ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to discuss three intriguing examples of the language of Charles Dickens, about each of which the same interrelated set of claims can be made. First of all, these examples - one each from Hard Times (1854), Great Expectations (1860-1), and David Copperjield (1849-50) - involve the reader in being very keenIy conscious of his or her experience while reading. All three involve the reader in becoming aware of having to make some kind of readjustment of understanding while reading, with this recognition being centrally significant for how the reader finally understands (and appreciates) the piece involved. The reader's unsettled experience (whether it consists of being disconcerted progressively, or of being kept in a prolonged state of uncertainty, or of being forced drastically to readjust or cancel expectations) becomes a principal means of recognizing meanings and effects associated with the text. Finally, and very significantly, the reader's accommodating experience can be shown, in all three cases, to be involved with - in a very clear sense, to be about - the processing of subtle lexicogrammatical arrangements.
