8. Phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices (Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Paranymic Attraction)

The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its struc­ture and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which, in a certain type of communication, viz. belles-lettres, plays an impor­tant role. This is the way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds* The sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. It is in combination with other words that a word may acquire a desired phonetic effect. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic impression, but this is a matter of individual per­ception and feeling and therefore subjective. For instance, a certain English writer expresses the opinion that angina [aen'dsama], pneumonia [nju'mouma], and uvula I'ju:vjub] would make beautiful girl's names instead of what he calls "lumps of names like Joan, Joyce and Maud" In poetry we cannot help feeling that the arrangement of sounds carries a definite aesthetic function. Poetry is not entirely divorced from music. Such no­tions as harmony, euphony, rhythm and other sound phenomena undoubt­edly are not indifferent to the general effect produced by a verbal chain. Poetry, unlike prose, is meant to be read out loud and any oral perform­ance of a message inevitably involves definite musical (in the broad sense of the word) interpretation.

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.Example: "...many a man is making friends with death/ Even as I speak, for lack of love alone." (Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Sonnet 30").Alliteration is used by an author to create emphasis, to add beauty to the writing style, and occasionally to aid in shaping the mood.

Onomatopoeia.This includes words that sound like their meaning, or imitations of sounds.Example: "The bees were buzzing"

9. Stylistic devices based on the interaction of primary and derivative logical meanings (Polysemy, Zeugma, Pun)

There are special SDs which make a word materialize distinct dictionary meanings. They are zeugma and the pun. Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the context, the semantic relations being on the one hand literal, and on the other, transferred. e. g. Dora, plunging at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room. Zeugma is a strong and effective device to maintain the purity of the primary meaning when two meanings clash. The pun is another S.D. based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of a word or a phrase. It is difficult to draw a hard and fast distinction between zeugma and pun. The only reliable distinguishing feature is a structural one: zeugma is the realization of two meanings with the help of a verb which is made to refer to different subjects or objects ( direct and indirect). The pun is more independent. Like any S.D. it must depend on a context. But the context may be of a more expanded character, sometimes even as large as a whole work of emotive prose. e.g.- Did you miss my lecture ? - Not at all. Pun seems to be more varied and resembles zeugma in its humourous effect only. A polyseme is a word or phrase with different, but related senses. Since the test for polysemy is the vague concept of relatedness, judgments of polysemy can be difficult to make. Because applying pre-existing words to new situations is a natural process of language change, looking at words' etymology is helpful in determining polysemy but not the only solution; as words become lost in etymology, what once was a useful distinction of meaning may no longer be so. Some apparently unrelated words share a common historical origin, however, so etymology is not an infallible test for polysemy, and dictionary writers also often defer to speakers' intuitions to judge polysemy in cases where it contradicts etymology. English has many words which are polysemous. For example the verb "to get" can mean "procure" (I'll get the drinks), "become" (she got scared), "have" (I've got three dollars), "understand" (I get it) etc.