The Linguistic Profile of Horror/Suspense/ Mystery Movie Dialogues Over Time
Palavras-chave:
horror, suspense, mystery, American movies, corpus linguisticsResumo
Horror/suspense/mystery movies have been produced since the inception of cinema. However, the literature on the description of their spoken language and how such language contributes to frighten, scare, and leave viewers hanging on the edge of their seat is scarce. Works on the subject tend to focus either on how to produce a good script for the genre or on the genesis of fear and/or suspense. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by intertwining a section of two studies on the spoken language of movies (Veirano Pinto; Cortes, 2018; Veirano Pinto; Berber Sardinha, 2019), which used a corpus linguistics framework, with their typical narrative plots and considerations on the cognitive dimension of feelings of horror and suspense. Results show that communication, cognitive and speech act verbs, together with adverbials and questions, are responsible for the expression of characters’ emotions and the engagement and frightening of viewers.
Downloads
Referências
ANABELLE: Creation. Directed by David F. Sandberg. [S. l.]: New Line Cinema, 2017.
ARISTÓTELES. Poética: tradução, prefácio, introdução, comentário e apêndices de Eudoro de Sousa. Trad. Eudoro de Sousa. 4. ed. [S. l.]: Imprensa Nacional, Casa da Moeda, 1994. 319p.
BARTHES, R. Image Music Text. London: Fontana Press, 1977. 220p.
BERBER SARDINHA, T.; VEIRANO PINTO, M. Predicting American Movie Genre Categories from Linguistic Characteristics. Journal of Research Design and Statistics in Linguistics and Communication Science, v. 2, n. 1, p. 75-102, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1558/jrds.v2i1.27515.
BIBER, D. A Typology of English Texts. Linguistics, v. 27, p. 3-43, 1989. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ ling.1989.27.1.3.
BIBER, D. et al. If You Look at…: Lexical Bundles in University Teaching and Textbooks. Applied Linguistics, v. 25, n. 3, p. 371-405, 2004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/25.3.371.
BIBER, D. et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Pearson, 1999. 487p.
BIBER, D. University Language: A Corpus-Based Study of Spoken and Written Registers. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2006. 261p.
BIBER, D.; BARBIERI, F. Lexical Bundles in University Spoken and Written Registers. English for Specific Purposes, v. 26, n. 3, p. 263-86, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2006.08.003.
BOTTING, F. Gothic. 2. ed. London; New York: Routledge, 2013. 240p.
BRAM Stoker’s Dracula. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. [S. l.]: Columbia Pictures, 1992.
CARROL, N. The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Heart. New York; London: Routledge, 1990. 256p.
DEMONIC. Directed by Will Canon. [S. l.]: Dimension Films, 2015.
DRACULA Untold. Directed by Gary Shore. [S. l.]: Universal Pictures, 2014.
DR. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. [S. l.]: Paramount Pictures, 1931.
DUTRA, D. P.; BERBER SARDINHA, T. The Role of Corpus Linguistics in EAP. In: SARMENTO, S.; REBECHI, R.; MATTE M. L. (ed.). English for Academic Purposes: Reflections, Description and Pedagogy. Porto Alegre: Editora Zouk, 2024. p. 14-54.
FILMSITE LLC. Homepage. [S. l.: s. n.]: 1996-2025. Available at: http://www.filmsite.org. Accessed on: 09 Sept. 2025.
FORCHINI, P. Movie Language Revisited: Evidence from Multi-Dimensional Analysis and Corpora. Bern: Peter Lang AG, 2012. 142p.
HELM, R. Complete Catharsis. [S. l.], 2021. Available at: https://www.jtdschool.org/newsdetail?
pk=1161687. Accessed on: 16 Aug. 2024.
KOZLOFF, S. Overhearing Film Dialogue. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. 323p.
LOVECRAFT, H. P. Supernatural Horror in Literature. Abergele: The Palingenesis Project (Wermod and Wermod Publishing Group), 2013. 212p.
OPENSUBTITLES.ORG. Homepage. [S. l.: s. n.], 2006-2025. Available at: http://www.opensubtitles.org. Accessed on: 09 Sep. 2025.
ORTONY, A.; CLORE, G.; COLLINS, A. The Cognitive Structure of Emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 293p.
PSYCHO. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. [S. l.]: Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, 1960.
SCHNEIDER, S. J. (ed.). 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die. London: Barron’s, 2009. 415p.
THE HITCHER. Directed by Robert Harmon. [S. l.]: HBO Pictures, 1986.
THE RING. Directed by Gore Verbinski. [S. l.]: DreamWorks Pictures, 2002.
VEIRANO PINTO, M.; BERBER SARDINHA, T. A Text Typology of American Movie Dialogues. In: INTERNATIONAL CORPUS LINGUISTICS CONFERENCE, 10., 2019, Cardiff.
VEIRANO PINTO, M.; CORTES, V. Lexical Bundles Across North American Movie Genres: Discursive
Functions and Levels of Routinization. In: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR CORPUS LINGUISTICS, 14., 2018, Atlanta.
ZAGO, R. From Originals to Remakes: Colloquiality in English Film Dialogue Over Time. Roma: Bonanno Editore, 2016. 195p.
ZILLMANN, D. Anatomy of Suspense. In: TANNENBAUM, P. H. (ed.). The Entertainment Functions of Television. London: Psychology Press, 1980. p. 133-157.
Downloads
Publicado
Edição
Seção
Licença
Copyright (c) 2025 Marcia Veirano Pinto, Tiago Marcondes Valente
Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Autores de artigos publicados pela RBLA mantêm os direitos autorais de seus trabalhos, licenciando-os sob a licença Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0, que permite que os artigos sejam reutilizados e distribuídos sem restrição, desde que o trabalho original seja corretamente citado.
