Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

1) Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc.), by things (machines, tools), by people (sighing, laughter, etc.) and by animals (mew, bark, etc.).

The relation between onomatopoeia and the phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of metonymy.

There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: 1) direct and 2) indirect.

Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds (ding-dong, bang, cuckoo, ping-pong, etc.)

Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense. It is sometimes called «echo-writing».

«And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain» (E. A. Poe), where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain.

2) Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance.

Alliteration is repetition of the same consonant or sound group at the beginning of two or more words that are close to each other.

«Doom is dark and deeper than sea dingle»

3) Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar sound combinations at the end of words. We distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes.

Full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable: might, right; needless, heedless.

Incomplete rhymes are divided into two main groups: 1) vowel rhymes and 2) consonant rhymes. In vowel rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different as in flesh - fresh - press. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, have identical consonants and different vowels, e.g. tale - tool - treble - trouble, etc.

According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza there are the following models:

1) Couplets - when the last words of two successive lines are rhymed. This is commonly marked aa.

2) Triple rhymes - aaa.

3) Cross rhymes - abab.

4) Framing or ring rhymes - abba.

Poe «Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary».

4) Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity. Rhythm in verse is a deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units intended to be grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a stylistic device.

The most observable rhythmical patterns in prose are based on the use of certain syntactical stylistic devices namely enumeration, repetition, parallel construction and chiasmus.

«The high-sloping roof, of a fine sooty pink was almost Danish, and two «ducky» little windows looked out of it, giving an impression that very tall servants lived up there».

Rhythm in a work of literature is used to specify and intensify emotions and thoughts.

Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices

1.Metaphor

A metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual logical meanings based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or features of the two corresponding concepts.

The old woman is a fox.

Metaphor can suggest:

- a visual image (sea of troubles, the light was dying from her face);

- sound images (nature's voices; the whispering of the river);

- temperature sensations (a flame seemed to burn the heart);

- visual sensation may merge with auditory sensations and the quality perceived by eyes is transferred upon perception through ears (a warm colour, a sharp colour; cold light, soft words).

Metaphors can be simple and extended (prolonged, sustained). Simple metaphors may be presented by a word or a group of words.

Metaphor can be expressed by all the meaningful parts of speech - nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc.