6. Stylistic stratification of English vocabulary (regular sets of present-day lexis).

Vocabulary can be subdivided into bookish, which is typical of formal styles (scientific, official, business, publicist) and colloquial vocabulary which is typical of the lower style.(colloquial) There is also a stylistically neutral vocabulary, which can be used in all kinds of style. (child(neutral) – kid (colloq) – infant (bookish).

Besides the standard, literary-colloquial speech, there is also a non-standard style of speech, mostly presented by a special vocabulary. Such is the familiar – colloquial style used in a very free, friendly, informal situations of communication. Here we find emotionally coloured words, low-colloquail vocabulary and slang words. This style admits also of the use of rude and vulgar vocabulary, including four-letter words. There are also special jargons/cants, words typically used by particular social groups to show that the speaker belongs to this group. There are also school slang, army slang,(fly boy – pilot; coffin – unreliable aeroplane) prison slang. But often words from a particular jargon spread outside its social group and become general slang. British slang: mug-fool, ratted-drunk. General American slang: buddy – fellow, buck – dollar, top dog – boss. There is also professional slang, words which are used by people in their professional activity: block-buster ( a bomb – in military use; a very successful film – in show business).

7.Stylistic devices of the phonetic layer of the language system of English.

The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which in a certain type of communication plays an important role. This is the way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds. The sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. It is in combination with other words that a word may acquire a desired phonetic effect. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic effect, but this is a matter of individual perception and feeling and therefore subjective.

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which alms at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc.) by things (machines or tools, etc.) by people (singing, laughter) and animals. Therefore the relation between onomatopoeia and the phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of metonymy There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words:

8.Stylistic devices of the lexical layer of the language system of English.

Stylistic devices create a vivid image. Stylistic devices of the lexical layer: metaphor, simile, metonymy, zeugma, oxymoron, hyperbole and litotes, epithet, periphrasis, antonomasia, euphemisms, allegory and personification, allusion, irony, rhetorical questions.

Metaphor compares two different things in a figurative sense. Unlike in a simile (A is like B.), “like” is not used in metaphor (A is B.).

Simile is a comparison creating a vivid image. (fat as pig)

Metonymy denotes a transference of meaning which is based on contiguity of notions, the name of one object is used instead of another closely connected with it. (The White House declared …).

Zeugma is a stylistic device that plays upon 2 different meanings of the word – the direct and the figurative meanings.

Oxymoron is a device which combines in one phrase 2 words whose meanings are opposite. (awfully nice).

Hyperbole denotes a deliberate extreme exaggeration of the quality of the object.

Litotes is device based on a peculiar use of negative constructions in the positive meaning. (not bad).

Epithet is a word or phrase containing an expressive characteristic of the object, based on some metaphor.

Periphrasis – a longer phrase is used of a shorter.

Antonomasia – the use of a proper name instead of a common name or vice versa.

Euphemisms – the use of a different name for an object or phenomenon so as to avoid undesirable or unpleasant associations.

Allegory – the names of objects or characters of a story are used in a figurative sense.

Allusion – indirect reference to some historical or literary fact expressed in the text.

Irony – the simultaneous realization of 2 opposite meanings: direct and covert.

Rhetorical questions – contains not a question but covert statement of the opposite.