MAJORSHIP
Area: ENGLISH
Focus: Introduction to Stylistics
LET Competencies:
1. apply the basic stylistic principles to arrive at meaning of literary texts
2101874248. demonstrate skills in a principled analysis of literary texts to produce
less impressionistic or subjective interpretation
2101874249. grasp the ‘grammar of literature’ through various linguistic tools
A. Definition of Stylistics
1. Some of the more common definitions of stylistics follow.
1.1. Stylistics is the application of concepts from linguistics and allied disciplines in the
analysis and interpretation of samples of communication through language (Otanes, ms.).
1.2. The linguistic study of different styles is called stylistics (Chapman, 1973:11).
1.3. Stylistics is a linguistic approach to the study of literary text (Brumfit and Carter,
1997:93).
1.4. Stylistics is the study of literary discourse from a linguistics orientation. What
distinguishes it from literary criticism… is that it is a means of linking the two
(Widdowson, 1975).
1.5. 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).
2. Three basic principles of a linguistic approach to literary study and criticism (Carter):
2.1. That the greater our detailed knowledge of the working of the language system, the
greater our capacity for insightful awareness of the effects produced by the literary texts
2.2. That a principled analysis of language can be used to make our commentary on the
effects produced in a literary work less impressionistic and subjective
2.3. That because it will be rooted in a systematic awareness of language, bits of language
will not merely be spotted and evidence gathered casually and haphazardly. Analysis of
one linguistic pattern requires checking against related patterns across the text.
Evidence for the text will be provided in an overt or principled way. The conclusions can
be attested and retrieved by another analyst working on the same data with the same
method. There is also less danger that we may overlook textual features crucial to the
significance of the work.
3. Importance of practical stylistics:
3.1. It can provide the means whereby the student of literature can relate a piece of literary
writings to his own experience of language and so can extend that experience.
3.2. It can assist in the transfer of interpretative skills, on essential purpose of literary
education.
3.3. It can provide a procedure for demystifying literary texts.
3.4. The focus of a literary text in itself provides a context in which the learning of aspects of
language can be positively enjoyed.
4. Grid of Relationships of Stylistics with other Disciplines
5. Some Useful Concepts in Stylistics:
Foregrounding – emphasis on a textual feature; may be achieved through unusual or
strange collocations, meaningful repetitions, contrast, deliberate deviation from the norms/
rules/ conventions.
Collocation – the co-occurrence of certain words
, Reference vs. Representation – Reference is the indexical function of language, pointing
to different aspects of reality. Representation is manipulating language to stand for an
experience/ situation.
Diegesis and Mimesis – Diegesis is telling/ narrating; mimesis is showing.
Co-operative Principle – According to Grice, people can engage in meaningful extended
conversation because, under normal conditions, the interlocutors observe certain
principles, which he calls the four conversational maxims. The maxim of Quality upholds
the value of truth/ sincerity; the maxim of Manner refers to the avoidance of obscurity of
expression and ambiguity, and to be orderly (Pratt, 1977, pp. 129-130, in Weber, 1996).
Four convention maxims in carrying out a conversation
(The co-operative principle and its regulative conventions)
1. The maxim of quantity: make your contribution as informative as is required – don’t
give too much or too little information.
2. The maxim of quality: make your contribution one that you believe to be true.
3. The maxim of relation: be relevant
4. The maxim of manner: avoid unnecessary prolixity, obscurity of expression and
ambiguity, and be orderly.
Four cases when maxims are often violated:
a) A speaker may unostentatiously violate a maxim; this accounts for lies and deceits.
b) He may opt out of the co-operative principle, e.g., government officials’ refusal to
answer questions requiring classified information.
c) Faced with clash, he may break one maxim or another.
d) He may ostentatiously flout a maxim, so that it is apparent to his interlocutors.
Speech Act – The theory that “many utterances are significant not so much in terms of what
they say, but rather in terms of what they do” (Sullivan, et al., 1994, p. 293).
The speech act has three conditions:
1. Introduction of context or the preparatory and sincerity conditions.
Ex. I promise to return the book next week.
2. Marking of clear social relationships.
Ex. Normally, a servant cannot threaten a master.
3. Observance of felicity conditions before and post speech event.
Ex. “From Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett
Vladimir: Well, shall we go?
Estrogen: Yes, let’s go.
(They do not move).
B. Some Common Ways of Interpreting (Literary Texts) in Stylistics
1. Systematic Grammar in Literary Analysis (Halliday, 1970 in Carter, 1991).
Halliday sees language in terms of three functions: (1) The ideational (2) The
interpersonal, and (3) the textual. The ideational function is concerned with cognitive
meaning, the interpersonal with describing the relations between persons (hence,
questions and answers, positive and negative forms, are part of this function), and the
textual with process enabling the speaker or writer to construct texts as a logical
sequence of units.
One possible option with the ideational function, Halliday goes on to say, is the
transitivity function, to illustrate how stylistics may profit from applying a grammatical
model to analyze a literary text. The transitivity function has three elements:
(a) the process represented by the verb. Ex.: Alex watered the plants.
(b) the participants – the roles of persons and objects. In the above sentence,
Alex is the actor, the plants object/goal.
(c) circumstantial function - in English typically the adverbials of time, place, and
manner.
Roles come in the form of (a) actor, (b) goal or object of result, (c) beneficiary or
recipient as in Rykel gave his brother Shen some cookies, and (d) instrument of force as
“The tree was hit by a lightning.”
Area: ENGLISH
Focus: Introduction to Stylistics
LET Competencies:
1. apply the basic stylistic principles to arrive at meaning of literary texts
2101874248. demonstrate skills in a principled analysis of literary texts to produce
less impressionistic or subjective interpretation
2101874249. grasp the ‘grammar of literature’ through various linguistic tools
A. Definition of Stylistics
1. Some of the more common definitions of stylistics follow.
1.1. Stylistics is the application of concepts from linguistics and allied disciplines in the
analysis and interpretation of samples of communication through language (Otanes, ms.).
1.2. The linguistic study of different styles is called stylistics (Chapman, 1973:11).
1.3. Stylistics is a linguistic approach to the study of literary text (Brumfit and Carter,
1997:93).
1.4. Stylistics is the study of literary discourse from a linguistics orientation. What
distinguishes it from literary criticism… is that it is a means of linking the two
(Widdowson, 1975).
1.5. 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).
2. Three basic principles of a linguistic approach to literary study and criticism (Carter):
2.1. That the greater our detailed knowledge of the working of the language system, the
greater our capacity for insightful awareness of the effects produced by the literary texts
2.2. That a principled analysis of language can be used to make our commentary on the
effects produced in a literary work less impressionistic and subjective
2.3. That because it will be rooted in a systematic awareness of language, bits of language
will not merely be spotted and evidence gathered casually and haphazardly. Analysis of
one linguistic pattern requires checking against related patterns across the text.
Evidence for the text will be provided in an overt or principled way. The conclusions can
be attested and retrieved by another analyst working on the same data with the same
method. There is also less danger that we may overlook textual features crucial to the
significance of the work.
3. Importance of practical stylistics:
3.1. It can provide the means whereby the student of literature can relate a piece of literary
writings to his own experience of language and so can extend that experience.
3.2. It can assist in the transfer of interpretative skills, on essential purpose of literary
education.
3.3. It can provide a procedure for demystifying literary texts.
3.4. The focus of a literary text in itself provides a context in which the learning of aspects of
language can be positively enjoyed.
4. Grid of Relationships of Stylistics with other Disciplines
5. Some Useful Concepts in Stylistics:
Foregrounding – emphasis on a textual feature; may be achieved through unusual or
strange collocations, meaningful repetitions, contrast, deliberate deviation from the norms/
rules/ conventions.
Collocation – the co-occurrence of certain words
, Reference vs. Representation – Reference is the indexical function of language, pointing
to different aspects of reality. Representation is manipulating language to stand for an
experience/ situation.
Diegesis and Mimesis – Diegesis is telling/ narrating; mimesis is showing.
Co-operative Principle – According to Grice, people can engage in meaningful extended
conversation because, under normal conditions, the interlocutors observe certain
principles, which he calls the four conversational maxims. The maxim of Quality upholds
the value of truth/ sincerity; the maxim of Manner refers to the avoidance of obscurity of
expression and ambiguity, and to be orderly (Pratt, 1977, pp. 129-130, in Weber, 1996).
Four convention maxims in carrying out a conversation
(The co-operative principle and its regulative conventions)
1. The maxim of quantity: make your contribution as informative as is required – don’t
give too much or too little information.
2. The maxim of quality: make your contribution one that you believe to be true.
3. The maxim of relation: be relevant
4. The maxim of manner: avoid unnecessary prolixity, obscurity of expression and
ambiguity, and be orderly.
Four cases when maxims are often violated:
a) A speaker may unostentatiously violate a maxim; this accounts for lies and deceits.
b) He may opt out of the co-operative principle, e.g., government officials’ refusal to
answer questions requiring classified information.
c) Faced with clash, he may break one maxim or another.
d) He may ostentatiously flout a maxim, so that it is apparent to his interlocutors.
Speech Act – The theory that “many utterances are significant not so much in terms of what
they say, but rather in terms of what they do” (Sullivan, et al., 1994, p. 293).
The speech act has three conditions:
1. Introduction of context or the preparatory and sincerity conditions.
Ex. I promise to return the book next week.
2. Marking of clear social relationships.
Ex. Normally, a servant cannot threaten a master.
3. Observance of felicity conditions before and post speech event.
Ex. “From Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett
Vladimir: Well, shall we go?
Estrogen: Yes, let’s go.
(They do not move).
B. Some Common Ways of Interpreting (Literary Texts) in Stylistics
1. Systematic Grammar in Literary Analysis (Halliday, 1970 in Carter, 1991).
Halliday sees language in terms of three functions: (1) The ideational (2) The
interpersonal, and (3) the textual. The ideational function is concerned with cognitive
meaning, the interpersonal with describing the relations between persons (hence,
questions and answers, positive and negative forms, are part of this function), and the
textual with process enabling the speaker or writer to construct texts as a logical
sequence of units.
One possible option with the ideational function, Halliday goes on to say, is the
transitivity function, to illustrate how stylistics may profit from applying a grammatical
model to analyze a literary text. The transitivity function has three elements:
(a) the process represented by the verb. Ex.: Alex watered the plants.
(b) the participants – the roles of persons and objects. In the above sentence,
Alex is the actor, the plants object/goal.
(c) circumstantial function - in English typically the adverbials of time, place, and
manner.
Roles come in the form of (a) actor, (b) goal or object of result, (c) beneficiary or
recipient as in Rykel gave his brother Shen some cookies, and (d) instrument of force as
“The tree was hit by a lightning.”
