文体学论文

哈尔滨师范大学文体学论文题目情景喜剧《老友记》中的文体分析学生李宏悦指导教师王静年级 2010级 6 班专业英语教育系别英语教育系学院西语学院哈尔滨师范大学2013年12月TERM PAPERENGLISH DEPARTMENT HARBIN NORMAL UNIERSITYTITLE: A Stylistic Analysis of the Sitcom FriendsSTUDENT: Li HongyueTUTOR: Wang JingGRADE: Grade 2010MAJOR: English EducationDEPARTMENT: English DepartmentCOLLEGE: Faculty of Western Languages andLiteraturesDecember, 2013HARBIN NORMAL UNIVERSITYAbstractIn recent years, there exists a great number of research of different varieties of English, such as novels, news broadcast, scientific readings, etc. Nevertheless, what c annot bear any of our negligence is that stylistics on sitcoms---a new type of language material, is in great scarcity. Hence,the author of this thesis intends to investigate Frie nds, a popularly shown English language sitcom from the perspective of general stylis tics in terms of linguistic description, textual analysis and contextual analysis respecti vely.This thesis examines three randomly selected episodes by means of qualitative r esearch unfolding their stylistic features, namely some similarities as well as disparitie s among them in terms of stylistics. Through this research, the author has the followin g findings:At the phonological level, the swift tempo throughout the episodes and the frequent use of nitial stress play a vital role. At the graphological level, the frequent e mployment of commas, uniqueness in spelling and emotion and action markers phrase d in brackets are the most distinct stylistic features.At the lexical level, the employment of monosyllabic, informal, dynamic, collo quial, concrete and fluff words is typical of the selected episodes. At the grammatical/ syntactic level, the overwhelming employment of simple sentences and active voice is the most distinct feature of the selected episodes.So far as textual analysis is concerne d, this thesis has penetrated mainly into the lay-out of the selected episodes, discoveri ng that all the three episodes share the same text lay-out, namely the prelude, the body as well as the ending scene.Contextual factors analysis is also conducted in this research. We have discovere d that the field of discourse, the tenor of discourse and the mode of discourse are close ly associated with the stylistic features found in linguistic description. In addition, the author has also explored the selected episodes by emplong two speech theories of vita l importance---Speech Act Theory and Cooperative Principle respectively, finding that the conversations in the selected episodes are in light with the former while always vi olating the latter.Key Words: stylistics sitcom linguistic description textual description textual analys is contextual factors analysis摘要近些年来，英语文体学研究在学术界得到了蓬勃发展。

在现在的语言学学术期刊上，我们可以经常看到大量的对所选文字资料--一比如小说、新闻、科技英语等的文体学分析。

然而，对于一种新生的语言材料--一情景喜剧的文体学分析还是少之又少。

因此，本文作者尝试用普通文体学理论分析一部英语情景喜剧--一《老友记》(又名《六人行》)。

本文选取该剧的三集进行文体特征分析，分别从语启‘学描述、语篇和语境因素的角度展开了论述。

全文采用定性分析法对任意选取的三集进行了分析，揭示了其文体特征，深入地剖析了三集文体特征的相同点和不同点。

本文作者得出的结论如下:在语音层面，我们发现快速的节奏和重音的处理为这三集中最明显的文体特征:在字位层面，我们发现逗号的频繁使用、拼写的独特性及括号中标注的动作是这三集的特色;在词汇层面，我们发现单音节、非正式、口语化、动感和具体词语的使用起着举足轻重的作用;在语法/句法层面，我们发现全文中呈压倒之势的简单句的使用和主动语态的使用是其最典型的文体特征;在语篇层面，我们发现这三集都是由序幕、主体、结语三部分组成;在语境层面，我们发现三集的语场、语旨和语式都与前面分析得出的文体特征相吻合。

在这里，本文还结合语用学的合作原则和言语行为原则对三集的语境因素进行了分析，发现这三集中对话的运用符合言语行为原则，而经常违反合作原则。

关键词:文体学情景喜剧语言描述语篇分析语境因素分析IntroductionIn recent years, with the prevalence of stylistics, an increasing amount of attentio n has been attached to the stylistic analysis of given texts, namely detailed exposition of the given texts, such as public speeches, news reports, literary works, etc. at phonol ogical, graphological, lexical, syntactic and semantic levels respectively. Nevertheless , stylistic analysis of sitcoms one type of conversation in particular, is in great scarcity .It is a plain fact that sitcoms catch the attention of viewers worldwide. People devote huge amount of their free time to them mostly owing to their entertainment effect. To achieve this brilliance, playwrights, actors and actresses alike spend much time manip ulating the language employed in the sitcoms. Nevertheless, what cannot bear any of our negligence is that the viewers tend to be more interested in the individual utteranc es while ignoring the reason language is expressed this way instead of that way.According to Punch (1998: 4), research falls into two major categories, namely q uantitative research and qualitative research respectively. These two types of research are both empirical research, but there exists a disparity that the former takes number a s its form of data while the data form of the latter is not number-based.In this thesis, the author attempts to explore the selected language material employing stylistic analysis.According to Qian Yuan,the stylistic analysis of a text involves the description o f a writer's/speaker's verbal choices which can be abstracted as style. In this thesis, sty listic analysis roughly falls into three levels: linguistic description, textual analysis as well as contextual factors analysis. A detailed introduction of these three stages will b e given in ChapterTwo of this thesis.This thesis is divided into six chapters, with the content of each specified as foll ows: In Chapter One, an introduction to the thesis will be given. The significance of t he research will be pointed out initially, namely theoretical and practical significance r espectively, explaining the imce of the research conducted. This is followed by an intr oduction of the methodology employed, explaining to readers the definitions of qualit ative research and stylistic analysis respectively and how they are used in the research . Eventually, the organization of the thesis will be given, informing the readers the det ailed content of each chapter.In Chapter Two, literature review will be given. The author attempts to commen ce from the definition of style and stylistics, introducing the definitions given by diffe rent schools and analyzes their respective merits and demerits. Right after this, three major levels of stylistic analysis will be conducted, namely linguistic description, text ual analysis and contextual factors analysis. Here, the definitions will be elaborated in detail, telling readers the functions at each level, thus laying a solid foundation1. Literature Review1.1 What is Style and What is Stylistics?1.1.1 StyleWhen associated with "Stylistics" in meaning, the term "style" entails at least fo ur commonly occurring senses, which are explicitly distinguished by Crystal and Dav y in their book Investigating English Style.First and foremost, style may refer to some or all of the language habits of one such as Shakespeare's style (or styles) or Mark Tw ain's Style.Secondly, style may refer to some or all the habits shared by a group of peo ple at one time, or over a period of time. For in the style of the Augustan poets, the sty le of Old English, "Heroic" poetry, etc. Thirdly, style is given a more restricted meani ng when it is used in an evaluative sense, referring to the effectiveness of a mode of e xpression. This is implied by such popular definitions of style as "saying the right thin g in the most effective way" or "good manners", such as a clear or refined style. Last but not least, partly overlapping with the three senses just outlined is the widespread u se of the word "style" to refer solely to literary language.Here, the meaning of style in this thesis is closest in meaning to that of the seco nd one mentioned above, as the author is attempting to analyze the chosen sitcom fro m a stylistic perspective, thus to conclude its stylistic characteristics.According to Liu Shisheng(1997: 9-10), the term "style“has as many as 31 defi nitions some of which are as follows:(1) Style as rhetoric ---Gorgias (2) Style as form---Aristotle(3) Proper words in proper places---Swift(4) Style as technique of exposition ---Murry(5) Style as the choice between alternative expressions ---Enkvist (6) Style as a set of collective characteristics---Enkvist (7) Style as formal overdetermination---Rifa terre (8) Style as meaning potential ---Halliday (9) Style as function---The Prague Sch ool approach (10) Style as depth ---Darvyshire1.1.2 StylisticsAccording to Wales (1989), stylistics is simply defined as“the study of style".St raightforward as it seems to be, it fails to explain the term in a detailed way unless rea dershave familiarized themselves with the term“style" beforehand. Widdowson (1975) analyzes the"style" from a morphological way when defining "stylistics", holding tha t "style" consists of 2 layers of meaning, associated with literary criticism and linguist ics respectively. His definition is somewhat superior in that it acquaints readers with t he connotation of "style" in advance, thus facilitating readers' understanding of "stylis tics". Likewise, Leech(1969) asserts stylistics is "a meeting ground of linguistics and l iterary study". His definition resembles of Widdowson's in that they both subdivided " style" into linguistic and literary categories, therefore presenting readers with a more s ystematic structure of the term. From these definitions Wang Shouyuan(2000) conclud es:"Stylistics is an area of study which straddles twodisplines: literary criticism an d linguistics. It takes lit discourse (text) as its object of study and uses linguistics as a means to an end". By this, he synthesized those established ideas, explicitly pointing out the functions of lit text and linguistics, hence ameliorating the connotation of the te rm to the greatest extent.1.2 Major Levels of Stylistic Analysis1.2.1 Linguistic DescriptionLeech and Short (1981:75) list four linguistic and stylistic categories when deali ng with the methods of stylistic analysis of fiction: lexical categories, grammatical cat egories, figures of as well as cohesion and context.Their categorization of linguistic description is advantageous in that all the maj or categories Than have been encompassed, thus facilitating the exploration, classifica tion as well as examination of the designated text. Nevertheless, this checklist focuses mainly upon prose fiction, while inevitably neglecting other such as dialogues. In add ition, this checklist lacks standards for examining phonological together with graphol ogical characteristics of given texts. Likewise, Qian Yuan(1991) points out in her boo k that linguistic description refers to the description of the text's verbal properties in a rigorous way. According to her, any piece of spoken or written language can be descri bed or analyzed in terms of two distinct, though interacting levels: the phonological/gr aphological as well as the lexicogrammatical level. Qian's definition includes phonolo gical and graphological levels. Nevertheless, it is somewhat overgeneral, thus likely to cause confusion it comes to analyzing a specific given text.1.2.2 Textual AnalysisThe term "text" refers to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, tha t forms a unified whole. It may be the product of a single speaker/writer (e.g. a sign, a letter, a news report, a statute, a novel), or that of several speakers (e.g. a piece of con versation, a debate).A text is realized by a sequence of language units, whether they are sentences or not. Theconnection among parts is achieved by various cohesive devices, and by sem antic and pragmatic implications. In this part of the thesis, to put it short, the author w ill mainly deal with text lay-out, (general framework of a text), ellipsis (nominal, verb al, clausal, etc.) and collocation (words typically associated with one another), etc2. Linguistic Description of FriendsThis chapter will be devoted to the analysis of the selected episodes from a ling uistic point of view, which includes phonological, graphological, lexical, syntactic ma tical levels respectively, hoping to reveal the common characteristics in the selected e pisodes:2.1 Phonological LevelAs has already been mentioned in Chapter Two, phonology is the system of speech sounds in a language, mainly including phonemes, stress, rhythm, intonation, etc.2.1.1 The Swift Tempo Throughout the EpisodesIn this thesis, tempo refers to the speed of speaking. After a meticulous examina tion of theselected episodes, we can come to the conclusion with ease that the overall tempo is s wift rather than slow. This is primarily due to the following reasons: In the first place, the employment of a great many short words leads to the overall tempo to accelerate t o a great extent. When uttering short easy-to-understand words, the speaker will norm ally increases the speed as it adds to little or even no difficulty for people to understan d. Moreover, People tend to speak at different tempos depending upon their familiarit y with the addressees as well as the environment. In the selected story, the six protago nists cannot be more familiar with each other. Thus, they tend to speak at a fast speed for they know highly well the habit of each other's way of speaking. They are even lik ely to know how their addressees would respond to their utterances, even without prio r contemplation.2.1.2 Frequent Use of Initial StressStress is used in phonetics and metrics to refer generally to the prominence give n to, and perceived in, certain syllables in words.Traditionally this prominence is ident ified as the force or intensity of air coming from the lungs, perceived as loudness by t he hearer (Wales, 1989). Resembling other discourse materials, the selected episodes l eave readers with an that the stress of the sentences nine times out of ten falls on the fi rst syllable of each sentence.Let us take a look at the following examples:MONICA:Who da wenny-Benny boy? You the Wenny-wenny-Benny-Benny bo y, yes. Don't cry. Don't cry. Why is he still crying?ROSS:Let me hold him for a sec. There. (Ben stops crying) Huh? There we are. (Episode 206)(Both Monica and Ross are comforting the crying baby)Here, There exists examples in which the stress falls onto the very first syllable: "Who" as in the case“Who da wenny-Benny boy"，"Let" as in "Let me hold him for a sec" and "There" as in the case "There we are".CHANDLER.- I can't believe you would actually say that. l would much rather be MrPeanut than Mr. Salty.JOEY-No way! Mr. Sa御is a sailor, all right, he's got to be, like, the toughest snack there is.ROSS-1 don't know, you don't wanna mess with corn nuts. They're craaazy.(Episode 120) Here, very obviously, most of the stresses fall onto the first sylla bles of the sentences as well, as have been blackened above.This phenomenon is due to primarily the following two reasons: Firstly, this assists the speaker to arouse the addressee's attention. By emphasizing the first syllable o f each sentence, addressees are highly likely to focus their attention upon the speaker's utterances afterwards. This is especially true when the address is somewhat absent-mi nded while the speaker intends to make himself or herself understood. Thus, by highli ghting the very first syllable, the addressee will be likely to pay at least his or her unin tentional attention, if not intentional attention, to what the speaker wants to make clear .2.2 Graphological Level2.2.1 Punctuation--The Frequent Use of CommasUpon glancing through the script for the first time, the very foremost thing that attr acts readers' attention is the frequent appearance of commas. Let us examine the follo wing table: Table 1 The Punctuation Employed in the Selected EpisodesIn the table, it is explicitly apparent that as much as one third of the punctuations e mployed are commas, which therefore makes a distinguishing feature of the selected s cripts. Since the Ian in the script is highly spoken rather than written, it is naturally ty pical of everyday conversations, which are mostly improvised rather than prepared be forehand. Hence, to grant the readers a sense of reality, the frequent use of commas be come a must, making the readers feel as if the actors and actresses are indeed contemp lating while speaking throughout each scene, instead of "retrieving from memory wha t they are supposed to say".2.2.2 Uniqueness in SpellingThis is one of the characteristics of the selected materials deserving our attention m ost. By examining the sitcoms closely, we cannot help but notice those "Seemingly fa miliar but incorrect spelling" throughout the passage. The reasons why these "seeming ly mistaken" spellings occur are as follows:A. To Reflect the Tempo of the DialogueAs we have mentioned in the "tempo" section, people in America tend to speak at a highly rapidspeed to people they are familiar with. Thus, they tend to ignore the last s yllable when it comes to pronouncing the last syllable of the sentence, such as "doin'”. Again, we would like to associate this with the authenticity of real-life conversations, in which actors and actresses alike are liable to "omit sounds quintessentially" instead of "utter each syllable perfectly", which is in line with the characteristics of unscripteddialogues and language materials alike stated by A.&Joyce, which holds that unscript ed materials normally originate from real-life situations including relatively frequent o missions of sounds (Burns, A.&H. Joyce., 1997).B. To Reflect the Emotion of the SpeakerThroughout the dialogue, it is almost impossible that the speaker's emotion remains identical perpetually. Hence, it will be much better if they vary their tone from time t o time for the purpose of indicating their emotions. While switching emotions, speake rs are likely to vary the way they speak accordingly.Let us examine the following example:CHANDLER: You, you are gonna love this.ROSS: Will you hold Ben for a sec? Come here. Come here. CHANDLER: Stay ba ck, I've got kiwi. Run, Joey, Run!STEPHANIE: (singing) Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you? PHOEB E: No, no, no. I'm sorry. It's "smelly cat, smel-ly cat". STEPHANIE: Smelly cat, smel-ly cat.二 :Better. Yeah.STEPHANIE: Yeah?Yeah, much better. And you know what, don't feel bad, because it's a hard song. ST EPHANIE: Yeah.(Episode 206)In the selected scene, Pheobe sings a song named“Smelly Cat", which shows herbe nevolence for the pitiful creature. When starting off, she utters“Smelly cat", but then i n the lyrics, her mercifulness for the cat suddenly intensifies, a simple and quick "sme lly cat" cannot let out all her emotions, thus she prolonges the syllable into "smel-ly c at", granting the audience a feeling that she is really sorry for the misfortune befallen on the designated cat, thus making them empathize with her, as is shown in the scenes afterwards at the show.3. Textual AnalysisAccording to Bussmann (Bussmann, 2000: 480)analysis to any form of grammatica l, stylistic, rhetorical, literary, critical description or interpretation of texts.3.1 Text Lay-outIn this thesis, text-lay-out refers to the overall organization of the whole text, i.e. ho w the prelude, the main body as well as the end of the text are arranged. The scripts of the selected episodes allconsist of three parts, so far as their lay-out is concerned:.The Prelude.The Body of the Episode .The Ending SceneSince the main bodies of the chosen episodes, which resemble ordinary discourses, comprise dialogues among the speakers, this section of the thesis will focus upon the f eatures of the prelude and ending scenes.3.1.1 The PreludesAt the beginning of all the selected scenes, there exists a prelude, i.e. the opening sc ene, which possesses two major functions:(1)To introduce the background and setting of the storyUnlike other TV plays, which are mostly made up of a consecutive story, each episo de of Friends centers around one independent theme. Thus, the preludes of each episo de gives viewers a general idea of the story that is to occur next, informing them the t heme, setting, as well as the very protagonists under the spotlight in that very scene ( Note that not each of the six protagonists is the focus of each episode), etc.(2) To assist the viewers to get into the mood of the storyThe preludes also serve the function of helping the viewers get into the mood of the story. After acquainting the viewers with the theme, the setting as well as the very pro tagonists in the spotlight in the episode, the next task for the playwright is to immerse viewers into the story, tomake them a part of it, as if they were really next to the protagonists, hence making th em more likely to empathize with the protagonists, which in turn intensifies the entert aining effect of the story.Suppose the viewers were doing nothing but watching the sh ow passively, their understanding of the show will be deadly jeopardized. In order to b etter apprehend the above mentioned ideas, let us analyze the prelude of Episode 206: [Scene: At Monica and Rachel's.]MONICA: Who da wenny-Benny boy? You the Wenny-wenny-Benny-Benny boy, yes. Don't cry.Don't cry. Why is he still crying?ROSS: Let me hold him for a sec. There. (Ben stops crying) Huh? There we are. M ONICA: May be it's me.ROSS: Don't be silly. Ben loves you. He's just being Mr. Crankypants CHANDLER: You know, I once dated a Crankypants. Lovely girl, kinda moo办 ROSS: There we go. All better. ves Ben back to Monica)MONICA: There's my little boy. (Ben starts crying again)CHANDLER: Can I uh see something? (takes Ben. When he puts him close to Mon ica, Ben cries.When he moves Ben away, he stops crying.)JOEY.- CoolMONICA: He hates me. My nephew hates me.ROSS: Come on, don't do this.What my own baby hates me? Huh? What am I gonn a do then?CHANDLER: Monica, will you stop? This is nuts. Do you know how long it's gonn a bebefore you actually have to deal with this problem? I mean, you don't even have a boyfriend yet. Joey, she does not look fat..3.1.2 The Ending ScenesThe ending scene of the selected episodes, like the prelude and the main body of th eepisodes, consist of nothing but dialogues. Nevertheless, it is just these seemingly tri vial dialogues that bring the stories to natural conclusions, hence making the whole episodes integrated. Their functions can be summarized as follows:In the selected episodes, the main bodies of the stories tend to terminate in a scene c losely related to the plot. However, after demonstrating to viewers these very last scen es of the main bodies of the stories, the playwright intends to add another scene into e ach of the episodes, which assists thestories to develop to natural conclusions.ConclusionBy applying theories of general stylistics, this thesis examines the three randomly c hosen episodes of the popular sitcom Friends, from the dimensions of linguistic descri ption, textual analysis and contextual factors analysis respectively.So far as the dimension of linguistic description is concerned, this thesis has analyz ed the selected episodes from phonological, graphological, lexical, and syntactic/gram mar perspectives. At the phonological level, we discovered that the swift throughout t he episode and the employment of initial stress play a vital role. At the graphological l evel, we have found that the frequent employmentof commas uniqueness in spelling a nd emotion and action markers phrased in brackets are the most distinct stylistic featu res. At the lexical level, it is observed that the employment of monosyllabic, informal, dynamic, colloquial, concrete and fluff words is typical of the selected episodes. At th e matical/ syntactic level, we notice that the overwhelming employment of simple sen tences and active voice is the most distinct feature of the selected episodes. In terms o f textual analysis, this thesis has penetrated mainly into the lay-out of the selected epis odes, examining the prelude and ending scenes in particular.In this dimension, we have discovered that all the three selected episodes share the same text lay-out, namely the prelude, the body as well as the ending scene. The autho r of this thesis has gone to great lengths in exploring the specific examples in the selec ted episodes, thus revealing their linguistic functions.Contextual factors analysis is also conducted in the thesis. The author has investigat ed the field of discourse, the tenor of discourse as well as the mode of discourse. What is more, this part of the thesis also penetrated into the selected episodes by means of s peech theories, namely Speech Act Theory and Cooperative Principle. In this scope, w e have discovered that the field of discourse, tenor of discourse and field of discourse are closely associated with the stylistic features. Through analyses in this thesis, it is e asy to notice that these three randomly selected pisodes bear some linguistic features i n common, while each of them still possesses some linguistic characteristics that is un iquely of its own, as can be detected throughout the whole thesis.Although the author has given a comparatively thorough stylistic analysis of the sel ected episodes of Friends, there still exist some limitations: In the first place, this rese arch only investigates three episodes of the designated sitcom ,Owing to lack of time, the author of this thesis did not analyze all the episodes in all seasons. Hence, the findi ngs of the research cannot represent those of all the episodes. They only reflect the sty listic features of the selected episodes, which is inevitably a pity.In addition, the cultural elements are not studied enough. Although cultural elements are touched upon at the lexical level, there still yet exists a great many aspects to be studied and examined due to lack of time.。