Abstract:

The tales of two cities is considered one of dickens’ most influential work in the
history of literature. The aim of this paper is to analyze the stylistic features of
Charles Dicken’s short story The tales of two cities as passages both in English
and Arabic . Theory followed to study the features of language in this story is
the theory as propounded by Leech et al.(1981). The paper first of all gives a
brief introduction to the author, a brief account of the story, and then it presents
an overview of stylistics and the tools to be applied in the analysis. On the basis
of the proposed theory a comprehensive analysis of the story in terms of lexical
categories and figurative language (tropes and grammatical and lexical).
Finally after individually analyzing each passage a contrastive analysis is
performed to both and then a conclusion of the study , discusses the main
findings of the research .This paper is not written with a view to depict an
overall picture of the writing style of Charles Dicken’s as a writer, for even
those text linguists as eminent as Geoffrey N. Leech and Michael H .Short
(1981) maintain that it is difficult to generalize about the style of an author. The
main objective of this paper is, therefore, to find out the artistic beauty of the
story through the writer’s choice of language.

1. Introduction: An overview of Stylistics:

Stylistic analysis is a mean of linking both linguistics and literary criticism as it

provides a way of mediating between the two subjects ( Widdowson, 1975: 3ff).
while leech (1981) define stylistics as “a linguistic approach to literature,
explaining the relation between language and artistic function, with motivating
questions such as “why” and “how” more than “what”. He specifies that these
motivating questions are not so much what as why and how. From the linguist’s
angle, it is ‘Why does the author here choose this form of expression? ’From the
literary critic’s viewpoint, it is ‘How is such-and-such an aesthetic effect
achieved through language?’ (Leech& short, 2007:11).

This view had been confirmed later on by short (1996:2) as he describes literary
criticism as the “core” task for the critic to interpret (explicate) literary texts and
judge them as well as considering other factors as the socio-cultural
background, author’s life, and experience. He proceeds to define the core as the
major parts that will lead to an extensive linguistic analysis. On the other hand

1
Simpson (2004:3) emphasized the importance of stylistics as a mean to explore,
specifically explore creativity in language use. He further suggested that
stylistics has to be rigorous, retrievable, and replicable (ibid).

Thornborrow (1998:2) highlights the idea of stylistics being the selection of

certain forms or features over other possible ones. Crystal and Davy (1969:10)
give an idea about those features by stating,’’ Any bit of speech or writing
which a person can single out from the general flow of language and discuss- a
particular word, part of word, sequence of words, or way of uttering a word.’’;
Both according to function and social-context.

Nevertheless, the goal of stylistics is not simply to describe the formal features
of texts but also to show their functional significance by providing a detailed
description of a specific style in a specific context as well as the examination of
grammar, lexis, semantics, phonology, and other stylistic devices (Niazi and
Guatam, 2010:109).

Although stylistics is often thought of as ‘the linguistic characteristics of a

particular text’ (Leech & Short 2007: 11). It mainly investigates how readers
interact with the language of (mainly literary) texts in order to explain how we
understand and are affected by texts when we read them.

1.1. The Author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English
writer and social critic.  the son of a clerk at the Navy Pay Office. His
father, John Dickens, continually living beyond his means, was imprisoned for
debt in the Marshalsea in 1824. 12-year-old Charles was removed from school
and sent to work at a boot-blacking factory, earning six shillings a week to help
support the family. This dark experience cast a shadow over the clever, sensitive
boy that became a defining experience in his life (Chesterton, 2007:100–126)

This childhood poverty and feelings of abandonment, although unknown to his

readers until after his death, would be a heavy influence on Dickens' later views
on social reform and the world he would create through his fiction. He created
some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally
regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his
works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century, his literary

2
genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short
stories continue to be widely popular (Black, 2007:735).

1.2. Brief account of the story

Charles Dickens is the King of Style. We’ll say that again: when it comes to
style, Charles Dickens is the King. He’s the grand-daddy of all great fiction
writers. The best stylist you’ll probably ever read. Here’s why:

Dickens is the master of manipulating language to make scenes come alive. Not
only does he describe scenes in vivid detail, but the very sentences he writes
mimic the way the scenes themselves come to life. For example, when he wants
to emphasize how long-winded and boring the court system can be, he spends
five pages recounting a lawyer’s argument. Every single sentence of the
lawyer’s speech begins with the word "that." "That, his position and attitude
were, on the whole, sublime. That, he had been […]" (2.1.1). Get the picture?
By the time we’re halfway through reading the speech, we wish the whole thing
were over and done with. We’re almost bored out of our minds. That, friends, is
exactly where Dickens wants us to be.

Short phrases emphasize the movement that’s going on all around Defarge.
Repeated phrases emphasize the way that fire and smoke seem to take over the
entire world.
since we’re talking about repetition, we should mention that Dickens is a big fan
of it. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times […]"; "It is a far, far
better thing I do […]; it is a far, far better rest I go to […]". Repetition forces us
to realize just how important the phrases we’re reading are. After all, we read
them again and again ( http://www.shmoop.com/tale-of-two-cities/tone.html).

The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the
French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding
brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in
the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life
in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of
several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles
Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls
victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature,

3
and Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-
spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife.
(http://www.s4ulanguages.com/charles.html)

1.3. Methodology

Leech and Short (1981, p. 75-82) provide us a checklist of stylistic categories

which enable us to collect data on a fairly systematic basis. The categories are
placed under four general headings: lexical categories, grammatical categories,
figures of speech, cohesion and context. Under each part, smaller categories are
placed to give a range of data which may be examined in relation to the literary
effect of the text.

A: Lexical categories by identifying the vocabulary and vocabulary features and

their semantic connotation, and then specifically target four subcategories in
terms of their linguistic features and semantic functions, including:
-General
-Nouns
-Adjectives
-Verbs

B: Grammatical categories through exploring the grammatical categories

employed within the text in terms of types, complexity, structure, and other
phrase types identified within the text, including:
-Sentence Types
-Sentence Complexity
-Clause Types
-Clause Structure
-Noun Phrases
-Verb Phrases
-Other Phrase Types

C: Figures of speech via the consideration of foregrounding features in the

passage, deviating from the norms and check for any grammatical, lexical, or
phonological schemes and tropes
-Grammatical and Lexical Schemes
-Phonological Schemes

4
D: Context and cohesion within mapping the cohesion and context of the text,
which gives insight into the logical connotations, use of characters, attitudes,
and addresser-addressee relationship
-Cohesion
-Context

But even Leech and Short themselves accept the incompleteness of this overall
model, for “these are attempts to give shape and system to a field of study in
which much remain unclear, and hidden beneath rests on the intuition and
personal judgment of the reader. Therefore, in order to bring into the spotlight
what appears to be the most significant linguistic features necessary adaptation
is to be made of the model above, which is going to be applied in the actual
analysis that follows only concerning the lexical and figurative language of the
text.

2. Analysis:

The application will be restricted to two selected passages both in Arabic and
English from Charles dickens ‘’tale of two cities’’, both of which are from the
same novel. In the English text. We find that the narrator goes on by describing
an era of time, and he further goes on by specifying it as an age like any age
owning prominent features, after ascribing it as an age the narrator further goes
on in his description and compare it to a season; he clearly justify the briefness
of it by attributing it to the light and darkness, as both seasons and daytime and
night time are of a temporary nature.

He contradicts his description by attaching hope and despair to actual seasons

which are spring and winter . within this period the author goes on and drags the
attention to the time it took that it provides hearer with everything and nothing.
This period of time is only after all a journey that might lead either to heaven or
to another way. After creating this confusion the writer declares that this period
is somewhat similar to other period of times, even to the time being. So after all,
this narrative passage does not just describe a time in the story or to a past time.
The author is successful to draw a bridge that links the reader regardless of the
time he reads the novel to the description of a period of time. Basically, it was
just like the present, the time at which Dickens was writing the present, with
experts of the time insisting on seeing its events only in terms of contrasting
extremes.

5
Thus, the English text consist of one passage which includes fifteen sentences
all serving the description of the same topic.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we
had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going
direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period.

While, the Arabic text provides a description of the king and queen of England
and France at that period in which a large jaw king and an ugly looking queen
ruled England. A large jaw king and a beautiful queen ruled France. In both
countries, it seemed obvious to the people managing the royal food supplies that
things were stable and nothing would ever change. The author clearly expresses
deep pessimism and despair of the change for the present time that he earlier
described.

He also emphasizes on using the term "Large Jaws" because it is describing the
harsh authoritive rule that the King George III (Great Britain) and King Louis
XVI (France) exihibit during this time. The two countries don’t seem that
different, do they? Both seem pretty stable and calm creating an underlying
tension in this novel

The translator was somewhat successful in conveying the semantic meaning

intended by the author . the Arabic text consist of one passage containing six
sentences.

،‫ و كان ثمة ماك ذو فك عريض‬.‫و ملكة ذات وجه قبيح على عرش انكلترا‬،‫كان ثمة ملك ذو فك عريض‬
‫ و في كال البلدين كان السادة المهيمنون على مخازن الدولة‬.‫و ملكة ذات وجه جميل على عرش فرنسا‬
‫ ان االشياء سوف تضل على حالها الراهن‬.‫ او اوضح‬،‫ البلور‬‰‫الخاصة بالخبز و السمك يرون مثل وضوح‬
‫ابد الدهر‬

6
 2.1. Lexical categories:

The following table illustrates in number and percentage how the open class
words distributed through the passage within the limits of their major
categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Table 2.1. Distribution of content words in English passage

total nouns verbs adjectives Adverbs

41 0 21 0 15 0 5 0 0 0.00

The table above show that the high number (21 ) and the frequency rate (46.67)
of nouns are good examples of the text descriptivism and the need to use a large
amount of noun according to their type, indicate the author orientation toward
certain type of concept that he tried to convey through using this sum of nouns
accordingly.

The considerable number (5) and frequency rate of adjectives reflect the
prescriptiveness in the text, the author focused on the nouns rather than other
items given that they convey abstract concepts in a more comprehensive way
than would adjectives do.

Verbs with number (15), while adverbs scored (0). This indicates that the text
does not contain as much action in terms of the selection of the those verbs and
how they were used within the context. While since the text revolved around
different kind of references well provided with the right kind of lexical items;
the need for adverbs became dispensable.

2.1.1. Noun:
Nouns in this passage are analyzed with eight areas of meaning of
semantic fields:

Table 2.1.1. A breakdown of nouns in English passage:

Total Concr Abstract Nouns Nouns Proper Nouns Collective

ete nouns related related to nouns related to nouns
nouns to nature time

7
 human
s

num 21 3 18 2 5 0 8 0
ber

% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The table shows in number and percentage how the concrete and
abstract nouns (3 ), (18 ) are distributed within the passage
respectively, this show the relationship between the material and what
is abstract in mankind’s life.
Both nouns related to nature (5 ) and human (1 ) with frequency rate
of (2.22), (11.11) shows a relationship between the two, although the
use of nouns in relation to human is slightly small. The link to nature
better shows the destiny for mankind.
Proper nous and collective nouns both scored (0), as the passage is
introductory and there is barely any reference to a character in terms
of proper nouns neither collective nouns.
Nous related to time are the most frequent (17.78) in this passage as it
signifies the passage theme and its main concern, there is frequent use
of the same words to give reference to the idea of time, signaling its
significance in describing the period the author is referring to.
There is an extensive usage of abstract ideas as they are the most
prominent feature of this passage. The novel itself try to convey an
image of two cities without being two straight forward, this is
manifested in the use of abstract nouns in which the writer employs
the abstract thought so that they serve his peculiarity to the real tale he
is trying to tell.

2.1.2. Verbs:

Analyzing verbs as lexical items will cover many semantic sub-

categories to know whether the verb used is transitive, intransitive,
stative, dynamic, with human agent or non-human agent, perfect ,

8
imperfect, active or passive. Verbs will also be subjected to Halliday’s
(2004: 195) transitivity to classify them into: material, mental, verbal,
existential, relational, behavioral. According to the table below:

Table 2.1.2. A breakdown of verbs in English passage of ‘’tale of two

cities’’:

Semantic area NO. %

Total verbs 15 0

Transitive verbs 2 0

Intransitive verbs 13 0

Stative verbs 13 0

Dynamic verbs 2 0

Verbs with human 3 0

agent

Verbs with non-human 12 0

agent

Imperfect verbs 15 0

Perfect verbs 0 0

Passive voice 0 0

Active voice 15 0

Imperative 0 0

Material 1 0

relational 13 0

Verbal 0 0

9
Existential 1 0

behavioral 2 0

Verbs play a major role in the semantic meaning of a sentence. The

passage contain a total of (15) verbs. Most of the verbs used are
linking verbs, which are argued by some synactician as intransitive
verbs, but their major role is manifested through the use of their
relational semantic connotation. The author intends to use them in this
term to imply their relation to the time of writing the story even its
relation to our present time. The total of imperfect verbs is (15) with
the frequency of (3.33) , indicating that although the event of the verb
occurred in the past is still valid and current until this day as there will
always be times of injustice and prejudice.
Stative verbs have the total of (13) with frequency of (28.89) . the
frequent use of stative verbs show the narrative style as stating facts
describing the times of that era and how it became so much of a fact
that it is similar to present time, it is a true given fact like heaven and
hell as he used both of these terms.
There is no use of passive voice in this passage. The author didn’t
want to assign anonymous responsibility to these times and who was
responsible for the way they are. He remained faithful to the use of
active clauses with the frequency of (33.33) which is a ratio almost
dominated the entire passage.

The semantic connotation of the verbs are assigned through the use of
Haliday’s transitivity. There is absolutely no verbal relations in this
passage as the narrator himself is doing all the talking without
assigning participants with the duty of saying anything. The frequency
of behavioral verbs is (4.44) which is still arguable . Charles dickens
narrative style calls attention into description and details that hardly
require any action of doing (very much reflected in the lack of use of
active verbs ) still describing going into ways or different ways is sime
what similar to taking a journey for a destination as in the journey of
life which can be seen as behavioral.

10
 2.1.3. Adjectives:

Adjectives has a modest number and frequency of adjectives of (5), (11.11)

respectively, the connotation of this ratio is illustrated as below:

Semantic area NO. %

Total adjectives 5 0

Attributive adjectives 2 0

Predicative adjectives 2 0

Inherent adjectives 1 0

Non-inherent 0 0
adjectives

Gradable adjectives 2 0

Non gradable 1 0
adjectives

Stative adjectives 2 0

Dynamic adjectives 2 0

Describing human 2 0

Describing non human 2 0

The passage clearly has more use of nouns than adjectives with the total of (5)
and the frequency (11.11). The numbers show almost the same frequency in the
usage of Stative, dynamic, describing human, describing non-human adjectives.
Often times the same stative adjectives are used to describe a non-human entity
due to their static nature, they resemble the frequency of the usage of human
adjectives denoting the sameness the writer try to cast as he describes the events
of that time.
11
Both gradable and non-gradable adjectives are almost of the same frequency of
(4.44) , (2.22) as gradeablity is as much as important in showing the contrast
between two states with the use of parallelism within the passage.

2.1.4. Adverbs:

Adverbs in this passage are analyzed within five areas of meaning as

below :

Table 2.1.4. A breakdown of adverbs in the English passage of’’ tales

of two cities’’:

Total Adverbs Adverbs Adverbs of Adverbs of Adverbs of

of space of time process contingency degree

num % nu % numb % numbe % number % number %

ber mb er r
er

0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0. 0 0. 0 0.0 0 0.00

0 00 00 0

As far as adverbs are concerned this text does not contain any adverbs
of any kind despite the context reference to time. However there is
only an adverbial phrase denoting time (i.e. in short). The author sees
no need in assigning an adverb since the text entirely denotes a period
of time, mention the word ‘season’ , indicate heading towards
contrasting directions, and concluding the description with an
adverbial phrase.

3.1. Figures of speech:

12
Figure of speech include considering the incidence of features which are
foregrounded by virtue of departing in some way from general norms of
communication by means of language code (Leech & Short, 1981:63).

3.1.1. Grammatical and lexical:

 Parallelism: The series of parallelisms that open the novel introduce the
way in which the fates of London and Paris are going to be closely
intermingled and highlight the parallel nature of the plot. Dickens relies
on parallelism to balance opposing pairs, to make contrasts and
comparisons. This paves the way for most elements in the story to have
opposing elements. He was able to pile up the stark contrasts of this era
without losing his way because he expressed them in similar, balanced,
parallel structures. Although parallelism is more than convenient for
contrast, still it serves many other purposes. It’s an ideal way of
expressing addition and alternatives. It helps maintain consistency and
clarity in lists and series. It sharpens ideas by aligning them and showing
how they are related. And it often makes writing more dramatic and
memorable.
Dickens achieved the dramatic effect by further developing the event of
his story and his characters. He also achieved the memorable effect by
writing the passage that became the most influential introduction in the
history of literature.
He provide contrasting ideas both uplifting and frustrating all helping to
build up the tension in weaving the rest of his novel and emphasizing of
the images used to describe it.
Using parallelism also provide emphasis to the grammatical structure. It
is his way of creating a balance for opposite pairs. Not only he focuses on
the idea of time, but also the sharp contrast at the end of the passage to be
seen as an attempt to attract the attention for the major themes of the
novel. They are fate and death being at the straight end of one continuum
running in an empty circle that would create an illusion of a period with
its difficulties.
leech and short (1981:63) present the idea of Antithesis, that is, the
juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses. Dickens
employs this feature along with parallelism. Despite using similar or
equal utterances, he emphasized the juxtaposition of the passage’s
concepts.
13
  There is a great use of cataphora to refer to these times without
signifying. The author continues to use the pronoun (it) repeatedly with
different references at each clause. The author employs this technique to
achieve a suspension and to create a contrasting effect by producing
almost equal utterances with the abstract concept represented at its end.

3.1.2. Tropes:

 There is no definite deviation from the linguistic code in term of having

neologism or the like. Nevertheless, dickens created a simple kind of
deviation in terms of using collocation, especially in using the term
season with both the word and light. As far as we are familiar with,
seasons are normally used to indicate winter or summer, but he used the
term season to implicitly refer to the ruling system, which is more like a
season that will one day come to an end. The end of that era is surrounded
by both contrasting forces of belief and skepticism.
A highlighted similarity is joining or the word spring with hope, being a
dead frequent metaphor. He contradicts this idea by joining winter and
despair. All these images paved the way to either heaven. Or hell ( which
he obtains to mention in hopes of change). The fate of the participant
remain unknown and can only defined by time. So as the fate of the
nation under the ruling king. In the last line, he break from his implicit
pattern and refer to this ambiguous time ’’as more like the present
period’.
 There is a pattern of using paradox at choosing the ends of two scale, i.e.
darkness vs. light, despair vs. hope..etc. this patterning sure contributes
with the equivalence structure at each utterance to create parallel structure
offering significant oxymoron lexical item to achieve the abnormal image
of that time and to sharpens the reader imagination to link what h’s
reading to his present situation.
 The passage witness repetition of some lexical items like the pronoun
’’it’’ which is used by the author to add mystery to the referent, also the
repetition of ‘epoch’ to refer to the state of mind which is an important
factor in deciding the content and the contextualized strategy of the text
as a whole.
14
 4.1. Lexical categories:

The following table illustrates in number and percentage how the open class
words distributed through the passage within the limits of their major
categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Table 4.1. Distribution of content words in Arabic passage

total nouns verbs adjectives Adverbs

35 0 19 42.2 2 0 7 0 7 15.56

The table above show that the high number (35 ) and the frequency rate (77.78)
of nouns are good examples of the text descriptivism and the need to use a large
amount of noun according to their type, indicate the author orientation toward
providing concrete nouns into the text.

The considerable number (7) and frequency rate of adjectives reflect the
moderate use of adjectives in the text, the author focused on the nouns rather
than other items given that they convey concrete ideas in a more comprehensive
way than would adjectives do.

Verbs with number (2), while adverbs scored (7). This indicates that the text
does not contain as much action in terms of the selection of the verbs and how
they were used within the context. The frequency of adverbs is (15.56)
ondicating the passage need to use to locate different event and circumstances.

4.1.1. Noun:
Nouns in this passage analyzed within eight areas of meaning of
semantic fields:

Table 4.1.1. A breakdown of nouns in Arabic passage:

Total Concr Abstract Nouns Nouns Proper Nouns Collective

ete related related to related to

15
 nouns nouns to nature nouns time nouns
human
s

num 19 12 3 7 3 2 2 3
ber

% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The table shows in number and percentage how the concrete and
abstract nouns (12 ), (3 ) are distributed within the passage
differently. There is plenty of focus on the concrete words rather than
the abstract to indicate greed and concern for materialistic things
rather than concepts and values.
Both nouns related to nature (3 ) and human (7 ) with frequency rate
of (15.56), (6.67) shows a the difference in the use of the two nouns,
it is clear that the author is focusing on the idea that humans are only
concerned with humans and give less interest in nature.
Proper nous and collective nouns both scored (2& 3), although still
the proper nouns only refer to names of countries rather than names of
man.
Nous related to time are the least frequent (4.44) in this passage as it
signifies that it is now less concerned with time and time reference.
Since now is the time to look at the state affairs of the country.
Comparing it to france, both had their share of big-jaw men here at
which the writer may refer to the way things appear to be as fixed as
the king big jaw with slight difference in superficial things represented
by the queens. The author seems a lot more concerned with the way
things are and the hunger of the people. These people live in countries
that are almost the same as long as the same people who clearly
controlled their bread rule them out. This situation was very bad that it
called for despair as the author imagines things to be clear and stay as
clear and unfair as they are for eternity.

4.1.2. Verbs:

16
Analyzing verbs as lexical items will cover many semantic sub-
categories to know whether the verb used is transitive, intransitive,
stative, dynamic, with human agent or non-human agent, perfect ,
imperfect, active or passive. Verbs will also be subjected to Halliday’s
(2004: 195) transitivity to classify them into: material, mental, verbal,
existential, relational, behavioral. According to the table below:

Table 4.1.2. A breakdown of verbs in Arabic passage of ‘’tale of two

cities’’:

Semantic area NO. %

Total verbs 2 0

Transitive verbs 1 0

Intransitive verbs 1 0

Stative verbs 2 0

Dynamic verbs 0 0

Verbs with human 1 0

agent

Verbs with non-human 1 0

agent

Imperfect verbs 0 0

Perfect verbs 2 0

Passive voice 0 0

Active voice 2 0

Imperative 0 0

Material 1 0

17
 relational 1 0

Verbal 0 0

Existential 0 0

behavioral 1 0

The passage contain s no more than (2) verbs. This indicates that there
isn’t much action in this passage and that most of it is narrative
descriptive depending on the use of nouns and adjectives to convey
the mean needed. Also the lack of usage of these verbs also indicates
that there isn’t much action happening at the kingdom especially after
saying that everything is under the control of the same people for what
seems to be eternity.
However these two verbs can be accounted for differently to use for
semantic references of the verb that is clearly one of these verbs is
transitive and of human reference and the other is intransitive and of
human reference. They are both stative, perfect and active with
frequency of (4.44 ).
They can also be accounted for as material, behavioral and relationl
due to their semantic function of indicating happening and seeing with
frequency of ( 2.22) for each.

4.1.3. Adjectives:

Adjectives has a modest number and frequency of adjectives of (5), (11.11)

respectively, the connotation of this ratio is illustrated as below:

Semantic area NO. %

Total adjectives 7 0

Attributive adjectives 4 0

18
 Predicative adjectives 2 0

Inherent adjectives 4 0

Non-inherent 2 0
adjectives

Gradable adjectives 5 0

Non gradable 2 0
adjectives

Stative adjectives 7 0

Dynamic adjectives 0 0

Describing human 5 0

Describing non-human 2 0

The passage clearly has more use of nouns than adjectives with the total of (7)
and the frequency (15.65). The numbers are different at each category of
adjectives.

Predicative, non-inherent, non-human and non-gradable scored the frequency of

(4.44) as they are not the focus of the author’s attention. While stative
adjectives scored the frequency of (5.65). this clearly calls to the state of the
whole passage and its static nature of never changing men in charge and the
hunger.

There is a moderate frequency of gradability which also seem to stress the

difference between the two levels of adjectives as well as the levels of people.

4.1.4. Adverbs:

Adverbs in this passage are analyzed within five areas of meaning as

below:

Table 4.1.4. A breakdown of adverbs in the Arabic passage of’’ tales

of two cities’’:
19
Total Adverbs Adverbs Adverbs of Adverbs of Adverbs of
of space of time process contingency degree

num % nu % numb % numbe % number % number %

ber mb er r
er

7 0 3 0 1 1. 2 4. 0 0.00 2 4.44
11 44

This text has a moderate use of adverbs of different semantic reference

each indicating different kind of indication.
The total number was (7) with frequency of (15.56). Adverb of space
is the highest with frequency of (8.56) since the author was interested
in introducing the main characters and their whereabouts, adverb of
degree and contingency scored the same frequency of (4.44)

5.1. Figures of speech:

Arthur Quentin (1982:6) defined figures of speech as the deviation from

ordinary usage, here deviation will be amongst other things that we will look
into while analyzing this text

5.1.1. Grammatical and lexical:

 Parallelism: Parallelism is the placement of equal ideas in words, phrases,

or clauses of similar structure. the use of components in a sentence that
lend a balance in sound and rhythm as well as grammatical structure. The
first sentence is so often repeated he series of parallelisms . using the idea
of parallels to achieve contrast. The second passage give a slight contrast
between the two queen but rather more similarity in the life of the public.
Nevertheless the lexical items may not be parallel to each other but they
have almost identical structures. This paves the way for most elements in
the story to have opposing elements. He was able to pile up the stark

20
 contrasts of this era without losing his way because he expressed them in
similar, balanced, parallel structures.
The Arabic text somewhat broke the circle of complete parallel through
the use of the adjective, clearer.
However the writer didn’t keep the same consistency when writing about
the kingdom and the change of state or at least the translator could not
produce a full passage in which there is both structural and lexical
understanding of the sentence.

 There is some what a mirror image pattern through the use of as clear as
crystal or even clearer. But this is also viewed as some what a
reinforcement to the way things appear to be

5.1.2. Tropes:

 There is no definite deviation from the linguistic code in term of having

neologism or the like. Nevertheless, dickens created a simple kind of
deviation in terms of using metaphors although it is a dead metaphor “
clear as crystal’ it is still regarded as one of the linguistic devices used
by the author to create a mental image .
The author also likes to signifies a slight difference between the two
countries referring to the faces of their queen, that is, despite the
miserable life condition of the two countries and the similar ruling kings,
France was probably a bit better than England through the signification of
the queen’s face. In addition, the author signifies the use of the word fish
and bread, which is an odd collocation, especially in using the term to
refer to the food in London, which would probably be fish and chips.
However, the author insisted on using these two since the fish is the
primary course of food in an English house and bread is primary in every
French house to denote how they control the fate and the bread of life.
 The author present and idea of foregrounding that he used a metaphor,
which is pure and lovely to describe something unfair and vague. All of
this used to lead the reader to the ultimate truth. Things are the way they
are and they will not seem to change.

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6.contrastive analysis:

Contrastive Linguistics has been defined as “a sub discipline of Linguistics“

concerned with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of
language in order to determine both differences and similarities between them”
(Fisiak,1981,p.l). The significance of stylistic study is to identify those stylistic
features and what would be a better way than comparing them to other systems
.to identify those signifying features

6.1. contrasting the two passages:

The English and the Arabic passages has to be matched according to their
lexical and figure of speech indication. The numbers of one passage to be
compared to the numbers of another group to identify the similarities and
differences between them.

6.2. lexical categories:

The following will show the frequency of the lexical items in accordance with
the numbers within each process along with the total number of content words.

Table 6.2 contrasting lexical categories in the Arabic and English passage:

Conten total nouns verbs adjectives Adverbs

t words

English 41 0 21 0 15 0 5 0 0 0.00

Arabic 35 0 19 42.2 2 0 7 0 7 15.56

Total 0 0 0 0 0
words

There is a significant difference in use of nouns, and verbs in the two passages.
The rates of nouns and verbs (41 ), (35). They are significantly higher in the use
of adjective and adverbs (0.00) (15.56 ) . which reveals that the Arabic text is
more descriptive than the English. While the English is more stable.

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 6.2.1 Noun breakdown:

When nouns detected in English and in Arabic, they give the number and
frequency that should be contrasted with each other as below:

6.2.1 contrasting nouns:

Total Concr Abstract Nouns Nouns Proper Nouns Colle

ete nouns related related to nouns related to ctive
nouns to nature time nouns
humans

English num 21 3 18 2 5 0 8 0
text ber

% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Arabic text num 19 12 3 7 3 2 2 3

ber

% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Out of a total of 40 nouns in both text. It is apparent that the English text is
slightly richer than the Arabic one in terms of nouns with frequency of (46.67 )
(42.22) . however there are plenty of differences in the choice of words
themselves. English unlike Arabic employs a greater variation of both abstract
and nouns related to time with frequency of (40) (6.67 ) .

The difference is also clear in terms of other types of nouns as scores variety
greatly form one text to another according to the frequencies mentioned above.

6.2.2. Verb breakdown

The table below shows how the semantic areas of the verbs in both passages are
similar and different in frequency:

6.2.2 contrasting verbs:

23
Semantic area English Text Arabic text

NO. % NO. %

Total verbs 15 0 2 0

Transitive verbs 2 0 1 0

Intransitive 13 0 1 0
verbs

Stative verbs 13 0 2 0

Dynamic verbs 2 0 0 0

Verbs with 3 0 1 0
human agent

Verbs with non- 12 0 1 0

human agent

Imperfect verbs 15 0 0 0

Perfect verbs 0 0 2 0

Passive voice 0 0 0 0

Active voice 15 0 2 0

Imperative 0 0 0 0

Material 1 0 1 0

relational 13 0 1 0

Verbal 0 0 0 0

Existential 1 0 0 0

behavioral 2 0 1 0

24
There is an enormous difference between the uses of both verbs. While English
manifest the use of (15) verbs. Arabic only stick to (2) making the English text
appears to receive more action than the Arabic one. This is also reflected in the
use of stative verbs with the frequency of (28.89) (4.44 ).other differences are
also shown in accordance with each verb as well as in term of halliday’s
transitivity,

6.2.3 Adjective breakdown:

Adjective are of two different semantic areas in English and Arabic, the flowing
chart will further illustrate that difference :
6.2.3. adjective breakdown

Semantic area English Text Arabic text

NO. % NO. %

Total adjectives 5 0 7 0

Attributive 2 0 4 0
adjectives

Predicative 2 0 2 0
adjectives

Inherent 1 0 4 0
adjectives

Non-inherent 0 0 2 0
adjectives

Gradable 2 0 5 0
adjectives

Non gradable 1 0 2 0
adjectives

Stative 2 0 7 0
adjectives

25
 Dynamic 2 0 0 0
adjectives

Describing 2 0 5 0
human

Describing non- 2 0 2 0
human

There is somewhat peculiar results comparing English and Arabic texts with the
frequency of (11.11) (5.56 ). Since they belong to the same source txt, they use
a few adjectives with slight differences in r and English.

Most of the adjective are of almost the same number and frequencies except for
stative verbs which are a lot more to indicate the state of the country and the
gradable which is of frequency of (15.56) (1.11 ) respectively.

6.2.4. Adverb breakdown:

Adverb breakdown gives us two contrasting results:

Total Adverbs Adverbs Adverbs of Adverbs of Adverbs of

of space of time process contingency degree

num % nu % numb % numbe % number % number %

ber mb er r
er

0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0. 0 0. 0 0.0 0 0.00

0 00 00 0

7 0 3 0 1 1. 2 4. 0 0.0 2 4.44
11 44 0

As far as adverbs are concerned this text does not contain any adverbs
of any kind despite the context reference to time. However there is
26
 only an adverbial phrase denoting time (i.e. in short). The author sees
no need in assigning an adverb since the text entirely denotes a period
of time, mention the word ‘season’ , indicate heading towards
contrasting directions, and concluding the description with an
adverbial phrase.
While the English text contain the total of 7 with frequency of (15.5)
divided over other adverb categories according to function.

7. Conclusion:

in the stylistic analysis of language categories , evidence provided that there are
some differences between English and Arabic passage.

English uses more words or more lexical words than Arabic language do and
according to difference among the texts . they tend to be a lot more dynamic and
related to the surrounding context while arabic content words ,especially verbs
remain static and hardly show any dynamics. However they may show
similarity in their selection choice.

Arabic has a lot more variation to employ adjectives within language structure ,
still this difference according to different specifications.

While adverbs are rarely used in English when enough information is given
about the physical co-text, Arabic prefer to add adverbs and have different
classification and variations of adverbs

Both languages employ variation of figures of speech in which these figures

follow no rule except for the speaker background knowledge according to his
environment, which will eventually influence his interpretation of the text.

27
References :

• Black, Joseph Laurence (2007). "Charles Dickens". In Black,

Joseph Laurence. The age of romanticism. The Victorian era. The
twentieth century and beyond. The Broadview Anthology of British
Literature 2. Broadview Press. pp. 735–743.
• Chesterton, G. K. (2005) [1906]. Charles Dickens: A Critical
Study. Kessinger Publishing.
• Crystal, D., & Davy, D. (1969). Investigating English style.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Fisiak, J. (1981). Contrastive linguistics and the language teacher.
Oxford: Pergamon.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (2004). An Introduction to Functional grammar.
London: Edward Arnold.
• http://www.s4ulanguages.com/charles.html
• http://www.shmoop.com/tale-of-two-cities/summary.html
• Leech, G. N., & Short, M. (1981). Style in fiction: A linguistic
introduction to English fictional prose. London: Longman.
• Niazi, N and Guatam, R. (2010). How to study literature: stylistic
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Lake City: G.M. Smith.

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• Short, M. (1996). Exploring the language of poems, plays, and
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