ENGLISH STYLISTICS
Spring 2013
Syllabus
Topic 1. Style and Stylistics
Meanings of „style“. Definition of linguistic style. Stylistics as a branch of linguistics.
A stylistician, a stylist. The stylistics of language. The stylistics of speech. Literary stylistics.
Poetics. Linguistic stylistics. Why is stylistics a very special science? Connection of stylistics
with phonetics, morphology (spoke – spake; word-structure), syntax, lexicology (synonymic
pairs, different wording, unusual word-combinations).
Topic 2. A Short History of Stylistic Studies
Ancient Greece and Rome. The 18th century (individualistic-psychological view), Buffon´s
dictum. The late 19th and early 20th century (utilitarian approach – Lucas, Vallins; the study
of form divorced from thought). Foreign linguists: French, German, Russian. The 1950s-60s.
Present-day studies.
Topic 3. Colouring of a Word
Denotation and connotation. Types of connotation (expressive, emotional;
evaluative;
stylistic). Inherent connotation. Adherent connotation. Phonesthemes.
Topic 4. Stylistic Morphology
Nouns. Changes in pronoun substitution and lexical combinability of words (personification).
Zoonymic metaphors. Constant epithets and emphatic constructions. Adjectives used as
nouns. Abstract nouns functioning as personal. The Possessive Case. The Plural.
Articles. The article with a proper name. The indefinite article before a family name or with
names of common, undistinguished people. Adjectives in a string. Absence of the article in
the singular of concrete nouns.
Pronouns. Substitution of „I” by „one” or „you.” Substitution of „I” by „a man, a chap, a
fellow, a girl.” Substitution of „I” by „s/he”. The archaic „thou” and its forms (thee, thy,
thine, thyself”). „He” or „she” used in personification. „It” applied to people. „We” – the
Majestic Plural and the Modest Plural. „This” and „that”.
Adjectives. Degrees of comparison. Relative adjectives. Long adjectives. Violation of
grammar – „good”, „bad”, „many”. Double forms.
Verbs. Tenses. The Historical Present. Continuous tenses. Ungrammatical forms: I, he, we +
ain´t; I says; times has changed; he done me harm. Archaic verbal forms: thou knowest, he
entereth, she didst.
Adverbs. Intensifiers (often oxymoron). Violating degrees of comparison.
Numerals. Used in exaggeration (hyperbole). Standing for a person.
Topic 5. Expressiveness on the Level of Word-Building
Affixation. The suffix –ish. Noun-forming suffixes with negative evaluation. Negative
affixes: „unbending, unerring, unmask” vs. „rigid, accurate, reveal.” „Fatherless”,
„motherless” vs. „orphan”. Diminutive suffixes.
Composition. Unexpected models of compound words. Words formed by compression
applied to people. Compression resulting in nonce-words. Compounds based on repetition and
rhyme.
The expressiveness of distorted words. Unusual shortenings.
Conversion. Nouns converted from phrasal verbs.
Topic 6. Phonetic Stylistic Devices
Onomatopoeia (sound imitation). Traditional and original onomatopoeia.
Alliteration. The function of alliteration. Using alliteration in poetry, titles of books,
advertisements, phraseological units.
Assonance (vocalic alliteration). The function of assonance.
Rhyme. Peculiar English rhymes: compound rhyme, eye-rhyme, inner rhyme, head rhyme.
Topic 7. Lexical Stylistic Devices
1. SD based on the interaction of primary and contextual meaning
Metaphor (hidden comparison). Dead m. Trite vs. original m. Simple vs. sustained m.
Metaphor and parts of speech. The function of m.
Metonymy (association of contiguity). Trite metonymy. Original metonymy. Synecdoche (a
part for a whole or a whole for a part; the Singular for the Plural or vice versa. The function of
metonymy.
Antonomasia. A name for a general idea. A name for the work. A word or phrase for a proper
name. Meaningful names.
Irony.
2. SD based on the interaction of denotational and emotional meaning
Epithet. Adjectives, adverbs, and nouns used as epithets. The logical attribute. Division of
epithets (structure): simple, compound, two-step, syntactic, phrase, and sentence epithets.
Division of epithets (meaning): metaphorical and transferred epithets.
Oxymoron.
Hyperbole.
Understatement. Deliberate lessening of sth. Affirming sth. through denying its contrary.
3. SD based on the interaction of primary and secondary meanings
Zeugma.
Pun (play on words).
Semantically false chain.
4. SD based on circumlocution
Periphrasis. Traditional and original p.
Simile (direct comparison). Compaing two different things. Forms in which similes may
appear: negative forms, the degree of comparison), with certain verbs. Similes that have
become set expressions.
Euphemism.
Personification.
Allegory.
5. Other cases
Bathos. Colloquial words to describe a famous person. Formal vs. informal words side by
side. Elevated words applied to trivial objects and events. A down-to-earth object mentioned
side by side with a romantic one.
Allusion.
Quotation.
Epigram.
Proverbs and idioms. Ways of distorting the original unit.
Synonymic repetition.
Lexical repetition.
Topic 8. Syntactic Stylistic Devices
1. SD based on the absence of logically required elements of the sentence
Ellipsis (elliptical sentence). Ellipsis in the author´s narrative and in the dialogue.
Aposiopesis (break in the narrative). Unfinished sentences.
Nominative sentences. Nouns or noun phrases.
Asyndeton. Omission of conjunctions.
Apokoinu construction. Omitting connecting words.
The gap-sentence link.
2. SD based on the redundancy of elements of the sentence
Framing.
Anadiplosis (catch repetition).
Anaphora.
Epiphora.
Tautology. Redundancy in words. The double subject or predicate or both.
Polysyndeton. Overuse of conjunctions.
3. SD based on the unusual position of elements of the sentence
Inversion. Complete and partial inversion (the direct object, adjectives after the noun, the
subordinate clause).
Climax (gradation).
Anticlimax.
Suspense.
4. Syntactic structures beyond one sentence
Syntactic parallelism (syntactic repetition). Identity of structure. Complete and partial
parallelism.
Antithesis.
Chiasmus (reversed parallelism). Lexical and syntactic chiasmus.
Detachment. Punctuation marks used for separating a word or phrase from the rest of the
sentence.
5. Syntactic structures used in a new function
Rhetorical question.
Exclamation.
Topic 9. Graphical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices
Punctuation marks. Overstopping. Understopping. Quotation marks. The indented line.
Capital letters. Figure poems. Multiplication of letters. Hyphenation. The italics. Graphon.
Distorted spelling. Permanent graphon. Occasional graphon.
Topic 10. Stylistic Classification of English Vocabulary
The division of words into three styles. Literary words: common literary vocabulary and
special literary vocabulary (terms, foreign words and barbarisms, archaic words, poetic
diction). Colloquial words: common colloquial vocabulary (coll. synonyms of neutral words,
interjections, neutral words used figuratively, diminutive forms, special forms of address,
abbreviations, compound words based on repetition and rhyme, intensifiers, words with a
wide range of application, phrasal verbs, nouns converted from phrasal verbs, phraseological
units, time-fillers). Special colloquial vocabulary (slang—general slang, synonyms in slang;
special slang/jargon—students´ slang, military slang; cant; vulgarisms—lexical and stylistic
vulgarisms, curses; professional lexis; dialectal words).