CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Language is
the distinctive quality unique to man. It is what enables man to express
him/herself and communicate with his/her fellow man, and it is acquired
naturally. According to Fromkin et al “…language is the source of human life
and power” (3). They also state that “we use language to convey information to
others…, ask questions…, give command…, and express wishes” (173). There are two specific media of using language:
oral – which is by words of mouth; and written – which is a graphic
representation of words on paper.
It is in
the use of language that style comes in. Style shows the difference between one
piece of writing and the other. According to Adejare, “style is an ambiguous
term…” (1). He further states that the term style means different things to
different professions. Some examples are: to a psychologist, style is a form of
behaviour, to the critic, style is individuality and to the linguist, it is the
formal structures in function (1).
Stylistics is the study of oral and
written texts. It is the description of the linguistic characteristics (which
means features of linguistics) of all situationally restricted uses of
language. Linguistics is the scientific study of language or of a particular
language. Linguistics is scientific because it applies the method of objective
observation, collection, classification and application of facts to the study
of language.
Stylistics
focuses on texts and gives much attention to the devices, parts of speech and
figures of speech. It goes further to look into the effects of the use of the
devices on the reader.
Talking
about the scope of stylistics, Onwukwe Ekwutosi gave four distinctive types of
stylistics and they are:
1.
General stylistics
2.
Literary stylistics
3.
Stylo-stylistics
4.
Phono-stylistics
General
stylistics deals with the non-dialectical varieties found within a language. In
other words, it deals with situational or contextual use of language, that is,
variation according to use. It also includes variation of language according to
field of discourse, variation according to mode of discourse and finally,
variation according to style of discourse.
Literary
stylistics deals with language use in literature, that is, variations,
characteristics of individual writer that made mark in literature. Often, we
hear people talk about the style of Shakespeare, Milton, Achebe or Soyinka.
And also,
stylo-stylistics deals with the qualification of stylistic pattern. It studies
the statistical structure of literary texts often using computers. Finally,
phono-stylistics is the study of expression of aesthetic function of sound.
Stylistic
features can be described as features that produce style. They include
linguistic features such as diction(writer’s choice of words, such as clichés,
archaism, polysyllabic, monosyllabic), sentence structure such as loose and
period sentences, parallelism, parenthetical expressions and passive
expressions. Other features are cohesion, coherence, use of punctuation marks
and figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, hyperbole, metonymy and
personification, slang, colloquialism and connotation.
Diction: By
diction, the reader looks at the simplicity or the difficulty of words chosen
by the writer to express himself.
Sentence: It is made up of words that
express a complete thought. It is the basic unit of thought in any
communication. Both oral and written languages are made up of sentences. There
are two main kind of sentences; loose and periodic sentences.
Loose sentence: It is the kind of sentence that
states the main point at the beginning. Even when the statement is
grammatically complete, one or more explanatory clauses or phrases come after
it.
Periodic sentence: This kind of sentence keeps
the main point for the end. The sentence is not grammatically complete until
the end of the sentence.
Parallelism: It is the use of pattern
repetition in a literary text for a particular stylistic effect.
Parenthetical expression: It is used
to give more information and also as an after thought in a statement.
Passive expression: This is the use of words in
the past tense to show the time of action.
Cohesion: It is a linguistic phenomenon
which explains the way discourse is structured or organized with regard to
message. It is a binding force that ties together stretches of utterances.
Coherence: This is the arrangement of
sentence in a logical order.
Punctuation marks: Are signs in writing to
divide sentences and phrases and to make meanings clear.
Figure of speech: A figure of speech is an expression
used figuratively rather than literary. It gives a deeper meaning to word. Some
examples are:
Metaphor: Is a comparison between two
dissimilar things which have something in common.
Simile: It is a clear comparison between
two dissimilar things. These two unlike items however share something in
common. It is this common characteristic that is emphasized by the use of like
or as …as.
Hyperbole: It is an overstatement where the
speaker exaggerates what he is saying out of proportion.
Metonymy: This is using a word for something
to refer to another with which it has become closely associated.
Personification: It is giving human quality
to an inanimate object.
Slang: Very informal words and
expressions that are more common in spoken language, especially used by a
particular group of people.
Colloquialism: A word or phrase that is used in
conversation but not in formal speech in writing.
Connotation: It is the additional meaning the
word gains because of the different environment in which a word has been used
in the past.
Archaism: This is the use of old and middle
English words which are no longer in general usage today.Some examples are,
“thereto”, “thou”.
Clichés: They are phrases or ideas that
have been used so often that it no longer has much meaning and is not
interesting.
A way of
stylistic analysis is taking a text and analyzing it at the various levels of
linguistic organization – phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic
levels. It is the identification of patterns of usage in speech and writing. It
is usually made for the purpose of commenting on 
