Lexical and Rhetorical Features in The Time Machine: A Corpus-stylistic Analysis

Abstract

Corpus stylistics is the study of style by applying linguistic theory and the corpus-based approach. Therefore it combines qualitative and quantitative study. This study adopts the stylistic theory of Leech and Short (2007) and the corpus-based approach to analyze the science fiction The Time Machine. By using the corpus tools WordSmith 7.0 and AntConc, the lexical features and rhetorical features are extracted. Then the writing style and the theme are discussed. Therefore, the research enriches the empirical study of corpus-based fiction stylistics and encourages the appreciation of science fiction in the early times.