1. Stylistics of the Author and the Reader.

Decoding = as a process of explaining the information that is hidden from immediate view in specific allusions, cultural and political parallels, peculiar use of irony or euphemy.

“decoding stylistics” ( M.Riffatrre, R. Jacobson, P.Guiraud, Y.Lotman, I.Arnold).

That creative process may be presented as a simplified version:

- the writer receives diverse information from the outside world;

- some of it becomes a source for his creative work;

- he processes this information and recreates it in his own esthetic images that become a vehicle to pass his vision to the addressee (the reader);

- the process of internalizing of the outside information and translating it into his imagery is called “encoding”. To encode certain information the author resorts to certain means – meaningful units that are organized acc. to definite rules. The salient feature of that information encoded by the author is called “message”.

- the reader (addressee) is to decode the information contained in the text of literary work.

!historical epoches, social conventions, religious and political views, cultural and national traditions the message encoded and sent may differ from the message received after decoding.

M.Tsvetaeva: “Reading is co-creative work on the part of the reader…”

Stylistics of the author and stylistics of the reader.

To sum up, we can point out that Encoding stylistic analysis presupposes that the peculiarities of the author's style are singled out on the basis of comparison with other writers. Encoding stylistic analysis includes the critical study of the author's style, vocabulary means used by him. Much attention is paid to the author's ideas concerning the creative work in general and his work in particular. Ideas can be extracted from the writer's diaries, letters, articles, etc. Encoding stylistic analysis takes into consideration the facts of the writer's biography, the characteristic features of the epoch and literary trend.

As for Decoding Stylistics, the Reader transforms the graphical presentation into words, then into the system of images, feelings, thoughts of the author, and at last the reader can grasp the main idea of the author. Much attention is paid to the text, less to the writer. A work of art is treated as a source of information and impressions.

II. Decoding stylistic analyses

Expressive Means provided by each level not as isolated devices that demonstrate some stylistic function but as a part of a general pattern.

Foregrounding (N.S.Trubetskoy, R.Jacobson, V.Matezius, V.Skalichka) = a specific role that some language items play in a certain context when the reader’s attention cannot be drawn to them. There are 6 principal methods that ensure the effect of foregrounding:

- convergence of expressive means;

- irradiation;

- defeated expectancy;

- coupling;

- semantic field;

- semi-marked structures.

Convergence is a combination or accumulation of Stylistic Devices promoting the same idea, emotion or motive.

Defeated expectancy. The linear organization of the text mentally prepares the reader for the consequential and logical development of ideas and unfolding (разворачивание) of the events. The normal arrangement of the text both in form and content is based on its predictability which means that the appearance of any element is prepared by the preceding arrangement and choice of element.

Coupling – deals with the arrangement of textual elements that provide the unity and cohesion of the whole structure. That method of text analysis helps to decode ideas, their interaction, inner semantic and structural links and ensures compositional integrity. Coupling is based on the affinity (сходство) of elements that occupy similar positions throughout the text. It provides not only general cohesion (связность), but also consistency and unity of the text form and content.

Semantic field is a method of decoding stylistics closely connected with coupling. It identifies lexical elements in text segments and the whole work that provide its thematic and compositional cohesion.

!semantic affinity = connotations and associations, thematic pertinence of seemingly unrelated words.

Semi-marked structures are a variety of defeated expectancy associated with the deviation from the grammatical and lexical norm. The unpredictable element is used contrary to the norm so it produces a very strong emphatic impact.

2. The notion of Grammatical Transposition. Grammatical metaphor.

I. The theory of grammatical gradation.

Modern stylistics proceeds from the nature of stylistic effect and studies the mechanism of stylistic function. The major principle of stylistic effect is the opposition between the norm and deviation from the norm (on different levels of the language).

Skrebnev describes this state as the opposition between the traditional meaning and situational meaning.

Arnold maintains that the very essence of poetic language is the violation of the norm (at all the levels of the language: phonetic, graphical, morphological, lexical, syntactical). Though: not every deviation from the norm results in expressiveness.

EX.: You do not use the article with an adverb or adjective (it would be linguistic nonsense).

Noam Chomsky formulated that rule in grammar and called it “grammatical gradation”. He constructed a scale with two poles— grammatically correct structures at one extreme point of this scale and grammatically incorrect structures at the other. The first he called grammatically marked structures, the second—unmarked structures.

Marked structures : : Unmarked structures

(Grammatically correct) : : Grammatically incorrect

If we take the Russian sentence that completely agrees with the grammatical laws of this lan­guage Решил он меня обмануть and make a word for word translation into English we'll get a grammatically incorrect structure 'Decided he me to deceive. A native speaker cannot produce such a sentence because it disagrees with the basic rule of word order arrangement in English. This sentence belongs to what Chomsky calls unmarked structures.

Semi-marked structures are formed by the deviation from lexical and grammatical valency. This means that words and grammar forms carry an unusual grammatical or referential meaning. In other terms this is called “transposition” - a phenomenon that destroys customary (normal, regular, standard) valences and thus create expressiveness of the utterance.

II. Grammatical metaphor and types of grammatical transposition.

Some scholars (e. g. Prof. E. I. Shendels) use the term grammatical metaphor for this kind of phenomena. We know that lexical metaphor is based on the transfer of the name of one object on to another due to some common ground. The same mechanism works in the formation of a grammatical metaphor.

So, that kind of transposition can be called Grammatical metaphor (Prof. E.I.Shendels) at the bases of the same mechanism - the transfer of the name from one object on to another.

A grammatical form as well as a lexical unit possesses a denotative and connotative meaning. There are 3 types of denotative grammatical meaning:

1. The first type reflects relations of objects in outside reality (EX.: singularity and plurality);

2. The second denotes the relation of the speaker to the first type of denotation. It shows how objective relations are perceived by reactions to the outside world (EX.: This type of denotative meaning is expressed by such categories modality, voice, definiteness and indefiniteness);

3. The third type – intralinguistic denotation - has no reference to the extra-linguistic reality. It conveys relations among linguistic units proper (EX.: the formation of the past forms of regular and irregular verbs).

According to Shendels, “grammatical metaphor is a transposition (transfer) of a grammatical form from one type of grammatical relation to another”. Thus we deal with a redistribution of grammatical and lexical meanings that create new connotations.

Types of grammatical transposition:

We may distinguish 3 types of grammatical transposition:

1. The transposition of a certain grammar form into a new syntactical distribution with a resulting effect of contrast. The so-called “Historical present” is a good illustration of this type: a verb in the Present Indefinite form is used against the background of the Past Indefinite narration, creating the effect of vividness, an illusion of “presence”.

2. The second type of transposition involves both — the lexical and grammatical meanings. EX.: the use of the plural form with an abstract or proper noun: “The look on her face… was full of secret resentments, and longings, and fears”.

3. Transposition of classifying grammatical meanings, that brings together situationally incompatible forms—EX: the use of a common noun as a proper one = personification of inanimate objects or antonomasia. – Mr. Know-All, Mr. Truth, speaking names.