STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Definition of Stylistics
A. Some of the more common definitions of stylistics follow:
1. Stylistics is the science which explores 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.
2. Stylistics is the scientific study of style, which can be viewed in several ways.
 More technically, stylistics is the study of the linguistic features of a literary text _ phonological,
lexical, syntactical _which directly affects the meaning of an utterance.
 The variety in stylistics is due to the main influences of linguistics and literary.
 Stylistics, then, is a sub-discipline which grew up in the second half of the twentieth century: It’s
beginnings in Anglo-American criticism are usually traced back to the publication of the books listed: Fowler,
Roger, Essays on Style in Language. Freeman, Donald, Linguistics and Literary Style. Leech, Geoffrey, A
Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. Sebeok, Thomas, Style in Language. These books are collections of
articles, some of which were either: 1_ Conference papers OR 2_Articles published in journals. Perhaps
the most influential article is: (Closing statement: Linguistics and poetics) By Roman Jacobson who is an
important figure who contributed in the development of Stylistics.
Stylistics examines oral and written texts in order to determine crucial characteristic
linguistic properties, structures and patterns influencing perception of the texts. Thus, it can be said that
this branch of linguistics is related to discourse analysis, in particular
critical discourse analysis, and pragmatics. Owing to the fact that at the beginning of the
development of this study the major part of the stylistic investigation was concerned with the analysis of
literary texts it is sometimes called literary linguistics, or literary stylistics.
 Stylistics is concerned with the examination of grammar, lexis, semantics, as well
as phonological properties and discursive devices. It might seem that the same issues are investigated
by sociolinguistics, and indeed that is the case, however sociolinguis- tics analyses the above mentioned issues
seen as dependent on the social class, gender, age, etc, while stylistics is more interested in the significance of
function that the style fulfills.
 Nowadays, however, linguists study various kinds of texts, such as manuals, recipes, as well as
novels and advertisements. It is vital to add here that none of the text types is
discriminated and thought to be more important than others. In addition to that , in
the recent year so called ' media-discourses' such as films, news reports, song lyrics and
political speeches have all been within the scope of interest of stylistics.
3. Stylistics is the application of concepts from linguistics and allied disciplines in the analysis and
interpretation of samples of communication through language (Otanes, ms.).
4. The linguistic study of different styles is called stylistics (Chapman, 1973:11).
5. Stylistics is a linguistic approach to the study of literary text (Brumfit and Carter, 1997:93).
6. Stylistics is the study of literary discourse from a linguistics orientation. What distinguishes is from
literary criticism….is that it is a means of linking the two (Widdowson, 1975).
7. Practical stylistics is the process of literary text analysis which starts from a basic assumption that the
previous interpretative procedures used in the reading of a literary text are linguistic procedures (Carter,
1991: 4).
The Development of Stylistics
 The development of Stylistics, given that it combines the use of linguistic analysis with the psychological
processes involved in reading.
 In the twentieth century Stylistics can be seen as a logical extension of moves within literary criticism to
concentrate on studying texts rather than authors. While in Nineteenth century literary criticism
concentrated on the author, and the text-based criticism of the two British critics Richards and William
 Empson who rejected that approach and replaced it with the other approach called Practical criticism.

 In many respects, however, stylistics is close to literary criticism and practical criticism. By far the most
common kind of material studied is literary, and attention is largely text– centered.
 Practical criticism concentrates on the literary texts themselves, and how readers were affected by those
texts.
 In addition, Practical criticism is matched by a similar critical movement in the USA called New
criticism.

What are the branches of Stylistics?

1. Lexical Stylistics
 Studies functions of direct and figurative meanings
 also the way contextual meaning of a word is realized in the text
 Deals with various types of connotations-expressive, evaluative, emotive; neologisms, dialect words and
their behavior in the text.

2. Grammatical Stylistics
 Subdivided into morphological and syntactical:
A. Morphological Stylistics- views stylistic potential of grammatical categories of different parts of speech.
Potential of the number, pronouns…
B. Syntactic Stylistics studies syntactic, expressive means, word order and word combinations, different types
of sentences and types of syntactic connections. Also deals with origin of the text, its division on the
paragraphs, dialogs, direct and indirect speech, the connection of the sentences, types of sentences.

3. Phonostylistics
 phonetical organization of prose and poetic texts
 here are included rhythm, rhythmical structure, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and correlation of the sound
form and meaning
 also studies deviation in normative pronunciation
4. Functional Stylistics (Stylistics of decoding)
 deals with all subdivisions of the language and its possible use (newspaper, colloquial style)
 Its object – correlation of the message and communicative situation

5. Individual style study

 studies the style of the author
 looks for correlations between the creative concepts of the author and the language of his work.
6. Stylistics of Encoding
 The shape of the information (message) is coded and the addressee plays the part of decoder of the
information which is contained in message.
 The problems which are connected with adequate reception of the message without any loses
(deformation) are the problems of stylistics of encoding.

The Nature of Stylistics

1. Stylistics is a borderline discipline between language and literature.
2. Stylistics focuses on language use in both literary and non-literary texts.
3. Stylistics uses insights from numerous disciplines such as literature, psychology, sociology, philosophy and so
on. Therefore, while it has its own focus, it is multidisciplinary in nature.

Dimensions of Stylistics
 Style as choice: This considers style as the characteristic choices that a writer/speaker makes in a text at the
various levels of language description.
 Style as Deviation: What is deviant i.e. what does not conform to the ‘standard’ is said to be stylistically
significant. This can also be at any level of language description.
 Style as Situation: The situation is the context in which a text comes to life. This could be physical, socio-
cultural, pragmatic, etc.
 Style as Temporal Phenomenon: This deals with the time of relevance of style. That is, whether it is still in
vogue or not (ancient or modern). A good example is Old English vs. Modern English.
 Style as the Individual: This focuses on the specific features that are associated with particular individuals
i.e. writer’s or speaker’s idiolects.

The Goals of Stylistics

 To establish discourse peculiarities
 To induce appreciation of discourse
 To ascertain linguistic habits

The Notion of Style

 Elements of Style in Literature
Elements of style studied in literary works are what is up for discussion in any literature or writing class, such as:
 Big-Picture Elements
Character development: How a character changes throughout the story
Dialogue: Lines spoken or internal thoughts
Foreshadowing: Hints dropped about what's going to happen later
Form: Whether something is poetry, prose, drama, a short story, a sonnet, etc.
Imagery: Scenes set or items shown with descriptive words
Irony: An occurrence that's the opposite of what's expected
Juxtaposition: Putting two elements together to compare or contrast them
Mood: The atmosphere of a work, the attitude of the narrator
Pacing: How quickly the narration unfolds
Point of view: The narrator's perspective; first person (I) or third person (he or she)
Structure: How a story is told (beginning, action, climax, denouement) or how a piece is organized (introduction,
main body, conclusion vs. reverse-pyramid journalistic style)
Symbolism: Using an element of the story to represent something else
Theme: A message delivered by or shown in a work; its central topic or big idea
Tone: The writer's attitude toward the subject or manner with choosing vocabulary and presenting information,
such as informal or formal

 Line-by-Line Elements
Alliteration: Close repetition of consonants, used for effect
Assonance: Close repetition of vowels, used for effect
Colloquialisms: Informal words, such as slang and regional terms
Diction: The correctness of the overall grammar (big picture) or how characters speak, such as with an accent or
with poor grammar
Jargon: Terms specific to a certain field
Metaphor: A means to compare two elements (Can also be big-picture if an entire story or scene is laid out to
show a parallel with something else)
Repetition: Using the same words or phrases in a short amount of time for emphasis
Rhyme: When the same sounds appear in two or more words
Rhythm: having a musicality to the writing such as by using stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry or
sentence variety or repetition in a paragraph
Sentence variety: Variation in the structure and length of consecutive sentences
Syntax: The arrangement of words in a sentence
Elements of style are the characteristics of the language used in the written work, and stylistics is their study. How
an author uses them is what makes one writer's work distinct from another, from Henry James to Mark Twain to
Virginia Woolf. An author's way of using the elements creates their distinct writing voice.
Stylistic Devices
Basic Principles of a Linguistic Approach to Literary Study and Criticism
Importance of Practical Stylistics
Rhetoric and the History of Stylistics
Influences: Analogists vs. Anomalists
What is style? –norm –individual style –functional style
Denotative vs. Connotative
Lexical vs. Stylistics
Linguistic vs. Extra Lingual Context
Expressiveness vs. Emotiveness
Expressive Means, Stylistic Devices and Functional Means