文体学chapt2OnStyle

1、Chapter 2 On StyleRevision of Chapter 1Answer the following questions:1. What is stylistics?2. What are the two assumptions of stylistics?3. What are the two goals of stylistics?4. What are the components and procedure of stylistic inquiry?5. What is the nature of stylistic analysis?Contents of this

2、 chapter 1. Three typical views on style 2. Classification of style 3. Varieties of English 4. Formality of style 5. Linguistic levels of style 1. Three typical views on style There are many views on what style is, even as many as 31 according to Liu Shisheng (1998), among which 12 are listed in Wan

3、g Shouyuan (2000: 11-12). What follows is the discussion of three typical views. 1.1 Style as deviance According to Widdowson, the distinctiveness of a literary text resides in its departure from the characteristics of what is communicatively normal. This has led to approaches to style as deviance.

4、Two examples of style as deviance: (1) A grief ago The phrase violates two rules of English: p.13. (2) e. e. cummings poem anyone lived in a pretty how town: anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didnt he danced his did women

5、and men (both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isnt they reaped their same sun moon stars rain The poem violates English grammatical rules and the violations are systematic: p.13. The advantage of the approach to style as deviance: It can help us to see and keep in mind

6、 that there is a difference between everyday language and literary language. Two disadvantages of this approach: 1) It is difficult to define the nature and status of the norm from which style of a text deviates. 2) It encourages us to look at the language of grammatically highly deviant authors lik

7、e e. e. cummings at the expense of the relatively non-deviant ones such as T. S. Eliot. More generally, it tends to undervalue all non-deviant language. 1.2 Style as choice By style as choice is meant that style results from a tendency of a speaker or writer to consistently choose certain structures

8、 over others available in the language. Style as choice is often considered to be a matter of form or expression. Hemingways writing style: a habit of writing in short, simple sentences, preferring the “dramatic” to the “interior monologue” point of view in narration, etc. Below is an example of sty

9、le as choice, as is illustrated by the contrast between the authors manuscripts: Original: As though a rose should close and be a bud again Revision: As though a rose should shut and be a bud again (J. Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes) The choice of shut is more appropriate and significant than close in

10、three respects (p.17): 1) forming a semi-rhyme or assonance 2) phonetic connection between shut and bud underlies the semantic connection 3) production of the word shut may produce a sense of “suddenness” and “abruptness” compared with close. Chinese examples: The story of “推敲” Chairman Maos revisio

11、n of poetry The merit: It is a view broader than the view of style as deviance. It may in some way subsume the latter. The demerit: It implies that every linguistic element in a text is a choice of the writer and therefore should be included in a discussion of the style of the text it is in. But thi

12、s is obviously not the case. In fact, in interpreting a text, only a certain number of elements are interesting and relevant to the interpretation. 1.3 Style as foregrounding The term “foregrounding”, which is a concept of pictorial arts, is applied in literature to refer to the unexpected departure

13、s from the accepted norms. The view of style as foregrounding includes both the deviant features and those linguistic phenomena which are not deviant, but nevertheless striking (i.e., overregular features). Consider the following parallel structure for example: When he laughed, respectable senators

14、burst with laughter, And when he cried the little children died in the streets. (W. H. Auden, Epitaph on a Tyrant) The notion of style as foregrounding has two advantages over the other approaches (p.20): 1) compared with style as deviance; 2) compared with style as choice. Foregrounding is achieved

15、 either through deviation or through overregularity in language use. Deviation is further classified into 1) surface-structure deviation: phonological, graphological, syntactic, and lexical deviation; 2) deep-structure/semantic deviation: contradiction, transference, deception and ambiguity. Overreg

16、ularity is further divided into 3) phonological overregularity: phonemic patterning and rhythmic patterning 4) syntactic overregularity: repetition, parallelism and regression. In a sense, stylistic analysis means 1) the identification of deviation and overregularity used in a text and 2) the analys

17、is of their stylistic effects. 2. Classification of style 2.1 Literary style 1) Personal style: The style of a writer represented in a specific text (e.g., the style of Robert Burns A Red, Red Rose or of J. Austens Pride and Prejudice); the style of a writer represented in all his texts (e.g., Shake

18、spearean style or Miltonic style); a writers style in one period or several periods of writing (e.g. Lu Xuns style in 1930s). 2) Style of writers of a historical period, e.g., the style of Elizabethan period. 3) Style of a literary school or movement, e.g., the style of the Lake poets, the style of

19、stream of consciousness, etc. 2.2 Non-literary style Advertising style, journalistic style, scientific and technological style, legal style, political style, style of business English, hypertext/e-text style, etc. 3. Varieties of English Below are 5 types of varieties: 4 types of dialects and standa

20、rd variety (Xue Hangrong, 2003: 12-59). 3.1 Individual dialect idiolect Individual dialect refers to a variety of English used by a parti. person, distinguishing him from other users of English. Idiolect is especially useful in identification of authorship, for his language is his fingerprint. Knowl

21、edge of idiolect of a parti. author is also helpful to a better understanding of what he writes. Consider 3 examples, two extracts from Charles Dickens and one short story by Ernest Hemingway, which tell us a lot about their parti. but totally different ways of writing. (Ibid.: 33-39) 3.2 Temporal d

22、ialect Temporal dialect refers to the variety of English used in different historical periods: Old English (450-1150) Middle English (1150-1500) Modern English (1500-) Contemporary English There are ample difference between Old English and Modern English in terms of graphetic/phonetic differences (e

23、.g. lif = life, hus = house), lexical differences (e.g. mann = man, cild = child, libban = live, mete = meat, strang = strong), and grammatical/syntactic differences (in regard to gender, case, and number) (ibid.: 40-44). 3.3 Regional/geographical dialect Regional dialect is a variety of English spo

24、ken in a parti. geographical area. The English language is an umbrella term covering different varieties of English in use in the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. They are all regional dialects of the English language, and each of them has many sub-varieties of its own. BrE: Yorkshi

25、re dialect, Lancaster dialect, Cornish dialect, Cockney, etc. AmE: New England dialect, New York dialect, Upper Midwestern dialect, and Midland dialect, Southern dialect, etc. There exist dialectal features between regional varieties of the English language at the phonological/graphetic level, at th

26、e lexical level, and at the grammatical/syntactic level. And much study has been done in the field of the dialectal differences between BrE and AmE in terms of the above levels. 3.4 Social dialectSocial dialect refers to a variety of English spoken by a parti. social group, showing ones social statu

27、s, occupation, race, religion, age, sex, etc., in short, ones social dialect shows ones place in the hierarchy of the society, e.g. Middle-class dialect, lower middle-class dialect, working class dialect, Black English, Army slang, etc. 3 important topics concerning social dialect: 1) Relation betwe

28、en regional and social dialects Language variation in the social dimension is similar in nature to regional variation. It is difficult to separate regional dialect from social dialect. Everyone speaks both a regional and social dialect. Read the extract from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, who tries to c

29、onvince the reader that ones speech habit tells everything about oneself and has great bearing on ones social status (ibid.: 20-23). 2) Sex-related variations Why does the speech of men and women differ? Our human world has long been dominated by a sort of patriarchal culture, which lays down differ

30、ent social roles for men and women and expects different behavior patterns from them. Language, as a social phenomenon, simply reflects this social fact. Women, for example, are not supposed to use many English taboos, which, if used by men, may just signify masculinity. Women tend to use rising ton

31、e or tag-questions more than men as a sign of uncertainty or tentativeness. Peter Trudgill claims that women use forms considered to be “better” or more “correct” than those used by men. The explanation lies in the fact that women are, generally speaking, more status conscious than men. What about i

32、n China? The non-standard dialect of the working class is associated with “toughness” traditionally supposed to be characteristic of working-class life and “toughness” is quite widely considered to be a desirable masculine characteristic. Something about the fight against the imbalances and inequali

33、ties between men and women reflected in language: see ibid.: 26-27. 3) Black English The origin and development of this variety can be traced back to the slave trade. Black English differs from standard American English in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar (ibid.: 28-29). Consider the extract ta

34、ken from A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Pay special attention to Walters language code switching from Black English to Standard English and vice versa. 3.5 Standard variety In English there exists one parti. variety, which has no connection with a parti. region, or with a parti. accent.

35、This variety with a widely accepted, codified grammar and vocabulary has been acknowledged as the standard English, which is normally taught in schools and to non-native speakers learning the language. It is also the variety normally spoken by educated people and used in official documents, newscast

36、s, legal and technical writings, etc. Standard English varies in different parts of the English-speaking world: Standard BrE, Standard AmE, Standard Australian English, etc. Compare mandarin Chinese or putonghua. 4. Formality of style 4.1 Different types of Classification 1) Hou Weiruis (1988: 46-80

37、) classification: 2-level style: formal informal 3-level style: formal neutral/normal informal 5-level style: hyperformal formal neutral/normal/common core informal hyperinformal 2) Martin Joos 5 clocks: frozen formal consultative casual intimate See the examples listed in Hou Weirui (1988: 63-65):

38、His beloved parent has just passed to his heavenly reward. (pretentious, literary, dignified) His dear father has just expired. (formal, unemotional) His dear father has just died. (neutral, factual) His dad has died. (informal, plain) His old man just kicked the bucket. (slangy, colloquial, lacking

39、 in respect) From the above examples, we can see that the degree of formality depends chiefly on the choice of words. 4.2 Speech situation and formality See Xu Youzhi (1992: 66-68): In order to choose an appropriate spot on the continuum of formality of style, the speaker must assess the “speech sit

40、uation”, i.e., the setting, purpose, audience, social relations, and topic. The introductory sentences of a speech can be vital in creating an atmosphere of different degrees of formality for a meeting. The following is the introductory sentences of the same speech in 4 styles: 1) The solemn tone an

41、d the elaborate way of opening the speech can really make the audience feel “frozen”:Madam Chairman, Mrs Vice-president, Honored Guests, Faculty and Friends: I feel most deeply honored to have been invited to speak to such an illustrious gathering tonight and to be given the privilege of presenting

42、to my distinguished colleagues, especially Dr. Monrovia, what we have recently found in a demanding research project in the field of sociolinguistics, an area of study that, we feel, may have great potential for your profession also. 2) The formal way of opening the speech signals that the meeting i

43、s going to be formal, which allows little interaction:Ladies and Gentlemen, I am exceedingly grateful to have been asked by your chairperson, Dr. Jean Monrovia, to present our recent findings on the topic of Research and Development in Sociolinguistics, which I hope will prove useful to those of you

44、 engaged in the teaching of English. 3) The casual way shows that the speaker is talking to friends, and so both speaker and hearers can feel relaxed:Good Evening, Friends, Your Chairperson, Jean Monrovia, asked me to share some of my current research in sociolinguistics. I hope it will be useful to

45、 you in your English teaching. 4) And the intimate way implies that the speaker is among close friends: Hi, everyone, Jean asked me to come over and rap a little about the stuff Im into in sociolinguistics. Maybe itll help those teaching English, and I hope you wont be turned off with some of the te

46、chnical jargon and stuff. 4.3 Formality and linguistic features There exist differences between formal and informal styles in terms of vocabulary, phonology, and syntax. See Xu Youzhi, ibid.: 68-71; Hou Weirui, ibid.: 50-55. 1) Formal vs. informal in terms of vocabulary Buy and purchase Skirt , fema

47、le, woman, lady Law enforcement officer, policeman, cop, fuzz Generally speaking, formal style is characterized by the use of formal words, mainly learned words and technical terms. Informal style is characterized by the use of informal words including colloquialism, slang, vulgarism, etc. 2) Formal

48、 vs. informal in terms of phonology Formality is marked not only by word choice but also by phonology. For example, speakers using English formally will usually pronounce -ing endings as /i/. However, in informal speech, the pronunciation changes to /in/. It is claimed that contractions mark informa

49、l English. 3) Formal vs. informal in terms of syntax Syntax also varies according to formality. Varieties of formal English have their own unique uses of syntax, such as longer sentences, complex sentence structure; impersonal constructions; nominalizations. In contrast, informal varieties are marked by s