Stylistics as a linguistic discipline

It’s a linguistic discipline which studies nominative and communicative language units and the principles according to which the units of all language levels are selected for achieving a certain pragmatic aim in different communicative situations.

The object of science is a certain phenomenon, or a system of objects which exist irrespective of the cognizing and transforming role of human mind.

The subject-matter of a science covers one or several aspects of the given object.

Linguistics uses three basic approaches to language investigation: a) substantial, b) structural, c) functional.

According to the substantial approach, language units and their subsystems are viewed through their material form. According to the structural approach, language units and their subsystems are viewed from the standpoint of their structure and the relations between the units. The functional approach aims at investigating the outward aspect of language units as well as their subsystems through studying these units within a wider system or environment.

Function is a role of a language unit or a subsystem of such units in communication.

Aim at large is a presupposed result of conscious human activity.

Pragmatic aim is the aim which consists in changing the state of the listener as the result of communication.

Linguistic (constructive) aim lies in building an utterance from the structural elements of a language for achieving a certain pragmatic aim.

Information, in terms of philosophy, is the inner content of the process of reflection which results in changing the characteristics of some objects due to the influence of other objects they interact with.

Denotative information is the contential nucleus of language unit which 1) names the subject-matter of communication; 2) is not predetermined by the communication act; 3) directly or indirectly refers to the object or notion of reality.

Connotative information is the contential periphery of a language unit which: 1) depends upon different aspects of communication act (time, participants etc.); 2) expresses the speaker’s attitude to the subject-matter of communication, to the listener or to the social status of the interlocutors.

Message is the information which the speaker intends to transmit to (or, rather, to provoke in) the listener.

Signal is the information materialized verbally (e.g. in a sound form) or non-verbally (e.g. a dance, a piece of music etc.), as a text etc.

Communication channel is constituted by the physical, situational, cultural, social, economic, or political environment in which the signal is transmitted.

Language is the system of signs, the relations between them and the rules of their usage.

Speech activity is the process of converting the language system into speech in accordance with fixed rules and patterns.

Speech is the materialization of language in communication.

Paradigmatics is a set of relations between the language units of one class which are based on association.

Syntagmatics is a set of linear relations between the speech units of one level within a unit of a higher language level.

An expressive means (EM) is a marked member of a stylistic opposition which has an invariant meaning in language.

A stylistic device (SD) is an intentional change of a fixed (usual) distribution of language units in speech.

Phonetic means of stylistics

Phoneme is the main unit of the phonological level. Its chief function is to differentiate meaningful units of the language. In contrast with the units of other language levels, phonemes have the expression side only, i.e. they are not twofold signs. As no phoneme can be stylistically marked in relation to another one, there are no EM on the phonological level. However, the English language can be characterized by certain patterns of sound arrangement. The use of these patterns (combinations and alterations of sounds in their syntagmatic succession) alongside with other language means may create various stylistic effects which give rise to SD on the phonological level.

The patterns of sound arrangement fall into:

a)  versification, i.e. the art of writing poetry in keeping with certain rules based on language regularities and poets’ experience

b) instrumentation, i.e. the sum total of sound selection and combination modes which impart to the utterance a certain sound organization as well as emotional and expressive coloring.

There are three main models of sound arrangement in instrumentation:

1)      alliteration; 2)      assonance; 3)      onomatopoeia.

Sometimes euphony is added to this list. By tradition, euphony is understood as a  harmonious sounding of the utterance. It can be also regarded as an optimum concordance of sound and meaning in the utterance. In both interpretations euphony proves to be a generic notion which comprises various ways of sound arrangement: rhythm, rhyme, epiphora, anaphora, alliteration, assonance, dissonance, and other kinds of sound repetitions.

Alliteration is a deliberate reiterated repetition of the same (or acoustically similar) sounds and sound combinations. It is one of the most ancient SD of English poetry. An Old English poem was completely alliteral as there were obligatory sound repetitions in certain parts of the poem. Alliteration is also widely used in English folklore, in proverbs, sayings and set expressions, e.g. Praise is not pudding; Seldom seen, soon forgotten; Muck and money go together; Safe and sound.

Nowadays alliteration can be also found in book titles, e.g. Man and Mice (J.Steinbeck); Silver Spoon, Swan Song (J. Galsworthy). It is most frequent in modern poetry where it creates a certain melodic and emotional effect while enhancing the expressiveness of the utterance.

Assonance is a deliberate reiterated repetition of the same (or acoustically similar) vowels in close succession aimed at creating a specific sound and contential effect.

Onomatopoeia is deliberate reiterated repetition of sounds and their combinations which, to a certain degree, imitates natural sounds. Onomatopoeia is basically the result of alliteration, e.g. Dreadful young creatures – squealing and squawking (D. Carter). Numerous examples prove the hypothesis of the correlation between the meaning of the word and its sound structure.

 

STYLISTIC MORPHOLOGY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

The main unit of the morphological level is a morpheme – the smallest meaningful unit which can be singled out in a word. There are two types of morphemes: root morphemes and affix ones. Morphology chiefly deals with forms, functions and meanings of affix morphemes.

            Affix morphemes in English are subdivided into word-building and form-building morphemes. In the latter case affixation may be: 1) synthetical (boys, lived, comes, going); 2) analytical (has invited, is invited, does not invite); 3) based on the alteration of the root vowel (write-wrote); 4) suppletive (go-went).

            There are few language (or paradigmatic) synonyms among English morphemes and only some of them form stylistic oppositions, e.g, he lives – he does live. Come! – Do come! Don’t forget – Don’t you forget. This scarcity of morphological EM which is predetermined by the analytical character of the English language is compensated by a great variety of SD.

            Morphological SD as a deliberate shift in the fixed distribution of morphemes can be creted by means of: a) the violation of the usual combinability of morphemes within a word, e.g. the plural of uncountable nouns (sands, waters, times), or the Continuous forms of the verbs of sense perception (to be seeing, to be knowing, to be feeling); b) the violation of the contextual distribution of morphemes, which is called form transposition.