STYLISTICS

An Introduction
Mind Set
Define stylistics
Determine the concepts of Style
and Stylistics
Identify the Nature and Goals of
Stylistics
What is Stylistics

 Linguistics is the academic discipline that studies language scientifically,

and stylistics, as a part of this discipline, studies certain aspects of
language variation.
 Investigating English Style

 Stylistics is a linguistic approach to literature, explaining the relation

between language and artistic function, with motivating questions such as
“why” and “how” more than “what”.
 Style in Fiction
 A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry

 It is an aspect of literary study that emphasizes the analysis of various

elements of style (as metaphor and diction)
 The study of the devices in a language that produce expressive value.
Stylistics

 It is the scientific study of style.

 It is scientific because it follows an objective methodology,
namely, retracing or recovering the process of text
production (i.e. the intention of the writer) starting from
clues left in the text as product, which sets it apart from
other less scientific methods of text analysis (Short, 1996);
 Stylistics is an intensive study of literary text on an
advanced level, by making out the particular effect of the
particular choice of language in literary communication.
What is Style?

 Style is a pattern of linguistic features distinguishing

one piece of writing from another, or one category
of writings from another.
 Style includes the writer‟s way of thinking about his subject and
his characteristic way of presenting it for a particular reader and
purpose.
 Style results from linguistic choices, which effectively express the
writer‟s unique thought and feeling.
 Style is a means of discovery for both writer and reader.
CONCEPTS OF STYLE AND STYLISTICS
 Style sharpens expressive meaning as well as referential
meaning, intensifying the tone of writing, making prose more
persuasive.
 Style is not mere ornament; rather it conveys important
subtleties of meaning and evaluation, which define the nature
of the writer, his basic attitudes, his presuppositions, his
moral stance, and his relation to his subject and his reader.
 Manner indicating prominent linguistic features, devices or
patterns, most (or least) frequently occur in a particular text
of a particular variety of language.
• There are four commonly occurring senses of the term
STYLE:

 The language habits of one person: Shakespeare, James

Joyce, Hemingway UNIQUENESS.
 The language habits shared by a group at one time: the
Augustan poets, the Old English „heroic‟ poetry.
 Say the right thing in the most effective way—good
manners: „clear‟ or „refined‟ style.
 Evaluation and description of literature in literary criticism or
appreciation: „good‟ „effective‟ beautiful‟ writing.
LEVELS OF LANGUAGE
 1. The level of phonology /
graphology
 Phonology is the study of the rules for the
organization of the sound systems of a
language.
 Graphology is the study of the writing system
of a language.
2. The level of lexis
 Lexicology studies the choice of specific lexical
items in a text, their distribution in relation to one
another, and their meanings.
 Common types of lexical items/chunks include[1]

 Words, e.g. cat, tree

 Parts of words, e.g. -s in trees, -er in worker, non- in nondescript, -

est in loudest
 Phrasal verbs, e.g. put off or get out

 Polywords, e.g. by the way, inside out

 Collocations, e.g. motor vehicle, absolutely convinced.

 Institutionalized utterances, e.g. I'll get it, We'll see, That'll do, If I were you, Would

you like a cup of coffee?
 Idioms, e.g. break a leg, was one whale of a, a bitter pill to swallow

 Sayings, e.g. The early bird gets the worm, The devil is in the details
 Sentence frames and heads, e.g. That is not as...as you think, The problem was
 Text frames, e.g., In this paper we explore...; Firstly...; Secondly...; Finally ....
3. The level of syntax / grammar

 Syntax refers to rules for ordering and connecting

words into sentences.
4. The level of semantics
 Semantics studies the overall meaning of a text, the
meaning derived from the way sentences /
utterances are used and the way they are related to
the context in which they are used / uttered and
some rhetoric devices.
The Scope
The Scope of
of Studies
Studies

Literary Stylistics
General Stylistics
 Literary stylistics: concentrating on the unique
features of various literary works, such as
poem, novel, prose, drama…
 General stylistics: concentrating on the general
features of various types of language use,
including literary discourses and other
practical styles
 General stylistics

 Genres: news reports, advertisements, public speeches,

scientific treatises, legal documents and other practical
styles…
 Attitudes: formal and informal language
 Media of communication: spoken English,
written English, e-discourse
 Regions: British English, American English and other
regional dialects
 Social groups: standard and non-standard language
Stylistic Analysis

 Description: “Stylistics is concerned with relating

linguistic facts (linguistic description) to meaning
(interpretation) in as explicit a way as possible”
(Short, 1996: p. 5)
 Interpretation: “The goal of most stylistic studies is
not simply to describe the FORMAL features of texts
for their own sake, but in order to show their
FUNCTIONAL significance for the interpretation of
the text” (Wales, 1989: pp. 437-38)
General toolkit

 DETERMINE which stylistic feature, i.e. which grammatical

category, is predominant, i.e. statistically significant
(description);
 DECIDE which function the stylistic feature(s) play(s) in the
overall meaning of the text (interpretation);
Practice: E-type jaguar

 It is a masterpiece of styling whose proportions are

dramatic yet perfectly judged and well-mannered; its
crisp details are in complete harmony with the broader
outlines of the gorgeous general arrangement, and,
symbolically, it evokes with exquisite eloquence all the
ideas of speed, glamour and romance associated with
travel. You can just feel air and bodies rushing and
swooning all over that lascivious shape. Never, ever, has
that creaking old trope about form and function had a
better character witness (The Independent, Weekend
Review, 27-01-2001, p. 1).
Description: Adjectives
 It is a masterpiece of styling whose proportions are
DRAMATIC yet PERFECTLY JUDGED and WELL-
MANNERED; its CRISP details are in complete harmony
with the broader outlines of the GORGEOUS general
arrangement, and, symbolically, it evokes with EXQUISITE
eloquence all the ideas of speed, glamour and romance
associated with travel. You can just feel air and bodies
rushing and swooning all over that LASCIVIOUS shape.
Never, ever, has that creaking old trope about form and
function had a better character witness (The
Independent, Weekend Review, 27-01-2001, p. 1).
Description: nouns

 It is a MASTERPIECE of styling whose proportions are

dramatic yet perfectly judged and well-mannered; its
crisp details are in complete HARMONY with the broader
outlines of the gorgeous general ARRANGEMENT, and,
symbolically, it evokes with exquisite ELOQUENCE all the
ideas of SPEED, GLAMOUR and ROMANCE associated
with travel. You can just feel air and bodies rushing and
swooning all over that lascivious shape. Never, ever, has
that creaking old trope about form and function had a
better character witness (The Independent, Weekend
Review, 27-01-2001, p. 1).
Interpretation: general

 The text belongs in promotional discourse, whose

objective is to persuade audiences that the E-type
jaguar is the best car for them. The ad’s persuasive
load is shared equally by adjectives and nouns and,
to a lesser degree, by verbs.
Interpretation: adjectives

 The adjectives “dramatic”, “well-mannered”, “crisp”,

“gorgeous”, “exquisite”, and “lascivious” not only convey a
positive point of view about the car, but also present it as an
attractive female, which targets male persuadees.
Interpretation: nouns

 Nouns such as “masterpiece”, “harmony”, “arrangement”,

“eloquence”, “speed”, “glamour”, and “romance”, on the
other hand, target persuadees through their positive nature
and suggestion of perfection. They seem to seduce
especially through “glamour” and “romance.” Thus,
adjectives and nouns appear to conspire to change the
buying habits of male persuadees.