A Cognitive Theory of Style: 17 (Metalinguistica) - Softcover

Style is an important component of communication: it is the how in communicating the what, demonstrating the ontological unity of the two in language variability that provides the ground for the functioning of what-how and what-for. This volume approaches style within the framework of cognitive linguistics, a usage-based functional model, which interprets language as being conceptual, whereas conceptual knowledge is interpreted as experiential. Consequently, style is considered not as a set of predetermined ornaments on texts, but as a system of context-sensitive probability schemes of formation contributing to the meaning of discourse. Style is the outcome of linguistic potential, constrained by socio-cultural factors, functioning in the on-line and consolidated stylistic structure of discourse.

Gabor Tolcsvai Nagy is Professor of Hungarian Linguistics at Eotvos Lorand University (Hungary). He is the author or editor of 14 books, mainly on discourse (text linguistics), style, literature and Hungarian cognitive grammar, including A Cognitive Theory of Style (2005).