Стилистика английского языка

• the use of the technical nomenclature of a given science. – figures, proper names, dates and so on.

The level of morphology

• the use of passive constructions providing the impersonality of the text.

• The abundance of constructions with the indefinite pronoun «one».

• The prevalence of nouns over verbs

• The absence of interjections

• The peculiar use of pronouns

Syntax

• The logical sequence of the utterances with clear indication of their interrelations.

• The syntax is governed by the logical reasoning.

• The prevalence of full declarative complex sentences

• A well developed and varied system of conjunctions and connectives.

• The use of direct word order.

• There is a noticeable difference in the syntactical design of utterances in the exact sciences and in the Humanities due to the fact that the data and the methods of investigation in the Humanities are less objective

Composition

• Is marked by the use of quotation and references which sometimes occupy as much as half a page.

• References also have a definite compositional pattern.

• The frequent use of footnotes, not of the reference kind but digressive in character, the things that seem to violate the logical coherence of ideas, are placed in a footnote.

• Paragraphing, which serves as a means facilitating the reader's understanding of the text.

Graphic

• The use of numbering, lettering, different types of print, diagrams, pictures, photos, various additional visual materials

• Expressivity is not entirely categorically excluded from scientific prose

• It is realized in the use of emotionally colored words which express some hypothesis, backed up by strong belief.

• Prevalence of quantitative expressivity – most essential, much the same, almost all of which and so on.

• Imaginative expressivity takes place mostly when new terms are coined

Expressivity in scientific prose is often realized in the form of logical expressivity – I wish to emphasize…

 

arnold – descriptive means

tropes (lexical level – create images)

syntactical structires – figures of speech - inversion, parallelism,

Tropes can be characterized as paradigmatic because they're based on the associations of the words chosen by the author with the words similar in meaning but not used in the text. Figures of speech ar syntagmatic because they’re based on the linear arrangement of their constituent parts and their effect depends entirely on their place in the utterance. Decoding stylistics never treats tropes and figures of speech in entire isolation from the artistic whole that is text but in close connection with it. The aim of stylistics is not to provide the complete inventory of stylistic means  but to interpret their role in a process of conveying the idea.

Galperin distinguishes between expressive means and stylistic devices. The expressive means of a language are those phonetic, morphological word building, lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms which exist in language-as-a-system for the purpose of logical and emotional intensification of the utterance.

These intensifying forms have been singled out in grammars, courses in phonetics, and dictionaries as having special functions in making the utterances emphatic. Some of them are normalized and fixed in dictionaries as expressive means. In most cases they have corresponding neutral synonymous forms. Expressive means are concrete facts of language, and they are studied in the respective language manuals.

 A stylistic device is a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural or semantic property of a language unit promoted to a generalized status  and thus becoming a generative model. It means that a stylistic device is an abstract pattern, a mold into which any content can be poured.

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.

Expressive means follow the natural course of thought, intensifying it by means commonly used in the language. Stylistic devices carry a greater amount of information and require a certain effort to decode their meaning and purpose. iN modern stylistics there have been suggested new approaches to the problem of expressive means. The detailed classification of these means has stopped being a top priority question. The main opposition is that of the norm and a deviation from the norm. The problem of the deviation from the norm is a crucial issue of stylistics, rhetoric and the theory of literature. Many linguists believe that the appearance of the stylistic effect depends primarily on the deviations from the norm and the essence of the artistic language consists in violating norms.

Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices that is tropes.

The interaction of the word meanings in the process of creating an artistic images has always been investigated in terms of tropes. Tropes are lexical expressive means in which a word or a wordgroup is used in a transferred sense. The interaction or interplay between the primary dictionary meaning, and a meaning which is imposed on the word by a microcontext, may be maintained along different lines. One line is when the author identifies two objects which have nothing in common but in which he subjectively sees a function or a property or a feature that may make the reader perceive these two objects as identical. Stylistic device based on the principle of identification is a metaphor. The term metaphor as the etymology of the word means transferrance of qualities of some word to the other.

Galperin defines metaphor as the power of realizing two lexical meanings simultaneously , that is the kind of identification, unlike Arnold who defines metaphor as a hidden comparison in which the name of one object is applied to another object.

Metaphors can be classified acc, to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus, metaphors which are absolutely unexpected, that are quite unpredictable, are called GENUINE metaphors. They are regarded as belonging to the language-in-action, that is they are speech metaphors. ( f.e. I saw him coming out of the anaesthetic of her charm – anaesthetic is used metaphorically, being a genuine metaphor. Also The leaves fell sorrowfully.)

Those metaphors that are commonly used in speech and therefore are sometimes fixed in dictionaries as expressive means of language are called trite or dead metaphors whose predictability is quite apparent. Trite metaphors belong to language-as-a-system and are usually fixed in dictionaries as units of the language (f.e. A ray of hope, floods of tears, a storm of indignation, a flight of fancy, dawn of life, град пуль) .

Genuine metaphors are mostly to found in poetry and emotive prose. Trite metaphors are generally used in newspaper articles, oratory style, scientific language.

The use of trite metaphors should not be regarded as drawback of style. They help the writer to enliven his work and even make the meaning more concrete.

There is constant interaction between genuine and trite metaphors. Genuine metaphors if they are good and can stand the test of time, may through frequent repetition, become trite and easily predictable. Trite metaphors may regain their freshness through the process of prolongation of the metaphor.

In this case, metaphors are injected with new vigor, and their primary meaning is re-established alongside the new meaning. This is done by supplying the central image created by the metaphor with additional words bearing some reference to the main word. Such metaphors are called sustained metaphors, prolonged or developed. For example, mister pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down. The word to bottle up is defined as to restrain, to conceal, to repress. This trite metaphor is revived by the direct meaning of the word to cork down. Thus the metaphor is revived and regains its freshness, gets a second life. The principle metaphor is the principal image of the sustained metaphor. And the other words that bear reference to the image are contracted images.

To create an image means to bring a phenomenon from the highly abstract to the essentially conctrete. Metaphors make abstract ideas more concrete. It is thru metaphor that the author expresses hos individual attitude to the things described. Metaphor is always evaluative and emotionally charged.

Another variety of metaphor is a linguistical one. The matter has no other denotation and the comparison is completely forgotten (a leg of a table, mouth of a river,  лист бумаги).  Metaphor first appears in the language as a genuine metaphor, then it may be frequently repeated and become trite, and then may become lexicalized.

Metaphors may be denoted by any part of speech (past was a wound in his heart; the trees were powdered by april snow; the leaves fell sorrowfully)

Personification is a trope, a kind of metaphor,which endows a thing or a phenomenon with features peculiar of a human being.sometimes it is marked by capitalization. Words used as personification may be substituted by personal pronouns HE\SHE, may be used in the genitive case, and accompanied by verbs, denoting the processes of speech, thought, volition and so on. F.E. – at that time my virtue slumbered. Mother Nature always blushes before disrobing. Personification may sometimes take the form of a digress (o night and storm and darkness ye art wonderous storm.

The stylistic function of personification is to help the reader visualize the description, tp impart dynamic force to it, or to reproduce the particular mood of the viewer.

Irony.

Irony is based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings – dictionary and contextual. Which stand in opposition to each other. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one's pocket. The word containing irony is strongly marked by intonation. It has an emphatic stress,  and is generally supplied with a special melody design, Unless the context renders this intonation patters unnecessary. In irony, the contextual meaning is very fluctuating, suggestive, and dependent on the environment. That is why there are practically no cases of irony in language as a system.

Irony mustn't be confused with humor, although they have much in common. The function of irony is not confined to producing a humorous effect. In a sentence like How clever of you! The irony doen's cause ludicrous effect. It rather expresses the feeling of irritation, displeasure, or regret. A word used ironically may sometimes express very subtle, almost imperceptible nuances of meaning.

Metonymy.

Metonymy is based on some association connecting two concepts which these meanings represent. Types of metonymy-forming interrelations of two objects are manifold.

• Names of tools or instruments are used instead of actions. He earns his living by his pen.

• Consequences are used instead of cause (the fish desperately takes the death)

• Characteristic feature of the object instead of the object itself (blue suit grinned, might even have winkled.

• Symbol instead of the object symbolized.

• A concrete thing insntead of an abstract notion (the camp, the pulpit and the law  for rich men's sons are free.)

• The container instead of the thing contained (we had to discuss her bloody awful wardrobe. The hall applauded.)

• The relations of proximity. (the round game table was boisterous and happy)

• The material instead of the thing made of it. (the marble spoke)

• The thing a person posesses instead of the person himself (he has married money)

• The name of the creator instead of the thing created by him.

• The list of metonymical relations is in no way complete. There are many other types of relations which may serve as a basis for metonymy.

There are a lot of widely used metonimies which are fixed in dictionaries and which have become facts of language as a system. They are called traditional metonimies (crown for king or queen; cup for the drink)

We smiled at each other but we didn't speak because there were ears all around us.

Metonymy ised in speech, contextual metonymy, is called genuine metonymy, and reveals a quite unexpected substitution of one word for another on the ground of some strong impression produced by a chance feature of a thing.

He didn't realize it but he was about a sentence away from needing plastic surgery.

Synecdoche.

S. is the simplest kind of metonymy which consists in using the name of a part to denote the whole (hands wanted; a student is expected to know).

Antonomasia – acc to Galperin it is based on the interplay of the between the lexical and nominal meanings and these two kinds of meanings may be realized in the word simultaneously. The term antonomasia is used to denote two varieties of the use of proper names as common nouns and vice versa. Metaphorical antonomasia is the use of the name of a historical literary mythological or biblical personage applied to a person whose characteristic features resemble those of the well-known original. Thus a traitor may be referref to as Brutus, and the word hooligan going back to a proper name, has lost its capital letter, and become a traditional antonomasia. Metonymic antonomasia is observed in cases when a personal name stands for something connected with the bearer of that name who once really existed(I am fond of Dickens.) Antonomasia serves as a basis for token or telling names. They give information to the reader anout the bearer of the name pointing out the leading mose characteristic feature of a person(Mr Zero, Ms Blueyes).

Another group of expressive means is based on the interaction of primary and derivative logical meanings. Here belong zeugma and pun.

Zeugma

Z is the use of the word in the same grammatical but different semantic relation to the adjacent words in the context, the semantic relation being on the 1 hand literal, on the other hand, transferred. (he had a good taste for wine and whisky and an emergency bell in his bedroom). The verb had somultaneously governs such incompatible sequences as taste for smth and the emergency bell. The contrast between the syntactic identity of adjuncts and their semantic incompatibility is a means of creating differenc connotative effects.

It is difficult to drqaw a distinction between the zeugma and pun.The only reliable distinguishing feature is a structural one. Zeugma is the realization of 2 meanings with a help of a verb and pun is more independent. There needn't be a word to which the pun word refers.

Intensification of a certain feature or a thing or phenomena.

Hyperbole

Simile

Periphrasis

Euphemism

Hyperbole is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential for the object or phenomena (he ll go to sleep, my god he should. 8 Martinis before dinner and enough wine to wash an elephant)

Hyperbole may loose its meaning thru frequent use and become a unit of the lang as a system reproduced in the speech in its unaltered form. (scared to death, immensely obliged, I'd give the world too see him)

An original hyperbole as distinct from trite ones is exaggeration on a big scale. There must be something illogical in it. Something unreal, utterly impossible, contrary to common sense. For example he was so tall that I wasn’t sure he head a face.

Paradoxical illogical hyperboles are employed for humorous purposes. In general hyperbole has the function of intensifying one certain property of the object described It sharpens the reader's ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance.

Periphrasis is a use of a longer phrase instead of a shorter and plainer element of expression. P as all the other tropes can be divided into original creations of individual authors and trite ones, many of which have become part of the general lexicon. P as a stylictic device is a new genuine nomination of an object, a process which realizes the power of language to coin new names for old objects. Stylistic periphrasis can also be subdivided into logical and figurative. Logical p is based on one of the inherent properties of the object described (instruments of destruction, the most pardonable of human weaknesses). These are logical periphrasi

 

Galperin

Brief news articles

Ads Announcements

Editorials

Substyles

Characterize each of these forms. Present the theory and illustrate with the examples from the news

Editorials – trite phraseology – idioms, familiar, quotations, proverbs, allusions – historical, literary, biblical.

Level – rich, diverse, colloquial,

Trite Metaphors, periphrasis, irony – easily perceivable

Syntax – logical consistency, appeal. Complex sentences with well developed clause system. Refined logical system. Inversion is widely used. Rethorical questions, parallelisms, inversions; anaphoric, epiphoric repetition, gradation.

Antithesis 0 based upon the usage if antonyms proper

Headline

Violation of PE, split phraseology

Polysemi

Homophones, homographs

Graphic means – bold, italics

Alliteration 
elliptical sentences – anything can be omitted.

Dicteted by the complexity of the functions.

Ads

Classified-= non classified

2 tendencies – brevity and redundancy.

Ellyptical sentences – no articles, aux, punctuation marks

Use of contractions, abbr. monosyllabic words.

Non-classifieds -

 

Galperin

+official doc

Pubblicistic style – oral variety, oratorial style.

Fiction results (octopus Morris; all the king's men)

 

Syntax is the branch of Language science which studies the types of relations between words, word combinations, sentences and utterances. In the domain of syntax it is difficult to distinguish between what is purely grammatical and what is stylistic. Stylistic syntax deals with the peculiarities of the structural design of the utterance which bear some particular emotional coloring. Syntactical stylistic patterns may be viewed as variants of the general syntactical models of the language. Syntactical relations can be studied in isolation from semantic content. In this case they are viewed as constituents of the whole and assume their independent grammatical meaning. Stylistics aims at investigating the objective criteria concerning ways and means of constructing texts of different kinds and genres. For this purpose it is first of all necessary to find the elements into which any text may fall. In other words, there may be certain constituent units, of which any text is composed – words, word combinations, and sentences function in larger structural frames which are called supraphrasal units. A supraphrasal unit is a combination of sentences presenting a structural and semantic unity backed up by a rhythmic and melodic unity. It generally comprises a number of sentences independent structurally and semantically. A paragraph is a graphical term used to name a group of sentences marked off by indentation at the beginning and a break in the line at the end.

A paragraph is a compositional device at either facilitating the process of apprehending what is written or inducing a certain reaction on the part of the reader. From a mere compositional device it may turn into a stylistic one. It discloses the writer's manner of depicting the object in question. Galperin distinguishes between the syntactical expressive means and syntactical stylistic devices. Unlike syntactical expressive means of the language, syntactical stylistic devices are preceived as elaborate designs aimed at having a definite impact on the reader. Galperin distinguishes the following groups of syntactical forms of expressive means and stylistic devices.

• Those based on juxtapostion of the different parts of the sentence.

• Stylistic inversion

• Detached construction

• Parallel construction

• Chiasmus – reversed parallel construction

• Repetition

• Enumeration

• Suspense

• Antithesis

• Gradation

• Based on the types of connection between the parts of the utterance

• Asyndeton

• Polysyndeton

• Based on the peculiar use of colloquial constructions

• Ellipsis

• Aposiopesis – break in the narrative