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двуличный) and diplomatic is that hypocritical is characterized by hypocrisy or being a hypocrite (behaving in a way that does not meet the moral standards or match the opinions that you claim to have) while diplomatic is concerning the relationships between the governments of countries.
22) Scholarly - spending a lot of time studying and having a lot of knowledge about an academic subject. Bookish - interested in reading and studying, rather than in more active or practical things.
3. Give your own definitions of the following words describing the personal connotations and associations the words evoke in your mind. Compare your definitions with the ones in the dictionaries:
childhood, student, career, money, enemy, lady, gentleman, morning, spring.
1)childhood - the period of somebody’s life when they are a child
For me - the happiest and the most carefree time.
2)student - a person who is studying at a university or college
For me - a person who entered the university to get the education and knowledge in order to build a successful career in the future
3)career - the series of jobs that a person has in a particular area of work, usually involving more responsibility as time passes
For me - this is a ladder on which a person goes further and further to become successful
4)money - what you earn by working or selling things, and use to buy things
For me - something with the help of which I can do and buy whatever I want
5)enemy - a person who hates somebody or who acts or speaks against somebody/something
For me - a person who did something bad to me or to my friends or relatives
6)lady - a word used to mean ‘woman’ that some people, especially older people, consider is more polite
For me - a beautiful and well-mannered girl
7)gentleman - a man who is polite and well educated, who has excellent manners and always behaves well
For me - the same
8)morning - the early part of the day from the time when people wake up until 12 o'clock in the middle of the day or before lunch
For me - routine: breakfast, toothbrushing, homework
9)spring - the season between winter and summer when plants begin to grow
For me - a wonderful time when everything around you blooms and you bloom together with the world
4. Analyse contextual connotations of words in the following passages. Speak about the character of the change of connotation.
… As the great champion of freedom and national independence he conquers and annexes half the world and calls it Colonization. (B. Shaw).
Here is described the image of a real Englishman in a very proud manner. They are described as independent and free people.
The description of the man shows that he has problems with alcohol. Only the professional could identify it, which means that the hero of this story, this doctor, is a real professional.
The words here are in the quotation marks which show the irony: it is said about the dress which is actually not simple and cheap, but luxurious, expensive and chick. And when the author uses the adjective “lovely” he means that she is absolutely opposite: unpleasant and sycophantic.
The pair which is described here is not happy. Vice versa, they are absolutely unhappy, although they are in a pleasant atmosphere. Apparently, they don’t love each other, they even don’t talk.
STYLISTICS
SEMINAR 4
Stylistic differentiation of the vocabulary.
1)According to Prof. I.R. Galperin the English vocabulary is divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting.
The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means It is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. It is this that makes the layer the most stable of all.
The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character.
The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confined to a special locality where it circulates.
The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1. common literary: 2. terms and learned words; 3. poetic words; 4. archaic words; 5. barbarisms and foreign words; 6. literary coinages including nonce-words.
The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1. common colloquial words; 2. slang; 3. jargonisms; 4. professional words; 5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages.
The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary. Other groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literary vocabulary and those in the colloquial layer are regarded as special colloquial (non-literary) vocabulary. The accompanying diagram on p. 71 illustrates this classification graphically.
N e u t r a l words, which form the bulk of the English vocabulary, are used in both literary 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 erf 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.
Special literary vocabulary. Terms. A term is generally very easily coined and easily accepted; and new coinages as easily replace outdated 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 our 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 quality of the thing, phenomenon or action as seen by the scientist in the light of his own conceptualization. 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.
Poetic and Highly Literary Words. Poetic words form a rather insignificant layer of the special literary vocabulary. They are mostly archaic or very rarely used highly literary words which aim at producing an elevated effect. They have a marked tendency to detach themselves from the common literary word-stock and gradually assume the quality of terms denoting certain definite notions and calling forth poetic diction.
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 poetic words.
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 norms and canons. A word is torn away from its referent. Being drawn into the system of literary styles, the words are selected and arranged in groups of definite images, in phraseological series, which grow standardized and stale and are becoming conventional symbols of definite phenomena or characters or of definite ideas or impressions."
The satirical function of poetic words and conventional poetic devices is well revealed in this stanza. The ‘tired metaphor’ and the ‘often-used volcano’ are typical of Byron’s estimate of the value of conventional metaphors and stereotyped poetical expressions.
Poetical words and set expressions make the utterance understandable only to a limited number of readers. It is mainly due to poetieisms that poetical language is sometimes called poetical jargon.
In modern English poetry there is a strong tendency to use words in strange combinations. It manifests itself in the coinage of new words and, most of alt, in combining old and familiar words in a way that hinders understanding and forces the reader to stop and try to decipher the message so encoded.
The following may serve as examples;
‘The sound of shape’; ‘night-long eyes’; ‘to utter ponds of dream’; ‘wings of because’; ‘to reap one’s same’; ‘goldenly whole, prodigiously keen star whom she—and he—, —like ifs of am perceive...’ (E. E. Cummings).
Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words. The word-stock of a language is in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning and sometimes drop out of the language altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones. Some words stay in the language a very long time and do not lose their faculty of gaining new meanings and becoming richer and richer polysemantically. Other words live but a short time and are like bubbles on the surface of
water — they disappear leaving no trace of their existence.
In registering these processes the role of dictionaries can hardly be over-estimated. Dictionaries serve to retain this or that word in a language either as a relic of ancient times, where it lived and circulated, or as a still living unit of the system, though it may have lost some of its meanings. They may also preserve certain nonce-creations which were never intended for general use. In every period in the development of a literary language one can find words which will show more or less apparent changes in their meaning or usage, from full vigour, through a moribund state, to death, i. e. complete disappearance of the unit from the language. We shall distinguish three stages in the aging process of words:
The beginning of the aging process when -the word becomes rarely used. Such words are called obsolescent, i.e. they are in the stage of gradually passing out of general use. To this category first of all belong morphological forms belonging to the earlier stages in the development of the language. In the English language these are the pronouns thou and its forms thee, thy and thine; the corresponding verbal ending -est and the verb-forms art, wilt (thou makest, thou wilt); the ending -(e)th instead of -(e)s (he maketh) and the pronoun ye.
To the category of obsolescent words belong many French borrowings which have been kept in the literary language as a means of pre serving the spirit of earlier periods, e. g. a pallet (=a straw mattress): a palfrey ( —a small horse); garniture (=furniture); to emplume (= to adorn with feathers or plumes).
The second group of archaic words are those that' have already gone completely out of use but are still recognized by the English-speaking community: e. g. methlnks (=it seems to me); nay (=nо). These words are called obsolete.
The third group, which may be called archaic proper, are words which are no longer recognizable in modem English, words that were in use in Old English and which have either dropped out of the language entirely or have changed in their appearance so much that they have become unrecognizable, e. g. troth (—faith); a losel (==a worthless, lazy fellow).
Barbarisms and Foreignisms. In the vocabulary of the English language there is a considerable layer of words called barbarisms. These are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English language. They bear the appearance of a borrowing and are felt as some thing alien to the native tongue. The role foreign borrowings played in the development of the English literary language is well known, and the great majority of these borrowed words now form part of the rank and file of the English vocabulary. It is the science of linguistics, in particular its branch etymology, that reveals the foreign nature of this or that word. But most of what were formerly foreign borrowings are now, from a purely stylistic position, not regarded as foreign. But still there are some words which retain their foreign appearance to a greater or lesser degree. These words, which are called barbarisms, are, like archaisms, also considered to be on the outskirts of the literary language.
Most of them have corresponding English synonyms; e. g. chic (^stylish); bon mot (= a clever witty saying); en passant (= in passing); ad infinitum (= to infinity) and many other words and phrases.
It is very important for purely stylistic purposes to distinguish between barbarisms and foreign words proper. Barbarisms are words which have already become facts of the English language. They are, as it were, part and parcel of the English word-stock, though they remain on the outskirts of the literary vocabulary. Foreign words, though used for certain stylistic purposes, do not belong to the English vocabulary. They are not registered by English dictionaries, except in a kind of addenda which gives the meanings of the foreign words most frequently used in literary English. Barbarisms are generally given in the body of the dictionary. In printed works foreign words and phrases are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or their stylistic value. Barbarisms, on the contrary, are not made conspicuous in the text unless they bear a special load of stylistic information. One of these functions is to supply local colour. In order to depict local conditions of life, concrete facts and events, customs and habits, special care is taken to introduce into the passage such language elements as will reflect the environment. The function of the foreign words used in the context may be considered to provide local colour as a background to the narrative. In passages of other kinds units of speech may be used which will arouse only a vague conception in the mind of the reader. The significance of such units, however, is not communicative — the author does not wish them to convey any clear-cut idea — but to serve in making the main idea stand out more conspicuously. Barbarisms and foreign words are used in various styles of language, but are most often to be found in the style of belles-lettres and the publicistic style. In the belles-lettres style, however, foreignisms are sometinjes used not only as separate units incorporated in the English narrative. The author makes his character actually speak a foreign language, by putting a string of foreign words into his mouth, words which to many readers may be quite unfamiliar. These, phrases or whole sentences are sometimes translated by the writer in a foot-note or by explaining the foreign utterance in English in the text. But this is seldom done. Here is an example of the use of French by John Galsworthy: “Revelation was alighting like a bird in his heart, singing: uElle est ton rSvel EUe esi ion rSveV' (“In Chancery”) No translation is given, no interpretation. But something else must be pointed out here. Foreign words and phrases may sometimes be used to exalt the expression of the idea, to elevate the language. Barbarisms have still
22) Scholarly - spending a lot of time studying and having a lot of knowledge about an academic subject. Bookish - interested in reading and studying, rather than in more active or practical things.
3. Give your own definitions of the following words describing the personal connotations and associations the words evoke in your mind. Compare your definitions with the ones in the dictionaries:
childhood, student, career, money, enemy, lady, gentleman, morning, spring.
1)childhood - the period of somebody’s life when they are a child
For me - the happiest and the most carefree time.
2)student - a person who is studying at a university or college
For me - a person who entered the university to get the education and knowledge in order to build a successful career in the future
3)career - the series of jobs that a person has in a particular area of work, usually involving more responsibility as time passes
For me - this is a ladder on which a person goes further and further to become successful
4)money - what you earn by working or selling things, and use to buy things
For me - something with the help of which I can do and buy whatever I want
5)enemy - a person who hates somebody or who acts or speaks against somebody/something
For me - a person who did something bad to me or to my friends or relatives
6)lady - a word used to mean ‘woman’ that some people, especially older people, consider is more polite
For me - a beautiful and well-mannered girl
7)gentleman - a man who is polite and well educated, who has excellent manners and always behaves well
For me - the same
8)morning - the early part of the day from the time when people wake up until 12 o'clock in the middle of the day or before lunch
For me - routine: breakfast, toothbrushing, homework
9)spring - the season between winter and summer when plants begin to grow
For me - a wonderful time when everything around you blooms and you bloom together with the world
4. Analyse contextual connotations of words in the following passages. Speak about the character of the change of connotation.
-
But every Englishman is born with a certain miraculous power that makes him master of the world…
… As the great champion of freedom and national independence he conquers and annexes half the world and calls it Colonization. (B. Shaw).
Here is described the image of a real Englishman in a very proud manner. They are described as independent and free people.
-
Her husband in the waiting room. Very well dressed, with an expensive stomach on him, a red purple nose. Drinking too much, the doctor thought to himself. If he doesn’t stop he’ll die soon from the effects of a fatty heart. (W. Macken). -
The description of the man shows that he has problems with alcohol. Only the professional could identify it, which means that the hero of this story, this doctor, is a real professional.
-
Mrs. Milburn brought her over for tea and I give credit where credit is due. She did look wonderful. She’s the unfreckled, blond type, with big blue eyes and she had on one of those “simple” dresses that are just right – the kind I always intend to buy and then discover they cost thirty-nine-fifty when I’ve got only nineteen dollars. Well, while Mrs. Milburn and my mother were in the room, that girl was “lovely” – you know, positively poisonous. She said high-minded things, designed to make her appear like the model of the younger generation. (L. Baker).
The words here are in the quotation marks which show the irony: it is said about the dress which is actually not simple and cheap, but luxurious, expensive and chick. And when the author uses the adjective “lovely” he means that she is absolutely opposite: unpleasant and sycophantic.
-
The happy pair were seated, not opposite each other, but rectangularly, at the handsome rosewood table, they dined without a cloth – a distinguishing elegance – and so far had not spoken a word.
The pair which is described here is not happy. Vice versa, they are absolutely unhappy, although they are in a pleasant atmosphere. Apparently, they don’t love each other, they even don’t talk.
STYLISTICS
SEMINAR 4
Stylistic differentiation of the vocabulary.
-
Stylistic differentiation of the vocabulary. Neutral words and their characteristics. Literary words, their types. Functions of literary words. Colloquial words, their types and functions. -
To provide answers to the above questions find words belonging to different stylistic groups and subgroups: in the dictionary, specifying its stylistic mark ("label"); in your reading material, specifying the type of discourse, where you found it -authorial speech (narration description, philosophising) or dialogue.
1)According to Prof. I.R. Galperin the English vocabulary is divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting.
The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means It is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. It is this that makes the layer the most stable of all.
The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character.
The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confined to a special locality where it circulates.
The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1. common literary: 2. terms and learned words; 3. poetic words; 4. archaic words; 5. barbarisms and foreign words; 6. literary coinages including nonce-words.
The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1. common colloquial words; 2. slang; 3. jargonisms; 4. professional words; 5. dialectal words; 6. vulgar words; 7. colloquial coinages.
The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary. Other groups in the literary layer are regarded as special literary vocabulary and those in the colloquial layer are regarded as special colloquial (non-literary) vocabulary. The accompanying diagram on p. 71 illustrates this classification graphically.
N e u t r a l words, which form the bulk of the English vocabulary, are used in both literary 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 erf 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.
Special literary vocabulary. Terms. A term is generally very easily coined and easily accepted; and new coinages as easily replace outdated 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 our 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 quality of the thing, phenomenon or action as seen by the scientist in the light of his own conceptualization. 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.
Poetic and Highly Literary Words. Poetic words form a rather insignificant layer of the special literary vocabulary. They are mostly archaic or very rarely used highly literary words which aim at producing an elevated effect. They have a marked tendency to detach themselves from the common literary word-stock and gradually assume the quality of terms denoting certain definite notions and calling forth poetic diction.
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 poetic words.
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 norms and canons. A word is torn away from its referent. Being drawn into the system of literary styles, the words are selected and arranged in groups of definite images, in phraseological series, which grow standardized and stale and are becoming conventional symbols of definite phenomena or characters or of definite ideas or impressions."
The satirical function of poetic words and conventional poetic devices is well revealed in this stanza. The ‘tired metaphor’ and the ‘often-used volcano’ are typical of Byron’s estimate of the value of conventional metaphors and stereotyped poetical expressions.
Poetical words and set expressions make the utterance understandable only to a limited number of readers. It is mainly due to poetieisms that poetical language is sometimes called poetical jargon.
In modern English poetry there is a strong tendency to use words in strange combinations. It manifests itself in the coinage of new words and, most of alt, in combining old and familiar words in a way that hinders understanding and forces the reader to stop and try to decipher the message so encoded.
The following may serve as examples;
‘The sound of shape’; ‘night-long eyes’; ‘to utter ponds of dream’; ‘wings of because’; ‘to reap one’s same’; ‘goldenly whole, prodigiously keen star whom she—and he—, —like ifs of am perceive...’ (E. E. Cummings).
Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words. The word-stock of a language is in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning and sometimes drop out of the language altogether. New words spring up and replace the old ones. Some words stay in the language a very long time and do not lose their faculty of gaining new meanings and becoming richer and richer polysemantically. Other words live but a short time and are like bubbles on the surface of
water — they disappear leaving no trace of their existence.
In registering these processes the role of dictionaries can hardly be over-estimated. Dictionaries serve to retain this or that word in a language either as a relic of ancient times, where it lived and circulated, or as a still living unit of the system, though it may have lost some of its meanings. They may also preserve certain nonce-creations which were never intended for general use. In every period in the development of a literary language one can find words which will show more or less apparent changes in their meaning or usage, from full vigour, through a moribund state, to death, i. e. complete disappearance of the unit from the language. We shall distinguish three stages in the aging process of words:
The beginning of the aging process when -the word becomes rarely used. Such words are called obsolescent, i.e. they are in the stage of gradually passing out of general use. To this category first of all belong morphological forms belonging to the earlier stages in the development of the language. In the English language these are the pronouns thou and its forms thee, thy and thine; the corresponding verbal ending -est and the verb-forms art, wilt (thou makest, thou wilt); the ending -(e)th instead of -(e)s (he maketh) and the pronoun ye.
To the category of obsolescent words belong many French borrowings which have been kept in the literary language as a means of pre serving the spirit of earlier periods, e. g. a pallet (=a straw mattress): a palfrey ( —a small horse); garniture (=furniture); to emplume (= to adorn with feathers or plumes).
The second group of archaic words are those that' have already gone completely out of use but are still recognized by the English-speaking community: e. g. methlnks (=it seems to me); nay (=nо). These words are called obsolete.
The third group, which may be called archaic proper, are words which are no longer recognizable in modem English, words that were in use in Old English and which have either dropped out of the language entirely or have changed in their appearance so much that they have become unrecognizable, e. g. troth (—faith); a losel (==a worthless, lazy fellow).
Barbarisms and Foreignisms. In the vocabulary of the English language there is a considerable layer of words called barbarisms. These are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English language. They bear the appearance of a borrowing and are felt as some thing alien to the native tongue. The role foreign borrowings played in the development of the English literary language is well known, and the great majority of these borrowed words now form part of the rank and file of the English vocabulary. It is the science of linguistics, in particular its branch etymology, that reveals the foreign nature of this or that word. But most of what were formerly foreign borrowings are now, from a purely stylistic position, not regarded as foreign. But still there are some words which retain their foreign appearance to a greater or lesser degree. These words, which are called barbarisms, are, like archaisms, also considered to be on the outskirts of the literary language.
Most of them have corresponding English synonyms; e. g. chic (^stylish); bon mot (= a clever witty saying); en passant (= in passing); ad infinitum (= to infinity) and many other words and phrases.
It is very important for purely stylistic purposes to distinguish between barbarisms and foreign words proper. Barbarisms are words which have already become facts of the English language. They are, as it were, part and parcel of the English word-stock, though they remain on the outskirts of the literary vocabulary. Foreign words, though used for certain stylistic purposes, do not belong to the English vocabulary. They are not registered by English dictionaries, except in a kind of addenda which gives the meanings of the foreign words most frequently used in literary English. Barbarisms are generally given in the body of the dictionary. In printed works foreign words and phrases are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or their stylistic value. Barbarisms, on the contrary, are not made conspicuous in the text unless they bear a special load of stylistic information. One of these functions is to supply local colour. In order to depict local conditions of life, concrete facts and events, customs and habits, special care is taken to introduce into the passage such language elements as will reflect the environment. The function of the foreign words used in the context may be considered to provide local colour as a background to the narrative. In passages of other kinds units of speech may be used which will arouse only a vague conception in the mind of the reader. The significance of such units, however, is not communicative — the author does not wish them to convey any clear-cut idea — but to serve in making the main idea stand out more conspicuously. Barbarisms and foreign words are used in various styles of language, but are most often to be found in the style of belles-lettres and the publicistic style. In the belles-lettres style, however, foreignisms are sometinjes used not only as separate units incorporated in the English narrative. The author makes his character actually speak a foreign language, by putting a string of foreign words into his mouth, words which to many readers may be quite unfamiliar. These, phrases or whole sentences are sometimes translated by the writer in a foot-note or by explaining the foreign utterance in English in the text. But this is seldom done. Here is an example of the use of French by John Galsworthy: “Revelation was alighting like a bird in his heart, singing: uElle est ton rSvel EUe esi ion rSveV' (“In Chancery”) No translation is given, no interpretation. But something else must be pointed out here. Foreign words and phrases may sometimes be used to exalt the expression of the idea, to elevate the language. Barbarisms have still