CONTENTS
Introduction1: The Genre of Autobiography2: Linguistic and Extra-linguistic Features of Autobiographical Genre and their Analysis in B. Franklins Autobiography
INTRODUCTION
aim of this thesis paper is to determine the linguistic and extra-linguistic features of autobiographical genre. In general autobiography is a work about the life of a person, written by that person. Derived from three Greek words meaning self , life , and write , autobiography is a style of writing that has been around nearly as long as history has been recorded. Autobiography is usually a story one tells about oneself. It would not naturally follow then that the writer would recount his or her past from a second or third person perspective. When authors write about their past, it is not free from emotions. Revealing character s intentions, thoughts, and emotions is another way that the narrator evaluates why events occurred as they did. By explaining what happened in the past, the author is able to express to the reader how the self evolved. The self-now is the person he or she because of the events of the past. Autobiography is a way to organize the story of a life and reflect on the past in order to better understand the present. Autobiography is a genre in which the use of linguistic and extra-linguistic features can be equally observed. Linguistic features are as follows: the category of modality (subjective), the category of retrospection, the first point of view of the author, past perfect, past indefinite, the future in the past tense, and modal verbs. The settings of the narrative, the process of sharing information, situations, and the attitude of the writer are all described as extra-linguistic features used in autobiographical narrative. to this paper is the analysis of the linguistic and extra-linguistic features in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin s autobiography is one of the best examples of the autobiographical genre. Franklin s book defines itself as an autobiography in its title the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin . He s not messing with his audience or changing up the genre-his book s not radical in the way at all. Instead, he s helping to set the standard of what an autobiography, is, can, or should be, rather than subverting that standard. As for the structure of this paper it includes two chapters, conclusion and bibliography. The first chapter reveals the peculiarities of the genre of a...
