When Language Reveals Meaning: A Functional Analysis of Wilde’s The Selfish Giant

Abstract

Stylistic studies act like a bridge between linguistics and literature. They offer an opportunity for researchers to reveal the hidden aspects of spoken language to utilize the specific features of the author’s style to various fields, a particular aspect of a time era, or a practical characteristic of language use. This study is a stylistic functional analysis of Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. The analysis was conducted in three scopes: genre, register, and language. The genre analysis referred to the structure of The Selfish Giant, in in the light of the framework of Halliday’s Systematic Functional Linguistic framework. The register analysis revealed that the ‘Finite’ form of the clauses is in the past tense. Finally, the language analysis showed that the lexical density in The Selfish Giant was moderate. The study helps English instructors, and English learners, in understanding the way of looking at literary works, how to analyze them, and the way we use such analysis in interpreting literature and choosing texts to be presented in English learning classrooms.