I.2. Prosodic stylistic means.

 

a) Emphatic stress;

b) Additional stress;

c) Special intonation contours.

 

Rendered in writing by:

a) special type (bold, italic);

b) letter multiplication;

c) punctuation marks (hyphenation, dashes, triple dots, commas, exclamatory marks etc).

 

E.g. "Alllllll aboarrrrrrd!"

She was simply beautiful.

Whose book is it? M-I-N-E!

"What...?!"

 

E.g. We’ll teach the children to look at things… I shall make it into a sort of game to them. Teach them to take notice. Don’t’ let the world pass by, I shall tell them… For the sun. Open your eyes for that laaaaarge sun.

II. EXPRESSIVE PHONETIC MEANS

 

II.1. ALLITERATION - repetition of the initial consonants in two or more neighbouring words. Current in idioms: BUSY AS A BEE, GREEN AS GRASS, HUNGRY AS A HUNTER, etc. It is usually employed for the purpose of emphasis: He swallowed the hint with a gulp and a gasp and a grin. Also frequent in book-titles: THE LAST LEAF, POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PIQUICK CLUB, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, LIVE WITH LIGHTNING, etc.

 

E.g. His wife was shrill, languid, handsome and horrible.

You lean, long, lanky lath of a lousy bastard.

 

Внимание к содержанию через форму:

(1) Близко буря в берег бьется

Чуждый чарам черный челн (Бальмонт)

 

(2) Our dreadful marches to delightful measures (Shakespeare)

 

NB! He has a house – не аллитерация. Повтор должен носить намеренный характер.

 

II.2. ASSONANCE - recurrence of stressed vowels (vocalic alliteration). E.g. "I shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels call Lenora" (E.A. Poe).

 

II.3. ONOMATOPEIA - sound imitation. Of special interest is repetition of sounds in neighboring words for the purpose of creating sound-image. Cf. in Russian:

 

"Soft is the sound as zephir gently blows" (Pope)

"The hoarse rough sound like torrent roar..." (the same)

 

Direct onomatopoeia: Celia was immediately shushed.

Indirect onomatopoeia: (a) He drove the car at a mere whispering sixty.

(b) The fair breeze blew

The white foam flew

The furrow followed free (Кольридж)

 

Phonetic stylistics devices can be used in convergence producing a complex stylistic effect:

E.g. Ford automobile operates on a rev-rev-a-lu-shun-ary principle” (onomatopoeia, phonetic variation, prosodic means).

 

Which of the devices above represent paradigmatic and which – syntagmatic stylistics? Alliteration, assonance and indirect onomatopea refer to Stylistics of sequences (syntagmatic stylistics). Others represent Stylistics of units (paradigmatic stylistics).

 

LECTURE 3: Stylistic lexicology

Stylistic lexicology investigates the choice of words for specific purposes of communication. Its other objective is stylistic classification of vocabulary.

In any language there are words used more frequently and less frequently. (George McKnight in his book "English Words and Their Backgrounds" claims that) 25% of the vocabulary used in actual communication are nine words AND, BE, HAVE, IT, THE, TO, WILL, YOU, OF. And by adding 34 more words, such as ABOUT, ALL, BUT, CAN, COME, DAY, FOUR, GET, IN, ME, MUCH, SAY, SHE, THIS, TIME, WE, WRITE, YOUR etc., we shall obtain 50% of the vocabulary actually used in the process of communication.

Even though the figures seem to be exaggerated, it is true that the words listed above are used practically in every act of communication.

On the other hand, such words as, for instance, HISTOLOGICAL, VIVIPAROUS, PENTAVALENT, HEREINAFTER, etc. are used extremely seldom, they are restricted to very special spheres of communication (they are stylistically colored).

Thus, the first major division of the vocabulary is into stylistically neutral and stylistically coloured words. But this division is too general and insufficient. Attempts to divide vocabulary into smaller groups have been made more than once. Traditionally the following groups of words are referred to when we speak about the stylistic classification of vocabulary: ARCHAISMS, BABARISMS, POETIC DICTION, COLLOQUIALISMS, VULGARISMS, SLANG, JARGON, PROFESSIONALISMS, BOOKISH WORDS, EUPHEMISMS, etc. However, these groups of words do not make a classification. They are not established on the same dividing principle (criterion) and, therefore, intersect. E.g.:

When we identify the word as "archaic", we mean its being obsolete, no more current. The term "bookish" reflects the sphere in which the word mostly occurs. The term “foreign” refers to the origin of the word. "Euphemism" is a term of ethics. All these classes are of different nature: a word can be bookish, and foreign, and archaic or a euphemism simultaneously. E.g. de jure, de factor (термины и варваризмы), sylvan (poetic and archaic), at-a-boy (slang and archaism), etc.

Prof. Skrebnev suggested another classification, which is based on the general stylistic value or the social prestige of the word. E.g. it is clear to people who know English that such synonyms as CHAP - MAN - INDIVIDUAL or DAD - FATHER - SIRE or INFANT - CHILD - KID - BRAT are stylistically different. INFANT is “better” (more valuable) than KID or BRAT, and the social prestige of SIRE and FEMALE is higher than of DAD and WOMAN.

Words that are more valuable than neutral are placed, figuratively speaking, above them /they are socially higher/, and words which are less valuable should be placed below the neutral sphere /as they are socially lower/. Elevated words are super-neutral, and words of lower ranks - sub-neutral. This division into three basic stylistic layers is not new.

However, acc. to Prof. Skrebnev, super-neutral and sub-neutral words may be further divided into at least three degrees of elevation or degradation.

 

Elevated (super-neutral)	Maximal degree
Medial degree
Minimal degree
NEUTRAL
Degraded (sub-neutral)	Minimal degree
Medial degree
Maximal degree

 

The MINIMAL degree implies absence of purpose. The speaker uses the word automatically, without noticing: s/he does not have any stylistic aim in view: маршрутка, зеленка, манка or DAD, FRIDGE, PREVAIL, ACTIVITY /the last two are chosen automatically by cultivated speakers, but not used actively by non-educated people/.

The MEDIAL degree implies deliberate choice: the speaker realizes that he uses stylistically coloured word /he does it on purpose/. E.g. братоубийственный, вышеозначенный, редиска or DE FACTO, STATUS QUO, BLISS, HEREBY, SAGACITY, BIG GUN, STUNNING, ETC.

The MAXIMAL degree comprises either highly expressive /possessing uncommon stylistic value/ superneutral words or vulgar /inadmissible ethically/ subneutral words: стозвонный, ланиты, морда or MORN, MAIDEN, SYLVAN, on the one hand and, and BASTARD, SON-OF-A-BITCH - on the other.

Of course, the border-lines between these layers are vague, more imaginary than real, but there certainly IS a difference between what is used habitually, what is used on purpose and what is employed as an exception.

For practical purposes, it is advisable to establish a correlation of word-classes singled out by traditional lexicology with the above given stylistic scale.

POETIC - constitute the highest level /maximum stylistic value/.

OFFICIAL /business, legal/ occupy the middle level.

ARCHAISMS - upper /usually/.

NONCE-WORDS /new creations/ - middle degradation, created on purpose, the effect - humorous.

BOOKISH WORDS may be minimal and medial. This epithet implies a very wide sphere of communication.

COLLOQUIALISMS - minimal.

SLANG, JARGON - medial.

VULGAR - the lowest level.

The status of BARBARISMS, TERMS, DIALECTISMS, PROFESSIONALISMS will be discussed later.

 

SUPERNEUTRAL VOCABULARY (detailed description)

ARCHAISMS (from Gr. "archaios" - "ancient) - words which are out of use in present day lg and are felt as obsolete.

Material or historical archaisms (historisms) are those whose referents (i.e. objects they denote) disappeared: YEOMAN, HAUBERK, etc.

Other archaisms were ousted by their synonyms: WELKIN (sky), WOE (sorrow), REALM (kingdom), MAIN (ocean), TO DEEM (to consider), etc.

In books of fiction (the author's discourse) archaic words are used to reproduce the atmosphere of the epoch, to create historical background (e.g. novels by Walter Scott or "A Connecticut Yankee in King Authur's Court" by Mark Twain). In the personage's discourse archaisms serve to characterize the speech of the epoch or the speaker himself. Thus, in "Old Curiosity Shop" by Dickens they show the attachment of Trent to antiquity.

In poetry archaic words are employed due to their stylistic colour of elevation and create high-flown connotations.

They are also used in official documents to maintain the exactness of expression, to make the lg more precise: AFORESAID, HEREBY, AFOREMENTIONED etc. (канцеляризмы)

 

BOOKISH WORDS. Constitute the overwhelming majority of elevated words. Used in cultivated speech only - in books as such of in special types of oral communication (public speeches, official negotiations etc. Include synonyms of ordinary neutral words or popular terms of science, such as "phenomenon", "thesis", "stratification" etc. Bookish words are mostly (not always) borrowed words of Latin and Greek origin:

great fire - disastrous conflagration

Man fell - Individual was precipitated

sent for doctor - called into requisition the services of the physician

began to answer - commenced his rejoinder.

Bookish words are improper in everyday conversation or with reference to trivial subjects. Such mixture of styles creates ironic or humorous effect: He died poor vs He expired in indigent circumstances (neutral vs bookish) Cf. a linguistic anecdote:

A young lady home from school was explaining: "Take an egg, make a perforation in the base and a corresponding one in the apex. Then apply the lips to the aperture, and by forcibly inhaling the breath the shell is entirely discharged of its contents". An old lady who was listening exclaimed: "It beats all yow Folks do things nowadays. When I was a gal they made a hole in each end and sucked". (high-flown vs colloquial).

O’Henry: “And then to the waiter he betrayed the fact that the minutest coin and himself are strangers”.

Poetic diction (words are often obsolete and used only in poetry): SLUMBER (sleep), QUOTH (said), FOE (enemy), STEED, CHARGER (horse), ALBEIT (though). Some of them are morphological variants of neutral words: OFT (often), LIST (listen) etc. In modern poetry poetic diction is scarcely ever used.

 

FOREIGN WORDS (barbarisms).

In lexicology barbarisms and foreign words represent two different groups which should not be confused. Barbarisms are non-assimilated borrowings (which preserved their original spelling and pronunciation) and as such they are part of the borrowing language vocabulary. Foreign words do not enter the vocabulary of the other language. In stylistics the difference between the two groups becomes irrelevant – as they have the same stylistics functions.

Foreign words and barbarisms may be used in books of fiction for different purposes:

In the personage’s discourse they can characterize the speaker as a representative of a certain nationality (Fleur Forsyte frequently uses French words, because she is half-French; E. Poirot, the famous detective from Agatha Christie's novels, uses French words, etc.);

Also, with the help of foreign words the author may renderthe affected, intentionally elegant speech, as there is something exquisite, something more socially eligible about foreign words if we compare them with their commonplace English counterparts: "Au revoir" vs "good-bye", "chic" - "stylish", "en passant" - "in passing", "bon mot" - "wittycism" etc.

In "The War and Peace" by Tolstoy French is used to show the social and educational level of the speakers as it was the language employed by the higher circles of Russian society.

Foreign words may be also used to create the local background (names of streets, restaurants in S. Maugham stories; names of fishes, birds in Spanish in “The Old Man and the Sea”).

The stylistic status of barbarism needs special consideration. They may be referred to the minimal or to the medial degree of elevation. If they are employed by the author for the purpose of speech characterization or creating realistic (local) background of the narration, they should be referred to the medial level (stylistic intention of the author is evident). But from the point of view of the speaker who is Foreign by birth (Fleur Forsyte, Hercule Poirot) and uses such words automatically barbarisms are of minimal degree of elevation.

 

SUBNEUTRAL WORDS

COLLOQUIALISMS (no stylistic intention, minimal degree). Have a tinge of familiarity but nothing ethically improper in their stylistic connotation (except that they cannot be used in official forms of speech). Include:

- colloquial words proper (synonyms of neutral words): "chap", "pal", "dad", "kid" (continue the list yourselves);

- nursery words (diminutives): "mummy", "birdie", "piggy" etc.

- phonetic variants of neutral words: "gaffer", "feller", compare with contracted forms "isn't" etc.

- interjections: "oh", "well", "hush" etc.

- colloquial meanings of neutral words: "spoon", "awfully", "whale", "baby" etc.

In the actual colloquial speech – have no stylistic value. In books and other types of speech – characterize the situation (convey informal character of communication), but do not characterize the speakers.

 

JARGON and SLANG

Both refer to medial degree of degradation, i.e. are used intentionally, realized as "wrong". They are humorous replaces (or original non-traditional substitutes) of neutral words.

The difference: JARGON appears in professional or social groups (it is restricted in use), while SLANG is universally used (i.e. understood and employed by all members of linguistic community).

Jargon may de subdivided into two groups:

terms of profession used to denote no-professional objects:

"big gun" - important person;

"dug-out" - a retired soldier returned to active service (they are terms misused deliberately to express disrespect)

non-terminological, unofficial substitutes for professional terms: "picture show" -battle;

"sewing machine" - machine-gun (metaphor);

"a bird" – airman (metaphor);

"an egg" - a cadet pilot not capable yet of flying a plane (metaphor).

There may be also students jargon, medical, lawyers etc. The jargon of thieves and robbers is called cant (barkers – revolver; to unbutton – to break up).

SLANG is especially characteristic of younger generation and includes the most expressive and colorful vocabulary, often with strong emotive connotations (humorous or ironic):

"stunner" - a very beautiful girl (also "dame", "knock-out");

"upper storey" - head;

"chack", "chow", "grub", "hash" - food (the center of synonymic attraction);

"skirt" - girl (metonimy);

"jack", "tin", "brass", "slippery staff" - money etc.

Slang words appear due to striving for novelty in expression. As soon as the word loses its novelty it goes to the stratum of colloquialisms, and then (if it is frequently used) may become neutral (e.g. such words as bus, taxi, piano, phone, photo, skyscraper used to belong to slang).

Many slang and jargon words are metaphoric and/or metonymic

NB!! Find examples of slang and jargon words for the next lecture.

 

NONCE-WORDS (OCCASIONALISMS)

Chance or occasional words are invented by the speaker (writer) for a given occasion. They do not remain in the language after that (never listed in dictionaries). They are easily understood due to the context and because they are built by analogy with the existing words. E.g.

"A balconyful of gentlemen"(Chesterton), "a headful of reasons", "I didn't buy a piano to be sonatoed out of my own house" (Greenwood).

I love you mucher

Plenty mucher? Me tooer

Nonce-words mostly have humorous effect.

 

VULGARISMS

Maximal degree of degradation (are avoided by cultivated speakers).

Two types of vulgarisms

(1) LEXICAL - express ideas, considered unmentionable in a civilized society. Mae de substituted by euphemisms (abbreviations, omissions, dashes, medical terms). Their denotation is vulgar: the so called ‘four-letter’ words, "bloody", "damned", ‘son-of-a-bitch’, etc.

(2) STYLISTIC - Nothing improper about their referents, their meaning is nit indecent. But stylistic connotation express strong derogatory attitude to the object of speech: "old bean", "smeller", "pay dirt" etc.

Being frequently used in affected colloquial speech oaths and stylistic vulgarisms may lose their emotional quality: "you are so darn good-looking".

 

DIALECT WORDS

Words which characterize the ways people in certain geographic regions (locally specific/restricted vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation).

The use of dialectisms usually shows the social standing of the speaker (used in books of fiction – in the personages discourse). The use of dialectal words and forms is a sign of provincialisms or (nowadays) shows the lack of education (a famous example - Eliza Doolittle).

Status: minimal degradation or neutral for dialect users; medial - for the authors of fiction. Cockney, Scotish dialect (bonny, etc.).

 

PHRASEOLOGY AND ITS STYLISTIC USE

IDIOMS and SET-PHRASES are far more expressive than their non-phrasal counterparts. Cр.: “Let’s go and leave this place for good’ vs "Come on, let's go and shake the dust of this place for good" (Aldridge) and ‘It’s time for me to get off your hair” (colloquial). Absence of set-phrases makes speech poor, though excessive use of idioms is also not recommended.

A very effective stylistic device is VIOLATION OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS. The speaker/writer either pretends to understand the phrase literally or reminds the reader of the additional meanings of the components. The effect is usually humorous: (a) "Little John was born with a silver spoon in a mouth which was rather curly and large".

(b) ”God knows”, she said. But Soames knew better than God.

(c) "They spoiled their rods, spared their children and anticipated the results with enthusiasm". Cf. "To spare the rod, to spoil the child".

Violation of proverbs (whichare also referred to phraseology) is frequent in newspaper titles: “All that glitters is sold”; “Defense is the best form of attack”.

Idioms as well as words may be NEUTRAL, ELEVATED and DEGRADED: AN EARTHLY PARADISE (bookish); SMALL FRY (slang); ALMA MATER (barbarism);

TO RAIN CATS AND DOGS (colloquial).

 

 

Lecture 4

 

STYLISTIC SEMACIOLOGY

Stylistic semasiology investigates stylistic phenomena in the sphere of meaning. It studies stylistic functions of various shifts of meaning and certain combinations of meanings.

E.g. roots of evil; drops of sorrow; to crawl – walk slowly (shift)

a merciful tyrant; sing like a nightningale (combination).

Stylistic phenomena affected by shifts of meaning and combinations of meanings are termed FIGURES OF SPEECH.

They are subdivided into two groups^

 

FIGURES OF REPLACEMENT (studied by paradigmatic semasiology, as the stylistic effect appears due to the use of one unit, choice of one of a set|of a paradigm): e.g.

Mother Nature,

scared to death,

a mule (about an obstinate man) and

 

FIGURES OF CO-OCCURRENCE (studied by syntagmatic semasiology, as the stylistic effect appears due to combination of at least two meanings: I ask you, I beg you, I beseech you; шел дождь и два студента).