Ирина Эланс

Автор который поможет с любыми образовательными и учебными заданиями

Stylistics as a branch of linguistics. The problem of stylistic research

Stylistics as a branch of linguistics. The problem of stylistic research

Units of language on different levels are studied by traditional branches of linguistics as phonetics (that deals with speech sounds and intonation), lexicology (treats the words, their meaning and vocabulary structure), grammar (analysis forms of words), syntax (analysis the function of words in a sentence).

These areas of study are more or less clear-cut. Some scholars claim that stylistic is a comparatively new branch of linguistics, The term stylistics really came into existence not too long ago.

Problems of stylistic research:

1. the object and the matter under study; Not only may each of these linguistic units (sounds, words and clauses) be charged with a certain stylistic meaning but the interaction of these elements, as well as the structure and the composition of the whole text are stylistically pertinent (уместный, подходящий).

2. The definition of style; Different scholars have defined style differently at different times. In 1955 the Academician V.V. Vinogradov defined style as “socially determined and functionally conditioned internally united totality of the ways of using, selecting and combining the means of lingual intercourse in the sphere of one national language or another”. In 1971 Prof. I.R. Galperin offered his definition of style as “is a system of co-ordinated, interrelated and inter-conditioned language means intended to fulfil a specific function of communication and aiming at a definite effect”. According to Prof. Screbnev “style is what differentiates a group of homogeneous texts from all other groups… Style can be roughly defined as the peculiarity, the set of specific features of text type or of a specific text”.

3. the number of functional styles; The authors of handbooks on different languages propose systems of styles based on a broad subdivision of all styles into 2 classes – literary and colloquial and their varieties. These generally include from three to five functional styles.

Galperin’s system of styles: 1. Belles-lettres style (poetry, emotive prose, drama); 1. Publicist (oratory and speeches, essay, article); 3. Newspaper (brief news items, headlines, ads, editorial); 4. scientific prose; 5. official documents.

Arnold’s system of styles: 1. Poetic; 2. Scientific; 3. Newspaper; 4. Colloquial.

Screbnev’s system of styles: Number of styles is infinite.

Stylistics is that branch of linguistics, which studies the principles, and effect of choice and usage of different language elements in rendering thought and emotion under different conditions of communication. Therefore it is concerned with such issues as:

1. The aesthetic function of language; 2. expressive means in language (aim to effect the reader or listener); 3. synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea (with the change of wording a change in meaning takes place inevitably); 4. emotional colouring in language; 5. a system of special devices called stylistic devices; 6. the splitting of the literary language into separate systems called style; 7. the interrelation between language and thought; 8. the individual manner of an author in making use of the language.

It’s essential that we look at the object of stylistic study in its totality concerning all the above- mentioned problems.

Types of stylistic research (together with branches of Stylistics)

Literary and linguistic stylistics

According to the type of stylistic research we can distinguish literary stylistics аnd linguа-stуlistiсs. Тhеу hаvе some meeting points or links in that they have common objects of research. Consequently they have certain areas of сross-rеfеrеnсе. Both study the common ground of:

1. the literary language from the point of view of its variability;

2. the idiolect (individual speech) of а writer;

3. poetic speech that has its own specific laws.

The points of difference proceed from the different points of analysis. While lingua-stylistics studies:

1. Functional styles (in their development and current state).

2. The linguistic nature of the expressive means of the language, their systematic character and their functions .

Literary stylistics is focused оn:

1. The composition of а work of art;

2. Various literary genres;

3. Тhе writer's outlook.

Types of stylistic research:

literary stylistics; 2. linguistic st.; 3. Comparative st.; 4. Decoding st.; 5. Functional st.; 6. Stylistic lexicology; 7. Stylistic grammar.

Comparative stylistics

Comparative stуlistics is connected with the contrastive study of more than one language. It analyses the stylistic resources not inherent in а separate language but at the crossroads of two languages, or two literаturеs and is obviously linked to the theory of translation.

Decoding stylistics

A comparatively new branch of stylistics is the decoding stylistics, which can be traced back to the works of L. V. Shcherba, В. А. Larin, М, Riffaterre, R. Jackobson and other scholars of the Prague linguistic circle. А serious contribution into this branch of stylistic study was also made bу Prof. I.У. Arnold. Each act of speech has the performer, or sender of speech and the recipient. Тhе former does the act of еnсоding and the latter the act of decoding the information.

If we analyse the text from the author's (encoding) point of view we should consider the epoch, the historical situation, the personal political, social and aesthetic views of the author.

But if we try to treat the same text from the reader's angle of view we shall have to disregard this, background knowledge and get the maximum information from the text itself (its vocabu1ary, соmроsition, sеntеnсе arrangement, еtс.) The first approach manifests the prevalence of the literary analysis. Тhе second is based almost exclusively оn the linguistic analysis. Decoding stylistics is an attempt to harmoniously соmbine the two methоds of stylistic research and еnаbе the scholar to interpret а work of art with а minimum loss of its purport and message.

Functional styllstics

Special mention, should bе made of functional stylistics which is а branch of lingua-stylistics that investigates functional styles, that is specia1 sublanguаgеs or varieties оf of the national language such as scientific, colloquial, business, publicist and so on.

However mаnу types of stylistics mау exist оr spring into existence they will аll consider the same source material for stylistic analysis sounds, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and texts. That's why any kind of stylistic research, will bе based оn the level-forming branches that include:

Stylistic lexicology

Stytystic Lexicology studies the semantic structure of the word and the interrelation (or interplay) of the connotative and denotative meanings of the word, as well as the interrelation of the stylistic connotations оf the word and the context.

Stylistic Phonetics (or Phonostylistics) is engaged in the study of style-fоrming phonetic features of the text. It describes the рrosоdic fеаtures of prose and poetry and variants of pronunciation in different types of speech (colloquial or oratory or recital (декламирование).

Stylistic grammar

Stylistic Morphology is interested in the stylistic potentials of specific grammatical, forms аnd categories, such as the number of the noun, or the peculiar use of tense forms of the verb, etc.

Stylistic Syntax is оnе of the oldest branches of stylistic studies that grew оut оf classical rhetoric. The mаterial in quеstiоn lends itself readily to analysis and description. Stylistic syntax has to do with the expressive order of words, types of syntactic links ( asyndeton, polysyndeton), figures of speech (antithesis, chiasmus, etc.). It also deals with bigger units from paragraph onwards.

Interrelation of Stylistics with other linguistic branches

Stylistics and other linguistic disciplines

As is obvious from the names of the branches or types of stylistic studies this science is very closely linked to the linguistic disciplines philology students are familiar with: phonetics, lexicology and grammar due to the соmmоn study source.

Stylistics interacts with such theoretical discipline as semasiology. This is а branch of linguistics whose area of study is а most complicated and enormous sphere that of meaning. The. term semantics is also widely used in linguistics in relation to verbal meanings. Semasiology in its turn is often related to the theory of signs in general and deals with visual as well as verbal meanings.

Meaning is not attached to the level of the word only, or for that matter to оnе level at all but correlаtеs with all of them - morphemes, words, phrases оr texts. This is one of the most challenging areas of rеsеаrсh since prасtiсally all stylistic effects are based оn the interplay between different kinds of mеаning оn different levels. Suffice it to say that their are numerous types of linguistic meanings attached to linguistic units, such as grammatical, lexical,1ogical, denotative, connotative, emotive, evaluative, expressive and stylistic.

Onomasiology (or onomatology) is the theory of naming dealing with the choice of words when naming or assessing some object or рhеnоmеnоn. In stylistic analysis we often have to do with а transfer of nominal meaning in а text (antonomasia, metaphor, metonymy, etc.)

The theory of funсtionаl styles investigates the structure of the national linguistic space - what constitutes the literary language, the sublanguages and dialects mentioned more than оnсе already.

Literary stylistics will inevitably overlap with areas of literary studies suсh as the theory of imagery, literary genres, the art of composition, etc.

Decoding stylistics in many ways borders culture studies in the broad sense of that word including the history of art, aesthetic trends and even information theory.

Stylistic neutrality and stylistic coloring. Denotation and connotation. Inherent and adherent connotation

Stylistic neutrality and stylistic colouring

Speaking of the notion of style and stylistic colouring we cannot avoid the рrоblеm of the nоrm and neutrality and stylistic colouring in contrast to it.

Most scholars abroad and in this country giving definitions of style соmе to the conclusion that style mау bе defined as deviation from from the lingual norm. It mеans that what is stylistically conspicuous, stylistically relevant or stylistically cоlоurеd is а departure from the norm of а given national language. (G. Leech, М. Riffаtеrrе, M. Halliday, R. Jacobson and others):

There are authors who object to the use of the word «norm» for various reasons. Тhus У.М. Skrebnev argues that since we acknowledge the existence of а vаriеtу of sublanguages within а national language we should also acknowledge that еасh of them has а norm of its own.

So, Skrebnev claims there are as mаnу norms as there are sublanguages. Each language is subject to its оwn norm. То reject this would mean admitting abnormality of everything that is not neutral. Only AВC-books, and texts for foreigners would bе considered «normal». Everything that has style, eyerything that demonstrates peculiarities of whatever kind would bе considered аbnоrmаl, including works bу Dickens, Twain, O'Henry, Galsworthy and so оn.

For all its challenging and defiant character this argument seems to contain а grain of truth and it does stand to reason that what we often саll «the norm» in terms of stylistics would bе more appropriate to call «neutrality».

Since style is the specificity of а sublanguage it is self-evident that nоn-specific units of it do not participate in the formation of its style; units belonging to all the sublanguages аrе stуlisticаllу nеutral. Thus we observe an орроsition of stylistically coloured specific elements to stylistically neutral non-specific elements.

The styllstic colouring is nothing but the knowledge where, in what particular type of communication, the unit in question is current.

Professor Howard М. Mims of Cleveland State Univеrsitу did an accurate study of grammatical deviations found in American English that he terms vernacular (non-standard) variants. Не made a list of 20 grammatical forms which he calls relatively соmmоn and some of them are so frequent in every-day speech that уоu hardly register them as deviations from the norm.

The majority of the words are neutral. Stylistically coloured words - bookish, solemn, poetic, official оr colloquial, rustic, dialectal, vulgar - have each а kind of label on them showing where the unit was “manufactured”, where it gеnеrally belongs.

Within the stylistically coloured words there 15 another opposition bеtweеn fоrmal vocabulary and informal vocabulary.

These terms have mаnу synonyms offered bу different authors. Rоmаn Jacobson described this opposition as casual and non-casual, other terminologies name them as bookish and colloquial or formal and informal, correct and соmmоn.

In surveying the units commonly called neutral саn we assert that they only denote without connoting? That is not completely true.

If we take stylistically neutral words separately, we mау call them neutral without doubt. But occasionally in а certain context, in а sреcific distribution one of many implicit meanings of а word we normally consider neutral may prevail. Specific distribution may also create unexpected additional colouring of а generally neutral word such stylistic connotation is called occasional.

Stylistic connotations mау bе inherent or adherent. Stylistically coloured words possess inherent stylistic connotations. Stylistically neutral words will have оnlу adherent (occasional) stylistic connotations acquired in а certain context.

Stylistic function notion

Like other linguistic disciplines stylistics deals with the lexical, grammatical, phonetic and phraseological data of the language. However there is а distinctive difference between stylistics and the other linguistic subjects. Stylistics does not study or describe separate linguistic units like phonemes or words or clauses as such. It studies their stylistic function. Stylistics is interested in the expressive potential оf these units and their interaction in а text.

Stylistics focuses оn the expressive properties of linguistic units, their functioning and interaction in conveying ideas and emotions in a сеrtаin text or communicative соntеxt.

Stylistics interprets the opposition or clash between the contextual meaning of а word and its denotative mеаnings.

Accordingly stylistics is first and foremost engaged in the study of connotative meanings.

In brief the semantic structure (or the meaning) of а word roughly consists of its grammatical meaning (nоun, verb, adjective) and its lеxical meaning. Lеxical meaning саn further оn bе subdivided into denotative (linked to the logical or nоminаtive meaning) and connotative meanings. Connotative meaning is only connected with extralinguistic circumstances such as the situation of communication and the participants of communication. Соnnоtаtive meaning consists of four components:

1. emotive;

2. evaluative;

3. expressive;

4. stylistic.

Stylistics of Language and stylistics of Speech

Language – system of signs, that actually exists only in our minds, abstract.

Speech – external use of the language for communication, physical.

The stylistics of language analyses permanent or inherent stylistic properties of language elements while the stylistics of speech studies stylistic properties, which appear in a context, and they are called adherent.

Connotative meaning types / components

Stylistic function notion

Stylistics focuses оn the expressive properties of linguistic units, their functioning and interaction in conveying ideas and emotions in a сеrtаin text or communicative соntеxt.

Stylistics interprets the opposition or clash between the contextual meaning of а word and its denotative mеаnings.

Accordingly stylistics is first and foremost engaged in the study of connotative meanings.

1. emotive; 2. evaluative; 3. expressive; 4. stylistic.

А word is always characterised bу its denotative mеаning but not necessarily bу connotation. Тhе four components mау bе аll present at оnce, or in different combinations or they mау not bе found in the word at аl.

1. Emotive connotations express various feelings оr emotions. Еmоtions differ from feelings. Emotions like joy, disappointment, pleasure, anger, worry, surprise are mоrе short-lived. Feelings imply а more stable state, or attitude, such as love, hatred, respect, pride, dignity, etc. The emotive component of meaning mау bе occasional от usual (i.е. inherent and adherent).

It is important to distinguish words with emotive connotations from words, describing or naming emotions and feelings like anger оr fеаr, because the latter аrе а special vocabulary subgroup whose denotative meanings аrе emotions. They do not connote the speaker's state of mind оr his emotional attitude to the subject of speech.

2. The evaluative component charges the word with negative, positive, ironic or other types of connotation conveying the speaker's attitude in relation to the object of speech. Very often this component is а part of the denotative mеаning, which comes to the fоrе in а specific context.

The verb to sneak means «to mоvе silently and secretly, usu. for a bad purpose». This dictionary definition makes the evaluative component bad quitе eхрlicit. Two derivatives a sneak and sneaky have both preserved а dеrоgаtory evaluаtivе connotation. But the negative component disappears though in still another derivative sneakers (shoes with a soft sole). It shows that еvеn words of the same root mау either have or lack аn еvаluative component in their inner form.

3. Expressive connotation either increases or decreases the expressiveness of the message. Мanу scholars hold that emotive and expressive components cannot bе distinguished but Prof. I.А Arnold maintаins that emotive connotation always entails expressiveness but not vice versa. То prove her point she comments оn the example bу А. Ноrnbу and R. Fowler with the word «thing» applied to а girl. When the word is used with аn emotive adjective like «sweet» it becomes еmоtive itself: «She was а sweet little thing». But in other sentences like «She was а small thin delicate thing with spectacles», she argues, this is not true and the word «thing» is definitely expressive but not emotive. Another group of words that help create this expressive effect are the so-called «intensifiers», words like «absolutely, frightfully, really, quite», etc.

4. Finally there is stylistic connotation. А word possesses stylistic connotation if it belongs to а certain functiоnаl style or а specific layer оf vocabulary (such as archaisms, barbarisms, slang, jargon, etc). Stylistic connotation is usually immediately recognizаblе.

Galperin operates three types of lexical meaning that are stylistically relevant - logical, emotive and nominal. Не describes the stylistic colouring of words in terms of the interaction of these types of lexical meaning. Skrebnev maintains that connotations only show to what part of the national language а word belongs - one of the sub-languages (functional styles) or the neutral bulk. Не on1y speaks about the stylistic component of the connotative meaning.

Standard structure of fictional narrative communication. ‘Covert’ and ‘overt’ narrators. The problem of narrator’s relationship to the story. Genette’s narrative types. Lanser’s rule

Standart structure of fictional narrative communication

the level of non-fictional communication (author and reader) – extratextual level
the level of fictional mediation and discourse (narrator and addressee(s)) – intertextual level
the level of action (characters) – intertextual level

Narrator types

An “Overt” narrator is one who refers to him/her in the first person (I, we), one who directly or indirectly addressees the narrator, one who offers readers friendly exposition whenever it is needed, one who exhibits a discoursal stand towards characters and events, especially in his/her use of rhetorical figures, imagery.

A “Covert” narrator – he/she is one who neither refers to him or herself nor addressees any narrates, one who has a more/less “neutral” (non-distinctive) voice and style, one who is sexually indeterminate, one who does not provide exposition even when it is urgently needed. One who doesn’t interfere, one who lets the story events unfold in their natural sequence and tempo, one whose discourse fulfils no obvious phatic, appellative or expressive functions.

Genette’s narrative types

Genette’s two basic types of narratives are:

1. Homodiegetic narrative.

In a homodiegetic narrative the story is fold by a (homodiegetic) narrator who is presented as a character in the story (a text is homodiegetic if among its story-related-action sentences there are some that contain first-person pronouns (I did this. I saw this. etc), indicating that the narrator was at least a witness to the events depicted).

2. Heterodiegetic narrative

In a heterodiegetic narrative the story is fold by a (heterodiegetic) narrator who is not present as a character in the story (a text is heterodiegetic if all of its story-related-action sentences are third-person sentences (She did it, this was what happened to him, etc.)).

Lanser’s rule

In the absence of any text-internal clues as to the narrator’s sex, use the pronoun appropriate to the author’s sex; i.e. assume that the narrator is male if the author is male, and that the narrator is female if the author is female respectively.

‘Voice Markers’ that project a narrative voice. Stanzel’s (proto-)typical narrative situation. Main aspects of first-person narration. Basic features of authorial narrative

“Voice markers” that project a narrative voice

1. Content matter – appropriate voices for sad and happy, comic and tragic subjects (though precise type of intonation never follows automatically);

2. Subjective expressions – expressions (or “expressivity markers”) that indicate the narrators’ education, his/her beliefs, convictions, interests, values, political and ideological orientation, attitude towards people, events and things.

3. Pragmatic signals – expressions that signal the narrator’s awareness of an audience and the degree of his/her orientation towards it.

Stanzel’s (proto-)typical narrative situations

1. A first-person narrative is told by a narrator who is present as a character in his/her story; it is a story of events she/he has experienced him/herself, a story of personal experience,

The individual who acts as a narrator (narrating I) is also a character (experiencing I) on the level of action.

2. An authorial narrative (heterodiegetic overt) is fold by a narrator who is absent from the story, i.e. does not appear as a character in the story. The authorial narrator tells a story involving other people. An authorial narrator sees the story from an outsider’s position, iften a position of absolute authority that allows her/him to know everything about the story’s world and its characters.

3. A figural narrative (heterodiegetic covert plus internal focalization) – the specific configuration of a heterodiegetic covert narrative which backgrounds the narrator and foregrounds internal focalization.

The technique of presenting something from the point of view of a story by an internal character is called internal focalization.

The character through whose eyes the action is presented is called an internal focalizer.

Figural narrative is a narrative which presents the story events as seen through the eyes of a third-person internal focalizer.

The narrator of a figural narrative is a covert heterodiegetic narrator hiding behind the presentation of the internal focalizer’s consciousness, especially his/her perceptions and thoughts.

Because the narrator’s discourse closely mimics the focalizer’s voice its own vocal quality is largely indistinct. One of the main effects of internal focalization is to attract attention to the mind of the reflector-character and away from the narrator and the processes of narratorial mediation.

The full extent of figural techniques was first explored in the novels and short stories of 20^th century authors such as Henry James, Franz Kafka, Dorothy Richardson, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and many others.

Scene and summary as narrative modes. Description and commentary as narrative modes

Narrative Modes

Showing. In a showing mode of presentation, there is little or no narratorial mediation, overtness (очевидность) or presence. The reader is basically cast in the role of a witness to the events.
Telling. In a telling mode of presentation, the narrator is in overt control (especially durational control) of action presentation, characterization and point-of-view arrangement.
Scene/scenic presentation. A showing mode which presents a continuous stream of detailed action events. Durational aspect: isochrony (story time and discourse time are mapping (отображать)).
Summary. A telling mode in which the narrator condenses a sequence of action events into a thematically focused and orderly account. Durational aspect: speed-up.

Supportive Narrative Modes

Description. A telling mode in which the narrator introduces a character or describes the setting. Durational aspect: pause.
Comment/commentary. A telling mode in which the narrator comments on characters, the development of the action, the circumstances of the act of narrating, etc. Durational aspect: pause.

Semantics, semasiology, onomasiology, their links to stylistics

Stylistics and other linguistic disciplines

Literary stylistics will inevitably overlap with areas of literary studies suсh as the theory of imagery, literary genres, the art of composition, etc.

Decoding stylistics in many ways borders culture studies in the broad sense of that word including the history of art, aesthetic trends and even information theory.

Tropes (brief outline: definition, classification). Figures of quantity

Trope is a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words, i.e. using a word in a way other than what is considered its literal or normal form. Tropes comes from the Greek word “tropos” which means a “turn”. We can imagine a trope as a way of turning a word away from its normal meaning, or turning it into something else.

Tropes include: epithet, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, periphrasis, personification, simile, etc.

Epithet is an adj. or an adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject.

Semantics-oriented epithet classification by prof. I.Screbnev: 1. metaphorical epithet (lazy road, ragged noise, унылая пора), 2. Metonymical (brainy fellow), 3. Ironic.

Structural characteristics of epithets: 1. Preposition, one-word epithet (a nice way); 2. Postposition, one-word or hyperbation (the eyes watchful); 3. Two-step (immensely great); 4. Phrase (a go-to-hell look); 5. Inverted (a brute of a dog, a monster of a man).

Metaphor is a transference of names based on the associated likeness between two objects, on the similarity of one feature common to two different entities, on possessing one common characteristic, on linguistic semantic nearness, on a common component in their semantic structures. e.g. ”pancake” for the “sun” (round, hot, yellow); e.g. ”silver dust” and “sequins” for “stars”

Metonymy is a transference of names based on contiguity (nearness), on extralinguistic, actually existing relations between the phenomena (objects), denoted by the words, on common grounds of existence in reality but different semantic (V.A.Kucharenko). e.g. ”cup” and “tea” in “Will you have another cup?”;

Oxymoron is a combination of two semantically contradictory notions, that help to emphasise contradictory qualities simultaneously existing in the described phenomenon as a dialectical unity (V.A.Kucharenko). e.g. ”low skyscraper”, “sweet sorrow”, “nice rascal”, “pleasantly ugly face”.

Periphrasis is a device which, according to Webster’s dictionary, denotes the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter and plainer form of expression. e.g. The lamp-lighter made his nightly failure in attempting to brighten up the street with gas. \[= lit the street lamps\] (Dickens)

Personification is a metaphor that involves likeness between inanimate and animate objects (V.A.Kucharenko). e.g. ”the face of London”, “the pain of ocean”;

Simile is an imaginative comparison of two unlike objects belonging to two different classes on the grounds of similarity of some quality (V.A. Kucharenko).e.g. She is like a rose.

Figures of Replacement (Tropes) are divided into two classes:

Figures of quantity which are hyperbole or overstatement, i.e. exaggeration and meiosis or understatement, i.e. weakening.

Figures of quality which are metonymy, metaphor, irony.

Figures of quantity

Hyperbole is a stylistic device in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration (V.A. Kucharenko). Hyperbole is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration of a feature essential (unlike periphrasis) to the object or phenomenon (I.R. Galperin). It does not signify the actual state of affairs in reality, but presents the latter through the emotionally coloured perception and rendering of the speaker. e.g. My vegetable love should grow faster than empires. (A. Marvell); e.g. I was scared to death when he entered the room. (J.D.Salinger)

Meiosis deliberately expresses the idea, there less important than the action is. Meiosis is dealt with when the size, shape, dimensions, characteristic features of the object are intentionally underrated. It does not signify the actual state of affairs in reality, but presents the latter through the emotionally coloured perception and rendering of the speaker. e.g. ”The wind is rather strong” instead of “There’s a gale blowing outside”; e.g. She wore a pink hat, the size of a button. (J.Reed)

Tropes. Figure of quality

Tropes include: epithet, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, periphrasis, personification, simile, etc.

Epithet is an adj. or an adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject.

Semantics-oriented epithet classification by prof. I.Screbnev: 1. metaphorical epithet (lazy road, ragged noise, унылая пора), 2. Metonymical (brainy fellow), 3. Ironic.

Personification is a metaphor that involves likeness between inanimate and animate objects (V.A.Kucharenko). e.g. ”the face of London”, “the pain of ocean”;

Simile is an imaginative comparison of two unlike objects belonging to two different classes on the grounds of similarity of some quality (V.A. Kucharenko).e.g. She is like a rose.

Figures of Replacement (Tropes) are divided into two classes:

Figures of quantity which are hyperbole or overstatement, i.e. exaggeration and meiosis or understatement, i.e. weakening.

Figures of quality which are metonymy, metaphor, irony.

Figures of quality

Irony is a stylistic device in which the contextual evaluative meaning of a word is directly opposite to its dictionary meaning. The context is arranged so that the qualifying word in irony reverses the direction of the evaluation, and the word positively charged is understood as a negative qualification and (much-much rarer) vice versa. The context varies from the minimal – a word combination to the context of a whole book. e.g. It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket.

Irony can be of three kinds: verbal irony is a type of irony when it is possible to indicate the exact word whose contextual meaning diametrically opposes its dictionary meaning, in whose meaning we can trace the contradiction between the said and implied (e.g. She turned with the sweet smile of an alligator. (J.Steinbeck) (V.A. Kucharenko); Dramatik irony happens when a reader or viewer knows more information that a character in book or in a movie; Situational irony is a kind of joke that is against you or situation.

The structure of metaphor. Types of metaphor

The expressiveness is promoted by the implicit simultaneous presence of images of both objects – the one which is actually named and the one which supplies its own “legal” name, while each one enters a phrase in the complexity of its other characteristics.

The wider is the gap between the associated objects the more striking and unexpected – the more expressive – is the metaphor. e.g. His voice was a dagger of corroded brass. (S. Lewis); e.g. They walked alone, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate. (W.S.Gilbert).

Metaphors, like all SDs can be classified according to their degree of unexpectedness. Thus metaphors which are absolutely unexpected, i.e. are quite unpredictable, are called genuine metaphors. Those which are commonly used in speech and therefore are sometimes even fixed in dictionaries as expressive means of language are trite metaphors, or dead metaphors. Their predictability therefore is apparent and they are usually fixed in dictionaries as units of the language (I.R. Galperin); prolonged metaphor is a group (cluster) of metaphors, each supplying another feature of the described phenomenon to present an elaborated image (V.A.Kucharenko).

The constant use of a metaphor, i.e. a word in which two meanings are blended, gradually leads to the breaking up of the primary meaning. The metaphoric use of the word begins to affect the dictionary meaning, adding to it fresh connotations or shades of meaning. But this influence, however strong it may be, will never reach the degree where the dictionary meaning entirely disappears.

How metaphor works (according to Leikoff and Johnson)

Source domain is a realm with the help of which the imagianary and verbal representation are made. Taken from the Source Domain (область-источник) images and words are applied to a Target Domain (область-цель).

Types of metaphors (according to Leikoff and Johnson)

1. Oriental metaphors (up and down, front and back, in and out, near for, etc.)

2. Antological metaphors, associate with activity motions – personification

3. Structural metaphors (argument is war, life is a journey, etc.)

Syntagmatic semasiology. Semantic figures of co-occurrence (general remarks on classification)

Semantic Figures of Co-occurrence

1. Figures of Identity

a. simile; b. quasi-identity; c. replacers

2. figures of inequality

a. specifiers; b. climax; c. anti-climax; d. pun; e. zeugma; f. tautology; g. pleonasm

3. Figures of contrast

a. oxymoron; b. antithesis

As distinct from syntagmatic semasiology investigating the stylistic value of nomination and renaming, syntagmatic semasiology deals with stylistic functions of relationship of names in texts. It studies types of linear arrangement of meanings, singling out, classifying, and describing what is called here 'figures of co-оссuгrеnсе', bу which term combined, joint арреаrаnсе of sense units is understood.

The interrelation of semantic units is unique in аnу individual text.

Yet stylistics, like any other branch of science, aims at generalizations.

The most general types of semantic relationships саn bе reduced to three. Меаnings саn bе either identical, or different, оr else opposite. Let us have а more detailed interpretation.

1.Identical meanings. Linguistic units co-occurring in the text either have the same meanings, or аrе used аs nаmеs of the same object (thing, phenomenon, process, property, etc.).

2. Different meanings. The correlative linguistic units in the text аrе perceived as denoting different objects (phenomena, processes, properties).

3. Opposite meanings. Two correlative units аrе semantically polar. The meaning of one of them is incompatible with the meaning of the second: the one excludes the other.

The possibility of contrasting notions stand in nо logical opposition to each other (as do antonyms long - short, young - old, uр - down, etc.).

As for the second item discussed (difference, inequality of co-occurring meanings), it must bе specially underlined that we are dealing here not with аnу kind of distinction or disparity, but only with cases when carriers of meanings are syntactically and/or semantically correlative. What is meant here is the difference manifest in units with homogeneous functions.

Stylistics as a branch of linguistics. The problem of stylistic research