31. Morphological stylistic means. Adjective and verb.

MORPHOLOGY is a branch of linguistics that studies the form and structure of words, the rules of word formation; as well as parts of speech, their categories and forms. Morphological stylistics primarily investigates the cases of transposition. Transposition can be defined as a of the typical grammatical valency of a word that consists in the unusual use of the grammatical forms and categories of parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs) changing their grammatical meaning. Moreover, frequently transposition leads to the change in the semantic meaning of a word too. Some scholars (e.g. Prof. E.I. Shendels) use the term grammatical metaphor instead. It happens due to the belief that, like in a lexical metaphor, the same mechanism of the transfer of meanings (that gives birth to new connotations) works in the formation of a grammatical metaphor. The distinction is that a lexical metaphor is based on the transfer (interplay) of lexical meanings, while a grammatical metaphor – on a transposition (transfer) of a grammatical form from one type of grammatical relation to another. Besides, in both the cases the redistribution of meanings correlates with extra linguistic reality. In lexicology transposition is often associated with conversion (a pass from one part of speech into another) or the formation of the occasional words (coinages) / nonce words.

The stylistic function of the adjective. The only grammatical category of the English adjective today is that of degrees of comparison (positive – comparative – superlative). Only qualitative and quantitative adjectives can form the degrees of comparison. The resort to other adjectives leads to transposition.

Violation of the rules of forming degrees of comparison results in transposition too.

E.g. the strangest, the cunningest, the willingest our Earth ever had. - add expressiveness to the utterance.

To captivate the addressee’s attention, especially in advertising, the double break of the word valency (a wider use of the violation of grammatical norms) is often used too.

E.g. The orangemostest drink in the world.

The use of comparative or superlative forms with other parts of speech may also convey a humorous colouring. E.g. He was the most married man I've ever met. She is a sweetest old lady.- more emotive Transferred (metaphorical) epithets expressed by adjectives are also cases of transposition. Here belong personifying epithets that traditionally characterize people but are used with inanimate objects or abstract notions. Their stylistic function often consists in conveying negative or ironical connotations.

The stylistic function of the verb and its categories

Transposition in verb categories (tense, aspect, voice, etc.) may also impart stylistically coloured expressiveness to the utterance.

The present tense forms, being temporarily indefinite (‘omnitemporal’ or timeless), may be used instead of the past tense forms, i.e. express past actions.

E.g. And there opens the door and in he comes.- ‘dramatic’ or ‘historical present’,artistic illusion of reality and visibility.

The Present Indefinite referred to the future often renders determination.

Continuous forms do not always express continuity of the action and are frequently used instead of the common aspect forms to convey the speaker's state of mind, his mood, his intentions or feelings (conviction, determination, persistence, impatience, irritation, surprise, indignation, disapproval, etc.). Verbs of physical and mental perception do not regularly have continuous forms. When they do, however, we observe a highly emphatic structure.

The passive voice of the verb when viewed from a stylistic angle may demonstrate such functions as extreme generalisation and depersonalisation where the utterance seems to be devoid of the doer of an action and the action itself loses direction.

Through this technique the author lifts the responsibility.

Since the sentences containing the infinitive or participle I have no explicit doer of the action, these sentences acquire an impersonal or generalized universal character. As a result, the world of the personage and the reader blend into one whole and empathy is created.

The communicative aspect of modal verbs is of particular interest to stylistics as they render a wide range of emotions.

The use of the auxiliary do in affirmative sentences is a notable emphatic device.

Completely ‘ungrammatical’ and thus showing through the speech the ‘low’ social status of the speaker (and acquiring a functional stylistic meaning) are the following forms of ‘faulty grammar’: -the use of the singular instead of the plural and vice versa, -the attempts ‘to regularize irregular verbs’ by analogy, -the omission of an auxiliary verb in perfect forms,