2. Style in language ? What is style in language? How is it
produced? How it can be recognized and described? Is it a general
feature of language?
3. style
4. Stttttttyleeeeee She writes in a vigorous style. Haris
started off in a fine style. She dresses in a superb style. I dont
like his style of management. Your cooking style differs from mine.
The elegant style of a home ! They live in grand style . Here one
can eat in style !
5. ssssssssssstyle How stylish she is ! How stylishly does she
speak! I like Bernard Shaws style. Housewives dont care much for
style. What a student has to do with style ? Stylish means being
brand conscious. I like Operah s style .
6. stylllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllle What is common ?
7. Style in Language Style in language can be defined to be
Distinctive linguistic expression What makes an expression
distinctive? Is every expression distinctive ? Does every
expression carry style ? Does stylistics seek to study every human
expression ?
8. Stylistics Hence stylistics is the study of style ,style in
language , i.e., the distinctive linguistic expression
9. Stylistics The aesthetic function of language Expressive
means in language Synonymous ways of rendering one and the same
idea Emotional colouring of language A system of special devices
,called stylistic devices
10. Stylistics The splitting of the literary language into
separate subsystems called stylistic devices. The inter-relation
between language and thought The individual manner of an author in
making use of language
11. stylistics Language is not a disorganized mass of sounds
and symbols ,,, It is instead an intricate web of levels ,layers
and links. Any utterance or piece of text is organized through
several distinct levels of language. Levels are inter-connected
,they interpenetrate and depend on one another.
13. Style in language Style as choice Style as man Style as
deviation Style as conformity Style as time/period Style as
situation
14. Style as choice Choice means options and variations that
are available to the author. Depends on the situation and the genre
that the writer chooses. Writers choice reflects his ego and social
conditions of his time. A writer can choose between start ,and
commence , proceed and go Style is the name of writers choice of
words ,and rhetorical devices.
15. Style as man Distinctive features distinguish one person
from the other One is able to differentiate between the writings of
Morrison and Achebe. Style is shaped by ones social and political
background, religious inclination,culture ,education ,and
geographical location etc. style an index of personality Objection
: if a person exhibits different styles on different occasion ,does
it mean that he has different personalities?
16. Style as deviation Deviation from the norm: style The
concept of style as deviation ,itself implies that there are rules
, norms ,and conventions to be followed. When these conventions are
crossed ,deviation occurs. Departure from what is taken as a common
practice. Rules of language are jettisoned intentionally by the
writer , whether at any level. dangerous safety , open secret.
17. Style as conformity Conformity is the first available
option to a writer It is writers decision to conform or deviate
from the norms. A major weakness : this notion clips creativity
style as conformity is often strictly enforced in certain fields
and circumstances Most of the time conformity is the pre-requisite
of acceptability.
18. Style as period/ time A period usually dictates the style
employed by the writers The style of any given period has
recognizably predominant features that make such a poeriod
distinct. Shakespeare and his contemporaries used a particular
style of writing : writing in verse Henrik ibsen was a huge
influence as dramas in verse were never liked after him ,and the
previous style was abandoned. Victorian ,Elizabethan , Renaissance
and Modern periods all have their particular styles ,different
19. Style as situation It is the context that determines
language choice in speaking or writing . Certain words are
appropriate for certain occasions ,while some are considered taboo
,vulgar or abominable. Language is used according to situation or
circumstance .
20. Types of stylistics Linguistic stylistics Literary
stylistics Functional stylistics Encoding stylistics Decoding
stylistics/ reader-response stylistics/affective stylistics
21. Creativity and innovation is not the preserve of literary
writings only. advertising, journalism, popular music even casual
conversation) often display a high degree of stylistic dexterity .
Linguistic and extra-linguistic parameters are inextricably woven
together , and make the text the way it means .
22. 3 Rs stylistic analysis should be rigorous stylistic
analysis should be retrievable stylistic analysis should be
replicable.
23. Rigorous it should be based on an explicit framework of
analysis. It is underpinned by structured models of language and
discourse that explain how we process and understand various
patterns in language.
24. Retrievable Analysis is organized through explicit terms
and criteria ,the meanings of which are agreed upon by other
stylisticians.
25. Replicable Replicability does not mean that we should copy
each others work ,rather it 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.
26. Linguistics stylistics Explores the linguistic features of
a text. style is the selection of certain linguistic forms or
features over other possible ones. Hence Linguistic stylistics,
points out those linguistic choices which a writer or speaker has
made as well as the effects of the choices. primarily concerned
with the use of language and its effects in a text. Uses objective
and verifiable approach to analyse texts.
27. Literary stylistics Synonymous to literary criticism ,in a
way. The task of literary stylistics is to decipher a message
encoded in an unfamiliar way, to express its meaning in familiar
and communal terms and thereby to provide the private message with
a public relevance. The literary stylistician is obviously
sensitive to language, but his/her concern is not principally with
the way the signals of the artist are constructed but with the
underlying message which an interpretation of the signals
reveal.
28. Two aspects to literature Verbal & Artistic
29. Goals of stylistics To establish discourse peculiarities To
induce appreciation of discourses To ascertain linguistic habits To
make critical judgements
30. Encoding stylistics
31. encoding stylistics/authorcentered the peculiarities of the
author's style are singled out on the basis of comparison with
other writers. Encoding stylistic analysis includes the critical
study of the author's style, vocabulary means used by him. Ideas
can be extracted from the writer's diaries, letters, articles,
etc.
32. Encoding stylistics Encoding stylistic analysis takes into
consideration the facts of the writer's biography, the genesis of
the work in question, the characteristic features of the epoch and
literary trend. This kind of analysis is based on the thorough
knowledge of the History of Literature. Analysis from the author's
point of view treats the work of art as a result or consequence of
creative activity.
33. Step by step analysis The analysis of the text goes through
a number of definite stages. It begins with the analysis of main
ideas and themes of the literary work which include the complex of
philosophical, moral, social, political, psychological problems and
author's emotions, attitudes and view on them. This stage is
followed with the analysis of the composition and the system of
images of the literary work connected with the plot, characters and
setting.
34. Step by step Then follows the analysis of lexical and
grammatical expression of the images stylistic devices and means.
And finally we pay attention to phonetic or sound form of the text
and its graphical representation.
35. A totally opposite way. the reader usually follows the
reversed way. He transforms the graphical presentation into words,
then into the system of images, feelings, thoughts of the author,
and at last the reader can grasp the main idea of the author. Much
attention is paid to the text, less to the writer. A work of art is
treated as a source of information and impressions. This is another
kind of stylistic analysis, i.e. from the reader's point of view,
or decoding stylistics.
36. Affective stylistics
37. Affective stylistics is derived from analyzing further the
notion that a literary text is an event that occurs in timethat
comes into being as it is readrather than an object that exists in
space.
38. The text is examined closely, often line by line or even
word by word, in order to understand how (stylistics) it affects
(affective) the reader in the process of reading.
39. Although there is thus a great deal of focus on the text,
which is why some theorists consider this approach transactional in
nature, many practitioners of affective stylistics do not consider
the text an objective, autonomous entityit does not have a fixed
meaning independent of readersbecause the text consists of the
results it produces, and those results occur within the
reader.
40. For example, when Stanley Fish describes how a text is
structured, the structure he describes is the structure of the
readers response as it occurs from moment to moment, not the
structure of the text as we might assemble itlike puzzle pieces all
spread out at once before usafter weve finished reading.
41. Indeed, it is the slow-motion, phrase-by-phrase analysis of
how the text structures the readers response for which affective
stylistics is perhaps best known.
42. According to Fish, the question What does this sentence
mean? or What does this sentence say? yields little because the
sentence provides us with no facts with which we could answer the
question. Even if we notice that the sentence does say
something
43. In addition to an analysis of the reading activities that
structure the readers response, other kinds of evidence are usually
gathered to further support the claim that the text is about the
experience of reading. For example, most practitioners of affective
stylistics will cite the responses of other readersof other
literary critics, for exampleto show that their own analyses of the
reading activities provided by a particular text are valid for
readers other than just them-selves.
44. . A critic might even cite an extreme divergence of
critical opinion about the text to support, for example, the
contention that the text provides an unsettling, decentering, or
confusing reading experience. This wouldnt mean that the text is
flawed but that by unsettling the reader it demonstrates, say, the
fact that interpretation of written texts, and perhaps of the
world, is a problematic endeavor from which we should not expect to
achieve certainty.
45. Thematic evidence from the text itself is also usually
provided to show that the text is about the experience of reading.
For example, the reader-response critic shows how the experiences
of characters and descriptions of settings mirror the readers
experience reading the text.
46. As noted above, the textual evidence at this point is
thematic: the critic shows that the theme of the text is a
particular kind of reading experience, such as the difficulties
involved in reading, the processes involved in making sense of the
text, or the inevitability of misreading.
47. Although many practitioners of affective stylistics believe
that the text, as an independent object, disappears in their
analysis and becomes what it really isan experience that occurs
within the readertheir use of thematic evidence, as weve just seen,
underscores the important role played by the text in establishing
what the readers experience is.
