Syntactical SDs Based on Absence of Some Language Elements

A. Ellipsis (Greek for "omission", plural: ellipses ). An ellipsis is a rhetorical figure of speech, the omission of one of the main members of a sentence. The missing words are implied by the context.

In linguistics refers to any omitted part of speech that is understood; i.e. the omission is intentional. Analogously, in printing and writing, the term refers to the row of three dots (...) or asterisks (* * *) indicating such an intentional omission.

The following words tend to be omitted regularly: relative pronouns who, which, the verb to be, etc. e.g. There’s somebody wants to speak to you (Hemingway).

– Did you date her?

– This was a he. Called himself Rudi Wilson. Know him?

It is also used when the same word, for example «there is» or «I am» is left out of a sentence many times.

An ellipsis is sometimes used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis). Ellipses are often used in this manner for internet chat, email, and forum posts.

The use of ellipses can either mislead or clarify, and the reader must rely on the good intentions of the writer who uses it. An example of this ambiguity is «She went to… school.» In this sentence, «…» might represent the word «elementary», or the word «no» which is rather misleading.

«Ellipsis» also refers to a rhetorical device in a story where the narrative skips over a scene, a form of anachronism where there is a chronological gap in the text.

B. Aposiopesis (Break-in-the-narrative) (from Classical Greek, «becoming silent») is the term, coined by Otto Jespersen, for the rhetorical device by which the speaker or writer deliberately stops short and leaves something unexpressed, but yet obvious, to be supplied by the imagination, giving the impression that he/she is unwilling or unable to continue.

It is a stopping short for the rhetorical effect (Galperin).

The aposiopesis is special form of rhetorical ellipsis, it is a norm of excited oral speech. As a SD it is used to indicate strong emotions paralyzing the character's speech or his deliberate stop in the utterance to conceal its meaning. Certain phrases, often repeated with the intonation of the nonfinished sentence, become trite aposiopeses. They indicate that the speaker's idea of the possible continuation of the utterance exists in a very general, non-detailed, vague form. (Cf. «Well, I never!» reads approximately «Well, I never expected it»; «I never thought of it»; «I never imagined it», etc.)

In oral speech it signifies unwillingness to proceed or uncertainty of what has been said.

In written speech it is always a deliberate SD used for some stylistic effect. It often portrays being overcome with passion (fear, anger, excitement) or modesty. The ellipsis or dash is used.

Aposiopesis always has some sort of implication: You just come home or I’ll…(threat).

C.Apokoinu construction,characteristic of irregular oral speech, presents a blend of two clauses into one, which is achieved at the expense of the omission of the connecting word and the double syntactical function acquired by tie unit occupying the linking position between both form clauses: thus, «I'm the first one saw her,» presents the blend of the complex sentence «I'm the first one who saw her.» Due to its contraction into the apokoinu construction syntactical functions of «the first one» – predicative of the first clause, and «who» – subject of the second one – are both attributed to «the first one» which becomes the syntactical centre of the newly coined sentence.

Some ore examples: «What has happened to that swell-looking babe in the fur coat used to come over?»; «There is one thing bothers me. There is no law forbids It».

The main stylistic function of apokoinu constructions is to emphasize the irregular, careless or uneducated character of the speech of personages.

D. Chiasmus is reversed parallelism in which the repeated syntactical construction is reversed, compared to preceding sentence or clause. It can be the word order that is reversed, or the sequence of the main and subordinate clauses, or the form and the meaning of the statement. It originated from the Greek latter «X – ksi” means «Crossing», e.g. A handsome man kisses misses,

An ugly man misses kisses

She said nothing, there was nothing to say.

I know the world, & the world knows me.

Synonymic repetition or the repetition of idea can be used to foreground the idea without actually repeating the words. It can be unnecessary or tautological repetition of idea:

E.g. I’ve got a house that is like a hotel.

I mean a big house with many servants.

Syntactical tautology is based on the use of a second subject that is called tautological subject. It is introduced in the form of a pronoun. The subject is repeated in the form of a noun at the end of the sentence after a comma. It helps to put a finishing touch to the sentence or throw a new light on it.

E.g. She was not a little pleasing, this woman, he decided

When introduced in the form of a noun or a proper name, the second subject is in the form of a pronoun immediately following it. This type of tautological subject is often use in poetry.

E.g. And this maiden she leaved with no other thought,

Than to love and be loved by me.

Helen Adair she loved me well

Against her father’s & mother’s will.

4. Syntactical stylistic devices based on particular ways of linking

A. Asyndeton

B. Polysyndeton