ABSTRACT
From the definition in Chapter 4, the group of Labels might have appeared as a rather heterogeneous category that almost seems to collect what does not fit the other groups easily. Surface criteria for Labels can apply to the form of the cluster (it contains a name or is part of an expression that is used in a way similar to a name) or to its distribution or both. In addition, Labels relate to the more striking repeated phrases associated with characters that are typically discussed in literary criticism. Similarly, Dickens’s ‘character-revealing’ names (Paroissien 2000: 80) have not gone unnoticed, as critics explore the potential of names and forms of address to indicate social status and relationships between characters (e.g., Bottum 1995). More generally, Toolan (2001: 113, note 3) points out that “[t]here seems almost a compulsion, in both authors and readers, to make character names message-bearing”. He describes names as ‘encapsulating’: they have trait-evoking effects and trigger recall of the features associated with characters. The present chapter will show that Labels bring together similarities and relationships between local textual functions associated with different groups of clusters, as discussed in previous chapters. By viewing Labels with regard to a continuum of contextualising and highlighting functions, they become part of a larger functional picture. Section 8.1 looks at subgroups of Labels as well as links of those with other cluster groups. Section 8.2 will then focus on the character Rigaud in LD and present an extended example to demonstrate how Labels are part of a network of meaning relations in the creation of characters.
