PART ONE

1. GENERAL POINTS OF STYLISTICS

1.1. Stylistics and Its Concern

The term “Stylistics” comes from the French word, which is a derivative of the
word “style”. The word style comes from the Latin word, meaning the name of a
sharp instrument used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets. Later on it came to
be metonymically used for a manner of writing or a mode of expressions.
Stylistics is a new branch of General Linguistics, which studies the principles
and effectiveness of the choice and usage of lexical, grammatical, phonetic and
graphic means of the language to render thoughts, feelings and emotions under
various conditions of communication.
One of the American linguists Michael Riffater wrote: “Stylistics studies the act
of communication not merely as producing a verbal chain, but as bearing the
speaker’s personality and as compelling the addressee’s attention”.
Stylistics studies the means of linguistic expressiveness in carrying a huge load
of information. To decode this information, one should give a detailed and thorough
analysis of the stylistic functioning of all the linguistic means used.

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 Stylistics is a part of Poetics, a science, which studies the structure of literary
works and the system of aesthetic means used. Stylistics is subdivided into Literary
and Lingual Stylistics.
Literary Stylistics concerns itself with the individual style of a writer,
belonging to a definite literary school or trend. It studies a combination of expressive
means used by some author, typical of a certain trend or some literary epoch and
factors, determining poetic expressiveness.
The main concerns of Lingual Stylistics are the following:
 The study of functional styles as subsystems of the literary language,
distinguished from one another by a peculiar set of independent language means
and fulfilling a specific function in communication.
 The study of linguistic elements from the viewpoint of their ability to render
emotions, feelings, additional associations and evaluations.
The two branches of Stylistics are interdependent, as the object of their
investigation is the same (i.e. language).
Speaking about Lingual Stylistics, Olga Sergeyevna Akhmanova distinguished
Language Stylistics and Speech Stylistics.
According to her, Language Stylistics studies: 1) the peculiarity of language
subsystems, the specific vocabulary, phraseology and syntax; 2) expressive, emotive,
evaluative features of various linguistic means.
Speech Stylistics, in her opinion, studies texts, the way they render the content,
the literary norm and deviations from norm.
One and the same information may be rendered differently, depending on the
situation of communication, on the social status of the interlocutors, on their
relations, on the emotional attitude of the speakers, their mood and health. These
facts are not explicitly expressed in the text; they are rendered in different
roundabout ways. Thus the main task of Stylistics is to give the stylistic analysis of
the given information or to decode it.
Information in speech may be of two types:
 Subject, logical information making up the essence of the utterance;

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 Additional information about conditions of communication and the
participants of communication.
E.g. I weally don’t know whewer I’m a good girl. (= “I really don’t know whether
I’m a good girl” Here in addition to the content the author also describes the
person’s manner of speaking)
There exist two trends in the stylistic analysis: 1) to single out the key idea
of the extract (i.e. to define different stylistic devices, to assert the initial hypothesis);
2) to single out some formal details, peculiarities of the text (i.e. explain their usage,
considering them in their interaction and then formulate the idea and the theme of the
extract). Both ways of analysis are aimed at revealing the unity of form and meaning,
at perceiving the text as a unit.
Of late there has appeared a new term “Stylistics of Decoding” or “Stylistics of
Perception” opposed to the term “Stylistics of Encoding”.
Stylistics of Encoding presupposes the knowledge not only of the creative
biography of the author, but also of the literary epoch, literary trend and the history
of literature
Stylistics of Decoding studies the way a literary work influences the reader. It
concentrates the reader’s attention on the analysis of the linguistic means used. It
deals with text interpretation.

1.2. Connection of Stylistics with Other Branches of Linguistics

Being a branch of Linguistics Stylistics is closely connected with all its

branches, as the subject matter of the stylistic analysis is the language in all its
aspects (lexical, grammatical, phonetic, etc.); but stylistics differs from other
branches of Linguistics by its tasks and approaches.

Stylistics and Phonetics. Phonostylistics deals with peculiarities of the sound

arrangement of speech for creating a stylistic effect (onomatopoeia, alliteration,

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rhyme, rhythm), i.e. it studies the way the sound system of the language becomes an
expressive language means.
E.g. She was immediately shushed. (Её тут же попросили замолчать)
Phonostylistics also studies the usage of non-standard pronunciation with comic
or satiric effect to show social inequality. The majority of scientists consider that the
graphic expression of Phonetics is also the subject of Phonostylistics; though of late,
some authors have begun to speak of a separate branch of Stylistics called Graphical
Stylistics. It studies the expressive potential of punctuation marks, different types of
prints, capitalisation, hyphenation, multiplication, etc. But this branch has not been
thoroughly studied yet.

Stylistics and Lexicology. Lexicological Stylistics studies words, but from the
viewpoint of their stylistic functions, their stylistic colouring. It takes into account
expressive, emotive, evaluative potentials of words, belonging to different layers of
vocabulary, their interaction with different conditions of communication. It studies
all those stylistic devices, which are based on the simultaneous realization of
different types of word meaning.
E.g. The loud ocean was all around us. /epithet/

Stylistics and Grammar. Morphological Stylistics considers only those

morphological forms, which help to render expressiveness and thus can be
stylistically marked; i.e. it studies stylistic potential of various grammatical
categories.
E.g. You can be deader than the dead. /adjective/
Syntactic Stylistics analyses the expressive potential of various sentence
patterns, of peculiar arrangements of sentence elements and of various interactions of
adjacent sentences.
E.g. I have to beg you for money. Daily. /segmentation/

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 Stylistics is not only connected with different branches of Linguistics, but also
with such disciplines as Literature, Psychology, Logics, the Theory of Information,
the Theory of Euphemisms, the Theory of Sound Symbolism and others.

1.3. Stylistic functions

Stylistics does not study linguistic elements as such, it studies their expressive
potential in contexts, i.e. it deals with their stylistic functions. By function, following
the American linguist Michael Holliday, we mean a role played by this or that class
of words in the structure of a higher linguistic plane.
Stylistic function is an expressive potential of linguistic element interaction in
the context, which enables the author to render alongside with the subject logical
content of the text its expressive, emotive, evaluative and aesthetic information.
As to the question of classification of stylistic functions, the majority of
linguists speak of descriptive, emotive and evaluative functions, but the problem
demands further investigation.
Irene Vladimirovna Arnold speaks of some peculiarities, typical of stylistic
functions:
 Accumulation – one and the same mood, idea, feeling, etc. Is rendered in the
text by a number of stylistic devices. A group of stylistic devices fulfilling one
stylistic function forms convergence.
 Implication arises due to connotation.
 Irradiation, which is opposite to accumulation. For example, a long utterance
may contain only one or two high-flown words, but due to them the whole text
will sound high-flown, and vice versa.
Stylistic function shows the stylistic significance of linguistic elements in their
interaction in decoding the author’s intentions. It should not be confused with
stylistic devices.

1.4. Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices

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 Stylistics studies linguistic means in a system, revealing their linguistic
properties and nature, as well as the laws of their functioning.
In other words, it studies expressive means (EMs) and stylistic devices (SDs),
which help the author to render information vividly and more colourfully. Our aim is
not only to study all of them, but also to perceive them in their interaction on the
syntagmatic plane.
EMs are such language means of the paradigmatic plane, which function in the
language for emotional and logical intensification. These are phonetic means,
morphological forms, means of word building and some lexical, phraseological and
syntactic forms.
The most powerful EMs of the language are phonetic (logical stress, different
intonation patterns), because no other language means can so brilliantly indicate the
slightest nuances of meaning.
Among morphological EMs one should mention the historical present, which
helps the author to make things described more vivid. (The word “shall” in the 2-nd
and 3-d person singular always gets emphatic stress in this case).
Among word building EMs one can find a number of forms which serve to
make an utterance more expressive and vivid.
Lexical EMs are those words which possess inner expressiveness (e.g.
interjections, etc). Syntactic EMs are those constructions which render a certain
degree of logical or emotional emphasis due to their structure.
As to Stylistics, it does not so much study EMs as such, but their potential
ability of becoming a SD. EMs are concrete facts of the language, while SD is a
deliberate literary use of some facts of the language, including EMs in which the
most essential features are brought to the foreground. SD is an intentional
intensification of some typical structural and/or semantic property of a language
unit promoted to a generalized status and thus becoming a model.
SDs is a special group of language means more abstract in character than EMs.
EMs have a greater degree of predictability than SDs, because they are more

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frequently used in the language and therefore are easily predictable. SDs carry a
greater amount of information and can be treated as a special code that requires
certain efforts on the part of the reader to decode the meaning and the author’s
intentions. SDs should be used sparingly not to overburden the text with information.
Of late there has appeared a new approach to the question of stylistic means.
This is the opposition between norm and deviation from norm (i.e. the opposition
between traditionally meant and situationally meant). The majority of SDs is based
on the substitution of traditionally meant by situationally meant. Stylistic effects are
based on the contrast between them.
SDs are classified into: Lexical SDs (tropes); Syntactic SDs (figures of speech);
Lexico-syntactic SDs; Graphic EMs; Phonetic EMs.

1.5. Varieties of the Language

Language serves as a means of communication. The actual situation of

communication, its aim and the language function in different spheres of human
activity have given rise to two varieties of the language: the spoken and the written
ones, each with its own peculiarities. Diachronically the spoken variety is primary
and the written one is secondary.
The main differences are the following:
 The spoken variety presupposes the presence of an interlocutor, while the
written variety – his absence;
 The spoken variety presupposes the form of a dialogue, while the written
one – that of a monologue;
 The advantage of the spoken variety is the human voice with all its
modifications, various intonation patterns and gestures.
 The spoken variety cannot be detached from the speaker, while the
written one can be detached from the writer.
All the above mentioned factors help the speaker to render additional
information. The written variety should compensate for it, seeking for the ways to

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render the same implications by some linguistic means. The spoken variety differs
from the written one phonetically, lexically, morphologically and syntactically.
One should not overuse the peculiarities of the spoken language in the written
variety. To assert a political, cultural or educational impact, one should apply to the
written language with its careful organization, deliberate choice of words and
constructions, thus it bears a greater responsibility than its spoken counterpart.

Morphological and Phonetic Differences. In spoken language contracted

forms are used, though we may come across them in the written variety to show the
territorial or social dialects and colloquialisms: he instead of him, don’t instead of
doesn’t, them instead of this/that/these, etc.
E.g. She used to play tennis with he and Mrs.Torrance.
The striking difference between the two varieties lies in the vocabulary used:
Typically colloquial Typically bookish
I take it I understand it
To hang out To go around
Lass Girl, etc.

In spoken language words are often intensified by interjections, curse words,

adjectives which have lost their primary meaning, words of hesitation, etc.
E.g. Well, she was awfully nice. I’m busy, you know.

Syntactic Peculiarities of the Spoken Variety. They are not so strong as

lexical ones; and reveal the situational character of communication.
E.g. “Playing, children?” /ellipsis/; “She fell ill?” /word order/;
“If you do it again I’ll –“ /unfinished sentence/
“Amanda she is a nice girl.” /the use of two subjects/ etc.

2. THE PROBLEM OF FUNCTIONAL STYLES

2.1. Functional Stylistics and its concern

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 Functional Stylistics is a part of Stylistics studying different styles of language,
their linguistic peculiarities and functions, or to be more exact, its attention is centred
on the message in its correlation (*connection of cause and effect) with the
communicative situation.
Language means, chosen and used in every functional style, depend on several
factors. The most important among them is the purpose of communication. A
language style can be defined as a system of coordinative, interrelated and
interconditioned language means, aimed at fulfilling a specific function of
communication and ensuring a definite effect.
Functional styles (FSs) are the subsystems of language, each having its specific
features (phonetic, lexical and grammatical), determined by the condition of
communication in various spheres of human activity.
FSs should be distinguished from the varieties of language. The written and the
oral varieties of language are merely forms of communication which depend on the
situation in which the communication is maintained (i.e. on the presence or absence
of the interlocutor), whereas FSs are patterns of the written variety aimed at securing
a desired purpose of communication.

2.2. The Classification of Functional Styles

The English literary language has evolved (*developed gradually by a long and
continuous progress) a number of FSs easily distinguishable one from another. They
are not homogeneous and fall into several variants. The classification of FSs is one
of the most disputable and difficult problems in Stylistics. The reasons for it are as
follows:
 FSs are historically changeable categories;
 The boundary lines between FSs are not clearly cut;
 The criteria of classification of FSs have not been defined yet.

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 Each FS is a relatively stable system at given stage in the language
development, but it changes in the course of time, and sometimes considerably. The
development of each style is predetermined by:
 the changes in the norms of Standard English;
 the changes of social conditions;
 the progress of science and the development of cultural life in the
country.
The boundary lines between FSs are rather vague, because some FSs have
common features. For example, the oratory style has much in common with the
publicistic style; while the latter has many similar features with the scientific prose
style. Up to now the criteria of FS classification remains disputable. The majority of
linguists speak about five FSs: the belles-lettres style, embracing all genres of
emotive prose; the style of official documents; the scientific prose style; the
publicistic style; the newspaper style.

2.3. A Brief Outline of Functional Styles

The Belles-lettres Style. It is the style of creative literature. It is the richest

register of communication. Alongside with its own language means, it makes wide
use of elements of other FSs. Its functions are informative, persuasive, and aesthetic.
The form of presentation in the Belles-lettres style is meaningful and carries
additional information. There are three substyles: emotive prose, poetry and drama.

The Style of Official Documents. The main function is to define the condition,
binding two parties in some undertaking to reach an agreement between them. These
parties may be: the state and a citizen, or a citizen and a citizen, two or more
enterprises (business correspondence or contract); two or more governments (pacts,
treaties, etc); a person in authority and a subordinate (orders, regulation instructions),
etc.

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 This style is the most conservative in its structure and vocabulary used. Its
forms are strictly regulated lexically and grammatically. The most remarkable
features are:
 Absence of emotiveness and subjective modality;
 The use of words in their logical meaning;
 A set of terms, clichés, set-expressions symbols and abbreviation.

The Scientific Prose Style. It is characteristic of a professional style. The main

function is to prove some hypothesis to create new concepts, to explain internal laws
of development and links between phenomena. This style is marked by laconism,
clarity and logical cohesion. The most remarkable features are:
 The abundance of terms denoting objects, phenomena or processes of a
particular branch of science or technology;
 The vocabulary used bears its direct referential meaning (i.e. no
emotiveness);
 Sentence patterns are of three types: postulatory, argumentative and
formulative;
 Frequent use of quotations and references;
 The use of foot-notes (примечания);
 The use of passive constructions and clichés.

The Publicistic Style. It became a separate style in the 18th century and falls into
three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. They are:
 Oratory and speeches (oratorical substyle, radio and TV commentary);
 Essay (moral, philosophical, literary);
 Journalistic articles (political, social, economic) in newspapers and
magazines.
The general aim of this style is:
 To constantly and deeply influence public opinion;

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 To convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the
writer or the speaker is the only correct one;
 To cause them to accept the given viewpoint not only through logical
argumentation but through emotional appeal as well.

The Newspaper Style. It dates from the 17th century. Not all printed matter
found in the newspaper comes under newspaper style, as the modern newspaper
carries material of extremely diverse character. Its main functions are: to inform and
instruct the reader and to give the evaluation of the events described.
To draw the readers’ attention to the news certain graphic means are used by
publishers: space ordering and types of print. Newspaper style is abundant in dates,
names of countries, institutions and individuals. Its main substyles are: brief news
items, advertisements and announcements, headlines and editorials.

3. STYLISTIC SEMASIOLOGY

3.1. Stylistic Semasiology and Its Concern

Stylistic Semasiology studies expressive potential of word meaning, realized

through semantic change and transference of meaning that helps the author to
create imagery.
Stylistics deals not only with the aesthetic and emotional impact of the
language. It also studies means of producing impressions in our mind. Impression is
the first stage of concept. But the concept through a reverse process may build
another kind of impression. Impressions that are secondary to concept (i.e. which
have been born by concepts) are called imagery.
Imagery makes it possible for the reader to see the world through the author’s
vision. It can create different stylistic effects due to its expressiveness. It can help to
reveal or criticize something, to make things described more vivid, impressive and
poetic.

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 Imagery is mainly produced by the interplay of different meanings. Concrete
objects are easily perceived by the senses; abstract notions are perceived by the
mind. When an abstract notion is by the force of the mind represented through a
concrete object, an image is the result. Image is the main means of poetic reflection
of reality in the human mind. The effectiveness of the poetic image lies in the fact
that it, like a word, has both denotative and connotative meanings.
Imagery may be built on the interrelation of two abstract notions or two
concrete objects or an abstract and a concrete one. Thus, three types of meaning can
be distinguished: logical, emotive and nominal respectively.
Logical meaning is the precise meaning of a feature of the idea, object or
phenomenon, the name by which we recognize the whole of the concept.
Emotive meaning also materializes a concept in the word, but it has reference
not directly to things or phenomena of objective reality, but to the feelings and
emotions of the speaker towards these things or to his emotions as such. Therefore
the emotive meaning bears reference to things, phenomena or ideas through a kind of
their evaluation.
Nominal meaning, while expressing concepts, indicates a particular object out
of a class of similar objects (proper names).

3.2. Tropes and Figures of Speech

Such linguists as O.S. Akhmanova, I.R. Galperin, V.V. Vinogradov and others
divide all SDs into tropes (lexical SDs) and figures of speech (syntactic SDs).
According to them a figure of speech is a syntactic structure used for stylistic
purposes.
A trope is a stylistic transference of the name of a word or the use of a word in a
figurative meaning for stylistic purposes. The essence of trope lies in the comparison
of the notion rendered by the primary (dictionary) meaning and the notion rendered
by the contextually imposed meaning.

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 3.3. The Classification of Lexical EMs and SDs

All lexical SDs are based on simultaneous realization of two meanings. Thus
tropes can be classified according to:
1. Interaction of different types of lexical meaning
A. Interaction of two logical meanings (i.e. primary dictionary and
contextually imposed meanings)
 Metaphor
 Metonymy
 Irony
B. Interaction of primary and derivative logical meanings
 Polysemantic effect
 Zeugma
 Pun
C. Interaction of logical and emotive meanings
 Epithet
 Oxymoron
D. Interaction of logical and nominal meanings
 Antonomasia
2. Intensification of a certain feature or a thing or phenomenon
 Simile
 Periphrasis
 Euphemism
 Hyperbole
 Understatement
3. Peculiar use of set expressions
 Cliché
 Proverbs and Sayings
 Epigrams

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  Quotations
 Allusions
 Decomposition of Set Phrases.

4. LEXICAL EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

4.1. Interaction Of Different Types Of Lexical Meanings

Tropes based on the interaction of primary and derivative logical meanings:

Zeugma, Pun.
Tropes based on the interaction of logical and emotive meanings: Epithet,
Oxymoron.
Tropes based on the interaction of logical and nominal meanings: Antonomasia.
Intensification of a certain feature of a thing or phenomenon: Simile,
Periphrasis, Euphemism, Hyperbole, and Understatement.
Peculiar use of set expressions: the Cliché, Proverbs and Sayings, Epigrams,
Quotations, Allusions, Decomposition of Set Phrases.

4.1.1. Tropes Based on the Interaction of Two Logical Meanings

Metaphor is a trope, which means transference of some quality from one object
to another. It is based on the simultaneous realization of primary dictionary and
contextually imposed meanings. Metaphor is a method of description, which
identifies one thing with another.
There are three types of transference in Metaphor:
 Transference of the name of one object to another
E.g. He was already familiar with the geography of the house.
 Transference of the name of the action
E.g. He shot after her. /He suddenly started running very fast/
E.g. The time was bleeding for her. /went very slowly/
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 Transference of the typical features of one thing to another
E.g. The yellow pancake was high in the sky. /about the sun/
E.g. The old butterfly was sitting in her rocky-chair on the patio. /about an elderly
lady/
Metaphor is based not so much on similarity of the two
objects/actions/features, but on their identity. Metaphors, like all SDs, can be
classified according to the degree of unexpectedness. Thus, metaphors which are
absolutely unexpected (quite unpredictable) are called genuine; while those which
are commonly used in speech and therefore fixed in dictionaries, are called trite (or
dead).
Trite metaphors are sometimes filled with new vigour. This is done by
supplying the central image created by the metaphor with additional words, bearing
some reference to the main word. Such metaphors are called sustained or prolonged.
E.g. Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down. (Ch. Dickens)
The verb to bottle up is explained in dictionaries as follows: “to keep in check”,
“to conceal, to restrain”. The metaphor in the word can hardly be felt, but it is
revived by the direct meaning of the verb to cork down/.
E.g. Mr. Dombey’s cup of satisfaction was so full at this moment, however, that he
felt he could afford a drop or two of its content, even to sprinkle on the dust in the
by-path of his little daughter. (Ch. Dickens)
The principal metaphor may be called the central image of the sustained
metaphor and the other words that bear reference to the central image – contributory
images. Thus in the example given the word cup is the central image, while its
contributory images are full, drop, content and to sprinkle.
Metaphor is usually expressed by verbs, nouns, adverbs, etc.

Metonymy is a trope based on a different type of the interaction between the

dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on identification, but on
some kind of association connecting the two concepts, which these two meanings
represent.

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 There are several types of association in metonymy:
 The name of the container stands for the name of the thing contained
E.g. Will you have another glass? /of wine/
E.g. He drank another bottle. /of beer/
 The name of the material stands for the name of the thing made of it.
E.g. Your satin needs ironing. /the outfit made of satin/
 The name of the creator stands for the name of the thing made by him
E.g. She has bought two Glazunovs. /pictures made by this painter/
 The name of the symbol stands for the name of the thing symbolized.
E.g. He made his way through the perfume and conversation. /through the crowd of
perfumed and talking people/
 The name of the instrument stands for the name of the action it performs
E.g. Well, Mr. Weller, you’re a good whip and can do what you like with your
horses. (Ch. Dickens)
 The name of the concrete thing stands for the name of an abstract notion
E.g. Elisabeth II is the crown of Britain. /the queen/
 The name of the part stands for the whole, and vice versa (synecdoche)
E.g. She saw around her… multitudes of violently red lips, powdered cheeks and
cold hard eyes.
Metonymy is usually expressed by nouns. It differs from metaphor in the way it
is decoded. In metaphor one image excludes the other, while in metonymy it does
not.

Irony is a SD based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings –

dictionary and contextual, which stand in opposition to each other.
E.g. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in
one’s pocket.
The word delightful acquires the meaning quite the opposite to its primary
dictionary meaning, i.e. “unpleasant”, “not delightful”. The word containing irony is

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strongly marked by intonation. Irony is used to express irritation, regret, pity,
mockery, etc. Bitter socially or politically aimed irony is called sarcasm.

4.1.2. Tropes Based on the Interaction

of Primary and Derivative Logical Meanings

Zeugma is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic
relations to two adjacent words in the context. The two meanings of the word are
realized in the context without the repetition of this word. It is often used in poetry
and emotive prose.
E.g. Mr. Stiggings took his hat and his leave.
E.g. Dora plunged at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room.
E.g. A door on the second landing opened, and a face poked out wearing horn-
rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.

Pun is another SD based on the interaction of two well-known meanings of а

word or phrase. It aims at a humorous effect and is used in jokes, riddles, etc. It has
much in common with zeugma, but it differs from it in its structure. Zeugma is the
realization of the verb which refers to different subjects or objects, while pun is more
independent. It can, for example, be based on:
 The play upon words with the same spelling and sounding, but different
meaning
E.g. «Do you serve crabs here?»
«We serve anyone! Sit down!»
E.g. Army doctor: «Do you have any physical defects?»
Inductee; «Yes, no guts.»
 The play upon homophones (sound alike, but different in spelling and
meaning)
E.g. «The storm caused a whole lot of damage»
«A hole lot of what?»

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 The play upon mix of phrase and their word-components
E.g. «Someone at the door?»
«Some four at the door.»
E.g. «Is somebody in the room?»
«Yes, there is some body here.»

4.1.3. Tropes Based on the Interaction

of Logical & Emotive Meanings

Epithet is a SD based on the interplay of logical and emotive meanings in an

attributive word, phrase or even sentence used to characterize an object (both
existing and imaginary). It shows the evaluative, subjective attitude of the
writer/speaker to the thing described. Epithets may be classified semantically and
structurally.
Semantically, epithets are divided into:
 associated (those which point to a feature which essential to the object
they describe, i.e. the idea expressed by the epithet is inherent in the concept of
the object)
E.g. dark forest; careful attention; fantastic terrors.
 unassociated (they are used to characterize the object by adding a feature
not inherent in it).
E.g. A heart-burning smile; sullen earth; voiceless sands.

Structurally, epithets are divided into:

 Single: E.g. She smiled cuttingly at him. /she made him suffer by smiling/
 Two-step (i.e. adverb + adjective): E.g. a pompously majestic female
 Phrase (i.e. a group of hyphenated words): E.g. a don't-you-touch-me
look; a do-it-yourself attitude.
 Inverted epithets (or reversed, i.e. presented by of-phrases): E.g. a devil
of a job; the shadow of a smile.
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 Oxymoron is a combination of two words (mostly an adiective and a noun or an
adverb with an adjective) in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in
sense.
E.g. low skyscrapers; sweet sorrow; a pleasantly ugly face.
Oxymoron helps to emphasize contradictory qualities as a unity in the
described phenomenon.
E.g. She was dressed with careful carelessness.
Oxymoron can create a humorous effect:
E.g. He seemed doomed to liberty (он был обречен на свободу).

4.1.4. Tropes Based on the Interaction of Logical and Nominal Meanings

Antonomasia is based on the interplay of the logical and nominal meanings of

the word, which helps to single out one definite object out of a whole class of similar
objects. It is a trope in which a Proper name is used instead of a Common noun or
vice versa; here the nominal meaning of a Proper name is suppressed by its logical
meaning or the logical meaning acquires a new nominal component.
E.g. He is an Apollo. /a proper name/
E.g. I don't want just any man for a husband, it must be Mr. Right. /a common noun/
Antonomasia stresses the most characteristic feature of a person. It is also
represented by ‘speaking names’, whose origin from common nouns is clearly
perceived:
E.g. Mr. Snake; Inspector Blunt.

4.2. Intensification of a Certain Feature of a Thing or Phenomenon

Simile is a SD based on a deliberate comparison of two objects, belonging to

two different classes. This trope is easy to recognize because of the form words, used

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to connect the compared objects: ‘like’, ‘as though’, ’as if’, ‘as…as’, ‘such as’,
‘seem’, etc.
Simile is used for the purpose of expressive evaluation, emotive explanation
and highly individual description.
E.g. He stood immovable like a rock.

Periphrasis is a SD based on the usage of a round-about form of expression

instead of a simpler one. There are two types of periphrasis: figurative (metaphoric
or metonymic) and logical (the whole phrase is synonymous with the word meant)
E.g. the cap and gown /student/; my better half /my wife/; a gentleman of the long
robe /a lawyer/

Euphemism is a variety of periphrasis. It is a word or phrase used to replace an

unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one. For
instance, instead of the word ‘to die’ people prefer to say: to pass away, to expire, to
be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, etc. Euphemisms aim at
producing a deliberately mild effect.
Euphemisms may be divided into several groups according to their sphere of
application: 1) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical, 4) parliamentary.
The life of euphemisms is short, because they very soon become closely
associated with the object they represent, and give way to new words.

Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration of a feature essential to the object or

phenomenon. It is characteristic of every day speech, used as a signal of roused
emotions.
E.g. He had wine enough to wash an elephant.
There are words, which are used in Hyperbole oftener than others: ‘all’, ‘every’,
‘everybody’, a million’, ‘a thousand’, ‘ever’, ‘never’, etc.
E.g. I told him this hundreds of times!
Understatement is a trope aimed at deliberate belittling

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E.g. He had reddish hair

4.3. Peculiar Use of Set Expressions

A cliché is an expression that has become hackneyed and trite.

Proverbs and Sayings are facts of language. They are brief statements showing
in a condensed form the accumulated life experience of the community and serving
as conventional practical symbols for abstract ideas They are collected in special
dictionaries.
E.g. Out of sight, out of mind.

An epigram is a SD similar to a proverb; but they are made by individuals

whose names we know, while proverbs are invented by people in general.
E.g. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. (Keats)

A quotation is an exact repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech,

and the like used by way of illustration. By repeating a passage in a new environment
we attach more importance to the utterance. Quotations are usually marked off in the
text by inverted commas (‘…’), dashes (-) or italics.

An allusion is an indirect reference, by word or phrase, to a historical, literary,

mythological, biblical fact or to a fact of everyday life made in the course of
speaking or writing. It differs from quotation, because it does not need to repeat the
exact wording of the original. An allusion is only a mention of a word or phrase that
may be regarded as the key word whose meaning is broadened into a general
concept.
E.g. Where is the road now, and its merry incidents of life!.. Old honest, pimple-
nosed coachmen? […] Is old Weller alive or dead? (Thackeray) /here the allusion is

30
made to the coachman, Old Mr. Weller, the father of Dickens’s famous character,
Sam Weller/

Decomposition of Set phrases deals with linguistic fusions (i.e. set phrases
whose meaning is understood only from the combination as a whole. E.g. to pull a
person’s leg = to make a joke at him). The SD of decomposition of fused set phrases
consists in reviving the independent meanings, which make up the component parts
of the fusion.
E.g. I don’t mean to say that I know of my own knowledge, what there is particularly
dead about a door-nail. (Dickens) /here we see decomposition of the phrase ‘as dead
as a door-nail’/

5. SYNTACTIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

5.1. Stylistic Syntax and Its Concern

Stylistic Syntax concerns itself with the expressive potential of syntax, i.e. with
how the expressive values of syntax are used for a stylistic effect. Syntax as a branch
of language science studies a set of rules governing sentence constructions,
arrangements of sentence elements, types of relations between words, word-
combinations, sentences, supra-phrasal units, etc. They belong to the communicative
side of the language, i.e. they serve the purpose of human communication (‘what to
say’). Beyond this communicative side lies the emotive side (‘how to say’).
In traditional Stylistics all syntactic structures aimed at expressiveness are
called figures of speech.
Sentences vary according to the type of communication and their structure.
According to the type of communication sentences are classified into the
interrogative, declarative, imperative, exclamatory.
Exclamatory sentences carry expressiveness as their inherent quality. They are
marked by a peculiar word-order, structure and emotive intonation.

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 Declarative, interrogative and imperative sentences may also acquire an
emotional tone marked by emphatic intonation in speech and by exclamatory marks
in writing.
E.g. I must swim!
The structural syntactic aspect is sometimes regarded as the crucial issue in
stylistic analysis, although the peculiarities of syntactic arrangement are not so
conspicuous as the lexical and phraseological properties of the utterance.

The examination of syntax provides a deeper insight into the stylistic aspect of
utterances. I.R. Galperin groups all figures of speech according to:
1. Compositional patterns of syntactic arrangement
 Stylistic inversion
 Detached construction
 Parallel construction
 Suspense
 Climax (Gradation)
 Anticlimax
 Antithesis
2. Particular ways of combining parts of the utterance
 Asyndeton
 Polysyndeton
3. Particular use of colloquial constructions
 Ellipsis
 Break-in-the-narrative (Aposiopesis)
 Question-in-the-narrative
 Represented speech
4. Stylistic use of structural meaning
 Rhetorical question
 Litotes

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 5.2. Compositional Patterns of Syntactical Arrangement

Stylistic Inversion is a figure of speech based on specific word order. It aims at

attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface meaning of
the utterance. Therefore a specific intonation pattern is the inevitable element of
inversion. Stylistic inversion in Modern English should not be regarded as violation
of Standard English. It is only a practical realization of what is potential in the
language itself.
The following patterns of stylistic inversion are most frequently met in both
English prose and poetry:
 The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
E.g. Talent Mr. Micawber has; capital Mr. Micawber has not.
 The attribute is placed after the word it modifies. This model is often used
when there is more than one attribute.
E.g. With finger weary and worn...(Thomas Hood);
Once upon a midnight dreary...(E.A.Poe)
 The predicative is placed before the subject.
E.g. A good generous prayer it was. (Mark Twain)
 The predicative stands before the link-verb and both are placed before the
subject
E.g. Rude am I in my speech... (Shakespeare)
 The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
E.g. Eagerly I wished the morrow. (Poe)
My dearest daughter, at your feet I fall. (Dryden)
 Both modifier and predicate stand before the subject.
E.g. In went Mr. Pickwick. (Dickens); Down dropped the breeze. (Coleridge)
These models comprise the most common and recognized models of inversion.
However, in Modern English and American poetry there appears a definite tendency
to experiment with the word order to the extent, which may render the message
33
unintelligibly. In this case there may be an almost unlimited number of
rearrangements of the members of the sentence.

Detached construction is a SD in which one of the secondary parts of a

sentence by some specific consideration of the writer is placed so that it seems
formally independent of the word it logically refers to. They seem to dangle in the
sentence as isolated parts.
Detached parts assume a greater degree of significance and are given
prominence by intonation. The most common cases of detached constructions are
those in which an attribute or an adverbial modifier is placed not with its immediate
referent, but in some other position.
E.g. Sir Pitt came in first, very much flushed, and rather unsteady in his gait.
(Thackeray)
The essential quality of detached constructions lies in the fact that the isolated
parts represent a kind of independent whole thrust into the sentence or placed in a
position which will make the phrase seem independent. But this phrase cannot
become a primary member of the sentence.
A variant of detached construction is parenthesis - a qualifying, explanatory or
appositive word, phrase, clause, sentence, etc. which interrupts a syntactic
construction without otherwise affecting it
E.g. June stood in front, fending off this idle curiosity - a little bit of a thing, as
somebody said, ‘all hair and spirit’. (Galsworthy)

Parallel construction is a device, which deals not so much with a sentence but
with supra-phrasal units and paragraphs. The necessary condition in parallel
construction is identical or similar structure in two or more sentences or parts of a
sentence in close succession.
E.g. 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 and toast in. (Dickens)

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 Parallel constructions are often backed up by repetition of words (lexical
repetition) and conjunctions or prepositions (polysyndeton). Pure parallel
construction, however, depends only on repetition of the syntactical design of the
sentence.
Parallel constructions may be partial and complete. Partial parallel arrangement
is the repetition of some part of successive sentences or clauses.
E.g. Our senses perceive no extremes. Too much sound deafens us; too much light
dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view.
Complete parallel arrangement, also called balance, is the repetition of identical
structures throughout the corresponding sentences.
E.g. And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot. (Shakespeare)

Chiasmus (reversed parallel constructions) is a SD based on the repetition of a

syntactic pattern of two successive sentences or parts of a sentence, in which the
word-order of one of the sentences is inverted as compared to that of the other.
E.g. He kissed her, she allowed him to be kissed.
E.g. He looked at the gun, and the gun looked back at him.
The device is effective as it helps to lay stress on the second part of the
utterance, which is opposite in structure. Chiasmus can appear only when there are
two successive or coordinate parts of a sentence.

Repetition is an EMs of the language used when the speaker is under the stress
of strong emotion.
E.g. «Stop!» - she cried. «Don’t tell me! I don’t want to hear; I don’t want to hear
what you’ve come for. I don’t want to hear.» Here repetition is not a SD; it is a
means by which the excited state of the speaker’s mind is shown.
When used as a SD, repetition acquires quite different functions. It does not aim
at making a direct emotional impact. On the contrary, repetition aims at logical
emphasis to fix the attention of the reader on the key-word of the utterance.

35
E.g. For that was it! Ignorant of the long stealthy march of passion, and of the state
of which it had reduced Fleur; ignorant of how Soames had watched her, ignorant of
Fleur’s reckless desperation...- ignorant of all this, everybody felt aggrieved.
(Galsworthy)
Repetition is classified according to compositional patterns:
 Anaphora – the repeated word comes at the beginning of two or more
sentences. (e.g. above)
 Epiphora – the repeated unit is placed at the end of the consecutive sentences.
E.g. I am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in such a case as
that. I am above the rest of mankind, in such a case as that. I can act with philosophy
in such a case as that. (Dickens)
 Framing – repetition arranged in the form of a frame: the initial parts of a
syntactic unit, in most cases of a paragraph, are repeated at the end of it.
E.g. Poor doll’s dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should
have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the eternal road
and asking guidance. Poor, little doll’s dressmaker. (Dickens)
 Anadiplosis (or linking repetition) - the last word or phrase of one part of
an utterance is repeated at the beginning of the next part, thus hooking the two
parts together.
E.g. Freeman and slave... carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open
fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society
at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. (Marx, Engels)
 Chain-repetition – the linking repetition used several times.
E.g. 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)

Enumeration is a SD by which separate things, objects, phenomena, actions,

etc. are named one by one so that they produce a chain of homogeneous parts of
speech. Enumeration as a SD has no continuous existence in their manifestation.

36
Sometimes the grouping of absolutely heterogeneous notions occur only in isolated
instances to meet some peculiar purpose of the writer.
E.g. There Harold gazed on a work divine,
A blending of all beauties: stream and dells,
Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, cornfield, mountain, vine
And chiefless castles breathing stern farewells
From grey but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells. (Byron)
There is hardly anything in this enumeration that could be regarded as making
some extra impact on the reader: each word is closely connected with the following
and the preceding ones, and the effect is what the reader associates with natural
scenery. The following example is different:
E.g. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole
residuary legatee, his sole friend and his sole mourner. (Dickens)
The enumeration here is heterogeneous; the legal terms placed in a string
together with such words as ‘friend’ and ‘mourner’ result in a kind of clash, a thing
typical of any SD.
Enumeration is often used as a device to depict scenery through a tourist’s eyes:
E.g. Fleur’s wisdom in refusing to write to him was profound, for he reached each
new place entirely without hope or fever, and could concentrate immediate attention
on the donkeys and tumbling bells, the priests, patios, beggars, children, crowing
cocks, sombreros, cactus-hedges, old high white villages, goats, olive-trees,
greening plains, singing birds in tiny cages, watersellers, sunsets, melons, mules,
great churches, pictures, and swimming grey-brown mountains of a fascinating land.
(Galsworthy ‘To Let’)
In this example the various elements of enumeration can be grouped in semantic
fields:
E.g. donkeys, mules, crowing corks, goats, singing birds;
E.g. priests, beggars, children, watersellers;
E.g. villages, patios, cactus-hedges, churches, tumbling bells, sombreros, pictures;
E.g. sunsets, swimming grey-brown mountains, greening plains, olive-trees, melons.

37
 Galsworthy found it necessary to arrange them not according to logical
semantic centres, but in some other order, which would apparently suggest the
rapidly changing impressions of a tourist. Enumeration of this kind assumes a
stylistic function and may be regarded as a SD.
E.g. The principal production of these towns… appear to be soldiers, sailors, Jews,
chalk, shrimps, officers and dock-yard men. (Dickens Pickwick Papers)

Suspense is a compositional device which consists in arranging the matter of a

communication so that the less important, descriptive, subordinate parts are amasses
at the beginning, while the main idea is withheld till the end of the sentence. Thus the
reader’s attention is held and his interest kept up:
E.g. Mankind, says a Chinese manuscript, which my friend M. Was obliging
enough to read and explain to me, for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat
raw. (Charles Lamb)
Sentences of this type are called periodic sentences, or periods. Their function
is to create suspense, to keep the reader in a state of uncertainty and expectation.
This device is especially favoured by orators, apparently due to the strong influence
of intonation which helps to create the desired atmosphere of expectation and
emotional tension which goes with it.
Suspense always requires long stretches of speech or writing, but the main
purpose is to prepare the reader for the only logical conclusion of the utterance.
E.g. If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance to their doubting too; […]

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

38
 If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son! (from If by Kipling)

Climax (Gradation) is an arrangement of sentences (or of homogeneous parts

of one sentence) so that each in turn has a gradual increase in significance,
importance, or emotional tension in the utterance:
E.g. It was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem of a city.
E.g. All this was her property, her delight, her life.
A gradual increase in significance may be maintained in three ways: logical,
emotional and quantitative.
Logical climax is based on the relative importance of the component parts
considered from the viewpoint of the concepts embodied in them:
E.g. Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, “My dear
Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?” No beggars implored him to
bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever
once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the
blind men’s dogs appeared to know him, and when they saw him coming on, would
tug their owners into doorways […]; and then wag their tails, as though they said,
“No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!”(Dickens Christmas Carol)
Emotional climax is based on the relative emotional tension produced by words
with emotive meaning:
E.g. He was pleased when the child began to adventure across floors on hands and
knees; he was gratified, when she managed the trick of balancing herself on two
legs; he was delighted when she first said ‘tata’; and he was rejoiced when she
recognized him and smiled at him. (Alan Paton)
Quantitative climax is an increase in the volume of the corresponding concepts:
E.g. They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of stairs; they
inspected innumerable kitchens. (Maugham)

39
 The most wide-spread climax is a three-step structure, in which the
intensification of the logical importance, emotion or quantity is rising from step to
step, though in emotive climax one can come across a two-step structure (here the 2 nd
part repeats the 1st one, but with some intensifier):
E.g. I’ll be sorry, I’ll be truly sorry to leave you here, my friend.
There is a device that is called anticlimax. It is such an arrangement of ideas, in
which there is a gradual increase in significance, but the final idea (which the reader
expects to be the culminating one, like in climax) is trifling or farcical; i.e. it is a
sudden drop from the serious to the ridiculous:
E.g. In days of yore, a mighty rumbling was heard in a Mountain. It was said to be in
labour, and multitudes flocked together, from far and near, to see what it would
produce. After long expectations and many wise conjectures from the bystanders –
out popped, a Mouse! (Aesop The Mountain In Labour)
E.g. This war-like speech, received with many a cheer,
Had filled them with desire of fame, and beer. (Byron)

Antithesis is a SD consisting of two steps, the lexical meanings of which stand

in opposition. The main function is to stress heterogeneity of the described
phenomenon, to show it as a dialectical unity of two or more opposing features.
E.g. Some people have much to live on, but little to live for.
E.g. I like big parties, they are so intimate.

5.3. Peculiar Ways of Combining Parts of the Utterance

Asyndeton is connection between parts of a sentence or between sentences

without any formal sign, when there is a deliberate omission of the connective
conjunctions where it is generally expected to be according to the norms of the
literary language.
E.g. Arthur looked at his watch; it was nine o’clock. (Voynich)

40
E.g. The policeman took no notice of them; his feet were planted apart on the strip of
crimson carpet stretched across the pavement; his face, under the helmet, wore the
same solid, watching look as theirs. (Galsworthy)

Polysyndeton is a SD of connecting words, sentences or phrases by using

connective conjunctions.
E.g. The heaviest rain, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in
only one respect. (Dickens)

The Gap-Sentence Link is a type of sentence connection, which is not

immediately obvious and it requires a certain mental effort to grasp the interrelation
between the parts, i.e. to bridge the semantic gap.
E.g. She and that fellow ought to be sufferers, and they were in Italy. (Galsworthy)

In this example the 2nd part, which is hooked by ‘and’, seems to be unmotivated,
and thus the whole sentence seems to be illogical. After a careful semantic analysis it
becomes clear that the exact logical variant of the utterance would be: “Those who
ought to suffer were enjoying themselves in Italy” (where well-to-do English people
go for holidays).

5.4. Peculiar Use of Colloquial Constructions

Ellipsis is a typical phenomenon in conversation, arising out of the situation. It

becomes a SD when it imitates the common features of colloquial language.
Ellipsis is a pattern, in which one or more members of the sentence are omitted
but they can easily be restored by the context. This typical feature of the spoken
language assumes a new quality when used in written language. It is characteristic of
a dialogue to create the effect of naturalness and authenticity of lively emotional
speech.
E.g. See you tomorrow. Had a good time. You say that?

41
 Aposiopesis (or Break-in-the-Narrative) is an unfinished syntactic structure
used to show great excitement, strong emotions, etc. paralleling the person's speech;
or his deliberate stop in the utterance to conceal its meaning; to show unwillingness
to go on or to suggest that what remains unspoken can be guessed. Aposiopesis is
mainly used in the dialogue, and is graphically marked by dashes and suspension
marks (dots).
E.g. You just come home or I'll…
E.g. Good intention but…

Question-in-the-Narrative changes the real nature of a question and turns it into

a SD. Normally, questions are asked by one person and expected to be answered by
another. A question-in-the-narrative is asked and answered by one and the same
person, usually the author. It has strong emotional implication and close to a rhetoric
question (to which the answer is not really necessary), because here the answer is not
known for sure.
E.g. How long must it go on? How long must we suffer? Where is the end? What is
the end? (Norris)
E.g. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise?
Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. (Dickens)

Represented Speech. There are three ways of reproducing actual speech:

a) Direct speech – repetition of the exact utterance as it was spoken;
b) Indirect speech – conversion of the exact utterance into the relater’s mode of
expression;
c) Represented speech – representation of the actual utterance by a second
person, usually the author, as if it had been spoken, whereas it has not really been
spoken but is only represented in the author's words.

42
 There is also a SD, called represented speech, which conveys to the reader the
unuttered or inner speech of the character, thus representing his thoughts and
feelings.
To distinguish between the two varieties of the represented speech we call the
author's representation of the actual speech uttered represented speech, and the
representation of the character's thoughts and feelings – unuttered or inner
represented speech.
Uttered represented speech demands that the tense should be switched from the
present to the past and that the personal pronouns should be changed from 1 st and 2nd
person to 3rd person as in indirect speech, but the syntactic structure of the utterance
does not change.
E.g. Could he bring a reference from where he now was? He could. (Dreiser)
E.g. A maid came in now with a blue gown very thick and soft. Could she do
anything for Miss Freeland? No, thanks, she could not, only, did she know where
Mr. Freeland's room was? (Galsworthy)
Unuttered or Inner represented speech is a psychological phenomenon; it is
very fragmentary, incoherent, isolated, and consists of separate units which only hint
at the content.
E.g. An idea had occurred to Soames. His cousin Jolyon was Irene's trustee, the first
step would be to go down and see him at Robin Hill. Robin Hill! The odd -–the very
odd feeling those words brought back. Robin Hill – the house Bosinney had built for
him and Irene – the house they had never lived in – the fatal house! And Jolyon lived
there now! H'm! (Galsworthy)
Unlike the uttered represented speech it is usually introduced by verbs of mental
perception (think, meditate, feel, occur, wonder, ask, tell oneself, understand, etc)
E.g. Over and over he was asking himself: would she receive him? Would she
recognize him? What should he say to her?

5.5. Stylistic Use of Structural Meaning

43
 Every syntactic structure has its definite function, which is sometimes called
structural meaning. When a structure is used in some other function it assumes a
new meaning which is similar to lexical transference of meaning. This can be seen in
two syntactic SDs:

Rhetorical Question is a special SD, whose essence consists in reshaping the

grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence. I.e. the question is no longer a
question but a statement expressed in the form of an interrogative sentence. Thus
there is a simultaneous interplay of two structural meaning: 1) that of the question
and 2) that of the statement (either affirmative or negative).
E.g. Are these the remedies for a starving and desperate populace?

Litotes is a SD consisting of a peculiar use of negative constructions. The

negation plus noun or adjective serves to establish a positive feature in a person or
thing. This positive feature, however, is diminished in quality as compared with a
synonymous expression making a straightforward assertion of the positive feature.
Lets compare the following two pairs of sentences:
E.g. It’s not a bad thing. = It’s a good thing.
E.g. He is no coward. = He is a brave man.
‘Not bad’ is not equal to ‘good’ although the two constructions are
synonymous. The same can be said about the 2nd pair, no coward and ‘a brave man’.
In both cases the negative construction is weaker than the affirmative one. Still we
cannot say that the two negative constructions produce a lesser effect than the
corresponding affirmative ones, just on the contrary. The stylistic effect of litotes
depends mainly on intonation.
E.g. He was not without taste. It troubled him not a little. He found that this was no
easy task.
A variant of litotes is a construction with two negations, as in ‘not unlike’, ‘not
unpromising’, not displeased’, etc

44
 Litotes is used in different styles of speech, excluding those, which may be
called matter-of-fact styles, official style and scientific prose.

6. PHONETIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

Phonetic means of rendering ideas, emotions, feelings and images are studied
by Phonostylistics. In the written variety of the language a desired stylistic effect can
be achieved thanks to a peculiar sound arrangement in words, specific rhythm and
rhyme created by different syntactic patterns used. In the oral variety of the language
this effect is intensified by the usage of different intonation components (pitch of the
voice, melody, stress, tempo, rhythm, etc)
Intonation is the most powerful means of conveying emotionality, for it
expresses the speaker’s attitude to an utterance. Falling tones are used when the
speaker is sure of himself or shows superiority complex. Rising tones, however,
imply that the speaker is shy, timid or unsure of himself.
Stress (logical & emphatic) is stylistically relevant. Excitement is rendered by
emphatic stress, change in the pitch and the range of the voice.
Pause may perform different stylistic functions. It is stylistically loaded when it
is suggestive of the emotional state of the speaker. Silence can imply disagreement,
disapproval, or that the speaker is confused, surprised, etc. A long pause may show
that the person is thinking over the matter. Short frequent pauses render
embarrassment or strong excitement. In the line of print the expectation of a pause is
shown by dash (-), fullstop (.), suspension marks (…), etc.
The author’s phonetic means in creating expressiveness and emotional
colouring deal with the sound aspect of speech, mainly with the choice of words,
their specific arrangement and repetition. All this is studied by Euphony (теория
благозвучия). A significant role in Euphony is played by repetition of certain sounds
on which a number of phonetic SDs is based.

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 Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech-sounds which aims at imitating
sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc.), by things (machines and tools),
by people (singing, laughter, patter of feet, etc.) and by animals. Combinations of
speech sounds of this type will inevitably be associated with whatever produces the
natural sound.
There are two types of onomatopoeia:
 Direct (which displays itself in words imitating natural sounds) The
degree of imitation may be different. Some words at once remind us of things
producing sounds, others need our efforts to be decoded.
E.g. ding-dong; buzz; bang, cuckoo; mew, etc.
 Indirect (is formed by sounds which make the utterance an echo of its
sense). It requires the mention of the thing which is the source of the sound.
E.g. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain (E.A. Poe)

Alliteraton is a phonetic SDs which aims at imparting a melodic (or

cacophonic) effect to the utterance. The essence of this SD lies in the repetition of
similar sounds (consonant sounds in particular) in close succession.
E.g. Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. (E.A. Poe)

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations 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.
Rhyme may be of two types:
 Full rhymes (presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following
consonant sounds in a stressed syllable).
E.g. might – right; needles – heedles, etc
 Incomplete rhymes, which may be further divided into:
a) vowel rhymes (the vowels in corresponding words are identical, but the
consonants may be different):

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 E.g. flesh – fresh – press
b) consonant rhymes (consonants are identical, but vowels are different):
E.g. worth – forth; tale – tool; Treble – trouble

Modifications of rhyming sometimes go so far as to make one word rhyme with

a combination of words. Such rhymes are called compound or broken. The
peculiarity of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one
word.
E.g. bottom – forgot'em – shot him
Another modification of compound rhyme is eye-rhyme, where the letters and
not the sounds are identical.
E.g. love – prove; flood – brood
According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza, certain models
have crystallized:
 couplets – when the last words of two successive lines are rhymed. This
is commonly marked aa
 triple rhymes – aaa
 cross rhymes – abab
 framing or ring rhymes – abba
 internal rhymes – the rhyming words are placed not at the end of the
lines, but within the lines
E.g. I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers. (Shelley)
Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary. (Poe)

Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and has various forms. It is a
deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units intended to be
grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a SD. Rhythm, therefore, is the
main factor which brings order into the utterance. It affects both semantic and
structural aspects, because orderly phonetic arrangement of the utterance demands

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orderly syntactic structures, which, in their turn, suggest an orderly segmenting of
the sense-groups.
Rhythm in language demands oppositions: long – short; stressed – unstressed;
high – low, etc.

7. GRAPHIC EXPRESSIVE MEANS AND STYLISTIC DEVICES

The amount of what we read has essentially influenced the way modern man
views language and speech. It has relegated to the background of the primary and
original form of language: oral speech. Thus when judging the language, scientists
often have in view the written representation of oral speech. Printed texts do not only
become an ideal standard of speech activity, but to a certain extent predetermine our
linguistic judgment. It is almost impossible to free oneself from the bondage of
graphic images. Indirect evidence of the importance of graphic images is their
frequent use in speech which is reflected in fiction.
Graphic SDs and EMs have made primary audible speech fixed and visible,
which helps to discover in it certain properties that could not have been noticed in
fleeting oral discourse.

Punctuation Marks are not only used for expressing oral speech in writing, but they
also serve for designing other SDs and EMs. For example, suspension marks are
used in aposiopesis to convey the speaker’s deliberate break in the utterance for
certain reasons. Apart from suspension marks, dashes can be used for the same
purposes:
E.g. Stop teasing your sister or… = Stop teasing your sister or –

Quotation marks are used for presenting the exact utterance of the speaker:
E.g. “I simply can’t do it.”

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Brackets, as well as comas and dashes, help the author present some additional
information; they are widely used in designing insertions and other types of detached
constructions:
E.g. She was seventy, still in excellent health, a short sturdy woman.

Exclamation marks express highly emotional speech:

E.g. You just can’t leave me now!

Multiplication (the repetition of the same letter or a combination of letters) is

another very powerful graphic EMs, which helps to render the person’s manner of
speaking:
E.g. Nnooooooooo! Pleeeeeease don’t hurt me.
E.g. D-don’t s-stop n-now.

Graphon is a intentional violation of spelling of the word or a word combination

used to reflect its authentic pronunciation:
E.g. “Thquire!.. your thervant! Thith ith a bad pieth of bithnith, thith ith…” (i.e.
“Squire!.. Your servant! This is a bad piece of business, this is…”)

Capitalization is the use of capital letters in the text of utterance to convey the
speaker’s very emotional state, or to draw the reader’s attention to certain details, etc.
The person’s emotional state, or his/her deliberate intention to give more prominence
to certain pieces of their utterance can also be expressed with the help of italics:
E.g. She was simple beautiful.
E.g. I’ll NEVER see him again.

Hyphenation (or the use of hyphens) is another way of reflecting the person’s
manner of speaking, which is often combined with other graphic EMs:
E.g. “His wife,” I said. “W-I-F-E.”

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Bold type is the EMs widely used in different kinds of styles (often combined with
capitalization or italics) to draw the reader’s attention to the text. It is frequently used
in titles and headlines, which we used in this book as well.

Graphical imagery is designing the text in such a way so that it visually resembled
its content.

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