Syntactical stylistic devices

NOTES ON STYLE

The imaginative writer has at his disposal a wealth of linguistic means to appeal to the reader, to express and convey his thoughts. Here are some general principles to be considered in the analysis of a piece of writing.

Functional styles of speech. Depending on the contents and the aim of the utterance we usually distinguish several functional styles of speech: a) the style of fiction (стиль художественной прозы); b) the style of scientific prose (стиль научной прозы); с) official style (официально-канцелярский стиль) and d) publicistic style (публицистический стиль) which includes oratorical style (ораторский стиль).

The choice of vocabulary and sentence patterns is to a great ex­tent determined by their being used in spoken or written speech, each possessing distinctive charateristics of its own.

Oratorical style is especially noted for abundant use of expressive means and stylistic devices because it is often the effective use of the language that plays a major part in winning the listeners over the speak­er's side. Atticus's speech in court can serve as vivid example of it.

The purpose of a writer of fiction is to reproduce in the reader his °wn thoughts and feelings, to make the reader visualize and feel what

he wants him to visualize and feel. The choice and arrangement of appropriate words and sentence patterns, the use of various stylistic expressive means to a great extent determine the effect the literary production will have on the reader.

Among stylistic devices used by the writer we distinguish syntac­tical and lexical stylistic devices (синтаксические и лексические стилистические приемы).

Syntactical stylistic devices

a) In stylistic analysis of a piece of writing the general character of
sentences is to be taken into consideration. Sentences may be long or
short, simple or complex, each of them having their uses depending
on the object of the writer.

Note the general character of the sentences Atticus Finch uses in his speech: they are long composite sentences with a number of attrib­utive and co-ordinate clauses joined by means of the conjunction "and" which in some cases does not merely show that two ideas are connect­ed but has a more emphatic meaning corresponding to the Russian con­junction "a", e.g. "She was white, and she tempted a Negro."

Another "and" begins a paragraph which is not a common way of beginning a sentence or a paragraph in English. E.g. "And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro... has had to put his word against two white people's." "And so" (the Russian equivalent may be "и вот") used in the above sentence stresses the fact that the next point Atti­cus is going to speak about is logically connected with the previous paragraph, that it is the development of the same thought.

Practically the same can be said of the conjunction "but" which begins a paragraph in this way emphasizing the contrasting or con­tradictory idea expressed in it in relation to the previous paragraph. E.g. "But there is one way in this country in which all men are creat­ed equal—..."

The relative pronoun "which" beginning the paragraph "Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie..." called a signal of sequence (сигнал связи) also accentuates the connection between two para­graphs, the preceding one being its antecedent.

b) A repetition or reiteration (повтор) of the same word or phrase
in a sentence or sentences usually lends a peculiar emotional force or
emphasis to what is being said. It may also make the utterance more
rythmical.

Repetition is often used in oratorical style to make the speaker's meaning clear, to lay greater emphasis on his statements so that the listeners could grasp the full significance of what he says.

The repetition of the same syntactical pattern is called syntactical parallelism or a parallel structure (параллелизм или параллельная конструкция) e.g. "...some people are smarter than others, some peo­ple have more opportunity..., some men make more money than oth­ers, some ladies make better cakes than others—..." A word or phrase may be repeated at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences {anaphora — анафора), e.g. "...she persisted in breaking it. She per­sisted and..."; at the end of succesive clauses {epiphora — эпифора), е. g. "...he swore out a warrant, no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken his oath with the only good hand he possesses—his right hand"; the last word of a clause may be repeated at the beginning of the next clause {anadiplo-sis — подхват), e.g. "...she has merely broken a rigid and time-hon­ored code of our society, a code so severe that..."

Sometimes the repeated word may not be the word itself but its derivative (root or morphological repetition), e.g. "... in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you...". Note that syntactical parallelism and a repetition of the same word often go together.

c) Parallel patterns are often used for the purpose of contrast­ing two opposed ideas or features thus heightening the effect of the utterance. This stylistic device is known as antithesis (противопоставление) or contest and may be used in one sen­tence, e.g. "Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold" or in a number of sentences or paragraphs, e.g. "...on the assumption that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral, that... Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie.... a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Ne­groes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some..." The parallel construc­tions combined with the repetition of the same words emphasize the contrast expressed by the words "all" — "some " and the antonyms "lie"-"truth".

d)

e) To make his point plain or to show how vital it is a writer some­times arranges his ideas according to the degree of their importance or emphasis, the most important, from his point of view, coming last. This stylistic device is known as gradation, or climax* (нарастание), e.g. "This case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts... To begin with, this case should never have come

to trial. This case is as simple as black and white." The speaker ex­pounds his point by repeating the same idea in a different way.

e) There are various ways in which the writer or the speaker can draw the attention of the reader or listener to what he finds impor­tant and wants to bring to his notice. We have already mentioned some of them — syntactical parallelism and lexical reiteration, an­tithesis and gradation as well as special uses of conjunctions. Empha­sis in this text is also attained by:

the use of the verb "to do", e.g. "...it (the case) does require you to be sure... as to the guilt of the defendant";

the use of interrogative sentences in Atticus's speech (e.g. "What was the evidence of her offense?" and others);

the structure with the emphatic "it" (e.g. it was... that);

emphatic word order (e.g. "All around us and in the balcony on the opposite wall the Negroes were getting to their feet");

the use of the negative pronoun instead of the negative particle (compare the sentences "...she was no child hiding stolen contra­band"—she was not a child; "I am no idealist"—I am not an idealist).

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