Language and imagery. Individual style of writing

No interpretation can be a simple paraphrase of a text; understanding texts means understanding the way they affect us. Author’s style refers to how authors write, and to the choices they make about what language they use and how they use it. Most writers developed styles that are as distinct and recognizable as their signatures.

The elements of style are diction, sentence structure, handling information, imagery:

· Diction (or word choice). The concept of semantic fields is a useful one when analysing style and intent in a piece of writing. When a number of words have related meanings, they are said to be in the same semantic field. If several words or phrases in the same semantic field are used in a piece of writing, they can have an accumulative effect on the meaning, rather than just their separate individual meanings. To use M. Riffaterre’s words, language expresses and style stresses. Emotive language is one in which the lexis is chosen to play on the audience’s emotions.Emotiveness is the expression of feelings or emotions, it’s a part of expressiveness (expressiveness is the realization of the author’s intentions to express emotions or logical emphasis).

The following varieties of language are distinguished:

1) Standard English is the language that is acceptable in any writing or speaking situation. It falls into two categories – formal and informal. Formal English is suitable for serious lectures and speeches, scholarly journals, business reports, legal documents, and textbooks. It has a serious tone and is devoid of contractions and slang.

“The language we use about war is inappropriate, and its inappropriateness is designed to conceal a reality so odious that we do not wish to know it. The language we use about politics is also inappropriate; but here our mistake has a different purpose.”

Aldous Huxley, The Language of War (1930)

Common literary words form a significant layer of the literary stratum. They are mostly loan words, Greek or Latin. Poetic words are characterized by the higher degree of elevation, this group includes: a) pure poeticisms (brine, anarch), b) archaic words that are completely out of use in present day language (historical archaisms – vassal, yeoman; archaic words proper – brethren – brothers, deem – think). The use of archaic words in fiction, for instance in historical novels, seeks to evoke the style of older speech, hence the flavour of the previous centuries: “Prithee, young one, who art thou, and what has ailed thy mother to bedizen thee in this strange fashion? Art thou a Christian child, - ha?” (N. Hawthorne). The abundant use of archaisms in contemporary literature seems strange and unsuitable, even when used to give colour to conversation in historical romances. Nevertheless, writers with a strong feel for the language may on occasion deliberately use archaic words to emphasize a certain point or to create a mood (like John Fowls in Maggot (1996)). Some archaisms are used for humorous effect.

Barbarisms are words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English language and bear the appearance of borrowings (viva voce, beau monde). Barbarisms are used in fiction to supply local colour or reproduce the speech of local inhabitant.

Terms are mostly monosemantic words denoting objects, processes, phenomena of science, humanities, technique (vector, palatalization). In fiction popular terms produce different stylistic effects, for instance, humorous one: “Here we were, perilously at sea, final extinction a daily possibility, and all xestobium rufo-villosum could think about was sex” (J. Barnes The History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters (1989)). Terms can also show professional background of the character, make their speech sound “scientific-like”, or create some kind of professional atmosphere. Most characters of David Lodge’s novels (Nice Work (1988), Academic Exchange (1989), The Deaf Sentence (2008)) are of academic background which is shown by the abundance of terms and discussions on popular humanitarian topics. The hero of the hilarious novel by Martin Amis (The Pregnant Widow, 1988) is a philologist and delights in play with word’s origin, explaining some terms: “You’ll think it just means being patronising. But it’s a term of praise. And humble gratitude. Condescension, Lily.” From eccles. L., from con - “together” + descendere “come down” (together was important part).” “he was twenty, remember, and still young enough – still osmoting with his fluids and nostalgias. Notalgia, from Gk nostos “return home” + algos “pain”. The returning home pain of twenty years old.”

Informal English is the language that is used in casual, everyday circumstances. Also known as colloquial English, it is the language of conversation and informal writing and is characterised by a relaxed tone, generally non-technical, simple words, and use of contractions and sentence fragments. Colloquial (degraded) words are more emotionally coloured than literary ones. Colloquialisms include: a) colloquialisms proper that have no counterparts in the neutral and literary sphere (molly - coddle – an effeminate man), b) phonetic variants of neutral words (hippo, gonna, she’ll). Colloquialisms are used in fiction to make the style relaxed and every-day one, to characterise the heroes’ background.

2) Non-standard English is the language that does not conform to the conventional rules of grammar and usage.

Slang is informal, vivid language created by a particular group within a culture, becomes popular within that group, and then either passes out of use or becomes part of the standard vocabulary. Expressions such as groovy, dig, and cool cat were popular in the middle of the XX century but have mostly fallen out of use. However, although the word rap (meaning “talk”), for example, is of the same vintage as the words groovy and dig, it has been accepted into general use. Slang is inappropriate in formal writing, but it is often used in the dialogue of fiction and drama. Slang appears for a number of reasons: for the pleasure of novelty, for being in fashion, for emphasising ridiculous aspects of things, for softening the tragedy, for providing new shades of meaning, for replacing worn out words.

Jargon is the specialised, technical vocabularies of particular professions or activities. For example, medical professionals use the word carrier (a person who transmits a disease but does not get it), people of art use the boards (thestage), beat (a regular unit of rhythm). Computer operators use words like mainframe, access, printout. Such words provide a shortcut to meaning for those within the profession.

Vulgar words are the stylistically lowest group, they are considered too offensive for polite usage. Vulgar words include: a) expletives (bloody, to hell, damn), b) obscene words (shit). Many words once considered taboo are now used in fiction.

Writers may use a wide range of language varieties in accordance with their purposes. While speaking about diction we can also pay attention if the author uses idioms, slang, jargon, dialectisms, euphemisms, clichés, etc.

Idiom is a group of words which intended meaning differs from the literal meaning of the individual words: in the same boat, Achilles’ heel, etc.

Euphemisms are the expressions that sound less offensive than the words they replace: sanitation engineer is a euphemism for garbage collector.

Clichés are the expressions that have lost their descriptive power through overuse: sad but true, as pretty as a picture, as cold as ice.

Dialect is any systematic variation of the English language based on region or social group. Dialects differ from standard English in grammar, lexis, idioms. Dialect grammar can differ from standard grammar in several ways, especially in:

- use of pronouns. A Bristolian, or someone of Afro-Caribbean descent, might say, “ Give I the money. ” A Somerset person might say, “ Er’s not coming,” (instead of “She’s not coming.”). Jamaican Bob Marley sang, “ Them belly full but hungry. ”

- word order (syntax). This is most likely to vary in a dialect influenced by a language other than English. For example, you might hear in Wales, “ Tired it is that he’ll be tonight. ”

- subject-verb agreements, for example “ So I goes …” (West country), “ She were angry …” (Yorkshire).

Dialectal lexis is the easiest part of dialect to grasp, but it is also a part that is falling away as local speech is influenced by the Standard English of the media. It refers to words or short phrases that exist only in a particular dialect, or which are used differently from the way in which they are used in Standard English (Cornish: emmet – tourist; Nottingham: mash – make or brew (the tea)). Idioms are the characteristic expressions of a language or dialect. Often their origins have been lost, although their current meanings are clear and colourful (Yorkshire: Where there’s muck there’s brass – Where there’s dirt there’s money). Writers such as William Faulkner used dialect very effectively to evoke the setting of a story and to create vivid, memorable characters.Faulkner used intentional misspelling (marster for master) to render South speech traditions (e.g. to pronounce words like more, four without the /r/ – mo, fo). In As I Lay Dying (1930) the character called Cash offers a statement: “I ain’t so sho that ere a man has the right to say what is crazy and what ain’t”.

Gobbledygook is inflated, pretentious, and often intentionally confusing language.

· Sentence structure (variety in sentence length and structural type). Using variety in sentence length can create powerful writing. Notice how Ernest Hemingway varied the length of his sentences in the following paragraph, how the mix of long and short sentences mimics the rhythm of the hiker’s physical activity: “He walked along the road feeling the ache from the pull of the heavy pack. The road climbed steadily. It was hard work walking uphill. His muscles ached and the day was hot, but Nick felt happy. He felt he had left everything behind, the need for thinking, the need to write, other needs” (Ernest Hemingway, Big Two-Headed River (1925))

Sometimes writers deliberately use a series of short sentences, a device that can be especially effective in building suspense or emphasising action.

· Handling of information

· Imagery. A work of writing is most effective when it vividly creates a concrete experience or picture in your readers’ minds. Imagery refers to any sort of image, and there are two basic kinds. One is the images of the physical setting. An image is a representation in words of a sensory experience – a sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. I.R. Galperin divided images into three categories: two concrete (visual and aural) and one abstract:

1. A visual image is a concrete picture of an object born in one’s mind’s eye.

2. An aural image makes us hear the sounds of nature and things.

3. A relational image gives the idea of the relation between objects through another kind of relation.

We can also state the existence of other sensory images giving us the feelings of touch or smell. In the history of Anglo-American literature there was a poetic movement based on concrete images – Imagism. The Imagists believed that concrete image is an adequate symbol that should not be mixed with abstract ones. Their poetry gives concrete sensual images and leaves insight up to the reader. Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, promoter of Imagism, tries to stir all the senses in her poetry.

Opal (1919)

You are ice and fire,