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Units of language on different levels are studied by traditional branches of linguistics such as phonetics, grammar, lexicology, whose subject-matter and the material under study are more or less clear-cut.

It gets more complicated when we talk about the object of research and the material of studies of stylistics.

The term itself – stylistics - came into existence not too long ago.

However, the scope of problems and the object of stylistic study go as far back as ancient schools of rhetoric and poetics.

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It is in rhetoric that we find most of the notions and terms contemporary stylistics generally employs.

The most complete and well developed antique system, that came down to us is the Hellenistic Roman rhetoric system.

All expressive means (the object of its research) were divided into 3 large groups:

Tropes, Rhythm (Figures of Speech), and Types of Speech.

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Stylistics, unlike other linguistic subjects, does not study or describe separate linguistic units as such.

Roughly speaking,

stylistics is a branch of linguistics, which studies the principles, and the effect of choice and usage of different language elements in rendering thought and emotion under different conditions of communication.

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I.R.Galperin asserts that stуlistiсs, sometimes called l i n g u o s t y l i s t i c s, is a branch of general linguistics that mainly deals with two interdependent objectives:

the investigation of the special language media which secure the desirable effect of the utterance, and

the investigation of certain types of texts which (due to the choice and arrangement of language means) are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of communication.

These two tasks of stylistics are clearly discernible as separate fields of its investigation.

The special media are called stylistic devices and

expressive means (SD’s and EM’s); the types of texts are called functional styles (FS’s).

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The first field of investigation, i.e. SD’s and EM’s, touches upon such general language problems as:

the aesthetic function of language, synonymous ways of rendering one and the

same idea, emotional colouring in language, the interrelation between language and

thought, the individual manner of an author in making

use of language, etc.

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The second field, i.e. FS’s, brings forth the discussion of such issues as:

oral and written varieties of language, the notion of the literary (standard) language, the constituents of texts larger than the

sentence, the classification of the types of texts, the generative aspect of literary texts, etc.

Stylistics as a branch of linguistics overlaps with such adjacent disciplines as theory of information, theory of communication, literature studies, psychology, sociology, logic and some others.

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Stylistics, as the term implies, deals with styles.

The word style is derived from the Latin word ‘stilus’ (‘stylus’) or Greek ‘stylos’ which meant a short stick sharp at one end and flat at the other used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets.

Later it was associated with the manner of writing.

Today it can be applied in any activity which can be performed in more than one way (manner), verbal communication including.

Hence style presupposes choice.

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In linguistics the word ‘style’ has acquired so many interpretations that it gives ground for ambiguity.

Style is frequently regarded as something that belongs exclusively to the plane of expression and not to the plane of content because one and the same idea can be expressed in different ways.

S. Chatman defines style ‘as a product of individual choices and patterns of choices among linguistic possibilities.’

Style is often understood as a technique of expression, i.e. the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to interest the reader. Style in this sense deals with the normalized forms of the language.

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The generic term ‘style’ is often identified with the individual style of an author, or the authorial style.

I.R. Galperin believes that the individual style of an author is only one of the applications of the term ‘style’.

In the case it should be applied to the sphere of linguistic and literary science which deals with the peculiarities of a writer's individual manner of using language means to achieve the effect he desires.

The individual style – as a deliberate choice of an author – he distinguishes from a habitual idiosyncrasy in the use of language units by any individual or an idiolect.

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Style is frequently treated as the embellishment of language. Language and style as embellishment are regarded as separate bodies when style is imposed on language for artistic effect.

Style may also be defined as deviations from the lingual norm (M. Riffaterre, E. Saporta, M. Halliday, E. Enkvist).

Thus, what is stylistically conspicuous, stylistically relevant, stylistically coloured is a departure from the norm of the given national language.

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Here arises the problem of norm. There never has been one single norm for all.

On the one hand, the notion of norm implies a

recognized or received standard, or so-called pre-established, traditional and conventionally accepted parameters (i.e. characteristics) of what is evaluated (Y. M. Skrebnev).

On the other, the requirements of the uncultivated

part of the English-speaking population do not coincide with those of the cultivated one: they merely have their own conception of norm.

Thus, the characteristic feature of norm in language is its plurality.

Moreover, one of the most essential properties of the norm in a sublanguage is its flexibility.

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I. R. Galperin defines style ‘as a system of

interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication.’

Y. M. Skrebnev, acknowledging the split of a language into sublanguages, believes that style is specificity of sublanguage.

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Stylistic information, or stylistic colouring of a lingual unit, is the knowledge where, in what particular type of communication, the unit is current.

The majority of the words are stylistically neutral.

Stylistically coloured words (e.g. bookish, solemn, poetic, official, colloquial, rustic, dialectal, vulgar, etc.) have each a kind of ‘label’ on them, an ‘inscription’, a kind of ‘trade-mark’ showing where the unit was ‘manufactured’ and where it generally belongs.

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Stylistically neutral words taken separately only denote without connoting.

Stylistically coloured words preserve their ‘label’ or ‘trade-mark’ even in isolation.

Our verbal experience helps us to identify the appurtenance of words to a certain sphere.

Besides occasionally a certain context, a specific distribution may also add some unexpected colouring to a generally neutral word.

Such stylistic connotation is called occasional.

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Stylistic colouring of linguistic units is also the result of their distributional capacities.

The term distribution implies the possibilities of combining the given unit with its immediate environment.

Thus it brings to the forefront the notion of a

stylistic norm that indicates in what collocations and speech variety certain lingual units are proper or improper.

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In the following examples we shall observe the opposition of three sublanguages (styles):

The old man is dead (normal literary,

practically neutral). (Cf. Старик умер.)

The gentleman well advanced in years attained the termination of his terrestrial existence (high-flown, exquisite, pompous). (Cf. Старец скончался.)

The ole (low colloquial for old) bean he kicked the bucket (low colloquial, derogatory). (Cf. Старый хрыч подох (сыграл в ящик).)

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Besides, stylistics does not study or describe separate linguistic units as such.

It studies their stylistic function, i.e. it is interested in the expressive potential or expressive properties of linguistic units and their interaction in conveying ideas and emotions in a certain context.

There should be mentioned the following integral peculiarities of a stylistic function:

its ‘chameleon’ quality, its implicit character, its accumulative character, and its irradiating character.

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The ‘chameleon’ quality of the stylistic function means that a certain device does not necessarily perform the same function, it may vary from context to context.

E.g. a hyperbole may be used for creating a humorous or dramatic atmosphere.

Its implicit character is secured by the connotative meanings of words.

Accumulation means that a certain mood or feeling is usually rendered by a group of various means. This phenomenon is also termed convergence of devices.

Behind irradiation stands the fact that few or even one lingual unit with an outstanding stylistic function may attach a peculiar sounding to the whole speech unit.

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According to the type of stylistic research they distinguish linguostylistics (founded by a French linguist Ch. Bally) and literary stylistics.

They have some meeting points or links which lie in the study of:

the literary language from the point of view of its variability;

the individual manner of a writer; poetic speech that has its own specific laws.

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The points of difference proceed from different points of analysis.

While linguostylistics studies:

styles of sublanguages, or functional styles and their specificity, development and current state,

language units from the point of view of their capacity to render evaluations and evoke emotions,

literary stylistics inevitably overlaps with areas of literary studies such as the theories of artistic imagery and literary criticism, literary genres, the art of composition, the writer's outlook, the peculiarities of a certain trend or epoch, etc.

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Another distinguished trend of stylistics is stylistics of decoding.

It can be traced back to the works of L.V. Shcherba, B.A. Larin, M. Riffaterre, R. Jackobson and many other scholars (mainly of the Prague linguistic circle).

The role and purpose of this trend was summed up

by I.V. Arnold in her book on decoding stylistics: ‘Modern stylistics in not so much interested in the identification of separate devices as in discovering the common mechanism of tropes and their effect.’

It is common knowledge that each work of verbal art can be viewed from the point of view of its encoder (the author) and decoder (the reader, the recipient).

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If the literary text is analyzed from the author's (encoding) point of view such background facts as the epoch, the historical situation, the personal political, social and aesthetic views of the author, etc. are considered (the analysis of the extralinguistic context).

But if the same text is treated from the reader’s (decoding) angle the maximum information is excavated from the text itself: its vocabulary, sentence arrangement, composition, etc. and their interaction in rendering the author’s message (the analysis of the linguistic context) .

The first approach manifests the prevalence of the literary analysis. The second is based almost exclusively on the linguistic analysis.

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Stylistics of decoding harmoniously combines these two methods of stylistic research and enables the reader to interpret a work with a minimum loss of its purport and message..

Thus, the basic difference between linguostylistics and decoding stylistics is that the latter studies means provided by each level not as isolated devices that demonstrate some stylistic function but as a part of the general system that discloses the overall concept of the author.

In other terms, expressive means and stylistic devices are treated here only in their interaction and distribution within the text as the carriers of the author’s purpose and signs of his vision of the world.

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The subdivisions of linguostylistics The subdivision of linguostylistics is based on the

level-forming approach: sounds, words, phrases and sentences, paragraphs and texts are studied from the point of view of their expressive capacities, or stylistic function. Нere belong:

Lexical stylistics (stylistic lexicology). It studies the semantic structure of the word and

the interplay of the connotative and denotative meanings of the word, as well as the interrelation of the stylistic connotations of the word and the context.

Special attention is also paid to the functioning of different set expressions.

What unites it with general (i.e. non-stylistic) lexicology is the study of the stylistic differentiation of the vocabulary.

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Phonostylistics (stylistic phonetics). General phonetics investigates the whole

articulatory-audial system of language. Stylistic phonetics pays attention to the style-

forming phonetic features of sublanguages: it describes variants of pronunciation occurring in different types of speech.

Special attention is also paid to the expressive potential of phonetic means as well as the prosodic features of prose and poetry.

NB! In written texts phonetic means are often substituted by graphical devices (the domain of study of graphical stylistics).

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Grammatical stylistics.

Non-stylistic morphology treats morphemes and their grammatical meanings in general, without regard to the sphere of their application.

Morphological stylistics is interested in the

expressive potential of grammatical meanings, forms and categories as well as the deviations from a normative word formation that are peculiar to particular sublanguages, explicitly or implicitly comparing them with the neutral ones common to all the sublanguages.

Syntactical stylistics (stylistic syntax)

Morphological stylistics (stylistic

morphology)

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Non-stylistic syntax treats word combinations and sentences, analysing their structures and stating what is permissible and what is not in constructing correct utterances in the given language.

Syntactical stylistics is one of the oldest branches

of stylistic studies that grew out of classical rhetoric.

It investigates the expressive potential and the influential power of the deviations from a normative word order, of types of sentence and of syntactical connection.

It also shows what particular constructions are met with (or should be employed) in various types of speech, what syntactical structures are specific in the sublanguage in question.

Besides, syntactical stylistics very often operates on longer units, from the paragraph upwards.

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Functional stylistics (the theory of functional styles).

Functional stylistics is a branch of linguostylistics that investigates the totality of media typical of varieties of the national language distinguished by the communicative function, sphere of communication and compliance with the norm.

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Text stylistics is one more branch of stylistic research.

There exist various definitions of the term ‘text’. It can be understood as a completed product of

speech, representing a sequence of words, grammatically connected and semantically coherent, and having a certain communicative goal.

Text Stylistics aims at investigating the most effective ways and means of producing texts belonging to different styles, substyles and genres.

It also studies the lingual means through which different types of information and presentational manners are conveyed as well as the verbal manifestation of text categories.

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Science cognizes the world analytically – by taking things of the same sphere and class apart and establishing logical connections between them and their constituents, i.e. by creating concepts (intellectual work).

Art cognizes the reality synthetically – through comparing things from different spheres and by way of associations ascribing similar features to them, i.e. by creating images (the work of imagination).

An artistic image may be viewed as some model or generalised form that reflects the author’s subjective vision of either existing or fictitious reality.

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Images presuppose an artistic presentation of the general through the individual, of the abstract through the concrete and the sensuous.

To create images artists use different materials (marble, clay, paints, sounds, etc.) .

E.g. the statue of David by Michelangelo (marble, 1501- 1504).

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In verbal art imagery is embodied in words used in a figurative way to attain a higher artistic expressiveness.

Unlike the words in literal expressions which denote, or say directly what they mean according to common verbal practice or dictionary usage, words in figurative expressions connote, or acquire additional layers of meaning in a particular context.

Thus, the literal (dictionary, logical) meaning is the one easily restored irrespective of the context, while the figurative (contextual) meaning is the one materialised in the given context.

So, the verbal image is a pen-picture of a thing, person or idea expressed in a figurative way, i.e. by words used in their contextual meaning.

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Images – due to their frequent use – often become recognized symbols.

E.g. a bridge for ‘transition from past to future, from bad to good, from danger to rescue’ (‘Old Man at the Bridge’ by E. Hemingway).

Linguistic figurativeness or linguistic imagery can be found in various lexical lingual means that are termed either tropes (Ancient Gk. tropos ‘to turn’), or – like in our course – lexical stylistic devices.

A trope can be defined as a sort of transfer based on the interplay of lexical meanings of a word that results in establishing connections between different or even opposite notions or things, which are understood to have some similarity in the given context.

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NB! Imagery can be created by lexical SD’s only. The rest of stylistic devices (morphological and

syntactical, phonetic, graphic) do not create imagery, but serve as intensifiers: they can add some logical, emotive, expressive information to the utterance.

In rhetoric the verbal image is described as a complex phenomenon, a double picture generated by linguistic means, which is based on the co-presence of two thoughts of different things active together:

the direct thought – the tenor (T). the figurative thought – the vehicle (V).E.g. She (T) is a bird of passage (V).

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The tenor is the subject of thought, while the vehicle is the concept of a thing, person or an abstract notion with which the tenor is compared or identified.

As I.V. Arnold points out, the structure of a verbal image also includes:

the ground of comparison (G) — the similar feature of Т and V;

the relation (R) between Т and V; the type of identification/comparison or,

simply, the type of a trope.

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E.g.

T G R VTROPE

 

Sheis transient

likea bird of passage

(simile)

She –is like

a bird of passage

(simile)

She – isa bird of passage

(noun metaphor

)

–The bird of passage flew away

(noun metaphor

)

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Images may be:

general (macroimages), e.g. ‘The Moon and Sixpence’ by W.S. Maugham

individual (microimages), e.g. that great ocean of deep depression. (Priestley)

I.R. Galperin divides images into three

categories: visual, e.g. It was a feast of colour. (Maugham) aural (acoustic), e.g. He sprang to the

machine, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-queep-pocketa-queep. (Thurber)

relational, e.g. a man of figures, a man of great dignity. (Priestley)

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The problem of classification of tropes has existed for centuries going back to antique schools of rhetoric.

But the majority of scholars have not been interested in presenting tropes as a generalized system.

Most authors propose purely subjective classifications.

Some of them describe tropes and other stylistic devices in an alphabetical order.

Some split them into 2 groups: metaphor and metonymy.

I.R. Galperin's classification of lexical stylistic devices (adopted in our course) is based on the 3 following criteria:

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Dictionary (logical, literal) and contextual (figurative) meanings:

Metaphor, Metonymy,

Irony. Primary and derivative logical meanings (of a

polysemantic word): Zeugma,

Pun. Logical and emotive meanings:

Oxymoron, Epithet.

Logical and nominative meanings:Antonomasia.

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Hyperbole (intensification of quantity, size, emotions, etc.),

Simile (intensification of affinity),

Periphrasis (intensification of an inherent property).

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Clichés,Proverbs, Epigrams, Quotations,Allusions,

Decomposition of set phrases.

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Lexical stylistic devices are also classified according to the degree of originality into trite and genuine.

Genuine devices are original, full of imagery.

Trite devices are ready-made, fixed in dictionaries clichés. Imagery seems faded there.

Such cases are mainly dealt with in lexicology.E.g. a root of the quarrel (trite metaphor).

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Metaphor (Gk. metaphora ‘transference’) as a term was originally and is still often applied indiscriminately to any kind of figurative use in art.

It is often treated as parable or allegory that traditionally expresses abstract ideas through concrete pictures.

E.g. The texts of the Bible, ‘The Divine Comedy’ by A. Dante (in verbal art).

Alighieri Dante

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As a SD metaphor is an imaginative identification of one concept (Т) with another (V), or a hidden comparison of two objects with no real connection.

It is a transfer by similarity (likeness, affinity) resulting in the violation of normal correspondence between concepts and words.

Function. Metaphors make descriptions concrete and vivid.

Metaphor and simileMetaphor like simile is based on the mental process

of comparison, but, unlike in simile, in metaphor the ground of comparison is never stated openly.

E.g. She is like a bird of passage (simile). She is a bird of passage (metaphor).

Metaphors can be embodied in all the basic parts of speech – nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

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V.A. Maltzev isolated certain structural patterns of noun metaphors, depending on the type of identification of Т and V, the most frequent among which are the following:

Т is V: E.g. ‘… Love is a disease. Women are the instruments of my pleasure …’ (Maugham)

Т turns into V: E.g. The fine autumn afternoon was losing its bright gold and turning into smoke and distant fading flame, so that it seemed for a moment as if all London bridges were burning down. (Priestley)

Something makes Т into V: E.g. Lights were flickering on along the wharf, immediately giving the unlit entrances a sombre air of mystery. (Priestley)

V replaces Т: E.g. The little devil raged in.

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In non-noun metaphors the vehicle is hidden and must be identified by properties or actions denoted by adjectives, adverbs and verbs.

E.g. The passion that held Strickland was no less tyrannical than love. (Maugham)

Young Turgis … intimidated everyone by sneezing explosively.

Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. (Bacon)

Metaphor has no formal limitations: it can be a word, a phrase, any part of a sentence, or a sentence as a whole.

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Simple metaphors contain only one vehicle.E.g. His life was a tragedy. Sustained (extended, prolonged) metaphors

occur whenever one metaphorical statement, creating an image, is followed by another, containing a continuation, or logical development of the previous one.

Hence, in a sustained metaphor the central vehicle is supported by one or more vehicles contributing to the same image.

E.g. His life was a tragedy written in the terms of knock-about farce. (Maugham)

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According to the degree of originality metaphors like all the rest of the stylistic devices may be subdivided into:

Genuine (authentic, 'living'). They are original, full of imagery, and therefore are treated as SD’s proper.

Trite (etymological, dead, traditional, stereotyped, hackneyed, dictionary). They are fixed in dictionaries clichés with faded imagery. Thus, they are viewed as expressive means of the language. E.g. a foot of a mountain, a mouth of a river, a root of the quarrel.

Stylistics deals preferably with 'living' metaphors whose function is not a mere nomination of the object in question, but rather its expressive characterization.

Cases of trite metaphors are dealt with in lexicology.

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Having become standardised through overuse, metaphors may also exist as idioms.

Today they have a literal meaning that differs from their original literal meaning because they have passed through a metaphorical stage.

E.g. to add fuel to the fire/flames.

Metaphor is also a common lingual means of occasional denomination that provides us with a means of explaining the unknown in terms of the known.

Similarity on which metaphorical renaming is based may concern any property of the thing meant. It may be colour, form, character of motion, speed, value or anything else that shows a resemblance.

E.g. What was the name of the barking creature?

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Personification is a variety of metaphor in which human properties are attributed to lifeless (or inanimate) objects — mostly to abstract notions (thoughts, actions, emotions, seasons of the year, etc.).

The formal indication of personification may be: capitalising: E.g. If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same ... (Kipling)

the use of pronouns he or she instead of it: E.g. Life is hard, and Nature takes sometimes a

terrible delight in torturing her children. (Maugham) the use of verbs and adjectives that originally

stand for the actions and qualities of people:E.g. The Tower Bridge raised its two arms. (Priestley)

a low and fat arm-chair. (Priestley)

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There are a lot of cases of trite personifications.E.g. The English ship is traditionally substituted

by the pronoun she.Function. Personification adds dramatic power to

the description, it expresses the author's vision of the (possible) world, or reflects the attitude of the characters to the things described.

Zoonimic (animalistic) metaphors are the opposite of personification. It is the ascription of the traits of beasts to people, usually with the intention of negative characterization or creating humour.

E.g. a fox, a cow, a snake. Turgis … almost snarled his reply to any civil question. (Priestley)

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Metonymy (Gk. metonymia 'changing of name') is a trope based upon contiguity – upon a real connection (inward or outward) – between the object of nomination and the object whose name by way of associations is used to replace it. (Cf. with metaphor where this connection is non-existent.)

Metonymy can also be defined as a nomination of the object through one of its inherent properties.

E.g. ‘Hulloa, fatty. What do you want?’ (Maugham)

Function. Metonymy usually creates an ironic or even sarcastic effect, sometimes it serves intensification.

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According to the relation between the tenor and the vehicle the following types of metonymy are differentiated:

the abstract stands for the concrete:E.g. But then he did not really want any of these

people, did not want company for company’s sake. What he really wanted was Love, Romance, a Wonderful Girl of His Own. And these had lately all been assuming the same shape in his mind, that of Lena Golspie. (Priestley)

the container is mentioned instead of the contents:

E.g. He sipped one more bottle (of whisky).

the material instead of the thing made of it:E.g. She was glancing through his water colours.

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the maker stands for the thing made:E.g. The Rembrandt turned out to be fake.

He adores Mozart.

the instrument is put for the agent:E.g. His brush can be easily recognized.

a part is put for the whole (synecdoche): E.g. There were long legs all around.

Metonymy in many cases is trite. E.g. to cite Byron, hands wanted.

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Synecdoche can as well be expressed grammatically.

An example of traditional (stereotyped) synecdoche is the use of the singular (the so-called generis singularis) when the plural (the whole class) is meant.

E.g. ‘A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her’ he said, ‘but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.’ (or: The woman ...). (Maugham)

The opposite type of synecdoche (‘the whole for a

part’) occurs when the name of the genus is used in place of

the name of the species:E.g. Stop torturing the poor animal (instead of the

poor dog); or when the 'plural of disapprobation' is resorted to:E.g. Reading books when I am talking to you! (while

one book is meant).

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Zeugma (Gk. zeuguana 'joining, uniting') or syllepsis (Gk. sullēpsis: sul- SYN - ‘with or together’ + lēpsis ‘a taking’) is the blending together of two or more semantically incompatible word groups, having an identical lexical item (usu. a polysemantic word), into a single construction where this item is used only once.

E.g. … it was a perfect purgatory of dust and confusion and gritting of teeth and soft, sweet and low profanity. (Twain)

In the resultant cluster the identical lexical item is in the same grammatical (syntactical) but different semantic relations with the adjacent units, which pertain to semantic spheres inconsistent with each other.

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Thus, without being repeated the lexical unit is used in a literal and in a transferred meaning.

E.g. With tears in her eyes and a Gucci bag she appeared at the door of his apartment.

Function. The effect produced by zeugmatic combinations is humorous or ironical.

Zeugma is an accepted stylistic device in English literature, in Russian it is beyond the literary norm.

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Pun – the use of a word in such a manner as to bring out different meanings or applications of one polysemantic word,

– or the use of words alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning (homophones, paronyms), often with humorous intent.

It is also called wordplay, play on words, quibble, paronomasia, (Latin, from Gr. paronomazein ‘to call by a different name, to name besides’: para ‘besides’ + onomazein – ‘to name’).

Alongside the English term 'pun', the

international (originally French) term calembour is current.

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E.g. It is not my principle ('general rule of conduct') to pay the interest ('money paid for use of money lent'), and it is not my interest ('advantage, profit, or generally, thing in which one is concerned') to pay the principal ('the original sum lent') (a polysemantic word and homophones).

She was too beautiful for wards (a ward sounds

nearly the same as words, i.e. paronyms).

Function. The creation of a jocular atmosphere caused by the intentional mistreatment of the meaning of the lexical unit either by the speaker.

E.g. – I beg your pardon. – I am not offended.

The majority of jokes are based on pun.

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The distinction between zeugma and pun

Both zeugma and pun are based on polysemy and create a humorous effect.

The distinguishing feature is mainly a structural one

as zeugma is always a structure with two adjacent

elements linked with the central element which is used only once; while

pun 1) is more independent as it needs a broader (than a structure) context for its decoding and there need not necessarily be a word in the sentence to which the pun-word refers; 2) pun-words often recur.

Moreover, pun is more varied as besides polysemy it rests on the use of homophones and paronyms.

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Irony (Gk. eirōneia 'feigned ignorance', ‘mockery concealed') is based on the contrast between the literal (dictionary) meaning and the intended meaning: one thing is said and the opposite is implied.

Irony is generally used to convey a negative meaning (ridicule, contempt) though only positive concepts may be used in it.

Y.M. Skrebnev suggested the following general scheme of irony – ‘praise stands for blame’. Thus, good used ironically implies its antonym bad.

E.g. ‘God damn my wife. She is an excellent woman. I wish she was in hell.’ (Maugham)

Very seldom the opposite type of irony where ‘blame stands for praise’ is observed: coarse and accusing words are used approvingly.

E.g. Clever bastard! Lucky devil! Tough son-of-a-bitch!

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Besides, Y.M. Skrebnev distinguishes 2 kinds of ironic utterances:

explicit ironical, which no one would take at their face value due to the situation, tune and structure:

E.g. An excellent student you are! (addressing the one with poor results), and

implicit ironical, when the ironical message is communicated against a wider context:

E.g. ‘The Devoted Friend’ by O. Wilde.In oral speech, irony is often made prominent by

emphatic intonation. In writing, the most typical signs are graphical,

like inverted commas or italics. Irony can be understood from the context without

any special graphical indication.

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Irony must not be confused with humour, although they have much in common.

One of the functions of irony is producing a humorous effect.

But unlike humour that always causes laughter,

that is friendly and positive by its character, irony presupposes critical evaluation of the thing spoken about and expresses ridicule, mockery or contempt.

In this sense irony stands closer to sarcasm when mocking and contemptuous language is intended to convey scorn or insult.

An ironic effect is frequently achieved by the mixture of styles: the use of the high-flown style on socially low and insignificant topics or in a friendly talk, etc.

E.g. Mine is negation (in a kitchen). (Cf.: No!)

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Besides verbal (lingiustic) irony, there also exists irony which is produced extralinguistically.

It is created by contrasting what the character seeks by his actions and what he obtains and may cover the whole literary work.

Such are irony of situation or irony of fate (life), and dramatic irony investigated in literary studies.

Irony of situation is a literary technique based on the contrast between how a set of circumstances looks on the surface and what it actually is in reality. It rests on the discrepancy between what is intended when one acts and what the result is.

Dramatic irony is a literary technique in which the reader understands the actual meaning of what is happening, but the character does not.

There is a second variant of dramatic irony when the author adopts the character’s wrong viewpoint to finally ridicule him/her and reveal his/her naivety.

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The epithet (Gk. epitheton ‘addition’) is an attributive (or adverbial) word or phrase used to characterise an object, i.e. to express an individual perception and evaluation of its features and properties. E.g. a giant moustache, a pessimistic rumble. (Priestley)

I.V. Arnold believes that it is a lexico-syntactical trope for it is usu. materialized in a sentence as an attribute, an adverbial modifier or a predicative.

The epithet can be expressed by an adjective, an adverb, a noun, a participle, etc. E.g. ‘What have I done now?’ she began indignantly (an adv., an adv. mod.). (Priestley)

The epithet differs from the logical (= descriptive) attribute, which shows the inherent property of a thing, thus being objective and non-evaluating. E.g. a middle-aged man, bluey-green walls. (Priestley)

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Compositionally epithets fall into:

simple or word-epithets, e.g. Happiness for him had a feminine shape. (Priestley)

compound epithets (formed by compound adjectives), e.g. a crescent-shaped object; wild-looking young fellows (Priestley).

two-step epithets (supplied with intensifiers), e.g. … fatally second class … public school … (Priestley)

phrase epithets (also called hyphenated epithets when written through a hyphen), e.g. Now he was practically a four-hundred-a-year man instead of a three-hundred-a-year man. (Priestley) …

reversed epithets (composed of two nouns linked by an of-phrase where the attributive relation between the members of the combination shows that the SD is an epithet), e.g. a thick figure of a man (Priestley)

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According to I.R. Galperin, semantically epithets may be divided into 2 groups:

associated underlining the essential feature of the object, e.g. tremendous moustache. (Priestley)

unassociated with the noun, unexpected and striking, e.g. the inhuman drawing-room. (Priestley)

V.A. Kukharenko splits epithets into: fixed (trite, traditional, conventional, standing),

e.g. a devoted friend, magic weather. figurative (transferred) that can be metaphorical,

metonymic, ironical, etc., e.g. bushy eyebrows. (Priestley)

From the point of view of the distribution of epithets in the sentence, there can be distinguished a string of epithets whose function is to give a multisided characterization. E.g. That she was not really a creature of that world only made her more fascinating, mysterious, romantic … (Priestley)

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Oxymoron (Gk. oxus ‘sharp’ + moros ‘foolish’) is a combination of words that express two diametrically opposite notions.

E.g. Her cheerfulness was the cheerfulness of despair. (Maugham)

Oxymoron ascribes some feature to an object or phenomenon incompatible with it, that is why one of its two components can be said to be used figuratively.

E.g. О loving hate! ( Shakespeare)

Moreover, in oxymoron the logical meaning prevails over the emotive but the emotive is the result of the clash between the logical and illogical.

E.g. the famous drama by L. Tolstoy ‘The Living Corpse’.

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Semantically an oxymoron can be of two types: evident (composed of dictionary antonyms),

e.g. beautifully ugly; and non-evident (composed of words that render

mutually exclusive notions and become contextual antonyms), e.g. jolly starvation.

Structurally oxymora can be formed by an attributive combination (e.g. beautiful horror) or an adverbial word combination (e.g. to swear pleasingly, to be proudly weak).

To less frequent types belong combinations like ugly in a pleasant way, a sweet kind of torture, etc.

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Close to oxymoron stands paradox, a statement that is self-contradictory or absurd on the surface.

E.g. The best way to get rid of a temptation is yield to it. (O. Wilde) ‘Why do nice women marry dull men?’

‘Because intelligent men won’t marry nice women’. (Maugham)

There are a lot of cases of trite oxymora. E.g. active leisure; terribly nice (the oxymoronic

character has been lost for terribly serves as a mere intensifier, a synonym of the neutral very).

Function. In spite of the outward illogicality oxymoronic collocations are full of sober sense: they disclose seeming or genuine discrepancies of objects and phenomena as well as the contradictions of life.

Sometimes they create an ironic or comical effect. E.g. the noble family of swine. (Golding)

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Antonomasia (Gk. antonomasia 'naming instead’; antonomazein 'to name differently’) is usu. the substitution of the of the proper name of a person for another name in order to characterize him/her.

E.g. ‘You will laugh at me. I am a materialist, and I am a gross, fat man – Falstaff, eh? – the lyrical mode does not become me …’ (Maugham)

Casanova (for a ladies' man ), a Cicero (for an orator).

Function: characterization through name, creation of humorous atmosphere.

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There exist 2 major types of antonomasia:

A proper name is used as a common noun. Here belong:

metaphorical antonomasia (when the proper name of a famous personage is applied to a person whose characteristic features resemble those of the well-known original or prototype).

E.g. ‘ I don’t pretend to be a great painter,’ he said. ‘I’m not a Michael Angelo, no, but I have something ...’ (Maugham); and

metonymic antonomasia (observed in cases when a personal name stands for something connected with the bearer of that name).

E.g. This is my real Goya. (Galsworthy) I am fond of Dickens (= of Dickens' books).

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The use of such antonomastic words demonstrates how proper nouns acquire new, logical meanings:

Some of them are still spelt with capital letters, others are already spelt with small letters. E.g. The word hooligan going back to a proper name of a person known for his lawless behavior.

They can be used with an ‘a’- article. E.g. She was beginning to like … middle-aged men … but … really nice attractive ones … had hardly more than an occasional faint gleam of interest to spare for a Miss Matfield. (Priestley)

They can be used in the plural. E.g. It was a pity that silly young men did not amuse her, for there were plenty of Ivors about, whereas there were very few real grown-up men about …. (Priestley)

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A common noun acquires a nominal meaning and is used as a proper noun.

In such usages, which are also termed speaking or telling names, token or tell-tale names, the common noun origin is still clearly perceived.

E.g. Shark Dodson, Mr. Cheeky.

Like the rest of tropes antonomasia can also be trite (traditional), e.g. a traitor is referred to as Brutus, and genuine (contextual), e.g. Mrs. Cross.

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Simile (Latin similis ‘similar’) is an explicit statement of partial identity (affinity, likeness, similarity) of two objects belonging to entirely different classes of things.

E.g. She felt like a shivering and bruised ant. (Priestley)

The word explicit distinguishes simile from metaphor where comparison is not stated clearly:

Metaphor is a renaming where a word, a phrase, a sentence, etc. is used instead of another; simile always employs two names of two separate objects.

Simile always contains at least one more component part – a word or a word-group signalizing the idea of juxtaposition and comparison.

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The formal signals of simile are mostly:

link words as, like – establishing the analogy categorically.

E.g. Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breasts like giant cabbages; her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. (Maugham)

link words as though, as if, than – establishing but a slight similarity.

E.g. It was as though he had become aware of the soul of the universe and were compelled to express it. (Maugham)

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lexical and morphological means that establish resemblance, such as to resemble, to remind of, in a way or verbal phrases to bear a resemblance to, to have a look of; suffixes - ish, - like, - some, -y, etc.

E.g. He reminded you of those jolly, fat merchants that Rubens painted. (Maugham)

‘I believe you’re right, Sandycroft …’ said Mr. Smeeth, with the air of a dutiful cross-talk comedian. (Priestley)

… the place where Strickland lived had the beauty of the Garden of Eden. (Maugham)

He had …a small, still babyish mouth (Priestley).

The function of simile is specifying and illustrating.

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There exist a lot of trite (hackneyed, familiar) similes in the English language.

E.g. as clear as a day, as black as a crow, to behave like a lamb.

Like metaphors similes can be sustained or extended.

E.g. Her tranquillity was like the sullen calm that broods over an island which has been swept by a hurricane. (Maugham)

Simile must be distinguished from logical comparison or comparison proper, which brings together two things belonging to one class, i.e. deals with what is logically comparable, while in simile there is usu. a bit of fantasy.

E.g. He is as clever as his father (the same class of objects – human beings).

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Hyperbole (Gk. hyperbolē ‘excess’) is a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement of a feature (quantity, size, etc.) essential to the object.

E.g. I am dying of hunger (exaggerated feelings).

Hyperbole differs from a mere exaggeration intended to be understood as an exaggeration.

Y.M. Skrebnev points out there must be something illogical in hyperbole, something unreal, impossible, contrary to common sense.

E.g. There were several brigades of Santa Clauses, tons and tons of imitation holly, and enough cotton wool … to keep the hospitals supplied for the next ten years. (Priestley)

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The logical and psychological opposite of hyperbole is meiosis (Gk. ‘a lessening’ from meioun ‘to diminish’).

It is lessening, weakening, reducing the real characteristics of the object of speech to mean the opposite of what is said.

E.g. It will cost you a pretty penny (a large sum of money is implimed).

Meiosis should not be confused with a variant of hyperbole, i.e. understatement: when the object spoken about is really small or insignificant, and the expression used to denote it strengthens, exaggerates and emphasizes its smallness and insignificance.

E.g. a cat-size pony (= a very small pony), a drop of water (= not much water).

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Meiosis is typical of the British manner of speech, in opposition to American English in which hyperbole seems to prevail.

E.g. An English girl and an American girl climb a steep mountain in the Alps. The English girl says: It's a bit exhausting, isn't it? The American echoes: Why, sure, it's terrific!!!

Function. Hyperbole adds dramatic force or attributes a humorous or even ironical sounding.

Many hyperboles have become trite. E.g. A thousand pardons. I've told you forty times. Haven't seen you for ages!

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Periphrasis (Gr. periphrazein ‘to express in a roundabout way’: peri – round + phrazein – ‘to show, to say’) is a roundabout way used to name some object or phenomenon. The other term for it is circumlocution.

E.g. the attacking force (for a gang, a band). (O’Henry)

Periphrasis is a description of what could be named directly by a possible shorter and plainer wording; it is naming the characteristic features of the object instead of naming the object itself.

Thus, it is akin to metonymy. The difference between periphrasis and metonymy

is that the former is always a phrase, i.e. consists of more than one word.

E.g. a thriller (for an exciting book) – metonymy, two hundred pages of blood-curdling narrative

(for an exciting book) – periphrasis.

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Periphrases can also be genuine (real, artistic, etc.), and trite (traditional, stereotyped, dictionary, etc.).

E.g. instruments of pleasure (for women). (Maugham)

The stylistic effect (function) of periphrasis varies from elevation to humour and irony.

Periphrasis can be divided into 3 types: Logical periphrasis – based on inherent properties

of a thing. E.g. He looked again at the poor dead thing that had

been man, and then he started back in dismay. (Maugham)

Figurative (imaginative) periphrasis – based on imagery (usu. a metaphor or a metonymy).

E.g. a chevalier of fortune or chevalier of industry (for all sorts of adventurers and swindlers; for bandits). (O’Henry),

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Euphemistic periphrasis. The origin of the term 'euphemism' discloses the aim

of the device very clearly, i.e. ‘speaking well’ (Gr. eu – ‘well’ + pheme ‘speaking’).

It implies the social practice of replacing the tabooed words or coarse expressions by conventionally more acceptable words and phrases that seem less categoric, milder, more harmless (or at least less offensive).

E.g. the word to die has the following euphemisms: to pass away, to expire, to be no more, to depart, to join the majority, to be gone, to kick the bucket, to give up the ghost, to go west.

Euphemism is a term of speech ethics that is sometimes figuratively called ‘a whitewashing device’.

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Euphemisms may be divided into several groups according to their spheres of application.

The most recognized types are the following: 1) religious, 2) moral, 3) medical, and 4) parliamentary and political.

E.g. a garbage man – is today substituted for a sanitation worker;

having sexual intercourse with – making love to, sleeping with;

crippled and handicapped – disabled; undeveloped countries – developing.

The abundant use of periphrastic and euphemistic expressions is a sign of periphrastic or euphemistic style of expression which at times becomes a norm and a requirement.

E.g. a colourful personality (for an excessively eccentric person).

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Set expressions (clichés, proverbs, epigrams, quotations, allusions, etc.) are treated in different ways in lexicology and stylistics.

Lexicology studies the character of a set expression and its components, its etymology and meaning.

Stylistics is interested in the communicative effect and expressive power of a set phrase.

Besides, when a set expression is used in its unaltered form it can be qualified as an expressive means of the language; when used in a modified variant it assumes one of the features of a SD, it acquires a stylistic meaning, though not becoming a SD.

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A cliché is a word or expression which has lost its originality or effectiveness because it has been used too often.

Practically all tropes tend to lose their imaginative power, or part of their imaginative power thus becoming trite, but often they retain their emotional colouring.

In other words, a cliché is a kind of stable word combination which has become familiar, has won general recognition and which by its iteration has been accepted as a unit of the language. E.g. rosy dreams of youth, deceptively simple, the march of science, rising expectations, growing awareness, to see things through rose-coloured glasses.

The effects achieved by using clichés include besides expressing emotions or attitudes, also evaluation and brevity. To say Jack of all trades is shorter than a person who can turn his hands to any kind of work.

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

Proverbs are brief statements showing in a condensed form the accumulated people’s wisdom and life experience of the community and serving as conventional practical symbols for abstract ideas.

Their typical features are: rhythm, rhyme and/or alliteration, brevity (which manifests itself also in the omission of articles and connectives), the use of contrasts, synonyms, antonyms, etc.

Proverbs are usually didactic and involve imagery. E.g. Out of sight, out of mind.

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Proverbs should not be confused with maxims, i.e. with non-metaphorical precepts. E.g. Better late than never; You never know what you can do till you try. They are not allegorical; there is nothing figurative in them, they are understood literally, word for word.

The usage of proverbs is marked by their possible modifications, which result in a particular effect: the modified form of the proverb is perceived against the background of the fixed form, thus enlivening it, and giving it a new vigour.

In other words, a modified proverb presupposes a simultaneous application of two meanings: the face-value or primary meaning, and an extended meaning drawn from the context. E.g. Come, he said, milk is spilt (it’s no use crying over spilt milk).

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An epigram (Gr. epigraphein ‘to write on’) is a short clever amusing saying or a poem. In most cases epigrams are witty statements coined by some individuals whose names we know (unlike in proverbs).

They have a generalizing function and are self-sufficient. Brevity, rhythm, alliteration and often rhyme make them similar to proverbs.

There are special dictionaries which are called "Dictionaries of Quotations." These, in fact, are mostly dictionaries of epigrams. E.g. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. (Keats)

Originally, a form of monumental description in ancient Greece, the epigram was developed into a literary form by poets of Hellenistic age (a period of Greek literature from the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) to that of Cleopatra (31 B.C.).

Epigrams are close to aphorisms. Though the latter are shorter and do not look like quotations.

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A quotation is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech and the like used by way of authority, illustration, proof or as a basis for further speculation on the matter in hand. (I.R. Galperin)

Quotations are usually marked graphically by inverted commas, dashes or italics, they are mostly accompanied by a reference to the author of the quotation. The reference is made either in the text or in a foot-note. Quotations need not necessarily be short.

E.g. Friends, Romans, countrymen – Lend me your ears. (Shakespeare)Quotations often turn into epigrams. E.g. To be or not

to be? (Shakespeare)Quotations used as an argumentative technique

allow no modifications of meaning. Such quotations are especially frequent in scientific texts, in religious writing and in the journalistic style.

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An allusion (Latin allusio ‘a playing with’) is an indirect quotation, reference or a hint by word or phrase to a historical, literary, mythological or biblical fact which is presumably known to the listener/reader.

As a rule no indication of the source of the allusion is given, which makes it different from quotations proper (direct quotations) and epigrams.

Another difference is of a structural nature: a quotation proper must repeat the exact wording of the original; an allusion is only a mention of a word or phrase which may be regarded as the key-word of the utterance.

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‘Allusions,’ I.R. Galperin remarks, ‘are based on the accumulated experience and knowledge of the writer who presupposes a similar experience and knowledge in the reader.’ Moreover, they add cultural value to the text. E.g. … for nothing removes the curse of Babel like food, drink, and good fellowship. (Priestley)

Allusions are a frequent device in advertisements and headlines. Besides, they may function within the literary text as similes, metaphors, metaphorical epithets, periphrases, etc. E.g. She has got a Mona Lisa smile.

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Set phrases are used as expressive means of language which already makes them the object of interest for stylistics.

E.g. to be a square peg in the round hole.

The meaning of a set expression can be understood only from the combination as a whole.

A very effective stylistic device consists in the intentional violation of the traditional norms of the use of set phrases that is called decomposition, deformation, demotivation or breaking up of set expressions.

E.g. In England and France he was a square peg in the round hole, but here the holes were any sort of shape, and no sort of peg was quite amiss. (Maugham)

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By decomposing a set phrase the author discloses the inner form of the phrase and either

pretends to understand the phrase or its constituents literally, i.e. distorting by 'literalizing', or

revives the additional meanings of the

components of which the fusion is made, or

inserts additional components (words) or replaces the original ones, etc.

Function. Set expressions are usu. decomposed for creating a humorous, ironic, sarcastic effect or even the atmosphere of absurdity.

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There are several types of decomposition of set expressions:

inclusion or prolongation, e.g. She took a desperate hold of his arm;

interaction, e.g. to be fed up with smth + to be fed to the teeth = There are the words of a man who for some reason not disclosed is fed up with the front teeth with the adored object;

substitution (partial or complete), e.g. Divorces (instead of marriages) are made in

heavens. (O. Wilde) To dish or not to dish? (about a satellite

antenna; instead of Shakespearean To be or not to be?).

changes in spelling (attaining a new meaning and at the same time preserving or imitating the phonetical form of the original set expression), e.g. Sofa, So Good! (instead of So far, so good, when a furniture shop praises its sofas).

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Syntax deals with patterns of word arrangement and formulates rules for correct sentence building.

The English language syntax is characterised by a fixed word order: Subject —Predicate —Object —Modifier (S—P—O—M).

Even a slight change in the word-order of a sentence or a definite modification of any normative syntactical unit may alter the meaning of the whole, and deviant structures can carry a stylistic function.

Such structures are termed rhetorical figures, figures of speech, syntactical intensifiers or syntactical stylistic devices.

Syntactical stylistics is one of the oldest branches of stylistic studies that grew out of classical rhetoric. There have been suggested their numerous classifications.

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I.R Galperin singles out the following 4 principles of their systematisation:

Group 1. Patterns of syntactical arrangement:Inversion

DetachmentParallelismChiasmusRepetition

EnumerationSuspense

ClimaxAntithesis.

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Group 2. Peculiar linkage:Asyndeton

PolysyndetonGap-sentence link.

Group 3. Peculiar use of colloquial constructions: Ellipsis

AposiopesisQuestion-in-the-narrative

Represented speech.

Group 4. Stylistic use of structural meaning:Rhetorical question

Litotes.

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Inversion is every noticeable change in the word-order.

Stylistic inversion differs from grammatical inversion.

Grammatical inversion brings about a cardinal change in the grammatical meaning of the syntactical structure (e.g. an interrogative sentence).

Stylistic inversion does not change the grammatical essence (the grammatical type) of the sentence: it consists in an unusual displacement of words in order to make one of them more conspicuous, more important, more emphatic, to make a logical stress on it or to add some expressive and emotive colour.

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Cf. In they came sounds stronger than They came in.

Hence, an inverted word-order, or inversion, is one of the forms of what are known as emphatic constructions.

Inversion may be complete – when the predicate is displaced,

E.g. There are men whose desire for truth is so great that to attain it they will shatter the very foundation of their world. Of such was Strickland, only beauty with him took the place of truth (Maugham),

and partial – with the displacement of secondary members of the sentence,

E.g. In the first place his red beard, ragged and untrimmed, hid much of his face … (Maugham)

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There are 5 most frequent structural types of inversion:

the object is placed in pre-position: E.g. Over everything she brooded and brooded.

the attribute is placed after the word it modifies:E.g. …Dirk Stroeve, eager for praise and naively self-satisfied, could never resist displaying his work. (Maugham)

the predicative is placed before the subject:E.g. A good, generous prayer it was. (Twain)

the adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence:E.g. Never had she hated London so much. (Priestley)

both the modifier and predicate stand before the subject: E.g. There was a rustling in the bushes on his left and suddenly like a cuckoo from a nursery clock out popped a large black bird.

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Detachment is an attribution of greater significance to а secondary member of the sentence, usu. an attribute or an adverbial modifier, due to which it is formally separated from the word it syntactically depends on.

E.g. And there he lived, unmindful of the world and by the world forgotten. (Maugham)

Due to the special stress laid on it, the detached word (phrase) often appears to be opposed to what precedes or follows it.

Hence, the stylistic effect of detachment is strengthening, emphasizing the word (phrase) in question.

E.g. He’s read this. More or less.

Y.M. Skrebnev believes that inversion is also a sure sign of detachment.

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According to I.R. Galperin the ground for the discrimination between detachment and inversion is that detachment produces a stronger effect and sounds more independent. In oral speech a detached unit is marked by prominent intonation which in writing is indicated by the use of such punctuation marks as commas, full stops or dashes.

A variant of detachment is parenthesis. It is an explanatory or qualifying remark put into a sentence.

In writing parenthesis is also indicated by commas, brackets or dashes. E.g. You would not have noticed him in a crowd – and a great deal of his time was spent in a crowd – but if your attention had been called to him … (Priestley)

In Russian detachment is termed обособление, приложение.

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Parallelism is a repetition of identical or similar syntactical patterns in two or more successive units.

E.g. It was a vision of the beginnings of the world, the garden of Eden, … it was a hymn to the beauty of the human form, male and female, and the praise of Nature, sublime, indifferent, lovely, and cruel. (Maugham)

In case of absolute identity in the repeated patterns, we speak about complete parallelism or balance. E.g. Papers were swept into drawers, letters were stamped in rows, blotters were shut, turned over, put away, ledgers and petty cash boxes were locked up, typewriters were covered, noses were powdered, cigarettes and pipes were lit, doors were banged, and stairs were noisy with hasty feet. (Priestley)

If the identity is partial, parallelism becomes partial or incomplete. E.g. His soft collar was crumpled, his tie a little frayed … (Priestley) (the link verb falls out).

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Parallel constructions are often backed up by repetition of words (lexical repetition) and conjunctions and prepositions (polysyndeton).

E.g. Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods, Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring

floods … (Burns)

Parallelism performs different functions. It contributes to rhythmic and melodic unification of

adjacent sentences. It also either helps to emphasize the repeated

element, or to create a contrast, or else underlines the semantic connection and equality between sentences.

In the belles-lettres style parallel constructions carry an emotive function.

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Chiasmus (from the Greek letter χ = Chi, khiasmos ‘crisscross arrangement’) is sometimes characterized as 'parallelism reversed': it is also based on the repetition of syntactical patterns, but it has a reversed or inverted order in one of the two utterances.

E.g. He came in and out went she.

The segments that change places enter opposite or contrastive logical relations, which fact produces various stylistic effects.

Like parallel constructions, chiasmus contributes to the rhythmical quality of the utterance, and the pause caused by the change in the syntactical pattern may be likened to a caesura in prosody.

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Due to the frequent identity of lexical units this device may often be classed as lexical chiasmus or chiastic repetition.

E.g. That he sings, and he sings, and for ever sings he –

I love my Love and my Love loves me! (Coleridge)

The jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail ... (Dickens)

In Russian chiasmus sounds хиазм.

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Parallelism and chiasmus are syntactical repetitions and should be distinguished from lexical and lexico-syntactical repetitions.

Lexical repetition is a regular recurrence of a lexical unit, sometimes in close succession.

It can be viewed as an expressive means of the language used to make an emotional impact and intensify the feelings. Besides, it ascribes rhythm to the utterance; at times it shows the monotony or continuity of action.

E.g. At last the army of advertising managers, copy writers, commercial artists, colour printers, window dressers, bill posters, which had been screaming ‘Buy, buy, buy’ for weeks and weeks, was charging to victory. (Priestley)

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There are phrases containing lexical repetition which have become lexical units of the English language.

E.g. on and on, over and over, again and again, step by step, etc.

In lexico-syntactical repetitions, unlike in purely syntactical repetitions (parallelism or chiasmus), where the lexical identity of certain parts of neighbouring sentences is optional, the recurrence of the same lexical units is quite obligatory.

In general, lexico-syntactical repetition is a based on the recurrence of words and word groups within a repeated syntactical structure for some stylistic purpose.

I.R. Galperin states that rather than making an emotional impact it draws the attention of the reader to the key-word of the utterance and emphasises the main idea of the sentence.

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Compositionally lexico-syntactical repetition falls into: Simple Repetition

It is a recurrence of the same word or sentence within a structure up to a text long.

E.g. ‘I was taking care of animals’, he said dully, but no longer to me. ‘I was only taking care of animals.’ (Hemingway)

Anaphora (a…, a…)It implies identity of beginnings or one or several

initial elements in adjacent syntactical units (sentences, verse lines, stanzas, paragraphs, chapters).

E.g. My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer... (Burns)

Function. Anaphoric recurrence strengthens the element that recurs, helps the reader (hearer) fix it in his memory. It also imparts a certain rhythmical regularity to the syntactical units in question.

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Epiphora (… a, … a)Epiphora is the opposite of anaphora. It is the

recurrence of one or several elements concluding two (or more) syntactical units (sentences, verse lines, stanzas, paragraphs, chapters).

E.g. … all the food he ate was wrong, all the rooms he sat in, beds he slept in, and clothes he wore, were wrong … (Priestley)

Function. Epiphora, to a still greater extent than anaphora, regularizes the rhythm of the text and makes prose resemble poetry.

A combination of anaphora and epiphora in two or more adjacent units is sometimes termed symploca.

E.g. If he wishes to float into fairyland, he reads a book; if he wishes to dash into the thick of battle, he reads a book; if he wishes to soar into heaven, he reads a book. (Chesterton)

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Framing (a …a)This term denotes the recurrence of the initial

segment at the very end of a syntactical unit. E.g. ‘Well, we’ll have to see,’ said Mrs.

Pelumpton dubiously. ‘That’s what we’ll have to do, we’ll have to see.’ (Priestley)

Function. Framing makes the whole utterance more compact and more complete. It is most effective in singling out paragraphs.

In Russian framing is termed кольцевой повтор or рамка.

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Anadiplosis (linking, reduplication, catch repetition) (… a, a…)

Anadiplosis (Gr. anadiploun ‘to double back’) is a repetition where the final element (or elements) of the proceeding syntactical unit recurs at the very beginning of the next syntactical unit.

E.g. With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy; happy at least in my own way. (Bronte)

In Russian it is termed анадиплозис, эналепсис, подхват, стык, сдваивание.

Chain Repetition (…a, a… b, b …)It is the sequence of several anadiploses.E.g. Rapidly the feeling became a strong hunch,

the hunch became a conviction, and the conviction became a compulsion. He absolutely HAD to get home.

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There also exists synonymic repetition. The two terms frequently used to group all kinds

of synonymic repetitions are pleonasm and tautology.

The distinction between them is rather fine.

The Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines pleonasm as ‘the use of more words in a sentence than are necessary to express the meaning; redundancy of expression.’

Tautology is defined as ‘the repetition of the same statement; the repetition (especially in the immediate context) of the same word or phrase or of the same idea or statement in other words; usually as a fault of style.’

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Certain varieties of synonymic repetition and their stylistic effect are in detail described by Y.M. Skrebnev and I.R. Galperin

Pleonasm, or syntactic tautology, is often presented by recurrence of the noun subject in the form of the corresponding personal pronoun.

The stylistic function of this construction is laying emphasis or underlining prominence.

It is also a typical feature of popular speech (the speech of uneducated people).

E.g. ‘Bolivar, he’s plenty tired, and he can’t carry double.’ (O’Henry)

There is a variety of tautology called root-repetition. In it not the same words but the same root that is repeated.

E.g. ‘Schemmer, Karl Schemmer, was a brute, a brutish brute.’ (London) (Different words having different meanings of ‘brutish’ and ‘brute’ are observed here.)

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Tautology in appended, or attached statements, is a typical feature of popular speech or a sign of unrestrained emotion.

E.g. ‘I washed my hands and face afore I come, I did... I know what the like of you are, I do.’ (Shaw).

Tautology pretended (sham tautology) is formed by mere repetition of the same word or word combination.

E.g. ‘For East is East, and West is West ... ’ (Kipling) (The repeated word acquires a different meaning.)

Tautology disguised is the intentional display of identical assertions in different forms which by adding a slightly different nuance of meaning clarifies and specifies it, or intensifies the impact of the utterance.

E.g. ‘...are there not capital punishments sufficient in your statutes? Is there not blood enough upon your penal code?’ (Byron)

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In enumeration separate things, properties, actions and phenomena are brought together in the manner that they make a series of grammatically and semantically homogeneous parts of utterance.

E.g. But not Mr. Golspie, the mysterious, large, jocular, brutal man, who always contrived … to get the best of her in any talk between them … (Priestley)

The enumerated notions are usu. associated with each other due to some kind of relation between them: dependence, cause and result, likeness, dissimilarity, sequence, experience (personal and/or social), proximity, etc.

E.g. At last the army of advertising managers, copy writers, commercial artists, colour printers, window dressers, bill posters, which had been screaming ‘Buy, buy, buy’ for weeks and weeks, was charging to victory. (Priestley)

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Enumeration attracts attention by the resultant rhythm and sometimes creates the atmosphere of tension.

Though, enumeration becomes a stylistic device proper when the effect of semantic homogeneity of heterogeneous words, i.e. words belonging to different semantic fields and groups, is produced.

This kind of chaotic distribution performs an evident stylistic function as it causes a striking effect.

E.g. She loved three things – a joke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man. (Maugham)

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Suspense (Latin suspendere ‘to hang up’) is based on the delay of the most important information.

As a result, the less important facts and subordinate details appear first, while the most significant idea is withheld till the end of the syntactical unit.

E.g. What more could a girl want? Parents and friends of the family who visited the Burpenfield found themselves compelled to ask this question. The answer was that there was only one thing that most girls at the Burpenfield did want, and that was to get away. (Priestley)

Suspense is often created by the insertion of a subordinate clause (or a parenthetic remark) between the members of the principal clause.

E.g. At last, after seeing her several times in one week, at a distance and never once alone, he made a desperate throw and spoke to her. (Priestley)

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Sentences with suspense are called periodic sentences, or periods. Their function is to keep the reader in a state of uncertainty, expectation and interest.

Sometimes the whole of a literary work is based on suspense.

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 And make allowance for their doubting too … Yours is the earth and everything that's in it, And – which is more – you'll be a Man, my son!

(Kipling) In literary studies it is termed retardation. Detective stories are always based on retardation,

thus creating intrigue.

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Climax (Gr. klimax ‘ladder’) and gradation (Latin gradatio ‘ascent’, ‘climbing up’) are two synonymous terms that denote such an arrangement of correlative ideas or notions (expressed by words, word combinations or sentences) in which what precedes is less than what follows.

Thus, in climax the second element surpasses the first and is, in its turn, surpassed by the third, and so on.

E.g. … he had a gratitude, a zest, an eagerness, that could not be found in the others… (Priestley)

The correlative notions in climax belong to the same semantic plane and are often called ‘ideographic synonyms’.

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In climax the participating words, phrases, sentences form the ‘ascent’, or an ‘ascending scale’, in different ways:

In logical climax every consecutive word is stronger from the logical point of view. E.g. He looked about him, as if searching the little room in despair for something to touch, to hold, to cling to … (Priestley)

In emotional climax the emotive intensity is implied. E.g. After a short silence, an unusual sound, a most strange sound, a fantastic and incredible sound, came from the side of the bed and travelled round the dark little room. (Priestley)

Quantitative climax is based on the intensification of quantitative parametres. E.g. Mary counted the months, the weeks, the days, the hours to his return.

As is seen from examples, climax is usu. materialized in enumeration.

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Climax and suspense sometimes go together. In this case all the information contained in the series of statements preceding the solution are arranged in the order of gradation.

E.g. ‘If’ by R. Kipling.

The stylistic function of climax is to disclose the emotional tension of the character, to impress upon the reader the significance of the things described by suggested comparison, or to depict phenomena dynamically.

In Russian climax is termed нарастание.

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In literary studies climax as a term has got a different meaning: that of a crucial moment of narration. In this case its Russian equivalent is кульминация.

Anti-climax (back-gradation) consists in the abrupt descent, which frequently contrasts with the previous rise.

This ruins the elevated tenor and brings down the whole idea. That is why anti climax is frequently used by humorists. The Russian for it is спад.

E.g. She was distressed, sore, inconsolable – for the afternoon.

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Antithesis (Gr. anti ‘against’ + thesis ‘statement’) as a term has a broad range of meanings. It denotes any active confrontation, emphasized co-occurrence of notions, really or presumably opposed by means of dictionary or contextual antonyms.

E.g. In his universe, the gods had been banished but not the devils. (Priestley) (dictionary antonyms)

They merely came to earn their money, more or less. Mr. Smeeth came to work. (Priestley) (contextual antonyms)

The purpose of using this device is to demonstrate

the contradictory nature of the referent, to compare things through a contrast and to attribute rhythm to the utterance.

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This device is often signalled by the introductory connectives but or and.

E.g. As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times. (Maugham)

I.R. Galperin believes that antithesis is generally moulded in parallel constructions. This gives him a ground for classifying it as a syntactical means.

Y.M. Skrebnev lays stress on the lexical explication of contrast and thus believes it is a lexical means.

E.g. Strickland was an odious man, but I still think he was a great one. (Maugham)

In case of developed antithesis we deal with semantically opposed statements or pictures.

Antithesis differs from contrast as a literary technique. Contrast is a literary (not linguistic) device based on logical opposition between different phenomena.

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AsyndetonAsyndeton (Gr. asundetos ‘disconnected’) is a

deliberate avoidance of connectives in the constructions where they would normally be used.

E.g. The noise was terrible, shattering: hundreds of tin buckets were being kicked down flights of stone steps; walls of houses were falling in; ships were going down; ten thousand people were screaming with toothache; steam hammers were breaking loose; whole warehouses of oilcloth were being stormed … (Priestley)

The absence of the connective may connote various implications: it indicates tense, energetic activities or shows a succession of minute actions. Besides, it imparts dynamic force to the syntactical unit.

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PolysyndetonIt is – as opposed to asyndeton – an excessive use

(repetition) of connectives. E.g. … it was also rather exciting, which was more

than could be said of the 13 bus and the lounge at the Burpenfield and her room there and the aspirin and the hot water. (Priestley)

Intentionally used, the device creates the atmosphere of bustling activity, underlines the simultaneity of actions, discloses the connection of properties enumerated (their equal significance), imparts rhythm, and promotes a high-flown tonality of narrative.

E.g. Angel Pavement and its kind, … assisted by long hours of artificial light, by hasty breakfasts and illusory lunches, by walks in boots made of sodden cardboard and rides in germ-haunted buses, by fuss all day and worry all night, had blanched the whole man, had thinned his hair and turned it grey … (Priestley)

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The excessive use of conjunctions may betray the poverty of the speaker's grammar, showing the primitiveness of the character.

E.g. I always been a good girl; and I never offered to say a word to him; and I don't owe him nothing; and I don't care; and I won't be put upon; and I have my feelings the same as anyone else. (Shaw) (Cf. with the Russian a.)

The Gap-Sentence Link (cumulation)It is a formal separation of the utterance into two

parts that leads to the obvious break in the semantic texture of the utterance and forms an ‘unexpected semantic leap.’

It is usu. conveyed by a full stop. Besides, the two parts may often be connected by and or but.

E.g. He will answer. And go.

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As a result, the separated part sounds stronger and attracts attention.

E.g. ‘…You didn’t reelly know what you were doing at the time, did you?’

‘That’s it. I didn’t. Nerves, y’know. Highly strung …’ (Priestley)

The gap-sentence link has various functions. It may be used to indicate a subjective

evaluation of the facts; it may introduce an effect resulting from a cause which has already had verbal expression or a sudden transition from one thought to another; it may serve to signal the introduction of inner represented speech.

In Russian it is termed пробел, провал,

присоединение.

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EllipsisY.M. Skrebnev defines ellipsis as a deliberate

abbreviation of a syntactical unit, usu. a sentence.

The missing parts are either present in the syntactic environment of the sentence or are implied by the situation (context).

Elliptical sentences are correlative with complete ones, being, so to speak, their concrete ‘syntactical synonyms’.

In colloquial speech such constructions are frequent and arise from the speed of delivery and economy of effort.

E.g. ‘Ere, come along,’ said the conductor. ‘Fares, please.’ (Priestley)

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Sometimes the omission of necessary words becomes an indicator of poor grammar.

E.g. ‘Horrible, I call it. Some girls haven’t any real feelings at all. Girl I know – she lives near us, and she’s one of these manicurists – she is one just the same. Treats boys and talks about them, too, in the most awful way …’ (Priestley)

In works of fiction elliptical sentences are made use of to reproduce the direct speech of characters and create the atmosphere of naturalness; to show their social status; to impart brevity, immediacy and a quick tempo to the author's narrative; to render the emotional tension.

E.g. Very slowly his eyes left the box and returned to the figure on the floor. Lena. Not a movement. No, that wasn’t Lena any more; that was a body. (Priestley)

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One-member nominal sentences, as a variety of ellipsis, are common in stage remarks. They call attention to the phenomenon described and create tense atmosphere.

E.g. Ten o’clock. Darkness. No people.Besides oral speech and fiction, ellipsis is common

to some special types of texts.For the sake of business-like brevity, it is very

frequent in newspaper headlines, in papers or handbooks on technology and natural sciences.

Ellipsis is practically always employed in encyclopaedic dictionaries and reference books of the ‘Who's Who’ type.

To save space and money all kinds of elliptical constructions (including special ready-made formulas) are resorted to in sms and telegraphic messages.

E.g. Trying for date and site London versus Patterson will inform you have patience. (Daily Worker)

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Aposiopesis (Gr. aposiōpaein ‘to be totally silent’) denotes intentional abstention from continuing the utterance to the end. Without finishing the utterance the speaker (or writer) either begins a new one or stops altogether unwilling or unable (being overwhelmed with emotions) to continue.

Aposiopesis presupposes stopping for rhetorical effect with the continuation highly predictable: the missing part can be reconstructed from the context.

Elliptical points and a dash may mark aposiopesis in print.

E.g. ‘… I admit, Matfield, that you are different. You go down to the great City, to begin with, and meet mysterious men on romantic ships –’ (Priestley)

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What is implied is always stronger than what is said. Thus, the silence produced is called speaking.

E.g. ‘… Oh, dear, I sometimes think … whatever should I do if anything were to … But there thinking’s no good to anyone – is it, madam?’ (Mansfield)

Aposiopesis creates an emotional tension and invites the reader to give vent to his own imagination, to guess what stands behind the break and unwillingness to proceed (irony, irritation, uncertainty, indecision, anger, a threat, a warning, etc.).

Sometimes a break-in-the-narrative is caused by euphemistic considerations – not to name a thing being offensive to the ear.

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A question-in-the-narrative is asked and answered (if the answer is not self-evident) by one and the same person, usually the author. It is mainly done for the sake of emotional impact. E.g. The very thought of Mr. Golspie crushed the last grains of self-respect in him. What had he, Harold Turgis, been fancing himself for? What was he? What could he do? What had he got? Nothing, nothing, nothing. (Priestley)

This variety of question may also remain unanswered to stimulate the addressee’s thinking process over the problem in question, thus performing a dialogue-or contact-establishing function. In the case it often contains generalizing one, we and you. E.g. So what can one say about the consequences of globalization?

The device is also a means of verbal trickery, by which orators take over the initiative and make people believe that the thoughts imposed are their own.

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Actual speech can be reproduced in the following ways: direct speech, indirect speech, and represented speech.

Direct speech represents actual speech as it is, in the form of direct quotation.

Indirect speech is an indirect quotation which represents actual speech through the author's words. Grammatically (i.e. morphologically and syntactically) it is wholly dependent on the author’s speech.

Represented speech (RS) is a combination of the two as it combines the plane of the author and that of the character. Thus, it almost directly conveys the actual words of the character through the mouth of the author.

Roughly speaking, RS is the inclusion of the direct speech of the character into the author’s speech.

E.g. Mr. Golspie left for Paris – lucky man – on the morning of Christmas Eve … (Priestley)

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RS is marked by certain grammatical features: its morphology comes from the indirect speech, and syntax – from the direct one:

the tense-forms of the verbs are switched from the present to the past;

personal pronouns are changed from the the 1st and 2nd person to the 3rd person,

the syntactical structure follows the direct speech model: its word order; the use of elliptical, exclamatory, imperative and interrogative sentences, etc.

E.g. Meanwhile, time was slipping away and nothing was happening. Soon she would be thirty. Thirty! People could say what they liked – but life was foul. (Priestley)

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Besides, like direct speech, the RS is indicated by

the presence of the typical words (often from different stylistic layers) and combinations used by the character;

the application of colloquial elements (contracted forms, interjections, etc.);

the inclusion of direct addresses and conversational formulae that accompany the dialogue in progress, etc.

E.g. It (the Club) … had a large lounge, a drawing-room (No Smoking), a small reading-room and library (Quiet Please) … (Priestley)

Function. RS sounds more vivid and emotional than indirect speech; it discloses the character’s vision of the events and serves the strongest means of indirect characterization of his inner psychological state.

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In Russian RS termed пережитая речь, несобственно-прямая речь or внутренний монолог.

There can be distinguished two major types of RS:

uttered represented speech (the representation of the actual utterance through the author’s language), and

unuttered represented speech or inner monologue (the representation of the thoughts and feelings of the character which were not materialized in spoken or written language by the character).

In literary studies, when the phenomenon is studied in longer forms, it is termed a stream of consciousness.

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E.g. Something had gone wrong. Where, how had it go wrong? He could be happy; he could be as happy as anybody, if only he had a chance to be; and why hadn’t he a chance to be? Here! – if he’d a chance, he could be a lot happier than Park or Smeeth or even Mr. Dersingham – yes, he could! Then why shouldn’t he be? What was wrong? What was it, what was it? The little voice asked these questions, but no answer came. (Priestley)

In the passage the RS lacks inverted commas (like in author's narration) and is marked by use of the 3rd person instead of the 1st person and the Past Tense instead of the Present (traits of an indirect speech).

It can be qualified as uttered because of the use of the answer yes (which is a sign of the dialogue in progress); the repetition of if and what, the use of the chain of questions, the exclamation Here!, the accentuated was (graphically marked by italics) that betrays the speaker’s emotional state – agitation.

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Here belong devices based on transposition which is placing a language sign in the surrounding which is unusual for its functioning.

Rhetorical QuestionRhetorical question is based on the special

interplay of two structural meanings – that of the question and that of the assertion – due to which the question is no longer a question but a statement expressed in the interrogative form.

Hence, the SD consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of the interrogative sentence.

E.g. ‘ Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly?’ (Maugham)

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Rhetorical question usu. pronounces a judgment with a definite emotional charge: indignation, irritation, anger, doubt, challenge, scorn, irony, suggestion, or, vice versa, joy, admiration, etc.

According to Y.M. Skrebnev the following two semantic varieties of interrogative sentences make up rhetorical questions:

quasi-affirmative sentences (those with a negative predicate but an affirmative implication):

E.g. Isn't that too bad? = That is too bad, and quasi-negative sentences (those with an

affirmative predicate but a negative implication):E.g. My God, – what was the good of it all?

(Priestley) = There was no good …

Rhetorical questions are most frequently used in dramatic narration and in the publicist style.

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Litotes expresses an idea by means of negating the opposite idea.

Hence, it is a device with the help of which two meanings are materialized simultaneously: the direct (negative) and transferred (affirmative).

Usu. litotes presupposes double negation which can be conveyed in different ways:

through a negative particle not or a negative pronoun no + a word with a negative affix, E.g. It was not an unfriendly laugh, but it was not a sympathetic one either. (Priestley) ‘Why doesn’t Amy marry again? She is comparatively young, and she is not unattractive …’ (Maugham), and

through the negation of the antonym of the idea to be expressed,E.g. Not a coward (a fool), not too bad, not overdone, not without his agreement.

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Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole and may be said to be a specific form of meiosis or to produce a meiotic effect.

Though two minuses make a plus, the deliberate understatement that takes place in the use of litotes results in the weakening of the meaning obtained.

E.g. not bad is weaker than just good; not without his assistance – than with his assistance.

Function. Litotes conveys doubts of the speaker about the exact characteristics of the object, renders his irony, and serves as a euphemistic technique.

Litotes is frequent in English and seems to be used more often than in Russian.

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TOPIC 3. Morphological Stylistic Means

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MORPHOLOGY is a branch of linguistics that studies the form and structure of words, the rules of word formation (consistent patterns of inflection, combination, derivation, etc.), the origin and function of inflections and derivations; as well as parts of speech, their categories and forms.

Morphological stylistics primarily investigates the cases of transposition.Transposition can be defined as a of the typical grammatical valency of a word that

consists in the unusual use of the grammatical forms and categories of parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs) changing their grammatical meaning.

Moreover, frequently transposition leads to the change in the semantic meaning of a word too.

So, for instance, it happens in antonomasia, when a proper noun turns into a common noun with a primary logical meaning. This kind of transition from one lexical-and-grammatical group into another is often signalled by the use of such words in the plural or with an ‘a’- article (their acquisition of the category of number and definiteness/indefiniteness), or even the loss of the capital letter.

E.g. She was beginning to like, definitely to prefer, middle-aged men … but the trouble was that really nice attractive ones … had hardly more than an occasional faint gleam of interest to spare for a Miss Matfield. (Priestley) It was a pity that silly young men did not amuse her, for there were plenty of Ivors about, whereas there were very few real grown-up men about, men who could make her feel she was still a mere girl. (Priestley)The word hooligan going back to a proper name (the name of a family) has lost its capital letter.

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In oral and written communication transposition imparts special expressive and emotional power to what is said, and becomes a marker of the style.

Some scholars (e.g. Prof. E.I. Shendels) use the term grammatical metaphor instead. It happens due to the belief that, like in a lexical metaphor, the same mechanism of the transfer of meanings (that gives birth to new connotations) works in the formation of a grammatical metaphor.

The distinction is that a lexical metaphor is based on the transfer (interplay) of lexical meanings, while a grammatical metaphor – on a transposition (transfer) of a grammatical form from one type of grammatical relation to another. Besides, in both the cases the redistribution of meanings correlates with extra linguistic reality.

E.g. Life is hard, and Nature takes sometimes a terrible delight in torturing her children. (Maugham) In this personification the inanimate noun Nature acquires the properties of an animate object.

In lexicology transposition is often associated with conversion (a pass from one part of speech into another) or the formation of the occasional words (coinages) / nonce words.

E.g. Miss Matfield, who considered herself merely a visitor to Angel Pavement, in it but not of it, had always preserved her independence … (Priestley) (where prepositions in and of become verbs).David, in his new grown-upness, had already a sort of authority. (Murdoch)

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There also exist the following views on transposition. Ch. Bally used the term functional transposition to define the phenomenon

when a word still preserving its semantic meaning changes its grammatical meaning, therefore, acquiring a new function or category.

If transposition causes a change in semantic meaning too, it is called semantic transposition. Transposition is called implicit if it takes place without any special means or transpositional signs – like prepositions or conjunctions. In this case it is related to A.I. Smirnitsky's ‘theory of conversion’.

S. Kartsevsky understood transposition as changing the use of words, putting them in unusual functional conditions, and discriminated between semantic transposition, e.g. He is a fish., and grammatical transposition that presupposes changes in the use of grammatical forms, e.g. I was just being cunny.

E. Shendels and A. Bondarenko base their theory of transposition on morphological forms or categories. The main point here is that since morphological categories are based on opposition, so transposition takes place within these oppositions, like in the verb inside the opposition the common/the continuous aspect. As a result of it, a member of opposition undergoing the process of transposition acquires secondary function or meaning.

Transposition can as well be understood as transition from one part of speech into another (in lexicology) or the formation of words with the help of suffixes, the so-called occasional words/coinages or nonce words, e.g. Don't just book it!; Thomas Cook it!; He was unlovable.

Each part of speech, depending on its categories and the way they are expressed has its own peculiarities in transposition.

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The expressive potential of the English noun reveals itself in a peculiar (deviant) use (= transposition) of its 3 categories – case, number and definiteness/indefiniteness.

Transposition is observed when inanimate nouns are used in the genitive (possessive) case (instead of expressing the idea of possession with the help of the traditional ‘of-phrase’).

So it often happens with nouns denoting time or in cases of personification, due to which the utterance sounds more elevated.

E.g. Yesterday’s press is of no interest for me. She came gliding along London’s broadest street, and then halted, swaying gently. (Priestley)

'S can also be attached to a whole group of words (group-genitive). This produces a humorous effect as the words that are placed together are logically incompatible.

E.g. It’s the young fellow in the backroom’s car.

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Proper names, abstract and material nouns are uncountables. Their use in the plural imparts some special expressive and emotional power, creates the effect of imagery, adds vividness and makes the description more concrete.

E.g. The snows of Kilimanjaro. (Hemingway)

Proper names used in the plural lend the narration a unique generalizing effect, or show the derogatory attitude of the speaker, or strengthen smb’s insignificance.

E.g. Plenty of Ivors (Priestley), several Goyas; ‘ There is a Miss Brown waiting for you.’ ‘ Well, dear, there’s always a hundred of Miss Browns waiting for me.’

Actually, the above examples are the cases of antonomasia (either metaphorical or metonymical).

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The use of the singular instead of an appropriate plural form creates a generalized, elevated effect often bordering on symbolization.

E.g. The faint fresh flame of the young year flushes From leaf to flower and from flower to fruit And fruit and leaf are as gold and fire. (Swinburn)

The contrary device – the use of plural instead of singular – as a rule, makes the description more powerful and large-scale.

E.g. The clamour of waters, snows, winds, rains ... (Hemingway)

Besides, the plural nouns may imply the singular and vice versa. The varieties of such transfer (whole – part, part – whole) are cases of grammatical synecdoche.

E.g. How dare he talk like that to ladies ? ( = one lady) This is what the student is supposed to know. ( =all the students)

The whole phrase can be used in the plural producing a comical effect. E.g. I’m tired of it’s not my fault’s

We should also mention intensifying expressiveness when a noun used in the plural already has the meaning of plurality in its denotation:

E.g. ‘Lots ( = numbers) are half French, aren’t they?’ (Priestley)

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Proper names accept no article (with the exception for the with the name of the whole family, and a used in its introductory function and denoting that the person belongs to a certain family).

The definite article used with a proper name may also become a powerful expressive means that emphasizes the person's good or bad qualities, and shows that the person is well-known – either famous or notorious.

E.g. The Turgis who came out of 9, Nathaniel Street, later that Saturday afternoon, was quite different from the youth we have already met. (Priestley)

The indefinite article before a proper name may also be charged with a negative evaluative connotation, or diminish the importance and underline the insignificance of someone's personality.

E.g. A Forsyte is not an uncommon animal. (Galsworthy)

The a article often appears with proper names in cases of antonomasia.

E.g. a Picasso, a Ford (metonymical antonomasia); a Napoleon, a Harry Potter (metaphorical antonomasia).

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Sometimes the use or omission of the articles before nouns in enumeration, the repetition of the article before each of the adjectives in the attributive group, may also be stylistically relevant.

The use of the definite article with the adjectives in postposition makes them more important for the characterization of the personage.

E.g. Aunt Hester, the silent, the patient, that backwater of the family energy sat in the drawing room, where the blinds were drawn.

No article or the omission of article before a common (class) noun conveys a maximum level of abstraction or generalization.

E.g. Old Man at the Bridge (the title of a story by E. Hemingway)

It is commonly known that for the economy of space articles are missing in headlines to newspaper columns, in some reference books, etc.

Sometimes articles are omitted in careless colloquial or illiterate speech.

E.g. ‘Horrible, I call it. Some girls haven’t any real feelings at all. Girl I know – she lives near us, and she’s one of these manicurists – she is one just the same.’ (Priestley)

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Semantic transposition (transition from one group into another, i.e. from animals to human beings and vice versa) also takes place in personification and zoonimic metaphors (animalification).

E,g. … one of those dark spouting mornings which burst over unhappy London like gigantic bombs filled with dirty water. (Priestley)According to all the literary formulas, the wife of Mr. Smeeth should have been a grey and withered suburban drudge … But Nature, caring nothing for literary formulas, had gone to work in another fashion with Mr. Smeeth. (Priestley)

Personification is often resorted to with reference to earth, moon (feminine), sun (masculine).

Countries are often classed as feminine nouns, especially when they are not considered as mere geographical bodies.

E.g. France sent her representative to the conference.

Abstract notions suggesting such ideas as strength or fierceness are personified as nouns of masculine gender, while the feminine is associated with gentleness and beauty.

E.g. Masculine: anger, death, fear, war. Feminine: spring, peace, kindness, dawn. (M. Ganshina, N. Vasilevskaya).

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The use of zoonimic metaphors may carry either negative or positive connotations.

E.g. ‘What a goat he is!’ My kitten. (In address)

Transposition is observed not only in transition of nouns from class to class but from one part of speech into another (like in substantivization, when new nouns with regular traits are born).

E.g. The undefeated kept silent.

At times whole phrases can be substantivized. E.g. ‘Don’t tell me you forgot the what’s-its-name?’

(Thurber) I went off … and asked another local official … if I

couldn’t have some poor little corner somewhere in a sleeping car; but he cut me short with a venomous ‘No, you can’t; every corner is full.’ (Twain)

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Transposition of the pronoun is connected with the change of the sphere of its use. Owing to this, the violation of the normal links of the pronoun with the object of reference, or the deviation from traditional and situational denotation take place and pronouns start to perform a stylistic function.

Of special interest for stylistics are personal, indefinite, possessive and demonstrative pronouns.

Employed by the author as a means of characterization the overuse of the personal pronoun I testifies to the speaker's complacency and egomania, while you, we or indefinite one used in reference to oneself instead of I characterize the speaker as a reserved and self-controlled person.

E.g. One (you, we) cannot know for sure.

In general, the use of the personal pronouns you, we, they and indefinite one may have the following connotations: that of identification of the speaker and the audience, and generalization (contrary to the individual meaning) that attributes a philosophical and abstract sounding to the utterance. We may as well state that in case of generalization pronouns have no definite reference, due to what the reader is included in the situation.

E.g. You couldn’t lie there like that unless you were dead. Lena was dead. (Priestley)

In familiar colloquial style the same function of abstraction and generalization may be fulfilled by the nouns a man, a chap, a fellow, a baby, a body, a thing.

E.g. Could a man say this?

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Personal pronouns we, you, they can be employed in the meaning different from their dictionary meaning.

The pronoun we that usually means ‘speaking together or on behalf of other people’ or ‘the speaker plus another person or other persons’ can also be used with reference to a single person, the speaker.

It is relevant in Royal speech, decrees of the King, etc., and is termed the plural of majesty (Pluralis Majestatis).

E.g. By the grace of Our Lord, We, Charles II.

The plural of modesty, or the author's we (the so-called 'we-of-modesty', or Pluralis Modestiae), is used with reference to a single person with the purpose to identify oneself with the group, or audience, or society at large, and to avoid extreme subjectivity.

So it happens in the scientific prose style, when the scholar speaks in the name of the scholars of the field and intends to sound unbiased.

E.g. We suppose, that … .

We can denote the plural of humility.E.g. Oh, we are sorry!

The use of we also favours a closer rapport with the interlocutor, achieves empathy and creates an intimate atmosphere.

E.g. What are we having today? (In address to a patient or a baby we replaces you).

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The pronoun you is often used as an intensifier in an expressive address or imperative.

E.g. Just you go in and win. (Waugh)

Often they has a purely expressive function because it does not substitute any real characters but indicates some abstract entity. Thus, the speaker and his interlocutor are opposed to this indefinite collective group of people.

E.g. All the people like us are we, and everyone else is they. (Kipling)

Archaic forms of the pronouns ye (you) and the form of the second pronoun singular thou (thee – objective case, possessive thy and its absolute form thine, reflective – thyself) are the indicators of the dialectal speech, of the official language (of a lawyer), of poetic and religious styles.

E.g. ‘Thou art my man and I am thy woman. Whither thou goest I will go too.’ (Maugham)

E. Hemingway who wrote about Italy and Spain often used thou to denote the second person singular (ты) that does not exist in Modern English to render the local colouring.

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He/his, she/her participate in transposition when they become formal markers of personification.

Here the use of he/his, she/her that substitute it/its is subjectively dependent and has nothing to do with the gender of nouns.

E.g. ‘She (about a watch) is four minutes slow – regulator wants pushing up.’ (Twain)

The opposite use – of it instead of he or she – refers living beings to the class of inanimate objects. Such depersonification adds humorous, ironical or affectionate colouring to the utterance.

E.g. I always make a cup of tea last thing. She drinks it in bed after her prayers to warm her up. I put the kettle on when she kneels down and I say to it, ‘Now, you needn’t be in too much of a hurry to say your prayers.’ (Mansfield)

What else is seen from the example (your prayers) is that possessive pronouns may be devoid of any grammatical meaning of possession and be loaded with evaluative connotations. The range of feelings they express may include irony, sarcasm, anger, contempt, resentment, irritation, etc.

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Frequently, the demonstrative pronouns do not point at anything or single out objects out of their class but signal the excitement of the speaker.

E.g. These lawyers! Don't you know they don't eat often? (Dreiser)

Of particular expressive and emotional force is the combination of a demonstrative pronoun with a possessive pronoun (in its absolute form) in postposition.

E.g. ‘This girl of mine wrote to say she was coming from Paris today, but of course she didn’t say how and when and what and where, just left it all vague, y’know, as usual, all up in the air.’ (Priestley)

The degree of expressiveness may be reinforced by the use of an epithet with stylistically neutral possessive pronouns.

E.g. I am sick and tired of his praised victory.

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The only grammatical category of the English adjective today is that of degrees of comparison (positive – comparative – superlative).

It reflects the degree of intensity of a feature expressed by the adjective.

Only qualitative and quantitative adjectives can form the degrees of comparison. The resort to other adjectives leads to transposition.

E.g. Mrs. Thompson, Old Man Fellow's housekeeper had found him deader than a doornail... (Mangum)It was the meatiest place Miss Matfield had ever seen. (Priestley)

Violation of the rules of forming degrees of comparison results in transposition too.

E.g. … fifteen millions of workers, understood to be the strangest, the cunningest, the willingest our Earth ever had.

It is, evidently, a gooder choice. (Instead of the suppletive form better)

The above two cases add expressiveness to the utterance. They may also become means of characterization of the personages betraying their illiteracy or anxiety.

To captivate the addressee’s attention, especially in advertising, the double break of the word valency (a wider use of the violation of grammatical norms) is often used too.

E.g. The orangemostest drink in the world.

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The use of comparative or superlative forms with other parts of speech may also convey a humorous colouring.

E.g. He was the most married man I've ever met.

At times we may meet the indefinite article before the superlative degree form. But, actually, its grammatical meaning is different – it is not a superlative degree but a structure that shows an indefinitely high degree of some feature. This phenomenon is known as elative. Due to it the utterance sounds more emotive.

E.g. After a short silence, an unusual sound, a most strange sound, a fantastic and incredible sound, came from the side of the bed and travelled round the dark little room. (Priestley)She is a sweetest old lady.

Transferred (metaphorical) epithets expressed by adjectives are also cases of transposition. Here belong personifying epithets that traditionally characterize people but are used with inanimate objects or abstract notions. Their stylistic function often consists in conveying negative or ironical connotations.

E.g. He saw the world before him with no happiness in it, only foolish work and weariness, and unnamed fears, a place of jagged stones, shadows, dim menacing giants. (Priestley)

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The stylistic function of the verb and its categories

Transposition in verb categories (tense, aspect, voice, etc.) may also impart stylistically coloured expressiveness to the utterance.

The present tense forms, being temporarily indefinite (‘omnitemporal’ or timeless), may be used instead of the past tense forms, i.e. express past actions.

Here is what we call ‘dramatic’ or ‘historical present’ (praesens historicum in Latin).

E.g. And there opens the door and in he comes. It makes the description very pictorial and creates a certain artistic illusion

of reality and visibility: the past events are described as if they were taking place in the present. This turns a reader into an on-looker or a witness whose timeframe is synchronous with the narration.

Though, the ‘historical present’ is considerably more typical of Russian than

of English.

In English, however, such uses are usu. the cases of linguistic incompetence of the speaker.

E.g. the speaker does not feel any difference between the forms he came and he come(s).

The Present Indefinite referred to the future often renders determination. E.g. Edward, let there be an end of this. I go home. (Dickens)

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Continuous forms do not always express continuity of the action and are frequently used instead of the common aspect forms to convey the speaker's state of mind, his mood, his intentions or feelings (conviction, determination, persistence, impatience, irritation, surprise, indignation, disapproval, etc.).

E.g. Well, she's never coming here again, I tell you that straight. (Maugham) ‘I didn't mean to hurt you.’

‘You did. You’re doing nothing else…’ (Shaw)

Verbs of physical and mental perception do not regularly have continuous forms. When they do, however, we observe a highly emphatic structure.

E.g. Why, you must be the famous Captain Butler we have been hearing so much about – the blockade runner. (Mitchell)

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The passive voice of the verb when viewed from a stylistic angle may demonstrate such functions as extreme generalisation and depersonalisation where the utterance seems to be devoid of the doer of an action and the action itself loses direction.

Through this technique the author lifts the responsibility.Besides, it is a common trait of scientific prose that accepts

no subjectivity.E.g. ... he is a long-time citizen and to be trusted ...

(Michener) It is believed that …

Since the sentences containing the infinitive or participle I have no explicit doer of the action, these sentences acquire an impersonal or generalized universal character. As a result, the world of the personage and the reader blend into one whole and empathy is created.

E.g. The whole thing is preposterous – preposterous! Slinging accusations like this! (Christie) (= To sling accusations …)

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The communicative aspect of modal verbs is of particular interest to stylistics as they render a wide range of emotions.

E.g. The prizes shall stand among the bank of flowers. (Waugh) (the speaker's determination)

‘You’ll have to listen’, he screamed. (Priestley) (the speaker’s resoluteness)

The use of the auxiliary do in affirmative sentences is a notable emphatic device.

E.g. I don't want to look at Sita. I sip my coffee as long as possible. Then I do look at her and see that all the colour has left her face, she is fearfully pale. (Erdrich)

Archaic (obsolete) verb forms such as dost, hast used for the second person singular, and doth, knoweth – for the third person singular, or hadst, didst – for the past tense, either underline peculiarities of dialectal speech or lend an elevated, bookish flavour to the character’s speech.

E.g. ‘… If thou leavest me I shall hang myself on the tree that is behind the house. I swear it by God.’ (Maugham)

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Completely ‘ungrammatical’ and thus showing through the speech the ‘low’ social status of the speaker (and acquiring a functional stylistic meaning) are the following forms of ‘faulty grammar’:

the use of the singular instead of the plural and vice versa,

e.g. we (you, they) was, he don't, says I, I (we, you, they) comes, etc;

the attempts ‘to regularize irregular verbs’ by analogy,

e.g. he comed, he seed. the omission of an auxiliary verb in perfect forms, e.g. often come stands for came or for has come.

E.g. Laws bless you, sah, I knowed you in a minute. I told the conductah so. Laws! I knowed you de minute I sot eyes on you.’ (Twain)

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Sometimes root and affixational morphemes can be emphasized through repetition.

V.A. Kukharenko states that their repetition draws attention and stresses either their logical meaning (e.g. contrast, negation, absence of a quality as in such prefixes like a-, anti-, mis-; or of smallness as in suffixes -ling and -ette) or their emotive and evaluative meaning, as in suffixes forming degrees of comparison.

It may also add to the rhythmical effect and text unity.

E.g. She unchained, unbolted and unlocked the door. (Benett) We were sitting in the cheapest of all the cheap restaurants that cheapen that very cheap and noisy street, the Rue des Petits Champs in Paris. (Hemingway)

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Additional information and stylistic effect can also be created through the extention of the normative valency of morphemes that results in the formation of new words.

They are not neologisms, they are the words used for the occasion. That is why they are termed occasional words / occasional coinages / nonce words.

They impart presence adds freshness and originality to the utterance.

E.g. David, in his new grown-upness, had already a sort of authority. (Murdoch)

Occasional words are often the result of morphemic repetition.

E.g. New scum, of course, has risen to take the place of the old, but the oldest scum, the thickest scum, and the scummiest scum has come from across the ocean. (Hemingway)

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Using a language involves not only our knowledge of its linguistic structure but also knowledge of the numerous situations in which it can be used as a special medium of communication with its own set of distinctive and recognizable features.

We do not use one single English but numerous Englishes.

It is the notion of style that has to do with how we use the language under specific circumstances for a specific purpose.

T.A. Znamenskaya believes that the existent

definitions of the notion ‘style’ generally intersect with the following 3 meanings:

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1. A variety of the national language traditionally used in one of the identifiable spheres of life that is characterized by a particular set of linguistic features, including vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

These are chiefly associated with the degree of formality as well as social, occupational and regional varieties.

E.g. neutral, upper-class, literary (high) and common parlance, ritual speech, educated, uneducated English, dialectal (e.g. Cockney), etc.

2. A generally accepted linguistic identity of oral and written units of discourse (speech).

Such units demonstrate style not only in a special choice of linguistic means but in their very arrangement, or composition.

E.g. a lecture, a friendly letter, a newspaper article, a short story, etc.

3. An individual manner of expression determined by personal factors, such as educational background, professional or occupational experience, sense of humour, age, etc.

E.g. a personal style of communication, the style of Pushkin's early poetry.

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The above definitions correlate with the following postulates. A. Style involves knowledge about extra linguistic factors, i.e. the

range of communicative situations (spheres) in which a language can be normatively used to perform a certain function, or achieve a certain purpose of communication.

B. Style is always the result of the appropriate range of language means that deliver our message effectively. Thus, style belongs to the plane of expression and not to the plane of content because one and the same message can be verbalized in different contents.

A and B postulates centre around the notion of norm. On the one hand, we may equalize it with neutrality. On the other, the norm is dictated by the social roles of the participants

of communication. We use different ‘norms’ speaking with elderly people and our peers, teachers and students, giving an interview or testimony in court. This brings us to the conclusion that norms are flexible and varied.

In Soviet and Post Soviet linguistic schools the uses of language in numerous situations are studied by the theory of functional styles, or functional stylistics (V.V. Vinogradov, M.N. Kožina; I.V. Arnold, N.M. Razinkina and others).

The term comes right from the consideration of such notions as function (the purpose or aim of communication), sphere of communication and norm in their relation to speech varieties and their classification.

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C. Style is not only a wide-range phenomenon. Each individual has a different style, a variety of the language that is as personally distinctive as a fingerprint, i.e. a distinctive accent or dialect.

It reflects an inclination for certain kinds of metaphor, the use of habitual words and turns of phrase, or certain kinds of grammatical constructions. Such habitual idiosyncrasy in the use of language is typical of any individual and is called idiolect.

When individuality in the use of the language is considered a matter of particular importance, worthy of study in linguistic and literary science, and deals with the peculiarities of a writer's individual manner of using language means to achieve the effect he desires, we speak of the individual (personal, authorial) style of a writer or poet. This choice is more deliberate than simply habitual.

E.g. Shakespeare's style, Faulkner's style.

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In other traditions language (speech) varieties are studied as sublanguages, registers, types of discourse.

Today functional stylistics faces a number of problems that have no definite and final solutions. Here belong

1) the discrimination between the approaches to the study of speech varieties by functional stylistics and discourse analysis;

2) the basic criteria for the separation of functional styles;

3) the systematization (classification) of functional styles;

4) the possibility of isolation as functional styles the colloquial variety and imaginative literature.

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There are a great many classifications of language varieties that use various criteria. There is also a lot of dispute on the number of styles in a language.

Style may be official or scientific, neutral or low colloquial, archaic or pompous, or a combination of those.

Besides, styles are not homogeneous and fall into several variants all having some central point of resemblance.

They are called substyles, that later fall into genres, and change in quality and quantity.

Speaking of functional styles (FS), I.V. Arnold suggested a classification of FS according the basic linguistic function they fulfill.

She started with a kind of abstract notion termed neutral style. It has no distinctive features and its function is to provide a standard background for the other styles. The other – 'real' styles can be broadly divided into two groups:

1. Colloquial styles: literary colloquial; familiar colloquial; low colloquial.

2. Literary bookish styles: a) scientific ; b) official documents; c) publicist (newspaper); d) oratorical; e) poetic (lofty-poetical).

The function of colloquial styles is intercourse; of scientific prose and official documents – information; publicist (newspaper), oratorical and poetic (lofty-poetical) – influence.

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I.R. Galperin in his definition of a functional style stresses the aim of communication. According to him, a FS is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication.

In English he distinguishes 5 functional styles and suggests their subdivision into substyles:

1. The belles-lettres style:a) poetry; b) emotive (imaginative) prose or fiction; c) the language

of the drama.

2. The publicist style:a) oratory and speeches; b) the essay; c) articles.

3. The newspaper style: a) brief news items; b) headlines; c) advertisements and announcements; d) the editorial.

4. The scientific prose style: a) exact sciences; b) humanitarian sciences;

c) popular science prose.

5. The style of official documents: a) business documents; b) legal documents; c) the language of diplomacy; d) military documents

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I.R. Galperin includes in his classification only the written varieties of the language. (With the only exception for such spoken varieties of publicist style as oratory and speeches).

Thus, he recognizes no colloquial style. The spoken language, according to him, by its very nature is spontaneous, momentary, fleeting.

I.R. Galperin’s position about the belles-lettres style (esp. the epithets emotive or imaginative for prose) is not shared by all.

On the one hand, it is true that many works of fiction may contain emotionally coloured passages that are also marked by special image-creating devices.

At the same time, realistic writers often resort to other techniques, i.e. they give an actual account of external events, short enumerations of everyday happenings, of the routine of social life; they reproduce the direct speech of their characters; they quote extensive extracts from legal documents, texts of telegrams, slogans, headlines of daily papers, advertisements, private letters (invented or authentic) without any evident expression of their emotions.

To put it briefly, we can encounter practically every speech variety in books of fiction. Besides, works of literature are always the reflection of the author’s individual manner. They are the signs of the lack of specificity.

E.g. Hemingway’s iceburg or telegraphic manner.

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Y.M. Skrebnev uses the term sublanguages in the meaning that is usu. attributed to functional styles.

According to him, style is a specificity of sublanguage, and any sublanguage has

a) absolutely specific linguistic items that belong to one sublanguage only (and actually make it), e.g. metre in poetry;

b) relatively specific linguistic items – applicable in several sublanguages, e.g. the use of neologisms in scientific prose and newspapers; and

c) non-specific linguistic items – common to all sublanguages. Specific language items are comparatively few and they become

styleforming features or style markers. From the linguistic viewpoint they may be found in lexis, phraseology, grammar and phonetics.

Y. M. Skrebnev suggests the most unconventional viewpoint on the number of styles.

He maintains that the number of sublanguages and their styles is infinite (if we include individual styles, styles mentioned in linguistic literature such as telegraphic, oratorical, reference book, Shakespearean, or the style of literature on electronics, computer language, etc.).

Y.M. Skrebnev rejects the idea of the complete classification of styles and believes that ‘there are as many sublanguages with their styles as you choose’ (including idiolects).

The scholar recognizes only the two major varieties of language use – formal and informal (or ‘officialese’ (devoid of any indication of private emotions and of any trace of familiarity) and colloquial (familiar, unceremonious)).

The same does his follower V.A. Maltzev.

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V.L. Naer’s classification includes seven styles: 1) official documents, 2) scientific papers, 3) professional-technical, 4) newspaper, 5) publicist, 6) belles-lettres, 7) religious texts.One of his merits consists in the fact that he was the only one among

Soviet scholars to recognize the religious variety.

D. Crystal, a renowned British scholar, recognizes 5 language varieties:

Regional varieties that reflect the geographical origin of the language used by the speaker.

E.g. Canadian English, Cockney, etc.

Social varieties that testify to the speaker's family, education, social status background.

E.g. upper class and non-upper class, a political activist, a Times reader, etc.

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Occupational varieties that include the following types: religious English; scientific English; legal English; plain (official) English; political English; news media English which is further subdivided into: newsreporting,

journalistics, broadcasting, sportscommentary, advertising.

Restricted English includes uses of language when little or no linguistic variation is permitted.

They appear both in domestic and occupational spheres and include the following types:

knitwrite in books on knitting; cookwrite in recipe books; congratulatory messages; newspaper announcements; newspaper headlines; sportscasting scores; airspeak, the language of air traffic control; emergencyspeak, the language for the emergency services; e-mail variety, etc.

Individual variation involves types of speech that arise from the speaker's personal features, i.e. physique, interests, personality, experience, etc.

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I.R. Galperin’s classification of substyles of the official documents style includes

diplomatic documents, business documents, legal documents, and military documents. Y.M. Skrebnev adds here personal documents

(certificates, diplomas, etc.)

The main aim of this type of communication is to reach an agreement and to state the conditions binding two parties (the state and the citizen, the citizen and the citizen, the state and the state) in an undertaking .

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Generally objective, concrete, unemotional and impersonal, the style of official documents presupposes

adherence to a special compositional design (coded graphical layout,

clear-cut subdivision into units of information, logical arrangement of these units, order-of-priority organization of content and information);

prevalence of stylistically neutral (used in direct meaning) and bookish

vocabulary; the use of terminology and officialese vocabulary (cliches, opening and

conclusive phrases); the use of conventional and archaic forms and words; the use of foreign words (especially Latin and French);

the encoded character of the language reflected in the use of abbreviations, contractions, conventional symbols, e.g. M.P. , Ltd (limited), $;

absence of tropes and evaluative or emotionally coloured vocabulary; a general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into

one sentence; an accurate use of punctuation, etc.

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The Style of Diplomatic Documents

To the style of diplomatic documents belong nearly 60 varieties: treaties, agreements, conventions, declarations, protocols, exchange of notes, memoranda, acts, engagements, regulations, amendments, terms of …, minutes, etc.

The most striking feature of the composition of such documents that consists of

the preamble or preliminary recitals, setting out the names of parties

(Heads of State, States or Governments), the purpose for which the document was concluded, the ‘resolve’ of the parties to enter into it, and the names and designations of the plenipotentionaries (i.e. envoys or commissioners appointed to act according to their own discretion);

the substantive clauses, sometimes known as the ‘dispositive provisions’ or the body;

the formal (or final) clauses dealing with technical or formal points or matters relative to the application or entry into force of the document. Usually such clauses relate separately to the following: the date of the documents, the mode of acceptance, opening of the documents for signature, entry into force, duration, etc;

formal acknowledgment of signature;

signature by the plenipotentiaries.

Hardly any deviation is possible here.

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Among other traits can be named:The use of special terms. Diplomatic terminology includes terms proper (e.g.

to accredit, dispatch, order of precedence, negotiator, ambassador), and words used in the sphere of international relations in some special meaning (e.g. instrument = document, article = part of a treaty, clause = part of a document, party = either side in a contract, provision = statement).

1. The use of non-assimilated borrowings, mainly from Latin and French (e.g. note verbale, bona fide, status quo, force majeure, persona non grata, etc).

They are especially relevant as for many centuries Latin and French remained dominant languages in diplomatic relations and all diplomatic documents were composed in Latin and French as late as the 16th century. Suffice it to say that out of 59 types of diplomatic documents 45 names are of Latin origin, 2 – of French, 1 – of Greek and only 2 (settlement and bond) are ‘home-made’, proper English.

3. Frequent numbering of units.

4. A lot of obsolete and archaic words (e.g. hereto, henceforth, thereon, whereof, whereupon) that clearly show that the style of diplomatic documents is very conservative.

5. In syntax it is the predominance of simple, extended sentences and complex sentences, the preference for the separation of the subject and the predicate, the abundance of homogeneous members. The reason for that lies, perhaps, in the necessity of the transparence of meaning, elimination of ambiguity, and avoidance of the wrong interpretation of the document, which may cause undesirable consequences.

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The Style of Business Documents

This term implies commercial correspondence. Business documents and letters are characterized by a high level of standardization. They are in fact a combination of ready-made forms and stereotyped phrases as lucidity and conciseness are very important.

Formal usage is observed in everything, including the proper variety of direct address, as well as what is called the ‘complimentary clause’. Besides, there must be nothing redundant and superfluous (economy of linguistic units) in the text, nothing that would disclose subjective emotions, no strong expressions betraying passion or vehemence.

Business letters are mostly very short. I.R. Galperin remarks that they hardly ever exceed 8 or 10 lines.

The rules of composition are very strict. The heading of the letter gives the address of the writer and the

date (in the upper right-hand corner); next (lower, in the left-hand corner) the name of the addressee and his (her) address.

Then follow the polite form of direct address. The text proper is followed by the complimentary clause and,

finally, the signature of the sender.

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The usual way of address is Dear Sir(s), Dear Madam, Gentlemen – when addressing more than one individual, Dear Mr. Smith (Mrs. Brown) if the person addressed to is known.

A personal name is practically never used in the direct address of a business letter.

In correspondence with strangers, it is usual to change from Dear Sir to Dear Mr. Smith – after the first one or two letters have been exchanged.

Yours faithfully, Yours truly, We remain your obedient servants, Respectfully (never used by a person of equal position) are the usual ending for all business letters. Yours sincerely is the usual ending for letters to acquaintances.

It is known that, historically, openings and closing formulas were functional necessities: in a letter the writer was morally obliged to emphasize his submissiveness and humbleness, his inferiority to the person addressed.

The body of the business document (letter) should be concise and to the point, without unnecessary information or explanation, written in short, direct sentences.

There are many standard formulas used:

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to confirm the receiving of a letter (document): We have received your letter of …, We thank you for your letter dated …, In reply to your letter of …, We acknowledge the receipt of …, We duly received your letter …;

to express request: Please, inform us …, We shall (should) be oblige if you …, We shall (should) appreciate it if you …, We (would) ask you to …;

to refer to a letter: With reference to your letter of …, Referring to …, We refer to …;

to apologise: We regret that …, Unfortunately, we …, We beg to …, We offer our sincere apologies for …;

to thank for: We acknowledge with thanks …, We thank you …, We appreciate … etc.

All these formulas contribute to fostering such features as precision, exactness and help to avoid ambiguity.

At the same time they simplify and quicken business correspondence.And it is common knowledge that business letters dealing with

trade or finances abound in special terms, e.g. the abbreviation inst. stands for ‘instant’ and means ‘of the current month’; advance payment, insurance, wholesale, etc.

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The Style of Legal Documents

The law includes many different activities from the drawing up of statutes to the contracting of agreement between individuals (conveyancing property, drawing up wills), all of which need to be recorded in a written form and are connected with the imposition and the conferring of rights.

Of all the language styles this one is perhaps the least communicative as it is designed not so much to enlighten language-users at large but to allow one expert to register information for scrutiny by another.

In general, legal documents are supposed to say exactly what is meant. They are highly formulaic, accept no informality or spontaneity, and often contain the precise copying ‘from the book’.

Long lines in legal documents extend from margin to margin with practically no spacing and punctuation to defeat fraudulent deletions and additions.

The sentences in a document are usually very long and an entire document can be composed of a single sentence and so there was no much help from punctuation to understand it.

Besides, since punctuation marks are used mostly as a prompt for oral reading of a text and legal documents are composed for reading, they mostly do without them.

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One more reason for avoiding punctuation is to prevent any possible forgery by changing the places of punctuation marks.

Capitalization was chosen as a means of revealing structure, content and logical progression to make up for the lack of punctuation.

Lexically legal documents contain terms as well as many archaisms, borrowings from French and Latin which add a touch of formality.

Legal English contains only complete major sentences, mostly in the form of statements.

Y.M. Skrebnev believes that in many respects, the sphere discussed is inseparable from what is outlined as Diplomacy and Statesmanship, Law used as a generic term as it includes International Law (and Diplomacy) as a very significant component.

The parties in the court, i.e. the prosecution and the defence, use legal terminology (e.g. testimony, aggravated larceny), employ the traditionally accepted formulas (e.g. the objection is either ‘sustained’ (i.e. pronounced valid) by the judge, or ‘overruled’ (which means declared invalid);

In the USA the prosecutor speaks in the name of the people of the USA, and refers to himself also as the People. In Britain, it is the Queen in whose name the defendant is accused of the crime committed.

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The Style of Military Documents

Military documents may be of different types – plans, estimates, summaries, surveys, evaluation, situation maps, orders. All of them have a certain composition (an operating order has a heading, a body and an ending).

Military documents are characterized by their brevity, clarity, precision, non-admittance of many interpretations. The main purpose of making them brief is to economize time necessary for their composition, handling of messages.

Military vocabulary includes terms (e.g. classification, intelligence), which helps to avoid ambiguity and misinterpretation; special military phraseology (e.g. to hold a position, to lift fire), abbreviations, symbols. Metaphors used serve as code signs and have no aesthetic value. There are also many proper names – both personal and geographical. Abbreviations are abundant too and their number may be up to 50-60 percent of the text (e.g. Co – company, SW – south west, w/o without; terms: to attack, order; phraseological units: to hold a position, to provide protection, to lift fire).

Its morphological peculiarities are rare use of the possessive case, omission of articles, use of two moods only – imperative and indicative, use of two tenses – the present ind. and the past ind.

Syntactically military documents include mostly simple short sentences – nominal and verbal one-member. As a rule there are no exclamatory and negative sentences.

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Here belong manuals, monographs, articles, presentations, theses, dissertations, etc.

The aim of the scientific prose style (Latin scire – ‘to know’) is to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, development, relations between different phenomena, etc.

It, therefore, conditions the essence of scientific prose which is objective, precise, lucid, and unemotional, devoid of any individuality; there is also a striving for the most generalized form of expression and logicality.

The character of scientific writing is reflected in following most frequent

peculiarities:

1. The use of terms of Latin, Greek, Arabic origin. They are self-sufficient and self-explanatory words which make a more direct reference to something than a descriptive explanation, a non-term.

Terms can be specific (e.g. metaphor) and general scientific (e.g. postulate). Besides, a new term in scientific prose is generally followed (or preceded) by

an explanation.

2. The use of numerous neologisms also followed by an explanation.

3. The extensive use of bookish words and words that render abstract notions, e.g. nomenclature, algorithm.

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4. The restricted use of expressive means and stylistic devices. The majority of SD’s are trite (e.g. a branch of science) and are used

for concretization and explanation. The general vocabulary employed in scientific prose bears its direct

(or primary logical) referential meaning. Though emotiveness is not entirely excluded from scientific prose. There may be statements which are reinforced – due to some strong

belief – by some emotionally coloured words, interjections, expressive phraseology or a metaphor.

5. The use of a developed and varied set of connective phrases and words (showing order, result, contrast) that secure the logical sequence of thought and argumentation, or causal connection of utterances (causal link), e.g. thus, consequently, on the contrary.

6. The use of three major types of sentence patterns that also secure the causal connection:

postulatory (self-evident and axiomatic pronouncements set at the beginning as a hypothesis, a scientific conjecture must be based on facts already known, on facts systematized and defined);

argumentative (in the central part), and formulative (in the conclusion).

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7. The use of quotations and references to ground the idea.These sometimes occupy as much as half a page and have a definite

compositional pattern.In particular, they contain the name of the writer referred to, the

title of the work quoted, the publishing house, the place and year it was published, and the page of the excerpt quoted or referred to.

8. The use of digressions to debate or support a certain point, often placed in foot-notes.

9. The frequent use of parentheses (explanatory or qualifying remarks) introduced by brackets, commas or a dash.

10. The definite structural arrangement – division into sections and subsections each carrying its title (and disclosing a certain aspect of the topic in question).

11. The use of 'the author's we' instead of I (the sign of the author’s modesty, his intention to avoid subjectivity, and him speaking on behalf of other scholars of the field).

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12. The resort to complicated syntax: the use of lengthy sentences with subordinate clauses.

13. The preservation of the direct word order and

avoidance of ellipsis (even the usual omission of conjunctions like that and which).

14. The preference of attribute-noun chains to of-phrases.

15. The impersonality is mainly revealed in the frequent use of

passive constructions, it-sentences, non-finite verb forms (participial, gerundial and

infinitive complexes), various generalizations and abstractions, e.g. The

linguist would say here that … ( = The linguist is supposed to say here that …)

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The passive constructions often used in the prose of the exact science are less frequent in the humanities as the data and methods of investigation applied in the humanities are less objective.

In the humanities some seemingly well-known pronouncement may be and is often subjected to re-evaluation, whereas in the exact sciences much can be accepted without question and, therefore, needs no comment.

So, the two substyles differ in the degree of objectivity.

Besides, scientific proper and technical texts (e.g. mathematics) are more formalized due to the prevalence of formulae, tables, diagrams supplied with concise commentary phrases.

Humanitarian texts (e.g. history, philosophy) are based on

descriptive narrations supplied with exposition, argumentation and interpretation and thus, turn out to be less formal.

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Another ground for differentiation of the substyles is the addressee factor as it is he/she who predetermines the arrangement of the texts.

Purely scientific texts address experts who are accustomed to the high degree of formality, need no explanations and easily decode terms.

Popular scientific texts address the audience at large, anyone whom the topic may concern or interest.

That is why, even containing many of the enumerated styleforming features, popular scientific texts abound in

explanations that accompany terms, and illustrative examples from everyday life. In general, they are lowered in style, more digestible and

chatty which is seen through a wider use of expressive means and colloquial elements.So, they stand close to the language of everyday speech

and analytical journalistic texts.

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As it was seen from the given classifications, some scholars discriminate between the newspaper style and the publicist(ic) style, some do not, uniting all the varieties of the journalistic sphere either under the term newspaper or publicist style, the mass media style, etc.

I.V. Arnold uses the term newspaper style for both of them. I.R. Galperin following V.L. Naer discriminates between them

due to the function performed: to inform in newspaper writing or to evaluate and convince in publicist one, etc.

Besides, the term publicist(ic) which is relevant in the taken meaning in Russian, for English speakers is associated with PR or publicity, and a publicist is a person who publicizes or promotes.

We shall use the least disputable term – the style of news media English in relation to journalistic genres.

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The world of the news media embraces the spheres of written, or print (newspapers and magazines), and spoken, or broadcasting (radio and television), journalism.

It performs multifarious functions, e.g. to inform a wide audience about the events in the news, to suggest and often impose their possible interpretation or just to share an opinion about them with a contemporary.

Each paper or channel has worked out its house style – a journalistic style characterized by the preferred forms of expression.

Their selection mainly depends on the following 3 factors: the awareness of what its readership, its listener, or its viewer

wants; the treated area (e.g. politics, economy, science, religion, etc.) that

predetermines the application of the correspondent vocabulary units including neologisms, abbreviations and acronyms, international words, the names of institutions and enterprises; and

the allotted for a particular variety time and space.

This fact immensely complicates the task of singling out the absolutely specific language peculiarities typical of all the news media genres.

Moreover, it may cast doubt on the validity of applying the unifying term – the style of news media English.

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The core element in the print media output is a news report. It is always an account of current news, something of timely

importance, something burning and topical for the moment. It is compiled by reporters whose main goal is to inform for which

they seek maximum clarity and precision.

The headline of a news report (as well as of other genres) has got its own style which is sometimes called Headlinese.

It is written in a telegraphic manner; it is critical, summarizing, always suggestive and drawing attention to a news story.

The function of the headline is complex. That conditions the choice of lingual means.

On the one hand, it informs the reader briefly what the text that follows is about.

On the other, it contains a clear and intriguing message to arouse interest in the potential reader and to catch his eye.

Headlines are usually rather short phrases that may later be expanded by subheadlines.

Their brevity is secured by the use of nominative and elliptical sentences, infinitive complexes, and attributive noun groups (instead of prepositional of-phrases). Other powerful means of achieving compactness are connected with

the omission of articles, link verbs, auxiliaries and pronouns.

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‘Eye-catching’ effects of a headline are produced by emotionally coloured words and phrases, word-plays, occasional coinages, decomposed set expressions with an ironical sounding, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, questions in the form of statements, direct speech, graphic contrasts – changes in types (e.g. printing in larger and

heavier fonts, italics), etc.

The rest of the distinctive linguistic features of a news report relate to a special layout known as an inverted pyramid. It means the top down presentation of information that comes in a descending order of significance.

The most important facts and the conclusion come first – in the initial paragraph(s) or even sentence(s). It turns them into a lead.

In other terms, the lead gives or summarizes the answers to the following ‘5 ws and h: who? what? when? where? why?’ and the sequential ‘how?’

This helps to satisfy the curiosity of people who are pressed for time or just lazy about reading further.

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Besides, the original source of news is given – either in a

byline or in the text; the participants are specified, their name is usually

preceded by characterizing adjectives and the markers of occupation and social status;

explicit time and place markers, facts and figures, and direct or indirect quotations are mentioned or resorted to.

Details come next, in short paragraphs, and are targeted for the reader who becomes interested in the event and its development.

However, subsequent information is presented in the facts-only or objective manner:

preference is given to standard phrases and clichés; the vocabulary used is neutral and common literary; the whole narrative is normally done in the third

person with a lot of resorts to passive forms.

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News reportage can be conveyed in shorter forms. Such are briefly told news items located in the ready made blocks on

the front pages. They are intended for the previewing of the edition publications and

state facts without giving explicit comments. The language of news items is stylistically neutral too. As all the facts are compressed into one, occasionally two or three

sentences, the basic peculiarities of this variety lie in their grammatical parameters:

complex sentences with a developed system of clauses, verbal constructions (infinitive, participial, gerundial), verbal noun constructions, syntactical complexes (esp. the nominative with the infinitive). These structures are largely used to avoid mentioning the source of

information or to shun responsibility for the facts reported.

Newspaper announcements inform the reader about local events. They are mainly classified, i.e. arranged according to the subject-

matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate title. The tendency observed here is to eliminate from the sentence all

elements that can be done without. That is why they are telegram-like with a lot of abbreviations,

nominative sentences and omitted articles. Sentences which are grammatically complete also tend to be rather

concise.

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Other than news stories, in a newspaper or a magazine, there are such permanent analytical genres as

editorials (leading articles), op-eds, essays, feature articles, and personal columns.

If a news report transmits factual information about current events, these genres disclose by commentary ‘the nature’ of a particular news issue and actually become a continuation or expansion of a news report.

Here the factual evidence is subject to research and analysis as the journalist’s purpose is not only to inform, but to interpret and convince.

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Editorials are expository articles that read out the opinion of the editor or the editorial board of a newspaper or magazine about the current news, being ‘the voice’ of the periodical.

Op-eds are also opinion-articles written by an individual contributor who argues against the official viewpoint (often that of the editor).

The term itself is an abbreviation from ‘op(posite) ed(itorial page)’.

Essays are defined as short literary compositions that deal with the problem from an individual point of view.

In the 19th century the essay as a term gradually changed into what we now call a feature article.

Though occasionally this literary genre can still be met in periodicals (e.g. Time Magazine).

Besides, book reviews and pamphlets that often appear in newspapers and magazines are generally included among essays.

According to the manner of presentation essays fall into several varieties:

descriptive (making a picture of smb. or smth.), narrative (telling a real story), expository (based on argumentation), etc.

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What signals an essay or a feature article is the author’s position, i.e. the angle he takes in his interpretation of events and phenomena, people’s actions, their characters and motives.

It is reflected in the use of the first person and active verb forms.

The topics discussed here relate to events currently in the news including rumours and sensational happenings; they may also concern things which are of perennial interest.

The short paragraphs found in news reporting are unlikely in a feature article.

Furthermore, it is only in the third or fourth paragraph – the so-called billboard – that we usually come across the indicators of what the article is about.

It is explained by the journalist’s intention to stir up the reader’s curiosity.

Not rarely, features are written in an infotainment key, i.e. informing + entertaining by means of jokes, comical expressions and the like.

Once a journalist starts writing regular articles, often in a topic-oriented section, he turns into a columnist and his works into columns.

Their main peculiarity is the stylistic idiosyncrasy of the author’s language use.

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The analytical forms are similar in their form and content. They are sometimes said to be the properties of the publicist style.In ancient Greece, it was practiced chiefly in its oral variety and was

best known as the oratoric style. Hence, today the style is famous for its explicit pragmatic function

of persuasion based on the argumentation and appeal to feelings and emotions.

Correspondingly, it has got features in common with the style of scientific writing and that of emotive prose.

Argumentation, or logical reasoning, is conveyed by clear paragraphing; an ample use of quotations from authoritative sources and

citations of the author’s opponents; connectives establishing a causal link; parentheses; generalizations; relevant statistical data; illustrations; vivid examples; background history facts; sound analogies and parallels; accentuating the main points graphical means, etc.

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Emotions are played on by an abundant use of ornamental and expressive resources of language:

the emotionally coloured lexicon; the whole range of tropes and figures of speech; historical, literary and biblical allusions, allusions to

political and other facts of the day; such phonological means as alliteration and rhythm; etc.

On the pages of a newspaper or a magazine one also finds crossword puzzles, chess problems, comic strips, horoscopes, letters to the editor.

Some of them publish poems, stories and novels (one installment per issue), etc.

This eclecticism rather speaks for the presence of other sublanguages than the further ramification of print journalism.

Besides, one of the dominant features of any press edition is advertising. But this variety is linguistically so different, that it gave grounds for defining it as a separate style.

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Modern radio and television do not only disseminate local and foreign news, they also educate and entertain the listener and the viewer.

In fact, the latter functions have become prevalent and only about 5 per cent of broadcast production is devoted to current news and its discussion.

Entertaining genres include a bunch of shows (e.g. reality, variety, talk shows), special plays, comedies (e.g. alternative comedies and sitcoms), etc.

Educational formats differ according to the intended audience: adult or children viewers (e.g. drama and factual serials, newsreels, quizzes and teaching programmes).

All of them have got their own specificity.

In broadcasting current news is reported in the news bulletin or newscast – presented by one or more anchors or announcers – where the information is updated with each release.

It traditionally consists of a series of news items and falls into several blocks (e.g. general, politics, business, sport, weather).

Sometimes it is expanded by a crawl line.In addition, television and radio news programmes start up and end

with the headline which is a news round-up containing the main news issues read out before the full broadcast and summarized at the end.

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There is little linguistic difference between the way radio and television air the news, apart from the reference in the latter to what is happening on the screen.

The major claim here is the impartiality of expression. Therefore, they are also reduced to listing the essentials in neutral

and clichéd language. Both use the same, as in written journalism varieties, structure of

lead-item summaries followed by further accounts, and live or pre-recorded reports from special correspondents and interviews.

Most often reported news is afterwards surveyed and interpreted in TV and radio news magazines, often being the product of investigative journalism.

In television each of the items is presented in the form of a documentary.

The viewers and listeners are effected not only by the emotive (e.g. genuine metaphors and similes) and argumentative (e.g. opinions of experts, eyewitnesses’ evidence) verbal means.

The influence is reinforced by different non-verbal modes, i.e. by the observer’s voice and personality, a special selection of background sound techniques (e.g. energetic or sorrowful music).

In television it is intensified by the video image (e.g. pitiful pictures).

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TV and radio commentaries are spoken accompaniments to a broadcast. They may accompany various public events (e.g. funerals, inaugurations,

processions). But the most frequent kinds of commentary are those associated with sports and

games. According to D. Crystal, they can be of two types: the ‘play-by-play’ and the ‘colour-adding’ commentaries. The latter displays pre-event background, post-event evaluation, and within-event

interpretation.

The dominant feature of the ‘play-by-play’ commentary is a highly formulaic manner of expression which helps fluency and gives the commentator time to think.

At times the speed of delivery gets slower or faster, reflecting the atmosphere in the field.

The discourse structure is cyclical, as commentators by way of ‘a loop’ or a ‘state of play’ summary regularly inform the listeners or viewers who have just switched on or simply lost track of what is happening.

As commentaries are oral reports of the on-going activities, they are characterized by the use of the present tense, ellipsis, and the inverted word order.

One of the ‘survival’ devices is the frequent use of the passive voice. It allows the commentator to delay mentioning the player’s name.

Besides, today the most powerful source of news has become the Internet. It is quick to react to all the novelties on its sites.

Its appearance gave birth to on-line journalism, part of which have become the above described genres.

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According to I.R. Galperin, oratory and speeches make an oral subdivision of the publicist style.

Persuasion, or the brain washing function, is the most obvious purpose of oratory.

For this the most powerful instrument of persuasion, the human voice, is brought into play.

Not infrequently the speaker uses gestures.

Its major traits are: direct address to the audience (special obligatory

forms open up and end an oration, e.g. My Lords; Mr. President; Mr. Chairman; Your Worship; Ladies and Gentlemen, etc.; at the end of his speech the speaker usually thanks the audience for their attention);

the use of the 1st person pronouns I, we; the use of the 2nd and 3rd person pronouns you and

they in the generalizing function; contractions;

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elevated and bookish words; colloquial words (to make the speech less formal); ready-made phrases or clichés; the use of repetitions (to keep in focus the object of

thought); the change of intonation (it breaks the monotony of the

intonation pattern, revives the attention of the listeners, conveys the shades of meaning, overtones and emotions),

frequent use of rhetorical questions and interrogatives (which promote a closer contact with the audience ),

frequent use of such stylistic devices as metaphor, allusion, irony, climax, alliteration, etc.

The choice of the mentioned means depends on the speaker’s intent – to keep the public in suspense or to rouse it.

Modern oratory tends to lower its key more and more, confining itself to a quiet business-like exposition of ideas.

Some oratories are real masterpieces of eloquent emptiness and verbosity.

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Y.M. Skrebnev states that by colloquial (i.e. with a tinge of familiarity, relaxed without being offensive) is meant what is only slightly lower than neutral – forms of speech that are used by people when they do not mean to be rude, sarcastic or witty, when they feel at ease, do not keep in minds social obligations and conventions, do not think of how they should express themselves, only of what they intend to say.

The term ‘colloquial speech’ is applied by researchers to careless, unconventional, free-and-easy everyday speech of only those who are well educated and can speak 'correct' literary English perfectly well, whenever it is necessary.

Uneducated or semi-educated speakers understand the literary language, but cannot actively use it themselves, making inadmissible mistakes, mostly in pronunciation, often in grammar and in choice of words.

Their language is not colloquial, it is illiterate.

Some erroneously say that colloquial speech is just oral speech or the same as dialogue.

E.g. lectures, a TV announcer's speech, or a student's answers at the exams are close to bookish forms, differing greatly from everyday colloquial speech.

The dialogue of an Ambassador with a Foreign Secretary or of an attorney with a defendant are not colloquial (provided the defendant is an educated person) at all.

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Generally, we may state that the colloquial style is a peculiar subsystem of the English language.

It exists in written and spoken varieties: dialogue, monologue, personal letters, diaries, various notes, etc.

Prepared types of texts may be thought out, have a logical composition, and are to a certain extent determined by conventional forms (e.g. letters, presentations, articles, interviews).

Its spontaneous types have a loose structure and sometimes a relative coherence.

When written, the function of the colloquial style is to render the specificity of everyday conversation and informal speech.

It also penetrates other speech varieties (e.g. the belles lettres works, journalistic articles, etc.) to realistically reproduce the typical features of the colloquial speech.

Though, when we come across colloquial elements in the written forms of speech (e.g. plays, novels, stories, journalistic articles, etc.) we always see that most of the ‘loose ends’ of live conversation are thoroughly ‘trimmed’, though the degree of such stylization is varying.

The specific features of the colloquial language are:1) the spontaneous character of communication; 2) the private character of communication; 3) face-to-faceness or immediacy. These features are reflected in the following peculiarities:

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Prefabrication The colloquial style has a great amount of ready-made formulae and

clichés or stereotyped units which ease a spontaneous conversation. Here belong social phrases like greetings (e.g. hello, how are you?),

thanks and responses (e.g. thank for …, not at all …, a pleasure, etc.), recognized colloquial collocations (e.g. that friend of yours).

Creativity E.A. Zemskaya concludes that the colloquial system displays a greater

freedom of choice and creation than do literary spheres. As we have no time to polish our conversation deliberately, we can make

corrections, thus, there are many hesitations, false starts, loose ends in grammar.

At the same time such spontaneity fosters our imagination to ascribe implications to words and create new words for the situation (nonce-words (occasional coinages) formed on morphological and phonetic analogy with other nominal words (e.g. baldish, moody, okeydoke)).

Strong emotional colouring of lingual units often typical of spoken language lies on the boundary between prefabrication and creativity.

If it is rendered by the use of genuine hyperboles, epithets, etc., it reflects creativity.

The use of evaluative suffixes (e.g. deary, doggie, duckie), evaluative vocabulary, grammar forms for emphatic purposes (e.g. progressive verb forms to express emotions of irritation, anger, etc.), idioms, trite metaphors, similes and figures of speech are the signals of prefabrication.

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Compression The colloquial speech is usually economical and laconic. It is reflected

in the following language phenomena: contracted forms, abbreviations and clipped words (e.g. ads for

advertisements, ice for ice-cream, TV for television, CD for compact disk; we‘ve for we have);

words of broad semantics with the meaning specified by the situation (e.g. do, get, fix, nice, some, one).

– extensive use of phrasal verbs (e.g. let smb down, put up with);

– simplicity of syntax. Сolloquial sentences are seldom long and practically never elaborately

structured. Long sentences are rarely used in colloquial informal communication,

as the speaker doesn’t want to lose the thread of his own thought. Isolated (independent) utterances are often elliptical and may consist

of one word.It is caused by the economy of effort and the quick tempo of speech.

Colloquial syntax demonstrates numerous cases of communicativetransposition (e.g. a word combination, not comprising a verb in theimperative mood, performs the function of imperative sentence: ‘Tea. For two. Out here.’ (Shaw))

Moreover, in complex sentences asyndetic coordination is the norm. Coordination is used more often than subordination.

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Redundancy Of little informative force, although stylistically significant, are the

following elements reflecting this tendency:colloquial interjections and exclamations (e.g. wow, hey, there, ahoy,

Dear me, My God, Goodness, well, why, now, oh); – expletives – time - or gap-fillers (intensifiers and parenthetic

elements) (e.g. well, you know, I say, let me see, sort of, awfully, absolutely, definitely, indeed, sure, if I may say so)).

– the pleonastic use of pronouns (syntactic tautology) (e.g. Bolivar, he’s plenty tired (O’Henry)).

– senseless repetition of words and phrases (e.g. I know this, I do)

Emphatic intonation as a powerful semantic and stylistic instrument capable to render subtle nuances of thought and feeling.

Vocabulary is a noticeable aspect of the colloquial style. It may be subdivided into a) literary, b) familiar, and c) low colloquial layers.

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Besides the common traits of the colloquial style, its three major substyles – literary colloquial, familiar colloquial (unceremonious colloquial) and low colloquial (popular speech) differ in some of the aspects.

Literary colloquial style Phonetic features: standard pronunciation in compliance with the

national norm, enunciation.

Morphological features: the use of regular morphological features, prevalence of active and finite verb forms.

Syntactical features: syntactically correct utterances compliant with the literary norm.

Lexical features: – the use of the basic stock of communicative vocabulary

(stylistically neutral elements; – the use of a wide range of vocabulary strata in accordance with

the register of communication and participants' roles: formal and informal, neutral and bookish, terms and foreign words;

– the use of etiquette language and conversational formulas (e.g. Nice to see you, my pleasure, on behalf of, etc);

– avoidance of slang, vulgarisms, dialect words, jargon.

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Familiar colloquial styleIt is mainly represented in spoken variety. Phonetic features: – casual, often careless pronunciation, indistinct articulation, the use of

deviant forms (e.g. gonna instead of going to, whatcha instead of what do you, dunno instead of don't know) and onomatopoeic words (e.g. whoosh, hush, yum, yak).

– unrestrained emotions find their expression in speaking in a loud voice, in emphatic articulation of important segments of the utterance (italics and dividing into syllables in writing) (e.g. I have done it. Thousands of times!)

Monotonous speech may imply anything.

Morphological features: – neglect or careless use of the required verb forms, omission of

auxiliaries, confusing of forms of person, number and case (e.g. we was, she don't say), but those are examples of rather popular ‘ungrammatical’ than colloquial English.

– instances of morphemic implication – dropping morphemes (e.g. real good for really good; the word pretty used adverbially (e.g. pretty awful);

– the use of emphasizing forms in the continuous aspect (e.g. But I'm thinking he isn't coming after all; I'm being horrible.)

– the use of the emphasizing do (e.g. He did promise)– multiple negation which is qualified by grammarians as inadmissible,

i.e. ‘subcolloquial’.

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Syntactical features: – the use of echo questions, repetitions of various kinds

(e.g. parallel structures, repeated use of the conjunction ‘and’);

– pseudo-interrogations formed by non-interrogative sentences.

Lexical features: – combination of neutral, familiar and low colloquial

vocabulary (including slang, vulgar and taboo words); – mixture of curse words and euphemisms (e.g. damn;

colourful for an eccentric person); – tautological substitution of personal pronouns and names

by other nouns (e.g. you-baby, Johnny-boy); – extensive use of collocations and phrasal verbs instead of

neutral and literary equivalents (e.g. to turn for to go to bed).

Low colloquial style is characterized by the use of the deviant (non-norminative) forms (e.g. the use of the lowered vocabulary (jargon, slang), neglect of the grammar rules, etc.)

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The style of religion is one of the recognized varieties of English distinguished by certain functions and a specific sphere of communication.

Though most Soviet scholars did not mention it (with the exception of V.L. Naer (1981)).

The main aims of the religious functional style may be defined as expressing religious belief on public occasions, explaining the existing world, regulating individual/group behaviour.

Elements of the religious style may be used also in literature; they as well can penetrate the daily colloquial speech in the form of allusions, quotations, set expressions and create humour.

E.g. … for nothing removes the curse of Babel like food, drink, and good fellowship. (Priestley); … the place where Strickland lived had the beauty of the Garden of Eden. (Maugham);

prodigal son.

The religious style is realized in numerous forms and practices: the texts from the Bible, books of prayers and religious hymns, common prayers, sermons, songs, psalms, theological discourse, the language of the Divine Liturgy and different Christian rites, etc.

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So, the religious style is not uniform. According to D. Crystal and D. Davy (1969), it falls into at least three

substyles: 1) the biblical substyle, 2) the liturgical substyle, and 3) the theological discourse substyle.

The core of the religious style is formed by the biblical substyle, which seriously influences all subspheres of religious communication.

Biblical quotations come through all other substyles. Reading from the Scriptures play the main part in most liturgical services.

The biblical substyle is of particular interest to stylistics due to its metaphorical (figurative) language.

Stylistically relevant is also the fact that the texts of the Bible (73 books) are available in many variants.

The Authorized Version of The Bible (the so-called ‘King James’ version) and the Douay Rheims Version (an English translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible by Roman Catholic scholars), first published in the 16-17th centuries, are characterized by archaic vocabulary and syntax.

Widespread nowadays are other versions of the Bible, written in easily understood Modern English (Good News Bible, Today’s English Version, 1976) where the number of archaisms is reduced, some theological terms are paraphrased; measures are given their modern equivalents, etc.

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Phonological and graphological peculiarities

The characteristic feature of a prayer spoken in unison by the congregation is monotony and frequent level tones.

Prayers spoken by one person are also characterized by narrowness of pitch range and drop in the pitch at the end.

Though one speaker may vary the pitch level, as well as slow down and increase the pace of articulation.

Priests do it to distinguish some words of particular importance from the rest of the text.

In writing religious texts can be marked by special typographical techniques (italics, bold type, different colours, small type, etc.) that make the corresponding parts stand out.

Capitalization draws attention to some important words (e.g. Lord, God, Father, Son, The Holy Spirit, etc.).

Paragraphs can be numbered.

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Grammatical featuresSyntax is characterized by the use of complete, complex and compound sentences; the tendency towards coordination (within the sentence as well

as within nominal and verbal groups); frequent occurrence of inverted word order, detachment, parallel

constructions (accompanied by lexical and root repetition), anaphora, epiphora, polysyndeton, etc.

Other peculiarities are the use of the archaic pronouns (e.g. thou, thy, etc.) and verb forms (e.g. Father himself loveth you; thou asketh, etc.), the use of the direct address.

VocabularyThe religious style is distinguished by rich imagery created by

similes, metaphors, metonymies, epithets, etc. In old versions there are plenty archaic words (e.g. a publican for a

person who collected taxes).Besides, the words and combinations used in religious texts belong

to the formal or elevated layers (e.g. to glorify, to have mercy, sacred, etc.).

The language of religious texts is also marked by frequent oppositions (e.g. seek – find, ask – receive).

Theology operates special terms (e.g. prophecy, virtue, sin, vice, sacrifice, etc.) – religious vocabulary that is connected with the concept of God.

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The belles-lettres style is a generic term for 3 substyles in which the main principles and the most general properties of the style are materialized. These three substyles are:

1. The language of poetry, or simply verse.2. Emotive prose, or the language of fiction.3. The language of the drama.All of them perform the common aesthetico-cognitive function: the gradual

unfolding of the idea calls forth a feeling of pleasure and suggests a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life.

In spite of the diversity of genres, their common linguistic features are: Genuine, not trite, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices. The use of words in contextual and very often in more than one

dictionary meaning, or at least greatly influenced by the lexical environment.

A vocabulary which will reflect to a greater or lesser degree the author’s personal evaluation of things or phenomena.

A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, a kind of lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy.

The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language to a full degree (in plays) or a lesser one (in emotive prose) or a slight degree, if any (in poems).

One of the most distinctive properties of the belles-lettres style is its being individual in essence.

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Among the lexical peculiarities of verse the first to be mentioned is fresh, unexpected imagery which assumes in poetry a very compressed form.

Images from a linguistic point of view are mostly built on metaphor, metonymy and simile.

Images my be concrete: visual images caught by what is called the mental eye

and shaped through concrete pictures of objects. aural images produced by onomatopoeia that make us

hear the actual sounds of nature or things, and abstract: relational images showing the relations between objects

through another kind of relationE.g. Heroes of unwritten story. (Shelley)

In poetry the emotional element is used to its full measure and is embodied in a great number of emotionally-coloured words.

Brevity of expression, epigram-like utterances and peculiar syntactical structures are also distinguishing features of poetry.

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But the first differentiating property of poetry, or verse, is its orderly form, which is mainly based on the rhythm and rhyme.

Various compositional forms of rhyme and rhythm are generally studied under the terms versification or prosody.

Both rhythm and rhyme are objective qualities of language and exist outside verse.

But in verse both have assumed their compositional patterns and, perhaps, due to this, they are commonly associated with verse.

The most observable and widely recognized compositional

patterns of rhythm making up classical verse are based on:

alteration of stressed an unstressed syllables, equilinearity, or an equal number of syllables in the lines, a natural pause at the end of the line, the line being a

more or less complete semantic unit, identity of stanza pattern, established patterns of rhyming.

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English verse, like all verse, emanated from song. Rhythm, being the substitute for music, assumes a new significance.

Classic English verse is called syllabo-tonic. Two parameters are taken into account in defining the measure in English verse rhythm: the number of syllables (syllabo) and the distribution of stresses (tonic).

In general, rhythm is an alternation or an interchange of strong and weak segments (‘beats’ and ‘off-beats’ or stressed and unstressed elements (syllables)).

The smallest recurrent segment of a verse line is the foot (стихотворная стопа) that consists of one stressed syllable and one or two unstressed ones.

The structure of the foot determines the metre (размер, метр, ритм) , i.e. the type of poetic rhythm of the line.

The most recognizable English metrical patterns are two disyllabic and three trisyllabic metres:

1) iambus (U –´), e.g. mistake, prepare, etc. 2) trochee (–´ U), e.g. evening, honey, etc. 3) dactyl (–´UU), e.g. wonderful, beautiful, etc. 4) amphibrach (U –´U), e.g. continue, pretending, etc.5) anapaest (UU–´), e.g. understand, disagree, etc.

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A verse line – e.g. trochaic or iambic – does not necessarily consist of trochaic or iambic words only.

A foot can be made up of more than one word – his life (u'), take it ('u). Moreover, certain words (or syllables) which are stressed in normal speech,

should be considered unstressed, and vice versa.

The number of feet in a line varies, but it has its limit; it rarely exceeds eight. There are special terms marking the length of the line:

1 foot – monometer; 2 feet – dimeter; 3 – trimester; 4 – tetrameter; 5 – pentameter; 6 – hexameter; 7 – septameter; 8 – octameter.

In defining the measure, that is the kind of ideal metrical scheme of a verse, it is necessary to point out both the type of metre and the length of the line. The number of feet corresponds to the number of stresses.

English verse is predominantly iambic pentameter (пятистопный ямб).

Irregularities of modifications of the normal metrical pattern are a pyrrhic foot, rhythmic inversions, a spondee, a hypometric line or a hypermetric line, enjambment (the run-on line), etc.

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A pyrrhic foot (U U) when the stress is lifted from a syllable on which the language will not allow stress (the stress is often lifted from preposition on which the stress seldom fails, therefore pyrrhics are very common and quite natural modifications in English verse) (пиррихий);

The cases of the inverted order of stressed and unstressed syllables in one of the feet of the iambic or trochaic pattern are called rhythmic inversions and are used to add emphasis.

A spondee (–´–´) is the insertion of a foot of two stressed syllables. It is used instead of an iambus or a trochee (спондей).

Rhythmic inversion and the use of the spondee may be considered deliberate devices to reinforce the semantic significance of the word combinations.

Pyrrhics may appear in almost any foot in a line, though they are rarely found in the last foot. This is natural as the last foot generally has a rhythmic word and rhyming words are always stressed. Spondees generally appear in the first or the last foot.

The more verse seeks to reflect the lively norms of colloquial English, the more frequently are modifications such as those described to be found.

There may also be in a line either a syllable missing (a hypometric line) or there may be an extra syllable (a hypermetric line).

Enjambment, or the run-on line, is the transfer of a part of s syntagm from one line to the following one. Here we have the overflowing of the sense onto the next line. E.g.

1. Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast2. Her strength, her wealth, her site of ancient days (Byron);In stanza enjambment it is the transfer of a part of s syntagm from one

stanza to the following one.

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The second feature (after rhythm) distinguishing verse from prose is rhyme which is the identity of sounds between syllables or paired groups of syllables, usually at the end of verse lines.

Rhymes in words ending with a stressed syllable are called male (masculine, or single) rhymes, e.g. dreams - streams, obey - away.

Rhymes in words (or word combinations) with the last syllableunstressed are female (feminine, or double) rhymes, e.g. duty-beauty, berry-merry.

Rhymes in which the stressed syllable is followed by two unstressedones are dactylic rhymes (triple, or treble rhymes as opposed to a monosyllabic (e.g. love/above) or disyllabic (e.g. whether/together) rhymes),e.g. tenderly - slenderly, battery – flattery.

These rhyming pairs are examples of full rhyme also called true rhyme.

As a rule, it is single words that make a rhyme, e.g. stone – alone – own; grey – pray (simple rhymes).

Sometimes, however, a word rhymes with a word-group (compound, or mosaic rhymes).

They are either feminine (e.g. bucket – pluck it), or triple (dactylic) (e.g. favourite – savour it).

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‘Eye-rhymes' (half-rhymes, or 'rhymes for the eye') are the cases when the endings are pronounced quite differently, but the spelling of the endings is identical or similar. E.g.

Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods. (Burns)

As mentioned above, rhymes usually occur in the final words of verse lines. Sometimes, though, the final word rhymes with a word inside the line (inner,

or internal rhyme), e.g. I am the daughter of earth and water... (Shelley)

According to the position of the rhyming lines we distinguish: couplets aa (рифмованное двустишие), adjacent rhymes aabb, crossing rhymes abab, and ring rhymes abba.

Rhymeless verse is called blank verse (белый стих in Russian).

The largest unit in verse is the stanza (also called a strophe) (строфа). It is composed of a number of lines having a definite measure and rhyming

system which is repeated throughout the poem.There are many widely recognized stanza patterns in English poetry: the

heroic (эпический) couplet, the Spencerian stanza, the ottava rima, the ballad stanza, the sonnet.

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1. The heroic (эпический) couplet is one of the oldest forms of English strophics. It is a stanza that consists of two iambic pentameters with the rhyming pattern

aa. The epithet 'heroic' implies the fact that this stanza was mostly employed in

elevated genres. The word 'couplet' shows that it consists of two lines (cf. the word couplet). The first to employ it in England was Geoffrey Chaucer. See the beginning of his Canterbury Tales:

What that Aprille with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the rooteAnd bathed every vein in swich licour Of which vertu engendered is the floor...

2. The Spencerian stanza, named after Edmund Spencer, the 16th century poet, who introduced it. It consists of nine lines, the first eight of which are iambic pentameters and the ninth is one foot longer, that is, an iambic hexameter. The rhyming scheme is ababbcbcc.

Whilome in Albion's isle there dwelt a youth,Who ne in virtue's ways did take delight;But spent his days in riot most uncouth,And vex'd with mirth the drowsy ear of Night,Ah, me! in sooth he was a shameless wight,Sore given to revel and ungodly glee;Few earthly things found favour in his sightSave concubines and carnal companie,And flaunting wassailers of high and low degree. (Byron)

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3. The ottava rima (from Latin octo, Italian otto, otta 'eight') (октава). A stanza consisting of eight lines, each of them iambic pentameter. The rhyming pattern is very strict: abababcc. This stanza came to England from Italy in the sixteenth century.

4. A looser form of stanza is the ballad stanza, the oldest from of English verse characteristic of folk ballads.

It is a short story in rhyme, sometimes with dialogue and direct speech. The metre is the iambus, but it is not strictly kept to (dactylic and anapestic feet are also met with).The stanza consists of four lines. This is generally an alternation of iambic tetrameters (the first and the third feet) with iambic dimeters (or trimeters), and the rhyming scheme is abcb; that is, the tetrameters are not rhymed – the trimeters are. There are variants of the ballad stanza, particularly in the length of the stanza.

Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,With a link a down a day,And there he met a silly old womanWas weeping on the way.

In some of the variants of the ballad stanza the rhyming scheme is abab, that is the stanza becomes a typical quatrain.

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5. The sonnet (from the Italian sonetto). The sonnet which bears the name of stanza only conventionally. Properly speaking, it is not a part constituent of a longer poem: the sonnet is a stanza which at the same time is a complete poem in itself.

A sonnet is a verse of fourteen lines (iambic pentameters). The rhyming must be strictly observed. The classical pattern is as follows: two quatrains (i.e. four-line stanzas) with only two rhymes in both: abba abba. These two quatrains formed the octave. It was followed by a sestette, i.e. six lines divided into two tercets (i.e. three-line stanzas), i.e. three line units with cde rhyming in each, or variants, namely, cdcdcd or cdedce and others (cdc ded). It is preferable to alternate female and male rhymes (alternation of male and female is also typical of the tercets).

The semantic aspect of the Italian sonnet was also strictly regularized. The first quatrain of the octave was to lay the main idea before the reader; the second quatrain was to expand the idea of the first quatrain by giving details of illustrations or proofs. So the octave had not only a structural but also a semantic pattern: the eight lines were to express one idea, a thesis.

The same applies to the sestette. The first three lines were to give an idea opposite to the one expressed in the octave, a kind of antithesis, and the last three lines to be a synthesis of the ideas expressed in the octave and the first tercet. This synthesis was of the expressed in the last two lines of the sonnet and these two lines therefore were called epigrammatic lines.

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But all these requirements and restrictions are hardly ever observed to the letter, especially by the English authors. Thus, the famous Shakespearian sonnets (154 in all) consist of 14 lines each, but the rhyming pattern is not observed; moreover, instead of two quatrains and two tercets, Shakespeare makes his sonnet of three quatrains (each with rhymes of its own) plus one couplet. See his Sonnet 130 (My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun).

The English, often called the Shakespearean sonnet, has retained many of the features of its Italian parent. The division into octave and sestette is observed in many sonnets, although the sestette is not always divided into tercets (or it is three quatrains with cross rhymes and a couplet at the end). The rhyming scheme is simplified and is now expressed by the formula given above (ababcdcdefefgg). Anyway, the English sonnets are mostly composed of fourteen iambic pentameters.

The most clearly observable characteristic feature of the sonnet on the content plane is the epigram-like last line (or last two lines).

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Free verse and accented verse

Verse remains classical if it retains its metrical scheme.There are, however, types of verse which are not classical. The one most popular is what is called ‘vers libre’ (blank verse) – (верлибр,

белый стих) which is the French term for free verse.

Free verse is recognized by lack of strictness in its rhythmical design. The term ‘free verse’ is used rather loosely by different writers.

At times it stands for accented, or stressed verse.Accented verse is not syllabo-tonic but only tonic as it is a type of verse in

which only the number of stresses in the line is taken into consideration. The number of syllables is irrelevant and therefore disregarded.

There are poets who reject both metrical patterns and rhyme. When printed or written, their poems resemble regular verse only because of the shortness of lines.

In its extreme form the lines have no pattern of regular metical feet nor fixed length, there is no notion of stanza, and there are no rhymes.

Therefore the extreme type of accented verse ceases to be verse as such. It has become what is sometimes called poetic prose.

Accented verse is nothing but an orderly singling-out of certain words and syntagms in the utterance by means of intonation, provided that the distance between each of the component parts presents a more or less constant unit.

Violation of this principle would lead to the complete destruction of the verse as such.

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Emotive prose

Emotive prose as a separate form of imaginative literature. It is sometimes termed fiction since most of the works reflect fictitious facts,

events and characters.

It is always a combination of the spoken and written varieties of the language, inasmuch as there are always two forms of communication present – monologue (usually the writer’s speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters).

The language of the author is expected to conform to the literary norms while the language of a character will rather present a stylized version of the colloquial speech.

It is not a pure and authentic reproduction of what might be the natural speech of living people. The colloquial speech is made ‘literature-like’ and the words are purposefully chosen to characterize the personage of a novel, or of a story.

Emotive prose allows the use of elements from other styles as well: newspaper, official, scientific, though they undergo a kind of transformation.

It abounds in all sorts of imagery creating devices: metaphors often turning into symbols, etc.; syntactical patterns all together producing a certain atmosphere; emotionally coloured elements all playing on the reader’s emotions.

In realistic literature implications are created differently – by a special selection of facts, dialogues, quotations and other non-artistic means.

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Language of the dramaThe language of plays is entirely dialogue or polylogue. The author’s speech is almost entirely excluded except for the

playwright’s remarks and stage directions.

But the language of the characters is always purposeful, or stylized, i.e. it resembles colloquial language but in no way it is its the exact reproduction, it strives to retain the modus of literary English, unless the playwright has a particular aim which requires the use of non-literary forms and expressions.

As words are to be spoken out in front of a large mass of people with differing cultural background, the playwright chooses the words easily perceived and understood by everyone present.

The stylization of colloquial language in drama is also revealed in the redundancy of information.

The character’s utterances are generally much longer than in ordinary conversation. While the real spoken language tends to curtail utterances, sometimes simplifying the syntax to fragments of sentences.

Besides, in lively conversation, even a prolonged utterance is interspersed with the interlocutor’s ‘signals of attention’ (e.g. yes, yeah, oh). In plays these ‘signals of attention’ are irrelevant and therefore are done away with.

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Further, the speech of the characters – unlike in real life – is never interrupted spontaneously (e.g. by any exclamatory words on the part of the person to whom the speech is addressed).

Dialogue in plays gradually flows into a monologue (a ‘false dialogue’, or ‘monological dialogue’) with the remarks being a kind of linking sentence between the two parts of the monologue.

Therefore, sometimes the audience listens to a series of monologues still within the framework of a dialogue.

In ordinary conversation we never use a succession of questions so much typical of drama.

The nature of lively dialogue allows digressions from the starting point.

In plays the sequence of sentences reflecting the sequence of thought, being directed by the purport of the writer, will not allow any digressions from the course taken, unless this was the intention of the playwright.