
- •6.Neutral words and their characteristics
- •10Archaic words
- •13.Literary coinages and nonce-words. Means of their creation.Their stylistic functions.
- •14.Special colloquial vocabulary, its types and common characteristics.
- •15) Slang
- •16.Jargonisms
- •17)Professionalisms
- •18)Vulgar words
- •19.Dialectal words
- •20Types of lexical meanings of words
- •21.Foregrounding. Convergence and defeated expectancy as means of foregrounding.
- •22.Metaphor
- •23.Metonymy
- •24.Irony
- •25.Antonomasia
- •26.Epithet
- •27.Oxymoron
- •28.Simile
- •29.Hyperbole
- •30.Periphrasis
- •31. Euphemism
- •32. Pun. Its varieties and stylistic functions.
- •33. Zeugma. Its varieties and stylistic functions.
- •36.Inversion
- •38.Repetition
- •39. Suspense
- •41Chiasmus. Its types and stylistic functions.
- •43.Ellipsis
- •44.TheApokoinu Construction
- •47.Litotes
- •53The style of oficial documents
- •54.Newspaper style
- •55.Publicistic style
- •56.The belles-lettres style
1
1.Definitions of style. The subject of stylistics.
1St-s and style the subject and tasks of stylistics
Stylistics as a science.Branches of stylistics.
Stylistics is a branch of general linguistics. It has mainly with two tasks:
Stylistics – is regarded as a lang-ge science which deals with the results of the act of communication.
There are 2 basic objects of stylistics:
- stylistic devices and figures of speech
- functional styles
Branches of stylistics:
- Lexical stylistics – studies functions of direct and figurative meanings, also the way contextual meaning of a word is realized in the text. L.S. deals with various types of connotations – expressive, evaluative, emotive; neologisms, dialectal words and their behavior in the text.
- Grammatical stylistics – is subdivided into morphological and syntactical
Morphological s. views stylistic potential of grammatical categories of different parts of speech. Potential of the number, pronouns…
Syntactical s. studies syntactic, expressive means, word order and word combinations, different types of sentences and types of syntactic connections. Also deals with origin of the text, its division on the paragraphs, dialogs, direct and indirect speech, the connection of the sentences, types of sentences.
- Phonostylistics – phonetical organization of prose and poetic texts. Here are included rhythm, rhythmical structure, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and correlation of the sound form and meaning. Also studies deviation in normative pronunciation.
- Functional S (s. of decoding) – deals with all subdivisions of the language and its possible use (newspaper, colloquial style). Its object - correlation of the message and communicative situation.
- Individual style study –studies the style of the author. It looks for correlations between the creative concepts of the author and the language of his work.
- stylistics of encoding - The shape of the information (message) is coded and the addressee plays the part of decoder of the information which is contained in message. The problems which are connected with adequate reception of the message without any loses (deformation) are the problems of stylistics of encoding.
Style is depth, deviations, choice, context style restricted linguistic variation, style is the man himself (Buffon). According to Galperinthe term ‘style’ refers to the following spheres:
1) the aesthetic function of language
It may be seen in works of art- poetry, imaginative prose, fiction, but works of science, technical instruction or business correspondence have no aesthetic value.
2) synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea
The possibility of choice of using different words in similar situations is connected with the question of style as if the form changes, the contents changes too and the style may be different.
3) expressive means in language
- are employed mainly in the following spheres – poetry, fiction, colloquial speech, speeches but not in scientific articles, business letters and others.
4) emotional coloring in language
Very many types of texts are highly emotional – declaration of love, funeral oration, poems(verses), but a great number of texts is unemotional or non-emphatic (rules in textbooks).
5) a system of special devices called stylistic devices
The style is formed with the help of characteristic features peculiar to it. Many texts demonstrate various stylistic features:
She wears ‘fashion’ = what she wears is fashionable or is just the fashion methonimy.
6) the individual manner of an author in making use
the individual style of speaking, writing must be investigated with the help of common rules and generalization.
Galperin distinguishes five styles in present-day English:
I. Belles Lettres( беллетристика)
1. Poetry
2. Emotive prose
3. The Drama
III. PublicisticStyle . Oratory and Speeches
2.Varieties of the English language. The peculiarities of the spoken variety of the language (morphological, lexical and syntactical peculiarities)
There are two varieties of language - the spoken and the written within standard (literary) language. This differentiation is predetermined by two distinct factors, namely, the actual situation in which the language is being used and the aim of communication. Of the two varieties of language, diachronically the spoken is primary and the written is secondary. The situation in which the spoken variety of language is used and in which it develops, presupposes the presence of the interlocutor, whereas, the written variety presupposes the absence of the interlocutor. The spoken language is mostly maintained in the form of a dialogue, the written - in the form of a monologue. The spoken language has a considerable advantage over the written because of such factors as human voice, all kinds of gestures, which give additional information. The written language has to seek means to compensate for what it lacks. This is the reason why the written language is more carefully organized, more explanatory, the word choice is more deliberate. The spoken language is spontaneous, momentary. It vanishes after having fulfilled its purpose, which is to communicate the thought, no matter trivial or important. The idea remains, the language disappears. The written language is able to live forever with the idea it expresses. The spoken language can not be detached from the user of it, the written language can be detached and objectively looked at. The writer has an opportunity to correct and improve what has been put on paper. The written language bears a greater volume of responsibility than its spoken counterpart. The spoken language differs from the written language phonetically, morphologically, lexically and syntactically. The most striking difference between the spoken and the written language is in the vocabulary used. There are words and phrases typically colloquial, on the one hand, and typically bookish, on the other hand. If colloquial words and phrases find their way in the written language, they immediately produce a marked stylistic effect and can be used for the speech characterization, for example. The spoken language widely uses intensifying words. These are interjections and words with strong emotive meaning, as oaths, swear-words and adjectives which have lost their primary meaning (He put my goddam paper down. I am pretty sure.). The spoken language is characterized by the insertion into the utterance of words without any meaning, which are called "fill-ups" or empty words (as well, and all, so to say, whatever). The essential difference between the two varieties of language is evidently reflected in the syntactical structure. The syntactical peculiarities of the spoken language are 1) omission of the part of utterance easily supplied by the situation in which the communication takes place (Who you with? Tell you what?) 2) tendency to use the direct word-order in questions or omit auxiliary verb, leaving it to the intonation to indicate the grammatical meaning (He knew she was dead?) 3) unfinished sentences (If I were you…) 4) usage of a construction with two subjects (a tautological subject) (Helen, she was there.) 5) absence of connecting words (Came home late. Had a cup of tea. Went to bed soon after that.) 6) syntactical structures, expressing definite emotions, which can be understood only knowing a proper intonation design (Isn't she cute! Don't you tell me that!) The written language is characterized by 1) the exact nature of the utterance (the abundance of all kinds of connecting words)) 2) the bookish "space-wasters" (despite the fact; reach a decision) 3) the use of complicated sentence-units (long periods are more frequent than short utterances) An essential property of the written variety of language is coherence and logical unity backed up by purely linguistic means. A.S. Pushkin: "The written language is constantly being enlivened by expressions born in conversation but must not give up |
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what it has acquired in the course of centuries. To use the spoken language only, means not to know the language." |
3.The peculiarities of the written variety of the English language (lexical and syntactical)
The written variety of English is the type of language taught at schools and universities and generally used by press, radio and television. It is also used by educated speakers in formal situations for some serious purpose, for example, in literary prose, in official reports, scholarly articles, theses and reviews, scientific textbooks, essays, business letters and public speeches, in formal conversation. These types of communication are chiefly carried on in the form of monologue addressed by one person to many, and often prepared in advance.
Spoken English is the type of language naturally used by the majority of educated speakers in private two-way everyday communication and partly in familiar letters to intimate friends. It is usually maintained by the meaningful modulation of the voice – its rise and fall, its pauses and stresses, and all kinds of gestures.
There are many differences between written and spoken styles. The spoken variety of the language is by its nature spontaneous, momentary, and fleeting. The written language, on the contrary, lives a long life; it changes more slowly than the spoken one and is more conservative and homogeneous. Turning to grammatical characteristics we find quite obvious differences between the spoken and written language. The grammar of written English is more conservative, more complex. It makes use of longer sentences with more levels of subordination. The arrangement of sentences is by no means accidental. Each sentence is logically connected with those preceding and following it, thus forming a syntactical whole (a paragraph). Long sentences have all kinds of conjunctions and connectives such as furthermore, moreover, nevertheless, therefore, in connection with and some others. They have bookish flavour and are rarely used outside of the written style.
Spoken English is a workaday language which communicates the facts of everyday life and reacts to unofficial and private situations. It is characterized by its own phonetics and grammar. But it should not be treated as a poor version of the written language. In many ways the spoken language is a better means of communication than the written one. The spoken grammar makes use of contracted forms like: isn’t, aren’t, can’t, don’t, won’t and others which are proper in informal communication. Spoken English uses phrasal verbs in preference to their simple synonyms. For example: find out – discover, blow up – explode, give in – surrender. The same is true of multi-word phrasal verbs: to take a rest – to rest, to have a smoke – to smoke, to take care of – to care. In spoken English coordination is referred to subordination with such connectives as and, or, but, also. On the other hand, it is typical to have a string of sentences without any connective words. The word order is much looser than in written style. Spoken language often uses the direct word-order in questions.
“Mike, you’ll ring Nigel again?”
“I’ve been thinking about that”, I said. “Honestly, I don’t think I can interfere.”
Oh but, dear, you promised.”
“Promised? I didn’t promise anything.” (W. Trevor)
Many things are left out of sentences because they are understood from the situation. It is natural in dialogue speech. Well-worn clichés, idioms, nonce-words, proverbs and sayings are common property of spoken English:
“It’s ages since we met”, “I was scared to death”.
3) The written language is constantly being enlivened by expressions born in conversation but must not give up what it has acquired in the course of centuries. To use the spoken language only, means not to know the language. It must be borne in mind that in the belles-lettres style there may appear elements of colloquial language (a form of the spoken variety), but it will always be stylized to a greater or lesser degree by the writer.
4Stylistic stratification of the English vocabulary. The main stylistic layers and groups of the English vocabulary
Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary
The classification of the English vocabulary is discussed for purely stylistic purposes. Some stylistic devices are based on the interplay of different stylistic aspects of words. The word-stock of any language is a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet independent.
In accordance with the already-mentioned division of language into literary and non-literary (colloquial), we may represent the whole of the word-stock of the English language as being divided into three main layers: literary, neutral and colloquial. The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups. The common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect.
The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes this layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. This layer is the most stable of all, because it is unrestricted in use, it can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity.
Neutral words form the bulk of the English vocabulary, they are used in both literary and colloquial language. Unlike these two groups, the neutral group of words does not have any special stylistic coloring, whereas both literary and colloquial words have a definite stylistic coloring. The following synonyms illustrate the relations which exist between the three layers:
Colloquial Neutral Literary
daddy father parent
get out go away retire
go on continue proceed
chap fellow associate
. General considerations. In order to get a more or less idea of the word stock of any language, it must be presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet independent. The word stock of a language may be represented as a definite system in which different aspects of words may be singled out as interdependent. A special branch of linguistic science-lexicology - has done much to classify vocabulary. For our purpose, i. e. for linguistic stylistics, a special type of classification, stylistic classification is the most important.
An accordance with the division of language into literary and colloquial, we may represent the whole of the word stock of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting.
The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character. The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confine to a special locality where it circulates. The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1) common literary; 2) terms and learned words; 3) poetic words; 4) archaic words; 5) barbarisms & foreign words; 6) literary coinages including nonce words.
The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1) common colloquial words; 2) slang; 3) jargonisms; 4) professional words; 5) dialectal words; 6) vulgar words; 7) colloquial coinages.
The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary.
5.Standard English vocabulary (neutral words, common literary and common colloquial words).
The word-stock of any given language can be roughly divided into three uneven groups, differing from each other by the sphere of its possible use. The biggest division is made up of neutral words, possessing no stylistic connotation and suitable for any communicative situation; two smaller ones are literary and colloquial strata respectively.
Literary words serve to satisfy communicative demands of official, scientific, poetic messages, while the colloquial ones are employed in non-official everyday communication. Though there is no immediate correlation between the written and the oral forms of speech on one hand, and the literary and colloquial words, on the other, yet, for the most part, the first ones are mainly observed in the written form, as most literary messages appear in writing. And vice versa: though there are many examples of colloquialisms in writing (informal letters, diaries, certain passages of memoirs, etc.), their usage is associated with the oral form of communication. we shall find literary words in authorial speech, descriptions, considerations, while colloquialisms will be observed in the types of discourse, simulating (copying) everyday oral communication - i.e., in the dialogue (or interior monologue) pf a prose work.
Colloquial words, on the contrary, mark the message as informal, non-official, conversational. Apart from general colloquial words, widely used by all speakers of the language in their everyday communication (e.g. "dad", "kid", "crony", "fan", "to pop", "folks"), such special subgroups may be mentioned:
1. Slang forms the biggest one. Slang words, used by most speakers in very informal communication, are highly emotive and expressive and as such, lose their originality rather fast and are replaced by newer formations. This tendency to synonymic expansion results in long chains of synonyms of various degrees of expressiveness, denoting one and the same concept. So, the idea of a "pretty girl" is worded by more than one hundred ways in slang.
. 2. Jargonisms stand close to slang, also being substandard, expressiveand emotive, but, unlike slang they are used by limited groups of people,united either professionally (in this case we deal with professionalJargonisms, or professionalisms), or socially (here we deal withjargonisms proper). "driller" (буровщик)
3. Vulgarisms are coarse words with a strong emotive meaning, mostly derogatory, normally avoided in polite conversation. as "bloody", "damned", "cursed", "hell of",
4. Dialectal words are normative and devoid of any stylistic meaning in regional dialects, but used outside of them, carry a strong flavour of the locality where they belong. ("lad", "pet", "squash", "plaid").
The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1) common colloquial words; 2) slang; 3) jargonisms; 4) professional words; 5) dialectal words; 6) vulgar words; 7) colloquial coinages.
The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character. The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confine to a special locality where it circulates. The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1) common literary; 2) terms and learned words; 3) poetic words; 4) archaic words; 5) barbarisms & foreign words; 6) literary coinages including nonce words.
The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary
6.Neutral words and their characteristics
Neutral words, which form the bulk of the English vocabulary, are used in both literary and colloquial language. Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. It is the neutral stock of words that is so far prolific in the production of new meanings.
Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech.
Common colloquial vocabulary overlaps into the standard English vocabulary and is therefore to be considered part of it. It borders both on the neutral vocabulary and on the special colloquial vocabulary, which falls out of the standard English altogether.
The stylistic function of the different strata of the English vocabulary depends not so much on the inner qualities of each of the groups, as on their interaction when they are opposed to one another.
Stylistically neutral words usually constitute the main member in a group of synonyms, the so-called synonymic dominant (синонимическаядоминанта): they can be used in any style, they are not emotionally coloured and have no additional evaluating elements; such are the words child, father, begin, leave/go away, continue in the examples above.
Unlike neutral words (synonymic dominants), which only denote (обозначают) a certain notion and thus have only a denotational meaning (денотативноезначение, обозначениенекоторогопонятия), their stylistic synonyms usually contain some connotations (коннотации), i.e. additional components of meaning which express some emotional colouring or evaluation (оценка) of the object named; these additional components may also be simply signs of a particular functional style of speech. Observe, for example, the following connotations:
an endearing connotation (ласкат.) — e.g. in the words kid, daddy, mummy (as different from the neutral words child, father, mother); derogatory (презрит. — уничижит.) con¬notation — e.g. in rot, trash, stuff
7.Common literary words. Their basic features and functioning.
Literary words serve to satisfy communicative demands of official, scientific, poetic messages, while the colloquial ones are employed in non-official everyday communication. Though there is no immediate correlation between the written and the oral forms of speech on one hand, and the literary and colloquial words, on the other, yet, for the most part, the first ones are mainly observed in the written form, as most literary messages appear in writing. And vice versa: though there are many examples of colloquialisms in writing (informal letters, diaries, certain passages of memoirs, etc.), their usage is associated with the oral form of communication.
Consequently, taking for analysis printed materials we shall find literary words in authorial speech, descriptions, considerations, while colloquialisms will be observed in the types of discourse, simulating (copying) everyday oral communication - i.e., in the dialogue (or interior monologue) pf a prose work.
When we classify some speech (text) fragment as literary or colloquial it does not mean that all the words constituting it have a corresponding stylistic meaning. More than that: words with a pronounced stylistic connotation are few in any type of discourse, the overwhelming majority of its lexis being neutral. As our famous philologist L.V. Shcherba once said - a stylistically coloured word is like a, drop of paint added to a glass of pure water and colouring the whole of it.
Neither of the two named groups of words, possessing a stylistic meaning, is homogeneous as to the quality of the meaning, frequency of use, sphere of application, or the number and character of potential users. This is why each one is further divided into the general, i.e. known to and used by most native speakers in generalized literary (formal) or colloquial (informal) communication, and special bulks. The latter ones, in their turn, are subdivided into subgroups, each one serving a rather narrow; specified communicative purpose.
So, among special literary words, as a rale, at least two major subgroups are mentioned. They are:
1. Terms, i.e. words denoting objects, processes, phenomena of science, humanities, technique.
2. Archaisms, i.e. words, a) denoting historical phenomena which are no more in use (such as "yeoman", "vassal", "falconet"). These are historical words.
b) used in poetry in the XVII-XIX cc. (such as "steed" for "horse"; "quoth" for "said"; "woe" for "sorrow"). These are poetic words.
c) in the course of language history ousted by newer synonymic words (such as "whereof = of which; "to deem" = to think; "repast" = meal; "nay" = no) or forms ("maketh" = makes; "thou wilt" = you will; "brethren" = brothers). These are called archaic words (archaic forms) proper.
Literary words, both general (also called learned, bookish, high-flown) and special, contribute to the message the tone of solemnity, sophistication, seriousness, gravity, learnedness. They are used in official papers and documents, in scientific communication, in high poetry, in authorial speech of creative prose.
8.Special literary vocabulary. Its varieties.
The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1) common literary; 2) terms and learned words; 3) poetic words; 4) archaic words; 5) barbarisms & foreign words; 6) literary coinages including nonce words.
Literary words, both general (also called learned, bookish, high-flown) and special, contribute to the message the tone of solemnity, sophistication, seriousness, gravity, learnedness. They are used in official papers and documents, in scientific communication, in high poetry, in authorial speech of creative prose
9.Terms. Their functioning and stylistic usage.
a) Terms i.e. words denoting objects, processes, phenomena of science, humanities, technique.
The most essential characteristics of a term are
1) its highly conventional character. A term is generally very easily coined and easily accepted; and new coinages as easily replace out-dated ones.
2) its direct relevance to the system or set of terms used in a particular science, discipline or art, i. e. to its nomenclature. When a term is used our mind immediately associates it with a certain nomenclature. A term is directly connected with the concept it denotes. A term, unlike other words, directs the mind to the essential quality of the thing, phenomenon or action.
Terms are mostly and predominantly used in special works dealing with the notions of some branch of science. Therefore it may be said that they belong to the style of language of science. But their use is not confined to this style. They may as well appear in other styles—in newspaper style, in publicistic and practically in all other existing styles of language. But their function in this case changes. They do not always fulfill their basic function, that of bearing exact reference to a given concept. When used in the belles-lettres style, for instance a term may acquire a stylistic function and consequently become a (sporadical – единичный)
SD. This happens when a term is used in such a way that two meanings are materialized simultaneously.
The function of terms, if encountered in other styles, is either to indicate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt with, or to make some reference to the occupation of a character whose language would naturally contain special words and expressions, to create the environment of a special atmosphere.
Moreover, such an accumulation of special terminology often suggests that the author is displaying his erudition. Maxim Gorki said that terms must not be overused. It has been pointed out that those who are learning use far more complicated terms than those who have already learned. But when terms are used in their normal function as terms in a work of belles-lettres, they are or ought to be easily understood from the context so that the desired effect in depicting the situation will be secured. Whenever the terms used in the belles-lettres style set the reader at odds with the text, we can register a stylistic effect caused either by a specific use of terms in their proper meanings or by a simultaneous realization of two meanings.
With the increase of general education and the expansion of technique many words that were once terms have gradually lost their quality as terms and have passed into the common literary or even neutral vocabulary. This process may be called "de-terminization". Such words as 'radio', 'television' and the like have long been in common use and their terminological character is no longer evident.