Style: a new view on an old problem

Abstract

[Abstract] Style is one of the few terms of cultural analysis which can be fruitfully used in completely different cultural areas: Style theories have been developed for texts (most often literary texts), for art, architecture, music, conversation, thinking, and problem-solving. Less attention was rewarded on styles of athletes, of artisans, of playing a game, and of unremarkable daily activities such as walking or driving. With the help of semiotics, it is possible to look at styles in a different way: namely, to describe them as a type of sign process with certain properties. In his doctoral thesis, the author proposes a model which describes the stylistic sign process in a general way, delimitating stylistic signs from other signs. The model consists of two main parts, corresponding to two sign processes that interact when a style is produced or when it is received: (1) Style is created when choice on the basis of a schema takes place and when regularities in this choice appear. These regularities can be formulated as feature rules. The first sign process describes the inscription of these rules (by a style producer ) and the readout (by a style receiver) out of a realisation. (2) On the basis of the stylistic features used in the first sign process, a stylistic interpretation can be produced (by the style receiver) and also envisaged and taken into account in the style production process (by the style sender).