General notes on style and stylistics кратко
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Stylistics, sometimes called linguo-stylistics, is a branch or general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly with two interdependent tasks: a) the investigation of the inventory of special language media which by their ontological features secure the desirable effect of the utterance and b) certain types of texts (discourse) which due to the choice and arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication. The two objectives of stylistics are clearly discernible as two separate fields of investigation. The inventory of special language media can be analysed and their ontological features revealed if presented in a system in which the co-relation between the media becomes evident.
The types of texts can be analysed if their linguistic components are presented in their interaction, thus revealing the unbreakable unity and transparency of constructions of a" given type. The types of texts that are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication are called functional styles of language (FS); the special media of language which secure the desirable effect of the utterance are called stylistic devices (SD) and expressive
The first field of investigation, i.e. SDs and EMs, necessarily touches upon such general language problems as the aesthetic function of language, synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea, emotional colouring in language, the interrelation between language and thought, the individual manner of an author in making use of language and a number of other issues.
The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of such most general linguistic issues as oral and written varieties of language, the notion of the literary (standard) language, the constituents of texts larger than the sentence, the generative aspect of literary texts, and some others.
In dealing with the objectives of stylistics, certain pronouncements of adjacent disciplines such as theory of information, literature, psychology, logic and to some extent statistics must be touched upon. This is indispensable; for nowadays no science is entirely isolated from other domains of human knowledge; and linguistics, particularly its branch stylistics, cannot avoid references to the above mentioned disciplines because it is confronted with certain overlapping issues.
The branching off of stylistics in language science was indirectly the result of a long-established tendency of grammarians to confine their investigations to sentences, clauses and word-combinations which are "well-formed", to use a dubious term, neglecting anything that did not fall under the recognized and received standards. This tendency became particularly strong in what is called descriptive linguistics. The generative grammars, which appeared as a reaction against descriptive linguistics, have confirmed that the task of any grammar is to limit the scope of investigation of language data to sentences which are considered well-formed. Everything that fails to meet this requirement should be excluded from linguistics.
But language studies cannot avoid subjecting to observation any language data whatever, so where grammar refuses to tread stylistics steps in. Stylistics has acquired its own status with its own inventory of tools (SDs and EMs), with its own object of investigation and with its own methods of research.
The stylistics of a highly developed language like English or Russian has brought into the science of language a separate body of media, thus widening the range of observation of phenomena in language. The significance of this branch of linguistics can hardly be over-estimated. A number of events in the development of stylistics must be mentioned here as landmarks. The first is the discussion of the problem of style and stylistics in "Вопросы языкознания" in 1954, in which many important general and particular problems were broadly analysed and some obscure aspects elucidated. Secondly, a conference on Style in Language was held at Indiana University in the spring of 1958, followed by the publication of the proceedings of this conference (1960) under the editorship of Thomas Sebeok. Like the discussion in "Вопросы языкознания" this conference revealed the existence of quite divergent points of view held by different students of language and literature. Thirdly, a conference on style and stylistics was held in the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages in March 1969. At this conference lines were drawn along which studies in linguo-stylistics might be maintained. An interesting symposium was also held in Italy, the proceedings of which were published under the editorship of professor S. Chatman in 1971.
A great number of monographs, textbooks, articles, and dissertation papers are now at the disposal of a scholar in stylistics. The stream of information grows larger every month. Two American journals appear regularly, which may keep the student informed as to trends in the theory of stylistics. They are Style issued at the Arkansas University (U.S.A.) and Language and Style published in Southern Illinois University (U.S.A.) (See also the bibliography on p. 324).
It is in view of the ever-growing significance of the exploration of language potentialities that so much attention is paid in linguo-stylistics to the analysis of expressive means (EMs) and stylistic devices (SDs), to their nature and functions, to their classification and to possible interpretations of additional meanings they may carry in a message as well as their aesthetic value.
In order to ascertain the borders of stylistics it is necessary to go at some length into the question of what is style.
The word style is derived from the Latin word 'stilus' which meant a short stick sharp at one end and flat at the other used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets. Now the word 'style' is used in so many senses that it has become a breeding ground for ambiguity. The word is applied to the teaching of how to write a composition (see below); it is also used to reveal the correspondence between thought and expression; it frequently denotes an individual manner of making use of language; it sometimes refers to more general, abstract notions thus inevitably becoming vague and obscure, as, for example, "Style is the man himself" (Buffon), "Style is depth" (Derbyshire); "Style is deviations" (Enkvist); "Style is choice", and the like.
Stylistics is a branch of general linguistics. Its other branches are lexicology, grammar and phonetics. It deals mainly with two interdependent tasks:
1) the investigation of the inventory of special language means which secure the desirable effects of the utterance, they are called stylistic devices or expressive means;
2) the investigation of certain types of texts which due to the choice and arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect communication. They are called functional styles.
Stylistics necessarily touches upon synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea, emotion, and colouring. Much attention is paid in linguo-stylistics to the analysis of expressive means (EM) and stylistic devices (SD), to their nature and function, to their classification and possible interpretation of additional meanings.
In order to ascertain the borders of stylistics it is necessary to go at some length into the question of what style is.
The original meaning of the world “style” was a writing implement - stilus; it was a short stick, sharp at one end and flat at the other, which was used by the Romans to write on wax tablets. But already in classical Latin the word acquired a terminological meaning. It came to denote one’s way of expressing oneself. Later in French the word acquired evaluative tint (оценочный оттенок). It came to denote a good way of expressing oneself. We speak of style in architecture, painting, clothes, behavior, music, etc.
The word “stylistics” is a newcomer to the English vocabulary. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it was first recorded in 1882 meaning “the science of literary style, the study of the stylistic features”.
Scholars give different definitions of the term “style”. Here are some of them:
1) “Style is a quality of language which communicates precisely emotions or thoughts, or a system of emotions or thoughts, peculiar to the author” (J. Middleton Murry)
2) “Style is a contextually restricted linguistic variation” (Enkvist)
3) “Style is a selection of non-distinctive features of language” (L. Bloomfield)
4) “Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices among linguistic possibilities” (Seymour Chatman).
It follows then that the term “style”, being ambiguous, needs a restricting adjective to denote what particular aspect of style we intend to deal with. With the development of the theory of the language on the one hand and the theory of the literature on the other hand the term “style” came to be modified as style in language and style in literature.
Style in a language is understood as to be the whole corpus of expressive means of the language. It is lingo-stylistics.
Style in literature studies the peculiarities of the writer’s style, his individual and creative utilization (choice) of the resources of the language; the limitations are superimposed by the writer’s period, genre and purpose. The main difference is that linguo-stylistics studies all the expressive means of the language while style in literature (literary style) studies the peculiarities of that or this writer’s style, so called individual styles. 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 utterance easily recognizable.
A functional style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim of communication.
Stylistics and Other Linguistic Sciences
Stylistic is a branch of general linguistics. Its other branches are lexicology, grammar, phonetics.
Stylistics and Lexicology
Lexicology studies vocabulary, the origin and development of words, the meaning of words and word-building. Lexico-stylistics studies the interaction of primary and contextual (контекстуальное, вытекающее из контекста) meanings. It studies expressive, evaluative, emotional and etc meanings of words.
E.g. The hall applauded. (metonymy)
1) hall – room (primary meaning)
2) hall – people (contextual meaning)
E.g. She was a sunny sort of creature. Too fond of the bottle. (metonymy, detachment – обособление)
1) bottle – the container (primary meaning)
2) bottle – the wine (contextual meaning)
Let’s analyze one more sentence.
E.g. They took measures to secure a convenient place near the river.
This sentence can be analyzed from the points of view of lexicology and stylistics.
1) Lexicology: all the words of the sentence but for the articles and prepositions are of foreign origin; 2) stylistically the sentence is neutral.
But if in the sentence we come across such words as bouquet, billet-daux we perceive that and analyze the words from the point of view of stylistics.
Stylistics and Grammar
Stylistics is connected with grammar. Grammar is divided into morphology and syntax. There are a morphological stylistics and syntactical stylistics.
E.g. One I-am-sorry-for-you is worth twenty I-told-you-sos…
This sentence sounds funny when the “s” ending is added to the whole of it.
Syntactical stylistics studies the expressive potentialities of the word order of different communicative types of sentences.
E.g. You just come home or I will… (There is something which is employed here; there is certain implication – threat)
Stylistics and Phonetics
Phonetics is concerned with the phonetic structure of a language. It studies speech sounds, their distribution in words, mutual adaptation, stress, syllabus formation, intonation, etc.
Phonostylistics studies how the sound form of speech makes it more expressive. It studies metre, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, sound imitation, etc.
Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View
It is more or less recognized that word-meaning is not homogeneous; it is made of various components. These components are usually described as types of meaning. The two main types are the grammatical meaning and the lexical meaning.
Word
the Grammar meaning the Lexical meaning
The Denotational meaning the Conotational meaning
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1.1. The Concept of Style The term "style" originates from the Latin word stylos, which meant "a stick for writing on wax tablets". Later stylos came to denote metonymically also a manner of writing and speaking, in other words, the manner of using language. Then it was borrowed into European languages with this new meaning.
Galperin: Galperin: “Style is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication.”
Y. M. Skrebnev: Y. M. Skrebnev: “Style is a specificity of sublanguage. Style can be roughly defined as the peculiarity, the set of specific features of a text type or a concrete text. Style is just what differentiates a group of homogeneous texts (an individual text) from all other groups (other texts)."
Seymour Chatman: Seymour Chatman: "Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices among linguistic possibilities."
The term “style” applies to the following fields of investigation: the interrelation between language and thought; the aesthetic function of language; expressive means in language; emotional colouring of language; a system of special devices called stylistic devices; the splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems (genres, registers, discourses, functional styles etc.); synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea; the individual manner of a writer or a speaker in making use of language to achieve the desirable effect in speech or in writing.
The linguistic form of the idea expressed always reflects the peculiarities of the thought. And vice versa, the character of the thought will always in a greater or lesser degree manifest itself in the language forms chosen for the expression of the idea. The linguistic form of the idea expressed always reflects the peculiarities of the thought. And vice versa, the character of the thought will always in a greater or lesser degree manifest itself in the language forms chosen for the expression of the idea.
Style is a technique of expression. In this sense style is generally defined as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to the interest of the reader.
A style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication.
I. Arnold mentions four styles: I. Arnold mentions four styles: poetic style, scientific style, newspaper style, colloquial style.
I.R. Galperin distinguishes five major functional styles in the English literary standard: I.R. Galperin distinguishes five major functional styles in the English literary standard: the language of belles-letres. the language of publicistic literature. the language of newspapers. the language of scientific prose. the language of official documents.
We distinguish six styles within the English language: We distinguish six styles within the English language: the belles- letters style; the publicist style; the newspaper style; the scientific prose style; the style of official documents the colloquial style.
1.2. Style Study and its Subdivisions Style Study is a branch of general linguistics which investigates the principles and the effect of the choice and usage of various language means (lexical, grammatical, phonetic) to convey thoughts and emotions in different communication conditions.
I. Galperin defines Style Study as a branch of general linguistics, which deals with the following two interdependent tasks: a) it studies the totality of special linguistic means (stylistic devices and expressive means) which secure the desirable effect of the utterance; b) it studies certain types of texts "discourse" which due to the choice and arrangement of the language are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of communication (functional styles).
The subject matter of Style Study is emotional expression of the language, the totality of the expressive means.
The stylistics of language analyses permanent or inherent stylistic properties of language elements while the stylistics of speech studies stylistic properties, which appear in a context, and they are called adherent. So, stylistics of language describes and classifies the inherent stylistic colouring of language units.
Т.A. Znamenskaya: Stylistics of speech studies the composition of the utterance – the arrangement, selection and distribution of different words, and their adherent qualities.
Stylistics of resources is a descriptive stylistics. It studies stylistically coloured language means, expressive abilities and semantic nuances of words, forms and constructions.
Comparative stylistics analyses the stylistic resources not inherent in a separate language but at the crossroads of two languages, or two literatures and is obviously linked to the theory of translation.
Linguo-stylistics compares National Language Standard or Norm with particular, typical to different spheres of communication subsystems (called functional styles) and dialects and studies language means with relation to their ability to express and evoke different feelings, additional associations and evaluation.
Language means may be studied at different levels: vocabulary, grammar and phonetics, thus distinguishing lexical, grammatical and phonetic stylistics.
Stylistic lexicology or Lexical stylistics Lexical stylistics studies functions of direct and figurative meanings, also the way the contextual meaning of a word is realized in the text. Lexical stylistics deals with various types of connotations – expressive, evaluative, emotive, ideological, pragmatic, stylistic; neologisms, dialectal words and their behavior in the text. Lexical stylistics studies the principles of the usage of words and word combinations performing their expressive functions. So, it studies the semantic structure of the word and the interrelation of the denotative and connotative meanings of a word, as well as the interrelation of the stylistic connotations of a word and the context.
Stylistic Phonetics or Phonostylistics Stylistic Phonetics is engaged in the study of style-forming phonetic features of the text. It describes the prosodic features of prose and poetry and variants of pronunciation in different types of speech. Here are included rhythm, rhythmical structure, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and correlation of the sound form and meaning. Phonostylistics also studies deviations in normative pronunciation. Phonostylistics shows how separate sounds, sound combinations, stress, rhythm, intonation, etc. can serve as expressive means.
Stylistic grammar Stylistic Morphology is interested in the stylistic potentials of specific grammatical forms and categories, such as the number of the noun, or the peculiar use of tense forms of the verbs, etc.
Stylistic grammar Stylistic grammar studies syntactic, expressive means, word order and word combinations, different types of sentences and types of syntactic connections. It also deals with the origin of the text, its division on paragraphs, dialogs, direct and indirect speech, the connection of the sentences, types of sentences. Syntactical stylistics is the expressive values of the sentences, their structure as well as texts and speech flow.
Literary stylistics studies the totality of expressive means characteristic to a work of art, a writer, a literary school or the whole epoch, and studies factors determining artistic expressiveness.
Functional stylistics deals with all the subdivisions of the language and all their possible usages, is the most all-embracing, "global" trend.
In terms of information theory the author's stylistics may be named the stylistics of the encoder: the language being viewed as the code to shape the information into the message, and the supplier of the information, respectively, as the encoder. The addressee in this case plays the part of the decoder of the information contained in the message; and the problems connected with adequate reception (perception) of the message without any informational losses or deformations, i.e., with adequate decoding, are the concern of decoding stylistics.
The stylistics, proceeding from the norms of language usage at a given period and teaching these norms to language speakers, especially the ones, dealing with the language professionally (editors, publishers, writers, journalists, teachers, etc.) is called practical stylistics.
The key notions of stylistics: imagery, expressiveness, evaluation, emotiveness, expressive means, stylistic devices.
Text is understood as a product of speech (both oral and written), sequence of words, grammatically connected and, as a rule, semantically coherent.
Stylistics focuses on the expressive properties of linguistic units, their functioning and interaction in conveying ideas and emotions in a certain text or communicative context.
Expressiveness is understood as a kind of intensification of an utterance or of a part of it depending on the position in the utterance of the means that manifest this category and what these means are.
Emotiveness, and correspondingly the emotive elements of language, is what reveals the emotions of a writer or a speaker. They are designed to awaken co-experience in the mind of the reader.
Expressiveness is a broader notion than emotiveness and is by no means to be reduced to the latter. Emotiveness is an integral part of expressiveness and occupies a predominant position in the category of expressiveness.
The evaluation is also based on whether the choice of language means conforms with the most general pattern of the given type of text – a novel, a poem, a letter, a document, an article, an essay and so on. The notion of evaluation takes into account that words may reveal a subjective evaluation and sometimes use it for definite stylistic effects, thus calling the attention of the reader to the meaning of such words.
Stylistics is first and foremost engaged in the study of connotative meanings. All language units can be conventionally divided into two groups: Those which, along with their denotative meaning, possess a connotation (i.e. carry some additional information, either expressive or emotive) are called stylistically marked, or stylistically coloured. Those which do not have a connotative meaning are stylistically neutral.
The linguistic units of phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactical language levels which enter the first group are called Expressive Means (EM).
Stylistic devices (tropes, figures of speech) unlike expressive means are not language phenomena. They are formed in speech and most of them do not exist out of context. According to principles of their formation, stylistic devices are grouped into phonetic, lexico-semantic and syntactic types.
All stylistic devices are the result of revaluation of neutral words, word-combinations and syntactic structures. Revaluation makes language units obtain connotations and stylistic value. A stylistic device is the subject matter of stylistic semasiology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Essential Literature 1. Арнольд И.В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык. Учебник для вузов M.: Флинта: Наука, 2002. 2. Гальперин И. Р. Очерки по стилистике английского языка. М.: Изд-во литературы на иностранных языках, 1958. 3. Кухаренко В.А. Практикум по стилистике английского языка. М.: Высшая школа, 1986. 4. Кухаренко В.А. Интерпретация текста. М.: Просвещение, 1988. 5. Мороховский А. Н., Воробьёва О.П., Лихошерст Н.И., Тимошенко З.В. Стилистика английского языка. Киев, 1984. 6. Скребнев Ю.М. Основы стилистики английского языка. Учебник для институтов и факультетов иностранных языков. М.: Астрель, АСТ, 2003. 7. Galperin I. R. Stylistics. M.: Higher School, 1971.
I. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLE AND Stylistics
Stylistics, sometimes called lingvo-stylistics, is a branch of general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly with two interdependent tasks: a) the investigation of the inventory of special language media which by their ontological features secure the desirable effect of the utterance and b) cer¬tain types of texts (discourse) which due to the choice and arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication. The two objectives of stylistics are clearly discernible as two separate fields of investigation. The inventory of special language media can be analyzed and their ontological features revealed if presented in a system in which the co-relation between the media becomes evident.
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