2. Most graphons show features of territorial or social dialect of the speaker, his social standing. In many cases they show deviations from Standard English typical of the whole group of English speakers.

  Typical feature is the reproduction of cockney dialect (inhabitants of one of the districts in London). One cockney feature is dropping [h] at the beginning of words. That is why letter ‘h’ is ommited in writing: ‘ave (=have), ‘at (=hat), ‘is (=his).

  In Mark Twain’s works we may see examples of rendering the Missouri Negro dialect:

  ‘It’s a sign dat  you’s agwine to be rich’. 

  3. In very fast and indistinct speech the boundaries between words blend and sounds are swallowed. It can be reflected in writing:

  pleasmeech = pleased to meet you!

  jiver = did you ever

  speaknubout prices = speaking about prices

  Sometimes such changes are standard:

  lemme, gimme, gotta, gonna, coupla, didja, dont’cha

  4. The variants of pronunciation (different representations of the same phoneme) can be shown by graphic means. A speaker may strengthen, emphasize, make more prominent the word when he intensifies its initial consonant. It is shown in the graphon as doubling the letter:

  ‘N-no!’ sounds more decisive, more emphatic than a mere ‘No!’

  Another way of intensifying a word or a phrase, making it more expressive, is scanning, i.e. uttering each syllable as a phonetically independent unit, in retarded tempo. The graphic means of showing this is hyphenated spelling:

  Im-pos-sible!

  Often a word or a word-group is emphatically stressed by the speaker without retardation of the tempo of speech and without dividing it into syllables. This part is marked with specific intonation. The corresponding graphons in print are italics or capitalization:

  She was simply beautiful. I’ll NEVER see him again!

   Sometimes doubled letters or letters repeated three, four or more times are used:

  C-c-c-coming, c-c-c-case (stuttering or hesitation of a speaker)

  Appppeeee Noooyeeeerrrr!

  5. The organization of the text on the page can be a stylistic device in itself. For example the shape of the text in the form of Mouse tail continues a pun (as Mouse is telling its ‘tale’) in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll.

 

5 Morphological Stylistic Devices

 

  A morpheme has two possibilities to render additional information, or connotation:

  1. by interrelating with other morphemes,

  2. by repetition.

  Morpheme is a chief component in word-building. Enriching vocabulary can be done with the help of creating new words from the morphemes that already exist in the language. These neologisms can be adopted in public speech, by all people, as well as be individual, so called occasionalisms.

  toing and froing, unbeautiful

  These are new combinations of the morphemes which exist in the language according to the rules of word-building that are common in this language. What strikes reader’s eye is unusual combination of such morphemes. Reader understands the new word because the model is common. Such neologisms not only define some notion but also refer to the author’s attitude to it.

  Morphemes can take part in a morphemic play. Play of morphemes is like play of words. It renders the author’s attitude to the events or phenomena, which is in most cases ironical or satirical.

  Feminists grumble that history is exactly what it says, - His-story, and not Her-story at all. (Robinson)

  Morpheme repetition is an important means of emphasizing, it becomes means of increasing informational and aesthetic value of the text. Different morphemes can repeat: prefixes, roots, suffixes. Repetition is always aimed at logic or emphatic underlining. It also makes the statement rhythmical.

  There was then a calling over the names, the great work of sealing, stamping, inking, and sanding… (Dickens) – Repetition of the morpheme ‘ing’ underlines process, action which takes place constantly in this room.

6 Lexico-semantic stylistic devices and expressive means

6.1 Figures of replacement

  All kinds of replacement of notion from one (usual) object to another (situational) are called tropes (from Greek ‘tropos’ which means ‘turn’).

  All tropes show coincidence of two semantic fields (that is of two different meanings) in one unit. So, tropos is a language unit which possesses two meanings. These meanings are clear for the speaker. This double meaning creates so called image. Sometimes tropes are called ‘figures of replacement’. They are divided into two groups. 

  

  

6.2 Metaphor and its kinds

 

  a) Metaphor is based on the similarity of two objects and this similarity is not objective, it is subjectively given to an object by human mind.

  Metaphor is expressive renaming on the basis of similarity of two objects: the real object of speech and the one whose name is actually used. But in fact there is no real connection between the two.

  ‘the sunset of his days’ means that a person is rather old. Sunset in the direct meaning is a natural phenomenon when the sun sets, that is when the day finishes. When used metaphorically, this word means ‘the time when the life is close to its end’.

  Similarity can be based on colour, form, character and speed of movement, dimensions, etc.

  Metaphor can be trite (ready-made). Trite metaphors are expressions created in poetry, in the Bible, in imaginative prose, that have gained wide currency and become known to everybody. Their expressive power has been partly lost.

  the ray of hope; floods of tears

  Fresh metaphors are created by the writer and not borrowed from another sourse.

  The graves yawned.

  Metaphors can be simple (one or two words or a phrase characterizing one image) and extended (or prolonged, which give additional characteristics not only to the image but also to the whole situation). Extended metaphors can be released on the text (paragraph, chapter, the whole story, novel), in the title of novels, stories.

  sweet smile – simple metaphor;

  In a cavern under is fettered the thunder, It struggles, and howls at fits . . .– extended metaphor.

  Metaphor has different kinds: personification, allegory, allusion, and zoonym.

  b) Personification is a specific kind of metaphor which consists in attributing human properties to lifeless objects – abstract notions (thoughts, actions, intentions, emotions, seasons, etc.). Personification is widely used in folk fairy-tales.

  The markers of personification are words written with capital letter, direct address, pronouns (he, she, you, his, her, him), specific words that primarily describe human beings, dialogues, etc.

  And winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay" (G. Byron)

  In poetry and fiction the purpose of personification is to help to visualize the description, to impart dynamic force to it, to reproduce the particular mood of the viewer.

  c) Zoonyms or zoomorphisms are a kind of metaphor in which the comparison with animal is made.

  She is a fox. – Fox is cunning and the person is cunning. She is a bush pig. – Она некрасивая неопрятная женщина. He is a real coon. – Он настоящий пройдоха. He is a lizard. – Он – лентяй.

  d) Allegory is a prolonged metaphor. It is a trope in which concrete images are used to express abstract notions and ideas about human relations, vice and virtue. We can find allegory in proverbs and sayings, legends, myths, fairy-tales, parables, fables, satirical and philosophical novels. They teach a lesson of ethic.

  Take the bull by the horns. – Бери быка за рога. In this case one does not mean a definite bull and its horns but means a quick beginning of some action.

  e) Allusion is a special variety of metaphor. Allusion is a brief reference to some literary or historical event commonly known.

  It was his Waterloo.

  The writer does not need to be explicit about what he means: he just mentions some detail of what he thinks analogous in fiction or history to the topic discussed. The educational level of the reader must be sufficient enough to understand the real sense of the message. Allusion is used in publicist articles, imaginative literature.

  Purposes of allusion:

1. to lend the text more objectivity and authenticity, to make it more convincing,
2. to testify to the speaker’s erudition, high educational level,
3. to speak about well-known facts without using many words, but metaphorically.

  Allusion requires definite knowledge of geography, history, the Bible, Greek mythology, philosophy.

6.3 Metonymy and its kinds

 

  a) Metonymy is applying the name of an object to another object that is in some way connected with the first one. The thought is concretized and its expression is shortened.

  Types of metonymy-forming relations of two objects are different. They can be based on:

  1. relationships between container and its content:

  The hall applauded. (We do not mean the hall itself, but the people, audience inside it)

  2. relation between concrete object and abstract phenomenon (symbol instead of the object symbolized):

  from the cradle to the grave (= from the birth to the death)

  3. consequence instead of cause:

  Fish desperately takes the death (‘death’ means ‘a fish hook’)

  4. names of tools instead of names of actions:

  He is a good whip. (= He is a good coachman)

  b) Synecdoche is a kind of metonymy. The name of a part denotes the whole thing.

  Miss Fox's hand trembled, she slipped it through Mr. Dombey's arm, and felt herself escorted up the steps, preceded by a cocked hat and a Babylonian collar (Ch. Dickens.) (cocked hat (треуголка) and Babylonian collar (воротник) mean people who wear these clothes)

    c) Antonomasia is a variety of metonymy. It is usage of the name of a historical, literary, mythological or biblical personage applied to a person whose characteristic features resemble those of the well-known original. Antonomasia is also found in speaking names.

  Othello (a jealous husband); Aesculapius (a doctor (jocular))

  A traitor may be referred to as ‘Brutus’; a ladies’ man is ‘Don Juan’.

  They drove through the park gate which was guarded by Mrs. Lock. 
 
 
 

6.4 Irony

  Irony is a contrast between what is said and what is meant. It is often based on other stylistic devices: hyperbole, meiosis, litotes, etc. There are two kinds of irony. The first represents utterances the ironical sense of which is evident to any native speaker, no one would ever take them at their face value. This kind of irony is called antiphrasis.

  That’s a pretty kettle of fish! (Хорошенькое дельце! Веселенькая история!)

  To the second variety belong utterances which can be understood either literary or ironically. The irony is understood according to the context.

  It is delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s pocket.

6.5 The figures of quantity

 

  Hyperbole is exaggeration of dimensions or other properties of the object. Some hyperboles are stereotyped. In expressive hyperbole there must be something illogical, unreal, impossible, sudden, and unusual.

  I haven’t seen you for ages! (stereotyped hyperbole)

  One after another those people lay down on the ground to laugh – and two of them died (M. Twain) (expressive hyperbole)

  Hyperbole is used for humorous purposes; it is used more frequently in colloquial speech. In belle-lettres style it attracts our attention because it is unusual.

  There I took out my pig… and gave him such a kick that he went out the other end of the alley, 20 feet ahead of his squeal. (O.Henry)

  Sometimes hyperbole is combined with metaphor, the effect of the both is strengthened.

  Then, in a silence you could lean on, he plodded across the terrace… 

  Meiosis and its kinds 

  a) Meiosis, or understatement is lessening, weakening, reducing the real characteristics of the object of speech. This trope serves to underline the insignificance of what we speak about. 

• And what did you think of our little town? – asked Zizzbaum, with the fatuous smile of the Manhattanite.
• You’ve got good water, but Cactus City is better lit up.
• We’ve got a few lights on Broadway, don’t you think, Mr. Platt?

(The conversation is about New York, and ‘little town’, ‘a few lights on Broadway’ are examples of meiosis) 

  b) Litotes is a specific form of meiosis. It expresses an idea by means of negating the opposite idea. Litotes sounds less categorically, evasive. Its markers are the words ‘not without’, ‘not unlike’, two negative prefixes within one word, ‘not’ + antonym of the word, ‘non’ + negative suffix, etc. 

  not without his help, unillegal,  not unlike

  Captain Trevelyan was not overpleased about it. 

6.6 Other stylistic devices and expressive means

 

  Simile is a stylistic device based on likeness or similarity between two objects of outer reality. It implies some common features between these objects discovered by human mind. Simile is always formally marked. It is introduced by the conjunctions ‘as… as…’, ‘as if…’, ‘as though…’, ‘like’. There are some more subtle cases of simile, they are introduced by the verbs ‘seem, resemble, remind of, bring back a certain image, be the equivalent of’, etc. Simile can be marked by specific suffixes: -like, -wise, -looking.

  My heart is like a singing bird.

  Darkness fell like a stone.

  As proud as a peacock.

  an apelike fury, a table-cloth-wise ceiling, hungry-looking

  He held out a hand that could have been mistaken for a bunch of bananas in a poor light. (Gardner)

  Simile is less expressive than metaphor, because metaphor denotes a complete identification of two qualities or objects. Metaphor is called sometimes a concentrated simile.

  Simile should not be confused with comparison. In comparison homogeneous things are compared, that is two things which can be compared from the point of view of logic. In simile we compare two incomparable things belonging to different areas.

  She sings like a professional actress.. (comparison)

  She sings like a nightingale. (simile)

Synonymous replacement

  Synonyms are used in texts to avoid monotonous repetition of the same word.

  The little boy was crying. It was the child’s usual time for going to bed, but no one paid attention to the kid.

  Another purpose of co-occurrence of synonyms is providing additional shades of meaning. Sometimes it is not synonyms that replace one another, but words different in meaning. They are called ‘situational synonyms’. These synonyms signify the same thing.

  She told his name to the trees. She whispered it to the flowers. She breathed it to the birds.

Synonymic repetition

  Synonyms usually follow one another. Each synonym gives some additional features to the object, thus describing it in details. Sometimes the narrator deliberately searches for the most fitting synonyms.

  They were not yells, or howls, or shouts, or whoops, or yawps … they were simply indecent, terrifying, humiliating screams…

Gradation is arrangement of sentences with a gradual increase in importance, or emotional tension. Each following element is stronger than the previous one.

  It’s ended. It’s all over. It’s dead.

  I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so extremely sorry.