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Stylistic Syntax

Stylistic Syntax. Єфімов сс. 73-85. What is syntax?. Syntax is a science dealing with the construction of speech . Object of syntax – the sentence (statement, question and commands) and the word combination.

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Stylistic Syntax

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  1. Stylistic Syntax Єфімов сс. 73-85

  2. What is syntax? • Syntax is a science dealing with the construction of speech. • Object of syntax – the sentence (statement, question and commands) and the word combination. • Sentences are classified by purpose into declarative, imperative, interrogative and exclamatory • Sentences are classified by structure into simple, compound, complex and compound-complex

  3. Sentence length • 124 words (Joyce Carol Oates. Expensive People), or 128 words (E. Hemingway. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber), or 256 words (T. Pynchon. The Crying of Lot 49), or 631 words (N. Mailer. Why Are We in Vietnam ?), or even 45 whole pages of the text (J. Joyce. Ulysses) • One-word sentence possesses a very strong emphatic impact, for their only word obtains both the word-and the sentence-stress. "They could keep the Shop going until they got the notice to quit; which mightn't be for two years. Or they could wait and see what kind of alternative premises were offered. If the site was good. - If.

  4. Correlation between the length and the structure of a sentence • Short sentences may be structurally complicated, while the long ones, on the contrary, may have only one subject-predicate pair. • Cf.: "Through the windows of the drugstore Eighth street looked extremely animated with families trooping toward the center of the town, flags aslant in children's hands, mother and pa in holiday attire and sweating freely, with patriarchal automobiles of neighbouring farmers full of starched youngsters and draped with bunting." (J.R.) • Almost 50 words of this sentence cluster around one subject-predicate centre "Eighth street looked animated".

  5. Syntax is the skeleton of the language

  6. ClassificationofSyntacticalStylisticDevices I. Patterns of syntactical arrangement Inversion, Detachment , Parallelism, Chiasmus, Repetition, Enumeration, Suspense, Climax, Antithesis.  II. Peculiar linkage Asyndeton, Polysyndeton, Gap - sentence - link.  III. Colloquial constructions Ellipsis, Aposiopesis, Question - in - the narrative. Represented speech  IV. Stylistic use of structural meaning Rhetorical questions,Litotes.

  7. SDs Based on Peculiar Syntactical Arrangement: Inversion (fronting) • Stylistic Inversionaims at attaching logical stress or additional emotional colouring to the surface meaning of the utterance. And read it she did. (informal) Angry as she was, the idea of revenge blurred her vision. Aware as he was of her huge popularity, Mike was unable to understand... In came the fiddler, and tuned like fifty stomach-aches. No motion has she now, no force. Not a word more could I draw from him. Never had I seen such a change in that short time. That man I detest. Yet one door you must not open.

  8. INVERSION • By inversion is meant an unusual order of words chosen for emphasis greater expressiveness. The notion of stylistic inversion is broader than the notion of inversion in grammar, where it generally relates only to the position of subject and predicate. Thus, in stylistics it may include the postposition of an adjective in an attributive phrase: • Adieu, adieu! My native shore • Fades о 'er the waters blue. (Byron) • A passionate ballad gallant and gay.... (A. Tennyson) • Little boy blue, • Come blow your horn (Nursery rhyme)

  9. stylistic inversion 1. The object is placed at the beginning of the sentence. e.g. Talent Mr.Macowber has, moneyMr.Macowber has not 2. The attribute is placed after the word it modifies, e. g. With fingers weary and worn. 3. The predicate is placed before the subject, e.g. A good generous prayer it was. 4. The adverbial modifier is placed at the beginning of the sentence. e.g. My dearest daughter, at your feet I fall. Slowly she opened her eyes. 5. Both modifier and predicate stand before the subject, e. g. In went Mr. Pickwick.

  10. Detached constructions • Sometimes one of the secondary members of the sentence is placed so that it seems formally independent of the word it logically refers to e.g. She was gone. For good.I have to beg you for money. Daily." • Specific position of an attribute or an adverbial modifier. e.g. Steyne rose up, grinding his teeth, pale, and with fury in his eyes.’ • A nominal phrase inside the sentence • He walked slowly along the river - an evening of clear, quiet beauty, all harmony and comfort, except within his heart.’

  11. Suspense • Suspense - a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence. Detective and adventure stories are examples of suspense fiction. It is a compositional device which is realized through the separation of the Predicate from the Subject by deliberate introduction between them of a clause or a sentence. Thus the reader's interest is held up. This device is typical of oratoric style. • E.g. Jennifer stared into the dark forest. She shivered a little and her heart began to race. Were there wild animals in these woods, she wondered. She walked on, cautious and quiet. Would she make it out safely?

  12. Syntactic parallelism A special variant of syntactic repetition is syntactic parallelism, which means repetition of similar syntactic constructions in the text in order to strengthen the emotional impact or expressiveness of the description: The seeds ye sow — another reaps, The robes ye weave — another wears, The arms ye forge — another bears. (Shelley) Few of them will return to their countries; they will not embrace our holy religion; they will not adopt our manners. (B. Franklin) There were real silver spoons to stir the tea with, and real china cups to drink it out of, and plates of the same to hold the cakes. (Dickens)

  13. Chiasmus (хиазм) Reversed parallelism is called chiasmus. The second part of a chiasmus is, in fact, inversion of the first construction. Thus, if the first sentence (clause) has a direct word order - SPO, the second one will have it inverted - OPS. • This term denotes repetition of the same structure but with the opposite order of elements (a reversed version of syntactic parallelism): • Down dropped the breeze, The sails dropped down. (Coleridge) • In the days of old men made the manners; Manners now make men. (Byron) • The sea is but another sky, The sky a sea as well • She was a good sport about all this, but so was he.

  14. SDs of repetition 1. anaphora: the beginning of two or more successive sentences (clauses) is repeated - a..., a..., a... . Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot And days of auld langsyne ? (Burns) 2. epiphora: the end of successive sentences (clauses) is repeated -...a, ...a, ...a. Iam exactly the man to be placed in a superior position in such a case as that. I am above the rest of mankind, in such a case as that. I can act with philosophy in such a case as that. (Dickens) 3 framing: the beginning of the sentence is repeated in the end, thus forming the "frame" for the non-repeated part of the sentence (utterance) - a... a. Poor Mary. How much Jack loved her! What will he do now? I wish it hadn't happened. Poor Mary.

  15. SDs of repetition • 4. catch repetition (anadiplosis). the end of one clause (sentence) is repeated in the beginning of the following one -...a, a.... • She gave me a smile, the sweet smile of love… • 5. chain repetition presents several successive anadiploses -...a, a...b, b...c, c. The effect is that of the smoothly developing logical reasoning. • My words I know do well set forth my mind; • My mind bemoans his sense of inward smart; • Such smart may pity claim of any heart; • Her heart, sweet heart, is no tiger’s kind.’’ • 6. successive repetition is a string of closely following each other reiterated units - ...a, a, a... This is the most emphatic type of repetition which signifies the peak of emotions of the speaker. • Later, much later, years later, two days later, she’d know you mustn’t wait.

  16. Climax (gradation) Climax (gradation) - an ascending series of words or utterances in which intensity or significance increases step by step. Logical climax e. g. Every racing car, every racer, every mechanic, every ice - cream van was also plastered with advertising. Emotional climax It was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem of a city.’ Quantitative climax ‘They looked at hundreds of houses, they climbed thousands of stairs, they inspected innumerable kitchens.’

  17. Climax (gradation, градация) • Climax is repetition (lexical or syntactic) of elements of the sentence, which is combined with gradual increase in the degree of some quality or in quantity, or in the emotional colouring of the sentence: • A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick's face: the smile extended into a laugh: the laugh into a roar, and the roar became general. (Dickens) • Doolittle. I've no hold on her. I got to be agreeable to her. 1 got to give her presents. I got to buy her clothes... I'm a slave to that woman. (Shaw) • He was pleased when the child began to adventure across floors on hand and knees; he was gratified, when she managed the trick of balancing herself on two legs; he was delighted when she first said 'ta-ta; and he was rejoiced when she recognised him and smiled at him. (Paton) • )

  18. Anticlimax • In anticlimax the final element is obviously weaker in degree, or lower in status than the previous; it usually creates a humorous effect: • Music makes one feel so romantic — at least it gets on one's nerves, which is the same thing nowadays. (Wilde) • People that have tried it tell me that a clean conscience makes you very happy and contented. But a full stomach does the thing just as well. (Jerome) • Doolittle: I'm a thinking man and game for politics or religion or social reform, same as all the other amusements. (Shaw) • The autocrat of Russia possesses more power than any other man on earth, but he cannot stop a sneeze. (M. Twain)

  19. Antithesis 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. e. g. They speak like saints and act like devils. • Enumeration is a SD which separates things, properties or actions brought together and form a chain of grammatically and semantically homogeneous parts of the utterance. • e. g. She wasn't sure of anything and more, of him, herself, their friends, her work, her future.

  20. Antithesis (антитеза,противопоставление) • This denotes a structure that stresses a sharp contrast in meaning between the parts within one sentence: Art is long, life is short; One man's meat is another man's poison; Some people are wise, some otherwise. (B. Shaw) • As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There's tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour, and death for his ambition. (Shakespeare) • Youth is full of pleasance, • Age is full of care; • Youth like summer morn, • Age like winter weather

  21. Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Peculiar Linkage • Asyndeton is a deliberate avoidance of conjunctions in constructions in which they would normally used. • e.g. He couldn't go abroad alone, the sea upset his liver, he hated hotels. • Polysyndeton- is an identical repetition of conjunctions: used to emphasize simultaneousness of described actions, to disclose the authors subjective attitude towards the characters, to create the rhythmical effect. • e. g. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. • Gap - sentence - link It presents two utterances the second is brought into the focus of the reader's attention. • e. g. She and that fellow ought to be the sufferers, and they were in Italy.

  22. Asyndeton (асиндетон, бессоюзие) This is a deliberate omission of conjunctions or other connectors between parts of the sentence. It may be used in the description of a group of events connected in time: taking place simultaneously or in succession; in this case the absence of a conjunction may correspond to the meaning of the conjunction 'and': There was peace among the nations; Unmolested roved the hunters, Built the birch-canoe for sailing, Caught the fish in lake and river, Shot the deer and trapped the beaver; Unmolested worked the women, Made their sugar from the maple, Gathered wild rice in the meadows, Dressed the skins of deer and beaver. (Longfellow)

  23. Polysyndeton(полисиндетон,многосоюзие)Polysyndeton(полисиндетон,многосоюзие) • This is a device opposite to asyndeton: a repeated use of the same connectors (conjunctions, prepositions) before several parts of the sentence, which increases the emotional impact of the text: • Should you ask me, whence these stories? • Whence these legends and traditions, • With the odours of the forest, • With the dew, and damp of meadows. • With the curling smoke of wigwams, • With the rushing of great rivers, • With their frequent repetitions... (Longfellow)

  24. Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Peculiar Use of Colloquial Constructions Ellipsis - is the omission of a word necessary for the complete syntactical construction of a sentence, but not necessary for understanding. e. g. You feel all right? Anything wrong or what? Aposiopesis (Break - in - the narrative). Sudden break in the narration which has the function to reveal agitated state of the speaker. e. g. On the hall table there were a couple of letters addressed to her. One was the bill. The other... There are 3 ways of reproducing character's speech. 1) direct speech; 2) indirect speech (reported speech) 3) represented speech

  25. ELLIPSIS • “______Coffee?” • “If it isn’t too much trouble________.” • “______No trouble at all.” • “What’s the matter? Is anything wrong_______?” • “No, nothing_______. I shall be all right tomorrow. Everything will be all • right________ tomorrow.” • “What touching faith_______! Don’t they say_____‚ tomorrow never comes?” • “_____Don’t_______.”

  26. SDs based on the completeness of sentence-structure. • ellipsis, or deliberate omission of at least one member of the sentence. ellipsis is mainly used in dialogue where it is consciously employed by the author to reflect the natural omissions characterizing oral colloquial speech. Ellipsis is the basis of the so-called telegraphic style, in which connectives and redundant words are left out. In the early twenties British railways had an inscription over luggage racks in the carriages: "The use of this rack for heavy and bulky packages involves risk of injury to passengers and is prohibited." Forty years later it was reduced to the elliptical: "For light articles only." The same progress from full completed messages to clipped phrases was made in drivers' directions: "Please drive slowly" "Drive slowly" "Slow"

  27. Represented speech • Represented Speech (несобственно-прямая речь) a device which conveys the unuttered or inner speech of the character, his thoughts and feelings • This is the case when the speech of a character in the work of fiction is represented without quotation marks, as if it were the author's speech: • To horse! To horse! He quits, for ever quits A scene of peace, though soothing to his soul. (Byron) • Old Jolion was on the alert at once. Wasn 't the "man of property "going to live in his new house, then ? (Galsworthy)

  28. Apokoinu and aposiopesis • Apokoinuisthe omission of the pronominal (adverbial) connective creates a blend of the main and the subordinate clauses so that the predicative or the object of the first one is simultaneously used as the subject of the second one. Cf: "There was a door led into the kitchen." (Sh. A.) "He was the man killed that deer.“ Aposiopesis (break) is also used mainly in the, dialogue or in other forms of narrative imitating spontaneous oral speech. It reflects the emotional or/and the psychological state of the speaker: a sentence may be broken because the speaker's emotions prevent him from finishing it. • Good intentions, but - ", or "It depends…

  29. Aposiopesis as a device which is a stopping short for rhetorical effect. In the spoken variety of the language it is usually caused by unwillingness to proceed, or by the supposition that what remains to be said can be understood by the implication embodied in what was said, or by uncertainty as to what should be said. The implication of the following aposiopesis is ‘a warning’: “If you continue your intemperate way of living, in six month time...” The second example implies ‘a threat’: “ You must come home or I´ll ...”

  30. Stylistic Devices Based on Stylistic Use of Structural Meaning • Question in the narrative. Changes the real nature of a question and turns it into a stylistic device. A question in the narrative is asked and answered by one and the same person, usually the author. It becomes akin to a parenthetical statement with strong emotional implications. e. g. For what is left the poet here? For Greeks a blush - for Greece a tear. • Rhetorical questions. • Rhetorical question is one that expects no answer. It is asked in order to make a statement rather than to get a reply They are frequently used in dramatic situation and in publicistic style. • e. g. What was the good of discontented people who fitted in nowhere?

  31. Rhetorical questions • Having the form of an interrogative sentence, a rhetorical question contains not a question but a statement of the opposite: Who does not know Shakespeare? (the implication is "everybody knows "); Is there not blood enough ... that more must be poured forth ? (Byron) (= there certainly is enough blood). This king, Shakespeare, does not he shine over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest, indestructible? (Carlyle) (= he certainly does). • What business is it of yours ?(Shaw) (= it is none of your business)

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