Prolegomena to Stylistic Timbrology: Automation vs Foregrounding

Abstract

All functional stylistics rests on the analysis of speech elements’ behaviour in a text: some of these elements are neutral and form the background for perception, while others have a great semantic and emotional expressive potential that is variously realized in a context of speech. There are ordinary and familiar contexts whose stylistic background is more or less universally perceived, but there are also others that imply a vast reading experience and erudition on the part of the reader. It is here that the author’s message is most intricate and requires of a reader a huge intellectual effort and experience for its proper understanding. The identification of the text’s foreground and background is not just a matter of reading experience or intuition. Much depends on the linguistic, logical and conceptual structure of the text, which determines the way we ‘hear’ it in our minds while silently reading.