SYNTACTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A LITERARY WORK

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 459.

CHAPTER 4

On the syntactic level the linguistic analysis of a literary work deals with the types of sentences used by the author. All the sentences can be analyzed structurally or according to the aim of communication.

Structurally sentences are divided into simple, complex, and compound; extended and unextended. According to the aim of communication they are differentiated into narrative, interrogative and exclamatory. But it is not the structure or the aim of communication that is especially important for the linguistic analysis. Sentences are the transmitters of different types of information that makes the message of a literary work clear to the reader.

Sentences are used to give information, to obtain it, to express an opinion, give an order, make a suggestion, or make a promise. Depending on the type of the message sentences can have specific structures, employ adjuncts and emphatic means. Declarative sentences are usually used to give information, to express opinions and to make promises. This is the most frequent type of sentences used in a literary work. They can be met both in the descriptive parts of the literary work and in conversations. The declarative sentences with emphatic “do”, “does”, or “did” are more common for the dialogical speech. Declarative sentences can be named neutral syntactic means against the background of which other types of sentences are singled out.

A special type of declarative sentences comprises nominative ones. These are sentences which consist of subjects only. Mainly they are met in meditations, in the inner speech and concentrate the reader's attention on the object or person who is of importance at the time of narration, especially if it is done in the form of a diary. For example, “An idea had occurred to Soames. His cousin Jolyon was Irene's trustee, the first step would be to go down and see him at Robin Hill. Robin Hill! The odd – the very odd – feeling those words brought back. Robin Hill – the house Bosinney had built for him and Irene – the house they had never lived in – the fatal house! And Jolyon lived there now!”

Interrogative sentences are aimed at obtaining information. They are marked with the question mark at the end. This type of sentences is usually used in conversations. Though there is a specific type of interrogative sentences which are called rhetorical questions. These are ones which look like ‘yes / no' (general) questions but do not require any answer. It is thought that the feeling, opinion, or impression expressed is common to everybody, there is no solution to the problem, the things cannot be altered or changed, etc. Sometimes it is more polite to use a rhetorical question rather than a general one. For example, instead of saying ‘You never seem to get upset', people might say ‘Don't you ever get upset?' Rhetorical questions are frequently used in the speech of the author concerning some universal problems, philosophical issues and immortal problems of love and hate, justice and injustice, life and death. In such cases rhetorical questions are very often negative. For example, “Have I not suffered things to be forgiven?” (Byron) Negative rhetorical questions always express an additional shade of meaning: doubt, assertion, suggestion, despair, scorn, contempt and the like.

Rhetorical questions are often employed in oratory and public speeches. They make the ideas prominent and arouse emotional response in the audience. In literary works they become bright examples that characterize personages or the author himself.

Interrogative sentences are also built on emphatic patterns. In this case they include such words as whatsoever, whoever, whenever, wherever and the like which are based on the idea of exaggeration.

Dialogical speech is often characterized by interrogative sentences with direct word order. Such sentences are signs of the common, known situation of communication. They are not aimed at obtaining the information. It is rather a signal of typical everyday speech based on the assurance, achieved decision, result, some kind of clear actions. For example, “We are going on holiday on Monday?” – “Yes, darling. Wake me at 6.”

Another type of sentences that are widely used is imperative ones. They suggest a variety of meanings: orders and instructions, advice and warnings, appeals and explanations, invitations and requests. But all of them are characterized by one and the same peculiarity – practically always the imperative sentences presuppose the presence of an interlocutor. That is why they are mainly used either in dialogues or in the inner speech of the characters. Sometimes imperative sentences are employed by the author for the direct address to the reader. Very often imperative sentences are accompanied by parenthesis or different types of addresses. These structures help to learn the type of relations between the characters, the type of the situation of communication. For example, “But suppose for a moment that the automobile industry had developed at the same rate as computers.” The sentence presents a kind of explanation which is expressed in the form of an address to the reader or to the listener. The use of the Past Perfect tense refers the sentence to the unreal condition describing the contradiction to the real state of things. “Let” very often serves as an indicator of the imperative sentences denoting formal English especially when expressing a wish. For example, “Let the best man or woman win.”

Imperative sentences can also serve as indicators of the dynamic development of the plot of the story as the main function of the imperative mood is to offer to do something. For example, “But suppose it (the law) passed; suppose one of these men, as I have seen them, - meagre with famine, sullen with despair, careless of a life which your Lordships are perhaps about to value at something less than the price of a stocking-frame: - suppose this man surrounded by the children for whom he is unable to procure bread at the hazard of his existence, about to be torn for ever from a family which he lately supported in peaceful industry, and which it is not his fault that he can no longer support; - suppose this man, and there are ten thousand such from whom you may select your victims, dragged into court, to be tried for this new offence, by this new law; still there are two things wanting to convict and condemn him; and these are, in my opinion, - twelve butchers for a jury, and a Jeffreys for a judge!” (Byron)

Another important structure for the creation of a certain mood of the story is a negative one. Negative sentences indicate the opposite of something or the absence of something. They are formed with the help of the negation “not” or the so called negative words like “never, nobody, none, nowhere, neither”, etc. Emphatic negative sentences contain axillaries in their declarative form. For example, “Never did I meet him again.” This is the way to make sentences sound more resolute than those without an auxillary. The same effect is achieved when such words as “at all, whatsoever, ever, in the least, in the slightest” are used. In this case the emphasis is based on the exaggeration. For example, “I don't really envy you in the slightest.”

Another way of making a statement negative is to use a broad negative. Broad negatives are adverbs like “rarely, hardly scarcely, barely, seldom,” etc. Instead of using a broad negative a synonymic structure with the word “almost” and the negative words “no” or “never” can be employed. For example, “There was almost no food left” means the same as “There was hardly any food left.” The variety of negative structures help to avoid monotony of the narration and bring different aspects of the things described to the surface. Thus, the sentence “Seldom has society offered so wide a range of leisure time activities” is more positive in its meaning than negative showing the increase in possibilities of the society.

Negative statements can be formed on the morphological level with the help of negative affixes. For example, “The footpath was invisible” or “I dislike change of any kind.” Such cases are usually referred to as lexical negations. But the combination of lexical and grammatical negative means within one sentence makes it sound positive. For example, “He was no coward.” The positive estimation of the thing mentioned is nevertheless somewhat diminished as compared with the straightforward assertion. “No coward” is weaker than the affirmative “a brave man”. But the negative construction has a greater impact on the reader because of the connotation it possesses. It is not a pure negation, but a negation that includes affirmation. Such constructions are called litotes.

A variant of litotes is a construction with two negations, as in “not unlike, not unpromising, not displeased, not for nothing” and the like in which two negatives make a positive. Thus in the sentence – “Soames, with his lips and his squared chin was not unlike a bull dog” (Galsworthy), the litotes may be interpreted as somewhat resembling. In spite of the fact that such constructions make the assertion more logically apparent, they lack precision. They may truly be regarded as understatements, whereas those that have only one negative are much more categorical in stating the positive quality of a person or thing.

Quite a number of syntactic structures are used in the conversation. Besides the common patterns which can be called not contradicting to the norm of the language there are sentences which are mainly used in the spoken variety and are usually called colloquial constructions. Here belong elliptical sentences. These are ones that do not contain either subject or predicate because the topic of the conversation is known o both the speakers and it is not required to repeat the information twice. For example, “What are you thinking about?” – “About the future.” Such sentences are characteristic of the natural speech but hardly ever found in descriptions. They indicate the customary way of people's verbal interaction.

Another natural feature of the spoken language is a break-in-the-narrative. In the spoken variety of the language, a break in the narrative is usually caused by unwillingness to proceed; or by the supposition that what remains to be said can be understood by the implication embodied in what has been said; or by uncertainty as to what should be said.

In the written variety of the language the break in the narrative is marked by a dash or three dots. Such sentences require definite intonation while in real life they can be accompanied by a gesture. A break-in-the-narrative is highly predictable and is ensured by the structure of the sentence. Usually these are complex sentences, especially conditionals. For example, “If you continue tour intemperate way of living, in six months' time …”

A break-in-the-narrative offers a number of variants in deciphering the implication which can be that of threat, alternative, failure, and the like. For example, “You just come home or I'll …” or “Good intentions but –''A break-in-the-narrative conveys to the reader a very strong upsurge of emotions. The idea is that the speaker cannot proceed, his feelings depriving him of the ability to express himself in terms of the language.

Various types of sentences are used in any literary work. But it is always the matter of the prevailing type of the syntactic structures. As the sentence is a unity of speech it characterizes the literary work from the point of view of the atmosphere, the dynamity of the development of the plot, different types of speech such as the author's narration, the speech of the characters, the inner speech, the monologue or the dialogue. It is obvious that syntactic characteristics of a literary work help to create images that can be described through the speech. Traditional, corresponding to the grammatical norm sentences can be called neutral and convey the least information. Grammatically correct emphatic structures describe the characters of a literary work as having feelings and emotions which reveal their attitude towards the matters presented. Any deviations from the traditional grammar rules show a wide range of meanings and possible interpretations on the side of the reader. But mainly it is the deviations that make the characters and literary works unforgettable.