Stylistics & Critical Linguistics

Observations on their intersection

Many stylisticians are interested in the application of models of language to texts other than literary texts. Indeed, it has been an axiom of the present book that the methods of stylistics can be extended to forms of discourse beyond those conventionally associated with canonical literature. Most notably, stylistics, as a method of both analysis and interpretation, shares much common ground with critical linguistics, and some of the analytic procedures adopted in Stylistics make for useful cross-reference to those employed in Language and Power, the forthcoming book by Clare Walsh in the Routledge English Language Introductions series. Critical linguistics (CL) explores the ways in which power is mediated through discourse and in doing so seeks to empower subjects by raising awareness of how language is used in the public sphere. For example, CL uses linguistic analysis to explore (and ultimately to challenge) the ways in which print and broadcast media claim to present 'commonsense values' and 'man in the street' philosophies. What also interests critical linguists, in the context of media discourse, is how different newspapers tell the same 'story' by giving discourse emphasis to certain aspects of the event or by making certain elements stand in sharper relief to others. There are indeed different ways of saying the same thing: it is how something is said that is of particular interest to critical linguists.

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