英语文体学教案LectureThreeThreeViewsofStyle

LectureTwo:ThreeViewsofStyleWehaveseenthedefinitionofstylisticsandsomedefinitionsofstyle.Nextwewillseesomemostinfluentialandrepresentativeviewsofstyle.Styleasform.（Aristotle）（formandcontent）Styleaseloquence.（Cicero）（skilltouseLpersuasively）（therelationwithrhetoric）Styleistheman.（Buffon）（Luseisusingitindiscourse）Styleaspersonalidiosyncrasy.（Murry）Sayingtherightthinginthemosteffectiveway.（Enkvist）Styleasthechoicebetweenalternatveexpressions.（Ibid）Styleasequivalence.（RomanJacobson）（betweenformandfunction）Styleasforegrounding.（LeechMukarovsky）Styleasdeviation.（Mukarovsky&Spitzer）Styleasprominence.（Halliday）Styleastheselectionsfeaturespartlydeterminedbythedemandsofgenre,form,themes,etc.（Traugott&Pratt）Styleaslinguisticfeaturesthatcommunicateemotionsandthought.（Enkvist）Whenwriterswrite,theywillnaturalytrytomaketheirlanguagediffferntfromtheothers’,soastoattracttheattentionofthereadersandalsotoensureandsecureanindependentexistence.Ortostandoutfromthemultitudeofmenofletters.Orjustaspecialpositionforhiswriting.Andthatistodepartfromthenormalwayofexpressioninacertainsense.Styleasdeviance.ThisviewofstylisticscomesfromWiddowson’sremarkofstyleholdingthatstylisticanalysishasnofixedprocedureandthetechniqueofdoingthiskindofanalysisistopickonfeaturesinthetextwhichappeartofirstimpressionsasunusualorstrikinginsomewayandthenexploretheirramifications.Thisremarkimpliesthatonlythoseunusualorstrikingfeaturesarestylisticallyrelevant.Andtheimpliedassumptionisthattheliteraryaestheticeffectscanonlybeachievedthroughdeviance.Thoughsomestylisticiansholddifferentviews.Itleadstosuchanassumptionasthatthedistinctivenessofaliterarytextliesinitsdeparturefromthecharacteristicsofwhatiscommunicativelynormal.Italsogivesbirthtotheapproachtostyleasdeviancefromthenormsofagivenlanguage.Mukarovskyisanotherfamousproponentandfounderofthisviewofstyle.InhisfamousarticleStandardLanguageandPoeticLanguage,hespeaksofstyleasforegrounding.Heassertsthattheviolationofthenormofstandard,especially,itssystematicviolation,iswhatmakespossiblethepoeticutilizationoflanguage;withoutthispossibilitytherewouldbenopoetry.AccordingtoMukarovskynormaluseoflanguage“automatizes”languagetosuchanextentthattheusersnolongerseeitsexpressiveoraestheticpower;poetrymustde-automatizeorforegroundlanguagebybreakingtherulesofeverydaylanguage.P13Suchastheexpression“agriefago”“apresidencyago”“Mr.Smarter”“Mr.Bumble””Theadvantageofthisapproachtostyleisthatithelpsuskeepinmindthethereisadifferencebetweeneverydaylanguageandthelanguageofliterature.Thedisadvantagesarethat:a.Itisdifficulttodefinethenormfromwhichthestyleofatextdeviates.Blochconsidersthebasisofnormtoestatistical,thatis,todeterminestylebycountingorresortingtothefrequencydistributionsoflinguisticfeaturesastheydifferfromthatofthelanguageasawhole.b.Ittendstoleadthereadersandstylisticianstovalueonlythelanguageofthegrammaticallyhighlydeviantauthorsandundervaluethoseauthorsthatdonotdeviateordonotdeviatesomuchfromthenormsoflanguage.Andgenerallyspeaking,ittendstoleadunderestimationofthenon-deviantlanguagebothwithinliteratureandwithout.Styleaschoice.Styleresultsfromatendencyofspeakerorwritertoconsistentlychoosecertainstructuresoverothersavailableinthelanguage.ThedifferencebetweenLandstyleisthatListhesumtotalofthestructuresavailabletothespeaker,whilestyleconcernsthecharacteristicchoicesbyacertainwritereitherconsistentlyorinagiventextorcontext.Tosaythatstyleischoiceofwordsisnotthesamethingassayingthatitisalwaysaconsciouschoice,thoughofcourseifthewriteralwayschooseshiswordscrutinouslytheeffectofhiswayofusingLwillbeallthemoreobviousasastyle.Thenthatispickhiswayforwardamongwords,anditishardtoimaginehowmuchliteraryworkcantherebebynow.Thestockofliteratureofwehumankindnodoubtwillbegreatlydiminished.Butmost,almostallpoets,andsomewriters,andallwritersatcertainpointsintheirwritingdowritethatway,thatis,theyakindofchoosescrutinouslyandseemtopicktheirwayforwardamongtheforestofwords.E.g.weChinesepostshaveatraditionofrefiningwords.吟得一字安，捻断数茎须。语不惊人死不休。一字之得，旬月踯躅。Styleaschoiceisoftenconsideredasamatterconcernedwithformorexpressionratherthanmeaning.Thatis,whenthemeaningisthesamewhatmakesawriterasawriterishispeculiarwayofsayingthat,andaperson’sofspeakingorwritingistoaverylargeextenthisconsistentchoiceofaspecialtypeofexpressions.Itdoseimplythatwritersdochoosetheircontentintheirwriting,butitistruethatstyleandstylisticstudyismainlyconcernedwiththechoiceofformsatdifferentlevelsofLsystem,i.e.phonology,lexicon,syntax,anddiscourse.Consequently,astylisticianshouldfirstidentifythosewordsorformsofotherlevelsofthelinguistichierarchywhichareobviouslytheresultsofchoice.Ofthoughtheelementsoinatextareallthechoicesofthewriter,butinpractice,weonlyfocusonthemostpeculiarandoutstandingonesthataremostexpressiveandmostrelevanttothemeaningandinterpretationofthetext.Actually,allwritings,ifthewriterisconscientiousenough,areessentiallyspeakingprocessesofchoosingofwordsfromthewholerepertoireoflanguageofanation.Sowhatistheimplicationhere?Theawarenessofthecriteriaforchoosingisimportant.Thelanguagea