functionalist stylistics
TRANSCRIPT
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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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
.#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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
;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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Functionalist Stylistics
;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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
>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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Functionalist Stylistics
>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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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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Functionalist Stylistics
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
%: