Tasks for discussion and homework

Tasks for discussion and homework

1. Comment on the notions of style and sublanguages in the national language.

2. What are the interdisciplinary links of stylistics and other linguistic subjects such as phonetics, lexicology, grammar and semasiology? Provide examples. How does stylistics differ from them in its subject-matter and fields of study?

3. Give an outline of the stylistic differentiation of the national English vocabulary: neutral, literary, colloquial layers of words; areas of their overlapping. Describe literary and common colloquial stratums of vocabulary, their stratification.

4. How does stylistic colouring and stylistic neutrality relate to inherent and adherent stylistic connotation?

5. Can you distinguish neutral, formal and informal among the following groups of words:

1. A) currency B) money C) dough

2. A) to talk B) to converse C) to chat

3. A) to chow down B) to eat C) to dine

4. A) to start B) to commence C) to kick off

5. A) insane B) nuts C) mentally ill

6. A) spouse B) hubby C) husband

7. A) to leave B) to withdraw C) to shoot off

8. A) geezer B) senior citizen C) old man

9. A) veracious B) opens C) sincere

10. A) mushy B) emotional C) sentimental

1. The notion of style has to do with how we use the language under specific circumstances for a specific purpose. The notion of using English, for instance, involves much more than using our knowledge of its linguistic structure. It also involves awareness of the numerous situations in which English can be used as a special medium of communication with its own set of distinctive and recognizable features. Linguistic literature gives various definitions of the notion 'style' that generally boil down to the following three meanings of this term:

• A variety of the national language traditionally used in one of the socially identifiable spheres of life that is characterised by a particular set of linguistic features, including vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. These are chiefly associated with the social and regional varieties, such as educated, colloquial, low colloquial, dialectal, uneducated, etc. From this point of view the most broad and well known subdivision in many national languages today usually describes these varieties as neutral, literary (high) and colloquial (low): e.g. Cockney, upper-class, educated English.

• Generally accepted linguistic identity of oral and written units of discourse, such as public speech, a lecture, a friendly letter, a newspaper article, etc. Such units demonstrate style not only in a special choice of linguistic means but in their very arrangement, i. e. composition of a speech act, that creates a category of text marked by oratory, scientific, familiar or pubhcist style.

• Individual manner of expression determined by personal factors, such as educational background, professional experience, sense of humour, etc.: e.g. personal style of communication, the style of Pushkin's early poetry.

2. Stylistics and Phonetics. Phonostylistics deals with peculiarities of the sound arrangement of speech for creating a stylistic effect (onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, rhythm), i.e. it studies the way the sound system of the language becomes an expressive language means.