Functional Styles.
♦ Topics for Reports and Discussion
1. The definitions of the word «style».
2. Cognitive style.
3. Stylistics and its connection with other branches of linguistics.
4. Functional styles: formal and informal.
♦ Lecture Digest
Principal definitions of the term “style”, given by the dictionaries. Views of different scholars. The definition of stylistics, its purpose and kinds of stylistics. The problem of the norm in style. Other branches of linguistics stylistics is connected with.
Formal and informal types of speech.
The salient traits of learned style: terminology, peculiar word-building, lexical suppletion; the distinguished features of the official style: a complex syntax, use of figures, homogeneity of parts of sentences.
The informal styles, characterized by personal two-way everyday communication: literary colloquial and familiar colloquial.
A complete classification of all functional styles.
♦ Extension
1. A special aspect of stylistics is presented by the problem of “cognitive style”.
The term “cognitive style” – the German word DENKSTIL – was first used by D. Waber and S. Aulwin (1985, 1989) in their psychoanalytical investigations. As a psychological term “cognitive style” means ways of using the mind, that is special means or methods of problem solving, thinking, perceiving and remembering, which characterize behavior irrelevant of competence; some scholars call it “a thinking style”, or “style of thought”.
In text linguistics (Leech, Short, Beaugrande, Dressler) cognitive style is associated with a special choice of mental operations and their application in the process of text interpretation.
Cognitive style determines our ability to use and analyse such speech procedures as narration, description, argumentation, explication and instruction. The author (or the producer) of the text is also included in this “circle”, as his cognitive style manifests his individual work of mind, his mind-set.
A cognitive style is also defined as an aesthetic reading of a verbal work of art, that is as a reader’s ability to reorganize a literary discourse.
The information withdrawn from the text may be presented 1) first in the form of diagrams or formulas (holistic presentation); 2) second – in words or verbal forms (verbalized presentation); 3) third – by dividing information into distinct parts (analytical presentation); 4) in the form of pictures or vivid context such as metaphors (image presentation).
So the definition of a cognitive style in stylistics may come down to the following: a cognitive style means a complex of verbalized procedures and assessment strategies used by an individual in examining information in the text.
2. Look at the definitions of «cognitive style» (Denkstil) in the dictionary of cognitive terms edited by E. Kubryakova (1996: 79) and sum up R. Beaugrande's view of the problem.
3. Can you agree that what a poet does is to create «a new language (or dialect) and that the task that faces the reader is in some ways like that of learning a new language (or dialect)»? (J.P. Thome) How would you try to define the difference between poetry and prose?
4. Comment on the following quotations:
a) Style is understood as an emphasis (expressive, affective or aesthetic) added to the information conveyed by the linguistic structure, without alteration of meaning. Which is to say that language expresses and that style stresses. (M. Riffaterre)
b) Intimately connected with expressiveness is another key-concept of stylistics, the idea of choice: the possibility of choosing between two or more alternatives – «stylistic variants»: (...) He came too soon and He arrived prematurely. (...) we shall choose the one which carries the right degree of emotion and emphasis, the one whose tone, rhythm, phonetic structure and stylistic register are best suited to the purpose of the utterance and to the situation in which it takes place. (St. Ullmann)
c) La stylistique étudie donc les faits d'expression du langage organisé au point de vue de leur contenue affectif, c'est-à-dire I'expression des faits de la sensibilité par le langage et l’action des faits de langage sur la sensibilité. (Ch. Bally)
d) Generally in looking at style in a text, one is not interested in choices in isolation but rather at a pattern of choices: something that belongs to the text as a whole (...); repeated preference is a feature of style. (J.N. Leech, M.H. Short)
5. Read the text from P. Verdonk’s book “Stylistics” (2003).
Stylistics is concerned with the study of style in language. But what is style in language? How is it produced? How can it be recognized and described? Is it a general feature of language?
The term ‘style’ (without specific reference to language) is one which we use so commonly in our everyday conversation and writing that it seems unproblematic: it occurs so naturally and frequently that we are inclined to take it for granted without enquiring just what we might mean by it. Thus, we regularly use it with reference to the shape or design of something (for example, ‘the elegant style of a house’), and when talking about the way in which something is done or presented (for example, ‘I don’t like his style of management’). Similarly, when describing someone’s manner of writing, speaking, or performing, we may say ‘She writes in a vigorous style’ or ‘She started off in fine style’. We also talk about particular styles of architecture, painting, dress, and furniture when describing the distinctive manner of an artist, a school, or a period. And, finally, when we say that people or places have ‘style’, we are expressing the opinion that they have fashionable elegance, smartness, or a superior manner (for example, ‘They live in grand style’ or ‘Here one can eat in style’).
These everyday notions make a good starting point for a more technical discussion of the use of style in language. In one way or another, all of them make reference to a distinctive manner of expression, through whatever medium this expression is given physical shape. Along the same lines, style in language can be defined as distinctive linguistic expression. But, as with other manifestations of style, we need to consider what makes an expression distinctive, why it has been devised, and what effect it has.
So stylistics, the study of style, can be defined as the analysis of distinctive expression in language and the description of its purpose and effect.
Answer the questions:
1. What everyday meanings of the word ‘style’ can you give? Illustrate each of them.
2. What do the meanings of the word ‘style’ make for a more technical discussion of its use?
3. How can you define style in language?
4. What is stylistics?
6. Read the definition of functional style given by V.I. Shakhovsky in his book “English Stylistics” (2008).
Functional style may be defined as a system of interrelated (normative) language means, which serves a definite aim in communication and is used in a definite sphere of communication thus fulfilling social functions: aesthetico-cognitive, informative, convincing, progressing of ideas, reaching agreements, regulating, coordinating relations between people and states, etc.
Task:
Draw the linguistic ‘area’ of each function and, if possible, illustrate it enlisting different genres of texts used to perform this or that function.
E.g. Informative function is mostly represented in letters, audio and printed news, scientific articles, etc.
♦ List of Works Recommended
1. Банникова И.А. и др. Книга для чтения по стилистике и интерпретации текста: уч.-мет. пособие. Саратов, 2007 С. 5-6 (foregrounding); 10-14 (decoding stylistics).
2. Galperin I.R. Stylistics. M., 2010. PP. 249-250 (FS: the definition); 287-288 (Publicistic Style); 295-298 (Newspaper Style).
3. Kukharenko V.A. A Book of Practice inStylistics. M., 1986. PP. 5-8; 108-110.
4. Fowler R. Linguistic Criticism. Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. press, 1986. PP. 27-28.
5. Enkvist M.E., Spencer J., Gregory M. Linguistics and Style. London, 1964. PP. 7-34.
6. Sayce R.A. The Definition of the Term «Style» // Proceedings of the 3rd Congress of the Intern. Сотр. Literature. Ass. The Hague, 1964. PP. 156-166.
7. Leech J.N., Short M.H. Style in Fiction. A Linguistic Introduction to English Functional Prose. London, New York, 1981. PP. 42.
8. Riffaterre M. Criteria for Style Analysis. Word. Vol. 15. N 1. 1959. PP. 154-155.
9. Ullmann St. New Bearings in Stylistics // Language and Style. New York, 1964. PP. 101-102.
10. Кубрякова Е.С. и др. Краткий словарь когнитивных терминов. М., 1996. C. 79-81.
11. Памухина Л.Г. и др. Английский язык для деловых людей. М.: Лист-Нью, 2003.
♦ Exercises