Attitude, comparison, and relation in style

Remarks on the socio-cultural factors of style

Abstract

This paper builds heavily on the cognitive theoretical model of style developed by Gábor Tolcsvai Nagy (2005) (see also Tolcsvai Nagy 1996, 2004). While sharing the model’s functional cognitive theoretical assumptions and following its terminology, I will also raise some theoretical and methodological issues which deserve further attention. Moreover, a shift in focus will be proposed, with meaning generation in the context of linguistic interactions, rather than the symbolic structures themselves, regarded as central to the study of style (cf. Tátrai 2011). As a result, the style attributions of discourse participants and the stylistic schemas they draw on will be taken as crucial for the functioning of socio-cultural variables of style.

Naturally, these points are not in conflict with Tolcsvai Nagy’s general approach (see Tolcsvai Nagy 2005: 127—146). However, they do allow for a re-assessment of the model’s usage based character, spelling out some theoretical and methodological implications of the usage based thesis with regard to the socio-cultural variables of style. I will interpret the functioning of socio-cultural variables against the triadic structure of intersubjective meaning generation. A key element of the proposal will be the concept of stylistic attitude, here understood as the speaker’s contextdependent vantage point bringing socio-cultural factors of the discourse universe to bear on linguistic construal. Relatedly, the socio-cultural variable of proto-discourses will be introduced, with attributions spanning from sophisticated through neutral to casual style. Finally, the paper will also address the issue of typical vs. atypical co-occurrences of values across socio-cultural variables, linking the problem to the homogenizing stylistic ideal and the opposing, subverting tendency of syncretism, which results in stylistic heterogeneity (cf. Lachmann 1986). The functioning of these will be illustrated by sample texts from two short stories by Antal Szerb, A választott lovag [The Chosen Knight](1921) and Szerelem a palackban [Love in a Bottle](1935).