Файл: 1. Stylistics as a branch of linguistic science. Subject, methods, related research and the differences between them.docx

16. The stylistic devices of detached structures, climax (gradation) and antithesis.

Detached structureis a SD based on singling out a secondary member of the sentence. It seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to and thus seems to dangle in the sentence as isolated parts. The detached part, being torn away from its referent, assumes a greater stress of significance and is given prominence by intonation.

The most frequent cases of detached structures are those in which an attribute or an adverbial modifier is placed not in immediate proximity to its referent, but in some other position.

Sometimes a nominal phrase is thrown into the sentence forming a syntactical unit with the rest of the sentence.

The isolated parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a position which will make the phrase (or word) seem independent. But a detached phrase cannot rise to the rank of a primary member of the sentence—it always remains secondary from the semantic point of view, although structurally it possesses all the features of a primary member. This clash of the structural and semantic aspects of detached constructions produces the desired effect—forcing the reader to interpret the logical connections between the component parts of the sentence. Logical ties between them always exist in spite of the absence of syntactical indicators.

Climax is an arrangement of sentences (or of the homogeneous parts of one sentence), which secures a gradual increase in significance, importance, or emotional tension in the utterance. Each successive unit is perceived as stronger than the preceding one.

A gradual increase in significance may be maintained in three ways:

1. 
   logical climax (based on the relative importance of the component parts looked at from the point of view of the concepts embodied in them)
   
2. 
   emotional climax (based on the relative emotional tension produced by words with emotive meaning)
   
3. 
   quantitative climax (increase in the volume of the corresponding concepts)
   

The stylistic function of this device is to show the relative importance of things as seen by the author, or to impress upon the reader the significance of the things described by suggested comparison, or to depict phenomena dynamically.

Antithesis is a SD, which pairs opposite ideas. This helps readers define concepts through contrast.

Distinction must be drawn between logical opposition and stylistic opposition. Any opposition will be based on the contrasting features of two objects. These contrasting features are represented in pairs of words we call antonyms. Many word-combinations are built up by means of contrasting pairs, as up and down, inside and out, from top to bottom and the like.

Stylistic opposition, antithesis, is of a different linguistic nature: it is based on relative opposition which arises out of the context through the expansion of objectively contrasting pairs.

It is not only the semantic aspect which explains the linguistic nature of antithesis, the structural pattern also plays an important role. Antithesis is generally molded in parallel construction. The antagonistic features of the two objects or phenomena are more easily perceived when they stand out in similar structures. This is particularly advantageous when the antagonistic features are not inherent in the objects in question but imposed on them.

17. The stylistic devices of asyndeton, polysyndeton and the gap-sentence link.

Asyndeton is a connection between parts of a sentence or between sentences without any formal marker if there is a deliberate omission of the connective where it is generally expected to be according to the norms of the literary language.

Polysyndeton is a device of connecting sentences, phrases, syntagms, or words by using connectives (mostly conjunctions and prepositions) before each component part.

The repetition of connectives makes an utterance more rhythmical, so much so that prose may even seem like verse. In addition to this, polysyndeton has a disintegrating function. It generally combines homogeneous elements into one whole resembling enumeration. But, unlike enumeration, which integrates both homogeneous and heterogeneous elements into one whole, polysyndeton causes each member to stand out conspicuously. Enumeration shows things united; polysyndeton shows them isolated.

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The gap-sentence link is a peculiar type of connection of sentences where the connection is not immediately apparent and it requires a certain mental effort to grasp the interrelation between the parts of the utterance, in other words, to bridge the semantic gap. The gap-sentence link is generally indicated by and or but. There is no asyndetic GSL, in as much as connection by asyndeton can be carried out only by semantic ties easily and immediately perceived. While maintaining the unity of the utterance syntactically the author leaves the interpretation of the link between the two sentences to the mind of the reader. It is the imaginative mind only that can decode a message expressed by a stylistic device.

The gap-sentence link has various functions. It may serve to signal the introduction of inner represented speech; it may be used to indicate a subjective evaluation of the facts; it may introduce an effect resulting from a cause which has already had verbal expression. In all these functions GSL displays an unexpected coupling of ideas. Even the cause and-effect relations, logical as they are, when embodied in GSL structures are not so obvious.

GSL aims at stirring up in the reader’s mind the suppositions, associations and conditions under which the sentence uttered can really exist.

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18. The stylistic devices of ellipsis, aposiopesis [æpəzaɪəˈpiːsɪs] (break-in-the-narrative), question-in-the-narrative.

Ellipsis is a deliberate omission of a member of a sentence. The reader feels very acutely the absence of a predicate, for example, and realizes that it is not accidental

Ellipsis, being the property of colloquial language, does not express what can easily be supplied by the situation. This is perhaps the reason that elliptical sentences are rarely used as stylistic devices. Sometimes the omission of a link-verb adds emotional colouring and makes the sentence sound more emphatic.

In the spoken variety a break-in-the-narrative is usually caused by the unwillingness to proceed. In the written variety it is used for some stylistic effect which is determined by the context.

Aposiopesis is a stylistic syntactical device used to convey to the reader a very strong upsurge of emotions. The idea of this stylistic device is that the speaker cannot proceed, his feelings depriving him of the ability to express himself in terms of language.

Sometimes a break in the narrative is caused by euphemistic considerations—unwillingness to name a thing of its being offensive to the ear.

A sudden break in the narrative will inevitably focus the attention on what is left unsaid. Therefore the interrelation between what is given and what is new becomes more significant, inasmuch as the given is what is said and the new—what is left unsaid.

Question-in-the-narrative changes the nature of a question and turns it into a SD. A question in the narrative is asked and answered by one and the same person, usually the author.

Sometimes question-in-the-narrative gives the impression of an intimate talk between the writer and the reader.

Question-in-the-narrative is very often used in oratory. This is explained by one of the leading features of oratorical style— to induce the desired reaction to the content of the speech.

19.The stylistic devices of litotes and rhetorical question.

Rhetorical question - is a special syntactic stylistic device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence.

· This is not a question but a statement in the form of an interrogative sentence

· These sentences pronounce judgements and express various kinds of modal shades of meaning, such as doubt, challenge, scorn, irony, etc.

· The question contains the answer, no answer follows the question!

Had there even been such men as these since the first dawn of the world: so heroic, so reckless, so tender?

Rhetorical question may make a pronouncement more categorical as it excludes any interpretations beyond those contained in the question. Rhetorical question will be widely used in public style in general

Litotes

In this SD the negative form of an adjective or a verb serves to express a positive feature. However, this positive feature is somewhat diminished as compared with a synonymous expression based on assertion

“I like you” VS “I don’t dislike you” (less categorical)

Litotes is a deliberate understatement used to produce a stylistic effect. It is a negation that includes affirmation. It is rather typical for British mentality (It’s not really good).

I don`t dislike you, Mr. Mont.

He is not a coward

Litotes is used in different styles of speech, excluding those which may be called the matter-of-fact styles, like official style and scientific prose.

In poetry it is sometimes used to suggest that language fails to adequately convey the poet’s feelings and therefore he uses negations to express the inexpressible.

20.Free indirect thought and free indirect speech (uttered and unuttered represented speech).

There are three ways of reproducing actual speech: a) repetition of the exact utterance as it was spoken (direct speech), b) conversion of the exact utterance into the relater’s mode of expression (indirect speech

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), and c) representation of the actual utterance by a second person, usually the author, as if it had been spoken, whereas it has not really been spoken but is only represented in the author’s words (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 device is also termed represented speech. To distinguish between the two varieties of represented speech we call the representation of the actual utterance through the author’s language uttered represented speech, and the representation of the thoughts and feelings of the character— unuttered or inner represented speech

( другими слова : represented speech is used to convey the actual utterances of characters more adequately and emotionally. It conveys the actual words or thoughts of a character not directly, but within the author’s speech , retaining the peculiarities of the speaker’s manner of expression. The narrator’s plane and the character’s plane coexist, which results in the increase in emotiveness and expressiveness of the narration)

Features of represented speech

• 
  the tenses of the verbs are changed from the present to the past;
  
• 
  the personal pronouns are changed from the 1 st to the 3 rd person;
  
• 
  vocabulary preserves its peculiarities;
  
• 
  but: the peculiarities of the question and the exclamation remain.
  

Forms

1. 
   uttered represented speech;(observes the aforementioned features of represented speech)
   

"Could he bring a reference from where he now was? He could."

2. 
   unuttered represented speech(aims at conveying the feelings and psychological state of the character)
   

• 
  · inner represented speech proper;
  
• 
  · inner monologue;
  
• 
  · represented speech of direct reaction.
  

Примеры из лекций

· Direct speech (reporting clauses, punctuation)

`Peter, are you going to say anything?` he asked

· Indirect speech

He asked if Peter was going to say anything.

· Free indirect speech

Was Peter going to say anything? He waited for an answer.

· Free indirect thought

Was Peter going to say anything? He did not ask the question.

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21. The stylistic devices of onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance.

22.The stylistic classification of the English vocabulary. Special literary vocabulary.

23.The stylistic classification of the English vocabulary. Special colloquial vocabulary.

24.The notion of functional style. Approaches to the research into functional style.

If function is the role language plays in the context of society then functional style (FS) should be defined as a variety of the language used to identify specific sociolinguistic situations.

There are two major approaches to the concept of FS:

1. functional

2. variaton

In 1925 prof Vinokur differentiated functionally motivated language systems as colloquial, poetic, belles letter, scientific and newspaper. He didn`t use the term functional style

The notion of FS was introduced by Prague linguistic group/circle(Трубецкой, Якобсон.).

In 1932 one of the researchers Havranck defined FS as the language means which function as instruments for stylistic purposes, but he said that these linguistic means form only a specific manner of organization of concrete utterances.

!!! FSs don’t exist separatly from the rest of the language, when we talk about that the regular linguistic means functioning in a specific way/manner.

In 1942 Mr. Mathesius drew a distinction between the individual inimitable style of a creative artist and the interindividual and more highly conventionalized style.

What is important here:

1) styles are shared (совместный, общий);

2) conventionalized: we have certain agreements what is appropriate while using that style (have conventions (обычаи, традиции, правила).

I.The functional approach is divided into 2 subapproaches:

1. monofuncitonal approach

One funtion corresponds to one style or can correspond to several styles (the objective reality – scientific discourse, newspaper language – focuses on the current state of the world).

Within the monofuncitonal model we can talk about Galperin who defines the FS as a system of interrelated language means and the system serves a definite way in communication.

Vinogradov singles out 3 functions which corresponded to 5 fs.

• 
  the communicative function, which corresponds to the style of conversation;
  
• 
  the informative function – the style of scientific prose and official documents;
  
• 
  the pragmatic function – corresponds to the bellettres style and the journalistics
  

2. polyfunctional approach

Within polyfunctional model the same functions are inherent with different styles.

Russian linguist Stepanov describes the FS as a historically developed and socially cognized subsystem within the system of a national language assigned to certain communicative situations (speech situations) and characterized by a set of means of expression and the underlining principles of their selection from the national language.

Shveicer defines FS as not a particular social speech situation, but as a class of such situations = are communicative domains. And usually there is a direct corelation between such communicative domains and what we understand as FS.( другими словами: functional styles are not individual instances, we need to have one than more instance to speak about a system (a class of particular social speech situations)

II. Variation approach

Enkvist offers a number of definitions of FSs, for example:

1. 
   it can be a kind of linguistic variation
   
2. 
   it can be described as fuzzy sets of texts (non-concrete bodies)
   
3. 
   contextually conditioned variations which included the participants, relations between them, circumstances etc.
   

Professor Nayer describes FS as socially recognized and functionally conditioned model of systematic linguistic variation (the same variation should be repeated).

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