Semiotic stylistics is not a simple marriage of semiotics and stylistics, but a theoretical response of stylistics to the ubiquitous stylistic phenomena in culture. Semiotic stylistics puts style into the whole cultural semiotic system, takes signification as the starting point and semiotics as the methodology, aiming at breaking through the barrier of traditional stylistics of which the study object is written text, and summarizes general rules of stylistic signification on the whole. There are two dimensions in study: one is the theoretical construction of semiotic stylistics, including the definition of style and systematization of the theoretical system; the other is the practical study of semiotic stylistics, i.e. combining with theories to analyze the stylistic phenomena in the cultural field.
The theoretical construction of semiotic stylistics covers four aspects: the text aspect, the expression aspect, the signification aspect and the receiver aspect. Text is the foundation and the carrier of style. Style is attached to text, which indicates that style cannot exist independently and has to rely on text to achieve its signification. The way of expression determines the composition of style, and the choice of the way determines the clarity of style. Signification is the core of stylistics, and stylistics is a discipline about the characteristics of signification expression, focusing on the generation, transmission and interpretation of signification. The ultimate realization of stylistic signification relies on the receiver. The four aspects are connected by three dimensions – syntactic stylistics, semantic stylistics and pragmatic stylistics.
Syntactic stylistics focuses on the composition and formation of style, including an analysis of components, formation means and process of style. Semantic stylistics focuses on the generation, transmission and interpretation of style signification. The expression and interpretation of style is the core of stylistics. Stylistic signification lies in the sender, text, and the receiver. Signification can be achieved only through the receiver’s interpretation; what the receiver interprets is the key to the expression of style. Pragmatic stylistics brings sign users into the study, focusing on styles in actual cultural life and analyzing the signification behind various styles in culture.
Converging through "signification", stylistics and semiotics make a holistic observation of style in the world of signification. Scholars have not stopped their steps forward and semiotic stylistics is moving towards a deeper, wider and broader domain, despite semiotic stylistics has not yet a well-established theoretical system and the study of various stylistic phenomena in culture has yet to be advanced.
Issued on April 7, 2022
Liu Na, associate professor, School of Foreign Languages, Chongqing Three Gorges University