Introduction. The General concept of style

Dramatic poetry is drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and appears in varying, sometimes related forms in many cultures. Verse drama may have developed out of earlier oral epics, such as the Sanskrit and Greek epics.

Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for satire. The punch of an insult delivered in verse can be many times more powerful and memorable than that of the same insult, spoken or written in prose. The Romans had a strong tradition of satirical poetry, often written for political purposes. A notable example is the Roman poet Juvenal's satires, whose insults stung the entire spectrum of society.

Lyric poetry is a genre that, unlike epic poetry and dramatic poetry, does not attempt to tell a story but instead is of a more personal nature. Rather than depicting characters and actions, it portrays the poet's own feelings, states of mind, and perceptions. While the genre's name, derived from "lyre," implies that it is intended to be sung, much lyric poetry is meant purely for reading.

The fable is an ancient, near-ubiquitous literary genre, often (though not invariably) set in verse. It is a succinct story that features anthropomorphized animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that illustrate a moral lesson (a "moral").

Prose poetry is a hybrid genre that shows attributes of both prose and poetry. It may be indistinguishable from the micro-story (aka the "short short story," "flash fiction"). Most critics argue that it qualifies as poetry because of its conciseness, use of metaphor, and special attention to language.

1. The Language of Emotive Prose (Fiction).

Emotive prose or Fiction has the same common features as have been pointed to belles-lettres style, but they are correlated differently here. The imagery is not so rich, the percentage of words with contextual meaning is not so high as in poetry, etc.

Emotive prose came into being rather late in the history of the English literary language. It is well known that in early Anglo-Saxon literature there was no emotive prose. Anglo-Saxon literature was mainly poetry, songs of religious, military and festive character. The first emotive prose which appeared was translations from Latin of stories from the Bible and the Lives of Saints.

Fiction has three main elements: plotting, character, and place or setting

Character

Characterization is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. A character is a participant in the story, and is usually a person, but may be any personal identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance.

Characters may be of several types:

Point-of-view character: the character from whose perspective (theme) the audience experiences the story. This is the character that represents the point of view the audience will empathise, or at the very least, sympathise with. Therefore this is the "Main" Character.

Protagonist: the driver of the action of the story and therefore responsible for achieving the story's Objective Story Goal (the surface journey). In western storytelling tradition the Protagonist is usually the Main Character.

Antagonist: the character that stands in opposition to the protagonist

Supporting character: A character that plays a part in the plot but is not major

Minor character: a character in a bit/cameo part.

Plot

Plot, or storyline, is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. It is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story. On a micro level, plot consists of action and reaction. On a macro level, plot has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Plot is often depicted as an arc with a zigzag line to represent the rise and fall of action. Plot also has a mid-level structure: scene and sequel. A scene is a unit of drama—where the action occurs. Then, after a transition of some sort, comes the sequel – an emotional reaction and regrouping, after effects. (Bickham 1993, pp. 23-62):)

Setting

Setting, the location and time of a story, is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. Sometimes setting is referred to as milieu ["mi:ljɜ:], to include a context (such as society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. In some cases, setting becomes a character itself and can set the tone of a story. (Rozelle 2005, p. 2)

Theme

Theme is the central idea or insight serving as a unifying element, creating unity and is an answer to the question, 'What did you learn from the piece of fiction?' (Morrell 2006, p. 263)

Style

Style is not so much what is written, but how it is written and interpreted. Style in fiction refers to language conventions used to construct the story or article. A fiction writer may manipulate diction, sentence structure, phrasing, dialogue, and other aspects of language to create style or mood. The communicative effect created by the author's style is sometimes referred to as the story's voice. Every writer has his or her own unique style, or voice (Provost 1988, p. 8).

Uses of fiction

Although fiction may be viewed as a form of entertainment, it has other uses. Fiction has been used for instructional purposes, such as fictional examples used in school textbooks. It may be used in propaganda and advertising. Although they are not necessarily targeted at children, fables offer an explicit moral goal.

A whole branch of literature crossing entertainment and science speculation is Science fiction. A less common similar cross is the philosophical fiction hybridizing fiction and philosophy, thereby often crossing the border towards propaganda fiction. These kinds of fictions constitute thought experiments exploring consequences of certain technologies or philosophies.

Emotive prose has the following peculiarities:

• There are always two forms of communication present – monologue (the speech of the author) and dialogue (the speech of the characters);
• The language of the writer conforms (or is expected to conform) to the literary norms of the given period in the development of the English literary language;
• The language of the characters undergoes transformation and words and expressions are chosen to characterize his or her personality, this constitutes a very advantageous device;
• Besides, emotive prose allows the use of elements from other styles as well. E.g.: official style (the business correspondence between two characters in the novel “The Man of Property” by Galsworthy); scientific style (“The Citadel” by Cronin), etc. But nevertheless, all the styles incorporated into a work of fiction undergo a kind of transformation.

2. The Language of Drama

The language of drama refers to plays. Just like other sub-styles of the Belles-Lettres style, plays are written for readers to understand, analyze, interpret and express various ideas. In plays, the script replicates real discourse; the dialogue is natural and accurate. The author’s speech is almost entirely excluded except for the playwrights’ remarks and stage directions/ the language of the characters is in no way the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language, although the playwright seeks to reproduce actual conversations as far as the norms of the written language will allow the language of plays is always stylized, that is it strives to retain the modus of literary English, unless the playwright has a particular aim which requires the use of non-literary forms and expressions. The stylization of colloquial language is one of the features of plays which at different stages in the history of English drama has manifested itself in different ways revealing the general trends of the literary language and the personal idiosyncrasies of the writer.

The natural conventionality of any literary work is most obvious in plays. People are made to talk to each other in front of an audience, and yet as if there were no audience. Dialogue, which is by its nature ephemeral and spontaneous, is made lasting. It is intended to be reproduced many times by different actors with different interpretations. The individualization of each character’s speech then is very important as is should reveal the inner, psychological and intellectual traits of the character.

Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure and the language of plays is of the type which is meant to be reproduced. Therefore, even when the language of a play approximates that of a real dialogue, it will nonetheless be stylized.

 

Questions for Self-Control:

 

1. What is the aim of the Belles-Letters Style? Name the characteristic features of the style.

2. Which special devices are used to achieve musical or incantatory effects in poetry?

     3. Explain the meaning of the following words: rhythm and meter. What types of rhythm and meter do you know? What types of rhythm are used in English, Kazakh and Russian?

3. What kinds of poetry do you know? What is the difference between them?
4. What are the three main elements in fiction? Comment on each of them.
5. What are the main characteristic features of emotive prose?
6. Speak about the nature of dialogue in plays. Why do playwrights have to stylize natural speech?

 

Literature

      

       1.  Н.М. Разинкина. Практикум по стилистике английского и русского языков: Учебн.пособие. – М.: Высшая школа, 2006

2.    Ю.М. Скребнев Основы стилистики английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак.иностр.яз. – 2-е изд., испр. – М.:ООО «Издательство Астрель», 2000

3.     I.R. Galperin. Stylistics. – Moscow,1977

4.     V.A. Kuharenko. A Book of Practice in Stylistics. – M.:Высшая школа,1986

5.     V.A. Maltzev. Essays of English Stylistics. – Мн.: Высшая школа,1984

      6.     T.A.  Znamenskaya. Stylistics of the English Language. М., Комкнига, 2006

 

 

 

Lecture 8

The Publicist Style

 

 

1. The Publicistic style. General              Notion.

2. Oratory and Speeches.

3. Essay

4. TV-commentary; Newspaper and Journal Articles

 

 

The publicistic style is used in public speeches and printed public works which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character.

It falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other formal styles, the publicist style has spoken varieties, in particular, the oratorical sub-style. The development of radio and television has brought into being a new spoken variety TV-commentary. The other two are the essay and articles in newspapers, journals and magazines.

The general aim of the publicist style is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well.

This brain-washing function is most effective in oratory, for here the most powerful instrument of persuasion is brought into play: the human voice. Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicistic style has features in common with the style of scientific prose or official documents, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the other. Its coherent and logical syntactic structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful paragraphing, makes it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic devices as in emotive prose.

The publicistic style also has some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial style as the author has no need to make their speech impersonal (as in scientific or official style), but, on the contrary, he or she tries to approximate the text to lively communication, as though they were talking to people in direct contact.

Oratory and Speeches

The oratorical style is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. The most obvious purpose of oratory is persuasion, and it requires eloquence. This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn occasions as public weddings, funerals and jubilees, in sermons and debates and also in the speeches of counsel and judges in courts of law.

Certain typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in this style are:

a) direct address to the audience by special formulas (Ladies and Gentlemen!; My Lords! in the House of Lords; Mr. Chairman!; Honourable Members!; Highly esteemed members of the conference!; or, in less formal situation, Dear Friends!; or, with a more passionate colouring, My Friends!). Expressions of direct address can be repeated in the course of the speech and may be expressed differently (Mark you! Mind!).

b) special formulas at the end of the speech to thank the audience for their attention (Thank you very much; Thank you for your time).

c) the use of the 1st person pronoun we; 2nd person pronoun you: We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happinessв (Th. Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence).

d) the use of contractions won’t, haven’t, isn’t and others: We’re talking about healing our nation. We’re not talking about politics. We’re all here to do everything in our power to save lives. I’m here to thank you for hearing that call. Actually, I shouldn’t be thanking you, I should be thanking a Higher Power for giving you the call (George W. Bush).

e) features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions as the speaker attempts to reach closer contact: Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? (Th. Jefferson), or calling upon the audience: Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles (ibid).

Like the colloquial style, oratory is usually characterized by emotional colouring and connotations, but there is a difference. The emotional colouring of the publicist style is lofty and it may be solemn, or ironic, but it cannot have the lowered connotations (jocular, rude, vulgar, or slangy) found in colloquial speech. The vocabulary of speeches is usually elaborately chosen and remains mainly in the sphere of high-flown style.

The stylistic devices employed in the oratorical style are determined by the conditions of communication. If the desire of the speaker is to rouse the audience and to keep it in suspense, he will use various traditional stylistic devices. Stylistic devices are closely interwoven and mutually complementary thus building up an intricate pattern. For example, an antithesis is framed by parallel constructions, which, in their turn, are accompanied by repetition, while a climax can be formed by repetitions of different kinds.

As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to repetition to enable his listeners to follow him and retain the main points of the speech. Repetition is also resorted to in order to persuade the audience, to add weight to the speaker’s opinion. The following extract from the speech of the American Confederate general, A.P. Hill, on the ending of the Civil War in the U.S.A. is an example of anaphoric repetition:

 

It is high time this people had recovered from the passions of war. It is high time that counsel were taken from statesmen, not demagogues. It is high time the people of the North and South understood each other and adopted means to inspire confidence in each other.

 

Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of the English oratorical style. Almost any piece of oratory will have parallel constructions, antithesis, climax, rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative. It will be no exaggeration to say that almost all typical syntactical devices can be found in English oratory. Questions are most frequent because they promote closer contact with the audience.

In political speeches, the need for applause is paramount, and much of the distinctive rhetoric of a political speech is structured in such a way as to give the audience the maximum chance to applaud. One widely used technique is an adaptation of an ancient rhetorical structure “ the three-part list: X, Y, and Z. These lists are not of course restricted to politics only: signed, sealed and delivered; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Tom, Dick, and Harry; the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; this, that, and the other.

Such lists, supported by a strong rhythm and a clear rising + falling intonation sequence, convey a sense of rhetorical power, structural control, and semantic completeness. They are widely used in formal writing. And they are especially common in political speeches, where the third item provides a climax of expression which can act as a cue for applause.

In an acclaimed study of speech and body language in political speeches, using videotaped data, specialists found such instances:

Governor Wallace: and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.

 

Norman Tebbit: Labour will spend, and borrow and borrow, and tax and tax.

 

Tony Ben: and they kill it secretly, privately, without debate.

 

History and literature provide numerous examples:

 

Abraham Lincoln: Government of the people, by the people, for the people.

 

Mark Anthony: Friends, Romans, Countrymen

 

Winston Churchill: This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.

The Essay

This genre in English literature dates from the 16th century, and its name is taken from the short Essays  (=experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. An essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social or literary subjects, which preserves a clearly personal character and has no pretence to deep or strictly scientific treatment of the subject. It is rather a number of comments, without any definite conclusions.

Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspaper. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on the writer’s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose.

The essay on moral and philosophical topics in modern times has not been so popular, probably because a deeper scientific analysis and interpretation of facts is required. The essay in our days is often biographical; people, facts and events are taken from life. These essays differ from those of previous centuries and their vocabulary is simpler and so is their logical structure and argumentation. But they still retain all the leading features of the publicist style.

The most characteristic language features of the essay, however, remain

1. brevity of expression;

2. the use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated;

3. a rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas;

4. the abundant use of emotive words;

5. the use of similes and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process.

In comparison with the oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting, hence at a slower effect. Epigrams, paradoxes and aphorisms are comparatively rare in oratory, as they require the concentrated attention of the listener. In the essay they are commoner, for the reader has an opportunity to make a careful and detailed study both of the content of the utterance and its form.

Newspaper sub-style it is a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking the language as a separate unity that basically serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.

The primary function of newspaper sub-style is to impart information and instruct (информировать) the reader. The printed matter serving this purpose can be classified as: 1) Brief news items (газетная заметка) and communiqués (офиц. сообщения); 2) Press reports (газетные сообщения) – parliamentary, of court proceedings (судебное разбирательство); 3) Articles purely informational in character; 4) Advertisements and announcements (сообщения, извещения); 5) editorials.

The editorial (передовая статья) has the function to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. It comments on the political or other events of the day stating the editor’s opinion and interpretation of the news published.  It appeals not only to the reader’s mind but to his feelings as well. Thus writers of editorials make an extensive use of emotionally coloured vocabulary together with political words and expressions, terms, clichés and abbreviations (the international climate, an outrageous act – вопиющий акт, a price explosion), traditional periphrases (Downing Street – the British Government; Wall Street – American Financial Stock Exchange; IMF – International Monetary Fund).