LANG 3050 Introduction to Stylistics
Credit Points 10
Legacy Code 102186
Coordinator Christopher Conti Opens in new window
Description The focus of this online unit is the language of literature and the craft of writing. The unit explores the rhetorical or figurative dimension of language across literary and non-literary texts. Students analyse a range of short texts - mostly passages from novels and poems - with an eye to the formal basis of their effects. Through recorded lecture pods and online exercises, students are introduced to the basic tools of stylistic analysis, including narrative analysis, metaphorical analysis and critical discourse analysis.
School Humanities & Comm Arts
Discipline Linguistics
Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp
Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.
Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject
Restrictions Successful completion of 60 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.
Learning Outcomes
- Identify the linguistics basis of literary effects or "style"
- analyse the rhetorical character of "ordinary" language and text, including the key tropes metaphor, metenymy and irony;
- apply a range of analytical tools to literary and non-literary texts;
- implement textual, interpretive and narrative analyses that have applications across discursive and disciplinary boundaries.
Subject Content
Module 1: Language as system - Word choices - Collocation
Module 2: Grammar, syntax and function - Transitivity 1: Clauses and agents - Transitivity 2: Patterns
Module 3: Metaphor and metonymy -Tenor and vehicle - Cognitive metaphor theory
Module 4: Language, rhetoric and power - Text and context - Critical discourse analysis
Module 5: Narrative - Focalisation and free indirect discourse - Mind style
Assessment
The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.
| Item | Length | Percent | Threshold | Individual/Group Task |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online quizzes | 1,000 words in total | 20 | N | Individual |
| Transitivity analysis | 1,000-1,500 words | 30 | N | Individual |
| Final essay | 2,000 words | 50 | N | Individual |
Prescribed Texts
- No prescribed textbook. Short texts for analysis will be drawn from a range of sources, including subjects in the BA English Major, and provided in PDF form (mostly poems and short stories).
Teaching Periods