37. Language and speech functions.

The minimum ‘living unit’ of language and of literature is a speech act.

There are 2 types of information:

1. connected with the context(connotation), connected with the act of communication, taking into account the relationships between the speakers, the situation on the whole.

(Intellectually-communicative function of the language. Arnold)

2. Not connected with the context (denotation) the objective information, the real topic of discussion. (Emotive, volitional, аппелятивная, контактоустанавливающая,aesthetic functions of the language. Arnold)

According to Jacobson, we divide language functions into 6 factors required for communication:1 context, 2 addresser, 3 addressee, 4 contact, 5 common code, 6 message.

A message is sent by the addresser to the addressee. The message can’t be understood outside the context. “A Code” should be common fully or at least to the addresser and addressee. A contact which is physical channel and psychological connection b\n addresser and addressee is necessary for both of them to enter and stay in communication.

The functions:

referential ( oriented toward the context. To show things or facts e.g. “Water boils at 100 degrees”)

emotive (expressive) ( Oriented toward the addresser, come out when we want to express our emotions though we don’t speak to give an information. E.g. interjections “Ah” and “Oh”)

conative ( Oriented toward the addressee, finds its purest grammatical expression in vocative and imperative sentences e.g. “DRINK!” or “Go away!”)

metalingual ( Used to establish mutual agreement on the code and when the language is used to speak about the language e.g. “What do you mean by “drill”? / a definition)

poetic ( puts “the focus on the message for its own sake” e.g. “Horrible Harry” not terrible.

phatic ( establishes, prolongs or discontinues the communication. We use this function to check if the channel between speaker and listener works and to maintain the contact e.g. “ Do you hear me?”)

Everything that goes beyond the referential function & communicational role of language belongs to the province of expressiveness: emotive overtones, rhythm, emphasis, emotional colouring of the word, emphatic arrangement of sound, word, phrase, evocative devices (the devices which account for a particular function of the language in different spheres of communication). These are elements that associate language with a particular social environment.

38) Stylistic Differentiation of Phraseological Units. Stylistic Functioning of Phraseological Units.

In stylistics we analyse the component parts of phraseological unit in order to get at some communicative effect sought by the writer. It is this communicative effect and the means employed to achieve it that lie within the domain of stylistics.

The Clichés

A cliché is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. As Random House Dictionary has it, "a cliché ... has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long over-use..." This definition lacks one point that should be emphasized; that is, a cliché strives after originality, whereas it has lost the aesthetic generating power it once had. There is always a contradiction between what is aimed at and what is actually attained. Examples of real cliches are 'rosy dreams of youth', 'the patter of little feet', 'deceptively simple'. The term 'cliché' is used to denote word-combinations which have long lost their novelty and become trite, but which are used as if they were fresh and original and so have become irritating to people who are sensitive to the language they hear and read. The set expressions of a language are 'part and parcel' of the vocabulary of the language and cannot be dispensed with by merely labeling them clichés.