15. Stylistic functions of literary words. The difference between historic and archaic words, lexical and stylistic neologisms.

Literary words of the English language can be classified into the following groups: poetic diction, archaic words, barbarisms and foreign words, bookish (learned) words. Poetic words are stylistically marked, they form a lexico-stylistic paradigm. They have both functional and stylistic meaning because they: 1) indicate the sphere of their use; 2) mark the text as very expressive, convey all sorts of connotations. Poetic words are diverse; they include: 1) archaic words (commix ~ mix); 2) archaic forms (vale - valley); 3) historic words (argosy - large merchant ship); 4) poetic words proper (anarch, brine).Their main function is to mark the text in which they are used as poetic, thus distinguishing it from non-fiction texts. In modern poetry such words are seldom used. Their stylistic meaning gets more vivid when they are contrasted to neutral words. Archaic words, i.e. out-dated words that denote existing objects, are divided into two groups: a)archaic words proper: words which are no longer recognized in modern English. (troth - faith, lose! -worthless); b)archaic forms of the words: corse, instead of corpse, an' instead of and, annoy instead of annoyance. The usage of archaisms, incompatible with conversational words, might in some cases lead to a humorous or satirical effect. Historic words denote things or notions that dropped out of usage, do not exist any longer: jester, charger, buskins. Historical words have no synonyms as compared to archaic words which may be replaced by their modern synonyms. In fiction, together with historical words, archaisms create the effect of antiquity, providing a true-to-life historical background and reminding the reader of past habits, customs, clothes etc. Foreign words are close to barbarisms, but they are characterized by occasional usage only, mainly in literary speech. They do not form a lexico-stylistic paradigm, though they must be used to create some stylistic effect. Foreign words are not registered by English dictionaries whereas barbarisms are. In literary works foreign words and phrases are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or their stylistic value. They always arrest the attention of the reader and therefore have a definite stylistic function, that of expressiveness. ("The little boy, too, we observed, had a famous appetite, and consumed schinken, and braten, and kartoffeln, and cranberry jam...") Barbarisms are words of foreign origin which have not been entirely assimilated into the English language preserving their former spelling and pronunciation. Barbarisms are words which have already become facts of the English language. They are part and parcel of the English words-stock. Barbarisms are never italicized in the literary text. (protege – протеже, bon mot – остроумное выражение). Their stylistic function in the belles-lettres style is to make the narrative sound more expressive and to characterize the speech of a personage in the literary text. Besides, they may create a humorous effect if they are used out of the traditional context. Exotic words are borrowed foreign words denoting objects characteristic of a certain country (matador, borshch, kimono, prachu). They have no synonyms in the language-borrower, do not form a lexico-stylistic paradigm and therefore are not considered to be lexical EM, but nevertheless they may be used for stylistic purposes. When used in literary texts, they create the authentic atmosphere of the place described by the author. Borrowings, if they are assimilated, they do not differ much from native words as far as their stylistic aspect is concerned. They are usually high-flown synonyms of neutral native words (infant- child, labour -work, female - woman). The stylistic functions of barbarisms and foreign words are similar, they are used to create a local colouring, to identify a personage as a foreigner, or to show his/her mannerism. Bookish (learned) words are mostly used in official or high-flown style (catenate, depicture, disimprove, dalliance). In official usage, they mark the text as belonging to this or that style of written speech, but when used in colloquial speech or in informal situations, they may create a comical effect.