Litotes

In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetorical effect. It is most often used to describe the expression of an idea by a denial of its opposite, principally via double negatives. For example, rather than saying that something is attractive (or even very attractive), one might merely say it is "not unattractive."

Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis. However, the interpretation of litotes can depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, it may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be said in such a way as to mean anything from "mediocre" to "excellent."

The use of litotes appeals specifically to certain cultures including the northern Europeans and is popular in English, Russian and French. They are features of Old English poetry and of the Icelandic sagas and are a means of much stoical restraint.

An ironical understatement in which affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite. In Litotes the speaker's words convey less emotion than is actually felt.

George Orwell complained about overuse of the 'not un...' construction in his essay "Politics and the English Language."

Figures of speech such as Litotes adds adornment, beautifies, colors, elegant variation, embellishment, embroidery, emphasis, exaggeration, exclamation, flourish, floweriness, irony, lushness and luxuriance to the English language. This page providing facts and info about Figures of Speech will help with the understanding of this subject.

In Figurative Language we use words in such a way that they differ somewhat from ordinary every-day speech and convey meanings in a more vivid and impressive manner. Figures, like Litotes make speech more effective, they beautify and emphasize it in Rhetoric which is the art of speaking and writing effectively. Figures of speech such as Litotes use word association to convey emotion and mood often in a non-literal sense.

Examples of Litotes can be found in many examples of the poem, poems or poetry. Famous poets use this figure of speech to convey and emphasize unusual and vivid images. The use of strong word association changes the mode of thought and adds variation, embellishment and adornment to literary works.

Examples:

Litotes: "Not bad." "[…] no ordinary city" "That [sword] was not useless / to the warrior now." (Beowulf) "He was not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens." "She is not so unkind." "Not unlike..." "You are not wrong."

As a means of saying: "Good." "[…] a very impressive city." "The sword was useful." "He was well acquainted with the works of Dickens." "She is kind." "Like..." "You are correct."

Билет 33.

Asyndeton, that is, connection between parts of a sentence or between sentences without any formal sign, becomes a stylistic device if there is a deliberate omission of the connective where it is generally expected to be according to the norms of the literary language. Here is an example:

"Soames turned away; he had an utter disinclination for talk like one standing before an open grave, watching a coffin slowly lowered." (Galsworthy)

The deliberate omission of the subordinate conjunction because or for makes the sentence 'he had an utter...' almost entirely independent. It might be perceived as a characteristic feature of Soames in general, but for the comparison beginning with like, which shows that Soames's mood was temporary.

Here a reminder is necessary that there is an essential difference between the ordinary norms of language, both literary and colloquial, and stylistic devices which are skillfully wrought for special informative and aesthetic purposes.

It is interesting to compare the preceding two utterances from the point of view of the length of the pause between the constituent parts. In the first utterance (Soames...), there is a semicolon which, being the indication of a longish pause, breaks the utterance into two parts. In the second utterance (Bicket...), no pause should be made and the whole of the utterance pronounced as one syntagm.

Polysyndeton is the stylistic device of connecting sentences, or phrases, or syntagms, or words by using connectives (mostly conjunc­tions and prepositions) before each component part, as in:

"The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect." (Dickens)

The repetition of conjunctions and other means of connection makes an utterance more rhythmical; so much so that prose may even seem like verse. The conjunctions and other connectives, being generally un­stressed elements, when placed before each meaningful member, will cause the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables — the essential requirement of rhythm in verse. Hence, one of the functions of polysynde­ton is a rhythmical one.

In addition to this, polysyndeton has a disintegrating function. It generally combines homogeneous elements of thought into one whole resembling enumeration. But, unlike enumeration, which integrates both homogeneous and heterogeneous elements into one whole, poly­syndeton causes each member of a string of facts to stand out conspic­uously. That is why we say that polysyndeton has a disintegrating func­tion.

Polysyndeton has also the function of expressing sequence (последовательность)

The Gap- Sentence Link

There is a peculiar type of connection of sentences which for want of a term we shall call the gaps en fence link (GSL). The conne­ction is not immediately apparent and it requires a certain mental effort to grasp the interrelation between the parts of the utterance, in other words, to bridge the semantic gap. Here is an example:

"She and that fellow ought in Italy" (Galsworthy)

to be the sufferers, and they were

In this sentence the second part, which is hooked on to the first by the conjunction and, seems to be unmotivated or, in other words, the whole sentence seems to be logically incoherent. But this is only the first impres­sion. After a more careful supralinear semantic analysis it becomes clear that the exact logical variant of the utterance would be:

'Those who ought to suffer were enjoying themselves in Italy (where well-to-do English people go for holydays).'

Consequently, GSL is a way of connecting two sentences seemingly unconnected and leaving it to the reader's perspicacity to grasp the idea implied, but not worded. Generally speaking, every detail of the situa­tion need not be stated. Some must remain for the reader to divine.

As in many other cases, the device of GSL is deeply rooted in the norms of the spoken language. The omissions are justified because the situation easily prompts what has not been said. The proper intonation also helps in deciphering the communication. It is also natural in conver­sation to add a phrase to a statement made, a phrase which will point to uncertainty or lack of knowledge or to the unpredictability of the possi­ble issue, etc.,

In writing, where the situation is explained by the, writer and the intonation is only guessed at, such breaks in the utterance are regarded as stylistic devices. The gap-sentence link requires a certain mental effort to embrace the unexpressed additional information.

The gap-sentence link is generally indicated by and or but. There is no asyndetic GSL, inasmuch as connection by asyndeton can be carried out only by semantic ties easily and immediately perceived. These ties are, as it were, substitutes for the formal grammatical means of connection. The gaft-sentehce link has no immediate semantic connections; therefore it requires formal indications of connection. It demands an obvious break in the semantic texture of the utterance and forms an "unexpected seman­tic leap."

By its intrinsic nature the conjunction, but can justify the apparently unmotivated coupling of two unconnected statements.

Билет 34.

Aposiopesis is a device which dictionaries define as "A stop­ping short for rhetorical effect." This is true. But this definition is too general to' disclose the stylistic functions of the device.

In the spoken variety of the language, a break in the narrative is usually caused by unwillingness to proceed; or by the supposition that what remains to be said can be understood by the implication embodied in what has been said; or by uncertainty as to what should be said.

In the written variety, a break in the narrative is always a stylistic device used for some stylistic effect. It is difficult, however, to draw a hard and fast distinction between break-in-the-narrative as a typical feature of lively colloquial language and as a specific stylistic device. The only criterion which may serve as a guide is that in conversation the implica­tion can be conveyed by an adequate gesture. In writing it is the context, which suggests the adequate intonation that is the only key to de­coding the aposiopesis.

Aposiopesis is a stylistic syntactical device to convey to the reader a very strong upsurge of emotions. The idea of this stylistic device is that the speaker cannot proceed, his feelings depriving him of the ability to express himself in terms of language.

Break-in-the-narrative is a device which, on the one hand, offers a number of variants in deciphering the implication and, on the other, is highly predictable. The problem of implication is, as it were, a crucial one in stylistics. What is implied sometimes outweighs what is expressed. In other stylistic devices the degree of implication is not so high as in break-in-the-narrative. A sudden 'break in the narrative will inevitably focus the attention on what is left unsaid. Therefore the interrelation between what is given and what is new becomes more significant, inasmuch as the given is what is said and the new—what is left unsaid. There is a phrase in colloquial English which has become very familiar: "Good intentions but—"

The implication here is that nothing has come of what it was planned to accomplish.

Aposiopesis is a stylistic device in which the role of the intonation implied cannot be over-estimated. The pause after the break is generally charged with meaning and it is the intonation only that will decode the communicative significance of the utterance.

Questions, being both structurally and semantically one of the types of sentences, are asked by one person and expected to be answered by another. This is the main, and the most characteristic property of the question, i. e. it exists as a syntactical unit of language to bear this partic­ular function in communication. Essentially, questions belong to the spoken language and presuppose the presence of an interlocutor, that is, they are commonly encountered in dialogue. The questioner is presumed not to know the answer.

Question- in- the- narrative changes the real nature of a question and turns it into a stylistic device. A question in the narrative is asked and answered by one and the same person, usually the author.

It becomes akin to a parenthetical statement with strong emotional implications. Here are some cases of question-in-the-narrative taken from Byron's "Don Juan":

1) 'Tor what is left the poet here?

For Greeks a blush—for Greece a tear."

These sentences show a gradual transition to rhetorical questions. There are only hints of the possible answers. Indeed, the first and the

second questions suggest that the existing state of affairs should be put an end to and that we should not suffer any longer. The third and the fourth questions suggest that the orator himself could not find a solution ta the problem.

"The specific nature of interrogative sentences," writes P. S. Po pov, "which are transitional stages from what we know to what we do not yet know, is reflected in the interconnection between the question and the answer. The interrogative sentence is connected with the answer-sentence far more closely than the inference is connected with two interrelated pronouncements, because each of the two pronouncements has its own significance; whereas the significance of the interrogative sentence is only in the process of seeking the answer." l

This very interesting statement concerning the psychological nature of the question, however, does not take into consideration the stimulating aspect of the question.

When a question begins to fulfill a function not directly arising from its linguistic and psychological nature, it may have a certain volume of emotional charger. Question-in-the-narrative is a case of this kind. Here its function deviates slightly from its general signification.

This deviation (being in fact a modification of the general function of interrogative sentences) is much more clearly apparent in rhetorical questions.

The rhetorical questions a special syntactical stylistic device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence. In other words, the question is no" longer a question but a statement expressed in the form of an interroga­tive sentence. Thus there is interplay of two structural meanings: 1) that of the question and 2) that of the statement (either affirmative or negative). Both are materialized simultaneously. For example:

"Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace?" "Is there not blood enough upon your penal code, that jnore must be poured forth to ascend to Heaven and testify against you?" (Byron)

There is another structural pattern of rhetorical questions, which is based on negation. In this case the question may be a simple sentence, as in:

"Did not the Italian Mosico Cazzani Sing at my heart six months at least in vain?" (Byron)

Negative-interrogative sentences generally have a peculiar nature. There is always an additional shade of meaning implied in them: sometimes doubt, sometimes assertion, sometimes suggestion. In other words, they are full of emotive meaning and modality.

We have already stated that rhetorical questions may be looked upon as transference of grammatical meaning. But just as in the case of the transference of lexical meaning, the stylistic effect of the transference of grammatical meaning can only be achieved if there is a simultaneous realization of the two meanings: direct and transferred. So it is with rhetorical questions. Both the question-meaning and the statement-meaning are materialized with an emotional charge, the weight of which can be judged by the intonation of the speaker.

The intonation of rhetorical questions, according to the most recent investigations, differs materially from the intonation of ordinary ques­tions. This is also an additional indirect proof of the double nature of this stylistic device. In the question-sentence

"Is the poor privilege to turn the key upon the captive, freedom?" (Byron)