1.3. Syntactical level

In defining syntactical devices Galperin proceeds from the following thesis: the structural elements have their own independent meaning and this meaning may affect the lexical meaning.

The principal criteria for classifying syntactical stylistic devices are:

• the juxtaposition of the parts of an utterance;

• the type of connection of the parts;

• the peculiar use of colloquial constructions;

• the transference of structural meaning.

Devices built on the principle of juxtaposition are inversion, detachment, parallel constructions, chiasmus, repetition, enumeration, suspense, climax, anticlimax, and antithesis.

Inversion (several types) is the syntactic reversal of the normal order of the words and phrases in a sentence. A tone of most extravagant comparison Miss Tox said it in. (Dickens) Down dropped the breeze. (Coleridge)

Detachment is a separation of a secondary part of the sentence with the aim of emphasizing it. She was lovely: all of her—delightful. (Dreiser) Mrs. Rymer was a tall woman, big-boned. (A. Christie)

Parallel constructions are repetitions of similar syntactic structures in close proximity.

I don’t know why I should write this.

I don’t want to.

I don’t feel able. (Ch. P. Gilman)

Repetition is a reiteration of the same word or phrase to lay an emphatic stress on certain parts of the sentence. For glances beget ogles, ogles sighs, sighs wishes, wishes words, and words a letter. (Byron)

There are various types of repetitions: anaphora, epiphora, framing, anadiplosis and chiasmus.

Anaphora: the beginning of two or more successive sentences (clauses) is repeated e.g. Farewell to the forests and wild hanging woods, Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods…(Burns)

Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby. (L. Hughes)

Epiphora: the end of successive sentences (clauses) is repeated. e.g. The white washed room was pure white as of old, the methodical book-keeping was in peaceful progress as of old, and some distant howler was hanging against a cell door as of old.

The thing was a bit of a fraud; yes, really, he decided, rather a fraud. (A. Huxley)

Framing: repetition in which the opening word or phrase is repeated at the end of the sentence or a group of sentences. ‘Money is what he’s after, money.’ (Galore) ‘Never wonder. By means of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, settle everything somehow, and never wonder.’ (Dickens)

Anadiplosis: device in which the last word or phrase of one clause, sentence, or line is repeated at the beginning of the next. ‘With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy; happy at least in my own way.” (Bronte)

The seeds ye sow—another reaps,

The robes ye weave—another wears

The arms ye forge—another bears. (Shelley)

Chiasmus [kaɪˈᴂzməs] is a kind parallelism where the word order of the sentence or clause that follows becomes inverted. Love’s fire heats water, water cools not love. (Shakespeare)

In the days of old men made manners

Manners now make men. (Byron)

Enumeration is a repetition of homogeneous parts of the sentence, aimed at emphasizing the whole utterance. The principle production of these towns... appear to be soldiers, sailors, Jews, chalk, shrimps, officers, and dock-yard men. (Dickens)

Suspense holding the reader in tense anticipation is often realized through the separation of predicate from subject or predicative by the deliberate introduction between them of a phrase, clause or sentence (frequently parenthetic).

Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle-Know ye the land of the cedar and vine...

'Tis the clime of the East—'tis the land of the Sun. (Byron)

Climax (Gradation) presents a structure in which every consecutive sentence or phrase is emotionally stronger or logically more important than the preceding one. They looked at hundreds of houses, they climbed thousands of stairs, they inspected innumerable kitchens. (W. S. Maugham) They shook, they bellowed, they held their sides, they rolled in their seats; everyone was overcome with laughter… (W. S. Maugham)

Anticlimax is a structure in which every successive word, phrase, or sentence is emotionally or logically less strong than the preceding one. ‘Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious.’ (O.W.) ‘ Harris never weeps, he knows not why. If Harris’ eyes fill with tears, you can bet it is because Harris has been eating raw onions… (J. K. J.)

Antithesis is the expression of opposing or contrasting ideas laid out in a parallel structure. Youth is lovely, age is lonely; Youth is fiery, age is frost. (Longfellow) She had her husband on her hands, a terrible joy, and a terrible burden. (D. H. Lawrence)

Devices based on the type of connection include asyndeton, polysyndeton, and gap-sentence link.

Asyndeton is the omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses. Soams turned away; he had an utter disinclination for talk, like one standing before an open grave... (Galsworthy) That was a long time ago; she and her brothers were all grown up; her mother was dead. (J. Joyce)

Polysyndeton is opposite to asyndeton and means a repetition of conjunctions in close succession which are used to connect sentences, clauses, or words and make the utterance more rhythmical. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. (Dickens) I know a little of the principal of design, and I know this thing was not arranged on any laws of radiation, or alternation, or repetition, or symmetry, or anything else that I ever heard of. (Ch. P. Gilman)

Gap-sentence link presents two utterances - the second is brought into the focus of the reader's attention. It was an afternoon to dream. And she took out Jon's letters. (Galsworthy) She and that fellow ought to be the sufferers, and they were in Italy.

Figures united by the peculiar use of colloquial constructions include ellipsis, aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative), and questions in the narrative.

Ellipsis The deliberate omission of one or more principal words (usually the subject or the predicate). Nothing so difficult as a beginning; how soft the chin which' bears his touch. (Byron)

Aposiopesis [æpəsaɪəˈpiːsɪs] (break-in-the-narrative) denotes a speaker’s deliberate failure to complete a sentence, which is caused by the influx of senses, consideration of time etc. Good intentions but -; you just come home or I'll...

Questions in the narrative are posed to sustain tension and keep the reader interested. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? (Dickens)

Transferred use of structural meaning involves such figures as rhetorical questions and litotes.

Rhetorical question is a negative or an affirmative statement rather than a question, possible answer being implied by the question itself. How long must we suffer? Where is the end? (Norris)