Functionalist Stylistics

8/9/2019 Functionalist Stylistics

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FUNCTIONALIST

STYLISTICS


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Historical Perspectives

Functionalist stylistics has been regare

as istinct !or" o! !or"alist linguistics

I"portance o! situational conte#t an

personality in language an society

Halliay $%&'%( has o!ten been creite)ith eveloping the *ey concepts o!

!unctionalist stylistics


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Functionalist Stylistics

Function in the sense o! gra""atical or

syntactic !unction

Function o! language as a )hole

Functional theory o! language atte"pts to

e#plain linguistic structure an linguisticpheno"ena


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Ieational !unction, e#pression o! content

an-or representational

The spea*er or )riter e"boies in

language his e#perience o! pheno"ena o!

the real )orl

.#perience o! the internal )orl o! his o)n

consciousness


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Interpersonal !unction, using language as

the "eans o! his o)n intrusion into the

speech

The e#pression o! his co""ents/

attitues/ an evaluations

0elationship that he sets up bet)een

hi"sel! an the listener


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.#pressive an conative

Set o! co""unication roles is uni1ue

a"ong social relations

Language is re1uire to serve in the

establish"ent an "aintenance o! hu"an

relationships

Interpersonal !unction,interactional an

personal


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Te#tual !unction, creation o! te#t

Internal to language Language "a*es lin*s )ith itsel! an )ith

the situation

2iscourse beco"es possible Te#t is an operational unit o! language


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Sentence is syntactic unit

It is the te#t that is relevant unit !or stylisticstuies

Functional3se"antic concept an is not

e!inable by si+e

Internal organi+ation o! sentence )ith its

"eaning


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Ineter"inacy

Synta# o! language is organi+e in such a

)ay that it e#presses as a )hole the rangeo! linguistic !unctions

The total the"e3rhe"e structure )hich

contributes to the te#ture o! the iscourse


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Constituent

A constituent is a particular )or or phrase

in a particular place4 but !unctionally the

choice o! an ite" "ay have one "eaning/

its repetition another/ an its location oin

structure yet another3 or "any others as)e have seen


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In the 5ueen6s re"ar* it6s a poor sort o!

"e"ory that only )or*s bac*)ars

Poor is a "oi!ier an thus e#presses

subclass o! its hea3)or "e"ory

$ieational(

5ueen6s attitue $interpersonal(

It6s7that $te#tual(


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Functional theory o! language is a theory

about "eanings

Not about )ors or constructions

Functions are i!!erentiate se"antically

8"eaning potential9


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The !unctions are si"ultaneously

e"boie in his planning proceures

I! )e atte"pt to separate "eaning !ro"

choice )e are turning a valuable

istinction $bet)een linguistic !unctions(

into an arbitrary ichoto"y $bet)een"eaning!ul an "eaningless choices(


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in transitivity i!!erent processes are

istinguishe accoring to )hether they

represent actions/ speech/ states o! "inor states o! being:

Those are ienti!ie/ classi!ie an *no)n

as ;aterial processes/ 0elationalprocesses/ an ;ental processes


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;aterial processes o! transitivity are

processes o! oing/ usually physical an

tangible actions: essential participants usually appear in

"aterial process are the Actor < the oer

o! the process < an the =oal < theperson or entity a!!ecte by the process:


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;ental processes usually encoe "ental

reactions such as perception/ thoughts

an !eelings: Mental processes have two participants:

the Senser the conscious being )ho is

involve in a ;ental process < an thePheno"enon < )hich is !elt/ thought/ or

seen by the conscious Senser:


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0elational processes construe the

relationships o! being an having bet)een

t)o participants: Ienti!ying 0elational $to*en an value(

Attributive relational $carrier an attribute(


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>et)een ;aterial an ;ental processes

lie >ehavioural processes that

characteri+e the outer e#pression o! inner)or*ing an re!lect physiological an

psychological behaviours

>ehavioural processes usually have oneparticipant )ho is typically a conscious

one/ calle the >ehaver:


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>et)een ;ental an 0elational processes

are ?erbal processes/ )hich represent the

art o! saying an its synony"s: Usually three participants are involve in

?erbal processes@ the Sayer is responsible

!or verbal process4 the 0eceiver is the

person at )ho" the verbal process is

irecte4 an the ?erbiage is the

no"inalise state"ent o! the verbal

process


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An bet)een 0elational an ;aterial

processes are .#istential processes )hich

prove states o! being/ e#isting/ anhappening:

.#istential processes typically e"ploy the

verb be or its synonyms such as exist,arise, occur. The only participant in this

process is .#istent )hich !ollo)s the there

is /are sequences.


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Foregrouning is pro"inence that is

"otivate $Halliay(

A !eature that is brought into pro"inence

)ill be !oregroune only i! it relates to the

"eaning o! the te#t as )hole

Pro"inence as a general na"e !orpheno"enon o! linguistic highlighting


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T)o types o! pro"inence/ eparture !ro"

a nor" an attain"ent or establish"ent o!

a nor" here there is uni!or"ity there is

regularity

8In so"e sources/ especially poets/ style"ay not be eviation !ro" but

achieve"ent o! a nor"9 $Hy"es %&B'(


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2eviation is the use o! ungra""atical

!or"s

Pro"inence "ay be o! probabilistic *in/>loch $%&D( as !re1uency istributions

an transitional probabilities )hich i!!er

!ro" those7in the language as )hole:This is )hat )e have re!erre to above as

e!lection


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Assu"ption that nu"erical ata on

language "ay be stylistically signi!icant

Style is a "ani!estation o! iniviual/ it

cannot be reuce to counting

e are not a)are o! !re1uency in

language


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The concern is )ith the linguistic options

selecte by the )riter an their relation to

the total "eaning o! the )or* hat cannot be e#presse statistically is

!oregrouning

Fre1uency istribution is no guarantee o!stylistic relevance


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Thus i! style cannot be reuce to

counting/ this is because it cannot be

reuce to a si"ple 1uestion o!pro"inence:

The pro"inence in other )ors is o!ten

ue to the vision


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Patterns o! syntactic pro"inence "ay

re!lect thesis or the"e or other aspects o!

the "eaning o! the )or*4 every level is apotential source o! "otivation/ a *in o!

se"antic situational nor"

Language in relation to all the variouslevels o! "eaning that a )or* "ay have


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Foregrouning e!!ect is the prouct o! t)o

apparently oppose conitions o! use

The !oregroune ele"ents are certain

clause types

Patterns o! transitivity

Process3participants3circu"stances


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Se"antic choice an syntactic choice

hat the author chooses to stay an ho)

he chooses to say it

The i""eiate thesis an the unerlying

the"e co"e together in the synta#/ the

choice o! subEect "atter is "otivate byeeper "eaning an the transitivity

patterns reali+e both


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The !act that a particular pattern

constitutes a nor" is the "eaning

Transitivity is the set o! options )hereby

the spea*er encoes his e#perience o! the

processes o! the e#ternal )orl an o!

internal )orl Cornerstone o! the se"antic organi+ation

o! e#perience


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0elevance< the notion that a linguistic

!eature belongs in so"e)ay as part o! the

)hole .le"ents o! the language/ the )ors an

phrases/ an syntactic structures ten to

have "ultiple values


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Any one the"e "ay have "ore than one

interpretation

A the"e that is strongly !oregroune is

especially li*ely to be interprete at "ore

than one level


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0e!erences@

eber/ : $%&&B(: The stylistics reaer@ Fro"0o"an a*obson to the present: Ne)

Yor*/ NY@ St: ;artin6s Press/ Inc:

Nguyen/ T: $G%G(: Transitivity Analysis o!

Heroic ;other by Hoa Pha": International

ournal o! .nglish Linguistics/ G $(/ J3

%:

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Functionalist Stylistics