Lecture 2. Main concepts and definitions

Aim: to develop students’ skills in studying main concepts of Stylistics

Plan:

1. The Scope of Stylistic Study
2. The Notion of Language and literary Style
3. Stylistic analysis and literary Interpretation
4. Definitions of Style
5. Definitions of stylistics
6. Attempts of Refutation of Style

Recommendations:

1. Scrutinize the lecture and pay attention to the terms given in the lecture.
2. Pay attention to the reference literature.
3. Speculate on the implications which might arise upon the reading of the lecture.

Presentation

1.Stylistics is traditionally regarded as a field of study where the methods of selecting and implementing linguistic, extra-linguistic or artistic expressive means and devices in the process of communication are studied. In general we distinguish linguistic stylistics and literary stylistics. The division b/n the two is by no means easy or clear. Mick Short in his book “Exploring the language of Poems, Plays and Prose” comments on this problem:

“….stylistics can sometimes look like either linguistics or literary criticism, depending upon where you are standing when looking at it. So, some of my literary critical colleagues accuse me of being an unfeeling linguist, saying that my analysis of poems are too analytical, being of too full of linguistic jargon and leaving unsufficient room for personal preference on the part of the reader...” (Short.1996)

Mick Short is a Professor in the department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at Lancaster University and a leading authority in the field of Stylistics.

2. According to J.Mistrik (1985) stylistics can be defined as the study of choice and the types of use of linguistic, extra-linguistic and aesthetic mean, as well as particular techniques used in communication. He suggests that we carefully distinguish b/n the language style, belles-lettres and literary style:

1. The language style is a way of speech and or a kind of utterance which is formed by means of conscious and intentional selection, systematic patterning and implementation of linguistic and extra-linguistic means with respect to the topic, situation, function, author’s intention And content of an utterance.

2. The Belles-letters style (artistic,aesthetic) is one of the language styles which fulfills, in addition to its general informative function, a specific aesthetic function.

3. The literary style is the style of literary works implemented in all components of literary work, i.e. on the level of language, ideas, plot, etc. All these components are subordinated to aesthetic norms.

3. J. Mistrik draws clear boundaries b/n stylistic analysis and literary interpretation. He defines stylistic or text analysis as a procedure which aims at the linguistic means and devices of a given text, the message, topic and content of analysed textsare not the focus. The method of stylistic analysis can be equally applied to the study of language use i9n literary as well as non-literary texts

From this point of view literary interpretation is a process which applies exclusively to literary texts, it aims at understanding and interpreting the topic, content and the message of a literary work, its literary qualities and the so called decoding of the author’s signals by the recipient.

4. The following are the most common characteristics of style as listed by K.Wales in her respected work “A dictionary of Stylistics(1990):

(1) At its simplest, style refers to the manner of expression in writing and speaking, just as there is a manner of doing things, like playing squash or painting. We might talk of someone writing in an ornate style, or speaking in a comic style.

(2) One obvious implication of (1) is that therte Are different styles in different situation. So style can be seen as variation in language use, whether literary or non-literary.

(3) In each case, style is seen as distinctive: in essence, the set or some of linguistic features that seem to be characteristic: whether of register, genre or period, etc. Style is very commonly defined in this way at the level of text

(4) Clearly each author draws upon the general stock of the language in any given period; what makes style distinctive is the choice of items, and their distribution and patterning.

(5) Another different approach to style is to compare one set of features with another in terms of a deviation from a norm, a common approach in the 1960’s.

5.Stylistics is the study of style. There are different stylistic approaches. This variety in stylistics is due to the main influences of linguistics and Literary Criticism.

Stylistics in the 20^th century replaces and expands on the earlier discipline known as Rhetoric. It was in the 1960s that is really began to flourish in Britain and the united States. In many respects, stylistics is close to literary criticism and practical criticism. By far the most common kind of material studied is literary, and attention is text-cetred. The goal of most stylistic studies is not simply to describe the formal features of texts for their own sake, but to show their functional significance for the interpretation of the text;

6.the notion of style covers a large semantic field. The first group of stylisticians based their classification and analysis of style on a personal and subjective perception of analyzed texts. Regardless of how elegantly they expressed their opinions, they were accused of being very subjective, impressionistic and vague in their style evaluations and their attempts were charged with conceptual looseness.

The second group tried to remain on the very objective and strictly scientific bases, making use of mathematics, statistics and others. These authors provided rigorous definitions and statements supported with exact facts, figures and statistics. They were charged with tortuous pedantry and using inadequate “rough” methods for the treatment of the “gentle| material of literary texts

The third group is made up of a few scholars from different fields of study who deny the existence of style completely.

Control questions:

1. What is the origin of Style?
2. What is the notion of Stylistics?
3. What is the Stylistic analysis?

Literature:

1. Л.Л. Нелюбин. Лингвостилистика современного английского языка. М., 2007г

2.Арнольд И.В. Стилистика современного английского языка. М., 1990
3. Кухаренко В.П. Семинары по стилистике. М., 1985
4. Galperin I. R. Stylistics. М., 1981
5. Кухаренко В.П. Интерпретация текста. М., 1984.
6. Разинкина Н.М, Функциональная стилистика. М., 1989.
7. Телия В.Н. Теория метафоры. М., Наука, 1990.

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