Stylistics and other Linguistic Disciplines

Старый хрыч сыграл в ящик.

Старый хрыч подох.

Старец скончался.

Старик умер.

The old bean he kicked the bucket.

The gentleman well advanced in years attained the termination of his terrestrial existence.

D. The old man is dead.

My old man has kicked the bucket.

My father has died.

My dear father has passed away.

C. My beloved parent has joined the heavenly choir.

[The assumption, however, that the idea expressed by two or more synonyms remains the same, is utterly wrong. Whenever the form changes, the content (and along with it its stylistic value) is bound to change, too]

The origin of the terms “style” and “stylistics”.

Stylistics, as the term implies, deals with style. The original meaning of “style” was a writing implement. It was a short stick used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets. But already in classical Latin the word acquired a terminological tint, it came to denote one’s way of expressing oneself. In French the word acquired an evaluative tint, it came to denote a good way of expressing oneself.

Today the word “style” has a very broad meaning. We speak of style in architecture, painting, clothes, behaviour, work and so on. In fact style can be applied to any kind of human activity that may be performed in more than one way, and also to the result of such activity.

It should be pointed out, however, that our choice of different ways to achieve a goal is limited: all kinds of human activities and behaviour represent a complex interrelation of freedom and restrictions.

E.g. in our choice of clothes: we do not think merely of keeping warm or cold but in doing so within the conventions of our society.

With our language habits also, then, we must always be sensitive to our environment and use the “accepted” forms of English (Russian) just as we eat and dress in the “accepted” ways.

The word “stylistics”, however, is a newcomer to the English vocabulary: acc. to the Oxford English Dictionary it was recorded for the first time only in 1882 meaning “the science of literary style, the study of stylistic features.”

Stylistics is the most direct heir of rhetoric, the art of composition and delivery of speeches.

Stylistics is connected with phonetics, morphology, lexicology and syntax and is subdivided into stylistic phonetics (phonostylistics), stylistic morphology, stylistic lexicology, stylistic syntax.

We shall now look for the difference between general morphology, lexicology, syntax, on the hand, and their stylistic counterparts, on the other.

The ultimate aim as well as the general method of stylistics is description of specific spheres of sublanguages. Therefore whatever level we take, stylistics describes not what it is common use but what is specific in this or that respect, what differentiates one sublanguage from others.

1. General (i.e. non-stylistic) phonetics investigates the whole articulatory-audial system of language.

Stylistic phonetics or phonostylistics pays attention only to style-forming features of sublanguages: it describes variants of pronunciation occurring in different types of speech (cf. recitation or oration with colloquial speech). Special attention is also paid to prosodic features of prose and poetry.

It studies how the sound form of speech makes it more expressive. It studies metre, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, etc.

2. General morphology treats morphemes and grammatical meanings expressed by them in language in general, without regard to their stylistic value.

Stylistic morphology, on the contrary, is interested in grammatical forms and grammatical meanings that are peculiar to particular sublanguages, explicitly or implicitly comparing them with the neutral ones common to all sublanguages.

e.g. The grammatical category of number:

One I-am-sorry-for-you is worth twenty I told-you-so’s.

(The sentence sounds rather funny when the s- ending is added to the whole of it)

e.g. Peter’s sad face. vs Winter’s grim face.

3. General lexicology studies vocabulary, the development and origin of words, the meaning of words and word-building. Stylistic lexicology studies the interaction of meanings, it studies expressive, evaluative, emotive meanings of words.

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