Pragmatic Stylistics (Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics) - Softcover

Black, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748620419 ISBN 13: 9780748620418

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2005

Synopsis

This volume is a study of the language of literary texts. It looks at the usefulness of pragmatic theories to the interpretation of literary texts and surveys methods of analysing narrative, with special attention given to narratorial authority and character focalisation. The book includes a description of Grice's Co-operative Principle and its contribution to the interpretation of literary texts, and considers Sperber and Wilson's Relevance Theory, with particular stress on the valuable insights into irony and varieties of indirect discourse it offers. Bakhtin's theories are introduced, and related to the more explicitly linguistic Relevance Theory. Metaphor, irony and parody are examined primarily as pragmatic phenomena, and there is a strand of sociolinguistic interest particularly in relation to the theories of Labov and Bakhtin.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Black was formerly lecturer in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh.

Review:

This is an extremely objective and wide-ranging first exposition of a fascinating area of study. Forum for Modern Language Studies A welcome addition to the series 'Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics'! One of the strengths of the book is its wide use of examples from literary texts to test the usefulness of the pragmatic theories discussed. While this is territory covered in other textbooks, Black provides a perceptive and well illustrated account! Pragmatic Stylistics will be of interest to those studying or teaching stylistics and literature within Applied Linguistics and related courses. Its generous range of topics and literary examples would also, I think, appeal to students of English literature with an interest in linguistic theory. -- Diane Davies, University of Leicester Baal News This is an extremely objective and wide-ranging first exposition of a fascinating area of study. A welcome addition to the series 'Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics'! One of the strengths of the book is its wide use of examples from literary texts to test the usefulness of the pragmatic theories discussed. While this is territory covered in other textbooks, Black provides a perceptive and well illustrated account! Pragmatic Stylistics will be of interest to those studying or teaching stylistics and literature within Applied Linguistics and related courses. Its generous range of topics and literary examples would also, I think, appeal to students of English literature with an interest in linguistic theory.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0748620419
• ISBN 13: 9780748620418
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184