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CONTENTS

1. General Notes on Styles and Stylistics

2. Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

3. Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

4. Syntactical Stylistic Devices

5. Functional Styles of the English Language

6. Assignments for stylistic analysis

1. GENERAL NOTES ON STYLES AND STYLISTICS

The subject of stylistics has so far not been definitely outlined. This is due to a number of reasons.

First of all there is a confusion between the terms style and stylistics. The first concept is so broad that it is hardly possible to regard it as a term. We speak of style in architecture, literature, behaviour, linguistics, dress and other fields of human activity

Even in linguistics the word style is used so widely that it needs interpretation. The majority of linguists who deal with the subject of style agree that the term applies to the following fields of investigation.:

1) the aesthetic function of language;

2) expressive means in language;

3) synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea;

4) emotional colouring of language;

5) a system of special devices called stylistic devices;

6) the splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems called stylistic devices;

7) the interrelation between language and thought;

8) the individual manner of an author in making use of language.

The origin of the term Style and Stylistics.

Lat - stylus - a stick made of material for writing.

Stylistics - from French " Stylistique " - instrument for Writing.

1. There is a widely held view that style is the correspondence between thought and expression. The notion is based on the assumption ^; that of the two functions of language, (language is said to have two functions: it serves as a means of communication and also as a means of shaping one's thoughts). The first function is called communicative, the second - expressive, the latter finds its proper materialization in strings of sentences especially arranged to convey the ideas and also to get the desired response.

Indeed, every sentence uttered may be characterized from two sides: whether or not the string of language forms expressed is something well-known and therefore easily understood and to some extent predictable; whether or not the string of language forms is built anew; is, as it were, an innovation made on the part of the listener to get at the meaning of the utterance and is therefore unpredictable.

Many great minds have made valuable observations on the interrelation between thought and expression. The main trend in most of these observations may be summarized as follows the linguistic form of the idea expressed always reflects the peculiarities of the thought. And vice versa, the character of the thought will always in a greater or lesser degree manifest itself in the language forms chosen for the expression of the idea.

2. Another commonly accepted connotation of the term style is embellishment of language. This concept is popular and is upheld in some of the scientific papers on literary criticism. Language and style are regarded as separate bodies, language can easily dispense with style, which is likened to the trimming on a dress. Moreover, style as an embellishment of language is viewed as something that hinders understanding. In its extreme, style may dress the thought in such fancy attire that one can hardly get at the idea hidden behind the elaborate design of tricky stylistic devices.

This notion presupposes the use of bare language forms deprived of any stylistic devices of any expressive means deliberately employed. Perhaps it is due to this notion that the word "style" itself still bears a somewhat derogatory meaning. It is associated with the idea of something pompous, showy artificial, something that is set against simplicity, truthfulness, the natural. Shakespeare was a determined enemy of all kinds of embellishments of language.

3. A very popular notion among practical linguists, teachers of language, is that style is technique of expression. In this sense style is generally defined as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to the interest of the reader. Style in this utilitarian sense should be taught, but it belongs to the realm of grammar, and not to stylistics. It sets up a number of rules as to how to speak and write and discards all kinds of deviations as being violations of the norm. The norm itself becomes rigid, self-sustained and to a very great extent inflexible.

4. The term style also signifies a literary genre. Thus we speak of classical style or the style of classicism; realistic style; the style of romanticism and so on. On the other hand, the term is widely used in literature, being applied to the various kinds of literary work, the fable, novel, ballad, story etc. Thus we speak of a story being written in the style of a fable or we speak of the characteristic features of the epistolary style or the essay and so on.

Finally there is one more important application of the term style. We speak of the different styles of language. A style of Language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. The peculiar choice of language means is primarily dependent on the aim of communication.

Thus we may distinguish the following styles within the English literary language: 1) the belles- letters style; 2) the publicistic style; 3) the newspaper style; 4} the scientific prose style; 5) the style of official documents and presumably some others. The classification presented here is not arbitrary, the work is still in the observational stage. The classification is not proof against criticism, though no one will deny that the five groups of styles exist in the English literary language.

Stylistics and its Subdivisions

1. Galperin: Stylisitics is a branch of general linguistics, which deals with the following two interdependent tasks:

a) studies the totality of special linguistic means ( stylistic devices and expressive means ) which secure the desirable effect of the utterance;

b) studies certain types of texts "discourse" which due to the choice and arrangement of the language are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of communication (functional styles).

Depending on the school of thought there are:

1. Linguo-stylistics;

2. Literary stylistics;

3. Stylistics of decoding;

1. Linguo - stylistics is the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation. The linguistics is concerned with the language codes themselves and particular messages of interest and so far as to exemplify how the codes are constructed.

2. Literary stylistics: is to explicate the message to interprete and evaluate literary writings as the works of art.

3. Stylistics of decoding can be presented in the following way:

sender - message - receiver speaker - book - reader.

Process of reading is decoding.

The subject of stylistics can be outlined as the study of the nature, functions and structure of stylistic devices, on the one hand, and, on the other, the study of each style of language as classified above, i, e, its aim, its structure, its characteristic features and the effect it produces, as well as its interrelation with other styles of language. The task we set before ourselves is to make an attempt to single out such, problems as are typically stylistic and cannot be treated in any other branch of linguistic science.

Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic Devices (SD)

In linguistics there are different terms to denote those particular means by which a writer obtains his effect. Expressive means, stylistic means, stylistic devices and other terms are all used indiscriminately For our purposes it is necessary to make a distinction between expressive means and stylistic devices. All stylistic means of a language can be divided into expressive means, which are used in some specific way, and special devices called stylistic devices. The expressive means of a language are those phonetic means, morphological forms, means of word-building, and lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms, all of which function in the language for emotional or logical intensification of the utterance. These intensifying forms of the language have been fixed in grammars and dictionaries. Some of them are normalized, and good dictionaries label them as intensifiers. In most cases they have corresponding neutral synonymous forms.

The most powerful expressive means of any language are phonetic. Pitch, melody, stress, pausation, drawling, drawling out certain syllables, whispering, a sing-song manner of speech and other ways of using the voice are more effective than any other means in intensifying the utterance emotionally or logically. Among the morphological expressive means the use of the Present indefinite instead of the Past Indefinite must be mentioned first. This has already been acknowledged as a special means and is named the Historical Present. In describing some past events the author uses the present tense, thus achieving a more vivid picturisation of what was going on.

The use of "shall" in the second and third person may also be regarded as an expressive means. Compare the following synonymous forms and you will not fail to observe the intensifying element in the sentence with "shall".

He shall do it = (I shall make him do it)

He has to do it = (It is necessary for him to do it)

Among word - building means we find a great many forms which serve to make the utterance more expressive and fresh or to intensify it. The diminutive suffixes as - у (ie), - let, e. g. dear, dearie, stream, streamlet, add some emotional colouring to the words.

Certain affixes have gained such a power of expressiveness that they begin functioning as separate words, absorbing all of generalizing meaning they usually attach to different roots, as for example: -ism and ologies.

At the lexical level there are a great many words which due to their inner expressiveness, constitute a special layer There are words with emotive meaning only, like interjections, words which have both referential and emotive meaning, like some of the qualitative adjectives, words belonging to special groups of Literary English or of non - standard English (poetic, archaic, slang, vulgar, etc.) and some other groups.

-The same can be said of the set expressions of the language. Proverbs and sayings as well as catch - words for a considerable number of language units which serve to make speech more emphatic, mainly from the emotional point of view. Their use in everyday speech can hardly be overestimated. Some of these proverbs and sayings are so well - known that their use in the process of communication passes almost unobserved.

The expressive means of the language are studied respectively in manuals of phonetics, grammar, lexicology and stylistics. Stylistics, however, observes not only the nature of an expressive means, but also its potential capacity of becoming a stylistic device.

What then is a stylistic device? It is a conscious and intentional literary use of some of the facts of the language including EM in which the most essential features both structural and semantic of the language forms are raised to a generalized level and thereby present a generative model. Most stylistic devices may be regarded as aiming at the further intensification in the corresponding EM.

This conscious transformation of a language fact into a stylistic devise has been observed by certain linguists whose interests in scientific research have gone beyond the boundaries of grammar.

The birth of a SD is not accidental. Language means which are used with more or less definite aims of communication and in one and the same function in various passage of writing, begin gradually to develop new features, a wider range of functions and become a relative means of the language. It would perhaps be more correct to say that/unlike expressive means, stylistic devices are patterns of the language whereas the expressive means do not form patterns. They are just like words themselves, they are facts of the language, and as such are, or should be, registered in dictionaries.

The interrelation between expressive means and stylistic devices can be worded in terms of the theory of information. Expressive means have a greater degree of predictability than stylistic devices. The latter may appear in an environment which may seem alien and therefore be only slightly or not at all predictable. Expressive means are commonly used in language, and are therefore easily predictable. Stylistic devices carry a greater amount of information because if they are at all predictable they are less predictable than expressive means. It follows that stylistic devices must be regarded as a special code which has still to be deciphered.

Not every stylistic use of a language fact will come under the term SD. There are practically unlimited possibilities of presenting any language fact in what is vaguely called it's stylistic use.

Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary

1. General considerations. In order to get a more or less idea of the word stock of any language, it must be presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet independent. The word stock of a language may be represented as a definite system in which different aspects of words may be singled out as interdependent. A special branch of linguistic science-lexicology - has done much to classify vocabulary. For our purpose, i. e. for linguistic stylistics, a special type of classification, stylistic classification is the most important.

An accordance with the division of language into literary and colloquial, we may represent the whole of the word stock of the English language as being divided into three main layers: the literary layer, the neutral layer and the colloquial layer. The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The aspect of the colloquial layer of words is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting.

The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character. The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confine to a special locality where it circulates. The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1) common literary; 2) terms and learned words; 3) poetic words; 4) archaic words; 5) barbarisms & foreign words; 6) literary coinages including nonce words.

The colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups: 1) common colloquial words; 2) slang; 3) jargonisms; 4) professional words; 5) dialectal words; 6) vulgar words; 7) colloquial coinages.

The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term standard English vocabulary.

2. PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which in a certain type of communication plays an important role. This is the way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds. The sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. It is in combination with other words that a word may acquire a desired phonetic effect. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic effect, but this is a matter of individual perception and feeling and therefore subjective.

The theory of sense - independence of separate sounds is based on a subjective interpretation of sound associations and has nothing to do with objective scientific data. However, the sound of a word, or more exactly the way words sound in combination, cannot fail to contribute something to the general effect of the message, particularly when the sound effect has been deliberately worked out. This can easily be recognized when analyzing alliterative word combinations or the rhymes in certain stanzas or from more elaborate analysis of sound arrangement.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which alms at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc.) by things (machines or tools, etc.) by people (singing, laughter) and animals. Therefore the relation between onomatopoeia and the phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of metonymy There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.

Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, burr, bang, cuckoo. These words have different degrees of imitative quality. Some of them immediately bring to mind whatever it is that produces the sound. Others require the exercise of a certain amount of imagination to decipher it. Onomatopoetic words can be used in a transferred meaning, as for instance, ding - dong, which represents the sound of bells rung continuously, may mean 1) noisy, 2) strenuously contested.

Indirect onomatopoeia demands some mention of what makes the sound, as rustling of curtains in the following line. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain. Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense. It is sometimes called "echo writing". An example is: And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" (E. A. Poe), where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words: " The possessive instinct never stands still (J. Galsworthy) or, "Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before" (E. A. Poe).

Alliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, does not bear any lexical or other meaning unless we agree that a sound meaning exists as such. But even so we may not be able to specify clearly the character of this meaning, and the term will merely suggest that a certain amount of information is contained in the repetition of sounds, as is the case with the repetition of lexical units.

Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combination of words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.

Identity and similarity of sound combinations may be relative. For instance, we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable, including the initial consonant of the second syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes.

Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety They can be divided into two main groups: vowel rhymes and consonant rhymes. In vowel-rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different as in flesh - fresh -press. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowels, as in worth - forth, tale - tool -treble - trouble; flung - long.

Modifications in rhyming sometimes go so far as to make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in "upon her honour - won her", "bottom -forgot them- shot him". Such rhymes are called compound or broken. The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one word - a device which inevitably gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance. Compound rhyme may be set against what is called eye - rhyme, where the letters and not the sounds are identical, as in love - prove, flood - brood, have - grave. It follows that compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye - rhyme can only be perceived in the written verse.

Rhythm

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is a mighty weapon in stirring up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is musical, mechanical or symmetrical as in architecture. The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: "rhythm is a flow, movement, procedure, etc. characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements of features" (Webster's New World Dictionary).

Rhythm can be perceived only provided that there is some kind of experience in catching the opposite elements or features in their correlation, and, what is of paramount importance, experience in catching regularity of alternating patterns. Rhythm is a periodicity, which requires specification as to the type of periodicity. Inverse rhythm is regular succession of weak and strong stress. A rhythm in language necessarily demands oppositions that alternate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low and other contrasting segments of speech.

Academician V.M. Zhirmunsky suggests that the concept of rhythm should be distinguished from that of a metre. Metre is any form of periodicity in verse, its kind being determined by the character and number of syllables of which it consists. The metre is a strict regularity, consistency and unchangeability. Rhythm is flexible and sometimes an effort is required to perceive it. In classical verse it is perceived at the background of the metre. In accented verse - by the number of stresses in a line. In prose - by the alternation of similar syntactical patterns. Rhythm in verse as a S. D. is defined as a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and the variations of it, variations which are governed by the standard. There are the following rhythmic patterns of verse:

· iambus

· dactul

· umphibrach

· anapaest.

Rhythm is not a mere addition to verse or emotive prose, which also has its rhythm. Rhythm intensifies the emotions. It contributes to the general sense. Much has been said and writhen about rhythm in prose. Some investigators, in attempting to find rhythmical patterns of prose, superimpose metrical measures on prose. But the parametres of the rhythm in verse and in prose are entirely different.

3. LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

Words in a context may acquire additional lexical meanings not fixed in the dictionaries, what we have called contextual meanings. The latter may sometimes deviate from the dictionary meaning to such a degree that the new meaning even becomes the opposite of the primary meaning. What is known in linguistics as transferred meaning is practically the interrelation between two types of lexical meaning: dictionary and contextual.

The transferred meaning of a word may be fixeв in dictionaries as a result of long and frequent use of the word other than in its primary meaning. In this case we register a derivative meaning of the word. Hence the term transferred should be used signifying th? development of the semantic structure of the word. In this case we do not perceive two meanings. When we perceive two meanings of the word simultaneously, we are confronted with a stylistic device in which the two meanings interact.

Imagery

In philosophy "image" denotes the result of reflection of the object of reality in man's consciousness. On the sensible level our senses, ideas might be regarded as images. On a higher level of thinking images take the form of concepts, judgements, conclusions. Depending on the level of reflecting the objective reality (sensual and conceptual) there are 2 types of images:

1. Art - reflects the objective reality in human life. While informing us of a phenomenon of life it simultaneously expresses our attitude towards it.

2. Literature - deals with a specific type of artistic images, verbal - is a pen - picture of a thing, person or idea expressed in a figurative way in their contextual meaning in music - sounds. The overwhelming majority of Iinguists agree that a word is the smallest unit being able to create images because it conveys the artistic reality and image. On this level the creation of images is the result of the interaction of two meanings: direct (denotation) and indirect (figurative). Lexical expressive meanings in which a word or word combination is used figuratively are called tropes. The verbal meaning has the following structure:

1. Tenor (direct thought) subjective;

2. Vehicle (figurative thought) objective;

3. Ground is the common feature of T and V;

4. The relation between T and V;

5. The technique of identification (The type of trope);

Images may be individual, general.

a) deal with concrete thing or idea e.g. Thirsty wind.

b) embrace the whole book e. g. War and Peace.

c) visual

e. g. the cloudy lifeage of the sky

d) oral - created by sound imitations

Classification of Lexical Stylistic Devices

There are 3 groups.

1. The interaction of different types of lexical meaning.

a) dictionary and contextual (metaphor, metonymy, irony);

b) primary and derivative (zeugma and pun);

c) logical and emotive (epithet, oxymoron);

d) logical and nominative (autonomasia);

2. Intensification of a feature (simile, hyperbole, periphrasis).

Peculiar use of set expressions (cliches, proverbs, epigram, quotations).

1. The Interaction of Different Types of Lexical Meaning

Interaction of Dictionary And Contextual Logical Meaning

The relation between dictionary and contextual meanings may be maintained along different lines: on the principle of affinity, on that of proximity, or symbol - referent relations, or on opposition. Thus the stylistic device based on the first principle is metaphor, on the second, metonymy and on the third, irony

A metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual logical meanings based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or features of the two corresponding concepts. Metaphor can be embodied in all the meaningful parts of speech, in nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs and sometimes even in the auxiliary parts of speech, as in prepositions. Metaphor as any stylistic devices can be classified according to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus metaphors which are absolutely unexpected, are quite unpredictable, are called genuine metaphors. e. g. Through the open window the dust danced and was golden. Those which are commonly used in speech and are sometimes fixed in the dictionaries as expressive means of language are trite metaphors or dead metaphors e. g. a flight of fancy, floods of tears.

Trite metaphors are sometimes injected with new vigour, their primary meaning is re- established alongside the new derivative meaning. This is done by supplying the central image created by the metaphor with additional words bearing some reference to the main word. e. g. Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down.

The verb " to bottle up " is explained as " to keep in check", to conceal, to restrain, repress. So the metaphor can be hardly felt. But it is revived by the direct meaning of the verb "to cork down". Such metaphors are called sustained or prolonged. Stylistic function of a metaphor is to make the description concrete, to express the individual attitude.

Metonymy is based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on affinity, but on some kind of association connecting the two concepts which these meanings represent on a proximity

The proximity may be revealed:

1) between the symbol and the thing it denotes;

2) in the relations between the instrument and the action performed with this instrument;

e.g. His pen is rather sharp.

3) in the relation between the container and the thing it contains; e.g. He drank one more cup.

4) the concrete is put for the abstract;

e. g. It was a representative gathering (science, politics).

5) a part is put for the whole;

e.g. the crown - king, a hand - worker.

Metonymy represents the events of reality in its subjective attitude. Metonymy in many cases is trite.

e.g.:" to earn one's bread", "to keep one's mouth shut".

Irony is a stylistic device also based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings - dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings are in opposition to each other. The literal meaning is the opposite of the intended meaning. One thing is said and the other opposite is implied.

e.g. Nice weather, isn't it? (on a rainy day).

Interaction of Primary and Derivative Logical Meanings

There are special SDs which make a word materialize distinct dictionary meanings. They are zeugma and the pun. Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to two adjacent words in the context, the semantic relations being on the one hand literal, and on the other, transferred. e. g. Dora, plunging at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room.

Zeugma is a strong and effective device to maintain the purity of the primary meaning when two meanings clash. The pun is another S.D. based on the interaction of two wellknown meanings of a word or a phrase. It is difficult to draw a hard and fast distinction between zeugma and pun. The only reliable distinguishing feature is a structural one: zeugma is the realization of two meanings with the help of a verb which is made to refer to different subjects or objects (direct and indirect). The pun is more independent. Like any S.D. it must depend on a context. But the context may be of a more expanded character, sometimes even as large as a whole work of emotive prose.

e.g.- Did you miss my lecture ?

- Not at all.

Pun seems to be more varied and resembles zeugma in its humourous effect only.

Interaction of Logical and Emotive Meaning

Interjections and Eclamatory Words Interjections are words we use when we express our feelings strongly and which may be said to exist in language as conventional symbols of human emotions. In traditional grammars the interjection is regarded as a part of speech. But there is another view which regards the interjection as a sentence.

However a close investigation proves that interjection is a word with strong emotive meaning.

e. g. Oh, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers?

The interjection oh, by itself may express various feelings such as regret, despair, disappointment, sorrow, surprise and many others. Interjections can be divided into primary and derivative. Primary interjections are generally devoid of any logical meaning. Interjections such as: Heavens! Good gracious! God knows! Bless me! are exclamatory words generally used as interjections. It must be noted that some adjectives and adverbs can also take on the function of interjections - such as terrible! awfully! great! wonderful! splendid! These adjectives acquire strong emotional colouring and are equal in force to interjections.

The epithet is based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence, used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader some of the properties or features of the object with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features or properties.

Classification of Epithets

From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into:

1) simple (adjectives, nouns, participles): e.g. He looked at them in animal panic.

2) compound: e.g. apple - faced man;

3) sentence and phrase epithets: e.g. It is his do - it - yourself attitude.

4) reversed epithets - composed of 2 nouns linked by an ofphrase: e.g. "a shadow of a smile";

Semantically according to I. Galperin.

1) associated with the noun following it, pointing to a feature which is essential to the objects they describe: dark forest; careful attention.

2) unassociated with the noun, epithets that add a feature which is unexpected and which strikes the reader: smiling sun, voiceless sounds.

Oxymoron is a combination of two words in which the meaning is opposite in sense.

e. g. speaking silence, cold fire, living death.

Close to oxymoron is paradox - a statement that is absurd on the surface. e.g. War is peace. The worse - the better.

Trite oxymoron. e.g. Awfully beautiful.

If the primary meaning of qualifying word changes the stylistic effect of oxymoron is lost. In oxymoron the logical meaning holds fast because there is no true word combination.

Interaction of Logical and Nominative Meaning

Antonomasia. It is the result of interaction between logical and nominal meaning of a word.

1) When the proper name of a person, who is famous for some reasons, is put for a person having the same feature.

e.g. Her husband is an Othello.

2) A common noun is used instead of a proper name, e. g. I agree with you Mr. Logic, e.g. My Dear Simplicity.

Intensification of a Feature

Simile. The intensification of some feature of the concept is realized in a device called simile. Similes set one object against another regardless of the fact that they may be completely alien to each other. The simile gives rise to a new understanding of the object. The properties of an object maybe viewed from different angles, f. e. its state, its actions, manners Accordingly, similes may be based on adjective - attributes, adverb - modifiers, verb - predicates etc.

Similes have formal elements in their structure: connective words such as like, as, such as, as if, seem.

Periphrasis - is a round - about way of speaking used to name some object or phenomenon. Longer-phrase is used instead of a shorter one. Some periphrasis are traditional.

e. g. The fair sex.

My better half.

Periphrasis are divided into:

1. Logical - based on inherent properties of a thing.

e. g. Instrument of destruction, the object of administration.

2. Figurative - based on imagery: metaphor, metonymy

e. g. To tie a knot - to get married; in disgrace of fortune - bad luck.

Euphemism is used to avoid some unpleasant things, or taboo things.

e. g. To pass away - to die.

Hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration, the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the object in question to such a degree as to show its utter absurdity. Like many SDs, hyperbole may lose its quality as a SD through frequent repetition and become a unit of the language as a system, reproduced in speech in its unaltered from. Here there are some examples:

e. g. A thousand pardons, scared to death, immensely obliged.

Hyperbole is a device which sharpens the reader's ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance. This is achieved, as in case with other devices, by awakening the dichotomy of thought and feeling where thought takes the upper hand though not to the detriment of feeling.

Peculiar Use of Set Expressions

The Cliche

A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. It has lost its precise meaning by constant reiteration: in other words it has become stereotyped. Cliche is a kind of stable word combination which has become familiar and which has been accepted as a unit of a language

e. g. rosy dreams of youth, growing awareness.

Proverbs are short, well-known, supposedly wise sayings, usually in simple language.

e.g. Never say never. You can't get blood of a stone.

Proverbs are expressions of culture that are passed from generation to generation. They are words of wisdom of culture- lessons that people of that culture want their children to learn and to live by They are served as some symbols, abstract ideas. Proverbs are usually dedicated and involve imagery. e.g. Out of sight, out of mind.

Epigram is a short clever amusing saying or poem. e.g. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Quotation is a phrase or sentence taken from a work of literature or other piece of writing and repeated in order to prove a point or support an idea. They are marked graphically: by inverted commas: dashes, italics.

Allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical. literary, mythological fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of speaking or writing. The use of allusion presupposes knowledge of the fact, thing oк person alluded to on the part of the reader or listener.

4. SYNTACTICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

Classification of Syntactical Stylistic Devices

Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Peculiar Syntactical Arrangement

They include: stylistic inversion, detached constructions, parallel constructions, chiasmus, suspense, climax, antithesis.

Stylistic Inversion. The English word order is fixed. Any change which doesn't influence the meaning but is only aimed at emphasis is called a stylistic inversion. Stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance. Therefore a specific intonation pattern is the inevitable satellite of inversion.

The following patterns of stylistic inversion are most frequently met in both English prose and English poetry.

1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

2. The attribute is placed after the word it modifies, e. g. With fingers weary and worn.

3. The predicate is placed before the subject, e.g. A good generous prayer it was.

4. The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

e.g. My dearest daughter, at your feet I fall.

5. Both modifier and predicate stand before the subject, e. g. In went Mr. Pickwick.

Detached constructions. Sometimes one of the secondary members of the sentence is placed so that it seems formally inderpendent of the word it refers to. Being formally inderpendent this secondary member acquires a greater degree of significance and is given prominence by intonation. e.g. She was gone. For good.

Parallel construction is a device which may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in the macro - structures dealt with the syntactical whole and the paragraph. The necessary condition in parallel construction is identical or similar, syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of sentence.

Chiasums is based on repetition of syntactical patterns, but it has a reversed order in one of the utterances.

e.g. She was a good sport about all this, but so was he.

Suspense - is a compositional device which is realized through the separation of the Predicate from the Subject by deliberate introduction between them of a clause or a sentence. Thus the reader's interest is held up. This device is typical of oratoric style.

Climax (gradation) - an ascending series of words or utterances in which intensity or significance increases step by step.

e. g. Every racing car, every racer, every mechanic, every ice - cream van was also plastered with advertising.

Antithesis is a SD based on the author's desire to stress certain qualities of the thing by appointing it to another thing possessing antagonistic features. e. g. They speak like saints and act like devils.

Enumeration is a SD which separates things, properties or actions brought together and form a chain of grammatically and semantically homogeneous parts of the utterance.

e. g. She wasn't sure of anything and more, of him, herself, their friends, her work, her future.

Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Peculiar Linkage

Asyndeton is a deliberate avoidance of conjunctions in constructions in which they would normally used.

e.g. He couldn't go abroad alone, the sea upset his liver, he hated hotels.

Polysyndeton - is an identical repetition of conjunctions: used to emphasize simultaneousness of described actions, to disclose the authors subjective attitude towards the characters, to create the rhythmical effect.

e. g. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect.

Gap - sentence - link It presents two utterances the second is brought into the focus of the reader's attention.

e. g. She and that fellow ought to be the sufferers, and they were in I tally.

Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Peculiar Use of Colloquial Constructions

Ellipsis, break in the narrative, represented speech.

Ellipsis - is the omition of a word necessary for the complete syntactical construction of a sentence, but not necessary for understanding. The stylistic function of ellipsis used in author's narration is to change its tempo, to connect its structure.

e. g. You feel all right? Anything wrong or what?

Aposiopesis (Break - in - the narrative). Sudden break in the narration has the function to reveal agitated state of the speaker.

e. g. On the hall table there were a couple of letters addressed to her. One was the bill. The other...

There are 3 ways of reproducing character's speech.

1) direct speech;

2) indirect speech (reported speech)

3) represented speech.

Represented speech There is also a device which coveys to the reader the unuttered or inner speech of the character, his thoughts and feelings. This device is also termed represented speech. To distinguish between the two varieties of represented speech we call the representation of the actual utterance through the author's language "uttered represented speech", and the representation of the thoughts and feelings of the character unuttered or inner represented speech. Question in the narrative. Changes the real nature of a question and turns it into a stylistic device. A question in the narrative is asked and answered by one and the same person, usually the author. It becomes akin to a parenthetical statement with strong emotional implications. e. g. For what is left the poet here? For Greeks a blush - for Greece a tear. As is seen from these examples the questions asked, unlike rhetorical questions do not contain statements.

Question in the narrative is very often used in oratory. This is explained by one of the leading features of oratorical style - to induce the desired reaction to the content of the speech.

Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Stylistic Use of Structural Meaning

Rhetorical questions.

Rhetorical question is one that expects no answer. It is asked in order to make a statement rather than to get a reply They are frequently used in dramatic situation and in publisistic style.

e. g. What was the good of discontented people who fitted in nowhere?

Litotes - is a device - an affirmation is expressed by denying its contrary

Usually litotes presupposes double negation. One through a negative particle (no, not) the other - through a word with negative meanixig. Its function is to convey doubts of the speaker concerning the exact characteristics of the object or a feeling.

e.g. It's not a bad thing - It's a good thing.

e.g. He is no coward. He is a brave man.

e.g. He was not without taste.

5. FUNCTIONAL STYLES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

style phonetic lexical syntactic

According to Galperin: Functional Style is a system of interrelated language means serving a definite aim in communication. It is the coordination of the language means and stylistic devices which shapes the distinctive features of each style and not the language means or stylistic devices themselves. Each style, however, can be recoquized by one or more leading features which are especially conspicuous. For instance the use of special terminology is a lexical characteristics of the style of scientific prose, and one by which it can easily be recognized.

Classification of Functional Styles of the English Language

The Problem of Colloquial Style

Galperin denies the existence of this functional style. He thinks that functional style can be singled out in the written variety of language. He defines the style as the result of a deliberate careful selection of language means which in their correlation constitute this style.

Maltzev thinks that style is a choice but this choice is very often done unconsciously, spontaneously He thinks that the main aim of functional style is to facilitate a communication in a certain sphere of discourse. But the rigid lay outs of business and official letters practically exclude the possibility of deliberate, careful selection. One more example the compression in the newspapers headlines where there is a tendency to abbreviate language.

There's a descrepancy in Galperin's theory. One of the substyles of the publicistic style is oratory which is its oral subdivision. Kuznetz and Skrebnev give the definitions of bookish and colloquial styles. The bookish style is a style of a highly polished nature that reflects the norm of the national literary language. The bookish style may be used not only in the written speech but in oral, official talk.

Colloquial style is the type of speech which is used in situation that allows certain deviations from the rigid pattern of literary speech used not only in a private conversation, but also in private correspondence. So the style is applicable both to the written and oral varieties of the terms "colloquial" and "bookish" don't exactly correspond to the oral and written forms of speech. Maltzev suggests terms "formal" and "informal" and states that colloquial style is the part of informal variety of English which is used orally in conversation.

The Belles - Lettres Style, its Substyles and its Peculiarities

The term "Belles - lettres" is generic for 3 substyles:

- poetry;

- emotive prose;

- drama;

The Belles-lettres style has its own specific function which is double -phoned. Besides, iriformingthe reader, itirnpresses the reader aesthetically.

Its function is aesthetico - cognitive, cognitive on the one hand and receiving pleasure on the other

The means of this functional style are:

- genuine imaginative means and SDs;

- the use of words in its contextual meaning;

- the individual choice of vocabulary which reflects the author's personal evaluation;

- a peculiar individual selection of syntax;

- the introduction of elements of other styles;

Poetry. Peculiarities - rhythm and rhyme. As a SD rhythm is a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and its variations governed by the standard.

Emotive prose. Emotive prose is a combination of literary variant of the language and colloquial, which is presented by the speech of the characters which is stylized that means it has been made "literature like" and some elements of conversational English were made use of. Emotive prose allows the use of elements of other styles but the author changes them and fulfils a certain function. SDs used: in emotive prose style are represented speech, detached constructions, gap - sentence link.

Drama - the language of plays mainly consists of dialogues. The author's speech is in the form of stage remarks. Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure. The language of a play has the following peculiarities:

- it is stylized (retains the modus of literary English);

- it presents the variety of spoken language;

- it has redundancy of information caused by necessity to amplify the utterance;

- monologue is never interrupted;

- character's utterances are much longer than in ordinary conversation;

The Pubicistic Style, its Substyles, and their Peculiarities

The Pubicistic Style treats certain political, social, economic, cultural problems. The aim of this style is to form public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener.

Substyles: The oratory essays, journalistic articles, radio and TV commentary.

Oratory. It makes use of a great hummber of expressive means to arouse and keep the public's interest: repetition, gradation, antithesis, rhetorical questions, emotive words, elements of colloquial speech.

Radio and TV commentary is less impersonal and more expressive and emotional.

The essay is very subjective and the most colloquial of the all substyles of the publicistic style. It makes use of expressive means and tropes.

The journalistic articles are impersonal.

The Newspaper FS, its Ssubstyles and their Peculiarities

To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyse the following basic newspaper features:

1) brief news items;

2) advertisements and announcements;

3) headlines;

Brief items: its function is to inform the reader. It states only facts without giving comments. The vocabulary used is neutral and common literary. Specific features are:

a) special political and economic terms;

b) non-term political vocabulary;

c) newspaper clichms;

d) abbreviations;

e) neologisms.

Headlines. The main function is to inform the reader briefly of what the news is to follow about. Syntactically headlines are very short sentences, interrogative sentences, nominative sentences, elliptical sentences, sentences with articles omitted, headlines including direct speech.

Advertisements and announcements. The function of advertisements and announcements is to inform the reader. There are two types of them: classified and non-classified. In classified the information is arranged according to the subject matter: births, marriages, deaths, business offers, personal etc.