Stylistic deviation and Pakistani idiom: creative use of English in Moni Mohsin’s Duty Free
Abstract
The study highlights the creative use of deviation as a stylistic device for presenting linguistic innovations in the novel Duty Free (originally published in 2011) written in English by a Pakistani writer Moni Mohsin. It has been explored how and to what extent the eight types of deviation, such as lexical, grammatical, semantic, phonological, graphological, dialectal, deviation of register, and deviation of historical period suggested by Geoffrey N. Leech have been employed by Moni Mohsin in her novel. By identifying how morphological, compound, and idiomatic neologisms have been created, words from native languages have been borrowed, and innovative similes, metaphors, and tautologies rooted in Pakistani culture have been employed, the study helps in understanding the extent to which novel uses of English language create unique stylistic effects, add to the richness and vitality of English, and cause variation simultaneously. Deviation of historical period and certain subcategories of phonological deviation have not been found. The study has implications for Pakistani English, lexicology, stylistic foregrounding, and creative writing in English.
Keyword : creative communication, foregrounding, humour, language and culture, language variation, neologisms, Pakistani English, stylistic deviation
How to Cite
Riaz, M. (2022). Stylistic deviation and Pakistani idiom: creative use of English in Moni Mohsin’s Duty Free. Creativity Studies, 15(2), 480–496. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2022.14591
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Nabian, P., & Iraji, M. (2013). The linguistic study of prose style in “Buf-e-Kur” by Sadegh Hedayat, an Iranian writer with respect to frequency of different types of deviation. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences, 4(6), 1454–1460.
Parveen, Sh. (2015). Cultural identity in Pakistani fiction: A case study in Pakistani culture. Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 8, 82–85.
Pirnajmuddin, H., & Medhat, V. (2011). Linguistic deviation in poetry translation: An investigation into the English renderings of Shamlu’s Verse. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(6), 1329–1336. https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.6.1329-1336
Qaisar, K. (2015). Neologisms in Mohsin’s The Diary of a Social Butterfly. European Academic Research, 2(11), 14824–14836.
Rafat, T. (1969). Towards a Pakistani idiom. Venture: A Bi-Annual Review of English Language and Literature, 6(1), 60–73.
Rahman, T. (2015a). A History of Pakistani literature in English, 1947–1988. Oxford University Press.
Rahman, T. (2015b). Pakistani English. Quaid-i-Azam University.
Rahman, T. (1990). Linguistic deviation as a stylistic device in Pakistani English fiction. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 25(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/002198949002500102
Riaz, M. (2021a). Deviation from the standard pronunciation of English: 350 words in Pakistani English. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(1), 493–511. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.32
Riaz, M. (2021b). Foregrounding and creative translation: Stylistic deviation in the English translation of Bulleh Shah’s poetry. Kalich Research Journal, 7, 57–71.
Riaz, M. (2019). Language variation: Code-mixing and code-switching in Pakistani commercials. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(2), 411–419. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.586085
Riaz, M. (2015). Pakistani English: Deviant pronunciation of English words by uneducated native Punjabi speakers. Journal of Second and Multiple Language Acquisition, 3(2), 23–33.
Riaz, M., & Khan, M. K. (2013). Functions of code mixing: The adaptation of borrowed words for creating humour in Urdu poetry. Pakistan Journal of Languages and Translation Studies, 2, 45–57.
Safeer Awan, M., & Ali, M. (2012). Strategies of language appropriation in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Sons. Language in India, 12(7), 478–496.
Sanders, J. (2016). The new critical idiom. Adaptation and appropriation. J. Drakakis (Series Ed.). Routledge.
Shah, B. (2012). Kafis. In Selected poems (pp. 51–116). New Humanity Books. Book Heaven/Booksellers & Publishers.
Short, M. H. (Ed.). (1988). Linguistics library series. Reading, analysing and teaching literature. Longman.
Wales, K. (1990). Longman Linguistics. A dictionary of stylistics. Longman Group Limited.
Zabus, Ch. (2007). Readings in the Post / Colonial literatures in English. The African palimpsest: Indigenization of language in the West African Europhone Novel (Vol. 4). G. Collier, H. Maes-Jelinek, & G. Davis (Series Eds.). Rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401204552
Akhtar, R., & Riaz, M. (2019). Formality in academic writing: Investigating stylistic competence of undergraduate EFL learners. University of Wah Journal of Social Sciences, 2(1), 1–20.
Ali, A. (2011). Twilight in Delhi. A Novel. Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
Arif, Sh., & Zahir, A. (2015). Unmasking class stratification and psychological ailments through Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(3), 33–44.
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2002). The empire writes back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203426081
Barevičiūtė, J. (2015). Creativity and its expression forms: Sociocultural and media aspects. Creativity Studies, 8(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3846/23450479.2015.1019976
Baumgardner, R. J. (Ed.). (1993). The English language in Pakistan. Oxford University Press.
Chi, R., & Hao, Y. (2013). Language deviation in English advertising. Studies in Literature and Language, 7(2), 85–89.
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486999
Darginavičienė, I., & Suchanova, J. (2020). Linguistic aspects as creativity expression in computer-mediated business communication. Creativity Studies, 13(2), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2020.12503
Ellis, R. (2015). Understanding second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.
Faqir, F. (2007). My name Is Salma. Doubleday.
Felemban, F. (2012). Linguistic strategies and the construction of identity in My Name is Salma by Fadia Faqir. Journal of King Saud University: Languages and Translation, 24(1), 43–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksult.2011.10.001
Fowler, R. (Ed.). (1987). Routledge library editions: Literary theory. A dictionary of modern critical terms (Vol. 10). Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Gómez-Jiménez, E. M. (2015). “Oride Lesgo Eckshun”: Spelling foregrounding in the experimental poetry of E. E. Cummings. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics, 24(4), 307–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963947015586117
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1989). Language, context and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford University Press.
Hamid, M. (2014). How to get filthy rich in rising Asia. A Novel. Riverhead Books.
Hashmi, A. (1993). Prolegomena to the study of Pakistani English and Pakistani literature in English. Pakistani Literature, 2i, 245–259. https://doi.org/10.2307/40149042
Hedayat, S. (1994). The blind owl. Grove Press.
Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Riverhead Books.
Jakobson, R. (1997). Linguistics and poetics. In K. M. Newton (Ed.), Twentieth-century literary theory: A reader (pp. 71–76). St. Martin’s Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25934-2_16
Joseph, J. E. (2004). Language and identity: National, ethnic, religious. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kachru, B. B. (2005). Asian Englishes today. Asian Englishes beyond the Canon. Hong Kong University Press.
Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk & H. G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the World: Teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 11–30). Cambridge University Press.
Kachru, Y., & Nelson, C. L. (2006). Asian Enlishes today. World Englishes in Asian contexts. Hong Kong University Press.
Kachru, Y., & Smith, L. E. (2008). English as a second language and applied linguistics professional series. Cultures, contexts, and world Englishes. E. Hinkel (Series Ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203891346
Leech, G. (2008). Longman linguistics. Language in literature: Style and foregrounding. Routledge.
Leech, G. N. (1969). A linguistic guide to English poetry. Routledge.
Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). English language series. Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose. R. Quirk (General Ed.). Routledge.
Martinet, A. (1975). Studies in functional syntax. Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
Mohsin, M. (2011). Duty free. A Novel. Broadway Paperbacks.
Mohsin, M. (2008). The diary of a social butterfly. Random House.
Nabian, P., & Iraji, M. (2013). The linguistic study of prose style in “Buf-e-Kur” by Sadegh Hedayat, an Iranian writer with respect to frequency of different types of deviation. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences, 4(6), 1454–1460.
Parveen, Sh. (2015). Cultural identity in Pakistani fiction: A case study in Pakistani culture. Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 8, 82–85.
Pirnajmuddin, H., & Medhat, V. (2011). Linguistic deviation in poetry translation: An investigation into the English renderings of Shamlu’s Verse. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(6), 1329–1336. https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.6.1329-1336
Qaisar, K. (2015). Neologisms in Mohsin’s The Diary of a Social Butterfly. European Academic Research, 2(11), 14824–14836.
Rafat, T. (1969). Towards a Pakistani idiom. Venture: A Bi-Annual Review of English Language and Literature, 6(1), 60–73.
Rahman, T. (2015a). A History of Pakistani literature in English, 1947–1988. Oxford University Press.
Rahman, T. (2015b). Pakistani English. Quaid-i-Azam University.
Rahman, T. (1990). Linguistic deviation as a stylistic device in Pakistani English fiction. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 25(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/002198949002500102
Riaz, M. (2021a). Deviation from the standard pronunciation of English: 350 words in Pakistani English. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(1), 493–511. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.32
Riaz, M. (2021b). Foregrounding and creative translation: Stylistic deviation in the English translation of Bulleh Shah’s poetry. Kalich Research Journal, 7, 57–71.
Riaz, M. (2019). Language variation: Code-mixing and code-switching in Pakistani commercials. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(2), 411–419. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.586085
Riaz, M. (2015). Pakistani English: Deviant pronunciation of English words by uneducated native Punjabi speakers. Journal of Second and Multiple Language Acquisition, 3(2), 23–33.
Riaz, M., & Khan, M. K. (2013). Functions of code mixing: The adaptation of borrowed words for creating humour in Urdu poetry. Pakistan Journal of Languages and Translation Studies, 2, 45–57.
Safeer Awan, M., & Ali, M. (2012). Strategies of language appropriation in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Sons. Language in India, 12(7), 478–496.
Sanders, J. (2016). The new critical idiom. Adaptation and appropriation. J. Drakakis (Series Ed.). Routledge.
Shah, B. (2012). Kafis. In Selected poems (pp. 51–116). New Humanity Books. Book Heaven/Booksellers & Publishers.
Short, M. H. (Ed.). (1988). Linguistics library series. Reading, analysing and teaching literature. Longman.
Wales, K. (1990). Longman Linguistics. A dictionary of stylistics. Longman Group Limited.
Zabus, Ch. (2007). Readings in the Post / Colonial literatures in English. The African palimpsest: Indigenization of language in the West African Europhone Novel (Vol. 4). G. Collier, H. Maes-Jelinek, & G. Davis (Series Eds.). Rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401204552