Affixation and its expressiveness

Unlike Russian the English language does not possess a great variety of word-forming resources.

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

3.3. Morphological stylistics

 

In Russian we have a very developed system of affixes, with eval­uative and expressive meanings: diminutive, derogatory, endearing, exaggerating, etc.

Consider such a variety of adjectives малый—маленький—махонь­кий—малюсенький; большой—большеватый—большущий, преог-ромнейший; плохой— плоховатенький—плохонький. There are no morphological equivalents for these in English.

We can find some evaluative affixes as a remnant of the former morphological system or as a result of borrowing from other languages, such as: weakling, piglet, rivulet, girlie, lambkin, kitchenette.

Diminutive suffixes make up words denoting small dimensions, but also giving them a caressing, jocular or pejorative ring.

These suffixes enable the speaker to communicate his positive or negative evaluation of a person or thing.

The suffix -ian/-ean means 'like someone or something, especially connected with a particular thing, place or person', e.g. the pre-Tolstoyan novel. It also denotes someone skilled in or studying a particular subject: a historian.

The connotations this suffix may convey are positive and it is frequently used with proper names, especially famous in art, literature, music, etc. Such adjectives as Mozartean, Skakespearean, Wagnerian mean like Mozart, Shakespeare, Wagner or in that style.

However some of these adjectives may possess connotations connected with common associations with the work and life of famous people that may have either positive or negative colouring. For instance The Longman Dictionary of the English Language and Culture gives such

definitions of the adjective Dickensian: suggesting Charles Dickens or his writing, e. g. a the old-fashioned, unpleasant dirtiness of Victorian England: Most deputies work two to an office in a space of Dickensian grimness. b the cheerfulness of Victorian amusements and customs: a real Dickensian Christmas.

The suffix -ish is not merely a neutral morpheme meaning a small degree of quality like blue—bluish, but it serves to create 'delicate or tactful' occasional evaluative adjectives— baldish, dullish, biggish. Another meaning is 'belonging or having characteristics of somebody or something'.

Most dictionaries also point out that -ish may show disapproval {self­ish, snobbish, raffish) and often has a derogatory meaning indicating the bad qualities of something or qualities which are not suitable to what it describes (e.g. mannish in relation to a woman).

Another suffix used similarly is— esque, indicating style, manner, or distinctive character: arabesque, Romanesque. When used with the names of famous people it means 'in the manner or style of this particular person'. Due to its French origin it is considered bookish and associated with exquisite elevated style. Such connotations are implied in adjectives like Dantesque, Turneresque, Kafkaesque.

Most frequently used suffixes of the negative evaluation are: -ard, -ster, -aster, -eer or half-affix -monger: drunkard, scandal-monger, black-marketeer, mobster.

Considering the problem of expressive affixes differentiation should be made between negative affixes such as in-, un-, ir-, поп-, etc. (unbending, irregular, non-profit) and evaluative derogatory affixes. Evaluative affixes with derogatory connotations demonstrate the

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

3.4. Stylistic syntax

 

speaker's attitude to the phenomenon while negative affixes normally represent objects and phenomena that are either devoid of some quality or do not exist at all (e. g. a non-profit organization has mostly positive connotations).

All these examples show that stylistic potentials of grammatical forms are great enough. Stylistic analysis of a work of art among other things should include the analysis of the grammatical level that enables a student to capture the subtle shades of mood or rhythmical arrangement or the dynamics of the composition.

3.4. Stylistic syntax

Syntactical categories have long been the object of stylistic research. There are different syntactical means and different classifications. The classifications discussed earlier in this book demonstrate different categorization of expressive means connected with syntax. However there are a few general principles on which most of the syntactical expressive means are built. The purpose of this paragraph is to consider the basic techniques that create stylistic function on the syntactical level common for most stylistic figures of this type and illustrate them with separate devices.

The major principles at work on the sentence level are

I. The omission or absence of one or more parts of the sentence.

II. Reiteration (repetition) of some parts.

III. The inverted word order.

IV. The interaction of adjacent sentences.

I. The omission of the obligatory parts of a sentence results in ellipsis of various types. An elliptical sentence is a sentence with one or more of the parts left out. As a rule the omitted part can be reconstructed from the context. In this case ellipsis brings into relief typical features of colloquial English casual talk.

The laconic compressed character of elliptical sentences lends a flavour of liveliness to colloquial English. In fiction elliptical sentences have a manifold stylistic function. First of all they help create a sense of immediacy and local colour. Besides they may add to the character's make up, they lead to a better understanding of a mood of a personage.

Wish I was young enough to wear that kind of thing. Older I get the more I like colour. We're both pretty long in the tooth, eh? (Waugh)

Often elliptical sentences are used in represented speech because syntactically it resembles direct speech. The use of elliptical sentences in fiction is not limited to conversation. They are sometimes used in the author's narration and in the exposition (description which opens a chapter or a book).

/ remember now, that Sita's braid did not hurt. It was only soft and heavy, smelling of Castile soap, but still I yelled as though something terrible was happening. Stop! Get off! Let go! Because I couldn't stand how strong she was. (Erdrich)

A variety of ellipsis in English are one-member nominal sentences. They have no separate subject and predicate but one main part instead. One-member sentences call attention to the subject named, to its existence and even more to its interrelations with other objects. Nominal sentences are often used in descriptive narration and in

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

3.4. Stylistic syntax

 

exposition. The economy of the construction gives a dynamic rhythm to the passage. One-member sentences are also common in stage remarks and represented speech.

Matchbooks. Coaster trays. Hotel towels and washcloths. He was sending her the samples of whatever he was selling at the time. Fuller brushes. Radio antennas. Cans of hair spray or special wonder-working floor cleaners. (Erdrich)

Break-in-the narrative is a device that consists in the emotional halt in the middle or towards the end of an utterance. Arnold distinguishes two kinds: suppression and aposiopesis. Suppression leaves the sentence unfinished as a result of the speaker's deliberation to do so. The use of suppression can be accounted for by a desire not to mention something that could be reconstructed from the context or the situation. It is just the part that is not mentioned that attracts the reader's attention. It's a peculiar use of emphasis that lends the narration a certain psychological tension.

If everyone at twenty realized that half his life was to be lived after forty... (Waugh)

Aposiopesis means an involuntary halt in speech because the speaker is too excited or overwhelmed to continue.

But Mr. Meredith, Esther Silversleeves said at last, these people are heathens! Esther was the most religious of the family.—Surly you cannot wish... her voice trailed off. (Rutherfurd)

Decomposition is also built on omission, splitting the sentences into separate snatches. They are the result of detachment of parts of sentences. This device helps to throw in the effect of relief or express

a highly dynamic pace of narration. Decomposition maybe combined with ellipsis.

Him, of all things! Him! Never! (Lawrence)

II. Reiteration is never a mechanical repetition of a word or structure. It is always accompanied by new connotations. The repetition stresses not the denotative but the connotative meaning.

The usage area of reiteration is casual and non-casual speech, prose and poetry.

Different types of reiteration may be classified on the compositional principle:

Anaphora is the repetition of the same element at the beginning of two or more successive clauses, sentences or verses.

They were poor in space, poor in light, poor in quiet, poor in repose, and poor in the atmosphere of privacy—poor in everything that makes a man's home his castle. (Cheever)

Framing is an arrangement of repeated elements at the beginning and at the end of one or more sentences that creates a kind of structural encasement.

He had been good for me when I was a callow and an ignorant youth; he was good for me now. (Shute)

Anadiplosis is such a figure in which a word or group of words completing a sentence is repeated at the beginning of a succeed­ing sentence. It often shows the interaction of different parts of a paragraph or text.

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

3.4. Stylistic syntax

 

My wife has brown hair, dark eyes, and a gentle disposition. Because of her gentle disposition, I sometimes think that she spoils the children. (Cheever)

Epiphora consists in the repetition of certain elements at the end of two or more successive clauses, sentences or paragraphs.

Trouble is, I don't know if I want a business or not. Or even if I can pay for it, if I did want it. (Shute)

III. Inversion is upsetting of the normal order of words, which is an important feature of English.

By changing the logical order this device helps to convey new shades of meaning. The denotative meaning is the same but the emotive colouring is different.

Galperin describes five types of inversion that are connected with the fixed syntactical position of the sentence members. Each type of inversion produces a specific stylistic effect: it may render an elevated tone to the narration:

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,

Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

(Keats)

/ will make my kitchen, and you will keep your room, Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom.

(Stevenson)

— or make it quick-paced and dynamic: In he got and away they went. (Waugh)

Bang went Philbrick's revolver. Off trotted the boys on another race. (Waugh)

Sometimes inversion may contribute to the humorous effect of the description or speech characterisation:

To march about you would not like us? suggested the stationmaster. (Waugh)

IV. Interaction of adjacent sentences is a compositional syntactical technique.

One of the major emphatic means is the use of parallel con­structions. They are similarly built and used in close succession. It is a variety of repetition on the level of a syntactical mod­el. Parallel constructions more than anything else create a certain rhythmical arrangement of speech. The sameness of the structure stresses the difference or the similarity of the meaning. Some­times parallel constructions assume a peculiar form and the word order of the first phrase is inverted in the second. The resulting device is called chiasmus. It is often accompanied by a lexical repetition:

They had loved her, and she had loved them. (Caldwell)

Work—work—work!

From weary chime to chime!

Work—work—work

As prisoners work for crime!

Band, and gusset, and seam

Seam, and gusset, and band...

(Hood)

 

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

Practice Section

 

The climax is such an arrangement of a series of clauses or phrases that form an ascending scale, in which each of the sen­tences is stronger in intensity of expression than the previous one.

We're nice people and there isn't going to be room for nice people any more. It's ended, it's all over, it's dead. (Cheever)

Another device is the anticlimax, also called back gradation, which is a figure of speech that consists in an abrupt and often ludicrous descent, which contrasts with the previous rise. The descent is often achieved by the addition of a detail that rains the elevated tenor of the previous narration.

Its main stylistic function is to give the thought an unexpected humorous or ironic twist.

/ hate and detest every bit of it, said Professor Silenus gravely. Nothing I have ever done has caused me so much disgust. With a deep sigh he rose from the table and walked from the room, the fork with which he had been eating still held in his hand. (Waugh)

Practice Section

1. What are the basic principles of stylistic grammar? How does
grammatical metaphor correlate with lexical metaphor?

2. What is the essence of the grammatical gradation theory? De­
scribe the types of grammatical transposition and provide your
own examples to illustrate each type.

3. Consider the following sentences and comment on the function of morphological grammatical categories and parts of speech that create stylistic function:

One night I am standing in front of Mindy's restaurant on Broadway, thinking of practically nothing whatever, when all of a sudden I feel a very terrible pain in my left foot. (Runyon)

It's good, that, to see you again, Mr. Philip, said Jim. (Caldwell)

Earth colours are his theme. When he shows up at the door, we see that he's even dressing in them. His pants are grey. His shirt is the same colour as his skin. Flesh colour. (Erdrich)

Now, the Andorrans were a brave, warlike people centuries ago, as everybody was at one time or another—for example, take your Assyr­ians, who are now extinct; or your Swedes, who fought in the Thirty Years' War but haven't done much since except lie in the sun and turn brown... (Berger)

A gaunt and Halloweenish grin was plastered to her face. (Erdrich)

/ walked past Mrs. Shumway, who jerked her head around in a startled woodpeckerish way... (Erdrich)

She's the Honourable Mrs. Beste-Chetwynde, you know—sister-in-law of Lord Pastmaster—a very wealthy woman, South American. (Waugh)

...there are two kinds of people, which we may call the hurters and the hurtees. The first get their satisfaction by working their will on somebody else. The second like to be imposed upon. (Burger)

To hear her was to be beginning to despair. (Jarrell)

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

Practice Section

 

But they do manage the building? Mrs. Doubleday said to him. (Cheever) A band indeed! You' II be having fireworks next. (Waugh)

/ stare down at the bright orange capsules... I have to listen... so we look at each other, up and down, and up and down... Without us, they say, without Loise, it's the state hospital. (Erdrich)

Ah! That must be Aunt Augusta. Only relatives, or creditors, ever ring in that Wagnerian manner. (Wilde)

I got nothing against Joe Chapin, but he's not me. I'm me, and another man is still another man. (O'Hara)

That's not the Mr. Littlejohn I used to know. (Waugh)

/ pronounce that the sentence on the defendants, Noelle Page and Lawrence Douglas, shall be execution by a firing squad. (Sheldon)

They are all being so formal. Let's play a game to break the ice. (Bell)

/ wondered how the Moroccan boy... could stand meekly aside and

watch her go off with another man.

Actors, I thought. They must divide themselves into compartments.

(Shaw)

Oh, I guess I love you, I do love the children, but I love myself, I love my life, it has some value and some promise for me... (Cheever)

Let him say his piece, the darling. Isn't he divine? (Waugh)

It never was the individual sounds of a language, but the melodies behind them, that Dr. Rosenbaum imitated. For these his ear was Mozartian. (Jarrell)

They are allowed to have the train stopped at every cross-roads... (Atkin­son)

4. Arrange syntactical expressive means described in Galperin's
classification into four groups according to the major principles
of stylistic syntax in addition to the illustrations given in the
chapter above.

5. Identify syntactical stylistic devices used in the examples below
and comment on their meaning in the context:

/ should have brought down a more attractive dress. This one, with its white petals gone dull in the shower steam, with its belt of lavender and prickling lace at each pulse point, I don't like. (Erdrich)

/ begin my windshield-wiper wave, as instructed by our gym teacher, who has been a contestant for Miss North Dakota. Back and forth very slowly. Smile, smile, smile. (Erdrich)

Except for the work in the quarries, life at Egdon was almost the same

as at Blackstone.

'Slops outside,' chapel, privacy. (Waugh)

// was for this reason the rector had so abjectly curled up, still so abjectly curled up before She-who-was Cynthia: because of his slave's fear of her contempt, the contempt of a born-free nature for a base-born nature. (Lawrence)

The warder rang the bell.—Inside, you two! he shouted. (Waugh)

— Old man, Miles said amiably, if I may say so, I think you're missing the point.

Chapter 3. Stylistic Grammar

Practice Section

 

—If I may say so, sir, Philippe said, I think I am missing nothing. What is the point? (Shaw)

You asked me what I had going this time. What I have going is wine. With the way the world's drinking these days, being in wine is like having a license to steal. (Shaw)

How kind of you, Alfred! She has asked about you, and expressed her intention—her intention, if you please!—to know you. (Caldwell)

When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. (Wilde)

— There are lots of things I wanted to do—I wanted to climb the
Matterhom but I wouldn't blame the fact that I haven't on anyone else.

— You. Clime the Matterhom. Ha. You couldn't even climb the
Washington Monument. (Cheever)

There was no Olga. I had no consolation. Then I felt desperate, desolate, crushed. (Cheever)

— You get cold, riding a bicycle? he asked.

—My hands! she said clasping them nervously. (Lawrence)

If the man had been frightening before, he was now a perfect horror. (Berger)

My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly dis­graceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you. (Wilde)

Trouble is, I don't know if I want a business or not. Or even if I can pay for it, if I did want it. (Shute)

A man has a right to get married and have children, and I'd earned the right to have a wife, both in work and money. A man's got a right to live in his own place. A man has a right to make his life where he can look after his Dad and Mum a bit when they get old. (Shute)

...already we were operating five aircraft of four different types, and if

we got a Tramp we should have six aircraft of five types...

A Tramp it would have to be, and I told them of my money difficulty.

(Shute)

Damrey Phong, though healthy, is a humid place. (Shute)

He's made his declaration. He loves me. He can't live without me. He'd walk through fire to hear the notes of my voice. (Cheever)

That's thefoolest thing I ever heard. (Berger)

4.1. The notion of style in functional stylistics

Chapter 4

The Theory of Functional Styles

The notion of style in functional stylistics. Correlation of style, norm and function in the language. Language varieties: regional, social, occupational. An overview of functional style systems. Distinctive linguistic features of the major functional styles of English

4.1. The notion of style in functional stylistics

The notion of style has to do with how we use the language under specific circumstances for a specific purpose. The notion of using English, for instance, involves much more than using our knowledge of its Linguistic structure. It also involves awareness of the numerous situations in which English can be used as a special medium of com­munication with its own set of distinctive and recognizable features. The various branches of linguistics that investigate the topic, such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, textlinguistics, and stylistics present a remarkable range of method­ologies and emphases. We'll be interested in how stylistic research treats of the subject.

 

Linguistic literature gives various definitions of the notion 'style' that generally boil down to the following three meanings of this term:

• A variety of the national language traditionally used in one
of the socially identifiable spheres of life that is characterised
by a particular set of linguistic features, including vocabulary,
grammar and pronunciation. These are chiefly associated with
the social and regional varieties, such as educated, colloquial, low
colloquial, dialectal, uneducated, etc. From this point of view
the most broad and well known subdivision in many national
languages today usually describes these varieties as neutral,
literary (high) and colloquial (low): e.g. Cockney, upper-class,
educated English.

• Generally accepted linguistic identity of oral and written units
of discourse, such as public speech, a lecture, a friendly letter,
a newspaper article, etc. Such units demonstrate style not only in
a special choice of linguistic means but in their very arrangement,
i. e. composition of a speech act, that creates a category of text
marked by oratory, scientific, familiar or publicist style.

• Individual manner of expression determined by personal factors,
such as educational background, professional experience, sense
of humour, etc.: e.g. personal style of communication, the style
of Pushkin's early poetry.

Style is our knowledge how language is used to create and interpret texts and conversational interactions. It involves being aware of the range of situations in which a language can be used in a distinctive and predictable way and of the possibilities available to us when we want to produce or respond to creative uses of the language.

Chapter 4. The Theory of Functional Styles

Stylistic features relate to constraints on language use that may be only temporary features of our spoken or written language. We often adopt different group uses of language as we go through our day; we may use a different style speaking with our children in the family, reporting to our boss at work or practicing sports. We change our speaking or writing style to make a particular effect: imitating somebody's accent when telling a story, giving a humorous account of events in an informal letter and so on. Style is first and foremost the result of our choice of content of our message and the appropriate range of language means to deliver the message effectively.

Uses of English in numerous situations that require definite stylistic features are studied by the theory of functional styles.

This theory involves consideration of such notions as norm and function in their relation to style.

4.2. Correlation of style, norm and function in the language

Any national language uses the notion of 'correct language' which involves conformity to the grammatical, lexical and phonetic stan­dards accepted as normative in this society. The favoured variety is usually a version of the standard written language, especially as encountered in literature or in the formal spoken language that most closely reflects literary style. It is presented in dictionaries, grammars and other official manuals. Those who speak and write in this way are said to be using language 'correctly', those who do not are said to be using it 'incorrectly'. Correct usage is associated with the notion of the linguistic norm. The norm is closely related to the system of

4.2. Correlation of style, norm and function in the language

the language as an abstract ideal system. The system provides and determines the general rules of usage of its elements, the norm is the actual use of these provisions by individual speakers under specific conditions of communication.

Individual use of the language implies a personal selection of linguistic means on all levels. WЪen this use conforms to the general laws of the language this use will coincide with what is called the literary norm of the national language.

However the literary norm is not a homogeneous and calcified entity. It varies due to a number of factors, such as regional, social, situational, personal, etc.

The norm will be dictated by the social roles of the participants of communication, their age and family or other relations. An important role in the selection of this or that variety of the norm belongs to the purpose of the utterance, or its function. Informal language on a formal occasion is as inappropriate as formal language on an informal occasion. To say that a usage is appropriate is only to say that it is performing its function satisfactorily. We shall use different 'norms' speaking with elderly people and our peers, teachers and students, giving an interview or testimony in court. This brings us to the notion of the norm variation.

The norm of the language implies various realisations of the lan­guage structure that are sometimes called its subsystems, registers or varieties.

I. V. Arnold presents these relations as a system of oppositions:

Structure:: norm:: individual use National norm:: dialect

 

Chapter 4. The Theory of Functional Styles

Neutral style:: colloquial style:: bookish style Literary correct speech:: common colloquial

Functional styles are subsystems of the language and represent varieties of the norm of the national language. Their evolution and development has been determined by the specific factors of communication in various spheres of human activity. Each of them is characterised by its own parameters in vocabulary usage, syntactical expression, phraseology, etc.

The term 'functional style' reflects peculiar functions of the language in this or that type of communicative interaction. Proceeding from the generally acknowledged language functions Prof. I. V. Arnold suggested a description of functional styles based on the combination of the linguistic functions they fulfil.

4.3. Language varieties: regional, social, occupational

However not all texts have boundaries that are easy to identify in the use of distinctive language. For example, the oratorical style has a lot of common features with the publicist one, which in its turn is often comparable with the style of humanities, such as political science, history or philosophy.

The point of departure for discerning functional styles is the so-called neutral style that is stylistically non-marked and reflects the norms of the language. It serves as a kind of universal background for the expression of stylistically marked elements in texts of any functional type. It can be rarely observed in the individual use of the language and as Skrebnev remarked, perhaps, only handbooks for foreigners and primers could be qualified as stylistically neutral (47, p. 22).

 

 

^"~\_Function Style ^"\^	intellectual communicative	pragmatic	emotive	phatic	aesthetic
oratorical	+	+	+	+	+
colloquial	+	+	+	+	—
poetic	+	—	+	—	+
publicist and newspaper	+	+	+	—	—
official	+	+	—	—	—
scientific	+	—	—	—	—

The table presents functional styles as a kind of hierarchy according to the number of functions fulfilled by each style, oratorical and scientific being almost complete opposites.

4.3. Language varieties:

regional, social, occupational

The particular set of features, which identifies a language variety, does not represent the features of the language as a whole. Variety features depend on the presence of certain factors in a social situation. Classifications of these factors vary, but we may group them into two types according to most general dimensions: sociolinguistic and stylistic factors.

Sociolinguistic factors are connected with very broad situational constraints on language use. They chiefly identify the regional and social varieties of the language. They are relatively permanent features of the spoken and written language, over which we have comparatively little conscious control. We tend not to change our regional or social

 

Chapter 4. The Theory of Functional Styles

4.3. Language varieties: regional, social, occupational

 

group way of speaking in every-day communication and usually we are not aware of using it.

Stylistic factors relate to restrictions on language use that are much more narrowly constrained, and identify individual preferences in usage (phraseology, special vocabulary, language of literature) or the varieties that are associated with occupational groups (lawyers, journalists, scholars). These are features, over which we are able to exercise some degree of conscious control.

As David Crystal, a famous British linguist puts it, regional language variation of English provides a geographical answer to the question 'Where are you from, in the English-speaking world?'

Social language variation provides an answer to a somewhat different question 'Who are you?' or 'What are you in the eyes of the English-speaking society to which you belong?' (33, p. 393). Actually social variation provides several possible answers, because people may acquire several identities as they participate in the social structure. One and the same person may belong to different social groups and perform different social roles. A person may at the same time be described as 'a parent', 'a Wife', 'an architect', 'a feminist', 'a senior citizen', 'a member of Parliament', 'an amateur sculptor', 'a theatre-goer'; the possibilities may be endless.

Any of these identities can have consequences for the kind of language we use. Language more than anything else will testify to our permanent and temporary roles in social life.

Some features of social variation lead to particular linguistic con­sequences. In many ways our pronunciation, choice of words and constructions, general strategy of communication are defined by the

age, sex and socio-economic aspects. Choice of occupation has a less predictable influence, though in some contexts, e. g. medicine or law it can be highly distinctive.

Adopting a specific social role, such as making a congratulatory speech or conducting a panel talk, invariably entails a choice of appropriate linguistic forms.

Across the world attitudes to social variation differ a lot. All countries display social stratification, though some have more clearly defined boundaries than others and therefore more distinct features of class dialect. Britain is usually said to be linguistically more class-conscious than other English-speaking countries.

For example, in England one accent has traditionally dominated over all others and the notion of respectable social standing is usually associated with Received Pronunciation (RP), considered to be the 'prestige accent'.

However today with the breakdown of rigid divisions between social classes and the development of mass media RP is no longer the prerogative of social elite. Today it is best described as an 'educated' accent which actually has several varieties. Most educated people have developed an accent, which is a mixture of RP and various regional features that sometimes is called 'modified RP'.

This is one example that shows a general trend in modern English-regionally modified speech is no longer stigmatised as 'low', it can even be an advantage, expressing such social values as solidarity and democracy. A pure RP accent, by contrast can even evoke hostility, especially in those parts of Britain that have their own regional norms, e. g. Scotland and Wales.

Chapter 4. The Theory of Functional Styles

4.3. Language varieties: regional, social, occupational

 

group way of speaking in every-day communication and usually we are not aware of using it.

Stylistic factors relate to restrictions on language use that are much more narrowly constrained, and identify individual preferences in usage (phraseology, special vocabulary, language of literature) or the varieties that are associated with occupational groups (lawyers, journalists, scholars). These are features, over which we are able to exercise some degree of conscious control.

As David Crystal, a famous British linguist puts it, regional language variation of English provides a geographical answer to the question 'Where are you from, in the English-speaking world?'

Social language variation provides an answer to a somewhat different question 'Who are you?' or 'What are you in the eyes of the English-speaking society to which you belong?' (33, p. 393). Actually social variation provides several possible answers, because people may acquire several identities as they participate in the social structure. One and the same person may belong to different social groups and perform different social roles. A person may at the same time be described as 'a parent', 'a wife', 'an architect', 'a feminist', 'a senior citizen', 'a member of Parliament', 'an amateur sculptor', 'a theatre-goer'; the possibilities may be endless.

Any of these identities can have consequences for the kind of language we use. Language more than anything else will testify to our permanent and temporary roles in social life.

Some features of social variation lead to particular linguistic con­sequences. In many ways our pronunciation, choice of words and constructions, general strategy of communication are defined by the

age, sex and socio-economic aspects. Choice of occupation has a less predictable influence, though in some contexts, e. g. medicine or law it can be highly distinctive.

Adopting a specific social role, such as making a congratulatory speech or conducting a panel talk, invariably entails a choice of appropriate linguistic forms.

Across the world attitudes to social variation differ a lot. All countries display social stratification, though some have more clearly defined boundaries than others and therefore more distinct features of class dialect. Britain is usually said to be linguistically more class-conscious than other English-speaking countries.

For example, in England one accent has traditionally dominated over all others and the notion of respectable social standing is usually associated with Received Pronunciation (RP), considered to be the 'prestige accent'.

However today with the breakdown of rigid divisions between social classes and the development of mass media RP is no longer the prerogative of social elite. Today it is best described as an 'educated' accent which actually has several varieties. Most educated people have developed an accent, which is a mixture of RP and various regional features that sometimes is called 'modified RP'.

This is one example that shows a general trend in modern English-regionally modified speech is no longer stigmatised as 'low', it can even be an advantage, expressing such social values as solidarity and democracy. A pure RP accent, by contrast can even evoke hostility, especially in those parts of Britain that have their own regional norms, e. g. Scotland and Wales.

 

Chapter 4. The Theory of Functional Styles

4.4. An overview of functional style systems

 

Occupational varieties of the national language are normally associat­ed with a particular way of earning a living. They belong to the group of stylistically determined varieties and differ from both regional and social sublanguages.

Features of language that identify people's geographical or social origins, once established can hardly change over a short period of time. It would be very difficult to change your accent if you move from one part of the country to another with a different regional norm; it is equally difficult to transform the linguistic indicators of our social background (vocabulary and structural expression).

Occupational varieties are not like that. Their linguistic features may be just as distinctive as regional or social features, but they are only in temporary use. They 'go with the territory'—adopted as we begin work and given up as we finish it. People who cannot stop 'talking shop' even when they are not at work are rather an exception to the rule.

Any professional field could serve as an illustration of occupation­al linguistic identity. There are no class distinctions here. Factory workers have to master a special glossary of technical terms and administrative vocabulary (seniority labels, term of service, severance pay, fringe benefits, safety regulation) in order to carry out profes­sional communication. To fulfil their tasks they develop jargon and professional slang, which set them apart from outsiders. The more specialised the occupation and the more senior or professional the position the more technical the language. Also, if an occupation has a long-lasting and firmly established tradition it is likely to have its own linguistic rituals which its members accept as a criterion of proficiency. The highly distinctive languages of law, government and religion provide the clearest cases, with their unique grammar,

vocabulary, and patterns of discourse. Of course, all occupations are Linguistically distinctive to a certain degree. In some cases it involves only special terms; in others it may be a combination of linguistic features on different levels as will be shown in the last section of this chapter.