1|Page

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

ISLAMABAD

Name: Shaukat Hussain Afridi

Registration No:
Roll No:
Programme: MA TEFL
Assignment / Subject: Language Variation & Stylistics(5665)
Submitted by: Shaukat Hussain Afridi
Submitted to:
Date: 7th October----------------
 2|Page

Q.1: What do you understand by the term Standard Language?

What parameters do linguistics suggest to call a language, a
standard language? Discuss.
Ans: Standard language:
Standard language is an official form of language. This kind of form of languages is always
artificially modified at least to some degree. Standard language is the way to use language in
official and formal situation as in newspapers and public speeches. The core idea of standard
language is to codify a public, particularly written language so that it is accessible to every
speaker of the language to be used in education, media and science.

A common way to create a standard language is to promote one dialect to this position. It is
usually the dialect of the dominating region (such as the capital city) or the way language is
used among the upper class. Still, standard language is rarely the chosen dialect as such, but it
also includes artificially prescribed norms that may stem from stylistic preferences.

Another way to conjure up a standard language is to form a mixture based on several dialects.
This kind of language is nobody‘s native language, and it is meant to be used mostly in
writing. In this case, there is a clear cut between regional dialects and standard language,
because the standard is not spoken in normal life. For example, Finnish has an artificial
standard language that is nobody‘s mother tongue, and Norwegian has two: Bokmål based on
Danish and Nynorsk based on Norwegian dialects. People still speak whatever dialects they
have learnt, not the standardised forms (sometimes linguists like to call every form of
language a dialect, but I think that in this kind of standardising cases ―dialect‖ is not a good
name for the codified forms).

It depends on the culture whether the standard language is seen as an ideal form of overall
speaking or just as a means of public communication. It is common to see arguments
concerning in English, where standard English and colloquial dialects are put in opposite
sides as if one were good and one evil. In countries where standard language is a mixture, this
may not happen as easily. For example, in Finland no-one thinks that people should speak
standard Finnish; it is just a way to use language publicly, especially in writing

Parameters for the selection of a standard language

Standardisation of a language has four steps.

1. Choosing the variety.

Languages always have different varieties, and a common way to create a standard is to
choose one of them. The usual story is to pick the dialect that has the biggest economic or
social status, which is often the dialect of the capital city or the variety used by the upper
class. However, this is not the only option. Some countries have created their national
standards by combining features of various dialects into a new artificial construct. This was
done in Finland for example. Norway has done both: they have one standard language
(bokmål) based on the language of the historical ruler Denmark, and another standard
language (nynorsk) based on Norwegian dialects. On the other hand, there must be balance:
there have been attempts to form a unified Karelian standard, but they have failed because
they were made too unintelligible. At some point of the process, there may be competing
standards: Estonian had Tallinn and Tartu standard languages, but eventually Tallinn won.
 3|Page

2. Language codification.
This means creating orthography, choosing the grammatical features and lexicon, and
making it unified. If the standard language is an artificial mixture, the grammatical features
must be consciously chosen. For instance, the grammar of standard Finnish is collected of
different dialects and it is meant to be a balance between the western and eastern dialects.
The same goes for the lexicon. In Norwegian nynorsk, conservative features are favoured (it
uses three genders instead of two, and it has retained the au diphthong instead of merging it
with ø). Even though the chosen standard is based on one dialect, it won‘t be completely like
that dialect. For example, standard Italian is based on the Tuscan variety, but the standard
has features that are not used in Tuscan. The prestige language of the ancient Romans,
Latinitas, had lots of stylistic criteria to be used in the standard form. One of them
was vetustas that favoured old forms, but it was also not good to be too correct, and that‘s
why upper-class Romans every now and then included something of their home dialect to
their otherwise normative speech.
3. Elaborating the functions.
When the norms have been constructed, the new standard is put to use. It is taken to every
domain, and it is instilled to education, science, government etc. It must be noted that this
process does not necessarily mean that the standard will replace other varieties. Finland and
Norway have their own standards, but nobody speaks them in their everyday life; they are
just used for official, mainly written, communication.
4. Establishment of the standard.
When the new standard has been taken to people, they have to accept it. When people learn
and use the standard, it can be seen if the norms and features were chosen well. At this point,
the plausibility of the new standard is tested. It can be very well constructed, but if it is not
adopted to use, it has nothing to do. When newspapers and novelists write in the new
standard language, the mission is accomplished
Q.2: What is meant by language variation? How language
variation exists and develops in societies in which there is
interaction between individuals and between groups speaking
different languages/varieties? Discuss in detail.
Ans: Language Variation
Between the speakers of any language there is variation in the way that they use their
language. This variation is demonstrated by linguistic differences in terms of sound
(phonetics) and structure (grammar). There might be only slight variations between forms of
a language – such as minor pronunciations of words or a slight changes of grammatical
structure that do not inhibit intergroup communication. Sometimes there are differences
between the speech of men and women, different social classes, and differences between age
groups. People will identify some of these features as marking the "best" or most "beautiful"
form of the language, other features will be considered nonstandard or undesirable. Some of
these differences may impede intelligibility and intergroup communication.
The study of language variation guides language development activities. For example, when
developing a writing system it is desirable for it to be useful and acceptable to the largest
number of speakers of the language. Therefore, it is important to identify the most unifying
features of the language.
4|Page

SIL assessment specialists use quantitative and qualitative research methods for studying
language variation. Two important quantitative methods for studying language variation are
lexicostatistics and intelligibility tests. The lexicostatistical method involves eliciting
commonly used words from people in two or more different locations. The words are
compared to identify phonetic similarities and a percentage of similarity is computed.
Intelligibility (how well a speech variety is understood) is of two types: inherent and
acquired. Inherent intelligibility is an understanding that is unlearned and that is attributed to
the (inherent) linguistic similarities (such as sound systems and grammatical structures) that
are shared by the two speech varieties. The greater the inherent similarities shared between
two varieties, the more likely that the speakers of each will be able to understand the same
literature. Acquired intelligibility, on the other hand, is a level of comprehension of a speech
variety achieved through learning.
To measure intelligibility SIL assessment specialists use the recorded text test (RTT). The
RTT method involves recording a short autobiographical story. Comprehension questions are
dubbed into the recording. The new recording is played for people in another community.
The number of correct answers to the comprehension questions gives a measure of
comprehension of the speech of the other community.
SIL assessment specialists highly value participatory methods of working with members of
the language communities. Qualitative methods of data collection, in a participatory context,
include observations, questionnaire, and interviews. Working collaboratively with the
community gains quality information and builds capacity and awareness in the local
community. Language (Dialectal) Variation
Language Variation or Dialectal Variation refers to changes in language due to various
influences. These include social, geographic, individual and group factors.

 Dialect
This refers to the variety of language characteristic of a particular group of people in a given
speech community (country) or region. For example one may refer to a Caribbean dialect as
there are certain vocabulary items and sentence structures that Caribbean countries have in
common.

 Creole
There is no definition of creole that is accepted by all. The meaning of the word 'creole' has
changed considerably over the years. However, it is normally used to refer to a dialect or
language which results from contact between the language of a colonizing people and the
language of a colonized people. In the Caribbean, Creole languages are as a result of contact
between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch (languages of the colonizers) and West
African languages (languages of the colonized).

 Patois
Patois is a word of French origin which translates most closely, in French, to mean 'gibbrish'.
It was a word used to describe how foreign and strange Creole languages sounded to the
speakers of European languages. Patois is used to refer to a geographical dialect which differs
from the standard language spoken in a given country. In Jamaica, for example, the word
patois is used to refer to the English based creole spoken. Patois carries the usual negative
associations and lack of prestige which characterize non-standard, rural or regional dialects.
5|Page

 Standard Variety (Eg, English, French)

This is the variety of language or dialect that is used for formal, official and education
purposes. It is also used as an instrument for mass education and communication causing it to
acquire greater prestige and uniformity. (Creoles have been observed to lack uniformity as a
result of not being standardized.) Most Caribbean countries have a Eurpoean language as its
standard variety for formal, official purposes and a Creole language for informal
communication amongst native, family and friends. The notable exception is Haiti where the
French Creole was made an official language alongside French.

 Slang
This is a popular, fashionable use of words and phrases which may be either old words given
new meaning or completely new words. In the same way that fashion changes, so do slang
expressions. Slang is a normal part of everyday speech but may not be acceptable in certain
formal settings. When used in formal writing, in particular, these expressions should be put in
inverted commas (For e.g, 'wicked'- Jamaican slang for good/amazing, 'off the chain'-
American slang for exciting/good)

Foreign English
This refers to varieties of the English language spoken by persons not from ones country.

Rasta English
This refers to a special variety of English indigenous to Jamaica, spoken by a religious group
of persons called Rastafarians. This variety diffrentiates itself from standard and non-standard
English by use of different, specialized vocabulary items. The psychology of 'no
contradiction' extends to all aspects of a Rastafarian's life, including language. Hence because
it sounds contradictory for oppress -/up-res/ to mean held down in life, Rastafarians refer to
this verb as downpress. Likewise instead of participation -/part-icipation/ to mean being fully
involved they refer to this noun as fullticipation. The language is also characterized by use of
'I' to signify positivity and the importance of the individual in relation to another, so instead
of 'You and I', Rasta would refer to us as 'I and I' to signify that we are both equal in
importance. Irie, refers to a good vibe and Ital food refers to food considered good for the
body (i.e, Vegetarian based food).

Q.3: What do you understand by the term Variety? Do you

believe that non- native varieties such as Pakistani English or
Indian English should be recognized as a separate variety or not?
Give reasons to support your view point.

Ans: Variety:
In present-day linguistics the term variety is used to refer to any variant of a language which
can be sufficiently delimited from another one. The grounds for such differentiation may be
6|Page

social, historical, spatial or a combination of these. The necessity for a neutral term such
as variety arose from the loaded use of the term dialect: this was not only used in the neutral
sense of a regionally bound form of a language, but also with the implication that the
linguistically most interesting varieties of a language are those spoken by the older rural
(male) population. This view is understandable given the origin of dialectology in the
nineteenth century, that is in the heyday of historical linguistics. Nowadays, sociolinguistic
attitudes are prevalent and the need for a term which can include the linguistic investigation
of urban populations, both male and female, from a social point of view became evident. The
neutrality of the term variety must be stressed. It simply refers to a distinguishable variant of
a language. This means that there are a large number of varieties of any given language. The
sole criterion to be fulfilled by a particular variety is delimitation vis à vis other varieties.
Dialects within a variety framework are frequently referred to as regional varieties and
sociolects as social varieties, though the label dialect can be retained if used objectively.

The notion of ‘dialect’

1) Dialect Strictly speaking the term dialect refers to a geographical variant of a language.
However, it is used loosely, not only by non-linguists, to talk about any variety of language.
For sociolinguistic purposes one must distinguish various sub-types of dialect.

The term dialect is used to denote a geographically distinct variety of a language. There is no
reference to the social dimension of language here. It is also important to stress that the
standard of a language is nothing more than a dialect which achieved special political and
social status at some stage in the past and which has been extensively codified
orthographically.

a) koiné This is a term deriving from ancient Greek ‗common‘ and refers to the situation
where, in a group of dialects, one is predominant and used outside of its natural boundaries as
a means of inter-dialectal communication. This was the case with Athenian Greek and the
remaining dialects in Classical Greece and - at least for writing - also held for West Saxon vis
à vis the other dialects of English in the Old English period.

b) patois This is a French term which refers to a dialect which is unwritten and as such
without a literary tradition. The (French) term dialecte conversely refers to a geographical
variety which has an associated literature. This use is to be found in other countries of Europe
as well, such as Sweden.

2) Standard and non-standard In a country whose language shows a long written tradition it
makes sense to talk of a codified standard. By implicit or explicit comparison with this
standard one can then classify other varieties as non-standard (though not substandard, this is
a loaded term). Countries usually have a term for their standard. In England there are various
terms such as TheQueen‘s English, Oxford English, BBC English, Received Pronunciation.
Only the last of these finds favour with linguists. Although the laypersons may use these
terms indiscriminately and although they may not be able to be precise about what they mean
by them, they are always able to recognise them and may not infrequently be in a position to
imitate them also. Here one sees that the receptive ability of speakers is greater that
their productive ability.
7|Page

There are a number of further labels which are used to refer to language variation along
various axes. Students should be aware of at least the following three terms.

Diatopic Refers to variation in language on a geographical level.

Diastratic Refers to variation in language between social classes.

Diachronic Refers to variation in language over time.

3) Vernacular This is a term which refers to the language spoken naturally by the inhabitants
of a country as opposed to a possible classical language which may have a position of
dominance in cultural or ecclesiastical spheres.

4) Mutual intelligibility of dialects This consideration helps to distinguish between language

and dialect and to broach the related problem of how to decide what a language is. One way
of characterising ‗language‘ and ‗dialect‘ is to regard a language as a collection of mutually
intelligible dialects and a dialect as a recognisable variety within this group.

Unfortunately, the criterion of mutual intelligibility is not entirely successful. One common
problem with this criterion is that some languages like Norwegian and Swedish are usually
considered different languages, for political reasons, but speakers of these languages can
generally understand and communicate with each other. It may also be that dialects belonging
to the same language lack mutual intelligibility. German, for instance, would be considered a
single language because some types of German are not intelligible to speakers of other types.
Furthermore, mutual intelligibility may not be equal in both directions. It is said, for instance,
that Danes understand Norwegians better that Norwegians understand Danes.

5) Polylectal grammars Obviously, speakers of different dialects are able to understand each
other more or less. This can be seen with speakers of English and other languages such as
French, Italian or German. The reason is that the linguistic systems involved do not differ
fundamentally. The understanding of different dialects implies that the speakers know the
overall system of the language (group of dialects). This view is what is called polylectal,
from ‗lect‘, meaning form of language. However, there is reason to question the knowledge
of common underlying forms. The phenomenon of hypercorrection shows that underlying
forms are not present for all speakers. For instance, some speakers use an /r/ in the first
syllable of lager /lɑ:ɻgəɻ/, i.e. they introduce an /-r/ because they feel the back pronunciation
/ɑ:/ implies a following /-r/ which is true of r-ful dialects but not of those without syllable
final r.

6) Dialect continua In many parts of the world, if we examine rural areas, we recognise a
geographical dialect continuum. There are differences between dialects, some large and some
small, but the further we get from a particular starting point in an area, the larger the
differences become. The striking point is that a chain of mutual intelligibility links all the
dialects spoken throughout the area. At any point on this extensive continuum, speakers of
one dialect can understand speakers of other dialects who live in adjacent areas, that is there
is a chain of mutual intelligibility. At no point is there a complete break, but the cumulative
effect of the linguistic differences will be such that the greater the geographical separation,
the greater the difficulty of comprehension. This situation is clearly illustrated by German
8|Page

dialects which form an uninterrupted continuum from the Dutch border in the north west to
the Hungarian border in the south-east. The varieties in these extremes are not mutually
intelligible but at any two points on the continuum they are.

Q.4: What is a difference between literary and stylistic studies in

literature? Support your answer with valid examples.

Ans: Stylistics in Literature

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's linguistic analysis plus literary criticism. 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." Basically, 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 are 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 pertaining to 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
9|Page

 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 to 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, such as Henry James from Mark Twain from Virginia Woolf. An author's way
of using the elements creates his or her distinct writing voice.

Why Studying Literature Is Useful

Just as a baseball pitcher studies how to properly grip and throw a type of pitch a certain way,
to hit a certain location, and to create a literal game plan based on a lineup of specific hitters,
studying writing and literature helps people to learn how to improve their writing (and thus
communication skills) as well as to learn empathy and about the human condition. By
becoming wrapped up in a character's thoughts and actions in a book, story, or poem, people
experience that narrator's point of view and can draw on that knowledge and those feelings
when interacting with others in real life who might have similar thought processes or actions.

Stylisticians
In many ways, stylistics is an interdisciplinarity study of textual interpretations, using both
language comprehension and social dynamics understanding to influence the field of study.
Rhetoric reasoning and history influence the textual analysis a stylistician does when closely
observing a written piece.

Michael Burke describes the field in "The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics" as an empirical
or forensic discourse critique, wherein the stylistician is "a person who with his/her detailed
knowledge of the workings of morphology, phonology, lexis, syntax, semantics, and various
discourse and pragmatic models, goes in search of language-based evidence in order to
support or indeed challenge the subjective interpretations and evaluations of various critics
and cultural commentators."

Burke paints stylisticians then as a kind of Sherlock Holmes character who has expertise in
grammar and rhetoric and a love of literature and other creative texts, picking apart the details
on how they operate piece by piece—observing style as it informs meaning, as it informs
comprehension.
10 | P a g e

There are various overlapping subdisciplines of stylistics, and a person who studies any of
these is known as a stylistician:

 literary stylistics (studying forms, such as poetry, drama, and prose)

 interpretive stylistics (how the linguistic elements work to create meaningful art)
 evaluative stylistics (how an author's style works—or doesn't—in the work)
 corpus stylistics (studying the frequency of various elements in a text, such as to
determine the authenticity of a manuscript)
 discourse stylistics (how language in use creates meaning, such as studying
parallelism, assonance, alliteration, and rhyme)
 feminist stylistics (commonalities among women's writing, how writing is
engendered, and how women's writing is read differently than men's)
 computational stylistics (using computers to analyze a text and determine a writer's
style)
 cognitive stylistics (the study of what happens in the mind when it encounters
language)

Literary Studies in literature:

Students can pursue Literary Studies as a major (BA, Literary Studies) with a concentration
in either Literature or Writing. Literary Studies can also be pursued as an area of study within
a self-designed major (BA or BS, Liberal Arts). In addition, undergraduates from any school
of the university who are not majoring in Liberal Arts may choose to minor in either
Literature or Writing. In the Literary Studies major, you‘ll consider the written word from
both critical and creative perspectives. Faculty members in Literary Studies regard all kinds
of writing as creative: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama as well as critical and theoretical
writing. Both writing and literature courses use innovative methods to discover breadth and
depth in texts, in writing assignments, and in the field as a whole. Such variety and versatility
help students develop portable skills beyond effective writing, such as collaboration,
research, analysis, and augmentation.

Writing Concentration
In the Writing concentration, you study the craft and technique of writing fiction, poetry, and
nonfiction through carefully designed, sequenced courses leading to a final semester of
intensive ―capstone‖ work in your chosen genre and courses in a secondary genre. All writing
courses are taught by practicing writers with national reputations, and are based on the
following assumptions:

 Writing is a liberal art.

 Writers are, above all, readers.
 Close study of each genre’s aesthetic, critical, and historical concepts is essential.
 Writers have a vital relationship to society, culture, and nature that should be explored and
expressed through their art.
Literature Concentration
11 | P a g e

In the Literature concentration, you acquire a broad knowledge of literary criticism and
theory as well as finely honed skills as a critical reader, writer, and analytical thinker. You
are encouraged to explore genres across linguistic borders and historical periods, or to
develop in-depth knowledge of particular regions or periods in preparation for an independent
senior "capstone" research essay. Topics of study include but are not limited to:

 close reading techniques

 literary criticism
 translation theory
 poetry
 fiction
 drama
THE UNIVERSITY AND NEW YORK CITY
Students are invited to attend literary readings around the city; to work on the award-winning
newspaper, the New School Free Press, and the Lang literary magazine, Release; and to take
advantage of publishing and writing internships and opportunities to work with professional
writers and editors in the nation‘s literary capital. Lang‘s internship program places students
with publishing houses and other literary venues in New York City. Additional exposure to
the city‘s vast resources occurs through

 Excursions to archives
 Class visits by respected writers, publishers, archivists
 Readings by award-winning writers and other literary events at the university
CAREER PATHS
Literary Studies graduates work for publishing companies, magazines, websites, and libraries.
They pursue careers in non-profit institutions, government agencies, educational institutions,
advertising, marketing, consulting, and sales. Lang prepares students in both concentrations
to go on to graduate study and careers in academia.

===============================================

Q.5: Elaborate advantages of a stylistics approach to the study of

literary discourse against an approach based on traditional
literary criticism.
Ans: Stylistic approach:
The paper studies the importance and relevance of the stylistic approach to analyze a literary
text at the college level. Our classrooms are based on the lecture method where teachers play
the main role and the students sit merely as listeners. Whereas, if we adopt a stylistic
approach to the teaching of literature, the students will get the participatory role as they will
be taught to interact, examine and evaluate the language of the text to interpret the meaning
acquired intuitively using the linguistic features and literary theories. This will help them
understand the role of language in literature and they will be able to appreciate the artistic use
12 | P a g e

of language from their own point of view. A stylistic analysis of a literary text would help the
students enhance their communicative competence as they would be directly working on the
foreign language which is a method far apart from the traditional ways of memorization and
reproduction. When the students will learn to analyze the text from their own point of view,
they will also learn to experiment with the language in
everyday life. The paper concludes with suggestions how stylistic approach can be introduced
in a literature class where students do not have a formal study of linguistic and stylistics.
Introduction
Literary criticism is an important aspect of literary studies. A post graduate students who is
called a master in subject, must know how to analyse a piece of literature. Stylistics provides
a student a systematic and logical approach. The traditional classroom allows students to
paraphrase and summarize while at the college level a student must learn to critically
appreciate a literary work. Stylistic functions as a tool to study various perspectives of the
author and Language.
Pedagogical Aspects of Stylistics
A Stylistics approach teaches students how to look for and interpret stylistic dimensions of a
text. Students are made to learn how what is said is said and how meanings are made. They
are taught to know what makes the language of literature different from everyday language, if
it really is. The environment of our classes at the college level is lecture-based where teacher
remains at the helm of affairs and students are demanded to be patient listeners, which makes
them hardly participative.
Advantages of the Stylistic Approach
If we adopt the stylistic approach to teach literature at the college level, it will help the
students understand the role of language in literature. Language is made up of words,
structures and sentences and literature is made up of these words, structures and sentences.
Literature is language in its applied form and prepares a basis for the study of language
through various points of view. Every piece of literary writing is different from the other.
They have similarities but are never identical. Every piece of literature is unique with own
peculiarities. Therefore, literature offers as many models or varieties of language just as we
many writers. How the writers use the same limited set of sounds with a variety of words,
structures, syntax and collocations – set the platform for the stylistic analysis of a particular
task. Students at the college level must be taught to recognize and focus on the style markers
used by the authors in their works which contribute to the effect of the work. A style marker
may be recognized intuitively, or with the help of critics who have analyzed the text and
identified various style markers used by the authors. Thus stylistics offers some critical and
creative ways of looking at a work under study. Students will develop a sense of appreciation
as well as acumen. Students should be motivated to recognize intuitive responses to a text
which are central to the process of reading and re-reading the text, thus helping them develop
their own communicative competence as reading is the silent exposure of the self to the
language. Intensive and extensive reading of a literary text enables the students infer more
than one meaning and it helps them to understand how to make the use of the target language
in everyday contexts. It is very much essential for the learners learning English as a second or
a foreign language who most of the time remain less informed of the culture and practices of
the native speakers/writers of the target language. Our students remain busy in merely
memorizing answers for the questions based on the works or the authors to reproduce them in
their examination rather than learning how to bring out the aesthetic element of a particular
piece of art. It has become a malpractice among the college students to pick up readymade
material available in the form of guidebooks in the market. These guidebooks may not
provide the students with the authentic material, yet these are very popular among a large
13 | P a g e

number of college students. The stylistic approach will make learning of language an
interesting task as students work upon their own intuition, background knowledge and
experience of the language. They will learn to appreciate the artistic use of language and
enhance their own communicative competence.
Literary discourse against an approach based on traditional
literary criticism.
The stylistic approach incorporates a close reading of its literature contrary to the traditional
ways of memorization and reproduction. It can prove to be the best method to learn a foreign
language through stylistic approach as it would give a close view of the target language. They
will learn to relate a piece of literary writing to their own experience of language and
consequently extend their experience. Literary analysis through stylistic approach encourages
in students the ability to infer meanings by interacting with the text. The stylistic approach
demands a close reading and re-reading of a literary text by the students. A close reading and
re-readings of a literary text would help the students internalize the rules of the grammar of
the target language indirectly. They would be learning language through literature and this is
basic aim of teaching literature of any language. T.S. Eliot advocated that the ‗form‘ of the
literary text should itself interpret its ‗content‘. Following this view, one could interpret the
content without any reference or context. This can only be achieved if the students are taught
how to study the ‗form‘ of the literary text. A study of the ‗form‘ of the literary text would
intimate the student about the diction of the author. The knowledge of the selection of words,
punctuation, parenthesis, or metrical patterns would enable students to study the work in
depth and give an individual interpretation. Such an analysis would invite the creativity on
the part of the students and studying literature would no longer be mindless memorizing
exercises to pass the examination.
Q.6: How would you explain the differences between Local
dialects and Social dialects? Discuss in detail with the suitable
examples.
Ans: Dialect
A dialect is a form of a language that is specific to a particular region or group. A dialect
refers to a branch of a language. Within this branch, different terms are used for different
things. Dialects are usually formed around particular regions. However, they may also be
used within certain groups of people. For example, in The United States, there is a particular
dialect in the Southern states. Within that Southern dialect, however, there may be subgroups
who speak yet another dialect. Foods are the most common terms to change within a dialect.
What one dialect might call shrimp, another might call crawfish or crawdads.

Dialect vs. Accent

Dialect definition literature Dialect and accent are two different aspects of language.
However, there are some overlaps. An accent is also specific to a region. In English, there
might be an American, British, or Australian accent. An accent is an inflection that occurs
with word pronunciation. A dialect is entirely different words or ways of communicating
altogether. Dialect goes beyond mere pronunciation.

Examples of Accent:
14 | P a g e

An American might pronounce the word, ―hello,‖ by speaking the ―h‖ sound. A Brit might
pronounce the word, ―hello,‖ without speaking the ―h‖ sound. This is still the same word, just
spoken with a different accent.

Examples of Dialect:
 A Northern American might say, “hello.”
 A Southern American might say, “howdy.”
 This is an example of the differences in dialect.
Dialect literary definition Different dialects exists in American English, and in all areas of
spoken English. There are dialects for each region, in fact. Even if the particular peoples of
that region do not think they speak in a dialect, they probably do. Some of the more
pronounced American regional dialects are the Northeastern (East Coast) and Southern
dialects. Someone from the East Coast might say, ―What‘s poppin‘?‖ A Southern American
would understand this, but would probably never say it. Someone from the South might say,‖
How‘r y‘ll?‖ A Northeastern American would understand this, but probably never say it.

Example of Dialect in Literature

an example of dialectDialect is used commonly in literature. An author may elect to use
dialect if he or she wants to represent the characters well. In order to do so, the author will
write dialogue specific to the region of the character. Authors want their characters to seem
genuine; therefore, they must write dialogue between characters in such a way as they would
speak it. George Bernard Shaw‘s Pygmalion does this well. A Cockney girl is ―adopted‖ by a
well-to-do gentleman who tries to change both her dialect and hear accent to Standard British
English. For many, this play is difficult to read because the Cockney is only specific to that
region. However, if the play work not written with the Cockney dialect, it would not be
effective at all.

Summary
In summary, a dialect is a type of language that is spoken by a particular region or group of
people. Dialect is much more broad and far reaching that accent. Most dialects will include
with them their own accents, but they are more than mere pronunciation differences. The
difference between social dialect and regional dialect is the same as the difference between
vertical and horizontal variation in what could be called variation space.

Social dialect and Regional Dialect

In the English-speaking world, if you were to see two men fighting in the street, you might
hear the following remarks:

 Dat dude like he done bopped him in da kissa big time, man..
 That yahoo really biffed the the other bloke in the pie-hole.
 That man really pubched the other fellow in the mouth.
15 | P a g e

That ruffian certainly delivered a fisticuffal assault to the other gentleman‘s embouchement.
They are all reactions to the same state of affairs, but if you compare the first version to the
last one, they might as well be different languages. If you were to have the opportunity to
interview the four people who made the remarks, you would almost certainly discover that
they have different educational backgrounds; different income levels, and belong to different
age groups. Similar observations of the same state of affairs commented on by different
individuals would reveal that at a given point in variation space we have linguistic variation
that correlates to at least some degree with identifiable social groupings. Men don‘t express
themselves using the same words and intonation patterns as women; elderly, middle-aged,
and young adults prefer different words, expressions, and pronunciations, people with
university degrees express themselves in ways that reveal that they are not ditch-diggers. This
kind of variation along the vertical axis of variation space is sociolinguistic variation, and the
relatively internally consistent choices on all levels of linguistic structure along this
dimension are called social dialects or sociolects. If you now limit yourself to the casual
speech of unpretentious lower-middle-class adults with a secondary school education, you
will find that the people in, say, city A pronounce and use language somewhat differently
than the people in city B do. Most people are aware of these differences and speak of
‘accents‘ as in ‘He has a Midwestern accent‘, but the differences are not limited to
pronunciation. The grammatical and lexical preferences made by the people belonging to a
specific age-group and having the same educational level in city A will differ from those
typical of city B. The Italian of lower-middle class people in Milan differs in many ways
from the Italian of people otherwise of similar background Neopolitans or Calabrians. These
types of differences along the horizontal axis of variation space are known as regional
differences, and the internally consistent choices on all levels of linguistic structure along this
dimension are called regional dialects.

A regional dialect is a distinct form of a language spoken in a particular geographical area. It

is also known as a regiolect or topolect. If the form of speech transmitted from a parent to a
child is a distinct regional dialect, that dialect is said to be the child's vernacular.

Examples and Observations

"As opposed to a national dialect, a regional dialect is spoken in one particular area of a
country. In the USA, regional dialects include Appalachian, New Jersey and Southern
English, and in Britain, Cockney, Liverpool English and 'Geordie' (Newcastle English). . . .

"In contrast to a regional dialect, a social dialect is a variety of a language spoken by a

particular group based on social characteristics other than geography."

(Jeff Siegel, Second Dialect Acquisition. Cambridge University Press, 2010)

"[L]inguists refer to so-called Standard English as a dialect of English, which from a

linguistic point of view, is no more 'correct' than any other form of English. From this point
of view, the monarchs of England and teenagers in Los Angeles and New York all speak
dialects of English,"
16 | P a g e

(Adrian Akmajian, Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication, 5th ed.

The MIT Press, 2001)

Studies of the Regional Dialects in North America

"The investigation of the regional dialects of American English has been a major concern for
dialectologists and sociolinguists since at least the early part of the twentieth century when
The Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada was launched and dialectologists began
conducting large-scale surveys of regional dialect forms. Although the traditional focus on
regional variation took a back seat to concerns for social and ethnic dialect diversity for a
couple of decades, there has been resurgent interest in the regional dimension of American
dialects. This revitalization was buoyed by the publication of different volumes of the
Dictionary of American Regional English (Cassidy 1985; Cassidy and Hall 1991, 1996; Hall
2002), and more recently, by the publication of The Atlas of North American English (Labov,
Ash, and Boberg 2005)." (Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes, American English:
Dialects and Variation, 2nd ed. Blackwell, 2006)

Varieties of Regional Dialects in the U.S.

"Some differences in U.S. regional dialects may be traced to the dialects spoken by colonial
settlers from England. Those from southern England spoke one dialect and those from the
north spoke another. In addition, the colonists who maintained close contact with England
reflected the changes occurring in British English, while earlier forms were preserved among
Americans who spread westward and broke communication with the Atlantic coast. The
study of regional dialects has produced dialect atlases, with dialect maps showing the areas
where specific dialect characteristics occur in the speech of the region. A boundary line
called an isogloss delineates each area." (Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, and Nina
Hyams, An Introduction to Language, 9th ed. Wadsworth, 2011).

Regional Dialects in England and Australia

"The fact that English has been spoken in England for 1,500 years but in Australia for only
200 explains why we have a great wealth of regional dialects in England that is more or less
totally lacking in Australia. It is often possible to tell where an English person comes from to
within about 15 miles or less. In Australia, where there has not been enough time for changes
to bring about much regional variation, it is almost impossible to tell where someone comes
from at all, although very small differences are now beginning to appear." (Peter Trudgill,
The Dialects of England, 2nd ed. Blackwell, 1999)

Dialect Leveling
"[T]he frequent complaint today that 'dialects are dying out' reflects the fact that the basis for
dialects has shifted. Nowadays, people travel hundreds of miles and think nothing of it.
People commute to work in London from as far afield as Birmingham. Such mobility would
explain, for example, why 150 years ago there was a traditional Kentish dialect, while today
17 | P a g e

it barely survives, such is the close and regular contact with London. . . . [I]nstead of small
relatively isolated communities where each person mingles with more or less the same people
for a lifetime, we have vast human melting-pots where people have diffuse social networks—
mingling regularly with different people, adopting new speech forms and losing the old rural
forms. Both developments in communication and the effects of urbanization have contributed
to dialect leveling, a term referring to the loss of original traditional dialectal distinctions."
(Jonathan Culpeper, History of English, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2005)

Q.7: Define and exemplify the following terms in detail:

Ans:
A. Metaphor
Definition of Metaphor
Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison
between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other
words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or
some common characteristics.

In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something
else, even though it is not actually that ―something else,‖ you are speaking metaphorically.
For example, the phrase, ―My brother is the black sheep of the family,‖ is a metaphor because
he is not a sheep, nor is he black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an
association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal, which
typically stays away from the herd, and the person being described shares similar
characteristics.

Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison that is different from a simile, in that we do

not use ―like‖ or ―as‖ to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or
hidden comparison and not an explicit one.

Common Speech Examples of Metaphors

Most of us think of a metaphor as a device used in songs or poems only, and that it has
nothing to do with our everyday life. In fact, all of us in our routine life speak, write, and
think in metaphors. We cannot avoid them. Metaphors are sometimes constructed through our
common language, and they are called ―conventional metaphors.‖

For instance, calling a person a ―night owl,‖ or an ―early bird,‖ or saying ―life is a journey,‖
are common examples of metaphors heard and understood by most of us. Below are some
more conventional metaphors we often hear in our daily lives:

My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)

18 | P a g e

The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)

It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat and
life is going to be without hardships)

The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is a threat; therefore, this implies that the
coming times are going to be hard for him.)

Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her voice makes him feel happy)

He saw the soul of dust when passing through the dust storm.

Chaos is the breeding ground of order.

War is the mother of all battles.

 Her dance is a great poem.

 A new road to freedom passes through this valley of death.
 My conscience is my barometer.
 His white face shows his concern.
 His kisses are like roses.
 He married her to have a trophy wife.
Metaphors are used in all types of literature, but not often to the degree they are used in
poetry. This is because poems are meant to communicate complex images and feelings to
readers, and metaphors often state the comparisons most emotively. Here are some examples
of metaphor from famous poems.

Example #1: The Sun Rising (By John Donne)

―She‘s all states, and all princes, I …‖

John Donne, a metaphysical poet, was well-known for his abundant use of metaphors
throughout his poetical works. In his well-known work, The Sun Rising, the speaker scolds
the sun for waking him and his beloved. Among the most evocative metaphors in literature,
he explains ―She is all states, and all princes, I.‖ This line demonstrates the speaker‘s belief
that he and his beloved are richer than all states, kingdoms, and rulers in the entire world
because of the love that they share.

Example #2: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer‘s Day (By William Shakespeare)

B. Poetic License:
The literary term, poetic license, is a thing of many names that comes in many forms. Also
known as artistic license, literary license, dramatic license, historical license, narrative
licence, licentia poetica, or just simply license, poetic license is a conversational term or
sometimes a euphemism. The term itself comes from Latin. Poetic derives from the
Latin poeta, which means "poet" or "maker." License comes from the Latin licentia, which
means "to be permitted." Basically, poetic license involves the departure of facts or even
rules for language in order to create a different effect, usually dramatic, for a piece of work
or speech.
19 | P a g e

Poetic license is a simple term to understand but can be a cause of controversy for book
lovers, grammar lovers, and history buffs out there, amongst many other groups. Television,
books, poetry, and film are fill of different forms of poetic license, which are listed below.
Whether you love it or hate it, it is a fact of life in the entertainment world that we are often
faced with.

Examples of Poetic License

You may be surprised by just how many examples of poetic license you are confronted with
every day. One of the more popular examples are film adaptations of novels. As an avid
reader, it is common to suddenly find my favourite novel on the big screen. I may enjoy the
movie but, like many of my fellow fans, cannot help walking out complaining about some of
the changes the writers made to the original story line, including what parts were completely
taken out. However, this is more commonly referred to as dramatic license rather than poetic
license. The specific term poetic license is more commonly used in reference to a poet's work
when they have ignored some of the rules for grammar for its effect. Shakespeare does this a
lot in his works. The infamous line from Julius Caesar: "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend
me your ears" is one example as he has omitted the use of the word "and" after "Romans" in
order to keep the line in iambic pentameter. Other examples include the contractions "o'er"
and "e'er," which are commonly used in poetry. Lastly, art, such as cartoons, are examples of
artistic license. The exaggerations of a person drawn in a cartoon are understood to provide
its audience with a clear understanding of just who that person is or what message the artist is
trying to convey.

Poetic License and Controversy

For the most part, poetic license is a cause for controversy because of the changes the artist
has made to an original story line. This is mostly found when a film or television show takes
a historical event or a novel and adapts it to the screen. The most popular examples of this is
Showtime's The Tudors and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies. Since they do not
follow what actually occurred in the past or what the original story says, these films or shows
are oftentimes heavily criticized. While changes in chronology or character traits are very
common and usually ignored, when a story goes too far in the wrong direction, it can cause a
lot of uproar with fans. One example is Michael Rymer's film adaptation of Anne Rice's
novel, The Queen of the Damned, which went so far away from the original story line that the
original work is nearly unrecognizable from it. Rice herself admitted on her Facebook page
that she felt that her work was "mutilated" and did not appreciate the adaptation.
One thing to remember, however, is that the media of film and television are completely
different from a novel or historical textbook. Most of the changes made to the original facts
and story are made in order to fit within the hour or two that the episode or film will be.
Within that short amount of time, those taking poetic license must make the story
understandable to those unfamiliar with the original and entertaining at the same time. No
couple of hours can ever produce a work verbatim with the original, especially if it is based
on a 500 page novel.

C. Syntagmatic Choices
Syntagmatic Choices are immediate linear relations between units in a segmental sequence.
The combination of two words or word-groups one of which is modified by the other forms a
20 | P a g e

unit which is referred to as a syntactic ‖ syntagmas‖. There are four main types of notional
syntagmas: predicative (the combination of a subject and a predicate), objective (-/- a verb
and its object), attributive (a noun and attribute), adverbial (a modified notional word, such as
a verb, adjective, or adverb, with its adverbial modifier). The other type of relations, opposed
to syntagmatic and called ―paradigmatic‖, are such as exist between elements of the system
outside the strings where they co-occur. Unlike syntagmatic relations, paradigmatic relations
cannot be directly observed in utterances, that is why they are referred to as relations ―in
absentia‖.

D. Paradigmatic Choices
Paradigmatic choices coexist with syntagmatic relations in such a way that some sort of
syntagmatic connection is necessary for the realization of any paradigmatic series. This is
especially evident in a classical grammatical paradigm which presents a productive series of
forms each consisting of a syntagmatic connection of two elements: one common for the
whole of the series, the other specific for every individual form in the series. A linguistic unit
can enter into relations of two different kinds. It enters into paradigmatic relations with all the
units that can also occur in the same environment. PR are relations based on the principles of
similarity. They exist between the units that can substitute one another. For instance, in the
word-group A PINT OF MILK the word PINT is in paradigmatic relations with the words
bottle, cup, etc. The article A can enter into PR with the units the, this, one, same, etc.
According to different principles of similarity PR can be of three types: semantic, formal and
functional. Semantic PR are based on the similarity of meaning: a book to read = a book for
reading. He used to practice English every day – He would practice English every day.
Formal PR are based on the similarity of forms. Such relations exist between the members of
a paradigm: man – men; play – played – will play – is playing. justify;">Functional PR are
based on the similarity of function. They are established between the elements that can occur
in the same position. For instance, noun determiners: a, the, this, his, Ann‘s, some, each, etc.

PR are associated with the sphere of ‗language‘.

A linguistic unit enters into syntagmatic relations with other units of the same level it occurs
with. SR exist at every language level. E.g. in the word-group A PINT OF MILK the word
PINT contrasts SR with A, OF, MILK; within the word PINT – P, I, N and T are in
syntagmatic relations. SR are linear relations, that is why they are manifested in speech. They
can be of three different types: coordinate, subordinate and predicative. Coordinate SR exist
between the homogeneous linguistic units that are equal in rank, that is, they are the relations
of independence: you and me; They were tired but happy. Subordinate SR are the relations of
dependence when one linguistic unit depends on the other: teach + er – morphological level;
a smart student – word-group level; predicative and subordinate clauses – sentence level.
Predicative SR are the relations of interdependence: primary and secondary predication. As
mentioned above, SR may be observed in utterances, which is impossible when we deal with
PR. Therefore, PR are identified with ‗language‘ while SR are identified with ‗speech‘.
21 | P a g e

E. Poetic Diction
Poetic diction means the choice and arrangement of words in a line of poetry. Thus it is a
matter both of vocabulary and syntax. In almost all ages, poets have used a language different
from the language of everyday use. It was believed that, ―the language of the age is never the
language of poetry‖, and further that the calling of a poet is a noble and exalted one and so
his language also should be equally noble and dignified, different from common language.
Thus it was considered necessary for a poet to avoid low, common and vulgar words,
specially in epic-poetry where the diction used should be lofty and sublime in keeping with
its lofty and exalted theme. For this reason, in all ages, the diction of poetry has tended to
differ from the language of prose, as well as from that of everyday speech. For example, in
his Fairy Queen Spenser intentionally used archaic and obsolete words, for his theme was
medieval, and archaic words like ‗methought‘, ‗I ween‘, etc., help to create a proper, old
world atmosphere. Miltonused a highly Latinised and figurative diction for his Paradise
Lost, and in this way sought to impart epic dignity and elevation to his language. Milton had
considerable influence on the succeeding generation of poets, and this influence was not all
healthy. Much that is artificial and unnatural in the diction of the Augustan Age may be
traced to Milton. Though poets in every age have used a specialised diction for their poetry,
never was such attention paid to the subject as in the age of Dryden and Pope. The critical
theory of the period laid great stress on the need of ‗decorum‘. ‗Decorum‘ implied that the
diction of poetry should be noble and exalted, that it should suit the genre and the characters
or personages in a piece of poetry, that the low and the vulgar should be avoided as their use
is below the dignity of the poet as well as that of his readers, and lastly that there must be
absolute economy in the use of words. The poet must say what he had to say in the fewest
and the best possible words. The best‘ were the words which enabled the poet to convey his
meanings with absolute clarity, and with this end in view the use of the archaic, the obsolete,
the foreign and the technical words was to be avoided. The older poets like Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare were guilty of such faults and it was felt, that they should be refined and
polished. They might be jewels but they were unpolished jewels, and it was their misfortune
to have lived and produced in a barbarous age. Throughout the Augustan Age, numerous
efforts were made to refine Shakespeare, and many of his poetic beauties were lost on the
age. Various devices were used to achieve a noble, pure and exalted diction, a diction proper
for poetry meant for refined and cultured audiences. First, Periphrasis orCircumlocution or a
roundabout way of saying things was widely used. In this way, efforts were made to avoid the
vulgar, the archaic and the technical. Thus Pope uses ‗finny creatures‘ for ‗fish‘, ‗Velvet
plain‘ for a green table, ‗two-handed engine‘ for a pair of scissors and so on. Secondly Latin
words and Latin constructions were abundantly used to impart dignity and elevation. Thus
Pope uses ‗Sol‘ in place of the sun. Words are frequently used both by Dryden and Pope in
their original Latin sense. Thirdly, Figures of Speech, more particularly Personifications and
Hyperbole, were abundantly used to decorate the language and to impart to it force, dignity
and effectiveness. An instance of personification and Hyperbole may be given from The Rape
of the Lock:

And all Arabia breathes from yonder box

The Tortoise here and Elephant unite
Transformed to combs, the speckled and the white.
Another remarkable feature of Pope‘s diction is his use of antithesis. This he uses it to
produce the mock-heroic effect:
22 | P a g e

Or stain her honour, or her new brocade

Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball.
Effective, telling, vivid and pictorial images (similes and metaphors) are used by Pope with
great frequency and abundance. There are frequent revisions and everything that is
superfluous or inapt is carefully eschewed. In this way, the diction acquires not only clarity,
elevation and perfection, but also epigrammatic terseness and condensation. There are more
quotable lines in Pope than in any other English poet outside Shakespeare.
Pope, in short, represents the best as well as the worst in the poetic diction of the 18th century.
He is the clearest as well as the most correct of English poets, but there is also much in his
diction that is unnatural and artificial. He bewitched and dazzled his age with his highly
ornate and polished language and the various stylistic devices used by him were imitated
throughout the century. Even the pre-romantics were unable to break free from his influence.
Gray, Collins, Crabbe, Blake and Burns all show his influence. The substance of their poetry
is much nobler, but their style continues to be stilted and artificial. Indeed, the full flowering
of romanticism in their poetry is checked and retarded by the dead hand of the past.
Circumlocution Personification, Latinism etc., all continue to be used by them and their
diction continues to be as artificial and unnatural as that of Pope and his imitators

Q.8: How stylistics and Literary criticism differ in their approach

towards the analysis of literature? Highlight the chief features of
a literary discourse with examples.
Ans:
Stylistics criticism
Stylistics is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of characteristic choices in use
of language, especially literary language, as regards sound, form, or vocabulary, made by
different individuals or social groups in different situations of use.

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'.
Value of Stylistics criticism
The claims of pedagogical stylistics, widely confirmed by students of such practitioners
(Short, 1996; Hall, 2014) is that it offers accessibility, practicality, systematicity and
replicability, what Short calls a student-friendly ‗toolkit‘, a set of concepts, questions and
procedures to look for and apply when approaching a text stylistically. The stylistics
approach, it is claimed, will then allow the deeper or more wide-ranging questions of literary
critics to be asked with more confidence that good answers can be provided with reference to
the text at hand, but also, at its best (Stubbs, 2004) the procedures of stylistics will have
prompted unsuspected and innovatory questions by its close, systematic and linguistically
informed analysis of the text. The approach is accessible in the sense that an immediate start
can be made by a relatively inexpert reader. It is practical because it can be widely applied to
all kinds of texts and will yield worthwhile findings. The systematicity claimed is probably
the key difference to what is imagined as ‗close reading‘ in a more literary approach. The
literary critic will sample for convenience and break off as soon as there is enough to write
23 | P a g e

about, where the stylistician wants to be clear that the observations being made are indeed
representative and fully grounded by reference to the language of the text discussed, not
purely serendipitous or impressionistic. A single instance of an unusual word use is of
relatively little interest to the stylistician who is looking more for extended or repeated
patterns of usage, characteristic habits of language use which it is claimed will be more likely
to construct or prompt a certain response than one-off instances, though certainly any
foregrounding (unusual use) is of potential Geoff Hall 142 interest. The difference is not so
much in what is looked for or noticed as in the more sustained attention to the text, and from
a more linguistically informed point of view, on the part of the stylistician. Stylistics looks to
language to help develop an understanding, whereas literary criticism looks to language to
help support an interpretation already more or less formed. Again, having a precise and
differentiated vocabulary beyond everyday commonsense terms picked up by hazard through
an education that offered no linguistics training offers clear advantages to a more
sophisticated discussion of language use to the trained stylistician but also, as they develop,
to the students as well. Finally the advantage of a replicable approach is that if an analysis
seems not to correspond with our own readings we can retrace its explicit and reasoned steps
with reference to the evidence available to all, and become convinced or look to modify that
reading. This contrasts with the literary critical essay where the student apprentice just has to
throw up their hands and admit that they don‘t fully follow and this must be their relative
inexperience and lack of expertise at the recondite mysteries of such (apparently)
sophisticated reading which are produced out of nowhere it often seems, rabbits from a
magician‘s hat. For the stylistician the specificity of the text, and the uniqueness of its
language use as a primary reality are where any worthwhile analysis must begin. In principle
many critics repeat this idea. Attridge (2004), for example, considers the ‗singularity of the
text‘ to be the point of literary reading. And again, writers like Barry or Eagleton bemoan the
tendency of students to move too quickly to rather banal generalities from too cursory an
inspection of the actual text at hand, but sadly (as we shall see) the students cannot be blamed
for what they have not learned from their professors. The argument of this essay (as of most
stylisticians) is that it is precisely because rhetoric of ‗close reading‘ but no readily
accessible, practical, systematic and replicable approach is taught to most literature students
that they struggle not to do anything much with the language of the text and so turn more
readily to their primers of Foucault, feminism and knowing winks to postmodernism.
Limitations of Stylistics criticism
What I have written so far may tend to suggest those literary people have got it all wrong
whereas the stylisticians have got it all right on their virtuous side. This is far from the
position I wish to take. It is clear to me that there are many weaknesses in the current practice
of stylistics and this indeed is where we could learn something from colleagues in the
literature sections who have spent many years considering issues in literary studies and
whose eyes have weakened through intensive study of literary print. Let us take for example
the charge I represented above, that the stylistician‘s work is of limited interest because of a
general reluctance to move outside the text at hand to larger historical, social or cultural
issues. Literary critics have been criticised and at times criticised themselves for perhaps
being too quick to flatter themselves that they can write as historians or move to insights in
social and cultural studies without having formally trained and practised in those areas. At the
same time it is quite correct (I would say) that meanings are made in contexts and the context
must be a part of the analysis even if ‗context‘ is a vexed issue. This was the thrust of early
‗discourse stylistics‘ (Carter & Simpson, 1989; Simpson & 140 Hall, 2002; also Bex et al.,
2000) and must now be returned to in all seriousness. Defensively, as if in conscious or
unconscious recognition of the demands of context, including historical contexts of literary
24 | P a g e

works, the stylistician typically works on contemporary or at least modern literary texts,
apparently uncertain or lacking in confidence to deal with older texts. The only partial
exception to this apparent rule of stylistic procedure is to restrict oneself to the classic
canonical texts, effectively deferring to, even while decrying, the literary establishment‘s
most highly evaluated texts. The stylistician is then in the handmaid position of ‗proving‘ or
explaining existing interpretations by reference to the language use, rather than any more
ambitious readings of even classic texts, never mind the less canonical. This timidity, despite
protestations of stylistics as extending well beyond the literary, does stylistics no good in the
eyes of serious literary researchers (cf. Stubbs, 2004). The stylistician typically privileges the
language use or at best the processing of language (as in the speculations of cognitive
linguistics) rather than study real readers, readings and actual or historical co-texts and
contexts as the literary critic does, however inexpertly or partially at times. The literary critic
who suggests stylistics is a formalist reduction of textual meanings partly misses the point
(what a close and systematic and linguistically informed reading of literary texts offers by
way of new and deeper insights to meaning generation) and undoubtedly (e.g. Barry, 2007,
2009) is usually not up to date with stylistics as practised today rather than twenty years ago
or more. But at the same time the criticism is not completely misguided. A scientistic reserve
about what can be written about with any authority or certainty has disabled and continues to
disable stylistics in so far as it has refused or shied away from larger and more ambitious
connections to be made with understandings of meanings as discourse, made between
situated readers with their own agendas and investments in specific contexts where all the
stakeholders in literary reading (apart perhaps from the stylistician) are looking for more than
insights into language use per se. In fact, no academic endeavour can ever stand outside such
engagement with larger issues and those who think they can are in most danger of self-
deception. There is no escape from theory or interpretations of interpretations, however we
devoutly might wish there were. The stylistician too brings his or her own predispositions and
biases to their work. Any scientificity of stylistics consists in a methodology designed
precisely to foreground such matters rather than turning a blind eye or shrugging them away
fatalistically.

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 analyse 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).
For understanding literary criticism, we first need to drive home the concept of literature
which is best not defined on the basis of whether it can be imaginative or fictional. However,
it can be described in terms of the way it makes use of languages in different ways. With
respect to this theory, literature falls under the category of writing that represents a
sophisticated violence conducted on a simple speech according to Roman Jakobson, a
Russian critic. Hence, literary criticism or literary analysis can be defined as,
25 | P a g e

―An informed analysis and evaluation of a piece of literature‖. OR ―A written study,

evaluation and interpretation of a work of literature‖.
The literary criticism is a concept, formed on the basis of critical analysis and primarily
estimates the value and merit of literary works for the presence or quality of certain
parameters of literary characteristics.
Literary Analysis on the Basis of Literary Theory
The literary theory is a boarder concept incorporating various strict senses and merits for the
systematic study of the nature of literature and provides a complete set of methods for
analysing literature.
Examples of Literary Criticism
Some popular topics and areas for literary analysis are:
Literary Criticism for Oedipus the King
Shakespeare‘s Othello
Literary Criticism on the Metamorphosis
Literary Criticism on Keats John
Literary Criticism on James Joyce‘s Novel Dubliners
Literary Criticism on Gothic the Wasp Factory
Literary Criticism on the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Types of Literary Criticism
Value of Literary Criticism
More positively then, what has a hundred years or more of academic literary criticism by
some very capable and highly educated readers to offer to the analyst of literary text? What at
its best does literary criticism do, and I invite the reader here to examine their own memories
of illuminating adventures (I hope you have had some at least!) in literary critical readings. I
would propose that at its best literary criticism can provide striking insights into the thoughts
and feelings of other times and spaces as mediated by the texts Stylistics and Literary
Criticism 141 they left us. Through and beyond this, great literary critics (Empson, Ricks,
Raymond Williams, Fred Jameson, George Steiner, there are many) can provoke greater
reflexivity and a deep comparative understanding of our selves and the societies in which we
live. In this way they extend and prolong the effects of the texts they write about. For those of
us trained in language studies or applied linguistics, too, the insightful literary critic also
stimulates deeper understandings of the workings of language and communication.
Greenblatt (2001) memorably writes on his attraction to literary studies as ‗resonance and
wonder‘, and the wish to speak with the dead (impossible but at the same time irresistible
and—a motto for literature studies—we do the best we can, which can be pretty good.)
Literature and literary criticism too prompts enquiry, reflection and discussion around issues
like ethics and morality, aesthetics and pleasure; above all (to my mind) it teaches criticality,
the key academic skill to learn at any university, the restless questioning of doxa: precisely
because they are established and widely accepted positions they are particularly suspect to the
trained reader of literature. At its best too, not unlike stylistics itself, literary criticism takes
us back to the text again, to notice features previously unnoticed or undervalued. A literary
critic at minimum should be another voice to help us develop our response to the text which
very often will first have been read in isolation (private silent reading as the modern norm of
reading).
Limitations of Current Literary Criticism
Literary criticism today is marked for many by obscurity, selectivity, impressionistic uses of
texts discussed and in general a lack of replace ability which for many, including our
students, is intimidating or at least off-putting. For those of us who value literary texts this is
unfortunate. Uses of language which could prompt thought and understanding and were
26 | P a g e

meant to communicate are made subordinate often to the written performances of the critics,
another common criticism of the field. A reservation sometimes expressed about discourse
analysis too, interestingly, is often expressed as critics setting out to prove Stylistics and
Literary Criticism 139 Geoff Hall what they already knew by drawing on literary texts rather
than extending or deepening their own and their students‘ understandings through new
readings. Ingenuity is offered rather than insight. We are told how society or language
‗works‘ and then this is shown in the text at hand. It sometimes hardly seems to matter what
the particular text is; it seems almost any would do to prove the general point, whereas
traditionally (and for the stylistician too I would say) the specificity and uniqueness of a text
is what matters rather than how it participates in the workings of power, gender or the other
concerns of critics in many cases today. Not that these big issues are not important. They are
extremely important. But that is exactly why loose generalisations are of limited interest. We
know the idea of (for example) gender inequality. What does this particular text at hand have
to teach us about its workings for these people at this time? The final irony of such
approaches is that students are then increasingly blamed for weak versions of such literary
critical performances as they attempt to mimic their professors. But what else can they do
when they have been taught no alternative and certainly have not even been taught how to do
the impressionistic ‗close reading‘ their professors chivvy them for not using! Predictable
readings are then generated which bring the field into disrepute. What is the point of reading
yet another text to establish again what is already known? This hardly seems to meet the
fundamental demand of worthwhile research, that we keep learning new things. A further
criticism generated for example by Hasan (2007) in her account of mainstream literary
studies, is that students simply reproduce the evaluations of their professors for whom literary
criticism is primarily an evaluative endeavour (what is worth reading and why?) This seems
to spell a stalemate for the discipline, when one‘s elders‘ judgments cannot safely be revised
or questioned, and could if we are not careful spell the end for literature study at least as a
dynamic and developing field of enquiry
Literacy criticism includes various techniques of literature analysis which are widely used for
critical essay writing and drafting analysis for texts and materials against specific merits of
evaluation.
Objective Analysis
An objective analysis makes uses the technique of independently investigating a particular
subject matter with reference to the existing facts, figures, events and background
information. An objective analysis can also be referred to as statistical interpolation, objective
mapping, or systematic probing into a subject and is completely devoid of personal feelings
and viewpoint.
Traditional Criticism
The traditional criticism approach examines you examine how the author‘s life, his/her
biographical information, contemporary times and effect of his life circumstances on his
inspiration and their reflection in his works. This technique is commonly used in in general
surveys of English literature. It includes a general analysis of the writers as opposed to a
detailed analysis of their individual works.
New Criticism
The new criticism approach is mostly used in poetry analysis and evaluates elements like
diction, imagery, stanza structure, verse form, meanings, particularly and complexities of
meaning. This form of critical analysis refrains from analysing the biographical and historical
context of a poem.
Sociological Criticism
27 | P a g e

The sociological criticism approach deals with the direct analysis of society with reference to
societal problems, conflicts and contemporary issues. Areas of analysis typically include
events, happenings, cultural trends and effects of modernism.
Rhetorical Criticism
The rhetorical criticism approach makes use of the technique of persuasion and aims to
understand the conveyance of the content of poetry and other works of art. It evaluates the
angle of approach, presentation of arguments, evidence and attitude.
Metaphorical Criticism
A metaphorical critical analysis makes use of the use, nature, purpose and evaluation of
metaphors used in any work. The analysis probes into the meaning and illustration along with
the message conveyed of the metaphorical stance being used.
Structuralist Criticism
The structural critical analysis studies symmetry, trends and patterns for a particular society
or for a societal comparative analysis. of various societies. Underlying patterns of symmetry
which are held to be common to all societies. Corroboration is drawn from sociology and
anthropology, and the study techniques categorize and evaluate the work in larger context
rather than assessing its quality alone.
Biographical Criticism
A biographical critical analysis evaluates a poem in terms of the reflection of the writer‘s
psychology, or as biographical data piece. This kind of analysis focuses on the
interrelationship of a particular work in context of understanding the influences, inspiration
and circumstances of the writer.
Marxist Criticism
In case of the Marxist critical analysis, poetry is analyzed on the basis of its political
correctness and calls for mention of support for workers against capitalist exploitation and
perils of free market perils.
Historical Criticism
Historical criticism analyses poem works in their historical context and evaluates the use of
allusions, words, phrases and diction along with conventions and expectations at the time of
the written works produced.
Psychological (Freudian) Criticism
Psychological critical analysis examine texts an works for the portrayal of sexual imagery
and against other Freudian concepts; struggles of the superego, the Oedipus complex,
repressed contents of consciousness, etc. The purpose of Freudian analysis is to highlight the
existence of psychic conflicts rather than looking for aesthetical merits.
Mythological (Archetypal) Criticism
Mythological criticism evaluates content for instinctual and inmost emotions in human nature
which are influenced by certain events, happenings and character situations. The analysis is
based on communal beliefs since mythology is strongly derived from religious beliefs,
anthropology, and cultural history.
Moralist Criticism
The moral critical approach examines poetry and art works against standard ethical and civil
criteria; humanistic, societal impact, tolerance, equality, social justice and sensitivity. This
approach adheres to the humanistic and civil element in poems, dramas and other art work
and evaluates the impact and influence of works of literature in a stringent moral context.
28 | P a g e

Feminist Criticism
Feminist critical analysis is concerned with the politics of women‘s authorship, representation
of the women‘s condition within literature. Origin of feminine criticism is originally derived
from the classic works of 19th Century women authors like George Eliot and Margaret
Fuller. Based on the feminist theory, the feminist critical evaluation analyses elements like
stereotypes of women, images of women in literature, literary mistreatment of women, place
of women in patriarchal societies and challenges faced by women in the modern era.

THE END