FINAL REMARKS - раздел Образование, PART I INTRODUCTION This Brief Outline Of The Most Characteristic Features Of The Five Language ...
This brief outline of the most characteristic features of the five language styles and their variants will show that out of the number of features which are easily discernible in each of the styles, some should be considered primary and others secondary; some obligatory, others optional; some constant, others transitory. The necessary data can be obtained by means of an objective statistical count based on a large number of texts, but this task cannot be satisfactorily completed without the use of computers.
Another problem facing the stylicist is whether or not there are separate styles within the spoken variety of the language, and the analysis of these styles if it can be proved that there are any. So far we are of the opinion that styles of language can only be singled out in the written variety. This can be explained by the fact that any style is the result of a deliberate, careful selection of language means which in their correlation constitute this style. This can scarcely be attained in the oral variety of language which by its very nature will not lend itself to careful selection.
However, there is folklore, which originated as an oral form of communication, and which may perhaps be classed as a style of language with its own structural and semantic laws.
The survey of different functional styles will not be complete without at least a cursary look into what constitutes the very notion of text<as^ a production of man's creative activity in the realm of language.
The word'text', which has imperceptibly crept into common use, has never been linguistically ascertained. It is so broad in its application that it can refer to a span of utterance consisting of two lines, on the one hand, and to a whole novel, on the other. Therefore the word needs specification in order to make clear what particular kind of language product has the right to be termed text. The student of functional styles will undoubtedly benefit by looking at the text from an angle different from what he has hitherto been used to. When analysing the linguistic nature of a text it is first of all necessary to keep in mind the concept of permanence as set against ephemerality. Text, being the result of language activity, enjoys permanence inasmuch as it belongs to the written variety of language.
Text can be what it claims to be only if it possesses the quality of integrity, i.e. wholeness characterized by its gestalt (see p. 30). In other words, text must enjoy a kind of independent existence; it must be an entity in itself.
The integrity of the text presupposes the subordination of certain parts to one particular part which reveals the main idea and the purport of the writer. It has already been stated that a text consists of units which we called supra-phrasal (see p. 194). These units are not equal in their significance: some of them bear reference to the main idea, others only back up the purport of the author. It follows then that supra-phrasal units can be classified as predicative and relative. The interrelation between these will show what kind, of importance the author attaches to one or other part of the utterance.
The theory of communication has brought about new concepts regarding the information imparted by different texts. It will be of use to distinguish between the following terms: meaning, signified tion and content. We shall reserve the term 'meaning* for the semantics of a morpheme, a word or of a word-combination. The term 'signification' is here suggested to refer only to the sentence and supra-phrasal units. The term 'content' should be reserved for the information imparted by the whole of the text.
It follows then that the information contained in a text is its content. However, the content is not a mechanical summing up of the significations of the sentences and the supra-phrasal units. Likewise, the signification of a sentence or of a supra-phrasal unit is not a mechanical summary of meanings of the constituents, i.e. of the words or word-combinations. The integrating power of the text greatly influences the signification of the sentences, depriving them of the independence they would enjoy in isolation. The same can be observed in the sentence, where the words to a greater or lesser degree lose their independence and are subjected to sometimes almost imperceptible semantic modifications. To phrase the issue differently, the content of a text modifies the significations of the sentences and the meanings of the words and phrases. The integrating power of the text is considerable and requires careful observation.
The informati&n conveyed by a^text may be of different kinds; in particular, two kinds of information might be singled out, 'viz. content-conceptual and' content-factual.
Content-conceptual information is that which reveals the formation of notions, ideas or concepts. This kind of information is not confined to merely imparting intelligence, faots (real or imaginary), descriptions, events, proceedings, etc. It4s much more complicated. Content-conceptual information is not always easily discernible. It is something that may not lie on the surface of its verbal exposition. It can only be grasped after a minute examination of the constituents of the text provided that the reader has acquired the skill of siipralinear analysis. Moreover, it may have various interpretations and not infrequently reveals divergent views as to its purport.
It follows then that content-conceptual information is mainly found in the belles-lettres language style. Here it reigns supreme although it may also be encountered in some other functional styles and particularly in diplomatic texts.
Content-factual information is that contained in what we have al-
ready named matter-of-fact styles, i.e. in newspaper style, in the texts of official documents and in some others.
The classification of information into content-conceptual and content-factual should not lead to the conclusion that texts of a scientific nature, for example, are deprived of concepts. The word 'conceptual1 has multi-dimensional parametres, i.e. it can be applied to different phenomena. Scientific.treatises and monographs are undoubtedly characterized by original concepts, i. e. theories, hypotheses, propositions. But these concepts are explicitly formulated and need no special stylistic inventory to decode them. Whereas the concepts contained in works of art (to which the functional style of belles-lettres belongs) are to be derived from the gestalt of the work. Taken by itself, such a division of information may appear unconvincing, inasmuch as too many interpretations of the word 'conceptual' can be suggested. But its'aim, be it repeated, is to emphasize the crucial difference between what is more or less clearly stated in verbal chains and what is only suggested and therefore needs mental effort to get at what is said by the unsaid.
In conclusion we suggest the following procedures in stylistic analysis which will facilitate the process of disclosing the kind of information contained in the given text.
The first procedure is to ascertain the kind of text being dealt with. This procedure may be called the taxonomic stage of analysis. Taxonomy is the science of classification. It states the principles according to which objects are classified. There is an immediate need to get a clear idea as to what functional style this or that text belongs. Furthermore, the tax-onomical analysis will bring to mind a definite model of a text in the given style. Sometimes it is not enough to state that the text belongs to, let us say, the style of .official documents. It is necessary to specify what kind of a document is being analysed. Thus, it is very important to find out whether the text is a memorandum, or a note, or a protest, or a pact, etc. If the text is one that belongs to the belles-lettres style, it is necessary to point out what kind of a text it is, viz. a poem (what type), a story, a novel and further, within it, a description, a portrait, a conversation (dialogue), the author's narrative, his speculations, etc.
The second procedure, which may be called the content-grasping stage, aims at an approximate understanding of the content of .the given text. It does not claim to be a complete and exhaustive penetration into the hidden purport of the author. The conceptual information will be disclosed at later stages in the analysis.
However, this .superficial grasping of the general content is an important stage, it should stand out against a deeper understanding of the information the text contains in the “broad meaning of the term.
The third procedure, which might be called semantic, has as its purpose the close observation of the meanings of separate words and word combinations as well as of the significations of the various sentences and supra-phrasal units. This stage of the analysis predetermines the lines of further analysis which will reveal the deeper information. In maintaining this procedure it is vitally important not to lose sight of the fact that, as has been pointed out before, the meanings of words and the significations of the sentences and SPUs are liable to modifications under the integrating power of the whole of the text, its gestalt. It is advisable at this stage of analysis to consult dictionaries inasmuch as dictionaries will show the polysemy of the words, thus enabling the student to distinguish a simultaneous realization of two or more meanings of a word in the sentence.
The fourth procedure, which should be called the stylistic stage, aims at finding out what additional information might-be imparted by the author's use of various stylistic devices, by the juxtaposition of sentences within a larger frame of utterance, that is, in the SPU, and also by the interdependence of predicative and relative SPUs.
The fifth procedure, which conventionally might be called the functional stage of analysis, brings us back to the second one, i.e. the content-grasping stage. This analysis sets the task of investigating the conceptual information contained in the whole of the text. In maintaining this stage of analysis the student should assemble the previously acquired data and make a kind of synthesis of all the procedures.
There is no hierarchy in maintaining analysis procedures but the suggested sequence has proved to be the most efficient in getting a deeper insight into what constitutes the notion text.
Все темы данного раздела:
I. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLE AND Stylistics
Stylistics, sometimes called lingvo-stylistics, is a branch of general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly with two interdependent
T^jire treated are the main distinctive features of individual style.
The treatment of the selected elements brings up the problem of the norm. The notion of the norm mainly refers to the literary language and always presupposes a recognized o
EXPRESSIVE MEANS (EM) AND STYLISTIC DEVICES (SD)
In linguistics there are different terms to den _by which utterances are foreground, i.e. made more conspicuous, more "effective and therefore imparting some additional information. They are c
GENERAL NOTES ON FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF LANGUAGE
We have defined the object,of linguo-stylistics as the study of the nature, functions and structure^ SDs and EMs, on the one hand, and the study of the functional styles, on the other. In section 2
The gap between the spoken and written varieties of language, wider
narrower at different periods in the development of the literary lan-
guage, will always remain apparent due to the difference in circumstances in which the two ar
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LITERARY (STANDARD) LANGUAGE
Up till now we have done little more than mention the literary (standard) language, which is one of the most important notions in stylistics and general linguistics. It is now necessary to elucida
MEANING FROM A STYLISTIC POINT OF VIEW
Stylistics is a domain where meaning assumes paramount importance.. This is so because the term 'meaning' is applied not only to words, word-combinations, sentences but also to the manner of expres
I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Like any linguistic issue the classification of the vocabulary here suggested is for purely stylistic purposes. This is important for the course in as much as some SDs are based on the interplay of
Common CoUo^uiaL Vocabulary
-Professionalisms i special Colloquial Vocabulary (non-Literary)
of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral
B) Poetic and Highly Literary Words
Poetic words form a rather insignificant layer of the special literary vocabulary. They are mostly archaic or very rarely used highly literary words which aim at producing an elevated effect. They
C) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words
The word-stock of a language is in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning and sometimes drop out of the language altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones. Some wo
D) Barbarisms and Foreignisms
In the vocabulary of the English language there is a considerable layer of words called barbarisms. These are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English lang
A) Slang
There is hardly any other term that is as ambiguous and obscure as the term slang. Slang seems to mean everything that is below the standard of usage of present-day English.
Much has been
B) Jargonisms
In the non-literary vocabulary of the English language there is a group of words that are called jargonisms. Jargon is a recognized term for a group of words that exists in almost every language an
C) Professionalisms
H Professionalisms, as the term itself signifies, are the words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connected by common interests both at work and at home. They commonly desi
D) Dialectal words
This group of words is obviously opposed to the other groups of the non-literary English vocabulary and therefore its stylistic, functions can be more or less clearly defined. Dialectal words are
E) Vulgar words or vulgarisms
The term vulgarism, as used to single out a definite group of words of non-standard English, is rather misleading. The ambiguity of the term apparently proceeds from the etymology of the word. Vulg
GENERAL NOTES
The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which, in a certain type of communication, viz. belles-lettres,
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc), by things (machines or taols, etc), by people (sighing, laughter, patter
Alliteration
Apt Alliteration's Artful Aid. Charles Churchill
Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in
A. INTENTIONAL MIXING OF THE STYLISTIC ASPECT OF WORDS
Heterogeneity of the component parts of the utterance is the basis for a stylistic device called b a th о s. Unrelated elements are brought together as if they denoted things equal in rank or belon
B. INTERACTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANING
Words in context, as has been pointed out, may acquire additional lexical meanings not fixed in dictionaries, what we have called contextual meanings. The latter may sometimes deviate from the
INTERACTION OF PRIMARY DICTIONARY AND CONTEXTUALLY IMPOSED MEANINGS
The interaction or interplay between the primary dictionary meaning (the meaning which is registered in the language code as an easily recognized sign for an abstract notion designating a certain
Metaphor
The term 'metaphor', as the etymology of the word reveals, means transference of some quality from one object to another. From the times of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric, the term has been known
Metonymy
Metonymy is based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on identification, but on some kind of association connecting
INTERACTION OF PRIMARY AND DERIVATIVE LOGICAL MEANINGS Stylistic Devices Based on Polysemantic Effect, Zeugma and Pun
As is known, the word is, of all language units, the most sensitive to change; its meaning gradually develops and as a result of this develop-"' ment new meanings appear alongside the primary
INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS
The general notions concerning emotiveness have been set out in part I, § 6—"Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View" (p. 57). However, some additional information is necessary for a bette
Interjections and Exclamatory Words
Interjections are words we use when we express our feelings ^strongly and which may be said to exist in language as coriyeritional symbols of human emotions/The role of interjections in creating em
The Epithet
From the strongest means of displaying the writer's or speaker's emotionaj. attitude to his communication, we now pass to a weaker but still forceful, means — the ep i th e t. .The epithet is subtl
Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adjective and a noun or an adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense, for example:
'low sk
Antonomasia
We have already pointed out the peculiarities of nominal meaning. The interplay between the logical and nominal meanings of a word is call-ed antonomasia. As in other stylistic devices based on the
C. INTENSIFICATION OF A CERTAIN FEATURE OF A THING OR PHENOMENON
In order to understand the linguistic nature of the SDs of this group it is necessary to clear 4up some problems, so far untouched, of d e f i n i-t i о п as a philosophical category, Any definitio
Periphrasis
Periphrasis is a device which, according to Webster's dictionary, denotes the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter and plainer form of expression. It is also called circumlocuti
Euphemism
There is a variety of periphrasis which we shall call euphemistic.
Euphemism, as is known, is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acc
Hyperbole
Another SD which also has the function of intensifying one certain property of the object described is h у p e r b о I e. It can be defined as a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a featur
D. PECULIAR USE OF SET EXPRESSIONS
In language studies there are two very clearly-marked tendencies that the student should never lose sight of, particularly when dealing with the problem of word-combination. They are 1) the analyti
The Cliche
A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. As Random House Dictionary has it, "a cliche ... has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long over-us
Proverbs and Sayings
Proverbs and sayings are facts of language. They are collected in dictionaries. There are special dictionaries of proverbs and sayings. It is impossible to arrange proverbs and sayings in a form th
Epigrams
An epigram is a stylistic device akin to a proverb, the only difference being that epigrams are coined by individuals whose names we know, while proverbs are the coinage of the people. In other wor
Allusions
An allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical, literary, mythological, biblical fact or to "a fact of'everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. The us
Decomposition of Set Phrases
Linguistic fusions are set phrases, the meaning of which is understood only from the combination as a whole, as to pull a person's leg or to have something at one's finger tips. The meaning of the
A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Within the language-as-a-system there establish themselves certain [definite types of relations between words, word-combinations, sentences I and also between larger spans of utterances. The branch
B. PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE COMPOSITION OF SPANS OF UTTERANCE LARGER THAN THE SENTENCE
In recent years a new theory concerning the inner relations between context and form within the sentence has appeared. This theory, elaborated by S. Harris, N. Chomsky, M. Postal and others, is ca
Supra-Phrasal Units
The term supra-phrasal unit (SPU) is used to denote a larger unit than a sentence. It generally comprises a number of sentences interdependent structurally (usually by means of pronouns, connective
The Paragraph
A p a r a g r a p h is a graphical term used to name a group of sentences marked off by indentation at the beginning and a break in the line at the end. But this graphical term has come to mean a
C. COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT
The structural syntactical aspect is sometimes regarded as the crucial issue in stylistic analysis, although the peculiarities of syntactical arrangement are not so conspicuous as the lexical and
Stylistic Inversion
W о r d-o r d e r is a crucial syntactical problem in many languages. In English it has peculiarities which have been caused by the concrete and specific way the language has developed. O. Jesperse
Detached Construction
a sentence by some specific
consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independ-
ent of Ще^ш^1У^^ parts of structures are called lie t ached. They seem_tCLjda
Parallel Construction
Parallel construction is a device which may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in the macro-structures dealt with earlier, viz. the SPU and the paragraph. The necessary condition in par
Repetition
It has already been pointed out that r ej^e ti t i о п is1 an expressive means of language used when the speaker is imder the stress of strong ""ей^зпг-Jt^^ as in the following "pas
Enumeration
E n и т е г a tion is a stylistic device by which separate things, objects, phenomena, properties, actions are named one by one so that they produce a chain, the links of which, being syntactically
Suspense
S usp eji se i s a comppsitionjl device which consists in arranging the fffaFEe? of a commjuhTcation in such a way that the less important, "descriptive, subordinate parts are amassed af the b
Antithesis
In order to characterize a thing or phenomenon from a specific point of view, it may be necessary not to find points of resemblance or association between it and some other thing or phenomenon, bu
Asyndeton
Asyndeton, that is, connection between parts of a sentence or between sentences without any formal sign, becomes a stylistic device if there is a deliberate omission of the connective where it is g
Polysyndeton
Polysyndeton is the stylistic device of connecting sentences, or phrases, or syntagms, or words'by using connectives (mostly conjunctions and prepositions) before each component part, as in:
The Gap- Sentence Link
There is a peculiar type of connection of sentences which for want of a term we shall call the g ap-s en fence link (GSL). The connection is not immediately apparent and it requires a certain ment
E. PARTICULAR USE OF COLLOQUIAL CONSTRUCTIONS
We have already pointed out some of the constructions which bear an imprint of emotion in the very arrangement of the words, whether they are neutral or stylistically coloured (see" p. 39). Su
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a typical phenomenon in conversation, arising out of the situation. We mentioned this .peculiar feature of the spoken language when we characterized its essential qualities and properti
Question-in-the-Narrative
Questions, being both structurally and semantically one of the types of sentences, are asked by one person and e'xpected to be answered by another. This is the main, and the most characteristic pro
Represented Speech
There are three ways of reproducing actual speech: a) repetition of the exact utterance as it was spoken (direct speech), b) conversion of the exact utterance into the relater'smode of expression
A) Uttered Represented Speech
Uttered represented speech demands that the tense should be switched from present to past and that the personal pronouns should be changed from 1st and 2nd person to 3rd person as in indirect speec
B) Unuttered or Inner Represented Speech
As has often been pointed out, language has two functions: the communicative and the expressive. The communicative function serves to convey one's thoughts, volitions, emotions and orders to the m
Rhetorical Questions
The rhetorical q и e^s t i о n Is a special syntactical stylistic j device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical mean-j ing of the interrogative sentence. In other words, the q
Litotes
Litotes is a stylistic device consisting of a peculiar use of negative constructions. The negation plus noun or adjective serves to establish a positive feature in a person or thing. This positive
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
We have already mentioned the problem of what is known as / и n c-tional styles (FS) of language (see p. 32—35), but only to show that FSs should be distinguished from varieties of language. The ma
A. THE BELLES-LETTRES STYLE
We have already pointed out that the belles-lettres style is a generic term for three substyles in which the main principles and the most general properties of the style are materialized. These thr
LANGUAGE OF POETRY
The first substyle we shall consider is v e r s e. Its first differentiating property is its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. The rhyt
Metre and Line
It is customary to begin the exposition of the theory of English versification with the statement that "...there is no established principle of English versification/'Eut this statement may a
The Stanza
We have defined rhythm as more or less regular alternations of similar units. Of the units of verse rhythm the following have been named: the syllable, the foot, the line and finally the stanza.
Free Verse and Accented Verse
Verse remains classical if it retains its metrical scheme.
There are, however, types of verse which are not classical. The one most popular is what is called "vers libre" which i
B) Lexical and Syntactical Features of Verse
The phonetic features of the language of poetry constitute what we have called its external aspect. These features immediately strike the ear and the eye and therefore are easily discernible; but t
EMOTIVE PROSE
The substyle of emotive prose has the same common features as have been pointed out for the belles-lettres style in general; but all these features are correlated differently in emotive prose. The
LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA
The third subdivision of the belles-lettres style is the language of plays. The first thing to be said about the parameters of this variety of belles-lettres is that, unlike poetry, which, except f
B. PUBLICISTS STYLE
The publicist i*c s tу I e of language became discernible as a separate style in the middle of the 18th century. It also falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unli
ORATORY AND SPEECHES
The oratorical s ty I e of language is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. It has already been pointed out that persuasion is the most obvious purpose of oratory.
"Oratoric
THE ESSAY
As a separate form of English literature the essay dates from the close of the 16th century. The name appears to have become common on the publication of Montaigne's "Essays", a literary
JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES
Irrespective of the character of the magazine and the divergence of subject matter—whether it is political, literary, popular-scientific or satirical, all the already mentioned features of publicis
C. NEWSPAPER STYLE
N e w s paper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms.
English newspaper writing dat
BRIEF NEWS ITEMS
The principal function of a b r i e f news i te т is to inform the reader. It states facts without giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news paragraphs is for the most part
ADVERTISEMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Advertisements made their way into the British press at an early stage of its development, i.e. in the micHTth century. So they are almost as old as newspapers themselves.
The principal fu
THE HEADLINE
The headline (the title given to a news item or an article) is a dependent form of newspaper writing. It is in fact a part of a larger whole. The specific functional and linguistic traits of the he
THE EDITORIAL
The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the
D. SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE
The language of science is governed by the aim of the functional style of scientific prose, which is to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, devel
E. THE STYLE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
There is one more style of language within the field of standard literary English which has become singled out, and that is the s ty le of official d о с и т е п t s, or "officialese", a
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