6. Yu.M. Skrebnev’s classification

Skrebnev subdivided stylistics into paradigmatic stylistics (of units) and syntagmatic stylistics (of sequences.) He also adds one more level to phonetics, morphology, lexicology and syntax – semasiology (semantics).

I. Five branches of paradigmatic stylistics:

a) Phonetics (intentional non–standard spelling: graphons): I know these Eye–talians! (Lawrence)

b) Morphology (the use of one tense instead of another): What else do I remember? Let me see. There comes out of the cloud our house… (Dickens)

c) Lexicology (neutral; positive/elevated: poetic, official, professional; negative/degraded: colloquial, neologisms, jargon, slang, nonce–words, vulgar words)

d) Syntax: four types.

– Completeness of sentence structure: ellipsis, aposiopesis, one–member nominative sentences, redundancy

– Word order: inversion

–Communicative types of sentences: quasi–affirmative/interrogative/negative/imperative sentences

– Type of syntactic connection: detachment, parenthetic elements, asyndetic subordination and coordination

e) Semasiology (transfer of names or tropes (by Skrebnev “figures of replacement”): two groups: figures of quality and figures of quantity.

Figures of quantity: hyperbole: Tom was conducted through a maze of rooms and labyrinths of passages (Dickens); meosis (understatement, litotes): He was laughing at Lottie but not unkindly. (A.Hutchinson)

Figures of quality: metonymy (synecdoche and periphrasis): She was a sunny, happy sort of creature. Too fond of the bottle. (Christie);

metaphor (allusion, personification, antonomasia, allegory): Death is at the end of that devious, winding maze of paths…(Fr.Norris);

Irony (explicit and implicit): Try this one, “The Eye of Osiris.” Great stuff. All about a mummy. Or Kennedy’s “Corpse on the Mat” – that’s nice and light and cheerful, like its title. (d.Sayers)

II. Syntagmatic stylistics:

a) Phonetics (alliteration, assonance, paronomasia, rhythm and meter, rhyme): As good as gold, Sense and Sensibility (J.Austen)

b) Morphology

c) Lexicology

d) Syntax (parallelism, anaphora, epiphora, framing, anadiplosis, chiasmus): There are so many sons who won’t have anything to do with their fathers, and so many fathers who won’t speak to their sons. (O.Wilde)

+e) Semasiology: figures of identity (simile, synonymous replacement): And then in a moment she would come to life and be as quick and restless as a monkey. (Galsworthy); figures of inequality (clarifying synonyms, climax, anti–climax, zeugma, pun, disguised tautology): A young girl who had a yellow smock and a cold in the head that did not go on too well together, was helping an old lady… (Priestley); and figures of contrast (oxymoron, antithesis): Of course, it was probably an open secret locally. (Christie)

7. Stylistic classification of the English vocabulary. General considerations Standard English vocabulary is subdivided into:

1. Neutral words (understood and accepted by all English-speaking people) The main source of synonymy and polysemy. Official, scientific, poetic field

2. Literary (mostly in written form)

Descriptions, considerations.

3. Colloquial (mostly encountered in oral speech)

colloquial words in written forms, types of discourse simulating everyday oral communication, dialogues, inner monologues of characters.

Literary vocabulary consists of:

1. Common literary. Most used in written form and in polished speech. Literary units stand in opposition to colloquial units. This is especially apparent when pairs of synonyms, literary and colloquial, can be formed which stand in contrasting relation.

2. Terms and learned words. Terms denote objects, processes, humanities, technique. The domain is the scientific functional style. Terms of general nature are interdisciplinary. Semantically narrow terms belong to a definite branch of science.

3. Poetic words. The stylistic function is to create poetic images and make speech elevated.

4. Archaic words. Words which are no more in use. These are historical words. Another group of archaisms is archaic words/forms proper – words outed by newer synonymic words. Obsolete words have gone completely out of usage though they are still recognized by the native speakers. The main function is to create a realistic background for historical works of literature.

5. Barbarisms and foreign words. These are words borrowed from other languages. The main function is to create a realistic background for stories, describe foreign customs, traditions.

6. Neologisms or nonce words. Most of them are usually terms. Marked with the start of technological revolution. Internet gave the language many new words.

Colloquial stratum of the word stock

These words mark the message as informal.

1. Common colloquial words. Part of standard English word stock. Can be used in written speech, but unacceptable in polite conversation or business correspondence. There are ways of forming colloquial words: contraction (pronounce only part of a words: pub – public house, ad – advertisement), amalgamation of two words in a single one (s’long – so long, c’mon – come on, gimme – give me), affixation (missy – miss, girlie – girl), compounding, composing and blending (legman – reporter, hanky-panky – children’s tricks, yellow belly – coward, motel – a hotel for people who travel by car).

2. Slang. Sometimes described as the language of subcultures or the language of the streets. Hardly used in writing except for some stylistic effect the author wants to express. They are highly emotive and expressive; they lose their originality rather fast and are replaced by newer formations.

3. Jargonisms. They stand close to slang, they are substandard, expressive and emotive, but unlike slang they are used by limited groups of people, united either professionally (professionalisms) or socially (jargonisms proper). Professionalisms are formed according to existing word building patterns. Jargonisms proper are characterized by similar linguistic features but differ in function and sphere of application. They originated from the thieves’ jargon (argot, cant) and served to conceal the actual significance of the utterance from the uninitiated.

4. Professional words.

5. Dialectal words. They are used by people of a certain community living in a certain territory. They are normative and devoid of any stylistic meaning in regional dialects, but used outside of them, carry a strong flavor of the locality they belong to.

6. Vulgar words. Obscene words. They are coarse words with a strong emotive meaning, mostly derogatory, normally avoided in polite conversation. The most popular images are food, money, sex, people’s appearances and characters.