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Файл:From a word to an idea. Part 1. Учебное пособие
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meaning of the components of the unit is replaced intentionally by their original
literary meanings.
"Little Jon was born with a silver spoon in his mouth which was rather curly
and large".
The word "mouth", with its content, is completely lost in the phraseological
unit which means "to have luck, to be born lucky". Attaching to the unit the
qualification of the mouth, the author revives the meaning of the word and offers a
very fresh, original and expressive description [6].
Nonsense of non-sequence rests on the extension of syntactical valency and
results in joining two semantically disconnected, clauses into one sentence, as in:
"Emperor Nero played the fiddle, so they burnt Rome". Two disconnected
statements are forcibly linked together by cause / effect relations [6].
Epithet is a word (a group of words) carrying an expressive (emotive)
characterization of an object described: “Full many a glorious morning have I
seen..."
From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be
divided into:
1) simple (adjectives, nouns, participles): He looked at them in animal panic;
2) compound: an apple - faced man;
3) two-step epithets: a pompously majestic female. They are called so because
the process of qualifying passes two stages: the qualification of the object and the
qualification of the qualification itself;
4) sentence and phrase epithets: It is his do - it – yourself attitude;
5) reversed epithets (inverted epithets) – composed of two nouns linked by an
of phrase: a shadow of a smile – a shadowlike smile;
6) single, pairs and chains.
Semantically epithets according to I.R. Galperin are:
1) associated with the noun following it, pointing to a feature which is
essential to the objects they describe: dark forest; careful attention;
2) unassociated with the noun, epithets that add a feature which is unexpected
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and which strikes the reader: smiling sun, voiceless sounds [9].
Oxymoron is ascribing a property to an object incompatible, inconsistent
with that property. It’s a logical collision of words syntactically connected but
contradictory in their meaning: speaking silence, cold fire, living death.
Hyperbole is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration, the aim of which is
to intensify one of the features of the object in question to such a degree as to show
its utter absurdity. Hyperbole expresses a highly emotional attitude towards the
thing described: A thousand pardons, scared to death, immensely obliged.
Understatement consists in lessening, reducing the real quantity of the object
of speech. It is a subjective impression that strengthens emotional effect. It’s done
intentionally and the hearer understands it.
"The wind is rather strong" instead of "There's a gale blowing outside"
Antonomasia is the result of interaction between logical and nominal
meaning of a word:
1. When the proper name of a person, who is famous for some reasons, is put
for a person having the same feature: Her husband is an Othello.
"He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary, shortly after she arrived,
something... " The attribute "each", used with the name, turns it into a common
noun denoting any woman.
2. A common noun is used instead of a proper name: I agree with you Mr.
Logic.
3. Speaking names: both naming and characterizing the personage under
discussion – Lady Teasle, Mr. Surface, Mr. Snake.
There are certain structures, whose emphasis depends not only on the
arrangement of sentence members but also on their construction, with definite
demands on the lexico-semantic aspect of the utterance. They are known as lexicosyntactical stylistic devices or figures of speech that make use of lexical meaning
and peculiar syntactical structure. They are simile, periphrasis, climax, antithesis,
anticlimax and litotes.
Simile is an imaginative comparison of two unlike objects belonging to two
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different semantic classes. Simile has much in common with metaphor and consists
of: tenor, vehicle, ground of comparison. Ground of comparison denotes a feature,
quality, action, impression or attitude, which is explicit due to the usage of the
formal markers are: like; as…as; as though; as if; such as; seem [4].
Simile should not be confused with simple (logical, ordinary) comparison.
Structurally identical consisting of the tenor, the vehicle and the uniting formal
element, they are semantically different: objects belonging to the same class are
likened in a simple comparison, while in a simile we deal with the similarity of
objects belonging to two different classes.
"She is like her mother" is a simple comparison, used or stated an evident
fact. "She is like a rose" is a simile used for purposes of expressive evaluation,
emotive explanation, highly individual description.
The tenor and the vehicle may be expressed in a brief "nucleus" manner, as in
the above example, or maybe extended. Sometimes the foundation of the simile is
not quite clear from the context, and the author supplies it with a key, where he
explains which similarities led him to compare two different entities, and which in
fact is an extended and detailed foundation: "The conversations she began behaved
like green logs: they fumed but would not fire" [4].
A simile, often repeated, becomes trite and adds to the stock of language
phraseology. Most of trite similes have the foundation mentioned and conjunctions
"as", "as...as" used as connectives: "as brisk as a bee", "as strong as a horse", "as
live as a bird", etc.
Similes in which the link between the tenor and the vehicle is expressed by
notional verbs such as "to resemble", "to seem", "to recollect", "to remember", "to
look like", "to appear", etc. are called disguised, because the realization of the
comparison is somewhat suspended, as the likeness between the objects seems less
evident: "His strangely taut, full-width grin made his large teeth resemble a dazzling
miniature piano keyboard in the green light" [4].
Periphrasis is a very peculiar stylistic device which basically consists of
using a roundabout form of expression instead of a simpler one, i.e. of using a more
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or less complicated syntactical structure instead of a word. Depending on the
mechanism of this substitution, periphrases are classified into figurative
(metonymic and metaphoric), and logical. The first group is made, in fact, of
phrase-metonymies and phrase-metaphors as you may well see from the following
example: ''The hospital was crowded with the surgically interesting products of the
fighting in Africa" where the extended metonymy stands for "the wounded" [4].
Logical periphrases are phrases synonymic with the words which were
substituted by periphrases: "Mr. Du Pont was dressed in the conventional disguise
with which Brooks Brothers cover the shame of American millionaires." "The conventional disguise" stands here for "the suit" and "the shame of American
millionaires" for "the paunch" (the belly). Because the direct nomination of the not
too elegant feature of appearance was substituted by a roundabout description this
periphrasis may be also considered euphemistic as it offers a more polite
qualification instead of a coarser one.
The main function of periphrases is to convey a purely individual perception
of the described object. To achieve it the generally accepted nomination of the
object is replaced by the description of one of its features or qualities, which seems
to the author most important for the characteristic of the object, and which thus
becomes foregrounded.
The often repeated periphrases become trite and serve us universally accepted
periphrastic synonyms: "the gentle (soft, weak) sex" (women); "my better half" (my
spouse); "minions of Law" (police), etc.
Periphrasis may make the utterance sound solemn in order to arise a lofty
feeling in the reader or it may contain an element of insult, sarcasm, irony or
humour.
Climax or gradation (Greek climax –“ladder”; Latin gradatio – “ascent,
climbing up”) is a type of semantically complicated parallelism, in which every
successive unit is logically more important or emotionally stronger or more explicit
than the preceding one: "Better to borrow, better to beg, better to die!" (D.)
According to I. R. Galperin [9] and V. A. Kukharenko [6] a gradual increase
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in significance may be maintained in three ways: logical, emotional and
quantitative.
Logical climax occurs when every succeeding concept is logically more
important than the previous one: Like a well, like a vault, like a tomb, the prison had
no knowledge of the brightness outside.
Emotional (emotive) climax happens when a row of synonyms with emotive
meaning (often contextual ones) gradually increase the emotional tension of the
utterance: "It was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem of a city."
Quantitative climax occurs when an increase in the volume, size or number
of each succeeding unit is implied: "They looked at hundreds of houses; they
climbed thousands of stairs; they inspected innumerable kitchens".
Antithesis is the best example of lexico-syntactical stylistic devices as
syntactically it is just another case of parallel constructions. But unlike parallelism,
which is indifferent to the semantics of its components, the two parts of an
antithesis must be semantically opposite to each other: "Some people have much
to live on, and little to live for" (O. Wilde), where "much" and "little" present a
pair of antonyms, supported by the contextual opposition of postpositions "on" and
"for".
Another example: "If we don't know who gains by his death we do know who
loses by it." Here, too, we have the one, made stronger by the emphatic form of the
affirmative construction – "don't know / do know".
Antithesis as a semantic opposition emphasized by its realization in similar
structures is often observed on lower levels of language hierarchy, especially on the
morphemic level where two antonymous affixes create a powerful effect of contrast:
"Their pre-money wives did not go together with their post-money daughters."
The main function of antithesis is to stress the heterogeneity of the described
phenomenon, to show that the latter is a dialectical unity of two (or more) opposing
features.
In other words antithesis is a semantic opposition emphasized in similar
structures, often involving two antonyms: Don’t use big words. They mean so little.
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Antithesis is a SD based on the author's desire to stress certain qualities of the thing
by appointing it to another thing possessing antagonistic features.
They speak like saints and act like devils.
Anticlimax (bathos) represents climax suddenly interrupted by an
unexpected turn of the thought that defeats expectations of the reader / listener and
ends in complete semantic reversal of the emphasized idea [6, с. 106]; it involves
adding one weaker element to one or several strong ones, mentioned before [3, с.
12].
The woman who could face the very devil himself – or a mouse – loses her
grip and goes all to pieces in front of a flash of lightning. (Twain)
“Early rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead”.
(Thurber)
The stylistic function of anticlimax is to give an ironic or humorous effect to
the whole text.
As many other stylistic devices, anticlimax also has a corresponding literary
term, which names a similar phenomenon but on a larger scale. The one in question
now is the effect of defeated expectancy, often met with in humorous, ironical and
sarcastic stories.
Litotes is a two-component structure in which two negations are joined to
give a positive evaluation. One component is a negative particle (no, not) and the
other is a word with negative meaning. Its function is to convey doubts of the
speaker concerning the exact characteristics of the object or a feeling.
It's not a bad thing - It's a good thing.
He is no coward. He is a brave man.
He was not without taste.
Thus “not unkindly” actually means "kindly", though the positive effect is
weakened and some lack of the speaker's confidence in his statement is implied. The
first component of litotes is always the negative particle "not", while the second,
always negative in semantics, varies in form from a negatively affixed word (as
above) to a negative phrase.
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Litotes is especially expressive when the semantic centre of the whole
structure is stylistically or /and emotionally coloured, as in the case of the following
occasional creations: "Her face was not unhandsome» or "Her face was not
unpretty".
The function of litotes has much in common with that of understatement –
both weaken the effect of the utterance. The uniqueness of litotes lies in its specific
"double negative" structure and in its weakening only the positive evaluation.
Foregrounding of articles and pronouns. The definite article is favourable
with most writers, because it obtains extra significance in a story. The use of the
definite article shows that a particular object is meant, the one known or mentioned
before. Its usage in the beginning of a story or a novel creates an effect of its
continuation. In this case there is either no any exposition or the events are put so
that a reader comes across preliminary information in the middle of a story. Such
introduction of characters, facts and events creates an impression of being a witness
of smb’s story the beginning of which is left of-camera though it is told in such a
way as if it is known for a reader. This implication of precedence is created by an
implicit sign of an antecedent action. In this case it is created by the definite article
in the initial paragraph of a story.
Personal pronouns used in the initial position create the same effect.
Pronouns point out objects and their qualities without naming them. That means that
they are used only after the names of the objects have been given. The 1
st
and 2d
person pronouns are not polysemantic because they are used to denote living beings.
While the 3d person pronoun is polysemantic because it can denote both a person
and a lifeless thing. This pronoun used in the initial position creates an implication
of precedence. E.g. One of the novels of J. Jones begins with: “When he finished
packing, he walked out on the third-floor porch of the barracks brushing the dust
from his hands…” The character’s name is introduced only on page 18. The
character’s image is created little by little. This creates an atmosphere of tension,
because a reader doesn’t get any information about a character’s appearance, his
job, his role in a story, it makes a reader gather all the details to get a portrait of a
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character. Thus narration becomes dynamic.
In the following sentences an effect of recollections is less strong. The novel
“To kill a mocking-bird” by Harper Lee begins with: “When he was nearly thirteen,
my brother Jeff got his arm badly broken at the elbow”. The personal pronoun he
stands before the personal name Jeff, but it everything becomes clear in the first
sentence.
Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those) stand for some objects or
phenomena mentioned above. But when they appear in the beginning of a story they
create the same effect. E.g. Hemingway begins his novel “Farewell to arms” in the
following way: “In the late summer of that year…” as if a reader knows everything
about this fact.
A demonstrative pronoun used with a personal name is always emotionally
coloured and coveys either contempt or reproach mixed with admiration of a
speaker towards this person. E.g. this Johnson. Recurrence of a demonstrative
pronoun emphasizes emotional and evaluative connotations which are not
characteristic of pronouns. E.g. «Я это думал, я воображал себе эти дорогие
губы, эти глаза, эти кудри», - sadly says the character of a novel “The first love”
by Turgenev.
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4.2 Practical tasks
crimson ['krιmz(ə)n]
silhouette [ˌsιlu'et]
honeysuckle ['hΛnιsΛkl]
pallid ['pælιd]
communion [kə'mju:nιən]
brier ['braιə]
hawthorn ['hͻ:θͻ:n]
foliage ['fəulιιdʒ]
to kindle ['kιndl]
delirium [dι'lιrιəm]
Task 1. Read the sentences, translate them, find stylistic devices and say
what principles they are based upon:
1. England has two eyes, Oxford and Cambridge. They are the two eyes of
England, and two intellectual eyes.
2. The Italian trio tut-tutted their tongues at me.
3. She was a sunny, happy sort of creature. Too fond of the bottle.
4. There had to be a survey. It cost me a few hundred pounds for the right
pockets.
5. Sara was a menace and a tonic, my best enemy: Rozzie was a disease,
my worst friend.
6. He ran away from the battle. He was an ordinary human being that
didn't want to kill or be killed. So he ran away from the battle.
7. He spoke with the flat ugly "a" and withered "r" of Boston Irish, and
Levi looked up at him and mimicked "All right, I'll give the caaads a break and
staaat playing".
8. There is Mr. Guppy, who was at first as open as the sun at noon, but
who suddenly shut up as close as midnight.
9. Joe was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish
fellow.
Task 2. Read the extract from the novel by D. H. Lawrence get ready
with the vocabulary tasks and tasks for discussion and analysis.
1. Read and translate the following words from the text:
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mother-of-pearl [ˌmΛðə(r)əv'pɜːl]
17
2. Guess the words by their definitions:
a. of a rich deep red colour inclining to purple
b. a climbing plant with sweet-smelling yellow, pink, or white flowers
c. an acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness,
illusions, and incoherence, occurring in intoxication, fever, and other disorders
d. the shiny layer on the inside of some shells used to make buttons or to
decorate things
e. the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, having the
same mystical feeling
f. any of various thorny shrubs or other plants
g. a small tree which has sharp thorns and produces white or pink flowers
h. arouse or inspire (an emotion or feeling)
i. lacking colour or brightness
j. the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible in restricted
light against a brighter background
k. the green leaves of a plant
3. Read the extract from the novel by D. H. Lawrence and give a literary
translation of the first two paragraphs.
SONS AND LOVERS
Lad-and-girl Love
D. H. Lawrence
One evening in the summer Miriam and he went over the field by Herod's
Farm on their way from the library home. So it was only three miles to Willey
Farm17. There was a yellow glow the mowing-grass, and the sorrel-heads burned
crimson. Gradually, as they walked along the high land, the gold in the west sank
down to red, the red to crimson, and then the chill blue crept against the glow.
Willey Farm — the name of the farm where Miriam lived
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