Introduction

1. Stylistics Introduction

2. stylistics style linguistics

3. 2. What is style? Style is a pattern of linguistic features distinguishing one piece of writing from another, or one category of writings from another.

4. 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.

5. Concepts of Style • A person’s distinctive language habits, or the set of individual characteristics of language use e.g. Hemingway’s style Henry James’s style Mark Twain’s style

6. 2. Some or all of the language habits shared by a group of people at one time,or over a period of time. e.g. Elizabethan style the style of legal document the style of news reporting

7. 3. A characteristic of “good” or “beautiful” literary writings. e.g. ornate style terse style plain style

8. 2)G. N. Leech: 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

9. II. Concepts of Stylistics 1. Stylistics is a discipline that studies the ways in which language is used; it is a discipline that studies the styles of language in use.

10. 2. Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which applies the theory and methodology of modern linguistics to the study of style.

11. What is the main purpose of stylistics? • 1)to analyze language habits----to identify, from the general mass, those features restricted to certain kinds of social context • 2)to explain why such features have been used as opposed to others

12. 3)to classify these features into categories based upon a view of their function in the social context • By ‘features’ we mean particular choice of words, sequence of words, or way of utterance, so-called stylistically distinctive features

13. 6.What are the preliminary conditions for the study of stylistics? 1)awareness of prescriptive grammar 2)strong sense of English rhetoric 3)basic knowledge of phonetics, phonology, lexicology, syntax, graphology and semantics 4)understanding of literature

14. Linguistic Description • The level of phonology / graphology • The level of lexis • The level of syntax / grammar • The level of semantics

15. 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.

16. 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. 3. The level of syntax / grammar • Syntax refers to rules for ordering and connecitng words into sentences.

17. Lexical categories • Is the vocabulary • simple or complex? • formal or colloquial? • general or specific? • Does the text contain idiomatic phrases? • What kind of dialect or register? • Is there any use of rare or specialized vocabulary? • Are any particular morphological categories noteworthy (e.g. compound words, words with particular suffixes)?

18. 5.What are the major concerns of grammatical observation? 1)inter-sentential relationships sentence-linking features: ellipsis, anaphora, the use of concord, lexical repetition, adverbial contrast, contrastive tone, The most distinctive sentence-linking features: frequent use or absence of anaphora the use of specific patterns of paragraphing 2)sentence typology and structure complete sentences: major sentences (grammatically complete)

19. simple • compound • complex • mixed minor sentences (grammatically incomplete; fragments) • a subordinate structure • an element of clause structure • a combination of elements of clause structure • a non-finite construction

20. 3)clause typology and structure What are the major concerns of distinctive features at clause level observation? a. the proportion of nouns to verbs b. the frequency of pronouns as against nominal groups c. the frequency of clauses working as complement d. the frequency of nominal groups working in clusters e. the ordering of elements of structure in relation to one another

21. f. the frequency of inversion g. the frequency of the adverbial occurring initially, medially, or finally h. the proportion of adverbials as against other elements 4)group typology and structure What is the advantage of the choice of nominal groups over verbal groups? Greater potentiality for modification creates stronger stylistic contrasts in terms of complexity 5)word typology and structure

22. 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.

23. STYLISTIC ANALYSIS Apart from the message being communicated, what other kind of information does the utterance give us? 1.Does it tell us which specific person used it? (individuality) 2.Does it tell us where in the country he is from? (Regional dialect) 3.Does it tell us which social class he belongs to? (Class dialect) 4.Does it tell us during which period of English he spoke or wrote it, or how old he was? (Time)

24. 5.Does it tell us whether he was speaking or writing? (Discourse medium) 6.Does it tell us whether the speaking or writing is an end in itself, or a means to a further end? (Simple v complex discourse medium) 7.Does it tell us whether there was only one participant in the utterance, or whether there was more than one? (Discourse participation) 8.Does it tell us whether the monologue and dialogue are independent, or are to be considered as part of a wider type of discourse? (Simple v complex discourse participation)

25. 9.Does it tell us which specific occupational activity the user is engaged in? (Province) 10.Does it tell us about the social relationship existing between the user and his interlocutors? (Status) 11.Does it tell us about the purpose he had in mind when conveying the message? (Modality) 12.Does it tell us that the user was being deliberately idiosyncratic? (Singularity) 13.Does it tell us none of these things? (Common-core)

26. Deviance: a statistical notion as the difference between the normal frequency of a feature, and its textual frequency. • Prominence: psychological saliency as the phenomenon of linguistic highlighting, which provides not only the basis for a reader’s subjective recognition of a style but also the condition for recognition that a style is being used for a particular literary end.

27. III. The Scope of Studies Literary Stylistics General Stylistics

28. 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

29. General stylistics • Genres: news reports, advertisements, public speeches, scientific treatises, leagal 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

30. V. Stylistic Analysis • The stylistic analysis of a text involves the description of a writer’s / speaker’s verbal choices. • Stylistics does not reflect the views of the individual critic, but an impersonal, reproducible‘truth’.

31. First, a certain style is determined by the characteristics of the USER of language, such as the age, sex, education, socio-regional or ethnic background.

32. Second, it’s related to the characteristics of the USE of language in situation: # role-relationship between addresser and addressee (degree of intimacy) # medium of communication (speech or writing) # setting: private or public # purpose for which language is used (to inform, persuade…)

33. For Example: (1) Dear Sir, I must apologize for the delay in replying to your letter of the 30th of December… (2) Dear Jane, I’m terribly sorry not to have got round to writing before now …

34. For example: • When his dad died, Peter had to get another job. • After his father’s death, Peter had to change his job. • On the decease of his father, Mr. Brown was obliged to seek alternative employment.

35. 3. For example: • (2) The number of books in the library has been going down. Please make sure you know the rules for borrowing, and don’t forget that the library is for everyone’s convenience. So from now on, we’re going to enforce the rules strictly. You have been warned! (1)It has been noted with concern that the stock of books in the library has been declining alarmingly. Students are requested to remind themselves of the rules of the borrowing and returning of books, and to bear in mind the needs of other students. Penalties for overdue book will in the future be strictly enforced.

36. Assessment 20%: Attendance & Participation in classroom activities and completion of assignments 20%: Mid-term 60%: Final examination