Chapter One Style and Stylistics

Chapter One Style and Stylistics
•E.g.(1)
•“Take an egg, and make a perforation in the base and a corresponding one in the apex. And then, apply the lips to the aperture, and by forcibly inhaling the breath, the shell is entirely discharged of its contents.”
•“It fair beats all how folks do things nowadays. When I was a gal, they made a hole in each end and sucked.”
•E.g.(2)
•(1) My beloved parent has joined the heavenly choir.
•(2) My dear father has passed away.
•(3) My father has died.
•(4) My old man has kicked the bucket.
I. Concepts of Style
(1) A person’s distinctive language habits, or the set of individual characteristics of language use
e.g. Hemingway‟s style
Henry James‟s style
Mark Twain‟s style
(2). Some or all of the language habits shared by a group of people at one time,or over a period of time.
e.g. Elizabethan style
the style of legal document
the style of news reporting
(3). A characteristic of “good” or “beautiful” literary writings.
e.g. ornate style
terse style
plain style
(4) Style may refer to the effectiveness of a mode of expression, which is implied in the definition of style as …saying the right thing in the most effective way‟ or …good manners‟, as a …clear‟ or …refined‟ style advocated in most books of composition.
Definition of style
•we will see some most influential and representative views of style.(英语文体学要略p11）•Style as form. （Aristotle）（form and content ）
•Style as eloquence.（Cicero）（skill to use language persuasively）（the relation with rhetoric）•Style is the man. （Buffon）
•Style as personal idiosyncrasy.（Murry）
•Saying the right thing in the most effective way.（Enkvist）
•Style as the choice between alternative expressions. （Enkvist）
•Style as equivalence. （Roman Jacobson）（between form and function）
•Style as foregrounding. （Leech Mukarovsky）
•Style as deviation.（Mukarovsky & Spitzer）
•Style as prominence.（Halliday）
•Style as the selections features partly determined by the demands of genre, form, themes, etc. （Traugott & Pratt）
•Style as linguistic features that communicate emotions and thought.（Enkvist）(见教材:P5-7) •Manner indicating prominent linguistic features, devices or patterns, most (or least) frequently occur in a particular text of a particular variety of language.
•The manner of expression in writing or speaking which changes at all times according to the actual situational elements, e.g., the participants, time, place, topic, etc, of the communicative event, from very formal to very informal. (见教材P5)
•e.g. (After a quarrel between the two lovers)
With a flow of words, she started to argue with him, then she checked herself and said calmly, “Listen, John, I imagine you‟re tired of my company. There‟s no sense in having tea together. I think I‟d better leave you right here.”
“That‟s fine,” he said. “Good afternoon.”
“Good-bye.”
•文体的理解虽说众说纷纭，但在当今比较有影响的文体理论主要有三种：把文体看做选择，包括对意义何语言形式的选择；而是变异说，把文体视为变异，即语言在常规的基础上产生的意义及形式的变化；三是突出说，把文体看做突出，或者称为前景化，指特定的语言成分在其他部分或者说是背景的衬托下得到突出或强调。

这一理论跟变异有很大的联系，影响深远。

II. Concepts of Stylistics
1. 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.
2. Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which applies the theory and methodology of modern linguistics to the study of style.
•3. D. Crystal: Linguistics is the academic discipline that studies language scientifically, and stylistics, as a part of this discipline, studies certain aspects of language variation.
----- Investigating English Style
•4. G. N. Leech: Stylistics is a linguistic approach to literature, explaining the relation between language and artistic function, with motivating questions such as “why” and “how”more than “what”. ---- Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry
5. Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of situationally-distinctive uses of language, with particular reference to literary language, and tries to establish principles capable of accounting for the particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of
language.
E.g. Housewife to milkman:
•a. Can you leave one bottle and four yoghurts tomorrow please?
•b. Leave one bottle and four yoghurts tomorrow and don‟t forget.
•c. It would be greatly appreciated if you kindly leave one bottle and four yoghurts tomorrow. •d. Would you leave one bottle and four yoghurts tomorrow, just for me.
6. Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which studies style in a scientific and systematic way concerning the manners / linguistic features of different varieties of language at different levels. （见教材P8）Four Levels of Linguistic Description
•The level of phonology / graphology
•The level of lexis
•The level of syntax / grammar
•The level of semantics
•What is the main purpose of stylistics?
•(1) to analyze language habits----to identify , from the general mass, those features restricted to certain kinds of social context;
•(2) to explain why and such features have been used as opposed to others;
•(3) to classify these features into categories based upon a view of their function in the social context.
•By “features” we mean particular choice of words, sequence of words, or way of utterance, so-called stylistically distinctive features.
III. The Scope of Studies
Literary Stylistics
General Stylistics
•Literary stylistics: concentrating on the unique features of various literary works,such as poem, novel, prose, drama…
•General stylistics: concentrating on the general features of various types of language use, including literary discourses and other practical styles.
IV. A brief introduction to the development of stylistics (见教材P9-12) •Rhetoric (Aristotle)
•Beginning (Charles Bally)
•Development
(L. Spitzer)
•Flourish (Investigating English Style)
V. The Need For Stylistic Study （见教材P5）
•（1）Style is an integral part of meaning.
•Without the sense of style we cannot arrive at a better understanding of an utterance.
•e.g. Policeman: What‟s your name, boy?
•Black psychiatrist: Dr Poussaint. I‟m a physician.
•Policeman: What‟s your first name, boy?
•Black psychiatrist: Alvin.
（2）Stylistic study helps cultivate a sense of appropriateness
* Who speaks what language to whom and when
* Proper words in proper places make the true definition of a style.
-- Swift
•First, a certain style is determined by the characteristics of the USER of language, such as the age, sex, education, socio-regional or ethnic background.
•Second, it’s related to the characteristics of the USE of language in situation:
# role-relationship between addresser and addressee (degree of intimacy)
# medium of communication (speech or writing)
# setting: private or public
# purpose for which language is used
(to inform, persuade…)
For Example:
(1)
Dear Sir, I must apologize for the delay in replying to your letter of the 30th o f December…
(2)Dear Jane，I‟m terribly sorry not to have got round to writing before now …
(3)
•When his dad died, Peter had to get another job.
•After his father‟s death, Peter had to change his job.
•On the decease of his father, Mr. Brown was obliged to seek alternative employment.
Other examples are the use of taboo words or slangy expression in an otherwise dignified context:
E.g. In order to get ahead in the modern western world, sometimes you have to be willing to eat shit . •E.g. In the opinion of many students, the dean…s commencement address stank (to be very unpleasant or bad) .
•E.g. Having learnt that you won the first prize in the speech contest, I have come in person to congratulate you, my friend, on your success.
(This sentence would sound most bookish if spoken on an informal occasion.)
•Even synonyms have their varying stylistic overtones.
•E.g.
(1) steed (poetic); horse (general)；nag (slang) ; gee-gee (baby language)
(2) domicile (very formal, official)；residence (formal); abode (poetic);home (general)
(3) cast (literary, biblical)；throw (general)；chuck (casual, slang)
•(4) diminutive (very formal)；tiny (colloquial)；wee (colloquial, dialectal)
•美国著名社会语言学家 D.H.Hymes 认为语言交际能力包括语法上的正确性、形式上的可行性、现实中的真实性和场合上的得体性。

•如何说话才得体呢？
要想说话得体，不但要注意说话场合，还要考虑对方的年龄、身份、受教育程度、与说话人的亲疏关系、东西方文化差异等因素。

•(1)场合: Language is like dress. We vary our dress to suit the occasion. We do not appear at a friend‟s silver wedding anniversary in gardening clothes, nor do we go punting on the river in a dinner jacket.
•(2).年龄
•Excuse me, could you please tell me how to get to...?
•Excuse me, is this the right way to...?
•Excuse me, would you possibly (or by any chance) be able to tell me how to get to...?
•(3).身份。

请看下面两例：
•The policeman said to the judge, “I apprehended the alleged perpetrator.”（那警察对法官说：“我逮捕了那个犯罪嫌疑人。

”）
•In a bar the policeman said to his colleagues，“I collared this creep.”（在酒吧那个警察对同事说：“我揪住了这个兔崽子。

”）
•(4). 受教育育程度。

说话要看对方的教育程度。

如果对方文化程度很低或根本就没受过教育，对他讲话时你必须用一般的口语体。

反之，如果对方是一位学者，如果你用俚语跟他说话，也会令其不快。

请看下面一段对话，谈话的一方是书生气十足的作家，言谈中使用的均是专业术语、难词和文绉绉的词。

而另一方则是一位农夫，说的都是浅显易懂的家常话。

•“You find the nettles (荨麻) very difficult to eradicate (拔除)？”(The peasant said he found them hard to keep down.)
•“They disseminate (散播) themselves most luxuriantly (茂盛地)，”the writer said. ( The peasant replied that they spread like the dickens.)
•“But they have their utility in the economy of Nature,” the writer said.
•The peasant replied that nature was welcome to them as far as he was concerned.
•The writer then remarked that it was most salubrious (宜人的) weather, and the peasant agreed that it had been a fine day. But the writer was afraid, he said, that the aridity(干旱)of the season was deleterious (有害的) to the crops, and the peasant replied that his potatoes were doing badly. After that.
the peasant thought, it occurred to him that they did not speak the same language.
•(5). 与说话人的亲疏关系。

•请看下面几句话，它们表达的是同一个意思，即说话人想要借对方的自行车。

•①Lend me your bike.
•②I want you to lend me your bike.
•③Will you lend me your bike?
•④Can you lend me your bike?
•⑤Would you mind lending me your bike?
•⑥Could you possibly lend me your bike?
•而过于有礼貌，又会使人觉得说话人卖弄言辞、心存挖苦或虚伪讨好。

比如说话人用“There wouldn't I suppose be any chance of your being able to lend me your bike for just a few minutes, would there?”
•(6). 文化差异。

•E.g.(1)“Oh,you speak very good English.”这位同学听到他的表扬感到不好意思，连忙说：“No, no, not at all. You are overpraising me.”这位外籍教师听了她的话十分不理解，于是二话没说，拂袖而去。

•E.g. (2)一位学生到外籍教师家拜访外籍教师问他：“Will you have a cup of coffee?”学生按照汉语的习惯回答“Thank you”来表示同意。

他的回答使外籍教师困惑不解。

•E.g.（3）某学生到外籍教师家参加晚会，见她疑制的衣服很漂亮，于是赞美道：“Well, I didn…t expect you could make such a pretty dress.”不料，她听了中国学生这句“赞赏”的话十分不快。

•说话者为了说得体的语言，除了要考虑上述六个因素外，还应掌握下列一些语言技巧。

•（1）委婉表达。

•A：How do you like my painting?
•B：I don't have an eye for beauty, I'm afraid.
•（2）含糊其辞。

说话有时需要具体明确，而有时就必须含糊笼统，只有这样才能做到说话得体。

•（3）多用短句。

由于受课本中“pattern drills”的影响，学生总爱使用完整句来回答问题。

例如：•A：Have you bought your coat?
•B: Yes, I have bought my coat.
•（4）. 多用过去时态。

在口语中，一般过去时态有时可以用来代替一般现在时态，使语气变得婉转，从而显得说话得体。

试比较下面两句：
•Do you want to see me now?
•Did you want to see me?
•I wonder (wondered) if you can (could) spare a few minutes.
•I want (wanted) to ask if I can (could) borrow your bike.
•I hope (hoped) you can (could) give us some help.
•（5）学会使用将来进行时态。

一般将来时和将来进行时虽然都表示将来，但后者听起来委婉。

•Are you staying in Beijing long? 你在北京住得久吗？
•Will you be staying in Beijing long? 你将在北京久居吗？
•同样是现在的一个动作，可以用动词的不同时态表达，以表示说话人的不同口气，下例中婉转客气的程度依次递减：
I was hoping you would give us some help.
I am hoping you would give us some help.
I hoped you would give us some help.
I hoped you will give us some help.
（3）Stylistic study sharpens the understanding and appreciation of literary works
•It‟s not so much what he said as the way he said it.
•Stylistic analysis, by starting with linguistic facts, relates description to interpretation and formal features to their artistic function. It thus forms an essential part of literary critical activity. •Deviation: the breaking of normal rules of linguistic structure
•Repetition: the overuse of a particular linguistic features
•
•This highlighting of a linguistic feature against the background of the normal set of rules for the English language is what we call Foregrounding
•Examination of the foregrounded features the writer has chosen constitutes an important aspect of the stylistic study of literary texts.
•Interestingly, the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, wrote a poem which has a title which breaks both of the rules we noticed on the last page, and so is doubly foregrounded --- it is grammatically and semantically deviant at the same time. The poem is called 'A Grief Ago', a phrase which also turns up in the poem itself.
•
•How exactly is 'a grief ago' deviant? What can you infer about the meaning of the phrase from the character of the deviations?
e.g. a month ago (normal)
a grief ago (abnormal)
a joy ago (abnormal)
a happiness ago (abnormal)
(4). Stylistic study helps achieve adaptation in translation
•Nida’s definition of translation:
•Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. （所谓翻译，是指在译语中用最切近而又自然的对等语再现源语的信息，首先在语义上，其次在文体上。

）
As for translation of different types of writing, the key word is "equivalence". Concretely speaking, there are four aspects of "equivalence", they are:
1. Equivalence of semantic message of source language and target language. (原文的语义信息与译文的语义信息对等)
2. Equivalence of stylistic message of source language and target language. (原文的风格信息与
译文的风格信息对等)
3. Equivalence of cultural message of source language and target language. (原文的文化信息与译文的文化信息对等)
4. Equivalence of response of source language readers and target readers. (原文的读者反应与译文的读者反应对等)
•It is very important for us to introduce stylistics into translation study. Why can Stylistics be applied to translation study? It lies in that both of them have the same aim, that is, how to fulfill social communication with effective linguistic methods. They both put emphasis on the social standard of communicative function; they don‟t ignore the timeliness and individuality of wri ting style as well. In the process of translation, it is necessary for translator to deal with his translation carefully in order to make the translation accord with the source text in the aspect of style. Now for some examples:
•
•e.g. Grasp all, lose all.
•Version 1：如果你样样都要抓, 就会一样都抓不到手。

•Version 2：样样抓，样样差。

（贪多必失）
•In translation, attention should be paid to a careful understanding of the level of formality the original text belongs to.
•（1）Old-fashioned formal English needs to be translated into old fashioned Chinese:
• e.g. To some scholars, instruction emanates from lecture or laboratory; to others it radiates from within. No scholar is so well taught as he who can teach himself.
•译文：学人中有受教于讲堂、实验室者，亦有教发之于内者。

能自教自学，则学人中最上乘矣。

•（2）Modern formal English needs to be translated into dignified modern Chinese:
• e.g. Although learning is judged to require from teachers (and sometimes indeed it does), real instructors may be found not so much in school or in great laboratories as in the student's own powers of insight.
•译文：学识得之于导师是人所共见的，有时，也确乎如此。

但是，真正的导师与其说出在学校或大实验室，不如说是凭学生本人的洞察力。

•（3）General informal English needs to be translated into smooth modern Chinese:
•E.g. We think we learn from teachers, and we sometimes do. But teachers are not always to be found in school or in great laboratories. Sometimes what we learn depends upon our own powers of insight. •译文：大家都说我们是向老师求教，一般说来，这话不假。

但是老师也并不只有在学校里或大实验室里才能找到。

有时候，我们学到了东西，靠的是自己的心明眼亮。

•（4）Colloquial English needs to be translated into colloquial Chinese:
• E.g. You know, people are always saying they learn from teachers! Ok, so they do, sometimes. But what I want to get across is this: You don't always find your teachers in schools or in labs, either. No sir! Sometimes you find the teacher right in your own eyes and ears and brains. That's where it's at! •译文：大家总是说教学教学，教师教，学生学。

不错，有时候是那么回事。

但是，依我说，老师也不是只有在学校里或者在实验室里才能找到，不是的！有时“老师”就在你自己脑袋里，在你耳朵里、眼睛里，就是这么回事！
e.g. 他对小儿子说，“那时候，干一天活儿累得连炕都上不去，浑身疼得要命，睡也睡不着。

”
(1) He said to his little son, “At that time, I was so fatigued aft er a day‟s drudgery that I found it
very hard to mount the kang. My whole frame aching acutely, I couldn‟t go to sleep however hard I tried.”
(2) He said to his little son, “ In those days, I was usually so done up after a day‟s hard work that I could hardly get on the kang. As my whole body ached like anything, I simply couldn‟t get to sleep even I tried to.
For example:
(1)It has been noted with concern that the stock of books in the library has been declining alarmingly. Students are requested to remind themselves of the rules of the borrowing and returning of books, and to bear in mind the needs of other students. Penalties for overdue book will in the future be strictly enforced.
(1) 查本馆图书锐减,学生当不忘本馆书籍流通之规则及他人之需。

逾期不还者将受重罚。

(2) 图书馆的书籍最近大量减少，请大家牢记借书的规定，不要忘记图书馆是为了大家的方便。

因此，从现在起，我们将严肃地执行规定。

我们特作此警告！
e.g. It is the opinion of my grandmother, God bless her, that all men should labor., and at the table, a moment ago, she said to me: You must learn to do some good work, the making of some items useful to man, something out of clay, or out of wood, or metal, or cloth.
原译：我亲爱的祖母，愿上帝保佑她，认为凡人都应该努力工作。

适才进餐时她对我言道：你务必拜师学艺，制造一些于人类有益之物，使用泥土、木材、金属、布料来制造物品。

It is the opinion of my grandmother, God bless her, that all men should labor., and at the table, a moment ago, she said to me: You must learn to do some good work, the making of some items useful to man, something out of clay, or out of wood, or metal, or cloth.
改译：我的祖母，愿上帝保佑她，认为人人都应该干活。

刚才在饭桌上她对我说：你一定要学会一样好手艺，做些对人有好处的东西，用泥土做些什么，或者用木材，或者用金属，或者用布料做些什么。

•In translation, it is far from enough to simply convey the original sense. Rather, the translated text must be adapted to the original in terms of language type and general effect.
•A good translation should be able to exert on the reader of the target language an impact similar to that of the original text on the reader of the source language.。