Англійська мова / 3. stylistics
.docxWork in pairs to discuss the below questions
1. Language is the most effective way for communicating. Discuss. Do you agree with the idea?
2. In conversation one sometimes doesn’t understand much or misunderstand what the addresser means. What do you think are the reasons?
STYLISTICS
Stylistics is concerned with using the methodology of linguistics to study the concept of “style” in language. Every time we use language we necessarily adopt a style of some sorts: we make a selection from a range of syntactic and lexical possibilities according to the purpose of the communication. The study of style has traditionally been the preserve of literary criticism, but since the rise of linguistics there has been a more systematic attempt to provide a “linguistic” foundation for literary effects, as well as a concern to broaden the scope of enquiry to include non-literary texts: recipes, car manuals, sermons, and so forth.
In many respects stylistics is a twentieth-century development of the classical study of rhetoric. The interest really began with the publication in 1909 because of a work on French stylistics by the linguist Bally, a pupil of Ferdinand de Saussure. Other European linguists were gradually attracted to the subject, and in the ensuing decades its influence spread.
There are various sub-branches of stylistics, reflecting the diversity of approaches which
exist within the field itself. General stylistics is used as a cover term to refer to the analyses of nonliterary varieties of language. The main focus of such studies is with establishing principles which can account for the choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of language. The problem for linguists is to establish a principled framework which can cope with the almost infinite acts of communication which occur between individuals, or groups. Once of the most influential models has been that of Roman Jakobson, the Swedish linguist, presented at a conference at Indiana University in 1958. Despite the brevity of Jakobson’s paper, most discussions of the factors affecting style have taken his model, which seeks to match six general functions of language to their corresponding situational partners. The idea underlying this model is that all language is oriented in some way towards one or more features of the communicative situation. Language which is oriented towards the situational context, for example, is likely to be referential in nature (a discussion of the weather will contain lots of references to the elements), whilst language directed at the addressee, is likely to be cognitive, i.e. persuasive, interrogative, or directive. The other functions can be paired as below:
Phatic language (greetings, leave-takings, and so on) – oriented towards the contact or channel of communication.
Emotive language (the expression of feelings and attitudes) – oriented towards the addresser.
Metalingual language (language about language, e.g. requests for clarification, I don’t understand/can’t read that) – oriented towards the code.
Poetic language (verbal play, e.g. figurative devices, humour, and so on) – oriented towards the message.
Comprehension check
A. The answers to some questions are given as follows. Write down the question.
1. 1909 5. Referential
language
2. Bally 6. Cognitive
language
3. Roman Jakolson 7. Emotive language.
4. Six general functions.
Key Vocabulary:
syntactic and lexical possibilities - синтаксичні та лексичні можливості
to broaden the scope – розширити сферу
literary effects – літературні ефекти
rhetoric
риторика,
стилістика
diversity
of
approaches
– різноманітність підходів
a cover term – ключовий термін
framework
структура,
будова, композиція
brevity - стислість
persuasive
переконливий
interrogative
питання,
запитальний
directive
вказівка,
вказівний
partner
партнер, учасник
whilst
while;
conj.
в
той час як, коли
cognitive
пізнавальний
Phatic language – фатична мова
Emotive
language
– емоційна мова
Metalingual language – мета лінгвістична мова
figurative
devices
фігуральні,
метафоричні засоби