Part 1 On the Notions of
'Style' and 'Stylistics'
In different situations of communication people use
different manners of expressing their thoughts, which, in the
Russian linguistic tradition, are usually called styles or functional
styles (функциональные стили), and in the linguistic tradition
abroad — registers of speech (регистры речи). Stylistics is a
branch of linguistics that studies the various functional styles of
speech and also the various expressive means and devices (экспрессивные средства и приемы) of language. Apart from that,
some linguists apply the term 'stylistics' to the study of various
stylistic peculiarities of the language of works of fiction (стилистика художественной речи).
The distinction between a lofty style and a low style of speech
(высокий и низкий стили) was put forward as far back as in
the 18,h century by Michail Lomonosov. However, stylistics as
a special branch of linguistics was singled out only towards the
middle of the 20"' century. Academician V.V. Vinogradov was
among the first linguists to describe the different styles of speech
in respect to their functions (= aims). He distinguished, in
particular:
1) the colloquial style, which has the function of communicating (функция общения);
2) the official and scientific styles, which have the function of
informing (функция сообщения);
3) the publicist (публицистический) and belle-lettres (художественно-беллетристический) styles, which have the
function of producing an emotional impact (функция эмоционального воздействия) on the listeners.
This classification undoubtedly reflects certain differences
between speech styles, although its criteria for the opposition of
functions are rather confusing. Thus, for example, the functions
of informing and communicating are present in any
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style (colloquial, official, scientific, publicist, belles-lettres), as
speech always contains some information and is used for
communicating. Therefore it would probably be more precise
to say that the colloquial style is characteristic of the situation
of direct communication (when the listener/interlocutor is
present during speech), while the other, more bookish styles
(official, scientific, publicist) are used in situations of indirect
communication (without any listener/interlocutor present
during speech).
Moreover, production of emotional impact on the listener/
reader is not so much the aim of a special style of speech, but
rather the aim of publicist or fiction (belles-lettres) works, which
represent particular literary genres (жанры). It goes without
saying that such works (texts) have also the function of
informing. One more point to mention here is that the study of
the language of various works of fiction constitutes a special
branch in both linguistics and also in literature theory (литературоведение), and that fiction works themselves generally
comprise samples (образцы) of both colloquial style (the speech
of the characters) and of bookish style (the speech of the
author).
Two Types of Stylistic Information
Every style of speech brings about with it some additional
information about the conditions and peculiarities of
communication. The choice of style may depend 1) on
particular relations between the participants of communication
(interlocutors) and 2) on a particular attitude of the speaker to
what he says. These two types of stylistic information will be
used below as the basis for the classification of styles.
From this point of view, functional styles express the first
type of information, i.e. the relations between the interlocutors.
In some situations these relations may be unrestrained (непринужденные), friendly, easy-going or intimate, and in that case
the speaker chooses the so called informal style of speech, viz.
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the colloquial style, which is a lower ' (сниженный) style of
speech, characteristic of oral communication. In other
situations the relations between the interlocutors may be
restrained (сдержанные), strictly official, etc., and then the
interlocutors try to be deliberately polite (подчеркнуто вежливыми), and they choose the so called formal style (the lofty,
bookish style), which is generally characteristic of written
language. The formal style is used in the genres of official or
business documents, of scientific or publicist works. These
genres, in their turn, may be further subdivided into more
particular varieties of genres; for example, official documents
may represent an order, instruction, resolution, proceedings of a
meeting (протокол заседания), report, application (заявление), etc.
It is natural for speakers to try to avoid any confusion of
formal and informal styles within one text, as such a confusion
might give the wrong idea of the relations between the
interlocutors: e.g. a letter to a person of higher authority cannot
begin with words like 'Hi, how are you doing?', which would
bear a sense of familiarity. But at the same time it is well worth
mentioning that there may be samples of speech (oral or written)
which are not clearly marked by features of any particular style,
and which can therefore be regarded as a "neutral" style,
suitable for any communicative situations.
Besides the formal and informal functional styles mentioned
above (which reflect the relations between interlocutors), there
are also stylistic characteristics of speech that reflect the attitude
of the speaker to the content of his speech. This second type of
stylistic information concerns the emotional character of
speech, viz. the presence or absence of emotional or evaluative
(оценочный) elements. In this respect we can distinguish:
1) an emotionally coloured style of speech
2) a deliberately unemotional (подчеркнуто безэмоциональный), or "cold" style of speech
3) a neutral style of speech
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hmotionally coloured speech maybe characterized, on the
one hand, by a lofty emotional colouring (приподнятая эмоциональная окраска), such as solemn (торжественная),
passionate (патетическая), ironic, wrathful (гневная),
sarcastic (саркастическая), etc., or, on the other hand, by a
lower colouring (сниженная окраска), such as jocular/humorous (шутливая), derogatory (уничижительная), rude (грубая), disapproving (неодобрительная), endearing (ласкательная), etc.
The lofty emotional colouring is characteristic of the
publicist/oratory style, while the lower emotional colouring is
typical of colloquial style. The deliberately unemotional
character of speech is typical of the formal ('cold') styles, such
as scientific, official or business speech, where the speaker tends
to make his speech impersonal and avoid any emotional or
evaluating elements.
Apart from the two directly opposed styles — the
emotionally coloured and the deliberately unemotional — there
may also be intermediate, stylistically neutral speech, which is
neither emotionally coloured nor deliberately devoid of
emotion. Thus, there may be samples of speech that are neutral
both with respect to the relations between the interlocutors and
with respect to the speaker's attitude toward what he says.
Stylistic differences of any kind can be expressed by various
language means: phonetic, lexical or grammatical. One of the
most vivid means is, naturally, the choice of vocabulary.
Stylistic Characteristics of English Vocabulary
With respect to the functional styles, vocabulary can be
subdivided into bookish (literary), which is typical of formal
styles (scientific, official, business, publicist), and colloquial
vocabulary which is typical of the lower style (colloquial). In
addition, there is always present in the language a stylistically
neutral vocabulary, which can be used in all kinds of style. Cf.:
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child (neutral) — kid (colloq.) — infant (e.g. infant schools —
official, bookish) — offspring (also bookish, used in scientific
works); father (nt\A.) — daddy (coll.) — male
parent/ancestor (formal); leave/go away (neut.) — be off/get
out/get away/get lost (coll.,
or familiar- colloquial) — retire/withdraw (bookish);
continue (neutr.) — go on, carry on (coll.) — proceed (bookish,
formal); begin/start (neutr.) — get going/get started/Come
on! (coll.) —
commence (formal);
Stylistically neutral words usually constitute the main
member in a group of synonyms, the so-called synonymic
dominant (синонимическая доминанта): they can be used in
any style, they are not emotionally coloured and have no
additional evaluating elements; such are the words child, father,
begin, leave/go away, continue in the examples above.
Unlike neutral words (synonymic dominants), which only
denote (обозначают) a certain notion and thus have only a
denotational meaning (денотативное значение, обозначение
некоторого понятия), their stylistic synonyms usually contain
some connotations (коннотации), i.e. additional components
of meaning which express some emotional colouring or
evaluation (оценка) of the object named; these additional
components may also be simply signs of a particular functional
style of speech. Observe, for example, the following
connotations:
an endearing connotation (ласкат.) — e.g. in the words kid,
daddy, mummy (as different from the neutral words child,
father, mother); derogatory (презрит. — уничижит.) connotation — e.g. in rot, trash, stuff (as different from the neutral
'something worthless or silly'); jocular/humourous — e.g. in
comestibles (=food), beak (= nose), to kick the bucket (= to die);
rude or vulgar, e.g. in shut up/shut your trap; ironical or sarcastic —
brain-wash (= промывка мозгов), a pretty kettle offish (= an
embarrassing situation), notorious (= пресловутый; his
notorious jokes; he is notorious for his bad behaviour — "сла2*
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вится", т.е. "печально известен"); approving evaluation
{одобрительная оценка) — e.g. in the word renowned (a
renowned poet = прославленный; Edison is renowned for his
great inventions): on the other hand, its synonyms like wellknown, famous are neutral in this respect (have no
connotations).
It should be noted that we do not include into the stylistically
coloured vocabulary words that directly express some positive
or negative evaluation of an object — хороший, плохой, красивый, некрасивый, прекрасный, уродливый; good, bad, pretty,
ugly. Here the evaluation expressed makes up their denotational
meaning proper (it represents the notion expressed by the word),
but not an additional connotation. Also, it is easy to notice that
words like ugly, awful, beautiful, wonderful, superb denote a high
degree of quality (negative or positive), but this component of
degree (of intensity) is again part of their denotational meaning,
not a connotation (which is understood as an additional element
accompanying the denotational meaning of a word).
As connotation proper (a special colouring), negative
evaluation is present e.g. in the word scary (a scary girl — cf.
the Russian страшненкая; both words have an ironic or
derogatory colouring) or pretty — when it is used in phrases
like a pretty boy/man (humorous, ironical or derogatory
connotations; cf. also the Russian красавчик, красотка), or a
pretty state (It's a pretty state of affairs when I can't afford the
price of a pint of beer any morel). That's a pretty kettle offish (=
ну и дела!); there is ironical connotation in the word cox-comb
(literally "петушиный хохолок"), like in the corresponding
Russian word щеголь, or in a cock of the walk (зазнайка).
There is a derogatory connotation in the words to fabricate,
to concoct (сфабриковать, выдумать), as different from the
neutral phrase 'to create a false story' (which expresses the
negative evaluation by the denotational meanings of the words):
there is a negative evaluative connotation in to slander (клеветать) — as different from emotionally neutral expressions like
to distort facts (искажать факты), which again express the
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idea of 'falsification' directly. In the sentence Don't read this
bad hook the negative evaluation is expressed directly (by the
denotational meaning of the adjective bad), whereas in Don't
read this trash the evaluation is expressed by the derogatory
colouring of the noun trash — in other words, it is present here
only as a connotation; thus, words like trash, rot, stuff (=
"something worthless, bad") are stylistically marked (стилистически маркированы, т.е. обладают определенной стилистической окраской), while the word bad is stylistically
unmarked (стилистически немаркировано, нейтрально).
Apart from that, as was already mentioned above, the
stylistic connotation of a word may be just a sign of a certain
functional style to which the word belongs, without carrying
any emotional or evaluative element. Thus, sentences like She
is cute (= pretty), It is cute (= very good), It's cool (Это круто)
contain not only a high positive evaluation (in the same way as
the stylistically neutral variants She is pretty/good-looking or It
is very good), but also a stylistic connotation which shows that
they belong to the familiar-colloquial style (фамильярно-разговорный стиль), or even to slang. Colloquial connotations are
also present in the phrases to fix a watch (neutral — to repair a
watch), to fix an appointment for seven o'clock (= to arrange), to
fix breakfast (American — to cook breakfast). On the other
hand, a bookish connotation, or colouring (as a feature of
official or scientific style of speech) is present in expressions
like to cause/to inflict bodily injuries (neutral — to hit/to beat/to
hurt), to cause/to inflict damage (neutr. to harm/to do harm), to
impose a tax/a fine (neutr. to tax/to fine), an impoverished person
(neutr. a poor person), highly improbable (neutr. very unlikely),
etc.
A rude (vulgar) connotation is present in vulgarisms, or
(aboo words, which are not to be used in the speech of educated
people and are therefore often replaced by euphemisms (эвфемизмы) — the more 'gentle' names of the object. Thus, the
word 'devil' is, for many people, unacceptable in speech and
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intervocal position (belter, letter, closer); a slight nasalisation of
vowels before or after nasal consonants (can't, stand).
There are also differences in vocabulary, e.g. fall (British —
autumn), guess (= think), baggage (= luggage), drug (== medicine),
store ( = shop), can ( = tin), elevator ( = lift), hardware ( =
ironmongery), grades (= marks), mail( =post), bill (= banknote),
to pay a check ( = to pay a bill), gas (=petrol), hog(=pig), to line
(= to queue up), movies (= pictures, cinema film), stocks ( =
shares), information desk (= enquiry-office), sidewalk ( =
pavement), carousal [karu'sel] ( = merry-go-round), vacation ( =
holiday), class (= form; the boy is now in his first class at school),
closet (= cupboard), candy (= sweets), sick (= ill), ten minutes
after five ( = past five), etc. As for grammar forms, American
English uses gotten instead of got, and the future auxiliary will
with all the persons. It also prefers simplified variants of spelling:
color(=colour), favorite (= favourite), theater( = theatre), center
(=centre), telegram (= telegramme), etc.
b) English Vocabulary in the Aspect of Time
Besides the vocabulary that is in current (present-day) use,
we also find archaic or obsolete (устарелые) words, which
belong to some previous stage of language development but can
still be found in works of fiction (especially in the works of
Shakespeare, Chaucer, Swift or other classical authors). Cf. the
archaic words Behold! (= Look!), Hark! (= Listen!), methinks (
= I think), Nay( = no), Wither are you going? (= Where are you
going to ?), hither and thither (— here and there), thou/to thee (=
you/to you), whilst (= while), awhile (=for some time), yon (=
this, that), yonder (= there), etc.
Archaic words are frequently used in poetry and thus belong
also to poetic vocabulary (potic diction): cf. quoth ( — said), woe
(= sorrow), swain (= shepherd), foe (= enemy), steed/charger
(= horse), realm (= kingdom), nought/naught (= nothing), ere
(= before), albeit (= although); here also belong certain
shortened variants of the currently used words, e.g. oft ( = often),
eve (= evening), morn (= morning), etc.
The vocabulary that has gone out of use also includes the so
called 'historisms' (историзмы) — words which reflect some
phenomena belonging to the past limes, e.g. knight (рыцарь),
yeomen (йомены, independent peasants in old England), archer
(лучник), sling (праща), ram (таран); cf. also Russian
historisms like городничий, городовой, бояре.
On the other hand, we can also find in English vocabulary
the so-called 'neologisms', i.e. words that have recently come
into the language and are still felt as rather new: allergy,
computer, astronaut, isotope, quasar, laser, aliens, supermarket,
chain-stores, bikini, mini/maxi/midi (of clothes), paperbacks,
etc.
Comparatively new borrowings from other languages, which
are not yet completely assimilated in the language (phonetically
or grammatically), are stylistically marked as 'foreign' words
(sometimes, as barbarisms); they usually belong to a lofty
(bookish) style: e.g. protege, a propos, bonjour, idee fixe, chic
(= of very good taste, fashionable), alter ego (= one's second
self), de facto (= in point of fact), status quo (= the existing
state of things), ibid/ibidem (= by the same author), etc., viz. (=
videlicet) (namely).
Part 2
Functional Styles of Speech in Greater Detail
The Colloquial Style
This is the style of informal, friendly oral communication.
The vocabulary of colloquial style is usually lower than that of
the formal or neutral styles, it is often emotionally coloured and
characterized by connotations (cf. the endearing connotation in
the words daddy, kid or the evaluating components in 'trash',
etc. in the examples of connotations above).
Colloquial speech is characterized by the frequent use of
words with a broad meaning (широкозпачные слова): speakers
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tend to use a small group of words in quite different meanings,
whereas in a formal style (official, business, scientific) every
word is to be used in a specific and clear meaning. Compare
the different uses of the verb "get", which frequently replaces
in oral colloquial speech its more specific synonyms:
/ got (= received) a letter today; Wliere did you get (= buy)
those shoes?; We don'tget (= have) much rain here in summer, I
got (= caught) flu' last month; We got (= took) the six-o 'clock
train from London; I got into (=entered) the house easily; Where
has my pen got to (= disappeared) ?; We got (= arrived) home
late; Get (=put) your hat on!; I can 'tget (=fit) into my old jeans;
Get (= throw) the cat out of the house.'; I'll get ( = punish) you,
just you wait.'; We got (= passed) through the customs without any
checking; I've got up to (= reached) the last chapter of the book; I
'II get (=fetch) the children from school; ft's getting (= becoming)
dark; He got (= was) robbed in the street at night; I got (= caused)
him to help me with the work; I got the radio working at last( =
brought it to the state of working); Will you get (= give, bring) the
children their supper tonight?; Ididn 'tget( = hear) what you said;
You got (= understood) my answer wrong; I wanted to speak to
the director, but only got (= managed to speak) to his secretary;
Will you get (= answer) the phone?; Can you get (= tune in) to
London on your radio ?
There are phrases and constructions typical of colloquial
type: What's up?(= What has happened); so-so (=not especially
good); nothing much/nothing to write home about (= nothing of
importance); How are you doing? (= How are things with you?);
Sorry? Pardon ?( = Please, repeat, Ididn't hear you); Not to worry!
(= there is nothing to worry about); No problem!(= This can easily
be done); See you ( = Good-bye); Me too/neither (= So/neither
do I), etc.
In grammar there may be: a) the use of shortened variants
of word-forms, e.g. isn't, can't; there's ; I'd say ; he'd 've done (
= would have done); Yaa ( = Yes); b) the use of elliptical
(incomplete) sentences — / did; (Where's he?) — At home; Like
it? (= Do you/Did you like it?) — Not too much (= I don 't like it
too much); (Shall I open it'?) — Don 't.'; May I?(= May I ask a
question/do this?).
The syntax of colloquial speech is also characterized by the
preferable use of simple sentences or by asyndetic connection
(= absence of conjunctions, бессоюзная связь) between the
parts of composite sentences or between separate sentences.
Complex constructions with non-finite forms are rarely used.
Note the neutral style in the following extract:
When I saw him there, I asked him, 'Where are you going?',
but he started running away from me. I followed him. When he
turned round the corner, I also turned round it after him, but
then noticed that he was not there. I could not imagine where
he was...
and the possible more colloquial version of the same: / saw him
there, I say 'Where'ye going?' He runs off, 1 run after him. He
turns the comer, me too. He isn 't there. Where's he now?/can't
think.... (note also the rather frequent change from the Past
tense to the Present, in addition to the absence of conjunctions
or other syntactic means of connection).
Familiar-Colloquial Style and Slang
(фамильярно-разговорный стиль, жаргоны)
Besides the standard, literary-colloquial (нормативная
литературно-разговорная) speech, there is also a nonstandard
(or substandard) style of speech, mostly represented by a special
vocabulary. Such is the familiar-colloquial style (a 'lower'
variant of colloquial style) used in very free, friendly, informal
situations of communication (between close friends, members
of one family, etc.). Here we find emotionally coloured words,
low-colloquial vocabulary (просторечная лексика) and slang
words. This style admits also of the use of rude and vulgar
vocabulary, including expletives/obscene words/four-letter
words/swearwords (бранная лексика).
See some examples of familiar-colloquial/low-colloquial
words (also called 'slang'):
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Rot/trash/stuff ( = smth. bad); the cat's pyjamas (=just the
right/suitable thing); bread-basket (= stomach); grass/pot (=*
marijuana, narcotic drugs); tipsy/under the influence (affluence)/
under the table/has had a drop (=drunk); cute/great! (Am) (=very
good); wet blanket (^uninteresting person); hot stuff! (smth.
extremely good); You're damn right! (= quite right); Where are
those darned/damned socks? What the hell do you want?
The term slang is used in a very broad and vague sense.
Besides denoting low-colloquial (familiar-colloquial) words, it
is also used to denote special social jargons/cants, i.e. words
typically used by particular social groups to show that the
speaker belongs to this group, as different from other people.
Originally jargons were used to preserve secrecy within the social
group, to make speech incomprehensible to others — such is
the thieves' jargon/cant. There is also teenagers' slang/jargon,
school slang, army slang, prison slang, etc. See examples of
American army slang: to take felt (= to retire from the army,
literally — put on a felt hat); fly boy (=pilot); coffin (= unreliable
aeroplane); Molotov cocktail (= bottles with explosive materials);
But often words from a particular jargon spread outside its
social group and become general slang. See examples of general
British slang: crackers (= crazy), the year dot (= long ago), drip
(= uninteresting person without a character), get the hump ( = get
angry), mac (~ Scotsman), mug (=fool), nipper (= young child),
ratted (= drunk), snout (= tobacco).
Some examples of general American slang: buddy (= fellow),
buck (= dollar), cabbage ( = money), John (= lavatory), jerk ( =
stupid person) Juice (= wine); joker (= man); glued (= arrested);
give smb. wings (= teach to use drugs); stag party (= мальчишник); top dog ( = boss); like a million dollars (-very good); to nip
(=steal), smash (= a drink).
There is also professional slang/jargon, i.e. words which are
used by people in their professional activity: tin-fish ( =
submarine); block-buster (= a bomb- in military use, or a very
successfitlfilm — in show business); piper (= a specialist decorating
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cakes with cream and using a pipe); see also some professional
slang words for a 'blow' in boxing: an outer (= a knock-out
blow), a right-hander (=one made with the right hand); an
uppercut (апперкот); a clinch (position of boxing very close,
with body pressed to body).
The Formal (Lofty, Bookish) Style
(высокий, книжный стиль)
A formal (lofty, bookish) style is required in situations of
official or restrained relations between the interlocutors, who
try to avoid any personal and emotional colouring or familiarity,
and at the same time to achieve clarity of expression (to avoid
any ambiguity and misunderstanding). This style is used in
various genres of speech, such as in official (legal, diplomatic,
~? etc.) documents, scientific works, publicist works or public
\ speeches, etc.
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The Style of Official or
Business Documents
Official (legal, diplomatic, etc.) and business documents are
written in a formal, 'cold' or matter-of-fact style of speech,
which requires the choice of a special kind of vocabulary,
grammar forms and structures. Such documents often require
the use of special formulas of politeness and cliches, e.g. I beg
to inform you; I beg to move; I second the motion; the items on
the agenda, the above-mentioned, hereinafter named; on behalf
of; Dear Sir; We remain respectfully yours, etc. Official
documents are frequently characterized by the use of
abbreviations or conventional symbols. MP (Member of
Parliament), Gvt (government), Ltd (company of limited
liability), Co (company); ad (advertisement); AD (Anno Domini =
since Christ's birth); ВС (before Christ's birth); USA; UK; $
(dollar); Lb. (pound), etc.
Official or business documents may require special patterns;
see the structure of a business letter below:
Domby and Co. 24 South Street Manchester 7th
February, 1985 (the address of the sender) Mr.
John Smith 19 Green Street London (the address
of the party addressed)
Dear Sir, We beg to inform you of a plausible opportunity
of concluding an agreement on the issue on the following terms
...
Respectfully yours,
Domby and Co. The syntax of official or business style is
characterized by the frequent use of non-finite forms — gerund,
participle, infinitive (Considering that...; in order to achieve
cooperation in solving the problems), and complex structures
with them, such as the Complex Object (We expect this to take
place), Complex Subject (This is expected to take place), the
Absolute Participial Construction (The conditions being violated,
it appears necessary to state that...).
The vocabulary is characterized by the use of special
terminology {memorandum; pact; the high contracting parties;
to ratify an agreement; extra-territorial status; plenipotential
representative; proceedings, protocol, the principles laid down in
the document, etc.) and generally by the choice of lofty
(bookish) words and phrases: plausible (= possible); to inform (=
to tell); to assist (to help), to cooperate (=to work together), to be
determined/resolved (= to wish); the succeeding clauses of the
agreement (= нижеследующие статьи договора), to reaffirm
faith in fundamental principles; to establish the required conditions;
the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
international law; to promote (= to develop) and secure (= to make
stable) social progress; with the following objectives/ends (=for
these purposes).
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The Style of Scientific Works
The genre of scientific works exists for the most part within
the bounds of the written form of language (scientific articles,
monographs or textbooks), but it may also manifest itself in its
oral form (in scientific reports, lectures, discussions at
conferences, etc.); in the latter case this style already has some
features of colloquial speech.
The aim of scientific speech is to present precise
information, therefore it requires the use of special terminology
which does not admit of polysemy or of figurative meanings, of
emotional connotations (all of which is typical of colloquial
and publicist styles). The author of scientific works tends to
sound impersonal, hence the use of the pronoun "WE" instead
of "I", of impersonal constructions, of the Passive Voice (which
allows the author not to mention himself or any other subjective
participants of the events described).
The syntax of scientific speech is characterized by the use
of complete (non-elliptical) sentences (unlike the syntax of
colloquial speech), the use of extended complex and compound
sentences without omission of conjunctions, as these connectors
enable the author to express the relations between the parts more
precisely (as different from the asyndetic connection typical of
colloquial speech); the use of bookish syntactic constructions,
such as complexes with non-finite forms of the verb; the use of
extended attributive phrases, often with a number of nouns used
as attributes to the following head-noun (Noun + Noun
construction). See some examples of grammar structures typical
of scientific language:
Noun + Noun constructions:
the sea level; the time and space relativity theory; the World
peace conference; a high level consensus; the greenhouse effect
(парниковый); carbon dioxide emissions (эмиссия двуокиси углерода): fossil fuel burning (сжигание ископаемых горючих
веществ); deforestation problems (= problems related to the
disappearance of forests on the earth).
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Passive Voice constructions:
Water is not the sole variety of substance from which oxygen
can be obtained'. Methane is produced by leaks from gas pipelines.
Bookish syntactic structures:
The compound type of predicate: These gases are easy to
control but they are persistent once emitted (= // is easy to control
these gases, but it is hard to stop them when they come out)'.
Deforestation is probably even harder to change (= It is even harder
to change the situation when forests begin to disappear).
The use of abstract nouns, gerundial, participial or infinitive
phrases and complexes instead of the much simpler clauses with
conjunctions: Apart from this, controlling emissions of greenhouse
gases would require huge increase in energy efficiency (= Besides,
if we want to control the gases which come out when the air
becomes warmer, we shall have to produce much more energy);
Agreement to implement such huge projects would require
overcoming differences between countries (= If we want to agree
to carry out such big projects, we shall have to change the
situation when every country is different from another); The
measures suggested are worth considering/require careful
consideration (= It is necessary to think about the measures that
we have suggested); Our planet is known to have been hot once
and to have grown cooler in the course of time (= We know that
once it was hot and then grew cooler).
Special emphatic constructions to lay a logical stress on
some part of the sentence: It is not solely from water that oxygen
is to be obtained (= we can get oxygen not only from water). It is
on these terms that the UN would be prepared to intervene into the
conflict (= The UN will intervene only on these terms).
Publicist (Oratory) Style
This is a style used in public speeches and printed publicist
works, which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to
important social or political events, public problems of cultural
or moral character. Such communication requires clarity in the
presentation of ideas, its aim is to convince the readers/listeners
of the truth of the ideas expressed, and at the same time to
produce an emotional impact (impression) on the audience.
Thus the main features of t his style are clear logical
argumentation and emotional appeal to the audience. In this
way the publicist style has features in common not only with
the style of official or scientific works, on the one hand, but
also with some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial
style, on the other hand. Indeed, in this case the author has no
need to make his speech impersonal (as in scientific or official
style) — on the contrary, he tries to approximate his text to lively
communication, as though he were talking to people in direct
contact. Accordingly, the publicist style is characterized by the
use of logically connected syntactic structures in their full form,
i.e. complete extended sentences connected by conjunctions
clearly showing the relations expressed, but at the same time,
an emotional impact is achieved by the use of emotionally
coloured vocabulary, just as in belles-lettres style (the style of
fiction works) and in colloquial style.
Publicist (oratory) style requires eloquence (красноречие),
and such works are often ornamented with stylistic devices and
figures of speech (see Part 3). Some authors of publicist works
may prefer verbosity (многословие), others — brevity of
expression, often resembling epigrams.
There are various genres in which the publicist style is
employed, such as public speeches, essays, pamphlets, articles
published in newspapers or magazines, radio and TV
commentaries, etc.
The oral variant of publicist style — the oratory style proper
(which is used in speeches and mass media commentaries), is
especially close to spoken language in its emotional aspect. It is
aimed at logical and emotional persuasion of the audience. As
there is direct contact with the audience, it allows the speaker to
combine effects of written and spoken varieties of language.
For example, the author can use direct address (the pronoun of
the second person "You"), and often begins his speech with
special formulas of address to the audience: Ladies and
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Gentlemen! My Lords', (in the House of Lords); Mr. Chairman:
Highly esteemed members of the conference.'; or. in a less formal
situation — Dear Friends; or, with a more passionate colouring —
My friends/
As the speaker/author attempts to reach closer contact with
the audience, he may use such devices as asking the audience
questions:
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the
government of himself. Can he, then, he trusted with the government
of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern
him ? (Th. Jefferson)
or making an appeal to the audience:
Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own
federal and republican principles! (ibid.).
On the other hand, as different from colloquial style, the
vocabulary of speeches and printed publicist works is usually
very elaborately chosen and remains mainly in the sphere of
lofty (high-flown) style. See examples below:
a) Friends and Fellow Citizens:
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office
of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of
my fellow citizens which is here assembled, to express my
grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased
to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the
task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those
anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the
charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire (Th.
Jefferson. First Inaugural Speech)
b) The method which Mr. Burke takes to prove that the people of
England had no such rights, and that such rights do not now
exist in the nation ...is of the same marvellous and monstrous
kind with what he has already said; for his arguments are,
that the persons, or the generations of persons, in whom they
did exist, are dead, and with them the right is dead also.
(Th. Paine. Rights of Man)
Like colloquial style, the publicist style is usually
characterized by emotional colouring and connotations, but
there is a difference. The emotional colouring of publicist style
is lofty: it may be solemn (as in example a) above), or it may be
ironic/sarcastic (as in example b)), but it cannot have the
"lower" connotations (jocular, endearing, rude or vulgar,
slangy) found in colloquial/familiar colloquial speech.
The syntax of publicist style is often characterised by
repetition of structures (syntactic parallelism) — a device used
to rouse the audience emotionally:
'It is high time this people had recovered from the passions of
war. It is high time that the people of the North and the South
understood each other and adopted means to inspire confidence
in each other (from a public speech made at the end of the Civil
War in the USA).
What do we see on the horizon? What forces are at work?
Wither are we drifting? Under what mist of clouds does the future
stand obscured? (from Lord Byron's speech in Parliament)
Syntactic repetition may be combined with lexical repetition
(periphrasis):
Robert Burns exalted our race and the Scottish tongue. Before
his time we had for a long period been scarcely recognised; we had
been falling out of the recollection of the world ... Scotland had
lapsed into obscurity ... Her existence was almost forgotten (all
those different phrases simply repeat the idea "nobody knew us,
Scots, before").
Some Particular Genres of Publicist Style
The Essay
This genre in English literature dates from the 16"' century,
and its name is taken from the short "Essays" (= experiments,
attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his
thoughts on various subjects. An essay is a literary composition
of moderate length on philosophical, social or literary subjects,
which preserves a clearly personal character and has no
pretence to deep or strictly scientific treatment of
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the subject. It is rather a number of comments, without any
definite conclusions. See an extract from Ben Johnson (16lh
century):
Language most shows a man; speak, thai I may see thee. It
springs of the most retired and in most parts of us, and is the
image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a man's
form or likeness so true, as his speech, and, as we consider
feature and composition in a man, so words in language. Some
men are tall and big, so some language is high and great. Then
the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composition full, all
grace, sinewy (жилистый) and strong. Some are little and
dwarfs; so of speech, it is humble and low; the words are poor
and flat; the members are periods thin and weak, without knitting
(связь) or number.
Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article (тематическая статья) in a magazine or newspaper. It is
characterized by clarity and brevity of expression, by the use of
the first person singular, by expanded use of connecting words
(to express clearly all the logical relations in the development of
thought), and abundant use of emotionally coloured words, of
metaphors and other figures of speech.
Newspaper Speech
English newspaper writing dates from the 17"' century. First
newspapers carried only news, without comments, as
commenting was considered to be against the principles of
journalism. By the 19lh century newspaper language was
recognised as a particular variety of style, characterized by a
specific communicative purpose and its own system of language
means.
The content of newspaper material is fairly diverse, it
comprises news and commentary on the news, press reports and
articles, advertisements and official announcements, as well as
short stories and poems, crossword puzzles and other such like
material for entertainment of the reader.
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Newspaper style includes a system of interrelated lexical,
phraseological and grammatical means serving the purpose of
informing, instructing, and, in addition, of entertaining the
reader. As a result of this diversity of purposes, newspapers
contain not only strictly informational, but also evaluative
material — comments and views of the news-writer (esecially
characteristic of editorials and feature articles).
As the newspaper seeks to influence public opinion on
various social, political or moral matters, its language frequently
contains vocabulary with evaluative connotation, such as to
allege (theperson who allegedly committed the crime), or to claim
(the defendant claims to know nothing about it), which cast some
doubt on what is stated further and make it clear to the reader
that those are not yet affirmed facts. A similar idea is expressed
by special grammar structures, e.g. The man is said to have taken
part in the affair, or The chief of the police is quoted as saying...
Evaluation can be included in the headlines of news items
(Government going back on its own promises) and in the
commentary on the news, in feature articles, in leading articles
(editorials), where emotionally coloured vocabulary is widely
employed. The characteristics mentioned are common to
different genres of publicist style. Nevertheless, the informative
content generally prevails in newspaper material as compared
with purely publicist or oratory works.
On the whole we may single out the following features
typical of newspaper style:
in vocabulary — the use of special political or economic
terminology (constitutional, election, General Assembly of the UN,
gross output, per capita production):
the use of lofty, bookish vocabulary, including certain cliches
(population, public opinion, a nation-wide crisis, crucial/pressing
problems, representative voting), which may be based on
metaphors and thus emotionally coloured: war hysteria,
escalation of war, overwhelming majority, stormy applause/a storm
of applause, captains of industry, pillars of society (столпы), the
bulwark of civilization (оплот; букв, бастион).
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frequent use of abbreviations — names of organizations,
political movements, etc.: UN (United Nations Organization),
NATO {North Atlantic Treaty Organization), EEC (European
Economic Community), UK( The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland), FO (Foreign Office), PM (Prime minister), MP (member of Parliament), etc.
the use of neologisms, since newspapers quickly react to
any new trends in the development of society, technology,
science and so on: sputnik, a teach-in (the form of campaigning
through heated political discussions), black Americans/AfroAmericans (= Negroes), Latin Americans (emigrants from South
America), front-lash (a vigorous anti-racist movement), stop-go
politics (= indecisive policies), a shock announcement, to work
flat out(= to work very hard), a frosty reception.
in grammar — the use of complete simple sentences, of
complex and compound sentences, often extended by a number
of clauses:
The Secretary to the Treasury said he had been asked what
was meant by the statement in the Speech that the position of war
pensioners would be kept under close review.
On the other hand, in newspaper headlines we find elliptical
sentences, with the finite verb omitted or replaced by a nonfinite form, and the grammatical articles also often omitted:
Price rise expected (=A rise in prices is expected); Witnesses
silent in court (= The witnesses are silent during the court trial);
Prime Minister on new tax (= What the Prime Minister said about
the new tax).
Part3
Expressive Means of Language
(Stylistic Devices)
As expressive means, language uses various stylistic devices
which make use either of the meaning or of the structure of
language units.
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STYLISTIC DEVICES MAKING USE OF THE MEANING
OF LANGUAGE UNITS (FIGURES OF SPEECH)
The term Figures of speech (фигуры речи, тропы, образные средства) is frequently used for stylistic devices that make
use of a figurative meaning of the language elements and thus
create a vivid image (образ).
Metaphor (метафора)
Metaphor denotes a transference of meaning based on
resemblance (перенос, основанный на сходстве), in other
words, on a covert (скрытое) comparison:
He is not a man, he is just a machine; What an ass you are!;
the childhood of mankind; the dogs of war, a film star.
Not only objects can be compared in a metaphor, but also
phenomena, actions or qualities: Some books are to be tasted,
others swallowed, andsome few to chewedanddigested(F. Bacon);
pitiless cold; cruel heat; virgin soil; a treacherous calm.
Metaphors may be simple, when expressed by a word or
phrase (Man cannot live by bread alone = by things satisfying
only his physical needs), and complex (prolonged, or sustained,
сложная метафора), when a broader context is required to
understand it, or when the metaphor includes more than one
element of the text; cf. the metaphoric representation of a city
as a powerful and dangerous machine in the example below:
The average New Yorker is caught in a machine. He whirls
along, he is dizzy, he is helpless. If he resists, the machine will
crush him to pieces. (W. Frank)
... the scene of man,
A mighty maze, but not without a plan;
A wild, where weeds and flowers promiscuous shoot;
A garden tempting with forbidden fruit. ...(A. Pope)
A trite metaphor (стершаяся метафора) is one that is
overused in speech, so that it has lost its freshness of expression.
Such metaphors often t u r n into idiomatic phrases
(phraseological expressions) that are fixed in dictionaries: seeds
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of evil, a rooted prejudice, a flight of imagination, in the heat of
argument, to burn with desire, to fish for compliments, to prick
one's ears
than similes just because they do not express the comparison
openly.
Metonymy (метонимия)
Simile (сравнение)
This is a comparison creating a vivid image due to the fact
that the object with which we compare is well-known as an
example of the quality in question. The characteristic itself may
be named in the simile, e.g. when the conjunction "as" is used:
(as) beautiful as a rose; stupid as an ass; stubborn as a mule; fresh
as a rose; fat as a pig; white as snow; proud as a peacock; drunk
as a lord. Such similes often turn into cliches. In some idiomatic
similes the image is already impossible to distinguish: as dead
as a doornail, as thick as thieves.
The characteristic on the basis of which the comparison is
made, may only be implied, not named, as when the preposition
"like" is used: to drink like a fish (= very much);
Oh, my love is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June. (Burns);
Rise like lions after slumber, in unvanquishible number,
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
That in sleep had fallen on you.
We are many, they are few. (Shelly).
Similes may contain no special connector expressing
comparison, as in: She climbed with the quickness of a cat; He
reminded me of a hungry cat.
Comparative constructions are not regarded as simile if no
image is created, viz., when the object with which something is
compared, is not accepted as a generally known example of the
quality: John skates as beautifully as Kate does; She is not so clever
as her brother, John is very much like his brother.
Note that, unlike a simile, a metaphor contains a covert (not
expressed openly) comparison, which is already included in the
figurative meaning of a word: cf. a metaphor in What an ass he
«/with the simile He is stupid as an ass. Metaphors are usually
more expressive and more emotionally coloured
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Metonymy denotes a transference of meaning which is
based on contiguity of notions (перепое, основанный на смежности понятий, явлений), not on resemblance. In cases of
metonymy, the name of one object is used instead of another,
closely connected with it. This may include:
1. The name of a part instead of the name of a whole
(synecdoche, синекдоха):
Washington and London (= USA and UK) agree on most
issues; He was followed into the room by a pair of heavy boots (=
by a man in heavy boots); cf. the Russian: "Да, да ", ответили
рыжие панталоны (Чехов). In a similar way, the word crown
(to fight for the crown) may denote "the royal power/the king";
the word colours in the phrase to defend the colours of a school
denotes the organization itself.
2. The name of a container instead of the contents:
He drank a whole glass of whiskey (= drank the liquid
contained in a glass). This is such a frequent type of transference
of meaning in the language system that in many cases (like the
latter example), it is not perceived as a stylistic device.
Sometimes, however, the stylistic use of this change of meaning
can be still felt, and then it is perceived as a figure of speech:
The whole town was out in the streets (= the people of the town).
3. The name of a characteristic feature of an object instead
of the object:
The massacre of the innocents (= children; this biblical phrase
is related to the killing of Jewish male children by King Herod
in Bethlehem).
4. The name of an instrument instead of an action or the
doer of an action:
All they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword (=
war, fighting).
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Let us turn swords into ploughs (= Let us replace fighting by
peaceful work; Перекуем мечи на орала).
Zeugma (зевгма, каламбур)
This is a stylistic device that plays upon two different
meanings of the word — the direct and the figurative meanings,
thus creating a pun (игра слов). The effect comes from the use
of a word in the same formal (grammatical) relations, but in
different semantic relations with the surrounding words in the
phrase or sentence, due to the simultaneous realization (in one
text) of the literal and figurative meaning of a word:
A leopard changes his spots, as often as he goes from one spot
to another (spot = 1. пятно; 2. место).
Dora plunged at once into privileged intimacy and into the
middle of the room. (Shaw)
She possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. (O.
Henry)
She dropped a tear and her pocket handkerchief. (Dickens)
At noon Mrs. Turpin would get out of bed and humor, put on
kimono, airs, and water to boil for coffee. (O. Henry)
The title of O. Wilde's comedy The importance of being
Earnest plays upon the fact that the word earnest (= serious)
and the male name Ernest sound in the same way: one of the
female characters in the play wished to marry a man with the
name of Ernest, as it seemed to her to guarantee his serious
intentions.
A similar effect may result from the decomposition of a setphrase, when the direct and figurative meanings of the words
within the set-phrase are realised at the same time:
May's mother always stood on her gentility, and Dot's mother
never stood on anything but her active little feet. (Dickens)
' When Bishop Berkley said: 'there is no matter' And proved
it — it was no matter what he said'. (Byron)
One of the characters of I . Carrol's book 'Alice in
Wonderland' is called Mock Turtle (Фальшивая черепаха);
this name has been coined from the phrase "mock turtle soup"
(суп из телятины, дословно — «как бы черепаший суп»).
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One more example of zeugma (or decomposition of a setphrase) is represented in the humorous story about two duellists
who fired at each other and both missed, so when one of the
seconds said, after the duel, 'Now, please, shake your hands!',
the other answered 'There is no need for that. Their hands must
have been shaking since morning'.
Oxymoron (оксюморон)
This is a device which combines, in one phrase, two words
(usually: noun + adjective) whose meanings are opposite and
incompatible (несовместимы):
a living corpse; sweet sorrow; a nice rascal; awfully (terribly)
nice; a deafening silence; a low skyscraper.
Hyperbole and Litotes
These are stylistic devices aimed at intensification of
meaning. Hyperbole (гипербола, преувеличение) denotes a
deliberate extreme exaggeration of the quality of the object: He
was so tall that I was not sure he had a face. (O. Henry); All the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. (Shakespeare);
a car as big as a house; the man-mountain (человек-гора, Гулливер); a thousand pardons; I've told you a million times; He was
scared to death; I'd give anything to see it.
Litotes (understatement; литота, преуменьшение) is a
device based on a peculiar use of negative constructions in the
positive meaning, so that, on the face of it, the quality seems to
be underestimated (diminished), but in fact it is shown as
something very positive or intensified: Not bad (= very good);
He is no coward (= very brave); It was no easy task (= very
difficult); There are not a few people who think so ( = very many);
I was not a little surprised (= very much surprised); It was done
not without taste (= in very good taste).
Epithet (эпитет)
This is a word or phrase containing an expressive
characteristic of the object, based on some metaphor and thus
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31
creating an image:
О dreamy, gloomy, friendly trees! (Trench)
Note that in phrases like an iron (silver) spoon, the adjective
is just a grammatical attribute to noun, not an epithet, as no
figurative meaning is implied; on the other hand, in a man of
iron will the adjective is already an epithet, as this is an expressive
description, based on covert comparison (metaphor).
An epithet may be used in the sentence as an attribute: a
silvery laugh; a thrilling story/film; Alexander the Great; a cutting
smile (насмешливая, едкая), or as an adverbial modifier: to smile
cuttingly. It may also be expressed by a syntactic construction
(a syntactic epithet): Just a ghost of a smile appeared on his face;
she is a doll of a baby; a little man with a Say-nothing-to-me, or
— I'll- contradict- you expression on his face.
Fixed epithets (устойчивые) are often found in folklore:
my true love; a sweet heart; the green wood; a dark forest; brave
cavaliers; merry old England.
Periphrasis (перифраз, перифраза)
This is a device by which a longer phrase is used instead of
a shorter and plainer one; it is a case of circumlocution (a roundabout way of description), which is used in literary descriptions
for greater expressiveness:
The little boy has been deprived of what can never be replaced
(Dickens) (= deprived of his mother);
An addition to the little party now made its appearance (=
another person came in).
The notion of king may be poetically represented as the
protector of earls; the victor lord; the giver of lands; a battle may
be called a play of swords; a saddle = a battle-seat; a soldier = a
shield-bearer, God = Our Lord, Almighty, Goodness, Heavens,
the Skies.
Periphrasis .may have a poetic colouring:
a pensive warbler of the ruddy breast (= a bullfinch, снегирь:
A. Pope); The sightless couriers of the air (= the winds:
Shakespeare),
or a humorous colouring: a disturber of the piano keys (= a
pianist; O. Henry).
Antonomasia (антономасия, переименование)
This device consists in the use of a proper name instead of a
common name or vice versa. Thus, we may use a description
instead of a person's name, creating a kind of nickname: Mister
Know-all (a character of S. Maugham); Miss Toady, Miss Sharp
(W.Thackeray); Mr. Murdstone (Ch.Dickens). On the other
hand, a proper name may be used instead of a common name:
He is the Napoleon of crime (= a genius in crime as great as
Napoleon was in wars); You are a real Cicero (= a great orator,
reminding of Cicero); [have a Rembrandt at home ( = a picture
by Rembrandt); He looked at himself in the glass. Here, then,
was a modern Hercules — very distinct from that unpleasant naked
figure with plenty of muscles, brandishing a club. (A. Christie)
(= a man who is like this hero of ancient Greek myths).
As we can see, on the one hand, antonomasia is a subtype
of periphrasis, on the other, it is a subtype of metonymy.
Euphemisms (эвфемизмы)
This term denotes the use of a different, more gentle or
favourable name for an object or phenomenon so as to avoid
undesirable or unpleasant associations. Thus, the verb to die
may be replaced by euphemisms like to expire, to be no more, to
join the majority, to begone, to depart; a madhouse may be called
a lunatic asylum or a mental hospital; euphemisms for toilet,
lavatory are ladies'(men's) room; rest-room; bathroom.
Euphemistic expressions may have the structure of a
sentence:
China is a country where you often get different accounts of
the same thing (= where many lies are told) (from Lord
Salisbury's Speech).
There are euphemisms replacing taboo-words (taboos), i.e.
words forbidden in use in a community: The Prince of darkness
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or The Evil One (=the Devil); the kingdom of darkness or the
place of no return (= Hell).
Allegory (аллегория) and Personification
(олицетворение)
Allegory is a device by which the names of objects or
characters of a story are used in a figurative sense, representing
some more general things, good or bad qualities. This is often
found in fables {басни) and parables {притчи). It is also a typical
feature of proverbs, which contain generalizations (express some
general moral truths): All is not gold that glitters {= impressive
words or people are not always really so good as they seem);
Every cloud has a silver lining {= even in bad situations we may
find positive elements); There is no rose without a thorn (= there
are always disadvantages in the choice that we make); Make the
hay while the sun shines (= hurry to achieve your aim while there
is a suitable situation).
As a subtype of allegory we distinguish Personification, by
which human qualities are ascribed to inanimate objects,
phenomena or animals:
'No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flyingfeef. (Byron)
Silent, like sorrowing children, the birds have ceased their song
...the dying day breathes out her last... and Night, upon her sombre
throne, folds her black wings above the darkening world, and, from
her phantom palace, lit by the pale stars, reigns in stillness.
(Jerome).
In the well-known poem:
Twinkle, little star!
How I wonder what you are!...
a star is represented as if it were a living being whom the
author addresses.
In poetry, fables, etc., personification is often represented
grammatically by the choice of masculine or feminine pronouns
for the names of animals, inanimate objects or forces of nature.
The pronoun He is used for the Sun, the Wind, for the names of
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any animals that act like human beings in the tale (The Cat who
walked by himself), forstrong, active phenomena (Death, Ocean.
River) or feelings (Fear, Love). The pronoun She is used for
what is regarded as rather gentle (the Moon, Nature, Silence,
Beauty, Hope, Mercy: cf. Fair Science frowned not on his humble
birth, But Melancholy marked him for her own — Gray) or in
some way woman-like (in Aesop's fable about The Crow and
the Fox, the pronoun She is used for the Crow, whose behaviour
is coquettish and light-minded, whereas He is used for the Fox).
Allusion (аллюзия)
This is indirect reference to (a hint at) some historical or
literary fact (or personage) expressed in the text. Allusion
presupposes the knowledge of such a fact on the part of the
reader or listener, so no particular explanation is given (although
this is sometimes really needed). Very often the interpretation
of the fact or person alluded to is generalised or even symbolised.
See the following examples:
Hers was a forceful clarity and a colourful simplicity and a bold
use of metaphor that Demosphenes would have envied. (Faulkner)
(allusion to the widely-known ancient Greek orator).
He felt as Balaam must gave felt when his ass broke into speech
(Maugham) (allusion to the biblical parable of an ass that spoke
the human language when its master, the heathen prophet
Balaam, intended to punish it).
In B. Shaw's play "Pygmalion", the following remark of
Mr. Higgins " Eliza: you are an idiot. I waste the treasures of my
Mi/tonic mind by spreading them before you alludes to the English
poet of the 17"' century John Milton, the author of the poem
"Paradise Lost"; apart from that, the words spreading the
treasures of my mind before you contain an allusion to the biblical
expression to cast pearls before swine {метать бисер перед свиньями). In A. Christie's book ol'stories' The Labours of Hercules'
the name of the famous detective Hercule Poirot is an allusion to
the name of Hercules and the twelve heroic deeds (labours) of
this hero of the ancient Greek myths.
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Irony
Irony, like the stylistic device of zeugma, is based on the
simultaneous realisation of two opposite meanings: the
permanent, "direct" meaning (the dictionary meaning) of words
and their contextual (covert, implied) meaning. Usually the
direct meaning in such cases expresses a positive evaluation of
the situation, while the context contains the opposite, negative
evaluation:
How delightful — to find yourself in a foreign country without
a penny in your pocket!
Aren 't you a hero — running away from a mouse!
I like a parliamentary debate,
Particularly when it is not too late. (Byron)
The Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria) was minded to
stretch the arm of its Christian charity across the Atlantic and put
republicanism down in the western hemisphere as well as in its
own. (Goldwin Smith).
I do not consult physicians, for I hope to die without their help.
(W. Temple).
Rhetorical Questions
Having the form of an interrogative sentence, a rhetorical
question contains not a question but a covert statement of the
opposite: Who does not know Shakespeare? (the implication is
"everybody knows "); Is there not blood enough ... that more must
be poured forth ? (Byron) (= there certainly is enough blood). This
king, Shakespeare, does not he shine over us all, as the noblest,
gentlest, yet strongest, indestructible? (Carlyle) (= he certainly
does).
The most common structural type of rhetorical question is a
negative-interrogative sentence, as in the examples above. But it
may also be without an open negation: Can the Ethiopian
change his skin, or the leopard his spots? (a phrase from "The
Old Testament") (the implication is that they cannot); For who
has sight so swift and strong, That it can follow the flight of a song ?
(Longfellow) (= nobody has). What business is it of yours ?(Shaw)
(= it is none of your business).
Since the implied statement is opposite to what is openly
asked, a rhetorical question may contain irony: Since when are
you interested in such things? (= I doubt that you are really
interested in them); / never see him doing any work there... Why
can't he work? What use is he there?.. (Jerome) (= he certainly
ought to work, he is no use here).
STYLISTIC DEVICES MAKING USE OF
THE STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE UNITS
Repetition (повтор)
Lexical repetition is often used to increase the degree of
emotion:
'Oh, No, John, No, John, No, John, No!'((тот a folk song) And
like a rat without a tail, Til do, I'll do, I'll do. (Shakespeare)
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea. (Coleridge)
The repetition of the same elements at the beginning of
several sentences is called anaphora:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne ? (Burns)
The repetition of the same elements at the end of several
sentences is called epiphora:
/ am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in
such a case as that. lam above the rest of mankind, in such a case
as that. I can act with philosophy in such a case as that. (Dickens)
The term Syntactic repetition refers to repetition of syntactic
elements or constructions. This may include syntactic tautology
(синтаксическая тавтология), such as, for example, the
repetition of the subject of a sentence, which is typical of English
folklore:
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Little Miss Muffet
She sar on a tuffet. (Nursery rhyme)
and also of later stylisations of the ballad character:
Ellen Adair she loved me well,
Against her father's and mother's will. (Tennison)
The skipper he blew a whiff from his pipe
And a scornful laugh laughed he. (Longfellow)
Syntactic tautology may be used in literary works to
represent the speech of a person of little education: Well, Judge
Thatcher, he took it. ...(M. Twain) Repetition of the subject
may also be combined with giving
it some more specific additional information:
She has developed power, this woman — this — wife of his!
(Galsworthy)
Oh, it's a fine life, the life of the gutter. (Shaw)
A special variant of syntactic repetition is syntactic
parallelism, which means repetition of similar syntactic
constructions in the text in order to strengthen the emotional
impact or expressiveness of the description: The seeds ye sow
— another reaps, The robes ye weave — another wears,
The arms ye forge — another bears. (Shelley) Few of them
will return to their countries; they will not embrace
our holy religion; they will not adopt our manners. (B. Franklin)
There were real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china
cups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes.
(Dickens)
Chiasmus (хиазм)
This term denotes repetition of the same structure but with
the opposite order of elements (a reversed version of syntactic
parallelism):
Down dropped the breeze,
The sails dropped down. (Coleridge)
In the days of old men made the manners;
Manners now make men. (Byron)
The с loud-like rocks, the rock-like clouds
Dissolved in glory float. (Longfellow)
The sea is but another sky, The sky a sea
as well (ibid)
Climax (gradation, градация) and Anticlimax
Climax is repetition (lexical or syntactic) of elements of the
sentence, which is combined with gradual increase in the degree
of some quality or in quantity, or in the emotional colouring of
the sentence:
A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face: the smile
extended into a laugh: the laugh into a roar, and the roar became
general. (Dickens)
Doolittle. I've no hold on her. I got to be agreeable to her. 1 got
to give her presents. I got to buy her clothes... I'm a slave to that
woman. (Shaw)
He was pleased when the child began to adventure across floors
on hand and knees; he was gratified, when she managed the trick
of balancing herself on two legs; he was delighted when she first
said 'ta-ta; and he was rejoiced when she recognised him and
smiled at him. (Paton)
They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of
stairs; they inspected innumerable kitchens. (Maugham)
The opposite device is called anticlimax, in which case the
final element is obviously weaker in degree, or lower in status
than the previous; it usually creates a humorous effect:
Music makes one feel so romantic — at least it gets on one's
nerves, which is the same thing nowadays. (Wilde)
People that have tried it tell me that a clean conscience makes
you very happy and contented. But a full stomach does the thing
just as well. (Jerome)
Doolittle: I'm a thinking man and game for politics or religion
or social reform, same as all the other amusements. (Shaw)
The autocrat of Russia possesses more power than any other
man on earth, but he cannot stop a sneeze. (M. Twain)
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This war-like speech, received with many a cheer. Had
filled them with desire of fame, and beer. (Byron)
Stylistic Inversion
By inversion is meant an unusual order of words chosen for
emphasis greater expressiveness. The notion of stylistic inversion
is broader than the notion of inversion in grammar, where it
generally relates only to the position of subject and predicate.
Thus, in stylistics it may include the postposition of an adjective
in an attributive phrase:
Adieu, adieu! My native shore
Fades о 'er the waters blue. (Byron)
A passionate ballad gallant and gay.... (A. Tennyson)
Little boy blue,
Come blow your horn (Nursery rhyme)
It may also refer to a change in the standard position of all
other members of the sentence (Subject — Predicate — Object).
Thus, in poetic language secondary members (object, adverbial
modifier) may stand before the main members:
Yon sun that sets upon the sea
We follow in his flight. (Byron)
The sea is but another sky,
The sky a sea as well,
And which is earth and which is heaven,
The eye can scarcely tell! (Longfellow)
At your feet /fall. (Dryden)
As for the position of the predicate before subject, we may
distinguish cases of 1) full inversion:
The cloud-like rocks, the rock-like clouds
Dissolved in glory float,
And midway of the radiant flood,
Hangs silently the boat. (Longfellow)
On goes the river
And out past the mill. (Stevenson)
On these roads from the manufacturing centres there moved
many mobile homes pulled by trucks. (Steinbeck): Blessed are
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the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Malhew)
2) cases of partial inversion, usually when an adverbial
modifier, object or a predicative begins the sentence and only
part of the predicate comes before the subject:
Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly
hate have pierced so deep. (Milton); How little had I realized
that, for me, life was only then beginning. (Christie); Many sweet
little appeals did Miss Sharp make to him about the dishes at
dinner. (Thackeray); Terribly cold it certainly was. (Wilde)
Ellipsis
As in colloquial speech, this device consists in omission of
some parts of the sentence that are easily understood from the
context or situation. But, while in colloquial style this omission
simply makes the speech more compact (Where is he?— In the
garden), in literary descriptions it may give the construction an
additional expressive or emotional colouring. Note, for
example, the solemn tone of the extracts below with the
predicate omitted:
And on that cheek, and о 'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!(Byron)
Youth is full ofpleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather. (Shakespeare)
The sea is but another sky,
The sky a sea as well....
(Longfellow)
Asyndeton {асиндетон, бессоюзие)
This is a deliberate omission of conjunctions or other
connectors between parts of the sentence. It may be used in the
4!
description of a group of events connected in time: taking place
simultaneously or in succession; in this case the absence of a
conjunction may correspond to the meaning of the conjunction
'and':
There was peace among the nations;
Unmolested roved the hunters,
Built the birch-canoe for sailing,
Caught the fish in lake and river,
Shot the deer and trapped the beaver;
Unmolested worked the women,
Made their sugar from the maple,
Gathered wild rice in the meadows,
Dressed the skins of deer and beaver. (Longfellow)
Asyndeton may also express other logical connections
between parts, thus corresponding to various connectors:
'There's no use in talking to him, he's perfectly idiotic!'said
Alice desperately. (L. Carroll) (reason: " because")
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for
redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been
answered only by repeated injuries. (Thomas Jefferson)
(contradiction: "but")
Youth is full ofpleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather. (Shakespeare) (contrast: " whereas")
Should a Frenchman or Englishman travel my route, their
stored pictures of it would be different from mine. (Steinbeck)
(condition: "If)
Polysyndeton {полисиндетон, многосоюзие)
This is a device opposite to asyndeton: a repeated use of the
same connectors (conjunctions, prepositions) before several
parts of the sentence, which increases the emotional impact of
the text:
Should you ask me, whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
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With the odours of the forest,
With the dew, and damp of meadows.
With the curling smoke of wigwams,
With the rushing of great rivers,
With their frequent repetitions... (Longfellow)
Antithesis (антитеза, противопоставление)
This denotes a structure that stresses a sharp contrast in
meaning between the parts within one sentence: Art is long, life
is short; One man's meat is another man's poison; Some people
are wise, some otherwise. (B. Shaw)
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I
rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but as he was
ambitious, I slew him. There's tears for his love; joy for his fortune;
honour for his valour, and death for his ambition. (Shakespeare)
Youth is full ofpleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather (ib.)
Suspense (Retardation, ретардация, замедление)
This is a compositional device by which the less important
part of the message is in some way separated from the main
part, and the latter is given only at the end of the sentence, so
that the reader is kept in suspense.
'Mankind', says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend was
obliging enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy
thousand ages ate their meat raw'. (Ch. Lamb)
A Break in the Narration (Aposiopesis, умолчание)
This device consists in a sudden stop in the middle of a
sentence when the continuation is quite clear: 'Don't you do
this, or... '(a threat); 'These are certainly good intentions, but...'
(the continuation is clear from the well-known proverb that
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good intentions pave the way to Hell); Keith: My God! If the
police come —find me here — (Galsworthy)
Represented Speech (несобственно-прямая речь)
This is the case when the speech of a character in the work
of fiction is represented without quotation marks, as if it were
the author's speech:
To horse! To horse! He quits, for ever quits A scene of peace,
though soothing to his soul. (Byron) Old Jolion was on the
alert at once. Wasn 't the "man of property "going to live in his
new house, then ? (Galsworthy)
Note that although represented speech resembles direct
speech, it still preserves some features of indirect (reported)
speech, such as the phenomenon of Sequence of Tenses, which
is observed in the last example.
PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND DEVICES
Alliteration (аллитерация),
Assonance (ассонанс)
Alliteration is a device based on repetition of the same or
similar sounds at close distance, which makes speech more
expressive. It is frequently used in idioms:
blind as a bat; tit for tat ( = an eye for an eye); tit-bit (лакомый кусочек); (It is) neck or nothing {пан или пропал); bag and
baggage; last but not least; waste not, want not; as good as gold; as
green as grass; willy-nilly (volence-nolence); hurly-burly (=
noise); to shilly-shally/to dilly-dally (= to waste time without
taking action). Note also the use of alliteration in poetry:
A fly and a flea in the flue were imprisoned.
Said the fly, 'Let us flee',
Said the flea, 'Let us fly',
So they flew through a flaw in the flue
We wonder whether the weather
Will weather the wether,
Or whether the weather the wether will kill.
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/ love your hills and I love your dales, And I love your flocks ableating (Keats) (the sound [1] repeated)
O, my love is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my love is like the melodie,
That's sweetly played in tune. (R. Burns) ((r, 1| repeated)
Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and Nature,
Who believe, that in all ages
Every human heart is human. (Longfellow) (fh| repeated)
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering,
fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream
before. (Edgar Рое) (|d| repeated)
A variant of alliteration is assonance, i.e. repetition of the
same or similar vowels only, as in the phrase wear and tear (My
shoes show signs of wear and tear, the wear and tear of city life).
This device is sometimes found in poetic speech; see the
repetition of the vowel [e] in the line
Tenderly bury the fair young dead. (M. La Costa)
or the repetition of the diphthong [ei] in the lines
Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aiden,
I shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore —
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name
Lenor?(E. Рое)
The term "assonance" is also used to denote an imperfect
rhyme (= нетонная рифма), when only vowels are rhymed:
number — blunder, same — cane.
Onomatopoeia (ономатопея, звукоподражание)
This term denotes sound imitation, i.e. the use of words
which denote some phenomenon by imitating its real sounding.
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It may be imitation of the sounds produced by animals: buzz
(sounds of bees); hiss (snakes); bow-wow (dogs); mew/miaow
and purr (cats); hoink (pigs); baa-baa (sheep); cackle
(chickens); quack (ducks); cuckoo; caw (crows); moo (cows). It
may also be imitation of other natural noises: bubble (булькать); rustle (шуршать); splash (плескаться) ;/7о/? (шлепнуться); whistle (свистеть); giggle, chuckle (хихикать, хмыкать);
roar (реветь); tinkle (звякнуть); ding-dong, jingle (= звенеть),
click (щелкать), tick, tick-tuck (тикать); bang, slap, rap, tap
(звук удара), etc.
Words built on the basis of onomatopoeia make speech
especially expressive when used in their figurative meanings:
Cars were whizzing past (=moving very fast); The pot was bubbling
on the fire (= boiling and making this sound); The crowd buzzed
with excitement (=» made a noise like that); I'll just give him a
buzz (= phone call).
Onomatopoeia may also be used in poetry: We 're foot — slog —
slog — slog — slogging over Africa — Foot —foot —foot —foot
— slogging over Africa. (Boots — boots — boots — boots —
moving up and down again!) (Kipling)
THE USE OF RHYTHM AND RHYME IN VERSIFICATION
(СТИХОСЛОЖЕНИЕ)
Rhythm in poetic speech is produced by regular alternation
(чередование) of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Why do you cry, Willie ?
f'uu|'uu)
Why do you cry?
('uu|')
Why, Willie, why, Willie,
('uu|'uu)
Why, Willie, Why?
('uu|')
For a purely syllabic (силлабическая) system of versification
(e.g. in French poetry), the important feature is the same
number of syllables in different lines, whether stressed or
unstressed. For a purely-tonic (тоническая) system (as in
Anglo-Saxon poetry of old times) the important feature is the
number of stressed syllables (tonic= 'stressed'). For the syllabic 46
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tonic (силлабо-тоническая) system of versification, which is
typical of modern English (and Russian) poetry, the important
feature is the same number of stressed and unstressed syllables.
A division (отрезок) of the poetic line from stress to stress,
which contains one stressed syllable and one or two unstressed
syllables, is called a Foot (стопа). The foot is the main unit of
rhythm in poetic speech. According to the correlation of stressed
and unstressed syllables within the foot, we distinguish the
following 5 types of feet:
1) trochee (хорей), or a trochaic foot (хореическая сто
па), with two syllables, of which the first is stressed and the
second unstressed:
Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater,
(' и Г и Г и I ' u) Had a
wife and couldn 't keep her See also the Russian trochaic
foot: Прибежали в избу дети Второпях зовут отца ...
2) iambus (ямб), or an iambic foot, with two syllables, of
which the first is unstressed, the second stressed:
And then my love and I shall pace, (u ' I u ' lu' lu') My jet
black hair in pearly braids. (Coleridge) Мой дядя самых
честных правил. Когда не в шутку занемог...
3) dactyl (дактиль), or a dactylic foot: three syllables, the
first stressed, the other two unstressed:
Why do you cry, Willie? ( ' u u l ' u u )
4) amphibrach (амфибрахий), or an amphibrachic foot:
three syllables with the stress on the second:
A diller, a dollar, a ten о 'clock scholar... (и' и I u' u | u' и I
и ' u)
5) anapaest (анапест): three syllables, stress on the third:
Said the flee, 'Let us fly',
(uu'luu'j
Said the fly, 'Let us flee',
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
The type of foot and the number of feet in the line determine
the Metre of the verse (стихотворный размер). Here we
distinguish:
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iambic trimetre (трехстопный ямб): three iambic feet in a line:
Who sets an apple tree (u ' I u ' lu ')
May live to see its end,
Who sets a pear tree
May set it for a friend. iambic tetrametre
(четырехстопный ямб): four iambic feet in a line:
And then my love and 1 shall pace, (u ' lu' I u ' lu') My jet black
hair in pearly braids. (Coleridge) iambic pentametre
(пятистопный ямб)
Her lovely looks a sprightly mind disclose (u ' I и ' 1 и ' lu'
lu')
Quick as her eyes and as unfixed as those. (A. Pope)
trochaic trimeter (трехстопный хорей)
Ring -a — ring of roses, ( ' u I ' u I ' u~)
Pocket full of posies trochaic tetrametre
(четырехстопный хорей)
Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater
( ' u I ' u I ' u I ' u)
amphibrachic tetrameter (четырехстопный амфибрахий)
A diller, a dollar, a ten о 'clock scholar (и ' и 1 и' и I и ' и
lu' u)
A verse with four or more feet in a line usually has a caesura
(цезура), i.e. a pause in the middle of the line:
Praised be the Art \\ whose subtle power could stay Yon cloud,
and fix it \\ in that glorious shape; Nor would permit || the thin
smoke to escape, Nor those bright sunbeams \\ to forsake the
day. (W. Wordsworth)
English versification is often characterized by certain
Irregularities (нарушения) in the metre, e.g. a combination of
one-syllable and two syllable feet
Pease porridge hot
( ' I ' u 1 ' 1)
Pease porridge cold, ( ' I ' и I ' I)
Pease porrjdge in the pot ( ' I ' и | ' и I ')
Nine days old.
( I ' l l )
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or a combination of one-syllable, two-syllable and threesyllable feet
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
('ul'ul'uul')
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, ( ' u l ' u l ' u u l ' l ) All
the King s horses and all the King's men ( ' u u I " u u I ' uul ')
Couldn 'tput Humpty Dumpty together again. (' ~ I' — I'
~~\'~~\')
Another kind of irregularity is represented by the so called
Pyrric foot (пиррихий), in which the rhythm is broken due to
the use of unstressed words in the place of the expected stressed
syllables, or vice versa, as in
Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream. (John Keats)
(u'|u'|u'|uuu')
or as in the second line of the extract from A. Pope below: Her
lovely looks a sprightly mind disclose (u ' I u ' I u ' lu' lu')
Quick as her eyes and as unfixed as those. (A. Pope) ( ' | u u '
|u u u " |u ')
Rhyme (рифма) is created by the repetition of the same
sounds in the last stressed syllable of two (or more) lines in a
stanza (строфа).
By the type of the stressed syllable we distinguish the male
rhyme (мужская рифма), when the stress falls on the last
syllable in the rhymed lines, and the female rhyme (женская
рифма), when it falls on the last but one syllable:
When the lamp is shattered (female rhyme)
The light in the dust lies dead; (male rhyme)
When the cloud is scattered, (female)
The rainbow's glory is shed, (male)
(P.B. Shelley)
See also the alternation of male and female rhymes in the
Russian verse in Pushkin's rhymed novel «Евгений Онегин»:
Мой дядя самых честных правил, (женская рифма)
Когда не в шутку занемог,
(мужская)
Он уважать себя заставил
(женск.)
И лучше выдумать НС МО2.
(мужск.)
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There may be paired rhymes (парные, смежные рифмы).
when the rhyming pattern is aabb:
The seed ye sow, another reaps; (a)
The wealth ye find, another keeps; (a)
The robes ye weave, another wears; (b)
The arms ye forge, another bears, (b) (Shelley) or alternate
rhymes (перекрестные рифмы), with the pattern abab:
A slumber did my spirit seal; (a)
I had no human fears: (b)
She seemed a thing that could not feel (a)
The touch of earthly years, (b) (W. Wordsworth) or
enclosing rhymes (охватные, опоясанные рифмы), with the
pattern abba:
Much have I travel!'d in the realms of gold, (a)
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; (b)
Round many western islands have I been (b)
Which bards in fealty (= loyalty) to Apollo hold, (a) (J. Keats)
There may also be more complicated variations of these
patterns:
Rough wind, that meanest loud (a)
Grief too sad for song;
(b)
Wild wind, when sullen cloud (a)
Knells all the night long; (b)
Sad storm, whose tears are vain, (c)
Bare woods, whose branches stain, (c)
Deep caves and dreary main, — (c)
Wail for the world's wrong/ (b) (Shelley)
Note also the possibility of the so called eye-rhyme (графическая рифма), when the elements rhymed are similar only
in spelling, but not in pronunciation:
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store ?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind. (J. Keats)
For us, even banquets fond regret supply
In the red cup that crowns our memory. (Byron)
Types of Stanza (типы строф, строфика)
The most common stanza, one consisting of four lines, is
called a quatrain (катрен, четверостишие); the more seldom
one, consisting of two, is called a couplet (двустишие).
There is also a ballad stanza, typical of poetic folklore,
especially that of the 14th—15th centuries. A ballad is a poem
with a plot (сюжет), which tells some story. The ballad stanza
usually has four lines, of which the first and third lines contain
four feet, while the second and fourth — three or two.
The first word that Sir Patrick read, (4 feet)
Sae loud, loud laughed he; (3)
The neist word that Sir Patrick read, (4)
The tear blinded his ее.
(3)
This type of stanza is also found in later poetry:
The fairest one shall be my love's, (4 feet)
The fairest castle of the nine!
(3)
Wait only till the stars peep out, (4)
The fairest shall be thine.
(3) (Coleridge)
In R. Kipling's ballad cited below, the quatrains are
combined into couplets, within which, however, is preserved
the alternation of four-foot and three-foot metres:
Oh, East is East, and West is West, (4) and never the twain
shall meet (3)
Till Earth and Sky stand presently (4) at God's great
Judgement Seat (3).
A specific type of stanza is used in a sonnet. There we usually
find twelve lines (three quatrains, i.e. three stanzas with four
lines), followed by two final lines (a couplet), which contain a
kind of summary of the whole verse:
O, lest the world should ask you to recite
What merit lived in me, that you should love,
After my death, dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove;
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie, To
do more for me than mine own desert,
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And hang more praise upon deceased I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart:
O, lest your true love may seem false in this,
That you for love speak well of me untrue, My
name be buried where my body is, And live no
more to shame nor me nor you.
For I am ashamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth.
(Shakespeare, Sonnet No. 72) There may also be blank
verse (белый стих), in whic! :here is no rhyming, but the
rhythm and metre are to some extent preserved; such is, for
instance, the verse of Shakespeare's tragedies:
To be or not to be, — that is the question: —
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them ? — To die, — to sleep, —
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, — to sleep; —
To sleep! Perchance to dream: — ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
Wfien we have shuffled off this mortal coil... (Hamlet)
Part 4
Some Practical Assignments for Stylistic
Analysis
I. Stylistic Connotations in Vocabulary
Point out stylistic differences within the groups of synonyms:
face — visage — mug — deadpan
nose — snout — beak — nasal cavity
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/ think — / gather — I presume — I take it — / guess —
methinks
Boy — youth — lad — young male person — youngster —
teenager
lass — girl — maiden — wench — young female person
nonsense — absurdity — rot — trash
legs — pins — lower extremities
Silence, please.'— Stop talking.'— Shut your trap!
Wait! - Hold on! - Stand by!
You are — thou art
breathe in — inhale — gasp
friend — comrade — pal — buddy — acquaintance
Hurry up! — Move on! — Hasten your step!
II. Colloquial Vocabulary
Paraphrase so as to show the different uses of the verb 'to do':
1) Have you done your homework? 2) I have to do a sum.
3) Will you please do the room? 4) Who does the cooking in
your family? 5) Go and do your teeth! 6) I like the way you do
your hair. 7) They do fish very well in this restaurant. 8) What
subjects do you do at your University? 9) I did some music in
my childhood. 10) This car can do 80 miles an hour. 11) What
do you do for a living? 12) You did right to tell me about it. 13)
That won't do. 14) Will this sum do for you? 15) It did me
good. 16) He is doing well at school. 17) How are you doing?
18) He was up and doing at five in the morning. 19) What is
doing here? 20) If you say it again, I'll do you! 21) Can we do
Oxford in three days? 22) He does Ronald Reagan very well.
III. Formal Styles
1. Analyse the peculiarities of the style of scientific texts;
paraphrase the marked expressions by more neutral ones a)
The degree of liberty possessed by the citizens of a state has
become the key standard by which liberal democracies are
compared with other forms of government.. However, there is much
less consensus on the meaning of liberty.
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In political thought liberty is largely synonymous with
freedom. But it is as well to recall that liberty or freedom have
not always been valued in Western or other forms of political
thought. Indeed religious and political authoritarians, and many
conservatives and traditionalists, equate liberty with licence, the
absence of control, moral chaos. Moreover, many political
philosophers, from Plato to Hobbes, have argued that human
beings should sacrifice their freedom to ensure order or stability,
in the form of strong and/or enlightened government.
Many political theorists make a distinction between positive
liberty ('freedom to do', or self-mastery') and negative liberty
('freedom from' or 'not being obstructed') although others argue
that the distinction is not logically sustainable, that it just
confuses matters. The concept of liberty, whether positive or
negative, or both, evidently means 'not being controlled' or 'not
being obstructed'.
The most notable exponents of positive liberty were
Rousseau and Kant. They argued that genuine freedom is
possessed only by individuals who are autonomous agents —
that is, by those whose power of reason is free from manipulation
by others, and are capable of exercising self-determination in
their moral and political choices. We are free only when we act
rightly, and vice versa: we are free when our 'real self is in charge.
This thesis can, of course, become a means for suggesting that
people are not free even when they claim to be.
The idea of negative liberty, by contrast, is derived from the
doctrine of natural rights which claims that individuals have certain
inalienable rights which should not be transgressed by any
individual, group or government. Such rights are 'liberties', that
is, rights to be free from control, and are most vigorously supported
in the doctrine of libertarianism. Negative liberty exists where
citizens are free to behave in any way which does not harm another
citizen or contravene specific laws. Negative liberty is often tested
in societies where governments or pressure groups attempt to
define what constitutes harm to others: thus the private sexual
activities of consenting adults would appear to be harmful to
neither the practitioners nor the general public, yet many states
prohibit by law certain types of private sexual expression
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b) Such innovations will involve changes to the diet of the
whole populations, including a sharp reduction in consumption of
intensively- reared cattle. An international agreement was reached
at the J 992 Earth Summit, although the policies agreed will only
reduce the rate of increase of greenhouse gases. This, coupled with
a fear that American voters regard their right to drive large cars
as on a par with the constitutional right to bear arms, made the
administration of President Bush very obstructive in international
negotiations. Given the economic and political power of the USA,
and their consumption of energy, this stance has reduced other
countries' readiness to respond. Finally, it is worth noting that any
suggestion that global warming threatens life on Earth is highly
exaggerated. The changes in atmospheric composition are
significant in relation to changes in the last few million years, but
are neglectable compared with the changes brought about by life.
2. Analyse the peculiarities of publicist style in the following
extract from the First Inaugural speech by Thomas Jefferson;
paraphrase the bookish expressions by more neutral ones:
Friends and Fellow Citizens ...
During the contest of opinion through which we have
passed, the animation of discussion and of exertions has
sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers
unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think;
but this being now decided by the voice of the nation,
announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will, of
course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in
common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in
mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority
is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be
reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which
equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be
oppression. Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart
and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony
and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but
dreary things. And let us reflect that having banished from our
land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long
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bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a
political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as
bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and
convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms
of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his longlost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows
should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this
should be more felt and feared by some and less by others; that
this should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every
difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have
called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are
all republicans — we are all federalists. If there be any among us
who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its
republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of
the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where
reason is left free to combat it. 1 know, indeed, that some honest
men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that
this government is not strong enough. But would the honest
patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a
government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the
theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the world's
best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I
trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest
government on earth. I believe it is the only one where every
man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard of the law,
and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal
concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with
the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the
government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of
kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
IV. Figures of Speech
1. State which of the comparative structures represent
metaphors and similes
He has a tongue like a sward and a pen like a dagger. (H.
Caine)
You talk exactly like my father!
The laugh in her eyes died out... (M. Spillane)
The grin made his large teeth resemble a dazzling miniature
piano keyboard in the green light. (J. Jones)
// was his habit not to jump or leap at anything in life but to
crawl at everything. (Dickens)
2. Distinguish between metonymy and metaphor
He earns his living by his pen. (S. Maugham) / ... came to the
place where the Stars and Stripes stood shoulder to shoulder
with the Union Jack. (Steinbeck) Money burns a hole in my
pocket. (T. Capote)
3. State which of the attributes represent epithets
... whispered the spinster aunt with true spinster-aunt-like envy.
(Dickens)
A lock of hair fell over her eye and she pushed it back with a
tired, end-of-the-dayjesture. (J. Braine)
The money she had accepted was two soft, green, handsome
ten-dollar bills. (Dreiser)
4. Comment on the play upon words:
His arm about her, he led her in and bawled, 'Ladies and
worser halves, the bride!' (S. Lewis)
Then there were the twin boys, whom the family called "Stars
and Stripes ", as they were whipped regularly. (O. Wilde)
There comes a period in every man's life, but she's just a
semicolon in his. (S. Evans) (period in American English means
" a full stop")
Did you hit a woman with a child? — No, sir, I hit her with a
brick. (Th. Smith)
lsn 't it discouraging when it takes two days to fly a letter from
coast to coast? I get so mad I mark the envelopes ■'Air-Snail".
(example from the work by С.Ж. Нухов)
5. Point out litotes and hyperbole
She was not without realization already that this thing was
impossible, so far as she was concerned. (Dreiser)
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Joe Clegg also looked surprised and possibly not too pleased.
(Christie)
Her family is one aunt about a thousand years old. (Fitzgerald)
6. Comment on the peculiarities of antonomasia
Every Caesar has his Brutus. (O. Henry) There are three
doctors in an illness like yours... Dr. Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr. Fresh
air. (D. Cusack)
Had this happened before supper, George would have expressed
wishes and desires concerning Harris's fate in this world and the
next that would have made a thoughtful man shudder. (Jerome)
Calm and quiet below me in the sun and shade lay the old
house. (Dickens)
2. What structural device is used below?
A poor boy... No father, no mother, no any one. (Dickens)
7. Explain the meaning of these euphemisms
7 expect you 'd like a wash,' Mrs. Thompson said. 'The
bathroom 's to the right and the usual offices next to it'. (J. Braine)
Why, in the name of all the infernal powers, Mrs. Merdle ...?
(Dickens)
3. Comment on the kind of repetition used:
One may see by their footprints that they have not walked arm
in arm; that they have not walked in a straight track, and that
they have walked in a moody humour. (Dickens)
/ looked at the gun, and the gun looked at me. (R. Chandler)
8. What allusion is made in the extract?
"Christ, it's so funny! Madame Bovary at Columbia Extension
School!" (Salinger)
4. Point out the devices of climax and anticlimax:
Of course it's important. Incredibly, urgently, desperately
important. (D. Cusack)
// was a mistake ...a blunder... lunacy ... (W. Deeping)
He was numbed. He wanted to weep, to vomit, to die, to sink
away. (A. Bennet)
They were absolutely quiet; eating no apples, cutting no names,
inflicting no pinches, and making no grimaces, for full two minutes
afterwards. (Dickens)
9. What device is represented by the marked words?
Break, break, break
On the cold gray stones, О Sea! (A. Tennison)
10. Point out how irony is created below:
To look at Montmorency, you would imagine that he was an
angel sent upon the earth. At first I never thought he would survive.
I used to sit down and look at him as he sat on the rug and looked
up at me, and think: "Oh, that dog will never live. He will be taken
to the bright skies in a chariot, that's what will happen to him ".
But when I had paid for about a dozen chickens that he had killed...
then I began to think that maybe they would let him remain on
earth a bit longer. (Jerome)
V. Structural Stylistic Devices
1. State the type of inversion:
What the action of the play would have been like if Laertes
had not had the occasion to revenge the death of his father, we
cannot tell. (Literary criticism)
5. Explain the meaning of the periphrasis
She was still fat; the destroyer of her figure sat at the head of
the table. (A. Bennet)
The hospital was crowded with the surgically interesting
products of the fighting in Africa. (I. Shaw)
6. What device is created by the use of the marked words?
Don't use big words. They mean so little. (Wilde)
7. What device is represented by the marked part of the sentence
and what is the implication here?
"But, John, you know I 'm not going to a doctor. I 've told you. "
"You are going — or else... "(P. Qucntin)
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8. What device is used in the marked parts?
His nervousness about it irritated him: she had no business to
make him feel like that. (Galsworthy)
Angela looked at him with swimming eyes. He was really
different from anything she had ever known, young, artistic,
imaginative, ambitious... What a wonderful thing! (Dickens)
9. What ways of connection are used in the extracts below?
And they wore their best and more colourful clothes. Red shirts
and green shirts and yellow shirts and pink shirts. (P. Abrahams)
The pulsating motion at Malay Camp at night was everywhere.
People sang. People cried. People fought. People loved. People
hated. (P. Abrahams)
10. Name the device used below
"The day on which I had to take the happiest and best step of
my life — the day on which I shall be a man more exulting and
more enviable than any other man in the world — the day on which I
give Bleak House its little mistress — shall be next month, then ",
said my guardian. (Dickens)
VI. Comment on the Phonetic Devices Used Below
'Sh-sh', shesaid. 'But I'm whispering!' This continual shushing
annoyed him. (A. Huxley)
The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees. (Tennison)
VII. Miscellany: Point Out the Stylistic
Devices Used
1) "You have heard of Jefferson Brick I see, Sir, " — quoth the
Co/one/ with a smile. "England has heard of Jefferson Brick.
Europe has heard of Jefferson Brick ". (Dickens) 2)
but who would scorn the month of June,
Because December, with his breath so hoary,
Must come? (Byron)
3) He ordered a bottle of the worst possible port wine, at the highest
possible price. (Dickens)
4) Stoney smiled the sweet smile of an alligator. (Steinbeck)
5) And yet will you tell me that I oughtn 't to go into society? I,
who shower money upon it in this way ? I, who might be almost
said to —to — to harness myself to a watering cart full of money,
and go about, saturating society, every day of my life?
(Dickens)
6) He already had a car — a large car — an expensive car. In
that car and no other he proposed to continue his journey back
to town. (Christie)
7) Mother Nature always blushes before disrobing. (Y. Esar)
8) It's only an adopted child. One I have told her of. One I'm
going to give the name to. (Dickens)
9) Richard said that he would work his fingers to the bone for
Ada, and Ada said that she would work her fingers to the bone
for Richard. (Dickens)
10) The mechanics were underpaid, and underfed, and
overworked. (J. Aldridge)
11) Men 'stalk was better than women's. Never food, never babies,
never sickness, but people, what happened, the reason. Not
the state of the house, but the state of the Army... Not what
spoilt the washing, but who spilled the beans. (D. du Maurier)
12) Swan had taught him much. The great kindly Swede had taken
him under his wing. (E. Ferber)
VIII. Poetic Speech
1. Comment on the peculiarities of the words and forms marked
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky: So was
it when my life began; So is it
now I am a man: So be it when I
shall grow old,
Or let me die.'QN. Wordsworth)
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2. Comment on the marked words; find their more up-to-date
synonyms (from J. Byron's poem "Child Harold", Canto the
first)
Whilome in Albion's isle there dwelt a youth, Who
ne in virtue's ways did take delight; But spent his
days in riot most uncouth, And vex'd with mirth the
drowsy ear of Night. Ah, me! In sooth he was a
shameless wight, Sore given to revel and ungodly
glee; Few earthly things found favour in his sight
Save concubines and carnal companie, And
flaunting wassailers of high and low degree.
Childe Harold was he hight: — but whence his name
And lineage long, it suits me not to say;
Suffice it, that perchance they were of fame,
And had been glorious in another day...
Adieu, adieu/ My native shore
Fades o'er the waters blue;
The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar,
And shrieks the wild sea—mew.
Yon sun that sets upon the sea
We follow in his flight;
Farewell awhile to him and thee,
My native Land — Good night!
3. Find dialectal and archaic elements in R. Burns' poem:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot.
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days о' lang syne ?
For auld lang syne, my dears,
For auld lang syne.
We 'II tak a cup о 'kindness yet,
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For auld lang syne...
And here's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie 's a hand о' thine;
And we 'II tak a right guid willie-waught
For auld lang syne.
Литература
Азнаурова Э.С. Очерки по стилистике слова. Ташкент, 197.1
Арнольд И.В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык:
Учебник для вузов. 7-с изд. М., 2005.
Баяли IU. Французская стилистика. М., 1961.
Беляева Т.М., Потапова И.Л. Английский язык за пределами
Англии. Л., 1961.
Брандес М.П. Стилистика немецкого языка. М., 1990.
Ванников Ю.В. Типы научных и технических текстов и их лингвистические особенности. М., 1984.
Васильева А.Н. Газетно-публицистический стиль речи: Курс
лекций по стилистике русского языка. М., 1982.
Виноградов В.В. Стилистика, теория поэтической речи. Поэтика.
М, 1963.
Квятковский А. Поэтический словарь. М., 1966. Кожина М.Н. К
основаниям функциональной стилистики. Пермь, 1968.
Кожинов В. В. Жанр //Литературный энциклопедический словарь. М, 1997.
Кузнец М.Д., Скребнев Ю.М. Стилистика английского языка. Л.,
1960.
Наер B.JI. Функциональные стили английского языка. М., 1981.
Пухов С.Ж. Языковая игра в английском словообразовании. Уфа,
1997.
Разинкина Н.М. Функциональная стилистика английского языка.
М., 1989.
Розенталь Д.Э. Практическая стилистика русского языка. М.,
1968.
Сильман Т.Н. Проблемы синтаксической стилистики. Л., 1967.
Солганик Г.Я. Стилистика текста: Учебное пособие. 6-е изд. М.,
2000.
Степанов Ю.С. Французская стилистика. М., 1965. Степанов Ю.С.
Стилистика //Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь. М.,
1990.
Тарлинская М.Г. Структура и эволюция английского стиха. АДД,
М, 1975.
Тарыгина В.А. Эпитет и жанр. М., 2000.
Тимофеев Л.И., Тураев СВ. Словарь литературоведческих терминов. М., 1974.
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Томашевский Б.В. Стилистика и стихосложение. Л., 1959.
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Richard. The Colloquial Style in America. New York:
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Содержание
Part 1. On the Notions of'Style' and 'Stylistics' ............................ 3
Two Types of Stylistic Information .................................................. 4
Stylistic Characteristics of English Vocabulary ................................. 6
Some Characteristics of English That Are Close to
Stylistic Ones
a) Territorial Varieties of English ......................................... 10
b) English Vocabulary in the Aspect of Time ...................... 12
Part 2. Functional Styles of Speech in Greater Detail ..................... 13
The Colloquial Style ....................................................................... 13
Familiar-Colloquial Style and Slang
(фамильярно-разговорный стиль, жаргоны) .................... 15
The Formal (Lofty, Bookish) Style
(высокий, книжный стиль) ................................................ 17
The Style of Official or Business Documents ................................. 17
The Style of Scientific Works ......................................................... 19
Publicist (Oratory) Style ................................................................. 20
Some Particular Genres of Publicist Style....................................... 23
Part 3. Expressive Means of Language (Stylistic Devices) ............ 26
Stylistic Devices Making Use of the Meaning
of Language Units (Figures of Speech) ................................ 27
Metaphor (метафора) .......................................................... 27
Simile (сравнение) .............................................................. 28
Metonymy (метонимия)...................................................... 29
Zeugma (зевгма, каламбур) ................................................ 30
Oxymoron (оксюморон) ..................................................... 31
Hyperbole and Litotes .......................................................... 31
Epithet (эпитет) ................................................................... 31
Periphrasis (перифраз, перифраза)..................................... 32
Antonomasia (антономасия, переименование) ................. 33
Euphemisms (эвфемизмы) .................................................. 33
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Allegory (аллегория) and Personification
(олицетворение) ................................................................ 34
Allusion (аллюзия) ............................................................. 35
Irony .................................................................................... 36
Rhetorical Questions ............................................................ 36
Stylistic Devices Making Use of the Structure
of Language Units ................................................................ 37
Repetition (повтор) .............................................................. 37
Chiasmus (хиазм) ................................................................ 38
Climax (Gradation, градация) and Anticlimax .................... 39
Stylistic Inversion ................................................................ 40
Ellipsis .................................................................................. 41
Asyndeton (асиндетон, бессоюзие) .................................... 41
Polysyndeton (полисиндетон, многосоюзие) .................... 42
Antithesis (антитеза, противопоставление) ...................... 43
Suspense (Retardation, ретардация, замедление) .............. 43
A Break in the Narration (Aposiopesis, умолчание) ........... 43
Represented Speech (несобственно-прямая речь) ............. 44
Phonetic Expressive Means and Devices ........................................ 44
Alliteration (аллитерация).
Assonance (ассонанс) .......................................................... 44
Onomatopoeia (ономатопея, звукоподражание) ............... 45
The Use of Rhythm and Rhyme in Versification
(стихосложение) ................................................................. 46
Types of Stanza (типы строф, строфика) ........................... 51
Part 4. Some Practical Assignments for Stylistic Analysis ............ 52
I. Stylistic Connotations in Vocabulary .......................................... 52
II. Colloquial Vocabulary ............................................................... 53
III. Formal Styles ............................................................................ 53
IV. Figures of Speech ...................................................................... 56
V. Structural Stylistic Devices......................................................... 58
VI. Comment on the Phonetic Devices Used Below....................... 60
VII. Miscellany: Point Out the Stylistic Devices Used................... 60
VIII. Poetic Speech ........................................................................ 61
Литература ......................................................................................64
67
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