Phonostylistic devices of the syntagmatic level: rhythm, types of rhythm

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: "Rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements or features" (Webster's New World Dictionary). Rhythm, therefore, is the main factor which brings order into the utterance. Academician V. M. Zirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of metre. Metre is any form of pe­riodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and num­ber of syllables of which it consists. It follows then that rhythm is not a mere addition to verse or emo­tive prose, which also has its rhythm, and it must not be regarded as possessing "phonetic autonomy amounting to an 'irrelevant texture', but has a meaning." Permissible deviations from the given metre are called modifications of the rhythmical pattern. Some of them occur so frequently in classical verse that they become, as it were, constituents of the rhythm. It has already been pointed out that if rhythm is to be a stylistic category, one thing is required—the simultaneous "perception of. two contrasting phenomena, a kind of dichotomy. Therefore rhythm in verse as an SD is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard. Rhythm reveals itself most conspicuously in music, dance and verse. We have so far dealt with verse because the properties of rhythm in language are most observable in this mode of communication.

Compositional patterns of syntactical arrangement (detachment, reversed parallel constructions)

Sometimes one of the secondary parts of a sentence by some specific consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to. Such parts of structures are called detached. The essential quality of detached construction lies in the fact that the isolated parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a position which will make the phrase (or word) seem independent. But a detached phrase cannot rise to the rank of a primary member of the sentence—it always remains secondary from the semantic point of view, although structurally it possesses all the fea­tures of a "primary member”. Detached constructions in their common forms make the written variety of language akin to the spoken variety where the relation between the component parts is effectively materialized by means of intonation. In the English language detached constructions are generally used in the belles-lettres prose style and mainly with words that have some explanatory function. Detached construction as a stylistic device is a typification of the syntactical peculiarities of colloquial language. A variant of detached construction is parenthesis. Parenthesis is a qualifying, explanatory or appositive word, phrase, clause, sentence, or other sequence which interrupts a syntactic construc­tion without otherwise affecting it, having often a characteristic into­nation and indicated in writing by commas, brackets or dashes.

Chiasmus (reversed parallel construction) belongs to the group of stylistic devices based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern, but it has a cross order of words and phrases. "Down dropped the breeze, The sails dropped down". Chiasmus is sometimes achieved by a sudden change from active voice to passive or vice versa. It must be remembered that chiasmus is a syntactical, not a lexi­cal device, i. e. it is only the arrangement of the parts of the utterance which constitutes this stylistic device. "In the days of old men made the manners', Manners now make men,"

there is no inversion, but a lexical device. Both parts of the parallel construction have the same, the normal word-order. However, the witty arrangement of the words has given the utterance an epigrammatic character. This device may be classed as lexical chiasmus or chiasmatic repetition. Syntactical chiasmus is sometimes used to break the monotony of parallel constructions. But whatever the purpose of chiasmus, it will always bring in some new shade of meaning or additional emphasis on some portion of the second part. Like parallel construction, chiasmus contributes to the rhythmical quality of the utterance.