Basics of English Stylistics. Учебное пособие-1

TOPIC VI. STYLISTIC SEMASIOLOGY

A thousand pardons

I’ve told you millions of times He was scared to death

I’d give worlds for that

I haven’t seen you for ages.

These trite hyperboles are not the subject-matter of Stylistics as there is no novelty or special expressivity in them.

Another case is expressive exaggerations used in poetry or fiction. The function of them is to impress the reader or hearer and to be appreciated. For example,

In less than no time he was upstairs. They laughed and two of them died.

In a silence you could lean on, he went out.

In these examples such properties as quickness of movement, intensity of laughter and negative atmosphere are overestimated in a new original way. Sometimes it can create humour, sound absurd or even illogical.

Hyperbole like any other stylistic device can be easily combines with other stylistic tools:

She could talk the hind leg off the donkey! (hyperbolic reference to her skills is backed by metaphor about the donkey)

Meiosis is opposite to hyperbole and means some understatement, lessening, weakening, reducing the real characteristics of the object described. For example,

What do you think of our little town? (speaking about New York) We’ve got a few lights on Broadway.

Just give me a splash of water.

Here the reference to a big city, the best illuminated street in the city and the amount of water you need is undervalued. It can sound humorous or sarcastic.

Meiosis can be expressed by several formal means, which are called down-toners for their function. They are mostly modal words or adverbs of medium or small degree: maybe, please, quite, rather, pretty, would you mind, kind of, sort of, etc.

It’s quite interesting.

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I kind of liked it.

She calls rather too often.

A humorous effect is created when meiosis is combined with offensive or somewhat rough words. Here we have an example of cluster of styles, the co-occurrence of polite words with impolite ones:

Would you mind getting the hell out of my way? It isn’t any of your business, maybe.

One more interesting use of understatement is when it expresses the stereotypic speaking manners of cultures. It is well-known, that the British manner of speaking tends to be more reserved, while theAmerican manner of speaking is more exaggerated. The following example describes a situation when two girls, one is British, the other isAmerican, have climbed a mountain:

It’s a bit exhausting, isn’t it? Why, sure, it’s terrific!!!

Sometimes meiosis can be mistaken for hyperbole, like in the following examples:

I’ll be ready in a moment. – It will take you a moment to read it. He earns just pennies. – I paid little, a few pennies.

The only criterion is to understand whether the statement overestimates or undervalue the properties described by the same lexemes.

Litotesisastylisticdevice,whichisunderstoodasnegatingtheopposite idea [4, p. 246]. Thus, if we want to say with his help, with litotes we get not without his help. The purpose of the utterance is the same, though a bit weaker in the second example. The so called double negation of litotes can be achieved in several ways [1, с. 236]:

•The particle not and the lexical antonym: well done – not badly done, a pretty girl – not an ugly one.

•The particle not and a derivative with a negative prefix: a friendly fellow – not an unfriendly fellow

•The particle not and the negative preposition without: with an interest – not without an interest.

The tropes of quality can change the traditional name by transference according to:

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•Contiguity, based upon a real connection between two objects, metonymy: I was followed by a pair of heavy boots.

•Similarity, based upon likeness, metaphor: The reception was cold.

•Contrast, contextual meaning is directly opposite to the dictionary one, irony: A fine friend you are!

Metonymy is a semantic transference when you apply the name of one object to another object that is somehow connected with the first one, or associated with it [4, p. 144–145]:

The kettle is boiling.

The traditional object of the sentence is a piece of a kitchen utensil; the situational object is the water in it, which can boil reaching the point of 100 degrees Centigrade.

The other examples are:

I am fond of Dickens. The gallery applauded. I collect old china.

Metonymy in general gives a more compact idea, a shorter way to the actual aim of the utterance or situational object; rather than being emotional. The association between the traditional and situational objects is called metonymic relationships and they can be of the following major types [1, с. 127]:

1)The name of a tool instead of the name of an action: Give every man thine ear and few thy voice.

2)Characteristic feature of the object instead of the whole object: The blue suit grinned.

3)The container instead of the thing contained: The room fell quiet.

4)A symbol instead of the object symbolized: The Crown spoke to the Parliament.

My love lives here.

5)Consequence instead of the cause: The fish desperately took the death. One more word and you will need the dentist.

Aspecial type of metonymic relationships denoting the interconnection between ‘a part and a whole’is named synecdoche. Some typical examples of this type are:

•The name of the part stands for the whole object: Hands wanted, a hundred head of cattle, the student is expected to know.

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• The name of the whole stands for its part: Stop torturing the poor animal. Going to the parties when I am needing you.

Periphrasis is similar to metonymy, as it is a description of what can be named directly, based on our associations. Periphrasis is always longer, more than one word, and it expresses our subjective, often humorous, perception of the situation described:

Two hundred pages of blood-curdling narrative – instead of a thriller book.

Cups that cheer but not inebriate – instead of tea. Alterations and improvements on the truth – instead of a lie. A disturber of the piano keys – instead of a pianist.

The minutest coins and himself are strangers – instead of being poor. The stylistic effect of periphrasis varies from elated to derogatory,

expressing our subjective attitude to the situation.

Metaphor is a stylistic device when the speaker or writer creates the imaginary connection between two different objects, based on the similarity or analogy of them, that exist in our mind [4, p. 139–144]. Many set expressions are based on metaphor, therefore this metaphor is trite, the users of the language do not feel its expressiveness: the head of the company, the root of evil, to fish for compliments, etc.

As the two objects in metaphor are disconnected in reality, we may assume that metaphor requires a great psychological and intellectual effort to create this imaginary connection between them, like in the examples: the face was clouded, his anger tortured him, he felt the burden of her words, etc.

A sustained metaphor is a stylistic device when one metaphorical element creates an image, which is developed by the following metaphors [1, с. 124–125]:

This is a day of your golden opportunity. Don’t let it turn to brass. She feeds in handful of tokens, and the game machine is regularly sick

over her, spewing out 20 $ at a time.

Another type is a combination of mixed metaphors or catachresis, whenseeminglydisconnectedimagesarecreatedinoneconnectedsituation [8, p. 49]. Here is the example of Hercule Poirot’s inner speech from a novel by Agatha Christie:

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For somewhere there is in the hay a needle, and among the sleeping dogs there is one on whom I shall put my foot, and by shooting an arrow into the air it will hit a glass–house!

In this connected speech the character uses several (five) isolated metaphors with the general desire to express the difficulty of detecting the criminal.

Allusion is a literal device, based on metaphorical renaming, when we use a reference to some literary or historic event commonly known:

Aitken took great care he got his pound of flesh.

Here is the allusion to a well-known play by W. Shakespeare “The Merchant of Venice” to show the ruthlessness of people.

Allusionsareverysalientinspeechastheyarebasedontheaccumulated knowledge of the society. Using allusions, the speaker or the writer demonstrate their erudition and their high expectations from the audience [4, p. 187].

Personification is a variety of metaphor, when the speaker or writer attributes human qualities to inanimate objects [1, с. 128]. In poetry personification occurs with the description of abstract notions, such as thoughts, feelings, nature, weather, etc. In classical poetry, we use personification in accordance with the mythological tradition to imagine lifeless substances as living beings:

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol’n on his wing my three and twentieth year!

In modern prose and poetry personification is resorted to in visualizing the scene, in imparting the dynamic force to it or in reproducing the specific mood of the speaker or the atmosphere of the event described:

The kettle was aggravating and obstinate. A very idiot of a kettle. It wouldn’t allow itself to adjust to the top bar.

Personification as a stylistic device can have formal grammatical signs. They are:

• the use of personal pronouns or their possessive references he, she, his, her, referring to lifeless objects: Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand;

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•another sign is to use personification as the direct address: O fair Peace!

•capitalisation of the word expresses attributing human qualities:

You can meet with Triumph and Disaster. His Black Despair talked to him.

Antonomasia can be defined as a variety of allusion. This stylistic device means a special use of a proper noun, a name of a historical, literary, mythological or biblical personage in nominative reference to a person whose characteristic features resemble those of the well-known original [1, с. 128]. For instance, a traitor is often compared and referred to by the literary character’s name Brutus; a ladies’man is often nicknamed as Don Juan:

They knew there was a Brutus among them. He was a Don Juan.

These examples show the renaming according to the model Proper Noun –> Common Noun, when a proper name is used as a common class noun (the use of articles, the category of number).

Antonomasia can be built on the opposite model Common Noun –> Proper Noun, when a common noun becomes proper and is written with a capital letter:

You are my Prince Charming. He won the title The Best Ball.

Allegory means expressing abstract ideas with the help of concrete pictures, like it happens in proverbs, fairy-tales, fables. The term is mostly applied to the whole pieces of literature. In shorter texts it is used in proverbs and sayings:

While the sun shines (make good use of a favourable situation)

All is not gold that glitters (appearance are deceptive)

No rose without a thorn (everything has its drawbacks)

Certain genres of literature are allegoric throughout: fairy-tales, fables always imply something different, something more important for human world-view than they denote literally [1, с. 129].

Summing up, we can say that in all diversity and variety metaphor means the disparity between the literal meaning of the lexemes denoting a traditional object and what is actually meant, a situational object.

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The greatest disparity between the literal and situational meanings is observed in irony as a stylistic device. The term is derived from the Greek word eirōneia ‘mockery concealed’ [4, p. 146]. That trope is based on direct opposition of the meanings, dictionary and contextual. The semantic essence of irony consists in replacing a denomination by its opposite. Here we observe the greatest qualitative shift [1, с. 128].

There are two kinds of irony. The first represents the model ‘Praise Stands for Blame’, where we use a word with a positive meaning hiding a negative unfavourable attitude. Sometimes it is called antiphrasis:

A good student you are!

But of course we know, you are a millionaire. That’s a pretty kettle of fish!

The second model is ‘Blame Stands for Praise’, when the speaker uses a vulgar word or words of low social value as a mark of praise. Sometimes it is called astheism:

Clever bastard! Tough son-of-a-bitch!

In oral speech irony is often made prominent by emphatic intonation. In writing, the most typical signs are inverted commas or italics. Most often it is the general situation which makes the reader guess the real viewpoint of the writer.

The term ‘irony’ is often implied not to logical or notional opposition, but to stylistic opposition, i.e., using high-flown vocabulary with reference to insignificant, socially low topics, like in the example from O’Henry’s story describing the wretched state of affairs of a homeless tramp:

Hisambitionswerenotofthehighest.Hedidn’tdreamofMediterranean cruises, of Southern skies or sailing on a yacht. Three months in a sleeping house was all what his soul craved.

StylisticSemasiologyalsostudiessyntagmaticdeviceswithtwoormore correlative units. They can have identical meanings, different meanings or opposite meanings [7, p. 143–166].

The units of the first group can have the similar meaning or used as names of the same thing: child, kid, infant. The stylistic devices based on synonymous correlation are called the tropes of identity. They are simile and synonymous replacement.

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The second group comprises units denoting different notions. The difference can be quantitative, showing the intensity of emotional expression: I ask you! I beg you! I beseech you. Here belong such stylistic devices as synonymic repetition, climax, anti–climax, pun and zeugma, which are called the tropes of difference or inequality.

The third group includes units which are semantically polar or incompatible, they exclude one another.They are oxymoron and antithesis or the tropes of contrast: His fees are high, his lessons are light. His highlights brought him renown.

Simile or imaginative comparison is a stylistic device which explicitly states the partial identity, likeness, similarity of two objects belonging to different classes: a person – an object, a person – an animal, a person – an abstract notion. The explicit statement of partial identity should be formally expressed by signals of comparison: like, as, as if, as though, than, to resemble, to remind, to have a look of, to seem, etc. [4, p. 167].

He is as beautiful as a weather-cock. My heart is like a singing bird.

His method of paying off his debts was similar to feeding a dog with bits of food.

The language has a lot of trite similes, which belong to the system as set expressions: as cool as a cucumber, as blind as a bat, as proud as a peacock, as bright as a button, to fit like a glove, to smoke like a chimney.

Some trite similes are based more on alliteration, than on imaginative comparison.

Similescanbesustained,detailed,extended,whenastringofimaginative comparison is used:

They treated me as if I were a millionaire invalid with four days to live, and who hadn’t as yet made his will and paid his bills.

Simile looks like a metaphor or a logical comparison, which is not a stylistic device. For example:

She sings like a professional soloist. She sings like a nightingale.

She is the lark of the band.

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The first sentence is an example of logical comparison of two similar objects, belonging to the same group of nouns. The second example compares two objects belonging to different subclasses of nouns, so the comparison between them is imaginative. The third sentence is a metaphor, because the idea of comparing is not formally expressed.

Similecanbestructurallyasinglecompoundword,awordcombination, a simple or composite sentence: dog-like, hungry-looking, She was like a tigress ready to jump on me.

Similes can be accompanied by other stylistic devices:

He held out a hand that could be mistaken for a bunch of bananas in a poor light. (simile and hyperbole)

His eyes were no warmer than an iceberg. (simile and litotes) Brandon liked me as much as Hiroshima liked the atomic bomb. (simile

and irony)

Another trope of identity is synonymous replacement. Synonyms can be used for two various stylistic functions. They help to avoid monotonous repetition of the same word: The kid was crying. It was the little boy’s usual time to go to bed, but no one paid attention to the child.

Their second stylistic purpose is to make the description of a scene or character exhaustive, as synonyms add all shades of the overall meaning:

Dear Paul, it’s very silly and weak of me to be so shaky and trembly from head to foot.

The tropes of difference are used to highlight differences between co– occurring lexical units. Synonyms or synonymic repetition also can have specifying or clarifying functions:

Uncle James looked old, and fat and sleepy.

They were simply indecent, terrifying, humiliating and outrageous screams.

In synonymic repetition a subsequent synonym complements the preceding one. Each synonym imparts additional features to the object in focus, giving a more total description of it.

Climax or gradation is the arrangement of correlative ideas in which the following element surpasses the preceding one. The enumeration

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gradually increases in strength, the last enumeration being the strongest. The enumerated units can be synonymous in a way, ideographic synonyms, but their meanings denote different degrees or intensity of the quality implied:

She was sorry. She was so sorry. She was so extremely sorry. What difference if it rains, hails, blows, snows or cyclones?

Anti-climax or back gradation, as the names suggest, is opposite to the previous stylistic device. It shows the weakening of properties, the last enumeration being the weakest [4, p. 219]:

It is a bloody lie and not quite true.

Irene, a woman who disgraced the family and was to him no blood relation.

Pun or play upon words is a stylistic device the semantic essence of which is based on polysemy or homonymy of the co-occurring words or units:

Have you been seeing any spirits? Or taking any? (the homonymy of the lexeme ‘spirits’)

There comes a period in every man’s life, but she is just a semicolon in his. (the polysemy of the lexeme ‘period’)

What steps would you take if an enemy comes towards you? – Long ones. (the polysemy of the lexeme ‘steps’)

Alongside with the term ‘pun’the term ‘calembour’is used.The term is more often used in literature studies denoting the occasion when the same unit is repeated by another interlocutor in a different meaning, imitating the misunderstanding of the speaker:

–Jesus, you have really scared us! –You don’t have to call me Jesus when we are alone.

–Hang “Ada Fergusson”. – I think it is rather a drastic punishment.

Zeugma is a stylistic device which expresses seeming analogy of

syntactical connection [4, p. 148–152]. Quite often it occurs in the words combinations of verbs with two objects, one of which shows the literal meaning of the verb, while the other activates its transferred meaning:

He was cudgeling his brains and his donkey.

She possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. She dropped a tear and her handkerchief.

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