33 Style and Stylistcs, with Special Reference to Luke described in linguistics, and partly in grammars (be it in a normative way), while the lexical- semantic aspect of words (the ‘unmarked meaning’) is described in lexicons. Hence, one should distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable variation of language patterns. “He goes/will go to school tomorrow” is an acceptable variation. “He went to school tomorrow” is unacceptable. The first variation has to do with style, the second with language. Text theory and the Concept of Style7 Stylistic approach is determined by the underlying text theory. When a text is primarily understood as a composition of different signs, which are integrated in a larger semantic system, then the style definition will be less interested in the effect of the text on the reader, with the consequence that rhetorical stylistic features like stylistic figures and the narrative/argumentative structure of a text will not be taken into consideration. Linguists have developed several text theories that have implications for their approach to style8. One clear trend nowadays is to put a greater focus on the communicative function of texts9. A text initiates a communication event between author, text and reader10. Such an approach will also have to examine rhetorical aspects of stylistic See B. Kowalski, “Stil in der neutestamentlichen Exegese. Definition, Methodik und 7 Konkretisierung am Beispiel des Lukasevangeliums”, Protokolle zur Bibel 12 (2003) 105- 28,121-23. The author wrote this article as a scientific collaborator to our Research project “The Language and Style of Luke-Acts” (1999-2003). N.E. Enkvist, “On the Place of Style in Some Linguistic Theories”, in S. Chatman (ed.), 8 Literary Style: A Symposium (Oxford 1971) 47-61. S.J. Schmidt, Texttheorie. Probleme einer Linguistik der sprachlichen Kommunikation 9 (UTB 202; München 21976). According to J. Vorster (“Toward an Interactional Model for the Analysis of Letters”, Neotestamentica 24 [1991] 107-130,110), the communication process includes at least eight components: physical context and subject; intention of the speaker; social context; behavioral or cultural codes appropriate to the situation; linguistic codes; rhetorical code; selected code; selected genre; and the text itself. A good description in U. Utzschneider, “Text - Leser - Autor. Bestandsaufnahme und 10 Prolegomena zu einer Theorie der Exegese”, BZ 43 (1999) 224-38. See also I.J. du Plessies, “Applying the Results of Socio-Historical Research to Narrative Exegesis. Luke as Case Study”, Neotestamentica 30 (1996) 335-58,338, who relates the different exegetical methods to one of the three poles of communication: “Whereas the historical method (including the social-historical) is based on the author and his milieu, a literary approach focuses on the text. A narratological approach, focusing on the text, also has its consequences for the reader which has lately received much attention in reader-response criticism”. In the same direction, see the pragmalinguistic method, developed by an international group of exegetes (C. Mora Paz, M. Grilli and R. Dillmann, Lectura pragmalingüística de la Biblia. Teoría y aplicación [Evangelio y cultura 1; Estella 1999]; German translation, R. Dillmann, Vom Text zum Leser [SBS, 193; Stuttgart 2001]; cp. the practical application in R. Dillmann and C. Mora Paz, Das Lukas-Evangelium. Ein Kommentar für die Praxis [Stuttgart 2000]).