HISTORY OF STYLISTICS psycholinguistics, etc.
), as well as
developing connections with other
The term “style” and “stylistics” goes back disciplines, notably psychology, to
to Latin “stylus” which meant a stick for develop a range of more subtle tools of
writing. However, the term stylistics comes analysis to understand how the texts
from French word “Stylistique” - an that are its central concern make
instrument for writing. meaning.
INTRODUCTION Sociolinguistics is the study of how
language serves and is shaped by the
Stylistics is the study of textual social nature of human beings.
meaning. Historically, it arose from the
late-19th- and early-20th-century Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics,
Russian formalist approach to literary which is the study of language.
meaning, which endeavored to identify
the textual triggers of certain literary Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics,
effects from their structures. which is the study of language.
As a result, for much of its history,
stylistics has been concerned with the
style, and consequent meaning, of The founding fathers of Stylistics, a
literary works double portrait: Leo Spitzer and
Dumitru Caracostea
However, the burgeoning of modern
linguistics in the early part of the 20th The founding fathers of Stylistics, a
century and the simultaneous rise of double portrait: Leo Spitzer and
mass media (newspapers, radio, and Dumitru Caracostea
television in the first instance) led
stylisticians toward two new concerns. LEO SPITZER
The eventual consensus that developed Leo Spitzer ( 7 February 1887 – 16
from such work was that there is no September 1960) was an Austrian
absolute division, in linguistic usage, Romanist and Hispanist, philologist, and an
between literary and nonliterary texts, influential and prolific literary critic. He was
though genres of all kinds (including known for his emphasis on stylistics. Along
nonliterary genres) may have stylistic with Erich Auerbach, Spitzer is widely
preferences that help to identify them. recognized as one of the foundational figures
of comparative literature.
LITERARY TEXTS
Dumitru Caracostea
A literary text is a piece of writing, such as a
book or poem, that has the purpose of telling He was born in Slatina, Olt County to Nicolae
a story or entertaining, as in a fictional Caracostea, a magistrate of Aromanian
novel. descent, and his wife Eufrosina (née Bichan),
a French teacher.[1] His father's family had
NON-LITERARY TEXTS become wealthy through engaging in
commerce, which opened the possibility of
Non-literary texts are texts whose primary higher education for its members.[2] He
purpose is to convey information and do not attended primary school and one year of
have the same narrative and fictional high school in his native town, completing
elements as literary texts. Examples of non- his secondary education at Saint Sava High
literary texts include textbooks, legal School in Bucharest in 1900.
documents, articles in academic journals,
recipes, how-to books, and instruction Russian Formalism
manuals.
Russian formalism was a school of
Meanwhile, stylistics has continued to literary theory in Russia from the 1910s
follow the “new” subdisciplines of the to the 1930s.
field (sociolinguistics, pragmatics,
Russian formalism was a diverse Following Jakobson’s emigration to
movement, producing no unified Czechoslovakia in 1920, Czech literary
doctrine, and no consensus amongst its school, Jan Mukarovsky (1891-1975)
proponents on a central aim to their established Prague Linguistic / Circle in
endeavors. 1926, the birthplace of structuralism.
Moscow Linguistic Circle Mukarovsky was interested in identifying
the formal and functional distinctions
The Moscow linguistic circle was a group between literary and non literary writing.
of social scientists in semiotics, literary Jakobson (1960) suggests that
theory, and linguistics active in Moscow defamiliarization also result from
from 1915 to ca. 1924. structural pattering in texts or, to give its
later name, parallelism.
Its members included Filipp Fortunatov
(its founder),Roman Jakobson, Grigoriy Shkylovsky’s (1917, 1925) notion of
Vinokur, Boris Tomashevsky, and Petr defamiliarization (‘estrangement’) or
Bogatyrev. The group was a counterpart ‘making strange’ also entailed a political
to the St. Petersburg linguistic group notion because he stressed that the
OPOJAZ; between them, these two function of art is to make people look at
groups (together with the later Prague the world from a new perspective.
linguistic circle) were responsible for the
development of Russian formalist literary These concepts - deviation, parallelism
semiotics and linguistics. and foregrounding - are the foundations
of contemporary stylistics.
Stylistics can trace its roots to the
formalist tradition that developed in
Russian Literacy criticism at the turn of STRUCTURALISM
the 20th Century. (Moscow Linguistic Structuralism is a method of interpreting and
Circle) analyzing such things as language,
literature, and society, which focuses on
Russian Formalism was Roman Jakobson contrasting ideas or elements of structure
(1896-1982) focused on defining the and attempts to show how they relate to the
qualities of what he termed poetic whole structure.
language.
DEVIATION
Poetic language is a type of writing that
is often used to convey an image to Stylistic deviations refer to the intentional
reader. departure from the ordinary rules and norms
Jakobson the poetic function of language of language in literary works. a writer may
is realized in those communicative acts misuse nouns, verbs, and other words, or
where the focus is on the message for its may spell words differently.
own sake.
Example:
Prague Formalism A writer may misuse nouns, verbs, and other
words, or may spell words differently.
The Prague school or Prague linguistic
circle is a language and literature PARALLELISM
society. It started in 1926 as a group of
linguists, philologists and literary critics Is a stylistic arrangement in which similar
in Prague. Its proponents developed syntatic patterns repeat, thus allowing
methods of structuralist literary analysis reader or listener to rely on the grammatical
and a theory of the standard language repetition to echo the logical similarity of the
and of language cultivation from 1928 to thought and thus improving the clarity and
1939. The linguistic circle was founded in efficiency of the passage.
the Café Derby in Prague, which is also
where meetings took place during its Example:
first years. Paul likes dancing, swimming, and running.
FORE GROUNDING
In rhetoric, a figure of thought is a figurative
The use of linguistic devices to emphasize expression that, for it’s effect, depends less
certain elements in a text, making them on the choice or arrangement of words than
stand out, or 'foregrounded. on the meaning(s) conveyed
Example: The most famous examples are:
His speech foregrounded the history of the ALLITERATION
decision. ASSONANCE
PUNS
ALLITERATION - is the repetition of the
same sound at the start of a series of words
in succession whose purpose is to provide an
audible pulse that gives a piece of writing a
lulling, lyrical, and/or emotive effect.
Ex:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Sally sells seashells by the sea shore.
ASSONANCE - is defined as “the similarity
in sound between two syllables that are
close together, created by the same vowels
but different consonants”, and “the use of
the same vowel sound with different
consonants or the same consonant with
different vowels in successive words.
RHETORICS OF STYLISTICS
Ex:
Rhetoric is speaking or writing that's “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the
intended to persuade. Rhetoric refers to the plains” from the movie, 'My Fair Lady' is a
study and uses of written, spoken and visual very good example of assonance. The words
language. rain, Spain, stays, mainly and plains used in
Example language are designed to the sentence is an example of assonance.
motivate, persuade, or inform.
PUN - is a form of wordplay that uses terms
Examples of Rhetoric with similar or identical sounds or spellings
for humorous effect. Puns can also
Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have A Dream” underscore irony, contribute to character
Abraham Lincoln “Gettysburg Address” development, or highlight absurdity.
ORIGIN Ex:
Never trust an atom; they make up
In Ancient Greece became the birthplace of everything. I told a chemistry joke, but there
rhetoric (effective speech/writing) in the fifth was no reaction. I became well red by
century B.C. Even Plato, Socrates and reading in the sun.
Aristotle were arms deep in theories on the
most effective means of persuasion. SYNTETICAL PATTERNS
STYLISTICS Are the acceptable word orders within
sentences and clauses. Depending on what
Is a study of the devices in languages (such kinds of words you want to use, such as
as rhetorical figures and syntactical indirect objects or prepositional phrases, there
patterns) that are considered to produce is a specific order in which to place them all.
expressive or literary style.
Rhetorical stylistics is rooted in the
RHETORICAL FIGURES transactional nature of language and
discourse, and its principles are grounded
ultimately in communicative goals.
Stylistics is a borderline discipline between
This article explores the nature of the stylistics language and literature. It focuses on
embodied in the classical and early modern language use in both literary and non-
rhetorical tradition and argues that rhetorical literary texts. In doing this, it uses insight
stylistics differs in its assumptions and from numerous disciplines such as literature,
purposes from contemporary literary stylistics. psychology, sociology, philosophy, and so
Three areas of difference are discussed. on. Therefore, while it has its own focus, it is
multidisciplinary in nature.
First, rhetoric was a productive not an
analytical art, and its criteria for language
DIMENSION OF STYLISTICS
choices were radically functional and audience-
based. Rhetoricians like Quintilian,
1 STYLE AS CHOICE
·This considers style as the characteristic
For example, favored choices for ease of
comprehension. choices that a writer or speaker makes in a
text at the various levels of language
Second, rhetorical stylistics, while recognizing description.
genre differences, did not distinguish a Example:
separate domain of the literary. The system of THE TELL-TALE HEART
rhetorical pedagogy incorporated ‘fictional’ True! -- nervous – very, very dreadfully
genres and considered texts of every variety nervous I had been and am; but why will you
as potential ‘donors’ of examples of effective say that I am mad? The disease has
language use. Early modern rhetoricians sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not
considered all texts secular by default in dulled them. Above all was the sense of
comparison to the unique category of language hearing acute. I heard all the things in the
in the Bible. heaven and in the earth. I heard many things
in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! And
Third, the language arts from antiquity through observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell
the early modern period were taught in three you the whole story.
overlapping disciplines: grammar, rhetoric, and - Edgar Allan Poe
dialectic. In the last of these arts, the least
understood today, stylistic advice played a 2. STYLE AS A DEVIATION
surprisingly formative role in the construction ·What is deviant i.e. what does not conform
of arguments. Figures of speech understood in to be the ‘standard’ is said to be stylistically
this last context encode specific lines of
significant.
arguments. A reassessment of the rhetorical
This can also be at any level of language
tradition on the part of contemporary
proponents of stylistics requires an
description.
appreciation of these differences.
Example:
NATURE AND GOALS OF STYLISTICS ANYONE LIVED IN A PRETTY HOW
TOWN
WHAT IS STYLISTICS? Women and men(both little and small cared
for anyone not at they sowed their isn’t they
Stylistics is a branch of linguistics that reaped their same
deals with the study of varieties of sun moon stars rain
language, its properties, principles E. E.
behind choice, dialogue, accent, length, Cummings
and register (Bradford, 1979 and Downes
1998)
Others insist that it attempts to establish 3. STYLE AS A SITUATION
principles capable of explaining the The situation is the context in which a text
particular {style} choices used by comes to life. This can be physical, socio-
individuals and social groups in their use cultural, pragmatic, etc.
of language (Turner 1973, Birch 1995, Example:
and Fowler 1998 etc.) MANIFESTO TO CERTAIN FILIPINOS" by José
Rizal Fellow countrymen
NATURE OF STYLISTICS
4. STYLE AS A TEMPORAL
PHENOMENOM
This deals with the time of relevance of
style. That is whether it is still vogue or not
(ancient or modern). Example:
Old English and Modern English
5. STYLE AS THE INDIVIDUAL
This focuses on the specific features that are
associated with particular individuals, i.e.
writers’ and speakers’ idiolects.
Example:
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway is considered as one of
the finest writers in literary history. Writing
style wise, he has a very efficient and ANALOGIST (CAESAR)
economical one. If you want to emulate the
great Ernest Hemingway’s writing style, you Analogy: IS a comparison of between two
should make sure that your writing is things for explanation and clarification.
straightforward, concise, and realistic. Stay comparing two things that are alike in many
away from flowery wordplay, and get to the aspects.
heart of the matter.
The term Analogist originates from the
THE GOALS OF STYLISTIC concept of analogy. where analogy was
used to express the relationships between
1. To stablish discourse peculiarities different things based on proportional
·Stylistics studies the peculiarities that reasoning. It is a person who employs or
characterize the discourse of a writer, argues about analogy.
speaker, period, people or genre.
2. To induce appreciation of discourse ANOMALIST (CICERO)
·Stylistics involves the appreciation of a
discourse in order to increase our enjoyment The noun anomaly comes from the Greek
of the discourse. word anomolia, meaning "uneven” or
3. To ascertain linguistics habit “irregular.” When something is unusual
·An author’s style is the product of a compared to similar things around it, it’s the
particular linguistic habits conditioned by anomaly
some social, cultural, and ideological
environment. An anomaly signals something unusual or
4. To make critical judgements unexpected that requires further attention or
·The application of stylistics on a discourse study. When something is unusual compared
may help a stylistician to make an evaluative to similar things around it, it’s the anomaly.
or critical judgement. Anomalist is a person that is unusual.
ANOMALIST VS. ANALOGIST
(CAESAR VS. CICERO)
