PART I INTRODUCTION

PART I INTRODUCTION... 6

I. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLE AND Stylistics. 6

2. EXPRESSIVE MEANS (EM) AND STYLISTIC DEVICES (SD) 21

3. GENERAL NOTES ON FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF LANGUAGE.. 28

4. VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE.. 30

5. A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LITERARY (STANDARD) LANGUAGE.. 36

6. MEANING FROM A STYLISTIC POINT OF VIEW... 51

PART II STYLISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY.. 63

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 63

2. NEUTRAL, COMMON LITERARY AND COMMON COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY.. 64

3. SPECIAL LITERARY VOCABULARY.. 68

a) Terms. 68

b) Poetic and Highly Literary Words. 71

c) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words. 74

d) Barbarisms and Foreignisms. 78

e) Literary Coinages (Including Nonce-Words) 83

4. SPECIAL COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY.. 95

a) Slang. 95

b) Jargonisms. 100

c) Professionalisms. 103

d) Dialectal words. 106

e) Vulgar words or vulgarisms. 108

f) Colloquial coinages (words and meanings) 109

PART Ø PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES. 112

GENERAL NOTES. 112

Onomatopoeia. 113

Alliteration. 114

Rhyme. 116

Rhythm.. 117

PART IV LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES. 123

A. INTENTIONAL MIXING OF THE STYLISTIC ASPECT OF WORDS. 123

B. INTERACTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANING.. 125

1. INTERACTION OF PRIMARY DICTIONARY AND CONTEXTUALLY IMPOSED MEANINGS 126

Metaphor. 126

Metonymy. 131

Irony. 133

3. INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS. 139

Interjections and Exclamatory Words. 140

The Epithet 143

Oxymoron. 148

4. INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND NOMINAL MEANINGS Antonomasia. 150

Antonomasia. 150

C. INTENSIFICATION OF A CERTAIN FEATURE OF A THING OR PHENOMENON.. 152

Simile. 152

Periphrasis. 154

Euphemism.. 158

Hyperbole. 161

D. PECULIAR USE OF SET EXPRESSIONS. 161

The Cliche. 162

Proverbs and Sayings. 165

Epigrams. 168

Allusions. 171

Decomposition of Set Phrases. 173

PART V SYNTACTICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES. 174

A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 174

B. PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE COMPOSITION OF SPANS OF UTTERANCE LARGER THAN THE SENTENCE.. 176

Supra-Phrasal Units. 177

The Paragraph. 181

C. COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT. 185

Stylistic Inversion. 186

Detached Construction. 188

Parallel Construction. 190

Chiasmus (Reversed Parallel Construction) 191

Repetition. 193

Enumeration. 197

Suspense. 199

Climax (Gradation) 200

Antithesis. 202

D. PARTICULAR WAYS OF COMBINING PARTS OF THE UTTERANCE (LINKAGE) 205

Polysyndeton. 207

The Gap- Sentence Link. 208

E. PARTICULAR USE OF COLLOQUIAL CONSTRUCTIONS. 210

Ellipsis. 211

Break-in-the-Narrative (Appsiopesis) 213

Question-in-the-Narrative. 214

Represented Speech. 216

a) Uttered Represented Speech. 217

b) Unuttered or Inner Represented Speech. 220

F. STYLISTIC USE OF STRUCTURAL MEANING.. 223

Rhetorical Questions. 223

Litotes. 225

PART VI FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.. 227

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 227

A. THE BELLES-LETTRES STYLE.. 228

1. LANGUAGE OF POETRY.. 230

a) Compositional Patterns of Rhythmical Arrangement 230

Metre and Line. 230

The Stanza. 235

Free Verse and Accented Verse. 238

b) Lexical and Syntactical Features of Verse. 241

2. EMOTIVE PROSE.. 246

3. LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA.. 257

B. PUBLICISTS STYLE.. 262

1. ORATORY AND SPEECHES. 263

2. THE ESSAY.. 267

3. JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES. 269

C. NEWSPAPER STYLE.. 270

1. BRIEF NEWS ITEMS. 272

2. ADVERTISEMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. 275

3. THE HEADLINE.. 277

4. THE EDITORIAL.. 279

D. SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE.. 281

E. THE STYLE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 286

FINAL REMARKS. 291

 

. Introduction

1. General Notes on Style and Stylistics . . 7 ............ 9

2. Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic Devices (SD) .......... 25

3. General Notes on Functional Styles of Language ...... '. . . . 32

4. Varieties of Language ” t ................... 35

5. A Brief Outline of the Development of the English Literary (Standard)

Language t * t ^ t ......................... 41

6. Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View .............. 57

Part II. Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary

1. General Considerations > t .................... 70

2. Neutral, Common Literary and Common Colloquial Vocabulary ... 72

3. Special Literary Vocabulary t .................. 76

a) Terms .. t .t .....: \ .-r ............... 76

b) Poetic and Highly Literary Words .............. 79

c) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words ............ 83

d) Barbarisms and Foreignisms .................. 87

e) Literary Coinages (Including Nonce-Words) ........... 92

4. Special Colloquial Vocabulary .................. 104

a) Slang t , t ........................ 104

b) Jargonisms , * , ........................ 109

c) Professionalisms , t , t .................... 113

d) Dialectal Words it t -. .^ ................... 116

e) Vulgar Words or Vulgarisms ............ .\. .... 118

f) Colloquial Coinages (Words and Meanings) ............ 119

Part III. Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

General Notes ............................ 123

Onomatopoeia ... t ........................ 124

Alliteration . e **......................... 126

Rhyme ; ...... %. ....................... 128

Rhythm , , . ” .......................... 129

Part IV. Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

A. Intentional Mixing of the Stylistic Aspect of. Words ... ...... 136

Â. Interaction of Different Types of Lexical Meaning ............ 138

1. Interaction of Primary Dictionary and Contextually Imposed Meanings 139

Metaphor ............................. 139

Metonymy t ........ ^ ............... \ ... 144

Irony , 5 ............................ 146

2. Interaction of Primary and Derivative Logical Meanings ...... 148

Stylistic Devices Based on Polysemantics Effect, Zeugma and Pun .... 148

3. Interaction of Logical and Emotive Meanings ............ 153

Interjections and Exclamatory Words ............... 154

The Epithet ,,,*....................... 157

Oxymoron >“. “ “ ....................... 162

4. Interaction of Logical and Nominal Meanings ........... 164

Antonomasia ........................... 164

C. Intensification of a Certain Feature of a Thing or Phenomenon ...... 166

' Simile ............................... 167

/, • ^Periphrasis .I.....'..............'...-..... 169

!""' Euphemism ............................. 173

Hyperbole .............................. 176

D. Peculiar Use of Set Expressions .................... 177

The Cliche .............................. 177

Proverbs and Sayings .. :< ....................... 181

Epigrams .............................. 184

Quotations ............................. 186

Allusions .............................. 187

.Decomposition of Set Phrases .................... 189“

5 Part V. Syntactical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

General Considerations .......................... '191

ÂÃ Problems Concerning the Composition of Spans of Utterance Larger than the

Sentence .............................. 193

Supra-Phrasal Units ......................... 194

The Paragraph ........................... 198

C. Compositional Patterns of Syntactical Arrangement .......... 202

Stylistic Inversion .......................... 203

•j Detached Construction ....................... 205

/Parallel Construction ........................ 208

[Chiasmus (Reversed Parallel Construction) .............. 209

Repetition ............................. 211

Enumeration . . . ......................... 216

Suspense. . ....... . ..................... 218

Climax (Gradation) ... \ ...................... 219

Antithesis .............................. 222

D. Particular Ways of Combining Parts of the Utterance (Linkage) . . . . ; 225

, Asyndeton ............................. 226

Polysyndeton . > .-,-......................... 226

The Gap-Sentence -Link . .^. .................... 227

E. Particular Use of Colloquial Constructions .............. 230

Ellipsis". .............................. 231

Break-in-the-Narrative(Aposiopesis) .................. 233

Question-in-the-Narrative . . . ................... 235

Represented Speech ......................... 236

a) Uttered Represented Speech ................... 238

b) Unuttered or Inner Represented Speech ............. 241

F. Stylistic Use of Structural Meaning ................. 244

Rhetorical Questions V * * . . ................... 244

Litotes ...............................

Part VI. Functional Styles of the English Language

Introductory Remarks ......................... 249

A. The belles-lettres Style ....................... 250

1. Language of Poetry ........................ 252

a) Compositional Patterns of Rhythmical Arrangement ........ 252

Meter and Line ., ,• ..................... 252

The Stanza ...... §. .................... 258

Free Verse and Accented Verse '. ................ 261

b) Lexical and Syntactical Features of Verse ............ 264

2. Emotive Prose .......................... 270

3. Language of the Drama .................... 281

 Publicists Style ........................... 287

1 Oratory and Speeches ^ ...................... 288

2. The Essay ............................ 293

3. Journalistic Articles ........................ 295

Ñ Newspaper Style (written by V. L. Nayer) .............. 295

1. Brief News Items ........................ 298

2. Advertisements and Announcements ................ 301

3.' The Headline ........................... 302

4 The Editorial ........................... 305

D Scientific Prose Style ......................... 307

E. The Style of Official Documents ................... 312

Final Remarks ............*................. 319

 

PART I INTRODUCTION

I. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLE AND Stylistics

The types of texts can be analyzed if their linguistic components are presented in their interaction, thus revealing the unbreakable unity and… The first field of investigation, i.e. SDs and EMs, necessarily touches upon… The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of such most general linguistic issues as oral and…

It follows then that the individual style of a writer is marked by its uniqueness. It can be recognized by the specific and peculiar combina­tion of language media and stylistic devices which in their interaction present a certain system. This system derives its origin from the crea­tive spirit, and elusive though it may seem, it can nevertheless be as­certained. Naturally, the individual style of a writer will never be entirely independent of the literary norms and canons of the given period. When we read novels by Swift or Fielding we can easily detect features common to both writers. These features are conditioned by the general

1 In linguistics there are two terms now generally recognized and widely used — Plan of expression and plan of content literary canons of the period and cannot therefore be neglected. But the adaptations of these canons will always be peculiar and therefore distinguishable. Alexander Blok said that the style of a writer is so closely connected with the content of his soul, that the experienced eye can see the soul through his style, and by studying the form penetrate to the depth of the content.1 The idea of this subtle remark can be in­terpreted in the following way: —the style of a writer can be ascertained only by analysis of the form, i.e. language media. To analyze the form in order to discover the idiosyncrasies of a writer's style is not an easy, but a rewarding task. Approaches to components of individuality such as 1) composition of larger-than-the sentence units (see p. 193), 2) rhythm and melody of utterances, 3) system of imagery, 4) preferences for defi­nite stylistic devices and their co-relation with neutral language media, 5) interdependence of the language media employed by the author and the media characteristic of the personages, are indispensable.

The language of a writer is sometimes regarded as alien to lingvo-stylistics. Here is what V. M. Zirmunsky writes: "The language of a writer can hardly be considered an object of lingvo-stylistics. If analyzed outside the problem of style (the style of the work, the writer, the lit­erary trend or the literary era), the language falls into a mass of words, collocations and grammatical facts, which taken in isolation will serve as but unreliable evidence as to the life of the given language in the given period of its development." 2

However, observations of the ways language means are employed by different writers, provided no claim is made to defining the individ­ual style as a whole, may greatly contribute to the investigation of the ontological nature of these means by throwing light on their poten­tialities and ways of functioning. The individuality of a writer's style is shown in a peculiar treatment of language means. -

In this connection it is worth referring to Flaubert's notion on style. He considers style, a$ it were, non-personal, its merits being dependent on the power of thought and on the acuteness of the writer's perceptions.3 The same idea, only slightly modified, is expressed by J. Middleton Murry who said that "A true style must be unique, if we understand by the phrase 'a true style' a completely adequate expression in language of a writer's mode of feeling."

In discussing the problem of individual style let us make it clear from the outset that the problem itself is common ground for literature and linguistics. However, in as much as language is the only media to accommodate poetic messages, it is necessary to go at some length into the domain of individual style, it being the testing ground for language means.

The individual style of an author is frequently identified with the general, generic term 'style'. But as has already been pointed out, style is a much broader notion. The individual style of an author is only one of the applications of the general term 'style'. The analysis of an author's language seems to be the most important procedure in estimating his individual style. This is obvious not only because language is the only means available to convey the author's ideas to the reader in precisely the way he intends, but also because writers unwittingly contribute greatly to establishing the norms of the literary language of a given period. In order to compel the language to serve his purpose, the writer draws on its potential resources in a way different from what we see in ordinary speech.

This peculiarity in the manner of using language means in poetry and emotive prose has given rise to the notion of S t ó I e as Devi­ance.1 Most illustrative of this tendency is George Saintsbury's state­ment made as far back as 1895: "It is in the breach or neglect of the rules that govern the structure of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs that the real secret of style consists..."2

The same idea is expressed by G. Vandryes, one of the prominent linguists of today, who states that "The belles-lettres style is always a reaction against the common language; to some extent it is a jargon, a literary jargon, which may have varieties."3

The idea has a long history. In the 1920s there arose a trend which was named formalism in literature and which has crucial relevance to present-day endeavors to analyze the role of form in embodying matter. Several literary critics representative of this school as well as a number of writers maintained the idea that language sometimes imposes intol­erable constraints on freedom of thought. Hence all kinds of innovations • were introduced into the language which sometimes not only disagree with the established norms of the language, but actually depart from them in principle. The result in many cases is that the language steps over the threshold of the reader's ability to perceive the message.

The essential property, indeed, merit of a truly genuine individual style is its conformity to the established norms of the language system in their idiosyncratic variations. This uniqueness- of the individual style of an author is not easy to observe. It is due not only to the peculiar choice of words, sentence-structures and stylistic devices, but also to the in­comparable manner these elements are combined.

It is hardly possible to underestimate the significance of a minute analysis of the language of a writer when approaching the general no­tion of his style. The language will inevitably reveal some of the auth­or's idiosyncrasies in the use of language means. Moreover, the author's choice of language means reflects to a very considerable extent the idea of the work as a whole. Nowhere can the linguist observe the hidden potentialities of language means more clearly than through a scrupulous analysis of the ways writers use these means.

But for the linguist the importance of studying an author's indi­vidual style is not confined to penetration into the inner properties of language means and stylistic devices. The writers of a given period in the development of the literary language contribute greatly to establish­ing the system of norms of their period. It is worth a passing note that the investigations of language norms at a given period are to a great extent maintained on works of men-of-letters.

One of the essential properties of a truly individual style is its per­manence. It has great powers of endurance. It is easily recognized and never loses its aesthetic value. The form into which the ideas are wrought assumes a greater significance and therefore arrests our attention. The language of a truly individual style becomes deautomatized. It may be said that the form, i.e. the language means themselves, generate meaning. This will be shown later when we come to analyze the nature and func­tions of stylistic devices.

The idea of individual style brings up the problem of the correspon­dence between thought and expression. Many great minds have made valuable observations on the interrelation between these concepts. There is a long list of books in which the problem is discussed from logical, psychological, philosophical, aesthetic, pragmatic and purely linguistic points of view. Here we shall only point out the most essential sides of the problem, viz. a) thought and language are inseparable; b) language is a means of materializing thought. It follows then that the stylistics cannot neglect this interrelation when analyzing the individual style of an author. But it is one thing to take into account a certain phenom­enon as a part of a general notion and another thing to substitute one notion for another. To define style as the result of thinking out into lan­guage would be on the same level as to state that all we say is style. The absurdity of this statement needs no comment.

The problem of the correspondence between matter and form (which are synonymous for thought and expression) finds its most effective wording in the following: "To finish and complete your thought!.. How long it takes, how rare it is, what an immense delight!.. As soon as a thought has reached its full perfection, the word springs into being, offers itself, and clothes the thought."1

Naturally such a poetical representation of the creative process should not be taken literally. There is a certain amount of emotional charge in it and this, as is generally the case, obscures to some extent the precision which a definition must have. However, it is well known that the search for adequate expression often takes an enormous amount of time and mental effort. This idea is brilliantly expressed by V. Mayakovsky: Ïîýçèÿ òà æå äîáû÷à ðàäèÿ.  ãðàìì äîáû÷è — â ãîä òðóäû. Èçâîäèøü åäèíîãî -ñëîâà ðàäè — òûñÿ÷è òîíí ñëîâåñíîé ðóäû.

The genuine character of the individual style of an author is not necessarily manifest from the tricky or elaborate expressions he uses.

Some forms of the language which pass unobserved even by an ex­perienced reader due to their seeming insignificance in the general sys-tem of language may be turned into marked* elements by the creative

Sometimes these 'insignificant' elements of the language scattered in the text are the bearers of the author's idiosyncratic bias. This is particularly true of the ways Hemingway, Faulkner and other modern writers have made use of language means, reflecting, as it were, the general tendency of trends in modern English and American literature. According to the observations of many a literary critic, the style of modern literary works is much more emotionally excited, 'disheveled', incoherent than that of Dickens, Thackeray, Galsworthy.

The language of some ultra-modern writers to some extent reflects the rapidly increasing tempo of the present industrial and technical revolution. Sensitive to the pulsation of social life in the country, they experiment with language means so as to mirror the vibration of extra-linguistic reality.

"in every individual style we can find both the general and the par­ticular. The greater the author is, the more genuine his style will be. If we succeed in isolating and examining the choices which the writer pre­fers, we can define what are the particulars that make up his style and make it recognizable.

At the same time the linguist will be able to discern those potential­ities of language means which hitherto were latent or, at the most, used only occasionally.

The individuality of a writer is shown not only in the choice of lex­ical, syntactical and stylistic means but also in their treatment.1 It is really remarkable how a talented writer can make us feel the way he wants us to feel. This co-experience is built up so subtly that the reader remains unaware of the process. It is still stronger when the aesthetic function begins to manifest itself clearly and unequivocally through a gradual increase in intensity, in the foreground of certain features, repetitions of certain syntactical patterns and in the broken rhythm of the author's mode of narrating events, facts and situations.

What we here call individual style, therefore, is a unique combina­tion of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to a given writer, which makes that writer's works or even utterances easily recognizable. Hence, individual style may be likened to a proper name. It. has nominal character. The analogy is, of course, conventional, but it helps to understand the uniqueness of the writer's idiosyncrasy. Individual style is based on a thorough knowledge of the contemporary language and also of earlier periods in its development.

Individual style allows certain justifiable deviations from the rig­orous norms. This, -needless to say, presupposes a perfect knowledge of the invariants of the norms.

Individual style requires to be studied in a course of stylistics in so far as it makes use of the potentialities of language means, whatever the character of these potentialities may-be. But it goes without saying that each author's style should be analyzed separately, which is natu­rally impossible in a book on general stylistics.

Selection, or deliberate choice of language, and the ways the chosen

T^jire treated are the main distinctive features of individual style.

In order to get a workable definition of the norm for the purposes set in this book and, particularly, in connection with the issue of indi­vidual… We shall begin with the following statement made by Academician L. V.… "Very often when speaking of norms people forget about stylistic norms (emphasis added) which are no less, if not…

EXPRESSIVE MEANS (EM) AND STYLISTIC DEVICES (SD)

Stylistic meanings are so to say deautomatized. As is known, the process of automatization, i.e. a speedy and subconscious use of lan­guage data, is… But when a stylistic meaning is involved, the process of deautomatization… What this information is and how it is conveyed to the mind of. the reader can be explored only when a concrete…

What then is a stylistic device? Why is it so important to distinguish it from the expressive and neutral means of the language? To answer . these questions it is first of all necessary to elucidate the notion 'ex­pressiveness'.

The category of expressiveness has long been the subject of heated discussions among linguists. In etimological sense expressive­ness may be understood as a kind of intensification of an utterance or of a part of it depending on the position in the utterance of the means that manifest this category and what these means are.

But somehow lately the notion of expressiveness has been confused with another notion, viz. emotiveness. Emotiveness, and corresponidingly the emotive elements of language, are what reveal the emotions of writer or speaker. But these elements are not direct manifestations ^f"the*^molT6ns—they are just the echoes of real emotions, echoes which have undergone some intellectual recasting. They are designed to awaken co-experience in the mind of the reader.

Expressiveness a broader notion than emotiveness and is by no means to be reduced to the latter. Emotiveness is an integral part of expressiveness and, as a matter of fact, occupies a predominant position in the category of expressiveness. But there are media in language which aim simply at logical emphasis of certain parts of the utterance. They do not evoke any intellectual representation of feeling but merely serve the purpose of verbal actualization of the utterance. Thus, for example, when we say "It was in July 1975 that the cosmos experiment of a joint American-Soviet flight took place" we make the utterance logically em-

hatic by a syntactical device which will be described in due course. The same thing is to be observed in these sentences:

(1) Mr. Smith was an extremely unpleasant person.

(2) Never will he go to that place again.

(3) In rushed the soldiers!

(4) It took us a very, very long time to get there.

In sentence (1) expressiveness is achieved by lexical means—the word 'extremely'. In (2) and (3) by syntactical means—different types of inversion. In (4) the emphasis is materialized by the repetition of the word 'very7 which is in itself a word used to intensify the utterance.

But in the sentences:

(1) Isn't she cute!

(2) Fool that he was!

(3)" This goddam window won't open!

(4) We buddy-buddied together.

(5) This quickie tour didn't satisfy our curiosity, we can register positive emotiveness, in as much as there are elements that evoke certain representations of the feeling of the speaker. In sen­tence (1) and (2) there are syntactical means which evoke this effect. In (3) and (4) there are lexical means—'goddam', 'buddy-buddied' (=were on very friendly relations); in (5)—a morphological device (the suffix—te).

It must be noted that to draw a hard and fast distinction between logical and emotional emphasis is not always possible. The fact is that the logical and the emotional frequently overlap. A too strong logical emphasis may colour the utterance with emotional elements, thus causing a kind of expressiveness which is both logical and emotive. However, the extremes are clearly set one against the other, ...,,^ /^

Now it should be possible to define the notiono^xpressivemeans^TheC^/^è expressive means of a lafigtraf are those pKbnetfc^'mofplioTogical, word- ' Building, lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms which exist In language-as-a-system for the purpose of logical and/or emotional in­tensification of the utterance. These intensifying forms, wrought by social usage and recognized by their semantic function, have been singled * out in grammars, courses in phonetics and dictionaries (including phra­seological ones) as having special functions in making the utterances emphatic. Some of them are normalized, and good dictionaries label them as "intensifies". In most cases they have corresponding neutral synonymous forms. Compare, for example, the following pairs:

(1). He shall do it! = I shall make him do it.

(2) Isn't she cute! = She is very nice, isn't she?

Expressiveness may also be achieved by compositional devices in utterances comprising a number of sentences—in syntactical wholes and in paragraphs. This will be shown in the chapter on syntactical sty­listic devices.

The most powerful expressive means of, anxJMguag6 are phonetic. The human voice can indicate subtle nuances of meaning that no other means can attain. Pitch, melody, stress, pausation, drawling out certain syllables, whispering, a sing-song manner and other ways of using the voice are much more effective than any other means in intensifying an utterance emotionally or logically. In the language course of phonetics the patterns of emphatic intonation have been worked out, but many devices have so far been little investigated.

Paradoxical though-it may seem, many of these means, the effect of which rests on a peculiar use of the voice, are banned from the linguistic domain. But there has appeared a new science—"paralinguistic"—of which all these devices are the inventory. The writer of this book holds the opinion that all the vocal peculiarities enumerated .should be recog­nized as legitimate members of the phonetic structure of language and that therefore the term * paralinguistics' should be done away with.

Professor Seymour Chatman introduces the term 'phonostylistics' and defines it as a subject the purpose of which is "the study of the ways in which an author elects to constrain the phonology of the language beyond the normal requirements of the phonetic system."1 As can be inferred from this quotation, phonetic expressive means and particu­larly phonetic stylistic devices (seep. 123) are not deviations from "the normal requirements of the phonetic system" but a way of actualizing the typical in the given text. Vocal phenomena such as drawling, whisper­ing, etc. should be regarded as parts of the phonemic system on the same level as pitch, stress and tune.

In this part of the book where general ideas are presented in an in­troductory aspect only, there is no need to go deeper into the issue of what constitutes the notion expressive means of the phonetic system. The reader is referred to part III "Phonetic Expressive Means and Sty­listic Devices" (p. 123).

Passing over to some preliminary remarks on the morpholog­ical expressive means of the English language, we must - point to what is now a rather impoverished set of media to which the quality of expressiveness can be attributed. However, there are some which alongside their ordinary grammatical function display a kind of emphasis and thereby are promoted to EMs. These are, for example, The Historical Present; the use of shall in the second and third person; the use of some demonstrative pronouns with an emphatic meaning as those, them ("Those gold candles fixed in heaven's air"—Shakespeare); 'some cases of nominalization, particularly when conversion of verbal stems is alien to the meaning of the verbs or the nominalization of phrases and sentences and a ituniber of other morphological forms, which acquire expressiveness in the context, though this capacity is not yet registered as one of the latent properties of such forms.

Among the w î r d - b è i I d in g me a n s we find a great many forms which serve to make the utterance more expressive by intensifying some of their semantic and/or grammatical properties. The diminutive suffixes,^.(-fe), -let, e.g. 'dearie', 'sonny', 'auntie', “streamfef, add some emotional colouring to the words. We may also refer to what are called neologisms and nonce-words formed with non-productive suffixes

with Greek roots, as “mistressmansWp', 'cleanorama' (see p. 92). Certain affixes have gained such a power of expressiveness that they begin functioning as separate words, absorbing all of the generalizing meaning they attach to different roots, as, for example, 'isms and olo-

At the lexical I e v £j.„there are a great many words which due to theiiHiTlTrf^1ô^ constitute a special layer (see chart on p 71). There are words with emotive meaning only (mteijections), words-..jzdlich,.hays... both..,'referential and emotive meaning (epithets), words which still retain a twofold meaning: denotative and connotative (love, hate, sympathy), words_h£loiigingJ^^

words, or to poetic or archaic layers. The expressive power of these words cannot be doubted, especially when they are compared with the neutral vocabulary.

All kinds of set phrases (phraseological units) generally possess the property of expressiveness. Set phrases, catch words, proverbs, sayings comprise a considerable number of language units which serve to make speech emphatic, mainly from the emotional point of view. Their use in every-day speech is remarkable for the subjective emotional colouring they produce.

It must be noted here that due to the generally emotional character of colloquial language, all kinds of set expressions are natural in every­day speech. They are, as it were, part and parcel of this form of human intercourse. But when they appear in written texts their expressiveness comes to the fore because written texts, as has already been pointed out, are logically directed unless, of course, there is a deliberate attempt to introduce an expressive element in the utterance. The set expression is a time-honoured device to enliven speech, but this device, it must be repeated, is more sparingly used in written'texts. In everyday speech one can often hear such phrases as: "Well, it will only add fuel to the fire" and the like, which in fact is synonymous to the neutral: "It will only make the situation worse."

Finally, at the syntactical level there are many construc­tions which, when set against synonymous neutral ones, will reveal a certain degree of logical or emotional emphasis.

In order to be able to distinguish between expressive means and stylistic devices, to which we now pass, it is necessary to bear in mind that expressive means are concrete facts of language. They are studied in the respective language manuals, though it must be once again re­gretfully stated that some grammarians iron out all elements carrying expressiveness from their works, as they consider this quality irrelevant to the theory of language.

Stylistics studies the expressive means of language, but from a spe­cial angle. It takes into account the modifications of meanings which various expressive means undergo when they are used in different func­tional styles. Expressive means have a kind of radiating effect. They noticeably colour the whole of the utterance no matter whether they are logical or emotional.

What then is a stylistic device? It is a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural and/or semantic property of a language unit (neutral or expressive) prompted to a generalized status and thus Becoming a generative model, It follows then that an SD is an abstract pattern, a mould into which any content can be poured. As is known, the typical is not only that which is in frequent use, but that also which reveals the essence of a phenomenon with the greatest and most evident force. • -

SDs function in texts as marked units. They always..carry some kind of additionjff^^^ That is why the meffiod~ of free variation employed in descriptive linguistics1 cannot be used in stylistics because any substitution may cause damage to the semantic and aesthetic aspect of the utterance.

A. W. De Groot points out the significance of SDs in the following passage:

"Each of the aesthetically relevant features of the text serves to create a feature of the gestalt2 of the poem. In this sense the relevant linguistic features may be said to function or operate as gestalt factors."3

The idea of the function of SDs is expressed most fully by V. M. tir-munsky in the following passage:

"The justification and the sense of each device lies in the wholeness of the artistic impression which the work of art as a self-contained thing produces on us. Each separate aesthetic fact, each poetical device (em­phasis added) finds its place in the system, the sounds and sense of the words, the syntactical structures, the scheme of the plot, the composi­tional purport — all in equal degree express this wholeness and find justification."4

The motivated use of SDs in a genuine work of emotive literature is hot easily discernible, though they are used in some kind of relation to the facts, events, or ideas dealt with in the artistic message. Most SDs display an application of two meanings: the ordinary one, in.other words, the meaning (lexical or structural) which has already been estab­lished in the language-as-a-system, and a special meaning which is superimposed on the unit by the text, i.e. a meaning which appears in the language-in-action.

Sometimes, however, the twofold application of a lexical unit is accomplished not by the interplay of two meanings but by two words (generally synonyms) one of which is perceived against the background of the -other. This will be shown in subsequent chapters.

The conscious transformation of a language fact into a stylistic de­vice has been observed by certain linguists whose interests in linguistic theory have gone beyond the boundaries of grammar. Thus A. A. Poteb-nya writes:

1 By 'free variation' is meant the substitution of one form by another without any change of meaning.

2 'Gestalt' is a term in psychology which denotes a phenomenon as a whole, a kind of oneness, as something indivisible into component parts. The term has been borrowed by linguistics to denote the inseparability of the whole of a poetic work.

"As far back as in ancient Greece and Rome and with few exceptions n to the present time, the definition of a figurative use of a word has been based on the contrast between ordinary speech, used in its own, natural, primary meaning, and transferred speech."1

The contrast which the author of the passage quoted points to, can not always be clearly observed. In some SDs it can be grasped immediately in others it requires a keen eye and sufficient training to detect it. It must be emphasized that the contrast reveals itself most clearly when our mind perceives twofold meanings simultaneously. The meanings run parallel: one of them taking precedence over the other.

Thus in "The night has swallowed him up" the word 'swallow' has W°a) referential and b) contextual (to make disappear, to make vanish). The meaning (b) takes precedence-over the referential (a).

The same can be observed in the sentence: "Is there not blood enough upon your penal code that more must be poured forth to ascend to Heaven and testify against you?" (Byron)

The interrogative form, i.e. the structural meaning of a question, runs parallel with the imposed affirmative thought, i.e. the structural meaning of a statement, and it is difficult to decide which of the two structural meanings—the established or the superimposed—takes the upper hand.

In the following chapters where detailed analysis of the different SDs will be carried out, we shall try, where possible, to consider which of the two meanings realized simultaneously outweighs the other.

The birth of SDs is a natural process in the development of language media. Language units which are used with more or less definite aims of communication in various passages of writing and in various func­tional styles begin gradually to develop new features, a wider range, of functions, thus causing polyfunctionality. Hence they can be presented as invariants with concrete variables.

The interrelation between expressive means and stylistic devices can be worded in terms of the theory of information. Expressive means have a greater degree of predictability than.stylistic devices. The latter may appear in an environment which may seem alien and therefore be only slightly or not at all predictable. Expressive means, on the con­trary, follow the natural course of thought, intensifying it by means commonly used in language. It follows that SDs carry a^g^a^amoyjt of information and therefore require a certain effort to decode their meaning and purport. SDs must be regarded as a special code which has to be well known to the reader in order to be deciphered easily.

The notion of language as a special code is now very much practiced in the analyses of the functions of language units. E. Stankievicz sees

a kind of code-switching when SDs are employed. He also acknowledges

j| the twofold application of the language code when "... the neutral,

Ê basic code serves as the background against which the elements of an-

p other system acquire expressive prominence within the context of the basic

system."1 SDs are used sparingly in emotive prose, lest they should over­burden the text with implications thus hindering the process of decoding. They are abundantly used in poetry and especially so in some trends of poetical tradition, consequently retarding mental absorption of the content.2

Not every stylistic use of a language fact will come under the term SD, although some usages call forth a stylistic meaning. There are practically unlimited possibilities of presenting any language fact in what is vaguely called its stylistic use. For a language fact to be promo­ted to the level of an SD there is one indispensable requirement, which has already been mentioned above, viz. that it should so be used to call forth a twofold perception of lexical or/and structural meanings. Even a nonce use can and very often does create the necessary conditions for the appearance of an SD. But these are only the prerequisites for the appearance of an SD. Only when a newly minted language unit which materializes the twofold application of meanings occurs repeatedly in different environments, can it spring into life as an SD and subse­quently be registered in the system of SDs of the given language.

Therefore it is necessary to distinguish between a stylistic use of a language unit, which acquires what we call a stylistic meaning, and a stylistic device, which is the realization of an already well-known ab­stract scheme designed to achieve a particular artistic effect. Thus many facts of English grammar are said to be used with stylistic meaning, for example, the morphological expressive means mentioned on p. 28. But most of them have not yet been raised to the level of SDs because they remain unsystematized and so far perceived as nonce uses. They are, as it were, still wandering in the vicinity of the realm of SDs without being admitted into it. This can indirectly be proved by the fact that fhey have no special name in the English language system of SDs. An exception, perhaps, is the Historical Present which meets the requirements of an SD.

So faf the system of stylistic devices has not been fully recognized as legitimate members of the general system of language. This is mainly due to the above-mentioned conception of grammatical theory as dealing exclusively with a perfectly organized and extremely rigid scheme of language rules, precise and accurate in its application.

 

 

GENERAL NOTES ON FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF LANGUAGE

It is now time to outline the general principles on which functional styles rest. A functional style of language is a system of interrelated… The literary standard of the English language, like that of any other… What we here call functional styles are also called registers or d i s ñ î u r s e s.

A) the language style of poetry; b) the language style of emotive prose; c) the language style of drama.

The publicistic F S comprises the following substyles: a) the language style of oratory; b) the language style of essays;

c) the language style of feature articles in newspapers and journals.*

The newspaper FS falls into a) the language style of brief news items and communiques; b) the language style of newspaper head­ings and c) the language style of notices and advertisements.

The scientific prose FS also has three divisions: a) the language style of humanitarian sciences; b) the language style of "exact" | sciences; c) the language style of popular scientific prose. J

The official document FS can be divided into four varieties: a) the language style of diplomatic documents; b) the language \ style of business documents; c) the language style of legal .documents; ]

d) the language style of military documents. ]

The classification presented here is by no means arbitrary. It is the result of long and minute observations of factual material in which not • only peculiarities of language usage were taken into account but also extralinguistic data, in particular the purport of the communication. However, we admit that this classification is not proof against criticism. Other schemes may possibly be elaborated and highlighted by different approaches to the problem of functional styles. The classification of FSs Jj is not a simple matter and any discussion of it is bound to reflect more li than one angle .of vision. Thus, for example, some stylicists consider that newspaper articles (including feature articles) should be classed M under the functional style of newspaper language, not under the language ì of publicistic literature. Others insist on including the language of every- ' day-life discourse into the system of functional styles. Prof. Budagov singles out only two main functional styles: the language of science and that of emotive literature.1

It is inevitable, of course, that any classification should lead to some kind of simplification of the ^acts classified, because items areconsid-ered in isolation. Moreover, substyles assume, as it were, the aspect of closed systems. But no classification, useful though it may be from the theoretical point of view, should be allowed to blind us as to the conventionality of classification in general. When analysing concrete texts, we discover that the boundaries between them sometimes become less and less discernibk^Thus, for instance, the signs of difference are sometimes almost imperceptible between poetry and emotive prose; between newspaper FS and publicistic FS; between a popular scientific article and a scientific treatise; between an essay and a scientific article. But the extremes are apparent from the ways language units are used both structurally and semantically. Language serves a variety of needs and these needs have given birth to the principles on which our classifi­cation is based and which in their turn presuppose the choice and com­bination of language means.

We presume that the reader has noticed the insistent use of the ex-cTion 'language style' or “style of language' in the above classification. This is done in order to emphasize the idea that in this work the word 'style' is applied purely to linguistic data.

The classification given above to our mind adequately represents the facts of the standard English language. For detailed analyses of FSs åå chapter VI of this book (p. 249), where in addition to arguments for placing this or that FS in a given group, illustrations with commentary will be found.

 

 

VARIETIES OF LANGUAGE

The functioning of the literary language in various spheres of human activity and with different aims of communication has resulted in its differentiation. This differentiation is predetermined by two distinct factors, namely, the actual situation in within the language is being used amLthe aim of the communication.

The actual situation of the communication has evolved two varie­ties of language—t he s p î k e n a^d ^/1Ä_îó r / ft en. The varying aims of the communication have caused the literary language to fall into a number of self-sufficient systems (functional styles of language).

Of the two varieties of language, diachronically the spoken is pri­mary and the written is secondary. Each of these varieties has developed its own features md_4uaHties which in many ways may be regarded as opposed to each other.

The situation in which the spoken variety of language is used and in which it develops, can be described concisely as the presence of an inter­locutor. The written variety, on the contrary, presupposes the absence of an interlocutor. The spoken language is maintained in the form of a dialogue, the written in the form of a monologue. The spoken language, has a considerable advantage over the written, in that the human voice, comes into play. This is a powerful means of modulating the utterance, as are all kinds of gestures, which, together with the intonation, give additional information.

The written language has to seek means to compensate for what it lacks. Therefore the written utterance will inevitably be more diffuse, more explanatory. In other words, it has to produce an enlarged repre­sentation of the communication in order to be explicit enough.

The forms of the written language replace those of the spoken language when dissemination of ideas is the purpose in view. It is the written variety of language with its careful organization and deliberate, choice of words and mistruHior^ and educa­tional influence on a wMe and scattered public.

Jn fRe r6rig"process^TTI^uncfioning, the written language has ac­quired its own characteristic features emanating from the need to am-P"ty the utterance, which, is an essential point in the written language.

The gap between the spoken and written varieties of language, wider

guage, will always remain apparent due to the difference in circumstances in which the two are used. Here is an example showing the difference.… Its written counterpart would run as follows: 'What a marvellous beast a fox… The use of the peculiarities of the spoken variety in the written lan­guage, or vice versa, the peculiarities of the…

A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LITERARY (STANDARD) LANGUAGE

Confusion between the terms "literary language" and "language of literature" is frequently to be met. JLiterary language is a historical category. It exists as a varietyof iie*… 1," said A. M. Gorki, "that language is the creation of the people. The division of the language into…

MEANING FROM A STYLISTIC POINT OF VIEW

"The linguistic term ò eani ng has been “defined in so many ways that there appears an urgent need to clarify it; particularly in view of the… At some period in the development of a certain trend in linguistic theory in… The tendency was so strong that R. Jakobson proposed the term "se­mantic invariant" as a substitute for…

PART II STYLISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

In order to get a more or less clear idea of the word-stock of any lan­guage, it must be presented as a system, the elements of which are… Indeed, the coinage of new lexical units, the development of meaning, the… To deny the systematic character of the word-stock of a language amounts to denying the systematic character of…

For our purpose, i.e. for linguistic stylistics, a special type of classi­fication, viz. stylistic classification, is most important.

In accordance with the already-mentioned division of language into literary and colloquial, we may represent the whole of the word-stock

Speciai Literary Vocabulary

Common Literary Vocabulary

Neutral Words

Common CoUo^uiaL Vocabulary

of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the collo­quial l à ó å r. The literary… The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is… The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no…

NEUTRAL, COMMON LITERARY AND COMMON COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY

Neutral words, which form the bulk of the English vocab­ulary, are used in bottTliterary and colloquial language. Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. It is the neutral stock of words that is so prolific in the production of new meanings.

The wealth of the neutral stratum of words is often overlooked. This is due to their inconspicuous character. But their faculty for as­suming new meanings and generating new stylistic variants is often quite amazing. This generative power of the neutral words in the Eng­lish language is multiplied by the very nature of the language itself. It has been estimated that most neutral English words are of monosyllabic character, as, in the process of development from Old English to Modern English, most of the parts of speech lost their distinguishing suffixes. This phenomenon has led to the development of conversion as the most productive means of word-building. Word compounding is not so productive as conversion or word derivation, where a new word is formed because of a shift in the part of speech in the first case and by the addition of an affix in the second. Unlike all other groups, the neutral group of words cannot be considered as having a special stylistic colour­ing, whereas both literary and colloquial words have a definite stylistic colouring.

Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech. One can always tell a literary word from a colloquial word. The reason for this lies in certain objective features of the literary layer of words. What these objective features are, is difficult to say be­cause as yet no objective criteria have been worked out. But one of them undoubtedly is that literary units stand in opposition to colloquial units. This is especially apparent when pairs of synonyms, literary and colloquial, can be formed which stand in contrasting relation.

The following synonyms illustrate the relations that exist between the neutral, literary and colloquial words in the English language.

Colloquial

kid

daddy

chap

get opt

go on

teenager

flapper

(go ahead get going make a move

Neutral

child father fellow go away continue-boy {girl) young girl / begin 1 start

Literary

infant

parent

associate

retire

proceed

youth (maiden)

maiden

commence

It goes without saying that these synonyms are not only stylistic but ideographic as well, i. e. there is a definite, though slight, semantic difference between the words. But this is almost- always the case with synonyms. There are very few absolute synonyms in English just as there are in any language. The main distinction between synonyms re­mains stylistic. But stylistic difference may be of various kinds: it may lie in the emotional tension connoted in a word, or in the sphere of application, or in the degree of the quality denoted. Colloquial words are always more emotionally coloured than literary ones. The neutral stratum of words, as the term itself implies, has no degree of emotiveness, nor have they any distinctions in the sphere of usage.

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. The same may be said of the upper range of the colloquial layer: it can very easily pass into the neutral layer. The lines of demarcation between common colloquial and neutral, on the one hand, and common literary and neutral, on the other, are blurred. It is here that the process of inter-penetration of the stylistic strata becomes most apparent.

Still the extremes remain antagonistic and therefore are often used to bring about a collision of manners of speech for special stylistic pur­poses. The difference in the stylistic aspect of words may colour the whole of an utterance.

In this example from "Fanny's First Play" (Shaw), the difference between the common literary and common colloquial vocabulary is clearly seen.

"DORA: Oh, I've let.it out. Have I? (contemplating Juggins ' approvingly as he places a chair for her between the table and the sideboard). But he's the right sort: I can.see that (buttonholing him). You won't let it out downstairs, old man, will you?

JUGGINS: The family can rely on my absolute discretion."

The words in Juggins's answer are on the border-line between com­mon literary and neutral, whereas the words and expressions used by Dora are clearly common colloquial, not bordering on neutral.

This example from "David Copperfield" (Dickens) illustrates the use of literary English words which do not border on neutral:

"My dear Copperfield," said Mr. Micawber, "this is luxuri­ous. This is a way of life which reminds me of a period when I was myself in a state of celibacy, and Mrs. Micawber had not yet been solicited to plight her faith at the Hymeneal ,altar."

"He means, solicited by him, Mr. Copperfield," said Mrs. Micawber, archly. "He cannot answer for others."

"My dear," returned Mr. Micawber with sudden seriousness, "I have no desire to answer for others. I am too well aware that when, in the inscrutable decrees of Fate, you were reserved for me, it is possible you may have been reserved for one destined, after a protracted struggle, at length to fall a vktim to pecuni­ary .involvements of a^ complicated nature. I understand your allusion, my love, I regret it, but I can bear it."

"Micawber!" exclaimed Mrs. Micawber, in tears. "Have I de-" served this! IT who never have deserted you; who never will desert you, Micawber!"

"My love," said Mr. Micawber, much affected, "you will forgive, and our old and tried friend Copperfield will, I am sure, forgive the moitientary laceration of a wounded spirit, made sen­sitive by a recent collision with the Minion of Power—in other words, with a ribald Turacock attached to the waterworks — and will pity, not condemn, its excesses."

There is a certain analogy between the interdependence of common literary words and neutral ones, on the one hand, and common collo­quial words and neutral ones, on the other. Both sets can be viewed as being in invariant — variant relations. The neutral vocabulary may be viewed as the invariant of the standard English vocabulary. The stock of words forming the neutral stratum should in this case be regarde3 as an abstraction. The words of this stratum are generally deprived of any concrete associations and refer to the concept more or less directly. Synonyms of neutral words, both colloquial and literary, assume a far greater degree of concreteness. They generally present the same notions not abstractly but as a more or less concrete image, that is, in a form perceptible by the senses. This perceptibility by the senses causes subject­ive evaluations of the notion in question, or a mental image of the con­cept. Sometimes an impact of a definite kind on the reader or hearer is the aim lying behind the choice of a colloquial or a literary word rather than a neutral one.

In the diagram (p. 71), common colloquial vocab­ulary is represented as overlapping into the standard English vocab­ulary and is therefore to be considered part of it. It borders both on the neutral vocabulary and on the special colloquial vocabulary which, as we shall see later, falls out of standard English altogether. Just as common literary words lack homogeneity so do common colloquial words and set expressions. Some of the lexical items belonging to this stratum are close to the non-standard colloquial groups such as jargon-isms, professionalisms, etc. These are on the border-line betwe.en the common colloquial vocabulary and the special colloquial or non-standard vocabulary. Other words approach the neutral bulk of the English vocabulary. Thus, the words teenager (a young girl or young man) and hippie (hippy) (a young person who leads an unordered and unconvention­al life) are colloquial words passing into the neutral vocabulary. They are gradually losing their non-standard character and becoming widely recognized. However, they have not lost their colloquial association and therefore still remain in the colloquial stratum of the English vocabulary. So also are the following words and expressions: take (in 'as I take it'^as I understand); to go for (to be attracted by, like very much, as in "You think she still goes for the guy?"); guy (young man); to be gone on (—to be madly in love with); pro (=a professional, e. g. a professional boxer, tennis-player, etc.).

The spoken language abounds in set expressions which, are collo­quial in character, e. g. all sorts of things, just a bit, How is life treating you?, so-so, What time do you make it?, to hob-nob (=to be very friendly with, to drink together), so much the better, to be sick and tired of, to be up to something.

The stylistic function of the different strata of the English vocabu­lary depends not so much on the inner qualities of each of the groups, as on their interaction when they are opposed to one another. However, the qualities themselves are not unaffected by the function of the words, inasmuch as these qualities have been acquired in certain environments. È is interesting to note that anything written assumes a greater degree of significance than what is only spoken. If the spoken takes the place of the written or vice versa, it means that we are faced with a stylistic device.

Certain set expressions have been coined within literary English and their use in ordinary speech will inevitably make the utterance sound bookish. In .other words, it will become literary. The following

are examples of set expressions which can be considered literary: in accordance with, with regard to, by virtue of, to speak at great length, to lend assistance, to draw a lesson, responsibility rests.

SPECIAL LITERARY VOCABULARY

A) Terms

"All scientists are linguists to some extent. They are respon­sible for devising a consistent terminology, a skeleton language to talk about their subject-matter. Philologists and philosophers of speech are in the peculiar position of having to evolve a special language to talk about language itself."1

This quotation makes clear one of the essential characteristics of a term, viz. its highly conventional character. A term is generally very easily coined and easily accepted; and new coinages as easily replace out-d,ated ones.

This sensitivity to alteration is mainly due to the necessity of re­flecting in language the cognitive process maintained by scholars in analysing different concepts and phenomena. One of the most characte­ristic features of a term is its direct relevance to the system or set of terms used in a particular science, discipline or art, i.e. to its nomenclature.

When a term is used otfr mind immediately associates it with a cer­tain nomenclature. A term is directly connected with the concept it de­notes. A term, unlike other words, directs the mind to the essential vquality of the thing, phenomenon or action as seen by the scientist in the light of his own conceptualization.

"A word is organically one with its meaning; likewise a term is one with a concept. Conceptualization leaves, as it were, language behind, although the words remain as (scientific or phi­losophical) term*. Linguistically the difference is important in that terms are much mure easily substitutable by other terms than are words by other words: it is easier to feplace, say, the term phonology by phonemics (provided I make it clear what is meant), than to replace everyday words like table and chair by other words." 2

Terms are mostly and predominantly used in special works dealing with the notions of some branch of science. Therefore it may be said that they belong to the style of language of science. But their use is not con­fined to this style. They may as well appear in other styles—in newspa­per style, in publicistic and practically in all other existing styles of language. But their function in this case changes. They do not always fulfil their basic function, that of bearing exact reference to a given con­cept. When used in the belles-lettres style, for instance, a term may acquire a stylistic function and consequently become a (sporadical)

SD. This happens when a term is used in such a way that two meanings are materialized simultaneously.

The function of terms, if encountered in other styles, is either to indi­cate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt with, or to make some reference to the occupation of a character whose language would naturally contain special words and expressions.

In this connection it is interesting to analyse the stylistic effect of the medical terminology used by A. J. Cronjn in his novel "The Citadel". The frequent use of medical terms in the novel is explained by its subject-matter—the life of a physician—and also by the fact that the writer himself is a physician and finds it natural to use medical terminology.

The piling up of difficult and special terms hinders the reader's understanding of the text if he is not a specialist even when the writer strives to explain them. Moreover, such an accumulation of special ter­minology often suggests that the author is displaying his erudition. Maxim Gorki said that terms must not be overused. It has been pointed out that those who are learning use far more complicated terms than those who have already learned.

There is an interesting process going on in the development of any language. With the increase of general education and the expansion of technique to satisfy the ever-growing needs and desires of mankind, many words that were once terms have gradually lost their quality as terms and have passed into the common literary or even neutral vocabulary. This process may be called "de-terminization". Such words as 'radio', 'television' and the like have long been in-common use and their termi­nological character is no longer evident.

Brian Foster in his book "The Changing English Language" writes:

"...science is one of the most powerful influences moulding the Eng­lish language into fresh shapes at the present time. Scientific writing is not highly esteemed for its elegance—oneVecalls the tale of the scientist who alluded to a certain domain of enquiry as a 'virgin field pregnant with possibilities'—but scientific jargon and modes of thought inevitably come to the fore in a society which equates civilization with chromium-plated bath taps. Nor does the process date from yesterday, for we have long been talking of people being 'galvanized' into activity or going 'full steam ahead', but nowadays this tendency to prefer technical ima­gery is ever-increasing, so that science can truly be said to have 'sparked off a chain-reaction' in the linguistic sphere."*

This quotation clearly shows how easily terms and terminological combinations become de-terminized. We hardly-notice sometimes the terminological origin of the words we use.

But such de-terminized words may by the force of a stylistic device become re-established in their terminological function, thus assuming a twofold application, which is the feature required of a stylistic device.

But when terms are used in their normal function as terms in a work °f belles-lettres, they are or ought to be easily understood from the con­text so that the desired effect in depicting the situation will be secured,

Here is an example of a moderate use of special terminology bordering on common literary vocabulary.

"There was a long conversation—a long wait. His father came back to say it was doubtful whether they could make the loan. Eight per cent, then being secured for money, was a small rate of interest, considering its need. For ten per cent Mr. Kuzel might make a call-loan. Frank went back to his employer, whose commer­cial choler rose at the report." (Theodore Dreiser, "The Financier")

Such terms as 'loan', 'rate of interest', and the phrase 'to secure for money' are widely known financial terms which to the majority of the English and American reading public need no explanation. The terms used here do not bear any special meaning. Moreover, if they are not understood they may to some extent be neglected. It will suffice if the reader has a general idea, vague though it may be, of the actual meaning of the terms used. The main task of the writer in this passage is not to explain the process of business negotiations, but to create the environ­ment of a business atmosphere.

In this example the terms retain their ordinary meaning though their function in the text is not exactly terminological. It is more nearly stylistic, inasmuch as here the terms serve the purpose of characterizing the commercial spirit of the hero of the novel. However, they are not 'SDs because they fail to meet the main requirement of an SD.

The following is an example where a term is used as an SD.

"What a fool Rawdon Crawley has been," Clump replied, "to go and marry a governess. There was something about the girl too."

"Green eyes, fair skin, pretty figure, famous frontal develop­ment" Squill remarked. (W. M. Thackeray)

The combination 'frontal development' is terminological in character (used sometimes in anatomy). But being preceded by the word 'famous' used in the^ense indicated by the Shorter Oxford Dictionary as "a strong expression of approval (chiefly colloquial); excellent, capital" the whole expression assumes a specific stylistic function due to the fact that 'frontal development' is used both in its terminological aspect and in its logical meaning 'the breast of a woman'.

Another example of the saijie kind —terms becoming SDs:

"I should like" said young Jolyon, "to lecture on it: PROP­ERTY AND QUALITIES OF A FORSYTE. This little animal, disturbed by the ridicule of his own sort, is unaffected in his motions by the laughter of strange creatures (you and I). Hered­itarily disposed to myopia, he recognizes only the persons and habitats of his own species, among which he passes an existence of competitive tranquility." (Galsworthy)

In this excerpt the twofold application of meanings—terminological and stylistic—is achieved by the following means: the verb to 'lecture (on...)' and the title of the subject 'Properties and qualities (of a For­syte)' direct the mind to the domain of science, i. e. they are used in a

terminological sense. But when they are followed by a word with nominal meaning (Forsyte) they assume an additional meaning—a stylistic one. This clash of incongruous notions arrests the mind and forces it tore-eval­uate the terminological meaning of the words which aim at supporting the pseudo-biological and medical aspect of the message—this being contained in the words 'sort', 'creature', 'little animal', 'species', “habitats', 'myopia'. This aspect is also backed up by such literary words and word-combinations as 'tranquility' and 'passes an existence' which are in full accord with the demands of a lecture.

Whenever the terms used in the belles-lettres style set the reader at odds with the text, we can register a stylistic effect caused either by a specific use of terms in their proper meanings or by a simultaneous reali­zation of two meanings.

B) Poetic and Highly Literary Words

Poetic words and expressions are called upon to sustain the special elevated atmosphere of poetry. This may be said to be the main function of… V. V. Vinogradov gives the following properties of poetic words: "...the cobweb of poetic words and images veils the reality, stylizing it according to the established literary…

C) Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words

In registering these processes the role of dictionaries can hardly be over-estimated. Dictionaries serve to retain this or that word in a lan­guage… In every period in the development of a literary language one can find words… We shall distinguish three stages in the aging process of words:

D) Barbarisms and Foreignisms

Most of them have corresponding English synonyms; e. g. chic (=stylish); bon mot (=a clever witty saying); en passant (— in passing); Û infinitum (=… It is very important for purely stylistic purposes to distinguish between… In printed works foreign words and phrases are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or their stylistic…

SPECIAL COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY

A) Slang

Much has been said and written about it. This is probably due to the uncertainty of the concept itself. No one has yet given a more or less… The first thing that strikes the scholar is the fact that no other Euro­pean… Webster's "Third New International Dictionary" gives the following meanings of the term:

B) Jargonisms

Thus the word grease means 'money'; loaf means 'head'; a tiger hunter is 'a^gambler'; a lexer is 'a student preparing for a law course'. Jargonisms are social in character. They are not regional. In Britain and in… The various jargons (which in fact are nothing but a definite group of words) remain a foreign language to the…

C) Professionalisms

Professional words name anew already-existing concepts, tools or instruments, and have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of… Here are some professionalisms used in different trades: tin-fish… blocks of big buildings); piper (=a specialist who decorates pastry with the use of a cream-pipe); a midder case (=a…

D) Dialectal words

With reference to this group there is a confusion of terms, particu­larly between the terms dialectal, slang and vernacular. In order to ascertain… "The history of a very large part of the vocabulary of the pres­ent-day… We are not concerned here with the historical aspect of dialectal words. For our purpose it wilT suffice to note that…

E) Vulgar words or vulgarisms

Out of seven various meanings given in Webster's Third New Interna­tional Dictionary six repeat nearly the same definitions that are given in the… "5a: marked by coarseness of speech or expression; crude or offensive in… These two submeanklgs are the foundation of what we here name vul­garisms. Sot* vulgarisms are: ^

PART Ø PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

GENERAL NOTES

"With a cargo of Tyne coal, Road-rails, pig-lead, Fire-wood, iron-ware and cheap tin trays.**

Onomatopoeia

There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect Others require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to de­cipher… Onomatopoetic words can be used in a transferred meaning, as for instance, ding-dong, which represents the sound of…

Alliteration

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at im­parting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the… "The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and… (Galsworthy)

Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words.

Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.

Identity and particularly similarity of sound combinations may be relative. For instance, we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable, as in might, right; needless, heedless. When there is identity of the stressed syllable, including the initial consonant of the second syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes.

Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety. They can be divided into two main groups: vowel 'rhymes and consonant rhymes. In vowel rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different, as in flesh— fresh—press. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowels, as in worth—forth; tale—tool— Treble—trouble; flung—long.

Modifications in rhyming sometimes go so far as to make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in upon her honour—won her; bottom—forgot'em—shot him. Such rhymes are called j^jipaund,, or, broken. The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is thartfie combina­tion of worpTTfnade to sound like one word—a device which inevitably gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance.

Compound rhyme may be set against what is called e ó e-r h ó ò e, where the letters and not the sounds are identical, as in love—prove, flood— brood, have—grave. It follows therefor_eiJ^atfcylier^SL.compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye-rhyme can only Úå perceived in the written verse'

Many eye-rhymes æå the result of historical changes in the vowel sounds in certain positions. The continuity of English verse manifests itself also in retention of some pairs of what were once rhyming words. But on the analogy of these pairs, new eye-rhymes have been coined and the model now functions alongside ear-rhymes.

According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza, certain models have crystallized, for instance:

1. couplets —when the last words of two successive lines are rhymed. This is commonly marked aa.

2. triple rhymes—aaa

3. cross rhymes—abab

4. framing or ring rhymes—abba

There is still another variety of rhyme which is called i n t e ã n a I rhyme. The rhyming words are placed not at the ?̧:Æ the lilies but within the line, as in:

"I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers." (Shelley) or:

"Once upon a midnight dreary while à pondered weak and weary." (Ðîå)

Internal rhyme breaks the line into two distinct parts, at the same time more strongly consolidating the ideas expressed in these two parts. Thus rhyme may be said tQ possess two seemingly contradictory func­tions: dissevering, on the one hand, and- consolidatin g\ on the other. As in many stylistic devices, these two functions of rhyme are realized simultaneously in a greater or lesser degree depending on the distribution of the rhymes. In aa rhymes the consolidating function is rather conspicuous. In aabaab rhymes the rhyming words bb may not immediately reveal their'consolidating function.

The dissevering function of internal rhyme makes itself felt in a distinctive pause, which is a natural result of the longer line. This qual­ity of internal rhyme may be regarded as a leading one.

The distinctive function of rhyme is particularly felt when it occurs unexpectedly in ordinary speech or in prose. The listener's attention is caught by the rhyme and he may lose the thread of the discourse.

Rhythm

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mighty weapon in stirring up emotions what­ever its nature or origin, whether it is musical,- mechanical, or symmetri­cal, as in architecture.,

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 can be perceived only provided that there is some kind of experience in catching the opposite elements or features in their cor­relation, and, what is of paramount importance, experience in catching the regularity of alternating patterns. Rhythm is primarily ^perio­dicity, which requires specification as to the type of periodicity. According to some investigations, rhythmical periodicity in verse "re­quires intervals of about three quarters of a second between successive peaks of periods." * It is a deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units intended to be grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a stylistic device.

Rhythm, therefore, is the main factor which brings order into the utterance. The influence of the rhythm on the semantic aspect of the

utterance is now being carefully investigated and it becomes apparent that orderly phonetic arrangement of the utterance calls forth orderly syntactical structures which, in their turn, suggest an orderly segment­ing of the sense-groups. The conscious perception of rhythms must be j acquired by training, as must the perception of any stylistic device. Some people are said to. be completely deaf to rhythm and whatever efforts are exerted to develop this sense in them inevitably fail. But this is not true. A person may not be able to produce a flow of rhythmi­cal units, but he can certainly acquire a feeling for rhythm if he trains his ear.

Rhythm in language necessarily demands oppositions that alter­nate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low; and other contrasting segments of speech. Some theoreticians maintain that rhythm can only be perceived if there are occasional deviations from the regularity of alternations. In this connection De Groot writes:

"It is very strange indeed that deviations from the theme (i.e. the accepted kind of periodicity, I. G.) in separate lines (called irregularities of the line) have been looked upon as de­ficiencies of the poem by such eminent scholars as Jespersen and Heusseler. On the contrary, they are indispensable, and have both a formal and expressive function. Harmony is not only a matter of similarity, but also of dissimilarity, and in good poetry, irregularities of lines are among the most important features of the poem both in their formal and their expressive functions. Actually, the beauty of a poem is less dependent upon the regularities than upon the irregularities of the poem." x

Academician V. M. Zirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of metre. M e t r e is any form of pe­riodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and num­ber of syllables of which it consists. The metre is an ideal phenomenon characterized by its strict regularity, consistency and unchangeability.2 Rhythm is flexible and sometimes an effort is required to perceive it. In classical verse it is perceived at the background of the metre. In ac­cented verse—by the number of stresses in a line. In prose—by the alter­nation of similar syntactical patterns. He gives the following definition of verse rhythm. It is "the actual alternation of stress which appears as a result of interaction between the ideal metrical law and the natural phonetic properties of the given .language material." 3 He holds the view that romantic poetry regards metrical forms as a conventional tradition, which hinders the vigorous individual creativity of the poet and narrows the potential variety of poetic material.

This trend in literature justifies all kinds of deviations from the met­rical scheme as well as the dissimilarity of stanzas; it favours enjambment (see p. 257) because it violates the monotonous concurrence of the rhythmical and syntactical units of the metrical system; it makes ample use of imperfect rhymes, inasmuch as they violate the trivial exactness of sound correspondence. It follows then that the concept of rhythm should not be identified with that of metre, the latter, be it repeated, appearing only in' classical verse as an ideal form, an invariant of the given scheme of alternation. However, the deviations (the variants) must not go so far as to obscure the consciously perceived ideal scheme. As has been pointed out before, stylistic effect can only be achieved if there is a clear-cut dichotomy of the constituent elements. In the present case the dicho­tomy is perceived in the simultaneous materialization of the orthodox and free patterns of metrical alternation. J. Middleton Murry states:

"In order that rhythmic effects should be successful they must be differentiated with certainty; and to manage contrasts of rhythm—without contrast there is no differentiation—with so much subtlety that they will remain subordinate to the in­tellectual suggestion of the words, is the most delicate work imaginable."ã

In his notes on Shakespeare's plays our Russian poet B. Pasternak expressed the same idea in the following words:

"...The metre (that of blank verse, /. G.) is not made conspic­uous. This is not a recitation. The form with its self-admiration does not overshadow the content, which is infathomable and chaste. It is an example of sublime poetry which in its finest examples has always the simplicity and freshness of prose." 2

V. Mayakovsky framed this idea in poetic form. "Rhythm", he writes, "is the foundation of every poetic work, and passes through it like a clamour." And further, "I get my metre by covering this clamour with words."3 The Russian poet A. Blok said that the poet is not one who writes verses, but the bearer of rhythm.

Verse did not become entirely divorced from music when it began to live as an independent form of art. As is known, verse has its origin in song; but still the musical element has never been lost; it has'assumed a new form of existence—rhythm.

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."4 This point of view is now gaining ground. Many attempts have been made to ascribe meaning to rhythm and even to specify different meanings to different types of metre. This is impor­tant, inasmuch as it contributes to the now-prevailing idea that any form must make some contribution to the general sense. Rhythm in­tensifies the emotions. It also specifies emotions. Some students of rhythm go so far as to declare that "...one obvious agency for the expression

of his (a poet's) attitude is surely metre" l and that "...the poet's attitude toward his reader is reflected in his manipulation—sometimes his dis­regard—of metre." 2

So divergence from the ideal metrical scheme is an inherent quality of rhythm in verse. 3. The range of divergence must, however, have its limits. Deviations from the metrical theme are free within the given frame of variation, but they cannot go beyond that frame lest the rhyth­mical pattern should be destroyed. 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.

"If violations of the metre take root," writes R. Jakobson, "they themselves become rules..." and further,

"...these are allowed oscillations, departures within the lim­its of the law. In British parliamentary terms, it is not an opposition to its majesty the metre, but an opposition of its majes­ty." 4

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.5 There are, however, certain cases in verse where no departures are allowed and the rhythm strikes the ear with its strict regularity. These are cases where the rhythm contributes to the sense. Thus in Robert Southey's "How the Water Comes Down at Ladore" (see p. 126) the rhythm itself is meant to interpret the monotonous roar of the waterfall; or in Edward Lear's poem "The Nutcrackers and the Sugar-tongs" where the rhythm reproduces the beat of galloping horses' feet, or in march rhythm where the beat of th^ lines suggests a musical foundation. In short, wherever there is a recognizable semantic function of the rhythm few, if any, deviations are evident.

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.. We shall now proceed to the analysis of rhythm in prose, bearing in mind that the essential properties of prose rhythm are governed by the same general rules, though not so apparent, perhaps, as in verse, and falling under different parameters of analysis.

Much has been said and written about rhythm in prose. Some in­vestigators, in attempting to find rhythmical patterns of prose, super -

5 Cf. J. A. Richard's statement that "The ear ... grows tired of strict regularity, - but delights in recognizing behind the variations the standard that still governs them" (Practical Criticism, p. 227).

impose metrical measures on prose and regard instances which do not fall under the suggested metrical scheme as variants. But the parameters of the rhythm in verse and in prose are entirely different. R. Jakobson states: "... any metre uses the syllable as a-unit of measure at least in certain sections of the verse." x The unit of measure in prose, however, is not the syllable but a structure, a word-combination, a sequence of words, that is, phrases, clauses, sentences, even supra-phrasal units.2 The structural pattern, which in the particular case is the rhythmical unit, will be repeated within the given span of prose. The rhythm will be based not on the regular alternation of opposing units, i.e. a regular beat, but on the repetition of similar structural units following one another or repeated after short intervals. The peculiar property of prose rhythm, particularly in 20th century prose, is that it occurs only in relatively short spans of text, and that it constantly changes its patterns and may suddenly drop to a normal, almost unapparent rhythmical design or to no rhythm at all.

It must be made clear that metrical or accented rhythm, which is an internal and indispensable property of verse, is incidental in prose, which in its very essence is arhythmical. A prose passage interpolated into a work written in verse, a device so favoured by some poets, has its significance in the acute opposition of the two modes of expression: rhyth­mical versus arhythmical.

The most observable rhythmical patterns in prose are based on the use of certain stylistic syntactical devices, namely, enumeration, re­petition, parallel construction (in particular, balance) and chiasmus. The beginning of Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities" (see p. 223) may serve as an illustration of prose rhythm. Here the rhythm is easily discernible.

In the following passage it is more difficult to catch the rhythm, though when the passage is read aloud, the rhythm is clear.

"The high-sloping roof, of a fine sooty pink was almost Dan­ish, and two 'ducky* little windows looked out of it, giving an im­pression that very tall servants lived up there."

(Galsworthy)

Here the rhythmical pattern of the utterance is almost imperceptible to an untrained ear, but will clearly be felt by one with rhythmical experience. The paired attributes high-sloping, fine sooty, ducky little and likewise the attribute with an adverbial modifier very tall are all structurally similar word-combinations and therefore create the rhythm.

As a good example of oscillating prose rhythm hardly dissectable into rhythmical units is the following excerpt from Somerset Maugham's "The Painted Veil":

"Walter, I beseech you to forgive me," she said, leaning over him. For fear that he could not bear the pressure she took care not to touch him. "I'm so desperately sorry for the wrong I did you. I so bitterly regret it."

He said nothing. He did not seem to hear. She was obliged to insist. It seemed to her strangely that his soul was a fluttering moth and its wings were heavy with hatred.

"Darling."

A shadow passed over his wan and sunken face. It was less than a movement, and yet it gave all the effect of a terrifying convulsion. She had never used that word to him before. Per­haps in his dying brain there passed the thought, confused and difficultly grasped, that he had only heard her use it, a common­place of her vocabulary, to dogs, and babies and motorcars. Then something horrible occurred. She clenched her hands, trying with all her might to control herself, for she saw two tears run slowly down his wasted cheeks.

"Oh, my precious, my dear, if you ever loved me—I know you loved me and I was hateful—I beg you to forgive me. I've no chance now to show my repentance. Have mercy on me. I be­seech you to forgive."

She stopped. She looked at him, all breathless, waiting passion­ately for a reply. She saw that he tried to speak. Her heart gave a great bound."

The long passage is necessary in order that the fluctuating, rhyth­mical pattern of both the author's and the character's speech might be observed. The most obvious rhythmical unit here is the structural similarity of the sentences. The overwhelming majority of the senten­ces are short, simple, almost unextended, resembling each other in structural design:—'He said nothing', 'He did not seem to hear', 'She was obliged to insist', 'A shadow passed over his wan and sunken face', 'She had never used that word to him before', 'She saw that he tried to speak', 'Her heart gave a great bound'.

Likewise the character's speech is marked by the same feature— the sentences are short, simple, resembling each other in their structural design:— 'Walter, I beseech you to forgive me', 'I beg you to forgive me', 'I've no chance now to show my repentance', 'I beseech you to for­give' and earlier 'I'm so desperately sorry... I so bitterly regret it.'

But it is not only the repetition of the structural design of the sen­tences that makes the rhythrri: there are other elements contributing to it. With the increatsevof emqtional tension the author almost slips into the iambic rhythm of blank verse. Dramatic feeling demands reg­ular rhythm. As the emotion becomes tenser, the rhythmical beat and cadence of the words becomes more evident. Mark the sentence which begins with 'Perhaps in his dying brain....' Here a kind of met­rical rhythm can easily be discerned—

"there passed the thought confused and w .1 | ^ -L | w -L | ^

difficultly gras

that he had only heard her use it, ...

and so it goes on until the phrase "then something horrible occurred." Of course this inter-correlation of the rhythmical units in the passage is open to discussion. There may be various delivery instances. In this connection R. Jakobson says that "a variation of verse instances within a given poem must be strictly distinguished from the variable delivery instances." l

Indeed, almost any piece of prose, though in essence arhythmical, can be made rhythmical by isolating words or sequences of words and mak­ing appropriate pauses between each. In order to distinguish the variable delivery instances of an utterance from its inherent structural and se­mantic properties, it is necessary to subject the text to a thorough anal­ysis of the correlated component parts. The short survey of the passage above shows that the prose rhythm is interspersed with-genuine metrical rhythm not devoid, of course, of the modifications which make the verse rhythm less conspicuous.

A very good example of prose rhythm can be seen in the chapter from Galsworthy's "Man of Property" entitled 'June's Treat' a passage from which is given later (see p. 266).

It must be noted that the irruption of prose into a metrical pattern is generally perceived as annihilation of rhythm, whereas the intro­duction of metrical pattern into prose aims at consolidating the already vaguely perceived rhythm of the utterance.

Prose rhythm, unlike verse rhythm, lacks consistency, as it follows various principles. But nevertheless a trained ear will always detect a kind of alternation of syntactical units. The task is then to find these units and to ascertain the manner of alternation. This is not an easy task because, as has already been pointed out, rhythm is not an essen­tial property of prose, whereas it is essential in verse. Prose is the oppo­site of verse and this opposition is primarily structural, in this case, rhythmical structure versus, arhythmical structure. The incursion of prose into poetry is a deliberate device to break away from its strict rhythm.

 

PART IV LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

A. INTENTIONAL MIXING OF THE STYLISTIC ASPECT OF WORDS

Oh, Julia! what is every other woe?— (For God's sake let me have a glass of liquor; Pedro, Battista, help me down below) Julia, my love!—(you rascal, Pedro,… Oh, Julia!—(this curst vessel pitches so)— Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching!" (Here he grew inarticulate…

B. INTERACTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL MEANING

dictionary meaning to such a degree that the new meaning even becomes the opposite of the primary meaning, as, for example, with the word… What is known in linguistics as transferred meaning is practically the… The transferred meaning of a word may be fixed in dictionaries as a result of long and frequent use of the word other…

INTERACTION OF PRIMARY DICTIONARY AND CONTEXTUALLY IMPOSED MEANINGS

The stylistic device based on the principle of identification of two objects is called a metaphor. The SD based on the principle of substitution of… Let us now proceed with a detailed analysis of the ontology, structure and…

Metaphor

the transference of meaning from one word to another. It is still widely used to designate the process in which a word acquires a derivative… Thus by transference of meaning the words grasp, get and see come to have the… A metaphor becomes a stylistic device when two different phenomena (things, events, ideas, actions) are simultaneously…

Metonymy

Metonymy is based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on iden­tification, but on… Thus, the word crown may stand for 'king or queen', cup or glass for 'the… Here also the interrelation between the dictionary and contextual meanings should stand out clearly and conspicuously.…

Irony

 

Irony is a stylistic device 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."

The italicized word acquires a meaning quite the opposite to its primary dictionary meaning, that is, 'unpleasant', 'not delightful'. The word containing the irony is strongly marked by intonation. It has an emphatic stress and is generally supplied with a special melody design, unless the context itself renders this intonation pattern unnec­essary, as in the following excerpt from Dickens's "Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club":

"Never mind," said the stranger, cutting the address very short, "said enough—no more; smart chap that cabman—han­dled his fives well; but if I'd been your friend in the green jem­my—damn me—punch his head—7 Cod I would— pig's whisper— pieman too,—no gammon."

"This coherent speech was interrupted by the entrance of the Rochester coachman, to announce that..."

The word 'coherent', which describes Mr. Jingle's speech, is incon­sistent with the actual utterance, and therefore becomes self-contra­dictory. In no other device where we can observe the interplay of the dictionary and contextual meanings, is the latter so fluctuating, sug­gestive, and dependent on the environment as is irony. That is why there are practically no cases of irony in language-as-a-system.

Irony must not be confused with humour, although they have very much in common. Humour always causes laughter. What is funny must come as a sudden clash of the positive and the negative. In this respect irony can be likened to humour. But the function of irony is not confined to producing a humorous effect. In a sentence like "How clever of you!" where, due to the intonation pattern, the word 'clever' conveys a sense opposite to its literal signification, the irony does not cause a ludicrous effect. It rather expresses a feeling of irritation, displeasure, pity or regret. A word used ironically may sometimes express very subtle, almost im­perceptible nuances of meaning, as the word 'like'- in the following lines from "Beppo" by Byron,

XLVII

/ like a parliamentary debate, Particularly when 'tis not too late.

XLVII I

1 like the taxes, when they're not too many;

I like a seacoal fire, when not too dear; I like a beef-steak, too, as well as any;

Have no objection to a pot of beer; I like the weather, when it is not rainy,

That is I like two months of every year.

And so God save the Regent, Church and King! Which means that I like all and everything.

In the first line the word 'like''.gives only a slight hint of irony. Parliamentary debates are usually long. The word 'debate' itself sug-. gests a lengthy discussfon, therefore the word 'like' here should be taken with some reservation. In other words, a hint of the interplay be­tween positive arid negative begins with the first 'like'.

The second use of the word × ike' is definitely ironical. No one would be expected to like taxes. It is so obvious that no context is necessary to decode the true meaning of 'like'. The attributive phrase 'when they're not too many' strengthens the irony.

Then Byron uses the word 'like' in its literal meaning, 'Like' in combinations with 'seacoal fire' and 'a beef-steak' and with 'two months of every year' maintains its literal meaning, although in the phrase "I like the'Weather" the notion is very general. But the last line again shows that the word 'like' is used with an ironic touch, meaning 'to like' and 'to put up with' simultaneously.

Richard Altick says, "The effect of irony lies in the striking dispari­ty between what is said and what is meant."1 * This "striking disparity" is achieved through the intentional interplay of two meanings, which are in opposition to each other.

Another important observation must be borne in mind when analys­ing the linguistic nature of irony. Irony is generally used to convey a negative meaning. Therefore only positive concepts may be used in their logical dictionary meanings. In the examples quoted above, irony is embodied in such words as 'delightful', 'clever', 'coherent', 'like'. The contextual meaning always conveys the negation of the positive concepts embodied in the dictionary meaning.

 

INTERACTION OF PRIMARY AND DERIVATIVE LOGICAL MEANINGS Stylistic Devices Based on Polysemantic Effect, Zeugma and Pun

In dealing with the problem of nonce-words and new meanings we have already stated the fact that, in the development of language units we are… acterizedjb^heir relative stability and therefore… The problem of jftaifeemYjs one of the vexed questions of lexicology. It is sometimes impossible to draw a line of…

INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND EMOTIVE MEANINGS

It must be clearly understood that the logical and the emotive are built into our minds and they are present there in different degrees when we… Different emotional elements may appear in the utterance depending on its… The^ emotional elements of the language have a tendency to wear out ancTare constantly replaced by new ones (see…

Interjections and Exclamatory Words

In traditional grammars the interjection is regarded as a part of speech, alongside other parts of speech, as the noun, adjective, verb, etc. But… However, a closer investigation into the nature and functions of the… dependently.

The Epithet

""The epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotiv,e and logicaT meaning in an attributive word/phrase or even sentenc§… Thus, in 'green meadows', 'white snow', 'round table', 'blue skies', 'pale… The epithet makes a strong impact on the reader, so much so, that he^imwittingly begins to see and evaluate things as…

Oxymoron

'low skyscraper', 'sweet sorrow', 'nice rascal', 'pleasantly ugly face', 'horribiy ^ÚåàèØèÃ, 'a deafening silence', If the primary meaning of the qualifying word changes or weakens, the… We have already pointed out that there are different ratios of emotive-logical relations in epithets. In some of them…

INTERACTION OF LOGICAL AND NOMINAL MEANINGS

Antonomasia

"Among the herd of journals which are published in the States, there are some, the reader scarcely need be told, of character and credit.… The use of the word name made the author write the words 'Few', and 'Legion'… "Society is now one polished horde,

C. INTENSIFICATION OF A CERTAIN FEATURE OF A THING OR PHENOMENON

However, no definition can comprise all the inner qualities of the object and new combinations of it with other objects as well; a deeper… In the third group of stylistic devices, which we now come to, we find that… group is based, that of interaction between two lexical meanings simulta­neously materialized in the context. In this…

Simile

Things are best of all learned by simile. V. G. Belinsky

The intensification of some one feature of the concept in question is realized in a device called simile. Ordinary comparison and simile must not be confused. They represent two diverse processes. Comparison means weighing two objects belonging to one class of things with the purpose of establishing the degree of their sameness or difference. To use a simile is to characterize one object by bringing it into contact with an­other object belonging to an entirely different class of things. Comparison takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects, stressing the one that is compared. Simile excludes all the properties of the two ob­jects except one which is made common to them. For exampULJiZfe-L boy seemsJo be as clever as his mother' is ordinary comparison. 'Boy' and ^fflotKeF belong to the same class of objects—human beings—so this is not a simile but ordinary comparison.

But in the sentence:

"Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare" (Byron), we have a simile. 'Maidens' and 'moths' belong to heterogeneous classes of objects and Byron has found the concept moth to indicate one of the secondary fea­tures of the concept maiden, i.e. being easily lured. Of the two concepts brought together in the simile—one characterized (maidens), and the other characterizing (moths)—the feature intensified will be more inher­ent in the latter than in the former. Moreover, the object characterized is seen in quite a new and unexpected light, because the writer, as it were, imposes this feature on it.

Similes forcibly set one object against another regardless of the fact that they may be completely alien to each other. And without our being aware of it, the simile gives rise to a new understanding of the object characterizing as well as of the object characterized.

The properties of an object may be viewed from different angles, for example, its state, actions, manners, etc. Accordingly, similes may be based on adjective-attributes, adverb-modifiers, verb-predicates, etc.

Similes have formal elements in their structure: connective words such as like, as, such as, as if, seem. Here are some examples of similes taken from various sources and illustrating the variety of structural de­signs of this stylistic device.

"His mind was restless, but it worked perversely and thoughts Jerked through his brain like the misfirings of a defective carburet­tor" (Maugham

The structure of this simile is interesting, for it is sustained. Let us analyse it. The word 'jerked' in the'micro-context, i.e. in combination with 'thoughts' is a metaphor, which led to the simile 'like the misfir-ings of a defective carburettor' where the verb to jerk carries its direct logical meaning. So the linking notion is the movement jerking which brings to the author's mind a resemblance between the working of the man's brain and the badly working, i.e. misfiring, carburettor. In other words, it is action that is described by means of a simile. Another example:

"It was that moment of the year when the countryside seems to faint from its own loveliness, from the intoxication of its scents and sounds." (J. Galsworthy)

This is an example of a simile which is half a metaphor. If not for the structural word 'seems', we would call it a metaphor. Indeed, if we drop the word 'seems* and say, "the countryside faints from...," the clue-word 'faint' becomes a metaphor. But the word 'seems' keeps apart the notions of stillness and fainting. It is a simile where the second member—the human being—is only suggested by means of the concept faint.

The semantic nature of the simile-forming elements seem and as if is such that they only remotely suggest resemblance. Quite 'different are the connectives like and as. These are more categorical and establish quite straightforwardly the analogy between the two objects in question.

Sometimes the simile-forming like is placed at the end of the phrase almost merging with it and becoming half-suffix, for example:

"Emily Barton was very pink, very Dresden-china-shepherdess like."

In simple non-figurative language, it will assume the following form: "Emily Barton was very pink, and looked like a Dresden-china-shepherdess"

Similes may suggest analogies in the character of actions performed. In this case the two members of the structural design of the simile will resemble each other through the actions they perform. Thus:

"The Liberals have plunged for entry without considering its effects, while, the Labour leaders like cautious bathers have put a timorous toe info the water and promptly withdrawn it"

The simile in this passage from a newspaper article 'like cautious bathers' is based on the simultaneous realization of the two meanings of the word plunge. The primary meaning 'to throw oneself into the wa­ter'—prompted the figurative periphrasis 'have put a timorous toe into the water and promptly withdrawn it' standing for 'have abstained from

taking action.'

In the English language there is a long list of hackneyed similes point­ing out the analogy between the various qualities, states or actions of a human being and the animals supposed to be the bearers of the given quality, etc,, for example:

treacherous as a snake, sly as a fox, busy as a bee, industrious as an -ant, blind as a bat, faithful as a dog, to work like a horse, to be led like a sheep, to fly like a bird, to swim like a duck, stubborn as a mule, hungry as a bear, thirsty as a camel, to act like a puppy, playful as a kitten, vain (proud) as a peacock, slow as a tortoise and many others of the same type.

These combinations, however, have ceased to be genuine similes and have become cliches (see p. 177) in which the second component has be­come merely an adverbial intensifier. Its logical meaning is only vaguely perceived,

Periphrasis

This device has a long history. It was widely used in the Bible and in Homer's Iliad. As a poetic device it was very popular in Latin poetry… V. N. Yartseva quotes S. K. Workman, an English literature scholar who states… As a SD, periphrasis aims at pointing to one of the seemingly insignif­icant or barely noticeable features or…

Euphemism

Euphemism, as is known, is a word or phrase used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one, for example,… The origin of the term 'euphemism' discloses the aim of the device very… The italicized parts call forth the word 'steal' (have stolen it).

Hyperbole

"He was so tall that I was not sure he had a face." (O. Henry) or, "Those three words (Dombey and Son) conveyed the one idea of Mr.… In order to depict the width of the river Dnieper Gogol uses the follow­ing… "It's a rare bird that can fly to the middle of the Dnieper."

D. PECULIAR USE OF SET EXPRESSIONS

These two tendencies are treated in different ways in lexicology and stylistics. In lexicology the parts of a stable lexical unit may be sepa­rated… The integrating tendency also is closely studied in the realm of lexicology,… Here we are faced with the problem of what is called the cliche.

The Cliche

This flefinition lacks one point that should be emphasized; that is, a cliche strives after originality, whereas it has lost the aesthetic… Definitions taken from various dictionaries show that cliche is a derogatory… Debates of this kind proceed from a grossly mistaken notion that the term 'cliche' is used to denote all stable…

Proverbs and Sayings

Almost every good writer will make use of language idioms, by-[phrases and proverbs. As Gorki has it, they are the natural ways in ^hich speech… Proverbs and sayings have certain purely linguistic features which [must… "to cut one's coat according to one's cloth."

Epigrams

Epigrams are terse, witty, pointed statements, showing the ingenious turn of mind of the originator. They always have a literary-bookish air about… Epigrams are often confused with aphorisms and paradoxes. It is dif­ficult to… Let us turn to examples. Somerset Maugham in "The Razor's Edge" says:

Allusions

Here is a passage in which an allusion is made to the coachman, Old Mr. Weller, the father of Dickens's famous character, Sam Weller, In this case… "Where is the road now, and its merry incidents of life!., old honest,… The volume of meaning in this allusion goes beyond the actual know­ledge of the character's traits. Even the phrases…

Decomposition of Set Phrases

"Mind! I don't mean to say that I know of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin nail as the deadest piece of… As is seen in this excerpt, the fusion 'as dead as a door-nail', which simply means completely dead, is decomposed by…

PART V SYNTACTICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

In the domain of syntax, as has been justly pointed out by L. A. Bula-khovsky, it is difficult to distinguish between what is purely grammatical, i.… Generally speaking, the examination of syntax provides a deeper insight into… The study of the sentence and its types and especially the study of the relations between different parts of the…

B. PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE COMPOSITION OF SPANS OF UTTERANCE LARGER THAN THE SENTENCE

"A grammar of this kind," writes John Lyons, "is 'predictive' in that it establishes as grammatical, not only 'actual' sentences, but… The reference to Lyons's statement has direct bearing on the problems of… The theory further maintains that there are two kinds of structures — a deep structure and a surface structure. The…

Supra-Phrasal Units

Here is the complete SPU. Guy glanced at his wife's untouched plate. "If you've finished, we might stroll down. I think you ought to be starting."

The Paragraph

Bearing this in mind, we shall not draw a mark of demarcation between the logical and the linguistic analysis of an utterance, because the paragraph… Paragraph structure is not always built on logical principles alone, as is… "The revised version of an international oil treaty is to-day before the Senate Relation Committee, which…

C. COMPOSITIONAL PATTERNS OF SYNTACTICAL ARRANGEMENT

Structural syntactical stylistic d e v i ñ å s are in special relations with the intonation involved. Prof. Peshkovsky points out that there is an… disappearance) l. This can be illustrated by means of the following two nairs… The second sentences in these pairs can be made emphatic only by intonffion]~"tTie~TrrsTsentences are made…

Stylistic Inversion

<é statistical investigation of word-order made on the basis of a series of <representative 19th century writers. It was found that the order S~ P—Î was^used in from 82 to QTj^LSSu^L^Lsentences S^taininjipiii

Detached Construction

consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems formally independ- ent of Ùå^ø^1Ó^^ parts of structures are called lie t ached. They… 1) "Steyne rose up, grinding his teeth, pale, and with fury in

Parallel Construction

"There were, ..., real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china cups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes and… Parallel constructions are often backed up by repetition of words (lexical… "It is the mob that labour in your fields and serve in your houses—that man your navy and recruit your army,—that…

Repetition

"Stop!"—she cried, "Don't tell me! / don't want to hear, I don't want to hear what you've come for4/ don't want to hear." The repetition of 'I don't want to hear', is not a stylistic device; it is a… "Repetition is also one of the devices, having its-origin in the emotive language. Repetition when applied to the…

Enumeration

Most of our notions are associated with other notions due to some kind of relation between them: dependence, cause and result, likeness,… In fact, it is the associations plus social experience that have result­ed in… Let us examine the following cases of enumeration:

Suspense

"Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. was obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate… Sentences of this type are called p.er.iodi c.sen ten ñ å s, or periods. Their… Here is a good example of the piling up of details so as to create a state of suspense in the listeners:

Antithesis

A line of demarcation must be drawn between logical opposition and stylistic opposition. Any opposition will be based on the contrast­ing features… Many word-combinations are built up by means of contrasting pairs, as up and… Stylistic opposition, which is given a special name, the term a n-t i t h e s i s, is of a different linguistic…

Asyndeton

"Soames turned away; he had an utter disinclination for talk like one standing before an open grave, watching a coffin slowly lowered."… The deliberate omission of the subordinate conjunction because or for makes… Here a reminder is necessary that there is an essential difference between the ordinary norms of language, both…

Polysyndeton

"The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast qf the advantage over him in only one respect." (Dickens) In this passage from Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha", there is… "Should you ask me, whence these stories?

The Gap- Sentence Link

"She and that fellow ought in Italy" (Galsworthy) to be the sufferers, and they were In this sentence the second part, which is hooked on to the first by the conjunction and, seems to be unmotivated or,…

E. PARTICULAR USE OF COLLOQUIAL CONSTRUCTIONS

Emotional syntactical, structures typical of the spoken variety of language are sometimes very effectively used by men-of-letters to depict the… Consequently, it will be found necessary to classify some of the most typical… a) One of the most typical patterns is a simple statement followed by the pronoun that+noun (pronoun)+verb to be (in…

Ellipsis

But this typical feature of the spoken language assumes a new qual­ity when used in the written language. It becomes a stylistic device inasmuch as it supplies suprasegmental information. An elliptical sentence in… Let ug take a few examples.

Question-in-the-Narrative

Q uestion- in- the- narrative changes the real nature of a question and turns it into a stylistic device. A question in the narrative is asked and… It becomes akin to a parenthetical statement with strong emotional… 1) 'Tor what is left the poet here?

Represented Speech

There is also a device which conveys to the reader the unuttered or inner speech of the character, thus presenting his thoughts and feelings. This… The term direct speech came to be used in the belles-lettres style in order to… assure, protest, object, command, admit, and others. All these words help ot indicate the intonation with which the…

A) Uttered Represented Speech

"Could he bring a reference from where he now was? He could." (Dreiser) An interesting example of three Ways of representing actual speech is to be seen in a conversation between Old Jolyon…

B) Unuttered or Inner Represented Speech

The thoughts and feelings going on in one's miad and reflecting some previous experience are called inner speech. "4 Inasmuch as inner speech has no communicative function, it is very… Inner speech is a psychological phenomenon. But when it is wrought into full utterance, it ceases to be inner speech,…

F. STYLISTIC USE OF STRUCTURAL MEANING

On analogy with transference of lexical meaning,, in which are used other than in their primary logical sense, syntactical structures may also be used in meanings other than their primary ones. Every syntac­tical structure hasjts definite function, which is sometimes called its sir uc tar à £~Ò1^5Ã7Ï^ used in some"other fuhc-""" tion it may be said to assume a new meaning which is similar to lexical transferred meaning.

Among syntactical stylistic devices there are two in which this trans-i ference of structural meaning is to be seen. They are rhetorical questions! and litotes.

Rhetorical Questions

"Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace?" "Is there not blood enough upon your penal code, that jnore must be poured forth to ascend to Heaven and testify against you?" (Byron)

Litotes

1. It's not a bod thing.—It's a good thing. 2. He is no coward.—He is a brave man. Not bad is not equal to good although the two constructions are synon­ymous. The same can be said about the second…

PART VI FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

However, since any FS presents a system in which various features are interwoven in a particular manner, one group of language means, a leading… Now we are in a position to give a more exact definition of a functional style… An FS is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by the greater or lesser typification of its constituents,…

A. THE BELLES-LETTRES STYLE

1. The language of poetry, or simply verse. 2. Emotive p ã î s e, or the language of fiction. 3. Ò'he language of the dr a ma.

LANGUAGE OF POETRY

Rhythm and rhyme are immediately distinguishable properties of the poetic substyle provided they are wrought into compositional patterns. They can… Let us examine the external properties or features of the poetic sub-style in…

A) Compositional Patterns of Rhythmical Arrangement

Metre and Line

English versification is no exception. We have already discussed some of the most general points of rhythm. This was a necessary introduc­tion to… 1 This is the reason that both rhythm and rhyme have been treated in Part III… both have assumed their compositional patterns and, perhaps, due to this, they are commonly associated with verse. The…

The Stanza

The stanza is the largest unit in verse. It is composed of a number of lines having a definite measure and rhyming system which is repeated… The stanza is generally built up on definite principles with regard to the… There are many widely recognized stanza patterns in English poetry, but we shall name only the following.

Free Verse and Accented Verse

There are, however, types of verse which are not classical. The one most popular is what is called "vers libre" which is the French term… Here we shall use the term 'free verse' to refer only to those varieties of… A good illustration of free verse in our sense of the term is Shelley's poem "The Cloud."

B) Lexical and Syntactical Features of Verse

Among the lexical peculiarities of verse the first to be mentioned is imagery, which being the generic feature of the belles-lettres style assumes… "An image," writes A. E. Derbyshire, "is a,use of language… In spite of its being rather complicated, there is a grain of truth in this definition of an image, for an image does…

EMOTIVE PROSE

The language of the writer conforms or is expected to conform to the literary norms of the given period in ~the development of the English literary… It follows then that the colloquial language in the belles-lettres style is… Emotive prose allows the use of elements from other styles as well. Thus we find elements of the newspaper style (see,…

LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA

But the language of the characters is in no way the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language, although the playwright seeks to… It follows then that^the language of plays is always stylized, that is, it… The stylization of coHoquial language is one of the features of plays 'which at different stages in the history of…

B. PUBLICISTS STYLE

The general aim of publicistic style, which makes it stand out as a separate style, is to exert a constant and deep influence on public opin­ion, to… Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional… The manner of presenting ideas, however, brings this style closer to that of belles-lettres, in this case to emotive…

ORATORY AND SPEECHES

"Oratorical speech", writes A. Potebnya, "seeks not only to secure the understanding and digesting of the idea, but also serves *… Direct contact with the listeners permits a combination of the syn­tactical,… This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn…

THE ESSAY

"Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the… The essay was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 17th century… The 18th century was the great age of essay writing. It was then the principal literary form, and discoursed on the…

JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES

The language of political magazine articles differs little from that of newspaper articles as described in the chapter on Newspaper Style (see… In an article dealing with what were forthcoming presidential elections e in… Literary reviews stand closer to essays both by their content and by their linguistic form. More abstract words of…

C. NEWSPAPER STYLE

English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. At the close of the 16th century short news pamphlets began to appear. Any such publication… and strange newes out of Suffolke and Essex, where it rayned wheat ,the space… The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 23, 1622. It…

BRIEF NEWS ITEMS

It goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary used in news­paper writing is neutral and common literary. But apart from this, news­paper… a) Special political and economic terms, e. g. Socialism, constitution,… b) Non-term political vocabulary, e. g. public, people, progressive, nation-wide, unity, peace, A characteristic…

ADVERTISEMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

The principal function of a d v e r t i s e>m en ts and announce-men ts, like that of brief news, is to inform the reader. There are two basic… In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information… BIRTHS

THE HEADLINE

BRITAIN ALMOST "CUT IN HALF" Many Vehicles Marooned in Blizzard (The Guardian)

THE EDITORIAL

"The long-suffering British housewife needs a bottomless purse to cope with this scale of inflation." (Daily Mirror) "But since they came into power the trend has been up, up, up and the… In addition to vocabulary typical of brief news items, writers of edi­torials make an extensive use of emotionally…

D. SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE

any individuality; thfcre is a striving for the most generalized form of expression. "The proper medium of scientific expression," writes E. Sa-pir,… The first and most noticeable feature of this style is the / î g i ñ a I sequence of utterances with clear indication…

E. THE STYLE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

1) the language of business documents, 2) the language of legal documents, 3) that of diplomacy,

FINAL REMARKS

Another problem facing the stylicist is whether or not there are sep­arate styles within the spoken variety of the language, and the analysis of… However, there is folklore, which originated as an oral form of… The survey of different functional styles will not be complete without at least a cursary look into what constitutes…