The Language of Literature as an Object of Stylistics.
♦ Topics for Reports and Discussion
1. The language of literature as opposed to the language of non-literature.
2. The stylistic possibilities of the vocabulary:
a) general and special literary words;
b) foreign words or barbarisms;
c) archaic words;
d) poetic words.
3) The semantic structure of the word.
♦ Lecture Digest
Features that distinguish the language of verbal art and permit to speak of it as of an integral whole: 1) the use of the language in non-literature has become automatized, while in imaginative writing it becomes actualized or foregrounded; 2) literature breaks many of the restrictions of the language; 3) to present life phenomena in a new light literature shows likeness in otherwise dissimilar objects; 4) integrity.
The stylistic potential of the English vocabulary.
The detailed treatment of the third question is by no way simple, that is why we shall observe the points relevant for the stylistic purposes. While speaking on the semantic structure of the word a student is to distinguish between a) emotional b) evaluatory c) expressive and d) stylistic connotations. The difference between adherent and inherent connotations.
The basic distinction of literature from non-literature may be comprehended under the concept of foregrounding. According to Michael Halliday, “foregrounding … is prominence that is motivated”. “True foregrounding should be differentiated from a statistical or an absolute kind of foregrounding when regularities of words or structures may lead to the so-called “new insight”. A feature is foregrounded only if it relates to the meaning of the text as a whole.
The difference between the automatized language and foregrounded language is reflected in the difference between language (lexical) metaphor and a poetic metaphor. Everyday speech abounds in metaphors (leg of the table, eye of a needle, time passes away, etc.) which we never realize as metaphors. They are dead, trite, hardened into set-phrases. A poetic metaphor is characterized by freshness and novelty.
The stylistic potential of the English vocabulary.
The semantic structure of a word is defined in our course of lectures as a structural set of interrelated lexical variants with different meanings. The inherent connotations form a permanent part of the stylistic characteristics of a linguistic unit. The adherent connotations are created by evocation (association) in the context.
♦ Extension
1. Read about the development of the English literary (standard) language in: Galperin I.R. Stylistics. M., 2010 and give the examples of the literary words introduced into the English language in a) the 16th; b) the 17th; c) the 18th and d) the 19th centuries.
2. Read and do the tasks:
Literary analysis, in its broadest sense, is any attempt to understand a literary text. Every time we close a book and think about what we have read we are doing some form of literary analysis. An analytical approach to literature involves careful observation and drawing conclusions. It is not simply a question of tearing a poem or story asunder and labeling the parts; it entails discovering patterns of meaning and becoming aware of the writer’s intentions.
Literary analysis is a way of learning more about how literary texts are structured. The more we learn about the art of writing, the more receptive and responsive we become as readers. The analytical approach also provides the vocabulary we need to define and communicate our responses to literary texts. We must know the definitions of terms such as setting, character, plot and point of view in order to express and exchange opinions.
Delaney D., etc. Fields of Vision (2003)
Tasks and questions:
1. What does analytical approach to literature involve?
2. What does a reader become aware of discovering stylistic organization of a literary text?
3. What synonyms for ‘literary analysis’ do you know?
♦ List of Works Recommended
1.Galperin I.R. Stylistics. M., 2010. PP. 76-91.
2.Arnold I.V. The English Word. M., 1973, pp. 220-224.
3.Akhmanova O., Idzelis R.F. What is the English We Use? A Course in Practical Stylistics. M., 1978. PP. 92-93.
4.Kukharenko V.A. A Book of Practice in Stylistics. M., 1986, pp. 22-24.
5.Арнольд И.В. Стилистика. Cовременный английский язык. Л., 2002. С. 18-71; 98-113.
6.Shakhovsky V.I. English Stylistics. M., 2008. PP. 35-46.
7.Skrebnev Y.M. Fundamentals of English Stylistics. M., 1994. PP. 55-82.
♦ Exercises
1. Compare the neutral and the colloquial (or literary) modes of expression:
1. «Also it will cost him a hundred bucks as a retainer».
«Huh?» Suspicious again. Stick to basic English.
«Hundred dollars», I said. «Iron men. Fish. Bucks to the number of one hundred. Me no money, me no come. Savvy?» I began to count a hundred with both hands. (R. Chandler)
2. «... some thief in the night boosted my clothes whilst I slept. I sleep awful sound on the matresses you have here».
«Somebody boosted ... ?»
«Pinched. Jobbed. Swiped. Stole», he says happily. (K. Kesey)
3. «Now take fried, crocked, squiffed, loaded, plastered, blotto, tidied, stinko, viled, polluted».
«Yes», I said.
«That's the next set of words 1 am decreasing my vocabulary by», said Ath-erton. «Tossing them all out in favor of -»
«Intoxicated?» I supplied.
«I favor fried», said Atherton. «It's shorter and monosyllabic, even though it may sound a little harsher to the squeamish-minded». (P.G. Wodehouse)
4. «Do you talk?» asked Bundle. «Or are you just strong and silent?»
«Talk?» said Anthony. «I babble. I murmer. I burble – like a running
brook, you know. Sometimes I even ask questions». (A. Christie)
5. «I say, old boy, where do you hang out?» Mr. Pickwick responded that
he was at present suspended at the George and Vulture. (Ch. Dickens)
6. Mrs. Sunbury never went to bed – she retired, but Mr. Sunbury who
was not quite so refined as his wife always said: «Me for Bedford». (S. Maugham)
7. The famous Alderman objected to the phrase in Canning's inscription for
a Pitt Memorial «He died poor» and wished to substitute «He expired in indigent
circumstances». (S. Lucas)
8. Ask a teenager today what he thought of last night's rock show. If he liked it, it was «wicked» or «totally awesome». But if he didn't, it was «groady» or «harsh».
Slang is not the talk of board rooms and diplomatic sessions. Because young people spend more time informally than adults, and slang is a product of relaxing the rules, high schools and college campuses are breeding grounds for it. (C. Rosenberg)
2. Link together the suitable pairs of words making a stylistic opposition:
A
1 maiden a) ocean
2 slay b) horse
3 eve с) girl
4 ire d) morning
5main е e) evening
6 morn f) anger
7 steed g) kill
B
1 summon a) send off
2 accommodation b) carriage
3 sustain c) get
4 donation d) room
5 conveyance e) gift
6 dispatch f) suffer
7 obtain g) send for
C
1 uncouth a) beautiful
2 oft b) presently
3 naught c) hear
4 fair d) strange
5 hearken e) sorrow
6 anon f) often
7 woe g) nothing
To which layers of the vocabulary do these words belong?