#Stylistics

The fact that we're supposed to come up with an essay (four paragraphs)
on the day of the test, I think we'd better take into consideration how
many sessions we've been lectured, for so we can plan how we're to
prepare ourselves for the essay. Honestly, It's all about planning. I can't
count how many sessions, but If I'm to say, it's factually four actual
sessions.
Summarise them into four big titles:
1- Definitions and quotes.
2- Levels of language, hierarchy and idiosancracy.
3- Grammar and Style
4- Figure of speech
Here's my (Updated) notes (but don't focus on them; each has own way
of understanding thngs)
+You probably have the materials to trust {Paul Simpson book and the
other polycope}
I know it is not how our lecturer began the course but I'd like to introduce
it this way: My style is my My self. Okay? Our focus is on Style since it is
a Stylistics course. So what is style? I can safely state it is about "The
How" things are composed together in which composers, independently,
based on their identities, express themselves through language, or
whatever. This is what I came to realise from the lecture.
-The notion of intrinsic and extrinsic analysis as two approaches a
stylician would use in interpreting a text.To start with the first one
{Intrinsic}, it means you have to look at a text as an independent
entity.To put it simply, you do not relate your analysis to any outside
perspectives. I would say it is the New Criticism. On the other hand,
extrinsic analysis means you need to analyse a text through other
perspectives like cultural perspective, feminist perspective... And of such.
Levels of language... Language has levels. What are they?
- What is language? ( define it as you are a linguistic student!)
-It is a fact that a thing is composed of many things to become that
particular thing. Biologically speaking, living being body is a combination
of many atoms. They come together to create a form which is the living
being body/shape. Similarly, language is a combination of many signs
and symbols. It is a system of signs. These latter come to reveal a
knowledge which deals with phonetics ,phonology, graphology,
morphology, syntax and grammar, lexical analysis/lexicology, semantics,
and pragmatics/discourse analysis. These latter are studied to be later
applied to other areas language-based. My intended focus will be on
stylistics.
Stylistics is the study of #Linguisticstyle. This is one clear definition! In
terms of stylistic analysis, it's like telling you " what's your criticism on this
style based on all the elements I mentioned above? " Here arises the
notion of correlation, interrelation since these elements create a
language (form and content) - Forming a sentence can convey various
contents and that somehow depends on idiosyncrasy. idiosyncratic
expressions that make a work of literature peculiar to a certain person. A
known-for-it person. #Peculiarity
Know now what is it all about?
A #take on the notion of hierarchy in language. We've been lectured that
language is hierarchy; relating it to the levels of language. First to do is to
understand what does it mean hierarchy. In a hierarchy, simply an
implication of elements at one level are combined to construct the next
level, e.i there is a constructive relationship. Another thing is that it
entails a regulatory relationship, that elements at one level "choose" or
constrain elements at the lower level.
Some examples:
1- Syntax rules over words. It specifies how they can be combined.
Besides words enable syntax. It cannot operate without those words.
2- Semantics rules over syntax. What we want to convey influences how
to structure it. Sums it up: Low levels allow upper levels but upper levels
rule over lower levels. Lower levels are necessarily smaller than higher
levels.
Now let's distinguish between levels of language and areas of linguistics.
The latter is the way which the discipline is divided and to the way
language itself is organised and hence analysed. Our teacher actually
dealt with only three levels, and which are interrelated to stylistics:
Stylistic phonetics, stylistic morphology, and stylistic syntax (...) Then this
implies that each level will analyse a text on the basis of its features.
The teacher talked about "Figure of Speech" An expression in which the
words are not used in their literal sense. ( imaginative unusual way)
Why we use them?
"To embellish our style.
" Then he differentiated it with Figurative language: "
Figurative language employs techniques that abide by the literal meaning
of words."
Your feedback/ evalutaion/ clarification/ opinion/ advice/ anything
constructive on this?