Creativity, Playfulness and Linguistic Carnivalization in James Joyce’s

Summary and final comments
In this study I have tentatively approached the concept of linguistic creativity in Ulysses and how 
that creativity may be handled and analyzed linguistically. The term ‘linguistic creativity’, despite its 
apparent suitability for this subject, is problematic since there is no clear line between ‘mundane’ 
computational creativity and the type of creativity which is (fairly subjectively) valued as original, 
artistically interesting and/or aesthetically pleasing. The specific examples examined here support the 
idea that Joyce’s specific linguistic techniques are used for a variety of different purposes; from an 
artistic viewpoint, they engage and challenge the audience’s aesthetic sensibilities, while from a 
psychological viewpoint, they help to give voice to the unexpressed activity of the mind. In addition, 
they also reflect Joyce’s interest in the relation between language and perception and, as a result, 
they intentionally affect the reader’s cognition of the text, enabling us not only to interrogate the 
relationship between language, thought and reality, but also inviting us to participate in the meaning 
making process and allowing for creative and playful readings.
I have also addressed in this paper the question of the usefulness of corpus methods in 
examining a literary work. Ulysses is a particularly apt and relevant text to examine in this fashion, 
partly since the book is very lengthy and dense by the standards of the typical novel and partly since 
the 18 episodes of the book vary widely in style and register. The application of corpus tools did not, 
unfortunately, yield any interesting statistical data for this particular investigation, but it did allow for 
a much more systematic and comprehensive examination of the language, lending further empirical 
support to the already widely-held view that Ulysses is linguistically noteworthy. In future research, 
further consideration of the effectiveness of concordancing tools in studying literature may help 
provide more insight on the artistic and linguistic talents of authors like James Joyce.

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Document Outline

• Introduction
• Joyce in the context of the Victorian Novel
• What is linguistic creativity?
• Material & Method
• Altered Semiosis: Lexical creativity which affects conceptual reference
• Grammatical metaphors: Lexical creativity with an experiential function
• Wordplay (playfulness)
• Graphological creativity (jumbled spelling)
  • Figureoutable:
  • Notsofigureoutable: iconicity & onomatopoeia
• Linguistic Carnivalization
• Summary and final comments