Stylistics

Aims and perspectives

(((((Stylistics))))))

Stylistics is linguistics analysis of text. When we say text what do we mean by that? Which text? Here text may include a poem and when we go for literature analysis linguistically we treat literature as text.

When we focus on literary criticism of literature then we treat literature as discourse. But combination of both literature as text and literature as discourse is what stylistic does. Many writer believes stylistics as discipline but Widdowson believes that stylistics is neither a discipline nor the subject but lies somewhere in between; it is like meditation between discipline and subject. It related
discipline with subject like language with linguistics and literature with literary criticism. For instance he says; “I want to define discipline as set of abilities; concepts; ways of thinking associated with a particular area of which one inquires, geneticists, biochemist, linguist, and literary critics, for example all follow certain principles of inquiry which characterizes different discipline” meaning Genetic, Biochemistry, they all are different discipline what are subjects then? Subject is that from which it is derived like subject is derived from discipline; discipline provides material from which subjects are derived, because discipline is a broader term. English language is subject; you’re reading different subject in your school, English language, Math, Science; science includes chemistry, biology, and physics but as you go on subject will go on move towards discipline. You talk something general then you go to specify it. “By stylistics I mean the study of literary discourse from a linguistics orientation and I shall take the view that what distinguishes stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand and linguistics on the other hand is that it is essentially a means of linking the two and has (as yet at least) no autonomous domain of its own.” “Stylistics, however involves both literary criticism and linguistics, as its morphological make-up suggests; the ‘style’ component relating it to the former and the ‘istics’ component to the latter.”

Haliday defines stylistics as “the linguistics analysis of literary text” according to him stylistician can comprehend literary text through a comprehension of their language structure. Literary text is seen to consist of patterns and properties which are part of language. Those patterns of language can be at level
of:
a) Arrangement of graphic and phonic symbols
b) The lexico-grammatical patterns
c) The semantic or pragmatic patterns
The goal of stylistic is to show why and how the text means linguistically.
Language is subject and linguistics is its discipline same as literature is a subject and literary criticism isits discipline. Discipline is studied to understand the subject. Stylistic is neither a subject nor a discipline but it tells relation between them.

Disciplines: linguistics literary criticism
↖ ↗
Stylistics
↙ ↘
(English) language (English) literature

For Example: a painting to a learner is nothing but use of colors but a critic may find a hidden message behind that painting. Further when a non-verbal message is written into a verbal message it further gives forms to understand this is possible through literary criticism.

Primarily critic concerned is with message of a literary piece which a writer wants to convey. Linguist direct attention to how language is used in the piece of literary text.