While stylistic variation in attention-based models has been foundational to sociolinguistic theory (Labov 1972a; Trudgill 1974), other studies (e.g. Coupland 1985; Eckert 1989; Drummond 2018; Snell ...2018) conceptualise style as a resource used in the context of identity construction. I synthesise these two approaches to sociolinguistic style and consider social meaning in the context of variable attentional load. Informed by a study of lexical variation in Cornwall, I account for an inverted style pattern with recourse to local identity, social meaning and language ideology. In doing so, I introduce an attention-to-self model of style. This model posits that when speakers pay greater attention-to-self, they closer approximate a desired self, a target identity that they aspire to embody. For example, when speakers subvert the standard language ideology, their stylistic target may not be ‘educated’ or ‘posh’, but ‘local’. In such cases, careful speech styles can be conducive to the production of local dialect forms as a performance of identity. I propose that the stylisation of local identity in careful speech styles in Cornwall should be interpreted in the context of an alternative linguistic market, a Cornish micro-market, which subverts the value system of the dominant linguistic market.
African languages cover more than one fourth of the world’s languages, but still have been underrepresented in linguistic theories. The volume intends to fill this gap and addresses aspects of the ...syntax-semantics-pragmatics interface of African languages from a Role & Reference Grammar perspective. Accordingly, distinctive linguistic phenomena of iziZulu, Gĩkũyũ, Igbo, Babungo, Emai and other African languages are discussed in the contributions.
The question of “staccato” rhythm in Stockholm’s multiethnolect is investigated by comparing nPVIV measurements of the speech of 36 adult male speakers. The men, ages 24–43, come from a stratified ...sample of social classes and racial groups. Three contextual styles were recorded and analyzed: informal, formal, and very formal. The distribution of nPVIV values in informal speech across class and racial group indicates that speech rhythm splits three ways: low-alternation “staccato” rhythm among the racialized lower-class men, high-alternation rhythm among the white lower-class men, and an intermediate level of rhythm among higher-class men, regardless of racialized category. The “staccato” low-alternation feature is also less stylistically sensitive than the high-alternation feature, implying that the latter is a more established feature than the former. Further, the “staccato” feature is more stylistically sensitive among younger speakers than older speakers, implying an ongoing change from indicator to marker status. For all speakers, age has a stable main effect, which means that younger speakers, independent of racial group and class, have lower alternation than older speakers. Implied here is that low-alternation is a change from below that originates within the racialized working class. While it may be incrementally transmitting into the wider speech community, the white working class is the most resistant to its incursion.
Speculative fiction opens a window into the cultural resonances of madness, drug trips, and dreams. Thematic nuance may arise from the stylistic specifics involved in representing these states of ...consciousness. This paper presents a case study of two of James Tiptree, Jr.’s short stories, focusing on her representation of altered states. A quantitative, computational approach is combined with a qualitative, stylistically framed reading. The reading locates the absences that typify Tiptree’s portrayal of altered states in the text and relates these depictions to contemporaneous ideas about mental illness.
This study focuses on reference in the Estonian language by taking an experimental approach to spatial and discourse reference. The aim is to reveal what is the inventory of referential devices in ...Estonian, and whether there are context-related factors that influence the choices made when referring. In particular, the data from two tasks are analysed. In the spatial setting, participants were asked to describe the surroundings by referring to large visible referents, i.e. houses. In the discourse setting, participants had to narrate a story based on a picture book by referring to animate and inanimate objects. Importantly, in both tasks, the speakers had to differentiate between competing referents (houses in the spatial task, and boys (as well as other objects) in the narration task). In the data, five types of referential devices occur: bare NPs (e.g. maja ‘a/the house’, noorem poiss ‘the younger boy’), NPs with determiners (e.g. see maja ‘this house’, üks poiss ‘a boy’), bare demonstratives (e.g. see ‘this’, seal ‘there’), personal pronouns (i.e. tema/ta ‘(s)he’), and verb forms without overt subjects (e.g. seisab ‘stands’, jookseb ‘is running’). In the spatial context, NPs both with and without determiners are used most frequently, followed by bare demonstratives. In the narrative context, bare NPs are used the most, followed by significantly less frequent personal pronouns. In both contexts, the main determiner used is see ‘this’. However, in the spatial context, demonstrative adverbs are also typical determiners (e.g. siin majas ‘here in the house’), whereas in the narrative context, pronouns üks ‘one’ and oma ‘one’s’ are typical determiners (e.g., üks poiss ‘a boy’). As such, the results show that the choice of referential devices is highly dependent on the referential context. Describing the surroundings requires the speaker to use other strategies as compared to narrating a story. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that contrast also contributes to the use of different referential units, as does the location of the competing entities (i.e. distance).
В данной статье рассматриваются вопросы о представлении стилистических помет в русско-китайских фразеологических словарях. Цель исследования – выявить общие стороны различия в описании стилистических ...характеров фразеологизмов в лексикографических источниках. На основе анализа словарных статей в пяти русско-китайских фразеологических словарях, сопоставлении их с фразеологическими словарями русского языка и русско-китайскими лексическими словарями продемонстрирована дифференциальность описания стилистических особенностей фразеологизмов в русско-китайских фразеологических словарях. Результаты исследования показывают, что в русско-китайской фразеологической лексикографической практике наблюдается различие в регистрации стилистических помет русских фразеологизмов по структуре, роду и виду и имеется несоответствие стилистических помет переводным вариантам. Значимость исследования заключается в повышении роли русско-китайских фразеологических словарей для русскоговорящих иностранцев, интересующихся содержанием таких изданий.
Obe deli sta izsli se pred Ballyjevim projektom, da bi skupaj s Albertom Sechehayjem (1870-1946) objavil Saussurjeva Predavanja iz splosnega jezikoslovja (1916). Zato je zelo verjetno, da je Charles ...Bally teoreticno razvijal svojo stilistiko brez neposrednega stika s Saussurjevimi idejami.9 Morda iz tega izhaja dejstvo, da se je Bally v nasprotju s Saussurjem zanimal za tisto, kar je »resnicno« v jeziku, kar je enacil z »zivim«, »ekspresivnim« in »spontanim«. Kako je zenevski lingvist interpretiral »resnicni« in »zivi« jezik, ki bo postal, kot bomo pokazali, predmet njegove stilistike? Menil je, da jezikovna resnicnost obstaja kot jezikovno stanje v govorcevi zavesti, ki se potem udejanji v spontanem govorjenem jeziku. Posebnost njegove opredelitve stilistike je, da postavlja v ospredje opis custvene strani govorjenega jezika (»langue parlée«). Eno izmed kljucnih nasprotij med pogledi Ballyja in Vinokur?a je to, da se je Bally osredotocil na preucevanje govorjenega jezika (la langue parlée),10 ki ga je opredelil kot ekspresiven in custven nacin govora, ki ga posamezniki, pripadniki srednjega in nizjega razreda, uporabljajo spontano in brez druzbenega nadzora, ko se pogovarjajo o vsakdanjih temah. Drugic, za zenevskega lingvista je pojavnost knjiznega jezika zvedena na estetsko funkcijo in nima nobene pragmaticne in uporabne vrednosti.16 V nasprotju s knjiznim jezikom pa je govorjeni jezik po Ballyju »v sluzbi zivljenja in vseh« (Bally 1952 1913: 14). Je najboljsi nacin za izrazanje custev, za delovanje na sogovorce in razumevanje njihovih reakcij. Knjizni jezik je v Ballyjevi koncepciji »dalec od resnicnosti« in njegova edina funkcija je, da »proizvede estetski vtis« (ibid.). To Ballyjevo stalisce, ki vpeljuje nasprotje med estetskim in utilitarnim, se v precejsnji meri razlikuje od Vinokurjevega razumevanja knjiznega jezika. Sovjetski lingvist je knjizni jezik opredeljeval drugace. Menil je, da je knjizni jezik najboljsi nacin organizacije jezikovnega materiala, ki lahko sluzi kot stilisticni model za ustvarjanje drugih jezikovnih zvrsti, med katerimi je tudi govorjeni jezik. Toda vrnimo se k Ballyju. Zenevski lingvist se je s tem, ko je iz stilistike izlocil preucevanje knjiznega jezika in jezika knjizevnosti, oddaljil od tradicije lingvistov in mislecev, kot sta Karl Vossler (1872-1949) in Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), po katerih naj bi stilistika preucevala predvsem knjizna in umetniska jezikovna sredstva ter njihovo estetsko vrednost. Pri Ballyju je v nasprotju s pripadniki tradicionalne stilistike (Croce in Vossler) knjizni jezik vredno preucevati zgolj kot jezikovno rabo, ki odstopa od govorjenega jezika. Ce se vrnemo na interpretacijo Saussurjeve dihotomije, je G. Vinokur menil, da je Saussure zasluzen za jasno razlikovanje med »jezikom v pravem pomenu«23 in govorom. Oglejmo si, kako je Vinokur?a interpretacija te dihotomije pripeljala do pojmovanja stilistike. »Jezik v pravem pomenu«, prvi clen opozicije, je interpretiral hkrati kot sistem in kot normo. Zapisal je, da je jezik »norma, ki se ji podrejajo vse druge oblike govora ... stvaren je samo toliko, kolikor je druzben, kolikor je norma, ki si podreja individualne zahteve« (Vinokur 1923: 106). Tukaj je pomembno opozoriti, da ima tovrstno mesanje jezikovnega sistema, sistema vseh jezikovnih moznosti, in norme, ki je izbira iz sistema moznosti in aksioloski pojem, malo skupnega s Saussurjevo teorijo.24 Danes jezikoslovci vecinoma razlikujejo med jezikoslovnim sistemom in normo. Na tem mestu omenimo opozicijo, ki jo je vpeljal romunski lingvist Eugen Coseriu (1921-2002). Razlikoval je med sistemom, »sistemom moznosti, koordinat, ki kazejo na odprte in zaprte poti razvoja v govoru dolocene skupnosti« (Coseriu 1963: 174) in normo, »sistemom preskriptivnih realizacij, ki veljajo kot pravilo v neki druzbi in kulturi ... norma ni tisto, kar se lahko izrece, temvec tisto, kar je ze povedano in se govori v doloceni druzbi« (Coseriu 1963: 175). Vrnimo se k Vinokurjevemu pojmovanju jezika kot norme. Da bi razumeli Vinokurjev pogled, se moramo ustaviti pri opisu zunanjega konteksta, v katerem je moskovski lingvist pisal o stilistiki. Gre za obdobje nove ekonomske politike (1921-1928), cas zacetka pospesene sovjetske industrializacije in mnozicnih migracij s podezelja v urbana obmocja. V tem obdobju postaja posebej pomembno vprasanje, kaksen naj bo model sovjetske kulture, ali naj bo to nova delavska kultura ali model, ki se navezuje na tradicijo predrevolucijske ruske kulture. Vinokur se je bolj nagibal k drugi moznosti. Protestiral je proti »zelo nizkemu nivoju jezikovne kulture v Rusiji« (Vinokur 2006 1925: 33). Zato je predlagal poucevanje uporabne stilistike, ki naj bi naucila sovjetske drzavljane, da »premagajo jezikovno inercijo« (Vinokur 1990: 14) in se ob zunajjezikovnih situacijah pravilno izrazajo ter uporabljajo primerna jezikovna sredstva. Na tem mestu se pokaze se ena pomembna razlika med Ballyjem in Vinokurjem, sodobnikoma, ki sta socasno pisala o stilistiki. Za Vinokurja je vzor pravilne rabe jezik ruske literature devetnajstega stoletja, ki naj bi bil najboljsi model za oblikovanje vseh govornih stilov. Ta pozicija se v znatni meri razlikuje od Ballyjevega stalisca, pri katerem jezik knjizevnosti ne sodi v prioritete stilisticnih raziskav. Vinokur je v nasprotju z Ballyjem pozival k aktivnemu preucevanju in rabi jezikovnih sredstev ruske knjizevnosti 19. stoletja in pri tem navajal dva argumenta. Jezik ruske knjizevnosti 19. stoletja naj bi predstavljal dediscino ruske kulture in naj bi bil najuspesnejsi poskus intencionalne in zavestne jezikovne rabe. Tukaj je imel v mislil predvsem prozo Aleksandra S. Puskina, ki naj bi po njegovem mnenju ustvaril novo normo ruskega jezika in vzor jezikovne rabe.
Abstract
This article explores the question of style in a school community, through negation use among the adults and children in a French preschool. Thirteen adults and 61 pupils aged 3–6 years were ...followed over a period of 2.5 years. The findings draw on a corpus of oral data collected in an unsupervised manner and comprising almost 640,000 transcribed words (428,100 for the children and 210,241 for the adults). The findings show, on the one hand, that the teachers adapt stylistically to their interlocutors and that their professional stance leads to more formal speech and, on the other hand, that the children's use of bipartite negation is marginal before the age of 6 years and does not present notable stylistic variations.
Résumé
Cet article explore la question du style dans une communauté scolaire, à travers l'usage de la négation chez les adultes et les enfants d'une école maternelle française. Treize adultes et 61 élèves âgés de 3 à 6 ans ont été suivis sur une période de 2,5 ans. Les résultats s'appuient sur un corpus de données orales collectées de manière non supervisée comprenant près de 640 000 mots transcrits (428 100 pour les enfants et 210 241 pour les adultes). Nous montrons, d'une part, que les enseignants s'adaptent stylistiquement à leurs interlocuteurs et que leur posture professionnelle conduit à un discours plus formel et, d'autre part, que l'usage par les enfants de la négation bipartite reste marginal avant 6 ans et ne présente pas de variations stylistiques notables.
This article presents a new model of humour that can be used in the successful analysis of how and why literature can be found humorous. It deconstructs the theory that the perception of incongruity ...leads to the recognition of humour, proposing instead that the relationship between humour and incongruity is, in fact, the reverse of that generally assumed. I propose that humour is a process through which the familiar is brought to attention. One way this can occur is by drawing attention to the unnoticed contrasts between objects, making the familiar appear incongruous. The process can be modelled as a subjective construal (Langacker, 2008) in which the participants, and the process itself, are made prominent. This draws attention to the relationship between participants and to their shared experience of the world. I present an illustrative case study of subtle literary humour with an analysis of a passage from the short story ‘The Mouse’ by Saki (1910), demonstrating that, by modelling humour in the way I propose, it can be successfully explained using frameworks already in use in stylistic investigation.