Monday, March 30, 2020

Literature and Emotive Prose free essay sample

The terms style originated from the Latin stylos, which meant a stick for writing on wax tablets. Later stylos came to denote metonymically also a manner of writing and speaking, in other words, the manner of using language. The subject of stylistics has not so far been definitely outlined. This is due to a number of reasons. First of all, there is confusion between the terms style and stylistics. The first concept is so broad that it is hardly possible to regard it as a term. We speak of style in architecture, literature, behaviour, linguistics, dress and other fields of human activity. Even in linguistics the word style is used so widely that it needs interpretation. The majority of linguists who deal with the subject of style agree that the term applies to the following fields of investigation: Â · the interrelation between language and thought; Â · the aesthetic function of language; Â · expressive means in language; Â · emotional colouring of language; Â · a system of special devices called stylistic devices; Â · the splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems (genres, registers, etc. We will write a custom essay sample on Literature and Emotive Prose or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page ); Â · synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea; the individual manner of an author in making use of language. The treatment of the selected elements brings up the problem of the norm. The notion of the norm mainly refers to the literary language and always presupposes a recognized or received s t a n d a r d. The norm, therefore, should be regarded as the invariant of the phonemic, morphological, lexical and syntactical patterns circulating in language-in-action at a given period of time. Variants of these patterns may sometimes diverge from the invariant but they never exceed the limits set by the invariant lest it should become unrecognizable or misleading. The development of any literary language shows that the variants will always center around the axis of the invariant forms. The variants, as the term itself suggests, will* never detach themselves from the invariant to such a degree as to claim entire independence. Yet, nevertheless, there is a tendency to estimate the value of individual style by the degree it violates the norms of the language. The problem of variants of the norm, or deviations from the norm of the literary language, has received widespread attention among linguists and is central to some of the major current controversies. It is the inadequacy of the concept norm that causes the controversy. At every period in the development of a literary language there must be a tangible norm which first of all marks the difference between literary and non-literary language. Then there must be a clear-cut distinction between the invariant of the norm (as an abstraction) and its variants (in concrete texts). 2. Functional S. Definition/ different approaches to classification. . A functional style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. A functional style is thus to be regarded as the product of a certain concrete task set by the sender of the message. Functional styles appear mainly in the literary standard of a language. Functional Styles of the English Language Functional stylistics, which has become and remains an international, very important trend in style study, deals with sets, paradigms of language units of all levels of language hierarchy serving to accommodate the needs of certain typified communicative situations. This theory of style study involves consideration of such notions as NORM and FUNCTION in their relation to STYLE. There are a great many classifications of language varieties that are called sublanguages, sub-styles, registers and functional styles that use various criteria for their definition and categorization. The term generally accepted by most Russian scholars is functional styles. According to I. R. Galperin functional style is defined as a system of coordinated, interrelated and interconditioned language means intended to fulfill a specific function of communication and aiming at a definite effect. The classifications of functional styles The problem of functional styles classification is also very complicated. It is due to several reasons: 1) functional styles intertwine, 2) functional styles are historically inconstant, 3) functional styles are connected with genres. A functional style may comprise several genres, e. g. the belles-lettres is manifested in a novel, short story, poem, etc. Styles are not isolated, but what should be kept in mind is that they have there own peculiarities. The two main subdivisions of functional styles recognized by the majority of linguists are 1) literary (bookish) styles, characterized by preliminary reflection and analysis, deliberate selection of language means, ) colloquial (free) styles characterized by spontaneity and dialogues. I. R. Galperin distinguishes 5 functional styles: 1) scientific, 2) official, 3) publicist, 4) newspaper, 5) belles-lettres. Yuri Skrebnev distinguishes the following styles and their varieties: 1) Literary or Bookish Style a) publicist style b) scientific (technological) style c) official documents style 2) Free or Colloquial Style a) literary colloquial style b) familiar colloquial style It is obvious from the classification that poetry and imaginative prose are not included as they are not homogeneous in their structure. Prof. Skrebnev uses the term sublanguages in the meaning that is usually attributed to functional styles. The major difference in his use of this term is that he considers innumerable situational communicative products as sublanguages, including each speakers idiolect. Each act of speech is a sublanguage. Thus, it is quite difficult to define the notion of the functional style. At the same time he recognizes the major opposition of formal and informal sphere of language use. 3. The S of emotive prose (imaginative prose writing) Belles-lettres style, or the style of imaginative literature, may be called the richest register of communication: besides its own language means which are not used in any other sphere of communication, belles-lettres style makes ample use of other styles too, for in numerous works of literary art we find elements of scientific, official and other functional types of speech. We maycall this style eclectic. Besides informative and persuasive functions, also found in other functional styles, the belles-lettres style has a unique task to impress the reader aesthetically. So the main function of belles-lettres style is cognitive-aesthetic. The Sub-styles of Belles-lettres Functional Style 1. Poetry 2. Emotive Prose 3. The Drama Emotive Prose Emotive prose has the same features as have been pointed out for the belles-lettres style in general; but all these features are correlated differentlyin emotive prose. The imagery is not so rich as it is in poetry, the percentage of words with contextual meaning is not so high as in poetry, the idiosyncrasy of the author is not so clearly discernible. Apart from metre and rhyme, what most of all distinguishes emotive prose from the poetic style is the combination of the literary variant of the language, both in words and syntax, with the colloquial variant. It would perhaps be more exact to define this as a combination of the spoken and written varieties of the language. Present-day emotive prose is to a large extent characterized by the breaking-up of traditional syntactical designs of the preceding periods. Not only detached constructions, but also fragmentations of syntactical models, peculiar, unexpected ways of combining 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. Middle English prose literature was also educational, represented mostly by translations of religious works from Latin. Emotive prose actually began to assume a life of its own in the second half of the 15th century when romances and chronicles describing the life and adventures of semi-legendary kings and knights began to appear. With the coming of the 16th century English emotive prose progressed rapidly. Numerous translations from Latin and Greek played a great role in helping to work out stylistic norms for the emotive prose of that period. On the whole the emotive prose of the 16th century had not yet shaped itself as a separate style. The 17th century saw a considerable development in emotive prose. Another peculiarity of the prose of this period is a rather poorly developed system of connectives. Imagery, so characteristic of the belles-lettres language style in general, begins to colour emotive prose differently from the way it is used in poetry and plays of the non-puritan trend. The puritan influence on the language of emotive prose at this time displays what may be called an anti-renaissance spirit. This is shown in the disparagement of mythological imagery. The writers of the 18th century did much to establish emotive prose as an independent form of literary art. They considered that, being educated representatives of their society, it was their dity to safeguard the purity of the English language. Another stylistic feature of the emotive prose of the 18th century is a peculiar manner of conveying the impression that the event narrated actually occurred, that the narrative possessed authenticity. The 18th century is justly regarded as the century which formed: emotive prose as a self-sufficient branch of the belles-lettres style. Nineteenth century emotive prose can already be regarded as a substyle of the belles-lettres language style complete in its most fundamental properties. The general tendency in English literature to depict the life of all strata of English society called forth changes in regard to the language used for this purpose. Standard English begins to actively absorb elements of the English vocabulary which were banned in earlier periods from the language of emotive prose, that is, jargonisms, professional words, slang, dialectal words and even vulgarisms. Present-day emotive prose is to a large extent characterized by the breaking-up of traditional syntactical designs of the preceding periods. Not only detached construction, but also unexpected ways of combining sentences, especially the gap-sentence link and other modern syntactical patterns, are freely introduced into present-day emotive prose. 4. The language of poetry: meter, rhyme, alliteration. A poem by heart (Cummings) Poetry Poetry is a form of literary art which uses the aesthetic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, metaphor, simile and metonymy[1] create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance are ways of creating repetitive patterns of sound. They may be used as an independent structural element in a poem, to reinforce rhythmic patterns, or as an ornamental element. [55] They can also carry a meaning separate from the repetitive sound patterns created. Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words: The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and feud, frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression. (Galsworthy) Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.

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