Transposition of sentence meaning (rhetoric questions).

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 4494.

Change of word-order (inversion, detachment of sentence members).

Extension of the sentence model (repetition, enumeration, tautology, polysyndeton, parallelism, chiasmus).

Reduction of the sentence model (ellipsis, nominative sentences, aposiopesis, asyndeton, parceling).

SYNTACTIC STYLISTIC DEVICES

Lecture 8.

Of all the elements necessary to make an utterance meaning full and expressive a most powerful one is syntax. Syntax is the main conductor of emotions in the written type of language. Any change of the form will inevitably cause a slight modification of meaning.

Syntactical S.D. are based on the syntactical arrangement of the elements of a sentence or of a larger unit, on the peculiar use of the lexical meanings of syntactical patterns, and on the particular ways of combining parts of the utterance.

1. Reduction of the sentence model (ellipsis, nominative sentences, aposiopesis, asyndeton, parceling).

Ellipsis is such a syntactic structure in which there is a deliberate omission of one or more words in the sentence for some stylistic purposes, i.e. there is no subject, or predicate, or both. The main parts of elliptical sentences are omitted by the speaker intentionally in cases when they are semantically redundant. To make the sentence grammatically complete the words are to be supplied. Ellipsis saves the speaker from needless ef­fort, spares his time, reduces redundancy of speech:

- Where did you go?

- To the disco.

- Hullo! Who are you?

- The staff.

- Where are the others?

- At the front.

Вгорі - темне непривітне небо, долі - холодна мокра земля, і більш нічого.

Скільки тобі вчитися в училищі? - Два роки.

It is a typical feature of the spoken language so in direct intercourse elliptical sentences can not be viewed as stylistic devices. But in the written language, in literature, they are used as a means of imitating real speech to achieve some stylistic effect. Ellipsis makes speech dynamic, informative and unofficial.

E.g., Then suddenly he was struck violently. By nothing! (H.Wells. The Invisible Man).

Ellipses helps the author to convey the emotional state of his narrator, to reveal such speakers' emotions as excitement, impatience, delight, etc. As a stylistic device, ellipsis is an effective means of protagonists' portrayal.

Note. It is essential to differentiate between elliptical sentences and one-member structures. The problem is that they may look completely homonymous out of context. For example, the isolated sentence "Dark night" can be treated both as one-member (non-elliptical) or two-member elliptical structure. What is what becomes clear only in speech. If a text begins with the sequence of sentences "Dark night. Strong wind. Loneliness", they are obviously one-member, having neither subject nor predicate. But if the implied subject and predicate can be easily and unambiguously restored in context, we deal with a two-member elliptical sentence. Thus, the sentence "At the front" of the above given example is two-member, elliptical, and extended, its subject they and its predicate are being implied.

A nominative (nominal) sentence is a variant of one-member structures: it has neither subject nor predicate. It is called nominative or nominal because its basic (head) component is a noun or a noun-like element (gerund, numeral).

There are such structural types of nominative sentences as:

1. Unextended nominative sentences consisting of a single element:

Morning. April. Problems.

2. Extended nominative sentences consisting of the basic component and one or more words modifying it, e.g., Nice morning. Late April. Horribly great problems.

3. Multicomponent nominative sentences containing two or more basic elements, e.g.,

Late April and horribly great problems.

Далина. Далечінь. Світлодаль... У мандрівку збирається молодь.

A sequence of nominative sentences makes for dynamic description of events. Sets of nominative sentences are used to expressively depict the time of the action, the place of the action, the atten­dant circumstances of the action, the participants of the action.

Aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative), like ellipsis, is also realized through incompleteness of sentence structure, though this incompleteness is of different structural and semantic nature: it appears when the speaker is unwilling to proceed and breaks off his narration abruptly:

Asyndeton is a deliberate omission of structurally significant conjunctions and connectives in an utterance, with pauses between the units being marked by graphical means. This stylistic device helps the author to make each word or phrase sound independent and significant.

The sun sank into grey clouds, the sky flashed and darkened, the evening star trembled into sight. (H.Wells).

John couldn't have done such a silly thing, he is enough clever for that. Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins.

Механізм справді був простий, зручний, корисний.

Пан директор сміється, сміється сонце, сміюсь і я.

Asyndeton creates a certain rhythm and balance of the utterance and gives the impression of an organized activity. Asyndeton makes speech dynamic and expressive. Sometimes it implies the speaker's haste, nervousness and impatience.

Parceling is intentional splitting of sentences into smaller parts separated by full stops: Oswald hates Rolf. Very much.

Sally found Dick. Yesterday. In the pub.

І слухає мій сум природа. Люба. Щира. Крізь плач. Крізь сміх.

Крізь листя дерев і контури хат виднілися далекі обриси поля.

Зеленого, соковитого.

Parceling is typical of spontaneous speech, where the function of dots is performed by pauses. In speech parceling may be non-stylistic, when it is just the result of the specific psychological process of forming and verbalizing human thoughts.

When used in writing, parceling performs the following functions:

1. It reflects the atmosphere of unofficial communication and spontane­ous character of speech.

2. It reflects the speaker's inner state of mind, his emotions, such as nervousness, irritation, excitement, confusion, perplexity, etc.

3. It may serve as a means of making information more concrete and more detailed.

2. Extending of the sentence model (repetition, enumeration, tautology, polysyndeton, parallelism, chiasmus)

Stylistic repetition of language units in speech (separate words, word-combinations or sentences) is one of the most frequent and potent stylistic devices. As an expressive language means, repetition serves to emphasize the state of a personage overcome by strong emotions. As a stylistic device it is used to lay logical emphasis and draw the reader's attention to something very important in the utterance. E.g., I wake up and I'm alone; I walk round and I'm alone; and I talk with people and I'm alone. There are such structural types of repetition as:

1. Consecutive contact repetition of sentence parts and separate sentences:

( ordinary) aa …, a …; a, … aaa

І am weary, weary, weary of the whole thing!

Never take the rifle again. Put it back! put it back! Put it back!

Голова на солому хилиться, хилиться, хилиться.

2. Anaphora. The repeated word or word-combination is at the beginning of each consecutive syntactic structure: a …., a …., a ….,

Victory is what we need. Victory is what we expect.

Щастя не вміщалося у серці, щастя розривало груди!

3. Epiphora. The repeated unit is placed at the end of each consecutive syntactic structure ….. a, …. a, …. a,

It is natural to be scared in a case like that. You are sure to be petrified in a case like that.

Вона хотіла жити! Повинна була жити!

Якби це було просто щастя, то це було б просто щастя.

4. Framing. The initial part of a language unit is repeated at the end of this unit a….. a, b …..b,

Poor Mary. How much Jack loved her! What will he do now? I wish it hadn't happened. Poor Mary.

Боже, яка мука стояти отак на роздоріжжі й не знати, куди йти!

Що робити, що чинити?.. Боже!..

5. Linking or reduplication (chain repititipn). The final component of a syntactic structure is repeated at the beginning of a sequential syntactic structure: … a, a …. b, b …….. c, c ……d,

It was because of that dreadful occurrence. That dreadful occurrence had changed it all.

Семен шубовснув у воду, і вода широкими кружками побігла від нього назустріч хвилям.

Повсюди він відчував на собі тяжкий холодний погляд. Погляд у спину.

The device of repetition aims at emphasizing a certain component of the utterance. Being repeated, a language unit obtains additional stylistic information, it is capable of rendering scores of modal meanings and human emotions: certainty, doubt, delight, impatience, worry, request, invitation, gratefulness, horror, irritation, disgust, hate, fury, indignation, and others.

Such varieties of repetition as anaphora, epiphora, framing, linking are text-forming devices or compositional means.

Enumeration is a syntactic device of naming objects so that there appears a chain of homogeneous parts of the sentence:

Tautology. The speaker resorts to the repetition and enumeration of the type described above quite intentionally and consciously. However, repetition may be of unintentional, involuntary or tautological nature.

Tautological repetition may be caused by the following reasons:

1. The speaker's excitement, fright, scare, petrification, grief and other deep emotions:

Darling, darling Bundle. Oh, darling Bundle. She's dead; I know she's dead. Oh, my darling. Bundle darling, darling Bundle. I do love you so. Bundle -darling - darling...

2. Slipsho'd organization of the utterance, low cultural level of the speaker:

No one could do the job more better.

I ain't got no cigarettes from nobody.

The name of my informant... the name of my informant... the name of... the name. The name escapes me.

3. Peculiar physical condition of the speaker: alcoholic intoxication, drowsiness, unconsciousness, etc.:

"I did... what you said..." Dun gasped, closing his eyes and squeezing the words out in painful jerks. "It was too late... Give me something, Doc... Give me something, quickly.... Got to hold out... get us down... She's on autopilot but... got to get down... Must tell Control... must tell..." His mouth moved silently. With a desperate effort he tried to speak. Then his eyes rolled up and he collapsed.

Мені болить голова... Я хочу трохи спочити... трохи спочити. От іменно... спочити б трохи...

Generally speaking, involuntary repetition has little to do with stylistics. It becomes stylistically significant when used in writing as a characterization device.

Polysyndeton is stylistically motivated redundant repetition of conjunctions or prepositions. It is a connection of sentences, phrases or words by means of the same connective word, repeated before each unit, e.g.,

And in the sky the stars are met,

And on the wave is deeper blue

And on the leaf a browner hue,

And in the heaven that clear obscure. (Byron. Twilight)

The repetition of conjunctions always creates a certain rhythm and is especially resorted to in poetry. It gives an impression of bustling activity.

The dog barked and pulled Jack, and growled, and raged.

Polysyndeton is a means of rhythmical organization of the utterance. Due to this quality it is widely used in poetry. It also makes for underlining the most important part of information.

He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife.

First the front, then the back, then the sides, then the superscription, then the seal, were objects of Newman's admiration.

Я бачив, як зірниця впала, Як на снігу вона палала, Як сніг, біліший від лілеї, Вночі іскрився біля неї.

Запальна штука - спорт. Вона захоплює і малого, і старого, і немічного.

Parallelism is a stylistic device of producing two or more syntactic structures according to the same syntactic pattern. Parallelism consists in the similarity of the syntactical structure of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. Most often it can be observed in the macro-structure, such as the syntactical whole and the paragraph. Complete parallelism (or balance) is observed in cases when the structure of the successive unit fully copies the preceding one. Balance is especially peculiar to poetry.

E.g., The warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing, the bare boughs are sighing, the pale flowers are dying. (Shelley. Autumn)

Mary cooked dinner, John watched TV, Pete played tennis.

Parallel constructions is a means of enumerating facts, comparing them or confronting them. Parallel confrontation of facts may result in another stylistic device - antithesis:

Married men have wives, and don't seem to want them.

Single fellows have no wives, and do itch to obtain them.

Syntactic parallelism is polyfunctional. It creates rhythm and is typical of poetry. It makes speech persuasive and is a feature of the publicistic and oratory styles. It underlines important information and is widely used in everyday speech.

The cock is crowing,

The stream is flowing,

The small birds twitter,

The lake doth glitter.

Our senses perceive no extremes. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view.

Сядеш собі: вітер віє, сонце гріє, картоплиння навіває думки.

Гуде ярмарок... Бігають коні, кричать крамарі, регочуться дівчата, крутиться карусель...

Chiasmus (or reverted parallelism) is a variant of parallel construction. Two similarly built sentences assume a peculiar pattern – the word order of the first sentence is inverted in the second. Chiasmus, as a rule, emphasizes the second part of the utterance due to the sudden pause before it caused by the unexpected change of word order; all this results in the reader's deeper penetration into the meaning of the words.

E.g., In old days, men made the manners, Manners now make men. (Byron)

In such syntactic struc­tures there is a cross order of repeated language units:

The jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail.

Люди існують в часі, а час існує в людях.

Не говори, що знаєш, а знай, що говориш.

3. Change of word order (inversion, detachment of sentence members)

Inversion is the syntactic phenomenon of intentional changing word-order of the initial sentence model. The English language has developed a fixed word order to show the syntactical functions of words in the sentence. It is subject-predicate relations. Any violation of the traditional word-order which does not alter the meaning of the sentence but adds logical stress and emotional colouring to the utterance is regarded as stylistic inversion.

E.g., Happy and merry was the time.

Women are not made for attack. Wait they must.

There are two basically different types of inversion: grammatical and stylistic. Grammatical inversionis devoid of stylistic information. It is just a technical means of forming different types of questions. Stylistic inversionis such a change of word-order which gives logical stress or emotional colouring to the language units placed in an unusual syntactic position. Stylistic inversion is typical of the predicate, predicative and all the secondary parts of the sentence:

In came Jack. (predicate)

Insolent Connor's conduct was. (predicative)

Little chances Benny had. (direct object)

To her family Martha gives all her time. (indirect object)

A horrible death Douglas died. (cognate object)

This is a letter congratulatory. (attribute)

To the disco Hilda went. (adverbial modifier)

In the Russian and Ukrainian languages the word order of a sentence is flexible, and inversion as an expressive means is supported with a spec­ifying intonation:

- Очевидно, Федір ніде не працює.

- Працює він. Тільки вдома ложкою.

Самотності не зносила ріка.

Detachment. When placed in a certain syntactic position, a sentence component may seem formally independent of the word it refers to. Such compo­nents of sentence structure are called "detached":

There was a nice girl there, I liked her name, Linda.

Brian came into the room, very much flushed and rather unsteady in his gait.

. Any secondary part of the sentence may become detached:

It was indeed, to Forsyte eyes, an odd house. (indirect object)

Gordon was stubbornly crawling to the place of his destination inch by inch - like a caterpillar. (adverbial modifier).

Detachment results in logical emphasis of the components of sentence structure.

Сади, омиті музикою згадок, ковтають пил міжселищних доріг. (attribute)

Там, за небокраєм, там, за горою — ти на синім морозі гориш. (adverbial modifier)

Вже почалось, мабуть, майбутнє. Оце, либонь, вже почалось... (parenthetic modal words)

4. Transposition of sentence meaning (rhetoric questions)

Rhetoric questions and other cases of syntactic transposition. Contextual environment of a language unit may change its initial meaning. A typical case of contextual transposition of meaning is rhetoric questions. It is syntactical SD which presents a statement in the form of a question, though requiring no answer. The answer may be supplied or left for the reader to infer.

E.g., Have I no reason to lament? What man has made of man?

In fact, rhetoric questions are not questions but affirmative or neg­ative statements put into the interrogative shape. A rhetoric question needs no answer, because the answer to it is quite obvious. Rhetorical questions are an indispensable element of publicistic style. The make the audience thinking about the subject and produce dramatic effect: