Lecture 6 Phonetic Stylistic Devices and Graphical Means

 Lecture 6 Phonetic Stylistic Devices and Graphical Means.

1. The stylistic devices in poetry and prose

2. The functions of phonetic stylistic devices

3. The peculiarities of graphical phonetic means

 

1. The stylistic devices in poetry and prose

The stylistic approach to the utterance is not confined to its structure and sense. There is another thing to be taken into account which, in a certain type of communication plays an important role. This is the way a word, a phrase or a sentence sounds. The sound of most words taken separately will have little or no aesthetic value. A word may acquire a desired phonetic effect only in combination with other words. The way a separate word sounds may produce a certain euphonic effect, but this is a matter of individual perception and feeling and therefore subjective. However there exist psychological works on the theory of sound symbolism. They checked the associations, which the tested people have with the definite sounds. Statistics shows that their answers coincide very often.

Verier St Woolman, one of the founders of the theory of sound symbolism claimed that a certain sound when pronounced clearly and strong has special meaning and feeling. For example the sound [d], when repeated often may produce an effect of something evil, negative and wicked.

The sound of a word, or more exactly the way words sound in combination, often contributes something to the general effect of the message, particularly when the sound effect has been deliberately worked out. This can easily be recognized when analyzing alliterative word combinations or the rhymes in certain stanzas or from more elaborate analysis of sound arrangement.

The aesthetiс effect of the text is composed not only with the help of sounds and prosody, but with the help of sounds and prosody together with the meaning. The sound side of the belles-letters work makes a whole with rhythm and meaning and can’t influence the reader separately.

To influence aesthetically the sound part of the text should somehow be highlightened. An author can increase an emotional and aesthetic effect of his work through choosing the words, their arrangement and repetitions. Let’s see what phonetic SDs can secure this function.

Stylistically marked phonemes do not exist. Consequently, there are no expressive means on the phonological language level. Nevertheless, specific combinations of sounds may create different speech effects and devices. Phonetic stylistic devices belong to versification and instrumentation types. Versification is the art of writing verses. It is the imaginative expression of emotion, thought, or narrative, mostly in metrical form and often using figurative language. Poetry is actually the earliest form of literature, and was created precisely to be spoken - in the days before many could read. Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose (ordinary written language) by rhyme or the rhythmical arrangement of words (metre). Here are some miscellaneous remarks about poetry made by writers and critics at various time. These remarks make an answer to the question "What is poetry?"

 

A poem has to be in lines.

A poem has to have rhymes.

A poem has to be in one of a number of set rhythms.

A poem has to have verses/stanzas.

The rhythms of poetry are quite different from ordinary speech.

A poem has to have a capital letter at the start of each line.

A poem has to have vivid, descriptive words.

A poem has to have imagery - similes, metaphors and other stylistic devices.

The language used in poetry is a special kind of language.

Some words are not suitable in poetry.

Some subjects are not suitable for poetry.

Some subjects are more poetic than others.

 

 

The main concepts of versification are rhyme and rhythm. Rhyme is the accord of syllables in words: fact - attract, mood - intrude; news - refuse.

Such an accord is met at the end of two parallel lines in verses. Rhyme is a sound organizer, uniting lines into stanzas. Rhyme is created according to several patterns. Vertically, there are such rhymes: adjacent (aa, bb), cross (ab, ab) and reverse (ab, ba). According to the variants of stress in the words being rhymed, rhymes are classified into male (the last syllables of the rhymed words are stressed), female (the next syllables to the last are stressed) and dactylic (the third syllables from the end are stressed).

Instrumentation is the art of selecting and combining sounds in order to make utterances expressive and melodic. Instrumentation unites three basic stylistic devices: alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia.

 

2. The functions of phonetic stylistic devices

1. Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder, etc. – splash, bubble, rustle, whistle) by things (machines or tools, etc. - buzz) by people (singing, laughter, yawning, roar, giggle) and animals (moo, bleat, croak - frog). Therefore the relation between onomatopoeia and the phenomenon it is supposed to represent is one of metonymy: that is it can be used in transferred meaning – tintinnabulation-the sound of bells

There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.

Direct onomatopoeia is contained in words that imitate natural sounds, as thud, bowwow, ding-dong, buzz, bang, ‘cuckoo. These words have different degrees of ‘imitative quality. Some of them immediately bring to mind whatever it is that produces the sound. Others require some imagination to decipher it.

e.g. And now there came the chop-chop of wooden hammers.

Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds the aim of which is to make the sound of the utterance an echo of its sense. It is sometimes called "echo writing". Indirect onomatopoeia demands some mention of what makes the sound, as rustling of curtains in the following line. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain. An example is: And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" (E. A. Poe), where the repetition of the sound [s] actually produces the sound of the rustling of the curtain.

Indirect onomatopoeia is sometimes effectively used by repeating words which themselves are not onomatopoetic but they contribute to the general impact of the utterance: in the poem Boots by R. Kipling soldiers’ tread is shown -

We’re foot-slog-slog-slog-sloggin’ over Africa –

Foot-foot-foot-foot –sloggin’ over Africa.

(Boots – boots – boots – boots – moovi’ up and down again!)

Onomatopoeia helps to create the vivid portrayal of the situation described, and the phonemic structure of the word is important for the creation of expressive and emotive connotations.

2. Alliteration and assonance

Alliteration is a phonetic stylistic device which aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. The essence of this device lies in the repetition of similar sounds, in particular consonant sounds, in close succession, particularly at the beginning of successive words: " The possessive instinct never stands still (J. Galsworthy) or, "Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before" (E. A. Poe). Alliteration is also used to name the repetition of first letters: Apt Alliteration’s artful aid.(Charles Churchill).

Alliteration has a long tradition in English poetry as Germanic and Anglo-Saxon poems were organized with its help. (Beowulf)

Alliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, does not bear any lexical or other meaning. However it supplies the utterance with a certain nuance of the meaning [d]. That’s why alliteration is regarded as a musical accompaniment of the author’s idea, supporting it with some vague emotional atmosphere which each reader interprets for himself.

Alliteration heightens the general aesthetic effect of the utterance when it has connection with sense. Now it’s used only as a subsidiary device. Its role is an expressive one – alliterated words indicate the most important concepts. It’s often used in emotive prose, newspaper headlines, titles, proverbs and sayings: Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; safe and sound; part and parcel etc.

Alliteration, like most phonetic expressive means, does not bear any lexical or other meaning unless we agree that a sound meaning exists as such. But even so we may not be able to specify clearly the character of this meaning, and the term will merely suggest that a certain amount of information is contained in the repetition of sounds, as is the case with the repetition of lexical units.

However, certain sounds, if repeated, may produce an effect that can be specified.

For example, the sound [m] is frequently used by Tennyson in the poem "The Lotus Eaters" to give a somnolent effect.

"How sweet it were,...

To lend our hearts and spirits wholly

To the music of mild-minded melancholy;

To muse and brood and live again in memory."

Therefore alliteration is generally regarded as a musical accompaniment of the author's idea, supporting it with some emotional atmosphere which each reader interprets for himself. Thus the repetition of the sound [d] in the lines quoted from Poe's poem "The Raven" prompts the feeling of anxiety, fear, horror, anguish or all these feelings simultaneously.

Sometimes a competent reader, if unable to decipher the implied purpose of the alliteration, may grow irritated if it is overdone and be ready to discard it from the arsenal of useful stylistic devices.

An interesting example of the overuse of alliteration is given in Swinburne's "Nephelidia" where the poet parodies his own style:

"Gaunt as the ghastliest of glimpses that gleam through the gloom of the gloaming when ghosts go aghast."

When the choice of words depends primarily on the principle of alliteration, exactitude of expression, and even sense may suffer. But when used sparingly and with at least some slight inner connection with the sense of the utterance, alliteration heightens the general aesthetic effect.

The repetition of the initial sounds of the stressed words in the line, as it were, integrates the utterance into a compositional unit. Unlike rhyme in modern English verse, the semantic function of which is to chain one line to another, alliteration in Old English verse was used to consolidate the sense within the line, leaving the relation between the lines rather loose. But there really is an essential resemblance structurally between alliteration and rhyme (by the repetition of the same sound) and also functionally (by communicating a consolidating effect). Alliteration is therefore sometimes called initial rhyme.

The traditions of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteration as a structural device of Old English poems and songs has shown remarkable continuity. It is frequently used as a well-tested means not only in verse but in emotive prose, in newspaper headlines, in the titles of books, in proverbs and sayings, as, for example, in the following:

Tit for tat; blind as a bat, betwixt and between; It is neck or nothing; to rob Peter to pay Paul;

or in the titles of books:

"Sense and Sensibility" (Jane Austin); "Pride and Prejudice" (Jane Austin); "The School for Scandal" (Sheridan); "A Book of Phrase and Fable" (Brewer).

Assonance is a stylistically motivated repetition of stressed vowels. The repeated sounds stand close together to create a euphonious effect and rhyme: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. We love to spoon beneath the moon in June. Just like alliteration, assonance makes texts easy to memorize. It is also popular in advertising for the same reason. Assonance is seldom met as an independent stylistic device. It is usually combined with alliteration, rhyming, and other devices:

 

Брожу, ли я вдоль улиц шумных,

Вхожу ль во многолюдный храм,

Сижу ль меж: юношей безумных,

Я предаюсь своим мечтам.

(А. С. Пушкин)

Assonance is the repetition of similar stressed vowels within the line or stanza.

“… Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aiden,

I shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore… (E. A. Poe)”

 

3. Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combination of words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.

Identity and similarity of sound combinations may be relative. Thus, the first criterion is the identity of sound. Form this point of view we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed syllable (heart – part, flood-blood).

Incomplete rhymes are divided into two main groups: vowel rhymes (ассонансы) and consonant rhymes (консонансы). In vowel rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different as in (advice-compromise). In consonant rhymes, on the contrary, consonants are identical and disparity in vowels, as in (wind-land, grey-grow).

The second criterion: morphological characteristics. Compound (broken) rhymes - when one word rhymes with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in "better – forget her". The peculiarity of rhymes of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one word - this device will inevitably give a colloquial and sometimes a humorous touch to the utterance. Compound rhyme may be set against what is called eye - rhyme, where the letters and not the sounds are identical, as in love - prove, flood - brood, have - grave. It follows that compound rhyme is perceived in reading aloud, eye - rhyme can only be perceived in the written verse.

III the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza: couplets – when the last words of 2 successive lines are rhymed – aa; cross rhymes – перекрёстные - abab; framing or ring rhymes – опоясывающие - abba.

IV according to their position: e.g. internal rhyme – the rhyming words are placed not at the ends of the lines but within the line:

 “I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers.”  (Shelley)

The rhyme has 2 functions, which are realized simultaneously: disserving (it breaks the line into 2 distinct parts, making the reader to pause) and consolidating (consolidates the ideas expressed in 2 parts).

4. Rhythm

Rhythm is the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, more or less regular. As a SD rhythm is a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and its variations governed by the standard.

It exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It stirs up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is musical, mechanical or symmetrical as in architecture.

It’s not only a regular pattern of sounds or movements; it’s also any regular pattern in nature or in life. Rhythm can be perceived only provided that there is some kind of experience in catching regularity of alternating patterns.

Rhythm has a great importance not only for music and poetry, but also for prose. In prose rhythm is closely connected with the metre, i.e. different metrical patterns. The rhythm of prose is based on the succession of images, themes and other big elements of the text; repetition, parallel constructions, chiasmus- перекрестный/ реверсированный повтор, similar syntactical patterns. The unit of measure here is not a syllable but a structure, a word-combination, a sequence of phrases, sentences and supra-phrasal units.

Rhythm intensifies the emotions. It contributes to the general sense, helps to get the flow of thoughts and humour of the author. In poetry it conveys the mood, emotions and feelings, sharpens the thought of the author and his characters. Rhythm adds specific importance to some ideas and feelings, it helps to create reality in text. It has expressive, symbolic and graphic functions. It can imitate movement, behaviour and even setting. It foregrounds some particular words, thoughts, ideas, feelings, and vice versa obscures others, thus adding a per’spective to the text.

 

3. The peculiarities of graphical phonetic means

Graphical EMs serve to convey in the written form those emotions which in the oral speech are expressed by intonation and stress, in written form they are shown mostly with the help of punctuation and deliberate change of a spelling of a word.

 “A detective! I never ‘eard of such a thing! What d’yer come ‘ere for if yer want to be a detective. ‘Ere, yer not big enough, ‘cos yer’d ‘ave to be a pleeceman first before they’d let yer be a detective, and they’d never ‘ave yer as a pleeceman. ” (J.D. Priestley,“ Angel Pavement”)

Woman, without her, man is nothing.

All types of punctuation can be used to reflect the emphatic intonation of the speaker. Such ‘emphatic’ punctuation is used in many syntactical SDs: aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative) [You’ll just come home, or I’ll …], rhetorical questions, su’spense etc.

The changed type (italics, bold type) or spelling multiplication (laaarge) are used to indicate the additional stress on the emphasis word or part of the word.

There is no direct connection between the graphical SDs and the intonation they reflect, for their choice is too inadequate for the variety and quality of emotions recurrent in intonation.

Basic notions of graphic expressive means are punctuation, orthography or spelling, text segmentation, and type. Punctuation is used in writing to show the stress, rhythm and tone of the spoken word. It also aims at clarifying the meaning of sentences. There are such common marks of punctuation: the full stop [.], the comma [,], the colon [: ], the semicolon [;], brackets [()], dash [-], hyphen [-], the exclamation mark [! ], the oblique stroke [/]„ the interrogative (question) mark [?], inverted commas (quotation marks) [" "], suspension marks [...], the apostrophe [' ].

Capital letters are stylistically used to show the importance of particular words. They are always used for proper nouns, at the start of sentences, and for places and events of a public nature.

NB! Avoid continuous capitals. THEY LOOK VERY UNSIGHTLY AND ARE HARD TO READ.

Capitals are used to denote the names of particular or special things.

days of the week  Wednesday, Friday

places   East Anglia

rivers   the river Mersey

buildings  the Tate Gallery

institutions  the Catholic Church

firms   British Aerospace

organisations  the National Trust

months of the year April, September

 

However, when such terms  are  used  as  adjectives or in a general sense, no capital is required:

the King James Bible/a biblical reference

Oxford University/a university education

the present Government/governments since 1967

 

Capitals are used when describing intellectual movements or  periods of history:

Freudian   Platonism

Cartesian  the Middle Ages

the Reformation The Enlightenment

 

They are also used in the titles of books, plays, films, newspapers, magazines, songs, and works of art in general. The normal convention is to capitalise the first word and any nouns or important terms. Smaller words such as 'and', 'of, and 'the' are left uncapitalised:

A View from the Bridge The Mayor of Casterbridge North by Northwest The Marriage of Figaro

Notice the difference between the same term used in a general and a particular sense:

The children's Uncle Fred is seventy. Their uncle is the oldest in the family.

Text segmentation means the division of texts into smaller segments: paragraphs, chapters, sections and others. Some of the segments start' with overlines (headings or headlines).

A paragraph is a group of sentences which deal with one topic and express a more or less completed idea or thought. The sentences in paragraphs are related to each other to produce an effect of unity. Paragraphs are used to divide a long piece of writing into separate sections. They give rhythm, variety and pace to writing.

The following example is the definition of a paragraph:

The central thought or main controlling idea of a paragraph is usually conveyed in what is called a topic sentence. This crucial sentence which states, summarises or clearly expresses the main theme, is the keystone of a well-built paragraph. The topic sentence may come anywhere in the paragraph, though most logically and in most cases it is the first sentence. This immediately tells readers what is coming, and leaves them in no doubt about the overall controlling idea. In a very long paragraph, the initial topic sentence may even be restated or given a more significant emphasis in its conclusion.

The recommended structure of a typical paragraph in academic writing is as follows. [It is rather like a mini-version of the structure of a complete essay]

The opening topic sentence

A fuller explanation of the topic sentence

Supporting sentences which explain its significance

The discussion of examples or evidence

A concluding or link sentence

The start of a new paragraph is usually signalled by either a double space between lines, or by indenting the first line of the new paragraph.

The following example [written by E. M. Forster] shows the skilful use of an attention-grabbing first sentence, and a concluding sentence which whets the reader's appetite to know more about the subject:

John Skelton was an East Anglian: he was a poet, also a clergyman, and he was extremely strange. Partly strange because the age in which he flourished - that of the early Tudors - is remote from us, and difficult to interpret. But he was also a strange creature personally, and whatever you think of him when we've finished - and you will possibly think badly of him - you will agree that we have been in contact with someone unusual.

Chapters and sections are major text segments. They may be compared with fragments of mosaic, which form the whole picture when put together.

A heading is the name of a text or its segment. It tends to disclose the plot of narration. It should be garish and catching in order to attract the potential reader's attraction.

Text segmentation is just one of the components of layout. Layout is the physical organization of a text on the page, the screen, or any other medium of written communication. It refers to the visual conventions of arranging texts to assist reading and comprehension. Good layout includes effective use of the following common features: page margins, paragraphs, justification, type style, italics, capitals, indentation, line spacing, centering, type size, bold, underlining. There are particular conventions of layout in each functional style. Some of conventions are based purely on the function of the text, and some on tradition. The modern trend is towards layout which results in fast and easy reading of the page. Layout complements content in efficient communication. It facilitates the reading and the comprehensibility of the text. All readers are affected by these conventions, even though they may not be aware of them.

To create additional information in prose discourse we can change an accepted graphical word representation or the spelling of a word or a phrase. This intentional violation of the graphical shape of a word used to reflect its authentic pronunciation is called graphon. It is an extremely concise but effective means of supplying information about the speaker’s origin, social or educational background, physical or emotional condition.

Another way to use a graphical device is to spell the word in capital letters when there’s no need to do it.

 

http://english.your-talk.com/t33-lecture-3-phonetic-stylistic-devices-and-graphical-means

http://www.tool-kit.ru/lekciy-en/74-phonetic-expressive-means-and-stylistic-devices-1-3.html

http://softacademy.lnpu.edu.ua/Programs/Nedaynova/module%201/chapter%205.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phonetic expressive means

 

The most powerful expressive means of any language are phonetic. Ways of the voice using are much more effective than any other means in intensifying an utterance emotionally or logically and the human voice can indicate most subtle nuances of meaning. In the language course of phonetics the patterns of emphatic intonation have been worked out, but many devices have so far been little investigated.

So, phonetic expressive means are the following:

Intonation, which is a language universal. Phoneticians give different definitions of intonation, but the most accepted one is by S.F. Leontyeva. According to Leontyeva’s point of view, intonation is considered to be a complex unity of pitch (melody), stress, tempo, temper and tamber and the way they are realized in speech.

Intonation is very important. It serves to form sentences and determines their communicative types. It divides sentences into intonation groups, it expresses the speaker’s thoughts and conveys the attitudinal meaning. One and the same sentence may express different meaning, when pronounced with different intonation:

e.g. When it’s a general question – Isn’t it ridiculous?

An exclamation – Isn’t it ridiculous!

Intonation determines the communicative type of sentences. The communicative types are differentiated in speech according to the aim of the utterance from the point of view of communication. There 4 main types of sentences:

Statements – I like music.

Questions – Can you do it?

Imperative sentences or commands – Just do it!

Exclamations – Right you are

The pitch component of intonation or a melody is the changers in the pitch of the voice in connected speech.

Sentence stress or accent is the greater prominence of one or more words among others words in the same sentence.

Word stress is realized since all the syllables in a word are pronounced with the same degree of force: usually one syllable is made more prominent than the others by means of stronger current of air, by a stronger expiration; such a syllable is called the stressed syllable. Word’s stress in English is free; the position of stress is not fixed: e.g. ‘many – be’llow – photo’graphic.

Tempo of speech – the rate of utterance which is connected with rhythm – the regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. It is so typical of an English phrase that the incorrect rhythm betrays the non-English origin of the speaker. Each sense-group of the sentence is pronounced at approximately the same period of time, unstressed syllables are pronounced more rapidly: the greater the number of unstressed syllables, the quicker they are pronounced. In its turn, rhythm is connected with sentence stress. Under the influence of rhythm words which are normally pronounced with two equally strong stress may lose one of them, or may have their word stress realized differently.

E.g., Picca’dilly -, Piccadilly ‘Circus – ‘close to, Picca’dilly, prin’cess – a, princess ‘royal

Temper is the relative speed with which sentences and intonation groups are pronounced in connecting speech.

Speech tamber is a special colouring of voice which shows the speaker’s emotions:

e.g. pleasure – displeasure

Paradoxal though it may seem, many of these means, the effect of which rests on a peculiar use of the voice, are banned from the linguistic domain. But there has appeared a new science – «paralinguistics» – of which all these devices are the inventory.

Vocal phenomena such as drawling, whispering, etc. should be regarded as parts of the phonemic system on the same level as pitch, stress and tune.

http://www.coolreferat.com/Stylistic_phonetics_based_on_the_examples_of_the_works_by_PB_Shelley_часть=2