Referential Expressions, Syntactic Functions and Semantic Roles: A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of James Joyce's "Ulysses" and "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"

This thesis examines the representation of Stephen Dedalus through nominal and pronominal endophoric references in the first chapter of "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and the first chapter of "Ulysses". The study reports on the range and frequency of occurrence of referential expressions, pointing out the extent to which they overlap in the two novels, and the extent to which they are unique to each novel. Besides drawing interpretive implications from the frequency patterns of references, the study also explores the syntactic and semantic roles played by the referents of the noun phrases denoting Stephen, and highlights and their narrative significance. The data comprise all referential expressions denoting Stephen (741 tokens in "A Portrait"; 802 in "Ulysses"), which are analysed for parts of speech, clause-level syntactic role, semantic role, and process type within Halliday’s systemic-functional framework. The findings show both continuity and divergence. "A Portrait" relies heavily on third-person pronouns and perception-oriented roles (Senser), portraying Stephen as an externally narrated and introspective figure. "Ulysses", in contrast, employs a wider range of forms, including first- and second-person pronouns, proper names, and descriptive noun phrases, with a stronger focus on action- and speech-oriented roles (Actor, Sayer). These contrasts highlight Joyce’s stylistic evolution from "Bildungsroman" narration to modernist experimentation.