STYLISTICS IN TRANSITION: FROM CLASSICAL RHETORIC TO CRITICAL DIGITAL SEMIOTICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55197/qjssh.v6i4.796Keywords:
digital stylistics, Arabic rhetoric (Balaghah), computational semiotics, critical discourse analysis, AI in literary studiesAbstract
This paper traces the disciplinary evolution of stylistics from its classical rhetorical foundations to its contemporary engagement with AI-driven digital semiotics. Rooted in Greco-Roman and Arabic traditions, early stylistics emphasized eloquence, ethical persuasion, and structural harmony. The rise of linguistic stylistics in the twentieth century introduced systematic models such as foregrounding, deviation, and systemic-functional grammar, which reoriented the field toward the empirical analysis of form–function relations. Subsequent developments in reader-response theory and critical discourse analysis expanded the field’s ideological and social dimensions. The digital turn brought computational methods: natural language processing, stylometry, and machine learning. These enabled large-scale stylistic analysis across genres and languages-yet also introduced risks of interpretive flattening and methodological reductionism. In response, this study proposes an integrative stylistic model encompassing rhetorical-hermeneutic, linguistic-structural, critical-ideological, and computational–semiotic dimensions. Guided by reflexivity, modularity, and epistemic humility, the model facilitates culturally and ethically sensitive analysis, particularly for spiritually significant texts. The study concludes that while AI extends the scope of stylistic inquiry, interpretive agency remains irreducibly human. Thus, stylistics must navigate technological innovation without relinquishing its humanistic and interdisciplinary core.
References
[1] Abubkr, L.O., Al Kaabi, M.H., Almaamari, H., Haidara, N.B. (2024): Stylistic transformation signals in Arabic grammatical discourse: A grammatical-rhetorical approach. – Journal of Ecohumanism 3(8): 6341-6356.
[2] Ahmad, H., Ghafar, N.A. (2025a): Stylistic variation and linguistic strategies in Qur’anic discourse: A rhetorical, phonetic, and translational analysis. – International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) 9(4): 5957-5964.
[3] Ahmad, H., Ghafar, N.A. (2025b): Stylistic and linguistic variation in the Qur’an: Toward an integrative framework. – Quantum Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 6(3): 424-433.
[4] Akazawa, M., Gius, E. (2025): Literary studies with large language models? Two experimental series on text generation with artificial intelligence. – Zeitschrift Für Literaturwissenschaft Und Linguistik 55(2): 449-474.
[5] Alex, B., Grover, C., Oberlander, J., Zhou, K. (2017): Palimpsest: Improving assisted curation of loco-specific literature. – Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 32(2): 377-392.
[6] Arnold, T., Ballier, N., Lissón, P., Tilton, L. (2019): Beyond lexical frequencies: Using R for text analysis in the digital humanities. – Language Resources and Evaluation 53(4): 645-661.
[7] Boyles, C. (2018): Making and breaking: Teaching information ethics through curatorial practice. – Digital Humanities Quarterly 12(4): 10p.
[8] Carceller, A.T. (2024): The ARTificial Revolution: Challenges for redefining art education in the paradigm of generative artificial intelligence. – Digital Education Review 45: 84-90.
[9] De Boer, V., Stork, L. (2024): Hybrid intelligence for digital humanities. – Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 386: 94-104
[10] Eder, M., Rybicki, J., Kestemont, M. (2016): Stylometry with R: A package for computational text analysis. – R Journal 8(1): 107-121.
[11] Emanuel, B., Rodrigues, C., Martins, M. (2015): Rhetoric of interaction: Analysis of pathos. – In Lecture Notes in Computer Science 10p.
[12] Eyers, T. (2013): The perils of the "digital humanities": New positivisms and the fate of literary theory. – Postmodern Culture 23(2): 25p.
[13] Glukhova, O.V. (2025): Semiotics of culture in the context of 4E cognition. – Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki 2: 15-30.
[14] Gryaznova, E., Kirina, M., Mikhailova, P., Moskvina, A. (2024): Machine learning and philology: An overview of methods and applications. – In Springer Geography 15p.
[15] Gudwin, R., Queiroz, J. (2006): Semiotics and intelligent systems development: An Introduction. – Semiotics and Intelligent Systems Development 368p.
[16] Gudwin, R., Queiroz, J. (2005): Towards an introduction to computational semiotics. – Proceedings of KIMAS'05 2005 6p.
[17] Hess, A., Davisson, A. (2017): Theorizing digital rhetoric. – Routledge 264p.
[18] Ibrahim, M., Usman, A.H., Muhamed Ali, M.A. (2014): Qur’anic brevity and verbosity: What and how? – Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 5(20): 1939-1945.
[19] Leech, G.N., Short, M.H. (2007): Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose (2nd ed.). – Pearson Longman 404p.
[20] Leone, M. (2023): The main tasks of a semiotics of artificial intelligence. – Language and Semiotic Studies 9(1): 1-13.
[21] Moretti, F. (2000): Conjectures on world literature. – New Left Review 1: 54-68.
[22] Pascoal, S. (2024): Uncreative writing: Teaching rhetoric in the age of AI. – Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 858: 301-310.
[23] Salakhova, I.I., Nabiullina, V.R. (2022): Some stylistic devices in the novel of Jokha Al-Harithi Bodies Celestial. – Res Militaris 12(3): 869-881.
[24] Salem, E.M., Alhamad, H.A.M., Ewida, S.A.M., Baker El-Ebiary, Y.A. (2020): The difficulties of the rhetorical lesson of non-Arabic speakers and its technological solution (Translation from Arabic to Malay as a model). – International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology 7p.
[25] Scrivner, O., Davis, J. (2017): Interactive text mining suite: Data visualization for literary studies. – CEUR Workshop Proceedings 10p.
[26] Strashko, I., Melnyk, I., Kozak, V., Dyiak, O. (2024): Linguistic analysis of texts in philological research: The use of Salesforce Einstein artificial intelligence. – Forum for Linguistic Studies 6(3): 246-259.
[27] Suissa, O., Elmalech, A., Zhitomirsky-Geffet, M. (2022): Text analysis using deep neural networks in digital humanities and information science. – Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 73(2): 268-287.
[28] Zhang, H. (2025): Literary writing and ethical issues in the era of artificial intelligence. – Journal of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering 25(5): 4539-4550.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 HISHOMUDIN AHMAD, NORFARHANA AHMAD GHAFAR
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
