文体学

论文题目：从文体学视角浅析《我有一个梦》学院：外国语学院专业：_ 外国语言学及应用语言学学号： 31005065 姓名：__ 李璐指导老师：_ 白梦璇A Stylistic Analysis of I Have a DreamIntroductionDifferent scholars define stylistics in different ways. Wales defines stylistics as the study of the style simply, while Widdowson gives a further explanation, “by stylistics, I mean the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation and I shall take the view that what distinguishes stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand and linguistics on the other is that it is essentially a means of linking the two.” Leech considers stylistics “a meeting ground of linguistics and literary study.” From what they say, we can see that stylistics is an inter-disciplined branch of learning which takes discourse as its object of the study and uses linguistics as a means to that end. The task of the stylistics is to observe and describe the language features of the discourse, which are grammatical, lexical, phonological and semantic features. Of all aspects of public speaking, persuasion is the most complex and difficult. Its job is to change the audience‟s minds-to get them agree and perhaps to act. Its goal may be to defend an idea, to refute an opponent, to sell a programme, or to inspire people to action.On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream at the demonstration which a quarter of million people of all races came to Washington, D. C., to show their support for freedom and justice for all Americans, and for black people in particular. This speech is widely regarded as the most eloquent statement of the black people‟s dreams and aspirations ever made.It is an example of formal English with a convincing style. This paper will analyze this famous speech I Have a Dream from stylistics in grammatical, lexical, phonological and semantic aspects.Chapter 1 A Stylistic Analysis of I Have a Dream 1.1 Grammatical Features1.1.1 Variation in Sentence LengthWe know that casual speech tends to use short sentences. However, the sentences vary much in length in King‟s speech I Have a Dream.There are in all 77 sentences and 1675 words. The sentences of 1 to 9 words are 13, taking up 16.9% in total sentences; 10 to 19 words 27 taking up 35.1%; 20 to 29 words 23 taking up 30.1%; 30 to 39 words 7 taking up 30.1%; more than 40 words 5 taking up 6.5%. The average length is 27.15 words per sentence, which is much longer than that (8 words) of causal conversation. It is clear that the distinguish features is using long sentences in this speech. From the viewpoint of communication, public speech has its own characteristics of seriousness and reliability. Using long sentence can increase the coherence and solemnity and help the lecture to show their feelings and emphasize the content.1.1.2 Various Sentence TypesAs public speeches are intend to inform, to persuade, and to appeal, most sentences are statements and imperative sentence. In this speech, King uses more than 12 imperative sentences, introduced by let, as is shown in it:Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that some how this situation can and will be changed.Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.The sentence uses present tense in speech usually. In this speech, King uses the past tense and the perfect tense except the present tense. These sentence types reflect unfair treatment and the Blacks in this time and reviewing the past to cherish thememory of the president Lincoln. The combination of these three tenses show the deep background and gives the audience a better hope and a powerful struggle.1.2 Lexical Features1.2.1 Using Accurate and Clear WordsPublic speech is careful about its choice of words. It tends to use words accurate and clear in meaning. I Have a Dream is a typical example. King chooses concrete and familiar words to make the abstract principles of liberty and equality clear and compelling. Here is a part of the great speech:We cannot turn back. There are those who ask the devotees of civil rights, …when will you be satisfied?‟ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.We ca see that King avoided using dull, dreary, abstract or unfamiliar words like segregate housing, disfranchisement, and alienation, and thus made his speech stirring and touching.1.2.2 Adaptation of Wording to a Particular AudienceIn order to adapt the message to the particular audience being addressed, the speaker will use some techniques to close the relationship with the audiences. For example, a Black speaker in the US may exaggerate the Black English features in his speech so as to stress his membership in his ethnic group.1.2.3 Use of Personal PronounIn public speech, it is observing the use of the personal pronoun. The first person, I (me) and we (us) is used frequently. King uses first person largely, especially we (us) that appears 47 times. In the last long sentence, there are as many as 4 times.When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God‟s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!The use of the first person plural can pull the audience to the speaker. They have the same position. The audiences feel very close to the speaker so that it is to win the support of the audience. In this speech, Martin Luther King demands colored people for equality on behalf of the United States, using we (us) to distinguish the United States colored ones with other Americans in order to stress their unequal treatments, evoke their strong sense of responsibility, enhance their cohesion1.3 Phonological FeaturesThe speech sounds is the basis of language and the element of study style. Although the public speech is verbal, it is different from the daily conversation. In public speech, the pronunciation must standard. On the other hand, it is unfamiliar to see slur words and compressed words in the speech. This phenomenon is very common in King‟s speech. For example, I am, can not, and let us are in complete form. The reducing of the acronyms makes the language more formal and serious.Pause in public speech is also useful. It can signal the end of a thought unit, give an idea time to sink in, and led dramatic impact to a statement. The crucial factor is timing pause for a right length in time. In a sense, a rightly timid can be more effective than a right word. But pause in public speech are not vocalized as in daily conversation.1.4 Semantic Features1.4.1 Effective Ways of OrganizationClear organization is vital to speech-making. A well-organized speech enhances its credibility and makes it easier for the audience to understand the message. Persuasive speech, especially policy speeches often fall into problem-solution, and then the speaker explains solution and shows its practicality. In this well-known speech, the content in perfect order which they want to express is well organized. In the beginning, the high priest King praised the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Lincoln for the importance of the slaves. And then the speaker turned to the black‟s tra gedy life and still the cause all these unfortunate living: the United States does not practice its commitment. After whipping the United States, the pastor begins to shouting the rallying cry, encouraging the black from now, do not silence, do not be passive, and make efforts to change their suffered situation. In the end, the speaker in "I have a dream ... "echoes with the subject, expressing their own or even the majority of the common oppressed black people‟s aspiration. He also goes forward to the future prospects of a better life; give the audiences more confidence and strength: no matter how difficult the road to happiness is, the efforts must go on.1.4.2 Effective Ways of Delivery(1) RepetitionUsed in speech, repetition not only makes it easy for the audience to follow what the speaker is saying, but also gives a strong rhythmic quality to the speech and makes it more memorable. For example, King uses the words “I have a dream” nine times. This repetition helps to achieve the function of coherence in discourse and the function of reinforcement in mood and emotion, expressing the speaker‟s strong emotion of longing for freedom, justice, righteousness and a much more united nation of all of God‟s children.(2) ParallelismParallelism is another syntactic over-regularity. To put it simply, parallelism means the balancing of sentence elements that are grammatically equal. In his speech, Martin Luther King uses parallelism to create a strong rhythm to help the audience line up his ideas. Here are few examples:I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaningof its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of formerslaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering withthe heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation wherethey will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.I have a dream today!I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with itsgovernor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.I have a dream today!I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill andmountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."(4) Similes and metaphorsAs two very important types of meaning transference in literature, similes and metaphors are comparisons that show similarities in things that are basically different, which can be used to add vividness and vitality to writing. As Leech points out, metaphor is associated with a particular rule of transference which may be called the “metaphoric rule”. That is, the figurative meaning is derived from the literal meaning or it is, as it were, the literal meaning. Throughout the speech, King makes extensive use of similes and metaphors. For example,One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. (Metaphor)This is no time … to take the tranquilizing drag of gradualism. (Metaphor)This sweltering summer of the Negro‟s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. (Metaphors)…we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Similes)…a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers (Similes)Chapter 2 ConclusionAs we have analyzed above, stylistic devices are frequently used in the discourse of literary works especially in speech, to achieve certain specific purposes, thus making the style of a speech somewhat particular to the others.Generally speaking, a speech must have the flowing stylistics characters:To begin with, written-conventional style used with not very formal diction and not very complicated sentence structure.Secondly, it should be emotional so as to be convincing, because the speaker should face the audience directly and his words should be not only orderly and informative but also be expressive and inspiring. Therefore, the stylistic devices such as similes and metaphors are often involved.Finally, in many cases, it must be persuasive. Thus the sentence patterns are very well-organized, with repetition and parallelism used ext.。