A Corpus-Assisted Analysis of Silent Spring from the Discourse-Historical Perspective

Abstract

Silent Spring, an ecological work written by Rachel Carson, symbolizes the inception of the modern environmentalist movement since it reveals the astonishing and catastrophic consequences brought by the abuse of insecticides without beautification. The work struck the whole world and brought environmental protection to attention through its powerful arguments and rigorous logic. As a problem-oriented approach, the discourse-historical approach (DHA) examines a discourse from three aspects, namely context, discourse and text. This study integrates quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the linguistic features of Silent Spring within the theoretical framework of DHA. It is found that the work centers around the abuse of insecticides and utilizes the nomination strategy and predicate strategy to present a negative image of human beings. In doing so, the writer opposes anthropocentrism and constructs her ecological holism thoughts in this work.