A Corpus-Based Comparative Study of Experiential Perspective in Native and Pakistani English Short Stories

Abstract

Scholars have undertaken a comparative analysis of native and non-native English literature to examine how grammatical patterns influence the presentation of experiential perspective. Native writers often opt for a straightforward and easily understood approach when shaping their experiential perspective. This research delves into the utilization of the experiential meta-function by native and Pakistani English short story authors, seeking to discern the relationship between transitivity profiles and the experiential perspective conveyed in their respective short stories. Employing the UAM Corpus Tool (O’Donnell, 2008), we manually analyzed the corpora of a native English short story and a Pakistani English short story. These texts were subsequently interpreted in accordance with Halliday's theoretical framework for the experiential meta-function of language (2014). The findings revealed that native writers incorporated a greater number of processes and participants in their narratives compared to Pakistani writers. In contrast, Pakistani writers employed more circumstantial elements. This divergence underscores that native writers tend to adopt a more tangible and concrete approach, resulting in a narrative that is simpler and easier for readers to comprehend. On the contrary, Pakistani writers tend to favor a more abstract and philosophical approach, rendering their narratives more intricate and complex. The straightforward sentence structures employed by native writers serve to enhance the clarity, comprehension, and fluidity of events within their stories. This study bears significant implications for pedagogy. It has the potential to assist students in understanding the role of transitivity analysis in shaping the experiential perspective within a text.