On the origins of style

Abstract

Starting from a thought experiment in which efforts at detecting stylistic variation are examined on a number of parameters, the present article argues that monitoring purely stylistic differences without recourse to semantic material is difficult if not impossible for humans. It turns out that it can be done quite successfully, however, when special instruments such as computers are committed to the task. Examples of such successes are provided. From this premise, an appreciation of the state of the art in stylistics is proposed, linked to the need for more interdisciplinary research. For one thing, the notion of style is related to similar notions in sociology, particularly the notion of surface variation as developed by James Coleman in his Foundations of Social Theory. It is argued that such cross-breeding can sharpen insights in one's own discipline. It is subsequently demonstrated how insights from evolutionary psychology can be made use of to probe not only stylistic variation but also where such variation originated in the first place. Relating this to a hypothesis first advanced by Trevor Eaton in 1978, this approach also explains the difficulty humans have in perceiving pure' stylistic variation without the help of computers described in the initial section.