General colloquial words
colloquial words proper: chap;
phonetic variants of neutral words: baccy (tobacco), fella (fellow);
diminutives of neutral words: daddy, piggy;
words the primary meaning of which refer them to neutral sphere while the figurative meaning places them outside the neutral sphere, making them lightly colloquial. E. g., spoon as a colloquial word means “a man with a low mentality”.
Interjections: Er? Well.
Slang words are words felt to be vulgar or inferior. Such words are highly emotive and expressive and as such, lose their originality rather fast and are replaced by newer formations.
E.g. :go crackers (go mad); big-head (a boaster).
Jargonismsare a group of words the aim of which is to preserve secrecy within a social group. Jargonisms are generally old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them. They are divided into:
professional jargonisms (bull - one who buys shares at the stock-exchange; bear - one who sells shares)
social jargonisms (to be on the mill – to serve a term of imprisonment)
Vulgarismsare coarse words the use of which is banned in any form of intercourse as being indecent.
E.g. :intensifies like “bloody”, “damn”, etc.
Dialectal wordsare normative and devoid of any stylistic meaning in regional dialects, but used outside of them, carry a strong flavour of the locality where they belong.
E.g. : baccy (tobacco), winder (window)
4. Phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices.
The expressive meansof a language are those phonetic, morphological, lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms which exist in language-as-a-system for the purpose of logical and/or emotional intensification of the utterance.
Phonetic expressive means are pitch, melody, stress, whispering, sing-song manner of speaking, pauses, etc.
Stylistic deviceis a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structure and/or semantic property of a language unit (neutral or expressive) promoted to a generalized status and thus becoming a generative model.
Most stylistic devices display an application of two meanings: the ordinary one, which has already been established in the language-as-a-system, and a special meaning which is superimposed on the unit by text, i.e. a meaning which appears in the language-in-action.
A phoneme is usually devoid of denotational or connotational meaning, but sometimes it may have a strong associative and sound-instrumenting power.
Onomatopoeiais the use of words the sounds of which imitate those of the signified object or action, such as “hiss”, “bowwow”, “murmur”, “bump”, “grumble”, “sizzle” and many more.
There are two varieties of onomatopoeia:
Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, burr, bang, cuckoo.
Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense.
e.g.: “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” (E. A. Poe), where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain.
Alliterationisthe repetition of consonants, usually at the beginning of words.
Alliteration is widely used in English folklore, in proverbs, sayings and set expressions:
e.g. Seldom seen, soon forgotten. Safe and sound.
It is most frequent in modern poetry as well, where it creates a certain melodic and emotional effect.
Assonanceis the repetition of similar vowels, usually in stressed syllables.
e.g.: Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Both assonance and alliteration may produce the effect of euphony (a sense of ease and comfort in pronouncing or hearing) or cacophony (a sense of strain and discomfort in pronouncing or hearing).
As an example of the first may serve the lines of E.A. Poe:
And the silken sad uncertain
rustling of each purple curtain...
An example of the second is provided by the unspeakable combination of sounds found in R. Browning:
Nor soul helps flesh now more than flesh helps soul.
Rhymeis the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combination of words. In verse rhyming words are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.
The full rhymepresupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable. E.g.: rat – bat.
Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety. They can be divided into two main groups:
In vowel-rhymesthe vowels of the
syllables in corresponding words are
identical, but the consonants may be
different as in flesh – fresh – press.
Consonant rhymesshow concordance
in consonants and disparity in vowels, as
in worth – forth, tale – tool, treble – trouble;
flung – long.
Rhythmis the pattern of interchange of strong and weak segments.It’s a regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables that makes a poetic text. Various combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables determine the metre (iambus, trochee, dactyl, amphibrach, anapaest, etc.).
5. Graphical expressive means and stylistic devices.
In writing phonetic peculiarities are usually demonstrated through the change of accepted graphical representation of a word. The intentional violation of the graphical shape of a word (or word combination) used to reflect its authentic pronunciation is called graphon.
Graphon is an effective means of supplying information about the speaker’s origin, social and educational background, physical or emotional condition, etc.
It expresses the author’s attitude to the character. E.g. : sarcasm when Thackeray's character - butler Yellowplush – impresses his listeners with the learned words pronouncing them as “sellybrated” (celebrated), “illygitmit” (illegitimate), “jewinile” (juvenile).
It may show the physical defects of the speakers. E.g. , stuttering of R. P. Warren’s character: “The b-b-b-b-bas-tud - he seen me c-c-c-c-coming”.
Graphical changes may reflect not only the peculiarities of pronunciation, but are also used to convey the intensity of the stress.
Italicsadd logical or emotive significance to certain words, syllables or morphemes.
Intensity of speech (often in commands) is transmitted through the multiplication of a grapheme or capitalization of the word, as in Babbitt’s shriek “Alllll aboarrrrrd”, or in the desperate appeal in A. Huxley’s Brave New World – “Help. Help. HELP.”
Hyphenationof a word suggests the rhymed or clipped manner in which it is uttered as in the humiliating comment from Fl. O’Connor’s story – “grinning like a chim-pan-zee”.
6. Morphological expressive means and stylistic devices.
Morphological expressive means are
— grammatical functions displaying special emphasis
e.g. : the use of “shall” in the second and the 3rd person - He shall do it;
— word-building forms which serve to make the utterance more expressive
e.g.: the use of diminutive suffixes: -ie, -y, -let: sonny, piglet, auntie;
— forming of neologisms and nonce-words with nonproductive suffixes
e.g. He glasnosted his love affaire with this movie star (People).
7. Lexical stylistic devices: metaphor, metonymy, irony.
Stylistic devices based on interaction of dictionary and contextual logical meaning
The relation between dictionary and contextual meanings may be maintained along different lines: on the principles of
affinity (metaphor)
proximity (metonymy )
opposition (irony)
Metaphor is a stylistic device based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or features of the two corresponding concepts.
Metaphors can be classified according to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus metaphors which are absolutely unexpected and quite unpredictable are called genuine metaphors.
e.g. Through the open window the dust danced and was golden.
Those which are commonly used in speech and are sometimes fixed in the dictionaries are trite metaphors or dead metaphors.
e. g. floods of tears, to fly into a passion, to jump to conclusion, to fall in love
Metaphors can be called sustained or prolonged if there are several metaphors that are closely connected in their meaning and help create the same image.
e. g. Mr. Pickwick bottled up his vengeance and corked it down. (Ch. Dickens)
Personification is a transfer of features and characteristics of a person to an inanimate object; prescribing to a phenomenon qualities, feelings and thoughts of a human being.
e.g. She had been asleep, always, and now life was thundering imperatively at all her doors. (J. London)
Allegory is the expression of an abstract idea through some concrete image or object.
It may be presented by:
a proverb/saying: e.g. It’s time to turn ploughs into swords. Still waters run deep.
fables
fairy tales
literary fiction in general
Metonymy is a stylistic device based on an association connecting the two concepts, or their proximity.
Proximity may be revealed:
between the symbol and the thing it denotes; e.g.: the crown (= the royal family);
in the relation between the instrument and the action performed with this instrument; e.g. His pen is rather sharp.
in the relation between the container and the thing it contains; e.g. He drank one more cup.
Metonymy can be:
Lexical / etymological - belonging to everyday stock of words and expressions. New words and meanings are sometimes coined through the transfer of the name of one object on to the other (usually a proper name): mackintosh, volt.
Stylistic / expressive - suggesting a substitution of one word for another based on an unexpected association between two objects on the ground of some strong impression produced by a chance feature of the object described.
e.g.: Mess-jacket looked at me with his silent sleek smile. (R. Chandler)
Synecdoche is the transfer of meaning on the basis of association between a part and the whole, or the singular and the plural.
e.g.: England beat Australia at cricket.
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl. (W. Shakespeare)
He made his way through the perfume and conversation. (I. Show)
Irony is a stylistic device also based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings - dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings are in opposition to each other. Irony usually takes the form of sarcasm or ridicule in which laudatory expressions are used to imply condemnation or contempt.
e.g. What a noble illustration of the tender laws of this favoured country! They let the pauper go to sleep! (Ch. Dickens)
8.Lexical stylistic devices based on polysemantic effect: zeugma, pun.
Stylistic devices based interaction of primary and derivative logical meaning
Zeugma is a simultaneous realization of two meanings of a polysemantic unit. It is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to the adjacent word in the context, the semantic relations being on the one hand literal, and on the other, transferred.
e. g. : Dora plunged at once into privileged intimacy and into the middle of the room. (Ch. Dickens)
Pun is a device based on polysemy, homonymy or phonetic similarity used to achieve a humorous effect. It is the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect.
e.g. : – I wonder if I can see your mother, little boy. Is she engaged?
- Engaged?! She’s married.
9. The epithet and its types.
Stylistic devices based on interaction of logical and emotive meaning
The epithet is based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence, used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader some of the properties or features of the object with the aim of giving an individual perception and evaluation of these features or properties.
From the point of view of their compositional structure epithets may be divided into:
1) simple (adjectives, nouns, participles): e.g. He looked at them in animal panic.
Pairs of epithets are represented by two epithets joined by a conjunction or asyndetically e.g.: “wonderful and incomparable beauty” (O. Wilde)
Chains (strings) of epithetspresent a group of homogeneous attributes varying in number from three up to sometimes twenty. e.g. :“You’re a scolding, unjust, abusive, aggravating, bad old creature.” (Ch.Dickens)
2) Compound epithets, e.g. : apple - faced man; a cloud-shaped giant.
Two-step epithets are called so because the process of qualifying seemingly passes two stages, the qualification of the object and the qualification of the qualification itself.
e.g.: an unnaturally mild day; a pompously majestic female.
3) sentence and phrase epithets
e.g.: his do-it-yourself attitude, a don’t-care attitude
4) reversed epithets - composed of two nouns linked by an of-phrase
e.g.: a shadow of a smile; a toy of a girl.
Semantically there are:
affective / emotive epithets - conveying the emotional evaluation of the object (gorgeous, magnificent);
figurative epithets-based on metaphors, metonymies and similes:a ghost-like face; the frowning cloud; the sleepless pillow;
fixed /conventional epithets: true love, merry Christmas, fair lady.
10. Lexical stylistic devices: oxymoron, antonomasia.
Oxymoronis a combination of two words with opposite meanings which exclude each other:
e. g.: speaking silence, cold fire, living death.
Oxymoron reveals the contradictory sides of one and the same phenomenon.
As soon as an oxymoron gets into circulation, it loses its stylistic value, becoming trite: pretty bad, awfully nice, terribly good.
Close to oxymoron is paradox– a statement that is absurd on the surface.
e.g. : War is peace. The worse, the better.
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