Of several neighbouring sentences

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1222.

SD based on the formal and semantic interactions of syntactical constructions

SYNTACTICAL STYLISTIC DEVICES

PARALLELISM – Constructions formed by the same syntactical pattern closely following one another are called parallel. Parallelism may be complete and partial. Complete parallelism is observed when the construction of the second sentence fully copies that of the first one.

e.g. I told him you were sick

I told him you were asleep. (W. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night).

Parallelism is considered to be partial when only the beginning or the end of several sentences are structurally similar.

e.g. If we are Frenchmen we adore our mother, if Englishmen, we love dogs and virtue. (J.K. Jerome. Three Men in a Boat).

CHIASMUS – is reversed parallelism. In the pattern consisting of two sentences, the second necessarily repeating the structure of the first, only in a reversed manner, so that the general formula of chiasmus may be fixed as follows: S P 0 – 0 P S.

e.g. He stared at me, and I stared at him... (A. Sillitoe. A Start in Life).

The main stylistic function of chiasmus is to lay stress on the second part of the utterance, to break the monotony of parallel constructions.

e.g. It was a shock to me that while I observed Thompson, Thompson observed me.(V. Pritchett. The Sailor).

ANAPHORA – is the repetition of the first word or group of words of several succeeding sentences or clauses.

e.g. He knew his decision was already taken. He knew that it was surrender. He knew that he would slip from her. (Ch. Snow. Time of Hope).

The stylistic function of anaphora is to stress some fact, to impose it on the reader's mind by continuous repetition. At the same time anaphora serves for creating phonetic stylistic effects. It creates a certain rhythm of narration, making it closer to poetry.

EPIPHORA – is the repetition of the final words or group of words in succeeding sentences or clauses.

e.g. Major Thrope was mortally wounded and his runner killed; Hume and runner were killed; Franklin was wounded; Remberton was killed; Sergeant Perkins was killed; the stretcher-bearers were killed. Men seemed to drop away continually. (R. Aldington. Death of a Hero).

Epiphora is an important means of rhythmical organization of speech, typical of poetry. The second function of epiphora is to serve the logical emphasis of the utterance.