Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices.

Slang

Slang- a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. Although it may be common among young people, it is used by people of all ages and social groups. Words and expressions that are informal and not standard English. Different social groups often use a special vocabulary. Sometimes this is fairly widespread and well understood.SMS slang used on mobile phones and chatspeak(ROLF-rolling on the floor laughing,LOL-laughing out loud).scran-food,breezy-girlfriend,dat-that,po-po-a policeman,hot-very good-looking

cool-good

Oxymoron

Oxymoron is a combination of two words in which the meanings of the two clash, being opposite in sense, for example: 'low skyscraper', 'sweet sorrow', 'nice rascal', 'pleasantly ugly face', 'horribly beautiful', 'a deafening silence', If the primary meaning of the qualifying word changes or weakens, the stylistic effect of oxymoron is lost. In combinations, for example, 'awfully nice', 'awfully glad', 'terribly sorry' and the like, where the words awfully and terribly have lost their primary logical meaning and are now used with emotive meaning only, as intensifies. The essence of oxymoron consists in the capacity of the primary meaning of the adjective or adverb to resist for some time the overwhelming power of semantic change which words undergo in combination. Oxymoron has one main structural model: adjeсtive + noиn. It is in this structural model that the resistance of the two component parts to fusion into one unit manifests itself most strongly. In the adverb + adjective model the change of meaning in the first element, the adverb, is more rapid, resistance to the unifying process not being so strong.

3. General notes on style & Stylistics. Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic Devices (SD)

Stуlistiсs is a branch or general linguistics. It deals with two interdependent (взаимосвязанный) tasks:

a) the investigation of the inventory(инвентарь (объекты описания определенного типа)) of special language media (среда) which secure the desirable effect of the utterance

b) certain types of texts (discourse), which due to the choice and arrangement of language means, are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication.

The first field of investigation, i.e. SDs and EMs, necessarily touches upon such general language problems as the aesthetic [iːs'θetɪk] function of language, synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea, emotional colouring in language, the interrelation (взаимосвязь) between language and thought, the individual manner of an author in making use of language, etc.

The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of such most general linguistic issues as oral and written varieties of language, the notion of the literary (standard) language, the constituents of texts larger than the sentence, the generative aspect of literary texts, and some others.

Related disciplines: theory of information, literature, psychology, logic and to some extent statistics.

The word style is derived from the Latin word 'stilus' which meant a short stick sharp at one end and flat at the other used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets. Now the word 'style' is used in many senses. The word is applied to the teaching of how to write a composition; it is also used to reveal the correspondence between thought and expression; it frequently denotes an individual manner of making use of language; it sometimes refers to more general, abstract notions, becoming vague. Ex: "Style is the man himself", "Style is depth"; "Style is deviations"; "Style is choice", and the like.

The term individual style should be applied to that sphere of linguistic and literary science which deals with the peculiarities of a writer's individual manner of using language means to achieve the effect he desires.

The individual style of a writer is marked by its uniqueness. Approaches to components of individuality:

1) composition of larger-than-the sentence units, 2) rhythm and melody of utterances, 3) system of imagery, 4) preferences for definite stylistic devices and their correlation with neutral language media, 5) interdependence of the language media employed by the author and the media characteristic of the personages, are indispensable.

Individual style, therefore, is a unique combination of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to a given writer, which makes that writer's works or even utterances easily recognizable. It has nominal character.

The expressive means (EMs)of a language are those phonetic, morphological, word-building, lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms which exist in language-as-a-system for the purpose of logical and/or emotional intensification of the utterance.

(1) Mr. Smith was an extremely unpleasant person. - expressiveness is achieved by lexical means—the word 'extremely'

(2) Never will he go to that place again.

(3) In rushed the soldiers! In (2) and (3) by syntactical means—different types of inversion.

(4) It took us a very, very long time to get there. - the emphasis is materialized by the repetition of the word 'very'(a word used to intensify the utterance.)

(5) This quickie tour didn't satisfy our curiosity. - a morphological device (the suffix— ie).

He shall do it! = I shall make him do it. – use ofintensifier

But the most powerful EMs of any language are phonetic. The human voice, pitch, melody, stress, pausation, drawling out certain syllables, whispering, etc.

Stylistic device is a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural and/or semantic property of a language unit.SDs function in texts - marked units. They carry additional information, either emotive or logical.

There are 3 groups.

1. The interaction of different types of lexical meaning.

a) dictionary and contextual (metaphor, metonymy, irony);

b) primary and derivative (zeugma and pun);

c) logical and emotive (epithet, oxymoron);

d) logical and nominative (autonomasia);

2. Intensification of a feature (simile, hyperbole, periphrasis).

3. Peculiar use of set expressions (cliches, proverbs, epigram, quotations).

The beast had eyes as big as baseballs and teeth as long as knives. – simile

Only a nosy old cat like you could have such a thought. – metaphor

Nice weather, isn't it? (on a rainy day) - irony

EMs have a greater degree of predictability (предсказуемость) than SDs: SDs may appear in an environment which may seem alien and be only slightly or not at all predictable. EMs follow the natural course of thought, intensifying it. So SDs carry a greater amount of information, but require a certain effort to decode their meaning.

3. general notes on style & Stylistics. Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic

Stуlistiсs, sometimes called linguo-stylistiс s, is a branch or general linguistics. It has now been more or less definitely outlined. It deals mainly with two interdependent tasks: a) the investigation of the inventory of special language media which by their ontological features secure the desirable effect of the utterance and b) certain types of texts (discourse) which due to the choice and arrangement of language means are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication. The types of texts that are distinguished by the pragmatic aspect of the communication are called fиnсtiоnal styles of language (FS); the special media of language which secure the desirable effect of the uttеrance are called stylistic devices (SD) and expressive

The first field of investigation, i.e. SDs and EMs, necessarily touches upon such general language problems as the aesthetic function of language, synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea, emotional colouring in language, the interrelation between language and thought, the individual manner of an author in making use of language and a number of other issues. The second field, i.e. functional styles, cannot avoid discussion of such most general linguistic issues as oral and written varieties of language, the notion of the literary (standard) language, the constituents of texts larger than the sentence, the generative aspect of literary texts, and some others. The stylistics of a highly developed language like English or Russian has brought into the science of language a separate body of media, thus widening the range of observation of phenomena in language. A great number of monographs, textbooks, articles, and dissertation papers are now at the disposal of a scholar in stylistics. The stream of information grows larger every month.

The word style is derived from the Latin word 'stilus' which meant a short stick sharp at one end and flat at the other used by the Romans for writing on wax tablets. Now the word 'style' is used in so many senses that it has become a breeding ground for ambiguity. The word is applied to the teaching of how to write a composition; it is also used to reveal the correspondence between thought and expression; it frequently denotes an individual manner of making use of language; it sometimes refers to more general, abstract notions thus inevitably becoming vague and obscure, as, for example, "Style is the man himself" (Buffon), "Style is depth" (Derbyshire); "Style is deviations" (Enkvist); "Style is choice", and the like. Stylistics must take into consideration the "output of the act of communication". But stylistics must also investigate the ontological, i.e. natural, inherent, and functional peculiarities of the means of communication which may ensure the effect sought. The most frequent definition of style is one expressed by Seymour Chatman: "Style is a product of individual choices and patterns of choices (emphasis added) among linguistic possibilities. The individual style of a writer is marked by its uniqueness. It can be recognized by the specific and peculiar combination of language media and stylistic devices which in their Interaction present a certain system. Individual style, therefore, is a unique combination of language units, expressive means and stylistic devices peculiar to a given writer, which makes that writer's works or even utterances easily recognizable. Hence, individual style may be likened to a proper name. It has nominal character. Individual style is based on a thorough knowledge of the contemporary language and also of earlier periods in its development.

The treatment of the selected elements brings up the problem of the norm. The notion of the norm mainly refers to the literary language and always presupposes a recognized or received standard. At the same time it likewise presupposes vacillations of the received standard.

The norm, therefore, should be regarded as the invariant of the phonemic,morphological, lexical and syntactical patterns circulating in language-in-action at a given period of time.

Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices.

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