Lecture – 2
2.1. Expressive means and stylistic devices
Expressive means
Expressive means of a language are those linguistic forms and properties that have the potential
to make the utterance emphatic or expressive. These can be found on all levels - phonetic,
graphical, morphological, lexical or syntactical.
Expressive means and stylistic devices have a lot in common but they are not completely
synonymous. All stylistic devices belong to expressive means but not all expressive means are
stylistic devices. Phonetic phenomena such as vocal pitch, pauses, logical stress, and drawling,
or staccato pronunciation are all expressive without being stylistic devices
Morphological forms like diminutive suffixes may have an expressive effect: girlie, piggy,
doggy, etc. An unexpected use of the author's nonce words like: He glasnosted his love affair
with this movie star (People) is another example of morphological expressive means.
Lexical expressive means may be illustrated by a special group of intensifiers - awfully, terribly,
absolutely, etc. or words that retain their logical meaning while being used emphatically: It was
a very special evening/event/gift.
There are also special grammatical forms and syntactical patterns attributing expressiveness,
such as: I do know you! I'm really angry with that dog of yours! That you should deceive me!
If only I could help you!
Stylistic devices
A stylistic device is a literary model in which semantic and structural features are blended so that
it represents a generalised pattern.
Prof. I. R. Galperin calls a stylistic device a generative model when through frequent use a
language fact is transformed into a stylistic device. Thus we may say that some expressive means
have evolved into stylistic devices which represent a more abstract form or set of forms. A stylistic
device combines some general semantic meaning with a certain linguistic form resulting in stylistic
effect. It is like an algorithm employed for an expressive purpose. For example, the interplay,
interaction, or clash of the dictionary and contextual meanings of words will bring about such
stylistic devices as metaphor, metonymy or irony.
The nature of the interaction may be affinity (likeness by nature), proximity (nearness in place,
time, order, occurrence, relation) or contrast (opposition).
Respectively there is metaphor based on the principle of affinity, metonymy based on proximity
and irony based on opposition.
The evolution of a stylistic device such as metaphor could be seen from four examples that
demonstrate this linguistic mechanism (interplay of dictionary and contextual meaning based on
the principle of affinity):
1. My new dress is as pink as this flower: comparison (ground for comparison - the colour of
the flower).
2. Her cheeks were as red as a tulip: simile (ground for simile - colour/beauty/health/freshness)
3. She
is
a
real
flower: metaphor
(ground
for
metaphor
frail/
fragrant/tender/beautiful/helpless...).
My love is a red, red rose: metaphor (ground for metaphor - passionateIbeautifulIstrong...).
4. Ruby lips, hair of gold, snow-white skin: trite metaphors so frequently employed that they
hardly have any stylistic power left because metaphor dies of overuse. Such metaphors are also
called hackneyed or even dead.
A famous literary example of an author's defiance against immoderate use of trite metaphors is
W. Shakespeare's Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
The more unexpected, the less predictable is the ground for comparison the more expressive is
the metaphor which in this case got a special name of genuine or authentic metaphor.
Associations suggested by the genuine metaphor are varied, not limited to any definite number
and stimulated by the individual experience or imagination.
2.2. Different classifications of expressive means
In spite of the belief that rhetoric is an outmoded discipline it is in rhetoric that we find most of the
terms contemporary stylistics generally employs as its metalanguage. Rhetoric is the initial source
of information about metaphor, metonymy, epithet, antithesis, chiasmus, anaphora and many
more. The classical rhetoric gave us still widely used terms of tropes and figures of speech.
That is why before looking into the new stylistic theories and findings it's good to look back and
see what's been there for centuries. The problems of language in antique times became a concern
of scholars because of the necessity to comment on literature and poetry. This necessity was
caused by the fact that mythology and lyrical poetry was the study material on which the youth
was brought up, taught to read and write and generally educated. Analysis of literary texts helped
to transfer into the sphere of oratorical art the first philosophical notions and concepts.
The first linguistic theory called sophistry appeared in the fifth century 3. C. Oration played a
paramount role in the social and political life of Greece so the art of rhetoric developed into a
school.
Antique tradition ascribes some of the fundamental rhetorical notions to the Greek
philosopher Gorgius (483-375 В. C). Together with another scholar named Trasimachus they
created the first school of rhetoric whose principles were later developed by Aristotle (384-322 В.
C.) in his books "Rhetoric" and "Poetics".
Aristotle differentiated literary language and colloquial language. This first theory of style included
3 subdivisions:
• the choice of words;
• word combinations;
• figures.
1. The choice of words included lexical expressive means such as foreign words, archaisms,
neologisms, poetic words, nonce words and metaphor.
2. Word combinations involved 3 things:
a) order of words;
b) word-combinations;
c) rhythm and period (in rhetoric, a complete sentence).
3. Figures of speech. This part included only 3 devices used by the antique authors always in the
same order:
a) antithesis;
b) assonance of colons;
c) equality of colons.
A colon in rhetoric means one of the sections of a rhythmical period in Greek chorus consisting
of a sequence of 2 to 6 feet.
Later contributions by other authors were made into the art of speaking and writing so that the
most complete and well developed antique system, that came down to us is called the Hellenistic
Roman rhetoric system.
It divided all expressive means into 3 large groups: Tropes, Rhythm (Figures of Speech) and
Types of Speech.
A condensed description of this system gives one an idea how much we owe the antique tradition
in modern stylistic studies.