BLL 121 Lecture 2
BLL 121 Lecture 2
● Situationally sensitive
└ Speakers should adjust their speech based on
the audience’s mood, possibly altering
content and structure.
● Decline of rhetoric in the 19th century
└ Criticized for being too prescriptive, dogmatic, ● Adaptability
and narrow. └ Deviating from a linear structure may be
necessary to maintain audience engagement
● Demosthenes and Cicero and effectiveness.
└ Contrary to ancient ideals, great rhetoricians like
them did not see rhetoric as narrowly prescriptive. 3. Stylisation
└ Third canon of rhetoric: Focuses on style,
● Kairos influencing modern stylistics.
└ Addresses the appropriateness of rhetoric in └ Components of Style:
context, countering claims of its prescriptiveness. a. Notion of style
b. Grammar and clarity
● Greek’s Two Concept of Time c. Levels of style
a. Kronos: Linear time, from which we get d. Style figures
"chronology." e. Imitation
b. Kairos: Locative time, focused on specific
moments and context. ● Etymology
└ Derived from Latin 'stilus,' an ancient writing
● Kronos tool.
└ Essentially about context. It is the pragmatic
utterance avant la lettre. ● Roman perspective
➔ Every textual utterance will differ └ Style (elocutio as Romans call it) was seen as a
depending on the contextual system for persuasive discourse.
elements involved in that utterance.
└ Relates to the pragmatics of utterances, ● Debate On Style
considering context, speaker, audience, └ Whether it is intrinsic to communication or an
message, and mode. optional extra; contemporary views favor its
➔ Most important of all are the time inseparability from content.
and place of the utterance.
● Marshall McLuhan’s view
● Kairos └ "The medium is the message," emphasizing
style's integral role in communication.
● Systematic Analysis
● ‘Literariness’
└ Examines formal features of a text and their
└ Stylistics nowadays tends to see ‘literariness’ as a
functional significance for interpretation
point on a cline (continuum) rather than as
(Wales 1989).
an absolute.
● Evolution of Stylistics
● Foregrounding
└ Recent focus includes reader interpretation
└ Russian formalism's impact is notable in the
(Alderson and Short 1989; Short and van
psychological concept of foregrounding,
Peer 1989) and cognitive aspects of text
which highlights the role of style in making
comprehension (Stockwell 2002a; Gavins and
texts stand out.
Steen 2003).
● Alternative Names of Stylistics
● Connection of Stylistics to Lingusitics
└ Literary linguistics
└ Stylistics employs linguistic models, techniques,
└ Critical linguistics
and methodologies to study style.
└ Literary semantics
└ Literary pragmatics
● Concentration of Stylistics
└ Poetics
└ The analysis of literary texts.
● Literary vs. Non-Literary Stylistics
● Roots of Stylistics
└ Literary Stylistics: Focuses on analyzing
└ Originates from the formalist school of literary
literature
criticism in early 20th-century Russia.
└ Non-Literary Stylistics: Analyzes non-literary
texts
● Classical Influence
└ The concept of 'style' has historical roots in
● Literary Stylistics vs Linguistics
classical rhetoric and poetics.
└ The distinction is not between the kinds of
● Major Proponents of Russian Formalism
texts studied, but between the objectives
└ Roman Jakobson
behind such analysis.
└ Victor Shklovskii
2. Qualitative Methods
IV.I Starting With Data
└ Less defined and more varied; involve detailed
analysis of individual texts or small text
● Inductive Approach
samples.
└ common in stylistics, focusing on specific
└ Allow for consideration of contextual factors
examples rather than broad generalizations.
and can use a wider range of analytical tools.
➔ e.g., metaphors, grammatical
structures
Example: Detailed analysis of news reporting on the "war └ Stylisticians often analyze texts to identify
on terror," focusing on specific incidents or texts.
patterns or features without generalizing
beyond the data.
● Advantages and Limitations of Each
Method
● Scale of Analysis
1. Quantitative
└ Can range from examining a single text to
└ Can reveal statistical patterns across large
analyzing an author’s entire body of work or
datasets, but may miss nuanced,
a specific section.
context-specific insights.
└ Methods: computer-based searches for lexical
or grammatical features, reader testing, or
2. Qualitative
qualitative analysis of selected passages.
└ Provides deep insights into specific texts,
taking context into account, but may lack
● Data-driven research
generalizability due to small sample sizes.
└ Research is centered around the data, whether
it involves close textual analysis,
● Application
computational methods, or qualitative
└ Qualitative and quantitative methods
approaches.
complement each other in stylistic analysis.