ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author asserts that linguists and literary critics look at literary texts for fundamentally different purposes. Stylistics has commonly been regarded as placing an undue emphasis on linguistic deviance, and it is true that stylisticians for many years have been attracted to odd and unusual examples of language use in literature. Widdowson differentiates linguistic deviance from literary deflection, in order to demonstrate that stylisticians can have things to say about literary value and significance. The linguist sees them as data providing evidence of the operation of grammatical rules other than those of standard grammar. The literary scholar sees them as aesthetic objects sufficient in themselves and having, as it were, ‘no need of a remoter charm, by thought supplied,’ nor any interest unborrowed from their own intuitive judgements. Grammarians have long recognized that category of person functions as a connection whereby linguistic system is plugged in, as it were, to the situation in which language is used.
