Functional Stylistics
Functional styles, according to Esser (1993:32), belong to the category of objective style in Prague-School terminology.In fact, Esser describes Havranek, a member of the Prague School, as "one important authority in functional stylistics" (33). Havranek describes the difference between standard language and folk speech and recognizes the four functions of standard language on the basis of three general stylistic devices: intellectualization, automatization, and foregrounding. Esser (1993:34) describes these as functional goals that determine the choice of concrete linguistic entities such as the pronunciation of a word, a lexical item or a syntactic construction. Havranek explains the three terms as follows: "By the intellectualization of standard language, which we also call its rationalization, we understand its adaptation to the goal of making possible precise and rigorous, if necessary abstract, statements, capable of
154

   Stylistics Issues in the Study of Language and Literature: Theory and Practice
expressing the continuity and complexity of thought, that is, to reinforce the intellectual side of speech."This distinction proceeds from the assumption or general dictum that "form follows function" (the ends- and- means model). Esser sees Havranek"s 1932 (translated and edited in 1964 by Garvin) influential article on the functional differentiation of standard language as a positive statement in the study of functional stylistics.Esser regards the classic distinction between poetic and prose language - a distinction which goes back to Aristotle and was confirmed by Wilhelm von Humboldt, as the forerunner of functional stylistic differentiation.Objective style recognizes the recurrence of situational factors that have led to norms in certain areas of communication and thus opposed to individual style.Intellectualization manifests itself more clearly in scientific language.