Stylistics routledge English Language Introductions

succession
of Actors in 
the scene. The Nurse, for example, drops out after sentence 9, although she has
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certainly played the major part in the action till then (eight clauses out of eleven),
and has been the focus of the persona’s (and therefore our) attention. The Doctor,
his equipment and the persona interact together, then he drops out and is super-
seded by a succession of clauses where the ‘something’ takes over very forcefully.
Finally the persona is left acting alone.
Charting through the 
types
of processes involved allows us much more room for
discussion:
1
nurse came back = material-action-intention
2a
nurse unclasped = material-action-intention
b
nurse dropped = material-action-intention
3
nurse started tweaking = material-action-intention
4
doctor was unlocking = material-action-intention
5a
doctor dragged out = material-action-intention
b
doctor rolled = material-action-intention
6
nurse started swabbing = material-action-intention
7a
nurse leaned over to reach = material-action-intention
b
nurse’s body part muffled = material-action-supervention
8
nurse’s body contingency emanated = material-event
9a
n.a.
b
nurse grinned = material-action-intention
10
n.a.
11a
persona tried to smile = material-action-intention
b
persona’s body part had gone stiff = material-event
12
doctor was fitting = material-action-intention
13a
doctor buckled = material-action-intention
b
doctor’s equipment dented = material-action-supervention
c
doctor gave . . . to bite = material-action-intention
14
persona shut = material-action-intention
15
- was = relational
16a
something took hold = material-action-intention
b
something shook = material-action-intention
17a
something shrilled = material-action-intention
b
something drubbed = material-action-intention
c
persona thought = mental-cognition
d
persona’s body part would break = material-action-supervention
e
persona’s body part fly out = material-action-supervention
18a
persona wondered = mental-cognition
b
- was = relational
c
persona had done = material-action-intention
Here, the overwhelming fact revealed by the analysis is the definite preponderance
of the selection of the option material-action-intention; twenty clauses out of thirty
make this choice. A closer consideration brings out the following interesting features
of the text. First, all the Nurse’s actions are material-action-intention processes;
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though where the Nurse’s body is the Actor we have supervention or event processes,
so that the effect is of her deliberately carrying out determinate actions, in the
persona’s environment, while her body produces contingent, ‘accidental’, yet none
the less substantial effects on her thought-world also. Similarly all of the Doctor’s
actions are material-action-intention processes, but, like the Nurse’s body, his equip-
ment produces effects on the environment tangentially, as it were. The electricity is
also only represented in terms of material-action-intention processes. Thus, all three
of these major Actor-participants are seen as overwhelmingly ‘in control’ of what-
ever events take place. They are presented and given as being in charge of the
construction of the reality that the persona perceives and expresses.
But what of the patient herself ? Her attempt at what is (technically) a material-
action-intention process (11a) fails. Her related body-part action is similarly only an
‘accidental’ event, that is, beyond her control (11b). At sentence 14, she succeeds in
a material-action-intention process but, whereas all the other actors are doing
constructive, concrete tasks by that option, her contribution is to shut her eyes – to
remove herself from the scene. At 17c and 18, she has the only mental-internalised-
cognition processes in the passage – a fact which makes it absolutely clear that the
piece is very much – and only – from her point of view. At 17d and e we are given
two possible (but hypothetical) supervention processes for her body parts – so, 
again, material actions that are not part of the actual reality, but only subordinated
possible outcomes of others’ actions. And, finally (18c), her ‘successful’ material-
action-intention process is located away in the past, in mysterious circumstances.
This further analysis, then, gives us a little more scope in the way of accounting
for our understanding of the persona’s conception of her world. The next analysis,
which isolates who or what is affected by each process takes us a little further:
1
nurse affects ø by intention process
2a
nurse affects persona’s possession by intention process
b
nurse affects persona’s possession by intention process
3
nurse affects persona’s possession by intention process
4
doctor affects equipment by intention process
5a
doctor affects equipment by intention process
b
doctor affects equipment by intention process
6
nurse affects persona’s body part by intention process
7a
nurse affects persona’s body part by intention process
b
nurse’s body part affects persona’s body part by intention process
8
nurse’s body contingency affects ø by event process
9a
n.a.
b
nurse affects persona by intention process
10
n.a.
11a
persona affects ø by intention process
b
persona’s body part affects ø by event process
12
doctor affects equipment by intention process
13a
doctor affects equipment by intention process
b
doctor affects persona and equipment by intention process
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14
persona affects persona’s body part by intention process
15
ø affects the environment by relational process
16a
something affects persona by intention process
b
something affects persona by intention process
17a
something affects ø by intention process
b
something affects persona by intention process
c
persona affects persona’s body part by cognition process
d
persona’s body part affects ø by supervention process
e
persona’s body part affects ø by supervention process
18a
persona affects ø by cognition process
b
ø affects ø by relation process
c
persona affects ø by intention process (hypothetical)
Reading this skeleton gives us a firmer grasp of the abstract reality of the persona’s
world. Massively, it is the Nurse who affects both the persona’s possessions and body
parts (2a, 2b, 3, 6, 7, 8) and, in one instance, the whole of her (9b). The Doctor, 
on the other hand, uses his intention processes to affect equipment (4, 5a, 5b, 12,
13a, 13c) and, in one localised area, via the persona’s body part (13a) and the equip-
ment (13b), the persona herself (13c). At this point he disappears from her world
view. The electricity, not surprisingly, continually affects the whole persona (16a, b,
17a, b).
And the patient herself? At 11a she affects nothing – despite her intentions. At
11b her body part affects nothing. At 14 she successfully affects her own body – but
remember that this is her escapism clause. At 17c she again ‘successfully’ carries out
a cognition process on her own body – but remember that the resultant effect is only
hypothetical. At 17d and e, 18a and c, the remaining clauses which have the persona
as Actor, the persona and her body parts still affect nothing at all.
This third analysis, then, gives us a much neater and more delicate way of
addressing ourselves to readers’ responses. Obviously we could discuss much more
in this text, and I do not mean to suggest that this is a ‘full analysis’. Nevertheless,
by pursuing these important sets of related features in this way, we have begun to
refine our understanding of the ‘reality’ presented by this text. [. . .]
To sum up let me offer the following programme of eight points, which I see the
teacher of stylistics as pursuing. It assumes students with an interest in literature in
general, but little or no linguistic knowledge. Points 1–4 are, I take it, uncontentious;
points 5–8 are offered as a programme for radical stylistics.
(1) Stylistics can be part of a programme to enable students to handle competently
a coherent and comprehensive descriptive grammar, which can then be used in
either literature-oriented studies, or linguistics-oriented studies.
(2) It is always at least a ‘way in’ to a text.
(3) It can shift discussion to awareness of effects that are intuitively felt to be in a
text in the process of reading it, and a contingent ‘making strange’ of those effects
and feelings simultaneously. It is towards ‘knowing how’ as well as ‘knowing
that’ (Ryle 1949).
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(4) It can spell out a shared vocabulary for describing the language of any text –
whether those effects are straightforward or ambiguous.
(5) Crucially, stylistics can point the way to understanding the ways in which the
language of a given text constructs its own (fictional) reality.
(6) It should then point the way towards understanding the ways in which language
constructs the ‘reality’ of everyday life – and an awareness that always 
must
do
so. So that, in a sense, everyday ‘reality’ can usefully be seen as a series of
‘fictional’ constructs – as texts open to analysis and interpretation in just the
same way as texts marked out for literary study are.
(7) This would lead to an awareness of the importance of perceiving the constituent