1.1. Phono-graphical level

To this group belong onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm, graphon and graphic stylistic means.

Onomatopoeia [ˌɔnəˌmᴂtəˈpi:ə] is the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it. (Used for the creation of expressive and emotive connotations). Ding-dong; silver bells... tin­kle, tinkle; whiz; crash; yakety-yak.

Alliteration is the repetition of the same (or similar) sounds or sound clusters, usually consonants, or stressed syllables in neighbouring words or at short intervals within a line or passage, usually at word beginnings. To rob Peter to pay Paul; Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice.

Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together, to achieve a particular effect of euphony. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary… (Poe).

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon. (Gwendolyn Brooks)

Rhyme is the correspondence of two or more words with similar-sounding final syllables placed so as to echo one another. It is a rhythmical device for intensifying the meaning as well as for binding the verse together.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls;

And like a thunderbolt he falls. (Alfred Tennyson)

Rhythm is the movement or sense of movement communicated by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables and by the duration of the syllables and sentence structure.

Pitch-black when I got home. No moon again. The lodge was in total darkness, and my headlights swung on the windows as I bounced along the drive. Car lights off. Black outside.

Graphon is an intentional violation of the graphical shape of the word (or word combination), used to reflect its authentic pronunciation. ‘Is that my wife?... I see it is, from your fyce… I want the truth – I must ‘ave it!.. If that’s ‘er fyce there, then that’s ‘er body in the gallery - … (Galsworthy).

Graphic stylistic means are employed to bring out or strengthen some word, word combination or utterance in order to make it more prominent. They include spacing of graphemes (hyphenation, multiplication) and of lines, all changes of the type (italics, bold type, capitalization or absence of capital letters), punctuation and intentional violation of spelling.

1.2. Lexical level

There are three big subdivisions in this class of devices and they all deal with the semantic nature of a word or phrase.

I. In the first subdivision the principle of classification is the interaction of different types of a word’s meanings: dictionary, contextual, derivative, nominal and emotive. The stylistic effect of the lexical means is achieved through the binary opposition of dictionary and contextual or logical and emotive or primary and derivative meanings of a word.

A. The first group includes means based on the interplay of dictionary and contextual meanings, and to this group belong: metaphor, metonymy, and irony.

Metaphor [ˈmetəfə] [ˈmetəfɔ:] is a secondary nomination unit based on likeness, similarity or affinity (real or imaginary) of some features of two different objects. The machine sitting at the desk was no longer a man; it was a busy New York broker. (O.H.) In the slanting beams that streamed through the open window, the dust danced and was golden. (O.W.)

Personification is a variety of metaphor, based on ascribing some features and characteristics of a person to lifeless objects – mostly to abstract notions, such as thoughts, actions, intentions, emotions, and seasons of the year. Dear Nature is the kindest Mother still. (Byron)

Metonymy is a stylistic figure in which the name of one thing is substituted for that of something else on bases of contiguity (nearness) of objects or phenomena. ‘As the sword is the worst argument that can be used, so should it be the last’. (Byron).

Synecdoche [sɪˈnekdəkɪ] is a variety of metonymy in which the part stands for the whole. ‘Blue suit greened, might have even winked. But big nose in the grey suit still stared’. (Priestly) ‘The town is capable of holding five hundred thousand souls’. (J. Swift)

Irony is a transfer based on the opposition of the objects. In ‘verbal irony’ there is a contrast between what is literary said and what is meant: It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one's pocket. In ‘dramatic irony’ there is a discrepancy between what a character thinks and what the reader knows to be true. In ‘situational irony’ an event occurs which is opposite of what is expected.

B. The second group unites means based on the interaction of primary and derivative meanings. To this group belong: polysemy, zeugma and pun.

Polysemy is the capacity of a word or phrase to have multiple meanings

Crane: 1) a bird; 2) a type of construction equipment; 3) to strain out one's neck

Zeugma [ˈzju:gmə] is a simultaneous realization within the same short context of two meanings of a polysemantic unit. The boys took their books and places. (Dickens) At noon Mrs. Turpin would get out of bed and humour, put on kimano, airs, and the water to boil for coffee. (O. Henry)

Pun is a play on words based on homonymous and polysemantic words to create a sense of surprise. Visitor (in a restaurant): Do you serve crabs here? Waiter: We serve everyone. Sit down.

C. The third group comprises means based on the opposition of logical and emotive meanings. To this group belong: interjections and exclamatory words, epithet, and oxymoron.