BSEE110 Midterm Reviewer PDF

BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS LESSON ONE: CRITICISM THEORIES  Literary theory is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that reveal what li...

BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS LESSON ONE: CRITICISM THEORIES  Literary theory is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean.  Literary theory is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to understand literature. All literary interpretation draws on a basis in theory but can serve as a justification for very different kinds of critical activity.  It is literary theory that formulates the relationship between author and work; literary theory develops the significance of race, class, and gender for literary study, both from the standpoint of the biography of the author and an analysis of their thematic presence within texts.  Literary theory offers varying approaches for understanding the role of historical context in interpretation as well as the relevance of linguistic and unconscious elements of the text. Literary theorists trace the history and evolution of the different genres—narrative, dramatic, lyric—in addition to the more recent emergence of the novel and the short story, while also investigating the importance of formal elements of literary structure.  Literary theory in recent years has sought to explain the degree to which the text is more the product of a culture than an individual author and in turn how those texts help to create the culture.  CLASSICAL THEORY This theory believed that a certain literary piece is an “imitation” of the life that we live. Literature can be examined through the following notions of famous authors: a. Mimesis by Plato. “Mimesis” came from a Greek word which means “imitation”. Plato suggested that it is important for the readers to know whether piece of art is happening in real life or not. Literature can be evaluated as good or bad in terms of how reality is portrayed in it – good, if it happens in reality and bad, if it conceals the truth from everyone. b. Function by Horace. Horace believed that function of literature is either to teach or to entertain individuals. He believed that there must be something meaningful that would be obtained by the audience from what they have read. c. Style by Longinus. BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Longinus introduced three styles in which literature should be based on such as low, middle and high style. Aside from that, there is a fourth style which is called sublime. Very few could achieve it as it is more than just a beautiful work. It comprises of elements to come up with what is the highest form of a beautiful literature.  HISTORICAL-BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH a. Historical  Investigates the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it. This investigation includes the author’s biography and the social milieu  Seeks to understand the impact of a work in its day, and it may also explore how meanings change over time.  Explores how time and place of creation affect the meaning of work. b. Biographical  Real life experience can shape an author’s work  Understanding an author’s life can help us better understand the work  Facts about the author’s life are used to help the reader better understand the work; the focus is always on the literary work under investigation  ROMANTIC APPROACH Wordsworth made way in the discovery of romantic approach in literary criticism. In 1800s, Wordsworth stated in the Preface of Lyrical Ballads his famous proclamation about the nature of poetry “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. This statement shifted the center of attention from the literary work as a reflection or imitation of reality to the artist, and the artist’s relationship to the work. Poetry was therefore considered an expression rather than mimetic art. This theory argues that instead of reflecting to the external reality, the focus of the texts was turned inward to reflect the poet’s state of mind. This theory emphasizes individuality and subjective dimension of human experience. It is one of the recurring themes that are linked to either imagination, idealism, inspiration, intuition, or individualism. The theme often criticizes the past, stresses upon sensibility, isolation of the writer and pays homage to nature.  NEW AMERICAN CRITICISM Taken from the book of John Crowe Ramson “The New Criticism”. This approach is called new criticism because it shifted from old criticism to new criticism. Unlike the old criticism which focuses mainly on the background of the author to understand the meaning of the literary text, in New Criticism, meaning is generated only through text.  BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS While reading and analyzing the literary text itself, you will know the meaning of the text. Author’s background and intention is not important. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object. New Criticism believed the structure and meaning of the text were intimately connected and should not be analyzed separately. In order to bring the focus of literary studies back to analysis of the texts, they aimed to exclude the reader’s response, the author’s intention, historical and cultural contexts, and moralistic bias from their analysis.  STRUCTURALIST APPROACH This theory may be defined as the project of giving literary criticism the theoretical rigor of a science of language: the attempt to rethink everything through once again in terms of linguistics. It examines the universal underlying structures in a text, the linguistic units in a text and how the author conveys meaning through any structures There are three dimensions to the structuralist approach: 1. Naturalization of a text- text as a particular system or structure in itself 2. Binary Oppositions- text is related to the culture 3. Intertextuality – texts are unavoidably influenced by other texts, in terms of their formal and conceptual structures. Part of the meaning of any text depends on intertextual relations to other texts. LESSON TWO: INTRODUCTION TO STYLISTICS  Stylistics is the stud of style.  The study of style or the way you write, do or perform something  Study the style of writer and the types of literature  It explains how a writer is different from the other one? Ex: Chaucer and Shakespeare  How a writer is trying to convey the message  The study of style used in literary and verbal language and the effects the writer/speaker wishes to communicate to its audience.  It is the scrutiny and explication of texts from a linguistic point of view. Instead of focusing on What the work is about, we are evaluating how the work is composed. (style and form)  It is a method of textual interpretation in which primacy of place is assigned to language. BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS  The reason why language is so important to STYLISTICIANS is because the various forms, patterns and levels that constitute linguistic structure are an important index of the function of the text  The preferred object of study in stylistics is literature. But it is not always about literature.  Misconception: Creativity and innovation in language are seen exclusively in preserve of literary writing  Misconception: Stylistic analyses are as much about deriving insights about linguistic structure and function  Stylistics is interested in language as a function of texts in context, and it acknowledges that utterances are produced in a time, a place, and in a cultural and cognitive context.  To do stylistics is to explore language, and, more specifically, to explore creativity in language use  It can shed light on the very language system it derives from; it tells us about the ‘rules’ of language because it often explores texts where those rules are bent, distended or stretched to breaking point.  The goal of most stylistics is not only o describe the formal features of texts for their own sake, but in order to show their functional significance for the interpretation of text; or to relate literary effects to linguistic ‘causes’ where there are felt to be relevant.  Stylistics as conforming to the following three basic principles, cast mnemonically as three ‘Rs’.  stylistic analysis should be rigorous (explicit framework of analysis structured models of language and discourse)  stylistic analysis should be retrievable (analysis is organized through explicit terms and criteria, the meanings of which are agreed upon by other students of stylistics. there is a consensus of agreement about what most terms in stylistics mean)  stylistic analysis should be replicable (testing the methods on the same text or by applying these beyond the text to allow other stylisticians to verify)  The ultimate aim of stylistics is to establish the objective laws and practical rules of using proper linguistic forms in proper situations  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 BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS challenge the subjective interpretations and evaluations of various critics and cultural commentators. (Michael Burke)  A stylistician has an expertise in grammar and rhetoric and has 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. LESSON THREE: FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE  Language must be investigated in all the variety of its functions. At the time people talk about language functions, they are talking about the reason for using language. At its most basic, the function of language is communication or usually called by speech function; people use language to give and receive messages between themselves. It is difficult to see adequately the functions of language, because it is so deeply rooted in the whole of human behavior that it may be suspected that there is little in the functional side of our conscious behavior in which language does not play its part (Newmeyer,2000)  For Halliday, language is always a resource for making meaning, and even the infant who cannot talk is developing language, and thereby, learning how to mean. Just as the infant can’t walk, but is learning how to use his body, he cannot talk either at least not in the language of his mother tongue.  Halliday (1975:43) identifies functions that language has for children. Children are motivated to acquire language because it serves certain purposes or functions for them. INTERPERSONAL  Function of language which shows the relationship between the speaker and the audience  This function of language focuses on forming, sharing, and maintaining social relations  It enables us to participate in society, communicate with others, and express our emotions, beliefs, and judgments.  It is used to enact relationship, form bonds, negotiate, ask for things, instruct.  mood and modality cover the manifestations of command, request, suggest, offer, will/wish, statement, question, exclamation. IDEATIONAL  this aims to express an experience. BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS  Language helps us perceive the natural world and make sense of our own consciousness.  It is used to talk about experience, people and things, their actions and relationships, places, times or circumstances in which events occur.  It includes the experiential function and the logical function.  the experiential function refers to the grammatical choices that enable speakers to make meaning s about the world around us and inside us.  Logical function describes as those systems “which set-up logical-semantic relationship between one clausal unit and another. TEXTUAL  The textual function of language is concerned with organizing information. Language forms connections between signs and symbols to develop a coherent message.  Emphasis on the flow of information in a text  It is used to link complex ideas together into cohesive and coherent waves of information.  It is where language use signifies discourse. Language becomes text and is related to itself and its contexts of use (preceding and following text) and the context of the situation LESSON FOUR: ELEMENTS OF STYLE FOREGROUNDING  Formulated by Victor Shklovsky and developed by Jan Mukarovsky  Allows literature to present meaning with intricacy which ordinary language does not allow  Foregrounding in literary texts is structured, systematic and hierarchical  Its immediate effect is to make objects strange and achieve defamiliarization.  A linguistic feature that capture the reader's interest and attention  Defamiliarization: used to force the readers to slowdown and let metaphors and alliteration (and other figurative language) create feelings.  It aims to make something stand out for the reader and helps the author in depicting something about a particular character, setting or even the text itself.  It serves as an indicator of what the author wants the reader to notice DEVIATION BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS  Deviation is used to make a language creative or inventive. It uses words that are different from conventional and everyday language.  It is when a set of rules or expectations are broken in text or any literary pieces which attracts attention and aids memorability.  Language Deviation refers to an intentional use and selection of styles which most likely outside the normal boundaries of writing. For example, bending rules and invention of words.  Graphological Deviation - a form of deviation which concerns the breaking of rules resulting in non-usage of punctuation marks, (such as, comma, full-stop, question mark, quotation marks, capitalization, violation of an established norm or. the use of emblematic features, and so on.  Lexical deviation - neologism, or the invention of new 'words' (i.e. items of vocabulary) is one of the more obvious ways in which a writer may exceed the normal resources of the language. Writer intends to reach certain kind of rhetorical effect, thus, invent some new words based on the rules of word formation. But these new words are seldom or hardly used on other occasions.  Semantic deviation – Transferee of meaning; defined as meaning relations that are logically inconsistent or paradoxical in some ways. meaning. It is caused by the association of words having opposite features. REPETITION  a literary device that intentionally repeats two or more words or phrases and even sound in different ways.  Typically used in order to persuade, to convey greater meanings, to provide indelible meaning, and to intensify and give emphasis on content, meaning or idea and subject in text  It is widely used throughout different genres of literature, most especially in prose and poetry  Serves as a key tool for authors and speakers in developing style, tone, and rhythm  It could be achieved through the use of anaphora, epistrophe, symploce, antanaclasis, antistasis, Negative-Positive restatement and epizeuxis in text.  Disclaimer: If repetition is overused, it may lead to redundancy, dullness, and ineffectiveness of work.  BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS PARALLELISM  Text which contains phrases having similar or the same grammatical structure.  The repetition of grammatical elements in a text.  Parallelism is linking together of similar grammatical parts in a sentence in which items in a series must have parallel structure.  It uses the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas are equally important and balance,  It creates readable and understandable passages through its clear meaning as presented in text. Texts are easily understood when the grammatical structures are parallel or balance.  It provides symmetry that creates rhythm and repetition which can make the texts more catchy, indelible, and compelling.  Parallel Structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. LESSON FIVE: STYLE AS CHOICE – TRANSITIVITY PROCESS  Choice is a very vital instrument of stylistics. It deals with the variations and the options that are available to an author. Since language provides its users with more than one choice in a given situation, there are different choices available to the writer in a given text. This then depends on the situation and genre the writer chooses in expressing thoughts and opinions. With the writer’s choice, there is a reflection of his ego and the social condition of his environment. Choices in style are important because these choices have a profound impact on the way texts are structured and interpreted  Halliday (1973) defined transitivity as the set of options whereby the speaker encodes his experience of the processes of the external world, and of the internal world of his own consciousness, together with the participants in these processes and their attendant circumstances.  According to Halliday and supported by Matthiessen (2014), there is a common consensus that each individual has their own linguistic style, which implies that not only does one express him/herself in his/her own way, but also that s/he will focus on determined aspects when using language to describe his/her own reality. They also added that the semantic and syntactic choices one makes in order to communicate serve to manifest their positioning and are based on the belief that one organises their BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS discourse in line with how they perceive a situation and the meanings they wish to convey.  Transitivity process is the study of what people are depicted as doing and refers broadly to who does what to whom which answers the questions: (1) Who are the actors? (2) Who are acted upon? And (3) what are the process involved?  Halliday also mentioned that reality is made up of processes of going on, happening, doing, sensing, meaning, being and becoming and according to him, transitivity focuses on each clause in the text, “asking who are the actors, who are the acted upon, and what processes are involved in that action” (Matheson, 2005)  The transitivity system proposed by Halliday is composed of three main types of processes: material, mental, and relational.  The Material process. This type of process includes clauses of doing and happening. The two main participants associated with this process are: The Actor (the doer of the process) and the Goal (the entity affected by the process). Example: the fisherman caught a big fish. (here, the fisherman is the actor, caught is the process; material, and the big fish is the goal or the entity that is affected by the process)  The mental process. Mental processes are grouped into four subtypes which are perception (see, hear, feel), cognition (know, understand, believe), affection (like, love), and desire (hope, want, wish). Within this process, there is always a conscious participant known as the sensor: the one who perceives, knows, likes, etc. and the other participant involved is the phenomenon which is felt, perceived, known, thought, or wanted. Example: Jenny saw Candice last week at the mall. (here, Jenny is the senser which perceives *saw* Taylor which served as the phenomenon or the one who is perceived, yesterday is the circumstance of time and at the mall is the circumstance of place.)  The relational process. This process occurs outside and inside human being. Relational processes are typically realized by the verb ‘be’ or some verbs of the same class (known as copular verbs); for examples, seem, become, appear, etc, or sometime by verbs such as have, own, possess.  There are also three minor types which are: behavioral, verbal, and existential processes.  The behavioral process. This lies between the material and mental processes. It characterizes the outer expression of inner working and reflects physiological and psychological behaviors. This type of process usually has one participant who is typically a conscious one, called the Behaver. BSEE110– STYLISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS  The verbal processes represent the act of saying. Usually three participants are involved in Verbal processes: the Sayer is responsible for verbal process; the Receiver is the person at whom the verbal process is directed; and the Verbiage is the nominalized statement of the verbal process.  The existential processes prove states of being, existing, and happening. Existential processes typically employ the verb be or its synonyms such as exist, arise, occur. The only participant in this process is Existent which follows the there is /are sequences.  Each situation type is made up of three components: the process itself, participants in the process, and the circumstances associated with the process.  The process is realized by a verb and it is the central part of the situation. This answers the questions “what’s happening?”, “what is being done?” and “what processes are involved in the action?  Participants are realized by a nominal group and circumstances are realized by adverbial groups or prepositional phrases. It answers the questions “who is doing it?” “who are the actors?” “who are acted upon?” which includes the people, things, senser, or abstract concept.  Circumstances are realized by adverbial groups or prepositional phrases. It is the manner, time, place, reason and association, meaning it detailing where, when, and how something has occurred.