What is Stylistics?

 #LINGUISTICS*

#What_is_Style?

#How_is_Stylistics_Different_from_Literary_Criticism?

#Difference_between_Literary_and_NonLiterary_Stylistics

#WHAT_is_STYLE?

"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. 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.

#STYLISTICS_and_LITERARY_CRITICISM🔻

#Stylistics🔹

Stylistics is the study of texts according to their tone and style in the field of applied linguistics. It can be described as a combination of linguistics and literary criticism, because it scientifically studies language in the context of its function in literature. Stylistics examines the form and tone of texts to understand more about how people in a society utilize language.

Stylistics is the study of varieties of language whose properties position that language in context. For example, the language of advertising, politics, religion, individual authors, etc., or the language of a period in time, all are used distinctively and belong in a particular situation. In other words, they all have ‘place’ or are said to use a particular 'style'.

#Literary_Criticism🔸

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists.

The purpose of linguistic stylistics is to recognize and categorize the constituents of language in a certain text.

The purpose of literary stylistics is typically to analyze certain literary texts (basically fiction).

In certain cases, analysis of text can be supported by computer programs. It is often used to make value judgments about the quality of imagination and creativity in the writing (of particular texts).

It is important to note that the study of language moves into either ‘linguistic stylistics’ or ‘literary studies’ or ‘literary stylistics.’

As we can see, there is a difference between stylistics (linguistic stylistics) and literary criticism (literary stylistics).

#STYLISTICS_and_ELEMENTS_of_STYLE_in_LITERATURE🔻

According to Katie Wales in "A Dictionary of Stylistics," 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."

Studying a text closely helps to unearth layers of meaning that run deeper than just the basic plot, which happens on the surface level.

#Elements_of_Style_in_Literature🔹

Elements of style studied in literary works are what is up for discussion in any literature or writing class, such as:

#Big_Picture_Elements🔹

Character_Development: How a character changes throughout the story. 

Dialogue: Lines spoken or internal thoughts.

Foreshadowing: Hints dropped about what's going to happen later.

Form: Whether something is poetry, prose, drama, a short story, a sonnet, etc.

Imagery: Scenes set or items shown with descriptive words. 

Irony: An occurrence that's the opposite of what's expected.

Juxtaposition: Putting two elements together to compare or contrast them.

Mood: The atmosphere of a work, the attitude of the narrator.

Pacing: How quickly the narration unfolds.

Point of view: The narrator's perspective; first person (I) or third person (he or she).

Structure: How a story is told (beginning, action, climax, denouement) or how a piece is organized (introduction, main body, conclusion vs. reverse-pyramid journalistic style). 

Symbolism: Using an element of the story to represent something else.

Theme: A message delivered by or shown in a work; its central topic or big idea.

Tone: The writer's attitude toward the subject or manner with choosing vocabulary and presenting information, such as informal or formal.

🔹Line_by_Line_Elements🔸

Alliteration: Close repetition of consonants, used for effect.

Assonance: Close repetition of vowels, used for effect.

Colloquialisms: Informal words, such as slang and regional terms.

Diction: The correctness of the overall grammar (big picture) or how characters speak, such as with an accent or with poor grammar.

Jargon: Terms specific to a certain field.

Metaphor: A means to compare two elements (Can also be big-picture if an entire story or scene is laid out to show a parallel with something else).

Repetition: Using the same words or phrases in a short amount of time for emphasis.

Rhyme: When the same sounds appear in two or more words.

Rhythm: having a musicality to the writing such as by using stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry or sentence variety or repetition in a paragraph.

🔹#Sentence_Variety: 🔻

Variation in the structure and length of consecutive sentences.

Syntax: The arrangement of words in a sentence.

Elements of style are the characteristics of the language used in the written work, and stylistics is their study. How an author uses them is what makes one writer's work distinct from another, from Henry James to Mark Twain to Virginia Woolf. An author's way of using the elements creates their distinct writing voice.

🔹LITERARY_and_NONLITERARY_TEXT_or_STYLISTICS🔸

Stylistics_in_Non_Literary_Text

Non-literary text forms an independent part of a publication . Non-literary texts are informational writing: factual material, informational explanations, newspaper articles, textbooks, journal and diary entries, and so forth that are published in newspapers, Informative magazines current affairs news and educative articles. Non-literary composition uses facts and figures to proof a point. Examples of non-literary texts are personal diaries, current affairs news, journals, text books and articles. Non-literary composition is written objectively.

Stylistics_in_Literary_Text

In contrast, literary texts are fictional compositions based on the artist’s will and imaginations and are therefore subjective. Poetry, novels, short stories and dramas are written in a particular way, and this is referred to as literary text. In literary texts, authors creatively create feelings and ideas to entertain their audiences. Examples of literary texts are poems, short stories and dramas. They have been described as “the best words in the best order”. The use of sound of words make poems sound like songs when read aloud.

Poems have a particular appearance that shows they are poems before even reading the words. Poems have shorter lines than most sorts of writings. Language features refer to the sound of the language in literature, the use of specific vocabulary to describe and clarify the literature or anything used in storytelling to draw the reader’s attention. Language features are the ways in which spoken, written and visual texts are shaped according to personal, historical, cultural, social and workplace contexts.