BSED-3

COLLEGE

STYLISTI
CS
INTRODUCTION
KLEIN MAMAYABAY, LPT, MAED
Language Professor
 CONTENTS FOR PRELIM
● At the end of these PRELIM weeks, the student should be able to:
● define stylistics, style, meaning, contexts, expressiveness and emotiveness in relation
to nature and goals of the study, history, and influences;
● discuss and differentiate styles, meanings, contexts, and devices and means in
language and literature; and
● share one’s interest in stylistic research and study through appreciation of authors’
unique styles and literature as an art form.
● review prose genres, literary views and theories, and devices/ characteristics in the
light of stylistic study;
● discuss a survey of prose authors, their unique styles and purposes of writing such
texts; and
● create stylistic analyses of prose texts.
 LET’S
START!
 01 WHAT IS STYLISTICS?
nobody has ever really known what the term ‘stylistics’ means,

STYLISTICS AND LEVEL OF

02 LANGAUGE
any utterance or piece of text is organized through several distinct levels of
language.

TABLE OF 03 GRAMMAR AND STYLE

a hugely complex set of interlocking categories, units and structures: in

CONTENT
effect, the rules of that language

04 RHYTHM AND METER

S
sound patterning plays a pivotal role in literary discourse in general, and in
poetry in particular.
NARRATIVE
05 STYLISTICS
Narrative discourse provides a way of recapitulating felt experience by matching up
patterns of language to a connected series of events.

06 STYLE AS CHOICE
it is an important function of the system of language that it is able to account for these various
‘goings on’ in the world.
 STYLE AND POINT OF
07 VIEW
The perspective through which a story is told constitutes an important
stylistic dimension
REPRESENTING SPEECH AND
08 THOUGHT
modern stylistics has been its interest in the way in which speech and thought
is represented in stories.

TABLE OF 09
DIALOGUE AND
DISCOURSE
discourse; that is, as a form of naturally occurring language use in a real

CONTENT
social context.
COGNITIVE
10 STYLISTICS
S
account of the mental processes that inform, and are affected by, the way we
read and interpret literary texts.

11 METAPHOR AND METONYMY

identified two important tropes, or figures of speech, through which this
conceptual transfer is carried out.

STYLISTICS AND VERBAL

12 HUMOUR
connections
humour
have been drawn between patterns of style and verbal
 INTRODUCTION

Some years ago, the well-known linguist Jean-

Jacques Lecercle published a short but damning
critique of the aims, methods and rationale of
contemporary stylistics. His attack on the
discipline, and by implication the entire endeavour
of the present book, was uncompromising.
According to Lecercle, nobody has ever really
known what the term ‘stylistics’ means, and in any
case, hardly anyone seems to care (Lecercle 1993:
14).
 01
WHAT IS
STYLISTICS?
The perspective through which a story is told constitutes
an important stylistic dimension.
“According to Lecercle, nobody has
ever really known what the term
‘stylistics’ means, and in any case,
hardly anyone seems to care."
—(Lecercle 1993: 14).
 It is the application of
concepts from linguistics
and allied disciplines in
the analysis and
interpretation of samples of
communication through
language (Ostanes).
 The linguistic study of
different styles (Chapman,
1973).

It is linguistic approach to
the study of literary text
(Brumfit and Carter, 1997).
DEFINITIONS
It is the study of literary discourse from
a linguistics orientation.

It 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.
DEFINITIONS
It is the study of literary discourse from
a linguistics orientation.

It 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.
MODERN STYLISTICS
Stylistics is a method of textual
interpretation in which primacy of place
is assigned to language. The reason
why language is so important to
stylisticians is because the various
forms, patterns and levels that
constitute linguistic structure are an
important index of the function of the
text.
 The preferred object of study in
stylistics is literature, whether that be
institutionally sanctioned ‘Literature’
as high art or more popular
‘noncanonical’ forms of writing.
 The traditional connection between
stylistics and literature brings with it two
important caveats, though.

The first is that creativity and innovation

in language use should not be seen as the
exclusive preserve of literary writing.

The second caveat is that the techniques

of stylistic analysis are as much about
deriving insights about linguistic structure
and function as they are about
understanding literary texts.
 Thus, the question ‘What can
stylistics tell us about literature?’ is
always paralleled by an equally
important question ‘What can
stylistics tell us about language?’.
The Purpose of Stylistics

To do stylistics is to explore language, and, more

specifically, to explore creativity in language use. Doing
stylistics thereby enriches our ways of thinking about
language and, as observed, exploring language offers a
substantial purchase on our understanding of (literary)
texts.
Stylistics is conforming to the following
three basic principles, cast
mnemonically as three ‘Rs’.

The three Rs stipulate that:

❏ stylistic analysis should be rigorous

❏ stylistic analysis should be retrievable
❏ stylistic analysis should be replicable.
1. rigorous means that it should be based on
an explicit framework of analysis.
2. retrievable means that the analysis is
organized through explicit terms and
criteria, the meanings of which are agreed
upon by other students of stylistics.
3. replicable does not mean that we should
all try to copy each others’ work. It simply
means that the methods should be
sufficiently transparent as to allow other
stylisticians to verify them, either by testing
them on the same text or by applying them
beyond that text.
 02
STYLISTICS and
LEVEL of
LANGAUGE
any utterance or piece of text is organized through several
distinct levels of language.
 Language in its broadest
conceptualization is not a
disorganized mass of sounds and
symbols, but is instead an
intricate web of levels, layers and
links. Thus, any utterance or
piece of text is organized
through several distinct levels of
language.
(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!
PHONOLOGY AND GRAPHOLOGY
In terms of graphology, or graphetic
substance, this particular sentence is written
in the Roman alphabet, and in a 10 point
emboldened ‘palatino’ font. However, as if to
echo its counterpart in speech, the sentence-
final exclamation mark suggests an emphatic
style of vocal delivery.

(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!

 In that spoken counterpart or phonology,
systematic differences in sound sort out the
meanings of the words used: thus, the word-
initial /n/ sound at the start of ‘knocking’ will
serve to distinguish it from, say, words like
‘rocking’ or ‘mocking’. To that extent, the
phoneme /n/ expresses a meaningful
difference in sound.
(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!
The word ‘knocking’ also raises an issue in
lexicology: notice for instance how contemporary
English pronunciation no longer accommodates
the two word-initial graphemes and that appear in
the spelling of this word. The sequence – originally
spelt – has become a single /n/ pronunciation,
along with equivalent occurrences in other Anglo-
Saxon derived lexis in modern English like ‘know’ LEXICOLO
and ‘knee’. The double consonant pronunciation is GY
however still retained in the vocabulary of cognate
languages like modern Dutch; as in ‘knie’ (meaning
‘knee’) or ‘knoop’ (meaning ‘knot’).
(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!
 MORPHOLO
GY
The sentence also contains words that are
made up from smaller grammatical constituents
known as morphemes. Certain of these
morphemes, the ‘root’ morphemes, can stand as
individual words in their own right, whereas
others, such as prefixes and suffixes, depend for
their meaning on being conjoined or bound to
other items. Thus, ‘potplants’ has three
constituents: two root morphemes (‘pot’ and
‘plant’) and a suffix (the plural morpheme ‘s’),
making the word a three morpheme cluster
(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!
 GRAMMAR/
SYNTAX
Much could be said of the grammar of this sentence: it is a single
‘clause’ in the indicative declarative mood. It has a Subject (‘That
puppy’), a Predicator (‘’s knocking over’) and a Complement (‘those
potplants’).
Each of these clause constituents is realized by a phrase which
itself has structure. For instance, the verb phrase which expresses the
Predicator has a three part structure, containing a contracted auxiliary
‘[i]s’, a main verb ‘knocking’ and a preposition ‘over’ which operates as
a special kind of extension to the main verb.
This extension makes the verb a phrasal verb, one test for which is
being able to move the extension particle along the sentence to a
position beyond the Complement (‘That puppy’s knocking those
potplants over!’).

(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!

REVIE
W
You might know that verbs express actions and states of
being. But did you know there are different verb types? These
include:

1. Main verbs – A “main” verb expresses an action, event, or state.

2. Linking verbs – A type of verb that describes the subject of a
sentence.
3. Auxiliary verbs – Also known as “helper verbs,” these work
alongside a main verb to express different tenses and
grammatical moods.
4. Modal verbs – These help us express necessity or probability.
 Every complete sentence will include at least one main verb, and this might
be the only verb in a sentence (unlike auxiliary or modal verbs).
In addition, a main verb will always be transitive or intransitive:

• Transitive verbs need an object (i.e., the thing the verb affects).

• Intransitive verbs can be used without an object.
Some verbs, though, can be either transitive or intransitive depending on
how we use them. Take the verb “walk,” for example:

Transitive: She walked the dog.

Intransitive: We walked to the party.

In the first sentence, we’re using “walk” to mean “take something for a
walk,” so we need an object (i.e., “dog”). But in the second, “walked” does not
need an object for us to know what it means (i.e., the speakers arrived on foot). 

In all cases, though, the main verb is the most important verb in a
sentence.
 Every complete sentence will include at least one main verb, and this might
be the only verb in a sentence (unlike auxiliary or modal verbs).
In addition, a main verb will always be transitive or intransitive:

• Transitive verbs need an object (i.e., the thing the verb affects).

• Intransitive verbs can be used without an object.
Some verbs, though, can be either transitive or intransitive depending on
how we use them. Take the verb “walk,” for example:

Transitive: She walked the dog.

Intransitive: We walked to the party.

In the first sentence, we’re using “walk” to mean “take something for a
walk,” so we need an object (i.e., “dog”). But in the second, “walked” does not
need an object for us to know what it means (i.e., the speakers arrived on foot). 

In all cases, though, the main verb is the most important verb in a
sentence.
SEMANTIC
A semantic analysis is concerned with meaning and will be
interested, amongst other things, in those elements of language
which give the sentence a ‘truth value’. A truth value specifies the
conditions under which a particular sentence may be regarded as
true or false. For instance, in this (admittedly hypothetical)
sentence, the lexical item ‘puppy’ commits the speaker to the fact
that a certain type of entity (namely, a young canine animal) is
responsible for the action carried out. Other terms, such as the
superordinate items ‘dog’ or even ‘animal’, would still be
compatible in part with the truth conditions of the sentence.

(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!

 Returning to the semantic component of
example (1), the demonstrative words ‘That’ and
‘those’ express physical orientation in language by
pointing to where the speaker is situated relative to
other entities specified in the sentence.
”That” and ”those” shows distal relationship.
“This” and “these” shows proximal relationship.

(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!

PRAGMAT
An ICS
implication is pragmatic rather than
semantic because it is more about the meaning of
language in context than about the meaning of
language per se.
Discourse is context-sensitive and its domain
of reference includes pragmatic, ideological, social
and cognitive elements in text processing. That
means that an analysis of discourse explores
meanings which are not retrievable solely through
the linguistic analysis of the levels surveyed thus
far.
 To this effect, imagine that (1) is uttered by a
speaker in the course of a two-party interaction in
the living room of a dog-owning, potplantowning
addressee. Without seeking to detail the rather
complex inferencing strategies involved, the
utterance in this context is unlikely to be interpreted
as a disconnected remark about the unruly puppy’s
behavior or as a remark which requires simply a
verbal acknowledgment.

(1) That puppy’s knocking over those potplants!

 Rather, it will be understood as a call to
action on the part of the addressee.
Indeed, it is perhaps the very obviousness
in the context of what the puppy is doing
vis-à-vis the content of the utterance that
would prompt the addressee to look
beyond what the speaker ‘literally’ says.
-NOTHING FOLLOWS-
 REPORTING/RESEARCH
CRITERIA

SELECTION OF DATA- 30%

CLARITY OF DELIVERY- 40%
QUALITY OF THE AUDIO AND VIDEO- 15%
ABILITY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS-15%
 CONTENT OF THE REPORT

1. Report
2. Activity That Is Good For 1-2 Hours
-NOTHING FOLLOWS-
 BSED-3
COLLEGE

STYLISTI
CS
INTRODUCTION
KLEIN MAMAYABAY, LPT, MAED
Language Professor
I. What is Stylistics?
II. Modern Stylistics
Ill. Purpose of Stylistics
IV. Rhetoric and the History of Stylistics
V. What is Style?
Norm
Individual Style
Functional Style
VI. Stylistics and Levels of Language
VII. Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices
VIII. Expressiveness vs. Emotiveness
Main Terms:
1. STYLE - a selection of non-distinctive features of language.
2. NORM - an assemblage of stable means objectively existing in the
language and systematically used.
3. INDIVIDUAL STYLE - a unique combination of language units
peculiar to a given writer which makes his works easily recognizable.
4. FUNCTION - role of the object in a certain system.
5. STYLISTICS - a branch of linguistics investigating principles and the
results of selection and use of lexical, grammatical, phonetic and
other language use for the transfer of thoughts and emotions under
different circumstances of communication.
 What is Stylistics?

Stylistics is a branch of applied linguistics

concerned with the study of style in texts,
especially, but not exclusively, in literary works.
Also called literary linguistics, stylistics focuses
on the figures, tropes, and other rhetorical devices
used to provide variety and a distinctness to
someone's writing. It is linguistic analysis plus
literary criticism.
 According to Katie Wales in "
A Dictionary of Stylistics," 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."
 MODERN STYLISTICS
• Stylistics in the early twenty-first century is very much alive and
well.
• It is taught and researched in university departments of language,
literature and linguistics the world over.
• Modern stylistics is positively flourishing, witnessed in a
proliferation of sub-disciplines where stylistic methods are
enriched and enabled by theories of discourse, culture and
society.
• For example, feminist stylistics, cognitive stylistics and discourse
stylistics.
 There are various overlapping subdisciplines of stylistics, and a person who
studies any of these is known as a stylistician:

• Literary stylistics:  Studying forms, such as poetry, drama, and prose

• Interpretive stylistics:  How the linguistic elements work to create
meaningful art
• Evaluative stylistics:  How an author's style works—or doesn't—in the
work
• Corpus stylistics:  Studying the frequency of various elements in a text,
such as to determine the authenticity of a manuscript
• Discourse stylistics:  How language in use creates meaning, such as
studying parallelism, assonance, alliteration, and rhyme
• Feminist stylistics:  Commonalities among women's writing, how writing is
engendered, and how women's writing is read differently than
men’s.
• Computational stylistics:  Using computers to analyze a text and determine a
writer’s style.
• Cognitive stylistics: The study of what happens in the mind when it encounters
language.
 Stylistics has also become a much-valued method in
language teaching and in language learning, and stylistics in
this 'pedagogical' guise, with its close attention to the broad
resources of the system of language, enjoys pride of place in
the linguistic armory of learners of second languages.

• Stylistics is a method of textual interpretation in which

primacy of place is assigned to language.
• The text's functional significance as discourse acts in turn
as a gateway to its interpretation.
 PURPOSE OF STYLISTICS
• To do stylistics is to explore language.
• To explore creativity in language use.
• Stylistics thereby enriches our ways of thinking about language:
1. exploring language offers a substantial purchase on our
understanding of (literary) texts;
2. tells us about the 'rules' of language because it often explores texts
where those rules are bent, distended or stretched to breaking point;
• Interest in language is always at the fore in contemporary stylistic
analysis.
• You should never undertake to do stylistics unless you are interested in
language.
 Stylistics is conforming to the following
three basic principles, cast
mnemonically as three ‘Rs’.
1. rigorous means that it should be based on an
explicit framework of analysis.
2. retrievable means that the analysis is organized
through explicit terms and criteria, the meanings of
which are agreed upon by other students of
stylistics.
3. replicable does not mean that we should all try to
copy each others’ work. It simply means that the
methods should be sufficiently transparent as to
allow other stylisticians to verify them, either by
testing them on the same text or by applying them
beyond that text.
 Rhetoric and the History of Stylistics

• What is Rhetoric?
- Rhetoric - the art of persuading someone through your speech
and writing. It is a discourse (form of communication) that aims
to improve the capability of writers or speakers to inform,
persuade, or motivate a particular audience in certain situations.
- - Origin - ancient Greece became the birthplace of rhetoric
(effective speech/writing) in the fifth century B.C. Even Plato,
Socrates, and Aristotle were arms deep in theories on the most
effective means of persuasion.
 Things to Consider

Audience - Who are you writing to?

Purpose - Why are you writing this? What's the point?
Adjust your voice, tone, and persona to accommodate your
communication situation.

Ask yourself: Who is going to read this?

In what way I can persuade my audience?
 History of Stylistics
- Stylistics can trace its roots to the formalist tradition that developed in
Russian literary criticism at the turn of the twentieth- century. [Moscow
Linguistic Circle]
- - Russian Formalism was Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) focused on
defining the qualities of what he termed 'poetic language.
- Jakobson: the poetic function of language is realized in those
communicative acts where the focus is on the message for its own sake.
- One of their contribution is the 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. 2 main types of
foregrounding is deviation and parallelism.
 History of Stylistics
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.
Prague structuralism is functionalistic. All signs,
including aesthetic signs, fulfill certain needs of
their users.
The functionalism inspired by Karl Buhler
(Mukařovský, Jakobson) derived the functions from
the factors of the speech act, Bohuslav Havránek's
from the social channels of communication.
  What is the difference between Russian
Formalism and structuralism?
Formalism analyses the structure of a text
without focusing on the external factors such
as authorship, social and cultural influence.
However, structuralism connects the
work of a particular author with works of
similar structures whereas formalism only
analyses one particular work at a time.