Stylistics

Semester-II Course code: ENG.104 BS in English

Course objectives
This course offers an introduction to the study of Stylistics. Through this course the students
will learn the notion of style both in literary and non-literary discourses from a purely linguistic
perspective. Also, through this course the students will know and understand the concept of
Stylistics as a sub-discipline of Linguistics, its definition(s), its scope, its development as a
discipline, its branches and its differences from other kinds of literary criticism and theory. The
students, through this course, will learn to identify linguistic foregrounding, linguistic
parallelism, linguistic deviation and various figures of speech both in literary and non-literary
texts as well as will gain valuable insights into everything they read or hear. In addition, at the
end of this course, the students will be able to understand and distinguish among various levels
of stylistic analysis, to use rigorous techniques of linguistic analysis as critical readers, to
analyze the language of literary and non-literary texts and to analyse and interpret the daily
messages they receive from every sphere of life.

Methodology
To meet the above mentioned objectives, the teachers, while teaching Stylistics, should not
only introduce to the students the various terms and concepts used in stylistics, they should
also focus on developing students’ ability to carry out stylistic analysis of various types of texts.
In order to do this, the teachers must give various types of activities or exercises to the students
so that they can learn and practice the application of stylistic analysis to a variety of literary
and non-literary texts.

Examination
Examination conducted at the end of the course will not only assess students’ knowledge and
understanding of various concepts and terms used in Stylistics, it will also assess their ability
or skills to conduct stylistic analysis of literary and non-literary texts through questions on
stylistic analysis of unseen passages or extracts from poetry, drama, novel or from another
genre like newspaper report, magazine article, political speech etc.

Course contents
What is ‘Style’ in Stylistics?
• Definition(s) of style
• Traditional, modern and linguistic concept of style
What is Stylistics?
• Definition(s)
• A brief history of Stylistics
• Scope of Stylistics
• Branches of Stylistics (Pragmatic Stylistics, Cognitive Stylistics, Corpus Stylistics,
Narrative Stylistics, Feminist Stylistics)
Linguistic foregrounding in Stylistics
• Linguistic deviation
• Linguistic parallelism
• Application of foregrounding to literary and non-literary text analysis
Figurative language in Stylistics
• Definition(s)
• Types of figurative language
• Examples and application of figurative language
Levels of stylistic analysis
• Phonological level (assonance, consonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme, metre,
repetition etc.)
• Graphological level (capitalization, punctuation, use of commas, spelling rules,
paragraphing, partition of couplets etc.)
• Morphological level
• Syntactic level
• Discourse level
• Application of stylistic analysis to literary and non-literary texts
Speech, thought and narration
• Application of speech, thought and narration to text analysis

Recommended readings:
Bradford, R. (1997). Stylistics. London. Routledge.
Black, E. (2006). Pragmatic Stylistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Carter, R. (1982). Language and literature.
Crystal, D and Davy, D. (1969). Investigating English Style.
Gibbons, A & Whiteley, S. (2018). Contemporary Stylistics. Uk: Edinburg University Press.
Haynes, J. (1995) Style. Routledge.
Kumar, S. (1987). Stylistics and Text Analysis. New Dehli: Bahri Publications.
Leech, G & Short, M. (1986). Style in Fiction. London: Longman.
Leech, G. (1969). A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry.
Norgaard, N, Montoro, R and Busse, B. (2010). Key Terms in Stylistics. Continuum
International Publishing Group.
Sotirova, V. (Ed.). (2016). The Bloomsbury Companion to Stylistics. Bloomsbury Publishing
Plc.
Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge.
Toolan, M. (2014). The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. London: Routledge.
Mills, S. (1995). Feminist Stylistics. London: Routledge.
Widdowson, H. (1992). Practical Stylistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wright, L. & Hope, J. (1996). Stylistics: A Practical Course Book. Routledge.
Widdowson H.G. (1975). Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature. London: Longman.