Stylistic Features Of Language Users At Divergent Ages

This dissertation, which centers on the stylistic features, communicative ways, linguistic and non-linguistic materials adopted by language users at divergent ages, makes a synchronic study of modern Chinese styles whose users are not uniform in age. It is thought that style is a reflection of the common features of the user's language competence, which is subject to variations of the user's physical condition, psychological capability, cognitive level, socialization degree and so on and it is an integration of language material, communicative ways such as the body communicative way (corresponding to body language), the oral communicative way (corresponding to spoken language), the objective communicative way (corresponding to object language),the written communicative way (corresponding to written language). The user's language material such as words, sentence patterns, phonological skills, rhetorical devices, structure patterns and so on and the corresponding assistant communicative ways such as codes, charts form the features of user's language style. As the user grows into maturity from birth, schooling, adulthood to an elderly age, styles take on different features Styles are acquired through a process which is gradual, staged, and lifelong.To acquire a style, language users experience a process from nearness, which is divided into prototypical nearness and marginal nearness to departure of prototype style, which is also named everyday style, is succeeded by the people. So it is characteristic of fundamentality, universality and a diachronic nature in the communicative ways and communicative materials and so on. The user's style acquisition can be divided into four stages:The initial stage (potential style acquisition stage) comes before the birth of the language user. The pre-school stage is from 0 to 6-7 years old. The language style acquistion stage ranges from the outset of schooling (6-7years old) to adulthood. The last stage of language style development, from adulthood(18 years old or so) to senectitude. In this dissertation, we focus only on the pre-schooling stage, the style acquisition learning stage and the last stage.At the initial stage of style acquisition, the language user's style is not a "blank plate", but genetically prepared for the future communication.At the pre-school stage, style acquisition closes from initial style stage to margin of prototype style and the communicative ways changes from natural sound with body action to body language, spoken language and then returns to body language, spoken language, objective language interaction and comprehensive use. But communicative materials for choosing are limited in this stage.At the style learning stage, the user's style acquisition tends to approach the prototype style in a prototypical way and prepare for deviating the prototype style. The means of communication evolves to written form that increases the chances of choices of the language materials, communicative ways and corresponding assistant means for style acquisition gradually.At the stage of style development, the user's style acquisition continuesdeviating from prototype style when the prototype style acquisition is still ongoing. Style factors such as communicative ways and communicative material tend to be a maximum degree of lifelong style acquisition with typical characteristics of employment age.The goal of the user's style acquisition is "style assemblage", and then completes the acquisition of a language style. In fact, nobody can acquire the style entirely. Before the style developing stage, style acquisition is primary while at the style developing stage, style application is more important.