文体修辞UNIT2

UNIT 2第一题戴亚芬杨帆张姣慧1. What is meant by style as deviance? Provide an example to illustrate this view.The distinctiveness of a literary text resides in its departure from the characteristics of what is com municatively normal. This has led to approaches to style as deviance.As for the example, the phrase “a grief ago ” from a poem of that name by Dylan Thomas. The phr ase violates two rules of the indefinite article a clashes semantically with the uncountable noun gri ef, because it normally modifies a countable one; the post-modifying adverb ago clashes semantic ally with the head word grief, for it usually is able to modify a noun to do with time. But grief is a word which expresses emotion. The highly deviant nature of the phrase attracts much attention fro m the reader to itself, and thus makes it possible for the poet to express what cannot be expressed t hrough the normal use of language. Thomas here seems to be measuring time in terms of emotion. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to suggest that the speaker of the poem may have experienced gr ief repeatedly so that he can measure time in terms of it.第2题姜婉婷04，肖帅帅05，俞兰冰062. Discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of the view of style as deviance.In terms of the advantages of the view of style as deviance, first, it can help us to see and keep in mind that there is a difference between everyday language and the language of literature. It also he lps us realize that deviant features provide important clues for interpretation. Besides, the highly d eviant nature of the phrase attracts much attention from the reader to itself, and thus makes it possi ble for the poet to express what cannot be expressed through the normal use of language.However, the chief disadvantage is that it is difficult to define the nature and the status of the norm from which style of a text deviants. Another disadvantage is that it tends to undervalue all non-de viant language, both within literature and without.第三题，裘嘉颖、刘益花、范均鳌3. How do you define the view of style as choice?Style as choice is meant that style results from a tendency of a speaker or writer to consistently ch oose certain form or expression over others available in the language. Thus, style concerns the cha racteristic choice in a given context.E.g. In writing The Eve of St. Agnes, Keats substituted the word shut for close:' As though a rose s hould shut and be a bud again' , which adds some poetic quality to the line, since internal rhyme is one of those features associated traditionally and typically with poetry.The stylistician must select those features that are most relevant to his discussion and ignore the irr elevant ones in order to make a coherent and convincing interpretation.第4组金剑王露兰鲍蕾.docQuestion: How can we distinguish ‘style’ from language?What is Language?Language is the primary object of the study of linguistics, and linguists construct theories of langu age in general or of particular languages from differing points of view. The discussion of the conce pts of style should focus on some essential aspects of language on which most linguists agree. Language is viewed as a system of different types of linguistic organization such as phonology, sy ntax and lexicon. The English language consists of its patterns of sounds, sets of grammatical rule s and a large body of vocabulary.Definitions of StyleStyle in prose is the way you present your ideas. All the choices you make while writing-of words, tones, voice,tense, sentence structure, for example-create the style of your paper. In other words, the style of yo ur writing is determined by the diction, the tone, the voice, the tense, and the sentence structure, et c.Varieties 变体 of Language(variety=style)A. Varieties in relation to regions—— British/American EnglishB. Varieties in relation to media ——Spoken English/Written EnglishC. Varieties in relation to attitude——degrees of formality/politeness/ impersonality/imformalityD. Varieties in relation to social factors——Women’s English/Black English/Taboo and Euphemis mE. Varieties in relation to social Genre——The English of Conversation / Public speaking / News r eporting/Advertising/Literary English (The Novel/Poetry)/ Science and Technology/Legal Docum ents5. Why do you think that it is inappropriate to say that style is always conscious choice?第五题：梁柳媚洪娟杨佳颖The effect of conscious choice making is no doubt more apparent in literature than in other types o f discourse,if a writer had to make choice consciously all the time at different linguistic levels, it i s not difficult to imagine how long it would take to produce anything at all and,consequently,how l ittle we would have in today's literature storehouse!第6题潘云婷金豪特赖华霓6. Where do we usually find the evidence of choice-making?The evidence of choice-making can be found in authors' manuscipts. Such as a case once consider ed by Short(1984). In writing The Eve of St. A gnes, Keats first produced the line.第7 题: 夏冬成朱晨迪马晔菲7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the view of style as choice?Advantage:Style as choice is often considered as a matter concerned with form or expression rather than mean ing. The advantage of this approach to style is that it helps us keep in mind that there are some diff erences between sentences and article even if sentences and article with same meaning. For examp le, when the meaning is the same what makes a writer as a writer is his peculiar way of saying that.Disadvantage: The style as choice subsumes the view of style as deviance in some way. Like the v iew of style as deviance ,it has limitation. For instance ,It implies that every linguistic element in a text is a choice of the writer and therefore should be included in a discussion of the style of the te xt it is in. When the stylistician interprets a text, he/she must select the content that are most releva nt the discussion and ignore the irrelevant ones.第8题钱莹莹潘肖笑李静楠8. Explain the view of style as foregrounding.1.The term foregrounding is a concept of pictorial arts, referring to that part of the composition tha t appears to be closest to the view (Mayer,1969).2.The proponents of the view of style as foregrounding extended the concept to include both the d eviant features and those linguistic phenomena which are not deviant, but nevertheless striking.3.The foregrounding is achieved either through deviation or through overregularity in language use.4.Foregrounding is a useful, even crucial concept in stylistics, providing a bridge between the relat ive objectivity of linguistic description and the relative subjectivity of literary judgement.第九组：胡玲玲钱晓玎汤吉诚9. What advantages does the view of style as foregrounding have over the other two approaches? It can account for certain aspects of non-deviant language in literature which the approach of style as deviance fails to do. In other words, it’s a broader view than the view of style as deviance.Compared with the view of style as choice, the view of style as foregrounding leaves much less to the personal judgement, i.e. the identification and selection of stylistically relevant features for an alysis are less of a problem for those taking the view of style as foregrounding.第10题蒋小薇周遥遥付庆怡10.Discuss the importance of the concept of foregrounding and the need for a detailed examinatio n of foregrounding in the Chinese context.Leech points out: “Foregrounding is a useful, even crucial concept in stylistics, providing a bridge between the relative objectivity of linguistic description and the relative subjectivity of literary jud gement. It is a criterion by which we may select, from a mass of linguistic detail, those features rel evant to literary effects”. Therefore, it seems necessary for us to have a closer examination of it. A lso, as the western stylistics theory, foregrounding is rarely used to Chinese context analysis. Ther efore, a detailed examination of foregrounding in the Chinese context can to some extent improve the apply of foregrounding in Chinese context. There is also a pedagogic reason for a further consi deration of foregrounding. Short informs us that “the oversees student is unlikely to have a sufficient grasp of the norms of the language to be able to determine what is deviant, foregrounded, and h ence crucial to understanding”.。