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Stylistics

Definition

Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which applies the theory and methodology of modern linguistics to the study of STYLE. It studies the use of language in specific contexts and attempts to account for the characteristics that mark the language use of individuals and social groups. The stylistics analysis of a text involves the description of a writer’s/speaker’s verbal choices which can be abstracted as style. A stylistician would usually proceed to discuss the relevance of the analysis to interpretation, the possible meaning or effect evoked by the adoption of a certain style.

Language is viewed as a system of different types for linguistic organization. A language of a particular society is part of the society’s culture. The language of a participant in a social activity reflects his social characteristics (such as his status, ethnic group, age and sex). It also reflects his awareness of the various factors of a social situation in which he finds himself. He should adjust his language in accordance with the medium of communication (speech of writing), the setting, the relationship with the addressee (in terms of the degree of intimacy or social distance), the subject matter, and the purpose. Appropriate use of language is considered the key to effective communication.

Concepts of Style

·”Style” may refer to some or all the language habits of one person. E,g. Shakespeare’s style

·The word may refer to some or all of the language habits shared by a group of people at one time, or over a period of time. E.g. the style of legal documents.

·The word may be used in an evaluative sense.

·Partly overlapping with the three senses above, the word may refer solely to literary language.

Style gives us additional information about the speaker’s/writer’s regional and social origin, education, his relationship with the hearer/reader, his feelings, emotions or attitudes.

“Style” in this book refers to the characteristic variation in language use. The term can be applied to both spoken and written, both literary and non-literary varieties of a language.

Procedure of Analysis

The concept of text

A text is any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that forms a unified whole. The connection among parts of a text is achieved by various cohesive devices, and by semantic and pragmatic implication.

A full understanding of a text is often impossible without reference to the context in which it occurs.

The concept of Context

The discussion of “text” naturally leads to the discussion of “context”, because an understanding of the meaning of a linguistic unit or a text depends upon a knowledge of the context in which the unit or text occurs.

Context may be linguistic or extra-linguistic. Linguistic context is alternatively termed as CO_TEXT, which refers to the linguistic unit in a text. Extra-linguistic context refers to the relevant features of the situation in which a text has meaning.

·Characteristic of the USER of language

Age

Sex

Socio-regional or ethnic background

Education

·Characteristics of the USE of language in situation

Medium of communication: speech or writing

Setting: private or public

Role-relationship between addresser and addressee: the degree of intimacy: the degree of social distance.

Linguists have emphasized the role of contexts of situation as determinants of style. There is an observable match between linguistic features and contextual factors.

Levels of linguistic description

In order to capture the stylistic characteristics of a text, we have to describe the text’s verbal properties in a rigorous way.

PHONOLOGY is defined as the system of speech sounds in a language. GRAPHOLOGY refers to the writing system of a language. The lexicogrammatical system consists of vocabulary and syntactic structures

The matching of a text with its context is termed as the PLACING OF A TEXT or CONTEXTUALIZATION.

In the first place, linguistic features of a given text should be compared with a set of relative norms of language in use. By “relative norms” we mean the ranges of linguistic appropriateness to various contexts of situation.

A text should be further be contextualized in terms of its genre, its historical

period or cultural background.

Potential style markers: markers in phonology and graphology

Languages features are classified into four categories: phonology, graphology, lexis and grammar.

Potential style markers in phonology.

Ellision: refers to the omission of a sound or sounds in speech.

Sound patterning: refers to the matching of identical or similar sounds between two or more words.

CVC: Alliteration CVC: Assonance CVC: Consonance

CVC: Reverse Rhyme

CVC: Pararhyme

CVC: Rhyme

Sound patterning is not only a source of aesthetic satisfaction, but also a phonological means of emphasis, establishing relationship between the patterned words.

Onomatopoeia: used to produce sound images.

Potential style markers in graphology

Punctuation: an essential part of the properly constructed English sentence, reflection pauses, intonation, patterns of the spoken language.

The use of exclamation marks:

a. to represent urgent warning or command. e.g. ”Nicholas!” said his uncle sharply.

b. Ending an imperative sentence adds to the peremptory or urgent force of a command. E.g., shut the door!

c. The combination of question and exclamation marks specifies the writer’s doubt or surprise about certain language items. e.g. He said that I was his best(?!) friend.

d. Excessive use of exclamation marks is often considered as a sign of frivolous or immature writing; the use of more than one exclamation mark is a feature of very informal writing. E.g. Number 7 stands empty!!

The use of dashes

a. Dash is considered a mark of informal writing. It may indicate a sudden break or interruption in speech. E.g. ”No he didn’t, Aunt Mollie. It wasn’t Mr Edmond. Mr Edmond didn’t--”

b. Dashes can be used to mark off a parenthesis. E.g.”…when he had bent his head-I saw him! –over my mother’s little glove.”

The use of quotation marks

a. To indicate the authenticity of the quoted words. E.g. Tom Lincoln used to say Abe was going to have “ a real eddication,” explaining,”You air a-goin’ to larn readin’ writin’, and cipherin’”

b. To direct the reader’s attention to the quoted words. E.g. A fourth of USA schools are “shoddy”

c. To enclose words used in special senses or borrowed from other contexts. E.g. I do not know that it is to see into the heart of a friend through that “window of the soul”, the eye.

d. To enclose words that the writer considers inappropriate or untrue. E.g.

The use of capitals and italics

a. Capitals are used to dignify or personify a lexical item. Initial capitals for key word are typical features of legal language.

b. Italics in print, small capitals, or capitals are often used for emphasis, indicating sometimes phonological prominence. E.g. You are my FRIEND/friend.

Paragraphing

Paragraphing refers to the way in which a text is divided into paragraphs (consisting of one or more sentences). It is a device of revealing the relational structure in a text, the organization of the content.

Potential style markers in lexciogrammartical level

Potential style markers in syntax

The basic clause structure and the classification of clause types:

Basic clause structure: SV(A) SVO(A) SVC SVOO SVOC

Classification of clause types:

1. In terms of clause constituents: SV(A) SVO(A) SVC SVOO SVOC

2. In terms of the structure of the verb phrase in a clause: finite clauses, non-finite clause and verbless clauses.

e.g. Mrs Marlow’s health has been improving ever since she quit smoking.(finite clause)

e.g. Inhaling the smoke of others is thought to be harmful(Non-finite:-ing nominal clause)

e.g. A born-again Christian, she has married.(verbless clause)

Verbless clauses are clauses which contain no verb element. They are regarded as clauses because they function in the similar way as finite or non-finite clauses.

3. In terms of function in a sentence, clauses can be classified into dependent and independent clauses.

Subordinate clauses are those which constitute part of another clause and function as its clause elements or as constituents of a phrase within a clause.

Subordinate clauses can be further divided into:

a. Nominal clauses: that-clauses. wh-clauses, to-infinitive clauses and –ing clauses

b. Relative clauses, functioning as post modifiers of a noun phrase.

c. Comparative clauses, resembling adjectives and adverbs in their

modifying functions.

d. Adverbial clauses, denoting time, place, reason, purpose, conditions, etc.

Potential style markers in lexical choice

The examination of lexical choice is mainly an analysis of content words, involving the following aspects: Are the words simple or complex? Formal or informal? General or specific?

Anglo-Saxon or Latinate words

Generally speaking, words of Latin, French origin (Latinate) are words of science, religion and official communication; they help to create the effect of coolness, dignity and intellectual distance. The percentage of Latinate words in a text is only one among many markers indicating the degree of formality of a text. In most cases, it becomes significant only when combined with other markers. Besides, quite a number of Latinate words have passed into the basic vocabulary of a native speaker of English

Words of Anglo-Saxon origin constitute English-speaking people’s basic vocabulary. The percentage of Anglo-Saxon words runs very high-usually between 70 and 90 percent. Therefore a high percentage of Anglo-Saxon words is quite usual and informal style.

General or specific words

General terms are often too vague to convey any precise meaning. The use of specific words is more informative in detail and can evoke vivid images.

Conceptual or Associative meaning

The lexical meaning of a word or phrase is said to be a complex of various interrelated components. Some components constitute conceptual meaning and some associative. Conceptual meaning covers those basic, essential components of meaning which are conveyed by the literal use of a word or phrase.

Associative meaning refers to the meanings that a word has beyond or in addition to its conceptual meaning. These meanings may: Show people’s emotions, attitudes towards what the word refers to/ reflect the social circumstances of its use/ evoke in the reader/hearer certain associations of what the word refers to.

Associative meanings may be private, varying from person to person as the result of individual experience; Associative meanings are often shared by a group of people of the same cultural or social background, sex or age.

In scientific and technical varieties of English, where precise information is of primary importance, words without much emotive/evaluative overtone will be preferred.

In order to avoid using words with undesirable associations people turn to euphemisms:

Senior citizen: old man/ woman

Newly single: divorced

Memorial park: graveyard

Funeral director: undertaker

Sanitation collector: garbage collector

Industrial action: strike

To eliminate: to kill or to murder

Domestic helper: servant

Hair stylist: barber

Airhostess: waitress aboard a plane

Knowledge-based nonpossessor: idiot

The South, or the developing countries: countries that have little

industrialization and low standard of living.

Two freedom fighters took the oppressor’s life away: the general was murdered by two terrorists.

Verbal Repetition and Reiteration

Both verbal repetition and reiteration can be regarded as text-forming devices which manifest the relation of meaning within the text. Moreover, they are often used for rhetorical purposes.

Verbal repetition refers to the repetition of a linguistic unit (morpheme, lexical item, phrase, etc.) which has already occurred in the preceding context. Repetition is sometimes deliberate; it is used for emotive intensification. In literary texts, repetition is usually rhetorical. The intensive repetition of an expression can be a powerful thematic device; it helps to direct the reader’s attention to the interpretation of its significance.

Varieties of Contemporary English

Language varieties are classified according to the following factors: characteristics or USER, and USE, interference and historical period. Dialect is a variety which a person habitually speaks, determined by regional and social background and adopted as a speaker’s permanent from. Register is a variety determined by what he is doing in a social activity and adopted to suit a specific

occasion. The match (correlation) between contextual factors and language features is fairly systematic.

Varieties according to region and social group

· Regional and Social Dialects

Varieties according to the characteristics of language user are commonly termed DIALECTS. A dialect is a variety habitually adopted by people in a certain region (regional dialect) or people of a certain social group (social dialect). Dialect differs from one another in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

Social dialects refer to the language variation according to education, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, and even age and sex. The higher the social status or education, the fewer the regional features in speech.

·Standard and non- standard English

Standard English refers to the particular socially-favored variety which is based on the speech and writing of educated users of the language. Standard English is primarily used for public communication: It is the language used in schools, taught to non-native learners of the language.

Dialect forms are used to indicate one’s regional or class loyalty.

The dialectal English which differs from Standard English in grammar and

vocabulary is termed Non-Standard. Standard English has higher status and enjoys more prestige than any other English dialect.

· The use of non-standard English

While the Standard English is an important medium for public communication, education, and official writing, non-standard varieties are characteristically used in informal speech for personal (or local) needs.

·Markers Indicating Non-Standard Speech in Literature

Non-Standard language features are found in dialogues and first-person narrations. They serve to indicate the speech style of a character or a narrator. The representation of non-standard language in literature is generally occasional rather than constant, approximate rather than accurate.

Grammatical markers:

a. Double/multiple negation

“Nobody don’t go there no more”

b. Double comparatives/superlatives

More beautifuller, nicerer, woreser, leastest.

c. Lack of subject-verb agreement

“I walks to work everyday”

“He walk to work”

·Standard American and British English

See examples

Varieties according to medium (mode of discourse)

As far as linguistic communication is concerned, MEDIUM refers to graphic signs (visual medium) or speech sounds (auditory medium) by means of which a message is conveyed from one person to another. Comparing spoken language and written language, linguists notice that the following aspects condition the variations in speech and writing.

a. Channel limitation

b. Spontaneity of the message

c. Audience interaction

d. Publicity of the situation

Channel limitation and linguistic explicitness

Channel refers to the route in which a message is conveyed from the addresser (speaker/writer) to the addressee (hearer/reader). “Channel limitation” means that the transmission of a message is limited to one channel only- visual or auditory. Spoken language, in most case, has no channel limitation. If the transmission of a message has no channel-limitation, the verbal message is often inexplicit.

Linguistic inexplicitness (caused by the use of exophoric words) is one of the characteristics of spoken language, when both speaker and hearer understand tacitly the references within the shared situation.

Spontaneity and linguistic characteristics

Spontaneously spoken language differs from (formal) written language in the following aspects:

a. Fluency

b. Sentence structure

Spontaneously spoken language is often characterized by

a. The lack of clear sentence boundaries

b. Syntactic incompleteness

c. The use of minor sentences

d. The preference for paratactic structure

e. Comment clauses in end-position

A formal written text is in general “well-prepared”. It is a finished product created by the writer after a good deal of thinking, planning, revising, proofreading, and polishing. The following are some features, typical of written formal sytle；

a. Syntactic completeness and complexity

b. Heavily premodified noun phrases

c. Cleft sentences

d. The use of personal pronouns in a subordinate clause, preceding the main clause.

Audience interaction and linguistic manifestation

To engage in a MONOLOGUE is to speak in such a way as to exclude the possibility of interruption by the audience. To engage in a DIALOGUE is to speak in

such a way as to invite the participation of the audience.

In a dialogic situation the communication normally proceeds through the cooperation of speaker and audience. The speaker is continually monitoring his message to keep the channel of communication open by using MONITORING signals. The speaker also uses questions, tag-questions, imperatives to invite the active participation of the hearer.

In a monologue situation the audience is denied the opportunity or the right to participate, and the interaction features are fewer in evidence.

However, monitoring features may occur in a monologue, indicating that the speaker is aware of the audience’s presence and reactions.

A written text can be compared to a written monologue because it is addressed to an imagined audience that is not physically present.

Publicity of situation and formality in language

The language of a speaker/writer is often conditioned by

A. The size of the audience

B. The relationship between the addresser and the audience

Features of spoken style in fictional dialogues

Features of spoken style can be found I the first person narration, interior monologue and dialogue in a novel

Varieties according to attitude (tenor of discourse)

The language we use varies according to our attitudes towards the addressee. Such attitudes are related to the ROLE RELATIONSHIPS in various situations. Role relationships range from temporary to permanent. The addresser’s attitude towards the addressee influences language choice at every level. Language features indicating the attitude are usually classified along four scales: FORMALITY, POLITENESS, IMPERSONALITY, and ACCESSIBILITY.

·Linguistic markers indicating the degrees of formality

The degrees of formality are determined by the role relationships, number of hearers, and contexts of situation, such as a public lecture, church service, cocktail party, and so on. Thus formal English, typically in written form, is found primarily in official documents, regulations, business letters or ceremonial speeches. Informal English is found typically in private conversations or personal letters. It is also used nowadays in advertisements and popular newspapers.

a. Phonological markers.

E.g. He dunno. Elision and assimilation. He doesn’t know

Whatcna want is assimilation What you want is

I wanna come elision I want to come

Gimme the bottle elision Give me the bottle

I gonna do it elision I’m going to do it

Lemme think a minute elision Let me think a minute

A cuppa tea elision A cup of tea

b. Graphological markers

·Certain punctuation marks (e.g. the dash and the exclamation mark) are more informal than others (e.g. the semincolon and the colon)

·It is considered informal to write figures instead of words as part of a sentence.

c. Syntactic Markers

·Contracted forms of auxiliary verbs occur frequently in spoken and informal English.

E.g. What’ll you have?

·In informal English, for indefinite reference you is used instead of one ·In informal English the pronoun in the objective case is used when it is notionally the subject of the omitted verb.

E.g. She can drive as well as him.

·When a that-clause is object or complement of the postponed subject, that is frequently omitted in informal use.

E.g. I knew he would come.

·In informal English, the preposition may be placed at the end of a relative clause, a wh- question, or an exclamation.

E.g. what a difficult situation he’s in!

· In informal speech elliptical questions and abbreviated clauses are often used.

E.g. What for? Where to? Who with?

·Pronoun they is often used informally in co-reference with the in-definite pronouns everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, no one, nobody,

e.g. Everyone thinks they have the answer.

Has anybody brought their camera?

The use of they is a convenient means of avoiding the traditional formal use of

he or the recent use of the cumbersome he or she when the sex is not stated.

·In subjunctive clauses, the ordinary past tense was can replace were in informal style.

e.g. He treated me as if I was a small boy.

·The use of participial and verbless clauses is characteristic of formal written English, as they are rarely encountered in spoken language.

d. Lexical markers

·Shortened Latinate words

·Many Phrasal and prepositional verbs are characteristic of informal styles

·The use of slang and colloquialism characterizes informal styles

·Linguistic markers indicating the degrees of politeness

In terms of politeness, language varies according to:

a. The degree of intimacy between the addresser and addressee.

b. The degree of social distance separating the addresser from the addressee

Politeness tends to increase to the extent that the addressee is more senior in status and less intimate.

Politeness can be separated from formality within language.

·pohonological markers

Intonation patterns often indicate degrees of politeness.

·syntactic markers

The use of syntactic markers is determined by three levels: the cost-benefit scale, option-nonoption scale, and indirect-direct scale.

a. The use of exclamatory questions for emotive emphasis is typical of familiar styles.

e.g. Am I hungry!

b. When the speaker wants to be polite and tactful he usually uses the will+progressive construction instead of the simple will construction

e.g. When you will be visiting us again?

c. Could and might are considered more polite alternatives to can and may in first-person requests and would to will in second and third-person requests.

d. In order to tone down a command people usually add please or the tag question won’t you, why don’t you, will you. In dealing with one’s inferiors and children, the simple imerative is very much more frequent.

e. In familiar use, this may introduce something new in a narrative.

· Lexical markers

a. Sometimes, members of the same social or regional group may resort to the use of dialectal forms to reinforce group identification, to show the intimacy among themselves.

b. The degree of politeness can be manifested in the choice of forms of greetings and leave-takings.

·Linguistic markers indicating the degrees of impersonality

Impersonal style is chiefly in written form: the text is regarded as having validity independent of the person who writes or reads it. Thus impersonal style has a distancing effect and is typical of scientific, legal and official writing. Linguistic markers indicating the degrees of impersonality include；

A． The passive voice

B． Introductory it as the subject of a sentence

C． Third person nouns such as the student, a claimant, etc.

D． Abstract nouns formed from verbs and adjectives

·Linguistic markers indicating the degrees of accessibility

ACCESSIBILITY means whether a piece of language is easy to understand for the addressee. As the language becomes more formal, more impersonal, more specialized in certain subject matter. It tends to become less accessible to the ordinary reader or listener.

Features indicating accessibility often overlap with features indicating formality: Latinate words are usually less accessible than Anglo-Saxon words; and long, multiple sentences are more difficult to understand than short simple sentences.

Bureaucratic writings are often referred to as ”gobbledygook”, because they are written in an obscure and complex style, which to some extent may help to impress, to mislead or deceive the public.

Varieties according to field of discourse

Field of discourse refers to the type of social activity in which language plays a part. Style is the choice made among the alternative linguistic expressions referring to the same thing in a given text. Varieties according to field are often classified according to the dominant function of language in a given social activity.

·The language of news reporting

A newspaper has two main functions: to give information and to reflect, shape and guide public opinion. The chief characteristic of newspaper is:

a. A headline that has dramatic eye-catching effect

b. An article within a limited space

c. A material which is most readable and attractive

Graphological Devices

Graphological devices are employed to facilitate reading and highlight what the editor considers important in the report.

a. In any newspaper we can find different sizes or shapes of type used for the main headlines, the subheadings, and sometimes even in the body of the article itself.

b. Another important device is paragraphing.

c. Frequent use is made of inverted commas to

· Spotlight particular terms

· Mark out direct quotations

· Distance the writer from the reported fact or opinion

d. Frequent use of dashes instead of commas to mark off a parenthetic phrase, to link expansions of thought or afterthoughts with the main part of the sentence.

Syntactic Markers

a. The need for clarity and readability underlies the choice of different sentence structures in a report

b. Very short news items often consist of one or two sentences, location, character, event, mode, time, cause.

c. Long adverbial phrases are used to introduce sentences

d. Responsibility for a piece of information is sometimes dodged by the reporter through the use of the following structures

e. Reversed word order

f. Reporters are fond of pilling up modifiers in order to pack in as much information as possible even though the information is sometimes not very relevant

g. The simple present is used instead of the present perfective and the past tenses

h. In headlines, to-infinitive construction is used for future-time reference

i. In headlines, the use of the present participle without the auxiliary to refer to an action in passive voice.

j. Verbless sentences are common in headlines

k. Articles and other function words are often omitted or reduced to a minimum in headlines

Lexical devices

a. Laboring-saving clichés

b. Neologism or foreign words and giving new meanings to old words

c. Evaluative and emotive words

d. Anglo-Saxon words are preferred to polysyllabic Latinate words

e. Use of initials, acronyms and clipped forms is common, especially in headlines.

f. Sound patterning, punning and use of allusions

·The language of press advertisement

Ads help manufacturers and corporations to increase profits, manipulate social values and attitudes, and shapes people’s life style. It influences the policies and appearances of the media, interacts with and affects other forms of communication-literature, art and even language itself. The primary function of the advertising language remains the same-CONATIVE.

Linguistic Characteristics of Press Advertisements

a. Deliberate misspelling of words, particularly in brand-naming.

b. Abundant use of exclamation marks

c. Instead of commas, punctuation marks of greater separative force are used for emphasis and effect

Syntactic Devices

a. Use of direct imperative to prompt action

b. Use of present tense to imply a universal timelessness

c. Use of superlative or unqualified comparative adjectives to commend the product, while avoiding the violation of the Code of Advertising Practice.

d. Use of heavy premodifers to specify the qualities of a product.

e. Use of minor sentences to make the massage more striking.

f. Use of questions to arouse curiosity

Lexical Devices

The study of vocabulary is mainly focused on the exploitation of the associative meanings of words, which may induce the public to be favorably disposed towards a product or a service.

A. The choice of a brand name which may produce favorable associations.

B. Use of emotive/evaluative adjectives or adjectival phrases.

C. Use of technical terms and scientific-sounding words to impress the audience.

D. In order to stress the uniqueness or novelty of a product advertisers resort to neologism, and improvised adjectival structures.

E. Use of all, very, always, etc. to indicate that the reference is universal.

F. Use of no, none, nothing, never ,etc., for unqualified exclusion.

Rhetorical Devices

a. Punning

b. Various types of sound patterning and syntactic parallelism.