Workshop #1

1. What is stylistics?
Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which investigates the entire system of
expressive resources available in a particular language. It is a study of the
particular choices an author/speaker makes from the available materials, choices
that are largely culture-oriented and situation-based.
By Stylistics British linguist Henry Widdowson means the study of literary
discourse from a linguistic orientation, i.e. Stylistics is an area of mediation
between the two disciplines, the two subjects: language and literature. In [Link]
Beaugrande’s words, Stylistics applies linguistics to literature.
As a separate linguistic discipline Stylistics began to form only in the 20-30s of
the XXth century. In modern linguistics the term Stylistics is employed in a
variety of senses. But in general Stylistics is defined as a branch of linguistics
which studies the principles and effect of choice and usage of different language
elements for rendering thought and emotion under different conditions of
communication.
2. What is style? Try to give definitions in your 10 own words.
The notion of style, which gave birth to the name of Stylistics, is many-sided,
versatile and rather controversial.
1) It may mean a variety of language typical of some definite sphere of social
life. This variety has its own parametres: lexical, grammatical, and
phonetic. Traditionally, three most general types of speech, or “styles” are
distinguished in national languages: neutral, “high” (literary) and “low”
(colloquial).
2) This understanding of style comes close to the notions of “register”.
People use different registers depending on the communicative situation,
the aims of communication as well as the speakers’ social and educational
status. According to R. Fowler, register is a sociolinguistic term meaning
“a distinctive use of language to fulfil a particular communicative function
in a particular kind of situation”. Thus in various situations people usually
resort to different ways of conveying some idea:
• I have certainly never seen the man. (neutral, standard)
• I deny the fact of ever having seen this person. (official, bookish;
juridical sphere)
• Never seen the chap, not I. (colloquial)
 3) The notion of style may mean “an individual manner of presentation”
when we deal with the language of oral speech or written texts, artistic texts
in particular. It is used as a synonym to the notion of “the author’s
individual style”, or the author’s idiostyle.
4) Style may be understood as “techniques of expression”, i.e. the ability to
write clearly, correctly, and adequately in terms of the standards of a
concrete communicative type of text.
3. What are interdisciplinary links of stylistics and other linguistic subjects
such as phonetics, lexicology, grammar, and semasiology? Provide examples.
Stylistic phonetics studies the style-forming phonetic features of sounds,
peculiarities of their organization in speech. It also investigates variants of
pronunciation occurring in different types of speech, prosodic features of prose
and poetry.
Unlike phonetics, which studies the articulation of speech sounds, intonation,
rhythm, and accent, phonostylistics shows how separate sounds, sound
combinations, intonation and stress can serve as expressive means and stylistic
devices to convey the author’s idea, emotions; also how various sound
combinations serve as the basis for rhyme, rhythm, alliteration (e.g.: “Alls well
that ends well”, “All that glitters is not gold”). It deals with prosodic means and
sound instrumentation. One of the objectives of phonostylistics is also
intonational functional styles.
Stylistic lexicology considers stylistic functions of lexicon, expressive,
evaluative and emotive potential of words belonging to different layers of
vocabulary.
The word, as is known, can express the speaker’s subjective attitude (positive or
negative) or evaluation of the object, phenomenon, action or quality described. In
this case we say that the word acquires a certain emotional-evaluative
connotation. For example, the word “home” has a connotation (or connotative
component) of “comfort”. By contrast, connotations refer to the personal aspect
of lexical meaning, often the emotional associations which a lexeme incidentally
belongs to mind. So, for many people the word “bus” has the connotations of
“cheapness” and “convenience”; for others, “discomfort” and “inconvenience”.
Stylistics and grammar intersect in various interesting ways, particularly in how
stylistic choices are shaped by and reflect grammatical structures.
In literary texts, authors often manipulate grammatical structures to achieve
specific stylistic effects. For instance, the use of long, complex sentences can
create a sense of grandeur or formality. Conversely, short, fragmented sentences
might be employed to convey urgency or disjointedness. The choice of tense can
also impact narrative style. For instance, a shift from past tense to present tense
can create a sense of immediacy and involvement.
Stylistics and semasiology are both important fields in the study of language and
meaning, and they intersect in several ways.
For example, a text might use ironic statements that imply the opposite of their
literal meaning. Semasiology would investigate how these ironic statements
contribute to the nuanced understanding of the text’s themes and characters.
Stylistics would analyze how these devices affect the reader’s perception and
engagement, shaping the narrative’s tone and style.
4. What is the main difference between stylistics of language and stylistics of
speech?
First of all, we need to differentiate between the notions of language and speech.
Language is a system of elementary and complex signs, such as phonems,
morphemes, words, word combinations, utterances, and combinations of
utterances. It exists only in human minds and can be systematized into paradigms.
Speech is a process of combining linguistic elements into linear linguistic units
step by step: a combination of vowels and consonants into words, word
combinations, sentences, combinations of sentences, and texts. It exists in acts of
communication and can be systematized into syntagms.
Stylistics deals with texts both from syntagmatic and paradigmatic pointview. It
leads to the notions of stylistics of language and stylistics of speech. Their
difference lies in the material studied. The stylistics of language analyses
permanent (inherent) stylistics properties of language elements. The stylistics of
speech studies stylistics properties, which appear in a context, and they are called
adherent.
5. What types of stylistic research and its branches do you know? Comment
on them.
According to the type of stylistic research we can distinguish literary Stylistics
and lingua-Stylistics. Both study the common ground of:
a) the literary language from the point of view of its variability;
b) the idiolect (individual speech) of a writer;
 c) poetic speech that has its own specific laws.
Lingua-Stylistics studies:
a) functional styles (in their development and current state);
b) the linguistic nature of the expressive means of the language;
c) the systematic character of the expressive means of the language;
d) the functions of the expressive means of the language.
Lingua-Stylistics examines the correlation between a speech situation and
linguistic means used by speakers and hence – different functional styles of
speech and language. Lingua-Stylistics is also called Functional Stylistics. It is
defined as a linguistic science that studies peculiarities and regularities of
language functioning in different communicative situations.
Literary Stylistics is focused on:
a) the composition of a work of art:
b) various literary genres;
c) the writer’s outlook.
Literary Stylistics falls into three types:
1) Author’s Stylistics (or Stylistics of encoding) is interested in individual
styles of writers focusing on their biography, beliefs, interests and other
factors which could influence their literary creative work.
2) Reader’s Stylistics (or Stylistics of perception or decoding) combines
concepts of poetics, literary Stylistics, semasiology, theory of
communication, text theory, sociolinguistics, pragma- and paralinguistics,
aesthetics, hermeneutics, etc. It focuses on the reader’s perception of a
literary text, his reaction to it. The core of reader-oriented decoding
stylistics is formed by special types of contextual organization known as
foregrounding. Foregrounding establishes the hierarchy of meanings and
themes in the text, bringing some to the fore and shifting others to the
background.
3) Immanent Stylistics studies a literary text as some immanent fact, without
taking into account the author’s intentions or how this text is interpreted by
the reader.
6. How does stylistic colouring and stylistic neutrality relate to inherent and
adherent stylistic connotation?
Stylistic colouring refers to the use of language that is rich in stylistic features,
such as specific vocabulary, expressive phrases, or particular syntactic structures
that create a distinctive tone or mood. In contrast, stylistic neutrality involves
using language that is more generic or unmarked, with minimal stylistic features,
aiming for clarity and straightforwardness.
In a historical novel, the use of elaborate, formal language might be employed to
evoke a sense of the period. The inherent connotations of formal language
contribute to the stylistic effect of the narrative. A news article written in a
straightforward, neutral style will still carry inherent connotations of
professionalism and objectivity due to the use of precise, factual language.
In a dramatic scene of a play, a character’s use of florid, emotional language
contributes to a heightened sense of drama. The adherent connotations are shaped
by the context of the scene and how the language is used to build emotional
intensity. In technical writing, a neutral tone is used to maintain clarity and
objectivity. However, within a specific technical field, the adherence to neutrality
can influence the perception of expertise and reliability.
The stylistic connotation of a word may be just a sign of a certain functional
style to which the word belongs, without carrying any emotional or evaluative
element. Thus, sentences like She is cute (= pretty), It is cute (= very good), It’s
cool (Це круто) contain not only a high positive evaluation (in the same way as
the stylistically neutral variants She is pretty/good-looking or It is very good), but
also a stylistic connotation which shows that they belong to the familiar-
colloquial style, or even to slang.
7. Is a word always characterized by its denotative meaning and necessarily
by connotation?
A word can be defined as a unit of language functioning within the sentence or
within a partof it which by its sound or graphical form expresses a concrete or
abstract notion or a grammatical notion through one of its meanings and which is
capable of enriching its semantic structure by acquiring new meanings and losing
old ones.
A word, as is known, generalizes. Consequently, a word will always denote a
concept, no matter whether it names a definite object or embraces all the objects
of a given kind. Concept is a logical category, its linguistic counterpart is
meaning. Meaning is the unity of generalization, communication and thinking.
According to the modern investigations in the field of linguistics the semantic
structure of the word constitutes various types of lexical meanings, the major one
being denotational, which informs of the subject of communication; and also
including connotational, which informs about the participants and conditions of
communication.
Connotations are optional but significant. While a word’s denotation is a
constant, connotations add layers of meaning that can enhance or modify the
interpretation of the word based on context. Connotations are not always present
or prominent in every text. A word is not always characterized by a single, fixed
set of connotations. Connotations can vary widely and may not always be
prominent or relevant in every context. They are often influenced by cultural,
situational, and individual factors.
In some contexts, the denotative meaning might be more prominent, such as in
technical or scientific discussions where precision is crucial. In other contexts,
connotations play a more significant role, such as in poetry, advertising, or
persuasive writing, where emotional or associative aspects are emphasized.
8. How many components does a connotative meaning consist of? What are
they?
The list and specifications of connotational meanings vary with different
linguistic schools and individual scholars and include such entries as pragmatic
(directed at the perlocutionary effect of the utterance), associative (connected,
through individual psychological or linguistic associations, with related and
nonrelated notions), ideological or conceptual (revealing political, social,
ideological preferences of the user), evaluative (stating the value of the indicated
notion), emotive (revealing the emotional layer of cognition and perception),
expressive (aiming at creating the image of the object in question), stylistic
(indicating the “register”, or the situation of the communication).
For example, the following connotations: an endearing connotation (пестлива)
— e.g. in the words kid, daddy, mummy (as different from the neutral words child,
father, mother); derogatory (презирлива, зневажлива) connotation — e.g. in
rot, trash, stuff (as different from the neutral “something worthless or silly”);
jocular/humorous — e.g. in comestibles (=food), beak (=nose), to kick the
bucket (= to die); rude or vulgar, e.g. in shut up; ironical or sarcastic — brain-
wash, a pretty kettle of fish (= an embarrassing situation), notorious; his
notorious jokes, he is notorious for his bad behaviour — «відомий» у значенні
«сумнозвісний»); approving evaluation (схвальна оцінка) — e.g. in the word
renowned (a renowned poet = славетний; Edison is renowned for his great
inventions); on the other hand, its synonyms like well- known, famous are neutral
in this respect (have no connotations).