Lecture one Stylistics OUTLINE of PART ONE

Lecture one: Stylistics

OUTLINE of PART ONE: 1. Style: what is it? 2. Language, speech, text. 3. Neutrality and norm. Stylistic colouring and stylistic neutrality. 4. Types of Meaning and Sense. Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View. Literature: 1. Galperin I. R. Stylistics. 2. Arnold I. V. Stylistics. 3. Skrebnev Y. M. Basis of the English Stylistics.

A style refers to… the aesthetic function of language (by V. A. Zvegintsev); expressive means in language (the representatives of the Rostov-on-the-Don School of stylistics); synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea; emotional colouring in language (by V. I. Shakhovsky); a system of special devices called “stylistic devices”); the splitting of the literary language into separate systems called “styles”; the interrelation between language and thoughts; the individual manner of an author in making use of language.

Fields of investigation of style the aesthetic function of language expressive means in language synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea emotion al colouri ng in languag e a system of special devices called stylistic devices” the splitting of the literary language into separate systems called “styles” the interrelation between language and thoughts the individual manner of an author in making use of language

“Style is the man himself” (Buffon), “Style is depth” (Darbyshire), “Style is a contextually restricted linguistic variation” (Enkvist), etc. Michael Riffaterre: “stylistics will be a linguistics of the effects of the message, of the output of the act of communication, of its attention – compelling function”.

Definitions of style 1) Style is the man himself (Buffon) 2) Style is depth (Darbyshire) 3) Style is a contextually restricted linguistic variation (Enkvist) 4) Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices among linguistic possibilities (S. Chatman) 5) Individual style is a unique combination of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to a given writer, which makes that writer’s works or even utterances easily recognizable (I. R. Galperin) 6) Style is a set of characteristics by which we distinguish one author from another or members of one subclass from members of other subclasses, all of which are members of the same general class 7) Style is a quality of language which communicates precisely emo tions or thoughts, or a system of emotions or thoughts, peculiar to the author (J. Middleton Murry) 8) Style is a selection of non distinctive features of language (L. Bloomfield) 9) Style is simply synonymous with form or expression and hence a superfluous term (Benedetto Croce) 10) Style is essentially a citation process, a body of formulae, a memory (almost in the cybernetic sense of the word), a cultural and not an expressive inheritance (Roland Barthes) 11) A current definition of style and sty listics is that structures, sequences, and patterns which extend, or may extend, beyond the boundaries of individual sentences define style, and that the study of them is stylistics (Archibald A. Hill)

Skrebnev: language is a system of mental associations of elementary and complex signs (speech sounds, morphemes, word combinations, utterances and combinations of utterances) with our mental picture of objective reality

Speech is not a purely mental phenomenon, not a system, but a momentary fleeting psycho physiological action, a process of sending acoustic signals (messages), perceptible to anyone within hearing.

Skrebnev: “text” means a coherent sequence of signs (words) irrespective of whether it has been recorded on paper or has just remained in the memory.

Distinguishing between language, text and speech Language is a system of mental associations of elementary and complex signs (speech sounds, morphemes, word combinations, utterances and combinations of utterances) with our mental picture of objective reality Speech is not a purely mental phenomenon, not a system, but a momentary fleeting psycho physiological action, a process of sending acoustic signals (messages), perceptible to anyone within hearing Text is a coherent sequence of signs (words) irrespective of whether it has been recorded on paper or has just remained in the memory

Speech and writing (oral and written language varieties) Speech is normally a continuous stream of sound. Conversations are often accompanied by other sign systems which aid understanding. These might be physical gestures, facial expressions, even bodily posture. Meaning in speech is commonly conveyed by tone and other nonverbal means such as irony. Speech quite commonly includes false starts, repetition, hesitation Writing is the use of visual symbols which act as a code for communication between individuals or groups. The code of written language consists of letter-forms (the alphabet) used to form a visual image of spoken words. Words are formed in accordance with the conventions of spelling, then combined according to the rules of syntax to form meaningful statements.

NORM, expressiveness and emotiveness Norm – is an invariant, which should embrace all variable phonemic, morphological, lexical, and syntactic patterns with their typical properties circulating in the language at a definite period of time. language-as-a-system and language-in-action, language and speech (discourse), lange and parole. Expressiveness – in etymological sense is a kind of intensification of the utterance (or a part of it). Emotiveness - reveals emotions of the writer or a speaker by not directly manifesting their emotions but by echoing real feelings, designed to awaken co-experience on the part of the reader

Expressiveness vs emotiveness

Types of meaning 1) primary (denotative) additional (connotative) functional 2)grammatical meaning logical meaning emotive meaning evaluative nominal meaning emotive stylistic meaning expressive lexical meaning

Stylistic meaning vs lexical meaning Stylistic meaning 1) represents the primary information Lexical meaning 1) represents the secondary (additional) information 2) denotes the features which 2) renders inherent features that are adherent (ascribed) to cling to a word as a permanent the object part of it 3) is given explicitly 3) is implied 4) is relatively stable 4) is liable to change as it is affected by extra- linguistic factors

OUTLINE of PART TWO: 1. Stylistics: its object and connection with other linguistic disciplines. 2. Semasiology and onomasiology. 3. Paradigmatics and syntagmatics.

A hierarchical structure of language 1) The smallest unit of language is the phoneme. The sequence of phonemes represents the phonemic level. 2) Phonemes combined constitute the second level – the morphemic level. 3) One or more morphemes make a word, hence, the lexical level. 4) One or more words can make an utterance (a sentence). Here we can find the sentence level. 5) One sentence or a combination of sentences may form a paragraph, hence, the paragraph level. 6) Paragraphs form a text, hence, the text level.

Structure of Stylistics Phoneme Morpheme Lexeme Sentence Paragraph Text Stylistic phonetics Stylistic morphology Stylistic lexicology Stylistic syntax Connection of stylistics with other branches of linguistics Stylistics and phonetics: Phonetics studies sounds, articulation, rhythmics and intonation. Stylistics concentrates on expressive sound combinations, intonational and rhythmic patterns. Stylistics and lexicology: Lexicology describes words, their origin, development, semantic and structural features. Stylistics also deals with words, but only those which are expressive in language or in speech. Stylistics and grammar: Grammar describes regularities of building words, wordcombinations, sentences and texts. Stylistics restricts itself to those grammar regularities, which make language units expressive.

Meanings are investigated and described by a branch of linguistics called semantics, or semasiology. onomasiology (onomatology), theory of naming So, semasiology treats semantic structures of linguistic units, onomasiology treats problems of choice of linguistic units for naming extra-lingual objects (things, properties, relations, situations).

The derivative paradigmatics denotes the totality of units of which language (or sublanguage) has at its disposal (the units taken together make a paradigm). The term “syntagmatics” implies a totality (or a certain number of units) of chains of units following one another. Some linguists say that paradigmatics represents language as a system, while syntagmatics characterizes speech as a process in its development. But this explanation can`t be called as self-evident, because: not only separate phonemes, or morphemes, words are paradigms. Word combinations, sentences and even types of texts, if arranged together as possibilities from which one, selects the necessary form, make up their own paradigms, too; we can`t say that language – as – a – system is only a paradigm, and that syntagmata occur only in speech. It`s absurd to presume that a person who knows only words can make sentences without knowing how sentences are made. Hence: language itself, language-as-asystem has both paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects.

SUBDIVISION OF STYLISTICS Stylistics of units / Paradigmatic stylistics The subject matter is analysing and classifying co-referential lingual units of all levels in various spheres of speech. The term "co-referential" means "potentially or virtually used to denote the same referent, i. e. thing, phenomenon, quality, relationship". Stylistics of sequence / Syntagmatic stylistics The subject matter is the stylistic value of syntagmatic chains (linear combinations). It treats functions of co-occurrence identical, different or contrastive linguistic units at any level. Phonetics level-forming discipline studies phonetic peculiarities of speech both sounds and prosodic features compared with other choices. deals with prosody (tonality, length, force, tempo, rhythm) and speech sounds in sequences. It studies case when cooccurring phonetic units produce particular stylistic effect. Morphology level discipline treats stylistic significance of synonymous morphemes and stylistic value of replacement of one member of opposition that constitute the grammatical category ("tense", "person", "number") with another. treats interaction of morphemes, categorical meanings, words of the same grammatical category, studies stylistic value of co-occurring morphemes, morphological meanings.

Lexicology level discipline deals with the principles of stylistic description of lexical and phraseological units of language in abstraction from the context in which they function; establishes a general stylistic classification of words. studies interrelations between words arranged syntagmatically, especially co-occurrence of words of various stylistic colourings, mixture and collision of stylistically different words. Syntax level discipline deals with the structure of the sentence, the number and position of its constituents, compared with other choices. deals with a chain of sentences, sequence of sentences constituting a text (interaction of sentencepatterns). investigates the stylistic value of nomination and renaming, changing names of things, processes, and qualities; treats manifold problem of nomination. Whenever a language user starts to speak he always has to decide how to name the situation, what features of object should be labeled , in what way, by what lingual means; describes "figures of replacement", i. e. the language user discards the usual name of the object and replaces it with another. deals with stylistic functions of relationship of names in texts, studies types of linear arrangement of meanings singling out, classifying and describing what is called "figures of co-occurrence" by which term combined, joint appearance of sense units is understood. Semaciolog y non-level discipline all-level discipline

OUTLINE of PART THREE: STYLE CLASSIFICATIONS (FUNCTIONAL STYLES)

Functional Styles of the English language №п/ п Researchers, year Subdivisions, features 1 I. R. Galperin 1. Belles Leteres (poetry, emotive prose, the drama); 2. Publicistic style (oratory, speeches, essays, articles); 3. Style of newspapers (brief news items, headlines, ads, announcements, editorials); 4. Scientific style (natural sciences, humanitarian sciences, popular scientific prose); 5. Official documents (military documents, diplomatic documents, legal documents, etc). 2 1960, Leningrad, the book “Stylistics of the English Language” by M. D. Kuznets and J. M. Skrebnev. 1) Literary, or “Bookish” Style (publicistic style, scientific or technological style, official documents); 2) Free (“Colloquial”) Style (literary colloquial style, familiar colloquial style).

3 1973, the book “Stylistics of Modern English” by I. V. Arnold 1. Poetic style; 2. Scientific style; 3. Newspaper style; 4. Colloquial style. 4 1984, Kiev, “Stylistics of the English Language” A. N. Morokhovsky, O. P. Vorobyova, N. I. Likhosherst, Z. V. Timoshenko 1. Official business style; 2. Scientific professional style; 3. Publicistic style; 4. Literary colloquial style; 5. Familiar colloquial style. Oppositions like “artistic – non-artistic”, “presence of personality – absence of personality”, “formal situation – informal situation”, “equal – unequal social status of the participants of communication”, “written form – oral form” 5 1984, Minsk, V. A. Maltzev “informal” and “formal” varieties 6 1986, Moscow, “A Book of Practice in Stylistics” by V. A. Kukharenko the oppositions within the frames of Functional Styles: “colloquial vs. literary”, “oral vs. written”

OUTLINE of PART FOUR: SOCIALLY SPEECH. REGULATED TYPE OF FUNCTIONAL STYLES

What are major In what type of Functional communication styles (FS)? is it employed? The Style of Official Document Scientific Prose Style In the sphere of official documents In science and professional communication What is its general purpose? What are its main functions? To state conditions binding two parties in undertaking: Society and its member Volantative Two or more governments Regulative Two or more companies A person in authority and a subordinate one To disclose by research the inner substance of things and phenomena of objective reality To find out laws regulating them To prove a hypothesis To create a new concept Cognitive That of proof Explanatory

What are its typical style forming characteristics? Imperativeness Precision / clarity Concision Completeness Impersonality Absence of any emotiveness Conventionality of expression Precision / clarity Logical cohesion Abstractiveness Striving for general form of expression Emotiveness is not entirely excluded from SFS What are its distinctive In what genres is this or that linguistic FS realized (materialized)? features? (fill in on your own words) Statute Ordinance Constitution Business letters Contracts Regulations Testaments Settlements Verdicts Certificated Diplomas etc. Scientific article Patient Scientific paper Manual Scientific review Textbook Thesis (dissertation) Abstract Monograph Précis Proceedings Course paper Treatise Diploma paper clichés, abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions, long polysyllabic words of Greek and Latin origin, archaic words, complex syntax, ironcast established forms of composition terms, bookish words, replace verbs by nouns, attributive groups, proper names, seldom use of tropes, complete and standard syntactical mode of impression, direct word order, use of lengthy sentences with subordinate clauses

Newspaper Style In mass media To infirm the reader To evaluate facts and events Informative Evaluative Publicist Style In mass media To influence the reader, to shape his views Persuasive Belles Lettres Style In the sphere of artistic creative activity To suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life Cognitive aesthetic

Documentality Objectivity / factuality Impartiality Immedial Readability News article Reportage Background article Obituary Editorial / leader commentary Sketch Advertisements neutral vocabulary, political, economical terms, newspaper clichés, abbreviations, neologisms, on so-called “five-w-and-h” pattern rule. Complex sentences with developed system of clauses attributive noun groups Logical reasoning (argumentation) Subjectivity / personalization Emotiveness Evaluativeness visualization (giving icons) use of imagery emotiveness individuality in selecting language means Parliamentary debate Essay Public speech Review Journalistic article Memoirs Feature articles Stories Novels Poems Plays direct address, second person pronoun, contractions, colloquial words, trite similes and metaphors, repetitions, rhetorical questions peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax