The major Division of the Elevated Vocabulary

Expressive Phonetic Means

The sound of most words taken separately will have little aesthetic value. It is in combination with other words that a word acquire a desired phonetic effect. The theory of sound symbolism is based on the assumption that separate sounds due to their properties make awake certain ideas or perceptions. This theory is widely used in poetry.

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature: hiss, grumble, sizzle, murmur, bump., sea, thunder, by things like machines tools, by people (laughter, cough), by animal.

1) Direct onomatopoeia: in words that imitate natural sound (ding-dong, buzz, hiss, roar, ping-pong, mew, cock-a-doodle-doo) 2) Indirect: a combination of sounds, the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense (And the silken sat uncertain, rusting of each purple curtain).

Alliteration is the repetition of the same construction at the beginning of words. It’s often used in newspaper headlines, proverbs, set expressions. (As blind as bat; Pride and prejudice. Sense and sensibility. The school of scandal) Assonance is the repetition of similar vowels usually in stressed syllables. (Nor soul flesh now more than flesh helps soul).

They both produce the effect of euphony (афония) – a sense of ease and comfort, a pleasing effect of pronouncing and hearing. The opposite process is cacophony – a sense of strain and discomfort in pronouncing and hearing.

Rhyme is one of the properties of poetry, which is the repetition of the same sound, identical/similar, usually at the end of 2 or more lines. We normally distinguish between: full rhyme (I-sky, night-right), incomplete rhyme (fresh-press), compound rhymes, eye-rhymes (visible, but not pronounced):(love-prove), masculine rhymes (monosyllabic words): e.g. down-town – and are standing on the last line or, or bisyllabic words Functions: 1) to signalize the end of line and mark the arrangement of lines into stanzas 2) rhythm becomes evident because of rhyme 3) the ends receive greater prominent. c lassification: - couplet (aa) triple (aaa) cross (abab) framing (abba) internal (witnin the line)

Poetic rhythm is created by the regular recurrence of (un)stressed syllables of equal poetic lines.

Morphological transposition

Morphological stylistics deals with morphological expressive means and stylistic devices. Words of all parts of speech have a great stylistic potential. Being placed in an unusual syntagmatic environment which changes their canonized grammatical characteristics and combinability, they acquire stylistic significance. The central notion of morphological stylistics is the notion of transposition. Transposition is a divergence between the traditional usage of a neutral word and its situational (stylistic) usage. Words of every part of speech are united by their semantic and grammatical properties. General lexico-grammatical meaning of nouns is substantivity, i. e. the ability to denote objects or abstract notions. Due to the diverse nature of substantivity, nouns are divided into proper, common, concrete, abstract, material and collective. Cases of transposition emerge, in particular, when concrete nouns are used according to the rules of proper nouns usage, or vice versa. It results in creation of stylistic devises named antonomasia or personification. Besides general lexico-grammatical meaning, nouns possess grammatical meanings of the category of number and the category of case. Stylistic potential of nouns is significantly reinforced by transpositions in the usage of articles as noun-determiners. Such transpositions occur against generally accepted normative postulates which run: articles are not used with names of persons and animals, some classes of geographical names, abstract nouns and names of material. Uncommon usage of articles aims at importing specific shades of meaning into speech. General lexico-grammatical meaning of adjectives is that of qualitativeness. Qualitative adjectives are always estimative, that is why they are used as epithets (picturesque' view. idiotic shoe-laces, crazy bicycle, tremen-dous achievements) and can form degrees of comparison. Expressive devices may be created by transposition of pronouns. When objective forms of personal pronouns are used predicatively instead of nominative forms, sentences obtain colloquial marking (It is him: It is her: It is me: It is them: It is us,). Transposition of verbs is even more varied than that of nouns. It is explained by a greater number of grammatical categories the meanings of which may be transposed. Most expressive are tense forms, mood forms and voice forms. Deviation from the general (most frequently realized) meaning makes verbs stylistically coloured. Such transposition brightens the narration, raises its emotional tension, expresses intrigue, makes the continuity of events visual and graphic. Transposition is not the only way to make verbs expressive. A good many verbal forms are expressive in themselves. The imperative mood forms are not just commands, invitations, requests or prohibitions. They are a perfect means of rendering an abundance of human emotions. A wide range of subjunctive mood forms offers a good stylistic choice of synonymous ways to verbalize one and the same idea. Use of genitive case, Plural forms

Figures of quantity

Hyperbole is a stylistic device in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration (V.A. Kucharenko). Hyperbole is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential (unlike periphrasis) to the object or phenomenon (I.R. Galperin). It does not signify the actual state of affairs in reality, but presents the latter through the emotionally coloured perception and rendering of the speaker. e.g. My vegetable love should grow faster than empires. (A. Marvell); e.g. I was scared to death when he entered the room. (J.D.Salinger)

Meiosis deliberately expresses the idea, there less important than the action is. Meiosis is dealt with when the size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object are intentionally underrated. It does not signify the actual state of affairs in reality, but presents the latter through the emotionally coloured perception and rendering of the speaker. e.g. ”The wind is rather strong” instead of “There’s a gale blowing outside”; e.g. She wore a pink hat, the size of a button. (J.Reed)

Littotes differs from meiosis by both its contents and structure. Litotes presents a statement in the form of negation. Like rhetorical questions, litotes can be regarded as the transposition of a syntactical construction. Litotes has a specific semantic and syntactic structure: the usage of not before a word with a negative prefix, e.g. Julia was not dissatisfied with herself (W.S. Maugham).
This EM is used in oral speech to weaken positive characteristics of a thing or person; to convey the speaker's doubts as to the exact value or significance of the object of speech, e.g. Her face was not unpretty (K. Kesey).

In scientific prose litotes underlines carefulness of judgement or stresses the writer's uncertainty.

 

Figures of quality

Metaphor is a transference of names based on the associated likeness between two objects, on the similarity of one feature common to two different entities, on possessing one common characteristic, on linguistic semantic nearness, on a common component in their semantic structures. e.g. ”pancake” for the “sun” (round, hot, yellow); e.g. ”silver dust” and “sequins” for “stars”

Metonymy is a transference of names based on contiguity (nearness), on extralinguistic, actually existing relations between the phenomena (objects), denoted by the words, on common grounds of existence in reality but different semantic (V.A.Kucharenko). e.g. ”cup” and “tea” in “Will you have another cup?”;

Irony is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning. The context is arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation, and the word positively charged is understood as a negative qualification and (much-much rarer) vice versa. The context varies from the minimal – a word combination to the context of a whole book. e .g. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket.

Irony can be of three kinds: verbal irony is a type of irony when it is possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual meaning diametrically opposes its dictionary meaning, in whose meaning we can trace the contradiction between the said and implied (e.g. She turned with the sweet smile of an alligator. (J.Steinbeck) (V.A. Kucharenko); Dramatik irony happens when a reader or viewer knows more information that a character in book or in a movie; Situational irony is a kind of joke that is against you or situation.

 

Figures of Identity

Human cognition, аs viewed bу linguistics, саn bе defined аs recur­ring acts of lingual identification of what we perceive. Ву naming objects (phenomena, processes, and properties оf reality), we identify them, i.e. search for classes in which to place them, recalling the names of classes already known to us.

1. Simile, i.e. imaginative comparison. This is an explicit statement of partial identity (affinity, likeness, similarity) оf two objects. The word identity is only applicable to certain features of the objects compared: in fact, the objects cannot bе identical; they are only similar, they rеsеmble each other due to sоmе identical features. А simile has manifold forms, semantic features and expressive aims. Аs already mentioned, а simile mау bе combined with or accompanied bу another stylistic device, or it mау achieve one stylistic effect or another. Thus it is often based оn exaggeration of properties described.

2. Quasi-identity. Another рrоblеm arises if we inspect certain widespread саsеs of 'active identification' usuаllу treated as tropes; when we look at the matter mоrе closely, they turn out to bе а special kind of syntagmatic phenomena. Sоmе оf quasi-idеntitiеs manifest special expressive force, chiefly when the usual topic - comment positions change places: the metaphoric (metonymical) nаmе арреаrs in the text first, the direct, straightforward denomination following it. Sее what happens, for instance, with а metaphorical characteristics preceding the deciphering noun.

3. Synonymous replacements. Тhe term goes back to the classification of the use of synonymsв proposed bу M.D. Kuznets in а paper оn synоnуms in English as early аs 1947. She aptly remarked that оn the whole, synоnуms are used in actual texts for two different reasons. Оnе of them is to avoid monotonous repetition of the sаmе word in а sentence or а sequence of sentences.

The other purpose of co-occurrence of sуnоnуms in а text, according to Kuznets, is to make the description аs exhaustive as possible under the circumstances, to provide additional shades of the meaning intended.

Figures of Inequality

Their semantic function is highlighting differences. The expression of differences саn bе, just аs previously, either 'passive', i.e. nearly, though not quite unintentional (e.g. specifying synonyms), or 'active', i.e. used оn purpose (e.g. climax, anti-climax), and, in some varieties, effecting humorous illogicality (рun, zeugma, pretended inequality).

Specifying, оr clarifying synonyms. Аs suggested above, their use contributes to precision in characterizing the object of speech. Synonyms used for clarification mostly follow one another (in opposition to replacer’s), although not necessarily immediately. Clarifiers mау either arise in the speaker's mind аs аn afterthought and bе added to what has bееn said, or they оссuру the sаmе syntactical positions in two or more parallel sentences.

Сlimax (оr: Gradation). The Greek word сlimax means 'ladder'; the Latin gradatio means 'ascent, climbing uр'. These two synonymous terms denote such an arrangement of correlative ideas (notions expressed bу words, word combinations, or sentences) in which what precedes is less than what follows. Thus the second element surpasses the first and is in its turn, surpassed bу the third, and so оn. То put it otherwise, the first element is the weakest (though not necessarily weak); the subsequent elements gradually increase in strength, the last being the strongest.

Anti-climax (оr: Bathos). The device thus called is characterized bу sоmе authors as 'back gradation'. Аs its very nаmе shows, it is the opposite to climax, but this assumption is not quite correct. It would serve nо рurpose whatever making the second element weaker than the first, the third still weaker, and sо оn. А real anti-climax is а sudden deception of the recipient: it consists in adding оnе weaker element to оnе or several strong ones, mentioned before. The recipient is disappointed in his expectations: he predicted а stronger element to follow; instead, some insignificant idea follows the significant one (ones). Needless to say, anti­сlimах is employed with а humorous aim. For example, in It's а bloody lie and not quite true, we sее the absurdity of mixing uр аn offensive statement with а polite remark.

Pun. This term is synonymous with the current expression 'play upon words'. The semantic essence of the device is based оn polysemy or homonymy. It is аn elementary logical fallacy called 'quadruplication of the term'. The general formula for the pun is as follows: 'А equals В and С', which is the result of а fallacious transformation (shortening) of the two statements 'А equals В' and 'А equals С' (three terms in all). e.g. Is life worth living? It depends оn the liver.

Alongside the English term 'pun', the international (originally French) term calembour is current (cf. the Russian каламбур).

Zeugma. Аs with the pun, this device consists in combining unequal, semantically heterogeneous, or even incompatible, words or phrases.

Zeugma is а kind of economy of syntactical units: one unit (word, phrase) makes а combination with two or several others without being repeated itself: "She was married to Mr. Johnson, her twin sister, to Mr. Ward; their half-sister, to М r. Trench." The passive-forming phrase was married does not recur, yet is obviously connected with аll three prepositional objects. This sentence has nо stylistic colouring, it is practically neutral. e.g. "She dropped а tear and her pocket handkerchief." (Dickens)

Tautology pretended and tautology disguised. Is a repetition of one and the same word or idea within a sentence or a figure syntactic unit. Tautology pretended (e.g. For East is East, Befehl ist Befehl, на войне как на войне) and tautology disguised (e.g. Heads, I win, tails, you lose – дублирование идеи).

Pleonasm. Using more words that required to express an idea, being redundant. Normally a vice, it is done on purpose on rare occasions for emphasis. Eg.: We heard it with our own ears.

 

Expressive Phonetic Means

The sound of most words taken separately will have little aesthetic value. It is in combination with other words that a word acquire a desired phonetic effect. The theory of sound symbolism is based on the assumption that separate sounds due to their properties make awake certain ideas or perceptions. This theory is widely used in poetry.

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature: hiss, grumble, sizzle, murmur, bump., sea, thunder, by things like machines tools, by people (laughter, cough), by animal.

1) Direct onomatopoeia: in words that imitate natural sound (ding-dong, buzz, hiss, roar, ping-pong, mew, cock-a-doodle-doo) 2) Indirect: a combination of sounds, the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense (And the silken sat uncertain, rusting of each purple curtain).

Alliteration is the repetition of the same construction at the beginning of words. It’s often used in newspaper headlines, proverbs, set expressions. (As blind as bat; Pride and prejudice. Sense and sensibility. The school of scandal) Assonance is the repetition of similar vowels usually in stressed syllables. (Nor soul flesh now more than flesh helps soul).

They both produce the effect of euphony (афония) – a sense of ease and comfort, a pleasing effect of pronouncing and hearing. The opposite process is cacophony – a sense of strain and discomfort in pronouncing and hearing.

Rhyme is one of the properties of poetry, which is the repetition of the same sound, identical/similar, usually at the end of 2 or more lines. We normally distinguish between: full rhyme (I-sky, night-right), incomplete rhyme (fresh-press), compound rhymes, eye-rhymes (visible, but not pronounced):(love-prove), masculine rhymes (monosyllabic words): e.g. down-town – and are standing on the last line or, or bisyllabic words Functions: 1) to signalize the end of line and mark the arrangement of lines into stanzas 2) rhythm becomes evident because of rhyme 3) the ends receive greater prominent. c lassification: - couplet (aa) triple (aaa) cross (abab) framing (abba) internal (witnin the line)

Poetic rhythm is created by the regular recurrence of (un)stressed syllables of equal poetic lines.

Morphological transposition

Morphological stylistics deals with morphological expressive means and stylistic devices. Words of all parts of speech have a great stylistic potential. Being placed in an unusual syntagmatic environment which changes their canonized grammatical characteristics and combinability, they acquire stylistic significance. The central notion of morphological stylistics is the notion of transposition. Transposition is a divergence between the traditional usage of a neutral word and its situational (stylistic) usage. Words of every part of speech are united by their semantic and grammatical properties. General lexico-grammatical meaning of nouns is substantivity, i. e. the ability to denote objects or abstract notions. Due to the diverse nature of substantivity, nouns are divided into proper, common, concrete, abstract, material and collective. Cases of transposition emerge, in particular, when concrete nouns are used according to the rules of proper nouns usage, or vice versa. It results in creation of stylistic devises named antonomasia or personification. Besides general lexico-grammatical meaning, nouns possess grammatical meanings of the category of number and the category of case. Stylistic potential of nouns is significantly reinforced by transpositions in the usage of articles as noun-determiners. Such transpositions occur against generally accepted normative postulates which run: articles are not used with names of persons and animals, some classes of geographical names, abstract nouns and names of material. Uncommon usage of articles aims at importing specific shades of meaning into speech. General lexico-grammatical meaning of adjectives is that of qualitativeness. Qualitative adjectives are always estimative, that is why they are used as epithets (picturesque' view. idiotic shoe-laces, crazy bicycle, tremen-dous achievements) and can form degrees of comparison. Expressive devices may be created by transposition of pronouns. When objective forms of personal pronouns are used predicatively instead of nominative forms, sentences obtain colloquial marking (It is him: It is her: It is me: It is them: It is us,). Transposition of verbs is even more varied than that of nouns. It is explained by a greater number of grammatical categories the meanings of which may be transposed. Most expressive are tense forms, mood forms and voice forms. Deviation from the general (most frequently realized) meaning makes verbs stylistically coloured. Such transposition brightens the narration, raises its emotional tension, expresses intrigue, makes the continuity of events visual and graphic. Transposition is not the only way to make verbs expressive. A good many verbal forms are expressive in themselves. The imperative mood forms are not just commands, invitations, requests or prohibitions. They are a perfect means of rendering an abundance of human emotions. A wide range of subjunctive mood forms offers a good stylistic choice of synonymous ways to verbalize one and the same idea. Use of genitive case, Plural forms

The major Division of the Elevated Vocabulary

The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words:

1. common literary; 2. terms and learned words; 3. poetic words; 4. archaic words; 5. barbarisms and foreign words; 6. literary coinages including nonce-words.

The literary layer of words consists of groups which have no local or dialect character. The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words: 1. common literary (are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech); 2. terms and learned words (to indicate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt with); 3. poetic words (aim at producing an elevated effect, to evoke emotive meanings); 4. archaic words (1 obsolescent- words becomes rarely used, gradually passing out of general use, 2 obsolete- have already gone completely out of use but are still recognized; 3 archaic proper- no longer recognizable in ModE; 5. barbarisms and foreign words (words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into English); 6. literary coinages including nonce-words (neologisms).