18. Decomposition of set expressions

Set expressions, such as proverbs & sayings, are often decomposed to produce a certain impact or effect on reader/listener.

MECHANISMS:

1. Insertion:

“They were eager to find out who was back of these new gas companies which were threatening to poach on their exclusive preserves”. (Th. Dreiser, ‘The Titan’, ch. XI) — Обеспокоенные акционеры старых газовых компаний стали доискиваться, кто же все-таки стоит за этими новыми компаниями, покушавшимися на их права и привилегии. (from “to poach on someone’s preserves” = вмешиваться в личную жизнь кого-л., в чужие дела, затронуть чьи-л. интересы)

“New powerful lords, new severe laws” (from “New lords, new laws” = Новая метла чисто метёт)

"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." (Joanne Rowling, “HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban”)

2. Addition:

“James had passed through the fire, but he had passed also through the river of years which washes out the fire” (Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga) (= to pass through fire & water)

Don't haloo until you are out of the wood and on your way back home (from Don't haloo until you are out of the wood = Не говори «гоп», пока не перепрыгнешь)

3. Substitution:

“She's as obstinate as fate . . . ” (Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga) (=as obstinate as a mule)

“One man's fault is another man's good laugh” (from One man's fault is another man's lesson = На ошибках учатся)

S. can also be based on phonetic word play: Насильно мил не будешь  Насильно пить не будешь; Аппетит приходит во время еды  Стоматит приходит после еды 

4. Telescoping- 2 set expressions into one (= contamination)

Одна голова хорошо, а 2 сапога пара

Too many cooks can't feed the hungry with words (Too many cooks spoil the broth, У семи нянек дитя без глазу + You can't feed the hungry with words, Соловья баснями не кормят)

Седина в бороду, а он все в лес смотрит. (Седина в бороду , <а> бес в ребро + Сколько волка ни корми…)

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF DECOMPOSITION:

1. Humorous effect (One man's fault is another man's good laugh)

2. Ironic/satirical effect

3. A new awareness of a similar phenomenon, a new concept (One man’s fish is another man’s poisson (= fish, Fr.))

4. “Estrangement” (a diff. culture-bound world picture: “Be as American as apple pie” (американец до мозга костей)  “Be as Russian as pancakes”)

19 Inversion

Inversion (I) is unusual order of words within a sentence. It’s vital to differentiate between inversion in the gr. system and that used for stylistic purposes. Inversion is used to give emphasis or to be rhetorical in more formal situations, in political speeches, on the news, and also in literature. Some native speakers may also use them occasionally in day-to-day conversation. I as a group of styl. devices can be more relevant (eng-eng) for one l-ge and less relevant for another (rus).

Russian is much freer and more variable word order; makes inversion less noticeable and less significant. When we translate utterance with inversion into Rus, we often have to look for compensatory mechanisms.

The chief patterns:

• adv. of frequency+Auxilary+noun+notional verb. Never has he read a book so attentively. It adds a more elevated tone to the utterance.

• Adj. + noun (both forming the predicative) + pronoun + link verb. A terrible weather it was.

• Adj +noun/pronoun + link verb. Happy they were and didn’t seem to notice anything around. (emotional emphasis).

• Adj +link verb+ noun/pronoun. Risky and dangerous was the journey.

• Object in the initial position (logical emphasis): Honesty Mrs. Brown has, but clean hands she has not.

• Adj in the opening position (logical emphasis): Funny this book was. Didactic it was not.

• Verb notion in the opening position: children are not made for work. Study they must.

In the English language, syntactic inversion typically comes in two varieties: locative inversion and nonlocative inversion.

• Locative inversion: A lamp was in the corner to In the corner was a lamp

• Nonlocative inversion: The growing number of TB cases is especially worrisome to public health experts to Especially worrisome to public health experts is the growing number of TB-cases.

Stylistic inversion is used to single out some parts of the sentence and sometimes to heighten the emotional tension.

e.g. Then he said: “You think it’s so? She was mixed up in this lousy business?”

20. Transposition of syntactical structures. The effect produced by syntactical stylistic devices depends to a great extent on 2 things:

1) type of deviation btw the traditional & contextual m-gs;

2) type of distribution within the text:

a) immediate environment (Кухаренко: условия достаточной тесноты ряда);

b) distant distribution of textual elements. In most lan-ges there’re 4 basic types of utterances, namely: statements, questions, imperatives, interjections. Each of them exists in 2 variants: affirmative & negative.

Transposition = the phenomenon when 1 of these 8 types is used in the function of another. E.g.: a question for an exclamation, a statement for a command => grammatically it’s one type, functionally – another.

1) statement  ? And we wouldn’t stay with him? And this is what you need to be happy? You like the idea, I suppose? (It indicates the spoken nature of discourse, & often makes it more expressive than an ordinary question, usually conveys irony, sarcasm, mockery, indignation).

2) ?  statement (rhetorical question): What’s the good of such a husband? What business is that of yours? (This device is equally frequent in high rhetoric – poetry, public speeches, & in colloquial lan-ge).

3) Negative structure  affirmative sense: If it isn’t Bill Smith!

4) Negative structure (usually a negative statement)  as a request in indirect speech (sometimes in direct): In Russ. “-” structures typically express a request: Вы не передадите мне соль? She supposed he didn’t have 2 hundred dollars – she was badly in need at the moment. In translation we can neutralize it. 5) Expression of negation without gram. negation: As if she could do without her parents’ help.

6) Imperative structure, which sounds as a negation: Catch him bending (Как же! застанешь его врасплох!) Ну да, вешай нам лапшу на уши!

7) A statement begins to sound as a negative imperative: “- I’ll go to Uncle Harvey… - Oh, yes, I would, of course, I would. – Well, why wouldn’t you?” (Mark Twain)

8) statement (the verb in Future tense)  an exclamation: I will magician him (я ему покажу колдовать!)

9) grammatically interrogative sentence  an exclamation: “Boy! Did I gallop?”, Am I tired! Wasn’t she beautiful? What on earth is he saying!

21. Compression consists in leaving out relevant elements of the text without loss relevant information because the devices imployed can render this information implicitly.

1) Ellipsis – omission of one of the main members of a sentence in order to lend a text a greater expressivness. Elliptical sentences are those in which one or both principal members are missing. They are very typical of dialog, but there they usually have no styl.value because we expect the sentence to be elliptical: In manner, closed and dry. In voice husky. In face, watchful behibd a blind.

They are often nominative. They create a static image. By leaving out the predicate they can change time, slow down or stop. His forehead was narrow, his face wide, his head large , his nose all on one side.

2) Aposiopesis (pronounced /æpəsaɪəˈpisɪs/ from Classical Greek, ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent") is a rhetorical device wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingness or inability to continue.

We break the sentence off without bringing it to a clause. In english it’s indicates by a dash - . it can be used with a number of purposes. The speaker can be finally interrupted by the listener. The meaning of the sentence may be clear enough and there is no need to finish it. Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer: “Well, I lay if I get ahold of you I'll— The speaker may feel that he is rather tactless. He doesn’t finish the sentence, but gives a hint at it. Her behaviour is her own business. The speaker may be too excited or may be suffering too much, having a lump in the throat.

3) Asyndeton (from the Greek: ἀσύνδετον, "unconnected") is a stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. "...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

To some extent zeugma is also regarded as a synt. Device insuring compression. Zeugma: two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them. Mr Jones took his coat and his leave. Despairing in the heat and in the sun, we marched, cursing in the rain and in the cold.

Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called "syncope". It is also called compression.^[1]

Forms such as "didn't" that are written with an apostrophe are, however, generally called contractions:

English [Au]stra[lia]n > colloquial Strine

English go[ing t]o> gonna

English wa[nt t]o > wanna

English did n[o]t > didn't

English do[n't k]no[w] > dunno

English I [woul]d [h]ave > I'd've