{"id":450,"date":"2019-06-12T04:48:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T04:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engp13.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=450"},"modified":"2019-06-12T05:25:39","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T05:25:39","slug":"stylistics","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/chapter\/stylistics\/","title":{"rendered":"Stylistics"},"content":{"raw":"
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Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

This module introduces you to the branch of applied linguistics called \u2018Stylistics\u2019. In this module you will learn about the meaning of stylistics, what style means and varied definitions of it. Further, you will learn about the background\/emergence of stylistics as an independent discipline. In this you will come to know about the various theories that paved the way for its emergence. Later you will be introduced to some of the major concept of stylistics like foregrounding and deviation along with some examples.<\/p>\r\n

Learning Outcome:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Objective of this module is to introduce you to some basic concepts of stylistics.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Stylistics<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n

To understand the meaning of stylistics it is pertinent to know the meaning of style. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines style as \u201ca distinctive manner of expression (as in writing or speech)\u201d or \u201ca distinctive manner or custom of behaving or conducting oneself\u201d or \u201c a particular mode of living\u201d or \u201ca particular manner or technique by which something is done, created, or performed\u201d1. Hence, style means a way in which a thing is done or fashioned. Similarly in literature too writers consider style important. The following are some of the noted definitions of style by various writers<\/p>\r\n

Definitions of Style:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

    \r\n \t
  1. According to Goethe, \u201cGenerally speaking, an author\u2019s style is a faithful copy of his mind. If you would write a lucid style, let there first be light in your mind; and if you would write a grand style, you ought to have a grand character\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. For Buffon \u201cStyle\u00a0 is a man\u2019s own; it is a part of his nature\u2026.The style is the man himself\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Jonathan Swift opines that \u201cProper words in proper places make the true definition of style\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Gustave Flaubert says, \u201cOne arrives at style only with atrocious effort, with fanatical and devoted stubbornness.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Edward Gibbon holds that \u201cThe style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. \u201cWhere there is no style, there is in effect no point of view. There is, essentially, no anger, no conviction, no self. Style is opinion, hung washing, the caliber of a bullet, teething beads\u201d says Alexander Theroux<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    For all these writers style is an image of writer\u2019s minds or the writer himself or the organisation and arrangements of words in a particular order is considered significant for style. For some it takes an effort to arrive at style. If there is no style then there is nothing. Hence, style is a\u00a0\u00a0significant feature of writing that helps in presenting one\u2019s own feelings, thoughts, emotions and so on. There are various styles of writings and different authors have varied styles of writing. How do we arrive at meaning based on style? In this situation it is stylistics that helps one to analyse a literary piece and derive meaning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n

    \r\n\r\nDefinition and Meaning of Stylistics:<\/strong>\r\n

    According to David Crystal, \u201cStylistics is a branch of Linguistics which studies the feature of situationally distinctive uses of language and tries to establish principles capable of accounting for the particular choices made by individual and social groups in their use of language\u201d.<\/p>\r\n

    Peter Barry says \u201cStylistics is a critical approach which uses the methods and findings of the science of linguistics in the analysis of literary texts. By \u2018linguistics\u2019 here is meant the scientific study of language and structures, rather than the learning of individual languages\u201d<\/p>\r\n

    In specific terms stylistics means a scientific way of examining\/interpreting the language of a literary text. It is one of the branches of applied linguistics like psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, etc. It does this by applying the insights of linguistics to arrive at an interpretation of a literary text. Unlike literary criticism where focus remains not only on the language but on various aspects like history and culture of a literary text, biography of an author, so on and so forth to arrive at the interpretation of a literary text. However, stylistics does this by the simple means of linguistic techniques.<\/p>\r\n

    Stylistics traces its origin in the subject of antiquity, that is, rhetoric. According to Barry \u201cStylistics is, in a sense, the modern version of the ancient discipline known as \u2018rhetoric\u2019, which taught its students how to structure an argument, how to make effective use of figures of speech, and generally how to pattern and vary speech or piece of writing so as to produce the maximum impact\u201d (Barry, 205). Rhetoric was one of the three subjects of ancient Greeks. The other two subjects were logic and grammar (Stylistics, Block-I, 05). Aristotle in his book Rhetoric <\/em>says the ways to achieve the effective means of communication lies in the usage of vocabulary, syntax and figures of speech. These things help in creating an effect on the listeners\/audiences. Hence, rhetoric becomes an art of persuasion. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, \u201cAristotle\u2019s\u00a0Rhetoric\u201d) Initially rhetoric was an art of persuasion through speech but later on it also came to mean all forms of eloquence along with writing. (Stylistics: Block-I, 05) Hence, there is a close connection between rhetoric and stylistics.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

    \r\n\r\nBackground:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

    Stylistics as a proper discipline as we know it today emerged in 20th century. It is the linguistic theories that majorly developed in twentieth century, laid the foundation of stylistics. The following are some of the theories that helped stylistics emerge as an independent discipline.<\/p>\r\n

    Ferdinand de Saussure:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

    He was a Swiss linguistic scholar and semiotician. He studied and taught at the University of Geneva. He studied historical linguistics and interrelationship among the three classical languages, that is, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit. He propounded various concepts very late in his life. He presented them in a series of lectures that he delivered in French at the University of Geneva from 1906 - 1911. Two of his students, Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, developed the notes they had taken during his lectures. They published it three years after Saussure\u2019s death as Cour de Linguistique Generale <\/em>(1916).<\/p>\r\n

    Saussure\u2019s major concepts are<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

    1.\u00a0 Diachronic and Synchronic 2. Langage, langue and parole <\/em>3. Signifier and signified <\/em>4. Meanings are relational 5. Relationship between syntagmatic and paradigmatic<\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0Russian Formalism:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

    Russian Formalism as we know it today had its origin in Moscow. It was initially known as the Moscow Linguistic Circle formed in 1915. The prominent figures of this circle were Boris Eichenbaum, Victor Shklovsky and Roman Jakobson. However, they could not continue their work in Russia due to political reasons. Thus, they migrated to Prague and founded Prague linguistic Circle in 1926. During this time a few Czech linguists also joined them like Jan Mukarovsky. Later, Roman Jakobson migrated to America. However, today the work of all these linguists is known as Russian Formalism though most of .their work was done outside of Russia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

    Further, to make a distinction from other literary schools like Anglo-American New Critics they were identified as Russian Formalists.<\/p>\r\n

    Russian Formalists always maintained a distinction between standard and poetic language. In the essay \u201cStandard Language and Poetic language\u201d Jan Mukarovsky discussed the function of poetic language. According to him the function of poetic language is to foreground. Foregrounding gives prominence or importance to something. Opposite of foregrounding is automatization. According to Victor Shklovsky the aim of foregrounding is to defamiliarize. It estranges the language, disrupts the ordinary discourse.<\/p>\r\n

    On the same lines Boris Tomashevsky makes a distinction between story and plot. He says \u2018story\u2019 is the actual sequence of real or imagined situations. Plot is the artistic representation of events.<\/p>\r\n

    Roman Jakobson talks about the intrinsic factors involved in any communication like addresser and addressee.<\/p>\r\n\"\"\r\n

    Whenever a message has an emphasis on any specific aspect of communication like if the focus is on the addressee (the listener) then the conative function predominates. Similarly, in a literary text if the focus is on the poetic then text becomes the centre of discussion. When we talk about the language using language then language is performing a metalingual function. If we use language to confirm, renew our contacts then phatic function dominates in our communication. Thus, structure of our sentence depends upon the focus and function. However, a single sentence can perform different function at a time.<\/p>\r\n

    Structuralism<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n

    Structuralism, an intellectual movement, began in France in 1950s. It was influenced by the works of various eminent scholars and movements like Saussurean concepts, American structural linguistics, Russian Formalism, British Functional Linguistics. Further, the various literary theorists like Roland Barthes, Jonathan Culler, Claude Levi-Strauss apart from Roman Jakobson contributed for the establishment of structuralism as a literary theory (Stylistics: Block- I, 29-30). You may learn about them and their concepts in detail in other modules.<\/p>\r\n

    Emergence of Stylistics:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

    All these eminent scholars\u2019 works and movement paved the way for the emergence of stylistics. It was in late 1950s a number of scholarly works began to apply linguistics for the interpretation of literary works, in other words, stylistics. It began with \u201ca famous \u2018Conference on Style\u2019 held at Indiana University in 1958\u201d (206). The proceedings of it published as Style in Language (1960) edited by Thomas A. Sebeok and Linguistics and Literary Style (1970) edited by Donald C. Freeman. Essays on Style and Language (1966) and The Language of Literature (1971) by Roger Fowler.<\/p>\r\n

    (1) What Does Stylistics Do?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

    The following are some of the points as noted by Peter Barry<\/p>\r\n\r\n