DOCUMENT RESUME ED 353 844 FL 020 98] AUTHOR Rodger, Liam TITLE Tense, Aspect and the Busconductor Hines--The Literary Function of Non-Standard Language in the Fiction of James Kelman. REPORT NO ISSN-0959-2253 PUB DATE 92 NOTE 10p.; For serial issue in which this paper appears, see FL 020 971. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT Edinburgh Working Papers in Linguistics; n3 p116-123 1992 EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *English; *Fiction; Foreign Countries; *Literary Styles; *Nonstandard Dialects; *Tenses (Grammar) IDENTIFIERS *Kelman (James) ABSTRACT The fiction of James Kelman is clearly not written in standard literary English. This paper examines some of the different ways in which the language of his novels and stories diverges from standard English, and discusses the extent tc which these divergences contribute to his stated literary aims. It will be argued that Kelman in his fiction, is developing a literary language that is neither "standard" nor "dialect," but trades on both in pursuit of specific literary ends. (Contains 13 references.) (Author) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************** Tense Aspect and the Busconductor Hines- the Literary Function of Non-Standard Language in the Fiction of James Kelman Liam Rodger (DAL) REPRODUCE THIS U S OLOARTIAENTOF EDUCATION Research and improvement 'PERMISSION TO BY Office or Educat,oar BEEN GRANTED INFORMATION MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES CENTER (ERIC) as his document hasbeen reproduced ecerved from theperson or organ,zatroe 0,9,W,nd been made to .mpfeve Minor changes have reproduction ouafity stared 0 msdocu Po.nts ol v.ew or op.n.onsrepresent oft,' .a RESOURCES TO THEEDUCATIONAL mere do not necessanlv CENTER (ERIC).- OE Rt DOS.b0', pr 00,,C y INFORMATION BEST COPYAVAILABLE TENSE, ASPECT AND THE BUSCONDUCTOR HINES - THE LITERARY FUNCTION OF NON-STANDARD LANGUAGE IN THE FICTION OF JAMES KELMAN Liam Rodger (DAL) Abstract The fiction of James Kelman is clearly not written in standard literary English. This paper examines some of the different ways in which the language of his novels and stories diverges from standard English, and discusses the extent to which these divergences contribute to his stated literary aims.Itwill be argued that Kelman,in his fiction,is developing a literary language which is neither 'standard' nor 'dialect', but trades on both in pursuit of specific literary ends. 1. Introduction 1.1 The fiction of James Kelman The recent writing of James Kelman, and particularlyhis novels, has excited considerable comment on the issue of his use of "dialect".1This has ranged from the perhaps apocryphal story of a Booker Prize judge expressing astonishment at a novel "written in Glasgow dialect" being entered for the competition, to more scholarly remarks in approval of the innovative use of dialect as a narrative medium. This paper aims to provide a preliminary exploration of the issue of Kelman's use of dialect in literary narrative by relating such use to the author's declared intentions, and analysing sections of text in the light of these. 1.2 Dialect in narrative fiction: options There are a number of contrasting ways in which non-standard dialect might make its appearance in a fictional text. Perhaps the commonest is "dialect as special guest". The use of non-standard forms occurs only in dialogue, so the utterances of the non-standard dialect speaker are in sharp contrast with the surrounding narrative text,lexically, grammatically and/or orthographically. There may be a contrast between the language of such speakers and that of other characters, who may use, in their utterances, a language much more closely identifiable with the language of the narrative text. In sum, here the non-standard dialect appears in island-like chunks in a sea of standard-variety prose. Whether the dialect - speaker is introduced to provide mere local colour or comic relief, or an uplifting blast of old-time peasant virtue, the sociolinguistic point remains: s /he is not 'one of us' - the class of people who read and write novels. The locus classicus for this use of dialect in Scottish literature is, of course, Scott. Dickens has both comic (e.g. Sam Weller in Pickwick Papers) and tragic variants (e.g. Stephen Blackpool :lard Times). Hardy, who grew up as a non-standard dialect s',eaker, is another writer who includes "dialect" speech on this basis. There is a sharp EDINBURGH WORKING PAPERS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS, number 3 (199p ISSN 0959.2253 a contrast between the rustic speech of the villagers in anovel such as Under the Greenwood Tree and the circumambient fustian novelese which Hardyadopted for his narrative. A second possibility (covering a wide range of potential variation)is for the narrative prose to begin to take on the characteristics of thedialect of the characters. The best known examples of this type in the Scottish literature of this centery arethe Scots Quair novels by Grassic Gibbon. The distance cr ted by standard dialect prosenarrative constantly being set against the non-standard dialect speech of the charactersis thus avoided - albeit at the cost of what might at first seem a certain quaintness erpreciosity about the text. Local instances of the narrative text "taking on" dialectfeatures can also be found in Dickens. A variant of this approach is found in multiple-narrator novels, where we aretaught to identify the distinctive 'voice' of different characters. In such texts,however, non- standard features of the language are then identified with the thought-and speech-styles of the characters - the authority of standard-variety 'objective'language may not be directly challenged, or may even be used elsewhere in the text. In contrast, partof the power and resonance of Gibbon's narrative style inSunset Song comes from the reader's frequent uncertainty as to the source of the narrative voiceis it the 'voice' of Chris, the main character, of an unidentified gossip, or isit representative of the community consensus? At any rate, by eschewing the authority andimpersonality which would be conferred by adherence to the standard language, the narrativevoice pointedly does not establish a position which is set over against the characters of thenovel and their world. A further move away from standard narrative text is instancedby the consistent use of marked dialect lexis, grammar and phonology (the last throughorthography) in the narrative prose as well as the dialogue. Novel-length texts of this type are rare,but Tom Leonard's Honest (collected in Intimate Voices) is a short discursive textin this mode, while James Kelman's Nice to be nice (in Not not while theGiro) is a narrative monologue in this fashion. Here the radical divergence from thestandard norm is clear in every line: A hid tae stoap 2 flerrs up tae git ma breath back. A'm no asbad as A wis bit A'm still no right; that bronchitis - Jesus Christ, Ahid it bad. Hid tae stoap work cause iv it. Good joab A hid tae, thelorry drivin. Hid tae chuck it bit. (31) Such we ks are often given the accolade of tour de force -perhaps because it is felt that using dialect to produce a text of interest to the standard-literate mustin itself be a rare achievement - what other literary use could it have but as theoccasion for stylistic pirouettes? 2. Kelman's use of dialect Kelman has been explicit about his literary intentions. He hasagreedthat one of his aims is to call into question a mode of writing based on an authoritativenarrative voice: 117 KM: You've stated that you are trying to obliterate the narrator, to get rid of the narrative voice. .1K: Not every narrative voice, just the standard third party one, the ore that most people don't think of as a 'voice' at all - except maybe the voice of God - and they take for granted that itis unbiased and objective. But it's no such thing. (McNeill 1989:4) He aims for a true objectivity in his narrative 'so that nobody else is going to be oppressed or colonised by it' (ibid.)2. He cites Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh as exponents of the sort of narrative he wishes to avoid: none of them seems to have bothered working out that this 'third party voice'they use totelltheir storiesistotally biased and elitist, economically secure, eats good food and plenty of it, is upper middle- class paternalist. (op.cit.:5) Turning now to the means by which he intends to achieve this aim of objectivity, we should note thatNice to be niceis in fact practically unique in Kelman's work. It is the only example (easily available) of the sustained use of non-standard dialect as a medium for prose narrative. An examination of some other short texts of his provides clues as to the true nature of his use of English as a literary language. Inundeciphered tremorsor ONE SUCH PREPARATION(inGreyhound forbreakfast)for example, we find qualification and digression piling up on one another to the point where the text appears torisk losing any meaningitmight have looked like having. The hedges and qualifications are specifically and inevitably written, standard forms, but here, by virtue of being largely emptied of meaning, they become symbolic of the linguistic authority Kelman criticises in the interview quoted above - one which prevails by form rather than substance. In such short texts (and also in passages in the novels), we find a negative critique of the forms of public, standard, written narrative English style. Let us take his latest novel,A Disaffection, and examine its language to investigate the positive role of non-standard dialect in Kelman's writing.