Style in Language: The proceedings of an inter disciplinary conference on style held at Indiana University, 1958

by Thomas Albert Sebeok (Editor)

The study of literary style is often regarded as the exclusive province of the literary critic; yet, since verbal and literary expressions are types of "behavior" involving the use of linguistic forms in a cultural context, it is apparent that the linguist, the psychologist, and the anthropologist are also concerned with aspects of verbal and literary style. The question then Will interaction between these diverse disciplines result in a clearer understanding of the nature and characteristics of style and the literary process? Style in Language addresses itself to precisely this question.

This is the first systematic attempt to bring the resources of six different disciplines – anthropology, folklore, linguistics, literary criticism, philosophy, and psychology – to bear on such elusive concepts as "style," "literature," and "poetic language."

-excerpt from back cover of pp ed

Genres: Linguistics

470 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1960

About the author

Thomas Albert Sebeok or Sebők was a prominent linguist and semiotician, and editor-in-chief of the leading periodical in the field, Semiotica, from its 1969 founding until 2001. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1945. He is counted among the originators of the field of biosemiotics, and was highly influential in the study of non-human signaling and communication systems.

Sebeok was survived by his wife (and frequent co-author), Jean Umiker-Sebeok

Reviews

[Frankie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a script of a conference held in '58 combining the essays and comments of almost twenty attendees of three fields: linguistics, psychology and literary criticism. I have to say that I learned a lot about the crossovers between linguistics and literary criticism, though their points were more vague and confusing than those of the psychologists. The psychologists were the clearest, and ironically the most talented writers and speakers. The linguists and critics spent most of their time arguing the definitions of "stylistics" and "literature," with obsessive jargon.

The largest failure of the text is that of anachronism, e.g. references to the USSR, the beat generation and "electronic computing machines." We might blame this for the lack of female participants in the conference. I also, however, think of anachronism as a possible strongpoint, since the text predates and is safe from certain modern linguistic theories. Despite this the text works on many levels. The conference layout, with articles followed by comments, was solid and well organized. When wading through a difficult article, I looked forward to what the more outspoken members would add in the comments to refute the author or clarify his muddled points.

My favorite articles are Hrushovski's study of free verse, Sebeok's on the Cheremis sonnet, Brown's and Gilman's "The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity," and Jenkins' study on commonality. If you have this text, I recommend reading at least these.

There are men here who are impossible to understand. They're the ones who use specifically unclear terms and formulas. Often their conclusions are rhetorical. Perhaps I'm not sufficiently versed in the finer points of linguistics to follow them. Voegelin and I. A. Richards were two whose essays were frustrating to me. Most of the linguists wrote with an air of self-defense and condescension aimed at the men in other fields. In this competition the psychologists won again, since they rarely compared themselves to other conferees and stuck to salient facts. In the end, I felt the whole text, and the conference itself, lacked unity of purpose, since no one could agree on how to even define "style."

[Leonardo]

Zizek usa el artículo de Jakobson de este libro en Sobre la Violencia Pág.99

[Dan Clore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent anthology presenting the papers (sometimes just abstracts) and discussion from an historically important conference held in 1958. Most notable for Roman Jakobson's magisterial synthesis in his "Concluding Statement: Linguistics and Poetics", essential reading for anyone interested in Critical Theory (literary criticism, linguistics, formalism, structuralism, semiotics, narratology, etc.) and its historical development, and oral statements he made during discussion periods. The book also includes good articles and oral statements from other major critical figures including I.A. Richards, Seymour Chatman, W.K. Wimsatt, M.C. Beardsley, Thomas Sebeok, Charles Osgood, and Rene Wellek.

Along with Jakobson's contributions, the most interesting articles (to me) include "Linguistics and the Study of Poetic Language", along with other material from little-known Polish theorist Edward Stankiewicz. These cover some of the same issues as Jakobson's much better-known "Concluding Statement", and the latter displays their palpable influence. Stankiewicz should clearly be better known. Other than that, Rene Wellek's "Closing Statement" also stands out, making many interesting points related to these two essays and others in the volume.

[Mohamamd]

plz send me book for print

[Karla Ribeiro]

I haven't read it yet..:(...