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Units of language on different levels are studied by traditional branches of linguistics such as phonetics that deals with speech sounds and intonation; lexicology that treats words, their meaning and vocabulary structure, grammar that analyses forms of words and their function in a sentence which is studied by syntax. These areas of linguistic study are rather clearly defined and have a long-term tradition of regarding language phenomena from a level-oriented point of view.
Тема 1. THE SUBJECT OF STYLISTICS, PRINCIPLE NOTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER LINGUISTIC SCIENCES AND SPHERES OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.
Units of language on different levels are studied by traditional branches of linguistics such as phonetics that deals with speech sounds and intonation; lexicology that treats words, their meaning and vocabulary structure, grammar that analyses forms of words and their function in a sentence which is studied by syntax. These areas of linguistic study are rather clearly defined and have a long-term tradition of regarding language phenomena from a level-oriented point of view.
Language is a system of mental associations of elementary and complex signs (speech sounds, morphemes, words, word combinations, utterances) with our mental picture of objective reality. Language is a psychological phenomenon of social significance. It exists in individual minds, but serves the purpose of social intercourse through speech (oral or written). Language performs communicative and cognitive functions. The former is the primary function; the latter is the secondary function, but it is of great importance for the development of humanity.
Language as a system of associations exists in human minds, but it manifests itself in acts of speech. Speech is not a purely mental phenomenon, not a system, but a momentary, fleeting psycho-physiological action, a process of sending acoustic signals, perceptible to anyone within hearing.
Stylistics deals with styles. Style can be roughly defined as the peculiarity, the set of specific features of a text type or of a concrete text. Style is just what differentiates a group of homogeneous texts from all other groups.
In fact no national language is a homogeneous whole, because many of its constituents are not used in every sphere of communication, but belong to special spheres, to specific types of speech.
Stylistics deals with specific units of the language comprising styles, not with neutral ones. The majority of words are neutral. Stylistically coloured words – bookish, poetic, official, archaic, colloquial, dialectical, vulgar – have each a kind of label on them showing where the unit generally belongs. Stylistically coloured words are limited to specific conditions of communication.
The authors of handbooks on German, French, English and Russian stylistics proposed more or less analogous systems of styles based on a broad subdivision of all styles into two classes: literary and colloquial and their varieties. These generally include from 3 to 5 functional styles.
Stylistics is very closely linked to the linguistic disciplines students are familiar with: phonetics, lexicology and grammar including morphology and syntax. But stylistics is not a level discipline because stylistics pertains to all the levels, to every level. Moreover, it must be subdivided into separate, quite independent branches, treating one level each. So we have:
Stylistic phonetics
Stylistic morphology
Stylistic lexicology
Stylistic syntax
It’s common knowledge that the theory of translation is impossible without the basic items of stylistics because adequate translation must be stylistically relevant to the original.
70% of our life time is spent in various forms of communication activities – oral (speaking, listening) or written (reading, writing), so it is self-evident how important it is for an educated person to know the mechanics of relations between the non-verbal, extralinguistic essence of the communicative act and its verbal, linguistic presentation.
(Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English stylistics. – M., 1994. – p.5-11)
Тема 2. COMMUNICATIVE SYSTEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
The structure of language communicative system consists of such units as phonemes, morphemes, words, word combinations, utterances and combinations of utterances. But it is assumed that text (which means a coherent sequence of signs) is the highest unit of communication. It realizes linguistic and pragmatic strategies of speech.
So, text, as the main communicative unit, can be studied from both
The literary communication, most often (but not always) materialized in the written form, is not homogeneous, and according to its function (or purpose) we speak of different functional styles. As the whole of language itself, functional styles are also changeable. Their quantity and quality change in the course of their development. At present most scholars differentiate such functional styles: scientific, official, publicist, newspaper, belles-lettres.
All the functional styles are specified within the literary type of the language. Their functioning is characterized by the intentional approach of the speaker towards the choice of language means suitable for a particular communicative situation.
The user of the literary speech type is fully aware of his social responsibility, aware of the existing requirements he is expected to meet in the best way. Many conventions must be observed.
The person in an informal situation is free from stylistic restrictions; the only trouble is to get himself understood, or even less: to express himself. The words and forms of constructions used are often unpredictable, chosen or made up on the spot. Here, stereotyped conventional formulas are also very much in use, but they differ from those of the former type.
It is necessary to stress two points. The first one concerns the dichotomy – literary/colloquial, the second – written/spoken. The first deals with the choice of language means, the second – with the form of presentation.
There are colloquial messages in the written form (such as personal letters, informal notes, diaries and journals) and vice versa, we have examples of literary language in the spoken form (as in recital, lecture, report, paper read at a conference).
The spoken variety differs from the written language phonetically (in its written presentation), morphologically, lexically and syntactically.
The spoken language makes ample use of intensifying words: interjections, swear words, oaths. Ellipsis or omission of parts of the utterance is also characteristic of the spoken variety.
In the written variety the utterance becomes more exact, as the situation must be made clear by the context. The relation between the parts of the utterances must be more precise. Another syntactical feature of the written variety is the use of complicated sentence-units. The monologue character of the written language demands logical coherence of the idea expressed and the breaking of the utterances into spans; hence units like the syntactical whole of the paragraph.
(Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English stylistics. – M., 1994. p.15-32)
Тема 3. STYLISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY.
A special branch of linguistics – lexicology – has done much to classify vocabulary. For our purpose we need a special type of classification – stylistic classification, though not all linguists agree that such a classification is possible: the word stock of any language is so large and so heterogeneous that it is difficult to formalize it and therefore present it in any system. Professor Galperin thinks it possible to represent the whole of the word stock of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the LITERARY layer, the NEUTRAL layer and the COLLOQUIAL layer.
1) The neutral layer is universal in character. It can be used in all functional styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. It is this that makes the neutral layer the most stable of all.
2) The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character. It consists of the following groups of words:
1. Common literary
2. Terms and learned words
3. Poetic words
4. Archaic words
5. Barbarisms and foreign words
6. Literary coinages including nonce-words
3) The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups:
1. Common colloquial words
2. Slang
3. Professional words
4. Jargonisms
5. Dialectal words
6. Vulgar words
7. Colloquial coinages
The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term STANDARD ENGLISH vocabulary. Other groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literary vocabulary and other groups in the colloquial layer are regarded as special colloquial (non-literary) vocabulary.
Neutral words, which form the bulk of the English vocabulary, are used in both literary and colloquial language. Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. Neutral words cannot be considered as having a special stylistic colouring, whereas both literary and colloquial words have a definite stylistic colouring.
Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and polished speech.
Both literary and colloquial words have their upper and lower ranges. The lower range of literary words approaches the neutral layer and has a tendency to pass into that layer. The upper range of the colloquial layer can easily pass into the neutral layer. The lines of demarcation between common colloquial on the one hand, and common literary and neutral layers on the other, are blurred.
Terms. Terms are generally associated with a definite branch of science. Terms are characterized by a tendency to be monosemantic. They are mostly used in special works dealing with some branch of science. Terms are usually built with the help of existing word-building elements. They may be divided into three main groups depending on the character of their etymology.
Poetic and highly literary words. Poetic words are used primarily in poetry. But writers sometimes use poetic words in other sub-styles: emotive prose, the language of drama, newspaper, etc. In this case the words assume a new function, mainly satirical.
Archaic words. The word stock of a language is continuously changing. Some words change their meaning and sometimes drop out the language altogether, other words stay in the language a very long time and acquire new meanings. In every period in the development of a literary language one can find words that are losing their vigour or are on the verge of complete disappearance. It is possible to distinguish three stages in the aging process:
1)The beginning of the aging process when the word becomes rarely used. Such words are called OBSOLESCENT words. They have been kept in the literary language as means of preserving the spirit of earlier periods.
2) OBSOLETE words are those that have already gone completely out of use, but are still recognized by the English speaking community.
3) ARCHAIC PROPER are words which are no longer recognized in modern English, words that were used in Old English and have either dropped out of the language entirely or have changed in their appearance completely.
4) HISTORICAL words. They can be called historical terms referring to definite stages in the development of society and cannot be neglected though the things and phenomena to which they refer no longer exist. Historical words have no synonyms as compared to archaic words which are replaced by modern synonyms.
Barbarisms and foreign words. Barbarisms are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English language. Most of them have corresponding English synonyms.
Barbarisms are in actual use in the English language, they are fact of the English language and this distinguishes them from foreign words. The primary stylistic function of barbarisms is to create local colour or to describe the conditions of life, customs, morals and the manners of a given country at a given period.
Barbarisms and foreign words are used in various styles of writing, but are most often to be found in the belles-lettres style and the publicist style. Foreign words, though used for certain stylistic purposes, do not belong to the English vocabulary. In printed works foreign words and phrases are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or their stylistic value.
Literary coinages (neologisms). The coining of new words generally arises with the need to give a name to new concepts or to express nuances of meaning (terminological neologisms). Most of the literary-bookish coinages are built by means of affixation and word compounding, also by means of conversion, derivation and change of meaning.
Neologisms mostly appear in the publicist style, in newspaper articles and magazines, and in newspaper headlines.
(Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English stylistics. – M., 1994. p. 17-27)
Тема 4. STYLISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY: SPECIAL COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY
Slang. The term “slang’ is a very obscure one. Slang seams to mean anything that is below the standard of usage of present day English. The use of slang is generally regarded as a violation of the norm of Standard English.
It is quite normal to use slang in a dialogue between two characters to whom slang would be natural.
Jargonisms are words and word combinations created by different social groups for use within their particular circle.
Jargonisms aim at secrecy. The cryptic character of jargonisms generally needs an explanation when they are used outside a given professional or social circle. Jargonisms may be applied in the belles-lettres style as a means of characterizing the personages by their speech.
Professionalisms are words connected with the business activity of people having the same profession or occupation and used in the sphere of oral intercourse. Professionalisms may be regarded as colloquial synonyms of technical terms.
Professionalisms are mainly names of tools, machines, devices and processes directly connected with a given occupation. The use of professional words in the given field has no stylistic value. But when they are introduced into other styles they assume definite stylistic functions. They may be used either as a means of characterizing a person through his speech or as a figurative expression emphasizing a feature of the object or phenomenon in Question.
Dialectal words are those which in the process of integration of the English national language remained beyond its literary boundaries. Their use is generally limited to a locality. But the old dialects are gradually dying out in England. The levelling of speech is going on through the country due to the influence of radio and television. But still there are a great number of words that are understood only in rural communities. Dialectal words are used in emotive prose to create a realistic local colouring or a means of characterizing a personage through his speech.
Vulgar words are coarse words and expressions with strong emotional meaning which denote the speaker’s attitude toward the object in question. There are different degrees of vulgar words; some of them, obscene ones, should not even be fixed in common dictionaries.
Coarse words denoting parts of the body and physiological acts that are not spoken of in public except in euphemistic form are called disphemisms.
Vulgarisms can be found in the belles-lettres style, they are used to express strong emotions, mainly annoyance, anger, vexation and the like.
Colloquial coinages or nonce-words are spontaneous and elusive. Most of them disappear from the language, leaving no trace in it. Colloquial nonce-words are not new words but new meanings of existing words. But there are some words that are built with the most common suffixes and prefixes of the English language: “-er, -al, -un”.
(Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English stylistics. – M., 1994. p. 23-37)
Тема 5. EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LANGUAGE STRUCTURE. GENERAL NOTES. EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES OF THE PHONO-GRAPHICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL LEVEL
Expressive means of language are linguistic forms and properties that have the potential to make the utterance emphatic or expressive. They can be found on all levels – phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactical.
A stylistic device is a literary model in which semantic and structural features are mixed so that it represents a generalized pattern.
Expressive means and stylistic devices have a lot in common but they are not completely synonymous. All stylistic devices belong to expressive means but not all expressive means are stylistic devices. Phonetic phenomena such as pauses, logical stress are expressive without being stylistic devices.
According to the level-oriented approach expressive means and stylistic devices can subdivide into:
The sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. In combination with other words a word may acquire a desired phonetic effect. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic impression. The music of words results from the correlation of the meaning of the utterance with its sound. The sound of a word, the way words sound in combination can contribute to the general effect of the message. On this principle the following stylistic phonetic devices are based:
a ) Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds produced
b) Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which gives a melodic effect to the utterance by means of repetition of similar sounds in close succession, e.g. “Deep into the darkness peering, long stood there wondering, fearing” (Raven by Poe)
c) Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines. There are different criteria to distinguish different types of rhyme: according to the
1) place of rhyming words: ending rhyme – head rhyme;
2) quality of rhyming words: full rhyme )– incomplete rhyme;
3) form: oral – written (eye-rhyme).
d) Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes various forms: musical, mechanical, symmetrical (as in architecture). Rhythm is a periodicity, it is a deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units (intended to be grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a stylistic device). Recurring units can belong to a phonetic, morphological, lexical or syntactical level. Rhythm is the main factor which brings order into the utterance. It is also one of the means to increase emotional tension of an utterance.
e) Morphemic repetition is used to give additional information to the utterance – logical, emotive, expressive. Both root and affixational morphemes can be emphasized through repetition. When repeated they come into the focus of attention and:
1) stress their logical meaning (contrast, negation, absence of quality as in such prefixes like a-, anti-, mis-, non-, ir-; or smallness as in suffixes -ling, -ette),
2) stress their emotive and evaluative meaning (suffixes forming degrees of comparison -er - est),
3) add to the rhythmical effect and text unity.