An analysis of some stylistic features contributing to differences in accessibility of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion

Abstract

This dissertation reports on the results of a stylistic analysis of these two texts by J.R.R. Tolkien, aimed at unearthing concrete evidence in support of the above observation. The analysis was carried out in an attempt at identifying linguistic features present in the texts which contribute to the intuitive observation that the latter text is less accessible to readers than the former. I have adopted the discipline of stylistics for my instrument of research thus making it possible to apply empirical quantitative measures in the comparison of the two texts. The analysis has thrown light on the existence of a number of features, which in fact support the hypothesis that a greater degree of complexity in certain aspects of Sentence Structure, Clause Structure and Noun Phrase Modification patterns in The Silmarillion as compared with The Hobbit may be contributing to making the former text appear to readers to he less accessible than The Hobbit. On the other hand, certain aspects of the analysis, in particular the SVX analysis which identifies a greater degree of foregrounding of X (complement) elements into less usual positions within the sentence in The Hobbit as compared to The Silmarillion suggests that the use of less 'usual' structures does not necessarily render a text less accessible than another. More research is needed in this area.