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Stylistics 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.
The development of Stylistics, given that it combines the use of linguistic analysis
with what we know about the psychological processes involved in reading, depended
(at least in part) on the study of Linguistics and Psychology (both largely twentiethcentury phenomena) becoming reasonably established. Stylistics, then, is a subdiscipline which grew up in the second half of the twentieth century: Its beginnings in
Anglo-American criticism are usually traced back to the publication of the books
listed below. Three of them are collections of articles, some of which had been
presented as conference papers or published in journals a little earlier:
Perhaps the most influential article is that by Roman Jakobson in Sebeok (1960: 35077). It is called 'Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics' because it was a
contribution to a conference which Sebeok (1960) published as a collection of papers.
It is pretty difficult, so we wouldn't recommend nipping off to read it until you've
done a bit more stylistics, but, as we shall see below, Jakobson is an important figure
who connects together various strands in the development of Stylistics.
Stylistics can be seen as a logical extension of moves within literary criticism early in
the twentieth century to concentrate on studying texts rather than authors. Nineteenthcentury literary criticism concentrated on the author, and in Britain the text-based
criticism of the two critics I. A. Richards and William Empson, his pupil, rejected that
approach in order to concentrate on the literary texts themselves, and how readers
were affected by those texts. This approach is often called Practical Criticism, and it
is matched by a similar critical movement in the USA, associated with Cleanth
Brooks, Ren Wellek, Austin Warren and others, called New Criticism. New
Criticism was based almost exclusively on the description of literary works as
independent aesthetic objects, but Practical Criticism tended to pay more attention to
the psychological aspects involved in a reader interacting with a work. However,
these two critical movements shared two important features: (i) an emphasis on the
language of the text rather than its author and (ii) an assumption that what criticism
needed was accounts of important works of literature based on the intuitional reading
outcomes of trained and aesthetically sensitive critics. These critics did not analyze
the language of texts very much, but, rather, paid very close attention to the language
of the texts when they read them and then described how they understood them and
were affected by them. Nearly a hundred years later, this approach is still very
influential in schools and universities in the western world, and gives rise to the kind
of critical essay where writers make a claim about what a text means, or how it affects
them, and then quote (and perhaps discuss) a textual sample to illustrate the view
argued for. This could perhaps be called the 'Claim and Quote' approach to literary
criticism.
In general terms, stylisticians believe that the 'Claim and Quote' strategy is inadequate
in arguing for a particular view of a text, because, like the slip 'twixt cup and lip, there
are often logical gaps between the claim and the quotation intended to support it. In
other words, stylisticians think that intuition is not enough and that we should analyze
the text in detail and take careful account of what we know about how people read
when arguing for particular views of texts. But the Stylistics approach in Western
Europe and North America clearly grows out of the earlier critical approaches
associated with Practical Criticism and New Criticism. Stylisticians also use the same
kind of approach on non-literary texts.
There is another important strand of influence in the development of Stylistics (the
one which Roman Jakobson was involved in) which comes from Eastern Europe. In
the early years of the twentieth century, the members of the Formalist Linguistic
Circle in Moscow (usually called the Russian Formalists), like I. A. Richards, also
rejected undue concentration on the author in literary criticism in favor of an approach
which favored the analysis of the language of the text in relation to psychological
effects of that linguistic structure. The group contained linguists, literary critics and
psychologists, and they (and the Prague Structuralists: see the paragraph below) began
to develop what became a very influential aspect of textual study in later Stylistics,
called foregrounding theory. This view suggested that some parts of texts had more
effect on readers than others in terms of interpretation, because the textual parts were
linguistically deviant or specially patterned in some way, thus making them
psychologically salient (or 'foregrounded') for readers. The Russian Formalists were,
in effect, the first stylisticians. But their work was not understood in the west because
of the effects of the Russian Revolution in 1917. After the revolution, formalism fell
out of favor and, in any case, academic communication between what became the
Soviet Union and Western Europe and North America virtually ceased.
Roman Jakobson became one of the most influential linguists of the twentieth century,
and the reason for his considerable influence on Stylistics, in addition to his own
academic brilliance, was because he linked various schools of Linguistics together. He
left Moscow at the time of the Russian Revolution and moved to Prague, where he
became a member of the Prague Structuralist circle, who were also very interested
in the linguistic structure of texts and how they affected readers. Then, when
Czechoslovakia also became communist, he moved to the USA. Rather like a
beneficial virus, he carried the approach which later became called Stylistics with
him, and helped those who wanted to develop Practical and New Criticism in more
precise analytical directions.
The introduction and chapter 2 of J. Douthwaite (2000) Towards a Linguistic Theory
of Foregrounding (Edizioni dell'Orso: Turin) has a more detailed history of stylistics
and the concept of foregrounding, a concept which is a cornerstone of stylistic
analysis.
Stylistics
Stylistics can be by and large described as the study of style of language usage in
different contexts, either linguistic, or situational. Yet, it seems that due to the
complex history and variety of investigated issues of this study it is difficult to state
precisely what stylistics is, and to mark clear boundaries between it and other
branches of linguistics which deal with text analysis.
What has been the primary interest of stylistics for years is the analysis of the type,
fluctuation, or the reason for choosing a given style as in any language a single
thought can be expressed in a number of ways depending on connotations, or desired
result that the message is to produce. Therefore, 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 sociolinguistics analyses the
above mentioned issues seen as dependant on the social class, gender, age, etc, while
stylistics is more interested in the significance of function that the style fulfills.
Moreover, 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. 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 years so called mediadiscourses such as films, news reports, song lyrics and political speeches have all
been within the scope of interest of stylistics.
Each text scrutinized by stylistics can be viewed from different angles and as fulfilling
at least a few functions. Thus, it is said that texts have interpersonal function,
ideational function and textual function. When describing a function several issues are
taken into consideration. Therefore, interpersonal function is all about the
relationship that the text is establishing with its recipients, the use of either personal
or impersonal pronouns is analyzed, as well as the use of speech acts, together with
the tone and mood of the statement. When describing the ideational function
linguists are concerned with the means of representing the reality by the text, the way
the participants are represented, as well as the arrangement of information in clauses
and sentences. The textual function is the reference of sentences forwards and
backwards which makes the text cohesive and coherent, but also other discursive
devices such as ellipsis, repetition, anaphora are studied. In addition to that the
effectiveness of chosen stylistic properties of the texts are analyzed in order to
determine their suitability to the perceived function, or contribution to overall
interpretation.
Linguists dealing with a sub-branch of stylistics called pedagogical stylistics support
the view that this field of study helps learners to develop better foreign language
competence. What is more, it is thought that being acquainted with stylistics makes
student more aware of certain features of language and to implement the knowledge
in their language production on all levels: phonological, grammatical, lexical and
discursive. Also empirical findings support the view that stylistics helps students
improve their reading and writing skills.
Finch G. 1998. How to study linguistics. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brown K. (Editor) 2005. Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd Edition.
Oxford: Elsevier.
Stylistics
Definition:
A branch of applied linguistics concerned with the study of style in-texts, especially
(but not exclusively) in literary works.
According to Katie Wales in A Dictionary of Stylistics, 2nd ed. (Pearson, 2001), "The
goal of most stylistics 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; or in order to relate literary effects to linguistic 'causes' where these are felt to
be relevant."
There are various overlapping sub disciplines of stylistics, including literary stylistics,
interpretive stylistics, evaluative stylistics, corpus stylistics, discourse stylistics,
feminist stylistics, computational stylistics, and cognitive stylistics.
Observations:
1.
2.
3.
Stylistics (literature)
Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective. As a
discipline it links literary criticism and linguistics, but has no autonomous domain of
its own. The preferred object of stylistic studies is literature, but not exclusively "high
literature" but also other forms of written texts such as text from the domains of
advertising, pop culture, politics or religion.
Stylistics also attempts to establish principles capable of explaining the particular
choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of language, such as
socialization, the production and reception of meaning, critical discourse analysis and
literary criticism.
Other features of stylistics include the use of dialogue, including regional accents and
peoples dialects, descriptive language, the use of grammar, such as the active voice
or passive voice, the distribution of sentence lengths, the use of particular language
registers, etc. In addition, stylistics is a distinctive term that may be used to determine
the connections between the form and effects within a particular variety of language.
Therefore, stylistics looks at what is going on within the language; what the
linguistic associations are that the style of language reveals.
Literary stylistics
In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Crystal observes that, in practice, most
stylistic analysis has attempted to deal with the complex and valued language within
literature, i.e. literary stylistics. He goes on to say that in such examination the scope
is sometimes narrowed to concentrate on the more striking features of literary
language, for instance, its deviant and abnormal features, rather than the broader
structures that are found in whole texts or discourses. For example, the compact
language of poetry is more likely to reveal the secrets of its construction to the
stylistician than is the language of plays and novels. (Crystal. 1987, 71).
Poetry
As well as conventional styles of language there are the unconventional the most
obvious of which is poetry. In Practical Stylistics, HG Widdowson examines the
traditional form of the epitaph, as found on headstones in a cemetery. For example:
His memory is dear today
As in the hour he passed away.
(Ernest C. Draper Ern. Died 4.1.38)
(Widdowson. 1992, 6)
Widdowson makes the point that such sentiments are usually not very interesting and
suggests that they may even be dismissed as crude verbal carvings and crude verbal
disturbance (Widdowson, 3). Nevertheless, Widdowson recognizes that they are a
very real attempt to convey feelings of human loss and preserve affectionate
recollections of a beloved friend or family member. However, what may be seen as
poetic in this language is not so much in the formulaic phraseology but in where it
appears. The verse may be given undue reverence precisely because of the sombre
situation in which it is placed. Widdowson suggests that, unlike words set in stone in a
graveyard, poetry is unorthodox language that vibrates with inter-textual implications.
(Widdowson. 1992, 4)
Two problems with a stylistic analysis of poetry are noted by PM Wetherill in
Literary Text: An Examination of Critical Methods. The first is that there may be an
over-preoccupation with one particular feature that may well minimize the
significance of others that are equally important. (Wetherill. 1974, 133) The second is
that any attempt to see a text as simply a collection of stylistic elements will tend to
ignore other ways whereby meaning is produced. (Wetherill. 1974, 133)
Implicature
In Poetic Effects from Literary Pragmatics, the linguist Adrian Pilkington analyses
the idea of implicature, as instigated in the previous work of Dan Sperber and
Deirdre Wilson. Implicature may be divided into two categories: strong and weak
implicature, yet between the two extremes there are a variety of other alternatives.
The strongest implicature is what is emphatically implied by the speaker or writer,
while weaker implicatures are the wider possibilities of meaning that the hearer or
reader may conclude.
Pilkingtons poetic effects, as he terms the concept, are those that achieve most
relevance through a wide array of weak implicatures and not those meanings that are
simply read in by the hearer or reader. Yet the distinguishing instant at which weak
implicatures and the hearer or readers conjecture of meaning diverge remains highly
subjective. As Pilkington says: there is no clear cut-off point between assumptions
which the speaker certainly endorses and assumptions derived purely on the hearers
responsibility. (Pilkington. 1991, 53) In addition, the stylistic qualities of poetry can
be seen as an accompaniment to Pilkingtons poetic effects in understanding a poem's
meaning.
Tense
Widdowson points out that in Samuel Taylor Coleridges poem "The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner" (1798), the mystery of the Mariners abrupt appearance is sustained
by an idiosyncratic use of tense. (Widdowson. 1992, 40) For instance, the Mariner
holds the wedding-guest with his skinny hand in the present tense, but releases it in
the past tense ('...his hands dropt he.'); only to hold him again, this time with his
glittering eye, in the present. (Widdowson. 1992, 41)
Allegory
Definition:
Animal Farm
Comparison of characters to Russian Revolution
Animal Farm
Mr. Jones
Russian Revolution
Czar Nicholas II
Old Major
Karl Marx
taught Animalism
workers do the work, rich keep
the $, animals revolt
invented Communism
"workers of the world unite",
take over gov't
Animalism
Snowball
Communism
same
all people equal
Leon Trotsky
idealistic
really wants to make life better
for all
Napoleon
Revolution"
pure communist, followed Marx
Joseph Stalin
Squealer
The Dogs
Propaganda department of
Lenin's government
Religion
Mollie
Benjamin
Boxer
hungry leaders