С т и л и с т и ч е с к и й с и н т а к с и с
"I wake up and I'm alone and I walk round Warley and I'm alone; and I talk to people and I'm alone and I look at his face when I'm home and it's dead." (J.Braine)
Атмосфера одиночества и отчаяния, окружающая героя, передается с помощью конвергенции стилистических приемов, таких как параллелизм с анафорой и эпифорой и полисиндетон. Повторение союза "and" (полисиндетон) способствует также созданию особого ритмического рисунка повествования, подчеркивает идею безысходности.
"What courage can withstand the ever-enduring and all-besetting terrors of a woman's tongue?" (W. Irwing)
В анализируемом предложении имеет место транспозиция синтаксической структуры с целью эмфазы. Предложение, по форме являющееся вопросом, фактически (по смыслу) является отрицанием (No courage can withstand...).
And everywhere were people. People going into gates and coming out of gates. People staggering and falling. People fighting and cursing." (P. Abrahams)
В описании толпы автор использует конвергенцию синтаксических стилистических средств. Подхват (...people. People...) дополняется и усиливается анафорическим повтором слова "people" в серии параллельных конструкций ("People staggering and falling. People fighting and cursing"). Эти приемы в сочетании с элементом антитезы ("going into gates" vs "coming out of gates") передают хаотичность движения людей в толпе, атмосферу ожесточения и создают соответствующий ритмический рисунок высказывания.
ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ I
PATTERNS FOR STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
Stylistic Phonetics
1. At the level of phonetic description stylistically of interest is an instance of substandard pronunciation ( are instances of) ...
2. The vowel ... is reduced to ...
The consonant ... is replaced by ...
The sound ... is omitted.
The word ... is completely mispronounced.
3. The substandard (colloquial, low colloquial etc.) pronunciation is rendered in writing by deviations from standard spelling.
4. The non-standard pronunciation
a) serves for character drawing;
b) is due to the social position of the character;
the low educational level of the speaker;
the dialectal peculiarities of speech;
the emotional state of the character, etc.
5. The prosodic features are rendered in writing by...
6. The emphatic stress/intonation, etc.
a) conveys a special importance to the words...
b) renders the emotional state of the personage...
c) shows the attitude of the character to ...
7. Alliteration (intentional repetition of consonants)/onomatopoeia (sound imitation) a) creates a melodic/rythmic effect;
b) serves as a method of euphonic organization of the text;
c) evokes a concrete sensuous image of the phenomena described.
d) serves for comic representation of foreign speech.
Stylistic Morphology
1. In the extract under consideration we observe transposition of ...
2. The pronoun ... is used instead of ... in order to express ... /show that ...
3. The use of ... instead of ... a)is a sign of “popular”/ illiterate/low colloquial speech;
b)creates connotations of irritation/surprise/irony etc.
4. Repetition of morphemes a) is employed for emphasis;
b) serves the purpose of ...;
c) creates indirect onomatopoeia.
5. The forms ... are completely “ungrammatical” and thus show the low social status of the speaker.
6. Stylistically colored morphemes (such as...) are signals of ...
7. The substitution of ... by ... is stylistically relevant, because ...
8. The text (the personage’s discourse, the dialogue, etc.) abounds in contracted forms, which render colloquial (informal) character of communication.
Stylistic Lexicology
1. At the level of lexical description (lexical analysis) of interest stylistically is/are ...
2. The bookish/colloquial type of speech is marked by ...
3. The text is remarkable for the use of ... vocabulary...
4. The bookish/colloquial/slang word ... stands for the neutral ...
5. The use of specific vocabulary (archaisms, barbarisms, terms, dialectisms, etc.) serves to create a particular background (historical, local, professional etc.)
6. The use of ... serves for character drawing (indicates the social position, educational level; renders official/unofficial/familiar/humorous/sneering, etc. manner of speech.
7. ... are used in closed context a) to achieve comic/humorous effect;
b) to create connotations of irony/mockery etc.
8. The specific (poetic, colloquial, etc.) vocabulary gives/renders a particular (solemn, grave, passionate, pompous, unofficial, familiar, etc.) tone to the text.
Stylistic Semasiology
1. The hyperbole ... is intended for emphasis.
2. ... conveys the author’s subjective evaluation of ...
3. ... is introduce to describe (to characterize) ... by deliberate underestimation of ...
4. ... carries a sarcastic overtone/ has a connotation of mockery/creates humorous connotations.
5. The text owes its vividness to the use of ...
6. ... gives a vivid colourful description of ...
7. The metaphor/metonymy/ irony ... replaces a traditional nomination on the basis of ...
8. ... presents an abstract notion as a concrete thing with vigor and vividness.
9. ... serves for an expressive characterization of ...
10 ... creates gradual intensification of meaning.
11 The stylistic effect of ... is based on defeated expectancy.
12. ... is used to bring forth a comic/humorous etc. effect.
13. ... is made up by deliberate combination of words incompatible in meaning.
14. The stylistic function of the oxymoron is to present ... in complexity of contrasting features.
15. The antithesis a) is made up of lexical/contextual antonyms
b) serves to show ...
c) is realized through the use of ...
Stylistic Syntax
1. ... creates a certain rhythmic effect/ serves for rythmic organization of the text/creates the inner rhythm of the author’s discourse/of the narration.
2. ... creates an atmosphere of tension/dynamic activities/ monotony etc.
3. ... serves as an appending stylistic device, increasing the stylistic effect of ...
4. ... conveys the emotional state of the character/ the fragmentary character of his thoughts/introduces the elements of suspence.
5. The text , which is a specimen of colloquial speech abounds in elliptical sentences, such as ...
6. ... is used to imply emotional tension to the text.
7. Implied question/request/negation etc. are disguised as ...
8. ... serves for emphatic negation/ assertion etc.
9. ... convey emphasis and expressiveness to the text/description/narration by their condensed and laconic form.
10. The stylistic effect is created by deliberate deviation from the generally accepted arrangement of sentence elements.
11. ... is detached from the head word and placed in a prominent position
12 ... gives special prominence to ... /introduces some new information/a plane of secondary predication.
13. The sentences/clauses/phrases are built after (follow) the same syntactic pattern.
14. The stylistic effect of parallelism ... etc. is increased by anaphora/epiphora/ etc.
15. ... adds to the emphatic overtone of the text.
General Description of a Text
1. The text under analysis is an extract of imaginative prose.
2. It is a homogeneous whole: a) the author’s discourse
b) the personage’s discourse
c) the personage’s represented speech.
3. It is not a homogeneous whole:
a) the author’s discourse followed by ... (e.g. the personage’s discourse);
b) represented speech interspersed with ...
c) mostly the personage’s discourse with instances of ...
4. The text/the author’s discourse etc. represents bookish type of speech which is marked by the use of lengthy sentences of complicated structure/super-natural vocabulary etc.
5. The personage’s discourse ... is a specimen of colloquial type of speech. It is remarkable for/characterized by the use of elliptical/one-member/short two-member sentences, contracted forms, colloquial/vulgar, etc. words.
6. The text / the represented speech is of mixed character. It represents both bookish and colloquial type of speech, such as...
7. At the level of a) phonetic description...
b) lexicology ...
c) morphological analysis ...
d) stylistic semasiology ...
e) syntax ...
8. Conclusion.
ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ II
SAMPLES OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
Stylistic Phonetics
Thquire!… Your thirvant! Thith ith a bad pieth of bithnith, thith ith…. (Ch. Dickens)
At the level of phonetic description, of interest is substitution of consonants, which is rendered in writing by intentional violation of spelling: the graphon “th” replaces the letter “s” in the personage’s discourse. This stylistic device serves for speech characterization, it shows the character’s lisp.
My daddy’s coming tomorrow on a nairplane.” (J. D Salinger)
To create an impression of the little girl’s speech, the author resorts to graphical stylistic means: the graphon “ on a nairplane” stands for “on an airplane” . The contracted form “daddy’s” is used to show the informal character of communication (reduction of vowels is typical of colloquial speech).
“His wife,” I said… W-I-F-E. Homebody. Helpmate. Didn’t he tell you? (Myrer)
Emphatic stress is rendered in writing by capitalized and hyphenated spelling of the word “wife”. The stylistic device of alliteration (repetition of the initial consonant) in short one-member sentences (“Homebody. Helpmate.”) strengthens the emphatic effect.
How sweet it were,…
To lend our hearts and spirits wholly
To the music of mild-minded melancholy;
To muse and brood and live again in memory. (A. Tennyson)
The repetition of the sonorant “m” at the beginning of successive words aims at imparting a melodic effect and creating connotations of solemnity.
Whenever the moon and the stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet
A man goes riding by. (R. S. Stevenson)
In the analyzed passage, stylistically of interest is a case of indirect onomatopoeia: repeated “w” is used to reproduce the sound of wind. Unlike alliteration, indirect onomatopoeia demands some mention of what makes the sound (see the word “wind”).
Stylistic Morphology
“They’re certainly going to hold on to her,” Nicole assured him briskly. “She did shoot the man.” (S. Fitzgerald)
At the level of stylistic morphology, we observe transposition of the auxiliary verb “did”, which is used not in its primary function but for the purpose of emphasis.
“You’re the bestest good one - she said - the most bestest good one in the world” (H.E. Bates)
The emphatic effect of the above given utterance is achieved by intentional violation of English grammar rules (the rules of forming degrees of comparison). The nonce-words thus formed (“bestest”, “the most bestest”) create humorous connotations.
What else do I remember? Let me see.
There comes out of the cloud our house, our house - not new to me, but quite familiar, in its earliest remembrance. On the ground floor is Peggoty’s kitchen,opening into the back yard…. (Ch. Dickens)
The reproduces extract is the author’s narrative. Charles Dickens depicts past events as if they were in the present. This stylistic device (the use of present tense forms with reference to past actions) is called “historical present” (“praesens historicum” in Latin). It imparts vividness to narration.
“It don’t take no nerve to do somepin when there ain’t nothing else you can do…” (J. Steinbeck)
The stylistic purpose of the writer is to portray the character by showing peculiarities of his idiolect. Double negation (“don’t take no nerve”, etc.), misuse of person-and-number forms (“it don’t”), a popular speech form (“ain’t’), and the substandard pronunciation of the word “something”, rendered in writing by the graphon “somepin”, - all this shows the low educational and cultural level of the speaker
Stylistic Lexicology
“I’m terribly sorry I brought you along, Nickie”, said his father, his post-operative exhilaration gone. “It was an awful mess to put you through.” (E. Hemingway).
Father’s tenderness and care is stressed by the writer in the diminutive form of the boy’s name. “Nickie”, compared with ”Nick”, shows that besides the nominal meaning the derived word has aquired emotive meaning too. Also, the contracted form “I’m”, substandard intensifier “terribly”, and the word combination “an awful mess” participate the conveying the atmosphere of colloquial informality.
The little boy, too, we observed, had a famous appetite, and consumed schinken, and braten, and kartoffeln, and cranberry jam… with a gallantry that did honour to his nation. (W. Thackeray)
In the analysed extract, stylistically of interest is the use of barbarisms. The events take place in a small German town where a boy with a remarkable appetite is made the focus of attention. By introducing several German words into his narrative, the author gives an indirect description of the peculiarities of the German menu and the environment in general.
“Fostered she was with milk of Irish breast,
Her sire an earl; her dame of princes blood.” (A. Seton)
The solemn, high-flown connotations of the utterance are due to the use of lexical archaisms, such as “to foster” (“nourish”, “bring up”), “sire” (“father”), and “dame” (“mother”). The partial inversion at the beginning of the sentence and two metonymies (“breast” and “blood”) add to the stylistic effect.
My dad had a small insurance agency in Neport. He had moved there because his sister had married old Newport money and was a big wheel in the Preservation Society. At fifteen I’m an orphan, and Vic moves in. “From now on you’ll do as I tell you,” he says. It impressed me. Vic had never really shown any muscle before. (N. Travis)
The communicative situation is highly informal. The vocabulary includes not only standard colloquial words and expressions, such as “dad”, “to show muscles” (which is based on metonymy) and the intensifier “really”, but also the substandard metaphor “a big wheel”. The latter also indicates the lack of respectof the speaker towards his aunt, which is further sustained by his menonymical qualification of her husband (“old Newport money”).
Stylistic Semasiology
Then they came in. Two of them, a man with long fair moustaches and a silent dark man… Definitely, the moustache and I had nothing in common (D. Lessing)
At the level of stylistic semasiology, of interest is a case of genuine metonymy. A feature of a man which catches the eye - his moustache - stands for the man himself. The metonymy here implicates that the speaker knows nothing of the man in question; obviously, it is the first time those two have met.
At the top of the steps… amber light flooded out upon the darkness (S. Fitzgerald).
The metaphors “amber” and “flooded out” are used by the author to create a colourful picture of the night and the dark hall, part of which is illuminated by a ray of light coming from the room upstairs. The metaphoric epithet “amber” substitutes the non-figurative “yellow” (similarity of colour). The figurative verb “flood out” stands for the traditional “illuminate”; this transfer is based on the funcational similarity of water flooding the earth and a ray lighting dark space.
“Never mind”, said the stranger, cutting the address very short, “ said enough - no more; smart chap that cabman - handled his fives well; but if I’d been your friend in the green jemmy - damn me - punch his head-, God I would - pig’d whisper - pieman too, - no gammon.”
This coherent speech was interrupted by the entrance of the Rochester coachman, to announce that… (Ch. Dickens)
The word “coherent”, which describes Mr. Jingles speech, is inconsistent with the actual utterance and therefore becomes self-contradictory. Here, irony as a trope (the use of a word in the sense opposite to its primary dictionary meaning) contributes to the general ironic colouring of the author’s narration.
In the parlors he was unctuously received by the pastor and a committee of three, wearing morning clothes and a manner of Christian intellectuality. (S. Lewis)
In the passage under analysis the author brings into play effective zeugma (“wearing morning clothes and a manner of Christian intellectuality”) to convey the ironic attitude of the protagonist to the situation and the members of the religious committee. The affected insincere atmosphere of the reception is further sustained by the high-flown epithet “unctuously”, which adds to the stylistic effect.
“I’m eating my heat out.”
“It’s evidently a diet that agrees with you. You are growing fat on it.” (W.S. Maugham)
The semantic and stylistic effect of pun here is due to simultaneous realization in close context of the phraseological and non-phraseological meanings of the phrase “to eat one’s hear out”. The first speaker uses it figuratively, while the second one intentionally interprets it as a free word combination, thus creating ironic connotations.
Stylistic Syntax
Into a singularly restricted and indifferent environment Ida Zobel was born. (Th. Dreiser)
The narration begin with partial inversion, promoting the adverbial modifier of place into the most conspicuous position, thus adding relevance and importance to the indication of the place of action.
It is not possible to describe coherently what happened next: but I, for one, am not ashamed to confess that, though the fair blue sky was above me, and the green spring woods beneath me, and the kindest friends around me, yet I became terribly frightened, more frightened that I ever wish to become again, frightened in a way I never have known either before or after. (E.M. Foster).
The syntax of this sentence paragraph shows several groups of parallel constructions, combined epiphoric repetition (“above me”, “beneath me”, “around me”), polysyndeton (“and… and…”), and anaphora (“frightened… frightened…”). These stylistic devices used in convergence create a definitely perceived rythm, which hepls to render the atmosphere of overwhelming inexplicable horror dominating the passage. The stylistic effect is reinforced by the masterful use of climax creating gradual intensification of meaning.
“What - a daughter of his grow up like this! Be permitted to join in this prancing route of perdition! Never!” (Th. Dreiser)
The represented inner speech of the character culminates in a number of exclamatory one-member sentences, which emphasize the speaker’s emotions. The sentences are placed in inverted commas, but we perceive that the author’s presentation of the man’s words does not occur simultaneously with their utterance, and the pronoun “his” used instead of “mine” indicates the fact.
Being narrow, sober, workaday Germans, they were annoyed by the groups of restless, seeking, eager and, as Zobel saw it, rather scandalous men and women who paraded the neighbourgood streets … without a single thought apparently other than pleasure. And these young scramps and their girl-friends who sped about in automobiles. The loose indifferent parents. What was to become of such a nation?(Th. Dreiser)
The subjectivity of Zobel’s evaluation is stressed by two parentheses (“as Zobel saw it” and “apparently”). They lessen the finality and disapprobation of otherwise negative qualifications of the alien (American) world. The structurally incomplete (elliptical) sentences and the rhetorical question at the end of the passage indicate the shift of narration from the author’s discourse to the personage’s represented speech.
Stylistic Devices of Different Levels Used in Convergence
Her mother, a severe, prim German woman, died when she was only three, leaving her to the care of her father and his sister… (Th. Drieser)
In the analysed sentence, two nonfigurative epithets (“severe” and “prim”) appear in detached apposition. This provides them with additional emphasis, produced by independent stress and intonation.
Although nearly perfect, Mr. Murchinson had one little eccentricity, which he kept extremely private. It was a mere nothing, a thought, a whim; it seems almost unfair to mention it. The fact is he felt that nothing in the world could be nicer than to set fire to a house and watch it blaze.
What is the harm in that? Who has not had a similar bright vision at some time or another. There is no doubt about it, it would be nice, very nice indeed, absolutely delightful. But most of us are well broken in and we dismiss the idea as impracticable. Mr. Murchinson found that it took root in his mind and blossomed there like a sultry flower. (John Collier. “Incident on a Lake’)
The extract is on the whole highly ironical. Ridiculing the “little eccentricity” of Mr. Murchinson, the author brings into play a number of various stylistic devices: the detached ironical epithet “nearly perfect” is followed by effective climax of meotical nature, which is combined with asyndeton (“a mere nothing, a though, a whim… unfair to mention”). The striking descrepancy between the monstrous idea and the way it is perceived by the character is realized through anti-climax (“… nothing in the world could be nicer than set fire to a house…”) and further reinforced by two rhetorical questions (“What is the harm…? Who has not had a similar vision…?”). To crown it all, we had another case of climax (“nice, very nice indeed, absolutely delightful”).
To stress the personage’s obsession, the author resorts to metaphor and simile, which are used in convergence: “… it took root in his mind and blossomed there like a sultry flower”.
Functional Analysis
“Ever do any writing?” he asked.
“Only letters,” answered Anna, startled from her marking. It was obvious that Mr. Forster was disposed to talk, and Anna put down her own marking pencil. “Why? Do you?” she asked.
Mr. Foster waved a pudgy hand deprecatingly at the exercise book before him.
“ Oh! I’m always at it. Had a go at a pretty well everything in the writing line.”
“Have you had anything published?” asked Anna with proper awe. She was glad to see that Mr. Foster looked gratified and guessed, rightly, that he had.
“One or two little things,” he admitted with a very fair show of insouciance.
“How lovely!” said Anna enthusiastically. (“Fresh from the Country”)
The passage represents an informal dialogue between a young school teacher and her colleague. The personage’s discourse is interspersed with instances of the author’s narration, which is marked by the use of bookish words (“ deprecatingly”, “gratified”, “ awe”, “insouciance”, etc.) and well-organized lengthy sentences, such as the following one, complicated by detachment: “She was glad to see that Mr. Foster looked gratified and guessed, rightly, that he had.” The dialogue, on the contrary, abounds in short, one-member and elliptical, sentences (“Ever do any writing?” “How lovely!”). The vocabulary, too, participates in conveying the atmosphere of colloquial informality. Alongside with standard colloquial “had a go”, it includes interjections (“Oh!”), contracted forms (“I’m”), the colloquial intensifier “pretty”, and a word of highly generalized meaning (“little things”).
A case of understatement (“One or two little things”) in the end of the passage is used to render the affected modesty of the speaker, which is becomes clear from the subsequent author’s remark.
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A Sample of Complex Stylistic Analysis