Sentence Length and Complexity in Hemingway's Short story : A Clean, Well-Lighted Place : A Stylistic study

Abstract

    The term  style is somehow difficult to define . The difficulty arises from the fact that it is acquiring several interpretations . Such interpretations  might refer to abstract notions such as " style of deviations " ; or  " style is choice " or a distinct personality (the style of Shakespeare ) ; or to periods ( the baroque style )  and the like          ( Galperine , 1977:11). 

    Carter and Nashe  (1990:36)  argue that  style  can be recognized because it stands out in one way or another from a standard . This view simply means  style  can be seen as deviation . However , such a view cannot be taken for granted since norms are very difficult to standardize . Wales (1990 ) [quoted in Missikova ,2003] in her famous book  A Dictionary of Stylistics listed the most common characteristics of style as follows :    

1. Style refers to the manner of expression in writing and speaking .
2. Style can be seen as variation in language use , whether literary or non-literary . The term register is commonly used for such variations in linguistic features found in non-literary situations ,

     such as legal language , advertising , etc.

1. Style is seen as distinctive of register , genre or period.
2. Style is defined in terms of choice of items , and their distribution and

     patterning .

   As deviation from a norm , style is a concept that is used traditionally in literary stylistics , since literary language is more deviant than non-literary language use .

   To sum up , Warner (1961:1) ; Garvin (1964:112) go on to state that in spite of the different interpretations of the term  style , the simplest interpretation is that is a manner of expressing one's thoughts and feelings in words .