Introduction to Stylistics and

Discourse Analysis
II. Overview

• Discourse Analysis analyzes what is

communicated in discourse.
• Stylistics analyzes how it is communicated.
• Stylistics we are more concerned with showing
the uniqueness of the text we are analyzing. On
the other hand, in discourse analysis we are
concerned with showing how a text analyzed is
not unique. It is typical of its kind. Thus,studies
of classroom interaction and doctor-patient
interaction aim to arrive at generalizations that
characterize such discourses.
• The two disciplines often interact with each other. Thus
Discourse-Stylistics is concerned with the analysis of
communication to reveal its function, using various tools of
interpretation including textual peculiarities. Such analysis
enables us to appreciate style. Basically, it is concerned with
the identification,description and explanation of stylistic
features in a given text or discourse situation (Opara ,2005).
Introduction to Stylistics
What is Stylistics?

The following definitions are vital as they provide

us sufficient knowledge to understand the
meaning of the term“stylistics”:
Important Definitions:

1.The general definition of stylistics is that it

is the study of style of the writers or
the literary artists.
2. According to Lucas (1995) stylistics is the
effective use of language in prose to make
statements or arouse emotions.
3. Stylistics can be also defined as the study of
different styles that are present in the text or the
utterance of the character.
4. According to David Crystal stylistics is the study
of certain aspects of language variations as a part
of linguistics.
5. G. N. Leech one of the renowned linguists
opines that stylistics is the linguistic approach to
literature explaining the relation between
language and its artistic function.
6.H. G. Widdowson says that stylistics
involves both literary criticism and linguistics.
7. According to K. T. Khader stylistics an
intensive study of literary text on an
advanced level.
8. In the opinion of Thomas Kane stylistics is
the study of linguistic choices the writer
makes to express his/her thought and feeling
in an effective way.
9. Stylistics can be also defined as the study of the
language deviations or the choice of language
outside of the range of normal language.
10. Stylistics may be defined as the study of
language use according to the situation or the
circumstances.
Activity:

•Chooose 2 definitions from the discussion.

Explain each of them in 2-3 sentences.
The Nature and Scope of Stylistics
• Every person in the world possesses some kind of style
suitable for him/her. Similarly, every writer has his or her
own style of writing. It is observed that every writer makes
use of linguistic choices to describe the situation and to
portray his characters.Therefore, it is interesting to study
how the writers make use of certain structures in their
writings. Stylistics deals with a wide range of language
varieties and styles that are possible in creating different
texts.
The Nature and Scope of Stylistics
• Stylistics is the distinctive way to use language. Any
prose writer or a poet or a playwright uses his unique
method to create a text. The choice of the linguistic
units made by the writer reflects his/her ego and the
socio-cultural aspects in which the characters and
situations exist.
Style and Stylistics
• ‘Style’ is a term used to refer to ‘the personal use an
individual makes in speech or writing of the language
available to him.’ (Hartmann and Stork ,1972). In
other words, it refers the choices a speaker or writer
makes from among the phonological grammatical and
lexical resources of his language (Beogrande
andDressler,1981:16)
Style and Stylistics
• The study of style is called stylistics. Traditionally,it
was carried out to investigate ‘variations in usage
among literary and other texts,’ or more generally ‘any
systematic variation, in either speech or writing which
relates to the type of discourse or its
context’(Matthews ,2007 :385).
Goal of Stylistics
• According to Katie Wales (2001)‘the goal of most
stylistics is not simply to describe the formal features
of texts for their own sake, but in order to show their
functional significance for the interpretation of the
text; or in order to relate literary effects to linguistic
'causes' where these are felt to be relevant.’
Definitions of Style
1. Style refers to the way in which an author uses
language in order to create the mood and meaning of a
text. This could include his or her word choice, diction,
syntax, repetition, any figurative language (such as
metaphor, similes, personification, apostrophe,
metonymy,synecdoche, and so forth), etc.
Definitions of Style
2. Style mainly refers to what kind of language a writer
is using, and it is used in discussions of literature.

3. "Style" refers to the set of techniques and types of

language utilized by a writer to exhibit the unique
personality and voice of their writing. Writers can use
dialects in dialogue, alternate sentence lengths, or
prioritize active or passive voice in the creation of their
writing style.
Definitions of Style
4. Style is important in analyzing literature as it can
further convey the meaning of a text by emphasizing or
subverting certain details, or show whether the text is
expository, descriptive, persuasive, or narrative.
Definitions of Stylistics
Stylistics refers to a study of the devices used in
language that affect one's interpretation of a text. One
might investigate, say, the particular rhetorical devices
used by an author as well as why he or she would have
chosen a specific stylistic device for a specific purpose.
Definitions of Stylistics
Stylistics refers to a study of the devices used in
language that affect one's interpretation of a text. One
might investigate, say, the particular rhetorical devices
used by an author as well as why he or she would have
chosen a specific stylistic device for a specific purpose.
Definitions of Stylistics
Stylistics is a branch of applied linguistics concerned
with the study of style in texts, especially, but not
exclusively, in literary works. Also called literary
linguistics, stylistics focuses on the figures, tropes, and
other rhetorical devices used to provide variety and a
distinctness to someone's writing. It is linguistic
analysis plus literary criticism.
Introduction to Discourse Analysis
What is discourse?
Discourse is “A continuous stretch of language
larger than a sentence, often constituting a
coherent unit,such as sermon, argument, joke
or narrative.” (Crystal:1992) “stretches of
language perceived to be meaningful, unified
and purposive.” Cook (1989) Common Features:
It is a stretch of language longer than a
sentence. It is meaningful and coherent. It
communicates and has a purpose it may be
spoken or written.
Discourse is “A continuous stretch of language
larger than a sentence, often constituting a
coherent unit,suc as sermon, argument, joke or
narrative.” (Crystal:1992) “stretches of language
perceived to be meaningful, unified and
purposive.” Cook (1989) Common Features: It is
a stretch of language longer than a sentence. It
is meaningful and coherent. It communicates
and has a purpose it may be spoken or written.
Other meanings of discourse
• The word discourse has a complex history. It is used in
a range of different ways by different theorists.

• Originally the word ‘discourse’ comes from

Latin,‘discursus’ which denoted ‘conversations’,
‘speech’.
Other meanings of discourse
• As a noun it can mean verbal communication, talk,
formal speech or writing on a subject and a unit of text
used by linguists for the analysis of linguistic
phenomena that range over more than one sentence.
What is the difference between text and
discourse?
Some linguists define discourse as “the
study of texts in contexts”. In this view,
discourse is language in action (or
interaction) and the text is the grammatical
and meaningful record of that interaction.
What is the context?
What is the context?

• The context of a text is the information needed

to interpret the text and make sense of it. This
includes information about the interlocutors
(speaker and listener), the setting (time and
place) of the speech event, and the purpose of
the interaction.
What is discourse analysis?
What is discourse analysis?

• The term discourse analysis was first employed

by Zellig Harris as the name for ‘a method for the
analysis of the connected speech or writing for
continuing descriptive linguistics beyond the
limit of a single sentence at a time and for
correlating culture and language’ (Harris 1952).
• Discourse analysis is sometimes defined as the
analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'. This
contrasts with types of analysis more typical of
modern linguistics, which are chiefly concerned with
the study of grammar: the study of smaller bits
of language, such as sounds (phonetics and
phonology), parts of words(morphology), meaning
(semantics), and the order of words in sentences
(syntax). Discourse analysts study larger chunks of
language as they flow together.
• Some discourse analysts consider the larger
discourse context in order to understand how it
affects the meaning of the sentence.
•Charles Fillmore points out that two
sentences taken together as single discourse
can have meanings different from each one
taken separately.
Example:

•To illustrate, he asks you to imagine two

independent signs at a swimming pool:
"Please use the toilet, not the pool," says
one. The other announces, "Pool for
members only."