A comparative study of the novel Beloved and its film Adaptation: a multimodal perspective

Abstract EN

As a multi-layered analysis, the present study aims to present a comprehensive investigation of not only modality markers, but also gender-based lexical elements in the selected novel; namely, beloved.

it also aims to make a comparison between the linguistic manifestations of modality and gender in the novel as well as the script of the film.

on the micro-level of the analysis, the study aims to investigate the occurrence and frequency of a number of lexical elements which are related to the issues under study.

on the macro-level of the analysis, ideologies of sex, gender, and race were also examined from both the linguistic and non-linguistic semiotic perspectives.

the study adopts a triangulation of approaches and methodologies; namely, systemic functional linguistics, multimodal critical discourse analysis, and feminist stylistics, which enabled the researcher to use a number of analytical toolkits in order to formulate a detailed explanation of all meanings embedded in both texts.

it provides not only a qualitative description of all the linguistic manifestations related to modality and gender, but also a quantitative account based on the results provided by a concordance software programme.

the data have been analyzed using not only standard statistical techniques, but also a t-test which was used to determine whether there was significant differences between the means of the two texts under study.

results indicated that there was a strong similarity between the frequency of the linguistic elements related to modality and gender in the novel and the script of the film.

non-linguistic elements such as camera techniques and angle types in the film highlighted their conformity with the underlying ideologies in both texts.