Objectives and competences
The objective of this course is to acquaint students with the basic stylistic categories such as register, point of view, transitivity, modality and mind style, to present them with various methods for discourse and text analysis, and to teach them how to practically analyse various stylistic features of literary and other texts.
Content (Syllabus outline)
• Definition of style and levels of language.
• Lexical and grammatical categories: register, formality and informality, abstractness and concreteness, simple and complex linguistic structures.
• Point of view: internal perspective, external perspective, focalization.
• Speech and thought presentation: from direct to indirect discourse.
• Style and transitivity: processes and participants.
• Modality and attitude: negative and positive polarity, deontic and epistemic modality, modality discourse markers.
• Mind style: world-view, language and ideology.
• Time and narrative.
Learning and teaching methods
• Lectures (traditional with student-participation encouraged, asking questions for clarification).
• Seminars (each student writes a seminar paper which is then presented in the classroom. Work group or work in pairs is possible depending on the assigned task)
• Close readings of some selected passages.
Intended learning outcomes - knowledge and understanding
On completion of this course student will be able to:
• demonstrate basic knowledge of stylistic concepts,
• analyze various text and discourse features,
• differentiate between different registers,
• distinguish various degrees of formality or informality,
• recognize different types of point of view and focalization,
• recognize different types of speech and thought presentation,
• identify various ideological markers in literary and other texts,
• use knowledge of stylistics to improve their own writing.
Intended learning outcomes - transferable/key skills and other attributes
Transferable/Key Skills and other attributes:
• improved close-reading skills,
• ability to deal with texts from various domains,
• ability to recognize linguistic markers of various ideologies,
• improved writing skills.
Readings
G. Leech in M. Short: Style in Fiction. Longman, London, 2007.
P. Simpson: Stylistics. Routledge, London, 2004.
M. Toolan: Language in Literature. Arnold, London, 1998.
Prerequisits
Attendance of 80% and regular completion of coursework are required for taking the exam.
Additional information on implementation and assessment • seminar paper - 50%
• oral presentation - 30%
• participation in class - 20%
