Pragmatic Stylistics (Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Linguistics) - Hardcover

Black, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0748620400 ISBN 13: 9780748620401

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2005

Synopsis

A study of the language of literary texts. This study introduces a range of pragmatic theories and approaches that can be applied to literary texts. It is an ideal introduction to the topic for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates. The book 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. It 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. This textbook series provides advanced introductions to the main areas of study in contemporary Applied Linguistics, with a principal focus on the theory and practice of language teaching and language learning and on the processes and problems of language in use.

About this title

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 the Author:

Elizabeth Black is Formerly Lecturer in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0748620400
• ISBN 13: 9780748620401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 184