V. Stylistics

5.1. Stylistic stratification of the english vocabulary

The outline of the problem discussed

1. The literary layer.

2. The neutral layer.

3. The colloquial layer.

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The whole word-stock of the English language is divided into three main

layers:

1. the literary layer

2. the neutral layer

3. the colloquial layer

I. Special literary Vocabulary.

1. Terms are mostly used in special works dealing with the notions of some

branch of science. They may as well appear in other styles – in newspaper style, in

publicistic and practically in all other existing styles of language. When used in the

belles-lettres style, a term may acquire a stylistic function.

2. Poetic and Highly literary Words.

They are mostly archaic and used to produce an elevated effect (“steed” –

horse, “quoth” – said, “woe” - sorrow). Poetic and highly literary words convey the

tone of solemnity, seriousness, gravity.

3. Barbarisms and Foreighnisms.

There is a considerable layer of words called barbarisms. These are words of

foreign origin which have not been assimilated into the English language. They are

borrowings and alien to the native tongue: “Chic” – stylish; “bon mot” – clever witty

saying.

II. The colloquial layer.

Colloquial words mark the message as informal, non-official, conversational.

1. Slang is used by most speakers in very informal communication. It is

highly expressive and emotive.

pal, chum, crony – friend

booze – drink

dough [doх] – money

2. Jargonisms – stand close to slang but used by limited groups of people,

united either professionaly or socially.

driller (буровик in oil industry)– borer (jar), digger

geologist – smeller (jar)

3. Vulgarisms are coarse words with strong emotive meaning, mostly

derogatory. Such words as “bloody”, “daMnEd”, “hell of” are not allowed in

corversation.

4. Dialectal words. In Great Britain four major dialects are distinguished:

Lowland Scotch, Northern, Midland (Central) and Southern. Some dialectal words

have entered the general vocabulary and lost their dialectal status:

lad (парень), pet (любимец), squash

III. Neutral Words are used in both literary and colloquial language.

N. w. are the main stock of synonymy and polysemy.

Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech. The

following synonyms illustrate the relations that exist between neutral, literary and

colloquial words in the English language.

Coll.

Kid

daddy

chap

Neut.

child

father

fellow

Literary

infant

parent

associate

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Both literary and colloquial words have their upper and lower ranges. The

lower range of literary words approaches the neutral layer and has a markedly

obvious tendency to pass into that layer.

5.2. Expressive means and stylistic devices in MnE

The outline of the problem discussed

1. Integration of different types of lexical meaning.

2. Interaction of primary and contextual meanings.

3. Intensification of a certain feature of thing.

4. Compositional patterns of syntactical arrangement.

Among word-sequences that constitute a literary text there occur such which

seem to be specifically patterned – semantically, lexically, syntactically, phonetically.

These are so-called tropes and figures of speech.

Tropes and figures of speech have been worked out in philology and rhetorics

since ancient times. Some of them have been almost completely abandoned but others

remain essential elements of the literary text and their knowledge is indispensable for

a more profound understanding of poetic content.

The principle manifested in tropes is that of analogy. Some similar feature in

otherwise dissimilar things is discovered and the discovered dissimilarity suggests an

image of that which is described.

Units of poetic speech that belong to tropes are: simile, metaphor,

metonimy, irony, epithet, hyperbole.

Simile is the most rudimentary form of trope. It can be defined as a device

based upon an analogy between two things, which are discovered to possess some

feature in common otherwise being entirely dissimilar. For instance, G.Green’s simile

“darkness when once it fell, fell like a stone” is based on the discovered similarity

between “darkness” and “stone” the latter suggesting suddenness, quickness and

danger of the fallen darkness. Simile is easily recognizable in the text due to the socalled

grammatical “red-flags” such as “if”, “as”.

Metaphor, a most widely used trope, is also based upon analogy, upon a

traceable similarity. But in the metaphor, contrary to the simile, there is no formal

element to indicate the comparison. The absence of a formal indication of comparison

in the metaphor makes the analogy it is based on more subtle to perceive.

The term “metaphor” means transference of some quality from one object to

another. Tranference of meaning is characteritic of metaphor. By the literal (direct,

referential) meaning of a word one may mean the meaning which a word has in other

contexts and apart from metaphorical uses. By figurative meaning we may mean that

special meaning on which metaphor hinges. In metaphor words appear in a double

role – first in its conventional meaning as it might have in other contexts and second

in a meaning characteristic of this metaphor.

Now, Hamlet, hear:

Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,

A serpent stung me;

but know, thou noble youth

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the serpent that did sting thy father’s life

Now wears his crown.

(Shakespeare. Hamlet)

Metaphors which are absolutely unexpected are called geniune metaphors.

Those which are commonly used in speech and even fixed in dictionaries are trite or

dead metaphors. The examples of trite metaphors : “a ray of hope”, “floods of tears”,

“a shadow of a smile”.

Units of poetic speech called metonomy are also based upon analogy. There is

an objectively existing relationship between the object named and the object implied.

Metonymic relations are varied in character. The name of an instrument may stand

for the name of the action this instrument produces or is associated with, e.g.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me you ears”.

Irony as a stylistic device is also based on the simultaneous realization of two

logical meanings – dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings stand in

opposition to each other. For example:

“It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in

one’s pocket”.

Epithet is an attributive characterization of a person, thing or phenomenon. In

the majority of cases it consists of one word: adjective or adverb, modifying

respectively nouns or verbs.

“The glow of an angry sunset”.

(Ch.Dickens)

Epithet expresses some quality of a person, thing, idea or phenomenon; it

serves to emphasize a certain property or feature. Moreover it conveys emotional

attitude of a speaker, or a writer of a thing under description.

Hyperbole – a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential

to the object or phenomenon. In its extreme form this exaggeration is carried to an

illogical degree, e.g.

“He was so tall that I was not sure he had a face”. (O.Henry)

So tropes are the devices which sharpen the reader’s ability to make a logical

assessment of the utterance. They stir the reader’s imagination and help the author to

convey his personal vision.

The branch of language science which studies the types of relations between

words, word combinations, sentences, etc. is called syntax.

The peculiarities of the structural design of utterances which bear some

particular emotional colouring is patterned and presented as a special system. The

latter makes an utterance more emphatic, giving contextual meaning to some of the

lexical units.

Inversion – a violation of fixed word order. This “fixed word order”

(O.Jespersen) is Subject – Verb (Predicate) – Object.

Stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional

colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Stylistic inversion in Modern

English should not be regarded as a violation of the norms of standard English. It is

only the practical realization of what is potential in the language itself.

Thus in Dickens’ much quoted sentence:

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“Talent Mr. Micawber has; capital Mr. Micawber has not”.

Parallel construction is a device which may be encounted not so much in the

sentences as in the macro-structures such as supra-phrasal units (SPU) and the

paragragh.

The necessary condition in parallel construction is identical, or similar,

syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of a sentence in close

succession.

“The seeds ye sow – another reaps,

The robes ye weave – another wears,

The arms ye forge – another bears”.

(P.B. Shelly)

Parallel constructions are often backed up by repetition of words (lexical

repetition), conjunctions and prepositions (polysyndeton). Pure parallel construction,

however, does not depend on any other kind of repetition but the repetition of the

syntectical design of the sentence.

Parallel constructions may be partial or complete. In the following example

parallelism backs up repetition, alliteration and antithesis, making the whole sentence

almost epigrammatic.

“And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe.

And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot.”

(Shakespeare)

Chiasmus [kai'xzmqs] (Reversed Parallel Construction) – хиазм, обратный

параллелизм.

Chiasmus 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. The structure of two

successive sentences or parts of a sentence may be described as reversed parallel

construction, the word order of one of the sentences being inverted as compared with

that of the other as in:

“As high as we have mounted in delight

In our dejection do we sink as low”.

(Wordsworth)

Chiasmus is sometimes achieved by a sudden change from active voice to

passive or vice versa, for example:

“The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the

undertaker and the chief mourner Scrooge signed it”. (Dickens)

Syntactical chiasmus is used to break the monotony of parallel constructions. It

always brings in some new shade of meaning or additional emphasis on the second

part of the utterance.