Stylistics routledge English Language Introductions

Antilanguage
Antilanguages are the semi-secretive languages born out of subcultures and alterna-
tive societies. These societies, ‘antisocieties’, are consciously established as alternatives
to mainstream society such that their relationship to the dominant social order is
one of resistance, even active hostility. Antilanguages are therefore typically charac-
terised by references to proscribed drugs, to alternative sexual behaviours or more
generally to the various activities of a criminal underworld (Halliday 1978).
Antilanguages play an important part in, and often dominate completely, the style
of literary works which are thematically concerned with such subcultures and anti-
societies. Notable examples of such fiction are William Burroughs’s 
The Naked Lunch
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(1959), Hubert Selby Jnr’s 
Last Exit to Brooklyn
(1966), and Anthony Burgess’s anti-
language novel 
sine qua non
, 
A Clockwork Orange
(1962). The most important process
in the formation of an antilanguage is 
relexicalisation
which involves recycling estab-
lished words in the language into new structures and meanings. For example, in
Welsh’s novel, there are numerous coded antilanguage references to proscribed drugs,
to types of criminal activity and to the police and other figures of authority.
Relexicalisation in the ‘drugs’ field of discourse alone is heavily foregrounded, with
a single page of text likely to produce items such as the following and more: 
skag,
works, smack, gear, speedball, shootin gallery, cookin up
and 
shootin home
.
Levels of style in Irvine Welsh’s 
Trainspotting
If we accept the argument made both along this thread and in unit C1, that literary
discourse has the capacity to stack up or absorb other varieties of language, the 
difficulty that then presents itself is how to separate out in a rigorous way these
various elements in stylistic analysis. In the stylistic analysis of sociolinguistic code,
for example, we need to identify and explore the connections between features like
accent, register or antilanguage in a text. The following exercise is designed as one
method for helping to tease out these stylistically significant varieties of language.
Below you will find a passage from Irvine Welsh’s novel 
Trainspotting
. This episod-
ically written novel is set in Edinburgh, and follows the interconnected lives of a
group of drug addicts and that of their violent and psychotic friend, Frank Begbie.
The novel’s ‘hero’ is its first person narrator, Mark Renton. More intelligent and
articulate than his peers, Renton manages ultimately to break free from the strictures
of this drug-ridden, repressed existence. In this particular episode, Renton and Spud
Murphy, having stolen books to sustain their heroin habit, find themselves in a
Magistrate’s court defending a charge of shoplifting. They are watched from the
public gallery by their friends Sick Boy and Begbie. Although Spud is sent to Saughton
prison, Renton is released subject to his participation in a drugs rehabilitation
programme. Read the passage through a couple of times. You could even try to read
it aloud!
Courting Disaster
The magistrate’s expression seems tae oscillate between pity n loathing, as he looks doon
at me n Spud in the dock.
– You stole the books from Waterstone’s bookshop, with the intention of selling
them, he states. Sell fuckin books. Ma fuckin erse.
– No, ah sais.
– Aye, Spud sais, at the same time. We turn aroond n look at each other. Aw the
time we spent gittin oor story straight n it takes the doss cunt two minutes tae blow it.
The magistrate lets oot a sharp exhalation. It isnae a brilliant job the cunt’s goat, whin
ye think aboot it. It must git pretty tiresome dealin wi radges aw day. Still, ah bet the
poppy’s fuckin good, n naebody’s asking the cunt tae dae it. He should try tae be a wee
bit mair professional, a bit mair pragmatic, rather than showin his annoyance so much.
– Mr Renton, you did not intend to sell the books?
– Naw. Eh, no, your honour. They were for reading.
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