67.Lexical Analysis & a Literary Text Analysis. Thematic Net.

It is based on the assumption that the repeated in the given text meanings are semantically, thematically and stylistically more important; but the rare words and the words in the unusual combinations are more important for the meaning. If its usage is stressed by any SD, it has a stylistic function.

For revealing the contents and stylistic value of the text (decoding) the most significant things are: semantic structure (lexico-semantic variants, thematic belonging of the connotations & associations), repeated and rare words; lexical connections (the relations between synonyms, antonyms, derived words); the unity of emotional & stylistic colouring.

Lexical connections presuppose the common component either in denotation or connotation. If a considered word has semantic connections with one or more words in the following sentences it can be treated as thematic. In the language system the number of elementary meanings, which constitute lexical meanings, is limited & they submit to the certain hierarchy.

When repeated in the text they constitute its thematic net. The violation of being marked also has a stylistic function. By transforming the phrase into a normal one we can see what meaning the poet has introduced by deviation from the norm (all the sun (moon) long - the seme of time is introduced).

Analysis of literary text generally stems from a specific assignment, defining the elements the reader is evaluating as he studies the text. Some of the general literary terms used in analysis are the overall theme or main point of the literary work, characters, plot, structure, point of view, setting, language and style. It is important to have a firm understanding of these literary terms in order to gain important insight into the text being analyzed.

As a reader focuses on certain elements of literary analysis, he will need to develop a thesis. The point of analysis is not to summarize a literary text, but rather to make larger connections within the text. A thesis is the specific point of the analysis, which needs to use detailed evidence from the text to defend the thesis. For example, an analysis of a literary text may make the point that a particular object is symbolic of the main character's broken dreams. An analysis would need to give specific evidence to support that point.

68. The theory of Images. The structure. Functions of images.

In our cognition or perception of the world there are three stages: 1) sensory perception, 2) intellectual perception, 3) imaginative, or artistic perception. Image is the main means of generalizing reality. An artistic image is specific as it not only gives a man new perception of the world but evokes certain attitude to what is depicted. The main functions of an artistic image are cognitive, communicative, aesthetic and educational. Image may be defined as an artistic presentation of the general through the individual, of the abstract through the concrete. There also exists verbal art where imagery is embodied in words — thus words are the material writers /speakers use when they want to create verbal images. The verbal image is a pen-picture of a thing, person or idea expressed in a figurative way by words used in their contextual meaning. As I.V.Arnold points out the verbal image is a complex phenomenon, it is a double picture generated by linguistic means, it is based on the co-presence of two thoughts of different things active together: the direct thought termed the tenor (T), the figurative thought — the vehicle (V).The tenor is the subject of thought, while the vehicle is the concept of a thing, person or an abstract notion with which the tenor is compared or identified. The structure of a verbal image also includes: the ground of comparison (G) — the similar feature of T and V; the relation (R) between T and V; the type of identification/comparison or, simply, the type of a trope (metaphor or simile). Trope is the figurative use of a word or a phrase that creates imagery. Tropes are used in verbal art to create general or individual images and to attain a higher artistic expressiveness. A trope is based on establishing connections between two notions, two things, being different on the whole, but understood to have some connection, some similarity in the given context. From the viewpoint of a linguist, all tropes are based on the interplay of lexical meaning. It should be remembered that imagery can be created by lexical SD's only. All other stylistic devices (such as phonetic, graphic, morphological and syntactical SD's) do introduce imagery, but can serve as intensifiers; any of them can add logical, emotive, expressive info to the utterance.