I introduction: stylistics

IV. Differences between Linguistic Approach and Literary Approach to Stylistics
Renowned practitioners of stylistics have differentiated between the two approaches. Three examples shall be cited here. Jeffries and Mclntyre (2010), Carter and Simpson (1989), and Ngara (1982).
Jefferies and Mclntyre (2010) observe that:
Literary stylistics in this case is concerned with using linguistic techniques to assist in the interpretation of texts, whereas linguistic stylistics is about doing stylistic analysis in order to test or refine a linguistic model (Wales 1989: 438) – in effect, to contribute to linguistic theory.

Carter and Simpson (1989) characterise linguistic stylistics as:

the purest form of stylistics, in that its practitioners attempt to derive from the study of style and language a refinement of models for the analysis of language and thus to contribute to the development of linguistic theory.

In contrast, they describe literary stylistics by providing its distinguishing feature. They write:

A distinguishing feature of work in literary stylistics is the provision of a basis for fuller understanding, appreciation and interpretation of avowedly literary and author-centred texts. The general impulse will be to draw eclectically on linguistic insights and to use them in the service of what is generally claimed to be fuller interpretation of language effects than is possible without the benefit of linguistics.

Ufot (2006) presents Ngara (1982) as follows:

Ngara (1982: 12) distinguishes between two types of style study, the literary stylistician’s and the stylistic critic’s approaches. The literary stylistician, he observes, ‘applies the methods of stylistics to the language of literature.’ However, Ngara says, the stylistic critic ‘has a wider domain because, in addition to using the analytic tools of the linguist and the stylistician such as grammar, lexis, phonology and prosody, he must also concern himself with the wider issues of deviation from the norm’.
The stylistic critic here is the linguistic stylistics; meanwhile, the domain it covers is wider than the one expressed. It explores diverse disciplines as earlier illustrated in II.
Pitching the two together, the differences include:

• 
  Linguistic approach thrives on linguistic theories and contributes to the latter (see examples in II.). More often than not, the literary approach employs stylistics as a theory (theoretical framework) and/or any functional theory in its interpretation (see examples in III.).
  
• 
  The ultimate goal of literary approach is textual evaluation, while linguistic approach investigates an instance of language use to contribute to a linguistic theory.
  
• 
  Literary approach is usually author-based and affects the reader, while linguistic approach flourishes in interdisciplinarity with little or no attention given to affecting the reader.
  
• 
  Linguistic approach emphasises form, while literary approach emphasises content.