A Corpus Stylistic and Semiotic Inquiry into Postcolonial Texts: Sampah And Tivi by Shahnon Ahmad

Abstract

This study investigates the intersection of corpus stylistics and semiotic theory as an integrated methodological framework for interpreting postcolonial Malay literature. Focusing on Shahnon Ahmad’s novels Sampah (1974) and Tivi (1995), the research combines quantitative corpus technique such as keyword analysis, collocation mapping, and concordance inspection with qualitative semiotic interpretation to reveal how stylistic patterns encode ideological meanings of identity and moral decay in postcolonial Malaysia. Results indicate prominent lexical clusters of contamination and decay, recurrent religious-moral binaries and the media as a sign of cultural colonization. Semiotic analysis shows these patterns function as signs that both diagnose and resist the cultural consequences of modernity. The study argues that corpus stylistics, when coupled with semiotics, offers a robust model for empirically grounded yet culturally sensitive readings of postcolonial texts, enriching theoretical debates in postcolonial stylistics and digital humanities.