78. Style in Language.

The word stуle is derived from the Latin word 'stylus' which meant a short stick sharp at one end and flat at the other used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets.

Now the word ‘style’ is used in so many senses that it has become a breeding ground for ambiguity. The word is applied to the teaching of how to write a composition; it is also used to reveal the correspondence between thought and expression; it frequently denotes an individual manner of making use of language; it sometimes refers to more general, abstract notions thus inevitably becoming vague and obscure. Some linguists consider that the word 'style' and the subject of linguistic stylistics is confined to the study of the effects of the message, its impact on the reader.

Style is a quality of language which communicates precisely emo­tions or thoughts, or a system of emotions or thoughts, peculiar to the author. Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices among linguistic possibilities. Style is regarded as something that belongs exclusively to the plane of expression and not to the plane of content.

The term 'style', being ambiguous, needs a restricting adjective to denote what particular aspect of style we intend to deal with. The term individual style should be applied to that sphere of linguistic and literary science which deals with the peculiarities of a writer's individual manner of using language means to achieve the effect he desires. Deliberate choice must be distinguished from a habitual idiosyncrasy in the use of language units, every individual has his own manner and habits of using them. The speech of an individual which is characterized by peculiarities typical of that particular individual is called an idiоleсt.

The individual style of a writer is marked by its uniqueness. It can be recognized by the specific and peculiar combination of language media and stylistic devices which in their interaction present a certain system. This system derives its origin from the creative spirit, and elusive though it may seem, it can nevertheless be ascertained. The individual style of a writer will never be entirely independent of the literary norms and canons of the given period.

The individual style is a unique combination of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to a given writer, which makes that writer's works or even utterances easily recognizable. Individual style may be likened to a proper name. It. has nominal character. Individual style is based on a thorough knowledge of the contemporary language and also of earlier periods in its development. Individual style allows certain justifiable deviations from the rigorous norms.

Individual style requires to be studied in a course of stylistics in so far as it makes use of the potentialities of language means, whatever the character of these potentialities may-be.

The notion of the norm mainly refers to the literary language and always presupposes a recognized or received standard. It presupposes vacillations of the received standard.

The fact that there are different norms for various types and styles of language does not exclude the possibility and even the necessity of arriving at some abstract notion of norm as an invariant, which should em¬brace all variants with their most typical properties. Each style of language will have its own invariant and variants. Both oral and written varieties can also be integrated into an invariant of the standard language.

The norm, therefore, should be regarded as the invariant of the phonemic, morphological, lexical and syntactical patterns circulating in language-in-action at a given period of time. Variants of these patterns may sometimes diverge from the invariant but they never exceed the limits set by the invariant lest it should become unrecognizable or misleading. The development of any literary language shows that the variants will always center around the axis of the invariant forms. The variants, as the term itself suggests, will never detach themselves from the invariant to such a degree as to claim entire independence.

Establishment of language is a commonly accepted connotation of style. Language and style as embellishment are regarded as separate bodies. According to this idea language can easily dispense with style, because style here is likened to the trimming on a dress. Moreover, style as embellishment of language viewed as something that hinders understanding.

Teсhnique of expression is a very popular notion of style. In this sense style is generally difined as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to interest the reader.

The term 'style' is widely used in literature to signify literary genre: classical style, realistic style, the style of romanticism and so on. The use of the word 'style' has sometimes been carried to unreasonable lengths, thus blurring the terminological aspect of the word. It is applied to various kinds of literary works: the fable, novel, ballad, story, etc. The term is also used to denote the way the plot is dealt with, the arrangement of the parts of literary composition to form the whole, еhe place and the role of the author in describing and depicting events.