Stylistics

    So far in this course we have mostly discussed technical aspects of language structure and typology.  Let's begin talking about how language is used in society. The study of language usage in society is called sociolinguistics.

    People in a single speech community use different forms of a single language for different purposes.  The forms of a language that reflect socially acceptable usage are called styles or social registers.  Dialects are spoken by different speech communities, styles are used by the same speaker in different speech situations.  Today we will discuss stylistics, or the study of language variants used in a single speech community.

Social register (language styles) Formal, Informal-- speakers free to express their subjective feelings.   Pet names and hypochoristics:

       Zuni Indians of Mexico-- three registers which cannot be mixed--sacred, converstational, and frivolous (spoken to children and youngsters)   In the sacred register, no word denoting foreigners can be uttered-- melita "white man" is replaced by another word denoting "a wide hat."  It has been suggested that gender categories in IE languages take their beginning in ancient differences in style.  Some words having to do with domestic phenomena were inappropriate if uttered on a hunting trip.  Others were inappropriate if uttered at home. 

----Mention the ancient Indo-European situation.

    Usually styles are clearly part of the same language form.  Sometimes, what would seem to be two different languages are used in a society, each with its own separate domain of usage.  This phenomenon is called diglossia, the coexistence of two separate languages in a society, each with its own specific function or set of functions.  Often diglossia is a matter of written vs. spoken language.  Arabic (Classical written-- with three noun cases vs. colloquial spoken with none);  other modern examples include:  Greece, Switzerland and Haiti. Examples from history: Latin vs. the vernacular; OCS vs. Russian; later, French vs. Russian.

    Let's examine a few other specializes types or styles of language.

     Jargon-- modifications that a socio-professional group brings to a language.  Jargon depends on topic, the particular nature of what is said. Some words from technical jargon become part of a language's basic vocabulary: DNA, RNA; bit, byte, hacker.

     Slang (argo)-- from Scandivavian word meaning "offensive language" Intentional, used in some marginal social situation.  Thieves' cant (peddlers in old Russia.)   Dialect is natural, unintentional; jargon and slang are to test who belongs to the group.  Slang, unlike jargon is linked not only to what is said but also to 1) desire not to be understood by the uninitiated.  2) to the desire of the group to mark its own originality and uniqueness, to test who belongs to the group.  People feel that they are part of a select group.  Some originally slang words may become part of the standard language-- joke, boom, fad, bubble.

    Ethnic or social dialects can also take on some of the characteristics of slang, and may be deliberately be cultivated by speakers as a special mark if group identity (Cf, some forms of Black English).  Most social dialects, however, such as the working-class dialect in England (cockney), differ from slang because they are the way a group naturally speaks and are not a deliberate attempt to be different.

      Even languages which consist of a single form have rules about using language.  This set of rules is known as speech etiquette; which defines what topics can be spoken about in what situations and what words should be used.  The timing and manner of saying something is often socially important.  Not speaking--silence--often has specific, deliberate function in societies:  Apaches do not respond verbally to yelled insults;  they are silent when meeting strangers.

    Words which have social restrictions on their usage are said to be stylistically marked.  (cf. greetings in Russian and English:  Hi, Hello, How do you do?)  Two types of stylistically marked categories are taboo words and euphemisms. 

     taboo--from a Tongan word meaning "forbidden"-- certain topics are socially forbidden-- body parts, bodily functions, sexual activity and practices, religious, ideological. A word denoting one of the taboo topics is sometimes called a taboo word. 

    Societies differ in what topics are taboo.  Sexual taboos are not the same: ankle, neck.   Religious taboos also differ widely.  Northern Europeans couldn't say the word for "oak tree" or "bear" or "horse"  these were sacred, so they created euphemisms: the brown one, the honeyknower, hard tree, the big dog.

    Words denoting taboo subjects which are considered socially unacceptable in all but the crudest company are known as obscenities.  A second type of obscenity exists: denotative terms borrowed to express emotions in a deliberately socially unacceptable and therefore stronger way. These are called expletives.  Each language chooses different taboo words for this function.  

    Languages differ in the number and diversity of obscenities.  Some believe that this is tied to cultural repression.

     Often it is necessary to mention some taboo subject in formal situations.  A euphemism is a socially acceptable way of referring to taboo things. These include technical, medical terms.  Names of docile farm animals and totally wild animals are not used as euphemisms for body parts in English.  Domesticated animals which preserve their independent or stubborn spirit:  cock, pussy, bitch, cathouse, ass.  In time euphemisms tend to become taboo-- cunt, cock.   Some subsitute words are deliberately intended to be funny and vulgar; thus they are not really euphemisms:  such as using the name of some object for breasts, vagina, penis, testicles:  metaphorical verbs-- to screw, tinkle.   

    A euphemism makes a socially unacceptable topic mentionable. It is also possible to use deliberately crude language to talk about socially acceptable topics. Such expressions are called dysphemisms: To stuff your face instead of to eat. Some dysphemisms borrow from the obscene vocabulary: to park your ass instead of to sit. 

    So far we have discussed how speakers use various styles of their language to convey special meaning.  It is also possible for the listener to determine various things from the speech of other people.  Various aspects of the social identity of each language user may be encoded in a language's grammar.  Sometimes speakers may not even be aware that they are sending these messages. Language use may reveal various facts about the position in society of both speaker and addressee. 

Caste, position of social superiority or subservience:  plain, fancy, elegant styles in Javanese:  different verbs-- to eat:  mangan saiki,  neda saniki, dahar sameniki.  The use of Norman French vs. Anglo-Saxon in the 12th and 13th centuries (a type of diglossia) also revealed this type of information; as do the modern dialects of British English.

Motherese, Fatherese.

Age:   Honorific.  Old vs. young.

 Japanese has a highly developed set of distinctions.

     pronouns-- French:  tu/du;  Russian:  ti/vi,  we for you  he/she for you in Polish.  His highness in English.

    Speaker awareness of these aspects of a langauge also form part of speech etiquette, defined as when to use which style of speaking.  One must know the language of politeness, the verbal markers required by status, caste, and age.

     Let's look at the origin of some polite forms of address in English:   Mister-- from Latin magister  head man, commander.  Meister, maitre, maestro,   Mrs. feminine form.   Miss-- originally negative-- mistress; later came to be applied to all unmarried woman as a polite form of address.

Madame-- mea domina; mademoiselle-- diminutive.

    Other European languages have similar words of address:  Herr (Lord)  Frau (woman) Senior-- older   usted-- vuestra merced "your honor",  polish-- Pan "the gentleman.  comrade-- "tovarisch"--trading partner.  Spasibo/blagodaryu vas-- I bless you.

    Another difference in language use often revolved around the gender of the speaker and listener:

    Male vs. female in the structure of languages-- displayed in pronunciation, lexicon, grammar.   Feminine speech characteristics-- Male voice after puberty generally higher pitched than female.  In old age male voices get higher pitched, female voices get lower pitched.

       English-- Difference in English more complex than simply higher voice:   more frequent use of intensifiers "so, such" and emotive adjectives like 'super, fantastic' wider variations in pitch, more complex intonations.  Cf. in Chinese, female characteristics not intonational, but rather in choice of lexical item.

Koasati (Amerindian language of Louisiana)  Males add 's' to verbs, females don't:  that person is lifting it (lakaws (male), lakaw (female)  

Chukchee--r/k --ts in all words of the language Male:  ramkichin 'female', kyrky 'walrus' vs  Female:  tsamtsichin, tsytstsy. The now extinct Yahi language of California had separate forms for males and females. 

    Differences generally derive when males mark their social dominance.  This is substantiated by the observation that as women and men share more equality, the differences disappear cf. Koasati females now using formerly exclusively male forms.   Formerly, in English, women weren't supposed to swear and they used a greater number of euphemisms.  Former taboo on talking about "leg" and "breast" in public, hence the euphemism "white meat" vs. "dark meat" for chicken.  Good God vs. goodness gracious, my dear.