2. Norm, variant/invariant

norm is

- a linguistic abstraction

- a recognized or received standard

- the standard and correct set of language rules

- marks the difference between literary and non-literary language:

Invariant is

- elements of the language as an abstract system

- elements, devoid of the individual peculiarities, predetermined by different conditions of communication

deviation from the norm - the foundation for various stylistic effects

40 - LOVE

middle aged

couple playing

ten nis

when the

game ends

and they

go home

the net

will still

be be

tween them (Roger McGough 1971)

In this poem, McGough employs a few deviations from the norm to render the ideas that a human relationship is a game or sport (conceptual metaphor). What is particularly marked about the poem is the way the deviation from the generally accepted graphic presentation of poetic lines. The particular spatial organization of tennis, with its back and forth movement between ball and payers, is captured stylistically by the break up of the text into two columns and this forces the reading of the text into a similar two and fro movement. This directionality embodies not only the emotional to and fro but tense of implicit conflict that exists between the couple.

Variants are

- speech units with their individual peculiarities

- found in concrete texts

3. Forms of communication and language types

1/ non-verbal

2/ Verbal:

• oral

• written

varieties of language – spoken and written

spoken	written
- presence of an interlocutor - in the form of dialogue - spontaneous - human voice and gestures - morphological forms: he’s, she’s, they’ve - colloquial vocabulary: to be gone on smb - intensifying words: I’d sure like to see you - elliptical sentences: Never (I’ll never do it) - fill-ups or mumbling words: so to speak, you see, er-r	- absence of an interlocutor - in the form of a monologue - exact - explanatory - careful organisation - deliberate choice of words and constructions

• 4. The notion of style

• Style = Greek: “a tool used for writing on waxed tables”

• style in architecture, art, work, life, fashion

The concept of language style presents specific problems. There are numerous definitions of style:

• Style is proper words in proper places (J. Swift)

• Style is the art of speaking and writing clearly, correctly and with ease and grace (Chesterfield)

• Style is the choice and disposition of words (Young)

• Style is a contextually restricted linguistic variation (Enkvist)

• Style is an emphasis (expressive, affective or aesthetic) added to the information conveyed by the linguistic structure (Riffaterre)

• language style = the use of language media under specific circumstances for a specific purpose

Two more notions of style are individual style and idiolect.