Stylistics Lecture# 2: What Are Its Perspectives and How It Connects Literature and Linguistics?

Stylistics lecture# 2
WHAT ARE ITS PERSPECTIVES AND HOW IT CONNECTS LITERATURE AND LINGUISTICS?
Definitions
In its narrow sense stylistics is the scientific study of the use of language in literature.it is a very
wide phenomenon. It includes the critical study of spoken and written,literary and non-literary,
formal and informal language.
“stylistics is the scientifically organizedtechnical study of literatur.”
For H.G. Widowson stylistics is:
“the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation.”
It helps us better understand the written or spoken text of literature. In a broader sense stylistics uses
linguistics methods to study the concepts in literature.
Linguists study both the literary and non-literary texts with equal interest. E.g. Recipes, car-manuals,
hamlet, Great Expectations, Wasteland, commentries, sermons, chat shows etc.
Stylistics is not a branch of literary criticism or linguistics. It attempts to make literary criticism
much more scientific, methodogical, objective and precise. It stresses the need to form a literary
grammar of language using literary terms such as style, poem, image etc.
literature
theoretical technical
criticism stylistics
 A linguist treats literature as text
 A critic treats literary work as a message
Between these two approaches stylistics attempts to show, how elements combine to create a message or
how a piece of literary writting function as a form of communication. It treats literature as discourse.
According to H.G. Widowson:
“the purpose of stylistics is to link the two approaches by extending the linguist’s literary literary
intuition and a critic’s linguistic observation and making their relationship explicit.”
stylistics
literature
as text as message as discourse
Syntax structure significance communication

Dscipline:
a set of abilities, concepts, and ways of thinking associated with a particular area of human
inquiry.
Subject:
it is defined at different education levelsin terms of pedagogic objectives.
Stylistics has no autonomous domain of its own and relies heavily on other disciplines. Although
literary criticism and linguistics also draws ideas from other disciplines, yet they remain
autonomous.
Disciplines:
linguistics literary criticism
stylistics
Subjects:
english language english literature
So, stylistics is neither a dscipline nor a subject, but a link between the two.
In stylistics we analize a literary text at three levels.
 Micro level or Linguistics level
Here stylistics observe linguistic features such as
1-Phonlogy 2-syntax 3-semantics 4-grammar 5-lexical features 6-graphical features
 Intermediate level or discourse dimension
Stylistics believes that every text coveys three main messages: 1-the message of textuality 2-reality 3-relationship. It develops the
relationship with the decoders. Here it investigates,
1-topic of discourse 2-mode of discourse 3-channel and underlined ideology
 Macro level or Communicative situation
Communicative situation includes the study of emotion, sound, meaning, features, characteristics, power of words, figures of speech,
imagery, verse form aesthetic pleasure as a pessage. So all these aspects occur in a pessage of literary text in a scientific manner.
Branches of stylistics
1-literary stylistics:
The main focus here is literary text or literature
2-linguistic stylistics:
Both literary and non-literary texts are studied here but the focus is on linguistic
features.
3-socio stylistics
Language variations across registers in different sectors of society. E.g language of
rich and poor.
4- pedagogical stylistics
Stylistics as a source or technique in teaching and learning of literature.
5-phono stylistics
Here we study phonological features of the text.
“ the study of expressive phonetic effects in literature is called phonostylistics.”
6-radical stylistics
it focuses how ideology is embedded in language and how ideology and reality is transmitted
through words.
7- psycho-stylistics:
It study’s the relationship between poetic style and total personality of the writers.
8-affective stylistics:
Emotions and feelings of writer/speaker, and responses of listeners and readers.
9- computational stylistics:
Developed in 1960s and uses the statistical and computer aide methods.
10- expressive stylistics:
It refers to the emotional association of words evoke in the users and also to meaning which indicate
the attitude and feelings of the users.
11- syntactic stylistics:
The study of syntactic features of the text is called syntactic stylistics. Use of phrases, clauses and
sentences by the writer and their effect.
12- forensic stylistics:
The branch of stylistics concerned with the proceeding evidence in court of law based on stylistic
analysis of disputed text to find the writer of the text.
13- discourse stylistics:
The study of text at discourse level. Its construction and effect on readers.
14- feministic stylistics:
It is the stylistic study of a text from a feministic perspective.
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Stylistics lecture# 2

 A critic treats literary work as a message

as text as message as discourse

Syntax structure significance communication

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