Stylistics

Stylistics, a yoking of style and linguistics, is a discipline which has been approached from many
perspectives. Its meaning varies, based on the theory that is adopted. When one carries out the
different activities that are connected to the area of business, either in spoken or written forms,
one often uses devices of thought and the rules of language, but there are variations so as to
change meanings or say the same thing in different ways. This is what the concept of style is
based upon; the use of language in different ways, all for the purpose of achieving common
goals- to negotiate meanings.

Definition:

Stylistics is defined as the study of style used in literary and verbal language and the effect writer
or speaker intends to convey to the reader or hearer. It aims at establishing principles which can
explain the particular choices made by individual and social groups in their use of language, such
as socialization, the production or reception of meaning, literary criticism and critical discourse
analysis.

Crystal and Davy rightly point out: Stylistics is a discipline which studies literary or nonliterary
texts in a new way. It plays a significant role in the teaching of English literature in India. It has
been defined as a “Sub-discipline” of linguistics that is concerned with the systematic analysis of
style in language and how this can vary according to such factors as, for example, genre, 4
context, historical period and author.

Stylistics can also be defined as the study of language of literature which makes use of various
tools of linguistic analysis. According to Simpson: Stylistics is a method of textual interpretation
in which primary place is assigned to language. The reason why language is so important to
Stylisticians is because the various forms, patterns and levels that constitute linguistic
significance as discourse acts in turn as a gateway to its interpretation. While linguistics features
do not of themselves constitute a text’s “meaning”, an account of linguistic features nonetheless
serves to ground a stylistic interpretation and to help explain why, for the analyst certain types of
meaning are possible. The preferred object of study in stylistics is literature whether, that is
institutionally sanctioned “Literature” as high art or more popular non-canonical forms of
writing.
Thus, Stylistics is mainly concerned with the idea of “style” and the analysis of literary texts.
The application of linguistics to the literary texts and the “style” is usually 5 understood within
this area of study as the selection of certain linguistic forms or features over other possible ones.

Nature of Stylistics:

The term “Stylistics” is derived from the word “style” which has several meanings. Its pre-
linguistic meaning is the manner of writing, speaking and doing. It is the means through which
human beings gain contact with others. However, style in literature is called “literary stylistics”.
According to Halliday7, Linguistic Stylistics is the description of literary texts, by methods
derived from general linguistic theory, using the categories of the description of the language as
a whole. Stylistics is the systematic scientific study of the language of literature. It is a branch of
applied linguistics. It is applied to the study of language in literary and nonliterary texts. The
basic framework of stylistics is borrowed from linguistics. As linguistics studies the relationship
between the sound and meaning, Stylistics deals with the relationship between the language of
literature and the meaning of literature. Style and theme are connected in literature. Stylistic
analysis focuses on the thematic aspects of literature by analyzing its language. Stylistics is
objective in the analysis of literature as it studies the literary text from the linguistic point of
view. It depends more on the linguistic evidence in the text for its interpretations of literature.

Scope of Stylistics:

A brief discussion of some of the parameters of stylistics which define its scope will enable
better understanding of stylistics. This will chart out the boundaries of stylistics with reference
to the kind of texts that it studies, the theories it draws on and the available methodologies.

 Range of Texts

It has now become evident that the techniques of stylistics are applicable to literary as well as
non-literary texts. There is no restriction on the kinds of text that may be taken up for stylistic
analysis. However, there has been more emphasis on the literary aspects of style in the past.
More focus is also laid on the written language as compared to the spoken language. Recording
techniques has now enabled the transcription of spoken texts more accessible. So Stylistics deals
with the full range of linguistic usage. Stylisticians now analyze the language of spoken
communication, advertisements, humor and film. This is the recent development in the direction
of multimodality.

 Range of Theories

Stylistics was originated in theories of Formalism and was taken on the theory of Structuralism.
But it is eclectic in its use of theory. These theories provided the descriptive apparatus which
hints at writer’s use of techniques of construction that could demonstrate the linguistic basis of
literary effects. Jeffries and McIntyre point out: The focus on the actual language of the text
which is epitomized by these theories is still present in some stylistics practice, and demonstrates
that stylistics does not originate from an author-based view of textual meaning in the same way
that, for example, some areas of literary studies did.

 Range of Methods

Stylistics also uses a wide range of methods. Theories produce possible models of what the kind
of language or text is like. These models, in turn, dictate the methods to be used to analyze them.
Methods have to be selected even when a theory and a model have already been chosen. For
instance, if a stylistician wants to find out whether the vocabulary of Shakespeare is wider than
the vocabulary of Ben Jonson, the model of a vocabulary range as the number of different
lexemes used by each of the authors will dictate a corpus based methodology in which statistical
analysis will be considered.

Stylistics and Style

Stylistics can simply be called as the study of style. It is yoking together of style and linguistics.
Style is defined as: The effective use of language, especially in prose, whether to make
statements or to rouse emotions. It involves first of all the power to put fact with clarity and
brevity. (Lucas, 1955:9)10 Style has also been defined as the description and analysis of the
variability forms of linguistic items in actual language use. Stylistics is also defined as a study of
the different styles that are present in either a given utterance or a written text or document.
Stylistics requires the use of traditional levels of linguistic description such as sound, form,
structure and meaning. It is concerned with the recurrence of certain structures, items and
elements in a speech, an utterance or in a given text. Linguistic Stylistics studies varieties that
deal with the varieties of language and the exploration of some of the formal linguistic features
which characterize them. Stylistics facilitates the immediate understanding of utterances and
texts and makes them enjoyable.

Style as Choice

Choice is a very vital instrument of Stylistics as it deals with the variations and the options that
are available to an author. Language provides its users with more than one choice in a given
situation. As such, there are different choices available to the writer in a given text, depending on
the situation and genre, the writer chooses in expressing thoughts and opinions. The writer’s
choice reflects his ego and the social ethos of his times. The paradigmatic and the syntagmatic
axes are two significant choice planes available to the writer so as to determine the appropriate
choice of linguistic elements. The paradigmatic axis is also referred to as the vertical or choice
axis while the syntagmatic is the horizontal one. The vertical axis gives a variety of choices
between one item and other items and then the writer chooses the most appropriate word. Thus,
the paradigmatic axis is able to account for the given fillers that occupy a particular slot while
still maintaining the structure of the sentence. At the paradigmatic level, for example, a writer or
speaker can choose between “start”, “commence”, “go” and “proceed”.