Stylistic Analysis of Rizal Technological University Signages

Ferreria, Carol Joy G. Llorente, Christopher Matthew S. Lorica, Patricia S. Mantua, Glory Mae J. Merencillo, Merry joy L. CED-02-501A ENG 107: Introduction to Stylistics Prof. Lynn M. Besa

Introduction

A Signage is the materials use to instruct and inform the people through the use of words and symbols. It is commonly used for commercial and public displays. The signage at Rizal Technological University is important to know the current situation of the university and it gives a message that catches the attention of the people to make their own views on it . The Stylistics is a process of literary text analysis starts from primary interpretative procedures used in reading a literary text are linguistic procedures. In the study of language, we must consider the importance of the words in the sentence and its function.

RTU WI-FI CAMPUS

RTU and Wi-fi are abbreviations; they are all in capital letters.

The phrase is short to make it catchy to read.

RTU shows its capabilities as a University that can par with other Universities such as Ateneo and the likes, in terms of technological advancements and facilities.

For Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) words are nothing but signs the word combines with two elements first, the sound image which is the physical form it refers as the signifier and second, the sense or the meaning it refer as the signified.

The RTU is the signifier which refers to the physical form and WIFI CAMPUS signifies the meaning of the RTU. In short, RTU is a campus with WIFI.

RTU MALINIS MAAYOS MAY PUSO MAY MALASAKIT MATAHIMIK MAY KALIDAD

MAS MAGANDANG MAG-ARAL DITO

The Lexis use are Adjectives, it indicates one of the lexical chains which is presenting the school and the students. The adjectives such as malinis, maayos, may puso, may malasakit, matahimik and may kalidad use to describe the school of RTU. MAS MAGANDANG MAG-ARAL DITO speaks by a student.

RTU SHAPE THE FUTURE

This Phrase is classified as a representative (illocutionary act) because it represents a state of affair such as stating and claiming.

RTU is stating that you can entrust your child's education to them. So they can shape their future and career.

This is an example of Speech Acts because it acts and performed by the speaker in the context classified as Illocutionary act where it focuses on the communicative purpose rather than its grammatical utterances. The signage does not convey its literal meaning but on how the students give their own perspective to it. Since the context has a positive meaning about RTU. The communicative purpose of the signage is when you become part of RTU whether you are a student, teachers or the officers inside the campus you are one of those who will contribute to be a responsible citizen in the future while you prepare yourself about the reality outside the campus.

Good Morning Po!

In formal English language, this statement is not acceptable because it was combined with the word po which is a Filipino word.

But since we are in the Philippine setting, it is acceptable so whoever reads it is charged with enthusiasm to start the morning.

The sound of the greeting emphasizes a strong intensity with the use of exclamation point.

RTU............ ALL POWER, ALL TERRAIN, ALL WHEEL DRIVE RESPONSIVE

This sentence used anaphora, which is the repetition of all in every phrase. In the signage, there is a picture of a car and the plate number has the school initials on it (RTU). On this we can see that the school is being compared to a car which is able to go anywhere even in mountains and rough roads. So this was related to the sentence in the signage: all power, all terrain, all wheel drive responsive. Ellipsis is also used in here to emphasize the description of the school as a car and omit some words that would hinder the emphasis: (with) all power, (in) all terrain, all (its) wheel can drive responsive(ly). And speaking of a car especially the kind that can drive to all kinds of roads, it only means that RTU never fails to anything. It also represents the determination and hard work of the school to maintain its reputation as one of the most achieving schools nowadays. It also represents the schools good reputation, of it being a high-quality and competitive

school. And being compared to a car that can go anywhere it can also mean the aim of the school as a globally-competitive school.

Think small, Work hard, Get good.

Asyndeton (ellipsis of connectives) was used in this sentence to emphasize finality in every phrase.

Think small (and) Work hard (and) Get good.

When you read think small, you may be confused and you may think why would I think small? Should it be think big? If you think of it literally, thats what youll get. But if you know or remember the saying Great things start from small things then youll get the point of it. You have to think small (to make big things happen), work hard and get good.

The language analysis function on the discourse is transactional where the expression of the content focuses on the speaker/ reader. It is necessary to the points of view of the reader and the hearers interpretation of everything. The Theme is place on the left on the most constituent of the sentence which is the starting point of the utterance, it emphasize the meaning of the sentence the other that follows are called Rheme

24,839 Students Teach Them Well

This is an imperative statement. The numbers are in numerical form because it is easy to read and more catchy to the eye. The Teach Them is italicized to give emphasis on the message being relayed by the poster. The message is being directed to the teachers. It is so obvious that the president is the one speaking through this poster. Also, the 24,839 numbers enlarged among the other lines emphasizes how many the students are, and/or to inform all people in the RTU how big is the population of students in the school. Moreover, when its connected with the Teach Them Well phrase which pertains as a challenge to teachers, as if telling them that its hard but you should, teach them well. The signage emphasize the students of RTU this is the call for the teachers that they must do their best in order to transmit knowledge for the learners. At the same time, the responsibility of the student is do their best in studying.

Small things make BIG THINGS happen. Think Small. Work Hard. Get Good.

BIG THINGS is capitalized and has a much larger font size compared with the other lines because it gives the objective of the message.

Now the first sentence explains the second sentence which was among the previous signage in RTU. It seems like the Think small. Work hard. Get good sentence might be confusing and controversial to some that is why this time; it was clarified by the first sentence that you have to think small in order to make big things happen, which leads us to the complete meaning of the first sentence, small things make BIG THINGS happen.