudice, Georgiana Darcy’s speechlessness indicates her shyness. Anne de Bourgh’s speechlessness indicates the overpowering effect of her mother’s constant and imperious speech.
Next Up
Our next meeting is taking place May 5th, and we’ll have JASNA President Mary Mintz with us as she discusses Jane Austen’s representation in American periodicals; you can learn more and register here. On May 18th at 2 p.m., we’ll have a casual meetup at Filament in Mebane, NC for tea, coffee, and conversation; let us know if you’d like to join the fun! In June, we’ll be having our Virtual Book Club, reading Austen’s unfinished manuscript The Watsons; you can register here.