Lectures stylistics Contents

Lecture 1

1. What is Stylistics?

2. Issues of Stylistics

3. Objects of stylistics

a) Functional Styles (FS)

b) Stylistic Devices (SD) & Expressive Means (EM)

4. Branches of Stylistics

a) Comparative Stylistics

b) Decoding Stylistics

c) Functional Stylistics

5. Stylistic classification of the English Vocabulary

a) Galperin’s classification

b) Skrebnev’s classification.

The functions of the language- communicative (primary) and cognitive (secondary).

I. I.Galperin distinguishes 5 styles in English:

1. belles-lettres (Fr.): poetry, emotive prose, drama;

2. publicist style: oratory(art of making speech), essays, articles, etc.

3. newspaper style: brief news items, headlines, advertisements;

4. scientific prose style;

5. official document style

II. I.Arnold singles out 4 styles for the English language:

1. poetic style;

2. scientific style;

3. newspaper style;

4. colloquial style.

III. Y.Skrebnev suggests the most unconventional viewpoint on the number of styles (the number of styles is infinite).

Stylistics is the branch of linguistics which studies the principles and effect of choice and usage of different language elements in rendering thought and emotions under different conditions of communication.

The issues of stylistics:

1. the aesthetic function of the language;

2. expressive means in the language;

3. synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea;

4. emotional colouring in the language;

5. a system of special devices called stylistic devices;

6. splitting of the literary language into separate systems called style;

7. the interrelation between language & thought;

8. individual manner of an author in making use of the language.

3. Objects of Stylistics

3.1 Functional Stylistics (fs)

Stylistic Lexicology

Stylistic Phonetics

Stylistic Grammar

a) stylistic morphology

b) stylistic syntax

3.2 Stylistic Devices (sd) and Expressive Means (em).

4. Branches of Stylistics

a). Comparative Stylistics

b). Decoding Stylistics (L.Shcherba, B.Larin, R.Jackobson, I.Arnold)

5. Stylistic classification of the English Vocabulary

a) Galperin’s classification

three layers:

literary; neutral; colloquial

The aspect of the literary layer is its bookish character, the aspect of the colloquial layer is its lively spoken character and the aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character.

Literary layer: common literary words – e.g. He is always in extremes; perpetually in the superlative degree.

terms and learned words – e.g. “…don’t you go to him for anything more serious than a pendectomy of the left ear or a strabismus of the cardiograph.

poetic words

archaic words - e.g. …The Lord giveth and He taketh away, Ridges thought solemly.

barbarisms and foreign words (e.g. ad hoc (Lat.)= for this object

neologisms – e.g. Oh, it was the killingest thing you ever saw.

Colloquial layer: common colloquial words

slang – e.g. I’ve often thought you’d make a corking good actress.

jargonisms – The arrangement was to keep in touch by runners and by walkie-talkie.

dialectal words – e.g. “We’ll show Levenford what my clever lass can do. I’m looking ahead, and I can see it. When we’ve made ye the head scholar of the Academy, then you’ll see what your father means to do wi’ you. But ye must stick in to your lessons, stick in hard.”

vulgar words – e.g. “What the hell made you take on a job like that?”

“A regrettable necessity for cash. I can assure you it doesn’t suit my temperament.”

colloquial coinages

Some examples of slang:

kick / kick back (A.E.);

lobster / green thumb (Am.E);

breakfast of champions (Am.E.);

chewed (Am.E);

forks (Am.E.)

grabbers (Am.E.);

five-finger (Am.E.);

shake a leg (B.E.);

sugar daddy (B.E);

X.Y.Z.;

BYOB.

Lecture 2

Stylistic Devices (SD)

a) Lexical

b) Lexical-Syntactical

c) Syntactical

d) Graphical and Expressive Means

Galperin singles out the following groups of SD:

1. Lexical stylistic devices:

Metaphor is transference of meaning on the basis of similarity of objects belonging to different classes:

1. Physical similarity

a) appearance and form

nut= голова

arm= ветви

b) temperature

a boiling pot= вспыльчивый

c) position

the foot of the mountain

d) colour

lilac- сирень, сиреневый,

pink= гвоздика, розовый

e) function

hand= рука/ стрелка часов,

branch= ветка дерева/ рукав реки/ род войск/ филиал банка/ линия родства

f) movement

caterpillar= гусеница

caterpillar tractor= гусеничный трактор

g) the names of animals used to denote human qualities

top dog= a person/ country considered to be the most powerful, influential or superior

to monkey= обезъянничать

to rat= дезертировать

h) idiomatic phrases containing the names of animals

to have butterflies in one’s stomach ;

to take the bull by the horns;

to rain/ pour cats and dogs;

dog ears;

dog tired;

every dog has his/its day;

a cock-and-bull story;

wait till the cows come home.

e.g. … every hour in every day she could wound his pride.

Allegory – Make hay while the sun shines.

Allusion – It’s his Achilles’ heel.

Personification – Mother Nature blushes before robbing.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Metonymy is based on contiguity, i.e. a semantic association of two references, one of which makes a part of the other or is closely connected with it.

The relations can be as follows:

a. the relation between the instrument & the action it performs:

e.g. She has a quick pen.

b. the relation between the concrete thing & the abstract idea:

e.g. She carried her cross patiently.

c. the relation between the symbol & the object it denotes:

e.g. the stars and stripes (= the US flag – the USA)

Synechdoche (the only original metonymy) – when a part stands for the whole & vice versa.

e.g. Who is that suit?

Metonymy is observed when:

a) the names of animals are used instead of their furs, sometimes meat:

e.g. I had rabbit for dinner.

b) names of origins instead of their function:

Lend me your ears!

You’re the brain!

c) names of different containers instead of things contained:

e.g. The hall applaused.

d) the names of places to denote what’s going on in these places:

e.g. The whole city came to meet a hero.

e) the name of some material instead of the product:

e.g. iron – утюг;

brass – (латунь) духовые инструменты;

silver – столовое серебро;

f) the name of the author instead of his work:

Do you like Shakespeare?

g) the name of passion of its object:

My love!

h) proper names of inventors instead of the object invented:

e.g. Sandwich, Mackintosh;

i) geographical names instead of products:

China – фарфор.

Irony – e.g. Stoney smiled the sweet smile of an alligator.

Sarcasm

Zeugma and Pun

Zeugma depends on a certain structure while Pun is more independent.

Zeugma is the realization of two meanings of a word: usually a verb which is aimed at referring to objects and adverbial modifier belonging to different classes of things.

e.g. - Mr. Stiggins… took his hat and his leave.

Pun

Ex. – What’s the difference between a schoolmaster and engine-driver?

• One trains the mind and the other minds the train.

• - Gentlemen! Order, please!

• - Beer, please.

Oxymoron

e.g. a low skyscraper;

a pleasantly ugly face;

deafening silence;

a foolishly intelligent face.

Hyperbole

e.g. Doctor X. drank his tea in oceans.

Understatement –

e.g. The little woman, for she was of pocket size, crossed her hands solemnly on her middle.

Epithet

1. simple epithet – “mildly”;

2. two-step epithet – adverb+ adjective –“ awfully beautiful”;

3. syntactical epithet – (a modifier and a thing modified) – “a book of joy”;

She opened the megaphone of her mouth.

4. compound epithet – (compound words) – a heart-burning sigh;

5. phrase epithet – She gave me a quickly-kiss-me-look;

There was a man with a don’t-say-anything-to-me face.

6. sentence - My love! I adore you!

Antonomasia

a) a proper name is used instead of a common noun (metaphorical antonomasia):

e.g. He’s a Napoleon of crime.

b) a common noun is used instead of proper name:

e.g. Mrs. Blue Eyes, don’t make eyes on me!

c) a descriptive word combination is used instead of a proper name:

e.g. Mr. Something-Somebody is waiting for you.

I recommend you three doctors: Dr. Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr. Fresh Air.

2. Lexical-syntactical SD

Simile

”like”, “as…as”, “as…if” to compare objects.

e.g. …the sense of the beach which on March nights gleamed like powdered light.

Antithesis

Ex. To err is human; to forgive – divine;

Why should I dress up? When I’m at home everyone recognizes me; and when I’m in town, nobody recognizes me.

Climax

e.g. clever- talented – genius (ascending)

chaos – waste- cries (descending);

Ex. A city life is environmentally unhealthy, chronically dangerous and morally corrupting.

A sudden reversal of expectations which are caused by climax is called Anticlimax

(sequence of ideas that abruptly diminish in dignity or importance at the end of the sentence or passage, generally for satirical effect):

Ex. Among the great achievements of Benito Mussolini’s regime were the revival of strong national consciousness, the expansion of the Italian Empire and the running of the trains on time.

Ex. One needs a perfect memory to forget everything.

Periphrasis

e.g. the fair sex

the cap and gown – студенты

Euphemism

e.g. the use of “lavatory” or “restroom” for “toilet”; “pass away” for “die”.

Litotes

e.g. It’s a good film= It’s not a bad film.

He’s not without a sense of humour.

It was not unwise to follow the advice.

3. Syntactical SD

1. Anaphora - e.g. Supposing he was killed, supposing he was run over, supposing he had been drowned.

2. Epiphora- e.g. I woke up alone, I walked alone, and returned home alone.

3. Framing - e.g. He ran away from the battle, he hated the war, he didn’t want to kill and be killed, so he ran away from the battle.

4. Anadiplosis- eg. With bewick on my knee I was then happy; happy at last in my own way.

5. Chain repetition - the structure: a...b, b...c, c…d, d…

Parallel construction (parallelism)

e.g. There were real silver spoons to stir the tea with; there were crystal glasses to drink out; there were real china plates to take the sandwiches from.

Partial parallelism

e.g. You know, I’m grateful to him, don’t you? You know I feel respect for him, don’t you?

Stylistic inversion

e.g. They slid down| off he went; down they slid| he went off.

Detachment (detached construction)

e.g. He came into the room, happy.

He felt miserable standing before mother – a true worm.

Chiasmus –

e.g. The curtain went up, down went the lights.

In rushed the messenger, the editor stood up.

Puns are sometimes based on chiasmus:

e.g. Soldiers face powder, girls powder faces.

A handsome man kisses Misses, an ugly one misses kisses.

Ellipses or elliptical sentences

e.g. Oh, with my friends! When?

e.g. The girls were in white and tears, the gentlemen – in high top hats and high spirits.

Question-in-the –narrative

e.g. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course, he did. How could be otherwise?

Rhetorical question

e.g. Did you help me when I needed help? Did you do anything to lessen my load?

Asyndeton

e.g. James turned away;[because] he had an utter disinclination for talk, like one standing before an open grave watching a coffin slowly lowered.

Polysyndeton –

e.g. The heaviest rain and snow and hail and sleet could boast the advantage over him in only one respect.

4. Graphical Expressive Means