A course of modern english lexicology

INTRODUCTION TO STYLISTICS

1. STYLE AND STYLISTICS
2. EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES
2. FUNCTIONAL STYLES

1. STYLE AND STYLISTICS

The origin of the term “style” goes back to the Latin word “stylus” meaning “a sharp stick made of material for writing”. The word “stylistics” was borrowed from French where “stylistique” had the meaning of an instrument for writing.
The concept of style is very broad. We speak of style in architecture, literature, behaviour, dress and other fields of human activity.
In linguistics the majority of scholars agree that style is something that differentiates one text from another. It is the quality of the language which transfers emotions and thoughts of the author to the reader.
Style is a complex of phonetic, lexical, grammatical, and syntactical peculiarities by which a certain type of speech is characterized.
All the above mentioned facts stipulate the existence of stylistics as a branch of linguistics which deals with varieties of linguistic expression, investigates synonymous linguistic means, determines the spheres of their application and, thus, deals with the sub-systems making up the general system of the language.
According to Professor Yu. Skrebnev, stylistics deals with three sub-systems which make up the general system of the language. These sub-systems are created by extra-lingual factors and are synonymous to one another, they are:
1. neutral type;
2. sub-standard (below the standard) type;
3. super-standard (above-the standard) type.

neutral : Старик умер (The old man is dead); sub-standard : Старый хрыч подох (The old bean has kicked the bucket); super-standard : Старец скончался (The gentleman well advanced in years has attained the termination of his terrestrial existence).

Every speaker of the language understands the existence of differences in expressing similar ideas; it is the science of stylistics, however, which deals with explanation of these different styles.