Stylistic Phraseology. Stylistic Morphology.

♦ Topics for Reports and Discussion

1.A phrase, its characteristics. Stylistic functions of phrases.

2. Usual and occasional stylistic connotations of a phrase. Zeugma. Pun.

3.Derivational tendencies of phrases in the text.

4.Clipped proverbs in the text.

5.Transposition of nouns and other parts of speech. Neologisms.

 

♦ Lecture Digest

General characteristics of a phrase. Stylistic functions of phrases in the text. Usual and occasional stylistic connotations of phrases. Derivational tendencies of proverbs in English. Clipped proverbs in a discourse.

Zeugma based on the syntactic identity of the adjuncts and their semantic incompatibility.

Pun – play on words.

Grammar forms and categories imbued with stylistic implications. Transposition or grammatical metaphor.

 

♦ Extension

The terms “idiom” and “phrase” may be used in the same context. We maintain the view according to which an “idiom” is broader in meaning: it may mean a separate word, a combination of words, a proverb, a cliché or a citation. The use of the term “idiom” seems a tribute to British and American studies where “idiom” is the umbrella term for word-like and sentence-like set expressions. Sticking to A. Kunin’s definition we call such-like expressions – blocks larger than one word but functioning as a whole – phrases or phraseological units.

While tackling the problem of derivational tendencies of proverbs in English we used some conclusions of T.N. Fedulenkova’s appealing article (Вестник МГУ, 2005), where the author regards clipping of proverbs an effective means of stylistic interpreting a verbal work of art.

Stylistic morphology studies the stylistic functions of various grammar forms. The problem is often associated with the phenomena of grammaticalness and acceptability.

Transposition or recategorization presents the use of some grammatical form in a meaning not characteristic of that form. It is sometimes called “grammatical metaphor”. Thus the transposition of the article might serve the illustration of the argument. We know that the definite article “the” often indicates given information, whereas the indefinite article “a” signals new information. The particular use of the definite article may become a linguistic device to indicate perspective or to engage the reader in the narration, to thrust him into the situational context. If in the description of the place the definite article is used (“the little wooden bridge, the hill, the steep path”) the narrator assumes that the reader sees for himself what these objects are and what they look like.

Grammar forms and categories are imbued with stylistic implications. Transposition or grammaticalmetaphor is a moot point. What it comes down to from our viewpoint is the use of the form in a meaning not characteristic of this form, in other words, grammatical metaphor relates to recategorization of a grammatical form. This is the сase with the definite article (“the escape”), form of plurality (the snows of Kilimandjaro), etc. We also assume that more form stands for more meaning. Thus prolongation, repetition or reduplication of a linguistic form may indicate additional meaning, “grammatical images”. The process and result of this process are sometimes called “iconicity” of grammatical forms, and the relationship of form and meaning in grammatical metaphorical mapping – diagrammatic, because analogy is mediated indirectly by means of metaphors.

 

♦ List of Works Recommended

1. Fedulenkova T.N. Derivational tendencies in communicative phraseological units. Вестник МГУ. Сер. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2005. № 1. С. 44-51.

2. Galperin I.R. Stylistics. M., 2010. PP. 150-152 (zeugma, pun).

3. Kukharenko V.A. A Book of Practice... PP. 42-44 (zeugma, pun).

4. Akhmanova O.A., Idzelis R. What is the English We Use? Moscow Univer­sity Press, 1978. PP. 81, 107.

5. Sosnovskaya V.B. Analytical Reading. M., 1974. PP. 62 (zeugma), p. 65-65(pun).

6. Thorne J.P. Poetry, Stylistics and Imaginary Grammars // Journal of Lin­guistics. 1969. № 5. PP. 147-150.

7. Арнольд И.В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык. М., 2002. С. 191-214: гл. III. Стилистический анализ на уровне морфологии.

8. Архипова Т.В. О стилистической функции транспозиции при­лагательных // Текст как объект комплексного анализа. М., 1984.

9. Кубрякова Е.С. Части речи в ономасиологическом освещении. М., 1978.

10. Shakhovsky V.I. English Stylistics. M., 2008. PP. 107-116.

 

♦ Exercises