General Notes on Styles and Stylistics

General Notes on Styles and Stylistics

The subject of stylistics has not been definitely outlined. This is due to a number of reasons.

First of all there is a confusion between the terms style and stylistics. The first concept is so broad that it is hardly possible to regard it as a term. We can speak of style in architecture, literature, behaviour, linguistics, dress and other fields of human activity

Even in linguistics the word style is used so widely that it needs interpretation. The majority of linguists who deal with the subject of style agree that the term applies to the following fields of investigation.:

1) the aesthetic function of language;

2) expressive means in language;

3) synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea;

4) emotional colouring of language;

5) a system of special devices called stylistic devices;

6) the splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems called stylistic devices;

7) the interrelation between language and thought;

8) the individual manner of an author in making use of language.

So we will cover during the course of lectures some topics such as

 

1.General Notes on Styles and Stylistics...................................

2.Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices....................

3.Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices....................

4.Syntactical Stylistic Devices...............................................

5.Functional Styles of the English Language................

 

 

The origin of the term Style and Stylistics.

Latin - stylus - a stick made of material for writing.

Stylistics - from French " Stylistique " -instrument for Writing.

 

1. There is a widely held view that style is the correspondence between thought and expression. The notion is based on the assumption ^; that of the two functions of language, (language is said to have two functions: it serves as a means of communication and also as a means of shaping one's thoughts). The first function is called communicative, the second - expressive, the latter finds its proper materialization in strings of sentences especially arranged to convey the ideas and also to get the desired response.

Indeed, every sentence uttered may be characterized from two sides: whether or not the string of language forms expressed is something well-known and therefore easily understood and to some extent predictable; whether or not the string of language forms is built anew; is, as it were, an innovation made on the part of the listener to get at the meaning of the utterance and is therefore unpredictable.

Many great minds have made valuable observations on the interrelation between thought and expression. The main trend in most of these observations may be summarized as follows 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.

2. Another commonly accepted connotation of the term style is embellishment of language. This concept is popular and is upheld in some of the scientific papers on literary criticism. Language and style are regarded as separate bodies, language can easily dispense with style, which is likened to the trimming on a dress. Moreover, style as an embellishment of language is viewed as something that hinders understanding. In its extreme, style may dress the thought in such fancy dress that one can hardly get at the idea hidden behind the design of tricky stylistic devices.

This notion presupposes the use of bare language forms deprived of any stylistic devices of any expressive means deliberately employed. Perhaps it is due to this notion that the word "style" itself still bears somewhat associated with the idea of something pompous, artificial, something that is set against simplicity, truthfulness. Shakespeare was an enemy of all kinds of embellishments of language.

3. A very popular notion among practical linguists, teachers of language, is that style is 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. Style in this utilitarian sense should be taught, but it belongs to the realm of grammar, and not to stylistics. It sets up a number of rules as to how to speak and write and discards all kinds of deviations as being violations of the norm. The norm itself becomes rigid, and to a very great extent inflexible.

4. The term style also signifies a literary genre. Thus we speak of classical style or the style of classicism; realistic style; the style of romanticism and so on. On the other hand, the term is widely used in literature, being applied to the various kinds of literary work, the fable, novel, ballad, story etc. Thus we speak of a story being written in the style of a fable or we speak of the characteristic features of the epistolary style or the essay and so on.

Finally there is one more important application of the term style. We speak of the different styles of language. A style of Language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. The peculiar choice of language means is primarily dependent on the aim of communication.

Thus we may distinguish the following styles within the English literary language: 1) the belles- letters style; 2) the publicistic style; 3) the newspaper style; 4} the scientific prose style; 5) the style of official documents and some others.

Stylistics and its Subdivisions

1. Ilya Galperin: Stylisitics is a branch of general linguistics, which deals with the following two interdependent tasks:

a) studies the totality of special linguistic means (stylistic devices and expressive means) which secure the desirable effect of the utterance;

b) 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).

Depending on the school of thought there are:

1. Linguo-stylistics;

2. Literary stylistics;

3. Stylistics of decoding;

1. Linguo - stylistics is the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation. The linguistics is concerned with the language codes themselves and particular messages of interest and so far as to exemplify how the codes are constructed.

2. Literary stylistics: is to explicate the message to interprete and evaluate literary writings as the works of art.

3. Stylistics of decoding can be presented in the following way:

sender - message - receiver speaker - book - reader.

 

Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which in a certain type of communication plays an important role. This is the way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds. The sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. It is in combination with other words that a word may acquire a desired phonetic effect. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic (melodious) effect, but this is a matter of individual perception and feeling and therefore subjective.

The theory of sense - independence of separate sounds is based on a subjective interpretation of sound associations and has nothing to do with objective scientific data. However, the sound of a word, or more exactly the way words sound in combination, cannot fail to contribute something to the general effect of the message, particularly when the sound effect has been deliberately worked out. This can easily be recognized when analyzing alliterative word combinations or the rhymes in certain stanzas or from more elaborate analysis of sound arrangement.

 

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc.) by things (machines or tools, etc.) by people (singing, laughter) and animals. Therefore the relation between onomatopoeia and the phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of metonymy There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.

Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, burr, bang, cuckoo. These words have different degrees of imitative quality. Some of them immediately bring to mind whatever it is that produces the sound. Others require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to decode it. Onomatopoetic words can be used in a transferred meaning, as for instance, ding - dong, which represents the sound of bells rung continuously, may mean 1) noisy, 2) strenuously contested.

Indirect onomatopoeia demands some mention of what makes the sound, as rustling of curtains in the following line. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense. It is sometimes called "echo writing". An example is: And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" (E. A. Poe), where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain.

 

Alliteration

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words: " The possessive instinct never stands still (J. Galsworthy) or, "Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before" (E. A. Poe).

Alliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, does not bear any lexical or other meaning unless we agree that a sound meaning exists as such. But even so we may not be able to specify clearly the character of this meaning, and the term will merely suggest that a certain amount of information is contained in the repetition of sounds, as is the case with the repetition of lexical units.

 

Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal (final) sound combination of words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.

Identity and similarity of sound combinations may be relative. For instance, we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable, including the initial consonant of the second syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes.

Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety. They can be divided into two main groups: vowel rhymes and consonant rhymes. In vowel-rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different as in flesh - fresh -press. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowels, as in worth - forth, tale - tool -treble - trouble; flung - long.

Modifications in rhyming sometimes go so far as to make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in "upon her honour - won her", "bottom –forgot them- shot him". Such rhymes are called compound or broken. The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one word - a device which inevitably gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance. Compound rhyme may be set against what is called eye - rhyme, where the letters and not the sounds are identical, as in love - prove, flood - brood, have - grave. It follows that compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye - rhyme can only be perceived in the written verse.

 

Rhythm

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mighty weapon in stirring up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is musical, mechanical or symmetrical as in architecture. The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: "rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc. characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements of features" (Webster's New World Dictionary).

Rhythm can be perceived only provided that there is some kind of experience in catching the opposite elements or features in their correlation, and, what is of paramount importance, experience in catching regularity of alternating patterns. Rhythm is a periodicity, which requires specification as to the type of periodicity. Inverse rhythm is regular succession of weak and strong stress. A rhythm in language necessarily demands oppositions that alternate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low and other contrasting segments of speech.

Academician V.M. Zhirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of a metre. Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. The metre is a strict regularity, consistency and unchangeability. Rhythm is flexible and sometimes an effort is required to perceive it. In classical verse it is perceived at the background of the metre. In accented verse - by the number of stresses in a line. In prose - by the alternation of similar syntactical patterns. Rhythm in verse as a S. D. is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard. There are the following rhythmic patterns of verse:

Iambus

dactul

umphibrach

anapaest.

Rhythm is not a mere addition to verse or emotive prose, which also has its rhythm. Rhythm intensifies the emotions. It contributes to the general sense. Much has been said and written about rhythm in prose. Some investigators, in attempting to find rhythmical patterns of prose, superimpose metrical measures on prose. But the parametres of the rhythm in verse and in prose are entirely different.

 

Imagery

In philosophy "image" denotes the result of reflection of the object of reality in man's consciousness. On the sensible level our senses, ideas might be regarded as images. On a higher level of thinking images take the form of concepts, judgements, conclusions. Depending on the level of reflecting the objective reality (sensual and conceptual) there are 2 types of images:

1. Art - reflects the objective reality inhuman life. While informing us of a phenomenon of life it simultaneously expresses our attitude towards it.

2. Literature - deals with a specific type of artistic images, verbal - is a pen - picture of a thing, person or idea expressed in a figurative way in their contextual meaning in music - sounds. The majority of Iinguists agree that a word is the smallest unit being able to create images because it conveys the artistic reality and image. On this level the creation of images is the result of the interaction of two meanings: direct (denotation) and indirect (figurative). Lexical expressive meanings in which a word or word combination is used figuratively are called tropes. The verbal meaning has the following structure:

1. Tenor (direct thought) subjective;

2. Vehicle (figurative thought) objective;

3. Ground is the common feature of T and V;

4. The relation between T and V;

5. The technique of identification (The type of trope);

 

T G R V

e. g. She is sly like a fox (simile). Images may be individual, general.

 

a) deal with concrete thing or idea e.g. Thirsty wind.

b) embrace the whole book e. g. War and Peace.

c) visual

e. g. the cloudy lifeage of the sky

d) oral - created by sound imitations

 

Classification of Epithets

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into:

1) simple (adjectives, nouns, participles): e.g. He looked at them in animal panic.

2) compound: e.g. apple - faced man;

3) sentence and phrase epithets: e.g. It is his do - it - yourself attitude.

4) reversed epithets - composed of 2 nouns linked by an ofphrase: e.g. "a shadow of a smile";

Semantically according to I. Galperin.

1) associated with the noun following it, pointing to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: dark forest; careful attention.

2)unassociated with the noun, epithets that add a feature which is unexpected and which strikes the reader: smiling sun, voiceless sounds.

Oxymoron is a combination of two words in which the meaning is opposite in sense.

e. g.speaking silence, cold fire, living death.

Close to oxymoron is paradox - a statement that is absurd on the surface. e.g. War is peace. The worse - the better.

Trite oxymoron. e.g. Awfully beautiful.

If the primary meaning of qualifying word changes the stylistic effect of oxymoron is lost. In oxymoron the logical meaning holds fast because there is no true word combination.

 

The Cliche

A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. It has lost its precise meaning by constant reiteration: in other words it has become stereotyped. Cliche is a kind of stable word combination which has become familiar and which has been accepted as a unit of a language

e. g. rosy dreams of youth, growing awareness.

Proverbs are short, well-known, supposedly wise sayings, usually in simple language.

e.g. Never say never. You can't get blood of a stone.

Proverbs are expressions of culture that are passed from generation to generation. They are words of wisdom of culture- lessons that people of that culture want their children to learn and to live by. They are served as some symbols, abstract ideas. Proverbs are usually dedicated and involve imagery. e.g. Out of sight, out of mind.

Epigram is a short clever amusing saying or poem. e.g. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Quotation is a phrase or sentence taken from a work of literature or other piece of writing and repeated in order to prove a point or support an idea. They are marked graphically: by inverted commas: dashes, italics.

Allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical. literary, mythological fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. The use of allusion presupposes knowledge of the fact, thing or person alluded to on the part of the reader or listener.

 

Groups.

I. Patterns of syntactical Inversion,

arrangement Detachment.

Parallelism.

Chiasmus.

Repetition.

Enumeration.

Suspense.

Climax.

Antithesis.

 

II. Peculiar linkage Asyndeton.

Polysyndeton.

Gap - sentence - link.

 

III. Colloquial constructions Ellipsis.

Aposiopesis.

Question - in - the narrative.

Represented speech.

 

IV. Stylistic use of structural Rhetorical questions,.

meaning Litotes.

 

Rhetorical questions.

Rhetorical question is one that expects no answer. It is asked in order to make a statement rather than to get a reply.They are frequently used in dramatic situation and in publisistic style.

e. g. What was the good of discontented people who fitted in nowhere?

Litotes - is a device - an affirmation is expressed by denying its contrary

Usually litotes presupposes double negation. One through a negative particle (no, not) the other - through a word with negative meanixig. Its function is to convey doubts of the speaker concerning the exact characteristics of the object or a feeling. We are to remember that in English we can use only one negative word in a sentence.

e.g. It's not a bad thing - It's a good thing.

e.g. He is no coward. He is a brave man.

e.g. He was not without taste.

 

General Notes on Styles and Stylistics

The subject of stylistics has not been definitely outlined. This is due to a number of reasons.

First of all there is a confusion between the terms style and stylistics. The first concept is so broad that it is hardly possible to regard it as a term. We can speak of style in architecture, literature, behaviour, linguistics, dress and other fields of human activity

Even in linguistics the word style is used so widely that it needs interpretation. The majority of linguists who deal with the subject of style agree that the term applies to the following fields of investigation.:

1) the aesthetic function of language;

2) expressive means in language;

3) synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea;

4) emotional colouring of language;

5) a system of special devices called stylistic devices;

6) the splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems called stylistic devices;

7) the interrelation between language and thought;

8) the individual manner of an author in making use of language.

So we will cover during the course of lectures some topics such as

 

1.General Notes on Styles and Stylistics...................................

2.Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices....................

3.Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices....................

4.Syntactical Stylistic Devices...............................................

5.Functional Styles of the English Language................