STYLISTICS II

Lecture # 21

REVIEW OF LECTURE 20 A branch of applied linguistics

concerned with the study of style in texts, especially (but not exclusively) in literary works.

linguistic stylistics - the description of literary texts by methods derived from general linguistic theory, using the categories of the description of language as a whole.

REVIEW OF LECTURE 20 A comparison of each text by the same

or by different authors in the same and in different genres.

Technically speaking, stylistics is the study of the linguistic features of a literary text - phonological, lexical, syntactical

REVIEW OF LECTURE 20

Merits & Demerits of some definitions Style as an embellishment – just ornamentation Style as choice between alternate

expression

STYLISTICS II (MERITS & DEMERITS – CONTD..)

3 & 4. Style as a set of individual or collected characteristics The emphasis on individual element of

style quite important – it must be allowed for in all linguistic studies.

Almost all writers have their individual individuality – readers can identify their writing

STYLISTICS II Sometimes it can be done objectively

by statistical counts of frequencies of linguistical features in limited contexts.

Still it becomes difficult to identify style with individual expression.

First, some features taken as stylistic as not individual – they are found in others as well

STYLISTICS II Third, how can we separate the ‘unique

and inimitable’ features of a given style from all the other features necessarily present in the text we are studying.

Individual modes of expression form a category too special to give us a general basis for an ideally powerful style definition

STYLISTICS II The identification of style with the

individual elements of language pre-supposes the setting up of norms of comparison.

Definition of style as a set of individual features/characteristics is unsatisfactory.

It fails to pin-point the expressive characteristics which are clearly indicative of style

STYLISTICS II 5. Style as deviation from a norm Such definition could be useful if they

could define both the norm and the deviations in concrete and operational terms.

Such definitions fail to establish a precise relationship between text and norm

STYLISTICS II The question how norm- defining

features are different from general features of style still unanswered

Norm-defining features may be stated in terms of metre (‘heroic couplets’), time (Elizabethan style), place (‘Yank humour’), language, dialect, writer (‘Shakespearean style’), literary work (‘Byronic style’),

STYLISTICS II School of writers (‘metaphysical’,

‘romantic’), genre (‘poetic style, journalese’), social situation (a brigadier addressing to a brigade, or a principal speaking to his students), and so forth.

All such norms seem to be roughly circumscribed by context, including time, place and situation.

STYLISTICS II It becomes evident that it is difficult to

separate style from context. No way to know what an accepted

norm is5. Style as set of those relations among linguistic entities that are stable in terms of wider spans of text than the sentence Prof. Hill’s definition is important here.

STYLISTICS II Prof. Hill has defined stylistics as

concerning all those relations among linguistic entities which are stable or maybe stable in terms of wider spans than those within the limits of the sentence.

This definition too is inadequate.

STYLISTICS II It neither conflicts with the view of style

as choice or as tabulation of alternatives, nor rules out the study of frequencies and probabilities on style determination.

Even a single sentence possesses style and one cannot write a single sentence without style.

Concept of spans not so much stylistic as grammatical

STYLISTICS II Linguistic Approach To Style Style in literature is a recognizable but

elusive phenomenon Part of difficulty in discussing style is

because of temptation to attempt simutaneous answers to linguistic, pragmatic, and aesthetic questions concerned with different levels of, and attitudes to, the communication process.

STYLISTICS II Present day linguists in narrow rigorous

sense focus on the linguistic features present in the given text and on analysis of their distribution and frequencies.

But a poem, a novel, or an essay is more than a style – its style is just a part

Any satisfactory stylistic analysis would be a combination of all the six approaches:

STYLISTICS II Six approaches: 1)Style as an embellishment, 2)Style as choice between alternate expression, 3)Style as a set of individual characteristics, 4)style as deviations from a norm, 5)style as a set of collective characteristics, 6)Style as set of those relations among linguistic entities that are stable in terms of wider spans of text than the sentence

STYLISTICS II A definition of style should have

observational, explanatory and predictive adequacy.

It should account for all choices – paradigmatic, grammatical, stylistics, should make inventory of style markers, stylistical natural markers, stylistic features, characteristics, should state the contextual spread of the style markers,

STYLISTICS II Should account for over-lapping of stylistic

sets (already established by study of other texts), shift of style or contextual transfer, should keep in mind distinction between style and dialect, should be able to study a text microstylistically and macrostylistically.

Style is the aggregate of frequencies because it is the result of more than one linguistic item.

STYLISTICS II For example, a given word in a text

acquires stylistic significance by jextaposition with other words.

Secondly, the study of style must not be restricted to phonological or morphological or lexical or syntactical observations: it must be built up of observations at various levels.

STYLISTICS II Style is concerned with frequencies of

linguistic items in a given context. To measure the style of the passage,

frequencies of its linguistic items of different levels must be compared with the corresponding features in other text or corpus regarded as norm and having definite contextual relationship with this passage

STYLISTICS II Example: For stylistic analysis of one of

Pope’s poem, norms with varying contextual relationships include English eighteenth century poetry, the corpus of Pope’s work, all poems written in English in rhymed pentameter couplets, or, for greater contrast as well as comparison, the poetry of Wordsworth.

Style is a link between context and linguistic form and the style of a text may be examined in relation to:

1. impressionistically recognized norms of language use2. Text by other authors recognized by reference to one as comparable 3. Other text by the same author recognized by reference to 1 & 2 as comparable.

STYLISTICS II This intra and extra textual study of the

contextualization in the light of linguistic structure and its history that has come to be styled ‘stylistics’.

The student of style must see language and literature in relation to other functions of language (socio-linguistics), in relation to other norms (statistic stylistics)

STYLISTICS II in relation to the individual and

collective characteristics inherent in the work, in the writer, in the age/period and in the literary tradition of the age. The stylistic selection should not mean ‘the choice between items that mean more or less the same’.

Some classification of context is a pre-requisite for a sound stylistic analysis.

STYLISTICS II All stylistic analysis is ultimately based

on the matching of a text against a contextually related norm.

Enkvist says, contextually bound linguistic items function as style markers. Style markers occurring in the same text form a stylistic set for that text.

STYLISTICS II A stylistic set shared by a large number

of contextually related text forms a major stylistic set occurring within a major contextual range.

Texts sharing the same major stylistic set in the same major style

SUMMARY Style as a set of individual or collected characteristics Almost all writers have their individual individuality Style as deviation from a norm It becomes evident that it is difficult to separate style from context. No way to know what an accepted norm is

SUMMARY Style as set of those relations among linguistic entities that are stable in terms of wider spans of text than the sentence. Even a single sentence possesses style

and one cannot write a single sentence without style.

Concept of spans not so much stylistic as grammatical

SUMMARY Style is the aggregate of frequencies because

it is the result of more than one linguistic item. Any satisfactory stylistic analysis would be a

combination of all the six approaches: All stylistic analysis is ultimately based on the

matching of a text against a contextually related norm.