Stylistic function of set expressions.
Phraseological units, such as proverbs and sayings, as well as various kinds of allusions may be used for stylistic purpose. A proverb is a brief, witty phrase of generalizing nature characterized by the completeness of the thought and generally expressing the wisdom of the people, e.g. He laughs best who laughs last. A saying is a common phrase differing from a proverb in that the thought is not completely expressed, e.g. to kill two birds with one stone.
Proverbs and sayings are mostly used by writers in the direct speech of characters to individualize their speech, and also as laconic, expressive and emotional ready-made phrases, they are often used both in the speech of characters and the author’s narrative to clarify and conform the thought. Epigrams are brief witty phrases resembling proverbs but created by men of letters. They are rhythmically arranged, sometimes rhymed and alliterated. Their aim is to convey some generalized idea in a laconic and expressive form. Allusion is reference to well-known historical, literary or mythological sources. The stylistic effect of an allusion can be achieved only if the facts and personages alluded to are well known to the reader. Idioms. An idiom is a fixed phrase which is only meaningful as a whole. Idioms very often contain metaphors, but not always. E.g. How do you do is an idiomatic greeting but it is not a metaphor. Idioms are not always used or recognized by the whole of the language community. Lexical stylistic devices are also classified according to the degree of originality into trite and genuine. Genuine devices are original, full of imagery. Trite devices are ready-made, fixed in dictionaries clichés. A cliche is generally defined as an expression that has become hackneyed and trite. Cliche is a kind of stable word combination which has become familiar and which has been accepted as a unit of a language, e. g. rosy dreams of youth, growing awareness. Quotation is a phrase or sentence taken from a work of literature or other piece of writing and repeated in order to prove a point or support an idea. They are marked graphically: by inverted commas: dashes, italics.
The substyle of poetry.
The purpose of the bell-letters style is not to prove but only to suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life by forcing the reader to see the viewpoint of the writer. Besides informative and persuasive functions, also found in other functional styles, the b-l style has a unique task to impress the reader aesthetically. Linguistic features: 1. genuine imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices; 2. the use of words in contextual and in more than one dictionary meaning; 3. a vocabulary which reflects the author’s personal evaluation of things; 4. a peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax; 5. the introduction of the typical features of colloquial language.
Language of poetry (substyle of poetry).Verse is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. As a SD rhythm is a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and its variations governed by the standard. Both the syntactical and semantic aspects of the poetic substyle are held in check by rhythmic patterns. Syntactically this brevity is shown in elliptical and fragmentary sentences, in detached constructions, in inversion, asyndeton and other syntactical peculiarities.Rhythm and rhyme are distinguishable properties. The most important is the power of the words used in poetry to express more than they usually signify in ordinary language.
Antithesis
Antithesis (from Greek anti 'against'; thesis 'statement') is a SD based on the author's desire to stress certain qualities of the thing by appointing it to another thing possessing antagonistic features. They speak like saints and act like devils.
Antithesis is a stylistic device presenting two contrasting ideas in a close neighborhood. The phenomena opposed to one another can be pictured in an extended way. Or else the contradictory ideas may intermingle, thus creating the effect of not only the contrast, but also of the close unity of the contrasting features. The smell of life and richness, of death and digestion, of decay and birth, burden the air.
16. Newspaper headlines.
The headline. The headline is the title given to a news item of a newspaper article. The main function is to inform the reader briefly of what the news that follows is about.“The function of headlining is complex: headlines have to contain a clear, succinct and if possible intriguing message, to kindle a spark interest in the potential reader, who, on average, is a person whose eye moves swiftly down a page and stops when something catches his attention; and the chief means of producing ‘eye-catching’ effects is by making use of the full range of graphetic contrasts” (Crystal, Davy).
The main features of the English newspaper headlines can be briefly characterized according to the following points:
1. As the headlines are the most condense pieces of information, they should bring maximum of information on minimum space. This can be realized by using of special headline vocabulary (ban, bid, crack, cut, dash, hit, move). This vocabulary consists of short, monosyllabic and polysemic words with universal character. 2. Sometimes even the slang words are accepted. 3. Abbreviated words, nominal constructions and abbreviations are often used. 4. Although numbers are very common in the headlines, once can hardly find two numbers in one headline. 5. The use of punctuation symbols (quotation marks, hyphens, colons, dashes, etc.) 6. Omissions of articles and auxiliaries are very frequent. 7. Finite verb forms are frequently omitted. 8. Replacements of periphrastic verbal forms, such as those of continuous tenses or of the present, etc. by the historical present tense or by some nominal form derived from the verbal basis are common. 9 .Frequent use of gerunds and infinitives makes the text more condense. 10. Nominal/condensed constructions are very frequent. 11. Headlines often contain alliteration or puns. 12. Long words are replaced by the short ones which sound more dramatic. 13. The use of the graphetic contrasts is very common to produce ‘eye-catching’ effects.
Oratory and essay
Publicistic style has spoken varieties, in particular, the oratorical substyle. The new spoken varieties are the radio commentary, the essay and articles. The general aim of publicistic style is to exert a constant and deep influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essays or article. Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, PS has features in common with the style of SP and that of emotive prose. Subdivision: 1. Oratory and speeches. Oratorical style is the oral subdivision of the PS. Direct contact with the listeners permits the combination of the syntactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language. Certain typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in this style are: direct address to the audience (ladies and gentlemen, honorable member(s), the use of the 2nd person pronoun you, etc.), sometimes contractions (I’ll, won’t) and the use of colloquial words. Repetition, parallel constructions, antithesis, suspense, climax, rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative; 2. The essay. The essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social, aesthetic or literary subjects. Personality in the treatment of theme and naturalness of expression are 2 of the most obvious characteristics of the essay. An essay is rather a series of comments than a conclusive argument. Feature articles are generally published in newspapers, especially weeklies and Sunday editions. In comparison with oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting, hence at a slower effect. 3. Articles. Irrespective of the character of the magazine and the divergence of subject matter – whether it is political, literary, popular-scientific or satirical, all the features of publistic style are to be found in any article. The character of the magazine as well as the subject chosen affects the choice and use of stylistic devices.
The language (L) of drama
The belles-lettres FS has the following substyles: a) the L style of poetry; b) the L style of emotive prose; c) the L style of drama; The purpose is not to prove but only to suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life by forcing the reader to see the viewpoint of the writer. Besides informative and persuasive functions, also found in other functional styles, the b-l style has a unique task to impress the reader aesthetically. Linguistic features: 1. genuine imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices. 2. the use of words in contextual and in more than one dictionary meaning. 3. a vocabulary which reflects the author’s personal evaluation of things. 4. a peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax. 5. the introduction of the typical features of colloquial L.
L of the drama. The L of plays is entirely dialogue. The author’s speech is almost entirely excluded, except for the playwright’s remarks and stage directions.Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure and the L of plays is of the type which is meant to be reproduced. But the L of the characters is in no way the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial L, although the playwright seeks to reproduce actual conversation as far as the norms of the written L will allow. It follows then that the L of plays is always stylized with the use of non-literary forms and expressions. The stylization of colloquial L is one of the features of plays 'which at different stages in the history of English drama has manifested itself in different ways revealing. Further, in plays the characters' utterances are generally much longer than in ordinary conversation.
Transposition in pronouns
Transposition is a transition from one part of speech into another or the formation of words with the help of suffixes: But me no buts. Transposition in ST means the unusual usage of grammatical categories: She has hates, wants, likes & dislikes. 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).
Pronoun: It’s frequent when pronoun you is used in imperative sentences (Don’r you worry, Miss.). The pronoun we is used to show modesty, playfulness (How are we feeling today?). In scientific prose we is used to show that the author respects all the previous knowledge he has used or to express modesty (We came to a conclusion that...). The pronoun that can used to show disarrangement (neglect): that nurse of hers, that husband of hers.