英语文体学第14讲.ppt

1、Stylistics: Its Concerns,外国语学院,Lectures on Stylistics,Part 0 Stylistics: Illustrations,1)没有最好,只有更好,北大方正人的追求 (北大方正电脑) 2)牙好,胃口就好。吃嘛嘛香,身体倍棒 (蓝天六必治牙膏) 3)海尔冰箱,质量保障！ 4) Introducing FITNESS magazine. Its about health, its about exercise, its about your image, your energy, and your outlook. 向您推荐健康杂志, 说健康, 说

2、锻炼, 说形象, 说精力, 说展望。,Lectures on Stylistics,Part 1 Stylistics: Definitions,1) 文体学是一门研究文体的学问。文体学的任务不在列举若干文体的名目，而在观察和描述若干主要文体的语言特点，亦即它们各自的语音、句法、词汇与篇章的特点，其目的在于使学者能够更好地了解它们所表达的内容和在恰当的场合分别使用它们。 (王佐良 丁往道, 1987: i),Lectures on Stylistics,2) Stylistics: 风格学/语体学 语言学的一个分支, 研究语言在情景中不同用法(语言变体)的特征,并试图确立一些原则来说明个人和社

3、会群体使用语言的特定选择。 General stylistics (一般风格学): 研究一种语言内遇见的各种非方言变体的总和(或总存)。Literary stylistics (文学风格学): 研究作为一种语体的文学作品和作家个人“风格”特有的各种变化。Applied stylistics (应用风格学): 研究语言在语境中的不同变体, 特别是考察文学和非文学篇章的风格。Stylostatistics / stylometry (风格统计学/风格度量学): 风格型式的量化研究。Phonostylistics (语音风格学): 研究语音的表达或美学功能。 （David Crystal. Shen

4、 Jiaxuan. Trans. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Pp 341-342.),Lectures on Stylistics,3) “Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which applies the theory and methodology of modern linguistics to the study of Style. It studies the use of language in specific contexts and attempts to account

5、for the characteristics that mark the language use of individuals and social groups. Although stylistics sometimes includes investiga-tion of spoken language, it is usually concerned with the examination of written language, particularly literary texts. The stylistic analysis of a text involves the

6、descrip-tion of a writers / speakers verbal choices which can be abstracted as style. A stylistician would usually proceed to discuss the relevance of the analysis to interpretation, the possible meaning or effect evoked by the adoption of a certain style.” (Qian Yuan, 2006: 1),Lectures on Stylistic

7、s,4) “Simply defined, Stylistics is a discipline that studies the ways in which language is used: it is a discipline that studies the styles of language in use.” “The stylistics we are discussing here is Modern Stylistics, a discipline that applies concepts and techniques of modern linguistics to th

8、e study of styles of language use.” (Xu Youzhi, 2005: 2),Lectures on Stylistics,Lectures on Stylistics,Figure 1: Subdivisions of Modern Stylistics and their scopes,Xu Youzhi (2005: 2):,General stylistics concentrates solely on the general features of various types of language use. It studies the sty

9、listic features of the main varieties of language, covering the functional varieties from the dimension of fields of discourse (different social activities), formal vs informal varieties from the dimension of tenors of discourse (different addresser-addressee relationships), and the spoken vs writte

10、n varieties from the dimension of modes of discourse (different mediums).,Lectures on Stylistics,Meanwhile, general stylistics covers the various genres of literature (fiction, drama, poetry) in its study. But it focuses on the interpretation of the overall characteristics of respective genres, with

11、 selected extracts of literary texts as samples. Literary stylistics: concentrates solely on unique and overall linguistic features of the various genres of literature. The scope of general stylistics and the scope of literary stylistics are only partly overlapping, as is shown in Figure 1.,Lectures

12、 on Stylistics,Part 2: Views on Language,1) Different views on language: *a system of signs (Modern linguistics: F. de Saussure lectures: 1906-11) *a unified structure, a collection of habits (American structuralism: Bloomfield) *a system of innate rules (the transformational-generative (TG) linguis

13、ts: Noam Chomsky, from the late 1950s on) *a social semiotic, an instrument used to perform various functions in social interaction, essentially a social activity (the systemic-functional linguists: M. A. K. Halliday) (For more: David Crystal. 2002: 197. Shen Jiaxuan. Trans.),Lectures on Stylistics,

14、2) Language as a social activity. “Language is also a social phenomenon, or institution, whereby people communicate and interact with each other. A language of a particular society is part of the societys culture. Language activities operate within social activities. The language of a participant in

15、 a social activity reflects his social characteristics (such as his status, ethnic group, age and sex). It also reflects his awareness of the various factors of a social situation in which he finds himself. He should adjust his language in accordance with the medium of communication (speech,Lectures

16、 on Stylistics,or writing), the setting (private or public), the relationship with the addressee (in terms of the degree of intimacy or social distance), the subject matter (technical or non-technical), and the purpose (to inform, to persuade, etc.)”. “Appropriate use of language is considered the k

17、ey to effective communication. There is the convention that a certain type of language is appropriate to a certain use. The style appropriate to public speaking is inappropriate to legal documents; the style used in advertisements is ill-suited to a scholarly article.,Lectures on Stylistics,The tota

18、lity of language varieties used by a speech community in all social situations constitutes the verbal repertoire of that community. English can be call the verbal repertoire of the community of English speakers. In this sense, it subsumes a wide range of varieties, used in all kinds of situations, i

19、n many parts of the world, serving various communicative needs.” (Qian Yuan, 2006:2),Lectures on Stylistics,3) the philosophical view of language “The philosophical view of Language or A language is related to the actual occurrence of language in society what are called language activities. People a

20、ccomplish a great deal not only through physical acts such as cooking, eating, bicycling, running a machine, cleaning, but also by verbal acts of all types: conversation, telephone calls, job application letters, notes scribbled to roommate, etc. All utterances (whether a word, a sentence, or severa

21、l sentences) can be thought of as goal-directed actions. (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969),Lectures on Stylistics,Such actions as carried out through language are Speech Acts. Social activities in which language (either spoken or written) plays an important role such as conversation, discussion, lecture,

22、 etc., are Speech Events.” “Most of these events are sequential and transitory (that is, they occur in sequence and can not last for a long time). It is difficult to examine them at the time of their occurrence. So we have to record the events. Any such record, whether recalled through memory, or co

23、mmitted to a tape, or written down on paper, or printed in a book, of a speech event, is known as a Text.”,Lectures on Stylistics,4) Language as a code “Language is often compared to a Code, a system of signals or symbols used for sending a Message, a piece of information. In any act of verbal commu

24、nication (both spoken and written, primarily spoken), language has been regarded as a system for translating meanings in the Addressers (the speakers / writers) mind into sounds / letters, i.e., Encoding (meaning-to-sound/letter), or conversely, for translating sounds/letters into meanings in the Ad

25、dressees (the hears / readers mind, ie Decoding (sound / letter-to-meaning), with lexis and grammar as the formal code mediating between meaning and sound / letter.”,Lectures on Stylistics,“But we must keep in mind that, unlike other signaling codes, language code does not operate in a fixed way it

26、is open-ended in that it permits generation of new meanings and new forms (such as metaphorical meanings, and neologisms); ie it is in a way creatively extendible.” “Text, then, is verbal communication (either spoken or written) seen as a message coded in a linear pattern of sound waves, or in a lin

27、ear sequence of visible marks on paper.” (Xu Youzhi, 2005: 4),Lectures on Stylistics,Part 3: Text,“A text is any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that forms a unified whole. It may be the product of a single speaker/writer (e.g. a sign, a letter, a news report, a statute, a novel), or

28、 that of several speakers (e.g. a piece of conversation, a debate).” (Qian Yuan, 2006: 11) A text is realized by a sequence of language units, whether they are sentences or not. The connection among parts of a text is achieved by various cohesive devices, and by semantic and pragmatic implication.”,

29、Lectures on Stylistics,Practice 1. Construct a text from the following disconnect-ed sentences. a. Two boys stood near a jewelers shop. b. Two boys saw a man break a window of a jewelers shop and steal all the watches. c. Two boys took a man with several watches in his hand for a thief. d. Two boys

30、ran after a man with several watches in his hand.,Lectures on Stylistics,To connect the sentences into a text, we need to make several modifications so that the sentences become cohesive with one another: Two boys stood near a jewelers shop. They saw a man break the shop window and steal all the wat

31、ches. They ran after him, because they took him for a thief.,Lectures on Stylistics,*In the text you may notice the following modifications, which serve as grammatical cohesive devices: a. the use of the definite article on second mention, e.g. a shop the shop, a man the man; b. the substitution of

32、pronouns for nouns, e.g. two boys they c. the use of conjunction, e.g. They ran after him, because * The lexical cohesion in the text is realized by the collocation of the words that are in some way or other typically associated with one another, e.g. steal with thief; jewelers shop with watches.,Le

33、ctures on Stylistics,Practice 2. Examine the following conversation, find out whether linguistic units in it are overtly cohesive or not. A: See who that is. B: Im in pyjamas. A: OK.,Lectures on Stylistics,Linguistic units in the conversation are not overtly cohesive. In this text, the relevance of

34、Bs remark to As first remark is conveyed by pragmatic implication. “Im in pyjamas” implies an excuse for not complying with As command (= “No, I cant, because Im in pyjamas.”) As second remark implies that he accepts Bs excuse and undertakes to do himself what he originally asked B to do (= OK. Ill

35、go myself and see.” Texts are therefore recognized as appropriately coherent in actual use. A full understanding of a text is often impossible without reference to the context in which it occurs.,Lectures on Stylistics,Part 4: Aspects of the Speech Event,“Language is transmitted, patterned, and embe

36、dded in the human social experience. So it is both possible and useful to discern three crucial aspects of a speech event: the substantial, the formal, and the situational.” (Gregory b. Sex; c. Socio-regional or ethnic background; d. Education 2) Characteristics of the Use of language in situation:

37、a. Medium of communication speech or writing; b. Setting private or public; c. Role-relationship between addresser and addressee the degree of intimacy; the degree of social distance; d. Purpose for which language is used, e.g. to inform, to command, to express feelings, to establish social relation

38、s, etc.; e. Subject matter (of limited stylistic significance.,Lectures on Stylistics,Linguists have emphasized the role of contexts of situation as determinants of style. There is an observable match (Correlation) between linguistic features and contextual factors. Let us compare some examples conv

39、eying more or less the same idea of asking somebody to close a door. (Practice 3),Lectures on Stylistics,Practice 3 Compare the following expressions. a. Im sorry to trouble you, but could I ask you to close the door for me, please. b. Would you mind closing the door (please)? c. I could do without

40、the draught from that door. d. Shut the door, wont you. e. Shut the door, will you! f. Door! g. Were you born (AmE: raised) in a barn? h. I know a little boy who never leaves the door open.,Lectures on Stylistics,These sentences differ from each other in linguistic form: (d) and (e) differ in the ch

41、oice of a question tag and in intonation pattern; (b), (c) and (f) in syntactic structure; (a), (c) and (g) in the choice of words or expressions.,Lectures on Stylistics,a. Im sorry to trouble you, but could I ask you to close the door for me, please. b. Would you mind closing the door (please)? c.

42、I could do without the draught from that door. d. Shut the door, wont you. e. Shut the door, will you! f. Door! g. Were you born (AmE: raised) in a barn? h. I know a little boy who never leaves the door open.,Lectures on Stylistics,Table 1. Context of situation and speakers possible choice,Context o

43、f situation i. Setting public private ii. Speaker-hearer relationship distant intimate iii. Speakers intention to request to hint to persuade to command to rebuke,Speakers possible choice (f) (d) (h) (d) (e) (h) (a), (b), (d) (c) (h) (e), (f) (g),Practice 4. Analyze the following conversation (Jenny

44、 comes to Alans house. She is conducting a survey for the government.) Alan: Wont you come in, Miss-er-. Jenny: Cartwright, Jenny Cartwright. Alan: Im Alan Marlow. (Alan shows Jenny into the living room.) Alan: Oh wont you make yourself comfortable, Jenny? (After some minutes of talk, which is omitt

45、ed here) Jenny: Mr. Marlow Alan: Call me Alan. (The Marlows, Episode 11),Lectures on Stylistics,The context shows clearly that Alan and Jenny are total strangers. The conven-tional address form between strangers is Title + Sur-name (Mr./Miss So-and-so). But Alan addresses the girl by her first name

46、and later asks her to do the same. His adoption of first-naming is an example of the manipulation of language. It is a move towards a friendlier relationship, indicating that Alan does not want their encounter to be formal and distant, as it is customary between strangers. In contrast, Jenny chooses

47、 to remain formal and distant by addressing Alan as “Mr. Marlow”. (Qian Yuan, 2006: 17),Lectures on Stylistics,Part 5: Language varieties and function,Variety 语言变体 社会语言学和风格学用来指任何一个语言表达系统，其用法受情景变项的支配。有的语言变体，情景的区别性很容易说明，如许多地域变体和职业变体（例如伦敦英语，宗教英语）；而有的情景，如社会等级的研究，语言变体很难确定，因为涉及多个变项的交叉（例如性别、年龄、职业等）。已经提出的语言

48、变体的分类法有多种，涉及方言、语域、媒体、语场这样一些术语。有些社会语言学家对“语言变体”的定义较狭窄，只指一类情景独特的语言，即一种方言内部的一类特殊化的语言，例如用于职业目的的语言. （David Crystal. Shen Jiaxuan. Trans. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Pp 378.),Lectures on Stylistics,“不同环境和场合产生的（语言）变体就叫做文体或语体。影响文体变化的因素多种多样，主要可以归为三个方面。第一方面是讲话内容(field of discourse)，第二是讲话方式(mode

49、of discourse), 第三是讲话人和听话人的地位关系(tenor of discourse)。(王佐良 丁往道, 1987: 189-190),Lectures on Stylistics,As mentioned above, when language is used, it is always used in a context. What is said and how it is said is often subject to a variety of circumstances. In other words, speech events differ in differ

50、ent situations, i.e. between different persons, at different times, in different places, for different purposes, through different media, and amidst different social environments. We often adjust our language according to the nature of the context of situa-tion. Some situations seen to depend genera

51、lly and fairly consistently on a regular set of linguistic features; as a result, there have appeared different types of a language which are called “Varieties of language”. So far as the English language is concerned, there are different Eng-lishes to fit different situations: Old/Modern English, B

52、ritish / American English, Black English, legal English, scientific English, advertising English, formal/informal English, spoken/written English, etc. (Xu Youzhi, 2005: 5-6),Lectures on Stylistics,In all these varieties, language performs various communicative roles, i.e. Functions. For example, la

53、nguage is used (functions) to communicate ideas, to express attitudes, and so on. The roles that language plays are ever changing and the number of the roles can be numerous. There have been many attempts to categorize these roles into a few major functions. The Ideational / Referential function ser

54、ves for expressing the speakers/writers experience of the real world, including the inner world of his/her own consciousness. The Interpersonal, or Expressive/Social function serves to establish and maintain social relations, for the expression of social roles, and also for getting things done by me

55、ans of interaction between one person and another. The Textual function provides means for making links within the text itself and with features of its immediate situation.,Lectures on Stylistics,The three functions represent three coexisting ways in which language has to be adapted to its users com

56、muni-cative needs. First, it has to convey a message about rea-lity, about the world of experience, from speaker / writer to hearer / reader. Secondly, it must fit appropriate-ly into a speech situation, fulfilling the particular social designs that speaker/writer has upon hearer/reader. Third-ly, i

57、t must be well constructed as an utterance or text, so as to serve the decoding needs of hearer/reader. These functions and the needs they serve are interrelated: success in interpersonal or expressive/social communica-tion depends in part on success in transmitting a message, which in turn depends

58、in part on success in terms of text production.,Lectures on Stylistics,Different types of language have relations with predominat functions, e.g. advertising with persuasion, TV commentary with information, address terms with social roles. Literary texts can be regarded as a type of language which p

59、erforms a distinct social function an aesthetic or poetic function. The functions are not mutually exclusive: an utterance may well have more than one function.,Lectures on Stylistics,Part 6: Style,1) The word Style has used in many ways. Style may refer to a persons distinctive language habits, or the set of individual characteristics of language use, as Shakespeares style, Miltonic style, Johnsonese, or the style of James Joyce. Often, it concentrates on a persons particularly singular or original features of speak