
Languages English
Read students' feedback on the "Stylistic Analysis: Insight into the Subtle Delivery of Meaning" course.
學生對 「文筆分析 : 探究達意技巧微妙處」的評價
Programme Overview
Highlights
This course aims to give students a working understanding of stylistics so that they may employ stylistic techniques in their own work.
Stylistic analysis is the identification and description of style features in written (and spoken) language to explain how such stylistic features evoke particular feelings and responses, intended by the author, in the mind of the reader (or listener). The discipline relates linguistic facts (linguistic description) to meaning (interpretation) in as objective and explicit a way as possible, given that some stylistic techniques can be indirect and have a subliminal effect. In short, we aim to understand how skilled authors subtly influence the delivery of meaning.
The course provides guided critical readings of a wide variety of texts of different genres (fiction, drama, poetry, advertising, business, journalism, legal texts, etc.) to expand students’ lexical and rhetorical repertoire, and to apply the skills and vocabulary thereby gained through working on:
written and oral in-class exercises
The principal focus will be the written word, with reference being made to spoken language where appropriate.
The determined student should finish with a more proficient and effective personal writing style and a more penetrating understanding of texts written by others.
Programme Details
This course will cover:
- The various kinds of ‘deviation’ (discoursal, semantic, lexical, grammatical, etc.) and how their psychological effect (‘foregrounding’) works through not conforming to what is linguistically normal
- Rhetorical devices
- Parallelism and the ‘parallelism rule’
- Style variation (dialect, medium, tenor/register, domain, etc.)
- Discourse structure and the modes of speech & thought presentation
- Phonetic structure (the ‘sound effects’ of written language: rhyme, alliteration, sound symbolism, etc.)
- Metrical structure (rhythm & metre, stress, timing, natural/rhythmical ‘reading’, etc.)
- Dialogue/conversational aspects (point of view, context, speech realism, etc.)
- Assumptions/presuppositions, conversational rules, and the inference of meaning
- Linguistic indicators of viewpoint (value-laden expressions, sequencing, deixis, etc.)
- Narrative and descriptive style
For summer schools for teachers, the course is 36 hours (12 x 3-hour workshops; twice a week) in duration.
About the Trainer
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Mr Peter Brokenshire, British English elocution and accent reduction trainer, was raised in Malaya and educated in England. He graduated in Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek) and joined the British Army, first in the infantry and then as an intelligence analyst, and met his wife in Hong Kong in 1982. He was then self-employed in sales and IT, and gained a BSc in Natural Sciences and an MSc in e-Commerce. He then worked for the Department for Transport in IT procurement, negotiating and managing large data management, IT services and software development contracts. In 2012 he returned to the Far East and teaches English and elocution in various tertiary education institutes in China and Hong Kong. His interests include languages, history, natural sciences and fish keeping. Students will be impressed by his sense of humour and dynamic teaching methods. |
You may also be interested in the following courses:
British English Elocution
British English Elocution Enhancement
Stylistic Analysis: Insight into the Subtle Delivery of Meaning | - | |
Application Code | 2392-1065NW | |
Start Date | 17 Jul 2025 (Thu) | |
Time | Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00pm - 5:00pm | |
Venue | Fortress Tower Learning Centre | |
Days / Time
- Tue, Thu, 2:00pm - 5:00pm
- 12 meeting(s)
- 3 hours per meeting
Fee & Entry Requirements
Fee
- Course Fee : $4,800
Entry Requirements
This short course is designed for advanced English speakers. Applicants will be graduates and willing to take part in discussions and practical in-class exercises, ideally with little inhibition. They should be reasonably confident and fluent English speakers.
Apply
Apply Online 網上報名
a) complete the enrolment form and enroll in the course(s)
(i) at the Enrolment Centres of HKU SPACE (please refer to the ‘Learning / Enrolment Centres’ section) by cash, EPS, cheque/bank draft or credit cards (VISA / MasterCard);
OR
(ii) by mail with cheque/bank draft to ‘HKU SPACE Summer School Office, 11/F, 250 King’s Road, Hong Kong'.
Cheque/Bank draft should be made payable to ‘HKU SPACE’ with applicant’s name and course(s) applied written on the back. A photo of the applicant (in plain colour background, 45mm(W) x 55mm(H)) is also required.
b) apply through the School’s online enrolment system and pay by credit card or PPS.
- All applicants who are below age 18 on 14 July 2025 MUST complete and submit the ‘Parent/Guardian Consent Form’ together with the Enrolment Form.
- If you are applying for more than one course, please check to ensure that there is no clash of class schedules before submitting your application.
Notes
- Fees and places on courses cannot be transferred from one applicant to another. Once accepted to a course, the student may not change to another course without approval from HKU SPACE. A processing fee of HK$120 will be levied on approved transfers.
- Receipts will be issued for fees paid but HKU SPACE will not be responsible for any loss of receipt sent by mail.
- Receipts will only be issued once. For additional copies of proof of payments, please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope with a completed form and a crossed cheque for HK$30 per copy made payable to ‘HKU SPACE’. Such copies will only normally be issued at the end of a course.
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